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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45536 ***
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic
+text is surrounded by _underscores_.]
+
+
+
+THE PANSY BOOKS.
+
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.50=
+
+    Chautauqua Girls at Home.
+    Christie's Christmas.
+    Divers Women.
+    Echoing and Re-Echoing.
+    Eighty-Seven.
+    Endless Chain (An).
+    Ester Ried.
+    Ester Ried Yet Speaking.
+    Four Girls at Chautauqua.
+    From Different Standpoints.
+    Hall in the Grove (The).
+    Household Puzzles.
+    Interrupted.
+    Judge Burnham's Daughters.
+    Julia Ried.
+    King's Daughter (The).
+    Little Fishers and Their Nets.
+    Links in Rebecca's Life.
+    Mrs. Solomon Smith Looking On.
+    Modern Prophets.
+    Man of the house.
+    New Graft on the Family Tree (A).
+    One Commonplace Day.
+    Pocket Measure (The).
+    Profiles.
+    Ruth Erskine's Crosses.
+    Randolphs (The).
+    Sevenfold Trouble (A).
+    Sidney Martin's Christmas.
+    Spun from Fact.
+    Those Boys.
+    Three People.
+    Tip Lewis and His Lamp.
+    Wise and Otherwise.
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth. $1.25.=
+
+    Cunning Workmen.
+    Dr. Deane's Way.
+    Grandpa's Darlings.
+    Miss Priscilla Hunter.
+    Mrs. Deane's Way.
+    What She Said.
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.00.=
+
+    At Home and Abroad.
+    Bobby's Wolf and other Stories.
+    Five Friends.
+    In the Woods and Out.
+    Young Folks Worth Knowing.
+    Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening.
+    New Years Tangles.
+    Next Things.
+    Pansy Scrap Book.
+    Some Young Heroines.
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.=
+
+    Couldn't be Bought.
+    Getting Ahead.
+    Mary Burton Abroad.
+    Pansies.
+    Six Little Girls.
+    Stories from the life of Jesus.
+    That Boy Bob.
+    Two Boys.
+
+
+=Each volume 16mo, cloth, 75 cts.=
+
+    Bernie's White Chicken.
+    Docia's Journal.
+    Helen Lester.
+    Jessie Wells.
+    Monteagle.
+
+
+=Each volume 16mo, cloth, 60 cts.=
+
+    Browning Boys.
+    Dozen of Them (A).
+    Gertrude's Diary.
+    Hedge Fence (A).
+    Side by Side.
+    Six O'Clock in the Evening.
+    Stories of Remarkable Women.
+    Stories of Great Men.
+    Story of Puff.
+    "We Twelve girls."
+    World of Little People (A).
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN WAS A HANDSOME BOY WHEN SHE MARRIED MR. DECKER.]
+
+
+
+
+Little Fishers: and Their Nets
+
+    BY
+    PANSY
+    AUTHOR OF "CHRISTIE'S CHRISTMAS," "A HEDGE FENCE," "GERTRUDE'S
+    DIARY," "THE MAN OF THE HOUSE," "INTERRUPTED,"
+    "THE HALL IN THE GROVE," "AN ENDLESS
+    CHAIN," "MRS. SOLOMON SMITH LOOKING
+    ON," "FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA,"
+    "RUTH ERSKINE'S CROSSES,"
+    "SPUN FROM FACT,"
+    ETC., ETC.
+
+
+    _ILLUSTRATED_
+
+    BOSTON
+    D LOTHROP COMPANY
+    FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS
+
+
+
+
+    COPYRIGHT 1887
+    BY
+    D LOTHROP COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+    PAGE.
+
+    CHAPTER I.
+    THE DECKERS' HOME                     7
+
+    CHAPTER II.
+    BEGINNING HER LIFE                   24
+
+    CHAPTER III.
+    THE TRUTH IS TOLD                    43
+
+    CHAPTER IV.
+    NEW FRIENDS                          63
+
+    CHAPTER V.
+    A GREAT UNDERTAKING                  85
+
+    CHAPTER VI.
+    HOW IT SUCCEEDED                    106
+
+    CHAPTER VII.
+    LONG STORIES TO TELL                125
+
+    CHAPTER VIII.
+    A SABBATH TO REMEMBER               143
+
+    CHAPTER IX.
+    A BARGAIN AND A PROMISE             164
+
+    CHAPTER X.
+    PLEASURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT         179
+
+
+    CHAPTER XI.
+    A COMPLETE SUCCESS                  204
+
+    CHAPTER XII.
+    AN UNEXPECTED HELPER                226
+
+    CHAPTER XIII.
+    THE LITTLE PICTURE MAKERS           240
+
+    CHAPTER XIV.
+    THE CONCERT                         257
+
+    CHAPTER XV.
+    A WILL AND A WAY                    271
+
+    CHAPTER XVI.
+    AN ORDEAL                           288
+
+    CHAPTER XVII.
+    THE FLOWER PARTY                    304
+
+    CHAPTER XVIII.
+    A SATISFACTORY EVENING              320
+
+    CHAPTER XIX.
+    READY TO TRY                        334
+
+    CHAPTER XX.
+    THE WAY MADE PLAIN                  351
+
+    CHAPTER XXI.
+    THE NEW ENTERPRISE                  365
+
+    CHAPTER XXII.
+    TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE                 382
+
+    CHAPTER XXIII.
+    THE CROWNING WONDER                 400
+
+    CHAPTER XXIV.
+    THE PAST AND PRESENT                418
+
+
+
+
+Little Fishers: and Their Nets.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DECKERS' HOME.
+
+
+JOE DECKER gave his chair a noisy shove backward from the table, over
+the uneven floor, shambled across the space between it and the kitchen
+door, a look of intense disgust on his face, then stopped for his
+good-morning speech:
+
+"You may as well know, first as last, that I've sent for Nan. I've
+stood this kind of thing just exactly as long as I'm going to. There
+ain't many men, I can tell you, who would have stood it so long. Such a
+meal as that! Ain't fit for a decent dog!
+
+"Nan is coming in the afternoon stage. There must be some place fixed
+up for her to sleep in. Understand, now, that has _got_ to be done, and
+I won't have no words about it."
+
+Then he slammed the door, and went away.
+
+Yes, he was talking to his wife! She could remember the time when he
+used to linger in the door, talking to her, so many last words to say,
+and when at last he would turn away with a kind "Well, good-by, Mary!
+Don't work too hard."
+
+But that seemed ages ago to the poor woman who was left this morning
+in the wretched little room with the door slammed between her and her
+husband. She did not look as though she had life enough left to make
+words about anything. She sat in a limp heap in one of the broken
+chairs, her bared arms lying between the folds of a soiled and ragged
+apron.
+
+Not an old woman, yet her hair was gray, and her cheeks were faded, and
+her eyes looked as though they had not closed in quiet restful sleep
+for months. She had not combed her hair that morning; and thin and
+faded as it was, it hung in straggling locks about her face.
+
+I don't suppose you ever saw a kitchen just like that one! It was
+heated, not only by the fierce sun which streamed in at the two
+uncurtained eastern windows, but by the big old stove, which could
+smoke, not only, and throw out an almost unendurable heat on a warm
+morning like this, when heat was not wanted, but had a way at all
+times of refusing to heat the oven, and indeed had fits of sullenness
+when it would not "draw" at all.
+
+This was one of the mornings when the fire had chosen to burn; it had
+swallowed the legs and back of a rickety chair which the mistress in
+desperation had stuffed in, when she was waiting for the teakettle to
+boil, and now that there was nothing to boil, or fry, and no need for
+heat, the stump of wood, wet by yesterday's rain, had dried itself and
+chosen to burn.
+
+The west windows opened into a side yard, and the sound of children's
+voices in angry dispute, and the smell of a pigsty, came in together,
+and seemed equally discouraging to the wilted woman in the chair.
+
+The sun was already pretty high in the sky, yet the breakfast-table
+still stood in the middle of the room.
+
+I don't know as I can describe that table to you. It was a square one,
+unpainted, and stained with something red, and something green, and
+spotted with grease, and spotted with black, rubbed from endless hot
+kettles set on it, or else from one kettle set on it endless times;
+it must have been that way, for now that I think of it, there was but
+one kettle in that house. No tablecloth covered the stains; there was a
+cracked plate which held a few crusts of very stale bread, and a teacup
+about a third full of molasses, in which several flies were struggling.
+More flies covered the bread crusts, and swam in a little mess of what
+had been butter, but was now oil, and these were the only signs of food.
+
+It was from this breakfast-table that the man had risen in disgust.
+You don't wonder? You think it was enough to disgust anybody? That
+is certainly true, but if the man had only stopped to think that the
+reason it presented such an appearance was because he had steadily
+drank up all that ought to have gone on it during the months past,
+perhaps he would have turned his disgust where it belonged--on himself.
+
+The woman had not tried to eat anything. She had given the best she had
+to the husband and son, and had left it for them. She was very willing
+to do so. It seemed to her as though she never could eat another
+mouthful of anything.
+
+Can you think of her, sitting in that broken chair midway between the
+table and the stove, the heat from the stove puffing into her face; the
+heat from the sun pouring full on her back, her straggling hair silvery
+in the sunlight, her short, faded calico dress frayed about the ankles,
+her feet showing plainly from the holes of the slippers into which they
+were thrust, her hands folded about the soiled apron, and such a look
+of utter hopeless sorrow on her face as cannot be described?
+
+No, I hope you cannot imagine a woman like her, and will never see one
+to help you paint the picture. And yet I don't know; since there are
+such women--scores of them, thousands of them--why should you not know
+about them, and begin now to plan ways of helping them out of these
+kitchens, and out of these sorrows?
+
+Mrs. Decker rose up presently, and staggered toward the table; a dim
+idea of trying to clear it off, and put things in something like order,
+struggled with the faintness she felt. She picked up two plates, sticky
+with molasses, and having a piece of pork rind on one, and set them
+into each other. She poured a slop of weak tea from one cracked cup
+into another cracked cup, her face growing paler the while. Suddenly
+she clutched at the table, and but for its help, would have fallen.
+There was just strength enough left to help her back to the rickety
+chair. Once there, she dropped into the same utterly hopeless position,
+and though there was no one to listen, spoke her sorrowful thoughts.
+
+"It's no use; I must just give up. I'm done for, and that's the truth!
+I've been expecting it all along, and now it's come. I couldn't clear
+up here and get them any dinner, not if he should kill me, and I don't
+know but that will be the next thing. I've slaved and slaved; if
+anybody ever tried to do something with nothing, I'm the one; and now
+I'm done. I've just got to lie down, and stay there, till I die. I wish
+I _could_ die. If I could do it quick, and be done with it, I wouldn't
+care how soon; but it would be awful to lie there and see things go on;
+oh, dear!"
+
+She lifted up her poor bony hands and covered her face with them and
+shook as though she was crying. But she shed no tears. The truth is,
+her poor eyes were tired of crying. It was a good while since any tears
+had come. After a few minutes she went on with her story.
+
+"It isn't enough that we are naked, and half-starved, and things
+growing worse every day, but now that Nan mast come and make one more
+torment. 'Fix a place for her to sleep!' Where, I wonder, and what
+with? It is too much! Flesh and blood can't bear any more. If ever a
+woman did her best I have, and done it with nothing, and got no thanks
+for it; now I've got to the end of my rope. If I have strength enough
+to crawl back into bed, it is all there is left of me."
+
+But for all that, she tried to do something else. Three times she made
+an effort to clear away the few dirty things on that dirty table, and
+each time felt the deadly faintness creeping over her, which sent her
+back frightened to the chair. The children came in, crying, and she
+tried to untie a string for one, and find a pin for the other; but her
+fingers trembled so that the knot grew harder, and not even a pin was
+left for her to give them, and she finally lost all patience with their
+cross little ways and gave each a slap and an order not to come in the
+house again that forenoon.
+
+The door was ajar into the most discouraged looking bedroom that you
+can think of. It was not simply that the bed was unmade; the truth is,
+the clothes were so ragged that you would have thought they could not
+be touched without falling to pieces; and they were badly stained and
+soiled, the print of grimy little hands being all over them. Partly
+pushed under, out of sight, was a trundle-bed, that, if anything,
+looked more repulsive than the large one. There was an old barrel in
+the corner, with a rough board over it, and a chair more rickety than
+either of those in the kitchen, and this was the only furniture there
+was in that room.
+
+The only bright thing there was in it was the sunshine, for there was
+an east window in this room, and the curtain was stretched as high as
+it could be. To the eyes of the poor tired woman who presently dragged
+herself into this room, the light and the heat from the sun seemed
+more than she could bear, and she tugged at the brown paper curtain so
+fiercely that it tore half across, but she got it down, and then she
+fell forward among the rags of the bed with a groan.
+
+Poor Mrs. Decker! I wonder if you have not imagined all her sorrowful
+story without another word from me!
+
+It is such an old story; and it has been told over so many times, that
+all the children in America know it by heart.
+
+Yes; she was the wife of a drunkard. Not that Joe Decker called himself
+a drunkard; the most that he ever admitted was that he sometimes took a
+drop too much! I don't think he had the least idea how many times in a
+month he reeled home, unable to talk straight, unable to help himself
+to his wretched bed.
+
+I don't suppose he knew that his brain was never free from the effects
+of alcohol; but his wife knew it only too well. She knew that he was
+always cross and sullen now, when he was not fierce, and she knew that
+this was not his natural disposition. No one need explain to her how
+alcohol would effect a man's nature; she had watched her husband change
+from month to month, and she knew that he was growing worse every day.
+
+There was another sorrow in this sad woman's heart. She had one boy
+who was nearly ten years old, when she married Mr. Decker; and people
+had said to her often and often, "What a handsome boy you have, Mrs.
+Lloyd; he ought to have been a girl." And the first time she had felt
+any particular interest in Joe Decker was when he made her boy a kite,
+and showed him how to fly it, and gave him one bright evening, such
+as fathers give their boys. This boy's father had died when he was
+a baby, and the Widow Lloyd had struggled on alone; caring for him,
+keeping him neatly dressed, sending him to school as soon as he was old
+enough, bringing him up in such a way that it was often and often said
+in the village, "What a nice boy that Norman Lloyd is! A credit to his
+mother!" And the mother had sat and sewed, in the evenings when Norman
+was in bed, and thought over the things that fathers could do for boys
+which mothers could not; and then thought that there were things which
+mothers could do for girls that fathers could not, and Mr. Joseph
+Decker, the carpenter, had a little girl, she had been told, only a few
+years younger than her Norman. And so, when Mr. Decker had made kites,
+not only, but little sail boats, and once, a little table for Norman to
+put his school books on, with a drawer in it for his writing-book and
+pencil, and when he had in many kind and manly ways won her heart, this
+respectable widow who had for ten years earned her own and her boy's
+living, married him, and went to keep his home for him, and planned as
+to the kind and motherly things which she would do for his little girl
+when she came home.
+
+Alas for plans! She knew, this foolish woman, that Mr. Decker sometimes
+took a drink of beer with his noon meal, and again at night, perhaps;
+but she said to herself, "No wonder, poor man; always having to eat his
+dinner out of a pail! No home, and no woman to see that he had things
+nice and comfortable. She would risk but what he would stay at home,
+when he had one to stay in, and like a bit of beefsteak better than the
+beer, any day."
+
+She had not calculated as to the place which the beer held in his
+heart. Neither had he. He was astonished to find that it was not easy
+to give it up, even when Mary wanted him to. He was astonished at first
+to discover how often he was thirsty with a thirst that nothing but
+beer would satisfy. I have not time for all the story. The beer was not
+given up, the habit grew stronger and stronger, and steadily, though at
+first slowly, the Deckers went down. From being one of the best workmen
+in town, Mr. Decker dropped down to the level of "Old Joe Decker,"
+whom people would not employ if they could get anybody else. The little
+girl had never come home save for a short visit; at first the new
+mother was sorry, then she was glad.
+
+As the days passed, her heart grew heavier and heavier; a horrible fear
+which was almost a certainty, had now gotten hold of her--that her
+handsome, manly Norman was going to copy the father she had given him!
+Poor mother!
+
+I would not, if I could, describe to you all the miseries of that long
+day! How the mother lay and tossed on that miserable bed, and burned
+with fever and groaned with pain. How the children quarreled and cried,
+and ran into mother, and cried again because she could give them no
+attention, and made up, and ran out again to play, and quarreled again.
+How the father came home at noon, more under the influence of liquor
+than he had been in the morning; and swore at the table still standing
+as he had left it at breakfast time, and swore at his wife for "lying
+in bed and sulking, instead of doing her work like a decent woman," and
+swore at his children for crying with hunger; and finally divided what
+remained of the bread between them, and went off himself to a saloon,
+where he spent twenty-five cents for his dinner, and fifty cents for
+liquor. How Norman came home, and looked about the deserted kitchen
+and empty cupboard, and looked in at his mother, and said he was sorry
+she had a headache, and sighed, and wished that he had a decent home
+like other fellows, and wished that a doctor could be found, who didn't
+want more money than he was worth, to pay him for coming to see a
+sick woman, and then went to a bakery and bought a loaf of bread, and
+a piece of cheese, and having munched these, washed them down with
+several glasses of beer, went back to his work. Meantime, the playing
+and the quarreling, and the crying, went on outside, and Mrs. Decker
+continued to sleep her heavy, feverish sleep.
+
+Several times she wakened in a bewilderment of fever and pain, and
+groaned, and tried to get up, and fell back and groaned again, and lost
+her misery in another unnaturally heavy sleep, and the day wore away
+until it was three o'clock in the afternoon. The stages would be due in
+a few minutes--the one that brought passengers over from the railroad
+junction a mile away. The children in the yard did not know that one
+of them was expected to stop at their house; and the father when he
+came home at noon had been drinking too much liquor to remember it; and
+Norman had not heard of it, and for his mother's sake would have been
+too angry to have met it if he had; so Nan was coming home with nobody
+to welcome her.
+
+If you had seen her sitting at that moment, a trim little maiden in the
+stage, her face all flushed over the prospect of seeing father, and the
+rest, in a few minutes, you would not have thought it possible that she
+could belong to the Decker family.
+
+She had not seen her home in seven years. She had been a little thing
+of six when she went away with the Marshall family.
+
+It had all come about naturally. Mrs. Marshall was their neighbor, and
+had known her mother from childhood; and when she died had carried the
+motherless little girl home with her to stay until Mr. Decker decided
+what to do; and he was slow in deciding, and Mrs. Marshall had a family
+of boys, but no little girl, and held the motherless one tenderly for
+her mother's sake; and when the Marshalls suddenly had an offer of
+business which made it necessary for them to move to the city, they
+clung to the little girl, and proposed to Mr. Decker that she should go
+with them and stay until he had a place for her again.
+
+Apparently he had not found a place for her in all these seven years,
+for she had never been sent for to come home.
+
+The new wife had wanted her at first, to be mother to her, as she
+fancied Mr. Decker was going to be father to her boy. But it did not
+take her very many months to get her eyes open to the thought that
+perhaps the girl would be better off away from her father; and of late
+years she had looked on the possible home-coming with positive terror.
+Her own little ones had nothing to eat, sometimes, save what Norman
+provided; and if "he"--and by this Mrs. Decker meant her husband; he
+had ceased to be "Mr. Decker" to her, or "Joseph," or even Joe--if
+"he" should take a notion to turn against the girl, life would be more
+terrible to them in every way; and on the other hand, if he should
+fancy her, and because of her, turn more against the wife, or Norman,
+what would become of them then?
+
+So the years had passed, and beyond an occasional threat when Joe
+Decker was at his worst, to "send for Nan right straight off," nothing
+had been said of her home-coming. The threat had come oftener of late,
+for Joe Decker had discovered that there was just now nothing that his
+wife dreaded more than the presence of this step-daughter; and his
+present manly mood was to do all he could for the discomfort of his
+wife! That was one of the elevating thoughts which liquor had given him!
+
+Three o'clock. The stages came rattling down the stony road. Few people
+who lived on this street had much to do with the stage; they could
+not afford to ride, and they did not belong to the class who had much
+company.
+
+So when the heavy carriages kept straight on, instead of turning the
+corner below, it brought a swarm of children from the various dooryards
+to see who was coming, and where.
+
+"It's stopped at Decker's, as true as I live!" said Mrs. Job Smith,
+peeping out of her clean pantry window to get a view. "I heard that
+Joe had sent for little Nan, but I hoped it wasn't true. Poor Nan! if
+the Marshalls have treated her with any kind of decency, it'll be a
+dreadful change, and I'm sorry enough for her. Yes, that must be Nan
+getting out. She's got the very same bright eyes, but she has grown a
+sight, to be sure!" Which need not have seemed strange to Mrs. Smith,
+if she had stopped to remember that seven years had passed since Nan
+went away.
+
+The little woman got down with a brisk step from the stage, and watched
+her trunk set in the doorway, and got out her red pocket-book, and paid
+the fare, and then looked about her doubtfully. Could this be home!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+BEGINNING HER LIFE.
+
+
+SHE did not remember anything, but the yard was very dirty, and the
+fence was tumbling down, and there were lights of glass out of the
+windows, and a general air of discomfort prevailed. It did not look
+like a home. Besides, where were father and mother? There must be some
+mistake.
+
+The two little Deckers who had played and quarreled together all
+day had left their work to come and stare at the new comer out of
+astonished eyes. Certainly they did not seem to have been expecting her.
+
+The new comer turned to the elder of the two children, and spoke in a
+gentle winning voice: "Little girl, do you live here--in this house?"
+
+The child with her forefinger placed meditatively on her lip, and her
+bright eyes staring intensely, decided to nod that she did.
+
+"And can you tell me what your name is?"
+
+To this question there was no answer for several seconds, then she
+thought better of it and gravely said: "I could."
+
+This seemed so funny, that poor Nan, though by this time carrying a
+very sad heart, could not help smiling.
+
+"Well, will you?" she asked.
+
+But at this the tangled yellow head was shaken violently. No, she
+wouldn't.
+
+"It can't be," said Nan, talking to herself, since there was no one who
+would talk with her, looking with troubled eyes at the two uncombed,
+unwashed children, with their dresses half torn from them, and dirtier
+than any dresses that this trim little maiden had ever seen before,
+"this really cannot be the place! and yet father said this street and
+number; and the driver said this was right." Then she stooped to the
+little one. "Won't you tell me if your name is Satie Decker?"
+
+But this one was shy, and hid her dirty face in her dirty hands, and
+stepped back behind her sister who at once came to the rescue.
+
+"Yes, 'tis," she said, "and you let her alone."
+
+A shadow fell over Nan's face, but she said quickly, "Then you must be
+Susie Decker, and this place is really home!"
+
+But you cannot think how strangely it sounded to her to call such
+a looking spot as this home. There was no use in standing on the
+doorstep. She could feel that curious eyes were peeping at her from
+neighbors' windows. She stepped quickly inside the half-open door, into
+the kitchen where that breakfast-table still stood, with the flies so
+thick around the molasses cup, from which the children had long since
+drained the molasses, that it was difficult to tell whether there was a
+cup behind it, or whether this really was a pyramid of flies.
+
+The children followed her in. Susie had a dark frown on her face, and a
+determined air, as one who meant to stand up for her rights and protect
+the little sister who still tried to hide behind her. I think it was
+well they were there; had they not been, I feel almost sure that the
+stranger would have sat down in the first chair and cried.
+
+Poor little woman! It was such a sorrowful home-coming to her. So
+different from what she had been planning all day.
+
+I wish I could give you a real true picture of her as she stood in
+the middle of that dreadful room, trying to choke back the tears while
+she convinced herself that she was really Nettie Decker. A trim little
+figure in a brown and white gingham dress, a brown straw hat trimmed
+with broad bands and ends of satin ribbon, with brown gloves on her
+hands, and a ruffle in her neck. This was Nettie Decker; neat and
+orderly, from ruffle to buttoned boots. I wonder if you can think what
+a strange contrast she was to everything around her?
+
+What was to be done? she could not stand there, gazing about her; and
+there seemed no place to sit down, and nowhere to go. Where could
+father be? Why had he not stayed at home to welcome his little girl? or
+if too busy for that, surely the mother could have stayed, and he must
+have left a message for her.
+
+If the little girls would only be good and try to tell her what all
+this strangeness meant! She made another effort to get into their
+confidence. She bent toward Susie, smiling as brightly as she could,
+and said: "Didn't you know, little girlie, that I was your sister
+Nettie? I have come home to play with you and help you have a nice
+time."
+
+Even while she said it, she felt ten years older than she ever had
+before, and she wondered if she should ever play anything again; and if
+it could be possible for people to have nice times who lived in such a
+house as this. But Susie was in no sense won, and scowled harder than
+ever, as she said in a suspicious tone: "I ain't got no sister Nettie,
+only Sate, and Nan."
+
+Hot as the room was, the neat little girl shivered. There was something
+dreadful to her in the sound of that name. She had forgotten that she
+ever used to hear it; she remembered her father as having called her
+'Nannie'; that would do very well, though it was not so pleasant to her
+as the 'Nettie' to which she had been answering for seven years.
+
+But how strange and sad it was that these little sisters should have
+been taught to call her Nan! could there be a more hateful name than
+that, she wondered. Did it mean that her step-mother hated her, and had
+taught the children to do so? She swallowed at the lump in her throat.
+What if she should cry! what would those children say or do, and what
+would happen next? she must try to explain.
+
+"I am Nannie," she couldn't make her lips say the word Nan. "I have
+come home to live, and to help you!" She did not feel like saying "play
+with you," now. "Will you be a good girl, and let me love you?"
+
+How Susie scowled at her then! "No," she said, firmly, "I won't."
+
+There seemed to be no truthful answer to make to this, for in the
+bottom of her heart, Nannie did not believe that she could. Still, she
+must make the best of it, and she began slowly to draw off her gloves.
+Clearly she must do something towards getting herself settled.
+
+"Won't you tell me where father is? or mother?" her voice faltered a
+little over that word; "maybe you can show me where to put my trunk; do
+you know which is to be my room?"
+
+There were pauses made between each of these questions. The poor little
+stranger seemed to be trying first one form and then another, to see if
+it was possible to get any help.
+
+Susie decided at last to do something besides scowl.
+
+"Mother's sick. She lies in bed and groans all the time. She ain't got
+us no dinner to-day; Sate and me called her, and called her, and she
+wouldn't say anything to us. There ain't no room only this and that,"
+nodding her head toward the bedroom door, "and the room over the shed
+where Norm sleeps. Norm is hateful. He didn't bring home no bread this
+noon for Sate and me; and he said maybe he would; we're awful hungry."
+
+"Perhaps he couldn't," said poor startled Nettie. She hardly knew
+what she said, only it seemed natural to try to excuse Norm. But what
+dreadful story was this! If there was really a sick mother, why was not
+the father bending over her, and the house hushed and darkened, and
+somebody tiptoeing about, planning comforts for the night? She had seen
+something of sickness, and this was the way it was managed.
+
+Then what was this about there being no room for her? Then what in the
+world was she to do? Oh, what did it all mean! She felt as though she
+must run right back to the depot, and get on the cars and go to her own
+dear home. To be sure she knew that her father was poor; what of that?
+so were the Marshalls; she had heard Mrs. Marshall say many a time
+that "poor folks can't have such things," in answer to some of the
+children's coaxings. But poverty such as this which seemed to surround
+this home was utterly strange to Nettie.
+
+Still, though she felt such a child, she was also a woman; in some
+things at least. She knew there was no going home for her to-night. If
+she had the money to go with, and if there had been a train to go on,
+she would still have been stayed, because it would be wrong to go. Her
+father had sent for her, had said that they wanted her, needed her,
+and her father certainly had a right to her; and she had come away
+with a full heart, and a firm resolve to be as good and as helpful and
+as happy in her old home as she possibly could. And now that nothing
+anywhere was as she had expected it, was no reason why she should not
+still do right. Only, what was there for her to do, and how should she
+begin?
+
+She stood there still in the middle of the room, the children staring.
+Presently she crossed on tiptoe to the bedroom door which was partly
+open and peeped in, catching her first glimpse of the woman whom she
+must call "mother."
+
+Also she caught a glimpse of that dreadful bed; and the horrors of that
+sight almost took away the thought of the woman lying on it. How could
+she help being sick if she had to sleep in such a place as that? Poor
+Nettie Decker! She stood and looked, and looked. Then seeing that the
+woman did not stir, but seemed to be in a heavy sleep, she shut the
+door softly and came away.
+
+I don't suppose that Nettie Decker will ever forget the next three
+hours of her life, even if she lives to be an old woman. Not that
+anything wonderful happened; only that, for years and years afterwards,
+it seemed to her that she grew suddenly, that afternoon, from a
+happy-hearted little girl of thirteen, into a care-taking, sorrowful
+woman. While she stood in that bedroom door, a perfect whirl of
+thoughts rushed through her brain, and when she shut the door, she had
+come to this conclusion:
+
+"I can't help it; I am Nettie Decker; he is my father, and I belong to
+him, and I ought to be here if he wants me; and she is my mother; and
+if it is dreadful, I can't help it; there is everything to do; and I
+must do it."
+
+It was then that she shut the door softly and went back and began her
+life.
+
+There was that trunk out on the stoop. It ought to go somewhere. At
+least she could drag it into the kitchen so that the troops of children
+gathering about the door need not have it to wonder at any longer.
+Putting all her strength to it she drew it in and shut the door. By
+this time, Sate, who was getting used to her as she had gotten used to
+many a new thing in her little life, began to wail that she was hungry,
+and wanted some bread and some molasses.
+
+"Poor little girlie!" Nettie said, "don't cry; I'll see if I can
+find you something to eat. Did she really have no dinner, Susie? Oh,
+darling, don't cry so; you will trouble poor mother."
+
+But Susie had gone back to the scowling mood. "She _shall_ cry, if she
+wants to; you can't stop her; and you needn't try; I'll cry too, just
+as loud as I can."
+
+And Susie Decker who had strong lungs and always did as she said she
+would, immediately set up such a howl as put Sate's milder crying quite
+in the shade.
+
+Nettie looked over at the bedroom door in dismay; but no sound came
+from there. Yet this roaring was fearful. How could it be stopped?
+Suddenly she plunged her hand into the depths of a small travelling bag
+which still hung on her arm, and brought forth a lovely red-cheeked
+peach. She held it before the eyes of the naughty couple and spoke in a
+determined tone: "This is for the one who stops crying this instant."
+
+Both children stopped as suddenly as though they had been wound up, and
+the machinery had run down.
+
+Nettie smiled, and went back into the travelling bag. "There must be
+two of them, it seems," she said, and brought out another peach. "Now
+you are to sit down on the steps and eat them, while I see what can be
+found for our supper."
+
+Down sat the children. There had been quiet determination in this
+new-comer's tone, and peaches were not to be trifled with. Their mouths
+had watered for a taste ever since the dear woolly things began to
+appear in the grocery windows, and not one had they had!
+
+Now began work indeed. Nettie opened her trunk and drew out a work
+apron which covered her dress from throat to shoes, and made her look
+if anything, prettier than before. Where was the broom? The children
+busy with their peaches, neither knew nor cared; however, a vigorous
+search among the rubbish in the shed brought one to light. And then
+there was such a cloud of dust as the Decker kitchen had not seen in a
+long time. Then came a visit to the back yard in search of chips; both
+children following close at her heels, saying nothing, but watching
+every movement with wide-open wondering eyes. Back again to the kitchen
+and the fire was made up. Then an old kettle was dragged out from a
+hole in the corner, which poor Mrs. Decker called a closet. It was to
+hold water, while the fire heated it, but first it must be washed;
+everything must be washed that was touched. Where was the dishcloth?
+
+The children being asked, stared and shook their heads. Nettie
+searched. She found at last a rag so black and ill-smelling that
+without giving the matter much thought she opened the stove door and
+thrust it in. This brought a rebuke from the fierce Susie.
+
+"You better look out how you burn up my mother's things. My mother will
+take your head right off."
+
+"It wasn't good for anything, dear," Nettie said soothingly, "it was
+too dirty." And she stooped down and turned over the contents of the
+trunk. Neat little piles of clothing, carefully marked with her full
+name; a pretty green box which Susie dived for, and pushing off the
+cover disclosed little white ruffles, some of lace, and some of fine
+lawn, lying cosily together; but Nettie was not searching for such
+as these. Quite at the bottom of the trunk was a pile of towels,
+all neatly hemmed and marked. Two of these she selected; looked
+thoughtfully at one of them for a moment, and then with a grave shake
+of her head, got out her scissors and snipped it in two. Now she had
+a dishcloth, and a towel for drying. But what a pity to soil the
+nice white cloth by washing out that iron kettle! Nettie had grave
+suspicions that after such a proceeding it would not be fit for the
+dishes. Still, the kettle must be washed, and to have used the black
+rag which she had burned, was out of the question.
+
+There was no help for it, the other neat dishcloth must be sacrificed.
+So taking the precaution to wipe out the iron kettle with a piece of
+paper, and then to heat it quite hot, and apply soap freely, the cloth
+escaped without very serious injury; and in less time than it takes me
+to tell it, the water was getting itself into bubbles over the stove,
+and a tin pan was being cleaned, ready for the dishes. Then they were
+gathered, and placed in the hot and soapy water, and washed and rinsed
+and polished with the white towel until they shone; and the little
+girls looked on, growing more amazed each moment.
+
+It did not take long to wash every dish there was in that house. I
+suppose you would have been very much astonished if you could have
+seen how few there were! Nettie was very much astonished. She wondered
+how people could get supper with so few dishes, to say nothing of
+breakfasts and dinner. But you see she did not know how little there
+was to put on them.
+
+The next question was, Where to put them? One glance at the upper part
+of the closet where she had found some of them, convinced Nettie that
+her clean dishes could not be happy resting on those shelves. There was
+no help for it; they must be scrubbed, though she had not intended to
+begin housecleaning the first afternoon. More water and more soap, and
+the few shelves were soon cleared of rubbish, and washed. Nettie piled
+all the rubbish on a lower shelf and left it for a future day. She did
+not dare to burn any more property.
+
+"Don't they look pretty?" she said to the children, when at last the
+dishes were neatly arranged on the shelf. One held them all, nicely.
+
+Susie nodded with a grave face that said she had not yet decided
+whether to be pleased or indignant.
+
+"What did you do it for?" she asked, after a moment's silent survey.
+
+"Why, to make them clean and shining. You and I are going to clear up
+the house and make it look ever so nice for mother when she wakes up."
+
+"Did you come home to help mother?"
+
+"Yes, indeed. And you two little sisters must show me how to help her;
+poor sick mother! I am afraid she has too much to do."
+
+"She cries," said Susie gravely, as though she were stating not a
+surprising but simply a settled fact; "she cried every day: not out
+loud like Sate and me, but softly. Father says she is always sniveling."
+
+If you had been watching Nettie Decker just then you would have noticed
+that the blood flamed into her cheeks, and her eyes had a flash of
+wonder, and terror, and anger in them. What did it all mean? Where
+had the children learned such words? Was it possible that her father
+talked in this way to his wife?
+
+"Hush!" she said unguardedly, "you must not talk so." But this made the
+fierce little Susie stamp her foot.
+
+"I _shall_ talk so!" she said angrily; "I shall talk just what I
+please, and you sha'n't stop me." And then the queer little mimic
+beside her stamped her foot, and said, "You sha'n't stop me."
+
+Said Nettie, "There was a little girl on the cars to-day that I knew.
+She had a little gray kitty with three white feet, and a white spot on
+one ear, and it had a blue ribbon around its neck. What if you had such
+a kitty. Would you be real good to it?"
+
+"I will have a _black_ kitty," said Susie, "all black; as black as that
+stove." Nettie glancing at the stove, could not help thinking that it
+was more gray than black; but she kept her thoughts to herself, and
+Susie went on. "And it should have a red ribbon around its neck; as red
+as Janie Martin's dress; her dress is as red as fire, and has ruffles
+on, and ribbons. But what would it eat?"
+
+She did not mean the dress but the kitten.
+
+Nettie laughed, but hastened to explain that the kitten would need a
+saucer of milk quite often, and bits of various things. This made wise
+Susie gravely shake her head.
+
+"We don't have no milk," she said, "only once in awhile when Norm buys
+it; Sate, she often cries for milk, but she don't get none. It don't do
+no good to cry for milk; I ain't cried for any in a long time."
+
+Poor little philosopher! Poor, pitiful childhood without any milk!
+Hardly anything could have told the story of poverty to Nettie's young
+ears more surely than this. Why, she was a big girl thirteen years old,
+and had lived in a city where milk was scarce, and yet her glass had
+been filled every evening. Nettie did not know what to make of it. How
+came her father to be so poor? She was sure that the house did not look
+like this when she went away; and her clothes had been neat and good.
+She had the little red dress now which she wore away. She thought of it
+when Susie was talking, and wondered if with a little fixing it could
+not be made to fit the black-eyed child who seemed to admire red so
+much. Finding the kitty a troublesome subject, at least so far as the
+finding of milk for it was concerned, she turned the conversation to
+the little girls who had been on the cars; the one with the kitty, and
+her little sister, whom she called "Pet." "She was about as old as you,
+Susie, and Pet was about Satie's age. And she was very kind to Pet;
+she always spoke to her so gently, and took such care of her everybody
+seemed to love her for her kindness."
+
+"I take care of Sate," said Susie. "I never let anybody hurt her. I
+would scratch their eyes out if they did; and they know it."
+
+"You slap me sometimes," little Sate said, her voice slightly
+reproachful.
+
+"Yes," said Susie loftily, "but that is when you are bad and need it; I
+don't let anybody else slap you."
+
+"The oldest little girl had curly hair," said Nettie, "but it wasn't so
+long as yours, and did not curl so nicely as I think yours would. And
+Pet's hair was a pretty brown, like Sate's, and looked very pretty. It
+was combed so neatly. One wore a blue dress, and one a white dress; but
+I think they would have looked prettier if they had been dressed both
+alike."
+
+"I don't like white dresses," said Susie; "I like fiery red ones."
+
+So Nettie resolved that the red dress should be made to fit her.
+
+Meantime, the scrubbing had gone on rapidly; the table was as clean as
+soap and water could make it. Now if those children would only let her
+wash their faces and put their hair in order, how different they would
+look. Should she venture to suggest it?
+
+It all depended on how the idea happened to strike Susie.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE TRUTH IS TOLD.
+
+
+IN the bottom of that wonderful little trunk lay side by side two
+little blue and white plaid dresses, made gabrielle fashion, with
+ruffles around the bottom and around the neck. Never were dresses made
+with more patient care. All the stitches were small and very neat.
+
+And they represented hours and hours of steady work. Every stitch in
+them had been taken by Nettie Decker. Long before she had thought of
+such a thing as coming home, they had been commenced. Birthday presents
+they were to be to the little sisters whom she had never seen. She had
+earned the money to buy them. She had borrowed two little neighbors of
+the same age, to fit them to, and with much advice and now and then a
+little skilful handling from Mrs. Marshall, they were finally finished
+to Nettie's great satisfaction.
+
+It was the day the last stitch was set in them that she learned she was
+to come herself and bring them.
+
+She thought of them this afternoon. If the little girls would only let
+her comb their hair and wash their faces and hands, she would put on
+the new dresses. She had not intended to present them in that way, but
+dresses as soiled and faded and worn as those the little sisters had
+on, Nettie Decker had never worn.
+
+She opened the trunk, with both children beside her, watching, and drew
+out the dresses.
+
+"Aren't these almost as pretty as red ones?" she asked, as she unfolded
+them, and displayed the dainty ruffles.
+
+"No," said Susie, "not near so pretty as red ones. But then they are
+pretty. They aren't dresses at all; they are aprons. Are they for you
+to wear?"
+
+"No," said Nettie, "they are for two little girls to wear, who have
+their hair combed beautifully, and their hands and faces very clean."
+
+"Do you mean us?"
+
+"I do if the description fits. I can think just how nice you would look
+if your faces were clean and your hair was combed."
+
+"We will put on the aprons," said Susie firmly, "but we won't have our
+hair combed, nor our faces washed, and you need not try it."
+
+But Miss Susie found that this new sister had as strong a will as she.
+The trunk lid went down with a click, and Nettie rose up.
+
+"Very well," she said, "then we will not waste time over them. I
+brought them for you, and meant to put them on you this afternoon to
+surprise mamma, but if you don't want them, they can lie in the trunk."
+
+"I told you we did want them," said Susie, looking horribly cross. "I
+said we would put them on."
+
+"Yes, but you said some more which spoiled it. _I_ say that they cannot
+go on until your faces and hands are so clean that they shine, and your
+hair is combed beautifully."
+
+"You can't make us have our hair combed."
+
+"I shall not try," said Nettie, as though it was a matter of very small
+importance to her. "I was willing to dress you all up prettily, but if
+you don't choose to look like the little girls I saw on the cars, why
+you can go dirty, of course. But you can't have the clean new dresses."
+
+"Till when?"
+
+"Not ever. Unless you are clean and neat."
+
+"It hurts to have hair combed."
+
+"I know it. Yours would hurt a good deal, because you don't have it
+combed every day; if you kept it smooth and nice it would hardly hurt
+at all. But I didn't suppose you were a cowardly little girl who was
+afraid of a few pulls. If the dresses are not worth those, we had
+better let them lie in the trunk."
+
+Nettie was already beginning to understand her queer fierce little
+sister. She had no idea of being thought a coward.
+
+"Well," she said, after a thoughtful pause, "comb my hair if you like;
+I don't care. Sate, you are going to have your hair combed, and you
+needn't cry; because it won't do any good."
+
+It was certainly a trial to all parties; and poor little Sate in spite
+of this warning, did shed several tears; but Susie, though she frowned,
+and choked, and once jerked the comb away and threw it across the
+floor, did not let a single tear appear on her cheeks. And at last the
+terrible tangles slipped out, and left silky folds of beautiful hair
+that was willing to do whatever Nettie's skilful fingers told it. When
+the faces and hands were clean, and the lovely blue dresses had been
+arranged, Nettie stood back to look at them in genuine delight. What
+pretty little girls they were! She sighed in two minutes after she
+thought this. What did it mean that they looked so neglected and dirty?
+
+"These must go in the wash," she said, as she gathered up the rags
+which had been kicked off.
+
+"Will we put these on in the morning?" asked Susie, in quite a mild
+tone. She was looking down at herself and was very much pleased with
+her changed appearance.
+
+"Oh, no," Nettie said, "they are too light to play in. They are
+dress-up clothes. You must have dark dresses on in the morning."
+
+"We ain't got no dresses only them," and Susie pointed contemptuously
+at the rags in Nettie's hand. This made poor Nettie sigh again. What
+did it all mean?
+
+However, there was no time for sighing. There was still a great deal to
+be done.
+
+"Now we must get tea," she said, bustling about. "Where does mother
+keep the bread, and other things?"
+
+"She don't keep them nowhere. We don't have no things. I go to the
+bakery sometimes for bread, and for potatoes, and sometimes for
+milk. I would go now; I just want to show that hateful little girl in
+there my new dress, and my curls, but it isn't a bit of use to go. He
+won't let us have another single thing without the money. He said so
+yesterday, and he looked so cross he scared Sate; but I made faces at
+him."
+
+This called forth several questions as to where the bakery was, and
+Nettie, finding that it was but a few steps away, and that the little
+girls really bought most of the things which came from there, counted
+out the required number of pennies from her poor little purse for a
+loaf of bread and a pint of milk. In the cupboard was what had once
+been butter, set on the upper shelf in a teacup. It was almost oil, now.
+
+"If I had a lump of ice for this," Nettie murmured, "it might do.
+Butter costs so much."
+
+"They keep ice at the bakery," said that wise young woman, Susie, "but
+we never buy it."
+
+This brought two more pennies from the pocketbook; for to Nettie it
+seemed quite impossible that butter in such a condition could be eaten.
+So the ice was ordered, and two very neat, and very vain little bits of
+girls started on their mission.
+
+Tablecloths? Where would the new housekeeper find them? Where indeed!
+Hunt through the room as she would, no trace of one was to be found.
+She did not know that the Deckers had not used such an article in
+months. She thought of the cupboard drawer at home, and of the neat
+pile which was always waiting there, and at about this hour it had
+been her duty to set the table and make everything ready for tea. It
+would not do to think about it. There were sharper contrasts than
+these. Her proposed present to her mother had been a tablecloth, not
+very large nor very fine, but beautifully smooth and clean, and hemmed
+by her own patient fingers. She must get it out to-night, as no other
+appeared; and of course she could not set the table without one. So it
+was spread on the clean table, and the few dishes arranged as well as
+she could. There was a drawing of tea set up in another teacup, and
+there was a sticky little tin teapot. Nettie, as she washed it, told it
+that to-morrow she would scour it until it shone; then she made tea.
+Meantime the little errand girls had returned with their purchases, the
+butter was resting on a generous lump of ice, the bread which was found
+to be stale, was toasted, a plate of cookies from the wonderful trunk
+was added, and at last there was ready such a supper as had not been
+eaten in that house for weeks. To be sure it looked to Nettie as though
+there was very little to eat; but then she had not been used to living
+at the Deckers. She began to be very nervous about the people who were
+going to sit down at this neat table. Why did not some of them come?
+
+The wise housekeeper knew that neither tea nor toast improved greatly
+by standing, but she drew the teapot to the very edge of the stove,
+covered the toast, and set it in the oven. Then she went softly to the
+bedroom door and opened it. This time a pair of heavy eyes turned,
+as the door creaked, and were fixed on her with a kind of bewildered
+stare. She went softly in.
+
+"How do you feel now?" she asked gently. "I have made a cup of tea and
+a bit of toast for you. Shall I bring them now? The children said you
+did not eat any dinner."
+
+"Who are you?" asked the astonished woman, still regarding her with
+that bewildered stare.
+
+Nettie swallowed at the lump in her throat. It would be dreadful if she
+should burst out crying and run away, as she felt exactly like doing.
+
+"I am Nettie Decker," she said, and her lips quivered a little. "Father
+sent for me, you know. Didn't you think I would be here to-day, ma'am?"
+
+"You can't be Nan!"
+
+I cannot begin to describe to you the astonishment there was in Mrs.
+Decker's voice.
+
+"Yes'm, I am. At least that is what father used to call me once in a
+while, just for fun. My name is Nanette; but Auntie Marshall where I
+live, or where I used to live"--she corrected herself, "always called
+me Nettie. May I bring you the tea, ma'am? I think it will make you
+feel better."
+
+But the two children had stayed in the background as long as they
+intended. They pushed forward, Susie eager-voiced:
+
+"Look at us! See my curls, and see my new apron, only she says it is a
+dress, but it ain't; it is made just like Jennie Brown's apron, ain't
+it? But we ain't got no dresses on. She's got a white cloth on the
+table, and cookies, and a lump of ice, and everything; and we had two
+peaches. Old Jock gave us the bread. She sent the money, and I told him
+to take his old money and give me some bread right straight."
+
+How fast Susie could talk!
+
+There was scarcely room for the slow sweet Satie to get in her gentle,
+"and me too." Meaning look at my dress and hair. The bewildered mother
+raised herself on her elbow and stared--from Nan to the little girls,
+and then back to Nan. She was sufficiently astonished to satisfy even
+Susie.
+
+"Well, I never!" she said at last. "I didn't know, I mean I didn't
+think"--then she stopped and pressed her hand to her head, and pushed
+back the straggling hair behind her ears. "I took dizzy this morning,"
+she said at last, addressing Nettie as though she were a grown-up
+neighbor who had stepped in to see her, "and I staggered to the bed,
+and didn't know nothing for a long while. I had a dreadful pain in
+my head, and then I must have dropped to sleep. Here I've been all
+day, if the day is gone. It must be after three o'clock if you've got
+here. I meant to try to do something towards making things a little
+more decent; though the land knows what it would have been; I don't.
+There's nothing to do with. I didn't know till this morning that he had
+the least notion of sending for you--though he's threatened it times
+enough. I've been ailing all the spring, and this morning I just give
+out. I don't know what is the matter with me. The bed goes round now,
+and things get into a kind of a blur."
+
+"Let me bring you a cup of tea and something to eat," said Nettie; "I
+think you are faint." Then she vanished, the children following. She
+was back in a few minutes, under her arm a white towel from her trunk;
+this she spread on the barrel head which you will remember did duty as
+a table. She spread it with one hand, little Sate carefully smoothing
+out the other end. In her left hand she carried a cup of tea smoking
+hot, and poor Mrs. Decker noticed that the cup shone. Susie followed
+behind, an air of grave importance on her face, and in her hands a
+plate, covered by a smaller one, which being taken off disclosed a
+delicately browned slice of bread with a bit of butter spread carefully
+over it.
+
+"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Decker again, but she drank the tea with
+feverish haste, stopping long enough to feel of the cup with a curious
+look on her face. It was so smooth. There was a sound of heavy feet
+outside, and the children appeared at the door and announced that
+father and Norm had come. Nettie took the emptied cup, promising to
+fill it again, urged the eating of the toast while it was hot, and went
+with trembling heart to meet the father whom she had not seen in so
+many years that she remembered very little about him.
+
+A great rough-faced, unshaven man, with uncombed hair, ragged and dirty
+shirt sleeves, ragged and dirty pants, a red face and eyes that seemed
+but half open, and watery. Nothing less like what Nettie had imagined a
+father, could well be described. However, if she had but known it, this
+was a great improvement on the man who often came home to supper. He
+was nearly sober, and greeted her with a rough sort of kindness, giving
+her a kiss, which made her shrink and tremble. It was perfumed with
+odors which she did not like.
+
+"Well, Nan, my girl, you have grown into a fine young lady, have you?
+Tall for your years, too. And smart, I'll be bound; you wouldn't be
+your mother's girl if you wasn't. Is it you that has fixed up things
+so? It is a good thing you have come to take care of us. We haven't had
+anything decent here in so long, we've most forgot how to treat it.
+Come on, Norm. This table looks something like living again."
+
+And "Norm" shambled in. Rough, and uncombed, and unwashed, except a
+dab at his hands which left long streaks of brown at the wrists. A
+hard-looking boy, harder than Nettie had ever spoken to before. She
+could not help thinking of Jim Daker who lived in a saloon not far from
+her old home, and whom she had always passed with a hurried step, and
+with eyes on the ground, and of whom she thought as of one who lived in
+a different world from hers, and wondered how it felt to be down there
+in the slum. Now here was a boy whom it was her duty to think of as a
+brother; and he reminded her of Jim Daker!
+
+Still there was something about Norm that she could not help half
+liking. He had great brown, wistful-looking eyes, and an honest face.
+She had not much chance, it is true, to observe the eyes; for he did
+not look at her, nor speak, until his father said:
+
+"Why don't you shake hands with Nan? You ought to be glad to see her.
+You ain't used to such a looking supper as this."
+
+The boy laughed, in an embarrassed way, and said he was sure he did
+not know whether he was glad to see her or not: depended on what she
+had come for. He gave her just a gleam then from the brown eyes, and
+she smiled and held out her hand. He took it awkwardly enough, and
+dropped it as suddenly as though it had been hot; then sat down in
+haste at the table, where his step-father was already making havoc with
+the toast. It was not a very substantial meal for people who had dined
+on bread and cheese, and were hungering at that moment for beer; but
+the man had spoken the truth, it was better than they generally found.
+There was one part of the story, however, that he failed to tell: which
+was, that he did not furnish money to get anything better. As for Susie
+and Sate, they had become suddenly silent. They sat close together and
+devoured their toast, like hungry children indeed, but also like scared
+children. They gave occasional frightened glances at their father which
+puzzled and pained Nettie. No suspicion of the truth had yet come to
+her. Oh, yes, she had smelled the liquor when her father kissed her;
+but she thought it was something which had to do with the machinery
+around which he worked.
+
+"Where is the old woman?" he asked suddenly, setting down his empty cup
+which Nettie had filled for the third time. She looked up at him with a
+startled air. To whom was he speaking and what old woman could he mean?
+Her look seemed to make him cross. "What are you staring at?" he said
+sharply. "Can't you answer a question? Where's your mother?"
+
+Nettie hurried to answer; she was sick, had been real sick all day, but
+was better now, and was trying to get up.
+
+"She is everlastingly sick," the father said with a sneer; "you will
+get used to that story if you live here long. I hope you ain't one of
+the sickly kind, because we have heard enough of that."
+
+This sentence and the tone in which it was spoken, brought the blood in
+great waves to Nettie's face. It was the first time she had ever heard
+a man speak of his wife in such a way. Norm looked up from his cookie,
+and flashed angry eyes on his step-father for a moment, and said "he
+didn't know as that was any wonder. She had enough to make any woman
+sick."
+
+"You shut up," said the father in increasing irritability; and the
+children slipped out of their seats and moved toward the door, keeping
+careful eyes on the father until they were fairly outside. Nettie
+felt her limbs trembling so that her knees knocked together under the
+table. But at last every crumb of toast was eaten, and every drop of
+tea swallowed, and Mr. Decker pushed himself back from the table, and
+spoke in a somewhat gentler tone: "Well, my girl, make yourself as
+comfortable as you can. I'm glad to see you. We need your help, you'll
+find, in more ways than one. You've been working for other folks long
+enough. It is a poor place you've come to, and that's a fact. I ain't
+what I used to be; I've been unfortunate. No fellow ever had worse
+luck. Everything has gone wrong with me ever since your mother died.
+A sick wife, and young ones to look after, and nobody to do a thing.
+It is a hard life, but you might as well rough it with the rest of us.
+You'll get along somehow, I s'pose. The rest of us always have. I've
+got to go out for awhile. You tell the old woman to fix up some place
+for you to sleep, and we'll do the best we can."
+
+And he lounged away; Norm having left the table and the room some
+minutes before. And this was the father to whom Nettie Decker had come
+home!
+
+She swallowed at the lump which seemed growing larger every minute in
+her throat. She had choked back a great many tears that afternoon.
+There was no time to cry. Some place must be fixed for her to sleep.
+
+In the home that she had left, there was a little room with matting on
+the floor, and a little white bed in the corner, and a pretty toilet
+set that the carpenter's son had made her at odd times, and a wash bowl
+and pitcher that had been her present on her eleventh birthday, and a
+green rocking-chair that aunt Kate had sent her: not her own aunt Kate,
+but Mrs. Marshall's sister who had adopted her as a niece, and these
+things and many another little knickknack were all her own. The room
+was empty to-night; but then Nettie must not cry!
+
+She began to gather the dishes and get them ready for washing. Just as
+she plunged her hands into the dishwater, the bedroom door opened, and
+her mother came out, stepping feebly, like one just recovering from
+severe illness.
+
+"I'm dreadful weak," she said in answer to Nettie's inquiries, "but
+I guess I'm better than I have been in a good while. I've had a rest
+to-day; the first one I have had in three years. I don't know what made
+me give out so, all of a sudden. I tried to keep on my feet, but I
+couldn't do it no more than I could fly. You oughtn't to have to wash
+them dishes, child, with your pretty hands and your pretty dress. Oh,
+dear! I don't know what is to become of any of us."
+
+"This is my work apron," said Nettie, trying to speak cheerily, "and
+I am used to this work: I always helped with the tea dishes at home."
+Then she plunged into the midst of the subject which was troubling her.
+"Father said I was to ask you where I was to sleep."
+
+"He better ask himself!" said the wilted woman, rousing to sudden
+energy and indignation. "How does he think I know? There isn't the
+first rag to make a bed of, nor a spot to put it, if there was. I say
+it was a sin and a shame for him to send for you, and that's the truth!
+If he had one decent child who had a place to stay, where she would
+be took care of, he ought to have let you alone. You have come to an
+awful home, child. You have got to know the truth, and you might as
+well know it first as last. It is enough sight worse than you have seen
+to-night, though I dare say you think this is bad enough. You don't
+look nor act like what I was afraid of, and you must have had good
+friends who took care of you; and he ought to have let you alone. This
+is no place for a decent girl. It is bad enough for an old woman who
+has given up, and never expects to have anything decent any more. He
+won't provide any place for you, nor any clothes, and what we are to do
+with one more mouth to feed is more than I can see. I wouldn't grudge
+it to you, child, if we had it; but we are starved, half the time, and
+that's the living truth."
+
+"I won't eat much," said poor Nettie, trembling and quivering, "and I
+will try very hard to help; but if you please, what makes things so?
+Can't father get work?"
+
+"Work! of course he can; as much as he can do. He is as good a
+machinist to-day as there is in the shops; when they have a particular
+job they want him to do it. He works hard enough by spells; why, child,
+it's the drink. You didn't know it, did you? Well, you may as well know
+it first as last. He was nearer sober to-night than he has been in a
+week; but he wasn't so very sober or he wouldn't have been cross. He
+used to be good and kind as the best of them, and we had things decent.
+I never thought it would come to this, but it has, and it grows worse
+every day. Yes, you may well turn pale, and cry out. Turning pale won't
+do any good. And you may cry tears of blood, and them that sells the
+rum to poor foolish men will go right on selling it as long as they
+have money to pay, and kick them out when they haven't. That is the way
+it is done, and it keeps going on here year after year, homes ruined,
+and children made beggars, and them that have the making of the laws,
+go right on and let it be done. I've watched it. And I've tried, too.
+You needn't think I gave up and sat down to it without trying as hard
+as ever woman could to struggle against the curse; but I've give up
+now. Nothing is of any use. And the worst of it is my Norm is going the
+same road."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+NEW FRIENDS.
+
+
+AND then the poor woman who thought she had no more tears to shed,
+buried her face in her hands and shed some of the bitterest ones she
+ever did in her life.
+
+Poor Nettie! she tried to turn comforter; tried to think of one
+cheering word to say; but what was there to cheer the wife of a
+drunkard? Or the daughter of a drunkard? Could it be possible that she,
+Nettie Decker, was that! Oh, dear! how often she had stood in the door,
+and with a kind of terrified fascination watched Jane Daker stealing
+home in the darkness, afraid to go in at the front door, lest her
+drunken father should see her and vent his wrath on her. Could she ever
+creep around in the dark and hide away from her own _father_? Wouldn't
+it be possible for her to go back home? She had not money enough to
+get there, but couldn't she work somehow, and earn money? She could
+write a letter to the folks at home and tell them the dreadful story,
+and they would surely find a way of sending for her. But then, money
+was not plenty in that home, and she began to understand that they had
+done a great deal for her, and that it had cost a good deal to pay her
+fare to this place. She had wondered, at the time, that her father did
+not send the money for her to come home, but she said to herself: "I
+suppose he did not know how much it would cost, and he will give it to
+me to send in my first letter. Perhaps he will give me a little bit
+more than it costs, too, for a little present for Jamie."
+
+Oh, poor little girl! building hopes on a father like hers. She had not
+been at home half a day, but she knew now that no money would ever go
+back to the Marshalls in return for all they had done for her. Worse
+than that, she might not be able to get back to them herself. Would her
+father be likely to let her go? He had sent for her, and had told her
+during this first hour of their meeting, that she had worked for other
+people long enough. This made her heart swell with indignation.
+
+Done enough for others, indeed! What had they not done for her? She
+never realized it half so plainly as she did to-night. "I will go
+back!" she muttered, setting the little bowl she was drying on the
+table with a determined thump. "I can't stay in such a place as this.
+I will write to Auntie Marshall this very night if I can get a chance,
+and she will contrive some way."
+
+Certainly, Nettie in that mood could have no comfort for a weeping
+mother, and attempted none, after the first murmured word of pity. But
+meantime she knew very well that she could not go back home that night,
+and the present terror was, where was she to sleep?
+
+Her mother went back into the bedroom after a few minutes of bitter
+weeping, and Nettie finished the work, then stood drearily in the
+doorway, wondering what she could do next, when a good, homely,
+motherly face looked out of the side window of the small house next
+their own, and a cheery voice spoke:
+
+"Are you Joe Decker's little Nannie?"
+
+"Yes'm," said Nettie, sadly, wondering drearily, even then, if it could
+be possible that this was so.
+
+"Well," said the voice, "I calculated that you must be; though I never
+should have known you in the world, if I hadn't heard you was coming,
+you was such a mite of a thing when you went away. What a tall nice
+girl you've got to be. Your ma is sick, the children said. I've been
+away ironing all day, or I would have been in to see if I could help
+the poor thing any. I don't know her very much, but she is sickly, and
+has hard times now and then, and I'm sorry for her. Now what I was
+wondering is, where are they going to put you to sleep? The upper part
+of that house ain't finished off, is it? It is one big attic, ain't it,
+where Norm sleeps? I thought so. I suppose there could be quite a nice
+room made up there with a little work and a few dollars laid out, but
+your pa ain't done it, I'll be bound. And I knew there wasn't but one
+bedroom down-stairs, and I couldn't think how they would manage it."
+
+"It isn't managed at all, ma'am," said Nettie, seeing that she seemed
+to wait for an answer, and there was nothing to say but the simple
+truth. "There is no place for me to sleep."
+
+"You don't say! Now that's a shame. Well, now, what I was thinking was,
+that maybe you would like to sleep in the woodhouse chamber; it is a
+nice little room as ever was, and it opens right out of my Sarah Ann's
+room; so you wouldn't be lonesome. I haven't any manner of use for it,
+now my boy's gone away, and I just as soon you would sleep there as
+not until your folks get things fixed. You're a dreadful clean-looking
+little girl, and I like that. I'm a master hand to have clean things
+around me; Job says he believes I catch the flies and dust their wings
+before I let them go into my front room. Job is my husband, and that is
+his little joke at me, you know." And she laughed such a jolly little
+roly-poly sort of laugh that poor Nettie could not keep a smile from
+her troubled face. A refuge in the woodhouse chamber of this neat,
+good-natured-looking woman seemed like a bit of heaven to the homesick
+child.
+
+"I am very much obliged to you, ma'am," she said respectfully; "I will
+tell my mother how kind you are, and I think she will be glad to accept
+the kindness for a few days. I--" and then Nettie suddenly stopped. It
+might not be well to say to this new friend that she would not need to
+trouble the woodhouse chamber long, for she meant to start for home
+as soon as a letter could travel there, and another travel back.
+Something might come in the way of this resolve, though it made her
+feel hot all over to think of such a possibility.
+
+"Bless my heart!" said Mrs. Job Smith as Nettie vanished to consult her
+mother. "If that ain't as polite and pretty-spoken a child as ever I
+see in my life. She makes me think of our Jerry. To think of that child
+being Joe Decker's girl and coming back to such a home as he keeps! It
+is too bad! I am sure I hope they will let her sleep in the woodhouse
+chamber. It is the only spot where she will get any peace."
+
+Mrs. Decker was only too glad to avail herself of her neighbor's kind
+offer. "It is good of her," she said gratefully to Nettie. "I wish to
+the land you could have such a comfortable room all the time; they are
+real clean-looking folks. You wouldn't suppose from the looks of this
+house that I cared for clean things, but I do, and I used to have them
+about me, too. I was as neat once as the best of them; but it takes
+clothes and soap and strength to be clean, and I have had none of 'em
+in so long that I have most forgot how to do anything decent."
+
+"Soap?" said Nettie, wonderingly. She was beating up the poor rags
+which composed the bed in her mother's room, trying to get a little
+freshness into them.
+
+"Yes, soap; I don't suppose you can imagine how it would seem not to
+have all the soap you wanted; I couldn't, either, once, but I tell
+you I save the pennies nowadays for bread, so that I need not see my
+children starve before my eyes. I would rather do without soap than
+bread; especially when our clothes are so worn out that there is
+nothing much to change with. Oh, I tell you when you get into a house
+where the men folks spend all they can get on beer or whiskey, there
+are not many pennies left. Mrs. Smith has been real kind; she sent the
+children in a bowl of soup one day when their father had gone off and
+not left a thing in the house, nor a cent to get anything with.
+
+"And she has done two or three things like that lately; I'm grateful to
+her, but I'm ashamed to say so. I never expected to sink so low that I
+should be glad of the scraps which a poor neighbor like her could send
+in. Oh, no; they are not very poor. Why, they are rich as kings, come
+to compare them with us; but they are not grand folks at all; he is a
+teamster, and works hard every day; so does she; but he doesn't drink
+a drop, and they have a good many comfortable things. Their boy is away
+at school, and their girl, Sarah Ann, is learning a dressmaker's trade.
+You will have a comfortable bed in there, and I'm glad of it."
+
+And now it was eight o'clock. Susie and Sate were asleep in their
+trundle bed, the tired Nettie having coaxed them to let her give them
+a splendid bath first, making the idea pleasant to them by producing
+from her trunk a cunning little cake of perfumed soap. They looked "as
+pretty as pictures," the sad-eyed mother said, as she bent over them
+when they were asleep, with their moist hair in loose waves, and their
+clean faces flushed with health. "They are real pretty little girls,"
+she added earnestly, as she turned away. "He might be proud of them.
+And he used to be, too. When Sate was a baby, he said she had eyes like
+you, and he used to kiss her and tell her she was pretty, until I was
+afraid he would spoil her; but there isn't the least danger of that
+now. He never notices either of them except to slap them or growl at
+them."
+
+"How came father to begin to drink?" Nettie asked the question
+timidly, hesitating over the last word; it seemed such a dreadful word
+to add to a father's name.
+
+"Don't ask me, child; I don't know. They say he always drank a little;
+a glass of beer now and then. I knew he did when I married him, but I
+thought it was no more than all hard-working men did. I never thought
+much about it. I know it never entered my head that he could be a
+drunkard. I'd have been too afraid for Norm if I had dreamed of such a
+thing as that.
+
+"He kept increasing the drinks, little by little--it grows on them, it
+seems, the habit does; they say that is the way with all the drinks; I
+didn't know it. I never was taught about these things. If I had been,
+I think sometimes my life would have been very different. I know I
+wouldn't have walked right into the fire with my one boy, anyhow. I'm
+talking to you, child, as though you were a woman grown, and you seem
+most like a woman to me, you are so handy, and quiet, and nice-looking.
+I was sorry you were coming, because I thought you would just be an
+added plague; and now I am sorry for your own sake."
+
+Nettie hesitated greatly over the next question. It was a very hard one
+to ask this sick and discouraged mother, but she must know the whole of
+the misery by which she was surrounded. "Does Norman drink too?"
+
+"Norm," said Mrs. Decker, dropping into the one chair, and putting
+her hand to her heart as though there was something stabbing her
+there, "Norm has been led away by your father. He was a bright little
+fellow, and your father took to him amazingly. I used to tell him his
+own little girls would have reason to be jealous of his step-son. He
+took Norm with him everywhere, from the first. And taught him to do
+odd things, for a little fellow, and was proud of his singing, and
+his speaking, and all that. And when Susie there, was a baby, and I
+was kept close at home with her, and Norm would tear around in the
+evening and wake her up, I slipped into the way of letting him go out
+with your father to spend the evenings; I didn't know they spent them
+in bar-rooms, or groceries where they sold beer. I never _dreamed_ of
+such a thing. Your father talked about meeting the men, and I thought
+they met at some of the houses where there wasn't a baby to cry, and
+talked their work over, or the news, you know. And there he was
+teaching Norm to drink. He was a pretty little fellow, and he would
+sing comic songs, and then they would treat him to the sugar in their
+glasses! When I found it out, he had got to liking the stuff, and I
+don't suppose a day goes by without his taking more or less of it now.
+He never gets as bad as your father; but he will. He is never cross
+and ugly to me, nor to the children, but he will be. It grows on him.
+It grows on them all. And to think that I led him into the trap! If I
+had stayed in the country where I was brought up, or if I had left him
+with his grandfather, as he wanted me to, he might have been saved. The
+grandfather is gone now, and so is the farm. Your father got hold of my
+share of that, and lost it somehow. He didn't mean to, and that soured
+him, and he drank the harder and we are going down to the very bottom
+of everything as fast as we can."
+
+It seemed to poor Nettie that they must have reached the bottom now.
+She could not imagine any lower depths than these.
+
+She made up the poor bed as well as she could, and then went back to
+the kitchen to see what could be done about breakfast. Her new mother
+was evidently too weak and sick to be troubled with the thought of
+it, and while she stayed, Nettie resolved that she would help the
+poor woman all she could. She went out into the yard to examine, and
+discovered to her satisfaction that there must be a cooper's shop just
+around the corner, for the chips lay thick. She gathered some for the
+morning fire, determined in her mind that she would buy a few potatoes
+at the grocery in the morning! In the cupboard she had found a cup of
+sour milk; this she had carefully treasured with an eye to breakfast,
+and she now looked into her purse to see if she could spare pennies for
+a quart of flour. If she could, then some excellent cakes would be the
+result. And now everything that she knew how to do towards the next
+day's needs was attended to, and she went out in the moonlight, and sat
+down on the lowest step of the back stoop, and did what she had been
+longing to do all the afternoon--cried as though her poor young heart
+was breaking.
+
+Astride a saw-horse in the yard which belonged to Job Smith, and which
+was separated from the stoop where she sat only by a low fence, was a
+curly-headed boy, who had come there apparently to whittle and whistle
+and watch her. He was not there when she sat down and buried her head
+in her apron. She did not notice his whistling, though he made it loud
+and shrill on purpose to attract her attention, He knew quite a little
+about her by this time. He had come upon the boys of the Grammar School
+in the midst of their afternoon recess and heard Harry Stuart interrupt
+little Ted Barrows who was the youngest one in the class and wrote
+the best compositions. They were gathered under a tree listening to
+Ted, while he read them "The Story of An Hour," which was especially
+interesting because it had some of their own experiences skilfully
+woven in.
+
+"Hold on," Harry was saying, just as the whistling boy appeared within
+hearing. "You didn't make that thing up; you got it from the Deckers;
+that is what is just going to happen there. Old Joe's Nan is coming
+home this very day, and she is about as old as the girl you've got in
+your story, and is freckled, I dare say; most girls are."
+
+"I didn't even know old Joe Decker had a girl to come home!" said
+little Ted, looking injured. "I made every word of it out of my own
+mind."
+
+But the boys did not hear him; their interest had been called in
+another direction. "Is that so? Is Nan Decker coming home? My! What a
+house to come to. Mother said only yesterday that she hoped the folks
+who had her would keep her forever. What is she coming for? Who told
+you?"
+
+"Why, she is coming because Joe thinks that will be another way to
+plague the old lady. At least that is what my mother thinks. Mrs.
+Decker told her once that when Joe had been drinking more than usual
+he always threatened to send for Nan; but she didn't think he would.
+And now it seems he has. I heard it from the old fellow himself. He
+was telling Norm about it, while I stood waiting for father's saw. He
+said she was coming in the stage this afternoon; that she had worked
+for other folks long enough and it was time he had some good of her
+himself. I pity her, I tell you."
+
+Then the whistler had come out from behind the trees, and said
+good-afternoon, and asked a few questions. The boys had answered him
+civilly enough, but in a way which showed that they did not count
+him as one of them. The fact was, he was a good deal of a stranger.
+He had been in town only a few weeks, and he did not go to school,
+and he boarded with or lived with, the Smiths, who lived next door to
+the Deckers, and were nice enough people, but did not have much to do
+with the fathers and mothers of these boys, and--well, the fact was,
+the boys did not know whether to take this new comer in, and make him
+welcome, or not. They sort of liked him; he was good-natured, and
+accommodating so far as they knew, but they knew very little about him.
+He asked a good many questions about the expected Nan Decker. He had
+never heard of her before. Since he was to live next door to her, it
+might be pleasant to know what sort of a person she was. But the boys
+could tell him very little. Seven years, at their time of life, blots
+out a good many memories. They only knew that she was Nan Decker who
+went away when her mother died, and who had lived with the Marshalls
+ever since; and all agreed in being sorry for her that she was obliged
+at last to come home.
+
+The whistling boy walked away, after having cross-questioned first one,
+and then another, and learned that they knew nothing. He was on his
+way to the woods for one of his long summer rambles. He felt a trifle
+lonely, and wished that the boys had asked him to sit down under the
+trees and have a good time with them.
+
+[Illustration: JERRY ON ONE OF HIS SUMMER RAMBLES.]
+
+He would have liked to hear Ted's composition, he said to himself; the
+boy had a sweet face, and a head that looked as though he might be
+going to make a smart man, one of these days. What was the matter with
+those fellows, he wondered, that they were not more cordial?
+
+He thought about it quite awhile, then plunged into the mosses and
+ferns and gathered some lovely specimens, which he arranged in the box
+he carried slung over his shoulder, and forgot all about the boys, and
+poor little Nan Decker. On the way home, in the glow of the setting
+sun, he thought of her again, and wondered if she had come, and if
+she would be a sorrowful and homesick little girl. It seemed queer to
+think of being homesick when one came home! But then, it was only a
+home in name; he had not lived next door to it for five weeks without
+discovering that, and the little girl's mother was dead! Poor Nan
+Decker! A shadow came over his bright face for a moment as he thought
+of this. His mother was dead. He resolved to speak a kind word to
+the little girl the very first time that he had a chance. And here in
+the moonlight was his chance.
+
+He stopped whistling at last and spoke: "If it is anything about which
+I can help, I shall be very glad to do it." A kind, cheerful voice.
+Nettie looked up quickly and choked back her tears. She was not one to
+cry, if there were to be any lookers-on.
+
+"I guess you are homesick," said the boy from, his horse's back;
+"and that isn't any wonder. I'm homesick myself, nearly every night,
+especially if it is moonlight. I don't know what there is about the
+moon that chokes a fellow up so, but I've noticed it often; but then I
+feel all right in the morning."
+
+"Are you away from your home?"
+
+"I should say I was! Or rather home has gone away from me. I haven't
+any home in particular, only my father, and he is away out in
+California. I couldn't go there with him, and since my school closed I
+am waiting here for him to come back. It is home, you know, wherever
+he is. He doesn't expect to be back yet for months. So you and I ought
+to be pretty good friends, we are such near neighbors. I live right
+next door to you. We ought to be introduced. You are Nannie Decker, I
+suppose, and I am Jerry Mack at your service. I don't wonder you are
+homesick; folks always are, the first night."
+
+"My name is Nanette," said Nettie, gently, "but people who like me most
+always say Nettie: and it isn't being homesick that makes me feel so
+badly--though I am homesick; but it is being scared, and astonished,
+and, oh! everything. Nothing is as I thought it would be; and there are
+things about it that I did not understand at all, or maybe I wouldn't
+have come; and now I am here, I don't know what to do." She was very
+near crying again, in spite of a watcher.
+
+"I know," he said, nodding his head, and speaking in a grave,
+sympathetic voice. "Job Smith--that is the man I am staying with--has
+told me how it used to be with your father. He says he was a very nice
+father indeed. I am as sorry for you as I can be. But after all, I
+wouldn't give up if I were you; and I should be real glad that I had
+come home to help him. He needs a great deal of help. Folks reform, you
+know. Why, people who are a great deal worse than your father has ever
+been yet, have turned right around and become splendid men. If I were
+you I would go right to work to have him reform. Then there's Norm--he
+needs help, too; and he ought to have it before he gets any older,
+because it would be so much easier for him to get started right now."
+
+"I don't know the least thing to do," said Nettie; but she dried her
+eyes on her neat little handkerchief as she spoke, and sat up straight,
+and looked with earnest eyes at the boy on the other side the fence.
+This sort of talk interested and helped her.
+
+"No; of course you don't. You haven't studied these things up, I
+suppose. But there is a great deal to do. My father is a temperance
+man, and I have heard him talk. I know a hundred things I would like to
+do, and a few that I can do. I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, say we
+start a society, you and I, and fight this whole thing?
+
+"We can begin with little bits of plans which we can carry out now, and
+let them grow as fast as we can follow them and see what we can do. Is
+it a bargain?"
+
+"There is nothing I would like so well, if you will only show me how,"
+said Nettie, and her eyes were shining.
+
+It was wonderful what a weight these few words seemed to lift from her
+troubled heart. The boy's face had grown more thoughtful. He seemed in
+doubt just how to express what he wanted to say next.
+
+"I don't know how you feel about it," he said as last, "but I know
+somebody who would be sure to help in anything of this kind that we
+tried to do--show us how, you know, and make ways for us to get money,
+and all that."
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+Nettie spoke quickly now, for her heart was beating loud and fast. Was
+there somebody in this town who could be asked to come to the rescue,
+and who was willing to give such hearty help as that? If such were the
+case, she could see that a great deal might be accomplished. She waited
+for her new friend's answer, but he looked down on the stick he was
+whittling and gravely sharpened the end to a very fine point, before he
+spoke again.
+
+"I don't know what you think about such things, but I mean--God. I
+_know_ he is on our side in this business, don't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Nettie, thoughtfully, and her manner changed.
+
+Her voice which had been only eager before, became soft and gentle, and
+she looked over at the boy in the moonlight and smiled. "I know Him,"
+she said, "and I am His servant. It is strange I forgot for a little
+while that He knew all about this home, and father, and everything!
+Maybe He wants me to help father. I mean to begin right away. I will
+do every single thing I can think of, to keep father, and Norm, and
+everybody else from drinking liquor any more forever."
+
+There was a sudden spring from the saw-horse, a long step taken over
+the low fence, and the boy stood beside her.
+
+"There are two of us," he said gravely. "There is my hand on it. I am a
+Christian, too. And father gave me a verse once, which always helps me
+when I think of the rumsellers: 'If God be for us, who _can_ be against
+us!' I know he is for us, and so, though the rumsellers are against us,
+and think they are going to beat, one of these days he will show them!
+What you and I want to do is to keep working at it all we can, so as to
+show that we believe in him."
+
+"Now we are partners--Nettie Decker and Jerry Mack, who knows what we
+can do? Anyhow, we are friends, and will stand by each other through
+thick and thin, won't we?"
+
+"Yes," said Nettie, "we will." And she rose up from the doorstep, and
+they shook hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A GREAT UNDERTAKING.
+
+
+JERRY turned away whistling. Did you ever notice how apt boys are to
+whistle when something has stirred their feelings very much, and they
+don't intend that anybody but themselves shall know it?
+
+Nettie went back into the little brown house to see if her mother was
+comfortable for the night. Her heart was lighter than she had thought
+it ever would be again.
+
+Everything was quiet within the house. The children with their arms
+tossed about one another, and their cheeks flushed with sleep, looked
+sweeter than they often did awake. The heartsick mother had forgotten
+her sorrow again for a little while, in sleep. Where father and Norm
+were, Nettie did not know. It seemed strange to go away and leave the
+light burning, and the door unfastened. At home, they always gathered
+at about this hour, in the neat sitting-room, and sang a hymn and
+repeated each a Bible verse, and then Mr. Marshall prayed, and after
+that she kissed Auntie Marshall and the others, and tripped away to her
+pretty room. The contrast was very sharp. If it had not been for that
+new friend whose voice she heard at this moment softly singing a cheery
+tune, I think the tears would have come again.
+
+As it was, she slipped into Mrs. Job Smith's neat kitchen. What a
+contrast that was to the kitchen next door! The first thing she saw was
+the tall old clock in the corner. "Tick-tock, tick-tock." She had never
+seen so large a clock before; she had never heard one speak in such a
+slow and patronizing tone, as though it were managing all the world.
+She looked up into its face and smiled. It seemed like a great strong
+friend.
+
+There was nothing very remarkable about that kitchen. At least I
+suppose you would not have thought so, unless you had just spent
+an afternoon in the Decker kitchen. Then you might have felt the
+difference. The floor was painted a bright yellow, and had gay rugs
+spread here and there. The stove shone brilliantly, and the two chairs
+under the window were painted green, with dazzling white seats. A high,
+old-fashioned, wooden-backed rocker occupied a cosey corner near the
+clock. A table set against the wall had a bright spread on it, and
+newspapers, and a book or two, and a pair of spectacles lay on it. The
+lamp was in the centre, and was clear and beautifully trimmed.
+
+Simple enough things, all of them, but they spoke to Nettie's heart of
+home.
+
+There was a brisk step on the stair; the door opened, and Mrs. Smith's
+strong, homely face appeared in sight. "Here you are," she said
+cheerily, "tired enough to go to sleep, I dare say. Well, the room is
+all ready for you. I guess you won't be lonesome, for it is right out
+of Sarah Ann's room, and my boy Jerry is across the hall. You've got
+acquainted with Jerry, I guess? I saw you and him talking, out in the
+moonlight. I'm glad of it. Jerry is good at chirking a body up; and
+there never was a better boy made than he is.
+
+"Now you get right to sleep as goon as you can, and dream of all the
+nice things you can think of. It is good luck to have nice dreams in a
+new room, you know."
+
+"Poor little soul!" she said to herself as the door closed after
+Nettie. "I hope she will be so sound asleep that she won't hear her
+father and Norm come stumbling home. Isn't it a mean thing, now, that
+the father of such a little girl as that should go and disgrace her?"
+
+Mrs. Smith was talking to nobody, and so of course nobody answered her;
+and in a little while that house was still for the night. Nettie, in
+the clean, sweet-smelling woodhouse chamber, was soon on her knees; not
+sobbing out a homesick cry, as she thought she would, as soon as ever
+she had a chance, but actually thanking God for these new friends; and
+asking Him to be One in this new society, and show them just what and
+how to do. Then she went into sound sleep; and heard no stumbling, nor
+grumbling, though both father and brother did much of it when at last
+they shambled home.
+
+The new plans came up for consideration early the next morning. Before
+Nettie had opened her eyes to the neatly whitewashed walls in the
+woodhouse chamber, she heard the sound of merry whistling, keeping time
+to the swift blows of an axe. Jerry was preparing kindlings. In a very
+short time after that, he looked up to say good-morning, as Nettie was
+making her way across the yard to the other house.
+
+"Don't you want some of these nice chips? They will make your kettle
+boil in a jiffy."
+
+This was his good-morning; he held out both hands to her, full of broad
+smooth chips. "Aunt Jerusha likes them better than any other kind; I
+keep her supplied. Wait, I'll carry them in."
+
+"Oh, you needn't," Nettie said in haste, and blushing. What would he
+think of the Decker kitchen after being used to Mrs. Smith's! But he
+took long springs across the walk, vaulted the fence and stood at the
+kitchen door waiting for her. It looked even more desolate, in contrast
+with the sunny morning, than it had the night before. Nettie resolved
+to blacken the stove that very day. "Do you know how to make a fire?"
+Jerry asked. "I do. I made aunt Jerusha's for her, two mornings, but it
+is hard work to get ahead of her."
+
+Yes, Nettie knew how. She had made the fire for the supper, in Mrs.
+Marshall's boarding house, many a time. She proceeded to show her skill
+at once; Jerry, looking on admiringly, admitted that she knew more
+about it than he did.
+
+"You see, father and I board," he said apologetically, "and there
+isn't much chance to learn things. I'll tell you what I can do--get you
+a fresh pail of water."
+
+Before she could speak, he darted away. There was a sound of feet
+coming down the unfinished stairs, and Norm lounged into the room,
+rubbing sleepy eyes, and looking as though he had not combed his hair
+in a week. He stared at Nettie as though he had never seen her before,
+and answered her good-morning, with:
+
+"I'll be bound if I didn't forget you! Where have you been all night?"
+
+"Asleep," said Nettie, brightly. "Now I want to have breakfast ready by
+the time mother comes out, to surprise her. Will you tell me whether
+you have tea or coffee?"
+
+Norm laughed slightly. "We have what we can get, as a rule. I heard
+mother say there wasn't any tea in the house. And I don't believe
+we have had any coffee for a month. I'd like some, though; I know
+that. I've got a quarter; I'll go and get some, if you will make us a
+first-rate cup of coffee."
+
+"Well," said Nettie, "I'll do my best."
+
+She spoke a little doubtfully, having a shrewd suspicion that the
+quarter ought to be saved for more important things than coffee;
+but she did not like to object to Norm's first expressed idea of
+partnership; so he went away, and when the fresh water came, the
+teakettle was filled, the table set, the potatoes washed and put in the
+oven; by the time Mrs. Decker appeared, Nettie, with a very flushed
+face, was bending over her hot griddle, testing the cake she had baked.
+
+"Well, I do say!" said Mrs. Decker, and the tone expressed not only
+surprise, but gratitude. There was a pleasant odor of coffee in the
+room, and the potatoes were already beginning to hint that they would
+soon be done. The cake that Nettie had baked was as puffy and sweet as
+her heart could desire.
+
+"I believe you're a witch," said Mrs. Decker. "I couldn't think of a
+thing for breakfast. Where did you get them cakes?"
+
+"Made them," said Nettie; "I found a cup of sour milk; Auntie Marshall
+used to let me make them often for breakfast. Norm went after the
+coffee; and I guess it is good. I saved my egg shell from the cakes to
+settle it."
+
+"You're a regular little housekeeper," said Mrs. Decker. "And so Norm
+went after coffee! Did you ask him to? Went of his own accord! That's
+something wonderful for Norm. He used to think of things for me but he
+don't any more."
+
+Altogether, it was really almost a comfortable breakfast, though it
+seemed to Nettie that she would never get it ready. She was not used
+to managing with so few dishes. Her father drank three cups of coffee,
+said it was something like living, and gave Nettie twenty-five cents,
+with the direction that he hoped there would be something decent to eat
+when they came home at noon.
+
+Nettie's cheeks were red with more than the baking of cakes, then. She
+was ashamed of her father. How could he speak in a way to insult his
+wife! They went off hurriedly at last, Norm and the father; and the
+children who had been silent, began to chatter the moment the door
+closed after them. Mrs. Decker, too, began to talk.
+
+"He thinks twenty-five cents will buy a dinner for us all, and keep us
+in clothes, and get new furniture, and dishes! He will have it that it
+is because things are wasted that we have such poor meals. As if I had
+anything to waste! I don't know what to do, nor which way to turn. We
+need everything."
+
+"Don't you think we had better clean house to-day?" Nettie asked a
+little timidly, as they rose from the table and she began to gather the
+dishes.
+
+"Clean house!" repeated the dazed mother. "Why, yes, child, I suppose
+so. It needs it badly enough. Oh, we can wash up the floor, and the
+shelf. It doesn't take long; there are not many things in the way.
+No furniture to move. But it doesn't stay clean long, I can tell
+you. Just one room in which to do everything! I might have kept it
+looking better, though, if I had not been sick. I have just had to let
+everything go, child. Lying awake nights, and worrying, have used me
+up."
+
+She took the broom as she spoke and began to sweep vigorously,
+scurrying the children out of her way.
+
+It was a long day, and a busy one. And at night, the room certainly
+looked better. The floor had been scrubbed with hot lye to get off the
+grease, and the stove had been blackened until the children shouted
+that it would do for a looking-glass. Several other improvements had
+been made. But after all, to Nettie's eyes it was dreadfully bare and
+comfortless. Not a cushioned chair, nor a rocker, nor anything that to
+her seemed like home. All day she had been casting glances at a closed
+door which opened from the kitchen, and thinking her thoughts about
+the room in there. A large square room, perfectly empty. Why wasn't it
+used? If for nothing else, why didn't Norm sleep in it, instead of in
+that dreadful unfinished attic where the rats must certainly have full
+sweep? Or why did not her mother move in there with the trundle bed,
+instead of being cooped up in that small bedroom? Or why had they not
+prepared it for her to sleep in, if they really did not want it for
+anything else? She gathered courage at last, to ask questions.
+
+"Oh, that room," her mother said with bitterness, "when I first came
+here to live, we pleased ourselves nights, after the children were in
+bed, telling what we would have in it. We meant to furnish it for a
+parlor. We were going to have it carpeted; he wanted a red carpet, and
+I wanted a brown one with a little bit of pink in, but land! I would
+have taken one that was all yellow, just to please him. And we were
+going to have a lounge, and two rocking chairs, and I don't know what
+not. And there it is, shut up. I might have had it for a bedroom at
+first, but I wouldn't. I wanted to save it. And then, when I gave that
+all up, there was nothing to fix it with. Norm couldn't sleep there
+without curtains to the windows; no more could we; it is right on the
+street, almost.
+
+"And things keep getting worse and worse, so I just shut the door and
+locked it and let it go. If I had had a spare chair to put in, I might
+have gone in there and cried, now and then, but I hadn't even that. I
+tried to rent it; but the woman who was hunting rooms heard that your
+father drank, and was afraid to come. Oh, we have a splendid name in
+the place, you'll find. We are just going to ruin as fast as a family
+can; that's the whole story."
+
+In the middle of the afternoon, when Nettie had done everything she
+could think of, unless some money could be raised, and some clothes
+made, so that the children could have the ones washed which they were
+wearing, she stood in the back door, wondering how that could be
+brought about, when Jerry appeared in his favorite seat on the sawhorse.
+
+"Everything done up for the day?" he asked.
+
+Nettie laughed.
+
+"Everything has stopped for the want of things to do with," she said.
+"I don't see but that will be the trouble with what we want to do. Why,
+you can't do a single thing without money; and where is it to come
+from?"
+
+"That is one of the things we must think up," Jerry said gravely. "I
+have thought about it some. This temperance business needs money. One
+of the troubles with boys like Norm is that they have no nice places
+to go to. Boys like to meet together and talk things over, you know,
+and have a good time, and how are some of them going to do it? The
+church isn't the place, nor the schoolhouse, and those fellows haven't
+pleasant homes; the only spot for them is the saloons. I don't much
+wonder that they get in the habit of going there. I have heard my
+father say that saloons were the only places that were fixed up, and
+lighted, where folks without any pleasant homes were made welcome. Why,
+just look at it in this town. There's your Norm. There are two fellows
+who go with him a great deal. If you meet one, you may be sure that
+the other two are not far away. Their names are Alf Barnes and Rick
+Walker. Neither of them have as decent a home as Norm's, oh! not by a
+good deal. And he doesn't feel like inviting them into your kitchen to
+spend the evening. Should you think he would?"
+
+Warm as the day was, Nettie shivered. "I should think they would rather
+stay out in the street than to come there," she said.
+
+"Well, now you see how it is. They don't stay in the streets, such
+fellows don't. Not all the time. They get tired, and sometimes it
+rains, and in winter it is cold, and they look about them for somewhere
+to go. There's a saloon, bright and clean; comfortable chairs, and
+good-natured people. It is the only place that says Come in! to such
+fellows. Why shouldn't they go in?
+
+"I've heard my father talk about this by the hour. In big cities they
+have rooms warmed and lighted, and nicely furnished, on purpose for
+such young men; only father is always saying that they don't begin to
+have enough of them; but in such a town as this, I would like to know
+what the boys who haven't nice homes to stay in, are expected to do
+with themselves evenings? One of these days, when I am a man, that
+is the way I am going to use all my extra money. I'll hunt out towns
+where the fellows have just been left to stay in the streets, or else
+go to the rum-holes, and I'll fit up the nicest kind of a room for
+them. Bright as gas can make it, and elegant, you know, like a parlor;
+and I'll have cakes, and coffee, and lemonades, and all those things,
+cheaper than beer, and serve them in fine style. Wouldn't that be a
+fine thing to do?"
+
+"Then the first thing," said Nettie, "is a room."
+
+Jerry turned round on his horse and looked full at her and laughed.
+"You talk as though it was to be done now," he said. "I was telling
+what I would do in that dim future, when I become a man."
+
+"We might begin pieces of it now. Norm will be too old when you are a
+man; and so will those others. There is our front room. If we only had
+some furniture to put in it. My Auntie Marshall made some real pretty
+seats once, out of old boxes; she padded them with cotton, and covered
+them with pretty calico, and you can't think how nice they were. I
+could make some, if I had the boxes and the calico."
+
+"I could get the boxes," said Jerry. "I know a man in the blacksmith
+shop who has a brother in the grocery down at the corner, and he could
+get boxes for us of him, I'm pretty sure. He is a nice man, that
+blacksmith. I like him better than any man in town, I believe. I could
+fix covers on the boxes myself, and do several other things. I have a
+box of tools, and I often make little things. I say, Nettie, let's fix
+up the front room. I've often wondered what there was in there. Would
+your mother let us have it?"
+
+"She would let us have most everything, I guess," Nettie said
+thoughtfully, "if she thought it would do any good."
+
+"All right. We'll make it do some good. Let's set to work right away.
+The first thing as you say, is a room. No, we have the room; the first
+thing is furniture. I'll go and see Mr. Collins this very evening. He
+is the blacksmith."
+
+In less than half an hour from that time Jerry stood beside Mr. Collins.
+
+That gentleman had on his big leather apron, and was busy about his
+work as usual.
+
+"Boxes?" he said to Jerry. "Why, yes, there are piles of them in his
+cellar, and out by his back door. I should think he would be glad to
+get rid of some. But what do you want of them? Furniture? How are you
+going to make furniture out of boxes? What put such a notion as that
+into your head, and what do you want of furniture, anyhow?"
+
+So Jerry sat down on a box and told the whole story. Mr. Collins
+listened, and nodded, and shook his head, and smiled grimly,
+occasionally, and sighed, and in every possible way showed his interest
+and appreciation.
+
+"And so you two are going to take hold and reform the town?" he said
+at last. "Humph! Well, it needs it bad enough! if old boxes will help,
+it stands to reason that you ought to have as many as you want. I'll
+engage to see that you get them."
+
+When Mr. Collins told his brother-in-law, the grocer, the two laughed
+a good deal, but the blacksmith finished his story with, "Well, now I
+tell you what it is--something is better than nothing, any day; there's
+been nothing done here for so long that I think it is kind of wonderful
+that those two young things should start up and try to do something."
+
+"So do I, so do I," assented the grocer, heartily, "and if old boxes
+will help 'em, why, land, they're welcome to as many as they can use.
+Tell the chap to step around here and select his lumber, and I'll have
+it delivered."
+
+This message Jerry was not slow to obey; so it happened that the very
+next afternoon Mrs. Job Smith stood in her back door and watched with
+curious eyes the unloading of the grocer's wagon. Six, seven, eight
+empty boxes! "For the land's sake, what be you going to do with them?"
+she asked Jerry.
+
+Mrs. Job Smith had a great warm heart, but no education to speak of;
+and no mother had, in her childhood, begged her a dozen times a day not
+to use such expressions as "for the land's sake!" she knew no better
+than to suppose they added emphasis to her words; Jerry laughed.
+
+"It is for the room's sake, auntie," he said. "We are going to have a
+cabinet shop in the barn loft. Mr. Smith said I might. I shall make
+some nice things, auntie, see if I don't. Come up in the loft, will
+you, and see my tool chest?"
+
+This last sentence was addressed to Nettie who had appeared in her
+back door to admire the boxes. So the two climbed the ladder stairs,
+Nettie a little timidly as one unused to ladders, and Jerry with quick
+springs, holding out his hand to her at the top, to help her in making
+the final leap. Then he took from his pocket a curious little key which
+he explained to Nettie would open that tool chest provided you knew
+how to use it; but he supposed that a man who had stolen it might try
+for a week, and yet not get into the chest.
+
+A skilful touch, and the handsome chest was open before her, displaying
+its wonders to her pleased eyes. It was a well-stocked chest. Chisels,
+and saws, and hammers, and augers, and sharp, wicked-looking little
+things for which Nettie had no name, gleamed before her.
+
+"How nice!" she said at last. "How splendid! It looks as though
+somebody who knew how, could make splendid things with them."
+
+"And I know how," said Jerry. "At least, I know some things. I spent a
+summer down in a little country town where father had some business;
+and the man we boarded with kept a small shop, where all sorts of
+things were made. Not a great factory, you know, where they make a
+thousand chairs of one kind, and a thousand of another, and never
+make anything but chairs. This was just a little country shop, where
+they made a table one day, and a chair the next, and a bedstead the
+next; and you could watch the men at work, and ask questions and learn
+ever so much. I got so I could use tools, as well as the next one,
+Mr. Braisted said, whatever he meant by that. Father liked to have
+me learn. He said tools were the cleanest sharp things that he knew
+anything about. I can make ever so many things. I like to do it. I
+wonder I have not been about it since I came here. Now what shall we go
+at first? What does your mother say about the room?"
+
+"She is willing," said Nettie, "only she doesn't see how much of
+anything can be done. She is most discouraged, you see, and nothing
+looks possible to her, I suppose."
+
+"That's all right. She can't be expected to know we can do things until
+we show her. If she will let us try, that is all we need ask."
+
+"She says the room ought to have some kind of a carpet; they always
+have carpets in home-like rooms, she says; and I guess that is so.
+Except in kitchens, of course."
+
+Nettie hastened to say this, apologetically, thinking of Mrs. Job
+Smith's bright yellow floor.
+
+Jerry whistled.
+
+"That is so, I suppose," he said thoughtfully; "and they don't make
+carpets out of boxes, nor with saws and hammers, do they? I don't know
+how we would manage that. There must be a way to do it, though. Let's
+put that one side among the things that have got to be thought about."
+
+"And prayed about," said Nettie.
+
+"Yes," he said, flashing a very bright look at her, "I thought that,
+but somehow I did not like to say it out, in so many words."
+
+"I wonder why?" said Nettie thoughtfully; "I mean, I wonder why it is
+so much harder to say things of that kind than it is to speak about
+anything else?"
+
+"Father used to say it was because people didn't get in the habit of
+talking about religion in a common sense way. They don't, you know;
+hardly anybody. At least hardly anybody that I know; around here,
+anyway. Now my father speaks of those things just as easy as he does of
+anything."
+
+"So does Auntie Marshall; but I used to notice that not many people
+did. Your father must be a good man."
+
+"There never was a better one!"
+
+Notwithstanding Jerry said all this with tremendous energy, his voice
+trembled a little, and there came one of those dashes of feeling over
+him which made him think that he must drop everything and go to that
+dear father right away.
+
+"When he comes after you and takes you away, what will I do?"
+
+Nettie's mournful tone restored the boy's courage.
+
+He laughed a little. "No use in borrowing trouble about that. He is
+afraid he cannot come back before winter, if he does then. I'm going
+to get him to let me stay here until he does come, though. And now we
+must attend to business. What will you have first in my line? Chairs,
+tables, sofas--why, anything you say, ma'am."
+
+And both faces were sunny again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOW IT SUCCEEDED.
+
+
+MRS. JOB SMITH leaned against the table in her bright kitchen, caught
+up the edge of her apron in one hand, then leaned both hands on her
+sides, and thought. Jerry had been consulting her. Was there any way
+of planning so that the front room in the Decker house could have
+a carpet? He repeated all Mrs. Decker said about a room not being
+home-like without one, and Mrs. Smith, at first inclined to combat
+the idea, finally admitted that in winter a room where you sat down
+to visit, did look kind of desolate without a carpet, unless it was
+a kitchen, and had a good-sized cook stove to brighten it up. There
+was no denying that that square front room would be the better for a
+carpet. At the same time there was no denying that the Deckers needed
+a hundred other things worse than they did a carpet. But the hearts of
+the boy and girl were bent on having one; and what the boy was bent
+on, Mrs. Job Smith liked to have accomplished, and believed sooner or
+later that it would be. The question was, How could she help to bring
+it about?
+
+"There's that roll of rag carpeting, bran-new," she said aloud; Mrs.
+Smith had spent a good deal of her time alone and had learned to
+hold long conversations with herself, arguing out questions as well,
+sometimes she thought better, than a second party could have done.
+At this point she put her hands on her sides. "There's enough of it,
+and more than enough. I had it made for the front room the year poor
+Hannah died, and sent me that boughten carpet which just exactly
+fitted, and is good for ten years' wear. That rag carpeting has been
+rolled up and done up in tobacco and things ever since--most two years.
+Sarah Jane doesn't need it, and I don't know as I shall ever put it
+on the kitchen. I don't like a great heavy carpet in a kitchen, much,
+anyway; rugs, and square pieces that a body can take up and shake,
+are enough sight neater, to my way of thinking. But I can't afford to
+give away bran-new carpeting. To be sure it only cost me the warp and
+the weaving; and I got the warp at a bargain, and old Mother Turner
+never did ask me as much for weaving as she did other folks. The rags
+was every one of them saved up. Poor Hannah used to send me a lot of
+rags, and Sarah Jane and I sewed them at odd spells when we wouldn't
+have been doing anything. It is a good deal of bother to take care of
+it, and I'm always afraid the moths will get ahead of me, and eat it
+up. I might sell it to her for what the warp and the weaving cost me.
+But land! what would she pay with? I might give her a chance to do
+ironing. I have to turn away fine ironing every week of my life because
+I can't do more than accommodate my old customers. Who knows but she
+is a pretty good ironer? I might give her the coarse parts to iron,
+and watch her, and find out. Job is always at me to have somebody help
+with the big ironings, and I have always said I wouldn't have a girl
+bothering around, I would rather take less to do. But then, she is a
+decent quiet body, and that Nettie is just a little woman. She will
+have to do something to help along if they ever get started in being
+decent; perhaps ironing is the thing for her, and I can start her if
+she knows how to do it. For the matter of that, I might teach her
+how, if she wanted to learn. To be sure they need other things more
+than carpets, but it wouldn't take her long to pay for this, if I just
+charge for the weaving. I might throw in the warp, maybe, seeing I got
+it at a bargain. The two are so bent on having a carpet for that room;
+and Jerry, he said he had prayed about it, and while he was on his
+knees, it kind of seemed to him as though I was the one to get to think
+it out. That's queer now! Jerry don't know anything about the carpet
+rolled up in tobacco in the box in the garret; why should he think that
+I could help? I feel almost bound to, somehow, after that. I don't like
+to have Jerry disappointed, nor the little girl either, now that's a
+fact. I take to that little Nettie amazingly. Well, I know what I'll
+do. I'll talk with Job about it, and if he is agreed, maybe we will see
+what she says to it."
+
+This last was a kind of "make believe," and the good woman knew it; Job
+Smith thought that his wife was the wisest, most prudent, most capable
+woman in the world, and besides being sure to agree to whatever she had
+to propose, he was himself of such a nature that he would have given
+away unhesitatingly the very clothes he wore, if he thought somebody
+else needed them more than he. There was little need to fear that Job
+Smith would ever put a stumbling-block in the way of any benevolence.
+
+But who shall undertake to tell you how astonished Mrs. Decker was
+when Mrs. Smith, having duly considered, and talked with Sarah Jane,
+and talked with Job, and unrolled the tobacco-smelling carpet, and
+examined it carefully, did finally come over to the Decker home with
+her startling proposition. It is true that a carpet had taken perhaps
+undue proportions in this poor woman's eyes. Her best room during all
+the years of her past life had never been without a neat bright carpet;
+it had been the pleasant dream of her second married-life, so long as
+any pleasantness had been left to allow of dreaming; and she could not
+get away from the feeling that people who had not a scrap of carpeting
+for their best room, were very low down. She opened her eyes very
+wide while listening to Mrs. Smith's rapidly told story. What kind of
+a carpet could it be that was offered to her for simply the price of
+the weaving? for Job and his wife after some figuring with pencil and
+paper, had agreed together heartily to throw in the warp. She went
+over to the neat kitchen and examined the carpet. It was bright and
+pretty. There was a good deal of red in it, and there was a good deal
+of brown; a blending of the two colors which had been the subject of
+much discussion between herself and husband in the days when Mr. Decker
+talked anything about the comforts of his home. How well it would look
+in the square room which had two windows, and was really the only
+pleasant room in the house. Surely she could iron enough to pay for
+that.
+
+"I am not very strong," she said with a sigh. "I used to be, but of
+late I've been failing. But Nannie is so handy, and so willing, that
+she saves me a great deal, and she has a notion that she would like to
+fix up the front room and try to get hold of my Norm. It would be worth
+trying, maybe, but I don't know. We are very low down, Mrs. Smith."
+
+And then Mrs. Decker sank into one of the green painted chairs and
+cried.
+
+"Of course it is worth trying," Mrs. Smith said, bustling about, as
+though she must find some more windows to raise; tears always made her
+feel as though she was choking. "If I were you I would have a carpet,
+and curtains to the windows, and lots of nice things, and make a home
+fit for that boy of yours to have a good time in. There is nothing like
+a nice pleasant home to keep a boy from going wrong."
+
+Before Mrs. Decker went home, she had promised to try the ironing the
+very next week, and if she could do it well enough to suit Mrs. Smith,
+the carpet should be bought.
+
+"Poor thing!" said Mrs. Smith, looking after her, and rubbing her eyes
+with the corner of her apron. "The ironing shall suit; if she irons
+wrinkles into the collars and creases in the cuffs, I won't say a word;
+only I guess maybe I won't give her collars and cuffs to iron; not till
+she learns how. I ought to have done something to kind of help her
+along before; only I don't know what it would have been. It takes that
+boy of mine to set folks to work."
+
+Meantime, "that boy" sat in the kitchen door, studying. Not from a
+book, but from his own puzzled thoughts. He did not see his way clear.
+Under Nettie's direction he had planned a very satisfactory sofa with
+a back to it, and two chairs, but how to get the material needed to
+finish them, and also for curtains for the new room, had sent Nettie
+home in bewilderment, and stranded him on the doorstep in the middle
+of the afternoon to think it out.
+
+"How much stuff does it take for curtains, anyhow?"
+
+"For curtains?" said Mrs. Smith, coming back with a start from her
+ironing table and the plan she had for teaching Mrs. Decker to iron
+shirts. "Why, that depends on what kind of stuff it is, and how many
+curtains you want, and how big the windows are."
+
+"Well, what do they use for curtains?"
+
+Mrs. Smith still looked bewildered.
+
+"A great many things, Jerry. They have lace curtains, and linen ones,
+and muslin ones, and in some of the rooms up at Mrs. Barlow's, on the
+hill, you know, when I helped her do up curtains that time, they had
+great heavy silk things, or maybe velvet, though the stuff didn't look
+much like either. I don't rightly know what it was, but it was heavy,
+and soft, and satiny, and shone like gold, in some places."
+
+Jerry turned around on the doorstep and looked full at Mrs. Smith,
+and laughed. "I know," he said, "I have seen such curtains. They are
+damask. I am not thinking about lace, and damask, and all that sort of
+thing. I mean for Mrs. Decker's front room. What could be used that
+would do, and how much would they cost?"
+
+"Surely!" said Mrs. Smith, coming down to everyday life. "What a goose
+I was. I might have known what you were thinking about. Why, let me
+see. Cheese cloth makes real pretty curtains; if you have a bit of
+bright calico to put over the top, and a nice hem in, or maybe some
+bright calico at the bottom to help them hang straight, I don't know as
+there is anything much prettier. Though to be sure they aren't good for
+much to keep people from looking in; and they aren't quite suitable for
+winter. I suppose you want to plan for winter, too? I'll tell you what
+it is, I believe that unbleached muslin makes about as pretty a curtain
+as a body could have; put bright red at the top and bottom, and they
+look real nice."
+
+"What is unbleached muslin? I mean, how much does it cost?"
+
+"Why," said Mrs. Smith, dropping into her rocking-chair, and folding
+her hands on her lap to give her mind fully to the important question,
+"as to that, I should have to think; I'm not very good at figures.
+Unbleached muslin costs about eight cents a yard, or maybe ten; we'll
+say ten, because I've always noticed that was easier to calculate. Ten
+cents a yard, and two windows, say two yards to each, and no, two yards
+to each half, four yards to each, and twice four is eight, eight yards
+at ten cents a yard. How much would that be, Jerry? You can tell in a
+minute, I dare say."
+
+"Eighty cents," said Jerry with a sigh. "I am afraid she will think
+that is a great deal. And then there's the red to put on them. What
+does that cost?"
+
+"Why, that ought to be oil calico, because the other kind ain't fast
+colors. I don't much believe you could get those curtains up short of
+fifty cents apiece; and that is a good deal for curtains, that's a
+fact. Paper ones don't cost so much, but then there's the rollers and
+the fastenings, I don't know but they do cost just as much. And then
+they tear."
+
+"I don't want her to have paper ones," said Jerry decisively. "A dollar
+for the curtains, and I don't know how much more for the furniture. She
+can't imagine where the money is to come from."
+
+"I could tell where it ought to come from," said Mrs. Smith, nodding
+her head and looking severe. "It ought to come out of Joe Decker's
+pocket. He makes his dollar a day, even now, when he doesn't half work;
+Job said so only last night. But furniture is dreadful dear stuff,
+Jerry, worse than curtains. And they need about everything. I never did
+see such a desolate house! And those little girls need clothes."
+
+"Nettie is going to make them some clothes," said Jerry; "she has some
+that she has outgrown; a great roll in her trunk; she is going to make
+them over to fit the little girls. She is at work at some of them
+to-day. And you know, auntie, I am making the furniture."
+
+"Making it!"
+
+"Well, making its skeleton. If we had some clothes to put on it, I
+guess it would be furniture. I've made a sofa, and two chairs, and I'm
+at work at a table. Only I would like to see how the things were going
+to look, before I went any farther."
+
+"Making furniture!" repeated dazed Mrs. Smith; and she shook her head.
+"I don't see how you can! You can do a great many things that no other
+boy ever thought of; but I'm afraid that's beyond you."
+
+"Why, you see, auntie, she has seen some made, and she showed me what
+to do with hammer and nails. You make a frame, just the size you want
+for a sofa, and put a back to it, then it is padded with cotton, and
+covered with something bright, cretonne, I think she said they called
+it, only it wasn't real cretonne, but a cheap imitation, and they tack
+a skirt to the thing in puckers, so," and he caught up a bit of Mrs.
+Smith's apron to illustrate.
+
+"I see," she said, nodding her head and speaking in an admiring tone.
+"What a contriving little thing she is! And what about the chairs?"
+
+"The chairs are served in very much the same way. The table is just
+two flat boards and a post between them, nailed firmly, then they tack
+red calico, or blue, or whatever they want, around it, and cover it
+with thin white cheese cloth or some lacey stuff, she had the name of
+it, but I've forgotten; it doesn't cost much, she said, and tie a sash
+around it, and it looks like an hour glass. The question is, where are
+the cotton and calico to come from?"
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Smith, "you two do beat all! It can't take much stuff
+for a little table; and I can see that they might be real pretty. I
+want a table myself, to stand under the glass in my front room. What if
+you was to make two, and I'd get cloth enough for two, and she would do
+mine and hers, to pay for the cloth?"
+
+Jerry sprang up from his doorstep, and came over and put both arms
+around Mrs. Smith's trim waist.
+
+"Hurrah!" he said; "you are the contriver. That will do splendidly.
+I'll go this minute and set up the skeleton of another table. I have
+two boards there which will just do it. Then we'll think out a way to
+get the rest of the stuff."
+
+Now Nettie, busy with her fingers in the house next door, had not left
+the others to do all the thinking. She knew the price of "oil calico,"
+and imitation cretonne, and unbleached muslin; she knew to a fraction
+how many yards of each would be needed, and the sum total appalled her.
+Yet she too knew that her father earned at least a dollar a day, and
+did not give them two a week to live on. This her mother had told her.
+
+Also she knew that on this Saturday evening at about six o'clock, he
+would probably be paid for his week's work. Couldn't she contrive to
+coax some of the money from his keeping into hers? She had hinted the
+possibility of her mother's getting hold of it, and Mrs. Decker had
+said that the bare thought of trying made her feel faint and sick; that
+if she had ever seen her father in a passion such as he could get into
+when things did not go just to suit him, she would know what it was to
+ask him for anything. Nettie, who had not yet been at home a week, had
+some faint idea of what her father might do and say if he were very
+angry. Nevertheless, she was trying to plan a way to meet him before he
+left the shop, and secure some of that money if she could.
+
+With this thought in view, she presently laid aside the neat little
+petticoat on which she had been sewing, brushed her hair, put on her
+brown ribboned hat, and her brown gloves, watched her chance while the
+children were quarreling over an apple that Jerry had given them, and
+stole out in the direction of the shop where her father worked. She
+would not ask Jerry to go with her, though he looked after her from the
+barn window and wished she had; if her father was to grow angry and
+swear, and possibly strike, no one should know it but herself, if she
+could help it.
+
+I must not forget to tell you of one thing that she did before
+starting. She went into her mother's little tucked-up bedroom, put a
+nail over the door, which she had herself arranged for a fastening, and
+knelt there so long by the barrel which did duty as a table, that her
+mother, had she seen her, would have been frightened. But Nettie felt
+that she needed courage for this undertaking; and she knew where to get
+it.
+
+Then she had to walk pretty fast; it was later than she thought, for
+just as she turned the corner by the shop where her father worked, the
+six o'clock bell began to ring.
+
+"Halloo!" said one of the men, standing in the door while he untied
+his leather apron. "What party is this coming down the street? The
+neatest little woman I've seen for many a day. A stranger in this part
+of the world, I reckon. Doesn't fit in, somehow. Do you know who it is,
+Decker?"
+
+And Mr. Decker, thus appealed to, came to the door in time to receive
+Nettie's bow and smile.
+
+"That's my girl," he said, and a look of pride stole into his face.
+She was a trim little creature; it was rather pleasant to own her as
+his daughter.
+
+"Your girl!" and the astonishment which the man felt was expressed by a
+slight whistle. "I want to know now if that is the little one who went
+away six, seven years ago, was it? She's as pretty a girl as I've seen
+in a year. Looks smart, too. I say, Decker, you better take good care
+of her. She is a girl to be proud of."
+
+At just that moment Nettie sprang up the steps.
+
+"May I come in, father?" she said; "I wanted to see where you worked."
+Her voice was clear and sweet. All the men in the shop turned to look.
+The foreman who was paying Mr. Decker, and who had begun severely with
+the sentence: "Two half-days off again, Decker; that sort of thing
+won't"--stopped short at the sound of Nettie's voice, and gave him
+the two two dollar bills, and two ones, without further words. Six
+dollars! If only she could get part of it! How should the delicate
+matter be managed? Suddenly Nettie acted on the thought which came to
+her. What more natural than for a child to ask for money just then and
+there? She needed it, and why not say it? Perhaps he would not like
+to refuse her entirely before all the men. And poor Nettie had a very
+disagreeable fear that he would certainly refuse her if she waited
+until the men were gone; even if she found a chance to ask him before
+he reached the saloon just next door, where he spent so much of his
+money. Or at least where his wife thought he spent it.
+
+"May I have some of that, father? I want some money. That was one of
+the things I came after."
+
+This was certainly the truth. Why not treat it as a matter of course?
+"Why should I take it for granted that he is going to waste all his
+money?" said poor Nettie to herself. All the same she knew she had good
+reason for supposing that he would.
+
+"Money!" he said, as he seized the bills. "What do you know about
+money, or want with it?"
+
+"Oh, I want things. The little girls must have some shoes. I promised
+to see about it as soon as I could. And then I want to buy your Sunday
+dinner; a real nice one."
+
+The tone was a winning, coaxing one. Nettie did not know how to coax;
+was not very well acquainted with her father; did not know how he would
+endure coaxing of any sort, but some way must be tried, and this was
+the best one she knew of.
+
+"Divide with her, Decker," said the man who had first called his
+attention to Nettie. "She looks as though she could buy a dinner, and
+cook it too. If I had a trim little girl like that to look out for
+my comfort, hang me if I wouldn't take pleasure in keeping her well
+supplied." He sighed as he spoke, and nobody laughed; for most of them
+remembered that the man's home was desolate. Wife and daughter both
+buried only a few months before. This man sometimes spent his earnings
+on beer, but he was accustomed to say that there was nobody left to
+care; and that while he had them, he took care of them; which was true.
+Nettie looked up at the man with a curious pitiful interest. His tone
+was very sad. She was grateful to him for his words. Was there possibly
+something sometime that she could do for him? She would remember his
+face.
+
+All the men were looking now, and there was Nettie's outstretched hand.
+Her face a good deal flushed; but it wore an expectant look. She was
+going to believe in her father as long as she could.
+
+"Go ahead, Joe, divide with the girl. Such a handsome one as that. You
+ought to be proud of the chance."
+
+"You have something worth taking care of, it seems, Decker." It was the
+foreman who said this, as he passed on his way to the other side of the
+room where the men were waiting.
+
+Whether it was a father's pride, or a father's shame, or both these
+motives which moved Mr. Decker, I cannot say, but he actually took a
+two and a one and placed them in her hands as he said hastily, "There,
+my girl, I've given you half; you can't complain of that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+LONG STORIES TO TELL.
+
+
+IF only I had a good picture of Nettie, so that you might see the
+radiant look in her eyes just then!
+
+She had hoped for the money, she had tried to trust her father, but
+she was, nevertheless, wonderfully surprised when her hand closed over
+three dollars.
+
+"O father!" she said, "how nice." And then her courage rose. "Will you
+go with me, father, to buy the shoes? The little girls are so eager for
+them. I promised to take them with me to Sunday-school to-morrow, if I
+could get shoes, but I don't know how to buy them very well. Could you
+go?"
+
+The shoe shop was farther down the street, in an opposite direction
+from the one where Mr. Decker generally got his liquor, and wily Nettie
+remembered that there was a street leading from it which would take
+them home without passing the saloon. Of course it was true that she
+needed his help to select the shoes, but it was also true that she
+was very glad she did. Mr. Decker was untying his apron, and rolling
+down his sleeves; he felt very thirsty--the sight of the money seemed
+to make him thirsty. He had meant to go directly to the saloon, give
+them one dollar on the old bill, and spend what he needed, only a very
+little, on beer. With the rest of the money he honestly meant to pay
+his rent. Yet no one ought to have understood better than he that he
+would not be likely to get away from that saloon with a cent of money
+in his pocket. For all that, he wanted to go. He wished Nettie would go
+away and let him alone. But the men were watching.
+
+"You can't fit the children to shoes without having them along," he
+said gruffly. But Nettie was ready for him: "Oh!" she said, swiftly
+unrolling a newspaper, "I brought their feet along." And with a bright
+little laugh she plumped down two badly worn shoes on the work table.
+
+"That left-footed one is Satie's. The other was so dreadfully worn out,
+I was afraid the shoemaker couldn't measure it. This is the best one
+of Susie's."
+
+It was plain to any reasonable eyes that two pairs of shoes were badly
+needed.
+
+"I guess they need other things besides shoes."
+
+It was the father who said this, and they were out on the street, and
+he was actually being drawn by Nettie's eager hand in the opposite
+direction from the saloon.
+
+"O no," she said; "I had some clothes which I had outgrown; I have
+been at work at them all day, and they make nice little suits. Auntie
+Marshall sent them each a cunning little white sunbonnet. When we get
+the shoes, they will look just as nice as can be. You don't know how
+pleased they are about going to Sunday-school. I am so glad they will
+not be disappointed to-morrow."
+
+The shoes were bought, good, strong-looking little ones, and
+wonderfully cheap, perhaps because Nettie did the bargaining, and the
+man who knew how scarce her money must be, was sorry for the little
+woman. It did seem a great deal to pay out--two whole dollars--for
+shoes when everything was needed. It was warm weather, perhaps she
+ought to have let the little girls go barefoot for awhile, but then she
+could not take them to Sunday-school very well; at least, it seemed to
+her that she couldn't; and father was willing to have them bought now.
+Who could tell when he would be willing again?
+
+He stood in the door and waited for her, wondering why he did so, why
+he could not leave her and go back to that saloon and get his drink.
+One reason was, that she gave him no chance. She appealed to him every
+minute for advice.
+
+"Father, can we go to market now? I want to get just a splendid piece
+of meat for your Sunday dinner. I know just how to cook it in a way
+that you will like."
+
+"I guess you can do that without me; I have an errand in another
+direction." They were on the street again. She caught his hand eagerly.
+"O, father, do please come with me to the market, there are so many men
+there I don't like to go alone; and it is so nice to take a walk with
+you. I haven't had one since I came. Won't you please come, father?"
+
+Joe Decker hardly knew what to think of himself. There was something
+in her soft coaxing voice which seemed to take him back a dozen years
+into the past, and which led him along in spite of himself.
+
+The meat was bought, Nettie looking wise over the different pieces, and
+insisting on a neck piece, which the boy told her was not fit to eat.
+"I know how to make it fit," she said, with a little nod of her head.
+
+"I want three pounds of it. And then, father, I want two carrots and
+two onions; I'm going to make something nice."
+
+Only sixty-eight cents of her precious money left!
+
+"I did need some butter," she said mournfully, "and that in the tub
+looks nice, but I guess I can't afford it this time."
+
+"How much is butter?" asked Mr. Decker, suddenly rising to the needs of
+the moment. "Twenty-five," said the grocer, shortly. He did not know
+the trim little woman who had paid for her carrots and onions, and held
+them in a paper bag at this moment, but he did know Joe Decker and had
+an account against him. He had no desire to sell him any butter.
+
+"Then give me two pounds, and be quick about it." And Mr. Decker put
+down a dollar bill on the counter.
+
+The man seized it promptly and began to arrange the butter in a neat
+wooden dish, while he said, "By the way, Mr. Decker, when will it be
+convenient to settle that little account?"
+
+"I'll do it as soon as I can," said Mr. Decker, speaking low, for
+Nettie turned toward him startled; this was worse than she thought.
+She had not known of any accounts. Mr. Decker himself had forgotten
+it until he stood in the very door. It was months since he had bought
+groceries.
+
+"Is it much, father?" Nettie asked, and he replied pettishly:
+
+"Much? no. It is only a miserable little three dollars. I mean to pay
+it; he needn't be scared." Yet why he shouldn't be "scared," when he
+had asked for those three dollars perhaps fifty times, Mr. Decker did
+not say.
+
+"Father," said Nettie, in a very low voice, "couldn't you let the man
+keep the fifty cents, on the account, and that would be a beginning?"
+
+But this was too much.
+
+"No," said Mr. Decker; "I will pay my bills when I get ready and not
+before; and it is none of your business when I do it. You must not
+meddle with what does not belong to you."
+
+"No, sir;" said Nettie, though it was hard work to speak just then;
+there was a queer little lump in her throat. She was not in the habit
+of being spoken to in this way. The butter was ready, and the man
+handed back the change.
+
+Mr. Decker pocketed it, saying as he did so, "I'll have some money for
+you next week, I guess." And then they went away.
+
+"If it hadn't been for the girl I'd have kept the fifty cents and got
+so much out of the old drunkard; but someway I couldn't bring myself
+to doing it with her looking on." This was what the grocer muttered as
+they walked away. But they did not hear him. Nettie was bent now on
+tolling her father down the cross street to go home.
+
+"Father," she said, "we are going to have milk toast for supper. Mother
+said she would have it ready, and toast spoils, you know, if it stands
+long. Couldn't we go home this way and make it shorter?"
+
+He was a good deal astonished that he did it. He was still very
+thirsty, but there really came to him no decent excuse for deserting
+his little girl and going back to the saloon. And they walked into the
+house together, so astonishing Mrs. Decker that she almost dropped the
+teapot which she was filling with hot water. Whatever other night, Mr.
+Decker contrived to get home to supper, he was always late on Saturday,
+and in a worse condition than at any other time.
+
+That was really a nice little suppertime. Mrs. Decker had done her part
+well, not for the husband whom she did not expect, but in gratitude to
+the little girl who had worked so hard all the week for herself and
+her neglected babies. The toast was well made, and the tea was good.
+Besides, there was a treat; not ten minutes before, Mrs. Job Smith had
+sent in a plate of ginger cookies; "for the children," she said, and
+the children each had one. So did the father and mother.
+
+Mr. Decker washed his hands before he sat down to the table, for the
+tablecloth had been freshly washed and ironed that day, and his wife
+had on a clean calico apron and a strip of white cloth about her neck,
+and her hair was smooth.
+
+"There!" said Nettie, displaying her meat, "now, mother, we can have
+that stew for to-morrow, just as we planned. Father got the meat, and
+the carrots, and everything. And what do you think, little girlies,
+father bought you each a pair of shoes!"
+
+Mrs. Decker set down the teapot again. She was just in the act of
+giving her husband a cup of tea, and the color came and went on her
+face so queerly that Nettie for a moment was frightened. As for the
+father, he felt very queer. Scared and silent as his little girls
+generally were in his presence, they could not keep back a little
+squeal of delight over this wonderful piece of news. Altogether, Mr.
+Decker could not help feeling that it really was a nice thing to be
+able to buy shoes and meat for his family.
+
+"Come," he said, "give us your tea if you're going to; I'm as dry as a
+fish."
+
+And the tea was poured.
+
+The toast was good, and there was plenty of it, and someway it took
+longer to eat it than this family usually spent at the supper-table;
+and then, after supper, the shoes had to be tried on, and Nettie called
+the little girls to their father to see if the shoes fitted, and he
+took Sate up on his lap to examine them, which was a thing that had not
+happened to Sate in so long that Susie scowled and expected that she
+would be frightened, but Sate seemed to like it, and actually stole an
+arm around her father's neck and patted his cheek, while he was feeling
+of the shoe. Then Mrs. Decker had a happy thought.
+
+She winked and motioned Nettie into the bedroom and whispered: "Don't
+you believe he might like to see the children in their nice clothes?
+I ain't seen him notice them so much in a year; and he hasn't been
+drinking a mite, has he?"
+
+"Not a drop," said Nettie; "I'll dress Susie." And she flew out to the
+kitchen.
+
+"Father, just you wait until Susie is ready to show you something. Come
+here, Susie, quick." And almost in less time than it takes me to tell
+it, Susie was whisked into the pretty petticoats and dress which had
+been shortened and tightened for her that day. The dress was a plain,
+not over-fine white one; but it was beautifully ironed, and the white
+sunbonnet perched on the trim head completed the picture and made a
+pretty creature of Susie. I am sure I don't wonder that the child felt
+a trifle vain as she squeaked out in her new shoes to show herself to
+her father. She had not been neatly dressed long enough to consider it
+as a matter of course.
+
+"Upon my word!" said Mr. Decker, and there he stopped. This was
+certainly a wonderful change. He looked at his little daughter from
+head to foot, and could hardly believe his eyes. What a pretty child
+she was. And to think that she was his! Certainly she ought to have new
+shoes, and new clothes. Sate's arm was still about his neck, and Sate's
+sweet full lips were suddenly touched to his rough cheek.
+
+"I've got new clothes too," she said sweetly, "only I doesn't want to
+get down from here to put them on."
+
+The father turned at that and kissed her. Then he sat her down hastily
+and got up. Something made his eyes dim. He really did not know what
+was the matter with him, only it all seemed to come to him suddenly
+that he had some very nice children, and that they ought to have
+clothes and food and chances like others, and that it was his own fault
+they hadn't.
+
+Nettie hated tobacco, but she went herself in haste and lighted her
+father's pipe and brought it to him; if he must smoke, it would be so
+much better to have him sit in the door and do it rather than to go off
+down to that saloon. She hated the saloon worse than the tobacco. As
+she brought the pipe, she said within her hopeful little heart: "Maybe
+sometime he won't want either to drink or smoke. I most know we can
+coax him to give them both up; and then won't that be nice?"
+
+One thing was troubling her; as soon as she could, she followed her
+mother into the yard and questioned, "Do you know where Norm is?"
+
+Yes, Mrs. Decker knew. He came home just after Nettie had gone out,
+and said he had an hour's holiday; their room had closed early for
+Saturday, and he was going to wash up and go down street before supper.
+
+"My heart was in my mouth," said the poor mother; "because when there
+is a holiday he gets into worse scrapes than he does any other time;
+he goes with a set that don't do anything but have holidays, and they
+always have some mischief hatched up to get Norm into. I never see the
+like of the boys in this town for getting others into scrapes; but I
+didn't dare to say a word, because Norm thinks he is getting too big
+for me to give him any words, and just as he was going out, that boy
+next door--Jerry, you said his name was, didn't you?--he came out
+and called Norm, real friendly, and they stood talking together; he
+appeared to be arguing something, and Norm holding off, and at last
+Norm came in and wanted the tin pail and said he had changed his mind
+and was going fishing; and they went off together, them two." And Mrs.
+Decker finished the sentence with a rare smile. She was grateful to
+Jerry for carrying off her boy, and grateful to Nettie for thinking
+about him and being anxious.
+
+"Good!" said Nettie with a happy little laugh, "then we will have some
+fried fish to-morrow for breakfast. What a nice day to-morrow is going
+to be."
+
+Mr. Decker was a good deal surprised at himself, but he did not go down
+town again that night. After he had smoked, he felt thirsty, it is
+true, and at that very minute Nettie came in with the one glass which
+they had in the house, and it was full of lemonade.
+
+"Did he want a nice cool drink?" she had two lemons which she bought
+with her own money, and she knew how to make good lemonade, Auntie
+Marshall used to say.
+
+The father drank the cool liquid off almost at a swallow, said it was
+good, and that he guessed she knew how to do most things. By this time
+the little girls had been tucked away to bed, and just as Mr. Decker
+rose up to say he guessed he would go down street awhile, Norm appeared
+with a string of fish. They were beauties; he declared that he never
+had such luck in his life; that fellow just bewitched the fish, he
+believed, so they would rather be caught than not. Then came a talk
+about dressing them. Norm said he was sure he did not know how; and Mr.
+Decker said, a great fellow like him ought to know how. When he was a
+boy of fourteen he used to catch fish for his mother almost every day
+of his life, and dress them too; his mother never had to touch them
+until they were ready to cook. Then Nettie, flushed and eager, said:
+
+"O father, then you can show me how to do it, can't you? I would like
+to learn just the right way." And the father laughed, and looked at his
+wife with something like the old look on his face, and said he seemed
+to be fairly caught. And together they went to the box outside, and in
+the soft summer night, with the moon looking down on them, Nettie took
+her lesson in fish dressing.
+
+When the work was all done, Norm having hovered around through it all,
+and watched, and helped a little, Mr. Decker went back to the kitchen
+and yawned, and wondered how late it was. No clock in this house to
+give any idea of time. There used to be, but one day it got out of
+order and Mr. Decker carried it down street to be fixed, and never
+brought it back. Mrs. Decker asked about it a good many times, then
+went herself in search of it, and found it in the saloon at the corner.
+
+"He took it for debt," the owner told her, and a poor bargain it was;
+it never came to time, any better than her husband did. However, just
+as Mr. Decker made his wonderment, the old clock over at Mrs. Smith's
+rose up to its duty, and dignifiedly struck nine.
+
+"Well, I declare," said Mr. Decker, "I did not think it was as late as
+that. There ain't any evenings now days. Well, I guess, after all, I'll
+go to bed. I'm most uncommon tired to-night somehow."
+
+Norm had already gone up to his room; and Mrs. Decker when she heard
+her husband's words, hurried into the bedroom to hide two happy tears.
+
+"I declare for it, I believe you have bewitched him," she said to
+Nettie, who followed her to ask about the breakfast; "I ain't known him
+to do such a thing not in two years, as to go to bed at nine o'clock
+without ever going down street again. He don't act like himself; not
+a mite. I was most scared when I saw him take Sate in his arms; that
+child don't remember his doing it before, I don't believe. Did he
+really buy the things, child, and pay for them? Well, now, it does beat
+all! And Saturday night, too; that has always been his worst night.
+Child, if you get hold of your father, and of my Norm, there ain't
+anything in this world too good for you. I'd work my fingers to the
+bone any time to help along, and be glad to."
+
+It was all very sweet. Nettie ran away before the sentence was fairly
+finished, waiting only to say, "Good-night, mother!" She had done this
+every night since she came, but to-night she reached up and touched
+her lips to the tall woman's thin cheek. Poor Nettie had been used to
+kissing somebody every night when she went to bed. It had made her
+homesick not to do it. But she had not wanted to kiss anybody in this
+house, except the little girls. To-night, she wanted to kiss this
+mother. She reached the back door, then stopped and looked back; her
+father sat in his shirt sleeves, in the act of pulling off one boot.
+Should she tell him good-night? He had not been there for her to do it
+a single evening since she came home. Should she kiss him? Why not?
+Wasn't he her father? Yet he might not like it. She could not be sure.
+He was not like the fathers she had known. However, she came back on
+tiptoe and stooped over him, her voice low and sweet:
+
+"Good-night, father! I am going now." And then she put a kiss on the
+rough cheek, just where little Sate had left her velvet touch.
+
+Mr. Decker started almost as though somebody had struck him. But it was
+not anger which filled his face.
+
+"Good-night, my girl," he said, but his voice was husky; and Nettie ran
+as fast as she could across the yard to the next house.
+
+"I did not get the things," she said to Jerry, who stood in the doorway
+waiting for her; "I couldn't; but, Jerry, I had such a wonderful time!
+Father gave me money, and we went to market, and bought shoes and he
+bought butter; and since we came home almost everything has happened. I
+can't begin to tell you. I can get some of the things on Monday. Father
+gave me money."
+
+"All right," said Jerry; "I didn't get the skeletons ready, either; I
+meant to work after tea, but instead of that I went fishing." And he
+gave her a bright smile.
+
+"Oh! I know it," said Nettie, breathless almost with eagerness. "That
+is part of my nice time. Jerry, I am so glad you went fishing to-night,
+and I am so glad you caught your fish; not the ones which we are to
+eat for our Sunday breakfast, you know, but the other one. Do you
+understand?"
+
+And Jerry laughed. "I understand," he said, "I had a nice time, too. We
+shall have some long stories to tell each other, I guess. We must go in
+now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A SABBATH TO REMEMBER.
+
+
+SUNDAY was a successful day at the Deckers. The sun shone brilliantly;
+a trifle too warm, you might have thought it, for comfort; but the
+little Deckers did not notice it. The fish was beautifully browned and
+the coffee was delicious. Mr. Decker had a clean shirt which his wife
+had contrived to wash and mend, the day before, and all things were
+harmonious. Some time before nine o'clock. Sate and Susie were arrayed
+in their new white suits, and with their trim new shoes, and hair
+beautifully neat, they were as pretty little girls as one need want
+to see. Nettie surveyed them with unqualified satisfaction, and then
+seated them, each with a picture primer, while she made her own toilet.
+She put on the dress which had been her best for Sunday, all summer. It
+was a gingham, a trifle finer and a good deal lighter than the brown
+one in which she had travelled. It was neatly made, and fitted her
+well; and the brown hat and ribbons looked well with it.
+
+On the whole, when they set off for Sabbath-school, Jerry accompanying
+them, arrayed in a fresh brown linen suit, Mrs. Decker watching them
+from the side window, admitted that she never saw a nicer-looking set
+in her life! She even had the courage to call Mr. Decker to see how
+nice the two little girls looked, and he came and watched them out of
+sight. And when he said that his Nan was about as nice a looking girl
+as he wanted to see, she answered heartily that Nannie was the very
+best girl she ever saw in her life.
+
+Fairly in the Sabbath-school, a fit of extreme shyness came over
+the two little Deckers. With Susie, as usual, it took the form
+of fierceness; she planted her two stout feet in the doorway and
+resolutely shook her head to all coaxings to go any farther; keeping
+firm hold of Sate's hand, and giving her arm a jerk now and then, to
+indicate to her that she was not to stir from her protector's side.
+The situation was becoming embarrassing. Nettie could not leave them,
+and Jerry would not; though some of the boys were giggling, those of
+his class were motioning him to leave the group and join them. The
+superintendent came forward and cordially invited the children in, but
+Susie scowled at him and shook her head. Then Jerry went around to
+Sate's side and held out his hand. "Sate," he said in a winning tone,
+"come with me over where all those pretty little girls sit, and I will
+get you a picture paper with a bird on it."
+
+To Susie's utter dismay, Sate who had meekly obeyed her slightest whim
+during all her little life, suddenly dropped the hand that held hers,
+and gave the other to Jerry, with a firm: "I'm going in, Susie; we came
+to go in, and Nettie wants us to." Poor, astonished, deserted Susie!
+
+She had been so sure of Sate that she had neglected to keep firm hold,
+and now she had slid away. There was nothing left for Susie but to
+follow her with what grace she could.
+
+They were seated at last. Seven little girls of nearly Nettie's size
+and age. As she took a seat among them, I wish I could give you an idea
+of how she felt. Up to this hour, it had not occurred to her that she
+was not as well dressed as others of her age. Not quite that, either;
+being a wise little woman of business, she was well aware that her
+clothes were plain, and cheap, and that some girls wore clothes which
+cost a great deal of money. But I mean that this was the first time
+she had taken in the thought of the difference, so that it gave her a
+sting. The Sabbath-school which she had been attending, was a mission,
+in the lower part of the city; the scholars, nearly all of them, coming
+from homes where there was not much to spare on dress; and the girls
+of her class had all of them dressed like herself, neatly and plainly.
+It was very different with these seven girls. She felt at once, as
+she seated herself, as though she had come into the midst of a flower
+garden where choice blossoms were glowing on every side, and she
+might be a poor little weed. Summer silk dresses, broad-brimmed hats
+aglow with flowers, kid gloves, dainty lace-trimmed parasols--what a
+beautiful world it was into which this poor little weed had moved?
+
+Nettie knew that her hat was coarse, and the ribbon narrow and cheap,
+and her gloves cotton, but these things had never troubled her before.
+Why should they now?
+
+The truth is, it was not the pretty things, but the curious glances
+that their owners gave at the small brown thrush which had come in
+among them. They seemed to poor Nettie to be making a memoranda of
+everything she had on, from the narrow blue ribbon on her hair to the
+strong neat boots in which her plump feet were encased. The look in
+their eyes said, "How queerly she is dressed!" It was impossible to
+get away from the thought of their thoughts, and from the fact that
+the girl next to her drew her blue silk dress closer about her, and
+placed her pink-lined parasol on the other side, even though the pretty
+lady who sat before them in the teacher's seat, welcomed her kindly,
+and hoped she would be happy among them. Nettie hoped so, too; but she
+could hardly believe that it could be possible.
+
+She looked over at Jerry. He seemed to be having a good time; there was
+not so much difference in boys' clothes as in girls. She did not see
+but he looked as well as any of them. She looked forward at the little
+girls. Susie had allowed herself to be led in search of Sate, and the
+two were at this moment side by side in a seat full of bobbing heads;
+they had taken off their sunbonnets, and their pretty heads bobbed
+about with the rest, and the white dresses of the two looked as well
+at a distance as the others, though Nettie could see that there were
+ruffles, and tucks, and embroidery and lace. But some were plain; and
+none of the wee ones seemed to notice or to care. It was only Nettie
+who had gotten among those who made her care, by the glance of their
+eyes, and the rustle of their finery. She tried to get away from it
+all; tried hard. She listened to the words read, and joined as well as
+she could, in the hymn sung, and answered quietly and correctly, the
+questions put to her; but all the while there was a queer lump in her
+throat, which kept her swallowing, and swallowing, and a wish in her
+heart that she could go back to Auntie Marshall's.
+
+[Illustration: LORENA BARSTOW.]
+
+When the service was over, she stood waiting, feeling shy and alone.
+Jerry was talking with the boys in his class, and the little girls
+were being kissed by their pretty teacher. Her classmates stood and
+looked at her. At last the teacher who had been talking with one of the
+secretaries turned to her with a pleasant voice:
+
+"Well, Nettie, we are glad to have you with us. Can you come every
+Sabbath, do you think? Are you acquainted with these girls? No? Then
+you must be introduced. This is Irene Lewis, and this is Cecelia
+Lester," and in this way she named the seven girls, each one making in
+turn what seemed to poor Nettie the stiffest little bow she had ever
+seen. At last, Irene Lewis, who stood next to her, and wore an elegant
+fawn-colored silk dress trimmed with lace, tried to think of something
+to say.
+
+"You haven't begun school yet, have you? I haven't seen anything of
+you. What grade are you in?"
+
+Nettie explained that she had not been in a regular school; that she
+went afternoons to a private school which had no grades, and that now
+she did not expect to go at all; because mother could not spare her.
+
+"A private school!" said Miss Irene, "and held only in the afternoon!
+What a queer idea! I should think morning was the time to study. What
+was it for?"
+
+Then it became necessary to further explain that the girls who attended
+this afternoon school, had all of them work to do in the mornings, and
+could not be spared.
+
+"I have heard of them," said Lorena Barstow. "They are sort of charity
+schools, are they not?"
+
+Lorena was dressed in white, and looked almost weighed down with rich
+embroidery; but she had a disagreeable smile on her face, and a look in
+her eyes that made Nettie's face crimson.
+
+"I don't know," she said, quietly, "I never heard it called by that
+name. My auntie thought very well of it, and was glad to have me go."
+Then she turned away, and hoped that none of the girls would ask her
+any more questions, or try to be friendly with her. Just now, she
+could be glad of only one thing, and that was, that she need not go to
+school with these disagreeable people. She stepped quite out of sight
+behind the screen which shielded the next class, and waited impatiently
+for the little girls. They seemed to be having a very nice time, and
+were in no haste to come to her. Standing there, waiting, she had the
+pleasure of hearing herself talked about.
+
+"Isn't she a queer little object?" said Lorena Barstow. And when one of
+the others was kind enough to say that she did not see anything very
+queer about her, Lorena proceeded to explain.
+
+"You don't! Well, I should think you might. Did you ever see a girl in
+our class before, with a gingham dress on? Of course she wore her very
+best for the first Sunday; and her hat is of very coarse straw, just
+the commonest kind, and last year's shape at that; then look at her
+cotton gloves! I'm sure I think she is as funny a little object as ever
+came into this room."
+
+"What of it? I am sure she looks neat and clean, and she spoke very
+prettily, and knew her lesson better than any of us."
+
+"I didn't say she didn't. I was only talking about her clothes."
+
+"Clothes are not of much consequence."
+
+"O Miss Ermina! When you dress better than any of us. Why don't you
+wear gingham dresses, and cheap ribbons, and cotton gloves, if you
+think they look as well as nice ones?"
+
+"I did not say that; I wear the clothes my mother gets for me; but I
+truly don't think they are the most important things in the world."
+
+"Neither do I. You needn't take a person up in that way, as though you
+were better than anybody else. I am sure I am willing she should wear
+what she likes."
+
+Then Cecelia Lester took up the conversation:
+
+"She could not be expected to dress very well, of course. Don't you
+know she is old Joe Decker's daughter?"
+
+"Who is Joe Decker? I never heard of him."
+
+"Well, he is just a drunkard; they live over on Hamlin street. Mrs.
+Decker washes for my auntie once in awhile, when they have extra
+company, and I have seen her there, with both the little girls. I heard
+that Joe's daughter who has been living out, for years, was coming
+home."
+
+"Living out! that little thing! No wonder she hasn't better clothes.
+She has a pretty face, I think. But it seems sort of queer to have her
+come into our class, doesn't it? We sha'n't know what to do with her!
+She can't go in our set, of course."
+
+"O, I don't know. Perhaps Ermina Farley will invite her to her party."
+At this point, all the others laughed, as though a funny thing had
+been said, but Ermina spoke quietly: "So far as her gingham dress is
+concerned, I am sure I would just as soon. I don't choose my friends on
+account of the clothes they wear; and I suppose the poor thing cannot
+help her father being a drunkard; but then, I shouldn't like to invite
+her, for fear you girls would not treat her well."
+
+Nettie could see the toss of Lorena Barstow's yellow curls as she
+answered: "Well, I must say I like to be careful with whom I associate;
+and mother likes to have me careful. I am sorry for the girl; but
+I don't know that I need make her my most intimate friend on that
+account. Say, girls, did you ever notice what fine eyes that boy has
+who came in with her? Some think he is a real handsome fellow."
+
+"He seems to be a particular friend of this girl; I saw them on the
+street together yesterday, and they were talking and laughing, as
+though they enjoyed each other ever so much. Who is that boy?"
+
+Lorena seemed to be prepared to answer all questions.
+
+"He isn't much," she said, with another toss of her yellow curls. "His
+name is Jerry Mack; a regular Irish name, and he is Irish in face; I
+think he is coarse-looking; dreadful red cheeks! The girls over on the
+West Side say he is smart, and handsome, and all that. I don't see
+where they find it."
+
+"O, he is smart," said Cecelia Lester. "My brother knows him, and he
+says there isn't a more intelligent boy in town. I used to think he
+was splendid; I have talked with him some, and he is real pleasant; but
+I must say I don't understand why he goes with that Decker girl all the
+time."
+
+"I don't see why he shouldn't," declared Lorena. "For my part, I think
+they are well matched; he works for his board at Job Smith's the
+carman's, and she is a drunkard's daughter; they ought to be able to
+have nice times together."
+
+"Does he work for his board?" chimed in two or three voices at once.
+
+"Why, I suppose so, or gets it without working for it. He lives there,
+anyway. They say his father has deserted him, run away to California,
+or somewhere; Jerry will have to learn the carman's trade, and support
+himself, and Nettie, too, maybe." Whereupon there was a chorus of
+giggles. Something about this seemed to be thought funny.
+
+Ermina seemed to have left the group, so they took her up next. "Ermina
+Farley meant to invite him to her party, but I hardly think she will,
+when she finds out how all we girls feel about it. She tries to do
+things different from everybody else, though; so perhaps that will be
+the very reason why she will ask them both. I'll tell you what it is,
+girls, we must stand up for our rights, and not let her have everything
+her own way. Let's say squarely that we will not go to her party if she
+invites out of our set. I could endure the boy if I had to, because he
+is very polite, and merry; and so few of the boys around here know how
+to behave themselves; but if he has chosen that Decker girl for his
+friend, we must just let them both alone. This class isn't the place
+for that girl; I wonder who invited her in? I think it was real mean
+in Miss Wheeler to ask her to come again, without knowing how we felt
+about it."
+
+All this time was poor Nettie behind that screen. Not daring to stir,
+because there was no place for her to go. The little girls were still
+engaged with their teacher, who had Sate on her lap, and Susie by her
+side, and was showing them some picture cards, and apparently telling
+them a story about the pictures. Jerry had sat down beside a boy who
+was copying something which Jerry seemed to be reading to him, and
+various groups stood about, chatting. They were waiting for the bell
+to toll before they went into church. Nettie could not go without the
+little girls, and she could not stir without being brought into full
+view. And just then she felt as though it would not be possible for her
+to meet the eyes of anybody. If only she could run away and hide, where
+she need never see any of those dreadful girls again! or, for that
+matter, see anybody. It was true, she was a drunkard's daughter, and
+would go down lower and lower, until her neat dress would be in rags,
+and her hat, coarse as it was, would grow frayed, and be many years
+behind the fashion. What a cruel, wicked world it was! Who could have
+imagined that those pretty, beautifully dressed girls could have such
+cruel tongues, and say such hateful words! Didn't they know she was
+within hearing? Couldn't they have waited until she got out of the way,
+so that she need not have known how dreadful they were?
+
+So far as that was concerned, they did not know it. To do them justice,
+I think none of them would have wounded her so, quite to her face.
+They might have been cold, but they would not have been cruel in her
+presence. They thought she went out of the room, instead of behind the
+screen. The bell tolled, at last, and Jerry finished his reading, and
+came over to her, his face bright. The girls in their beautiful plumage
+fluttered away like gay birds, the teacher of the little girls came
+toward her holding a hand of each, and saying brightly: "Are these your
+little sisters? What dear little treasures they are! We have had such
+a pleasant time together. I hope you have enjoyed your first day at
+Sabbath-school?"
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," said Nettie. She was in great doubt as to whether
+this was a correct answer, for the sentence had the tone of a question
+in it, but truthful Nettie could not say that she enjoyed it very much,
+and did not want to say that she had never had a more miserable time in
+her life.
+
+Jerry was harder to answer. "Was it nice?" he asked her, as soon as
+they were fairly outside. "Did you have a good time? Those girls looked
+a trifle like peacocks, didn't they? I thought you were the best
+dressed one among them."
+
+O, ignorant boy! If there hadn't been such a lump in Nettie's throat,
+she would have laughed at this bit of folly. As it was, she contrived
+to give him a very little shadow of a smile, and was glad that the
+church door was near at hand, and that there was no more time for
+closer questions.
+
+All through the morning service she was trying to forget. It was
+not easy to do, for there sat three of the girls in a seat on which
+she could look down all the time; and try as she would, it seemed
+impossible to keep eyes or thoughts from turning that way. The girls
+did not behave very well. They whispered a good deal, during the Bible
+reading, and giggled over a book that fell while the hymn was being
+sung; and though Nettie covered her eyes during prayer, she could not
+help hearing a soft little buzz of whispering voices, even then. Jerry
+looked straight before him, with bright, untroubled face, and seemed
+to be having a good time. Susie and Sate, who had never been in church
+before in their lives, behaved remarkably well. In the course of the
+morning Sate leaned her little brown head trustingly against Nettie and
+dropped asleep, and Nettie put her arm around her, arranged her pretty
+head comfortably, and looked lovingly down upon her, and was glad that
+she had a little sister to love. Two of them, indeed, for Susie sat
+bolt upright and looked straight before her, and took in everything
+with wide-open eyes, and looked so handsome with her glowing cheeks and
+her lovely curls, that it was almost impossible not to feel proud of
+the womanly little face.
+
+Nettie contrived to keep herself occupied with the prattle of the
+children during the walk home. She was not yet ready for Jerry's
+questions. She did not know what to say. Of one thing she felt sure;
+that was, that she never meant to go to that Sabbath-school again.
+
+Dinner was nearly ready when they reached home; such an appetizing
+smell of soup as had never filled the Decker kitchen before. Mrs.
+Decker had followed the directions of her young daughter with great
+care; and presently a very comfortable family sat down to the table.
+There were no soup plates, but there were two bowls for the father and
+mother, and a deep saucer for Norm; and the little girls were made
+happy with tin cups, two of which Nettie had found and scoured, the day
+before. It was certainly a very pleasant time. After dinner, as Nettie
+was preparing to wash the dishes, her mother came out with a troubled
+face, and whispered:
+
+"Norm says he guesses he will go out for a walk; and I know what
+that means; he gets with a mean set every Sunday, and they carouse
+dreadful; it is the worst day in the week for boys. I was thinking,
+what if you could get that boy next door to go a-fishing again; Norm
+enjoyed it last night first-rate; and he said that boy was as jolly
+company as he should ever want. If he could keep him away from that
+set, he would be doing a good deed."
+
+"But, mother," she said, "it is Sunday."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Decker, "that's just what I've been saying; Sunday is
+the day when he gets into the worst kind of scrapes. Do you think Jerry
+would help us?"
+
+"I know he would if he could; but he could not go fishing on Sunday,
+you know."
+
+"Why not? I should think it was enough sight better than for Norm to go
+off with a set of loafers, who do all sorts of wicked things."
+
+Poor Nettie was not skilled in argument; she did not know how to
+explain to her mother that Jerry must not do one wrong thing, to keep
+Norm from doing another wrong thing, even though the thing he chose
+might be the worse of the two. There was only a simple statement which
+she could make. "This is God's day, mother, and he says we must not do
+our own work, or our own pleasure on his day; and I know Jerry will
+try to obey him, because he is his soldier."
+
+Mrs. Decker looked at the red-cheeked young girl a moment, then drew a
+long sigh.
+
+"Well," she said, "I know that is the way good folks talk; I used to
+hear plenty of it when I was young; and I was brought up to keep the
+Sabbath as strict as anybody; I would do it now if I could; but I'm
+free to confess that I would rather have Norm go a-fishing, ten times
+over, than to go with those fellows and get drunk."
+
+"Yes'm," said Nettie, respectfully. "But then, God says we must obey
+him; and he has told us just how to keep the Sabbath day. He couldn't
+help us to do things for other people, if we begin by disobeying Him."
+
+Mrs. Decker went away, the trouble still on her face, and Nettie began
+to wash the dishes. Suddenly, she dropped her dish towel and rushed
+after Norman as he lounged out of the door.
+
+"Norman," she called, just as he was moving down the street, "won't you
+take the little girls and me over to that green place, that I see, the
+other side of the pond? There is such a pretty tree there, and it looks
+so pleasant on the bank. I have some story papers that I promised
+to read to the little girls, and that would be such a nice place for
+reading. Won't you?"
+
+Norm stopped and looked down at her in astonishment, and some
+embarrassment. "You can go over there without me," he said, at last;
+"it isn't such a dreadful ways off; there's a plank across the stream
+down there a ways, where it is narrow. Lots of girls go there."
+
+Nettie looked over at it timidly. She was honestly afraid of the water,
+and nothing short of keeping Norm out of harm's way would have tempted
+her to cross a plank, with the little girls for companions. She spoke
+in genuine timidity.
+
+"I wouldn't like to go over there alone, with just the children. I am
+not used to going about alone. Couldn't you go with us, for just a
+little while? It will seem so nice to have a big brother to take care
+of me."
+
+Something about it all seemed suddenly rather nice to Norm. He had
+never been asked to take care of anybody before. He stood irresolutely
+for a moment, then said lazily, "Well, I don't know as I care; bring on
+your babies, then, and we'll go."
+
+Nettie sped back to the kitchen, dashed after the little girls and
+their sunbonnets, saying to Mrs. Decker as she went: "Mother, would you
+mind finishing the dishes? Norman is going to take the little girls and
+me over to the big tree, and we are going to stay there awhile, and
+read."
+
+"I'll finish,'em," said Mrs. Decker, comfort in her tone, and she
+murmured, as she watched them away, Sate with her hand slipped inside
+of Norm's, "I declare, I never see the beat of that girl in all my
+life."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A BARGAIN AND A PROMISE.
+
+
+DURING the next few days work went on rapidly in the Decker home:
+or, more properly speaking, in the room over Job Smith's barn.
+Jerry developed such taste in the manufacture of furniture, or of
+"skeletons," that Nettie grew alarmed lest there should never be found
+clothing enough to cover them. However, matters in that respect began
+to look brighter. Mrs. Job Smith, as she grew into an understanding of
+the plan, dragged out certain old trunks from her woodhouse chamber and
+looked them over. There were treasures in those trunks, which even Mrs.
+Job herself had forgotten. A gay chintz dress of Job's mother's, which
+had been saved by her daughter-in-law "she couldn't rightly tell for
+what, only Job set store by it because it was his old mother's." Nettie
+fairly clapped her hands in delight over it, and then blushed crimson
+when she remembered it was not hers.
+
+"Well, now," said Mrs. Job, "I'll just tell you what it is. If you see
+anything in life to do with these rolls of things, here is a bundle of
+old muslin curtains, embroidered, you know, and dreadful pretty once, I
+suppose, but they are all to pieces now. Mrs. Percival, a lady I used
+to clear starch and iron for, gave them to me; paid me in that kind of
+trash, you know, though what in the world she thought I could ever do
+with them is more than I could imagine. But I was younger then than I
+am now, and was kind of meek, and I lugged home the great roll and said
+nothing; only I remember when I got home I just sat down on a corner
+of the table and cried, I was so disappointed. I had expected to be
+paid in money, and I had planned two or three things to surprise Job,
+and they had to be given up. Well, as I was saying," she added, in a
+brisker tone, having roused from her little dream of the past to watch
+Nettie's fingers linger lovingly and wistfully among the rolls of soft
+muslin, "they have never been the least mite of good to me. I have just
+kept them because it didn't seem quite the thing to throw such pretty
+soft stuff into the rag-bag, and they were dreadful poor trash to give
+away; and Sarah Jane, she is tired of having them in the attic taking
+up room, and if there is anything in life can be done with these things
+in this trunk, I wish you would just go shares, and make some things
+for me too. Sarah Jane would like it, first-rate."
+
+This sentence fairly made Nettie catch her breath. The treasures in
+that trunk were so wonderful to her. "I could make such lovely things!"
+she said, almost gasping out the words; "but, O Mrs. Smith, you can't
+mean it! I'm afraid I oughtn't to."
+
+"Why, bless your heart, child, I tell you I don't know of a single
+useful thing in that trunk; not one; it is just a pack of rubbish, now,
+that's the truth; and if Sarah Jane has begged me once to let her sell
+it to the rag pedlers, I believe she has twenty times."
+
+The bare thought of such a sacrifice as this almost made Nettie pale.
+Also it settled her resolution and her conscience. She reached forward
+and plunged into the delights of the despised trunk with a satisfied
+air. "I will make you some of the prettiest things you ever saw in
+your life," she said, with the air of one who knew she could do it. And
+Mrs. Smith laughed, and watched her with admiring eyes, and told Sarah
+Jane that she believed the child could do some things that other folks
+couldn't.
+
+It was after the day's work was done, and the little girls were asleep,
+and Nettie sat in the back door waiting for father and Norm, and
+wishing that they had not gone down town again, that she had a chance
+to say the few little words which she had made up her mind to say to
+Jerry. While her hands had been busy over long seams of rag carpeting,
+and over the wonderful trunk full of treasures, her thoughts had, much
+of the time, been busy with other matters. Yesterday at noon she had
+been sure that she should never go to that Sabbath-school again. By
+night, after the quiet talk under the trees with Norm and the little
+girls, she had not been so sure of it. The little girls could not go
+without her, and they had learned sweet lessons that very day, which
+had filled their young heads full of wondering thoughts, and they had
+asked questions which had at least amused Norm, and which might set
+him to thinking. In any case, ought she, because she had not been
+happy in her class, to deprive the little girls of the help which the
+Sabbath-school might be to them? Then how badly it would look to Norm,
+and to her mother, if she went no more. And what would Jerry think? On
+the whole, the longer she thought about it, the more she felt inclined
+to believe that her decision might have been a hasty one, and it was
+her duty to continue in that Sabbath-school, and even in that class,
+at least until the superintendent placed her in some other. It was a
+good deal of a trial to her to decide the question in this way, but she
+could not make any other seem right.
+
+There had also been another question to decide, which had been harder,
+and cost her more tears than the other. She was a very lonely little
+girl, and it seemed hard to give up a friend. But this, too, seemed to
+be the only right thing to do, so she made it known to Jerry in the
+moonlight.
+
+"Do you know, Jerry, I have been thinking all day of something that I
+ought to say to you?"
+
+"All right," said Jerry, whittling away at the stick which he was
+fashioning into a proper shape to do duty as a towel rack for Mrs. Job
+Smith's kitchen towel. "Go ahead, this is a good time to say it."
+And he held the stick up and took a scientific squint at it in the
+moonlight. "This thing would work better if the wood were a little
+softer. I am going to make one for your mother if it is a success, and
+it will be. Now what is your news?"
+
+"It isn't news," said Nettie, "it is only something that I have made
+up my mind I ought to say. Jerry, I think, that is, I don't think, I
+mean"-- And there she stopped.
+
+"Just so," said Jerry, nodding his head gravely, "that is plain, I am
+sure, and interesting; I agree with you entirely." After that, both of
+them had to laugh a little, and the story did not get on.
+
+"But I truly mean it," Nettie said at last, her face growing grave
+again, "and I ought to say it. What I want to tell you is, that I have
+made up my mind that you and I must not be friends any more."
+
+Jerry did not laugh now, he did not even whistle. His knife suddenly
+stopped, and he squared around to get a full view of her face.
+
+"What!" he said at last, as though he did not think it possible that he
+could have understood her.
+
+"Yes," she said firmly, "I mean it, Jerry, and it is real hard to say;
+you and I ought not to be friends, or, I mean we must not let folks
+know that we are friends. We mustn't take walks together, nor work
+together. I don't mean that I shall not like you all the same; but we
+mustn't have anything to do with each other."
+
+"Why not, pray? Have I done anything to make you ashamed of me? I'll
+try to behave myself, I'm sure."
+
+This was so ridiculous that Nettie could not help smiling a little.
+
+"O, Jerry!" she said, "you know better than to talk in that way. It
+sounds strange, I know, and it is real hard to do, but I am sure it is
+right, and we must do it."
+
+"But what in the world is the trouble? Can't you give a fellow a reason
+for things? Is it your brother who doesn't like it?"
+
+"O no! Norm likes you; and mother is as much obliged to you as she can
+be, for getting him to go a-fishing. But, you see, it is bad for you to
+be my friend."
+
+"Oh-ho! I don't believe your influence is very hard on me; I don't feel
+as though you had led me very far astray!"
+
+"It isn't fun, Jerry, it is sober earnest. I have heard things said
+that set me to thinking. I overheard the girls talk! those girls in the
+class, you know, yesterday. I guess they did not know I was there. They
+talked about me a good deal. They said I had a last year's hat on, and
+that is true, and my dress was only gingham, and washed at that."
+
+"Washed!" interrupted Jerry in bewilderment; "well, what of that? Would
+they have had you wear it dirty?"
+
+But Nettie hastened on; she did not feel equal to explaining to him
+the subtle distinction between a brand-new dress and one that had been
+"done up."
+
+"They said a good deal more than that, Jerry, and it was all true. They
+said I was nothing but a drunkard's daughter," and here Nettie found it
+hard work to control the sob in her throat.
+
+"That is not true," said Jerry, indignantly. "Your father has not drank
+a drop in three days."
+
+"Oh! but, Jerry, you know he does drink; and he has gone down town
+to-night, and mother is sure that he will not come home sober. It is
+all true, Jerry. I don't mean that I am going to give up. I shall try
+for father all the time; and I think maybe he will reform, after a
+while. And I won't forget our promise, and I know you won't; but it is
+best for us not to act like friends. They talked about you, too; they
+said you were handsome, and they used to like you; they thought you
+were smart. But now you had begun to go with me, so you couldn't be
+much. One of them said you were an Irish boy, that you had a real Irish
+name. Are you Irish, Jerry?"
+
+"Not much! Or, hold on, I don't know but I am. Why, yes, my
+great-grandmother came from the North of Ireland. Father is proud of
+it, I remember."
+
+"Well, I don't care where you came from, you know. Nor whether you are
+Irish, or Dutch, or what; I am only telling you what they said. They
+told how you worked at Job Smith's for your board; and one of them said
+your father had run away and left you."
+
+"Well, he has; run three thousand miles away, and left me, as sure as
+time. But he means to run back again, when he gets ready."
+
+"I knew that wasn't true, Jerry; and I only tell you because I thought
+you might want to speak about your father in a way that would show them
+it wasn't so. But what I want to say is, that I know they will get all
+over those feelings when they come to know you; and they will like
+you, and invite you to places, if you don't go with me; but they won't
+any of them have anything to do with me, on account of my father. And,
+Jerry, I want you not to go with me, or talk with me any more."
+
+"Just so," said Jerry, in an unconcerned voice. "Do you think I am
+making this stick too long for the frame? Our kitchen towels are pretty
+wide. Well, now, see here, Miss Nettie Decker, you would not make a
+very honest business woman if you went back on a square bargain in
+that fashion. You and I settled it to be partners in a very important
+business; and partners can't get along very well without speaking to
+each other. There is no use in talking. You are several days too late.
+The mischief is done. I'm your friend and fellow-laborer and partner in
+the cabinet business, and the upholstery line, and all the other lines.
+You will find me the hardest fellow to get rid of that ever was. I
+don't shake off worth a cent. I shall take walks with you every chance
+I can get; and shout to you from the woodshed window when you are over
+home, and wait for you to come out when I think it is about time you
+should appear, and be on hand in all imaginable places. Now I hope you
+understand what sort of a fellow I am."
+
+If the boy had looked in Nettie's face just then, he would have seen a
+sudden light flash over it which carried away a good deal of the look
+of patient endurance which it had worn for the last few hours. Still
+her voice was full of earnestness.
+
+"But, Jerry, they will not have anything to do with you if you act
+so. By and by they will not even speak to you. And they won't invite
+you to their parties, nor anywhere. There is going to be a party next
+week, and I think you would have been invited if you hadn't gone with
+me Sunday; now I am afraid you won't be." And now Jerry whistled a few
+rollicking notes.
+
+"All right," he said in a cheery tone. "If there is any one thing more
+than another that I don't like to go to, it is a girls' party where
+they make believe act like silly, grown-up men and women. I know just
+about what kind of a party those girls in that class would get up. If
+you have been the means of saving me from an invitation, it is just
+another thing to thank you for. Look here, Nettie, let us make another
+bargain, sober earnest, not to be broken. I don't care a red cent for
+the girls, nor their invitations, nor their bows; I would just as soon
+they did not know me when they met me as not. If that is their game, I
+shall like nothing better than to meet them half-way; girls who would
+know no better than to talk the way they did about you, are not to my
+liking. If because you wear clothes that are neat and nice and the best
+you can afford, and because I am an Irish boy and work for my board,
+are good reasons for not having anything to do with us, why, we will
+return the favor and not have anything to do with them, for better
+reasons than they have shown. Let's drop them. I thought some of them
+would be good friends to you, maybe, and help you to have a nice time;
+but they are not of the right sort, it seems. You and I will have just
+as good times as we can get up. And we will bow to them if they bow to
+us; if they don't we will let them pass. What is settled is, that we
+are bound to work out this thing together. Understand?"
+
+"Yes," said Nettie, with a little soft laugh, "I understand, and I
+don't believe I ought to let you do it. But you don't know how nice it
+is; and I can't tell you how lonesome I felt when I thought I ought not
+to talk with you any more."
+
+"I should like to see you help yourself," said Jerry, in a complacent
+tone. "You would find it the hardest work you ever did in your life not
+to talk to me, when I should keep up a regular fire of questions of all
+sorts and sizes."
+
+Then Nettie laughed outright, but added, after a moment of silence,
+"But, Jerry, I think the worst of it is about father; and that is true,
+you know. They might not think so much about the clothes, if it were
+not for him."
+
+"That has nothing to do with it," said Jerry sturdily. "You are not to
+blame for your father's drinking liquor. Wouldn't you stop it quick
+enough if you could? It is only another reason why they ought to be
+friends to you. Besides, there wouldn't be so much of the stuff for
+folks to drink, if Lorena Barstow's father did not make it."
+
+"O Jerry! does he?"
+
+"Yes, he does. Owns one of the largest distilleries in the country."
+
+"Jerry, I think I would rather have my father drink liquor than make it
+for other folks. At least he doesn't make money out of other people's
+troubles."
+
+"So would I, enough sight," said Jerry with emphasis. Then he lifted
+up his voice in answer to Mrs. Job Smith who appeared in the adjoining
+door. "All right, auntie, we are coming." And he carefully gathered the
+chips he had whittled, into his handkerchief, and rose up.
+
+"Going over now, Nettie? I guess auntie thinks it is time to lock up."
+
+Nettie darted within for a few minutes, then appeared, and they crossed
+the yard together. As they stepped on the lower step of Mrs. Smith's
+porch, Jerry said: "Remember this is a bargain forever and aye, Nettie;
+there is to be no backing out, and no caring for what folks say, or for
+what happens, either now or afterwards. Do you promise?"
+
+"I promise," said Nettie with a smile. And they went into the clean
+kitchen. Before Jerry went to bed that night he took out of the fly
+leaf of his Bible the picture of a tall man, and kissed it, as he said
+aloud: "So you have run away and left your poor little Irish boy, have
+you? But when you run back again, won't they all be glad to see you,
+though!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+PLEASURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+
+THE day came at last when the front room at the Deckers was put in
+order. I don't suppose you have any idea how pretty that room looked
+when the last tack was driven, and the last fold in the curtain
+twitched into place! The rag carpet was very bright. "I put a good many
+red and yellows in it," said Mrs. Smith, "and now I know why I did it.
+It is just bright enough for this room. I don't see how you two could
+have got it down as firm as you have."
+
+"Nettie managed it," said Mrs. Decker, "she is a master hand at putting
+down carpets."
+
+The furniture was done and in place, and certainly did justice to the
+manufacturers. There were two "sofas" with backs which were so nicely
+padded that they were very comfortable things to lean against, and the
+gay-flowered goods that had looked "so horrid" in a dress that Mrs.
+Smith could never bring herself to wear it, proved to be just the thing
+for a sofa-cover. Between the windows was a very marvel of a table.
+Nobody certainly to look at it, draped in the whitest of muslin, with
+a pink cambric band around its waist, covered with the muslin, and
+looking as much like pink ribbon as possible, would have imagined that
+a square post, about six inches in diameter, and two feet long, with
+a barrel head securely nailed to each end, was the "skeleton" out of
+which all this prettiness was evolved. "And mine is as like it as two
+peas," said Mrs. Smith, "only mine is tied with blue ribbon. Who would
+have thought such things could be made out of what they had to work
+with! I declare them two young things beat all!" This time she meant
+Nettie and Jerry, not the two tables.
+
+The curtains for which, after much consideration, cheap unbleached
+muslin had been chosen, when their pinkish lambrequins of the same
+gay-flowered goods as the sofas, had been cut and scalloped, and put in
+place, were almost pretty enough to justify the extravagant admiration
+which they called forth. But the crowning glory was, after all, a
+chair which occupied the broad space between the window and the door.
+It was cushioned, back, and sides, and arms; it was dressed in a robe
+which had belonged to Job Smith's grandmother. It was delightful to
+look at, and delightful to sit in. Mrs. Decker declared that the first
+time she sat down in it, she felt more rested than she had in three
+years.
+
+Those two barrel chairs were triumphs of art. Jerry had been a week
+over the first one, planning, trying, failing, trying again; Nettie had
+seen one once, in the room of a house where she used to go sometimes
+to carry flowers to a sick woman. She had admired it very much, and
+the lady herself had told her how it was made, and that her nephew,
+a boy of sixteen, made it for her. Now, although Jerry was not a boy
+of sixteen, he had no idea there lived one of that age who could
+accomplish anything which he could not; so he persevered, and I must
+say his success was complete. Mrs. Smith believed there never was such
+a wonderful chair made, before.
+
+Jerry who had been missing for the last half-hour, now appeared, and
+with long strides reached the nice little mantel and set thereon a
+lamp, not very large, but new and bright.
+
+"That belongs to the firm," he said, in answer to Nettie's look. "I saw
+a lamp the other day that I knew would just fit nicely on that mantel,
+and I couldn't rest until I had tried it."
+
+Nettie's cheeks were red. She glanced over at her mother to see how she
+would like this. Nettie did not know whether a poor boy's money ought
+to be taken to provide a lamp for the new room; she much doubted the
+propriety of it. "The first money I earn, or father gives me, I can pay
+him back," she thought, then gave herself up to the enjoyment of her
+new treasure.
+
+None of them had planned to give a reception that evening, yet I do not
+know but such an unusual state of things as was found at the Deckers
+about eight o'clock, is worthy of so dignified a name. Mr. Decker and
+Norm came in to supper together, and both a little late. Nettie had
+trembled over what kept them, and her heart gave a great bound of
+relief and thanksgiving, when they appeared at last, none the worse
+for liquor. Indeed, she did not think either of them had taken even
+a glass of beer. They were in good humor; a bit of what Mr. Decker
+called "extra good luck" had fallen to him in the shape of a piece of
+work which it was found he could manage better than any other hand in
+the shop, and for which extra wages were to be paid. And Norm had been
+told that he was quite a success in a certain line of work. "He kept me
+after hours to give the new boy a lift," said Norm, good-naturedly; "he
+said I knew how to do the work, and how to tell others better than the
+other fellows."
+
+It was a good time for Mrs. Decker to tell what had been going on in
+the square room, or rather to hint at it, and tell them when supper was
+over, they should go in and see. "Nannie and I haven't been folding our
+hands while you have been working," she said with a complacent air, and
+a smile for Nettie as warmed that little girl's heart, making her feel
+it would not be a hard thing to love this new mother a great deal.
+
+So after supper they went in. I suppose you can hardly understand or
+imagine their surprise; because, you see, you have been used all your
+life to nicely arranged rooms. For Mr. Decker it stirred old memories.
+There had been a time when his best room if not so fine as this, was
+neat and clean, with many comforts in it. "Well, I never," he began,
+and then his voice choked, and he stopped.
+
+However, Norm could talk, and expressed his surprise and pleasure in
+eager words. "Where did you get the table, and the gimcracks around
+that chair? _Is_ that a chair, or a sofa, or what? Halloo! here's a new
+lamp. Let's have it lighted and see how it works. I tell you what it
+is, Nannie Decker, I guess you're a brick and no mistake."
+
+Then father was coaxed to sit down in the barrel chair, and try its
+strength and its softness, and guess what it was made of. And the
+little girls stood at his knee and put in eager words as to the effect
+that they helped, and altogether, there was such a time as that family
+had not known before.
+
+Just as Nettie was explaining that it was dark enough to try the lamp,
+and Norm went for a match, Mrs. Smith made her way across the yard, and
+who should march solemnly behind her but Job Smith himself!
+
+"Come right along," said Mrs. Decker heartily, as the new lamp threw a
+silvery light across the room. "Come and try the new sofa. Here, Mr.
+Smith, is a chair for you, if that is too low. Decker, he's got the
+seat of honor; Nettie said her pa must have the first chance in it."
+
+The name "Nettie" seemed to slip naturally from Mrs. Decker's tongue;
+she had heard Jerry use it so often during the past few days, that it
+was beginning to seem like the proper name of that young woman. Mr.
+Smith sat down, slowly, solemnly, in much doubt what to do or say next.
+
+"Well, Neighbor Decker, these young folks of ours are busy people,
+ain't they, and seem to be getting the upper hand of us?" Then he
+laughed, a slow, pleasant laugh. Mrs. Smith laughed a round, admiring
+satisfied laugh; she was _very_ proud of Job for saying that. Then they
+fell into conversation, the two men, about the signs of the times as
+regarded business, and prices, and various interests. Mr. Decker was
+a good talker, and here lay some of his temptations; there was always
+somebody in the saloons to talk with; there was never anybody in his
+home. Jerry came, presently, to admire the room and the lamp, and
+to have a little aside talk with Nettie. Norm was trying one of the
+lounges near them.
+
+"How did you make this thing?" he asked Jerry, and Jerry explained,
+and Norm listened and asked a question now and then, until presently
+he said, "I know a thing that would improve it; the next time you make
+one, try it and see."
+
+"What is that?" asked Jerry.
+
+"Why, look here, in this corner where you put the crossbar, if you
+should take a narrower piece, so, and fit it in here so," and the sofa
+was unceremoniously turned upside down and inside out, and planned
+over, Jerry in his turn becoming listener until at last he said: "I
+understand; I mean to fix this one, some day."
+
+Nettie nodded, her eyes bright; it was not about the sofa that they
+shone; it gave her such intense pleasure as perhaps you cannot
+understand, to see her father sitting beside Mr. Smith, talking
+eagerly, and her mother and Mrs. Smith having a good time together,
+and Jerry and Norm interested in each other. "It is exactly like other
+folks!" she said to Jerry, later, "and I don't believe either father or
+Norm will go down street to-night." And they didn't.
+
+It was a very happy girl who went over to Mrs. Smith's woodhouse
+chamber to sleep that night. She sang softly, while she was getting
+ready for rest; and as often as she looked out of the window towards
+the square room in the next house, she smiled. It looked so much
+better than she had ever hoped to make it; and father and Norm had
+seemed so pleased, and they had all spent such a pleasant evening.
+
+Alas for Nettie! All the next day her happiness lasted. She sang over
+her work; she charmed the little girls with stories. She made an apple
+pudding for dinner, she baked some choice potatoes for supper; but
+they were not eaten, at least only by the little girls. They waited
+until seven o'clock, and half-past seven, and eight o'clock for the
+father and brother who did not come. Jerry, who stopped at the door
+and learned of the anxiety, slipped away to try to find out what kept
+them; but he came back in a little while with a grave face and shook
+his head. Both had left their shops at the usual time; nobody knew what
+had become of them. Jerry could guess, so also could Mrs. Decker. The
+poor woman was too used to it to be very much astonished; but Nettie
+was overwhelmed. She ate no supper; she did not sing at all over the
+dishwashing. She watched every step on the street, and turned pale at
+the sound of passing voices. She put the little girls to bed, and cried
+over their gay chatter. She coaxed her sad-faced mother to go to bed
+at last, and drew a long sigh of relief when she went into her bedroom
+and shut the door. It had been so dreadful to hear her say: "I told you
+so; I knew just how it would be. They will both come staggering home.
+It's of no use."
+
+Nettie did not believe it. She believed that work somewhere was holding
+them; people often had extra work to do, or were sent on errands, but
+she went at last over to the woodhouse chamber; it would not do to keep
+the Smiths up longer. Instead of making ready for bed, she kneeled down
+before the little window which gave her a view of the next house, and
+watched and waited. They came at last; father and son; not together.
+Norm came first, and stumbled, and shuffled, and growled; his voice was
+thick, and the few words she could catch had no connection or sense. He
+had too surely been drinking. But he was not so far gone as the father.
+_He_ had to be helped along the street by some of his companions; he
+could not hold himself upright while they opened the door. And when
+the gentle wind blew it shut again, he swore a succession of oaths
+which made Nettie shudder and bury her face in her hands. But she
+did not cry. It was the first time in her young life that her heart
+was too heavy for tears. She drew great deep sighs as she went about,
+at last, preparing for bed; she wished that the tears would come, for
+the choking feeling might be relieved by them; but the tears seemed
+dried. She tossed about on her neat little bed, in a sorrow very unlike
+childhood. Poor, disappointed Nettie!
+
+The sun shone brightly the next morning, but there was no brightness in
+the little girl's heart. She was early down stairs, and stole away to
+the next house without seeing anybody. Mrs. Decker was up, with a face
+as wan as Nettie's.
+
+"Well," she said, in a hopeless tone, "it's all over. Did you hear them
+come in last night? Both of 'em. If it had been one at a time, we could
+have stood it better; but both of 'em! I _did_ have a little hope, as
+sure as you live. Your pa seemed so different by spells, and Norm, he
+seemed to like you, and to stay at home more, and I kind of chirked up
+and thought may be, after all, good times was coming to me; but it's
+all of no use; I've give up; and it seems to me it would have been
+easier to have stayed down, than to have crept up, to tumble back.
+
+"Not that I'm blaming you, child," she said, "you did your best, and
+you did wonders; and I think sometimes, maybe if I had made such a
+brave shift as that in the beginning, things wouldn't have got where
+they have. But I didn't, and it's too late now."
+
+Not a word had Nettie to say. It was a sad breakfast-time. Mr. Decker
+shambled down late, and had barely time to swallow his coffee very hot,
+and take a piece of bread in his hand, for the seven o'clock bells were
+ringing, and punctuality was something that was insisted on by his
+foreman. Norm came later, and ate very little breakfast, and looked
+miserable enough to be sent back to bed again. Nettie only saw him
+through a crack in the door; she stayed out in the little back yard,
+pretending to put it in order. He made his stay very short, and went
+away without a word to mother or sister; and the heavy burden of life
+went on. Mrs. Decker prepared to do the big ironing which yesterday
+she had been glad over, because it would give them a chance to have
+an extra comfort added to the table; but which to-day seemed of very
+little importance.
+
+Nettie washed the dishes, and wished she was at Auntie Marshall's,
+and tried to plan a way for getting there. What was the use of staying
+here? Hadn't she tried her very best and failed? didn't the mother say
+it was harder for her than though they hadn't tried at all?
+
+In the course of the morning, Mrs. Smith sent in a basket of corn.
+Sarah Jane brought it. "Some folks on a farm that mother ironed for,
+when they lived in town, sent her a great basket full; heaps more than
+we can use, and mother said it would be just the thing for your men
+folks; they always like corn, you know."
+
+Mrs. Decker took the basket without a smile on her face. "Your mother
+is a very kind woman," she said, "the kindest one I ever knew; in fact,
+I haven't known many kind people, and that's the truth. She has done
+all she could to help us, but I don't know as we can be helped; it
+seems as though some people couldn't."
+
+Sarah Jane went back and told her mother that Mrs. Decker seemed
+dreadful downhearted and discouraged; and Mrs. Smith replied with a
+sigh that she didn't know as she wondered at it; poor thing! Nettie
+made the dinner as nice as she could. Mr. Decker ate with a relish,
+and said the corn was good, and he had sometimes thought that the bit
+of ground back of the house might be made to raise corn; and Nettie
+brightened a little, and looked over at Norm and was just going to say,
+"Let's have a garden next summer," when he spoiled it by declaring that
+he wouldn't slave in a garden for anybody. It was hard enough to work
+ten hours a day. Then his father told him that he guessed he did not
+hurt himself with work; and he retorted that he guessed they neither
+of them would die with over-work; and his father told him to hold his
+tongue. In short, nothing was plainer than that these two were ashamed
+of themselves, and of each other, and were much move irritable than
+they had been for several days.
+
+The afternoon work was all done, and Nettie had just hung up her
+apron, and wondered whether she should offer to iron for awhile, or
+run away to the woodhouse chamber, and write to Auntie Marshall, when
+Jerry appeared in the door. She had not seen him since the sorrow of
+the night before had come upon them; Nettie thought he avoided coming
+in, because he too was discouraged. Her face flushed when she heard
+his step, and she wished something would happen so that she need not
+turn around to him. She felt so ashamed of her own people, and of his
+efforts to help them. His voice, however, sounded just as usual.
+
+"Through, Nettie? Then come out on the back step; I want to talk with
+you."
+
+"There is no use in talking," she said, sadly. But she followed him
+out, and sat down listlessly on the broad low step, which the jog in
+Mr. Smith's house shaded from the afternoon sun.
+
+Jerry took no notice of the words if indeed he heard them.
+
+"I heard some news this morning," he began. "Two of the older boys at
+the corner, that one in Peck's store, you know, and the one next door
+told me that a lot of fellows were going off to-night on what he called
+a lark. They have hired a boat, and are going to row across to Duck
+Island, and catch some fish and have a supper in that mean little hole
+which is kept on the island; they mean to make an all-night of it. I
+don't know what is to be done next; play cards, I suppose; they do,
+whenever they get together, and lots of drinking. It is a dreadful
+place. Well, I heard, by a kind of accident, that they thought of
+asking Norm to join 'em. At first they said they wouldn't, because he
+wouldn't be likely to have any money to help pay the bills; but then
+they remembered that he was a good rower, and thought they would get
+his share out of him in that way; and I say, Nettie, let's spoil their
+plans for them."
+
+"How?" asked Nettie, drearily.
+
+Jerry talked on eagerly. "I have a plan; I rented a boat for this
+afternoon, and was going to ask Mrs. Decker to let me take you and
+the chicks for a ride, and I meant to catch some fish for our supper;
+but this will be better. I propose to invite Norm and two fellows
+that he goes with some, to go out with me, fishing. I have a splendid
+fishing rig, you know, and I'll lend it to them, and help them to have
+a good time, and then if you will plan a kind of treat when we get
+back--coffee, you know, and fish, and bread and butter, we could have
+a picnic of our own and as much fun as they would get with that set
+on the island. I believe Norm would go; he is just after a good time,
+you see, and if he gets it in this way, he will like it as well, maybe
+better, than though he spent the night at it and got the worst of
+his bargain. Anyhow, it is worth trying; if we can save him from this
+night's work it will be worth a good deal. Don't you think so?"
+
+Instead of the hearty, "yes, indeed," which he expected, Nettie said
+not a word; and when he turned and looked at her, to learn what was the
+matter, her face was red and the tears were gathering in her eyes.
+
+"Don't you know what has happened?" she asked at last. "I thought I
+heard you in your room last night when he came home."
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, speaking gravely, "I was up. What of it?"
+
+"What of it? O Jerry!" and here the tears which had been choking poor
+Nettie all day had it their own way for a few minutes. She had not
+meant to cry; but she felt at once how quickly the tears relieved the
+lump in her throat.
+
+"I don't mean that, exactly," Jerry said, after waiting a minute for
+the sobs to grow less deep, "of course it was a great trouble, and I
+have been so sorry for Mrs. Decker all day that I wanted to stay away,
+because I could not think of the right thing to say; but it's only
+another reason why we should work and plan in all ways to get ahead of
+them and save Norm."
+
+"O Jerry! don't you think it is too late?"
+
+"Too late! What in the world can you mean? Has anything happened to-day
+that I haven't heard of? Where is Norm? Has he gone away anywhere?"
+
+"O, no," said Nettie, "he has gone to work; but I mean--I
+meant--doesn't it all seem to you of no use at all? After we worked so
+hard and got everything nice, and he seemed so pleased, and stayed at
+home all the evening and talked with us, and then the very next night
+to come home like that!"
+
+Jerry stared in blank astonishment.
+
+"I don't believe I understand," he said at last. "You did not think
+that Norm was going to reform the very minute you did anything pleasant
+for him, did you?"
+
+"N-no," said Nettie slowly, "I don't suppose I did; but it all seemed
+so dreadful! I expected something, I hardly know what, and I could not
+help feeling disappointed and miserable." Nettie's face was growing
+red; she began to suspect she might be a very foolish girl.
+
+"Why, that is queer," said Jerry. "Now I am not disappointed a bit.
+I am sorry, of course, but I expected just that thing. Why, Nettie,
+they go after men sometimes for months and years before they get real
+hold and are sure of them. There is a lawyer in New York that father
+says kept three men busy for five years trying to save him. They didn't
+succeed, either, but they got him to go to the One who could save him.
+He is a grand man now. Suppose they had given up during those five
+years!"
+
+"Do you think it may take five years to get hold of Norm?" There were
+tears in Nettie's eyes, but there was a little suggestion of a smile on
+her face, and she waited eagerly for Jerry's answer.
+
+"I'm sure I hope not," he said, "but if it does, we are not to give him
+up at the end of five years; nor _before_ five years, that is certain."
+
+Nettie wiped the tears away, and smiled outright; then sat still in
+deep thought for several minutes. Then she arose, decision and energy
+on her face.
+
+"Thank you, Jerry; I wish you had come in this morning. I have been a
+goose, I guess, and I almost spoiled what we tried to do. We'll get
+up a nice supper if you can get Norm and the others to come. I don't
+believe they will, but we can try. We have coffee enough to make a nice
+pot of it, and Mrs. Smith sent us some milk out of that pail from the
+country that is almost cream. I will make some baked potato balls, they
+are beautiful with fish; all brown, you know; and I was going to make
+a johnny-cake if I could get up interest enough in it. I'm interested
+now, and I shouldn't wonder if I staid so," and she blushed and laughed.
+
+"You see," said Jerry, "you must not expect things to be done in a
+minute. Why, even God doesn't do things quickly, when he could, as well
+as not. And he doesn't get tired of people, either; and that I think is
+queer. Have you ever thought that if you were God, you would wipe most
+all the people out of this world in a second, and make some new ones
+who could behave better?"
+
+"Why, no," said Nettie, wonderment and bewilderment struggling together
+in her face, this strange thought sounded almost wicked to her. "Well,
+I do," said Jerry sturdily; "I have often thought of it; I believe
+almost any _man_ would get out of patience with this old world, full
+of rum saloons, and gambling saloons and tobacco. I think it is such a
+good thing that men don't have the management of it.
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, we shall have a pretty busy
+afternoon if we carry out our plans, won't we? Suppose you go and talk
+the thing up with your mother, and I will go and see what Norm says.
+Or, hold on, suppose we go together and call on him; I'll ask him to go
+fishing, and you ask him to bring his friends home to eat the fish. How
+would that do?"
+
+It was finally agreed that that would do beautifully, and Jerry went to
+see whether his long flat stick fitted, while Nettie ran to her mother.
+Mrs. Decker was ironing, her worn face looking older and more worn,
+Nettie thought, than she had ever seen it before. Poor mother! Why had
+not she helped her to bear her heavy burden, instead of almost sulking
+over failure?
+
+"O, mother," she began, "Jerry has a plan, and we want to know what you
+think of it; he has heard of things that are to be done this evening."
+And she hurried through the story of the intended frolic on the island,
+and the fishing party that was, if possible, to be pushed in ahead.
+Mrs. Decker listened in silence, and at first with an uninterested
+face; presently, when she took in the largeness of the plan, she stayed
+her iron long enough to look up and say:
+
+"What's the use, child? I thought you and Jerry had given up."
+
+"O, mother," and the cheeks were rosy red now, "I'm ashamed that I felt
+so discouraged; Jerry isn't at all; and he thinks it is the strangest
+thing that I should have been! He says they have to work for years,
+sometimes, to get hold of people. He knew a man that they kept working
+after for five years, and now he is a grand man. He says we must hold
+on to Norm if it is five years, though I don't believe it will be. I'm
+going to begin over again, mother, and not get discouraged at anything.
+It is true, as Jerry says, that we can't expect Norm to reform all
+in a minute. He says the boys that Norm goes with the most are not
+bad fellows, only they haven't any homes, and they keep getting into
+mischief, because they have nowhere to go to have any pleasant times.
+Don't you think Norm would like it to have them asked home with him to
+supper, and show them how to have a real good time? Jerry says the two
+boys that he means board at a horrid place, where they have old bread
+and weak tea for supper, and where people are smoking and drinking in
+the back end of the room while they are eating. I am sure I don't know
+as it is any wonder that they go to the saloons sometimes."
+
+Mrs. Decker still held her iron poised in air, on her face a look that
+was worth studying. "Norm hasn't ever had a decent place to ask anybody
+to, nor a decent time of any kind since he was old enough to care much
+about it," she said slowly. "I thought I had done about my best, but
+it may be I'll find myself mistaken. Well, child, let's try it, for
+mercy's sake, or anything else that that boy thinks of. You and him
+together are the only ones that's done any thinking for Norm in years;
+and if I don't go half-way and more too for anybody that wants to do
+anything, it will be a wonder."
+
+In a very few minutes Nettie was in her neat street dress, and the two
+were walking down the shady side of the main street, toward Norm's
+shop. They passed Lorena Barstow, and though Jerry, without thinking,
+took off his cap to her, she tossed her head and looked the other way.
+
+Jerry laughed. "I did not know she was so nearsighted as all that, did
+you?" he asked, and then continued the sentence which the sight of her
+had interrupted. Nettie could not laugh; she was sore over the thought
+that she had so spoiled Jerry's life for him that his old acquaintances
+would not bow to him on the street.
+
+Norm was at work, and worked with energy; they stood and looked at him
+through the window for a few minutes. "He works fast," said Jerry, "and
+he works as though he would rather do it than not; Mr. Smith says there
+isn't a lazy streak in him. He ought to make a smart man, Nettie; and I
+shouldn't wonder if he would."
+
+Then they went in. To say that Norm was astonished at sight of them,
+would be to tell only half the story. He stood in doubt what to say,
+but Jerry was equal to the occasion; nothing could have been more
+matter-of-course than the way in which he told about his plans for
+going fishing, declaring that the afternoon was prime for such work,
+and that he was tired of going alone. "Wouldn't Norm and his two
+friends go too?" Now a ride in a boat was something that Norm rarely
+had. In the first place, boats cost money, and in the second place they
+took time. To be sure, after working hours, there was time enough for
+rowing, but boats were sure to be scarce then, even if money had been
+plenty.
+
+Norm wiped his face with a corner of his work-apron, and admitted that
+he would like to go, first-rate, but did not know as he could get away.
+They were not over busy it was true, neither was the foreman troubled
+with good nature; he would be next to certain to say no, if Norm asked
+to be let off at five o'clock.
+
+"Let's try him," said Jerry, and he walked boldly to the other side of
+the room where the foreman stood.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A COMPLETE SUCCESS.
+
+
+THIS man was a friend of Jerry's; it was only two weeks ago that he
+had done him a good turn, in finding and bringing home his stray cow.
+He was perfectly good-natured, and found no fault at all with Norm's
+leaving the shop at five; in fact he said he was glad to have the boy
+leave in such good company.
+
+"Would the others go?" Nettie questioned eagerly, and Norm, laughing,
+said he reckoned they would go quick enough if they got a chance;
+invitations to take boat rides were not so plenty that they could
+afford to lose them.
+
+Then was time for Nettie's great surprise.
+
+"And, Norm, will you bring them all home to supper with you? I'll have
+everything ready to cook the fish in a hurry as soon as you get into
+the house, and you can visit in the new room until they are ready."
+
+Now indeed, I wish you could have seen Norm! It never happened to him
+before to have a chance to invite anybody home to supper with him. He
+looked at Nettie in silent bewilderment for a minute; he even rubbed
+his eyes as though possibly he might be dreaming; but she looked so
+real and so trim, and so sure of herself standing there quietly waiting
+his answer, that at last he stammered out:
+
+"What do you mean, Nannie? You aren't in dead earnest?"
+
+"Why, of course," said Nettie, deciding in a flash upon her plan of
+action; she would do as Jerry had, and take all this as a matter of
+course. "I'm going to make a lovely johnny-cake for supper, and some
+new-fashioned potatoes, and we have cream for the coffee. You shall
+have an elegant supper; only be sure you catch lots of fish."
+
+It was all arranged at last to their satisfaction, and the two
+conspirators turned away to get ready for their part of the business.
+
+"Norm liked it," said Jerry. "Couldn't you see by his face that he did?
+I believe we can get hold of him after awhile, by doing things of this
+kind; things that make him remember he has a home, and pleasant times,
+like other boys."
+
+If Jerry had waited fifteen minutes he might have been surer of that
+even than he was. Norm's second invitation followed hard on the first;
+and Norm, who felt a little sore over certain meannesses of the night
+before, and who knew his foreman was within hearing and would be sure
+to object to this young fellow who had come to ask him to go to the
+island, answered loftily: "Can't do it; I've promised to go out fishing
+with a party; and besides, our folks are going to have company to tea."
+
+Company to tea! He almost laughed when he said it. How very strange the
+sentence sounded.
+
+"O, indeed," said Jim Noxen from the saloon. "Seems to me you are
+getting big."
+
+"It sounds like it," said Norman. "I wonder if I am?" But this he said
+to himself; for answer to the remark, he only laughed.
+
+"If I had a chance to keep company with a young fellow like Jerry, and
+a trim little woman like that sister of yours, I guess I wouldn't often
+be found with the other set."
+
+This the foreman said, with a significant nod of his head toward the
+young fellow who represented the other set. And this, too, had its
+influence.
+
+Jerry and Nettie had a glimpse of one of Norm's friends as they passed
+his shop on their homeward way.
+
+"He has a good face," said Nettie. "Poor fellow! Hasn't he any home at
+all? Don't you wish we could get hold of him so close that he would
+help us? He looks as though he might."
+
+Then she stepped into the boat and floated idly around, while Jerry ran
+for the oars; and while she floated, she thought and planned. There was
+a great deal to be done, both then and afterwards.
+
+"I wish you could go with us and catch a fish," said Jerry, as he saw
+how she enjoyed the water, "but maybe it wouldn't be just the thing."
+
+"I know it wouldn't," said Nettie; "besides, who would make the
+johnny-cake, and the potato balls? There is a great deal to be done to
+make things match, when you are catching fish."
+
+The fishing party was a complete success. Jerry said afterwards that
+the very fish acted as though they were in the secret and were bound
+to help. He had never seen them bite so readily. By seven o'clock, the
+boat was headed homeward, with more fish than even four hungry boys
+could possibly eat.
+
+"Now for supper," said Norm, who with secret delight had thought
+constantly of the surprise in store for Alf and Rick. "Boys, I'm going
+to take you home with me and show you what a prime cook my little
+sister is. We'll have these fish sizzling in a pan quicker than you
+have any notion of; and she knows how to sizzle them just right;
+doesn't she, Jerry?"
+
+But Jerry was spared the trouble of a reply, for Alf with incredulous
+stare said, "You're gassing now."
+
+"No, I'm not gassing. You can come home with me, honor bright, and you
+shall have such a supper as would make old Ma'am Turner wild."
+
+Old Ma'am Turner, poor soul, was the woman who kept the wretched
+boarding house where these homeless boys boarded, and she really did
+know how to make things taste a little worse, probably, than any one
+you know of.
+
+"What'll your mother say to your bringing folks home to supper?"
+questioned Rick, looking as incredulous as his friend. "She'll give us
+a hint of broomstick, I reckon, if we try it."
+
+"Well," said Norm, unconcernedly, dipping the oar into the water, "try
+it and see, if you are a mind to, that's all I've got to say. I ain't
+going to force you to eat fish; but I promise you a first-class meal of
+them if you choose to come."
+
+"Oh! we'll go," said Alf, with a giggle; "if we are broomed out the
+next second, we'll try it, just to see what will come of it. Things is
+queerer in this world than folks think, often; now I didn't believe
+a word of it, when you said we was going out in a boat to-night; I
+thought it was some of your nonsense; and here the little fellow has
+treated us prime."
+
+The "little fellow" was Jerry, who smiled and nodded in honor of his
+compliment, but said nothing; he resolved to let Norm do the honors
+alone.
+
+They went with long strides to the Decker home, Jerry waiting to fasten
+the boat and pay his bill. Each boy carried a fine string of fish of
+his own catching; and appeared at the back door just as Nettie came out
+to look.
+
+"O, what beauties!" she said, gleefully; "and such a nice lot of them!
+I'm all ready and waiting. You go in, Norm, with your friends, and
+we'll have them cooking as soon as we can."
+
+"Not much," said Norm, coming around to the board which she had
+evidently gotten ready for cleaning the fish, and diving his hand in
+his pocket in search of his jack-knife. "Let's fall to, boys, and clean
+these fellows. I know how, and I think likely you do, and they'll taste
+the better, like enough."
+
+"Just so," said Rick Walker, who owned the face that Nettie had decided
+was a good one. "I'm agreeable; I know how to clean fish as well as the
+next one; used to do it for mother, when I was a little shaver."
+
+Did the sentence end in a sigh, or did Nettie imagine it? All three
+went to work with strong skilful hands, and Nettie hopped back and
+forth bringing fresh water, and fresh plates, and feeling in her secret
+heart very grateful to the boys for doing this, which she had dreaded.
+
+They were all done in a very short time, and each boy in turn had
+washed his hands in the basin which shone, and then, the shining, or
+the smoothness and beautiful cleanness of the great brown towel, or
+something, prompted Rick to take fresh water and dip his brown face
+into it, and toss the water about like a great Newfoundland dog.
+
+"I declare, that feels good!" he said. "Try it, Alf." And Alf tried it.
+
+Then Norm led the way to the new room. It would have done Nettie's
+heart good if she had known how many times he had thought of that room
+during the last hour. He knew it would be a surprise to the boys. They
+had never seen anything but the Decker kitchen, and not much of that,
+standing at the door to wait a minute for Norm, but the few glimpses
+they had had of it, had not led them to suppose that there was any such
+place in the house as this in which he was now going to usher them.
+Their surprise was equal to the occasion. They stopped in the doorway,
+and looked around upon the prettiness, the bright carpet, the delicate
+curtains, the gay chairs! nothing like this was to be found at Ma'am
+Turner's, nor in any other room with which they were familiar.
+
+"Whew!" said Rick, closing the word with a shrill whistle; "I think as
+much!" said Alf. "Who'd have dreamed it. I say, Norm, you're a sly one;
+why didn't you ever let on that you had this kind of thing?"
+
+How they entertained one another during that next hour, Nettie did
+not know. Eyes and brain were occupied in the kitchen. Jerry came,
+presently, but reported that they were getting on all right in the
+front room, and he believed he could do better service in the kitchen;
+so he set the table with a delicate regard for nicety which Nettie had
+been taught at Auntie Marshall's, and which she knew he had not learned
+at Mrs. Job Smith's. Sarah Jane was rigidly clean, but never what
+Nettie called "nice."
+
+"We'll take the table in the front room," decreed Nettie as she
+surveyed it thoughtfully for a few minutes. "It is very warm out here,
+and they will like it better to be quite alone; we can put all the
+dishes on, with the leaves down, and set them in their places in a
+twinkling, after we have lifted it in there. Won't that be the way,
+mother?"
+
+"Land!" said Mrs. Decker, withdrawing her head from the oven, whither
+it had gone to see after the new-fashioned potato balls, "I should
+think they could eat out here; you may depend they never saw so clean
+a kitchen at old Ma'am Turner's. But it is hot here, and no mistake;
+and I should not know what to do with myself while they was eating.
+Please yourself, child, and then I'll be pleased. I'm going to save one
+of these potatoes for your pa; I never see anything in my life look
+prettier than they do."
+
+Mrs. Decker's tones told much plainer than her words, that she liked
+Nettie's idea of putting the table in the front room for Norm's
+company. She would not have owned it, but her mother-heart was glad
+over a "fuss" being made for her Norm.
+
+So the table went in; Jerry at one end, and Nettie at the other. They
+hushed a loud laugh by their entrance, but Jerry went immediately over
+to Rick Walker to show a new-fashioned knife, and Nettie's fingers flew
+over the table, so by the time the knife had been exhausted, she was
+ready to vanish.
+
+Confess now that you would like to have had a seat at that table when
+it was ready. A platter of smoking fish, done to the nicest brown,
+without drying or burning; a bowl of lovely little brown balls, each of
+them about the size of an egg, a plate of very light and puffy-looking
+Johnny-cake, and to crown all, coffee that filled the room with such an
+aroma as Ma'am Turner perhaps dreamed of, but never certainly in these
+days smelled. Mrs. Job Smith at the last minute had sent in a pat of
+genuine country butter, and Sate had flown to the grocery for a piece
+of ice with which to keep it in countenance.
+
+Jerry set the chairs, and Nettie poured the coffee, and creamed and
+sugared it, and then slipped away.
+
+She knew by the looks on the faces of the guests, that they were
+astonished beyond words, and she knew that Norm was both astonished and
+pleased. There was another supper being made ready in the kitchen. Mrs.
+Decker had herself tugged in the box which had been lately set up as a
+washbench, and spread the largest towel over it, and was serving three
+lovely fish, and a bowl of potato balls for "Decker" and herself.
+
+"I guess I'm going to have company too," she said to Nettie, her face
+beaming. "Your pa has gone to wash up, and I thought seeing there was
+only two chairs, and two plates left, you wouldn't mind having him and
+me sit down together, for a meal, first."
+
+"Yes, I do mind," said Nettie; "I think it is a lovely plan; I'm so
+glad you thought of it, and Jerry and I will keep watch that they have
+everything in the other room, while you eat." If you are wondering in
+your hearts where those important beings, Sate and Susie, were at this
+moment, I should have told you before, that Sarah Jane had a brilliant
+thought, but an hour before, and carried them out to tea. So all the
+Decker family were visiting that evening, save Nettie, and I think
+perhaps she was the happiest among them all. Every time she heard a
+burst of fresh fun from the front room, she laughed, too; it was so
+nice to think that Norm was having a good time in his own home, and
+nothing to worry over.
+
+It is almost a pity that, for her encouragement, she could not have
+heard some of the conversation in that room.
+
+"I say, Norm," said his friend Alf, his tones muffled by reason of a
+large piece of johnny-cake, "what an awful sly fellow you are! You
+never let on that you had these kind of doings in your house. Who'd
+have thought that you had a stunning room like this for folks, and
+potatoes done up in brown satin, to eat, and coffee such as they get up
+at the hotels! It beats all creation!"
+
+"That's so," said Rick, taking in a quarter of a fish at one mouthful,
+"I never dreamed of such a thing; what beats me, is, why a fellow who
+has such nice doings at home, wants to loaf around, and spend evenings
+at Beck's, or at Steen's. Hang me if I don't think the contrast a
+little too great. 'Pears to me if I had this kind of thing, I should
+like to enjoy it oftener than Norm seems to."
+
+Norman smiled loftily on them. Do you think he was going to own that
+"this kind of thing" had never been enjoyed in his home before, during
+all the years of his recollection? Not he; he only said that folks
+liked a change once in awhile, of course, and he only laughed when Rick
+and Alf both declared that if they knew themselves, and they thought
+they did, they would be content never to change back from this kind of
+thing to Ma'am Turner's supper table so long as they lived.
+
+How those boys did eat! Nettie owned to herself that she was
+astonished; and privately rejoiced that she had made four johnny-cakes
+instead of three, though it had seemed almost extravagant until she
+remembered that it would warm up nicely for breakfast. Not a crumb
+would there be for breakfast. She had one regret and she told it to
+Jerry as she went out to him on the back stoop, having poured the third
+cup of coffee around, for the three in the front room.
+
+"Jerry, I am just afraid there won't be a speck of johnny-cake left for
+you to taste. Those boys do eat so!"
+
+"Never mind," laughed Jerry. "We will eat the tail of a fish, if any
+of them have a tail left, and rejoice over our success; this thing is
+going to work, I believe, if we can keep it going."
+
+"That's the trouble," said Nettie, an anxious look in her eyes. "How
+can we? Fish won't do every time; and there are no other things that
+you can catch. Besides, even this has cost a great deal. I paid
+eight cents for lard to fry the fish, and the butter and milk and
+things would have cost as much as fifteen cents certainly. Mrs. Smith
+furnished them this time, but of course such things won't happen again."
+
+"A great many things happen," said Jerry, wisely. "More than you can
+calculate on. 'Never cross a bridge until you come to it, my boy.'
+Didn't I tell you that was what my father was always saying to me? I
+have found it a good plan, too, to follow his advice. Many a time I've
+worried over troubles that never came. Look here, don't you believe
+that if we are to do this thing and good is to come from it, we shall
+be able to manage it somehow?"
+
+"Why, y-e-s," said Nettie, slowly, as though she were waiting to see
+whether her faith could climb so high; "I suppose that is so."
+
+"Well, if good isn't going to come of it, do we want to do it?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"All right, then," with a little laugh. "What are we talking about?"
+And Nettie laughed, and ran in to give her father his last cup of
+coffee, and to hear him say that he hadn't had so good a meal in six
+years.
+
+It was a curious fact that Susie and Sate were the chief movers in the
+next thing that these young Fishers did to interest the particular fish
+whom they were after.
+
+It began the next Sabbath morning in Sabbath-school. There, the little
+girls heard with deep interest that on the following Sabbath there
+was to be a service especially for the children. A special feature of
+the day was to be the decoration of the church with flowers, which
+the children were to bring on the previous Saturday. Susie and Sate
+promised with the rest, that they would bring flowers. Promised in the
+confident expectation of childhood that some way they could join the
+others and do as they did; though both little girls knew that not a
+flower grew in or about them. During the early part of the week they
+forgot it, but on Saturday morning they stood in the little front yard
+and saw a sight which recalled all the delights of the coming Sunday
+in which they seemed to be having no share. The little girls from the
+Orphanage on the hill were bringing their treasures. Even fat little
+Karl who was only five, had a potted plant in full bloom, which he was
+proudly carrying. Little Dutch Maggie, in her queer long apron, carried
+a plant with lovely satiny leaves which were prettier than any bloom,
+and behind her was Robert the Scotch gardener with his arms full; then
+young Rob Severn, Miss Wheeler's nephew, had a lovely fuchsia just
+aglow with blossoms, and Miss Wheeler herself, who was the matron at
+the Orphanage, was carrying a choice plant. All these the hungry eyes
+of Sate and Susie took in, as the procession passed the house, then
+they ran wailing to Nettie who had already become the long suffering
+person to whom they must pour out their woes.
+
+"We promised, we did," explained Sate, her earnest eyes fixed on
+Nettie, while her arms clasped that young lady just as she was in the
+act of throwing out her dishwater. "We did promise, and they will
+'spect them, and they won't be there."
+
+"Well, but, darling, what made you promise, when you knew we had no
+flowers? Mrs. Smith would give you some in a minute if hers were in
+bloom. Why didn't they wait a little later, I wonder? Then Mrs. Smith
+could have given us such lovely china-asters."
+
+"We must have some to-morrow," said the emphatic Susie, and she
+fastened her black eyes on Nettie in a way that said: "Now you
+understand what must be, I hope you will at once set about bringing it
+to pass."
+
+Nettie could not help laughing. "If you were a fairy queen," she said,
+"and could wave your wand and say, 'Flowers, bloom,' and they would
+obey you, we should certainly have some; as it is, I don't quite see
+how they are to be had. We have no friends to ask."
+
+"I can't help it," said Susie, positively, "we _promised_ to bring
+some, and of course we must. You said, Nettie Decker, that we must
+always keep our promises."
+
+"Now, Miss Nettie Decker, you are condemned!" said Jerry, with grave
+face but laughing eyes; "something must evidently be done about this
+business. Dandelions are gone, except the whiteheads, and they would
+blow away before they got themselves settled in church, I am afraid.
+Hold on, I have a thought, just a splendid one if can manage it; wait a
+bit, Susie, and we will see what we can do."
+
+Susie, who was beginning to have full faith in this wise friend of
+theirs, told Sate in confidence that they were going to have some
+flowers to take to church, as well as the rest of them; she did not
+know what Jerry was going to make them out of, but she knew he would
+_make_ some.
+
+After that, Jerry was not seen again for several hours. In fact it
+was just as the dinner dishes were washed, that he appeared with a
+triumphant face. "Have you made some?" asked Sate, springing up from
+her dolly and going toward him expectantly.
+
+"Made some what, Curly?"
+
+"Flowers," said Sate, gravely. "Susie said she knew you would."
+
+Jerry laughed. "Susie has boundless faith in impossibilities," he said.
+"No, I haven't made the flowers, but I have the boat. That old thing
+that leaked so, you know, Nettie; well, I've put it in prime order, and
+got permission to use it, and if you and the chicks will come, we will
+sail away to where they make flowers, and pick all we want; unless some
+wicked fairy has whispered my bright thought to somebody else, and I
+don't believe it, for I have seen no one out on the pond to-day."
+
+Then Sate, her eyes very large, went in search of Susie to tell her
+that this wonderful boy had come to take them where flowers were made,
+and to let them gather for themselves.
+
+"I suppose it is heaven," said Sate, gravely, "because the real truly
+flowers, you know, God makes, and he has his things all up in heaven to
+work with, I guess."
+
+"What a little goosie you are!" said Susie, curling her wise lip; "as
+if Jerry Mack could take us to heaven!"
+
+However, she went at once to see about it, and was almost as much
+astonished to think that they were really going out in a boat, as she
+would have been if they were going to heaven. "I s'pose it's safe?"
+said Mrs. Decker doubtfully, watching the light in the little girls'
+eyes, and remembering how few pleasures had been offered them.
+
+"O, yes'm," said Jerry, "as safe as the road. I could row a boat,
+ma'am, very well indeed, father said, when I was six years old; and you
+couldn't coax that clumsy old thing to tip over, if you wanted it to;
+and if it should, the water isn't up to my waist anywhere in the pond."
+
+Mrs. Decker laughed, and said it sounded safe enough; and went back to
+her ironing, and the four happy people sailed away. If not to where the
+pond lilies were made, at least to where they grew in all their wild
+sweet beauty.
+
+"How very strange," said Nettie, as they leaned over the great rude,
+flat-bottomed boat and pulled the beauties in; "how very strange that
+no one has gathered these for to-morrow. Why, nothing could be more
+lovely!"
+
+"Well," said Jerry, "only a few people row this way, because it isn't
+the pleasantest part of the pond, you know, for rowing; and I guess no
+one has remembered that the lilies were out; there don't many people,
+only fishermen, go out on this pond, you know, because the boats are
+so ugly; and fishermen don't care for flowers, I guess. Anyhow, they
+haven't been here, for the buds are all on hand, just as I thought they
+would be by this time, when I was here on Tuesday. But I never thought
+of the church; so you see how little thinking is done."
+
+Well, they gathered great loads of the beauties, and rowed home in
+triumph, and put the lilies in a tub of water, and sat down to consider
+how best to arrange them. It was curious that Mrs. Job Smith should
+have been the next one with an idea.
+
+"I should think," she said, standing in the doorway of her kitchen, her
+hands on her sides, "I should think a great big salver of them laid
+around in their own leaves, would be the prettiest thing in the world."
+
+"So it would," said Nettie, "the very thing, if we only had the salver."
+
+"Well, I've got that. Mrs. Sims, she gave me an old battered and
+bruised one, when they were moving. It is big enough to put all the
+cups and saucers on in town, almost; when I lugged it home, Job, he
+wanted to know what on _earth_ I wanted of that, and says I, I don't
+know, but she give it to me, and most everything in this world comes
+good, if you keep it long enough. Sarah Ann, you run up to the corner
+in the back garret and get that thing, and see what they'll make of it."
+
+So Sarah Ann ran.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED HELPER.
+
+
+PERHAPS you do not see how the pond lilies, lovely as they were,
+arranged on that salver, helped Jerry and Nettie in their plans for
+Norm and his friends. But there is another part to that story.
+
+After the salver had been filled with sand, and covered with moss, and
+soaked until it would absorb no more water, and the lilies had been
+laid in so thickly that they looked like a great white bank of bloom,
+the whole was lovely, as I said, but heavy. The walk to the church
+was long, and Nettie, thinking of it, surveyed her finished work with
+a grave face. How was it ever to be gotten to the church? She tried
+to lift one end of it, and shook her head. There was no hope that she
+could even _help_ carry it for so long a distance. Mrs. Smith saw the
+trouble in her eyes, and guessed at its cause. "It is an awful heavy
+thing, that's a fact," she said, "hefting" it in her strong arms; "I
+don't know how you are going to manage it; Sarah Jane would help in a
+minute, but there's her back; she ain't got no back to speak of, Sarah
+Jane hasn't. And there's Job, he ain't at home; he went this morning
+before it was light, away over the other side of the clip hill with a
+load, and the last words he says to me was: 'Don't you be scairt if I
+don't get round very early; them roads over there is dreadful heavy,
+and I shall have to rest the team in the heat of the day,' and like
+enough he won't get back till nigh ten o'clock."
+
+Certainly no help could be expected from the Smith family. "We shall
+have to take some of the sand out," said Nettie, surveying the mound
+regretfully; "I'm real sorry; it does look so pretty heaped up! but
+Jerry can never carry it away down there alone."
+
+Then came Jerry's bright idea. "I'll get Norman to help me."
+
+"Norm!" said Nettie, stopping astonished in the very act of picking out
+some of the lilies. It had not once occurred to her that Norm could be
+asked to go to the church on an errand. She couldn't have told why,
+but Norm and the church seemed too far apart to have anything in common.
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, positively. "Why not? I know he'll help; and he and
+I can carry it like a daisy. Don't take out one of them, Nettie. I know
+you will spoil it if you touch it again; it is just perfect. Halloo,
+Norm, come this way."
+
+Sure enough at that moment Norm appeared from the attic where he
+slept; he had washed his face and combed his hair, and made himself as
+decent looking as he could, and was starting for somewhere; and Nettie
+remembered with a sinking heart that it was Saturday night; Norm's
+worst night except Sunday.
+
+He stopped at Jerry's call, and stood waiting.
+
+"You are just the individual I wanted to see at this moment," said
+Jerry with a confident air. "This meadow here has got to be dug up and
+carried bodily down to the church; and it is as heavy as though its
+roots were struck deep in the soil. Will you shoulder an end with me?"
+
+"To the church!" repeated Norm with an incredulous stare. "What do they
+want of that thing at the church?"
+
+"They are our flowers," said Sate with a positive little nod of her
+head. "We promised to bring them, and they are so big and heavy we
+can't. Will you help?"
+
+Now Norm had really a very warm feeling in his heart for this small
+sister; Susie he considered a nuisance, and a vixen, but Sate with her
+slow sweet voice, and shy ways, had several times slipped behind his
+chair to escape a slap from her angry father, thus appealing to his
+protection, and once when he lifted her over the fence, she kissed
+him; he was rather willing to please Sate. Then there was Jerry who
+was a good fellow as ever lived, and Nettie who was a prime girl; why
+shouldn't he help tote the thing down to the church if that was what
+they wanted? To be sure he wanted to go in the other direction, and
+the fellows would be waiting, he supposed; but he could go there,
+afterwards, let them wait until he came.
+
+"Well," he said at last, "come on, I'll help; though what they want of
+all this rubbish at the church is more than I can imagine." And Nettie
+and the little girls stood with satisfied faces watching the two move
+off under their heavy burden. It was something to have Norm go to
+church if it was only to carry flowers.
+
+Arrived at the door, Norm was seized with a fit of shyness; the doors
+were thrown wide open, and ladies and children were flitting about, and
+many tongues were going, and flowers and vines were being festooned
+around the gas lights, and the pillars, and wherever there was a spot
+for them.
+
+"Hold on," said Norm, jerking back, thus putting the great salver in
+eminent peril, "I ain't going in there; all the village is there; you
+better pitch this rubbish out, they've got flowers enough."
+
+"There isn't a lily among them," said Jerry. "And besides they have
+to go in, anyhow, we can't afford to disappoint Sate. Come on, Norm,
+I can't carry the thing alone, any more than I could the stove; it is
+unaccountably heavy."
+
+This was true, but Jerry was very glad that it was. He had his reasons
+for wanting to get Norm down the aisle to the front of the pulpit. With
+very reluctant feet Norm followed, bearing his share of the burden,
+his face flushing over the exclamations with which they were at last
+greeted.
+
+"Oh, oh! pond lilies! I did not know there were any this year. Where
+did you get them? Girls, look! Did you ever see anything more lovely?"
+And a group of faces were gathered about the tray, and one brown head
+went down among the lilies and caressed them.
+
+"Where did you get them?" she repeated; "I asked my cousin if there
+were any about here, and she said she thought not; and last night when
+I was out on the pond I looked and could not find any."
+
+"They hide," said Jerry. "The only place on the pond where they can be
+found is down behind the old mill; and most people don't go there at
+all, because the channel is so narrow, and the water so shallow."
+
+"Well, we are so glad you brought them! Girls, aren't they too lovely
+for anything? Who arranged them?"
+
+"My sister," said Norm, to whom Jerry promptly turned with an air which
+said as plainly as words could have done: "You are the one to answer;
+she belongs to you."
+
+"And who is that?" asked the owner of the pretty brown head, as she
+made way for them to pass to the table with their burden. "I am sure
+I would like to know her; for she certainly knows how to put flowers
+into lovely shapes."
+
+Then came from behind the desk a man whom Jerry knew and whom he had
+seen while he stood at the door. "Good evening, Jerry," he said,
+holding out his hand in a cordial way. "What a wonderful bank of beauty
+you have brought! Introduce me to your helper, please."
+
+"Mr. Sherrill, Mr. Norman Decker," said Jerry, exactly as though he
+had been used to introducing people all his life; and Norm, his face
+very red, knew that he was shaking hands with the new minister. A very
+cordial hand-shake, certainly, and then the minister turning to her
+of the brown head, said, "Eva, come here; let me introduce you to Mr.
+Norman Decker. My sister, Mr. Decker."
+
+Norm, hardly knowing what he was about, contrived another bow, and then
+Miss Eva said, "Decker, why, that is the name of my two little darlings
+about whom I have been telling you for two Sabbaths. Are they your
+little sisters, Mr. Decker? Little Sate and Susie?" And as Norm managed
+to nod an answer, she continued: "They have stolen my heart utterly;
+that little Sate is the dearest little thing. By the way, I wonder if
+these are her flowers? She promised me she would certainly get some;
+she said they had none in their garden, but God would make some grow
+for her somewhere she guessed."
+
+"Yes'm," said Jerry, seeing that Norm would not speak, "they are her
+flowers, hers and Susie's, they coaxed us to go for them."
+
+"Decker," said the minister, suddenly, "you are pretty tall, I wonder
+if you are not just the one to help me get this wreath fastened back
+of the pulpit? I have been working at it for some time, and failed for
+the want of an arm long enough and strong enough to help me." And the
+two disappeared behind the desk up the pulpit stairs to the immense
+satisfaction of Jerry. The ladies went on with their work; Miss Eva
+calling to him to help her move the table, and then to help arrange the
+salver on it, and then to bring more vines from the lecture room to
+cover the base of the floral cross; and indeed, before they knew it,
+both Jerry and Norm were in the thick of the engagement; Jerry flitting
+hither and thither at the call of the girls, and Norm following
+the minister from point to point, and using his long limbs to good
+advantage.
+
+"Well," he said, wiping his face with his coat sleeve, as, more than
+an hour after their entrance, he and Jerry made their way down the
+churchyard walk, "that is the greatest snarl I ever got into. How that
+fellow can work! But he would never have got them things up in the
+world, if I had not been there to help him."
+
+"No," said Jerry "I don't believe he would. How glad they were to get
+the lilies! They do look prettier than anything there. I did not know
+who that lady was who taught the little folks. She has only been there
+a few weeks. She is pretty, isn't she?"
+
+"I s'pose so," said Norm, "her voice is, anyhow. They say she's a
+singer. I heard the fellows down at the corner talking about her one
+night; Dick Welsh says she can mimic a bird so you couldn't tell which
+was which. I wouldn't mind hearing her sing. I like good singing."
+
+"I suppose they will have her sing in the church," said Jerry in a
+significant tone. But to this, Norm made no reply.
+
+"What was it Mr. Sherrill wanted of you just as we were coming out?"
+asked Jerry, after reflecting whether he had better ask the question or
+not.
+
+"Wanted me to come and see how the things looked in the daytime," said
+Norm with an awkward laugh that ended in a half sneer; "I'll be likely
+to I think!"
+
+"Going up home, I s'pose?" said Jerry, trying to speak indifferently,
+and slipping his hand through Norm's arm as they reached the corner,
+and Norm half halted.
+
+"Well, I suppose I might as well," Norm said, allowing himself to be
+drawn on by never so slight a pressure from Jerry's arm. "I was going
+down street, and the boys were to wait for me; but they have never
+waited all this while; it must be considerable after nine o'clock."
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, "it is." And they went home.
+
+Nettie, sitting on the doorstep, waiting, will never forget that night,
+nor the sinking of heart with which she waited. Her father had been
+kept at home, first by his employer who came to give directions about
+work to be attended to the first thing on Monday morning, and then
+by Job Smith getting home before he was expected and asking a little
+friendly help with the load he brought; and he had at last decided
+that it was too late to go out again, and had gone to bed. Mrs. Decker
+in her kitchen, hovered between the door and the window, peering out
+into the lovely night, saying nothing, but her heart throbbing so with
+anxiety about her boy that she could not lay her tired body away. Mrs.
+Job Smith in her kitchen, looked from her door and then her window,
+many misgivings in her heart; if that bad boy Norm should lead her good
+boy Jerry into mischief what should she say to his father? How could
+she ever forgive herself for having encouraged the intimacy between him
+and the Deckers?
+
+Presently, far down the quiet street came the sound of cheery
+whistling; Nettie knew the voice: nothing so very bad could have
+happened when Jerry was whistling like that; or was he perhaps doing
+it to keep his courage up? The whistle turned the corner, and in the
+dim starlight she could distinguish two figures; they came on briskly,
+Jerry and Norm. "A nice job you set us at," began Jerry, gayly, "we
+have just this minute got through; and here it is toward morning
+somewhere, isn't it?" Then all that happy company went to their beds.
+
+After dinner the next day, Nettie studied if there were not ways in
+which she might coax Norm to go to church that evening. Jerry had told
+her of the minister's invitation. Norm had slept later than usual that
+morning, and lounged at home until after dinner; now he was preparing
+to go out. How could she keep him? How could she coax him to go with
+her?
+
+Before she could decide what to do to try to hold him, Susie took
+matters into her own hands by pitching head foremost out of the kitchen
+window, hitting her head on the stones. Then there was hurry and
+confusion in the Decker kitchen! Then did Mrs. Smith, and Job Smith,
+and Sarah Jane fly to the rescue. Though after all, Norm was the one
+who stooped over poor silent Susie and brought her limp and apparently
+lifeless into the kitchen. Jerry ran with all speed for the doctor. It
+was hours before they settled down again, having discovered that Susie
+was not dead, but had fainted; was not even badly hurt, save for a bump
+or two. But it took the little lady only a short time, after recovering
+from her fright, to discover that she was a person of importance, and
+to like the situation.
+
+It happened that Norm had, by the doctor's directions, carried her from
+her mother's bed to the cooler atmosphere of the front room. Susie had
+enjoyed the ride, and now announced with the air of a conqueror, "I
+want Norm to carry me." So Norm, frightened into love and tenderness,
+lifted the little girl in his strong arms, laid the pretty head on
+his shoulder, and willingly tramped up and down the room. Was Susie a
+witch, or a selfish little girl? Certain it was that during that walk
+she took an unaccountable and ever increasing fancy for Norm. He must
+wet the brown paper on her head as often is the vinegar with which it
+was saturated dried away; he must hold the cup while she took a drink
+of water; he must push the marvel of a barrel chair in which she for
+a time sat in state, closer to the window; he must carry her from the
+chair to the table when supper was finally ready, and carry her back
+again when it was eaten. Nettie looked on amused and puzzled. Certainly
+Susie had kept Norm at home all the afternoon; but was she also likely
+to accomplish it for the evening? For Norm, to her great surprise,
+seemed to like the new order of things.
+
+He blushed awkwardly when Susie gently pushed her mother aside and
+demanded Norm, but he came at once, with a good-natured laugh, and held
+her in his arms with as much gentleness and more strength than the
+mother could have given; and seemed to like the touch of the curly head
+on his shoulder.
+
+But while Nettie was putting away the dishes and puzzling over all the
+strange events of the afternoon, Susie was undressed, partly by Norm,
+according to her decree, and fell asleep in his arms and was laid on
+her mother's bed, and Norm slipped away!
+
+Poor Nettie! She ran to the door to try to call him, but he was out of
+sight. "I tried to think of something to keep him till you came in,"
+explained the disappointed mother, "but I couldn't do it; he laid Susie
+down as quick as he could, and shot away as though he was afraid you
+would get hold of him."
+
+So Nettie, her face sad, prepared to go with Jerry and the Smiths down
+to evening meeting, and told Jerry on the way, that it did seem strange
+to her, so long as Susie had kept Norm busy all the afternoon, that
+they must let him slip away from them at last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE LITTLE PICTURE MAKERS.
+
+
+AFTER Susie Decker pitched out of the window that Sabbath afternoon
+she became such an object of importance that you would hardly have
+supposed anything else could have happened worth mentioning; but after
+the excitement was quite over, and Susie had been cuddled and petted
+and cared for more than it seemed to her she had ever been in her life
+before, Mr. Decker, finding nothing better to do, went out and sat down
+on the doorstep.
+
+Little Sate dried her eyes and slipped away very soon after she
+discovered that Susie could move, and speak, and was therefore not
+dead. She had wandered in search of entertainment to the yard just
+around the corner, where had come but a few days before, a small boy on
+a visit.
+
+This boy, Bobby by name, finding Sunday a hard day, had finally, after
+getting into all sorts of mischief within doors, been established by
+an indulgent auntie in the back yard, with her apron tied around his
+chubby neck, to protect his new suit, with a few pieces of charcoal,
+and permission to draw some nice Sunday pictures on the white boards of
+the house.
+
+This business interested Sate, and in spite of her shyness, drew her
+the other side of the high board fence which separated the neighbor's
+back yard from Mr. Decker's side one.
+
+Just as that gentleman took his seat on the doorstep, he heard the
+voices of the two children; first, Bobby's confident one, the words he
+used conveying all assurance of unlimited power at his command--
+
+"Now, what shall I make?"
+
+"Make," said Sate, her sweet face thrown upward in earnest thought,
+"make the angel who would have come for Susie if she had died just now."
+
+"How do you know any angel would have come for her?" asked sturdy Bobby.
+
+"Why, 'cause I _know_ there would. Miss Sherrill said so to-day; she
+told us about that little baby that died last night; she said an angel
+came after it and took it right straight up to heaven."
+
+"Maybe she don't know," said skeptical Bobby.
+
+Then did Sate's eyes flash.
+
+"I guess she does know, Bobby Burns, and you will be real mean, and bad
+if you say so any more. She knows all about heaven, and angels, and
+everything."
+
+"Does angels come after all folks that dies?"
+
+"I dunno; I guess so; no, I guess not. Only good folks."
+
+"Is Susie good?"
+
+"Sometimes she is," said truthful Sate, in slow, thoughtful tones, a
+touch of mournfulness in them that might have gone to Susie's heart had
+she heard and understood; "she gave me the biggest half of a cookie the
+other night. It was a _good deal_ the biggest; and she takes care of me
+most always; one day she took off her shoes and put them on me, because
+the stones and the rough ground hurt my feet. They hurt her feet too;
+they bleeded, oh! just awful, but she wouldn't let _me_ be hurt."
+
+"Why didn't you wear your own shoes?"
+
+"I didn't have any; mine all went to holes; just great big holes that
+wouldn't stay on; it was before my papa got good, and he didn't buy me
+any shoes at all."
+
+"Has your papa got good?"
+
+"Yes," said Sate confidently, "I guess he has. My sister Nettie thinks
+so; and Susie does too. He don't drink bad stuff any more. It was some
+kind of stuff he drank that made him cross; mamma said so; and the
+stuff made him feel so bad that he couldn't buy shoes, nor nothing;
+why, sometimes, before Nettie came home, we didn't have any bread! He
+isn't cross to-day, and he wasn't last night; and he bought me some new
+shoes--real pretty ones, and he kissed me. I love my papa when he is
+good. Do you love your papa when he is good?"
+
+"My papa is always good," said Bobby, with that air of immense
+superiority.
+
+"Is he?" asked Sate, wonder and admiration in her tone. Happy Bobby,
+to possess a father who was always good! "Doesn't he ever drink any of
+that bad stuff?"
+
+"I guess he doesn't!" said indignant Bobby. "You wouldn't catch him
+taking a drop of it for anything. If he was sick and was going to die
+if he didn't, he says he wouldn't take it. I know all about that; the
+name of it is whiskey, and things; it has lots of names, but that is
+one of them. My father is a temperance."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"It is a man who promises that he won't ever taste it nor touch it, nor
+nothing, forever and ever. And he won't."
+
+"Oh my!" said Sate. "Then of course you love him all the time. I mean
+to love my papa, all the time too. I'm most sure I can. What makes you
+make such a big angel? Susie isn't big; a little angel could carry her."
+
+"This angel isn't the one who was coming for Susie; it is the one who
+is going to come for my papa when he dies."
+
+"Oh! then will you make the one who will come for my papa? Make him
+very big and strong, for my papa is a strong man, and I don't want the
+angel to drop him."
+
+Mr. Decker arose suddenly and went round to the back part of the house,
+and cleared his throat, and coughed, two or three times, and rubbed the
+back of his hand across his eyes. Had he peeped through the fence and
+caught a glimpse of the angel whom Bobby made, he might not have been
+so strangely touched; but the words of his little girl seemed to choke
+him, and his eyes, just then, were too dim to see angels.
+
+He was very still all the rest of the afternoon. At the tea table he
+scarcely spoke, and afterwards, while Mrs. Decker and Nettie were
+mourning over Norm's escape, he too put on his coat, and went away down
+the street.
+
+Mrs. Decker came to the door when she discovered it, and looked after
+him. He was still in sight, but she did not dare to call. As she
+looked, she gathered up a corner of her apron and wiped her eyes.
+Presently she sat down on the step where he had been sitting so short
+a time before, leaned her elbows on her knees, and her cheeks on her
+hands, and thought sad thoughts.
+
+She felt very much discouraged. On this first Sunday, after the new
+room had been made, and new hopes excited, they had slipped away, both
+Norm and her husband, to lounge in the saloon as usual, and to come
+home, late at night, the worse for liquor. She knew all about it!
+Hadn't she been through it many times?
+
+The little gleam of hope which had started again, under Nettie and
+Jerry's encouraging words and ways, died quite out. Sitting there,
+Mrs. Decker made up her mind once more, that there was no kind of use
+in working, and struggling, and trying to be somebody. She was the
+wife of a drunkard; and the mother of a drunkard; Norm would be that,
+before long. And her little girls would grow up beggars. It was almost
+a pity that Susie had not been killed when she fell. Why should she
+want to live to be a drunkard's daughter, and a drunkard's sister? If
+the Heaven she used to hear about when she was a little girl, was all
+so, why should she not long for Susie and Sate to go there? Then if she
+could go away herself and leave all this misery!
+
+She had hurried with her dishes, she had hoped that when she was ready
+to sit down in the neat room with the new lamp burning brightly, he
+would sit with her as he used to do on Sunday evenings long ago. But
+here she was alone, as usual. More than once that big apron which she
+had not cared to take off after she found herself deserted, was made to
+do duty as a handkerchief and wipe away bitter tears.
+
+Meantime, Nettie sat in the pretty church and looked at the lovely
+flowers, and listened to the wonderful singing. Miss Sherrill sang the
+solo of something more beautiful than Nettie had ever even imagined.
+"Consider the lilies how they grow." What wonderful words were these to
+be sung while looking down at a great bank of lilies! It is possible
+that the singing may have been more beautiful to Nettie because her own
+fingers had arranged the lilies, but it was in itself enough for any
+reasonable mortal's ear, and as it rolled through the church, there
+was more than one listener who thought of the angels, and wondered if
+their voices could be sweeter. Nettie's small handkerchief went to her
+eyes several times during the anthem; she could not have told why she
+cried, but the music moved her strangely. Before the anthem was fairly
+concluded there was something else to take her attention. Mrs. Job
+Smith in whose seat she sat, gave her arm a vigorous poke with a sharp
+elbow, and whispered in a voice which seemed to Nettie must have been
+heard all over the church, "For the land's sake, if there ain't your pa
+sitting down there under the gallery!"
+
+As soon as she dared do so, Nettie turned her head for one swift look.
+Mrs. Smith _must_ be mistaken, but she would take one glance to assure
+herself. Certainly that was her father, sitting in almost the last
+seat, leaning his head against one of the pillars, the shabbiness of
+his coat showing plainly in the bright gaslight. But Nettie did not
+think of his coat. Her cheeks grew red, and her eyes filled again
+with tears. It was not the music, now; it was a strange thrill of
+satisfaction, and of hope. How pleasant she had thought it would be
+to go to church with her father. It was one of the things she had
+planned at Auntie Marshall's; how she would perhaps take her father's
+arm, being tall for her years, and Auntie Marshall said he was not
+a tall man, and walk to church by his side, and find the hymns for
+him, and receive his fatherly smile, and when she handed him his hat
+after service, perhaps he would say, "Thank you, my daughter," as she
+had heard Doctor Porter say to his little girl in the seat just ahead
+of theirs. Nettie's hungry little heart had wanted to hear that word
+applied to herself. Now all these sweet dreams of hers seemed to have
+been ages ago; actually it felt like years since she had hoped for such
+a thing, or dreamed of seeing her father in church, so swiftly had the
+reality crowded out her pretty dreams. Yet there he sat, listening to
+the reading.
+
+What Nettie would have done or thought had she known that Norm and
+two friends were at that moment seated in the gallery just over her
+father's head, I cannot say. On the whole, I am glad she did not know
+it until church was out. Especially I am glad she did not know that
+Norm giggled a good deal, and whispered more or less, and in various
+ways so annoyed the minister that he found it difficult to keep from
+speaking to the young men in the gallery. The fact is, he would have
+done so, had he not recognized in one of them his helper of the evening
+before, and resolved to bear his troubles patiently, in the hope that
+something good would grow out of this unusual appearance at church.
+
+It would perhaps be hard work to explain what had brought Norm to
+church. A fancy perhaps for seeing how the flowers looked by this
+time. A queer feeling that he was slightly connected with the church
+service for once in his life; a lingering desire to know whether in the
+hanging of that tallest wreath, he or the minister had been right; they
+had differed as to the distance from one arch to the other; from the
+gallery he was sure he could tell which had possessed the truer eye.
+All these motives pressed him a little. Then they were singing when
+he reached the door, and Rick had said, "Hallo! that voice sounds as
+though it lived up in the sky. Who is that, do you s'pose?"
+
+Then Norm proud of his knowledge in the matter, explained that she was
+the minister's sister, and they said she could mimic a bird so you
+couldn't tell which was which.
+
+"Poh!" Alf had said; he didn't believe a word of that; he should like
+to see a woman who could fool him into thinking that she was a bird!
+but he had added, "Let's go in and hear her." And as this was what Norm
+had been half intending to do ever since he started from the house, he
+agreed to do it at once. In they slipped and half-hid themselves behind
+the posts in the gallery, and behaved disreputably all the evening,
+more because they felt shamefaced about being there at all, and wanted
+to keep each other in countenance, than because they really desired to
+disturb the service. However, they heard a great deal.
+
+What do you think was the minister's text on that evening? "No drunkard
+shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." I shall have to tell you that
+when he caught sight of Mr. Decker half-hidden behind his post and
+recognized him as the man who was so fast growing into a drunkard, and
+as the man who had never been inside the church since he had been the
+pastor, he was sorry that his text and subject were what they were
+that evening. He told himself that it was very unfortunate. That if
+he had dreamed of such a thing as having that man for a listener, he
+would have told him the story of Jesus as simply and as earnestly as
+he could; and not have preached a sermon that would seem to the man
+as a fling at himself. However, there was no help for it now; he did
+not recognize Mr. Decker until he had announced his text, and fairly
+commenced his sermon.
+
+It was a sermon for young people; it was intended to warn them against
+the first beginnings of this great sin which shut heaven away from the
+sinner. He need not have been troubled about not telling the story of
+Jesus; there was a great deal about Jesus in the sermon, as well as a
+great deal about the heaven prepared for those who were willing to go.
+I do not know that anywhere in the church you could have found a more
+attentive listener than Mr. Decker. At least one who seemed to listen
+more earnestly; from the moment that the text was repeated until the
+great Bible was closed, he did not take his eyes from the minister's
+face. Yet some of his words he did not hear. Some of the time Mr.
+Decker was hearing a little voice, very sweet, saying: "Make a very
+big strong angel to come for my papa when he dies; my papa is a strong
+man and I don't want the angel to drop him." Poor papa! as he thought
+of it, he had to look straight before him and wink hard and fast to
+keep the tears from dropping; he had no handkerchief to wipe them away.
+Think of an angel coming for him! "I love my papa when he is good!" the
+sweet voice had said. Was he ever good? Then he listened awhile to the
+sermon; heard the vivid description of some of the possible glories
+and joys of Heaven. Would he be likely ever to go there? Little Sate
+thought so; she had planned for it that very afternoon. Dear little
+Sate who did not want the angel to drop him.
+
+Now it is possible that if the sermon had been about drunkards, Mr.
+Decker would have been vexed and would not have listened. He did not
+call himself a drunkard; it is a sad and at the same time a curious
+fact that he did not realize how nearly he had reached the point where
+the name would apply to him. That he drank beer, much, and often,
+and that he was growing more and more fond of it, and that it kept
+him miserably poor, was certainly true, and there were times when he
+realized it; but that he was ever going to be a common drunkard and
+roll in the gutter, and kick his wife, and seize his children by the
+hair, he did not for a moment believe. But the sermon was by no means
+addressed to people who were even so far on this road as he. It was
+addressed to boys, who were just beginning to like the taste of hard
+cider, and spruce beer, and hop bitters, and all those harmless (?)
+drinks which so many boys were using. It was a plain story of the
+rapid, certain, downward journey of those who began in these simple
+ways. It was illustrated by certain facts which Mr. Sherrill had
+personally known. And Mr. Decker, as he listened, owned to himself that
+he knew facts which would have proved the same truth.
+
+Then he gave a little start and shrank farther into the shadow of the
+pillar. The moment he admitted that, he also admitted that he was
+himself in danger. What nonsense that was! Couldn't he stop drinking
+the stuff whenever he liked? "There is a time," said the minister,
+"when this matter is in your own hands. You have no very great taste
+for the dangerous liquors, you are only using them because those with
+whom you associate do so. You could give them up without much effort;
+but I tell you, my friends, the time comes, and to many it comes very
+early in life, when they are like slaves bound hand and foot in a habit
+that they cannot break, and cannot control." Mr. Decker heard this,
+and something, what was it? pressed the thought home to him just then,
+that, if he did not belong to this last-mentioned class, neither did
+he to the former. He knew it would take a good deal of effort for him
+to give up his beer; of course it would; else he should not be such
+a fool as to keep himself and his family in poverty for the sake of
+indulging it. What if he were already a slave, bound hand and foot!
+What if the "stuff" which Sate said made him "cross" had already made
+him a drunkard! Perhaps the boys on the street called him so; though
+they rarely saw him stagger; his staggering was nearly always done
+under cover of the night. Still, now that he was dealing honestly with
+himself, he must own that it was less easy to go without his beer than
+it used to be. Since Nettie had come home he had drank less of it than
+usual, and by that very means he had discovered how much it meant to
+him. "No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven!" The minister's
+earnest voice repeated his text just then. Was he a drunkard? Then what
+about the strong angel? Little Sate was to be disappointed, after all!
+
+Oh! I am not going to try to tell you all the thoughts which passed
+through Joe Decker's mind that evening. I don't think he could tell you
+himself, though he remembers the evening vividly. He stood up, during
+the closing hymn, and waited until the benediction was pronounced,
+and then he slipped away, swiftly; Nettie tried to get to him, but
+she did not succeed, and she sorrowed over it. He stumbled along
+in the darkness, moving almost as unsteadily as though he had been
+drinking. The sky was thick with clouds, and he jostled against a lady
+and gentleman as he crossed the street; the lady shrank away. "Who is
+that?" he heard her ask; and the answer came to him distinctly: "Oh!
+it is old Joe Decker; he is drunk, I suppose. He generally is at this
+time of night."
+
+Yes, there it was! he was already counted on the streets as a drunkard.
+"No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." It was not the
+minister's voice this time; yet it seemed to the poor man's excited
+brain that some one repeated those words in his ears. Then he heard
+again the sweet soft voice: "Make him very big and strong, for I don't
+want the angel to drop him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE CONCERT.
+
+
+WITHIN the church wonderful things were going on. Jerry had caught
+sight of Norm as he slipped up the gallery stairs, and laid his plans
+accordingly. He whispered to Nettie during the singing of the closing
+hymn, thereby shocking her a little. Jerry did not often whisper in
+church.
+
+This was what he said: "Don't you need those lilies to help trim the
+room to-morrow night? Let's take them home."
+
+The moment the "amen" was spoken, he dashed out, and was at the stair
+door as Norm came down.
+
+"Norm," he said, "won't you help me carry home that tray? We want the
+flowers for something special to-morrow."
+
+Said Norm, "O bother! I can't help tote that heavy thing through the
+streets."
+
+"What's that?" asked Rick; and when the explanation was briefly made,
+he added the little word of advice which so often turns the scales.
+
+"Ho! that isn't much to do when you are going that very road. I'd do
+as much as that, any day, for the little chap who gave us such a tall
+row." This last was in undertone.
+
+"Well," said Norm, "I don't care; I'll help; but how are we going to
+get the things out here?"
+
+"Come inside," answered Jerry; "we can wait in the back seat. They will
+all be gone in a few minutes, then we can step up and get the salver."
+
+Once inside the church, the rest followed easily. Mr. Sherrill who had
+eyes for all that was going on, came forward swiftly and held a cordial
+hand to Norm.
+
+"Good-evening," he said; "I am glad to see you accepted my invitation.
+How did our work look by gaslight?"
+
+"It looked," said Norm, a roguish twinkle in his eye, "it looked
+just as I expected it would; crooked. That there arch at the left of
+the pulpit wants to be hung as much as two inches lower to match the
+other."
+
+"You don't say so!" said the minister, in good-humored surprise. "Does
+it appear so from the gallery? Are my eyes as crooked as that? Let us
+go up gallery and see if I can discover it."
+
+So to the gallery they went, Norm clearing the space with a few bounds,
+and taking a triumphant station where he could point out the defect to
+the minister.
+
+"That is true," Mr. Sherrill said, with hearty frankness. "You are
+right and I was wrong. If I had taken your word last night the wreaths
+would have looked better, wouldn't they? Well, perhaps wreaths are not
+the only things which show crooked when we get higher up and look down
+on them. Eh, my friend?"
+
+Norm laughed a good-humored, rather embarrassed laugh. It was
+remarkable that he should be up here holding a chatty, almost gay,
+conversation with the minister. There came over him the wish that
+he had behaved himself better during the service. That he had not
+whispered so much, nor nudged Rick's elbow to make him laugh, just
+at the moment that the minister's eye was fixed on them. He had a
+half-fancy that if the evening were to be lived over again, he would
+go down below and sit up straight and show this man that he could
+behave as well as anybody if he were a mind to.
+
+Not a word about the laughing and whispering said the minister. But he
+said a thing which startled Norm.
+
+"My sister has a fancy for having the church adorned with wreaths or
+strings of asters in contrasting colors for next Sabbath; will you make
+an appointment with me to help hang them on Saturday evening? I'll
+promise to follow your eye to the half-inch."
+
+Norm started, flushed, looked into the frank face and laughed a little,
+then seeing that the answer was waited for said: "Why, I don't care if
+I do, if you honestly want it."
+
+"I honestly want it," said the minister in great satisfaction. Then
+they went downstairs.
+
+Job Smith and his wife were gone.
+
+"I will wait for my brother," said Nettie, and her heart swelled with
+pride as she said it.
+
+How nice to have a brother to wait for, just as Miss Sherrill was
+doing. At that moment the "beautiful lady" as Sate and Susie called
+her, came to Nettie's side.
+
+"Good-evening," she said pleasantly. "I hope the little girls are
+well; I met your brother last night; he helped my brother to hang the
+flowers. I see they are upstairs together now, admiring their work. My
+brother said he was a very intelligent helper. You do not know how much
+I thank you for those flowers. They helped me to sing to-night."
+
+"I thought," said Nettie, raising her great truthful eyes to the lady's
+face and speaking with an earnestness that showed she felt what she
+said, "I thought you sang as though the angels were helping you. I
+don't think they can sing any sweeter."
+
+"Thank you," said Miss Sherrill; she smiled as she spoke, yet there
+were tears in her eyes; the honest, earnest tribute seemed very unlike
+a little girl, and very unlike the usual way of complimenting her
+wonderful voice. "I saw that you liked music," she said, "I noticed you
+while I was singing. Will you let me give you a couple of tickets for
+the concert to-morrow evening; and will you and your brother come to
+hear me sing? I am going to sing something that I think you will like."
+
+Nettie went home behind the lilies and the boys, her heart all in
+a flutter of delight. What a wonderful thing had come to her! The
+concert for which the best singers in town had been so long practising,
+and for which the tickets were fifty cents apiece, and which she had no
+more expected to attend than she had expected to hear the real angels
+sing that week, was to take place to-morrow evening, and she had two
+tickets in her pocket!
+
+Mrs. Decker was waiting for them, her nose pressed against the glass;
+she started forward to open the door for the boys, before Nettie could
+reach it. There was such a look of relief on her face when she saw Norm
+as ought to have gone to his very heart; but he did not see it; he was
+busy settling the salver in a safe place.
+
+"Has father come in?" Nettie asked, as she followed her mother to the
+back step, where she went for the dipper at Norm's call.
+
+"Yes, child, he has, and went straight to bed. He didn't say two words;
+but he wasn't cross; and he hadn't drank a drop, I believe."
+
+"Mother," said Nettie, standing on tiptoe to reach the tall woman's
+ear, and speaking in an awe-stricken whisper, "father was in church!"
+
+"For the land of pity!" said Mrs. Decker, speaking low and solemnly.
+
+And all through the next morning's meal, which was an unusually quiet
+one, she waited on her husband with a kind of respectful reverence,
+which if he had noticed, might have bewildered him. It seemed to her
+that the event of the evening before had lifted him into a higher world
+than hers, and that she could not tell now, what might happen.
+
+The event of the day was the concert; all other plans were set aside
+for that. At first Norm scoffed and declared that his ticket might be
+used to light the fire with, for all he cared; he didn't want to go
+to one of their "swell" concerts. But this talk Nettie laughed over
+good-naturedly, as though it were intended for a joke, and continued
+her planning as to when to have supper, and just when she and Norm must
+start.
+
+In the course of the day, that young man discovered it to be a fine
+thing to own tickets for this special concert. Before noon tickets were
+at a premium, and several of Norm's fellow-workmen gayly advised him to
+make an honest penny by selling his. During the early morning it had
+been delicately hinted by one young fellow that Norm Decker's tickets
+were made of tissue paper, which was his way of saying, that he did
+not believe that Norm had any; but, thanks to Nettie's thoughtful tact,
+the tickets were at that very moment reposing in her brother's pocket,
+and he drew them forth in triumph, wanting to know if anybody saw any
+tissue paper about those. Good stiff green pasteboard with the magic
+words on them which would admit two people to what was considered
+on all sides the finest entertainment of the sort the town had ever
+enjoyed.
+
+"Where did you get 'em, Norm? Come, tell us, that's a good fellow.
+You was never so green as to go and pay a dollar for two pieces of
+pasteboard."
+
+"They are complimentaries," said Norm, tossing off a shaving with a
+careless air, as though complimentary tickets to first-class concerts
+were every-day affairs with him.
+
+"Complimentary? My eyes, aren't we big!" (I am very sorry that the boys
+in Norm's shop used these slang phrases; but I want to say this for
+them: it was because they had never been taught better. Not one of them
+had mother or father who were grieved by such words; some of them were
+so truly good-hearted that I believe if such had been the case, they
+would never have used them again; and I wish the same might be said of
+all boys with cultured and careful mothers.)
+
+"How did you get 'em? Been selling tickets for the show, or piling
+chairs, or what?"
+
+"I haven't done a living thing for one of them," said Norm composedly;
+and Ben Halleck came to his rescue.
+
+"That's so, boys; or, at least if he had, it wouldn't done him no good.
+They don't pay for this show in any such way. The fellows that carried
+around bills were paid in money because they said they expected seats
+would be scarce; and they didn't sell no tickets around the streets.
+Them that wanted them had to go to the book-store and buy them. Oh, I
+tell you, it's a big thing. I wouldn't mind going myself if I could be
+complimented through. You see that Sherrill girl who lives at the new
+minister's is a most amazing singer, and they say everybody wants to
+hear her."
+
+By this time Norm's mind was fully made up that he would go to the
+concert. It is a pity Nettie could not have known it. For despite
+the cheerful courage with which she received Norm's disagreeable
+statements in the morning, she was secretly very much afraid that he
+would not go. This would have been a great trial to her, for her little
+soul was as full of music as possible; and the thought of hearing that
+wonderful voice so soon again filled her with delight; but she was a
+timid little girl so far as appearing among strangers was concerned,
+and the idea of going alone to a concert was not to be thought of. Her
+mother proposed Jerry for company, but he had gone with Job Smith into
+the country and was not likely to return until too late. So Nettie made
+her little preparations with a troubled heart. There was something more
+to it than simply hearing fine music; it would be so like other girls
+whom she knew, so like the dreams of home she had indulged in while at
+Auntie Marshall's--this going out in the evening attended and cared for
+by her brother.
+
+Norm ate his dinner in haste, and was silent and almost gruff; nobody
+knows why. I have often wondered why even well brought up boys, seem
+sometimes to like to appear more disagreeable than at heart they are.
+
+But by six o'clock the much-thought-about brother appeared, his face
+pleasant enough.
+
+"Well, Nannie," he said, "got your fusses and fixings all ready?"
+
+And Nettie with beating heart and laughing eyes assured him that she
+would be all ready in good time, and that she had laid his clean shirt
+on his bed, and a clean handkerchief, and brushed his coat.
+
+"Yes; and she ironed your shirt with her own hands," explained his
+mother, "and the bosom shines like a glass bottle."
+
+"O bother!" said Norm. "I don't want a clean shirt."
+
+But he went to his attic directly after supper and put on the shirt,
+and combed his hair, and rubbed his boots with Jerry's brush which he
+went around the back way and borrowed of Mrs. Job Smith before he came
+in to supper.
+
+He had noticed how very neat and pretty Nettie looked as she walked
+down the church isle beside him the night before; and he had also
+noticed Jerry's shining boots.
+
+His mother noticed his the moment he came down stairs. "How nice you
+two do look!" she said admiringly; and then the two walked away well
+pleased. It was a wonderful concert. Norm had not known that he was
+particularly fond of music, but he owned to Rick the next day, that
+there was something in that Sherrill girl's voice which almost lifted a
+fellow out of his boots.
+
+They had excellent seats! Nettie learned to her intense surprise that
+their tickets called for reserved seats. She had studied over certain
+mysterious numbers on the tickets, but had not understood them. It
+appeared also that the usher was surprised.
+
+"Can't give you any seats," was his greeting as they presented their
+tickets. "Everything is full now except the reserves; you'll have to
+stand in the aisle; there's a good place under the gallery. Halloo!
+What's this? Reserved! Why, bless us, I didn't see these numbers. Come
+down this way; you have as nice seats as there are in the hall."
+
+It was all delightful. Lorena Barstow and two others of the
+Sabbath-school class were a few seats behind them; Nettie could
+hear them whispering and giggling, and for a few minutes she had an
+uncomfortable feeling that they were laughing at her; as I am sorry to
+say they were.
+
+But neither this nor anything else troubled her long, for Norm's
+unusual toilet having taken much longer than was planned for, they were
+really among the late comers; and in a very little while the music
+began. Oh! how wonderful it was. Neither Nettie nor Norm had ever heard
+really fine concert music before, and even Norm who did not know that
+he cared for music, felt his nerves thrill to his fingers' ends. Then,
+when after the first two or three pieces Miss Sherrill appeared, she
+was so beautiful and her voice was so wonderful that Nettie, try as
+hard as she did, could not keep the tears from her foolish happy eyes.
+I will not venture to say how much the beautiful silk dress with its
+long train, and the mass of soft white lace at her throat had to do
+with Miss Sherrill's loveliness, though I daresay if she had appeared
+in a twelve-cent gingham like Nettie's, she might have sang just as
+sweetly. Norm, however, did not believe that.
+
+"Half of it is the fuss and feathers," he declared to Rick, next day,
+looking wise. And Rick made a wise answer.
+
+"Well, when you add the handsome voice to the fuss and feathers, I
+s'pose they help, but I don't believe folks would go and rave so much
+just over a blue silk dress, and some gloves, and things. They all had
+to match, you see." So Rick, without knowing it, became a philosopher.
+
+As for Nettie, she told her mother that the dress was just lovely, and
+her voice was as sweet as any angel's could possibly be; but there was
+a look in her eyes which was better than all the rest; and that when
+she sang, "Oh that I had wings, had wings like a dove!" she, Nettie,
+could not help feeling that they were hidden about her somewhere, and
+that before the song was over, she might unfold them and soar away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A WILL AND A WAY.
+
+
+"THE next thing we want to do is to earn some money."
+
+This, Jerry said, as he sat on the side step with Nettie, after sunset.
+They had been having a long talk, planning the campaign against the
+enemy, which they had made up their minds should be carried on with
+vigor. At least, they had been trying to plan; but that obstacle which
+seems to delight to step into the midst of so many plans and overturn
+them, viz. money, met them at every point. So when Jerry made that
+emphatic announcement, Nettie was prepared to agree with him fully; but
+none the less did she turn anxious eyes on him as she said:
+
+"How can we?"
+
+"I don't know yet," Jerry said, whistling a few bars of
+
+    Oh, do not be discouraged,
+
+and stopping in the middle of the line to answer, "But of course there
+is a way. There was an old man who worked for my father, who used to
+say so often: 'Where there's a will there's a way,' that after awhile
+we boys got to calling him 'Will and Way' for short, you know; his name
+was John," and here Jerry stopped to laugh a little over that method
+of shortening a name; "but it was wonderful to see how true it proved;
+he would make out to do the most surprising things that even my father
+thought sometimes could not be done. We must _make_ a way to earn some
+money."
+
+Nettie laughed a little. "Well, I am sure," she said, "there is a will
+in this case; in fact, there are two wills; for you seem to have a
+large one, and I know if ever I was determined to do a thing I am now;
+but for all that I can't think of a possible way to earn a cent."
+
+Now Sarah Ann Smith was at this moment standing by the kitchen window,
+looking out on the two schemers. Her sleeves were rolled above her
+elbow, for she was about to set the sponge for bread; she had her large
+neat work apron tied over her neat dress-up calico; and on her head was
+perched the frame out of which, with Nettie's skilful help, and some
+pieces of lace from her mother's old treasure bag, she meant to make
+herself a bonnet every bit as pretty as the one worn by Miss Sherrill
+the Sabbath before.
+
+"Talk of keeping things seven years and they'll come good," said
+Mrs. Smith, watching with satisfaction while Nettie tumbled over the
+contents of the bag in eager haste and exclaimed over this and that
+piece which would be "just lovely." "I've kept the rubbish in that bag
+going on to twenty years, just because the pretty girls where I used
+to do clear-starching, gave them to me. I had no kind of notion what
+I should ever do with them; but they looked bright and pretty, and I
+always was a master hand for bright colors, and so whenever they would
+hand out a bit of ribbon or lace, and say, 'Cerinthy, do you want
+that?' I was sure to say I did; and chuck it into this bag; and now to
+think after keeping of them for more than twenty years, my girl should
+be planning to make a bonnet out of them! Things is queer! I don't ever
+mean to throw away _anything_. I never was much at throwing away; now
+that's a fact."
+
+Now the truth was that Sarah Ann, left to herself, would as soon
+have thought of making a _house_ out of the contents of that bag, as
+a bonnet; but Nettie Decker's deft fingers had a natural tact for
+all cunning contrivances in lace and silk, and her skill in copying
+what she saw, was something before which Sarah Ann stood in silent
+admiration; when, therefore, she offered to construct for Sarah Ann,
+out of the treasures of that bag, a bonnet which should be both
+becoming and economical, Sarah Ann's gratitude knew no bounds. She went
+that very afternoon to the milliner's to select her frame, and had it
+perched at that moment as I said, on her head, while she listened to
+the clear young voices under the window. She had a great desire to be
+helpful; but money was far from plenty at Job Smith's.
+
+What was it which made her at that moment think of a bit of news which
+she had heard while at the milliner's? Why, nothing more remarkable
+than that the color of Nettie Decker's hair in the fading light was
+just the same as Mantie Horton's. But what made her suddenly speak her
+bit of news, interrupting the young planners? Ah, that Sarah Ann does
+not know; she only knows she felt just like saying it, so she said it.
+
+"Mantie Horton's folks are all going to move to the city; they are
+selling off lots of things; I saw her this afternoon when I was at the
+milliner's, and she says about the only thing now that they don't know
+what to do with is her old hen and chickens; a nice lot of chicks as
+ever she saw, but of course they can't take them to the city. My! I
+should think they would feel dreadful lonesome without chickens, nor
+pigs, nor nothing! _We_ might have some chickens as well as not, if
+we only had a place to keep 'em; enough scrapings come from the table
+every day, to feed 'em, most."
+
+Before this sentence was concluded, Jerry had turned and given Nettie
+a sudden look as if to ask if she saw what he did; then he whistled a
+low strain which had in it a note of triumph; and the moment Sarah Ann
+paused for breath he asked: "Where do the Hortons live?"
+
+"Why, out on the pike about a mile; that nice white house set back from
+the road a piece; don't you know? It is just a pleasant walk out there."
+
+Then Sarah Ann turned away to attend to her bread, and as she did so
+her somewhat homely face was lighted by a smile; for an idea had just
+dawned upon her, and she chuckled over it: "I shouldn't wonder if those
+young things would go into business; he's got contrivance enough to
+make a coop, any day, and mother would let them have the scrapings, and
+welcome."
+
+Sarah Ann was right; though Nettie, unused to country ways and plans,
+did not think of such a thing, Jerry did. The next morning he was up,
+even before the sun; in fact that luminary peeped at him just as he was
+turning into the long carriage drive which led finally to the Horton
+barnyard. There a beautiful sight met his eyes; a white and yellow
+topknot mother, and eight or ten fluffy chickens scampering about her.
+"They are nice and plump," said Jerry to himself; "I'm afraid I haven't
+money enough to buy them; but then, there is a great deal of risk in
+raising a brood of chickens like these; perhaps he will sell them
+cheap."
+
+Farmer Horton was an early riser, and was busy about his stables when
+Jerry reached there. He was anxious to get rid of all his live stock,
+and be away as soon as possible, and here was a customer anxious to
+buy; so in much less time than Jerry had supposed it would take, the
+hen and chickens changed owners and much whistling was done by the new
+owner as he walked rapidly back to town to build a house for his family.
+
+Mrs. Smith had been taken into confidence; so indeed had Job, before
+the purchase was made; but the whole thing was to be a profound
+surprise to Nettie. Therefore, she saw little of him that day, and I
+will not deny was a trifle hurt because he kept himself so busy about
+something which he did not share with her. But I want you to imagine,
+if you can, her surprise the next morning when just as she was ready to
+set the potatoes to frying, she heard Jerry's eager voice calling her
+to come and see his house.
+
+"See what?" asked Nettie, appearing in the doorway, coffee pot in hand.
+
+"A new house. I built it yesterday, and rented it; the family moved in
+last night. That is the reason I was so busy. I had to go out and help
+move them; and I must say they were as ill-behaved a set as I ever had
+anything to do with. The mother is the crossest party I ever saw; and
+she has no government whatever; her children scurry around just where
+they please."
+
+"What are you talking about?" said astonished Nettie, her face growing
+more and more bewildered as he continued his merry description.
+
+"Come out and see. It is a new house, I tell you; I built it yesterday;
+that is the reason I did not come to help you about the bonnet. Didn't
+you miss me? Sarah Ann thinks it is actually nicer than the one Miss
+Sherrill wore." And he broke into a merry laugh, checking himself to
+urge Nettie once more to come out and see his treasures.
+
+"Well," said Nettie, "wait until I cover the potatoes, and set the
+teakettle off." This done she went in haste and eagerness to discover
+what was taking place behind Job Smith's barn. A hen and chickens!
+Beautiful little yellow darlings, racing about as though they were
+crazy; and a speckled mother clucking after them in a dignified way,
+pretending to have authority over them, when one could see at a glance
+that they did exactly as they pleased.
+
+Then came a storm of questions. "Where? and When? and Why?"
+
+"It is a stock company concern," exclaimed Jerry, his merry eyes
+dancing with pleasure. Nettie was fully as astonished and pleased as
+he had hoped. "Don't you know I told you yesterday we must plan a way
+to earn money? This is one way, planned for us. _We_ own Mrs. Biddy;
+every feather on her knot, of which she is so proud, belongs to us, and
+she must not only earn her own living and that of her children, but
+bring us in a nice profit besides. Those are plump little fellows; I
+can imagine them making lovely pot pies for some one who is willing to
+pay a good price for them. Cannot you?"
+
+"Poor little chickens," said Nettie in such a mournful tone that Jerry
+went off into shouts of laughter. He was a humane boy, but he could not
+help thinking it very funny that anybody should sigh over the thought
+of a chicken pot pie.
+
+"Oh, I know they are to eat," Nettie said, smiling in answer to his
+laughter, "and I know how to make nice crust for pot pie; but for
+all that, I cannot help feeling sort of sorry for the pretty fluffy
+chickens. Are you going to fat them all, to eat; or raise some of them
+to lay eggs?"
+
+"I don't know what _we_ are going to do, yet," Jerry said with pointed
+emphasis on the we. "You see, we have not had time to consult; this is
+a company concern, I told you. What do you think about it?"
+
+Nettie's cheeks began to grow a deep pink; she looked down at the
+hurrying chickens with a grave face for a moment, then said gently:
+"You know, Jerry, I haven't any money to help buy the chickens, and I
+cannot help own what I do not help buy; they are your chickens, but I
+shall like to watch them and help you plan about them."
+
+Jerry sat down on an old nail keg, crossed one foot over the other, and
+clasped his hands over his knees, as Job Smith was fond of doing, and
+prepared for argument:
+
+"Now, see here, Nettie Decker, let us understand each other once for
+all; I thought we had gone into partnership in this whole business;
+that we were to fight that old fiend Rum, in every possible way we
+could; and were to help each other plan, and work all the time, and in
+all ways we possibly could. Now if you are tired of me and want to work
+alone, why, I mustn't force myself upon you."
+
+"O, Jerry!" came in a reproachful murmur from Nettie, whose cheeks were
+now flaming.
+
+"Well, what is a fellow to do? You see you hurt my feelings worse
+than old Mother Topknot did this morning when she pecked me; I want to
+belong, and I mean to; but all that kind of talk about helping to buy
+these half-dozen little puff-balls is all nonsense, and a girl of your
+sense ought to be ashamed of it."
+
+Said Nettie, "O, Jerry, I smell the potatoes; they are scorching!" and
+she ran away. Jerry looked after her a moment, as though astonished at
+the sudden change of subject, then laughed, and rising slowly from the
+nail-keg addressed himself to the hen.
+
+"Now, Mother Topknot, I want you to understand that you belong to the
+firm; that little woman who was just here is your mistress, and if you
+peck her and scratch her as you did me, this morning, it will be the
+worse for you. You are just like some people I have seen; haven't sense
+enough to know who is your best friend; why, there is no end to the
+nice little bits she will contrive for you and your children, if you
+behave yourself; for that matter, I suspect she would do it whether you
+behaved yourself or not; but that part it is quite as well you should
+not understand. I want you to bring these children up to take care of
+themselves, just as soon as you can; and then you are to give your
+attention to laying a nice fresh egg every morning; and the sooner you
+begin, the better we shall like it." Then he went in to breakfast.
+
+There was no need to say anything more about the partnership.
+Nettie seemed to come to the conclusion that she must be ashamed of
+herself or her pride in the matter; and after a very short time grew
+accustomed to hearing Jerry talk about "Our chicks," and dropped into
+the fashion of caring for and planning about them. None the less was
+she resolved to find some way of earning a little money for her share
+of the stock company. Curiously enough it was Susie and little Sate
+who helped again. They came in one morning, with their hands full of
+the lovely field daisies. The moment Nettie looked at the two little
+faces, she knew that a dispute of some sort was in progress. Susie's
+lips were curved with that air of superior wisdom, not to say scorn,
+which she knew how to assume; and little Sate's eyes were full of the
+half-grieved but wholly positive look which they could wear on occasion.
+
+"What is it?" Nettie asked, stopping on her way to the cellar with
+a nice little pat of batter which she was saving for her father's
+supper. Butter was a luxury which she had decided the children at
+least, herself included, must not expect every day.
+
+"Why," said Susie, her eyes flashing her contempt of the whole thing,
+"she says these are folks; old women with caps, and eyes, and noses,
+and everything; she says they look at her, and some of them are
+pleasant, and some are cross. She is too silly for anything. They
+don't look the least bit in the word like old women. I told her so,
+fifty-eleven times, and she keeps saying it!"
+
+Nettie held out her hand for the bunch of daisies, looked at them
+carefully, and laughed.
+
+"Can't you see them?" was little Sate's eager question. "They are just
+as plain! Don't you see them a little bit of a speck, Nannie?"
+
+"Of course she doesn't!" said scornful Susie. "Nobody but a silly baby
+like you would think of such a thing."
+
+"I don't know," said Nettie, still smiling, "I don't think I see them
+as plain as Sate does, but maybe we can, after awhile; wait till I get
+my butter put away, and I'll put on my spectacles and see what I can
+find."
+
+So the two waited, Susie incredulous and disgusted, Sate with a hopeful
+light in her eyes, which made Nettie very anxious to find the old
+ladies. On her way up stairs she felt in her pocket for the pencil
+Jerry had sharpened with such care the evening before; yes, it was
+there, and the point was safe. Jerry had made a neat little tube of
+soft wood for it to slip into, and so protect itself.
+
+"Now, let us look for the old lady," she said, taking a daisy in hand
+and retiring to the closet window for inspection; it was the work of
+a moment for her fingers which often ached for such work, to fashion
+a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth; and then to turn down the white
+petals for a cap border, leaving two under the chin for strings!
+
+"Does your old lady look anything like that?" she questioned, as she
+came out from her hiding place. Little Sate looked, and clasped her
+hands in an ecstacy of delight: "Look, Susie, look, quick! there she
+is, just as plain! O Nannie! I'm _so_ glad you found her."
+
+"Humph!" said Susie, "she made her with a pencil; she wasn't there at
+all; and there couldn't nobody have found her. So!"
+
+And to this day, I suppose it would not be possible to make Susie
+Decker believe that the spirits of beautiful old ladies hid in the
+daisies! Some people cannot see things, you know, show them as much as
+you may.
+
+But Nettie was charmed with the little old woman. She left the potatoes
+waiting to be washed, and sat down on the steps with eager little
+Sate, and made old lady after old lady. Some with spectacles, and some
+without. Some with smooth hair drawn quietly back from quiet foreheads,
+some with the old-fashioned puffs and curls which she had seen in old,
+old pictures of "truly" grandmothers. What fun they had! The potatoes
+came near being forgotten entirely. It was the faithful old clock in
+Mrs. Smith's kitchen which finally clanged out the hour and made Nettie
+rise in haste, scattering old ladies right and left. But little Sate
+gathered them, every one, holding them with as careful hand as though
+she feared a rough touch would really hurt their feelings, and went out
+to hunt Susie and soothe her ruffled dignity. She did not find Susie;
+that young woman was helping Jerry nail laths on the chicken coop;
+but she found her sweet-faced Sabbath-school teacher, who was sure
+to stop and kiss the child, whenever she passed. To her, Sate at once
+showed the sweet old women. "Nannie found them," she explained; "Susie
+could not see them at all, and she kept saying they were not there; but
+Nannie said she would make them look plainer so Susie could see, and
+now Susie thinks she made them out of a pencil; but they were there,
+before, I saw them."
+
+"Oh, you quaint little darling!" said Miss Sherrill, kissing her again.
+"And so your sister Nettie made them plainer for you. I must say she
+has done it with a skilful hand. Sate dear, would you give one little
+old woman to me? Just one; this dear old face with puffs, I want her
+very much."
+
+So Sate gazed at her with wistful, tender eyes, kissed her tenderly,
+and let Miss Sherrill carry her away.
+
+She carried her straight to the minister's study, and laid her on the
+open page of a great black commentary which he was studying. "Did
+you ever see anything so cunning? That little darling of a Sate says
+Nannie 'found' her; she doesn't seem to think it was made, but simply
+developed, you know, so that commoner eyes than hers could see it;
+that child was born for a poet, or an artist, I don't know which.
+Tremayne, I'm going to take this down to the flower committee, and get
+them to invite Nettie to make some bouquets of dear old grandmothers,
+and let little Sate come to the flower party and sell them. Won't that
+be lovely? Every gentleman there will want a bouquet of the nice old
+ladies in caps, and spectacles; we will make it the fashion; then they
+will sell beautifully, and the little merchant shall go shares on the
+proceeds, for the sake of her artist sister."
+
+"It is a good idea," said the minister. "I infer from what that
+handsome boy Jerry has told me, that they have some scheme on hand
+which requires money. I am very much interested in those young people,
+my dear. I wish you would keep a watch on them, and lend a helping hand
+when you can."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+AN ORDEAL.
+
+
+THAT was the way it came about that little Sate not only, but Susie and
+Nettie, went to the flower party.
+
+They had not expected to do any such thing. The little girls, who were
+not used to going any where, had paid no attention to the announcements
+on Sunday, and Nettie had heard as one with whom such things had
+nothing in common. Her treatment in the Sabbath-school was not such as
+to make her long for the companionship of the girls of her age, and by
+this time she knew that her dress at the flower party would be sure
+to command more attention than was pleasant; so she had planned as a
+matter of course to stay away.
+
+But the little old ladies in their caps and spectacles springing
+into active life, put a new face on the matter. Certainly no more
+astonished young person can be imagined than Nettie Decker was, the
+morning Miss Sherrill called on her, the one daisy she had begged still
+carefully preserved, and proposed her plan of partnership in the flower
+party.
+
+"It will add ever so much to the fun," she explained, "besides bringing
+you a nice little sum for your spending money."
+
+Did Miss Sherrill have any idea how far that argument would reach just
+now, Nettie wondered.
+
+"We can dress the little girls in daisies," continued their teacher.
+"Little Sate will look like a flower herself, with daisies wreathed
+about her dress and hair."
+
+"Little Sate will be afraid, I think," Nettie objected. "She is very
+timid, and not used to seeing many people."
+
+"But with Susie she will not mind, will she? Susie has assurance enough
+to take her through anything. Oh, I wonder if little Sate would not
+recite a verse about the daisy grandmothers? I have such a cunning one
+for her. May I teach her, Mrs. Decker, and see if I can get her to
+learn it?"
+
+Mrs. Decker's consent was very easy to gain; indeed it had been freely
+given in Mrs. Decker's heart before it was asked. For Miss Sherrill
+had not been in the room five minutes before she had said: "Your son,
+Norman, I believe his name is, has promised to help my brother with
+the church flowers this evening. My brother says he is an excellent
+helper; his eye is so true; they had quite a laugh together, last week.
+It seems one of the wreaths was not hung plumb; your son and my brother
+had an argument about it, and it was finally left as my brother had
+placed it, but was out of line several inches. He was obliged to admit
+that if he had followed Norman's direction it would have looked much
+better." After that, it would have been hard for Miss Sherrill to have
+asked a favor which Mrs. Decker would not grant if she could. _She_ saw
+through it all; these people were in league with Nettie, to try to save
+her boy. What wasn't she ready to do at their bidding!
+
+There was but one thing about which she was positive. The little girls
+could not go without Nettie; they talked it over in the evening, after
+Miss Sherrill was gone. Nettie looked distressed. She liked to please
+Miss Sherrill; she was willing to make many grandmothers; she would
+help to put the little girls in as dainty attire as possible, but she
+did _not_ want to go to the flower festival. She planned various ways;
+Jerry would take them down, or Norm; perhaps even _he_ would go with
+them; surely mother would be willing to have them go with Norm. Miss
+Sherrill would look after them carefully, and they would come home at
+eight o'clock; before they began to grow very sleepy.
+
+But no, Mrs. Decker was resolved; she could not let them go unless
+Nettie would go with them and bring them home. "I let one child run the
+streets," she said with a heavy sigh, "and I have lived to most wish he
+had died when he was a baby, before I did it; and I said then I would
+never let another one go out of my sight as long as I had control; I
+can't go; but I would just as soon they would be with you as with me;
+and unless you go, they can't stir a step, and that's the whole of it."
+Mrs. Decker was a very determined woman when she set out to be; and
+Nettie looked the picture of dismay. It did not seem possible to her to
+go to a flower party; and on the other hand it seemed really dreadful
+to thwart Miss Sherrill. Jerry sat listening, saying little, but the
+word he put in now and then, was on Mrs. Decker's side; he owned to
+himself that he never so entirely approved of her as at that moment. He
+wanted Nettie to go to the flower party.
+
+"But I have nothing to wear?" said Nettie, blushing, and almost weeping.
+
+"Nothing to wear!" repeated Mrs. Decker in honest astonishment. "Why,
+what do you wear on Sundays, I should like to know? I'm sure you
+look as neat and nice as any girl I ever saw, in your gingham. I was
+watching you last Sunday and thinking how pretty it was."
+
+"Yes; but, mother, they all wear white at such places; and I cut up my
+white dress, you know, for the little girls; it was rather short for me
+anyway; but I should feel queer in any other color."
+
+"O, well," said Mrs. Decker in some irritation, "if they go to such
+places to show their clothes, why, I suppose you must stay at home, if
+you have none that you want to show. I thought, being it was a church,
+it didn't matter, so you were neat and clean; but churches are like
+everything else, it seems, places for show."
+
+Jerry looked grave disapproval at Nettie, but she felt injured and
+could have cried. Was it fair to accuse her of going to church to show
+her clothes, or of being over-particular, when she went every Sunday in
+a blue and white gingham such as no other girl in her class would wear
+even to school? This was not church, it was a party. It was hard that
+she must be blamed for pride, when she was only too glad to stay at
+home from it.
+
+"I can't go in my blue dress, and that is the whole of it," she said at
+last, a good deal of decision in her voice.
+
+"Very well," said Mrs Decker. "Then we'll say no more about it; as for
+the little girls going without you, they sha'n't do it. When I set my
+foot down, it's _down_."
+
+Jerry instinctively looked down at her foot as she spoke. It was
+a good-sized one, and looked as though it could set firmly on any
+question on which it was put. His heart began to fail him; the flower
+party and certain things which he hoped to accomplish thereby, were
+fading. He took refuge with Mrs. Smith to hide his disappointment, and
+also to learn wisdom about this matter of dress.
+
+"Do clothes make such a very great difference to girls?" was his first
+question.
+
+"Difference?" said Mrs. Smith rubbing a little more flour on her hands,
+and plunging them again into the sticky mass she was kneading.
+
+"Yes'm. They seem to think of clothes the first thing, when there is
+any place to go to; boys aren't that way. I don't believe a boy knows
+whether his coat ought to be brown or green. What makes the difference?"
+
+Mrs. Smith laughed a little. "Well," she said reflectively, "there is a
+difference, now that's a fact. I noticed it time and again when I was
+living with Mrs. Jennison. Dick would go off with whatever he happened
+to have on; and Florence was always in a flutter as to whether she
+looked as well as the rest. I've heard folks say that it is the fault
+of the mothers, because they make such a fuss over the girls' clothes,
+and keep rigging them up in something bright, just to make 'em look
+pretty, till they succeed in making them think there isn't anything
+quite so important in life as what they wear on their backs. It's all
+wrong, I believe. But then, Nettie ain't one of that kind. She hasn't
+had any mother to perk her up and make her vain. I shouldn't think she
+would be one to care about clothes much."
+
+"She doesn't," said Jerry firmly. "I don't think she would care if
+other folks didn't. The girls in her class act hatefully to her; they
+don't speak, if they can help it. I suppose it's clothes; I don't know
+what else; they are always rigged out like hollyhocks or tulips; they
+make fun of her, I guess; and that isn't very pleasant."
+
+"Is that the reason she won't go to the flower show next week?"
+
+"Yes'm, that's the reason. All the girls are going to dress in white;
+I suppose she thinks she will look queerly, and be talked about. But
+I don't understand it. Seems to me if all the boys were going to wear
+blue coats, and I knew it, I'd just as soon wear my gray one if gray
+was respectable."
+
+"She ought to have a white dress, now that's a fact," said Mrs. Smith
+with energy, patting her brown loaf, and tucking it down into the tin
+in a skilful way. "It isn't much for a girl like her to want; if her
+father was the kind of man he ought to be, she might have a white dress
+for best, as well as not; I've no patience with him."
+
+"Her father hasn't drank a drop this week," said Jerry.
+
+"Hasn't; well, I'm glad of it; but I'm thinking of what he has done,
+and what he will go and do, as likely as not, next week; they might be
+as forehanded as any folks I know of, if he was what he ought to be;
+there isn't a better workman in the town. Well, you don't care much
+about the flower party, I suppose?"
+
+"I don't now," said Jerry, wearily. "When I thought the little girls
+were going, I had a plan. Sate is such a little thing, she would be
+sure to be half-asleep by eight o'clock; and I was going to coax Norm
+to come for her, and we carry her home between us. Norm won't go to a
+flower party, out and out; but he is good-natured, and was beginning
+to think a great deal of Sate; then I thought Mr. Sherrill would speak
+to him. The more we can get Norm to feeling he belongs in such places,
+the less he will feel like belonging to the corner groceries, and the
+streets."
+
+"I see," said Mrs. Smith admiringly. "Well, I do say I didn't think
+Nettie was the kind of girl to put a white dress between her chances of
+helping folks. Sarah Ann thinks she's a real true Christian; but Satan
+does seem to be into the clothes business from beginning to end."
+
+"I don't suppose it is any easier for a Christian to be laughed at and
+slighted, than it is for other people," said Jerry, inclined to resent
+the idea that Nettie was not showing the right spirit; although in his
+heart he was disappointed in her for caring so much about the color of
+her dress.
+
+"Well, I don't know about that," said Mrs. Smith, stopping in the act
+of tucking her bread under the blankets, to look full at Jerry, "why,
+they even made fun of the Lord Jesus Christ; dressed him up in purple,
+like a king, and mocked at him! When it comes to remembering that, it
+would seem as if any common Christian might be almost glad of a chance
+to be made fun of, just to stand in the same lot with him."
+
+This was a new thought to Jerry. He studied it for awhile in silence.
+Now it so happened that neither Mrs. Smith nor Jerry remembered certain
+facts; one was that Mrs. Smith's kitchen window was in a line with
+Mrs. Decker's bedroom window, where Nettie had gone to sit while she
+mended Norm's shirt; the other was that a gentle breeze was blowing,
+which brought their words distinctly to Nettie's ears. At first she had
+not noticed the talk, busy with her own thoughts, then she heard her
+name, and paused needle in hand, to wonder what was being said about
+her. Then, coming to her senses, she determined to leave the room; but
+her mother, for convenience, had pushed her ironing table against the
+bedroom door, and then had gone to the yard in search of chips; Nettie
+was a prisoner; she tried to push the table by pushing against the
+door, but the floor was uneven, and the table would not move; meantime
+the conversation going on across the alleyway, came distinctly to her.
+No use to cough, they were too much interested to hear her. By and by
+she grew so interested as to forget that the words were not intended
+for her to hear. There were more questions involved in this matter of
+dress than she had thought about. Her cheeks began to burn a little
+with the thought that her neighbor had been planning help for Norm,
+which she was blocking because she had no white dress! This was an
+astonishment! She had not known she was proud. In fact, she had thought
+herself very humble, and worthy of commendation because she went
+Sabbath after Sabbath to the school in the same blue and white dress,
+not so fresh now by a great deal as when she first came home.
+
+When Mrs. Smith reached the sentence which told of the Lord Jesus being
+robed in purple, and crowned with thorns, and mocked, two great tears
+fell on Norm's shirt sleeve.
+
+It was a very gentle little girl who moved about the kitchen getting
+early tea; Mrs. Decker glanced at her from time to time in a bewildered
+way. The sort of girl with whom she was best acquainted would have
+slammed things about a little; both because she had not clothes to wear
+like other children, and because she had been blamed for not wanting to
+do what was expected of her. But Nettie's face had no trace of anger,
+her movements were gentleness itself; her voice when she spoke was low
+and sweet: "Mother, I will take the little girls, if you will let them
+go."
+
+Mrs. Decker drew a relieved sigh. "I'd like them to go because _she_
+asked to have them; and I can see plain enough she is trying to get
+hold of Norm; so is _he_; that's what helping with the flowers means;
+and there ain't anything I ain't willing to do to help, only I couldn't
+let the little girls go without you; they'd be scared to death, and it
+wouldn't look right. I'm sorry enough you ain't got suitable clothes;
+if I could help it, you should have as good as the best of them."
+
+"Never mind," said Nettie, "I don't think I care anything about the
+dress now." She was thinking of that crown of thorns. So when Miss
+Sherrill called the way was plain and little Sate ready to be taught
+anything she would teach her.
+
+They went away down to the pond under the clump of trees which formed
+such a pretty shade; and there Sate's slow sweet voice said over
+the lines as they were told to her, putting in many questions which
+the words suggested. "He makes the flowers blow," she repeated with
+thoughtful face, then: "What did He make them for?"
+
+"I think it was because He loved them; and He likes to give you and me
+sweet and pleasant things to look at."
+
+"Does He love flowers?"
+
+"I think so, darling."
+
+"And birds? See the birds!" For at that moment two beauties standing on
+the edge of their nest, looked down into the clear water, and seeing
+themselves reflected in its smoothness began to talk in low sweet
+chirps to their shadows.
+
+"Oh, yes, He loves the birds, I am sure; think how many different kinds
+He has made, and how beautiful they are. Then He has given them sweet
+voices, and they are thanking Him as well as they know how, for all his
+goodness. Listen."
+
+Sure enough, one of the little birds hopped back a trifle, balanced
+himself well on the nest, and, putting up his little throat, trilled a
+lovely song.
+
+"What does he say?" asked Sate, watching him intently.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said Miss Sherrill, with a little laugh. Sate was
+taxing her powers rather too much. "But God understands, you know; and
+I am sure the words are very sweet to him."
+
+Sate reflected over this for a minute, then went back to the flowers.
+
+"What made Him put the colors on them? Does He like to see pretty
+colors, do you sink? Which color does He like just the very bestest of
+all?"
+
+"O you darling! I don't know that, either. Perhaps, crimson; or, no,
+I think He must like pure white ones a little the best. But He likes
+little human flowers the best of all. Little white flowers with souls.
+Do you know what I mean, darling? White hearts are given to the little
+children who try all the time to do right, because they love Jesus, and
+want to please him."
+
+"Sate wants to," said the little girl earnestly. "Sate loves Jesus;
+and she would like to kiss him."
+
+"I do not know but you shall, some day. Now shall we take another line
+of the hymn?" continued her teacher.
+
+"I tried to teach her," explained Miss Sherrill to her brother. "But
+I think, after all, she taught me the most. She is the dearest little
+thing, and asks the strangest questions! When I look at her grave,
+sweet face, and hear her slow, sweet voice making wise answers, and
+asking wise questions, a sort of baby wisdom, you know, I can only
+repeat over and over the words:
+
+"'Of such is the kingdom of heaven.'
+
+"To-day I told her the story of Jesus taking the little children up in
+his arms and blessing them. She listened with that thoughtful look in
+her eyes which is so wonderful, then suddenly she held up her pretty
+arms and said in the most coaxing tones:
+
+"'Take little Sate to Him, and let Him bless her, yight away.'
+
+"Tremaine, I could hardly keep back the tears. Do you think He can be
+going to call her soon?"
+
+"Not necessarily at all. There is no reason why a little child should
+not live very close to Him on earth. I hope that little girl has a
+great work to do for Christ in this world. She has a very sweet face."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE FLOWER PARTY.
+
+
+I DARE say some of you think Nettie Decker was a very silly girl to
+care so much because her dress was a blue and white gingham instead of
+being all white.
+
+You have told your friend Katie about the story and asked her if she
+didn't think it was real silly to make such an ado over _clothes_; you
+have said you were sure you would just as soon wear a blue gingham
+as not if it was clean and neat. But now let me venture a hint. I
+shouldn't be surprised if that was because you never do have to go to
+places differently dressed from all the others. Because if you did,
+you would know that it was something of a trial. Oh! I don't say it
+is the hardest thing in the world; or that one is all ready to die as
+a martyr who does it; but what I _do_ say is, that it takes a little
+moral courage; and, for one, I am not surprised that Nettie looked
+very sober about it when the afternoon came.
+
+It took her a good while to dress; not that there was so much to be
+done, but she stopped to think. With her hair in her neck, still
+unbraided, she pinned a lovely pink rose at her breast just to see how
+pretty it would look for a minute. Miss Sherrill had left it for her to
+wear; but she did not intend to wear it, because she thought it would
+not match well with her gingham dress. Just here, I don't mind owning
+that I think her silly; because I believe that sweet flowers go with
+sweet pure young faces, whether the dress is of gingham or silk.
+
+But Nettie looked grave, as I said, and wished it was over; and tried
+to plan for the hundredth time, how it would all be. The girls, Cecelia
+Lester and Lorena Barstow and the rest of them, would be out in their
+elegant toilets, and would look at her so! That Ermina Farley would be
+there; she had seen her but once, on the first Sunday, and liked her
+face and her ways a little better than the others; but she had been
+away since then. Jerry said she was back, however, and Mrs. Smith said
+they were the richest folks in town; and of course Ermina would be
+elegantly dressed at the flower party.
+
+Well, she did not care. She was willing to have them all dressed
+beautifully; she was not mean enough to want them to wear gingham
+dresses, if only they would not make fun of hers. Oh! if she could
+_only_ stay at home, and help iron, and get supper, and fry some
+potatoes nicely for father, how happy she would be. Then she sighed
+again, and set about braiding her hair. She meant to go, but she could
+not help being sorry for herself to think it must be done; and she
+spent a great deal of trouble in trying to plan just how hateful it
+would all be; how the girls would look, and whisper, and giggle; and
+how her cheeks would burn. Oh dear!
+
+Then she found it was late, and had to make her fingers fly, and to
+rush about the little woodhouse chamber which was still her room, in a
+way which made Sarah Ann say to her mother with a significant nod, "I
+guess she's woke up and gone at it, poor thing!" Yes, she had; and was
+down in fifteen minutes more.
+
+Oh! but didn't the little girls look pretty! Nettie forgot her trouble
+for a few minutes, in admiring them when she had put the last touches
+to their toilet. Susie was to be in a tableau where she would need a
+dolly, and Miss Sherrill had furnished one for the occasion. A lovely
+dolly with real hair, and blue eyes, and a bright blue sash to match
+them; and when Susie got it in her arms, there came such a sweet,
+softened look over her face that Nettie hardly knew her. The sturdy
+voice, too, which was so apt to be fierce, softened and took a motherly
+tone; the dolly was certainly educating Susie. Little Sate looked
+on, interested, pleased, but without the slightest shade of envy.
+She wanted no dolly; or, if she did, there was a little black-faced,
+worn, rag one reposing at this moment in the trundle bed where little
+Sate's own head would rest at night; kissed, and caressed, and petted,
+and told to be good until mamma came back; this dolly had all of
+Sate's warm heart. For the rest, the grave little old women in caps
+and spectacles, which wound about her dress, crept up in bunches on
+her shoulders, lay in nestling heaps at her breast, filled all Sate's
+thoughts. She seemed to have become a little old woman herself, so
+serious and womanly was her face.
+
+Nettie took a hand of each, and they went to the flower festival. There
+was to be a five o'clock tea for all the elderly people of the church,
+and the tables, some of them, were set in Mr. Eastman's grounds, which
+adjoined the church. When Nettie entered these grounds she found
+a company of girls several years younger than herself, helping to
+decorate the tables with flowers; at least that was their work, but as
+Nettie appeared at the south gate, a queer little object pushed in at
+the west side. A child not more than six years old, with a clean face,
+and carefully combed hair, but dressed in a plain dark calico; and her
+pretty pink toes were without shoes or stockings.
+
+[Illustration: AT THE FLOWER PARTY.]
+
+I am not sure that if a little wolf had suddenly appeared before them,
+it could have caused more exclamations of astonishment and dismay.
+
+"Only look at that child!" "The idea!" "Just to think of such a thing!"
+were a few of the exclamations with which the air was thick. At last,
+one bolder than the rest, stepped towards her: "Little girl, where did
+you come from? What in the world do you want here?"
+
+Startled by the many eyes and the sharp tones, the small new-comer hid
+her face behind an immense bunch of glowing hollyhocks, which she held
+in her hand, and said not a word. Then the chorus of voices became
+more eager:
+
+"Do look at her hollyhocks! Did ever anybody see such a queer little
+fright! Girls, I do believe she has come to the party." Then the one
+who had spoken before, tried again: "See here, child, whoever you are,
+you must go right straight home; this is no place for you. I wonder
+what your mother was about--if you have one--to let you run away
+barefooted, and looking like a fright."
+
+Now the barefooted maiden was thoroughly frightened, and sobbed
+outright. It was precisely what Nettie Decker needed to give her
+courage. When she came in at the gate, she had felt like shrinking away
+from all eyes; now she darted an indignant glance at the speaker, and
+moved quickly toward the crying child, Susie and Sate following close
+behind.
+
+"Don't cry, little girl," she said in the gentlest tones, stooping and
+putting an arm tenderly around the trembling form; "you haven't done
+anything wrong; Miss Sherrill will be here soon, and she will make it
+all right."
+
+Thus comforted, the tears ceased, and the small new-comer allowed her
+hand to be taken; while Susie came around to her other side, and
+scowled fiercely, as though to say: "I'll protect this girl myself;
+let's see you touch her now!"
+
+A burst of laughter greeted Nettie as soon as she had time to give heed
+to it. Others had joined the groups, among them Lorena Barstow and
+Irene Lewis. "What's all this?" asked Irene.
+
+"O, nothing," said one; "only that Decker girl's sister, or cousin, or
+something has just arrived from Cork, and come in search of her. Lorena
+Barstow, did you ever see such a queer-looking fright?"
+
+"I don't see but they look a good deal alike," said Lorena, tossing her
+curls; "I'm sure their dresses correspond; is she a sister?"
+
+"Why, no," answered one of the smaller girls; "those two cunning little
+things in white are Nettie Decker's sisters; I think they are real
+sweet."
+
+"Oh!" said Lorena, giving them a disagreeable stare, "in white, are
+they? The unselfish older sister has evidently cut up her nightgowns to
+make them white dresses for this occasion."
+
+"Lorena," said the younger girl, "if I were you I would be ashamed;
+mother would not like you to talk in that way."
+
+"Well, you see Miss Nanie, you are not me, therefore you cannot tell
+what you would be, or do; and I want to inform you it is not your
+business to tell me what mother would like."
+
+Imagine Nettie Decker standing quietly, with the barefooted child's
+small hand closely clasped in hers, listening to all this! There was a
+pretense of lowered voices, yet every word was distinct to her ears.
+Her heart beat fast and she began to feel as though she really was
+paying quite a high price for the possibility of getting Norm into the
+church parlor for a few minutes that evening.
+
+At that moment, through the main gateway, came Ermina Parley, a colored
+man with her, bearing a basket full of such wonderful roses, that for a
+minute the group could only exclaim over them. Ermina was in white, but
+her dress was simply made, and looked as though she might not be afraid
+to tumble about on the grass in it; her shoes were thick, and the blue
+sash she wore, though broad and handsome, had some way a quiet air of
+fitness for the occasion, which did not seem to belong to most of the
+others. She watched the disposal of her roses, then gave an inquiring
+glance about the grounds as she said, "What are you all doing here?"
+
+"We are having a tableau," said Lorena Barstow. "Look behind you, and
+you will see the Misses Bridget and Margaret Mulrooney, who have just
+arrived from ould Ireland shure."
+
+Most of the thoughtless girls laughed, mistaking this rudeness for wit,
+but Ermina turned quickly and caught her first glimpse of Nettie's
+burning face; then she hastened toward her.
+
+"Why, here is little Prudy, after all," she said eagerly; "I coaxed her
+mother to let her come, but I didn't think she would. Has Miss Sherrill
+seen her? I think she will make such a cunning Roman flower-girl, in
+that tableau, you know. Her face is precisely the shape and style of
+the little girls we saw in Rome last winter. Poor little girlie, was
+she frightened? How kind you were to take care of her. She is a real
+bright little thing. I want to coax her into Sunday-school if I can.
+Let us go and ask Miss Sherrill what she thinks about the flower-girl."
+
+How fast Ermina Farley could talk! She did not wait for replies. The
+truth was, Nettie's glowing cheeks, and Susie's fierce looks, told her
+the story of trial for somebody else besides the Roman flower-girl; she
+could guess at things which might have been said before she came. She
+wound her arm familiarly about Nettie's waist as she spoke, and drew
+her, almost against her will, across the lawn. "My!" said Irene Lewis.
+"How good we are!"
+
+"Birds of a feather flock together," quoted Lorena Barstow. "I think
+that barefooted child and her protector look alike."
+
+"Still," said Irene, "you must remember that Ermina Farley has joined
+that flock; and her feathers are very different."
+
+"Oh! that is only for effect," was the naughty reply, with another toss
+of the rich curls.
+
+Now what was the matter with all these disagreeable young people? Did
+they really attach so much importance to the clothes they wore as to
+think no one was respectable who was not dressed like them? Had they
+really no hearts, so that it made no difference to them how deeply they
+wounded poor Nettie Decker?
+
+I do not think it was quite either of these things. They had been, so
+far in their lives, unfortunate, in that they had heard a great deal
+about dress, and style, until they had done what young people and a
+few older ones are apt to do, attached too much importance to these
+things. They were neither old enough, nor wise enough, to know that
+it is a mark of a shallow nature to judge of people by the clothes
+they wear; then, in regard to the ill-natured things said, I tell
+you truly, that even Lorena Barstow was ashamed of herself. When her
+younger sister reproved her, the flush which came on her cheek was not
+all anger, much of it was shame. But she had taught her tongue to say
+so many disagreeable words, and to pride itself on its independence in
+saying what she pleased, that the habit asserted itself, and she could
+not seem to control it. The contrast between her own conduct and Ermina
+Farley's struck her so sharply and disagreeably it served only to make
+her worse than before; precisely the effect which follows when people
+of uncontrolled tempers find themselves rebuked.
+
+Half-way down the lawn the party in search of Miss Sherrill met her
+face to face. Her greeting was warm. "Oh! here is my dear little
+grandmother. Thank you, Nettie, for coming; I look to you for a great
+deal of help. Why, Ermina, what wee mousie have you here?"
+
+"She is a little Roman flower-girl, Miss Sherrill; they live on
+Parker street. Her mother is a nice woman; my mother has her to
+run the machine. I coaxed her to let Trudie wear her red dress and
+come barefoot, until you would see if she would do for the Roman
+flower-girl. Papa says her face is very Roman in style, and she always
+makes us think of the flower-girls we saw there. I brought my Roman
+sash to dress her in, if you thought well of it; she is real bright,
+and will do just as she is told."
+
+"It is the very thing," said Miss Sherrill with a pleased face; "I am
+so glad you thought of it. And the hollyhocks are just red enough to go
+in the basket. Did you think of them too?"
+
+"No, ma'am; mamma did. She said the more red flowers we could mass
+about her, the better for a Roman peasant."
+
+"It will be a lovely thing," said Miss Sherrill. Then she stooped and
+kissed the small brown face, which was now smiling through its tears.
+"You have found good friends, little one. She is very small to be here
+alone. Ermina, will you and Nettie take care of her this afternoon, and
+see that she is happy?"
+
+"Yes'm," said Ermina promptly. "Nettie was taking care of her when I
+came. She was afraid at first, I think."
+
+"They were ugly to her," volunteered Susie, "they were just as ugly to
+her as they could be; they made her cry. If they'd done it to Sate I
+would have scratched them and bit them."
+
+"Oh," said Miss Sherrill sorrowfully. "How sorry I am to hear it; then
+Susie would have been naughty too, and it wouldn't have made the others
+any better; in fact, it would have made them worse."
+
+"I don't care," said Susie, but she did care. She said that, just
+as you do sometimes, when you mean you care a great deal, and don't
+want to let anybody know it. For the first time, Susie reflected
+whether it was a good plan to scratch and bite people who did not, in
+her judgment, behave well. It had not been a perfect success in her
+experience, she was willing to admit that; and if it made Miss Sherrill
+sorry, it was worth thinking about.
+
+Well, that afternoon which began so dismally, blossomed out into a
+better time than Nettie had imagined it possible for her to have. To
+be sure those particular girls who had been the cause of her sorrow,
+would have nothing to do with her; and whispered, and sent disdainful
+glances her way when they had an opportunity; but Nettie went in their
+direction as little as possible, and when she did was in such a hurry
+that she sometimes forgot all about them. Miss Sherrill, who was
+chairman of the committee of entertainment, kept her as busy as a bee
+the entire afternoon; running hither and thither, carrying messages to
+this one, and pins to that one, setting this vase of flowers at one
+end, and that lovely basket at another, and, a great deal of the time,
+standing right beside Miss Sherrill herself, handing her, at call,
+just what she needed when she dressed the girls with their special
+flowers. She could hear the bright pleasant talk which passed between
+Miss Sherrill and the other young ladies. She was often appealed too
+with a pleasant word. Her own teacher smiled on her more than once, and
+said she was the handiest little body who had ever helped them; and
+all the time that lovely Ermina Farley with her beautiful hair, and
+her pretty ways, and her sweet low voice, was near at hand, joining
+in everything which she had to do. To be sure she heard, in one of
+her rapid scampers across the lawn, this question asked in a loud
+tone by Lorena Barstow: "I wonder how much they pay that girl for
+running errands? Maybe she will earn enough to get herself a new white
+nightgown to wear to parties;" but at that particular minute, Ermina
+Farley running from another direction on an errand precisely like her
+own, bumped up against her with such force that their noses ached; then
+both stopped to laugh merrily, and some way, what with the bump, and
+the laughter, Nettie forgot to cry, when she had a chance, over the
+unkind words. Then, later in the afternoon, came Jerry; and in less
+than five minutes he joined their group, and made himself so useful
+that when Mr. Sherrill came presently for boys to go with him to the
+chapel to arrange the tables, Miss Sherrill said in low tones, "Don't
+take Jerry please, we need him here." Nettie heard it, and beamed her
+satisfaction. Also she heard Irene Lewis say, "Now they've taken that
+Irish boy into their crowd--shouldn't you think Ermina Farley would be
+ashamed!"
+
+Then Nettie's face fairly paled. It is one thing to be insulted
+yourself; it is another to stand quietly by and see your friends
+insulted. She was almost ready to appeal to Miss Sherrill for
+protection from tongues. But Jerry heard the same remark, and laughed;
+not in a forced way, but actually as though it was very amusing to him.
+And almost immediately he called out something to Ermina, using an
+unmistakable Irish brogue. What was the use in trying to protect a boy
+who was so indifferent as that?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A SATISFACTORY EVENING.
+
+
+THE little old grandmothers with their queer caps were perhaps the
+feature of the evening. Everybody wanted a bouquet of them. In fact,
+long before eight o'clock, Jerry had been hurried away for a fresh
+supply, and Nettie had been established behind a curtain to "make more
+grandmothers." In her excitement she made them even prettier than
+before; and sweet, grave little Sate had no trouble in selling every
+one. The pretty Roman flower girl was so much admired, that her father,
+a fine-looking young mechanic who came after her bringing red stockings
+and neat shoes, carried her off at last in triumph on his shoulder,
+saying he was afraid her head would be turned with so much praise, but
+thanking everybody with bright smiling eyes for giving his little girl
+such a pleasant afternoon.
+
+"She isn't Irish, after all," said Irene Lewis, watching them. "And
+Mr. Sherrill shook hands with him as familiarly as though he was an
+old friend; I wish we hadn't made such simpletons of ourselves. Lorena
+Barstow, what did you want to go and say she was an Irish girl for?"
+
+"I didn't say any such thing," said Lorena in a shrill voice; and
+then these two who had been friends in ill humor all the afternoon
+quarreled, and went home more unhappy than before. And still I tell you
+they were not the worst girls in the world; and were very much ashamed
+of themselves.
+
+Before eight o'clock, Norm came. To be sure he stoutly refused, at
+first, to step beyond the doorway, and ordered Nettie in a somewhat
+surly tone to "bring that young one out," if she wanted her carried
+home. That, of course, was the little grandmother; but her eyes looked
+as though they had not thought of being sleepy, and the ladies were not
+ready to let her go. Then the minister, who seemed to understand things
+without having them explained, said, "Where is Decker? we'll make it
+all right; come, little grandmother, let us go and see about it." So
+he took Sate on his shoulder and made his way through the crowd; and
+Nettie who watched anxiously, presently saw Norm coming back with
+them, not looking surly at all; his clothes had been brushed, and he
+had on a clean collar, and his hair was combed, quite as though he had
+meant to come in, after all.
+
+Soon after Norm's coming, something happened which gave Nettie a
+glimpse of her brother in a new light. Young Ernest Belmont was there
+with his violin. During the afternoon, Nettie had heard whispers of
+what a lovely player he was, and at last saw with delight that a space
+was being cleared for him to play. Crowds of people gathered about the
+platform to listen, but among them all Norm's face was marked; at least
+it was to Nettie. She had never seen him look like that. He seemed to
+forget the crowds, and the lights, and everything but the sounds which
+came from that violin. He stood perfectly still, his eyes never once
+turning from their earnest gaze of the fingers which were producing
+such wonderful tones. Nettie, looking, and wondering, almost forgot the
+music in her astonishment that her brother should be so absorbed. Jerry
+with some difficulty elbowed his way towards her, his face beaming, and
+said, "Isn't it splendid?"
+
+For answer she said, "Look at Norm." And Jerry looked.
+
+"That's so," he said at last, heartily, speaking as though he was
+answering a remark from somebody; "Norm is a musician. Did you know he
+liked it so much?"
+
+"I didn't know anything about it," Nettie said, hardly able to keep
+back the tears, though she did not understand why her eyes should fill;
+but there was such a look of intense enjoyment in Norm's face, mingled
+with such a wistful longing for something, as made the tears start in
+spite of her. "I didn't know he liked _anything_ so much as that."
+
+"He likes _that_," said Jerry heartily, "and I am glad."
+
+"I don't know. What makes you glad? I am almost sorry; because he may
+never have a chance to hear it again."
+
+"He must make his chances; he is going to be a man. I'm glad, because
+it gives us a hint as to what his tastes are; don't you see?"
+
+"Why, yes," said Nettie, "I see he likes it; but what is the use in
+knowing people's tastes if you cannot possibly do anything for them?"
+
+"There's no such thing as it not being possible to do most anything,"
+Jerry said good humoredly. "Maybe we will some of us own a violin some
+day, and Norm will play it for us. Who knows? Stranger things than that
+have happened."
+
+But this thing looked to Nettie so improbable that she merely laughed.
+The music suddenly ceased, and Norm came back from dreamland and looked
+about him, and blushed, and felt awkward. He saw the people now, and
+the lights, and the flowers; he remembered his hands and did not know
+what to do with them; and his feet felt too large for the space they
+must occupy.
+
+Jerry plunged through the crowd and stood beside him.
+
+"How did you like it?" he asked, and Norm cleared his voice before
+replying; he could not understand why his throat should feel so husky.
+
+"I like a fiddle," he said. "There is a fellow comes into the corner
+grocery down there by Crossman's and plays, sometimes; I always go down
+there, when I hear of it."
+
+If Jerry could have caught Nettie's eye just then he would have made a
+significant gesture; the store by Crossman's made tobacco and liquor
+its chief trade. So a fiddle was one of the things used to draw the
+boys into it!
+
+"Is a fiddle the only kind of music you like?" Jerry had been
+accustomed to calling it a violin, but the instinct of true politeness
+which was marked in him, made him say fiddle just now as Norm had done.
+
+"Oh! I like anything that whistles a tune!" said Norm. "I've gone
+a rod out of my way to hear a jew's-harp many a time; even an old
+hand-organ sounds nice to me. I don't know why, but I never hear one
+without stopping and listening as long as I can." He laughed a little,
+as though ashamed of the taste, and looked at Jerry suspiciously. But
+there was not the slightest hint of a smile on the boy's face, only
+hearty interest and approval.
+
+"I like music, too, almost any sort; but I don't believe I like it as
+well as you. Your face looked while you were listening as though you
+could make some yourself if you tried."
+
+The smile went out quickly from Norm's face, and Jerry thought he heard
+a little sigh with the reply:
+
+"I never had a chance to try; and never expect to have."
+
+"Well, now, I should like to know why not? I never could understand why
+a boy with brains, and hands, and feet, shouldn't have a try at almost
+anything which was worth trying, sometime in his life." It was not
+Jerry who said this, but the minister who had come up in time to hear
+the last words from both sides. He stopped before Norm, smiling as he
+spoke. "Try the music, my friend, by all means, if you like it. It is a
+noble taste, worth cultivating."
+
+Norm looked sullen. "It's easy to talk," he said severely, "but when a
+fellow has to work like a dog to get enough to eat and wear, to keep
+him from starving or freezing, I'd like to see him get a chance to try
+at music, or anything else of that kind!"
+
+"So should I. He is the very fellow who ought to have the chance; and
+more than that, in nine cases out of ten he is the fellow who gets it.
+A boy who is willing and able to work, is pretty sure, in this country,
+to have opportunity to gratify his tastes in the end. He may have to
+wait awhile, but that only sharpens the appetite of a genuine taste;
+if it is a worthy taste, as music certainly is, it will grow with his
+growth, and will help him to plan, and save, and contrive, until one
+of these days he will show you! By the way, you would like organ music,
+I fancy; the sort which is sometimes played on parlor organs. If you
+will come to the parsonage to-morrow night at eight o'clock, I think I
+can promise you something which you will enjoy. My sister is going to
+try some new music for a few friends, at that time; suppose you come
+and pick out your favorite?"
+
+All Jerry's satisfaction and interest shone in his face; to-morrow
+night at eight o'clock! All day he had been trying to arrange something
+which would keep Norm at that hour away from the aforesaid corner
+grocery, where he happened to know some doubtful plans were to be
+arranged for future mischief, by the set who gathered there. If only
+Norm would go to the parsonage it would be the very thing. But Norm
+flushed and hesitated. "Bring a friend with you," said the minister.
+"Bring Jerry, here; you like music, don't you, Jerry?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Jerry promptly; "I like music very much, and I would
+like to go if Norm is willing."
+
+"Bring Jerry with you." That sentence had a pleasant sound. Up to this
+moment it was the younger boy who had patronized the elder. Norm
+called him the "little chap," but for all that looked up to him with
+a curious sort of respect such as he felt for none of the "fellows"
+who were his daily companions; the idea of bringing him to a place of
+entertainment had its charms.
+
+"May I expect you?" asked the minister, reading his thoughts almost as
+plainly as though they had been printed on his face, and judging that
+this was the time to press an acceptance.
+
+"Why, yes," said Norm, "I suppose so."
+
+One of these days Norman Decker will not think of accepting an
+invitation with such words, but his intentions are good, now, and the
+minister thanks him as though he had received a favor, and departs well
+pleased.
+
+And now it is really growing late and little Sate must be carried home.
+It was an evening to remember.
+
+They talked it over by inches the next morning. Nettie finishing the
+breakfast dishes, and Jerry sitting on the doorstep fashioning a
+bracket for the kitchen lamp.
+
+Nettie talked much about Ermina Farley. "She is just as lovely and
+sweet as she can be. It was beautiful in her to come over to me as she
+did when she came into that yard; part of it was for little Trudie's
+sake, and a great deal of it was for my sake. I saw that at the time;
+and I saw it plainer all the afternoon. She didn't give me a chance to
+feel alone once; and she didn't stay near me as though she felt she
+ought to, but didn't want to, either; she just took hold and helped do
+everything Miss Sherrill gave me to do, and was as bright and sweet as
+she could be. I shall never forget it of her. But for all that," she
+added as she wrung out her dishcloth with an energy which the small
+white rag hardly needed, "I know it was pretty hard for her to do it,
+and I shall not give her a chance to do it again."
+
+"I want to know what there was hard about it?" said Jerry, looking up
+in astonishment. "I thought Ermina Farley seemed to be having as good a
+time as anybody there."
+
+"Oh, well now, I know, you are not a girl; boys are different from
+girls. They are not so kind-of-mean! At least, some of them are not,"
+she added quickly, having at that moment a vivid recollection of some
+mean things which she had endured from boys. "Really I don't think
+they are," she said, after a moment's thoughtful pause, and replying
+to the quizzical look on his face. "They don't think about dresses,
+and hats, and gloves, and all those sorts of things as girls do, and
+they don't say such hateful things. Oh! I _know_ there is a great
+difference; and I know just how Ermina Farley will be talked about
+because she went with me, and stood up for me so; and I think it will
+be very hard for her. I used to think so about you, but you--are real
+different from girls!"
+
+"It amounts to about this," said Jerry, whittling gravely. "Good boys
+are different from bad girls, and bad boys are different from good
+girls."
+
+Nettie laughed merrily. "No," she said, "I do know what I am talking
+about, though you don't think so; I know real splendid girls who
+couldn't have done as Ermina Farley did yesterday, and as you do all
+the time; and what I say is, I don't mean to put myself where she will
+_have_ to do it, much. I don't want to go to their parties; I don't
+expect a chance to go, but if I had it, I wouldn't go; and just for her
+sake, I don't mean to be always around for her to have to take care
+of me as she did yesterday. I have something else to do." Said Jerry,
+"Where do you think Norm is to take me this evening?"
+
+"Norm going to take you!" great wonderment in the tone. "Why, where
+could he take you? I don't know, I am sure."
+
+"He is to take me to the parsonage at eight o'clock to hear some
+wonderful music on the organ. He has been invited, and has had
+permission to bring me with him if he wants to. Don't you talk about
+not putting yourself where other people will have to take care of you!
+I advise you to cultivate the acquaintance of your brother. It isn't
+everybody who gets invited to the parsonage to hear such music as Miss
+Sherrill can make."
+
+The dishcloth was hung away now, and every bit of work was done. Nettie
+stood looking at the whittling boy in the doorway for a minute in blank
+astonishment, then she clasped her hands and said: "O Jerry! Did they
+do it? Aren't they the very splendidest people you ever knew in your
+life?"
+
+"They are pretty good," said Jerry, "that's a fact; they are most as
+good as my father. I'll tell you what it is, if you knew my father you
+would know a man who would be worth remembering. I had a letter from
+him last night, and he sent a message to my friend Nettie."
+
+"What?" asked Nettie, her eyes very bright.
+
+"It was that you were to take good care of his boy; for in his opinion
+the boy was worth taking care of. On the strength of that I want you to
+come out and look at Mother Speckle; she is in a very important frame
+of mind, and has been scolding her children all the morning. I don't
+know what is the trouble; there are two of her daughters who seem to
+have gone astray in some way; at least she is very much displeased with
+them. Twice she has boxed Fluffie's ears, and once she pulled a feather
+out of poor Buff. See how forlorn she seems!"
+
+By this time they were making their way to the little house where the
+hen lived, Nettie agreeing to go for a very few minutes, declaring that
+if Norm was going out every evening there was work to do. He would
+need a clean collar and she must do it up; for mother had gone out to
+iron for the day. "Mother is so grateful to Mrs. Smith for getting her
+a chance to work," she said, as they paused before the two disgraced
+chickens; "she says she would never have thought of it if it had not
+been for her; you know she always used to sew. Why, how funny those
+chickens look! Only see, Jerry, they are studying that eggshell as
+though they thought they could make one. Now don't they look exactly as
+though they were planning something?"
+
+"They are," said Jerry. "They are planning going to housekeeping, I
+believe; you see they have quarreled with their mother. They consider
+that they have been unjustly punished, and I am in sympathy with
+them; and they believe they could make a house to live in out of that
+eggshell if they could only think of a way to stick it together again.
+I wish _we_ could build a house out of eggshells; or even one room, and
+we'd have one before the month was over."
+
+"Why?" said Nettie, stooping down to see why Buff kept her foot under
+her. "Do you want a room, Jerry?"
+
+"Somewhat," said Jerry. "At least I see a number of things we could do
+if we had a room, that I don't know how to do without one. Come over
+here, Nettie, and sit down; leave those chickens to sulk it out, and
+let us talk a little. I have a plan so large that there is no place to
+put it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+READY TO TRY.
+
+
+"YOU see," said Jerry, as Nettie came, protesting as she walked that
+she could stay but a few minutes, because there was Norm's collar,
+and she had four nice apples out of which she was going to make
+some splendid apple dumplings for dinner, "you see we must contrive
+something to keep a young fellow like Norm busy, if we are going to
+hold him after he is caught. It doesn't do to catch a fish and leave
+him on the edge of the bank near enough to flounce back into the water.
+Norm ought to be set to work to help along the plans, and kept so busy
+he wouldn't have time to get tired of them."
+
+"But how could that be done?" Nettie said in wondering tones, which
+nevertheless had a note of admiration in them. Jerry went so deeply
+into things, it almost took her breath away to follow him.
+
+"Just so; that's the problem which ought to be thought out. I can think
+of things enough; but the room, and the tools to begin with, are the
+trouble."
+
+"What have you thought of? What would you do if you could?"
+
+"O my!" said Jerry, with a little laugh; "don't ask me that question,
+or your folks will have no apple dumplings to-day. I don't believe
+there is any end to the things which I would do if I could. But the
+first beginnings of them are like this: suppose we had a few dollars
+capital, and a room."
+
+"You might as well suppose we had a palace, and a million dollars,"
+said Nettie, with a long-drawn sigh.
+
+"No, because I don't expect either of those things; but I do mean to
+have a room and a few dollars in capital for this thing some day; only,
+you see, I don't want to wait for them."
+
+"Well, go on; what then?"
+
+"Why, then we would start an eating-house, you and I, on a little
+bit of a scale, you know. We would have bread with some kind of
+meat between, and coffee, in cold weather, and lemonade in hot,
+and a few apples, and now and then some nuts, and a good deal of
+gingerbread--soft, like what auntie Smith makes--and some ginger-snaps
+like those Mrs. Dix sent us from the country, and, well, you know the
+names of things better than I do. Real good things, I mean, but which
+don't cost much. Such as you, and Sarah Ann, and a good many bright
+girls learn how to make, without using a great deal of money. Those
+things are all rather cheap, which I have mentioned, because we have
+them at our house quite often, and the Smiths are poor, you know. But
+they are made so nice that they are just capital. Well, I would have
+them for sale, just as cheap as could possibly be afforded; a great
+deal cheaper than beer, or cigars, and I would have the room bright and
+cheery; warm in winter, and as cool as I could make it in summer; then
+I would have slips of paper scattered about the town, inviting young
+folks to come in and get a lunch; then when they came, I would have
+picture papers if I could, for them to look at, and games to play, real
+nice jolly games, and some kind of music going on now and then. I'd
+run opposition to that old grocery around the corner from Crossman's,
+with its fiddle and its whiskey. That's the beginning of what I would
+do. Just what I told you about, that first night we talked it over.
+The fellows, lots of them, have nowhere to go; it keeps growing in my
+mind, the need for doing something of the sort. I never pass that mean
+grocery without thinking of it."
+
+You should have seen Nettie's eyes! The little touch of discouragement
+was gone out of them, and they were full of intense thought.
+
+"I can see," she said at last, "just how splendid it might grow to be.
+But what did you mean about Norm? there isn't any work for him in such
+a plan. At least, I mean, not until he was interested to help for the
+sake of others."
+
+"Yes, there is, plenty of business for him. Don't you see? I would have
+this room, open evenings, after the work was done, and I would have
+Norm head manager. He should wait on customers, and keep accounts.
+When the thing got going he would be as busy as a bee; and he is just
+the sort of fellow to do that kind of thing well, and like it too," he
+added.
+
+"O Jerry," said Nettie, and her hands were clasped so closely that the
+blood flowed back into her wrists, "was there ever a nicer thought than
+that in the world! I know it would succeed; and Norm would like it so
+much. Norm likes to do things for others, if he only had the chance."
+
+"I know it; and he likes to do things in a business way, and keep
+everything straight. Oh! he would be just the one. If we only had a
+room, there is nothing to hinder our beginning in a very small way.
+Those chickens are growing as fast as they can, and by Thanksgiving
+there will be a couple of them ready to broil; then the little old
+grandmothers did so well."
+
+"I know it; who would have supposed that almost four dollars could be
+made out of some daisy grandmothers! Miss Sherrill gave me one dollar
+and ninety-five cents which she said was just half of what they had
+earned. I do think it was so nice in her to give us that chance! She
+couldn't have known how much we wanted the money. Jerry, why couldn't
+we begin, just with that? It would start us, and then if the things
+sold, why, the money from them would keep us started until we found a
+way to earn more. Why can't we?"
+
+"Room," said Jerry, with commendable brevity. "Why, we have a room;
+there's the front one that we just put in such nice order. Why not? It
+is large enough for now, and maybe when our business grew we could get
+another one somehow."
+
+Jerry stopped fitting the toe of his boot to a hole which he had made
+in the ground, and looked at the eager young woman of business before
+him. "Do you mean your mother would let us have the room, and the
+chance in the kitchen, to go into such business?"
+
+"Mother would do _anything_," said Nettie emphatically, "anything in
+the world which might possibly keep Norm in the house evenings; you
+don't know how dreadfully she feels about Norm. She thinks father," and
+there Nettie stopped. How could a daughter put it into words that her
+mother was afraid her father would lead his son astray?
+
+"I know," said Jerry. "See here, Nettie, what is the matter with your
+father? I never saw him look so still, and--well, queer, in some way.
+Mr. Smith says he doesn't think he is drinking a drop; but he looks
+unlike himself, somehow, and I can't decide how."
+
+"I don't know," said Nettie, in a low voice. "We don't know what to
+think of him. He hasn't been so long without drinking, mother says,
+in four years. But he doesn't act right; or, I mean, natural. He isn't
+cross, as drinking beer makes him, but he isn't pleasant, as he was
+for a day or two. He is real sober; hardly speaks at all, nor notices
+the things I make; and I try just as hard to please him! He eats
+everything, but he does it as though he didn't know he was eating.
+Mother thinks he is in some trouble, but she can't tell what. He can't
+be afraid of losing his place--because mother says he was threatened
+that two or three times when he was drinking so hard, and he didn't
+seem to mind it at all; and why should he be discharged now, when he
+works hard every day? Last Saturday night he brought home more money
+than he has in years. Mother cried when she saw what there was, but
+she had debts to pay, so we didn't get much start out of it after all.
+Then we spend a good deal in coffee; we have it three times a day, hot
+and strong; I can see father seems to need it; and I have heard that
+it helped men who were trying not to drink. When I told mother that,
+she said he should have it if she had to beg for it on her knees. But
+I don't know what is the matter with father now. Sometimes mother is
+afraid there is a disease coming on him such as men have who drink;
+she says he doesn't sleep very well nights, and he groans some, when
+he is asleep. Mother tries hard," said Nettie, in a closing burst of
+confidence, "and she _does_ have such a hard time! If we could only
+save Norm for her."
+
+"I'll tell you who your mother looks like, or would look like if she
+were dressed up, you know. Did you ever see Mrs. Burt?"
+
+"The woman who lives in the cottage where the vines climb all around
+the front, and who has birds, and a baby? I saw her yesterday. You
+don't think mother looks like her!"
+
+"She would," said Jerry, positively, "if she had on a pink and white
+dress and a white fold about her neck. I passed there last night, while
+Mrs. Burt was sitting out by that window garden of hers, with her baby
+in her arms; Mr. Burt sat on one of the steps, and they were talking
+and laughing together. I could not help noticing how much like your
+mother she looked when she turned her side face. Oh! she is younger, of
+course; she looks almost as though she might be your mother's daughter.
+I was thinking what fun it would be if she were, and we could go and
+visit her, and get her to help us about all sorts of things. Mr. Burt
+knows how to do every kind of work about building a house, or fixing up
+a room."
+
+"He is a nice man, isn't he?"
+
+"Why, yes, nice enough; he is steady and works hard. Mr. Smith thinks
+he is quite a pattern; he has bought that little house where he lives,
+and fixed it all up with vines and things; but I should like him better
+if he didn't puff tobacco smoke into his wife's face when he talked
+with her. He doesn't begin to be so good a workman as your father,
+nor to know so much in a hundred ways. I think your father is a very
+nice-looking man when he is dressed up. He looks smart, and he is
+smart. Mr. Smith says there isn't a man in town who can do the sort of
+work that he can at the shop, and that he could get very high wages and
+be promoted and all that, if"--
+
+Jerry stopped suddenly, and Nettie finished the sentence with a
+sigh. She too had passed the Burt cottage and admired its beauty and
+neatness. To think that Mr. Burt owned it, and was a younger man by
+fifteen years at least than her father--and was not so good a workman!
+then see how well he dressed his wife; and little Bobby Burt looked as
+neat and pretty in Sunday-school as the best of them. It was very hard
+that there must be such a difference in homes. If she could only live
+in a house like the Burt cottage, and have things nice about her as
+they did, and have her father and mother sit together and talk, as Mr.
+and Mrs. Burt did, she should be perfectly happy, Nettie told herself.
+Then she sprang up from the log and declared that she must not waste
+another minute of time; but that Jerry's plan was the best one she had
+ever heard, and she believed they could begin it.
+
+With this thought still in mind, after the dinner dishes were carefully
+cleared away, and her mother, returned from the day's ironing, had
+been treated to a piece of the apple dumpling warmed over for her, and
+had said it was as nice a bit as she ever tasted, Nettie began on the
+subject which had been in her thoughts all day:
+
+"What would you think of us young folks going into business?"
+
+"Going into business!"
+
+"Yes'm. Jerry and Norm and me. Jerry has a plan; he has been telling me
+about it this morning. It is nice if we can only carry it out; and I
+shouldn't wonder if we could. That is, if you think well of it."
+
+"I begin to think there isn't much that you and Jerry can't do, with
+Norm, or with anybody else, if you try; and you both appear to be ready
+to try to do all you can for everybody."
+
+Mrs. Decker's tone was so hearty and pleased, that you would not have
+known her for the same woman who looked forward dismally but a few
+weeks ago to Nettie's home-coming. Her heart had so warmed to the girl
+in her efforts for father and brother, that she was almost ready to
+agree to anything which she could have to propose. So Nettie, well
+pleased with this beginning, unfolded with great clearness and detail,
+Jerry's wonderful plan for not only catching Norm, but setting him up
+in business.
+
+Mrs. Decker listened, and questioned and cross-questioned, sewing
+swiftly the while on Norm's jacket which had been torn, and which
+was being skilfully darned in view of the evening to be spent at the
+parsonage.
+
+"Well," she said at last, "it looks wild to me, I own; I should as soon
+try to fly as of making anything like that work in this town; but then,
+you've made things work, you two, that I'd no notion could be done,
+and between you, you seem to kind of bewitch Norm. He's done things
+for you that I would no sooner have thought of asking of him than I
+would have asked him to fly up to the moon; and this may be another of
+them. Anyhow, if you've a mind to try it, I won't be the one to stop
+you. I've been that scared for Norm, that I'm ready for anything. Oh!
+the _room_, of course you may use it. If you wanted to have a circus
+in there, I think I'd agree, wild animals and all; I've had worse than
+wild animals in my day. No, your father won't object; he thinks what
+you do is about right, I guess. And for the matter of that, he doesn't
+object to anything nowadays; I don't know what to make of him."
+
+The sentence ended with a long-drawn, troubled sigh.
+
+Just what this strange change in her husband meant, Mrs. Decker could
+not decide; and each theory which she started in her mind about it,
+looked worse than the last.
+
+Norm's collar was ready for him, so was his jacket. He was somewhat
+surly; the truth was, he had received what he called a "bid" to
+the merry-making which was to take place in the back room of the
+grocery, around the corner from Crossman's, and he was a good deal
+tried to think he had cut himself off by what he called a "spooney"
+promise, from enjoying the evening there. At the same time there was
+a certain sense of largeness in saying he could not come because he
+had received an invitation elsewhere, which gave him a momentary
+pleasure. To be sure the boys coaxed until they had discovered the
+place of his engagement, and joked him the rest of the time, until he
+was half-inclined to wish he had never heard of the parsonage; but for
+all that, a certain something in Norman which marked him as different
+from some boys, held him to his word when it was passed; and he had
+no thought of breaking from his engagement. It was an evening such as
+Norman had reason to remember. For the first time in his life he sat
+in a pleasantly furnished home, among ladies and gentlemen, and heard
+himself spoken to as one who "belonged."
+
+Three ladies were there from the city, and two gentlemen whom Norman
+had never seen before; all friends of the Sherrills come out to spend
+a day with them. They were not only unlike any people whom he had ever
+seen before, but, if he had known it, unlike a great many ladies and
+gentlemen, in that their chief aim in life was to be found in their
+Master's service; and a boy about whom they knew nothing, save that he
+was poor, and surrounded by temptations, and Satan desired to have him,
+was in their eyes so much stray material which they were bound to bring
+back to the rightful owner if they could.
+
+To this end they talked to Norman. Not in the form of a lecture, but
+with bright, winning words, on topics which he could understand, not
+only, but actually on certain topics about which he knew more than
+they. For instance, there was a cave about two miles from the town, of
+which they had heard, but had never seen and Norm had explored every
+crevice in it many a time. He knew on which side of the river it was
+located, whether the entrance was from the east or the south; just how
+far one could walk through it, just how far one could creep in it,
+after walking had become impossible, and a dozen other things which it
+had not occurred to him were of interest to anybody else. In fact, Norm
+discovered in the course of the hour that there was such a thing as
+conversation. Not that he made use of that word, in thinking it over;
+his thoughts, if they could have been seen, would have been something
+like this: "These are swell folks, but I can understand what they say,
+and they seem to understand what I say, and don't stare as though I
+was a wild animal escaped from the woods. I wonder what makes the
+difference between them and other folks?"
+
+But when the music began! I have no words to describe to you what
+it was to Norm to sit close to an organ and hear its softest notes,
+and feel the thrill of its heavy bass tones, and be appealed to
+occasionally as to whether he liked this or that the best, and to
+have a piece sung because the player thought it would please him; she
+selected it that morning, she told him, with this thought in view.
+
+"Decker, you ought to learn to play," said one of the guests who had
+watched him through the last piece. "You _look_ music, right out of
+your eyes. Miss Sherrill, here is a pupil for you who might do you
+credit. Have you ever had any instrument, Decker?"
+
+Then Norm came back to every-day life, and flushed and stammered. "No,
+he hadn't, and was not likely to;" and wondered what they would think
+if they were to see the corner grocery where he spent most of his
+leisure time.
+
+The questioner laughed pleasantly. "Oh, I'm not so sure of that. I
+have a friend who plays the violin in a way to bring tears to people's
+eyes, and he never touched one until he was thirty years old; hadn't
+time until then. He was an apprentice, and had his trade to master,
+and himself to get well started in it before he had time for music;
+but when he came to leisure, he made music a delight to himself and to
+others."
+
+"A great deal can be done with leisure time," said another of the
+guests. "Mr. Sherrill, you remember Myers, your college classmate? He
+did not learn to read, you know, until he was seventeen."
+
+"What?" said Norm, astonished out of his diffidence; "didn't know how
+to read!"
+
+"No," repeated the gentleman, "not until he was seventeen. He had a
+hard childhood--was kicked about in the world, with no leisure and no
+help, had to work evenings as well as days, but when he was seventeen
+he fell into kinder hands, and had a couple of hours each evening
+all to himself, and he mastered reading, not only, but all the common
+studies, and graduated from college with honor when he was twenty-six."
+
+Now Norm had all his evenings to lounge about in, and had not known
+what to do with them; and he could read quite well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE WAY MADE PLAIN.
+
+
+IT was a beautiful Sabbath afternoon; just warm enough to make people
+feel still and pleasant. The soft summer sunshine lay smiling on all
+the world, and the soft summer breeze rustled the leaves of the trees,
+and stole gently in at open windows. In the front room of the Deckers,
+the family was gathered, all save Mr. Decker. He could be heard in his
+bedroom stepping about occasionally, and great was his wife's fear
+lest he was preparing to go down town and put himself in the place of
+temptation at his old lounging place. Sunday could not be said to be a
+day of rest to Mrs. Decker. It had been the day of her greatest trials,
+so far. Norm was in his clean shirt and collar, which had been done up
+again by Nettie's careful hands and which shone beautifully. He was
+also in his shirt sleeves; that the mother was glad to see; _he_ was
+not going out just yet, anyway. Mrs. Decker had honored the day with a
+clean calico dress, and had shyly and with an almost shamefaced air,
+pinned into it a little cambric ruffle which Nettie had presented her,
+with the remark that it was just like the one Mrs. Burt wore, and that
+Jerry said she looked like Mrs. Burt a little, only he thought she was
+the best-looking of the two. Mrs. Decker had laughed, and then sighed;
+and said it made dreadful little difference to her how she looked. But
+the sigh meant that the days were not so very far distant when Mr.
+Decker used to tell her she was a handsome woman; and she used to smile
+over it, and call him a foolish man without any taste; but nevertheless
+used to like it very much, and make herself look as well as she could
+for his sake.
+
+She hadn't done it lately, but whose fault was that, she should like to
+know? However, she pinned the ruffle in, and whether Mr. Decker noticed
+it or not, she certainly looked wonderfully better. Norm noticed it,
+but of course he would not have said so for the world. Nettie in her
+blue and white gingham which had been washed and ironed since the
+flower party, and which had faded a little and shrunken a little,
+still looked neat and trim, and had the little girls one on either
+side of her, telling them a story in low tones; not so low but that
+the words floated over to the window where Norm was pretending not to
+listen: "And so," said the voice, "Daniel let himself be put into a den
+of dreadful fierce lions, rather than give up praying."
+
+"Did they frow him in?" this question from little Sate, horror in every
+letter of the words.
+
+"Yes, they did; and shut the door tight."
+
+"I wouldn't have been," said fierce Susie; "I would have bitten, and
+scratched and kicked just awful!"
+
+"Why didn't Daniel shut up the window just as _tight_, and not let
+anybody know it when he said his prayers?"
+
+Oh little Sate! how many older and wiser ones than you have tried to
+slip around conscience corners in some such way.
+
+"I don't know all the reasons," said Nettie, after a thoughtful pause,
+"but I suppose one was, because he wouldn't act in a way to make people
+believe he had given up praying. He wanted to show them that he meant
+to pray, whether they forbade it or not."
+
+"Go on," said Susie, sharply, "I want to know how he felt when the
+lions bit him."
+
+"They didn't bite him; God wouldn't let them touch him. They crouched
+down and kept as _still_, all night; and in the morning when the king
+came to look, there was Daniel, safe!"
+
+"Oh my!" said Sate, drawing a long, quivering sigh of relief; "wasn't
+that just splendid!"
+
+"How do you know it is true?" said skeptical Susie, looking as though
+she was prepared not to believe anything.
+
+"I know it because God said it, Susie; he put it in the Bible."
+
+"I didn't ever hear him say it," said Susie with a frown. A laugh
+from Norm at that moment gave Nettie her first knowledge of him as a
+listener. Her cheeks grew red, and she would have liked to slip away
+into a more quiet corner but Sate was in haste to hear just what the
+king said, and what Daniel said, and all about it, and the story went
+on steadily, Daniel's character for true bravery shining out all the
+more strongly, perhaps, because Nettie suspected herself of being a
+coward, and not liking Norm to laugh at her Bible stories. As for Norm,
+he knew he was a coward; he knew he had done in his life dozens of
+things to make his mother cry; not because he was so anxious to do
+them, nor because he feared a den of lions if he refused, but simply
+because some of the fellows would laugh at him if he did.
+
+That Sabbath day had been a memorable one to the Decker family in some
+respects; at least to part of it. Nettie had taken the little girls
+with her to Sabbath-school, and then to church. Mrs. Smith had given
+her a cordial invitation to sit in their seat, but it was not a very
+large seat, and when Job and his wife, and Sarah Ann and Jerry were all
+there, as they were apt to be, there was just room for Nettie without
+the little girls; so she went with them to the seat directly under the
+choir gallery where very few sat. It was comfortable enough; she could
+see the minister distinctly, and though she had to stretch out her neck
+to see the choir, she could hear their sweet voices; and surely that
+was enough. All went smoothly until the sermon was concluded. Sate sat
+quite still, and if she did not listen to the sermon, listened to her
+own thoughts and troubled no one.
+
+But when the anthem began, Sate roused herself. That wonderful voice
+which seemed to fill every corner of the church! She knew the voice;
+it belonged to her dear teacher. She stretched out her little neck, and
+could catch a glimpse of her, standing alone, the rest of the choir
+sitting back, out of sight. And what was that she was saying, over and
+over? "Come unto Me, unto Me, unto Me"--the words were repeated in the
+softest of cadences--"all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will
+give you rest." Sate did not understand those words, certainly her
+little feet were not weary, but there was a sweetness about the word
+"rest" as it floated out on the still air, which made her seem to want
+to go, she knew not whither. Then came the refrain: "Come unto Me, unto
+Me," swelling and rolling until it filled all the aisles, and dying
+away at last in the tenderest of pleading sounds. Sate's heart beat
+fast, and the color came and went on her baby face in a way which would
+have startled Nettie had she not been too intent on her own exquisite
+delight in the music, to remember the motionless little girl at her
+left.
+
+"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, learn of Me," called the sweet
+voice, and Sate, understanding the last of it felt that she wanted to
+learn, and of that One above all others. "For I am meek and lowly
+of heart"--she did not know what the words meant, but she was drawn,
+drawn. Then, listening, breathless, half resolved, came again that
+wondrous pleading, "Come unto Me, unto Me, unto Me." Softly the little
+feet slid down to the carpeted floor, softly they stepped on the green
+and gray mosses which gave back no sound; softly they moved down the
+aisle as though they carried a spirit with them, and when Nettie,
+hearing no sound, yet turned suddenly as people will, to look after her
+charge, little Sate was gone! Where? Nettie did not know, could not
+conjecture. No sight of her in the aisle, not under the seat, not in
+the great church anywhere. The door was open into the hall, and poor
+little tired Sate must have slipped away into the sunshine outside.
+Well, no harm could come to her there; she would surely wait for them,
+or, failing in that, the road home was direct enough, and nothing to
+trouble her; but how strange in little Sate to do it! If it had been
+Susie, resolute, independent Susie always sufficient to herself and a
+little more ready to do as she pleased than any other way! But Susie
+sat up prim and dignified on Nettie's right; not very conscious of the
+music, and willing enough to have the service over, but conscious
+that she had on her new shoes, and a white dress, and a white bonnet,
+and looked very well indeed. Meantime, little Sate was not out in the
+sunshine. She had not thought of sunshine; she had been called; it was
+not possible for her sweet little heart to get away from the feeling
+that some one was calling her, and that she wanted to go. What better
+was there to do than follow the voice? So she followed it, out into the
+hall, up the gallery stairs, still softly--the new shoes made no sound
+on the carpet--through the door which stood ajar, quite to the singer's
+side, there slipped this quiet little woman who had left her white
+bonnet by Nettie, and stood with her golden head rippling with the
+sunlight which fell upon it. There was a rustle in the choir gallery,
+a soft stir over the church, the sort of sound which people make when
+they are moved by some deep feeling which they hardly understand; there
+was a smile on some faces, but it was the kind of smile which might be
+given to a baby angel if it had strayed away from heaven to look at
+something bright down here. The tenor singer would have drawn away the
+small form from the soloist, but she put forth a protecting hand
+and circled the child, and sang on, her voice taking sweeter tone, if
+possible, and dying away in such tenderness as made the smiles on some
+faces turn to tears, and made the echo linger with them of that last
+tremulous "Come unto Me."
+
+[Illustration: LITTLE SATE IN THE CHOIR GALLERY.]
+
+But little Sate, when she reached the choir gallery, saw something
+which startled her out of her sweet resolute calm. Away on the side, up
+there, where few people were, sat her own father; and rolling down his
+cheeks were tears. Sate had never seen her father cry before. What was
+the matter? Had she been naughty, and was it making him feel bad? She
+stole a startled glance at the face of her teacher, whose arm was still
+around her and had drawn her toward the seat into which she dropped,
+when the song was over. No, _her_ face was quiet and sweet; not
+grieved, as Sate was sure it would be, if she had been naughty. Neither
+did the people look cross at her; many of them had bowed their heads in
+prayer, but some were sitting erect, looking at her and smiling; surely
+she had made no noise. Why should her father cry? She looked at him; he
+had shaded his face with his hand. Was he crying still? Little Sate
+thought it over, all in a moment of time, then suddenly she slipped
+away from the encircling arm, moved softly across the intervening
+space, into the side gallery, and was at her father's side, with her
+small hand on his sleeve. He stooped and took her in his arms, and the
+tears were still in his eyes; but he kissed her, and _kissed_ her, as
+little Sate had never been kissed before; she nestled in his arms and
+felt safe and comforted.
+
+The prayer was over, the benediction given, and the worshipers moved
+down the aisles. Sate rode comfortably in her father's arms, down
+stairs, out into the hall, outside, in the sunshine, waiting for Nettie
+and for her white sunbonnet. Presently Nettie came, hurried, flushed,
+despite her judgment, anxious as to where the bonnetless little girl
+could have vanished. "Why, Sate," she began, but the rest of the
+sentence died in astonished silence on her lips, for Sate held her
+father's hand and looked content.
+
+They walked home together, the father and his youngest baby, saying
+nothing, for Sate was one of those wise-eyed little children who
+have spells of sweet silence come over them, and Nettie, with Susie,
+walked behind, the elder sister speculating: "Where did little Sate
+find father? Did he pick her up on the street somewhere, and would he
+be angry, and not let Nettie take her to church any more? Or did he,
+passing, spy her in the churchyard and come in for her?"
+
+Nettie did not know, and Sate did not tell; principally because she
+did not understand that there was anything to tell. So while the
+people in their homes talked and laughed about the small white waif
+who had slipped into the choir, the people in this home were entirely
+silent about it, and the mother did not know that anything strange
+had happened. It is true, Susie began to inquire reprovingly, but was
+hushed by Nettie's warning whisper; certainly Nettie was gaining a
+wonderful control over the self-sufficient Susie. The child respected
+her almost enough to follow her lead unquestioningly, which was a great
+deal for Susie to do.
+
+So they sat together that sweet Sabbath afternoon, Nettie telling her
+Bible stories, and wondering how she should plan. What did Norm intend
+to do a little later in the day? What was there she could do to keep
+him from lounging down street? Why was her father staying so long in
+the choked-up bedroom? What was the matter with her father these days,
+and how long was anything going to last? Why did she feel, someway,
+as though she stood on the very edge of something which startled and
+almost frightened her? Was it because she was afraid her father would
+not let her take Sate and Susie to church any more?
+
+With all these thoughts floating through her mind, it was rather
+hard to keep herself closely confined to Daniel and his experiences.
+Suddenly the bedroom door opened and her father came out. Everybody
+glanced up, though perhaps nobody could have told why. There was
+a peculiar look on his face. Mrs. Decker noticed it and did not
+understand it, and felt her heart beat in great thuds against the back
+of her chair. Little Sate noticed it, and went over to him and slipped
+her hand inside his. He sat down in the state chair which Nettie and
+her mother had both contrived to have left vacant, and took Sate in his
+arms. This of itself was unusual, but after that, there was silence,
+Sate nestling safely in the protective arms and seeming satisfied with
+all the world. Nettie felt her face flush, and her bosom heave as if
+the tears were coming, but she could not have told why she wanted
+to cry Norm seemed oppressed with the stillness, and broke it by
+whistling softly; also he had a small stick and was whittling; it was
+the only thing he could think of to do just now. It was too early to go
+out; the boys would not be through with their boarding-house dinners
+yet. Suddenly Mr. Decker broke in on the almost silence. "Hannah,"
+he said, then he cleared his voice, and was still again, "and you
+children," he added, after a moment, "I've got something to tell you
+if I knew how. Something that I guess you will be glad to hear. I've
+turned over a new leaf at last. I've turned it, off and on, in my mind
+a good many times lately, though I don't know as any of you knew it.
+I've been thinking about this thing, well, as soon as Nannie there came
+home, at least; but I haven't understood it very well, and I s'pose
+I don't now; but I understand it enough to have made up my mind; and
+that's more than half the battle. The long and short of it is, I have
+given myself to the Lord, or he has got hold of me, somehow; it isn't
+much of a gift, that's a fact, but the queer thing about it is, he
+seems to think it worth taking. I told him last night that if he would
+show a poor stick like me how to do it, why, I'd do my part without
+fail; and this morning he not only showed the way plain enough, but he
+sent my little girl to help me along."
+
+The father's voice broke then, and a tear trembled in his eye. Sate had
+held her little head erect and looked steadily at him as soon as he
+began to talk, wonder and interest, and some sort of still excitement
+in her face as she listened. At his first pause she broke forth:
+
+"Did He mean you, papa, when He said 'Come unto Me'? Was He calling
+you, all the time? and did you tell Him you would?"
+
+"Yes," he said, bending and kissing the earnest face, "He meant me, and
+He's been calling me loud, this good while; but I never got started
+till to-day. Now I'm going along with Him the rest of the way."
+
+"I'm so glad," said little Sate, nestling contentedly back, "I'm so
+glad, papa; I'm going too."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE NEW ENTERPRISE.
+
+
+ONE bright and never-to-be-forgotten day, Nettie and Jerry stood
+together in the "new" room and surveyed with intense satisfaction
+all its appointments. They were ready to begin business. On that
+very evening the room was to be "open to the public!" They looked at
+each other as they repeated that large-sounding phrase, and laughed
+gleefully.
+
+There had been a great deal to do to get ready. Hours and even days
+had been spent in planning. It astonished both these young people to
+discover how many things there were to think of, and get ready for,
+and guard against, before one could go into business. There was a time
+when with each new day, new perplexities arose. During those days Jerry
+had spent a good deal of his leisure in fishing; both because at the
+Smiths, and also at the Deckers, fish were highly prized, and also
+because, as he confided to Nettie, "a fellow could somehow think a
+great deal better when his fingers were at work, and when it was still
+everywhere about him."
+
+There were times, however, when his solitude was disturbed. There had
+been one day in particular when something happened about which he did
+not tell Nettie. He was in his fishing suit, which though clean and
+whole was not exactly the style of dress which a boy would wear to a
+party, and he stood leaning against a rail fence, rod in hand, trying
+to decide whether he should try his luck on that side, or jump across
+the logs to a shadier spot; trying also to decide just how they could
+manage to get another lamp to stand on the reading table, when he heard
+voices under the trees just back of him.
+
+They were whispering in that sort of penetrating whisper that floats
+so far in the open air, and which some, girls, particularly, do not
+seem to know can be heard a few feet away. Jerry could hear distinctly;
+in fact unless he stopped his ears with his hands he could not help
+hearing.
+
+And the old rule, that listeners never hear any good of themselves,
+applied here.
+
+"There's that Jerry who lives at the Smiths'," said whisperer number
+one, "do look what a fright; I guess he has borrowed a pair of Job
+Smith's overalls! Isn't it a shame that such a nice-looking boy is
+deserted in that way, and left to run with all sorts of people?"
+
+"I heard that he wasn't deserted; that his father was only staying out
+West, or down South, or somewhere for awhile."
+
+"Oh! that's a likely story," said whisperer number one, her voice
+unconsciously growing louder. "Just as if any father who was anybody,
+would leave a boy at Job Smith's for months, and never come near him.
+I think it is real mean; they say the Smiths keep him at work all the
+while, fishing; he about supports them, and the Deckers too, with fish
+and things."
+
+At this point the amused listener nearly forgot himself and whistled.
+
+"Oh well, that's as good a way as any to spend his time; he knows
+enough to catch fish and do such things, and when he is old enough,
+I suppose he will learn a trade; but I must say I think he is a
+nice-looking fellow."
+
+"He would be, if he dressed decently. The boys like him real well; they
+say he is smart; and I shouldn't wonder if he was; big eyes twinkle as
+though he might be. If he wouldn't keep running with that Decker girl
+all the time, he might be noticed now and then."
+
+At this point came up a third young miss who spoke louder. Jerry
+recognized her voice at once as belonging to Lorena Barstow. "Girls,
+what are you doing here? Why, there is that Irish boy; I wonder if he
+wouldn't sell us some fish? They say he is very anxious to earn money;
+I should think he would be, to get himself some decent clothes. Or
+maybe he wants to make his dear Nan a present."
+
+Then followed a laugh which was quickly hushed, lest the victim might
+hear. But the victim had heard, and looked more than amused; his eyes
+flashed with a new idea.
+
+"Much obliged, Miss Lorena," he said softly, nodding his head. "If I
+don't act on your hint, it will be because I am not so bright as you
+give me credit for being."
+
+Then the first whisperer took up the story:
+
+"Say, girls, I heard that Ermina did really mean to invite him to her
+candy pull, and the Decker girl too; she says they both belong to the
+Sunday-school, and she is going to invite all the boys and girls of
+that age in the school, and her mother thinks it would not be nice to
+leave them out. You know the Farleys are real queer about some things."
+
+Lorena Barstow flamed into a voice which was almost loud. "Then I say
+let's just not speak a word to either of them the whole evening. Ermina
+Farley need not think that because she lives in a grand house, and her
+father has so much money, she can rule us all. I for one, don't mean to
+associate with a drunkard's daughter, and I won't be made to, by the
+Farleys or anybody else."
+
+"Her father isn't a drunkard now. Why, don't you know he has joined the
+church? And last Wednesday night they say he was in prayer meeting."
+
+"Oh, yes, and what does that amount to? My father says it won't last
+six weeks; he says drunkards are not to be trusted; they never reform.
+And what if he does? That doesn't make Nan Decker anything but a dowdy,
+not fit for us girls to go with; and as for that Irish boy! Why doesn't
+Ermina go down on Paddy Lane and invite the whole tribe of Irish if
+she is so fond of them?"
+
+"Hush, Lora, Ermina will hear you."
+
+Sure enough at that moment came Ermina, springing briskly over logs and
+underbrush. "Have I kept you waiting?" she asked gayly. "The moss was
+so lovely back there; I wanted to carry the whole of it home to mother.
+Why, girls, there is that boy who sits across from us in Sabbath-school.
+
+"How do you do?" she said pleasantly, for at that moment Jerry turned
+and came toward them, lifting his hat as politely as though it was in
+the latest shape and style.
+
+"Have you had good luck in fishing?"
+
+"Very good for this side; the fish are not so plenty here generally
+as they are further up. I heard you speaking of fish, Miss Barstow,
+and wondering whether I would not supply your people? I should be very
+glad to do so, occasionally; I am a pretty successful fellow so far as
+fishing goes."
+
+You should have seen the cheeks of the whisperers then! Ermina looked
+at them, perplexed for a moment, then seeing they answered only with
+blushes and silence _she_ spoke: "Mamma would be very glad to get
+some; she was saying yesterday she wished she knew some one of whom she
+could get fish as soon as they were caught. Have you some to-day for
+sale?"
+
+"Three beauties which I would like nothing better than to sell, for I
+am in special need of the money just now."
+
+"Very well," said Ermina promptly, "I am sure mamma will like them;
+could you carry them down now? I am on my way home and could show you
+where to go."
+
+"Ermina Farley!" remonstrated Lorena Barstow in a low shocked tone, but
+Ermina only said: "Good-by, girls, I shall expect you early on Thursday
+evening," and walked briskly down the path toward the road, with Jerry
+beside her, swinging his fish. If the girls could have seen his eyes
+just then, they would have been sure that they twinkled.
+
+They had a pleasant walk, and Ermina did actually invite him to her
+candy-pull on Thursday evening; not only that, but she asked if he
+would take an invitation from her to Nettie Decker. "She lives next
+door to you, I think," said Ermina, "I would like very much to have her
+come; I think she is so pleasant and unselfish. It is just a few boys
+and girls of our age, in the Sunday-school."
+
+How glad Jerry was that she had invited them! He had been so afraid
+that her courage would not be equal to it. Glad was he also to be able
+to say, frankly, that both he and Nettie had an engagement for Thursday
+evening; he would be sure to give Nettie the invitation, but he knew
+she could not come. Of course she could not, he said to himself; "Isn't
+that our opening evening?" But all the same it was very nice in Ermina
+Farley to have invited them.
+
+"Here is another lamp for the table," said Jerry gayly, as he rushed
+into the new room an hour later and tossed down a shining silver
+dollar. He had exchanged the fish for it. Then he sat down and told
+part of their story to Nettie. About the whisperers, however, he kept
+silent. What was the use in telling that?
+
+But from them he had gotten another idea. "Look here, Nettie, some
+evening we'll have a candy-pull, early, with just a few to help, and
+sell it cheap to customers."
+
+So now they stood together in the room to see if there was another
+thing to be done before the opening. A row of shelves planed and
+fitted by Norm were ranged two thirds of the way up the room and
+on them were displayed tempting pans of ginger cookies, doughnuts,
+molasses cookies, and soft gingerbread. Sandwiches made of good bread,
+and nice slices of ham, were shut into the corner cupboard to keep
+from drying; there was also a plate of cheese which was a present from
+Mrs. Smith. She had sent it in with the explanation that it would be a
+blessing to her if that cheese could get eaten by somebody; she bought
+it once, a purpose, as a treat for Job, and it seemed it wasn't the
+kind he liked, and none of the rest of them liked any kind, so there
+it had stood on the shelf eying her for days. There was to be coffee;
+Nettie had planned for that. "Because," she explained, "they _all_
+drink beer; and things to eat, can never take the place of things to
+drink."
+
+It had been a difficult matter to get the materials together for
+this beginning. All the money which came in from the "little old
+grandmothers," as well as that which Jerry contributed, had been spent
+in flour, and sugar, and eggs and milk. Nettie was amazed and dismayed
+to find how much even soft gingerbread cost, when every pan of it had
+to be counted in money. A good deal of arithmetic had been spent on
+the question: How low can we possibly sell this, and not actually lose
+money by it? Of course some allowance had to be made for waste. "We'll
+have to name it waste," explained Nettie with an anxious face, "because
+it won't bring in any money; but of course not a scrap of it will be
+wasted; but what is left over and gets too dry to sell, we shall have
+to eat."
+
+Jerry shook his head. "We must sell it," he said with the air of a
+financier. Then he went away thoughtfully to consult Mrs. Job, and came
+back triumphant. She would take for a week at half price, all the stale
+cake they might have left. "That means gingercake," he explained, "she
+says the cookies and things will keep for weeks, without getting too
+old."
+
+"Sure enough!" said radiant Nettie, "I did not think of that."
+
+There were other things to think of; some of them greatly perplexed
+Jerry; he had to catch many fish before they were thought out. Then he
+came with his views to Nettie.
+
+"See here, do you understand about this firm business; it must be you
+and me, you know?"
+
+Nettie's bright face clouded. "Why, I thought," she said, speaking
+slowly, "I thought you said, or you meant--I mean I thought it was to
+help Norm; and that he would be a partner."
+
+Jerry shook his head. "Can't do it," he said decidedly. "Look here,
+Nettie, we'll get into trouble right away if we take in a partner. He
+believes in drinking beer, and smoking cigarettes, and doing things of
+that sort; now if he as a partner introduces anything of the kind, what
+are we to do?"
+
+"Sure enough!" the tone expressed conviction, but not relief. "Then
+what are we to do, Jerry? I don't see how we are going to help Norm
+any."
+
+"I do; quite as well as though he was a partner. Norm is a good-natured
+fellow; he likes to help people. I think he likes to do things for
+others better than for himself. If we explain to him that we want to go
+into this business, and that you can't wait on customers, because you
+are a girl, and it wouldn't be the thing, and I can't, because it is
+in your house, and I promised my father I would spend my evenings at
+home, and write a piece of a letter to him every evening; and ask him
+to come to the rescue and keep the room open, and sell the things for
+us, don't you believe he will be twice as likely to do it as though we
+made him as young as ourselves, and tried to be his equals?"
+
+Then Nettie's face was bright. "What a contriver you are!" she said
+admiringly. "I think that will do just splendidly."
+
+She was right, it did. Norm might have curled his lip and said "pooh"
+to the scheme, had he been placed on an equality; for he was getting
+to the age when to be considered young, or childish, is a crime in a
+boy's eyes. But to be appealed to as one who could help the "young fry"
+out of their dilemma, and at the same time provide himself with a very
+pleasant place to stay, and very congenial employment while he stayed,
+was quite to Norm's mind.
+
+And as it was an affair of the children's, he made no suggestions about
+beer or cigars; it is true he thought of them, but he thought at once
+that neither Nettie or Jerry would probably have anything to do with
+them, and as he had no dignity to sustain, he decided to not even
+mention the matter. These two planned really better than they knew in
+appealing to Norm for help. His curious pride would never have allowed
+him to say to a boy, "We keep cakes and coffee for sale at our house;
+come in and try them." But it was entirely within the line of his ideas
+of respectability to say: "What do you think those two young ones over
+at our house have thought up next? They have opened an eating-house,
+cakes and things such as my sister can make, and coffee, dirt cheap.
+I've promised to run the thing for them in the evening awhile; I
+suppose you'll patronize them?"
+
+And the boys, who would have sneered at _his_ setting himself up in
+business, answered: "What, the little chap who lives at Smith's? And
+your little sister! Ho! what a notion! I don't know but it is a bright
+one, though, as sure as you live. There isn't a spot in this town where
+a fellow can get a decent bite unless he pays his week's wages for it;
+boys, let's go around and see what the little chaps are about."
+
+The very first evening was a success.
+
+Nettie had assured herself that she must not be disappointed if no one
+came, at first.
+
+"You see, it is a new thing," she explained to her mother, "of course
+it will take them a little while to get acquainted with it; if nobody
+at all comes to-night, I shall not be disappointed. Shall you, Jerry?"
+
+"Why, yes," said Jerry, "I should; because I know of one boy who is
+coming, and is going to have a ginger-snap and a glass of milk. And
+that is little Ted Locker who lives down the lane; they about starve
+that boy. I shall like to see him get something good. He has three
+cents and I assured him he could get a brimming glass of milk and a
+ginger-snap for that. He was as delighted as possible."
+
+"Poor fellow!" said Nettie, "I mean to tell Norm to let him have two
+snaps, wouldn't you?"
+
+And Jerry agreed, not stopping to explain that he had furnished the
+three cents with which Ted was to treat his poor little stomach. So the
+work began in benevolence.
+
+Still Nettie was anxious, not to say nervous.
+
+"You will have to eat soft gingerbread at your house, for breakfast,
+dinner and supper, I am afraid," she said to Jerry with a half laugh,
+as they stood looking at it. "I don't know why I made four tins of it;
+I seemed to get in a gale when I was making it."
+
+"Never you fear," said Jerry, cheerily. "I'll be willing to eat such
+gingerbread as that three times a day for a week. Between you and me,"
+lowering his voice, "Sarah Ann can't make very good gingerbread; when
+we get such a run of custom that we have none left over to sell, I wish
+you'd teach her how."
+
+I do not know that any member of the two households could be said to be
+more interested in the new enterprise than Mr. Decker. He helped set up
+the shelves, and he made a little corner shelf on purpose for the lamp,
+and he watched the entire preparations with an interest which warmed
+Nettie's heart. I haven't said anything about Mr. Decker during these
+days, because I found it hard to say. You are acquainted with him as a
+sour-faced, unreasonable, beer-drinking man; when suddenly he became
+a man who said "Good morning" when he came into the room, and who sat
+down smooth shaven, and with quiet eyes and smile to his breakfast, and
+spoke gently to Susie when she tipped her cup of water over, and kissed
+little Sate when he lifted her to her seat, and waited for Mrs. Decker
+to bring the coffee pot, then bowed his head and in clear tones asked a
+blessing on the food, how am I to describe him to you? The change was
+something which even Mrs. Decker who watched him every minute he was in
+the house and thought of him all day long, could not get accustomed to.
+It astonished her so to think that she, Mrs. Decker, lived in a house
+where there was a prayer made every night and morning, and where each
+evening after supper Nettie read a few verses in the Bible, and her
+father prayed; that every time she passed her own mother's Bible which
+had been brought out of its hiding-place in an old trunk, she said,
+under her breath, "Thank the Lord." No, she did not understand it, the
+marvelous change which had come over her husband. She had known him as
+a kind man; he had been that when she married him, and for a few months
+afterwards.
+
+She had heard him speak pleasantly to Norm, and show him much
+attention; he had done it before they were married, and for awhile
+afterwards; but there was a look in his face, and a sound in his voice
+now, such as she had never seen nor heard before.
+
+"It isn't Decker," she said in a burst of confidence to Nettie. "He is
+just as good as he can be; and I don't know anything in the world he
+ain't willing to do for me, or for any of us; and it is beautiful, the
+whole of it; but it is all new. I used to think if the man I married
+could only come back to me I should be perfectly happy; but I don't
+know this man at all; he seems to me sometimes most like an angel."
+
+Probably you would have laughed at this. Joe Decker did not look in the
+least like the picture you have in your mind of an angel; but perhaps
+if you had known him only a few weeks before, as Mrs. Decker did, and
+could have seen the wonderful change in him which she saw, the contrast
+might even have suggested angels.
+
+Nettie understood it. She struggled with her timidity and her ignorance
+of just what ought to be said; then she made her earnest reply:
+
+"Mother, I'll tell you the difference. Father prays, and when people
+pray, you know, and mean it, as he does, they get to looking very
+different."
+
+But Mrs. Decker did not pray.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.
+
+
+AS a matter of fact there wasn't a cake left. Neither doughnut nor
+gingersnap; hardly a crumb to tell the successful tale. Nettie surveyed
+the empty shelves the next morning in astonishment. She had been too
+busy the night before to realize how fast things were going. Naturally
+the number and variety of dishes in the Decker household was limited
+and the evening to Nettie was a confused murmur of, "Hand us some more
+cups." "Can't you raise a few more teaspoons somewhere?" "Give us
+another plate," or, "More doughnuts needed;" and Nettie flew hither and
+thither, washed cups, rinsed spoons, said, "What did I do with that
+towel?" or, "Where in the world is the bread knife?" or, "Oh! I smell
+the coffee! maybe it is boiling over," and was conscious of nothing but
+weariness and relief when the last cup of coffee was drank, and the
+last teaspoon washed.
+
+But with the next morning's sunshine she knew the opening was a
+success. She counted the gains with eager joy, assuring Jerry that they
+could have twice as much gingerbread next time.
+
+"And you'll need it," said Norm. "I had to tell half a dozen boys
+that there wasn't a crumb left. I felt sorry for 'em, too; they were
+boarding-house fellows who never get anything decent to eat."
+
+Already Norm had apparently forgotten that he was one who used
+frequently to make a similar complaint.
+
+There was a rarely sweet smile on Nettie's face, not born of the chink
+in the factory bag which she had made for the money; it grew from the
+thought that she need not hide the bag now, and tremble lest it should
+be taken to the saloon to pay for whiskey. What a little time ago it
+was that she had feared that! What a changed world it was!
+
+"But there won't be such a crowd again," she said as they were putting
+the room in order, "that was the first night."
+
+"Humph!" said that wise woman Susie with a significant toss of her
+head; "last night you said we mustn't expect anybody because it was the
+first night."
+
+Then "the firm" had a hearty laugh at Nettie's expense and set to work
+preparing for evening.
+
+I am not going to tell you the story of that summer and fall. It was
+beautiful; as any of the Deckers will tell you with eager eyes and
+voluble voice if you call on them, and start the subject.
+
+The business grew and grew, and exceeded their most sanguine
+expectations. Mr. Decker interested himself in it most heartily, and
+brought often an old acquaintance to get a cup of coffee. "Make it
+good and strong," he would say to Nettie in an earnest whisper. "He's
+thirsty, and I brought him here instead of going for beer. I wish the
+room was larger, and I'd get others to come."
+
+In time, and indeed in a very short space of time, this grew to be the
+crying need of the firm: "If we only had more room, and more dishes!"
+There was a certain long, low building which had once been used as a
+boarding-house for the factory hands, before that institution grew
+large and moved into new quarters, and which was not now in use. At
+this building Jerry and Nettie, and for that matter, Norm, looked with
+longing eyes. They named it "Our Rooms," and hardly ever passed that
+they did not suggest some improvement in it which could be easily
+made, and which would make it just the thing for their business. They
+knew just what sort of curtains they would have at the windows, just
+what furnishings in front and back rooms, just how many lamps would
+be needed. "We will have a hanging lamp over the centre table," said
+Jerry. "One of those new-fashioned things which shine and give a bright
+light, almost like gas; and lots of books and papers for the boys to
+read."
+
+"But where would we get the books and papers?" would Nettie say, with
+an anxious business face, as though the room, and the table, and the
+hanging lamp, were arranged for, and the last-mentioned articles all
+that were needed to complete the list.
+
+"Oh! they would gather, little by little. I know some people who would
+donate great piles of them if we had a place to put them. For that
+matter, as it is, father is going to send us some picture-papers, a
+great bundle of them; send them by express, and we must have a table to
+put them on."
+
+So the plans grew, but constantly they looked at the long, low building
+and said what a nice place it would be.
+
+One morning Jerry came across the yard with a grave face. "What do you
+think?" he said, the moment he caught sight of Nettie. "They have gone
+and rented our rooms for a horrid old saloon; whiskey in front, and
+gambling in the back part! Isn't it a shame that they have got ahead of
+us in that kind of way?"
+
+"Oh dear me!" said Nettie, drawing out each word to twice its usual
+length, and sitting down on a corner of the woodbox with hands clasped
+over the dish towel, and for the moment a look on her face as though
+all was lost.
+
+But it was the very same day that Jerry appeared again, his face
+beaming. This time it was hard to make Nettie hear, for Mrs. Decker
+was washing, and mingling with the rapid rub-a-dub of the clothes was
+the sizzle of ham in the spider, and the bubble of a kettle which was
+bent on boiling over, and making the half-distracted housekeeper all
+the trouble it could. Yet his news was too good to keep; and he shouted
+above the din: "I say, Nettie, the man has backed out! Our rooms are
+not rented, after all."
+
+"Goody!" said Nettie, and she smiled on the kettle in a way to make it
+think she did not care if everything in it boiled over on the floor;
+whereupon it calmed down, of course, and behaved itself.
+
+So the weeks passed, and the enterprise grew and flourished. I hope
+you remember Mrs. Speckle? Very early in the autumn she sent every
+one of her chicks out into the world to toil for themselves and began
+business. Each morning a good-sized, yellow-tinted, warm, beautiful
+egg lay in the nest waiting for Jerry; and when he came, Mrs. Speckle
+cackled the news to him in the most interested way.
+
+"She couldn't do better if she were a regularly constituted member of
+the firm with a share in the profits," said Jerry.
+
+The egg was daily carried to Mrs. Farley's, where there was an invalid
+daughter, who had a fancy for that warm, plump egg which came to her
+each morning, done up daintily in pink cotton, and laid in a box just
+large enough for it. But there came a morning which was a proud one
+to Nettie. Jerry had returned from Mrs. Farley's with news. "The sick
+daughter is going South; she has an auntie who is to spend the winter
+in Florida, so they have decided to send her. They start to-morrow
+morning. Mrs. Farley said they would take our eggs all the same, and
+she wished Miss Helen could have them; but somebody else would have to
+eat them for her."
+
+Then Nettie, beaming with pleasure, "Jerry, I wish you would tell Mrs.
+Farley that we can't spare them any more at present; I would have told
+you before, but I didn't want to take the egg from Miss Helen; I want
+to buy them now, every other morning, for mother and father; mother
+thinks there is nothing nicer than a fresh egg, and I know father will
+be pleased."
+
+What satisfaction was in Nettie's voice, what joy in her heart! Oh!
+they were poor, very poor, "miserably poor" Lorena Barstow called them,
+but they had already reached the point where Nettie felt justified in
+planning for a fresh egg apiece for father and mother, and knew that
+it could be paid for. So Mrs. Speckle began from that day to keep the
+results of her industry in the home circle, and grew more important
+because of that.
+
+Almost every day now brought surprises. One of the largest of them was
+connected with Susie Decker. That young woman from the very first had
+shown a commendable interest in everything pertaining to the business.
+She patiently did errands for it, in all sorts of weather, and was
+always ready to dust shelves, arrange cookies without eating so much as
+a bite, and even wipe teaspoons, a task which she used to think beneath
+her. "If you can't trust me with things that would smash," she used to
+say with scornful gravity, to Nettie, "then you can't expect me to be
+willing to wipe those tough spoons."
+
+But in these days, spoons were taken uncomplainingly. Susie had a
+business head, and was already learning to count pennies and add them
+to the five and ten cent pieces; and when Jerry said approvingly: "One
+of these days, she will be our treasurer," the faintest shadow of a
+blush would appear on Susie's face, but she always went on counting
+gravely, with an air of one who had not heard a word.
+
+On a certain stormy, windy day, one of November's worst, it was
+discovered late in the afternoon that the molasses jug was empty, and
+the boys had been promised some molasses candy that very evening.
+
+"What shall we do?" asked Nettie, looking perplexed, and standing jug
+in hand in the middle of the room. "Jerry won't be home in time to get
+it, and I can't leave those cakes to bake themselves; mother, you don't
+think you could see to them a little while till I run to the grocery,
+do you?"
+
+Mrs. Decker shook her head, but spoke sympathetically: "I'd do it in a
+minute, child, or I'd go for the molasses, but these shirts are very
+particular; I never had such fine ones to iron before, and the irons
+are just right, and if I should have to leave the bosoms at the wrong
+minute to look at the cakes, why, it would spoil the bosoms; and on the
+other hand, if I left the cakes and saved the bosoms, why, they would
+be spoiled."
+
+This seemed logical reasoning. Susie, perched on a high chair in front
+of the table, was counting a large pile of pennies, putting them in
+heaps of twenty-five cents each. She waited until her fourth heap was
+complete, then looked up. "Why don't you ask me to go?"
+
+"Sure enough!" said Nettie, laughing, "I'd 'ask' you in a minute if it
+didn't rain so hard; but it seems a pretty stormy day to send out a
+little chicken like you."
+
+"I'm not a chicken, and I'm not the leastest bit afraid of rain; I can
+go as well as not if you only think so."
+
+"I don't believe it will hurt her!" said Mrs. Decker, glancing
+doubtfully out at the sullen sky. "It doesn't rain so hard as it did,
+and she has such a nice thick sack now."
+
+It was nice, made of heavy waterproof cloth, with a lovely woolly
+trimming going all around it. Susie liked that sack almost better than
+anything else in the world. Her mother had bought it second-hand of a
+woman whose little girl had outgrown it; the mother had washed all day
+and ironed another day to pay for it, and felt the liveliest delight in
+seeing Susie in the pretty garment.
+
+The rain seemed to be quieting a little, so presently the young woman
+was robed in sack and waterproof bonnet with a cape, and started on her
+way.
+
+Half-way to the grocery she met Jerry hastening home from school with a
+bag of books slung across his shoulder.
+
+"Is it so late as that?" asked Susie in dismay. "Nettie thought you
+wouldn't be at home in a good while; the candy won't get done."
+
+"No, it is as early as this," he answered laughing; "we were dismissed
+an hour earlier than usual this afternoon. Where are you going? after
+molasses? See here, suppose you give me the jug and you take my books
+and scud home. There is a big storm coming on; I think the wind is
+going to blow, and I'm afraid it will twist you all up and pour the
+molasses over you. Then you'd be ever so sticky!"
+
+Susie laughed and exchanged not unwillingly the heavy jug for the
+books. There had been quite wind enough since she started, and if there
+was to be more, she had no mind to brave it.
+
+"If you hurry," called Jerry, "I think you'll get home before the next
+squall comes." So she hurried; but Jerry was mistaken. The squall came
+with all its force, and poor small Susie was twisted and whirled and
+lost her breath almost, and panted and struggled on, and was only too
+thankful that she hadn't the molasses jug.
+
+Nearly opposite the Farley home, their side door suddenly opened and a
+pleasant voice called: "Little girl, come in here, and wait until the
+shower is over; you will be wet to the skin."
+
+It is true Susie did not believe that her waterproof sack _could_ be
+wet through, but that dreadful wind so frightened her, twisting the
+trees as it did, that she was glad to obey the kind voice and rush into
+shelter.
+
+"Why, it is Nettie's sister, I do believe!" said Ermina Farley, helping
+her off with the dripping hood.
+
+"You dear little mouse, what sent you out in such a storm?"
+
+Miss Susie not liking the idea of being a mouse much more than she did
+being a chicken, answered with dignity, and becoming brevity.
+
+"Molasses candy!" said Mrs. Farley, laughing, yet with an undertone of
+disapproval in her voice which keen-minded Susie heard and felt, "I
+shouldn't think that was a necessity of life on such a day as this."
+
+"It is if you have promised it to some boys who don't ever have
+anything nice only what they get at our house; and who save their
+pennies that they spend on beer, and cider, and cigars to get it."
+
+Wise Susie, indignation in every word, yet well controlled, and aware
+before she finished her sentence that she was deeply interesting her
+audience! How they questioned her! What was this? Who did it? Who
+thought of it? When did they begin it? Who came? How did they get the
+money to buy their things? Susie, thoroughly posted, thoroughly in
+sympathy with the entire movement, calm, collected, keen far beyond her
+years, answered clearly and well. Plainly she saw that this lady in a
+silken gown was interested.
+
+"Well, if this isn't a revelation!" said Mrs. Farley at last. "A young
+men's Christian association not only, but an eating-house flourishing
+right in our midst and we knowing nothing about it. Did you know
+anything of it, daughter?"
+
+"No, ma'am," said Ermina. "But I knew that splendid Nettie was trying
+to do something for her brother; and that nice boy who used to bring
+eggs was helping her; it is just like them both. I don't believe there
+is a nicer girl in town than Nettie Decker."
+
+Mrs. Farley seemed unable to give up the subject. She asked many
+questions as to how long the boys stayed, and what they did all the
+time.
+
+Susie explained: "Well, they eat, you know; and Norm doesn't hurry
+them; he says they have to pitch the things down fast where they board,
+to keep them from freezing; and our room is warm, because we keep the
+kitchen door open, and the heat goes in; but we don't know what we
+shall do when the weather gets real cold; and after they have eaten all
+the things they can pay for, they look at the pictures. Jerry's father
+sends him picture papers, and Mr. Sherrill brings some, most every day.
+Miss Sherrill is coming Thanksgiving night to sing for them; and Nettie
+says if we only had an organ she would play beautiful music. We want
+to give them a treat for Thanksgiving; we mean to do it without any
+pay at all if we can; and father thinks we can, because he is working
+nights this week, and getting extra pay; and Jerry thinks there will
+be two chickens ready; and Nettie wishes we could have an organ for a
+little while, just for Norm, because he loves music so, but of course
+we can't."
+
+Long before this sentence was finished, Ermina and her mother had
+exchanged glances which Susie, being intent on her story, did not see.
+
+She was a wise little woman of business; what if Mrs. Farley should
+say: "Well, I will give you a chicken myself for the Thanksgiving time,
+and a whole peck of apples!" then indeed, Susie believed that their
+joy would be complete; for Nettie had said, if they could only afford
+three chickens she believed that with a lot of crust she could make
+chicken pie enough for them each to have a large piece, hot; not all
+the boys, of course, but the seven or eight who worked in Norm's shop
+and boarded at the dreary boarding-house; they would so like to give
+Norm a surprise for his birthday, and have a treat say at six o'clock
+for all of these; for this year Thanksgiving fell on Norm's birthday.
+The storm held up after a little, and Susie, trudging home, a trifle
+disgusted with Mrs. Farley because she said not a word about the peck
+of apples or the other chicken, was met by Jerry coming in search of
+her. The molasses was boiling over, he told her, and so was her mother,
+with anxiety lest the wind had taken her, Susie, up in a tree, and had
+forgotten to bring her down again. He hurried her home between the
+squalls, and Susie quietly resolved to say not a word about all the
+things she had told at the Farley home. What if Nettie should think
+she hadn't been womanly to talk so much about what they were doing! If
+there was one thing that this young woman had a horror of during these
+days, it was that Nettie would think she was not womanly. The desire,
+nay, the determination to be so, at all costs had well nigh cured her
+of her fits of rage and screaming, because in one of her calm moments
+Nettie had pointed out to her the fact that she never in her life heard
+a _woman_ scream like that. Susie being a logical person, argued the
+rest of the matter out for herself, and resolved to scream and stamp
+her foot no more.
+
+Great was the astonishment of the Decker family, next morning. Mrs.
+Farley herself came to call on them. She wanted some plain ironing done
+that afternoon. Yes, Mrs. Decker would do it and be glad to; it was a
+leisure afternoon with her. Mrs. Farley wanted something more! she
+wanted to know about the business in which Nettie and her young friend
+next door were engaged; and Susie listened breathlessly, for fear it
+would appear that she had told more than she ought. But Mrs. Farley
+kept her own counsel, only questioning Nettie closely, and at last
+she made a proposition that had well nigh been the ruin of the tin of
+cookies which Nettie was taking from the oven. She dropped the tin!
+
+"Did you burn you, child?" asked Mrs. Decker, rushing forward.
+
+"No, ma'am," said Nettie, laughing, and trying not to laugh, and
+wanting to cry, and being too amazed to do so. "But I was so surprised
+and so almost scared, that they dropped.
+
+"O Mrs. Farley, we have wanted that more than anything else in the
+world; ever since Mr. Sherrill saw how my brother Norman loved music,
+and said it might be the saving of him; Jerry and I have planned and
+planned, but we never thought of being able to do it for a long, long
+time."
+
+Yet all this joy was over an old, somewhat wheezy little house organ
+which stood in the second-story unused room of Mrs. Farley's house,
+and which she had threatened to send to the city auction rooms to get
+out of the way.
+
+She offered to lend it to Nettie for her "Rooms," and Nettie's
+gratitude was so great that the blood seemed inclined to leave her face
+entirely for a minute, then thought better of it and rolled over it in
+waves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE CROWNING WONDER.
+
+
+AND they did have the Thanksgiving supper!
+
+It seemed wonderful to Nettie, even then, and long afterwards the
+wonder grew, that so many things occurred about that time to help the
+scheme along. At first it was to be a very simple little affair; two of
+the boys, Rick for instance, and Alf, invited to come in an hour or so
+before the room was open for the evening, and have a little supper by
+themselves--a chicken, and possibly some cranberry sauce if she could
+compass it, though cranberries were very expensive at that season, and
+besides, they ate sugar in a way which was perfectly alarming! A pie
+of some sort she had quite set her heart on, but whether it would be
+pumpkin or not, depended on how they succeeded in saving up for extra
+milk. The circumstances of the Deckers were changing steadily, but
+when a man has tumbled to the foot of a hill, and lain there quite
+awhile, it is generally a slow process to get up and climb back to
+where he was before.
+
+Mr. Decker's wages were good, and in time he expected to be able to
+support his family in at least ordinary comfort; but when he came fully
+to his senses, he stood for awhile appalled before the number of things
+which had been sold to pay his bill at the saloon, and the number of
+things which in the meantime had worn out, and not been replaced by new
+ones; then the rent was two months back, and Job Smith had been all
+that stood between him and a home. There was a great deal to do if the
+Deckers were to get back to the place from which they began to roll
+down hill; so extra expenses for cranberries, or even milk, were not to
+be thought of, if they must be drawn from the family funds.
+
+The business of the firm was flourishing; but you must remember that
+the central feature of the enterprise was to keep prices very low,
+lower than beer and bad cigars, and the enterprise of the dealers in
+these things is so great, that if you are willing to put up with the
+meanest sorts you can always get them very low indeed. To compete with
+them, Jerry and Nettie had to study the most rigid economy to keep
+their shelves supplied, and even to sometimes "shut their eyes and make
+a reckless dash at apples or peanuts, regardless of expense." This was
+the way in which Jerry occasionally apologized for an extra quantity of
+these luxuries.
+
+Still, in the most interesting ways the Thanksgiving supper grew.
+Mrs. Decker secured within a week of the time, an unexpected ironing
+which she could do in two evenings, and she it was who proposed the
+wild scheme of having two chickens and having them hot, and stuffing
+them with bread crumbs as she used to do years ago, and having gravy
+and some baked potatoes. She agreed to furnish the extra potatoes,
+and a few turnips, just to make it feel like Thanksgiving. Nettie was
+astonished, but pleased. It would be more work, but what of that?
+Think of being able to make a real supper for Norm's birthday! Then
+Mrs. Smith at just the right moment had a present of two pumpkins from
+her country friends; as they could never make away with two pumpkins
+before they would spoil, of course the Deckers must take part of one,
+at least. About that time the minister bought a cow, and what did he
+do but come himself one night to know if Mrs. Decker had any use for
+skimmed milk; they were very fond of cream at their house, and skimmed
+milk gathered faster than they knew what to do with it.
+
+"Any use for skim milk!" Mrs. Decker could only repeat the words in
+a kind of ecstasy at her good luck, and she almost wondered that the
+yellow pumpkin standing behind the door in the closet did not laugh
+outright.
+
+But the crowning wonder came, after all, on the morning before the
+eventful day. Jake, the Farleys' man of all work, brought it in a
+basket which was large and closely covered, and very heavy looking. It
+was left at the door with Susie, who went to answer the knock, "For
+Miss Nettie." Susie repeated the name with a lingering tone as though
+she liked the sound of the unusual prefix. Then they gathered about the
+basket. A great solemn-looking turkey with a note in his mouth, which
+said: "A Thanksgiving token for Nettie, from her friend ERMINA FARLEY."
+
+A turkey in the Decker oven! Mr. Decker surveyed the great fellow in
+silence for a few minutes, then said impressively, "If we don't have a
+new cook stove before another Thanksgiving day comes around, my name is
+not Decker."
+
+Mrs. Job Smith left her pies half-made, and ran in, in a friendly
+way, to see the wonder; and at once remarked that he would exactly
+fit into their oven, and she wasn't going to cook their turkey till
+the day afterwards, because they had got to go to Job's uncle's for
+Thanksgiving; so that matter was settled. It was then that the Deckers
+decided to make a reckless plunge into society and invite every boy in
+Norm's shop to a three o'clock dinner, with turkey and cranberry sauce
+and pumpkin pie and turnip, and all the rest.
+
+What a day it was! They grew nearly wild in their efforts to keep all
+the secrets from Norm, and act as though nothing unusual was happening.
+Especially was this the case after the morning express brought a
+package for Nettie from her dear old home, with two mince pies, and a
+box of Auntie Marshall's doughnuts, and a bag of nuts, and as much as
+two pounds of the loveliest candy she ever saw; sent by the young man
+of the home who was clerk in a wholesale confectioner's. It took Mrs.
+Decker and Nettie not five minutes to resolve, looking curiously into
+each other's faces the while to see if they really had become insane,
+that they would have a regular dessert following the dinner!
+
+"It is only once a year," said Nettie apologetically.
+
+"It is only once in five years!" said Mrs. Decker solemnly. "I haven't
+had a Thanksgiving in five years, child; and I never expected to have
+another."
+
+Everybody was busy all day long. Mrs. Smith was in and out, helping as
+faithfully as though Norm was her boy, and Sarah Ann just gave herself
+up to the importance of the occasion, and did not go to her uncle's at
+all. "I can go there any time," she said good naturedly, "or no time;
+they always forget that we are alive till Thanksgiving Day, and then
+they ask us because they kind of think they've got to. Uncle Jed is
+a clerk, and his wife makes dresses for the folks on Belmont street,
+and they feel stuck up four feet above us; I'd rather eat cold pork
+and potatoes at home than to go there any day. I'm dreadful glad of an
+excuse that father thinks is worth giving."
+
+Susie was a young woman of importance that day. Nettie, who had
+discovered exactly how to manage her, gave her work to do which suited
+her ideas of what a grown person like herself ought to be about; and
+when she wanted the table cleared from the picture papers of the night
+before, instead of telling Miss Susie to fold them away, said, "What do
+you think, Susie, would it be best for us to fold these papers away in
+the closet for to-day, and have this table left clear for the nuts and
+the candies?"
+
+"Yes," said Susie, with her grown-up air, "I think it would; I'll
+attend to it." And she did it beautifully.
+
+"It is well we have no little bits of folks around," said Nettie, when
+the nuts were being cracked, "they would be tempted to eat some, and
+then I'm afraid we would not have enough to go around." And Susie,
+gravely assenting to this theory, arranged the nuts in Mrs. Smith's
+blue saucers, an equal number in each, and ate not one!
+
+Little Sate went with Jerry to give the invitations to the boys, and to
+charge them to keep the whole thing a profound secret from Norm; they
+came home by way of the Farley woods, and little Sate appeared at the
+door with her arms laden with such lovely branches of autumn leaves,
+that Nettie exclaimed in wild delight, and left her turnips half-peeled
+to help adorn the walls of the front room. This suggested the idea,
+and by three o'clock that room was a bower of beauty. Red and golden
+and lovely brown leaves mixed in with the evergreen tassels of the
+pines, with here and there pine cones, and red berries peeping out from
+everywhere. "You little darling," said Nettie, kissing Sate, "you have
+made a picture of it, like what they paint on canvas, only a thousand
+times lovelier."
+
+And Sate, looking on, with her wide sweet eyes aglow with feeling,
+fitted the picture well.
+
+So the feast was spread, and the astonished and hungry boys came,
+and feasted. And Norm, too astonished at first to take it in, began
+presently to understand that all this preparation and delight were in
+honor of his birthday! And though he said not a word, aloud, he kept up
+in his soul a steady line of thought; the centre of which was this:
+
+"I don't deserve it, that's a fact; there's mother doing everything for
+me, and Nettie working like a slave, and the children going without
+things to give me a treat. I'll be in a better fix to keep a birthday
+before it gets around again, see if I'm not!"
+
+His was not the only thinking which was done that day. Rick, merry
+enough all the afternoon, and enjoying his dinner as well as it was
+possible for a hungry fellow to do, nevertheless had a sober look on
+his face more than once, and said as he shook hands with Norm at night:
+"I'll tell you what it is, my boy, if I had your kind of a home, and
+folks, I'd be worth something in the world; I would, so. I ain't sure,
+between you and me, but I shall, anyhow; just for the sake of getting
+into such Thanksgiving houses once in awhile. By and by a fellow will
+have to carry himself pretty straight, or that sister of yours won't
+have nothing to do with him; I can see that in her eyes."
+
+Then he went home. And cold though his room was he sat down, even after
+he had pulled off his coat, as a memory of some thoughtful word of
+Nettie's came over him, and went all over it again; then he brought his
+hard hand down with a thud on the rickety table, on which he leaned and
+said: "As sure as you live, and breathe the breath of life, old fellow,
+you've got to turn over a new leaf; and you've got to begin to-night."
+
+It was less than a week after the Thanksgiving excitements that the
+town got itself roused over something which reached even to the
+children. Jerry came home from school with it, and came directly to
+Nettie, his cheeks aglow with the news. "There's to be the biggest
+kind of a time here next Thursday, Nettie; don't you think General
+McClintock is coming, to give a lecture, and they are going to give
+him a reception at Judge Bentley's and I don't know what all, and the
+schools are all going to dismiss and go down to the train in procession
+to meet him, and they are going to sing, _Hail to the Chief_, and the
+band is to play, _See, the conquering Hero comes_, and I don't know
+what isn't going to be done."
+
+"Who is General McClintock?" said ignorant Nettie, composedly drying
+her plate as though all the generals in the world were nothing to
+her. Then did Jerry come the nearest impatience that Nettie had ever
+seen in him; and he launched forth in such a wild praise of General
+McClintock and such an excited account of the things which he had done
+and said, and prevented, and pushed, that Nettie was half bewildered
+and delightfully excited when he paused for breath. Henceforth the talk
+of the town was General McClintock.
+
+"It is a wonder they asked him to speak on temperance," said Nettie,
+disdain in her voice; she had not a high opinion of the temperance
+enthusiasm of the town in which she lived.
+
+"They didn't," said Jerry. "He asked himself; they wanted him to
+talk about the war, or the tariff, or the great West, or some other
+stupid thing, but he said, 'No, sir! the great question of the day is
+temperance, and I shall speak on that, or nothing!'"
+
+"How do you happen to know so much about him?" Nettie questioned one
+day when Jerry was at his highest pitch of excitement.
+
+"Ho!" he said, almost in scorn, "I have known about him ever since I
+was born; everybody knows General McClintock." Then Nettie felt meek
+and ignorant.
+
+Nothing had ever so excited Jerry as the coming of the hero; and indeed
+the town generally seemed to have caught fire. General McClintock
+seemed to be the theme of every tongue. Connected with these days,
+Nettie had her perplexities and her sorrows. In the first place, Jerry
+was obstinately determined that she should join the procession with
+him to meet General McClintock. In vain she protested that she did not
+belong to the public schools. He did, he said, and that was enough.
+
+Then when Nettie urged and almost cried, he had another plan: "Well,
+then, we won't go as scholars. We'll go ahead, as private individuals;
+I'm only a kind of a scholar, anyhow, just holding on for a few weeks
+till my father comes; we'll go up there early and get a good place
+before the procession forms and see the whole of it. I know the marshal
+real well; he's a good friend of mine, and I know he will give us a
+place."
+
+It was of no use for Nettie to protest; to remind him that the girls
+would think she was putting herself forward, to say that she had
+nothing to wear to such a gathering. She might as well have talked to
+a stone for all the impression she made. She had never seen him so
+resolute to have his own way. He did not care what she wore, it made
+not the slightest difference to him what the girls said, and he _did_
+ask it of her as a kindness to him, and he should be hurt so that
+he could never get over it if she refused to go; he had never wanted
+anything so much in his life, and he _could_ not give it up. So Nettie,
+reluctant, sorrowful, promised, and cried over it in her room that
+night. She wanted to please Jerry, for his father was coming now in a
+few weeks perhaps, and Jerry would go away with him, and she should
+never see him again; and what in the world would she do without him?
+And here she cried harder than ever.
+
+Then came up that dreadful question of clothes; her one winter dress
+was too short and too narrow and a good deal worn. Auntie Marshall had
+thought last winter that it would hardly do for a church dress, and
+here it was still her best. There was no such thing as a new one for
+the present; for mother had not had anything in so long, she must be
+clothed, and Nettie was willing to wait; but she was not willing to
+take a conspicuous place on a public day and be stared at and talked
+about.
+
+However, Jerry continued merciless to the very last; nothing else would
+satisfy him. He hurried her in a breathless state down the hill to the
+platform, smiled and nodded to his friend the marshal, who nodded back
+in the most confidential manner, and perched them on the corner of the
+temporary platform, right behind the reception committee! It was every
+whit as disagreeable as Nettie had planned that it should be. Of course
+Lorena Barstow was among the leaders in the young people's procession,
+and of course she contrived to get enough to be heard, and to say in a
+most unnecessarily loud voice:
+
+"Do look at that Decker girl perched up there on the platform. If she
+doesn't contrive to make herself a laughing stock everywhere! Girls,
+look at her hat; she must have worn it ever since they came out of
+the ark. What business is she here, anyway? She doesn't belong to the
+schools?"
+
+There was much more in the same vein; much pushing and crowding, and
+laughing and hateful speeches about folks who crowded in where they
+didn't belong, and poor Nettie, the tears only kept back by force
+of will, looked in vain for sympathy into Jerry's fairly dancing
+eyes. What ailed the boy? She had never seen him so almost wild with
+eager excitement before. Judge Barstow and Dr. Lewis were both on
+the reception committee, of course, and under cover of this, their
+daughters wedged their way to the front, and whispered to the fathers.
+Loud whispers:
+
+"Papa, that ridiculous Decker girl and the little Irish boy with her
+ought not to be perched up there in that conspicuous place. She doesn't
+belong here, anyway; she isn't a scholar."
+
+Then Judge Barstow in good-humored tones to Jerry: "My boy, don't you
+think you would find it quite as pleasant down there among the others?
+This little girl doesn't want to be up here, I am sure; suppose you
+both go down and fall behind the procession? You can see the General
+when the carriage passes; it is to be thrown open so every one can see."
+
+Then the marshal: "If you please, Judge Barstow, it won't do for them
+to try to get through now. The crowd is so great they might be hurt;
+there is plenty of room where they stand. They will do no harm."
+
+_Now_ the tears must come from the indignant eyes. No, they shall not.
+Jerry doesn't even wink. He only laughs, in the highest good humor. Has
+Jerry gone wild with excitement? "It will all be over in two minutes,"
+explains Judge Barstow. "He wished to drive directly to his hotel, and
+have perfect quiet for two hours. He declined to be entertained at a
+private house, or to say a word at the depot. I suppose he is fatigued,
+and doesn't like to trust his voice to speak in the open air; so the
+committee are to shake hands with him as rapidly as possible, and show
+him to his carriage, and not wait on him for two hours. He has ordered
+a private dinner at the Keppler House."
+
+Suddenly there is the whistle of the train, the band plays _See, the
+conquering Hero comes!_ With the second strain the train comes to
+a halt, and a tall, broad-shouldered man with iron gray hair and a
+military air all about him steps from the platform amid the cheers
+of thousands. Now indeed there was some excuse for Lorena Barstow's
+loud exclamations of disapproval! There was Jerry, pushing his way
+among the throng, holding so firmly all the while to Nettie's hand
+that escape was impossible--pushing even past the reception committee,
+notwithstanding the detaining hand of Judge Barstow, who says,
+
+"See here, my boy, you are impudent, did you know it?"
+
+"I beg pardon," says Jerry respectfully, but he slips past him, just
+as General McClintock with courteous words is thanking the committee
+of reception, declining their pressing personal invitations, his eyes
+meantime roving over the crowd in search of something or somebody.
+Suddenly they melt with a tenderness which does not belong to the
+soldier, and the firm lips quiver as his voice says: "O my boy!" and
+Jerry the Irish boy flings himself into General McClintock's arms, and
+the world stands agape!
+
+Just a second, and his hand holds firmly to the sack which covers
+Nettie's startled frightened form, then he releases himself and turns
+to her: "Father, this is Nettie!"
+
+"Sure enough!" said the General, and his tall head bends and the
+mustached lips of the old soldier touch Nettie's cheek, and the
+cheering, hushed for a second, breaks forth afresh! It is a moment
+of the wildest excitement. Even then Nettie tries to break away and
+is held fast. And an officer of the day advances with the military
+salute and assures the General that his carriage is in waiting. And the
+General himself hands the bewildered Nettie in, with a friendly smile
+and an assuring: "Of course you must go. My boy planned this whole
+thing three months ago; and you and I must carry out his programme to
+the letter." Then Jerry springs like a cat into the carriage, and the
+scholars sing, _Hail to the Chief_, and the carriage, drawn by four
+horses, rolls down the road made wide for it by the homeguard in full
+uniform, and the General lifts his hat and bows right and left, and
+smiles on Nettie Decker sitting by his side, and almost devours with
+his hungry, fatherly eyes, her friend the Irish boy on the opposite
+seat. And the scholars almost forget to sing, in their great and
+ever-increasing amazement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE PAST AND PRESENT.
+
+
+NETTIE DECKER sat by the window of her father's house, looking out
+into the beautiful world; taking one last look at the flowers, and the
+trees, and the lawn, and all the beautiful and familiar things. Saying
+good-by to them, for in a brief two hours she was to leave them, and
+the old home.
+
+[Illustration: NETTIE DECKER HAS A SUITABLE DRESS AT LAST.]
+
+She is Nettie Decker still, but you will not be able to say that of her
+in another hour. She has changed somewhat since you last saw her in
+her blue gingham dress a trifle faded, or in her brown merino much the
+worse for time.
+
+To-day she is twenty years old. A lovely summer day, and her birthday
+is to be celebrated by making it her wedding day. The blue gingham has
+been long gone; so has the brown merino. The dress she wears to-day
+looks unlike either of them. It is white, all white; she has a
+suitable dress at last for a gala day. Soft, rich, quiet white silk.
+Long and full and pure; not a touch of trimming about it anywhere. Not
+even a flower yet, though she holds one in her hand in doubt whether
+she will add it to the whiteness.
+
+I think it will probably be pushed among the folds of soft lace which
+lie across her bosom; for that would please little Sate's artist eye,
+and Nettie likes to please Sate.
+
+While she sits there, watching the birds, and the flowers, and thinking
+of the strange sweet past, and the strange sweet present, there pass by
+almost underneath the window two young ladies; moving slowly, glancing
+up curiously at the open casement, from which Nettie draws a little
+back, that she may not be seen.
+
+"That is Nettie's room where the window is open," says one of the
+ladies. "It is a lovely room; I was in it once when the circle met
+there; it is furnished in blue, with creamy tints on the walls and
+furniture. I don't think I ever saw a prettier room. Nettie has
+excellent taste."
+
+"Do you say her brother is to be at the wedding?"
+
+"O, yes indeed! He came day before yesterday; he is a splendid-looking
+fellow, and smart; they say he is the finest student Yale has had
+for years. He graduated with the very highest honors, and now he is
+studying medicine. I heard Dr. Hobart say that he would be an honor to
+the profession. You ought to hear him play; I thought he would be a
+musician, he is so fond of music, and really he plays exquisitely on
+the organ. Last spring when he was home he played in church all day,
+and I heard ever so many people say they had never heard anything finer
+in any church."
+
+"I don't remember him. Was he in our set?"
+
+"O no! he wasn't in any set when you were here. Why, Irene Lewis, you
+must remember the Deckers! They weren't in any set."
+
+"Oh! I remember them, of course; don't you know what fun we used to
+make of Nettie? Didn't we call her Nan? I remember she always wore an
+old blue and white gingham to Sunday-school."
+
+"That was years ago; she dresses beautifully now, and in exquisite
+taste. She must make a lovely bride. I should like to get a glimpse of
+her."
+
+"The McClintocks are very rich, I have been told."
+
+"Oh! immensely so; and they say General McClintock just idolizes
+Nettie. I don't wonder at that; she is a perfectly lovely girl."
+
+"Seems to me, Lorena, my dear, about the time I left this part of the
+world you did not think so much of her as you do now. I remember you
+used to make all sorts of fun of her, and real hateful speeches, as
+schoolgirls will, you know. I have a distinct recollection of a flower
+party where she was, and my conscience, I remember, troubled me at the
+time for saying so many disagreeable things about her that afternoon;
+but I recollect I comforted myself with the thought that you were much
+worse than I. You used to lead off, in those days, you know."
+
+"Oh! I remember; I was a perfect little idiot in those days. Yes, I was
+disagreeable enough to Nettie Decker; if she hadn't been a real sweet
+girl she would never have forgotten it; but I don't believe she ever
+thinks of it, and really she is so utterly changed, and all the family
+are, that I hardly ever remember her as the same girl."
+
+"What became of that little Irish boy she used to be so fond
+of--Jerry, his name was?"
+
+"Now, Irene Lewis! you don't mean to tell me you have never heard about
+him! Well, you have been out of the world, sure enough."
+
+"I have never heard a word of him from the time I went with Uncle
+Lawrence out West. Father moved in the spring, you know, so instead of
+my coming back early in the spring as I expected, I never came until
+now? What about Jerry? Did he distinguish himself in any way? I always
+thought him a fine-looking boy."
+
+"That is too funny that you shouldn't know! Why, the Irish boy, Jerry,
+as you call him, is the Gerald McClintock whom Nettie Decker is to
+marry at twelve o'clock to-day."
+
+"Gerald McClintock! How can that be? That boy's name was Jerry Mack."
+
+"Indeed it wasn't. We were all deceived in that boy. It does seem so
+strange that you have never heard the story! Why, you see, he was
+General McClintock's son all the time."
+
+"Why did he pretend he was somebody else?"
+
+"He didn't pretend; or at least I heard he said he didn't begin it.
+It seems that Mrs. Smith, the car-man's wife, you know, used to live
+in General McClintock's family before his wife died; and Job Smith
+lived there as coachman. When they married, General McClintock broke
+up housekeeping, and went South with his family. Then Mrs. McClintock
+died, and the General and this one boy boarded in New York, and Gerald
+attended school. In the spring the General was called to California
+on some important law business--you know he is a celebrated lawyer,
+and they say his son is going to be even more brilliant than his
+father--well, the father had to go, and the boy made him promise that
+he might spend the summer vacation with Mrs. Smith out here. The
+McClintocks had been very fond of her and her husband and trusted them
+both; so the General agreed to it, thinking he would be back long
+before the vacation closed.
+
+"But he was delayed by one thing and another, and the boy coaxed to
+stay on, and study in the public school here; he was a pupil in Whately
+Institute at home. Imagine him taking up with our common schools! so he
+stayed until the first of December, and then his father came.
+
+"Such a time as that was! You see we all knew of General McClintock, of
+course, and when it was found we could get him to lecture, the people
+nearly went wild over it. We couldn't understand why we should have
+such good fortune, when we knew ever so many places--large cities--had
+been refused; but it was all explained after he came.
+
+"It was a beautiful day when he came; all the schools were closed,
+and we formed a procession and marched to the depot, and the band was
+there, and great crowds. I remember as though it were yesterday how
+astonished we were to see Nettie Decker and that boy in a conspicuous
+place on the corner of the platform. Nettie had on her old brown
+merino, and looked so queer and seemed so out of place, that I went
+and spoke to father about it, and he advised them to go down and join
+the procession; but it seems the marshal knew what he was about, and
+objected to their moving. Then the train came, and there was a great
+excitement, and in the midst of it, the General almost took that boy
+Jerry in his arms, and kissed and kissed him! Then he kissed Nettie
+Decker, and while we stood wondering what on earth it all meant, they
+all three entered an elegant carriage drawn by four horses, and were
+carried to the Keppler House.
+
+"They had an elegant private dinner, they three; and in fact all the
+time the General was here, he kept Nettie Decker with them; he treated
+her more like a daughter than a stranger. I don't think there was ever
+such an excitement in this town about anything as we had at that time;
+the circumstances were so peculiar, you know."
+
+"But I don't understand it, yet. Why did he call himself Jerry Mack?
+What was his object in deceiving us all?"
+
+"He hadn't the slightest intention of doing so. I heard he said such
+a thought never entered his mind until we began it. It seems when
+he was a little bit of a fellow he tried to speak his name, Gerald
+McClintock, and the nearest he could approach to it, was, Jerry Mack.
+Of course they thought that was cunning, and it grew to be his pet
+name; so before they knew it, the servants and all his boy friends
+called him so, all the time. When he came here Mrs. Smith and her
+husband naturally used the old name; then somebody, I'm sure I don't
+know who, started the story that he was an Irish boy working at the
+Smiths for his board; and it seems he heard of it, and it amused
+him so much he decided to let people think so if they wanted to; he
+coaxed the Smiths not to tell who he was, or why he was here; and they
+so nearly worshipped him, that if he had asked them to say he was a
+North American Indian I believe they would have done it. It seems he
+liked Nettie Decker from the first, and was annoyed because she wasn't
+invited in our set. But I am sure I don't know how we were to blame;
+she had nothing to wear, and how were we to know that she was a very
+smart girl, and real sweet and good? The Deckers were very poor, and
+Mr. Decker drank, you know, and Norm was sort of a loafer, and we
+thought they were real low people."
+
+"I remember Ermina Farley was friendly with Nettie, and with the boy,
+too."
+
+"O yes, Ermina was always peculiar; she is yet. I have always thought
+that perhaps Ermina knew something about the McClintocks, but she says
+she didn't. I heard her say the other day that somebody told her he was
+an Irish boy, whose father had run away and left him; and the Smiths
+gave him a home out of pity; and she supposed of course it was so, and
+was sorry for him. Then she always thought he was handsome, and smart;
+well, so did I, I must say."
+
+"I wonder who started that absurd story about his father deserting him?"
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure; somebody imagined it was so, I suppose, and
+spoke of it; such things spread, you know, nobody seems to understand
+quite how."
+
+"Well, as I remember things, Jerry--I shall always call him that name,
+I don't believe I could remember to say Mr. McClintock if I should
+meet him now--as I remember him, he seemed to be as poor as Nettie; he
+dressed very well, but not as a gentleman's son, and he seemed to be
+contriving ways to earn little bits of money. Don't you remember that
+old hen and chickens he bought? And he used to go to the Farleys every
+morning with a fresh egg for Helen; sold it, you know, for I was there
+one morning when Mrs. Farley paid him."
+
+"I know it; he was always contriving ways to earn money; why, Irene,
+don't you remember his selling fish to Ermina Farley that day when we
+were talking down by the pond? I have always thought he heard more than
+we imagined he did, that day; I don't clearly remember what we said,
+but I know we were running on about Nettie Decker and about Jerry; I
+used to sort of dislike them both, because Ermina Farley was always
+trying to push them forward.
+
+"I would give something to know exactly what we did say that day. For
+awhile I did not like to meet any of the McClintocks; it always seemed
+to me as though they were thinking about that time. But they have been
+perfectly polite and cordial to me, always; and Nettie Decker is a
+perfect lady. But I know all about the poverty. It seems the boy Jerry
+had been very fond of giving away money, and books, and all sorts of
+things to people whom he thought needed them; and his father began to
+be afraid he would have no knowledge of the value of money, and would
+give carelessly, you know, just because he felt like it. So the General
+had a long talk with him, and made an arrangement that while he was
+gone West, Jerry should have nothing to give away but what he earned.
+He might earn as much as he liked, or could, and give it all away if he
+chose; but not a penny besides, and he was not to appeal to his father
+to help anybody in any way whatever. Of course the father was to pay
+all his bills for necessary things--they say he paid a splendid price
+to the Smiths for taking care of him. Poor Mrs. Smith cried when he
+went away, as though he had been her own child. Well, of course that
+crippled him, in his pocket money, but they say his father was very
+much pleased to find how many schemes he had started for earning money.
+That plan about the business was his from beginning to end, and just
+see what it has grown to!"
+
+"What? I don't know; remember, I only came night before last, and
+haven't heard anything about the town since the day I left it."
+
+"Why, the Norman House, the most elegant hotel in town, is the
+outgrowth of that enterprise begun in the Decker's front room! Mr.
+Decker owns the whole thing, now, and manages it splendidly. His
+wife is a perfect genius, they say, about managing. She oversees the
+housekeeping herself, and the cooking is perfect they say. General
+McClintock was so pleased with the beginning, that he bought that
+long low building on Smith street that first time he was here, and
+fitted it up for Norman and Nettie to run. He carried his son away
+with him, of course, but they stayed long enough to see that matter
+fairly under way. The Norman House is managed on the same general
+principles; strictly temperance, of course. The General is as great
+a fanatic about that as the Deckers are, and the prices are very
+low--lower than other first-class houses, while the table is better,
+and the rooms are beautifully furnished. They say it is because Mrs.
+Decker is such an excellent manager that they can afford things at
+such low prices. Then, besides, there is a lunch room for young men,
+where they can get excellent things for just what they cost; that is
+a sort of benevolence. General McClintock devotes a certain amount to
+it each year; and there is a splendid young man in charge of the room;
+you saw him once, Rick Walker, his name is. He used to be considered a
+sort of hard boy, but there isn't a more respected young man in town
+than he. He is book-keeper at the Norman House, and has the oversight
+of this Home Dining Room. You ought to go in there; it is very nicely
+furnished, and they have flowers, plants, you know, and birds, and a
+fountain, and pictures on the walls, and for fifteen cents you can get
+an excellent dinner. Everybody likes Rick Walker; they say he has
+a great influence over the boys in town, almost as great as Norman
+Decker; _he_ used to be in charge of it all, before he went to college."
+
+"Still, I shouldn't think the McClintocks would have liked Nettie
+Decker to be in quite so public a place," interrupted her listener.
+"Oh! she wasn't public; why, she went to New York to a private school
+the very next winter after the General came home. She boarded with
+them; the General's sister came East with him, and was the lady of the
+house; then he sent her to Wellesley, you know. Didn't you know that?
+She graduated at Wellesley a year ago. Yes, the McClintocks educated
+her, or began it; her father has done so well that I suppose he hasn't
+needed their help lately. He is a master builder, you know, and keeps
+at his business, and owns and manages this hotel, besides. Oh! they are
+well off; you ought to see Mrs. Decker. She is a very pretty woman,
+and a real lady; they say Nettie and Norman are so proud of her! What
+was I telling you? Oh! about the room; they have a library connected
+with it, and a reading room, and everything complete; it is such a
+nice thing for our young men. A great many wealthy gentlemen contribute
+to the library. There is a little alcove at the further end of the
+reading room, where they keep cake and lemonade, and nuts and little
+things of all sorts. They are very cheap, but the boys can't get any
+cigars there; I'm so glad of that. The Norman House is in very great
+favor--quite the fashion, and it makes such a difference with the boys
+who are just beginning to imagine themselves young men, and who want
+to be manly, to have an elegant place like that frown on all such
+things. My brother Dick, you remember him? He was a little fellow when
+you lived here--he went into the Norman House one day and called for a
+cigar; he was just beginning to smoke, and I suppose he did it because
+he thought it would sound manly. It was in the spring when Norman was
+at home on vacation, and it seems he expressed so much astonishment
+that Dick was quite ashamed; I don't think he has smoked a cigar since."
+
+"The Deckers seem to be quite a centre of interest in town."
+
+"Well, they are. They are a sort of exceptional family someway;
+their experience has been so romantic. Mr. Decker has become such
+a nice man; Deacon Decker, he is, a prominent man in the church,
+and everywhere. Oh! do you remember those two cunning little girls?
+I always thought they were sweet. Susie is a perfect lady; she is
+going with Nettie and her husband to Washington; but little Sate is
+a beauty. They say she is going to be a poet and an artist, and she
+looks almost like an angel. General McClintock admires her very much;
+he says she shall have the finest art teachers in Europe. I never saw
+a family come up as they did, from nothing, you may say. But then it
+was all owing to that fortunate accident of being friends with Gerald
+McClintock, and having the Farleys interested in them. Did I tell you
+Norman was engaged to Ermina Farley? O yes! they will marry as soon
+as he graduates from the medical college, and then he will take her
+abroad and take a post graduate course in medicine there. I suppose
+they will take Sate with them then. They say that is the plan. No, I
+certainly never saw anything like their success in life. Mrs. Smith
+doesn't believe in luck, you know, nor much in money, though since her
+Job has a position in the Norman House that pays better than carting,
+they have built an addition to their house, and, Sarah Ann says, "live
+like folks." She is housekeeper at the Norman House--Mrs. Decker's
+right-hand woman. Mrs. Smith says the Lord had a great deal to do with
+the Decker family; that Nettie came home resolved to be faithful to
+Him, and to trust Him to save her father and brother, and so He did
+it, of course. It seems she and Jerry promised each other to work for
+Norman and the father in every possible way until they were converted;
+and they did. I must say I think they are real wonderful Christians,
+all of them. I like to hear Mr. Decker pray better than almost any
+other man in our meeting; and as for Norman, he leads a meeting
+beautifully. They say Mr. Sherrill thought at first that he ought to
+preach; but now he says he is reconciled; there is greater need for
+Christian physicians than for ministers. Mr. Sherrill has always been
+great friends with all the Deckers; you remember he was, from the
+first. Norman studied with him all the time he was managing that first
+little bit of a restaurant in the square room of the old Decker house.
+They tore down that house last month, to make room for a carriage drive
+around the back of their new house, and they say Nettie cried when the
+square room was torn up.
+
+"She has some of the quaintest furniture! Sofas, she calls them, made
+out of boxes; and a queer old-fashioned hour-glass stand, and a barrel
+chair, which have been sent on with all her elegant things, to New
+York; she is going to furnish a room for Gerald and her with them; he
+made them, it seems, when they began that queer scheme. Who would have
+supposed it could grow as it did? It really seems as though the Lord
+must have had a good deal to do with it, doesn't it? I tell you, Irene,
+it is wonderful how many young men they have helped save, those two.
+It seems a pity sometimes that they could not have told us girls what
+they were about and let us help; but then, I don't know as we would
+have helped if we had understood; I used to be such a perfect little
+idiot then! Well, it was Nettie Decker got hold of me at last. Norman
+signed the pledge that night when General McClintock lectured here, and
+during the winter he was converted; but it was two years after that
+before I made up my mind. I was miserable all that time, too; because I
+knew I was doing wrong. And I didn't treat Nettie wonderfully well any
+of the time; but when she came to me with her eyes shining with tears,
+and said she had been praying for me ever since that day of the flower
+party, I just broke down.
+
+"O Irene, there's the carriage with the bride and groom and Norman and
+Ermina. Doesn't the bride look lovely! I wish they had had a public
+wedding and let us all see her! But they say General McClintock thinks
+weddings ought to be very private. Never mind, we will see her at the
+reception next week; but then, she won't be Nettie Decker; we shall
+have to say good-by to her."
+
+And Miss Lorena Barstow stood still in the street, and shaded her eyes
+from the sunlight to watch the bridal party as the carriage wound
+around the square, looking her last with tender, loving eyes, upon
+Nettie Decker.
+
+
+
+
+CHOICE BOOKS
+
+FOR READERS OF ALL AGES
+
+
+
+
+Pansy Books.
+
+
+=The Pansy= for 1888. With colored frontispiece. Edited by Pansy.
+
+More than 400 pages of reading and pictures for children of eight to
+fifteen years in various lines of interest. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+
+=Pansy Sunday Book= for 1889. With colored frontispiece. Edited by
+Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+Just the thing for children on Sunday afternoon, when the whole family
+are gathered in the home to exchange helpful thought and gain new
+courage for future work and study which the tone and excellence of
+these tales impart.
+
+
+=Pansy's Story Book.= By Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+Made up largely of Pansy's charming stories with an occasional sketch
+or poem by some other well-known children's author to give variety.
+
+
+=Mother's Boys and Girls.= By Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+A book full of stories for boys and girls, most of them short, so all
+the more of them. Easy words and plenty of pictures.
+
+
+=Pansy Token= (A); or An Hour with Miss Streator. For Sunday School
+teachers. 24mo, paper, 15 cts.
+
+
+=Young Folks Stories of American History and Home Life.= Edited by
+Pansy. Quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.
+
+Sketches, tales and pictures on New-World subjects.
+
+
+=Young Folks Stories of Foreign Lands.= Edited by Pansy. First Series,
+quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.
+
+Sketches, tales and pictures on Old-World subjects.
+
+
+=Stories and Pictures from the Life of Jesus.= By Pansy. 12mo, boards,
+50 cts.
+
+The life of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels simplified and
+unified for children.
+
+
+=A Christmas Time.= By Pansy, 12mo, boards, 15 cts.
+
+A Christmas story full of Christmas trees and sleigh-rides. Its lesson
+is the joy to be got in helping others.
+
+
+
+
+Travel and History for Young Folks.
+
+
+=Story of the American Indian (The).= By Elbridge S. Brooks. 8vo,
+cloth, 2.50.
+
+"A thorough compendium of the archæology, history, present standing
+and outlook of our nation's wards.... We commend it as the best and
+most comprehensive book on the Indian for general reading known to
+us."--_Literary World._
+
+
+=Story of the American Sailor (The).= By Elbridge S. Brooks. Octavo,
+cloth, 2.50.
+
+The first consecutive narrative yet attempted, sketching the rise
+and development of the American seaman on board merchant vessel and
+man-of-war.
+
+
+=Ned Harwood's Visit to Jerusalem.= By Mrs. S. G. Knight. Quarto, 1.25.
+
+Travel in the Holy Land. The manuscript was approved by Rev. Selah
+Merrill, for many years U. S. Consul at Jerusalem. The strictest
+accuracy has thus been secured without impairing the interest of the
+story.
+
+
+=Out and About.= By Kate Tannatt Woods. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+Cape Cod to the Golden Gate with a lot of young folks along, and plenty
+of yarns by the way.
+
+
+=Sights Worth Seeing.= By those who saw them. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
+
+Eleven descriptive articles by such writers as Margaret Sidney, Amanda
+B. Harris, Annie Sawyer Downs, Frank T. Merrill and Rose Kingsley.
+Copiously and beautifully illustrated.
+
+
+=Adventures of the Early Discoverers.= By Frances A. Humphrey. 4to,
+cloth, 1.00.
+
+Real history written and pictured for readers both sides of ten years
+old. It begins with the mythology of discovery and comes down to the
+sixteenth and seventeenth century.
+
+
+=The Golden West=: as Seen by the Ridgway Club. By Margaret Sidney.
+Quarto, boards, 1.75.
+
+Description of a trip through Southern California taken by Mr. and
+Mrs. Ridgway and their children. The careful observations and the fine
+illustrations make it a treasure for boys and girls.
+
+
+=Days and Nights in the Tropics.= By Felix L. Oswald. Quarto, boards,
+1.25.
+
+The collector of curiosities for the Brazilian museum goes on his quest
+with his eyes open. A book of adventures and hunters' yarns.
+
+
+
+
+Illustrated Stories for Young Folks.
+
+
+=Young Folks' Cyclopedia of Stories.= Quarto, cloth, 3.00.
+
+Contains in one large book the following stories with many
+illustrations: Five Little Peppers, Two Young Homesteaders, Royal
+Lowrie's Last Year at St. Olaves, The Dogberry Bunch, Young Rick, Nan
+the New-Fashioned Girl, Good-for-Nothing Polly and The Cooking Club of
+Tu-Whit Hollow.
+
+
+=What the Seven Did=; or, the Doings of the Wordsworth Club. By
+Margaret Sidney. Quarto, boards, 1.75.
+
+The Seven are little girl neighbors who meet once a week at their
+several homes. They helped others and improved themselves.
+
+
+=Me and My Dolls.= By L. T. Meade. Quarto, 50 cts.
+
+A family history. Some of the dolls have had queer adventures. Twelve
+full-page illustrations by Margaret Johnson.
+
+
+=Little Wanderers in Bo-Peep's World.= Quarto, boards, double
+lithograph covers, 50 cts.
+
+
+=Polly and the Children.= By Margaret Sidney. Boards, quarto, 50 cts.
+
+The story of a funny parrot and two charming children. The parrot has
+surprising adventures at the children's party and wears a medal after
+the fire.
+
+
+=Five Little Peppers.= By Margaret Sidney. 12mo, 1.50.
+
+Story of five little children of a fond, faithful and capable "mamsie."
+Full of young life and family talk.
+
+
+=Seal Series.= 10 vols., boards, double lithographed covers, quarto.
+
+Rocky Fork, Old Caravan Days, The Dogberry Bunch, by Mary H.
+Catherwood; The Story of Honor Bright and Royal Lowrie's Last Year at
+St. Olaves, by Charles R. Talbot; Their Club and Ours, by John Preston
+True; From the Hudson to the Neva, by David Ker; The Silver City, by
+Fred A. Ober; Two Young Homesteaders, by Theodora Jenness; The Cooking
+Club of Tu-Whit Hollow, by Ella Farman.
+
+
+=Cats' Arabian Nights.= By Abby Morton Diaz. Quarto, cloth, 1.75;
+boards, 1.25.
+
+The wonderful cat story of cat stories told by Pussyanita that saved
+the lives of all the cats.
+
+
+
+
+Natural History.
+
+
+=Stories and Pictures of Wild Animals.= By Anna F. Burnham. Quarto,
+boards, 75 cts.
+
+Big letters, big pictures and easy stories of elephants, lions, tigers,
+lynxes, jaguars, bears and many others.
+
+
+=Life and Habits of Wild Animals.= Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
+
+The very best book young folks can have if they are at all interested
+in Natural History. If they are not yet interested it will make them
+so. Illustrated from designs by Joseph Wolf.
+
+
+=Children's Out-Door Neighbors.= By Mrs. A. E. Andersen-Maskell. 3
+volumes, 12mo, cloth, each 1.00.
+
+Three instructive and interesting books: Children with Animals,
+Children with Birds, Children with Fishes. The author has the happy
+faculty of interesting boys and girls in the wonderful neighbors around
+them and that without introducing anything which is not borne out by
+the knowledge of learned men.
+
+
+=Some Animal Pets.= By Mrs. Oliver Howard. Quarto, boards, 35 cts.
+
+The experiences of a Colorado family with young, wild and tame animals.
+It is one of the pleasantest animal books we have met in many a day.
+Well thought, well written, well pictured, the book itself, apart from
+its contents, is attractive. Full page pictures.
+
+
+=Tiny Folk In Red and Black.= Quarto, boards, 35 cts.
+
+The tiny folk are ants and they make as interesting a study as human
+folk--perhaps more interesting in the opinion of some. The book gives a
+full and graphic description of their many wise and curious ways--how
+they work, how they harvest their grain, how they milk their cows, etc.
+It will teach the children to keep eyes and ears open.
+
+
+=My Land and Water Friends.= By Mary E. Bamford. Seventy illustrations
+by Bridgman. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
+
+The frog opens the book with a "talk" about himself, in the course
+of which he tells us all about the changes through which he passes
+before he arrives at perfect froghood. Then the grasshopper talks
+and is followed by others, each giving his view of life from his own
+individual standpoint.
+
+
+
+
+Young Folks' Illustrated Quartos.
+
+
+=Wide Awake Volume Z.= Quarto, boards, 1.75.
+
+Good literature and art have been put into this volume. Henry Bacon's
+paper about Rosa Bonheur, the great painter of horses and lions, and
+Steffeck's painting of Queen Louise with Kaiser William would do credit
+to any Art publication.
+
+
+=Chit Chat for Boys and Girls.= Quarto, boards, 75 cts.
+
+A volume of selected pieces upon every conceivable subject. As a
+distinctive feature it devotes considerable space to Home Life and
+Sports and Pastimes.
+
+
+=Good Cheer for Boys and Girls.=
+
+Short stories, sketches, poems, bits of history, biography and natural
+history.
+
+
+=Our Little Men and Women for 1888.= Quarto, boards, 1.50.
+
+No boys and girls who have this book can be ignorant beyond their years
+of history, natural history, foreign sights or the good times of other
+boys and girls.
+
+
+=Babyland for 1888.= Quarto, boards, 75 cts.
+
+Finger-plays, cricket stories, Tales told by a Cat and scores of
+jingles and pictures. Large print and easy words. Colored frontispiece.
+
+
+=Kings and Queens at Home.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto, boards, 50
+cts.
+
+Short-story accounts of living royal personages.
+
+
+=Queen Victoria at Home.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto, boards, 50
+cts.
+
+Pen picture of a noble woman. It will aid in educating the heart by
+presenting the domestic side of the queen's character.
+
+
+=Stories about Favorite Authors.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto
+boards, 50 cts.
+
+Little literature lessons for little boys and girls.
+
+
+=Child Lore.= Edited by Clara Doty Bates. Quarto, cloth, tinted edges,
+2.25; boards, 1.50.
+
+More than 50,000 copies sold. The most successful quarto for children.
+
+
+
+
+Helpful Books for Young Folks.
+
+
+=Danger Signals.= By Rev. F. E. Clark, President of the United Society
+of Christian Endeavor. 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.
+
+The enemies of youth from the business man's standpoint. The substance
+of a series of addresses delivered two or three years ago in one of the
+Boston churches.
+
+
+=Marion Harland's Cookery for Beginners.= 12mo, vellum cloth, 75 cts.
+
+The untrained housekeeper needs such directions as will not confuse
+and discourage her. Marion Harland makes her book simple and practical
+enough to meet this demand.
+
+
+=Bible Stories.= By Laurie Loring. 4to, boards, 35 cts.
+
+Very short stories with pictures. The Creation, Noah and the Dove,
+Samuel, Joseph, Elijah, the Christ Child, the Good Shepherd, Peter, etc.
+
+
+=The Magic Pear.= Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75 cts.
+
+Twelve outline drawing lessons with directions for the amusement of
+little folks. They are genuine pencil puzzles for untaught fingers. A
+pear gives shape to a dozen animal pictures.
+
+
+=What O'Clock Jingles.= By Margaret Johnson. Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75
+cts.
+
+Twelve little counting lessons. Pretty rhymes for small children.
+Twenty-seven artistic illustrations by the author.
+
+
+=Ways for Boys to Make and Do Things.= 60 cts.
+
+Eight papers by as many different authors, on subjects that interest
+boys. A book to delight active boys and to inspire lazy ones.
+
+
+=Our Young Folks at Home.= 4to, boards, 1.00.
+
+A collection of illustrated prose stories by American authors and
+artists. It is sure to make friends among children of all ages. Colored
+frontispiece.
+
+
+=Peep of Day Series.= 3 vols., 1.20 each.
+
+Peep of Day, Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept. Sermonettes for the
+children, so cleverly preached that the children will not grow sleepy.
+
+
+=Home Primer.= Boards, square, 8vo, 50 cts.
+
+A book for the little ones to learn to read in before they are old
+enough to be sent off to school. 100 illustrations.
+
+
+MONTEAGLE. By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price 75 cents. Both
+girls and boys will find this story of Pansy's pleasant and profitable
+reading. Dilly West is a character whom the first will find it an
+excellent thing to intimate, and boys will find in Hart Hammond a
+noble, manly, fellow who walks for a time dangerously near temptation,
+but escapes through providential influences, not the least of which
+is the steady devotion to duty of the young girl, who becomes an
+unconscious power of good.
+
+
+A DOZEN OF THEM. By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price 60 cents.
+A Sunday-school story, written in Pansy's best vein, and having for its
+hero a twelve-year-old boy who has been thrown upon the world by the
+death of his parents, and who has no one left to look after him but a
+sister a little older, whose time is fully occupied in the milliner's
+shop where she is employed. Joe, for that is the boy's name, finds a
+place to work at a farmhouse where there is a small private school.
+His sister makes him promise to learn by heart a verse of Scripture
+every month. It is a task at first, but he is a boy of his word, and he
+fulfills his promise, with what results the reader of the story will
+find out. It is an excellent book for the Sunday-school.
+
+
+AT HOME AND ABROAD. Stories from _The Pansy_ Boston: D. Lothrop
+Company. Price, $1.00. A score of short stories which originally
+appeared in the delightful magazine, _The Pansy_, have been here
+brought together in collected form with the illustrations which
+originally accompanied them. They are from the pens of various authors,
+and are bright, instructive and entertaining.
+
+
+ABOUT GIANTS. By Isabel Smithson. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price
+60 cents. In this little volume Miss Smithson has gathered together
+many curious and interesting facts relating to real giants, or people
+who have grown to an extraordinary size. She does not believe that
+there was ever a race of giants, but that those who are so-called are
+exceptional cases, due to some freak of nature. Among those described
+are Cutter, the Irish giant, who was eight feet tall, Tony Payne, whose
+height exceeded seven feet, and Chang, the Chinese giant, who was on
+exhibition in this country a few years ago. The volume contains not
+only accounts of giants, but also of dwarfs, and is illustrated.
+
+
+AMERICAN AUTHORS. By Amanda B. Harris. Boston: D. Lothrop Company.
+Price $1.00. This is one of the books we can heartily commend to
+young readers, not only for its interest, but for the information
+it contains. All lovers of books have a natural curiosity to know
+something about their writers, and the better the books, the keener
+the curiosity. Miss Harris has written the various chapters of the
+volume with a full appreciation of this fact. She tells us about the
+earlier group of American writers, Irving, Cooper, Prescott, Emerson,
+and Hawthorne, all of whom are gone, and also of some of those who
+came later, among them the Cary sisters, Thoreau, Lowell, Helen Hunt,
+Donald G. Mitchell and others. Miss Harris has a happy way of imparting
+information, and the boys and girls into whose hands this little book
+may fall will find it pleasant reading.
+
+
+TILTING AT WINDMILLS: A Story of the Blue Grass Country. By Emma M.
+Connelly. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. 12mo, $1.50.
+
+Not since the days of "A Fool's Errand" has so strong and so
+characteristic a "border novel" been brought to the attention of the
+public as is now presented by Miss Connelly in this book which she so
+aptly terms "Tilting at Windmills." Indeed, it is questionable whether
+Judge Tourgee's famous book touched so deftly and yet so practically
+the real phases of the reconstruction period and the interminable
+antagonisms of race and section.
+
+The self-sufficient Boston man, a capital fellow at heart, but tinged
+with the traditions and environments of his Puritan ancestry and
+conditions, coming into his strange heritage in Kentucky at the close
+of the civil war, seeks to change by instant manipulation all the
+equally strong and deep-rooted traditions and environments of Blue
+Grass society.
+
+His ruthless conscience will allow of no compromise, and the people
+whom he seeks to proselyte alike misunderstand his motives and spurn
+his proffered assistance.
+
+Presumed errors are materialized and partial evils are magnified.
+Allerton tilts at windmills and with the customary Quixotic results. He
+is, seemingly, unhorsed in every encounter.
+
+Miss Connelly's work in this, her first novel, will make readers
+anxious to hear from her again and it will certainly create, both in
+her own and other States, a strong desire to see her next forthcoming
+work announced by the same publishers in one of their new series--her
+"Story of the State of Kentucky."
+
+
+THE ART OF LIVING. From the Writings of Samuel Smiles. With
+Introduction by the venerable Dr. Peabody of Harvard University, and
+Biographical Sketch by the editor, Carrie Adelaide Cooke. Boston: D.
+Lothrop Company. Price $1.00.
+
+Samuel Smiles is the Benjamin Franklin of England. His sayings have a
+similar terseness, aptness and force; they are directed to practical
+ends, like Franklin's; they have the advantage of being nearer our time
+and therefore more directly related to subjects upon which practical
+wisdom is of practical use.
+
+Success in life is his subject all through, The Art of Living; and
+he confesses on the very first page that "happiness consists in the
+enjoyment of little pleasures scattered along the common path of life,
+which in the eager search for some great and exciting joy we are apt
+to overlook. It finds delight in the performance of common duties
+faithfully and honorably fulfilled."
+
+Let the reader go back to that quotation again and consider how
+contrary it is to the spirit that underlies the businesses that are
+nowadays tempting men to sudden fortune, torturing with disappointments
+nearly all who yield, and burdening the successful beyond their
+endurance, shortening lives and making them weary and most of them
+empty.
+
+Is it worth while to join the mad rush for the lottery; or to take the
+old road to slow success?
+
+This book of the chosen thoughts of a rare philosopher leads to
+contentment as well as wisdom; for, when we choose the less brilliant
+course because we are sure it is the best one, we have the most
+complete and lasting repose from anxiety.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Punctuation errors repaired.
+
+First book list page, "Eaoh" changed to "Each" (Each volume 16mo)
+
+Page 4, "208" changed to "226" to reflect actual first page of Chapter
+XII.
+
+Page 4, "230" changed to "304" to reflect actual first page of Chapter
+XVII.
+
+Page 4 and 5, each page number reference increased by two to match
+actual location of remaining chapters. (_i.e._ 318 is now 320 to
+reflect location of Chapter XVIII)
+
+Page 29, "botton" changed to "bottom" (for in the bottom of)
+
+Page 69, "nowdays" changed to "nowadays" (the pennies nowadays)
+
+Page 88, "keees" changed to "knees" (soon on her knees)
+
+Page 200, "think" changed to "thing" (thing that I should)
+
+Page 202, "interruped" changed to "interrupted" (of her had interrupted)
+
+Page 212, "sat" changed to "set" (he set the table)
+
+Page 269, "unsual" changed to "unusual" (unusual toilet having)
+
+Page 385, extra word "the" removed from text. Original read (have at
+the the windows)
+
+Page 407, "pealed" changed to "peeled" (turnips half-peeled)
+
+Page 437, "esson" changed to "lesson" (lesson is the joy)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Fishers: and their Nets, by Pansy
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45536 ***
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Little Fishers: and Their Nets, by Pansy (Isabella Alden).
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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45536 ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 506px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="506" height="800" alt="cover" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>THE PANSY BOOKS.</div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><b>Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.50</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Chautauqua Girls at Home.</li>
+<li>Christie's Christmas.</li>
+<li>Divers Women.</li>
+<li>Echoing and Re-Echoing.</li>
+<li>Eighty-Seven.</li>
+<li>Endless Chain (An).</li>
+<li>Ester Ried.</li>
+<li>Ester Ried Yet Speaking.</li>
+<li>Four Girls at Chautauqua.</li>
+<li>From Different Standpoints.</li>
+<li>Hall in the Grove (The).</li>
+<li>Household Puzzles.</li>
+<li>Interrupted.</li>
+<li>Judge Burnham's Daughters.</li>
+<li>Julia Ried.</li>
+<li>King's Daughter (The).</li>
+<li>Little Fishers and Their Nets.</li>
+<li>Links in Rebecca's Life.</li>
+<li>Mrs. Solomon Smith Looking On.</li>
+<li>Modern Prophets.</li>
+<li>Man of the house.</li>
+<li>New Graft on the Family Tree (A).</li>
+<li>One Commonplace Day.</li>
+<li>Pocket Measure (The).</li>
+<li>Profiles.</li>
+<li>Ruth Erskine's Crosses.</li>
+<li>Randolphs (The).</li>
+<li>Sevenfold Trouble (A).</li>
+<li>Sidney Martin's Christmas.</li>
+<li>Spun from Fact.</li>
+<li>Those Boys.</li>
+<li>Three People.</li>
+<li>Tip Lewis and His Lamp.</li>
+<li>Wise and Otherwise.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 12mo, cloth. $1.25.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Cunning Workmen.</li>
+<li>Dr. Deane's Way.</li>
+<li>Grandpa's Darlings.</li>
+<li>Miss Priscilla Hunter.</li>
+<li>Mrs. Deane's Way.</li>
+<li>What She Said.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.00.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>At Home and Abroad.</li>
+<li>Bobby's Wolf and other Stories.</li>
+<li>Five Friends.</li>
+<li>In the Woods and Out.</li>
+<li>Young Folks Worth Knowing.</li>
+<li>Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening.</li>
+<li>New Years Tangles.</li>
+<li>Next Things.</li>
+<li>Pansy Scrap Book.</li>
+<li>Some Young Heroines.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Couldn't be Bought.</li>
+<li>Getting Ahead.</li>
+<li>Mary Burton Abroad.</li>
+<li>Pansies.</li>
+<li>Six Little Girls.</li>
+<li>Stories from the life of Jesus.</li>
+<li>That Boy Bob.</li>
+<li>Two Boys.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 16mo, cloth, 75 cts.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Bernie's White Chicken.</li>
+<li>Docia's Journal.</li>
+<li>Helen Lester.</li>
+<li>Jessie Wells.</li>
+<li>Monteagle.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 16mo, cloth, 60 cts.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Browning Boys.</li>
+<li>Dozen of Them (A).</li>
+<li>Gertrude's Diary.</li>
+<li>Hedge Fence (A).</li>
+<li>Side by Side.</li>
+<li>Six O'Clock in the Evening.</li>
+<li>Stories of Remarkable Women.</li>
+<li>Stories of Great Men.</li>
+<li>Story of Puff.</li>
+<li>"We Twelve girls."</li>
+<li>World of Little People (A).</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;">
+<img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="older man seated looking at young boy" />
+<div class="caption">NORMAN WAS A HANDSOME BOY WHEN SHE MARRIED MR. DECKER.</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h1>Little Fishers: and Their Nets</h1>
+
+<div class='center'>
+BY<br />
+<span class='author'>PANSY</span><br />
+<span class='authorof'>AUTHOR OF "CHRISTIE'S CHRISTMAS," "A HEDGE FENCE," "GERTRUDE'S<br />
+DIARY," "THE MAN OF THE HOUSE," "INTERRUPTED,"<br />
+"THE HALL IN THE GROVE," "AN ENDLESS<br />
+CHAIN," "MRS. SOLOMON SMITH LOOKING<br />
+ON," "FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA,"<br />
+"RUTH ERSKINE'S CROSSES,"<br />
+"SPUN FROM FACT,"<br />
+ETC., ETC.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<i>ILLUSTRATED</i><br />
+<br /><br /><br />
+<small>BOSTON</small><br />
+D LOTHROP COMPANY<br />
+<small>FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS</small><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='copyright'>
+<span class="smcap">Copyright 1887<br />
+by<br />
+D Lothrop Company</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents">
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="right"><small>PAGE.</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'>CHAPTER I.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Deckers' Home</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER II.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Beginning her Life</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER III.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Truth is told</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IV.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">New Friends</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER V.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A great Undertaking</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VI.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">How it succeeded</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Long Stories to tell</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VIII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span><span class="smcap">A Sabbath to remember</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IX.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Bargain and a Promise</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER X.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Pleasure and Disappointment</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XI.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A complete Success</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">An unexpected Helper</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The little Picture Makers</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIV.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Concert</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XV.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Will and a Way</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVI.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">An Ordeal</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Flower Party</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVIII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A satisfactory Evening</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIX.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span><span class="smcap">Ready to try</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XX.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Way made plain</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXI.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The New Enterprise</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Too good to be True</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_382">382</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXIII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The crowning Wonder</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_400">400</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXIV.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Past and Present</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_418">418</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a><br /><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='maintitle'>Little Fishers: and Their Nets.</div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER I.<br />
+
+<small>THE DECKERS' HOME.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>JOE DECKER gave his chair a noisy shove
+backward from the table, over the uneven
+floor, shambled across the space between it and
+the kitchen door, a look of intense disgust on his
+face, then stopped for his good-morning speech:</div>
+
+<p>"You may as well know, first as last, that
+I've sent for Nan. I've stood this kind of
+thing just exactly as long as I'm going to.
+There ain't many men, I can tell you, who would
+have stood it so long. Such a meal as that!
+Ain't fit for a decent dog!</p>
+
+<p>"Nan is coming in the afternoon stage.
+There must be some place fixed up for her to
+sleep in. Understand, now, that has <i>got</i> to be
+done, and I won't have no words about it."</p>
+
+<p>Then he slammed the door, and went away.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Yes, he was talking to his wife! She could
+remember the time when he used to linger in
+the door, talking to her, so many last words to
+say, and when at last he would turn away with
+a kind "Well, good-by, Mary! Don't work too
+hard."</p>
+
+<p>But that seemed ages ago to the poor woman
+who was left this morning in the wretched little
+room with the door slammed between her
+and her husband. She did not look as though
+she had life enough left to make words about
+anything. She sat in a limp heap in one of the
+broken chairs, her bared arms lying between
+the folds of a soiled and ragged apron.</p>
+
+<p>Not an old woman, yet her hair was gray, and
+her cheeks were faded, and her eyes looked as
+though they had not closed in quiet restful
+sleep for months. She had not combed her hair
+that morning; and thin and faded as it was, it
+hung in straggling locks about her face.</p>
+
+<p>I don't suppose you ever saw a kitchen just like
+that one! It was heated, not only by the fierce
+sun which streamed in at the two uncurtained
+eastern windows, but by the big old stove,
+which could smoke, not only, and throw out an
+almost unendurable heat on a warm morning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+like this, when heat was not wanted, but had a
+way at all times of refusing to heat the oven,
+and indeed had fits of sullenness when it would
+not "draw" at all.</p>
+
+<p>This was one of the mornings when the fire
+had chosen to burn; it had swallowed the legs
+and back of a rickety chair which the mistress
+in desperation had stuffed in, when she was
+waiting for the teakettle to boil, and now that
+there was nothing to boil, or fry, and no need
+for heat, the stump of wood, wet by yesterday's
+rain, had dried itself and chosen to burn.</p>
+
+<p>The west windows opened into a side yard,
+and the sound of children's voices in angry dispute,
+and the smell of a pigsty, came in together,
+and seemed equally discouraging to the
+wilted woman in the chair.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was already pretty high in the sky,
+yet the breakfast-table still stood in the middle
+of the room.</p>
+
+<p>I don't know as I can describe that table to
+you. It was a square one, unpainted, and
+stained with something red, and something
+green, and spotted with grease, and spotted with
+black, rubbed from endless hot kettles set on
+it, or else from one kettle set on it endless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+times; it must have been that way, for now that
+I think of it, there was but one kettle in that
+house. No tablecloth covered the stains; there
+was a cracked plate which held a few crusts of
+very stale bread, and a teacup about a third full
+of molasses, in which several flies were struggling.
+More flies covered the bread crusts, and
+swam in a little mess of what had been butter,
+but was now oil, and these were the only signs
+of food.</p>
+
+<p>It was from this breakfast-table that the man
+had risen in disgust. You don't wonder? You
+think it was enough to disgust anybody? That
+is certainly true, but if the man had only stopped
+to think that the reason it presented such an
+appearance was because he had steadily drank
+up all that ought to have gone on it during the
+months past, perhaps he would have turned his
+disgust where it belonged&mdash;on himself.</p>
+
+<p>The woman had not tried to eat anything.
+She had given the best she had to the husband
+and son, and had left it for them. She was very
+willing to do so. It seemed to her as though
+she never could eat another mouthful of anything.</p>
+
+<p>Can you think of her, sitting in that broken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+chair midway between the table and the stove,
+the heat from the stove puffing into her face;
+the heat from the sun pouring full on her back,
+her straggling hair silvery in the sunlight, her
+short, faded calico dress frayed about the ankles,
+her feet showing plainly from the holes of the
+slippers into which they were thrust, her hands
+folded about the soiled apron, and such a look
+of utter hopeless sorrow on her face as cannot
+be described?</p>
+
+<p>No, I hope you cannot imagine a woman like
+her, and will never see one to help you paint the
+picture. And yet I don't know; since there
+are such women&mdash;scores of them, thousands of
+them&mdash;why should you not know about them,
+and begin now to plan ways of helping them out
+of these kitchens, and out of these sorrows?</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker rose up presently, and staggered
+toward the table; a dim idea of trying to clear
+it off, and put things in something like order,
+struggled with the faintness she felt. She
+picked up two plates, sticky with molasses, and
+having a piece of pork rind on one, and set
+them into each other. She poured a slop of
+weak tea from one cracked cup into another
+cracked cup, her face growing paler the while.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+Suddenly she clutched at the table, and but for
+its help, would have fallen. There was just
+strength enough left to help her back to the
+rickety chair. Once there, she dropped into
+the same utterly hopeless position, and though
+there was no one to listen, spoke her sorrowful
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"It's no use; I must just give up. I'm done
+for, and that's the truth! I've been expecting
+it all along, and now it's come. I couldn't clear
+up here and get them any dinner, not if he
+should kill me, and I don't know but that will
+be the next thing. I've slaved and slaved; if
+anybody ever tried to do something with nothing,
+I'm the one; and now I'm done. I've just
+got to lie down, and stay there, till I die. I
+wish I <i>could</i> die. If I could do it quick, and be
+done with it, I wouldn't care how soon; but it
+would be awful to lie there and see things go
+on; oh, dear!"</p>
+
+<p>She lifted up her poor bony hands and covered
+her face with them and shook as though she
+was crying. But she shed no tears. The truth
+is, her poor eyes were tired of crying. It was
+a good while since any tears had come. After
+a few minutes she went on with her story.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It isn't enough that we are naked, and half-starved,
+and things growing worse every day,
+but now that Nan mast come and make one
+more torment. 'Fix a place for her to sleep!'
+Where, I wonder, and what with? It is too
+much! Flesh and blood can't bear any more.
+If ever a woman did her best I have, and done
+it with nothing, and got no thanks for it; now
+I've got to the end of my rope. If I have
+strength enough to crawl back into bed, it is all
+there is left of me."</p>
+
+<p>But for all that, she tried to do something
+else. Three times she made an effort to clear
+away the few dirty things on that dirty table,
+and each time felt the deadly faintness creeping
+over her, which sent her back frightened to the
+chair. The children came in, crying, and she
+tried to untie a string for one, and find a pin
+for the other; but her fingers trembled so that
+the knot grew harder, and not even a pin was
+left for her to give them, and she finally lost all
+patience with their cross little ways and gave
+each a slap and an order not to come in the
+house again that forenoon.</p>
+
+<p>The door was ajar into the most discouraged
+looking bedroom that you can think of. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+not simply that the bed was unmade; the
+truth is, the clothes were so ragged that you
+would have thought they could not be touched
+without falling to pieces; and they were badly
+stained and soiled, the print of grimy little
+hands being all over them. Partly pushed under,
+out of sight, was a trundle-bed, that, if anything,
+looked more repulsive than the large one.
+There was an old barrel in the corner, with a
+rough board over it, and a chair more rickety
+than either of those in the kitchen, and this was
+the only furniture there was in that room.</p>
+
+<p>The only bright thing there was in it was the
+sunshine, for there was an east window in this
+room, and the curtain was stretched as high as
+it could be. To the eyes of the poor tired
+woman who presently dragged herself into this
+room, the light and the heat from the sun seemed
+more than she could bear, and she tugged at the
+brown paper curtain so fiercely that it tore half
+across, but she got it down, and then she fell
+forward among the rags of the bed with a
+groan.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Mrs. Decker! I wonder if you have not
+imagined all her sorrowful story without another
+word from me!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is such an old story; and it has been told
+over so many times, that all the children in
+America know it by heart.</p>
+
+<p>Yes; she was the wife of a drunkard. Not
+that Joe Decker called himself a drunkard; the
+most that he ever admitted was that he sometimes
+took a drop too much! I don't think he
+had the least idea how many times in a month
+he reeled home, unable to talk straight, unable
+to help himself to his wretched bed.</p>
+
+<p>I don't suppose he knew that his brain was
+never free from the effects of alcohol; but his
+wife knew it only too well. She knew that he
+was always cross and sullen now, when he was
+not fierce, and she knew that this was not his
+natural disposition. No one need explain to her
+how alcohol would effect a man's nature; she
+had watched her husband change from month to
+month, and she knew that he was growing worse
+every day.</p>
+
+<p>There was another sorrow in this sad woman's
+heart. She had one boy who was nearly ten
+years old, when she married Mr. Decker; and
+people had said to her often and often, "What
+a handsome boy you have, Mrs. Lloyd; he ought
+to have been a girl." And the first time she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+had felt any particular interest in Joe Decker
+was when he made her boy a kite, and showed
+him how to fly it, and gave him one bright evening,
+such as fathers give their boys. This boy's
+father had died when he was a baby, and the
+Widow Lloyd had struggled on alone; caring for
+him, keeping him neatly dressed, sending him
+to school as soon as he was old enough, bringing
+him up in such a way that it was often and
+often said in the village, "What a nice boy that
+Norman Lloyd is! A credit to his mother!"
+And the mother had sat and sewed, in the evenings
+when Norman was in bed, and thought
+over the things that fathers could do for boys
+which mothers could not; and then thought that
+there were things which mothers could do for
+girls that fathers could not, and Mr. Joseph
+Decker, the carpenter, had a little girl, she had
+been told, only a few years younger than her
+Norman. And so, when Mr. Decker had made
+kites, not only, but little sail boats, and once, a
+little table for Norman to put his school books
+on, with a drawer in it for his writing-book and
+pencil, and when he had in many kind and manly
+ways won her heart, this respectable widow who
+had for ten years earned her own and her boy's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+living, married him, and went to keep his home
+for him, and planned as to the kind and motherly
+things which she would do for his little girl
+when she came home.</p>
+
+<p>Alas for plans! She knew, this foolish woman,
+that Mr. Decker sometimes took a drink of
+beer with his noon meal, and again at night, perhaps;
+but she said to herself, "No wonder, poor
+man; always having to eat his dinner out of a
+pail! No home, and no woman to see that he
+had things nice and comfortable. She would
+risk but what he would stay at home, when he
+had one to stay in, and like a bit of beefsteak
+better than the beer, any day."</p>
+
+<p>She had not calculated as to the place which
+the beer held in his heart. Neither had he. He
+was astonished to find that it was not easy to
+give it up, even when Mary wanted him to. He
+was astonished at first to discover how often he
+was thirsty with a thirst that nothing but beer
+would satisfy. I have not time for all the story.
+The beer was not given up, the habit grew
+stronger and stronger, and steadily, though at
+first slowly, the Deckers went down. From
+being one of the best workmen in town, Mr.
+Decker dropped down to the level of "Old Joe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+Decker," whom people would not employ if they
+could get anybody else. The little girl had
+never come home save for a short visit; at first
+the new mother was sorry, then she was glad.</p>
+
+<p>As the days passed, her heart grew heavier
+and heavier; a horrible fear which was almost
+a certainty, had now gotten hold of her&mdash;that
+her handsome, manly Norman was going to copy
+the father she had given him! Poor mother!</p>
+
+<p>I would not, if I could, describe to you all the
+miseries of that long day! How the mother lay
+and tossed on that miserable bed, and burned
+with fever and groaned with pain. How the
+children quarreled and cried, and ran into
+mother, and cried again because she could give
+them no attention, and made up, and ran out
+again to play, and quarreled again. How the
+father came home at noon, more under the influence
+of liquor than he had been in the morning;
+and swore at the table still standing as he
+had left it at breakfast time, and swore at his
+wife for "lying in bed and sulking, instead of
+doing her work like a decent woman," and swore
+at his children for crying with hunger; and
+finally divided what remained of the bread between
+them, and went off himself to a saloon,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+where he spent twenty-five cents for his dinner,
+and fifty cents for liquor. How Norman came
+home, and looked about the deserted kitchen and
+empty cupboard, and looked in at his mother,
+and said he was sorry she had a headache, and
+sighed, and wished that he had a decent home
+like other fellows, and wished that a doctor
+could be found, who didn't want more money
+than he was worth, to pay him for coming to see
+a sick woman, and then went to a bakery and
+bought a loaf of bread, and a piece of cheese,
+and having munched these, washed them down
+with several glasses of beer, went back to his
+work. Meantime, the playing and the quarreling,
+and the crying, went on outside, and Mrs.
+Decker continued to sleep her heavy, feverish
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Several times she wakened in a bewilderment
+of fever and pain, and groaned, and tried to get
+up, and fell back and groaned again, and lost her
+misery in another unnaturally heavy sleep, and
+the day wore away until it was three o'clock in
+the afternoon. The stages would be due in a few
+minutes&mdash;the one that brought passengers over
+from the railroad junction a mile away. The children
+in the yard did not know that one of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+was expected to stop at their house; and the
+father when he came home at noon had been
+drinking too much liquor to remember it; and
+Norman had not heard of it, and for his mother's
+sake would have been too angry to have met it if
+he had; so Nan was coming home with nobody
+to welcome her.</p>
+
+<p>If you had seen her sitting at that moment, a
+trim little maiden in the stage, her face all
+flushed over the prospect of seeing father, and
+the rest, in a few minutes, you would not have
+thought it possible that she could belong to the
+Decker family.</p>
+
+<p>She had not seen her home in seven years.
+She had been a little thing of six when she went
+away with the Marshall family.</p>
+
+<p>It had all come about naturally. Mrs. Marshall
+was their neighbor, and had known her
+mother from childhood; and when she died had
+carried the motherless little girl home with her
+to stay until Mr. Decker decided what to do;
+and he was slow in deciding, and Mrs. Marshall
+had a family of boys, but no little girl, and held
+the motherless one tenderly for her mother's
+sake; and when the Marshalls suddenly had an
+offer of business which made it necessary for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+them to move to the city, they clung to the little
+girl, and proposed to Mr. Decker that she
+should go with them and stay until he had a
+place for her again.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently he had not found a place for her
+in all these seven years, for she had never been
+sent for to come home.</p>
+
+<p>The new wife had wanted her at first, to be
+mother to her, as she fancied Mr. Decker was
+going to be father to her boy. But it did not
+take her very many months to get her eyes
+open to the thought that perhaps the girl would
+be better off away from her father; and of late
+years she had looked on the possible home-coming
+with positive terror. Her own little ones
+had nothing to eat, sometimes, save what Norman
+provided; and if "he"&mdash;and by this Mrs.
+Decker meant her husband; he had ceased to
+be "Mr. Decker" to her, or "Joseph," or even
+Joe&mdash;if "he" should take a notion to turn
+against the girl, life would be more terrible to
+them in every way; and on the other hand, if
+he should fancy her, and because of her, turn
+more against the wife, or Norman, what would
+become of them then?</p>
+
+<p>So the years had passed, and beyond an occasional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+threat when Joe Decker was at his worst,
+to "send for Nan right straight off," nothing
+had been said of her home-coming. The threat
+had come oftener of late, for Joe Decker had
+discovered that there was just now nothing that
+his wife dreaded more than the presence of this
+step-daughter; and his present manly mood was
+to do all he could for the discomfort of his wife!
+That was one of the elevating thoughts which
+liquor had given him!</p>
+
+<p>Three o'clock. The stages came rattling
+down the stony road. Few people who lived on
+this street had much to do with the stage; they
+could not afford to ride, and they did not belong
+to the class who had much company.</p>
+
+<p>So when the heavy carriages kept straight on,
+instead of turning the corner below, it brought
+a swarm of children from the various dooryards
+to see who was coming, and where.</p>
+
+<p>"It's stopped at Decker's, as true as I live!"
+said Mrs. Job Smith, peeping out of her clean
+pantry window to get a view. "I heard that
+Joe had sent for little Nan, but I hoped it wasn't
+true. Poor Nan! if the Marshalls have treated
+her with any kind of decency, it'll be a dreadful
+change, and I'm sorry enough for her. Yes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+that must be Nan getting out. She's got the
+very same bright eyes, but she has grown a sight,
+to be sure!" Which need not have seemed
+strange to Mrs. Smith, if she had stopped to
+remember that seven years had passed since Nan
+went away.</p>
+
+<p>The little woman got down with a brisk step
+from the stage, and watched her trunk set in the
+doorway, and got out her red pocket-book, and
+paid the fare, and then looked about her doubtfully.
+Could this be home!</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER II.<br />
+
+<small>BEGINNING HER LIFE.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>SHE did not remember anything, but the
+yard was very dirty, and the fence was
+tumbling down, and there were lights of glass
+out of the windows, and a general air of discomfort
+prevailed. It did not look like a home.
+Besides, where were father and mother? There
+must be some mistake.</div>
+
+<p>The two little Deckers who had played and
+quarreled together all day had left their work
+to come and stare at the new comer out of astonished
+eyes. Certainly they did not seem to
+have been expecting her.</p>
+
+<p>The new comer turned to the elder of the two
+children, and spoke in a gentle winning voice:
+"Little girl, do you live here&mdash;in this house?"</p>
+
+<p>The child with her forefinger placed meditatively
+on her lip, and her bright eyes staring intensely,
+decided to nod that she did.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And can you tell me what your name is?"</p>
+
+<p>To this question there was no answer for several
+seconds, then she thought better of it and
+gravely said: "I could."</p>
+
+<p>This seemed so funny, that poor Nan, though
+by this time carrying a very sad heart, could not
+help smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, will you?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>But at this the tangled yellow head was
+shaken violently. No, she wouldn't.</p>
+
+<p>"It can't be," said Nan, talking to herself,
+since there was no one who would talk with her,
+looking with troubled eyes at the two uncombed,
+unwashed children, with their dresses half torn
+from them, and dirtier than any dresses that
+this trim little maiden had ever seen before,
+"this really cannot be the place! and yet father
+said this street and number; and the driver said
+this was right." Then she stooped to the little
+one. "Won't you tell me if your name is Satie
+Decker?"</p>
+
+<p>But this one was shy, and hid her dirty face
+in her dirty hands, and stepped back behind her
+sister who at once came to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, 'tis," she said, "and you let her alone."</p>
+
+<p>A shadow fell over Nan's face, but she said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+quickly, "Then you must be Susie Decker, and
+this place is really home!"</p>
+
+<p>But you cannot think how strangely it sounded
+to her to call such a looking spot as this home.
+There was no use in standing on the doorstep.
+She could feel that curious eyes were peeping
+at her from neighbors' windows. She stepped
+quickly inside the half-open door, into the kitchen
+where that breakfast-table still stood, with the
+flies so thick around the molasses cup, from
+which the children had long since drained the
+molasses, that it was difficult to tell whether
+there was a cup behind it, or whether this really
+was a pyramid of flies.</p>
+
+<p>The children followed her in. Susie had a
+dark frown on her face, and a determined air,
+as one who meant to stand up for her rights and
+protect the little sister who still tried to hide
+behind her. I think it was well they were there;
+had they not been, I feel almost sure that the
+stranger would have sat down in the first chair
+and cried.</p>
+
+<p>Poor little woman! It was such a sorrowful
+home-coming to her. So different from what
+she had been planning all day.</p>
+
+<p>I wish I could give you a real true picture of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+her as she stood in the middle of that dreadful
+room, trying to choke back the tears while she
+convinced herself that she was really Nettie
+Decker. A trim little figure in a brown and
+white gingham dress, a brown straw hat trimmed
+with broad bands and ends of satin ribbon, with
+brown gloves on her hands, and a ruffle in her
+neck. This was Nettie Decker; neat and orderly,
+from ruffle to buttoned boots. I wonder if
+you can think what a strange contrast she was
+to everything around her?</p>
+
+<p>What was to be done? she could not stand
+there, gazing about her; and there seemed no
+place to sit down, and nowhere to go. Where
+could father be? Why had he not stayed at
+home to welcome his little girl? or if too busy
+for that, surely the mother could have stayed,
+and he must have left a message for her.</p>
+
+<p>If the little girls would only be good and try
+to tell her what all this strangeness meant! She
+made another effort to get into their confidence.
+She bent toward Susie, smiling as brightly as
+she could, and said: "Didn't you know, little
+girlie, that I was your sister Nettie? I have
+come home to play with you and help you have
+a nice time."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Even while she said it, she felt ten years older
+than she ever had before, and she wondered if
+she should ever play anything again; and if it
+could be possible for people to have nice times
+who lived in such a house as this. But Susie
+was in no sense won, and scowled harder than
+ever, as she said in a suspicious tone: "I ain't
+got no sister Nettie, only Sate, and Nan."</p>
+
+<p>Hot as the room was, the neat little girl shivered.
+There was something dreadful to her in
+the sound of that name. She had forgotten that
+she ever used to hear it; she remembered her
+father as having called her 'Nannie'; that would
+do very well, though it was not so pleasant to
+her as the 'Nettie' to which she had been answering
+for seven years.</p>
+
+<p>But how strange and sad it was that these
+little sisters should have been taught to call her
+Nan! could there be a more hateful name than
+that, she wondered. Did it mean that her step-mother
+hated her, and had taught the children
+to do so? She swallowed at the lump in her
+throat. What if she should cry! what would
+those children say or do, and what would happen
+next? she must try to explain.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Nannie," she couldn't make her lips say<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+the word Nan. "I have come home to live, and
+to help you!" She did not feel like saying
+"play with you," now. "Will you be a good
+girl, and let me love you?"</p>
+
+<p>How Susie scowled at her then! "No," she
+said, firmly, "I won't."</p>
+
+<p>There seemed to be no truthful answer to
+make to this, for in the bottom of her heart, Nannie
+did not believe that she could. Still, she
+must make the best of it, and she began slowly
+to draw off her gloves. Clearly she must do
+something towards getting herself settled.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you tell me where father is? or
+mother?" her voice faltered a little over that
+word; "maybe you can show me where to put
+my trunk; do you know which is to be my
+room?"</p>
+
+<p>There were pauses made between each of
+these questions. The poor little stranger seemed
+to be trying first one form and then another, to
+see if it was possible to get any help.</p>
+
+<p>Susie decided at last to do something besides
+scowl.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother's sick. She lies in bed and groans
+all the time. She ain't got us no dinner to-day;
+Sate and me called her, and called her, and she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+wouldn't say anything to us. There ain't no
+room only this and that," nodding her head
+toward the bedroom door, "and the room over
+the shed where Norm sleeps. Norm is hateful.
+He didn't bring home no bread this noon for
+Sate and me; and he said maybe he would;
+we're awful hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he couldn't," said poor startled Nettie.
+She hardly knew what she said, only it
+seemed natural to try to excuse Norm. But
+what dreadful story was this! If there was
+really a sick mother, why was not the father
+bending over her, and the house hushed and
+darkened, and somebody tiptoeing about, planning
+comforts for the night? She had seen
+something of sickness, and this was the way it
+was managed.</p>
+
+<p>Then what was this about there being no room
+for her? Then what in the world was she to do?
+Oh, what did it all mean! She felt as though
+she must run right back to the depot, and get on
+the cars and go to her own dear home. To be
+sure she knew that her father was poor; what
+of that? so were the Marshalls; she had heard
+Mrs. Marshall say many a time that "poor folks
+can't have such things," in answer to some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+the children's coaxings. But poverty such as
+this which seemed to surround this home was
+utterly strange to Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>Still, though she felt such a child, she was
+also a woman; in some things at least. She
+knew there was no going home for her to-night.
+If she had the money to go with, and if there
+had been a train to go on, she would still have
+been stayed, because it would be wrong to
+go. Her father had sent for her, had said that
+they wanted her, needed her, and her father certainly
+had a right to her; and she had come
+away with a full heart, and a firm resolve to be
+as good and as helpful and as happy in her old
+home as she possibly could. And now that
+nothing anywhere was as she had expected it,
+was no reason why she should not still do right.
+Only, what was there for her to do, and how
+should she begin?</p>
+
+<p>She stood there still in the middle of the
+room, the children staring. Presently she crossed
+on tiptoe to the bedroom door which was partly
+open and peeped in, catching her first glimpse of
+the woman whom she must call "mother."</p>
+
+<p>Also she caught a glimpse of that dreadful
+bed; and the horrors of that sight almost took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+away the thought of the woman lying on it.
+How could she help being sick if she had to sleep
+in such a place as that? Poor Nettie Decker!
+She stood and looked, and looked. Then seeing
+that the woman did not stir, but seemed to be
+in a heavy sleep, she shut the door softly and
+came away.</p>
+
+<p>I don't suppose that Nettie Decker will ever
+forget the next three hours of her life, even if
+she lives to be an old woman. Not that anything
+wonderful happened; only that, for years
+and years afterwards, it seemed to her that she
+grew suddenly, that afternoon, from a happy-hearted
+little girl of thirteen, into a care-taking,
+sorrowful woman. While she stood in that bedroom
+door, a perfect whirl of thoughts rushed
+through her brain, and when she shut the door,
+she had come to this conclusion:</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it; I am Nettie Decker; he is
+my father, and I belong to him, and I ought to
+be here if he wants me; and she is my mother;
+and if it is dreadful, I can't help it; there is
+everything to do; and I must do it."</p>
+
+<p>It was then that she shut the door softly and
+went back and began her life.</p>
+
+<p>There was that trunk out on the stoop. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+ought to go somewhere. At least she could drag
+it into the kitchen so that the troops of children
+gathering about the door need not have it to
+wonder at any longer. Putting all her strength
+to it she drew it in and shut the door. By this
+time, Sate, who was getting used to her as she
+had gotten used to many a new thing in her little
+life, began to wail that she was hungry, and
+wanted some bread and some molasses.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little girlie!" Nettie said, "don't cry;
+I'll see if I can find you something to eat. Did
+she really have no dinner, Susie? Oh, darling,
+don't cry so; you will trouble poor mother."</p>
+
+<p>But Susie had gone back to the scowling mood.
+"She <i>shall</i> cry, if she wants to; you can't stop
+her; and you needn't try; I'll cry too, just as
+loud as I can."</p>
+
+<p>And Susie Decker who had strong lungs and
+always did as she said she would, immediately
+set up such a howl as put Sate's milder crying
+quite in the shade.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie looked over at the bedroom door in
+dismay; but no sound came from there. Yet
+this roaring was fearful. How could it be stopped?
+Suddenly she plunged her hand into the depths
+of a small travelling bag which still hung on her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+arm, and brought forth a lovely red-cheeked
+peach. She held it before the eyes of the naughty
+couple and spoke in a determined tone: "This
+is for the one who stops crying this instant."</p>
+
+<p>Both children stopped as suddenly as though
+they had been wound up, and the machinery had
+run down.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie smiled, and went back into the travelling
+bag. "There must be two of them, it
+seems," she said, and brought out another peach.
+"Now you are to sit down on the steps and eat
+them, while I see what can be found for our
+supper."</p>
+
+<p>Down sat the children. There had been
+quiet determination in this new-comer's tone,
+and peaches were not to be trifled with. Their
+mouths had watered for a taste ever since the
+dear woolly things began to appear in the grocery
+windows, and not one had they had!</p>
+
+<p>Now began work indeed. Nettie opened her
+trunk and drew out a work apron which covered
+her dress from throat to shoes, and made her
+look if anything, prettier than before. Where
+was the broom? The children busy with their
+peaches, neither knew nor cared; however, a
+vigorous search among the rubbish in the shed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+brought one to light. And then there was such
+a cloud of dust as the Decker kitchen had not
+seen in a long time. Then came a visit to the
+back yard in search of chips; both children following
+close at her heels, saying nothing, but
+watching every movement with wide-open wondering
+eyes. Back again to the kitchen and the
+fire was made up. Then an old kettle was
+dragged out from a hole in the corner, which
+poor Mrs. Decker called a closet. It was to hold
+water, while the fire heated it, but first it must
+be washed; everything must be washed that
+was touched. Where was the dishcloth?</p>
+
+<p>The children being asked, stared and shook
+their heads. Nettie searched. She found at
+last a rag so black and ill-smelling that without
+giving the matter much thought she opened the
+stove door and thrust it in. This brought a rebuke
+from the fierce Susie.</p>
+
+<p>"You better look out how you burn up my
+mother's things. My mother will take your
+head right off."</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't good for anything, dear," Nettie
+said soothingly, "it was too dirty." And she
+stooped down and turned over the contents of
+the trunk. Neat little piles of clothing, carefully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+marked with her full name; a pretty green box
+which Susie dived for, and pushing off the cover
+disclosed little white ruffles, some of lace, and
+some of fine lawn, lying cosily together; but
+Nettie was not searching for such as these.
+Quite at the bottom of the trunk was a pile of
+towels, all neatly hemmed and marked. Two
+of these she selected; looked thoughtfully at
+one of them for a moment, and then with a
+grave shake of her head, got out her scissors and
+snipped it in two. Now she had a dishcloth, and
+a towel for drying. But what a pity to soil the
+nice white cloth by washing out that iron kettle!
+Nettie had grave suspicions that after such a
+proceeding it would not be fit for the dishes.
+Still, the kettle must be washed, and to have
+used the black rag which she had burned, was
+out of the question.</p>
+
+<p>There was no help for it, the other neat dishcloth
+must be sacrificed. So taking the precaution
+to wipe out the iron kettle with a piece of
+paper, and then to heat it quite hot, and apply
+soap freely, the cloth escaped without very serious
+injury; and in less time than it takes me to
+tell it, the water was getting itself into bubbles
+over the stove, and a tin pan was being cleaned,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+ready for the dishes. Then they were gathered,
+and placed in the hot and soapy water, and
+washed and rinsed and polished with the white
+towel until they shone; and the little girls
+looked on, growing more amazed each moment.</p>
+
+<p>It did not take long to wash every dish there
+was in that house. I suppose you would have
+been very much astonished if you could have
+seen how few there were! Nettie was very
+much astonished. She wondered how people
+could get supper with so few dishes, to say nothing
+of breakfasts and dinner. But you see she
+did not know how little there was to put on
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The next question was, Where to put them?
+One glance at the upper part of the closet where
+she had found some of them, convinced Nettie
+that her clean dishes could not be happy resting
+on those shelves. There was no help for it;
+they must be scrubbed, though she had not intended
+to begin housecleaning the first afternoon.
+More water and more soap, and the few
+shelves were soon cleared of rubbish, and washed.
+Nettie piled all the rubbish on a lower shelf and
+left it for a future day. She did not dare to
+burn any more property.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Don't they look pretty?" she said to the
+children, when at last the dishes were neatly arranged
+on the shelf. One held them all, nicely.</p>
+
+<p>Susie nodded with a grave face that said she
+had not yet decided whether to be pleased or
+indignant.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do it for?" she asked, after a
+moment's silent survey.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, to make them clean and shining.
+You and I are going to clear up the house and
+make it look ever so nice for mother when she
+wakes up."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you come home to help mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed. And you two little sisters
+must show me how to help her; poor sick
+mother! I am afraid she has too much to do."</p>
+
+<p>"She cries," said Susie gravely, as though
+she were stating not a surprising but simply a
+settled fact; "she cried every day: not out loud
+like Sate and me, but softly. Father says she
+is always sniveling."</p>
+
+<p>If you had been watching Nettie Decker just
+then you would have noticed that the blood
+flamed into her cheeks, and her eyes had a flash
+of wonder, and terror, and anger in them. What
+did it all mean? Where had the children learned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+such words? Was it possible that her father
+talked in this way to his wife?</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" she said unguardedly, "you must
+not talk so." But this made the fierce little
+Susie stamp her foot.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>shall</i> talk so!" she said angrily; "I shall
+talk just what I please, and you sha'n't stop me."
+And then the queer little mimic beside her
+stamped her foot, and said, "You sha'n't stop
+me."</p>
+
+<p>Said Nettie, "There was a little girl on the
+cars to-day that I knew. She had a little gray
+kitty with three white feet, and a white spot
+on one ear, and it had a blue ribbon around its
+neck. What if you had such a kitty. Would
+you be real good to it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will have a <i>black</i> kitty," said Susie, "all
+black; as black as that stove." Nettie glancing
+at the stove, could not help thinking that it was
+more gray than black; but she kept her thoughts
+to herself, and Susie went on. "And it should
+have a red ribbon around its neck; as red as
+Janie Martin's dress; her dress is as red as fire,
+and has ruffles on, and ribbons. But what would
+it eat?"</p>
+
+<p>She did not mean the dress but the kitten.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nettie laughed, but hastened to explain that
+the kitten would need a saucer of milk quite
+often, and bits of various things. This made
+wise Susie gravely shake her head.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't have no milk," she said, "only
+once in awhile when Norm buys it; Sate, she
+often cries for milk, but she don't get none. It
+don't do no good to cry for milk; I ain't cried
+for any in a long time."</p>
+
+<p>Poor little philosopher! Poor, pitiful childhood
+without any milk! Hardly anything could
+have told the story of poverty to Nettie's young
+ears more surely than this. Why, she was a
+big girl thirteen years old, and had lived in a
+city where milk was scarce, and yet her glass
+had been filled every evening. Nettie did not
+know what to make of it. How came her father
+to be so poor? She was sure that the house
+did not look like this when she went away; and
+her clothes had been neat and good. She had
+the little red dress now which she wore away.
+She thought of it when Susie was talking, and
+wondered if with a little fixing it could not be
+made to fit the black-eyed child who seemed to
+admire red so much. Finding the kitty a troublesome
+subject, at least so far as the finding of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+milk for it was concerned, she turned the conversation
+to the little girls who had been on the
+cars; the one with the kitty, and her little sister,
+whom she called "Pet." "She was about as
+old as you, Susie, and Pet was about Satie's age.
+And she was very kind to Pet; she always spoke
+to her so gently, and took such care of her everybody
+seemed to love her for her kindness."</p>
+
+<p>"I take care of Sate," said Susie. "I never
+let anybody hurt her. I would scratch their
+eyes out if they did; and they know it."</p>
+
+<p>"You slap me sometimes," little Sate said,
+her voice slightly reproachful.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Susie loftily, "but that is when
+you are bad and need it; I don't let anybody
+else slap you."</p>
+
+<p>"The oldest little girl had curly hair," said
+Nettie, "but it wasn't so long as yours, and did
+not curl so nicely as I think yours would. And
+Pet's hair was a pretty brown, like Sate's, and
+looked very pretty. It was combed so neatly.
+One wore a blue dress, and one a white dress;
+but I think they would have looked prettier if
+they had been dressed both alike."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like white dresses," said Susie; "I
+like fiery red ones."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So Nettie resolved that the red dress should
+be made to fit her.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, the scrubbing had gone on rapidly;
+the table was as clean as soap and water could
+make it. Now if those children would only let
+her wash their faces and put their hair in order,
+how different they would look. Should she
+venture to suggest it?</p>
+
+<p>It all depended on how the idea happened to
+strike Susie.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER III.<br />
+
+<small>THE TRUTH IS TOLD.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>IN the bottom of that wonderful little trunk
+lay side by side two little blue and white
+plaid dresses, made gabrielle fashion, with ruffles
+around the bottom and around the neck.
+Never were dresses made with more patient
+care. All the stitches were small and very neat.</div>
+
+<p>And they represented hours and hours of
+steady work. Every stitch in them had been
+taken by Nettie Decker. Long before she had
+thought of such a thing as coming home, they
+had been commenced. Birthday presents they
+were to be to the little sisters whom she had
+never seen. She had earned the money to buy
+them. She had borrowed two little neighbors
+of the same age, to fit them to, and with much
+advice and now and then a little skilful handling
+from Mrs. Marshall, they were finally finished to
+Nettie's great satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was the day the last stitch was set in them
+that she learned she was to come herself and
+bring them.</p>
+
+<p>She thought of them this afternoon. If the
+little girls would only let her comb their hair
+and wash their faces and hands, she would put
+on the new dresses. She had not intended to
+present them in that way, but dresses as soiled
+and faded and worn as those the little sisters
+had on, Nettie Decker had never worn.</p>
+
+<p>She opened the trunk, with both children beside
+her, watching, and drew out the dresses.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't these almost as pretty as red ones?"
+she asked, as she unfolded them, and displayed
+the dainty ruffles.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Susie, "not near so pretty as red
+ones. But then they are pretty. They aren't
+dresses at all; they are aprons. Are they for
+you to wear?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Nettie, "they are for two little
+girls to wear, who have their hair combed beautifully,
+and their hands and faces very clean."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do if the description fits. I can think just
+how nice you would look if your faces were clean
+and your hair was combed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We will put on the aprons," said Susie firmly,
+"but we won't have our hair combed, nor our
+faces washed, and you need not try it."</p>
+
+<p>But Miss Susie found that this new sister had
+as strong a will as she. The trunk lid went
+down with a click, and Nettie rose up.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," she said, "then we will not waste
+time over them. I brought them for you, and
+meant to put them on you this afternoon to surprise
+mamma, but if you don't want them, they
+can lie in the trunk."</p>
+
+<p>"I told you we did want them," said Susie,
+looking horribly cross. "I said we would put
+them on."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but you said some more which spoiled
+it. <i>I</i> say that they cannot go on until your
+faces and hands are so clean that they shine, and
+your hair is combed beautifully."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't make us have our hair combed."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not try," said Nettie, as though it
+was a matter of very small importance to her.
+"I was willing to dress you all up prettily, but
+if you don't choose to look like the little girls I
+saw on the cars, why you can go dirty, of course.
+But you can't have the clean new dresses."</p>
+
+<p>"Till when?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not ever. Unless you are clean and neat."</p>
+
+<p>"It hurts to have hair combed."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it. Yours would hurt a good deal,
+because you don't have it combed every day; if
+you kept it smooth and nice it would hardly
+hurt at all. But I didn't suppose you were a
+cowardly little girl who was afraid of a few
+pulls. If the dresses are not worth those, we
+had better let them lie in the trunk."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie was already beginning to understand
+her queer fierce little sister. She had no idea of
+being thought a coward.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, after a thoughtful pause,
+"comb my hair if you like; I don't care. Sate,
+you are going to have your hair combed, and
+you needn't cry; because it won't do any good."</p>
+
+<p>It was certainly a trial to all parties; and poor
+little Sate in spite of this warning, did shed several
+tears; but Susie, though she frowned, and
+choked, and once jerked the comb away and
+threw it across the floor, did not let a single
+tear appear on her cheeks. And at last the terrible
+tangles slipped out, and left silky folds of
+beautiful hair that was willing to do whatever
+Nettie's skilful fingers told it. When the faces
+and hands were clean, and the lovely blue dresses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+had been arranged, Nettie stood back to look at
+them in genuine delight. What pretty little girls
+they were! She sighed in two minutes after
+she thought this. What did it mean that they
+looked so neglected and dirty?</p>
+
+<p>"These must go in the wash," she said, as she
+gathered up the rags which had been kicked off.</p>
+
+<p>"Will we put these on in the morning?"
+asked Susie, in quite a mild tone. She was
+looking down at herself and was very much
+pleased with her changed appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no," Nettie said, "they are too light to
+play in. They are dress-up clothes. You must
+have dark dresses on in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"We ain't got no dresses only them," and
+Susie pointed contemptuously at the rags in
+Nettie's hand. This made poor Nettie sigh
+again. What did it all mean?</p>
+
+<p>However, there was no time for sighing.
+There was still a great deal to be done.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we must get tea," she said, bustling
+about. "Where does mother keep the bread,
+and other things?"</p>
+
+<p>"She don't keep them nowhere. We don't
+have no things. I go to the bakery sometimes
+for bread, and for potatoes, and sometimes for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+milk. I would go now; I just want to show
+that hateful little girl in there my new dress,
+and my curls, but it isn't a bit of use to go. He
+won't let us have another single thing without
+the money. He said so yesterday, and he looked
+so cross he scared Sate; but I made faces at
+him."</p>
+
+<p>This called forth several questions as to where
+the bakery was, and Nettie, finding that it was
+but a few steps away, and that the little girls
+really bought most of the things which came
+from there, counted out the required number of
+pennies from her poor little purse for a loaf of
+bread and a pint of milk. In the cupboard was
+what had once been butter, set on the upper
+shelf in a teacup. It was almost oil, now.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had a lump of ice for this," Nettie murmured,
+"it might do. Butter costs so much."</p>
+
+<p>"They keep ice at the bakery," said that wise
+young woman, Susie, "but we never buy it."</p>
+
+<p>This brought two more pennies from the
+pocketbook; for to Nettie it seemed quite impossible
+that butter in such a condition could be
+eaten. So the ice was ordered, and two very
+neat, and very vain little bits of girls started on
+their mission.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Tablecloths? Where would the new housekeeper
+find them? Where indeed! Hunt through
+the room as she would, no trace of one was to
+be found. She did not know that the Deckers
+had not used such an article in months. She
+thought of the cupboard drawer at home, and of
+the neat pile which was always waiting there,
+and at about this hour it had been her duty to
+set the table and make everything ready for tea.
+It would not do to think about it. There were
+sharper contrasts than these. Her proposed
+present to her mother had been a tablecloth, not
+very large nor very fine, but beautifully smooth
+and clean, and hemmed by her own patient fingers.
+She must get it out to-night, as no other
+appeared; and of course she could not set the
+table without one. So it was spread on the clean
+table, and the few dishes arranged as well as she
+could. There was a drawing of tea set up in
+another teacup, and there was a sticky little tin
+teapot. Nettie, as she washed it, told it that
+to-morrow she would scour it until it shone;
+then she made tea. Meantime the little errand
+girls had returned with their purchases, the
+butter was resting on a generous lump of ice,
+the bread which was found to be stale, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+toasted, a plate of cookies from the wonderful
+trunk was added, and at last there was ready
+such a supper as had not been eaten in that
+house for weeks. To be sure it looked to Nettie
+as though there was very little to eat; but then
+she had not been used to living at the Deckers.
+She began to be very nervous about the people
+who were going to sit down at this neat table.
+Why did not some of them come?</p>
+
+<p>The wise housekeeper knew that neither tea
+nor toast improved greatly by standing, but she
+drew the teapot to the very edge of the stove,
+covered the toast, and set it in the oven. Then
+she went softly to the bedroom door and opened
+it. This time a pair of heavy eyes turned, as
+the door creaked, and were fixed on her with a
+kind of bewildered stare. She went softly in.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you feel now?" she asked gently.
+"I have made a cup of tea and a bit of toast
+for you. Shall I bring them now? The children
+said you did not eat any dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" asked the astonished woman,
+still regarding her with that bewildered stare.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie swallowed at the lump in her throat.
+It would be dreadful if she should burst out crying
+and run away, as she felt exactly like doing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am Nettie Decker," she said, and her lips
+quivered a little. "Father sent for me, you
+know. Didn't you think I would be here to-day,
+ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can't be Nan!"</p>
+
+<p>I cannot begin to describe to you the astonishment
+there was in Mrs. Decker's voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm, I am. At least that is what father
+used to call me once in a while, just for fun.
+My name is Nanette; but Auntie Marshall where
+I live, or where I used to live"&mdash;she corrected
+herself, "always called me Nettie. May I bring
+you the tea, ma'am? I think it will make you
+feel better."</p>
+
+<p>But the two children had stayed in the background
+as long as they intended. They pushed
+forward, Susie eager-voiced:</p>
+
+<p>"Look at us! See my curls, and see my new
+apron, only she says it is a dress, but it ain't; it
+is made just like Jennie Brown's apron, ain't it?
+But we ain't got no dresses on. She's got a
+white cloth on the table, and cookies, and a
+lump of ice, and everything; and we had two
+peaches. Old Jock gave us the bread. She
+sent the money, and I told him to take his old
+money and give me some bread right straight."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>How fast Susie could talk!</p>
+
+<p>There was scarcely room for the slow sweet
+Satie to get in her gentle, "and me too." Meaning
+look at my dress and hair. The bewildered
+mother raised herself on her elbow and stared&mdash;from
+Nan to the little girls, and then back to
+Nan. She was sufficiently astonished to satisfy
+even Susie.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I never!" she said at last. "I didn't
+know, I mean I didn't think"&mdash;then she stopped
+and pressed her hand to her head, and pushed
+back the straggling hair behind her ears. "I
+took dizzy this morning," she said at last, addressing
+Nettie as though she were a grown-up
+neighbor who had stepped in to see her, "and
+I staggered to the bed, and didn't know nothing
+for a long while. I had a dreadful pain in my
+head, and then I must have dropped to sleep.
+Here I've been all day, if the day is gone. It
+must be after three o'clock if you've got here.
+I meant to try to do something towards making
+things a little more decent; though the land
+knows what it would have been; I don't.
+There's nothing to do with. I didn't know till
+this morning that he had the least notion of
+sending for you&mdash;though he's threatened it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+times enough. I've been ailing all the spring,
+and this morning I just give out. I don't know
+what is the matter with me. The bed goes
+round now, and things get into a kind of a
+blur."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me bring you a cup of tea and something
+to eat," said Nettie; "I think you are faint."
+Then she vanished, the children following.
+She was back in a few minutes, under her arm
+a white towel from her trunk; this she spread
+on the barrel head which you will remember did
+duty as a table. She spread it with one hand,
+little Sate carefully smoothing out the other
+end. In her left hand she carried a cup of tea
+smoking hot, and poor Mrs. Decker noticed that
+the cup shone. Susie followed behind, an air of
+grave importance on her face, and in her hands
+a plate, covered by a smaller one, which being
+taken off disclosed a delicately browned slice of
+bread with a bit of butter spread carefully
+over it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Decker again,
+but she drank the tea with feverish haste, stopping
+long enough to feel of the cup with a curious
+look on her face. It was so smooth. There
+was a sound of heavy feet outside, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+children appeared at the door and announced
+that father and Norm had come. Nettie took
+the emptied cup, promising to fill it again, urged
+the eating of the toast while it was hot, and
+went with trembling heart to meet the father
+whom she had not seen in so many years that
+she remembered very little about him.</p>
+
+<p>A great rough-faced, unshaven man, with uncombed
+hair, ragged and dirty shirt sleeves,
+ragged and dirty pants, a red face and eyes that
+seemed but half open, and watery. Nothing
+less like what Nettie had imagined a father,
+could well be described. However, if she had
+but known it, this was a great improvement on
+the man who often came home to supper. He
+was nearly sober, and greeted her with a rough
+sort of kindness, giving her a kiss, which made
+her shrink and tremble. It was perfumed with
+odors which she did not like.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Nan, my girl, you have grown into a
+fine young lady, have you? Tall for your years,
+too. And smart, I'll be bound; you wouldn't
+be your mother's girl if you wasn't. Is it you
+that has fixed up things so? It is a good thing
+you have come to take care of us. We haven't
+had anything decent here in so long, we've most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+forgot how to treat it. Come on, Norm. This
+table looks something like living again."</p>
+
+<p>And "Norm" shambled in. Rough, and uncombed,
+and unwashed, except a dab at his
+hands which left long streaks of brown at the
+wrists. A hard-looking boy, harder than Nettie
+had ever spoken to before. She could not help
+thinking of Jim Daker who lived in a saloon not
+far from her old home, and whom she had
+always passed with a hurried step, and with
+eyes on the ground, and of whom she thought
+as of one who lived in a different world from
+hers, and wondered how it felt to be down there
+in the slum. Now here was a boy whom it was
+her duty to think of as a brother; and he reminded
+her of Jim Daker!</p>
+
+<p>Still there was something about Norm that
+she could not help half liking. He had great
+brown, wistful-looking eyes, and an honest face.
+She had not much chance, it is true, to observe
+the eyes; for he did not look at her, nor speak,
+until his father said:</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you shake hands with Nan?
+You ought to be glad to see her. You ain't
+used to such a looking supper as this."</p>
+
+<p>The boy laughed, in an embarrassed way, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+said he was sure he did not know whether he
+was glad to see her or not: depended on what
+she had come for. He gave her just a gleam
+then from the brown eyes, and she smiled and
+held out her hand. He took it awkwardly
+enough, and dropped it as suddenly as though it
+had been hot; then sat down in haste at the
+table, where his step-father was already making
+havoc with the toast. It was not a very substantial
+meal for people who had dined on bread
+and cheese, and were hungering at that moment
+for beer; but the man had spoken the truth, it
+was better than they generally found. There
+was one part of the story, however, that he failed
+to tell: which was, that he did not furnish money
+to get anything better. As for Susie and Sate,
+they had become suddenly silent. They sat
+close together and devoured their toast, like
+hungry children indeed, but also like scared
+children. They gave occasional frightened
+glances at their father which puzzled and pained
+Nettie. No suspicion of the truth had yet come
+to her. Oh, yes, she had smelled the liquor
+when her father kissed her; but she thought it
+was something which had to do with the machinery
+around which he worked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Where is the old woman?" he asked suddenly,
+setting down his empty cup which Nettie
+had filled for the third time. She looked up at
+him with a startled air. To whom was he speaking
+and what old woman could he mean? Her
+look seemed to make him cross. "What are
+you staring at?" he said sharply. "Can't you
+answer a question? Where's your mother?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie hurried to answer; she was sick, had
+been real sick all day, but was better now, and
+was trying to get up.</p>
+
+<p>"She is everlastingly sick," the father said
+with a sneer; "you will get used to that story
+if you live here long. I hope you ain't one of
+the sickly kind, because we have heard enough
+of that."</p>
+
+<p>This sentence and the tone in which it was
+spoken, brought the blood in great waves to
+Nettie's face. It was the first time she had
+ever heard a man speak of his wife in such a
+way. Norm looked up from his cookie, and
+flashed angry eyes on his step-father for a moment,
+and said "he didn't know as that was
+any wonder. She had enough to make any
+woman sick."</p>
+
+<p>"You shut up," said the father in increasing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+irritability; and the children slipped out of their
+seats and moved toward the door, keeping careful
+eyes on the father until they were fairly outside.
+Nettie felt her limbs trembling so that
+her knees knocked together under the table.
+But at last every crumb of toast was eaten, and
+every drop of tea swallowed, and Mr. Decker
+pushed himself back from the table, and spoke
+in a somewhat gentler tone: "Well, my girl,
+make yourself as comfortable as you can. I'm
+glad to see you. We need your help, you'll
+find, in more ways than one. You've been working
+for other folks long enough. It is a poor
+place you've come to, and that's a fact. I ain't
+what I used to be; I've been unfortunate. No
+fellow ever had worse luck. Everything has
+gone wrong with me ever since your mother
+died. A sick wife, and young ones to look
+after, and nobody to do a thing. It is a hard
+life, but you might as well rough it with the
+rest of us. You'll get along somehow, I s'pose.
+The rest of us always have. I've got to go out
+for awhile. You tell the old woman to fix up
+some place for you to sleep, and we'll do the
+best we can."</p>
+
+<p>And he lounged away; Norm having left the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+table and the room some minutes before. And
+this was the father to whom Nettie Decker had
+come home!</p>
+
+<p>She swallowed at the lump which seemed
+growing larger every minute in her throat. She
+had choked back a great many tears that afternoon.
+There was no time to cry. Some place
+must be fixed for her to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>In the home that she had left, there was a little
+room with matting on the floor, and a little
+white bed in the corner, and a pretty toilet set
+that the carpenter's son had made her at odd
+times, and a wash bowl and pitcher that had been
+her present on her eleventh birthday, and a green
+rocking-chair that aunt Kate had sent her: not
+her own aunt Kate, but Mrs. Marshall's sister
+who had adopted her as a niece, and these things
+and many another little knickknack were all her
+own. The room was empty to-night; but then
+Nettie must not cry!</p>
+
+<p>She began to gather the dishes and get them
+ready for washing. Just as she plunged her
+hands into the dishwater, the bedroom door
+opened, and her mother came out, stepping
+feebly, like one just recovering from severe illness.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'm dreadful weak," she said in answer to
+Nettie's inquiries, "but I guess I'm better than
+I have been in a good while. I've had a rest to-day;
+the first one I have had in three years. I
+don't know what made me give out so, all of a
+sudden. I tried to keep on my feet, but I couldn't
+do it no more than I could fly. You oughtn't
+to have to wash them dishes, child, with your
+pretty hands and your pretty dress. Oh, dear!
+I don't know what is to become of any of us."</p>
+
+<p>"This is my work apron," said Nettie, trying
+to speak cheerily, "and I am used to this work:
+I always helped with the tea dishes at home."
+Then she plunged into the midst of the subject
+which was troubling her. "Father said I was to
+ask you where I was to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"He better ask himself!" said the wilted
+woman, rousing to sudden energy and indignation.
+"How does he think I know? There isn't
+the first rag to make a bed of, nor a spot to put
+it, if there was. I say it was a sin and a shame
+for him to send for you, and that's the truth!
+If he had one decent child who had a place to
+stay, where she would be took care of, he ought
+to have let you alone. You have come to an awful
+home, child. You have got to know the truth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+and you might as well know it first as last. It
+is enough sight worse than you have seen to-night,
+though I dare say you think this is bad enough.
+You don't look nor act like what I was afraid of,
+and you must have had good friends who took
+care of you; and he ought to have let you alone.
+This is no place for a decent girl. It is bad
+enough for an old woman who has given up, and
+never expects to have anything decent any more.
+He won't provide any place for you, nor any
+clothes, and what we are to do with one more
+mouth to feed is more than I can see. I wouldn't
+grudge it to you, child, if we had it; but we are
+starved, half the time, and that's the living
+truth."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't eat much," said poor Nettie, trembling
+and quivering, "and I will try very hard
+to help; but if you please, what makes things so?
+Can't father get work?"</p>
+
+<p>"Work! of course he can; as much as he can
+do. He is as good a machinist to-day as there is
+in the shops; when they have a particular job
+they want him to do it. He works hard enough
+by spells; why, child, it's the drink. You didn't
+know it, did you? Well, you may as well know
+it first as last. He was nearer sober to-night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+than he has been in a week; but he wasn't so
+very sober or he wouldn't have been cross. He
+used to be good and kind as the best of them,
+and we had things decent. I never thought it
+would come to this, but it has, and it grows
+worse every day. Yes, you may well turn pale,
+and cry out. Turning pale won't do any good.
+And you may cry tears of blood, and them that
+sells the rum to poor foolish men will go right on
+selling it as long as they have money to pay,
+and kick them out when they haven't. That is
+the way it is done, and it keeps going on here
+year after year, homes ruined, and children made
+beggars, and them that have the making of the
+laws, go right on and let it be done. I've watched
+it. And I've tried, too. You needn't think I gave
+up and sat down to it without trying as hard as
+ever woman could to struggle against the curse;
+but I've give up now. Nothing is of any use.
+And the worst of it is my Norm is going the
+same road."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.<br />
+
+<small>NEW FRIENDS.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>AND then the poor woman who thought
+she had no more tears to shed, buried
+her face in her hands and shed some of the bitterest
+ones she ever did in her life.</div>
+
+<p>Poor Nettie! she tried to turn comforter;
+tried to think of one cheering word to say; but
+what was there to cheer the wife of a drunkard?
+Or the daughter of a drunkard? Could
+it be possible that she, Nettie Decker, was that!
+Oh, dear! how often she had stood in the door,
+and with a kind of terrified fascination watched
+Jane Daker stealing home in the darkness, afraid
+to go in at the front door, lest her drunken
+father should see her and vent his wrath on her.
+Could she ever creep around in the dark and
+hide away from her own <i>father</i>? Wouldn't it
+be possible for her to go back home? She had
+not money enough to get there, but couldn't she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+work somehow, and earn money? She could
+write a letter to the folks at home and tell them
+the dreadful story, and they would surely find
+a way of sending for her. But then, money was
+not plenty in that home, and she began to understand
+that they had done a great deal for her,
+and that it had cost a good deal to pay her fare
+to this place. She had wondered, at the time,
+that her father did not send the money for her
+to come home, but she said to herself: "I suppose
+he did not know how much it would cost,
+and he will give it to me to send in my first letter.
+Perhaps he will give me a little bit more
+than it costs, too, for a little present for Jamie."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, poor little girl! building hopes on a father
+like hers. She had not been at home half a day,
+but she knew now that no money would ever go
+back to the Marshalls in return for all they had
+done for her. Worse than that, she might not
+be able to get back to them herself. Would her
+father be likely to let her go? He had sent for
+her, and had told her during this first hour of
+their meeting, that she had worked for other
+people long enough. This made her heart swell
+with indignation.</p>
+
+<p>Done enough for others, indeed! What had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+they not done for her? She never realized it
+half so plainly as she did to-night. "I will go
+back!" she muttered, setting the little bowl she
+was drying on the table with a determined
+thump. "I can't stay in such a place as this. I
+will write to Auntie Marshall this very night if
+I can get a chance, and she will contrive some
+way."</p>
+
+<p>Certainly, Nettie in that mood could have no
+comfort for a weeping mother, and attempted
+none, after the first murmured word of pity.
+But meantime she knew very well that she could
+not go back home that night, and the present
+terror was, where was she to sleep?</p>
+
+<p>Her mother went back into the bedroom after
+a few minutes of bitter weeping, and Nettie finished
+the work, then stood drearily in the doorway,
+wondering what she could do next, when a
+good, homely, motherly face looked out of the
+side window of the small house next their own,
+and a cheery voice spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you Joe Decker's little Nannie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," said Nettie, sadly, wondering drearily,
+even then, if it could be possible that this
+was so.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the voice, "I calculated that you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+must be; though I never should have known
+you in the world, if I hadn't heard you was
+coming, you was such a mite of a thing when
+you went away. What a tall nice girl you've
+got to be. Your ma is sick, the children said.
+I've been away ironing all day, or I would have
+been in to see if I could help the poor thing any.
+I don't know her very much, but she is sickly,
+and has hard times now and then, and I'm sorry
+for her. Now what I was wondering is, where
+are they going to put you to sleep? The upper
+part of that house ain't finished off, is it? It is
+one big attic, ain't it, where Norm sleeps? I
+thought so. I suppose there could be quite a
+nice room made up there with a little work and
+a few dollars laid out, but your pa ain't done it,
+I'll be bound. And I knew there wasn't but
+one bedroom down-stairs, and I couldn't think
+how they would manage it."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't managed at all, ma'am," said Nettie,
+seeing that she seemed to wait for an answer,
+and there was nothing to say but the simple
+truth. "There is no place for me to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say! Now that's a shame. Well,
+now, what I was thinking was, that maybe you
+would like to sleep in the woodhouse chamber;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+it is a nice little room as ever was, and it opens
+right out of my Sarah Ann's room; so you
+wouldn't be lonesome. I haven't any manner of
+use for it, now my boy's gone away, and I just
+as soon you would sleep there as not until your
+folks get things fixed. You're a dreadful clean-looking
+little girl, and I like that. I'm a master
+hand to have clean things around me; Job says
+he believes I catch the flies and dust their wings
+before I let them go into my front room. Job
+is my husband, and that is his little joke at me,
+you know." And she laughed such a jolly little
+roly-poly sort of laugh that poor Nettie could
+not keep a smile from her troubled face. A
+refuge in the woodhouse chamber of this neat,
+good-natured-looking woman seemed like a bit
+of heaven to the homesick child.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very much obliged to you, ma'am,"
+she said respectfully; "I will tell my mother how
+kind you are, and I think she will be glad to
+accept the kindness for a few days. I&mdash;" and
+then Nettie suddenly stopped. It might not be
+well to say to this new friend that she would not
+need to trouble the woodhouse chamber long,
+for she meant to start for home as soon as a letter
+could travel there, and another travel back.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+Something might come in the way of this resolve,
+though it made her feel hot all over to
+think of such a possibility.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless my heart!" said Mrs. Job Smith as
+Nettie vanished to consult her mother. "If that
+ain't as polite and pretty-spoken a child as ever
+I see in my life. She makes me think of our
+Jerry. To think of that child being Joe Decker's
+girl and coming back to such a home as he
+keeps! It is too bad! I am sure I hope they
+will let her sleep in the woodhouse chamber.
+It is the only spot where she will get any
+peace."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker was only too glad to avail herself
+of her neighbor's kind offer. "It is good of
+her," she said gratefully to Nettie. "I wish to
+the land you could have such a comfortable room
+all the time; they are real clean-looking folks.
+You wouldn't suppose from the looks of this
+house that I cared for clean things, but I do, and
+I used to have them about me, too. I was as
+neat once as the best of them; but it takes
+clothes and soap and strength to be clean, and
+I have had none of 'em in so long that I have
+most forgot how to do anything decent."</p>
+
+<p>"Soap?" said Nettie, wonderingly. She was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+beating up the poor rags which composed the
+bed in her mother's room, trying to get a little
+freshness into them.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, soap; I don't suppose you can imagine
+how it would seem not to have all the soap you
+wanted; I couldn't, either, once, but I tell you
+I save the pennies nowadays for bread, so that
+I need not see my children starve before my
+eyes. I would rather do without soap than
+bread; especially when our clothes are so worn
+out that there is nothing much to change with.
+Oh, I tell you when you get into a house where
+the men folks spend all they can get on beer or
+whiskey, there are not many pennies left. Mrs.
+Smith has been real kind; she sent the children
+in a bowl of soup one day when their father had
+gone off and not left a thing in the house, nor a
+cent to get anything with.</p>
+
+<p>"And she has done two or three things like
+that lately; I'm grateful to her, but I'm ashamed
+to say so. I never expected to sink so low that
+I should be glad of the scraps which a poor
+neighbor like her could send in. Oh, no; they
+are not very poor. Why, they are rich as kings,
+come to compare them with us; but they are
+not grand folks at all; he is a teamster, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+works hard every day; so does she; but he
+doesn't drink a drop, and they have a good
+many comfortable things. Their boy is away
+at school, and their girl, Sarah Ann, is learning
+a dressmaker's trade. You will have a comfortable
+bed in there, and I'm glad of it."</p>
+
+<p>And now it was eight o'clock. Susie and
+Sate were asleep in their trundle bed, the tired
+Nettie having coaxed them to let her give them
+a splendid bath first, making the idea pleasant
+to them by producing from her trunk a cunning
+little cake of perfumed soap. They looked
+"as pretty as pictures," the sad-eyed mother
+said, as she bent over them when they were
+asleep, with their moist hair in loose waves, and
+their clean faces flushed with health. "They are
+real pretty little girls," she added earnestly, as
+she turned away. "He might be proud of
+them. And he used to be, too. When Sate
+was a baby, he said she had eyes like you, and
+he used to kiss her and tell her she was pretty,
+until I was afraid he would spoil her; but there
+isn't the least danger of that now. He never
+notices either of them except to slap them or
+growl at them."</p>
+
+<p>"How came father to begin to drink?" Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+asked the question timidly, hesitating over
+the last word; it seemed such a dreadful word
+to add to a father's name.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't ask me, child; I don't know. They
+say he always drank a little; a glass of beer
+now and then. I knew he did when I married
+him, but I thought it was no more than all hard-working
+men did. I never thought much about
+it. I know it never entered my head that he
+could be a drunkard. I'd have been too afraid
+for Norm if I had dreamed of such a thing as
+that.</p>
+
+<p>"He kept increasing the drinks, little by little&mdash;it
+grows on them, it seems, the habit does; they
+say that is the way with all the drinks; I didn't
+know it. I never was taught about these things.
+If I had been, I think sometimes my life would
+have been very different. I know I wouldn't
+have walked right into the fire with my one boy,
+anyhow. I'm talking to you, child, as though
+you were a woman grown, and you seem most
+like a woman to me, you are so handy, and
+quiet, and nice-looking. I was sorry you were
+coming, because I thought you would just be
+an added plague; and now I am sorry for your
+own sake."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nettie hesitated greatly over the next question.
+It was a very hard one to ask this sick
+and discouraged mother, but she must know the
+whole of the misery by which she was surrounded.
+"Does Norman drink too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Norm," said Mrs. Decker, dropping into the
+one chair, and putting her hand to her heart as
+though there was something stabbing her there,
+"Norm has been led away by your father. He
+was a bright little fellow, and your father took
+to him amazingly. I used to tell him his own
+little girls would have reason to be jealous of
+his step-son. He took Norm with him everywhere,
+from the first. And taught him to do
+odd things, for a little fellow, and was proud of
+his singing, and his speaking, and all that. And
+when Susie there, was a baby, and I was kept close
+at home with her, and Norm would tear around
+in the evening and wake her up, I slipped into
+the way of letting him go out with your father
+to spend the evenings; I didn't know they
+spent them in bar-rooms, or groceries where they
+sold beer. I never <i>dreamed</i> of such a thing.
+Your father talked about meeting the men, and
+I thought they met at some of the houses where
+there wasn't a baby to cry, and talked their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+work over, or the news, you know. And there
+he was teaching Norm to drink. He was a
+pretty little fellow, and he would sing comic
+songs, and then they would treat him to the sugar
+in their glasses! When I found it out, he
+had got to liking the stuff, and I don't suppose
+a day goes by without his taking more or less of
+it now. He never gets as bad as your father;
+but he will. He is never cross and ugly to me,
+nor to the children, but he will be. It grows
+on him. It grows on them all. And to think
+that I led him into the trap! If I had stayed
+in the country where I was brought up, or if I
+had left him with his grandfather, as he wanted
+me to, he might have been saved. The grandfather
+is gone now, and so is the farm. Your
+father got hold of my share of that, and lost it
+somehow. He didn't mean to, and that soured
+him, and he drank the harder and we are going
+down to the very bottom of everything as fast
+as we can."</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to poor Nettie that they must have
+reached the bottom now. She could not imagine
+any lower depths than these.</p>
+
+<p>She made up the poor bed as well as she could,
+and then went back to the kitchen to see what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+could be done about breakfast. Her new mother
+was evidently too weak and sick to be troubled
+with the thought of it, and while she stayed,
+Nettie resolved that she would help the poor
+woman all she could. She went out into the
+yard to examine, and discovered to her satisfaction
+that there must be a cooper's shop just
+around the corner, for the chips lay thick. She
+gathered some for the morning fire, determined
+in her mind that she would buy a few potatoes at
+the grocery in the morning! In the cupboard she
+had found a cup of sour milk; this she had carefully
+treasured with an eye to breakfast, and she
+now looked into her purse to see if she could
+spare pennies for a quart of flour. If she could,
+then some excellent cakes would be the result.
+And now everything that she knew how to do
+towards the next day's needs was attended to,
+and she went out in the moonlight, and sat down
+on the lowest step of the back stoop, and did
+what she had been longing to do all the afternoon&mdash;cried
+as though her poor young heart
+was breaking.</p>
+
+<p>Astride a saw-horse in the yard which belonged
+to Job Smith, and which was separated
+from the stoop where she sat only by a low<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+fence, was a curly-headed boy, who had come
+there apparently to whittle and whistle and
+watch her. He was not there when she sat
+down and buried her head in her apron. She did
+not notice his whistling, though he made it loud
+and shrill on purpose to attract her attention,
+He knew quite a little about her by this time.
+He had come upon the boys of the Grammar
+School in the midst of their afternoon recess and
+heard Harry Stuart interrupt little Ted Barrows
+who was the youngest one in the class and wrote
+the best compositions. They were gathered
+under a tree listening to Ted, while he read them
+"The Story of An Hour," which was especially
+interesting because it had some of their own experiences
+skilfully woven in.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on," Harry was saying, just as the
+whistling boy appeared within hearing. "You
+didn't make that thing up; you got it from the
+Deckers; that is what is just going to happen
+there. Old Joe's Nan is coming home this very
+day, and she is about as old as the girl you've
+got in your story, and is freckled, I dare say;
+most girls are."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't even know old Joe Decker had a
+girl to come home!" said little Ted, looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+injured. "I made every word of it out of my
+own mind."</p>
+
+<p>But the boys did not hear him; their interest
+had been called in another direction. "Is that
+so? Is Nan Decker coming home? My! What
+a house to come to. Mother said only yesterday
+that she hoped the folks who had her would keep
+her forever. What is she coming for? Who
+told you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, she is coming because Joe thinks that
+will be another way to plague the old lady. At
+least that is what my mother thinks. Mrs.
+Decker told her once that when Joe had been
+drinking more than usual he always threatened
+to send for Nan; but she didn't think he would.
+And now it seems he has. I heard it from the
+old fellow himself. He was telling Norm about
+it, while I stood waiting for father's saw. He
+said she was coming in the stage this afternoon;
+that she had worked for other folks long enough
+and it was time he had some good of her himself.
+I pity her, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>Then the whistler had come out from behind
+the trees, and said good-afternoon, and asked a
+few questions. The boys had answered him
+civilly enough, but in a way which showed that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+they did not count him as one of them. The
+fact was, he was a good deal of a stranger. He
+had been in town only a few weeks, and he did
+not go to school, and he boarded with or lived
+with, the Smiths, who lived next door to the
+Deckers, and were nice enough people, but did
+not have much to do with the fathers and
+mothers of these boys, and&mdash;well, the fact was,
+the boys did not know whether to take this new
+comer in, and make him welcome, or not. They
+sort of liked him; he was good-natured, and accommodating
+so far as they knew, but they knew
+very little about him. He asked a good many
+questions about the expected Nan Decker. He
+had never heard of her before. Since he was to
+live next door to her, it might be pleasant to
+know what sort of a person she was. But the
+boys could tell him very little. Seven years, at
+their time of life, blots out a good many memories.
+They only knew that she was Nan Decker
+who went away when her mother died, and who
+had lived with the Marshalls ever since; and all
+agreed in being sorry for her that she was obliged
+at last to come home.</p>
+
+<p>The whistling boy walked away, after having
+cross-questioned first one, and then another, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+learned that they knew nothing. He was on his
+way to the woods for one of his long summer
+rambles. He felt a trifle lonely, and wished that
+the boys had asked him to sit down under the
+trees and have a good time with them.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 346px;">
+<img src="images/facing078.jpg" width="346" height="500" alt="boy with sun behind him" />
+<div class="caption">JERRY ON ONE OF HIS SUMMER RAMBLES.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>He would have liked to hear Ted's composition,
+he said to himself; the boy had a sweet
+face, and a head that looked as though he might
+be going to make a smart man, one of these days.
+What was the matter with those fellows, he wondered,
+that they were not more cordial?</p>
+
+<p>He thought about it quite awhile, then plunged
+into the mosses and ferns and gathered some
+lovely specimens, which he arranged in the box
+he carried slung over his shoulder, and forgot all
+about the boys, and poor little Nan Decker. On
+the way home, in the glow of the setting sun, he
+thought of her again, and wondered if she had
+come, and if she would be a sorrowful and homesick
+little girl. It seemed queer to think of being
+homesick when one came home! But then, it
+was only a home in name; he had not lived next
+door to it for five weeks without discovering
+that, and the little girl's mother was dead!
+Poor Nan Decker! A shadow came over his
+bright face for a moment as he thought of this.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+His mother was dead. He resolved to speak a
+kind word to the little girl the very first time
+that he had a chance. And here in the moonlight
+was his chance.</p>
+
+<p>He stopped whistling at last and spoke: "If
+it is anything about which I can help, I shall be
+very glad to do it." A kind, cheerful voice.
+Nettie looked up quickly and choked back her
+tears. She was not one to cry, if there were to
+be any lookers-on.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you are homesick," said the boy from,
+his horse's back; "and that isn't any wonder. I'm
+homesick myself, nearly every night, especially
+if it is moonlight. I don't know what there is
+about the moon that chokes a fellow up so, but
+I've noticed it often; but then I feel all right in
+the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you away from your home?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should say I was! Or rather home has
+gone away from me. I haven't any home in particular,
+only my father, and he is away out in
+California. I couldn't go there with him, and
+since my school closed I am waiting here for him
+to come back. It is home, you know, wherever
+he is. He doesn't expect to be back yet for
+months. So you and I ought to be pretty good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+friends, we are such near neighbors. I live right
+next door to you. We ought to be introduced.
+You are Nannie Decker, I suppose, and I am
+Jerry Mack at your service. I don't wonder you
+are homesick; folks always are, the first night."</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Nanette," said Nettie, gently,
+"but people who like me most always say Nettie:
+and it isn't being homesick that makes me feel
+so badly&mdash;though I am homesick; but it is
+being scared, and astonished, and, oh! everything.
+Nothing is as I thought it would be; and
+there are things about it that I did not understand
+at all, or maybe I wouldn't have come;
+and now I am here, I don't know what to do."
+She was very near crying again, in spite of a
+watcher.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," he said, nodding his head, and
+speaking in a grave, sympathetic voice. "Job
+Smith&mdash;that is the man I am staying with&mdash;has
+told me how it used to be with your father.
+He says he was a very nice father indeed. I am
+as sorry for you as I can be. But after all, I
+wouldn't give up if I were you; and I should be
+real glad that I had come home to help him.
+He needs a great deal of help. Folks reform,
+you know. Why, people who are a great deal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+worse than your father has ever been yet, have
+turned right around and become splendid men.
+If I were you I would go right to work to have
+him reform. Then there's Norm&mdash;he needs
+help, too; and he ought to have it before he gets
+any older, because it would be so much easier
+for him to get started right now."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know the least thing to do," said
+Nettie; but she dried her eyes on her neat little
+handkerchief as she spoke, and sat up straight,
+and looked with earnest eyes at the boy on the
+other side the fence. This sort of talk interested
+and helped her.</p>
+
+<p>"No; of course you don't. You haven't
+studied these things up, I suppose. But there
+is a great deal to do. My father is a temperance
+man, and I have heard him talk. I know a hundred
+things I would like to do, and a few that I
+can do. I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, say we
+start a society, you and I, and fight this whole
+thing?</p>
+
+<p>"We can begin with little bits of plans which
+we can carry out now, and let them grow
+as fast as we can follow them and see what we
+can do. Is it a bargain?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing I would like so well, if you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+will only show me how," said Nettie, and her
+eyes were shining.</p>
+
+<p>It was wonderful what a weight these few
+words seemed to lift from her troubled heart.
+The boy's face had grown more thoughtful.
+He seemed in doubt just how to express what he
+wanted to say next.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how you feel about it," he said
+as last, "but I know somebody who would be
+sure to help in anything of this kind that we
+tried to do&mdash;show us how, you know, and make
+ways for us to get money, and all that."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is it?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie spoke quickly now, for her heart
+was beating loud and fast. Was there somebody
+in this town who could be asked to come
+to the rescue, and who was willing to give
+such hearty help as that? If such were the case,
+she could see that a great deal might be accomplished.
+She waited for her new friend's answer,
+but he looked down on the stick he was whittling
+and gravely sharpened the end to a very
+fine point, before he spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you think about such
+things, but I mean&mdash;God. I <i>know</i> he is on our
+side in this business, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Nettie, thoughtfully, and her
+manner changed.</p>
+
+<p>Her voice which had been only eager before,
+became soft and gentle, and she looked over at
+the boy in the moonlight and smiled. "I know
+Him," she said, "and I am His servant. It is
+strange I forgot for a little while that He knew
+all about this home, and father, and everything!
+Maybe He wants me to help father. I mean to
+begin right away. I will do every single thing
+I can think of, to keep father, and Norm, and
+everybody else from drinking liquor any more
+forever."</p>
+
+<p>There was a sudden spring from the saw-horse,
+a long step taken over the low fence, and the boy
+stood beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"There are two of us," he said gravely.
+"There is my hand on it. I am a Christian, too.
+And father gave me a verse once, which always
+helps me when I think of the rumsellers: 'If God
+be for us, who <i>can</i> be against us!' I know he is
+for us, and so, though the rumsellers are against
+us, and think they are going to beat, one of these
+days he will show them! What you and I want
+to do is to keep working at it all we can, so as to
+show that we believe in him."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now we are partners&mdash;Nettie Decker and
+Jerry Mack, who knows what we can do? Anyhow,
+we are friends, and will stand by each other
+through thick and thin, won't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Nettie, "we will." And she rose
+up from the doorstep, and they shook hands.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER V.<br />
+
+<small>A GREAT UNDERTAKING.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>JERRY turned away whistling. Did you
+ever notice how apt boys are to whistle
+when something has stirred their feelings very
+much, and they don't intend that anybody but
+themselves shall know it?</div>
+
+<p>Nettie went back into the little brown house to
+see if her mother was comfortable for the night.
+Her heart was lighter than she had thought it
+ever would be again.</p>
+
+<p>Everything was quiet within the house. The
+children with their arms tossed about one another,
+and their cheeks flushed with sleep, looked
+sweeter than they often did awake. The heartsick
+mother had forgotten her sorrow again for
+a little while, in sleep. Where father and Norm
+were, Nettie did not know. It seemed strange
+to go away and leave the light burning, and the
+door unfastened. At home, they always gathered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+at about this hour, in the neat sitting-room,
+and sang a hymn and repeated each a Bible
+verse, and then Mr. Marshall prayed, and after
+that she kissed Auntie Marshall and the others,
+and tripped away to her pretty room. The contrast
+was very sharp. If it had not been for that
+new friend whose voice she heard at this moment
+softly singing a cheery tune, I think the tears
+would have come again.</p>
+
+<p>As it was, she slipped into Mrs. Job Smith's
+neat kitchen. What a contrast that was to the
+kitchen next door! The first thing she saw was
+the tall old clock in the corner. "Tick-tock,
+tick-tock." She had never seen so large a clock
+before; she had never heard one speak in such a
+slow and patronizing tone, as though it were
+managing all the world. She looked up into its
+face and smiled. It seemed like a great strong
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing very remarkable about that
+kitchen. At least I suppose you would not have
+thought so, unless you had just spent an afternoon
+in the Decker kitchen. Then you might
+have felt the difference. The floor was painted
+a bright yellow, and had gay rugs spread here
+and there. The stove shone brilliantly, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+two chairs under the window were painted green,
+with dazzling white seats. A high, old-fashioned,
+wooden-backed rocker occupied a cosey corner
+near the clock. A table set against the wall had
+a bright spread on it, and newspapers, and a
+book or two, and a pair of spectacles lay on it.
+The lamp was in the centre, and was clear and
+beautifully trimmed.</p>
+
+<p>Simple enough things, all of them, but they
+spoke to Nettie's heart of home.</p>
+
+<p>There was a brisk step on the stair; the door
+opened, and Mrs. Smith's strong, homely face
+appeared in sight. "Here you are," she said
+cheerily, "tired enough to go to sleep, I dare say.
+Well, the room is all ready for you. I guess you
+won't be lonesome, for it is right out of Sarah
+Ann's room, and my boy Jerry is across the hall.
+You've got acquainted with Jerry, I guess? I
+saw you and him talking, out in the moonlight.
+I'm glad of it. Jerry is good at chirking a body
+up; and there never was a better boy made than
+he is.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you get right to sleep as goon as you can,
+and dream of all the nice things you can think
+of. It is good luck to have nice dreams in a new
+room, you know."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Poor little soul!" she said to herself as the
+door closed after Nettie. "I hope she will be so
+sound asleep that she won't hear her father and
+Norm come stumbling home. Isn't it a mean
+thing, now, that the father of such a little girl as
+that should go and disgrace her?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Smith was talking to nobody, and so of
+course nobody answered her; and in a little while
+that house was still for the night. Nettie, in the
+clean, sweet-smelling woodhouse chamber, was
+soon on her knees; not sobbing out a homesick
+cry, as she thought she would, as soon as ever
+she had a chance, but actually thanking God for
+these new friends; and asking Him to be One in
+this new society, and show them just what and
+how to do. Then she went into sound sleep; and
+heard no stumbling, nor grumbling, though both
+father and brother did much of it when at last
+they shambled home.</p>
+
+<p>The new plans came up for consideration early
+the next morning. Before Nettie had opened her
+eyes to the neatly whitewashed walls in the woodhouse
+chamber, she heard the sound of merry
+whistling, keeping time to the swift blows of an
+axe. Jerry was preparing kindlings. In a very
+short time after that, he looked up to say good-morning,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+as Nettie was making her way across
+the yard to the other house.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you want some of these nice chips?
+They will make your kettle boil in a jiffy."</p>
+
+<p>This was his good-morning; he held out both
+hands to her, full of broad smooth chips. "Aunt
+Jerusha likes them better than any other kind;
+I keep her supplied. Wait, I'll carry them in."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you needn't," Nettie said in haste, and
+blushing. What would he think of the Decker
+kitchen after being used to Mrs. Smith's! But
+he took long springs across the walk, vaulted the
+fence and stood at the kitchen door waiting for
+her. It looked even more desolate, in contrast
+with the sunny morning, than it had the night
+before. Nettie resolved to blacken the stove that
+very day. "Do you know how to make a fire?"
+Jerry asked. "I do. I made aunt Jerusha's for
+her, two mornings, but it is hard work to get
+ahead of her."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Nettie knew how. She had made the fire
+for the supper, in Mrs. Marshall's boarding house,
+many a time. She proceeded to show her skill
+at once; Jerry, looking on admiringly, admitted
+that she knew more about it than he did.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, father and I board," he said apologetically,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+"and there isn't much chance to learn
+things. I'll tell you what I can do&mdash;get you a
+fresh pail of water."</p>
+
+<p>Before she could speak, he darted away.
+There was a sound of feet coming down the unfinished
+stairs, and Norm lounged into the room,
+rubbing sleepy eyes, and looking as though he had
+not combed his hair in a week. He stared at
+Nettie as though he had never seen her before,
+and answered her good-morning, with:</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be bound if I didn't forget you! Where
+have you been all night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Asleep," said Nettie, brightly. "Now I
+want to have breakfast ready by the time mother
+comes out, to surprise her. Will you tell me
+whether you have tea or coffee?"</p>
+
+<p>Norm laughed slightly. "We have what we
+can get, as a rule. I heard mother say there
+wasn't any tea in the house. And I don't believe
+we have had any coffee for a month. I'd like
+some, though; I know that. I've got a quarter;
+I'll go and get some, if you will make us a first-rate
+cup of coffee."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Nettie, "I'll do my best."</p>
+
+<p>She spoke a little doubtfully, having a shrewd
+suspicion that the quarter ought to be saved for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+more important things than coffee; but she did
+not like to object to Norm's first expressed idea
+of partnership; so he went away, and when the
+fresh water came, the teakettle was filled, the
+table set, the potatoes washed and put in the
+oven; by the time Mrs. Decker appeared, Nettie,
+with a very flushed face, was bending over her
+hot griddle, testing the cake she had baked.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I do say!" said Mrs. Decker, and the
+tone expressed not only surprise, but gratitude.
+There was a pleasant odor of coffee in the room,
+and the potatoes were already beginning to hint
+that they would soon be done. The cake that
+Nettie had baked was as puffy and sweet as her
+heart could desire.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you're a witch," said Mrs. Decker.
+"I couldn't think of a thing for breakfast. Where
+did you get them cakes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Made them," said Nettie; "I found a cup of
+sour milk; Auntie Marshall used to let me make
+them often for breakfast. Norm went after the
+coffee; and I guess it is good. I saved my egg
+shell from the cakes to settle it."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a regular little housekeeper," said
+Mrs. Decker. "And so Norm went after coffee!
+Did you ask him to? Went of his own accord!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+That's something wonderful for Norm. He used
+to think of things for me but he don't any more."</p>
+
+<p>Altogether, it was really almost a comfortable
+breakfast, though it seemed to Nettie that she
+would never get it ready. She was not used to
+managing with so few dishes. Her father drank
+three cups of coffee, said it was something like
+living, and gave Nettie twenty-five cents, with the
+direction that he hoped there would be something
+decent to eat when they came home at noon.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's cheeks were red with more than the
+baking of cakes, then. She was ashamed of her
+father. How could he speak in a way to insult
+his wife! They went off hurriedly at last, Norm
+and the father; and the children who had been
+silent, began to chatter the moment the door
+closed after them. Mrs. Decker, too, began to
+talk.</p>
+
+<p>"He thinks twenty-five cents will buy a dinner
+for us all, and keep us in clothes, and get new
+furniture, and dishes! He will have it that it is
+because things are wasted that we have such
+poor meals. As if I had anything to waste! I
+don't know what to do, nor which way to turn.
+We need everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think we had better clean house<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+to-day?" Nettie asked a little timidly, as they
+rose from the table and she began to gather the
+dishes.</p>
+
+<p>"Clean house!" repeated the dazed mother.
+"Why, yes, child, I suppose so. It needs it
+badly enough. Oh, we can wash up the floor,
+and the shelf. It doesn't take long; there are
+not many things in the way. No furniture to
+move. But it doesn't stay clean long, I can tell
+you. Just one room in which to do everything!
+I might have kept it looking better, though, if
+I had not been sick. I have just had to let
+everything go, child. Lying awake nights, and
+worrying, have used me up."</p>
+
+<p>She took the broom as she spoke and began to
+sweep vigorously, scurrying the children out of
+her way.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long day, and a busy one. And at
+night, the room certainly looked better. The
+floor had been scrubbed with hot lye to get off
+the grease, and the stove had been blackened
+until the children shouted that it would do for
+a looking-glass. Several other improvements
+had been made. But after all, to Nettie's eyes
+it was dreadfully bare and comfortless. Not a
+cushioned chair, nor a rocker, nor anything that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+to her seemed like home. All day she had been
+casting glances at a closed door which opened
+from the kitchen, and thinking her thoughts
+about the room in there. A large square room,
+perfectly empty. Why wasn't it used? If for
+nothing else, why didn't Norm sleep in it, instead
+of in that dreadful unfinished attic where the
+rats must certainly have full sweep? Or why
+did not her mother move in there with the
+trundle bed, instead of being cooped up in that
+small bedroom? Or why had they not prepared
+it for her to sleep in, if they really did not want
+it for anything else? She gathered courage at
+last, to ask questions.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that room," her mother said with bitterness,
+"when I first came here to live, we pleased
+ourselves nights, after the children were in bed,
+telling what we would have in it. We meant
+to furnish it for a parlor. We were going to
+have it carpeted; he wanted a red carpet, and I
+wanted a brown one with a little bit of pink in,
+but land! I would have taken one that was all
+yellow, just to please him. And we were going
+to have a lounge, and two rocking chairs, and I
+don't know what not. And there it is, shut up.
+I might have had it for a bedroom at first, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+I wouldn't. I wanted to save it. And then,
+when I gave that all up, there was nothing to
+fix it with. Norm couldn't sleep there without
+curtains to the windows; no more could we; it
+is right on the street, almost.</p>
+
+<p>"And things keep getting worse and worse, so
+I just shut the door and locked it and let it go.
+If I had had a spare chair to put in, I might
+have gone in there and cried, now and then, but
+I hadn't even that. I tried to rent it; but the
+woman who was hunting rooms heard that your
+father drank, and was afraid to come. Oh, we
+have a splendid name in the place, you'll find.
+We are just going to ruin as fast as a family
+can; that's the whole story."</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the afternoon, when Nettie had
+done everything she could think of, unless some
+money could be raised, and some clothes made,
+so that the children could have the ones washed
+which they were wearing, she stood in the back
+door, wondering how that could be brought
+about, when Jerry appeared in his favorite seat
+on the sawhorse.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything done up for the day?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything has stopped for the want of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+things to do with," she said. "I don't see but
+that will be the trouble with what we want to
+do. Why, you can't do a single thing without
+money; and where is it to come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is one of the things we must think up,"
+Jerry said gravely. "I have thought about it
+some. This temperance business needs money.
+One of the troubles with boys like Norm is that
+they have no nice places to go to. Boys like to
+meet together and talk things over, you know,
+and have a good time, and how are some of them
+going to do it? The church isn't the place, nor
+the schoolhouse, and those fellows haven't pleasant
+homes; the only spot for them is the saloons.
+I don't much wonder that they get in the habit
+of going there. I have heard my father say that
+saloons were the only places that were fixed up,
+and lighted, where folks without any pleasant
+homes were made welcome. Why, just look at
+it in this town. There's your Norm. There are
+two fellows who go with him a great deal. If
+you meet one, you may be sure that the other
+two are not far away. Their names are Alf
+Barnes and Rick Walker. Neither of them
+have as decent a home as Norm's, oh! not by a
+good deal. And he doesn't feel like inviting them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+into your kitchen to spend the evening. Should
+you think he would?"</p>
+
+<p>Warm as the day was, Nettie shivered. "I
+should think they would rather stay out in the
+street than to come there," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now you see how it is. They don't
+stay in the streets, such fellows don't. Not all
+the time. They get tired, and sometimes it rains,
+and in winter it is cold, and they look about
+them for somewhere to go. There's a saloon,
+bright and clean; comfortable chairs, and good-natured
+people. It is the only place that says
+Come in! to such fellows. Why shouldn't they
+go in?</p>
+
+<p>"I've heard my father talk about this by the
+hour. In big cities they have rooms warmed
+and lighted, and nicely furnished, on purpose for
+such young men; only father is always saying
+that they don't begin to have enough of them;
+but in such a town as this, I would like to know
+what the boys who haven't nice homes to stay
+in, are expected to do with themselves evenings?
+One of these days, when I am a man, that is the
+way I am going to use all my extra money. I'll
+hunt out towns where the fellows have just been
+left to stay in the streets, or else go to the rum-holes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+and I'll fit up the nicest kind of a room
+for them. Bright as gas can make it, and elegant,
+you know, like a parlor; and I'll have
+cakes, and coffee, and lemonades, and all those
+things, cheaper than beer, and serve them in fine
+style. Wouldn't that be a fine thing to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then the first thing," said Nettie, "is a
+room."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry turned round on his horse and looked
+full at her and laughed. "You talk as though
+it was to be done now," he said. "I was telling
+what I would do in that dim future, when I become
+a man."</p>
+
+<p>"We might begin pieces of it now. Norm
+will be too old when you are a man; and so will
+those others. There is our front room. If we
+only had some furniture to put in it. My Auntie
+Marshall made some real pretty seats once, out
+of old boxes; she padded them with cotton, and
+covered them with pretty calico, and you can't
+think how nice they were. I could make some,
+if I had the boxes and the calico."</p>
+
+<p>"I could get the boxes," said Jerry. "I know
+a man in the blacksmith shop who has a brother
+in the grocery down at the corner, and he could
+get boxes for us of him, I'm pretty sure. He is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+a nice man, that blacksmith. I like him better
+than any man in town, I believe. I could fix
+covers on the boxes myself, and do several other
+things. I have a box of tools, and I often make
+little things. I say, Nettie, let's fix up the front
+room. I've often wondered what there was in
+there. Would your mother let us have it?"</p>
+
+<p>"She would let us have most everything, I
+guess," Nettie said thoughtfully, "if she thought
+it would do any good."</p>
+
+<p>"All right. We'll make it do some good.
+Let's set to work right away. The first thing as
+you say, is a room. No, we have the room; the
+first thing is furniture. I'll go and see Mr.
+Collins this very evening. He is the blacksmith."</p>
+
+<p>In less than half an hour from that time
+Jerry stood beside Mr. Collins.</p>
+
+<p>That gentleman had on his big leather apron,
+and was busy about his work as usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Boxes?" he said to Jerry. "Why, yes,
+there are piles of them in his cellar, and out by
+his back door. I should think he would be glad
+to get rid of some. But what do you want of
+them? Furniture? How are you going to make
+furniture out of boxes? What put such a notion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+as that into your head, and what do you want of
+furniture, anyhow?"</p>
+
+<p>So Jerry sat down on a box and told the
+whole story. Mr. Collins listened, and nodded,
+and shook his head, and smiled grimly, occasionally,
+and sighed, and in every possible way
+showed his interest and appreciation.</p>
+
+<p>"And so you two are going to take hold and
+reform the town?" he said at last. "Humph!
+Well, it needs it bad enough! if old boxes will
+help, it stands to reason that you ought to have
+as many as you want. I'll engage to see that you
+get them."</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Collins told his brother-in-law, the
+grocer, the two laughed a good deal, but the
+blacksmith finished his story with, "Well, now
+I tell you what it is&mdash;something is better than
+nothing, any day; there's been nothing done
+here for so long that I think it is kind of wonderful
+that those two young things should start up
+and try to do something."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I, so do I," assented the grocer,
+heartily, "and if old boxes will help 'em, why,
+land, they're welcome to as many as they can
+use. Tell the chap to step around here and
+select his lumber, and I'll have it delivered."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This message Jerry was not slow to obey; so
+it happened that the very next afternoon Mrs.
+Job Smith stood in her back door and watched
+with curious eyes the unloading of the grocer's
+wagon. Six, seven, eight empty boxes! "For
+the land's sake, what be you going to do with
+them?" she asked Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Job Smith had a great warm heart, but
+no education to speak of; and no mother had, in
+her childhood, begged her a dozen times a day
+not to use such expressions as "for the land's
+sake!" she knew no better than to suppose they
+added emphasis to her words; Jerry laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is for the room's sake, auntie," he said.
+"We are going to have a cabinet shop in the
+barn loft. Mr. Smith said I might. I shall make
+some nice things, auntie, see if I don't. Come
+up in the loft, will you, and see my tool chest?"</p>
+
+<p>This last sentence was addressed to Nettie
+who had appeared in her back door to admire
+the boxes. So the two climbed the ladder stairs,
+Nettie a little timidly as one unused to ladders,
+and Jerry with quick springs, holding out his
+hand to her at the top, to help her in making the
+final leap. Then he took from his pocket a curious
+little key which he explained to Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+would open that tool chest provided you knew
+how to use it; but he supposed that a man who
+had stolen it might try for a week, and yet not
+get into the chest.</p>
+
+<p>A skilful touch, and the handsome chest was
+open before her, displaying its wonders to her
+pleased eyes. It was a well-stocked chest. Chisels,
+and saws, and hammers, and augers, and
+sharp, wicked-looking little things for which Nettie
+had no name, gleamed before her.</p>
+
+<p>"How nice!" she said at last. "How splendid!
+It looks as though somebody who knew
+how, could make splendid things with them."</p>
+
+<p>"And I know how," said Jerry. "At least, I
+know some things. I spent a summer down in
+a little country town where father had some business;
+and the man we boarded with kept a small
+shop, where all sorts of things were made. Not
+a great factory, you know, where they make a
+thousand chairs of one kind, and a thousand of
+another, and never make anything but chairs.
+This was just a little country shop, where they
+made a table one day, and a chair the next, and
+a bedstead the next; and you could watch the
+men at work, and ask questions and learn ever so
+much. I got so I could use tools, as well as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+next one, Mr. Braisted said, whatever he meant
+by that. Father liked to have me learn. He
+said tools were the cleanest sharp things that he
+knew anything about. I can make ever so many
+things. I like to do it. I wonder I have not
+been about it since I came here. Now what shall
+we go at first? What does your mother say about
+the room?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is willing," said Nettie, "only she doesn't
+see how much of anything can be done. She is
+most discouraged, you see, and nothing looks
+possible to her, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right. She can't be expected to
+know we can do things until we show her. If
+she will let us try, that is all we need ask."</p>
+
+<p>"She says the room ought to have some kind
+of a carpet; they always have carpets in home-like
+rooms, she says; and I guess that is so.
+Except in kitchens, of course."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie hastened to say this, apologetically,
+thinking of Mrs. Job Smith's bright yellow
+floor.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry whistled.</p>
+
+<p>"That is so, I suppose," he said thoughtfully;
+"and they don't make carpets out of boxes,
+nor with saws and hammers, do they? I don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+know how we would manage that. There must
+be a way to do it, though. Let's put that one
+side among the things that have got to be thought
+about."</p>
+
+<p>"And prayed about," said Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, flashing a very bright look at
+her, "I thought that, but somehow I did not like
+to say it out, in so many words."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder why?" said Nettie thoughtfully;
+"I mean, I wonder why it is so much harder to
+say things of that kind than it is to speak about
+anything else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Father used to say it was because people
+didn't get in the habit of talking about religion
+in a common sense way. They don't, you know;
+hardly anybody. At least hardly anybody that
+I know; around here, anyway. Now my father
+speaks of those things just as easy as he does
+of anything."</p>
+
+<p>"So does Auntie Marshall; but I used to notice
+that not many people did. Your father
+must be a good man."</p>
+
+<p>"There never was a better one!"</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding Jerry said all this with tremendous
+energy, his voice trembled a little, and
+there came one of those dashes of feeling over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+him which made him think that he must drop
+everything and go to that dear father right
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"When he comes after you and takes you
+away, what will I do?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's mournful tone restored the boy's courage.</p>
+
+<p>He laughed a little. "No use in borrowing
+trouble about that. He is afraid he cannot
+come back before winter, if he does then. I'm
+going to get him to let me stay here until he does
+come, though. And now we must attend to business.
+What will you have first in my line?
+Chairs, tables, sofas&mdash;why, anything you say,
+ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>And both faces were sunny again.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.<br />
+
+<small>HOW IT SUCCEEDED.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>MRS. JOB SMITH leaned against the table
+in her bright kitchen, caught up the
+edge of her apron in one hand, then leaned both
+hands on her sides, and thought. Jerry had been
+consulting her. Was there any way of planning
+so that the front room in the Decker house could
+have a carpet? He repeated all Mrs. Decker said
+about a room not being home-like without one,
+and Mrs. Smith, at first inclined to combat the
+idea, finally admitted that in winter a room where
+you sat down to visit, did look kind of desolate
+without a carpet, unless it was a kitchen, and had
+a good-sized cook stove to brighten it up. There
+was no denying that that square front room
+would be the better for a carpet. At the same
+time there was no denying that the Deckers
+needed a hundred other things worse than they
+did a carpet. But the hearts of the boy and girl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+were bent on having one; and what the boy was
+bent on, Mrs. Job Smith liked to have accomplished,
+and believed sooner or later that it would
+be. The question was, How could she help to
+bring it about?</div>
+
+<p>"There's that roll of rag carpeting, bran-new,"
+she said aloud; Mrs. Smith had spent a good
+deal of her time alone and had learned to hold
+long conversations with herself, arguing out
+questions as well, sometimes she thought better,
+than a second party could have done. At this
+point she put her hands on her sides. "There's
+enough of it, and more than enough. I had it
+made for the front room the year poor Hannah
+died, and sent me that boughten carpet which
+just exactly fitted, and is good for ten years'
+wear. That rag carpeting has been rolled up
+and done up in tobacco and things ever since&mdash;most
+two years. Sarah Jane doesn't need it,
+and I don't know as I shall ever put it on the
+kitchen. I don't like a great heavy carpet in a
+kitchen, much, anyway; rugs, and square pieces
+that a body can take up and shake, are enough
+sight neater, to my way of thinking. But I can't
+afford to give away bran-new carpeting. To be
+sure it only cost me the warp and the weaving;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+and I got the warp at a bargain, and old Mother
+Turner never did ask me as much for weaving
+as she did other folks. The rags was every one
+of them saved up. Poor Hannah used to send
+me a lot of rags, and Sarah Jane and I sewed
+them at odd spells when we wouldn't have been
+doing anything. It is a good deal of bother to
+take care of it, and I'm always afraid the moths
+will get ahead of me, and eat it up. I might sell
+it to her for what the warp and the weaving cost
+me. But land! what would she pay with? I
+might give her a chance to do ironing. I have
+to turn away fine ironing every week of my life
+because I can't do more than accommodate my
+old customers. Who knows but she is a pretty
+good ironer? I might give her the coarse parts
+to iron, and watch her, and find out. Job is always
+at me to have somebody help with the big
+ironings, and I have always said I wouldn't have
+a girl bothering around, I would rather take less
+to do. But then, she is a decent quiet body, and
+that Nettie is just a little woman. She will have
+to do something to help along if they ever get
+started in being decent; perhaps ironing is the
+thing for her, and I can start her if she knows
+how to do it. For the matter of that, I might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+teach her how, if she wanted to learn. To be sure
+they need other things more than carpets, but
+it wouldn't take her long to pay for this, if I just
+charge for the weaving. I might throw in the
+warp, maybe, seeing I got it at a bargain. The
+two are so bent on having a carpet for that
+room; and Jerry, he said he had prayed about
+it, and while he was on his knees, it kind of
+seemed to him as though I was the one to get to
+think it out. That's queer now! Jerry don't
+know anything about the carpet rolled up in tobacco
+in the box in the garret; why should he
+think that I could help? I feel almost bound to,
+somehow, after that. I don't like to have Jerry
+disappointed, nor the little girl either, now that's
+a fact. I take to that little Nettie amazingly.
+Well, I know what I'll do. I'll talk with Job
+about it, and if he is agreed, maybe we will see
+what she says to it."</p>
+
+<p>This last was a kind of "make believe," and
+the good woman knew it; Job Smith thought that
+his wife was the wisest, most prudent, most capable
+woman in the world, and besides being sure to
+agree to whatever she had to propose, he was
+himself of such a nature that he would have given
+away unhesitatingly the very clothes he wore, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+he thought somebody else needed them more
+than he. There was little need to fear that Job
+Smith would ever put a stumbling-block in the
+way of any benevolence.</p>
+
+<p>But who shall undertake to tell you how astonished
+Mrs. Decker was when Mrs. Smith, having
+duly considered, and talked with Sarah Jane,
+and talked with Job, and unrolled the tobacco-smelling
+carpet, and examined it carefully, did
+finally come over to the Decker home with her
+startling proposition. It is true that a carpet
+had taken perhaps undue proportions in this
+poor woman's eyes. Her best room during all
+the years of her past life had never been without
+a neat bright carpet; it had been the pleasant
+dream of her second married-life, so long as any
+pleasantness had been left to allow of dreaming;
+and she could not get away from the feeling that
+people who had not a scrap of carpeting for their
+best room, were very low down. She opened
+her eyes very wide while listening to Mrs.
+Smith's rapidly told story. What kind of a carpet
+could it be that was offered to her for simply
+the price of the weaving? for Job and his wife
+after some figuring with pencil and paper, had
+agreed together heartily to throw in the warp.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+She went over to the neat kitchen and examined
+the carpet. It was bright and pretty. There
+was a good deal of red in it, and there was a
+good deal of brown; a blending of the two colors
+which had been the subject of much discussion
+between herself and husband in the days
+when Mr. Decker talked anything about the comforts
+of his home. How well it would look in
+the square room which had two windows, and
+was really the only pleasant room in the house.
+Surely she could iron enough to pay for that.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not very strong," she said with a sigh.
+"I used to be, but of late I've been failing. But
+Nannie is so handy, and so willing, that she
+saves me a great deal, and she has a notion that
+she would like to fix up the front room and try
+to get hold of my Norm. It would be worth
+trying, maybe, but I don't know. We are very
+low down, Mrs. Smith."</p>
+
+<p>And then Mrs. Decker sank into one of the
+green painted chairs and cried.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is worth trying," Mrs. Smith
+said, bustling about, as though she must find
+some more windows to raise; tears always made
+her feel as though she was choking. "If I were
+you I would have a carpet, and curtains to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+windows, and lots of nice things, and make a
+home fit for that boy of yours to have a good
+time in. There is nothing like a nice pleasant
+home to keep a boy from going wrong."</p>
+
+<p>Before Mrs. Decker went home, she had promised
+to try the ironing the very next week, and
+if she could do it well enough to suit Mrs. Smith,
+the carpet should be bought.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor thing!" said Mrs. Smith, looking after
+her, and rubbing her eyes with the corner of her
+apron. "The ironing shall suit; if she irons
+wrinkles into the collars and creases in the cuffs,
+I won't say a word; only I guess maybe I won't
+give her collars and cuffs to iron; not till she
+learns how. I ought to have done something to
+kind of help her along before; only I don't know
+what it would have been. It takes that boy of
+mine to set folks to work."</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, "that boy" sat in the kitchen door,
+studying. Not from a book, but from his own
+puzzled thoughts. He did not see his way clear.
+Under Nettie's direction he had planned a very
+satisfactory sofa with a back to it, and two chairs,
+but how to get the material needed to finish
+them, and also for curtains for the new room, had
+sent Nettie home in bewilderment, and stranded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+him on the doorstep in the middle of the afternoon
+to think it out.</p>
+
+<p>"How much stuff does it take for curtains,
+anyhow?"</p>
+
+<p>"For curtains?" said Mrs. Smith, coming
+back with a start from her ironing table and the
+plan she had for teaching Mrs. Decker to iron
+shirts. "Why, that depends on what kind of
+stuff it is, and how many curtains you want, and
+how big the windows are."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what do they use for curtains?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Smith still looked bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"A great many things, Jerry. They have lace
+curtains, and linen ones, and muslin ones, and in
+some of the rooms up at Mrs. Barlow's, on the hill,
+you know, when I helped her do up curtains that
+time, they had great heavy silk things, or maybe
+velvet, though the stuff didn't look much like
+either. I don't rightly know what it was, but it
+was heavy, and soft, and satiny, and shone like
+gold, in some places."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry turned around on the doorstep and
+looked full at Mrs. Smith, and laughed.
+"I know," he said, "I have seen such curtains.
+They are damask. I am not thinking about lace,
+and damask, and all that sort of thing. I mean<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+for Mrs. Decker's front room. What could be
+used that would do, and how much would they
+cost?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely!" said Mrs. Smith, coming down to
+everyday life. "What a goose I was. I might
+have known what you were thinking about.
+Why, let me see. Cheese cloth makes real pretty
+curtains; if you have a bit of bright calico to put
+over the top, and a nice hem in, or maybe some
+bright calico at the bottom to help them hang
+straight, I don't know as there is anything much
+prettier. Though to be sure they aren't good
+for much to keep people from looking in; and
+they aren't quite suitable for winter. I suppose
+you want to plan for winter, too? I'll tell you
+what it is, I believe that unbleached muslin makes
+about as pretty a curtain as a body could have;
+put bright red at the top and bottom, and they
+look real nice."</p>
+
+<p>"What is unbleached muslin? I mean, how
+much does it cost?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Mrs. Smith, dropping into her
+rocking-chair, and folding her hands on her lap
+to give her mind fully to the important question,
+"as to that, I should have to think; I'm not
+very good at figures. Unbleached muslin costs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+about eight cents a yard, or maybe ten; we'll
+say ten, because I've always noticed that was
+easier to calculate. Ten cents a yard, and two
+windows, say two yards to each, and no, two
+yards to each half, four yards to each, and twice
+four is eight, eight yards at ten cents a yard.
+How much would that be, Jerry? You can tell
+in a minute, I dare say."</p>
+
+<p>"Eighty cents," said Jerry with a sigh. "I
+am afraid she will think that is a great deal.
+And then there's the red to put on them. What
+does that cost?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that ought to be oil calico, because the
+other kind ain't fast colors. I don't much believe
+you could get those curtains up short of
+fifty cents apiece; and that is a good deal for
+curtains, that's a fact. Paper ones don't cost so
+much, but then there's the rollers and the fastenings,
+I don't know but they do cost just as much.
+And then they tear."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want her to have paper ones," said
+Jerry decisively. "A dollar for the curtains,
+and I don't know how much more for the furniture.
+She can't imagine where the money is to
+come from."</p>
+
+<p>"I could tell where it ought to come from,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+said Mrs. Smith, nodding her head and looking
+severe. "It ought to come out of Joe Decker's
+pocket. He makes his dollar a day, even now,
+when he doesn't half work; Job said so only last
+night. But furniture is dreadful dear stuff,
+Jerry, worse than curtains. And they need
+about everything. I never did see such a desolate
+house! And those little girls need clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Nettie is going to make them some clothes,"
+said Jerry; "she has some that she has outgrown;
+a great roll in her trunk; she is going to make
+them over to fit the little girls. She is at work
+at some of them to-day. And you know, auntie,
+I am making the furniture."</p>
+
+<p>"Making it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, making its skeleton. If we had some
+clothes to put on it, I guess it would be furniture.
+I've made a sofa, and two chairs, and I'm at
+work at a table. Only I would like to see how
+the things were going to look, before I went any
+farther."</p>
+
+<p>"Making furniture!" repeated dazed Mrs.
+Smith; and she shook her head. "I don't see
+how you can! You can do a great many things
+that no other boy ever thought of; but I'm
+afraid that's beyond you."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, you see, auntie, she has seen some
+made, and she showed me what to do with hammer
+and nails. You make a frame, just the
+size you want for a sofa, and put a back to it,
+then it is padded with cotton, and covered with
+something bright, cretonne, I think she said
+they called it, only it wasn't real cretonne, but
+a cheap imitation, and they tack a skirt to the
+thing in puckers, so," and he caught up a bit of
+Mrs. Smith's apron to illustrate.</p>
+
+<p>"I see," she said, nodding her head and speaking
+in an admiring tone. "What a contriving
+little thing she is! And what about the
+chairs?"</p>
+
+<p>"The chairs are served in very much the
+same way. The table is just two flat boards and
+a post between them, nailed firmly, then they
+tack red calico, or blue, or whatever they want,
+around it, and cover it with thin white cheese
+cloth or some lacey stuff, she had the name of
+it, but I've forgotten; it doesn't cost much, she
+said, and tie a sash around it, and it looks like
+an hour glass. The question is, where are the
+cotton and calico to come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mrs. Smith, "you two do beat
+all! It can't take much stuff for a little table;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+and I can see that they might be real pretty. I
+want a table myself, to stand under the glass in
+my front room. What if you was to make two,
+and I'd get cloth enough for two, and she would
+do mine and hers, to pay for the cloth?"</p>
+
+<p>Jerry sprang up from his doorstep, and came
+over and put both arms around Mrs. Smith's
+trim waist.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" he said; "you are the contriver.
+That will do splendidly. I'll go this minute and
+set up the skeleton of another table. I have
+two boards there which will just do it. Then
+we'll think out a way to get the rest of the
+stuff."</p>
+
+<p>Now Nettie, busy with her fingers in the
+house next door, had not left the others to do
+all the thinking. She knew the price of "oil
+calico," and imitation cretonne, and unbleached
+muslin; she knew to a fraction how many yards
+of each would be needed, and the sum total appalled
+her. Yet she too knew that her father
+earned at least a dollar a day, and did not give
+them two a week to live on. This her mother
+had told her.</p>
+
+<p>Also she knew that on this Saturday evening
+at about six o'clock, he would probably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+be paid for his week's work. Couldn't she contrive
+to coax some of the money from his keeping
+into hers? She had hinted the possibility of
+her mother's getting hold of it, and Mrs. Decker
+had said that the bare thought of trying made
+her feel faint and sick; that if she had ever
+seen her father in a passion such as he could get
+into when things did not go just to suit him,
+she would know what it was to ask him for anything.
+Nettie, who had not yet been at home a
+week, had some faint idea of what her father
+might do and say if he were very angry. Nevertheless,
+she was trying to plan a way to meet
+him before he left the shop, and secure some of
+that money if she could.</p>
+
+<p>With this thought in view, she presently laid
+aside the neat little petticoat on which she had
+been sewing, brushed her hair, put on her brown
+ribboned hat, and her brown gloves, watched
+her chance while the children were quarreling
+over an apple that Jerry had given them, and
+stole out in the direction of the shop where her
+father worked. She would not ask Jerry to go
+with her, though he looked after her from the
+barn window and wished she had; if her father
+was to grow angry and swear, and possibly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+strike, no one should know it but herself, if she
+could help it.</p>
+
+<p>I must not forget to tell you of one thing that
+she did before starting. She went into her
+mother's little tucked-up bedroom, put a nail
+over the door, which she had herself arranged
+for a fastening, and knelt there so long by the
+barrel which did duty as a table, that her mother,
+had she seen her, would have been frightened.
+But Nettie felt that she needed courage for this
+undertaking; and she knew where to get it.</p>
+
+<p>Then she had to walk pretty fast; it was
+later than she thought, for just as she turned the
+corner by the shop where her father worked, the
+six o'clock bell began to ring.</p>
+
+<p>"Halloo!" said one of the men, standing in
+the door while he untied his leather apron.
+"What party is this coming down the street?
+The neatest little woman I've seen for many a
+day. A stranger in this part of the world, I
+reckon. Doesn't fit in, somehow. Do you know
+who it is, Decker?"</p>
+
+<p>And Mr. Decker, thus appealed to, came to
+the door in time to receive Nettie's bow and
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"That's my girl," he said, and a look of pride<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+stole into his face. She was a trim little creature;
+it was rather pleasant to own her as his
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Your girl!" and the astonishment which the
+man felt was expressed by a slight whistle. "I
+want to know now if that is the little one who
+went away six, seven years ago, was it? She's
+as pretty a girl as I've seen in a year. Looks
+smart, too. I say, Decker, you better take good
+care of her. She is a girl to be proud of."</p>
+
+<p>At just that moment Nettie sprang up the
+steps.</p>
+
+<p>"May I come in, father?" she said; "I
+wanted to see where you worked." Her voice
+was clear and sweet. All the men in the shop
+turned to look. The foreman who was paying
+Mr. Decker, and who had begun severely with
+the sentence: "Two half-days off again, Decker;
+that sort of thing won't"&mdash;stopped short at the
+sound of Nettie's voice, and gave him the two two
+dollar bills, and two ones, without further words.
+Six dollars! If only she could get part of it!
+How should the delicate matter be managed?
+Suddenly Nettie acted on the thought which
+came to her. What more natural than for a child
+to ask for money just then and there? She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+needed it, and why not say it? Perhaps he
+would not like to refuse her entirely before all
+the men. And poor Nettie had a very disagreeable
+fear that he would certainly refuse her
+if she waited until the men were gone; even if
+she found a chance to ask him before he reached
+the saloon just next door, where he spent so
+much of his money. Or at least where his wife
+thought he spent it.</p>
+
+<p>"May I have some of that, father? I want
+some money. That was one of the things I
+came after."</p>
+
+<p>This was certainly the truth. Why not treat
+it as a matter of course? "Why should I take
+it for granted that he is going to waste all his
+money?" said poor Nettie to herself. All the
+same she knew she had good reason for supposing
+that he would.</p>
+
+<p>"Money!" he said, as he seized the bills.
+"What do you know about money, or want with
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I want things. The little girls must
+have some shoes. I promised to see about it as
+soon as I could. And then I want to buy your
+Sunday dinner; a real nice one."</p>
+
+<p>The tone was a winning, coaxing one. Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+did not know how to coax; was not very well
+acquainted with her father; did not know how
+he would endure coaxing of any sort, but some
+way must be tried, and this was the best one
+she knew of.</p>
+
+<p>"Divide with her, Decker," said the man who
+had first called his attention to Nettie. "She
+looks as though she could buy a dinner, and
+cook it too. If I had a trim little girl like that
+to look out for my comfort, hang me if I wouldn't
+take pleasure in keeping her well supplied." He
+sighed as he spoke, and nobody laughed; for
+most of them remembered that the man's home
+was desolate. Wife and daughter both buried
+only a few months before. This man sometimes
+spent his earnings on beer, but he was accustomed
+to say that there was nobody left to care;
+and that while he had them, he took care of
+them; which was true. Nettie looked up at the
+man with a curious pitiful interest. His tone
+was very sad. She was grateful to him for his
+words. Was there possibly something sometime
+that she could do for him? She would remember
+his face.</p>
+
+<p>All the men were looking now, and there was
+Nettie's outstretched hand. Her face a good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+deal flushed; but it wore an expectant look.
+She was going to believe in her father as long as
+she could.</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead, Joe, divide with the girl. Such a
+handsome one as that. You ought to be proud
+of the chance."</p>
+
+<p>"You have something worth taking care of,
+it seems, Decker." It was the foreman who
+said this, as he passed on his way to the other
+side of the room where the men were waiting.</p>
+
+<p>Whether it was a father's pride, or a father's
+shame, or both these motives which moved Mr.
+Decker, I cannot say, but he actually took a two
+and a one and placed them in her hands as he
+said hastily, "There, my girl, I've given you
+half; you can't complain of that."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.<br />
+
+<small>LONG STORIES TO TELL.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>IF only I had a good picture of Nettie, so that
+you might see the radiant look in her eyes
+just then!</div>
+
+<p>She had hoped for the money, she had tried
+to trust her father, but she was, nevertheless,
+wonderfully surprised when her hand closed
+over three dollars.</p>
+
+<p>"O father!" she said, "how nice." And then
+her courage rose. "Will you go with me, father,
+to buy the shoes? The little girls are so eager
+for them. I promised to take them with me to
+Sunday-school to-morrow, if I could get shoes,
+but I don't know how to buy them very well.
+Could you go?"</p>
+
+<p>The shoe shop was farther down the street, in
+an opposite direction from the one where Mr.
+Decker generally got his liquor, and wily Nettie
+remembered that there was a street leading from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+it which would take them home without passing
+the saloon. Of course it was true that she needed
+his help to select the shoes, but it was also true
+that she was very glad she did. Mr. Decker was
+untying his apron, and rolling down his sleeves;
+he felt very thirsty&mdash;the sight of the money
+seemed to make him thirsty. He had meant to go
+directly to the saloon, give them one dollar on the
+old bill, and spend what he needed, only a very
+little, on beer. With the rest of the money he
+honestly meant to pay his rent. Yet no one
+ought to have understood better than he that he
+would not be likely to get away from that saloon
+with a cent of money in his pocket. For all that,
+he wanted to go. He wished Nettie would go
+away and let him alone. But the men were
+watching.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't fit the children to shoes without
+having them along," he said gruffly.
+But Nettie was ready for him: "Oh!" she said,
+swiftly unrolling a newspaper, "I brought their
+feet along." And with a bright little laugh she
+plumped down two badly worn shoes on the work
+table.</p>
+
+<p>"That left-footed one is Satie's. The other
+was so dreadfully worn out, I was afraid the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+shoemaker couldn't measure it. This is the best
+one of Susie's."</p>
+
+<p>It was plain to any reasonable eyes that two
+pairs of shoes were badly needed.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they need other things besides
+shoes."</p>
+
+<p>It was the father who said this, and they were
+out on the street, and he was actually being
+drawn by Nettie's eager hand in the opposite
+direction from the saloon.</p>
+
+<p>"O no," she said; "I had some clothes which
+I had outgrown; I have been at work at them
+all day, and they make nice little suits. Auntie
+Marshall sent them each a cunning little white sunbonnet.
+When we get the shoes, they will look
+just as nice as can be. You don't know how
+pleased they are about going to Sunday-school.
+I am so glad they will not be disappointed to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>The shoes were bought, good, strong-looking
+little ones, and wonderfully cheap, perhaps because
+Nettie did the bargaining, and the man
+who knew how scarce her money must be, was
+sorry for the little woman. It did seem a great
+deal to pay out&mdash;two whole dollars&mdash;for shoes
+when everything was needed. It was warm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+weather, perhaps she ought to have let the little
+girls go barefoot for awhile, but then she could
+not take them to Sunday-school very well; at
+least, it seemed to her that she couldn't; and
+father was willing to have them bought now.
+Who could tell when he would be willing again?</p>
+
+<p>He stood in the door and waited for her, wondering
+why he did so, why he could not leave
+her and go back to that saloon and get his drink.
+One reason was, that she gave him no chance.
+She appealed to him every minute for advice.</p>
+
+<p>"Father, can we go to market now? I want
+to get just a splendid piece of meat for your
+Sunday dinner. I know just how to cook it in
+a way that you will like."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you can do that without me; I have
+an errand in another direction." They were on
+the street again. She caught his hand eagerly.
+"O, father, do please come with me to the market,
+there are so many men there I don't like to
+go alone; and it is so nice to take a walk with
+you. I haven't had one since I came. Won't
+you please come, father?"</p>
+
+<p>Joe Decker hardly knew what to think of himself.
+There was something in her soft coaxing
+voice which seemed to take him back a dozen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+years into the past, and which led him along in
+spite of himself.</p>
+
+<p>The meat was bought, Nettie looking wise
+over the different pieces, and insisting on a neck
+piece, which the boy told her was not fit to eat.
+"I know how to make it fit," she said, with a
+little nod of her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I want three pounds of it. And then, father,
+I want two carrots and two onions; I'm going to
+make something nice."</p>
+
+<p>Only sixty-eight cents of her precious money
+left!</p>
+
+<p>"I did need some butter," she said mournfully,
+"and that in the tub looks nice, but I guess
+I can't afford it this time."</p>
+
+<p>"How much is butter?" asked Mr. Decker,
+suddenly rising to the needs of the moment.
+"Twenty-five," said the grocer, shortly. He
+did not know the trim little woman who had paid
+for her carrots and onions, and held them in a
+paper bag at this moment, but he did know Joe
+Decker and had an account against him. He had
+no desire to sell him any butter.</p>
+
+<p>"Then give me two pounds, and be quick
+about it." And Mr. Decker put down a dollar
+bill on the counter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The man seized it promptly and began to arrange
+the butter in a neat wooden dish, while he
+said, "By the way, Mr. Decker, when will it be
+convenient to settle that little account?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do it as soon as I can," said Mr. Decker,
+speaking low, for Nettie turned toward him
+startled; this was worse than she thought. She
+had not known of any accounts. Mr. Decker
+himself had forgotten it until he stood in the
+very door. It was months since he had bought
+groceries.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it much, father?" Nettie asked, and he
+replied pettishly:</p>
+
+<p>"Much? no. It is only a miserable little
+three dollars. I mean to pay it; he needn't be
+scared." Yet why he shouldn't be "scared,"
+when he had asked for those three dollars perhaps
+fifty times, Mr. Decker did not say.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said Nettie, in a very low voice,
+"couldn't you let the man keep the fifty cents,
+on the account, and that would be a beginning?"</p>
+
+<p>But this was too much.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Mr. Decker; "I will pay my bills
+when I get ready and not before; and it is none
+of your business when I do it. You must not
+meddle with what does not belong to you."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, sir;" said Nettie, though it was hard
+work to speak just then; there was a queer little
+lump in her throat. She was not in the habit of
+being spoken to in this way. The butter was
+ready, and the man handed back the change.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker pocketed it, saying as he did so,
+"I'll have some money for you next week, I
+guess." And then they went away.</p>
+
+<p>"If it hadn't been for the girl I'd have kept
+the fifty cents and got so much out of the old
+drunkard; but someway I couldn't bring myself
+to doing it with her looking on." This was
+what the grocer muttered as they walked away.
+But they did not hear him. Nettie was bent
+now on tolling her father down the cross street
+to go home.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," she said, "we are going to have
+milk toast for supper. Mother said she would
+have it ready, and toast spoils, you know, if it
+stands long. Couldn't we go home this way and
+make it shorter?"</p>
+
+<p>He was a good deal astonished that he did it.
+He was still very thirsty, but there really came
+to him no decent excuse for deserting his little
+girl and going back to the saloon. And they
+walked into the house together, so astonishing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+Mrs. Decker that she almost dropped the teapot
+which she was filling with hot water. Whatever
+other night, Mr. Decker contrived to get
+home to supper, he was always late on Saturday,
+and in a worse condition than at any other time.</p>
+
+<p>That was really a nice little suppertime. Mrs.
+Decker had done her part well, not for the husband
+whom she did not expect, but in gratitude
+to the little girl who had worked so hard all the
+week for herself and her neglected babies. The
+toast was well made, and the tea was good.
+Besides, there was a treat; not ten minutes before,
+Mrs. Job Smith had sent in a plate of ginger
+cookies; "for the children," she said, and
+the children each had one. So did the father
+and mother.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker washed his hands before he sat
+down to the table, for the tablecloth had been
+freshly washed and ironed that day, and his
+wife had on a clean calico apron and a strip of
+white cloth about her neck, and her hair was
+smooth.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" said Nettie, displaying her meat,
+"now, mother, we can have that stew for to-morrow,
+just as we planned. Father got the
+meat, and the carrots, and everything. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+what do you think, little girlies, father bought
+you each a pair of shoes!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker set down the teapot again. She
+was just in the act of giving her husband a cup
+of tea, and the color came and went on her face
+so queerly that Nettie for a moment was frightened.
+As for the father, he felt very queer.
+Scared and silent as his little girls generally were
+in his presence, they could not keep back a little
+squeal of delight over this wonderful piece of
+news. Altogether, Mr. Decker could not help
+feeling that it really was a nice thing to be able
+to buy shoes and meat for his family.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," he said, "give us your tea if you're
+going to; I'm as dry as a fish."</p>
+
+<p>And the tea was poured.</p>
+
+<p>The toast was good, and there was plenty of
+it, and someway it took longer to eat it than this
+family usually spent at the supper-table; and
+then, after supper, the shoes had to be tried on,
+and Nettie called the little girls to their father
+to see if the shoes fitted, and he took Sate up on
+his lap to examine them, which was a thing that
+had not happened to Sate in so long that Susie
+scowled and expected that she would be frightened,
+but Sate seemed to like it, and actually<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+stole an arm around her father's neck and patted
+his cheek, while he was feeling of the shoe.
+Then Mrs. Decker had a happy thought.</p>
+
+<p>She winked and motioned Nettie into the bedroom
+and whispered: "Don't you believe he
+might like to see the children in their nice
+clothes? I ain't seen him notice them so much
+in a year; and he hasn't been drinking a mite,
+has he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a drop," said Nettie; "I'll dress Susie."
+And she flew out to the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"Father, just you wait until Susie is ready to
+show you something. Come here, Susie, quick."
+And almost in less time than it takes me to tell
+it, Susie was whisked into the pretty petticoats
+and dress which had been shortened and tightened
+for her that day. The dress was a plain,
+not over-fine white one; but it was beautifully
+ironed, and the white sunbonnet perched on the
+trim head completed the picture and made a
+pretty creature of Susie. I am sure I don't
+wonder that the child felt a trifle vain as she
+squeaked out in her new shoes to show herself
+to her father. She had not been neatly dressed
+long enough to consider it as a matter of course.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word!" said Mr. Decker, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+there he stopped. This was certainly a wonderful
+change. He looked at his little daughter
+from head to foot, and could hardly believe his
+eyes. What a pretty child she was. And to
+think that she was his! Certainly she ought to
+have new shoes, and new clothes. Sate's arm
+was still about his neck, and Sate's sweet full
+lips were suddenly touched to his rough cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got new clothes too," she said sweetly,
+"only I doesn't want to get down from here to
+put them on."</p>
+
+<p>The father turned at that and kissed her. Then
+he sat her down hastily and got up. Something
+made his eyes dim. He really did not know what
+was the matter with him, only it all seemed to
+come to him suddenly that he had some very
+nice children, and that they ought to have
+clothes and food and chances like others, and
+that it was his own fault they hadn't.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie hated tobacco, but she went herself in
+haste and lighted her father's pipe and brought
+it to him; if he must smoke, it would be so much
+better to have him sit in the door and do it
+rather than to go off down to that saloon. She
+hated the saloon worse than the tobacco. As
+she brought the pipe, she said within her hopeful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+little heart: "Maybe sometime he won't
+want either to drink or smoke. I most know we
+can coax him to give them both up; and then
+won't that be nice?"</p>
+
+<p>One thing was troubling her; as soon as she
+could, she followed her mother into the yard and
+questioned, "Do you know where Norm is?"</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Mrs. Decker knew. He came home just
+after Nettie had gone out, and said he had an
+hour's holiday; their room had closed early for
+Saturday, and he was going to wash up and go
+down street before supper.</p>
+
+<p>"My heart was in my mouth," said the poor
+mother; "because when there is a holiday he
+gets into worse scrapes than he does any other
+time; he goes with a set that don't do anything
+but have holidays, and they always have some
+mischief hatched up to get Norm into. I never
+see the like of the boys in this town for getting
+others into scrapes; but I didn't dare to say a
+word, because Norm thinks he is getting too big
+for me to give him any words, and just as he was
+going out, that boy next door&mdash;Jerry, you said
+his name was, didn't you?&mdash;he came out and
+called Norm, real friendly, and they stood talking
+together; he appeared to be arguing something,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
+and Norm holding off, and at last Norm
+came in and wanted the tin pail and said he had
+changed his mind and was going fishing; and
+they went off together, them two." And Mrs.
+Decker finished the sentence with a rare smile.
+She was grateful to Jerry for carrying off her
+boy, and grateful to Nettie for thinking about
+him and being anxious.</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" said Nettie with a happy little
+laugh, "then we will have some fried fish to-morrow
+for breakfast. What a nice day to-morrow
+is going to be."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker was a good deal surprised at himself,
+but he did not go down town again that
+night. After he had smoked, he felt thirsty, it
+is true, and at that very minute Nettie came in
+with the one glass which they had in the house,
+and it was full of lemonade.</p>
+
+<p>"Did he want a nice cool drink?" she had
+two lemons which she bought with her own
+money, and she knew how to make good lemonade,
+Auntie Marshall used to say.</p>
+
+<p>The father drank the cool liquid off almost at
+a swallow, said it was good, and that he guessed
+she knew how to do most things. By this time
+the little girls had been tucked away to bed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+and just as Mr. Decker rose up to say he guessed
+he would go down street awhile, Norm appeared
+with a string of fish. They were beauties; he
+declared that he never had such luck in his life;
+that fellow just bewitched the fish, he believed,
+so they would rather be caught than not. Then
+came a talk about dressing them. Norm said
+he was sure he did not know how; and Mr.
+Decker said, a great fellow like him ought to
+know how. When he was a boy of fourteen he
+used to catch fish for his mother almost every
+day of his life, and dress them too; his mother
+never had to touch them until they were ready to
+cook. Then Nettie, flushed and eager, said:</p>
+
+<p>"O father, then you can show me how to do
+it, can't you? I would like to learn just the
+right way." And the father laughed, and looked
+at his wife with something like the old look on
+his face, and said he seemed to be fairly caught.
+And together they went to the box outside, and
+in the soft summer night, with the moon looking
+down on them, Nettie took her lesson in fish
+dressing.</p>
+
+<p>When the work was all done, Norm having
+hovered around through it all, and watched, and
+helped a little, Mr. Decker went back to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+kitchen and yawned, and wondered how late it
+was. No clock in this house to give any idea of
+time. There used to be, but one day it got out
+of order and Mr. Decker carried it down street to
+be fixed, and never brought it back. Mrs. Decker
+asked about it a good many times, then went
+herself in search of it, and found it in the saloon
+at the corner.</p>
+
+<p>"He took it for debt," the owner told her,
+and a poor bargain it was; it never came to time,
+any better than her husband did. However,
+just as Mr. Decker made his wonderment, the
+old clock over at Mrs. Smith's rose up to its
+duty, and dignifiedly struck nine.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare," said Mr. Decker, "I did
+not think it was as late as that. There ain't any
+evenings now days. Well, I guess, after all, I'll
+go to bed. I'm most uncommon tired to-night
+somehow."</p>
+
+<p>Norm had already gone up to his room; and
+Mrs. Decker when she heard her husband's
+words, hurried into the bedroom to hide two
+happy tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare for it, I believe you have bewitched
+him," she said to Nettie, who followed her to
+ask about the breakfast; "I ain't known him to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+do such a thing not in two years, as to go to bed
+at nine o'clock without ever going down street
+again. He don't act like himself; not a mite.
+I was most scared when I saw him take Sate in
+his arms; that child don't remember his doing it
+before, I don't believe. Did he really buy the
+things, child, and pay for them? Well, now, it
+does beat all! And Saturday night, too; that
+has always been his worst night. Child, if you
+get hold of your father, and of my Norm, there
+ain't anything in this world too good for you.
+I'd work my fingers to the bone any time to help
+along, and be glad to."</p>
+
+<p>It was all very sweet. Nettie ran away before
+the sentence was fairly finished, waiting
+only to say, "Good-night, mother!" She had
+done this every night since she came, but to-night
+she reached up and touched her lips to the
+tall woman's thin cheek. Poor Nettie had been
+used to kissing somebody every night when she
+went to bed. It had made her homesick not to
+do it. But she had not wanted to kiss anybody in
+this house, except the little girls. To-night, she
+wanted to kiss this mother. She reached the
+back door, then stopped and looked back; her
+father sat in his shirt sleeves, in the act of pulling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+off one boot. Should she tell him good-night?
+He had not been there for her to do it
+a single evening since she came home. Should
+she kiss him? Why not? Wasn't he her father?
+Yet he might not like it. She could not be sure.
+He was not like the fathers she had known. However,
+she came back on tiptoe and stooped over
+him, her voice low and sweet:</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, father! I am going now." And
+then she put a kiss on the rough cheek, just
+where little Sate had left her velvet touch.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker started almost as though somebody
+had struck him. But it was not anger
+which filled his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, my girl," he said, but his voice
+was husky; and Nettie ran as fast as she could
+across the yard to the next house.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not get the things," she said to Jerry,
+who stood in the doorway waiting for her; "I
+couldn't; but, Jerry, I had such a wonderful
+time! Father gave me money, and we went to
+market, and bought shoes and he bought butter;
+and since we came home almost everything has
+happened. I can't begin to tell you. I can get
+some of the things on Monday. Father gave
+me money."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Jerry; "I didn't get the
+skeletons ready, either; I meant to work after
+tea, but instead of that I went fishing." And he
+gave her a bright smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I know it," said Nettie, breathless
+almost with eagerness. "That is part of my nice
+time. Jerry, I am so glad you went fishing to-night,
+and I am so glad you caught your fish;
+not the ones which we are to eat for our Sunday
+breakfast, you know, but the other one. Do you
+understand?"</p>
+
+<p>And Jerry laughed. "I understand," he said,
+"I had a nice time, too. We shall have some
+long stories to tell each other, I guess. We
+must go in now."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.<br />
+
+<small>A SABBATH TO REMEMBER.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>SUNDAY was a successful day at the Deckers.
+The sun shone brilliantly; a trifle too
+warm, you might have thought it, for comfort;
+but the little Deckers did not notice it. The
+fish was beautifully browned and the coffee was
+delicious. Mr. Decker had a clean shirt which
+his wife had contrived to wash and mend, the
+day before, and all things were harmonious.
+Some time before nine o'clock. Sate and Susie
+were arrayed in their new white suits, and with
+their trim new shoes, and hair beautifully neat,
+they were as pretty little girls as one need want
+to see. Nettie surveyed them with unqualified
+satisfaction, and then seated them, each with a
+picture primer, while she made her own toilet.
+She put on the dress which had been her best
+for Sunday, all summer. It was a gingham, a
+trifle finer and a good deal lighter than the brown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+one in which she had travelled. It was neatly
+made, and fitted her well; and the brown hat
+and ribbons looked well with it.</div>
+
+<p>On the whole, when they set off for Sabbath-school,
+Jerry accompanying them, arrayed in a
+fresh brown linen suit, Mrs. Decker watching
+them from the side window, admitted that she
+never saw a nicer-looking set in her life! She
+even had the courage to call Mr. Decker to see
+how nice the two little girls looked, and he came
+and watched them out of sight. And when he
+said that his Nan was about as nice a looking
+girl as he wanted to see, she answered heartily
+that Nannie was the very best girl she ever saw
+in her life.</p>
+
+<p>Fairly in the Sabbath-school, a fit of extreme
+shyness came over the two little Deckers. With
+Susie, as usual, it took the form of fierceness;
+she planted her two stout feet in the doorway
+and resolutely shook her head to all coaxings to
+go any farther; keeping firm hold of Sate's
+hand, and giving her arm a jerk now and then,
+to indicate to her that she was not to stir from
+her protector's side. The situation was becoming
+embarrassing. Nettie could not leave them,
+and Jerry would not; though some of the boys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+were giggling, those of his class were motioning
+him to leave the group and join them. The superintendent
+came forward and cordially invited
+the children in, but Susie scowled at him and
+shook her head. Then Jerry went around to
+Sate's side and held out his hand. "Sate," he
+said in a winning tone, "come with me over
+where all those pretty little girls sit, and I will
+get you a picture paper with a bird on it."</p>
+
+<p>To Susie's utter dismay, Sate who had meekly
+obeyed her slightest whim during all her little
+life, suddenly dropped the hand that held hers,
+and gave the other to Jerry, with a firm: "I'm
+going in, Susie; we came to go in, and Nettie
+wants us to." Poor, astonished, deserted Susie!</p>
+
+<p>She had been so sure of Sate that she had neglected
+to keep firm hold, and now she had slid
+away. There was nothing left for Susie but to
+follow her with what grace she could.</p>
+
+<p>They were seated at last. Seven little girls
+of nearly Nettie's size and age. As she took a
+seat among them, I wish I could give you an
+idea of how she felt. Up to this hour, it had
+not occurred to her that she was not as well
+dressed as others of her age. Not quite that,
+either; being a wise little woman of business, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+was well aware that her clothes were plain, and
+cheap, and that some girls wore clothes which
+cost a great deal of money. But I mean that
+this was the first time she had taken in the
+thought of the difference, so that it gave her a
+sting. The Sabbath-school which she had been
+attending, was a mission, in the lower part of
+the city; the scholars, nearly all of them, coming
+from homes where there was not much to
+spare on dress; and the girls of her class had
+all of them dressed like herself, neatly and
+plainly. It was very different with these seven
+girls. She felt at once, as she seated herself, as
+though she had come into the midst of a flower
+garden where choice blossoms were glowing on
+every side, and she might be a poor little weed.
+Summer silk dresses, broad-brimmed hats aglow
+with flowers, kid gloves, dainty lace-trimmed
+parasols&mdash;what a beautiful world it was into
+which this poor little weed had moved?</p>
+
+<p>Nettie knew that her hat was coarse, and the
+ribbon narrow and cheap, and her gloves cotton,
+but these things had never troubled her before.
+Why should they now?</p>
+
+<p>The truth is, it was not the pretty things, but
+the curious glances that their owners gave at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+small brown thrush which had come in among
+them. They seemed to poor Nettie to be making
+a memoranda of everything she had on,
+from the narrow blue ribbon on her hair to the
+strong neat boots in which her plump feet were
+encased. The look in their eyes said, "How
+queerly she is dressed!" It was impossible to
+get away from the thought of their thoughts,
+and from the fact that the girl next to her drew
+her blue silk dress closer about her, and placed
+her pink-lined parasol on the other side, even
+though the pretty lady who sat before them in
+the teacher's seat, welcomed her kindly, and
+hoped she would be happy among them. Nettie
+hoped so, too; but she could hardly believe that
+it could be possible.</p>
+
+<p>She looked over at Jerry. He seemed to be
+having a good time; there was not so much difference
+in boys' clothes as in girls. She did not
+see but he looked as well as any of them. She
+looked forward at the little girls. Susie had
+allowed herself to be led in search of Sate, and
+the two were at this moment side by side in a
+seat full of bobbing heads; they had taken off
+their sunbonnets, and their pretty heads bobbed
+about with the rest, and the white dresses of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+two looked as well at a distance as the others,
+though Nettie could see that there were ruffles,
+and tucks, and embroidery and lace. But some
+were plain; and none of the wee ones seemed to
+notice or to care. It was only Nettie who had
+gotten among those who made her care, by the
+glance of their eyes, and the rustle of their
+finery. She tried to get away from it all; tried
+hard. She listened to the words read, and
+joined as well as she could, in the hymn sung,
+and answered quietly and correctly, the questions
+put to her; but all the while there was a
+queer lump in her throat, which kept her swallowing,
+and swallowing, and a wish in her heart
+that she could go back to Auntie Marshall's.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 344px;">
+<img src="images/facing148.jpg" width="344" height="450" alt="girl with ringlets in coned hat" />
+<div class="caption">LORENA BARSTOW.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>When the service was over, she stood waiting,
+feeling shy and alone. Jerry was talking with
+the boys in his class, and the little girls were
+being kissed by their pretty teacher. Her classmates
+stood and looked at her. At last the
+teacher who had been talking with one of the
+secretaries turned to her with a pleasant voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Nettie, we are glad to have you with
+us. Can you come every Sabbath, do you think?
+Are you acquainted with these girls? No?
+Then you must be introduced. This is Irene<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+Lewis, and this is Cecelia Lester," and in this
+way she named the seven girls, each one making
+in turn what seemed to poor Nettie the stiffest
+little bow she had ever seen. At last, Irene
+Lewis, who stood next to her, and wore an elegant
+fawn-colored silk dress trimmed with lace,
+tried to think of something to say.</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't begun school yet, have you?
+I haven't seen anything of you. What grade
+are you in?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie explained that she had not been in a
+regular school; that she went afternoons to a
+private school which had no grades, and that
+now she did not expect to go at all; because
+mother could not spare her.</p>
+
+<p>"A private school!" said Miss Irene, "and
+held only in the afternoon! What a queer
+idea! I should think morning was the time to
+study. What was it for?"</p>
+
+<p>Then it became necessary to further explain
+that the girls who attended this afternoon school,
+had all of them work to do in the mornings, and
+could not be spared.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of them," said Lorena Barstow.
+"They are sort of charity schools, are
+they not?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lorena was dressed in white, and looked almost
+weighed down with rich embroidery; but
+she had a disagreeable smile on her face, and a
+look in her eyes that made Nettie's face crimson.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," she said, quietly, "I never
+heard it called by that name. My auntie thought
+very well of it, and was glad to have me go."
+Then she turned away, and hoped that none of
+the girls would ask her any more questions, or
+try to be friendly with her. Just now, she
+could be glad of only one thing, and that was,
+that she need not go to school with these disagreeable
+people. She stepped quite out of
+sight behind the screen which shielded the next
+class, and waited impatiently for the little girls.
+They seemed to be having a very nice time, and
+were in no haste to come to her. Standing
+there, waiting, she had the pleasure of hearing
+herself talked about.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't she a queer little object?" said Lorena
+Barstow. And when one of the others was kind
+enough to say that she did not see anything very
+queer about her, Lorena proceeded to explain.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't! Well, I should think you might.
+Did you ever see a girl in our class before, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+a gingham dress on? Of course she wore her
+very best for the first Sunday; and her hat is
+of very coarse straw, just the commonest kind,
+and last year's shape at that; then look at her
+cotton gloves! I'm sure I think she is as funny
+a little object as ever came into this room."</p>
+
+<p>"What of it? I am sure she looks neat and
+clean, and she spoke very prettily, and knew her
+lesson better than any of us."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't say she didn't. I was only talking
+about her clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Clothes are not of much consequence."</p>
+
+<p>"O Miss Ermina! When you dress better
+than any of us. Why don't you wear gingham
+dresses, and cheap ribbons, and cotton gloves, if
+you think they look as well as nice ones?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say that; I wear the clothes my
+mother gets for me; but I truly don't think
+they are the most important things in the
+world."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I. You needn't take a person
+up in that way, as though you were better than
+anybody else. I am sure I am willing she should
+wear what she likes."</p>
+
+<p>Then Cecelia Lester took up the conversation:</p>
+
+<p>"She could not be expected to dress very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+well, of course. Don't you know she is old
+Joe Decker's daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who is Joe Decker? I never heard of
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he is just a drunkard; they live over
+on Hamlin street. Mrs. Decker washes for my
+auntie once in awhile, when they have extra
+company, and I have seen her there, with both
+the little girls. I heard that Joe's daughter
+who has been living out, for years, was coming
+home."</p>
+
+<p>"Living out! that little thing! No wonder
+she hasn't better clothes. She has a pretty face,
+I think. But it seems sort of queer to have her
+come into our class, doesn't it? We sha'n't know
+what to do with her! She can't go in our set,
+of course."</p>
+
+<p>"O, I don't know. Perhaps Ermina Farley
+will invite her to her party." At this point, all
+the others laughed, as though a funny thing had
+been said, but Ermina spoke quietly: "So far
+as her gingham dress is concerned, I am sure I
+would just as soon. I don't choose my friends
+on account of the clothes they wear; and I suppose
+the poor thing cannot help her father being
+a drunkard; but then, I shouldn't like to invite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+her, for fear you girls would not treat her well."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie could see the toss of Lorena Barstow's
+yellow curls as she answered: "Well, I must say
+I like to be careful with whom I associate; and
+mother likes to have me careful. I am sorry for
+the girl; but I don't know that I need make her
+my most intimate friend on that account. Say,
+girls, did you ever notice what fine eyes that
+boy has who came in with her? Some think he
+is a real handsome fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"He seems to be a particular friend of this
+girl; I saw them on the street together yesterday,
+and they were talking and laughing, as
+though they enjoyed each other ever so much.
+Who is that boy?"</p>
+
+<p>Lorena seemed to be prepared to answer all
+questions.</p>
+
+<p>"He isn't much," she said, with another toss
+of her yellow curls. "His name is Jerry Mack;
+a regular Irish name, and he is Irish in face; I
+think he is coarse-looking; dreadful red cheeks!
+The girls over on the West Side say he is smart,
+and handsome, and all that. I don't see where
+they find it."</p>
+
+<p>"O, he is smart," said Cecelia Lester. "My
+brother knows him, and he says there isn't a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+more intelligent boy in town. I used to think
+he was splendid; I have talked with him some,
+and he is real pleasant; but I must say I don't
+understand why he goes with that Decker girl
+all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why he shouldn't," declared
+Lorena. "For my part, I think they are well
+matched; he works for his board at Job Smith's
+the carman's, and she is a drunkard's daughter;
+they ought to be able to have nice times together."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he work for his board?" chimed in
+two or three voices at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I suppose so, or gets it without working
+for it. He lives there, anyway. They say his
+father has deserted him, run away to California,
+or somewhere; Jerry will have to learn the carman's
+trade, and support himself, and Nettie,
+too, maybe." Whereupon there was a chorus
+of giggles. Something about this seemed to be
+thought funny.</p>
+
+<p>Ermina seemed to have left the group, so
+they took her up next. "Ermina Farley meant
+to invite him to her party, but I hardly think
+she will, when she finds out how all we girls
+feel about it. She tries to do things different<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+from everybody else, though; so perhaps that
+will be the very reason why she will ask them
+both. I'll tell you what it is, girls, we must
+stand up for our rights, and not let her have
+everything her own way. Let's say squarely
+that we will not go to her party if she invites
+out of our set. I could endure the boy if I had
+to, because he is very polite, and merry; and so
+few of the boys around here know how to behave
+themselves; but if he has chosen that
+Decker girl for his friend, we must just let them
+both alone. This class isn't the place for that
+girl; I wonder who invited her in? I think it
+was real mean in Miss Wheeler to ask her to
+come again, without knowing how we felt about
+it."</p>
+
+<p>All this time was poor Nettie behind that
+screen. Not daring to stir, because there was no
+place for her to go. The little girls were still engaged
+with their teacher, who had Sate on her
+lap, and Susie by her side, and was showing
+them some picture cards, and apparently telling
+them a story about the pictures. Jerry had sat
+down beside a boy who was copying something
+which Jerry seemed to be reading to him, and
+various groups stood about, chatting. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+were waiting for the bell to toll before they went
+into church. Nettie could not go without the
+little girls, and she could not stir without being
+brought into full view. And just then she felt
+as though it would not be possible for her to
+meet the eyes of anybody. If only she could
+run away and hide, where she need never see
+any of those dreadful girls again! or, for that
+matter, see anybody. It was true, she was a
+drunkard's daughter, and would go down lower
+and lower, until her neat dress would be in rags,
+and her hat, coarse as it was, would grow frayed,
+and be many years behind the fashion. What
+a cruel, wicked world it was! Who could have
+imagined that those pretty, beautifully dressed
+girls could have such cruel tongues, and say such
+hateful words! Didn't they know she was
+within hearing? Couldn't they have waited
+until she got out of the way, so that she need
+not have known how dreadful they were?</p>
+
+<p>So far as that was concerned, they did not
+know it. To do them justice, I think none of
+them would have wounded her so, quite to her
+face. They might have been cold, but they
+would not have been cruel in her presence. They
+thought she went out of the room, instead of behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+the screen. The bell tolled, at last, and
+Jerry finished his reading, and came over to her,
+his face bright. The girls in their beautiful
+plumage fluttered away like gay birds, the
+teacher of the little girls came toward her holding
+a hand of each, and saying brightly: "Are
+these your little sisters? What dear little treasures
+they are! We have had such a pleasant
+time together. I hope you have enjoyed your
+first day at Sabbath-school?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, ma'am," said Nettie. She was
+in great doubt as to whether this was a correct
+answer, for the sentence had the tone of a question
+in it, but truthful Nettie could not say that
+she enjoyed it very much, and did not want to
+say that she had never had a more miserable
+time in her life.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry was harder to answer. "Was it nice?"
+he asked her, as soon as they were fairly outside.
+"Did you have a good time? Those girls looked
+a trifle like peacocks, didn't they? I thought
+you were the best dressed one among them."</p>
+
+<p>O, ignorant boy! If there hadn't been such
+a lump in Nettie's throat, she would have laughed
+at this bit of folly. As it was, she contrived to
+give him a very little shadow of a smile, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+glad that the church door was near at hand, and
+that there was no more time for closer questions.</p>
+
+<p>All through the morning service she was trying
+to forget. It was not easy to do, for
+there sat three of the girls in a seat on which
+she could look down all the time; and try as
+she would, it seemed impossible to keep eyes
+or thoughts from turning that way. The girls
+did not behave very well. They whispered
+a good deal, during the Bible reading, and
+giggled over a book that fell while the hymn
+was being sung; and though Nettie covered her
+eyes during prayer, she could not help hearing a
+soft little buzz of whispering voices, even then.
+Jerry looked straight before him, with bright,
+untroubled face, and seemed to be having a good
+time. Susie and Sate, who had never been in
+church before in their lives, behaved remarkably
+well. In the course of the morning Sate leaned
+her little brown head trustingly against Nettie
+and dropped asleep, and Nettie put her arm
+around her, arranged her pretty head comfortably,
+and looked lovingly down upon her, and
+was glad that she had a little sister to love.
+Two of them, indeed, for Susie sat bolt upright
+and looked straight before her, and took in everything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
+with wide-open eyes, and looked so handsome
+with her glowing cheeks and her lovely
+curls, that it was almost impossible not to feel
+proud of the womanly little face.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie contrived to keep herself occupied with
+the prattle of the children during the walk
+home. She was not yet ready for Jerry's questions.
+She did not know what to say. Of one
+thing she felt sure; that was, that she never
+meant to go to that Sabbath-school again.</p>
+
+<p>Dinner was nearly ready when they reached
+home; such an appetizing smell of soup as had
+never filled the Decker kitchen before. Mrs.
+Decker had followed the directions of her young
+daughter with great care; and presently a very
+comfortable family sat down to the table. There
+were no soup plates, but there were two bowls
+for the father and mother, and a deep saucer for
+Norm; and the little girls were made happy
+with tin cups, two of which Nettie had found
+and scoured, the day before. It was certainly a
+very pleasant time. After dinner, as Nettie was
+preparing to wash the dishes, her mother came
+out with a troubled face, and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Norm says he guesses he will go out for a
+walk; and I know what that means; he gets<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+with a mean set every Sunday, and they carouse
+dreadful; it is the worst day in the week for
+boys. I was thinking, what if you could get
+that boy next door to go a-fishing again; Norm
+enjoyed it last night first-rate; and he said that
+boy was as jolly company as he should ever
+want. If he could keep him away from that
+set, he would be doing a good deed."</p>
+
+<p>"But, mother," she said, "it is Sunday."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Decker, "that's just what
+I've been saying; Sunday is the day when he
+gets into the worst kind of scrapes. Do you
+think Jerry would help us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know he would if he could; but he could
+not go fishing on Sunday, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? I should think it was enough
+sight better than for Norm to go off with a set
+of loafers, who do all sorts of wicked things."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Nettie was not skilled in argument; she
+did not know how to explain to her mother that
+Jerry must not do one wrong thing, to keep
+Norm from doing another wrong thing, even
+though the thing he chose might be the worse of
+the two. There was only a simple statement
+which she could make. "This is God's day,
+mother, and he says we must not do our own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
+work, or our own pleasure on his day; and I
+know Jerry will try to obey him, because he is
+his soldier."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker looked at the red-cheeked young
+girl a moment, then drew a long sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, "I know that is the way
+good folks talk; I used to hear plenty of it when
+I was young; and I was brought up to keep the
+Sabbath as strict as anybody; I would do it now
+if I could; but I'm free to confess that I would
+rather have Norm go a-fishing, ten times over,
+than to go with those fellows and get drunk."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," said Nettie, respectfully. "But
+then, God says we must obey him; and he has
+told us just how to keep the Sabbath day.
+He couldn't help us to do things for other people,
+if we begin by disobeying Him."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker went away, the trouble still on
+her face, and Nettie began to wash the dishes.
+Suddenly, she dropped her dish towel and rushed
+after Norman as he lounged out of the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Norman," she called, just as he was moving
+down the street, "won't you take the little girls
+and me over to that green place, that I see, the
+other side of the pond? There is such a pretty
+tree there, and it looks so pleasant on the bank.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
+I have some story papers that I promised to
+read to the little girls, and that would be such a
+nice place for reading. Won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>Norm stopped and looked down at her in
+astonishment, and some embarrassment. "You
+can go over there without me," he said, at
+last; "it isn't such a dreadful ways off; there's
+a plank across the stream down there a ways,
+where it is narrow. Lots of girls go there."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie looked over at it timidly. She was
+honestly afraid of the water, and nothing short
+of keeping Norm out of harm's way would have
+tempted her to cross a plank, with the little
+girls for companions. She spoke in genuine
+timidity.</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't like to go over there alone, with
+just the children. I am not used to going about
+alone. Couldn't you go with us, for just a little
+while? It will seem so nice to have a big
+brother to take care of me."</p>
+
+<p>Something about it all seemed suddenly rather
+nice to Norm. He had never been asked to
+take care of anybody before. He stood irresolutely
+for a moment, then said lazily, "Well, I
+don't know as I care; bring on your babies,
+then, and we'll go."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nettie sped back to the kitchen, dashed after
+the little girls and their sunbonnets, saying to
+Mrs. Decker as she went: "Mother, would you
+mind finishing the dishes? Norman is going to
+take the little girls and me over to the big tree,
+and we are going to stay there awhile, and read."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll finish,'em," said Mrs. Decker, comfort in
+her tone, and she murmured, as she watched
+them away, Sate with her hand slipped inside of
+Norm's, "I declare, I never see the beat of that
+girl in all my life."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IX.<br />
+
+<small>A BARGAIN AND A PROMISE.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>DURING the next few days work went on
+rapidly in the Decker home: or, more
+properly speaking, in the room over Job Smith's
+barn. Jerry developed such taste in the manufacture
+of furniture, or of "skeletons," that
+Nettie grew alarmed lest there should never
+be found clothing enough to cover them. However,
+matters in that respect began to look
+brighter. Mrs. Job Smith, as she grew into an
+understanding of the plan, dragged out certain
+old trunks from her woodhouse chamber and
+looked them over. There were treasures in
+those trunks, which even Mrs. Job herself had
+forgotten. A gay chintz dress of Job's mother's,
+which had been saved by her daughter-in-law
+"she couldn't rightly tell for what, only Job
+set store by it because it was his old mother's."
+Nettie fairly clapped her hands in delight over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
+it, and then blushed crimson when she remembered
+it was not hers.</div>
+
+<p>"Well, now," said Mrs. Job, "I'll just tell
+you what it is. If you see anything in life to do
+with these rolls of things, here is a bundle of old
+muslin curtains, embroidered, you know, and
+dreadful pretty once, I suppose, but they are all
+to pieces now. Mrs. Percival, a lady I used to
+clear starch and iron for, gave them to me; paid
+me in that kind of trash, you know, though
+what in the world she thought I could ever do
+with them is more than I could imagine. But
+I was younger then than I am now, and was
+kind of meek, and I lugged home the great roll
+and said nothing; only I remember when I got
+home I just sat down on a corner of the table
+and cried, I was so disappointed. I had expected
+to be paid in money, and I had planned two or
+three things to surprise Job, and they had to be
+given up. Well, as I was saying," she added,
+in a brisker tone, having roused from her little
+dream of the past to watch Nettie's fingers linger
+lovingly and wistfully among the rolls of
+soft muslin, "they have never been the least
+mite of good to me. I have just kept them because
+it didn't seem quite the thing to throw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
+such pretty soft stuff into the rag-bag, and they
+were dreadful poor trash to give away; and
+Sarah Jane, she is tired of having them in the
+attic taking up room, and if there is anything in
+life can be done with these things in this trunk,
+I wish you would just go shares, and make some
+things for me too. Sarah Jane would like it,
+first-rate."</p>
+
+<p>This sentence fairly made Nettie catch her
+breath. The treasures in that trunk were so
+wonderful to her. "I could make such lovely
+things!" she said, almost gasping out the
+words; "but, O Mrs. Smith, you can't mean it!
+I'm afraid I oughtn't to."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, bless your heart, child, I tell you I
+don't know of a single useful thing in that
+trunk; not one; it is just a pack of rubbish,
+now, that's the truth; and if Sarah Jane has
+begged me once to let her sell it to the rag pedlers,
+I believe she has twenty times."</p>
+
+<p>The bare thought of such a sacrifice as this
+almost made Nettie pale. Also it settled her
+resolution and her conscience. She reached forward
+and plunged into the delights of the despised
+trunk with a satisfied air. "I will make
+you some of the prettiest things you ever saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+in your life," she said, with the air of one who
+knew she could do it. And Mrs. Smith laughed,
+and watched her with admiring eyes, and told
+Sarah Jane that she believed the child could do
+some things that other folks couldn't.</p>
+
+<p>It was after the day's work was done, and the
+little girls were asleep, and Nettie sat in the
+back door waiting for father and Norm, and
+wishing that they had not gone down town
+again, that she had a chance to say the few little
+words which she had made up her mind to say
+to Jerry. While her hands had been busy over
+long seams of rag carpeting, and over the wonderful
+trunk full of treasures, her thoughts had,
+much of the time, been busy with other matters.
+Yesterday at noon she had been sure that she
+should never go to that Sabbath-school again.
+By night, after the quiet talk under the trees
+with Norm and the little girls, she had not been
+so sure of it. The little girls could not go without
+her, and they had learned sweet lessons that
+very day, which had filled their young heads
+full of wondering thoughts, and they had asked
+questions which had at least amused Norm, and
+which might set him to thinking. In any case,
+ought she, because she had not been happy in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+her class, to deprive the little girls of the help
+which the Sabbath-school might be to them?
+Then how badly it would look to Norm, and to
+her mother, if she went no more. And what
+would Jerry think? On the whole, the longer
+she thought about it, the more she felt inclined
+to believe that her decision might have been a
+hasty one, and it was her duty to continue in
+that Sabbath-school, and even in that class, at
+least until the superintendent placed her in some
+other. It was a good deal of a trial to her to
+decide the question in this way, but she could
+not make any other seem right.</p>
+
+<p>There had also been another question to decide,
+which had been harder, and cost her more
+tears than the other. She was a very lonely little
+girl, and it seemed hard to give up a friend.
+But this, too, seemed to be the only right thing
+to do, so she made it known to Jerry in the
+moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Jerry, I have been thinking
+all day of something that I ought to say to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Jerry, whittling away at the
+stick which he was fashioning into a proper shape
+to do duty as a towel rack for Mrs. Job Smith's
+kitchen towel. "Go ahead, this is a good time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>
+to say it." And he held the stick up and took a
+scientific squint at it in the moonlight. "This
+thing would work better if the wood were a little
+softer. I am going to make one for your
+mother if it is a success, and it will be. Now
+what is your news?"</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't news," said Nettie, "it is only something
+that I have made up my mind I ought to
+say. Jerry, I think, that is, I don't think, I
+mean"&mdash; And there she stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," said Jerry, nodding his head
+gravely, "that is plain, I am sure, and interesting;
+I agree with you entirely." After that,
+both of them had to laugh a little, and the story
+did not get on.</p>
+
+<p>"But I truly mean it," Nettie said at last, her
+face growing grave again, "and I ought to say
+it. What I want to tell you is, that I have
+made up my mind that you and I must not be
+friends any more."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry did not laugh now, he did not even
+whistle. His knife suddenly stopped, and he
+squared around to get a full view of her face.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" he said at last, as though he did
+not think it possible that he could have understood
+her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said firmly, "I mean it, Jerry, and
+it is real hard to say; you and I ought not to be
+friends, or, I mean we must not let folks know
+that we are friends. We mustn't take walks together,
+nor work together. I don't mean that I
+shall not like you all the same; but we mustn't
+have anything to do with each other."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, pray? Have I done anything to
+make you ashamed of me? I'll try to behave
+myself, I'm sure."</p>
+
+<p>This was so ridiculous that Nettie could not
+help smiling a little.</p>
+
+<p>"O, Jerry!" she said, "you know better than
+to talk in that way. It sounds strange, I know,
+and it is real hard to do, but I am sure it is
+right, and we must do it."</p>
+
+<p>"But what in the world is the trouble? Can't
+you give a fellow a reason for things? Is it
+your brother who doesn't like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no! Norm likes you; and mother is as
+much obliged to you as she can be, for getting
+him to go a-fishing. But, you see, it is bad for
+you to be my friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh-ho! I don't believe your influence is
+very hard on me; I don't feel as though you
+had led me very far astray!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It isn't fun, Jerry, it is sober earnest. I
+have heard things said that set me to thinking.
+I overheard the girls talk! those girls in the
+class, you know, yesterday. I guess they did
+not know I was there. They talked about me a
+good deal. They said I had a last year's hat on,
+and that is true, and my dress was only gingham,
+and washed at that."</p>
+
+<p>"Washed!" interrupted Jerry in bewilderment;
+"well, what of that? Would they have
+had you wear it dirty?"</p>
+
+<p>But Nettie hastened on; she did not feel
+equal to explaining to him the subtle distinction
+between a brand-new dress and one that had
+been "done up."</p>
+
+<p>"They said a good deal more than that,
+Jerry, and it was all true. They said I was
+nothing but a drunkard's daughter," and here
+Nettie found it hard work to control the sob in
+her throat.</p>
+
+<p>"That is not true," said Jerry, indignantly.
+"Your father has not drank a drop in three
+days."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! but, Jerry, you know he does drink;
+and he has gone down town to-night, and mother
+is sure that he will not come home sober. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+all true, Jerry. I don't mean that I am going
+to give up. I shall try for father all the time;
+and I think maybe he will reform, after a while.
+And I won't forget our promise, and I know
+you won't; but it is best for us not to act like
+friends. They talked about you, too; they said
+you were handsome, and they used to like you;
+they thought you were smart. But now you
+had begun to go with me, so you couldn't be
+much. One of them said you were an Irish
+boy, that you had a real Irish name. Are you
+Irish, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not much! Or, hold on, I don't know but
+I am. Why, yes, my great-grandmother came
+from the North of Ireland. Father is proud of
+it, I remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't care where you came from,
+you know. Nor whether you are Irish, or Dutch,
+or what; I am only telling you what they said.
+They told how you worked at Job Smith's for
+your board; and one of them said your father
+had run away and left you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he has; run three thousand miles
+away, and left me, as sure as time. But he
+means to run back again, when he gets ready."</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that wasn't true, Jerry; and I only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+tell you because I thought you might want to
+speak about your father in a way that would
+show them it wasn't so. But what I want to
+say is, that I know they will get all over those
+feelings when they come to know you; and they
+will like you, and invite you to places, if you
+don't go with me; but they won't any of them
+have anything to do with me, on account of my
+father. And, Jerry, I want you not to go with
+me, or talk with me any more."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," said Jerry, in an unconcerned
+voice. "Do you think I am making this stick
+too long for the frame? Our kitchen towels are
+pretty wide. Well, now, see here, Miss Nettie
+Decker, you would not make a very honest business
+woman if you went back on a square bargain
+in that fashion. You and I settled it to be
+partners in a very important business; and partners
+can't get along very well without speaking
+to each other. There is no use in talking. You
+are several days too late. The mischief is done.
+I'm your friend and fellow-laborer and partner
+in the cabinet business, and the upholstery line,
+and all the other lines. You will find me the
+hardest fellow to get rid of that ever was. I
+don't shake off worth a cent. I shall take walks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
+with you every chance I can get; and shout to
+you from the woodshed window when you are
+over home, and wait for you to come out when
+I think it is about time you should appear, and
+be on hand in all imaginable places. Now I
+hope you understand what sort of a fellow I
+am."</p>
+
+<p>If the boy had looked in Nettie's face just
+then, he would have seen a sudden light flash
+over it which carried away a good deal of the
+look of patient endurance which it had worn for
+the last few hours. Still her voice was full of
+earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Jerry, they will not have anything to
+do with you if you act so. By and by they will
+not even speak to you. And they won't invite
+you to their parties, nor anywhere. There is
+going to be a party next week, and I think you
+would have been invited if you hadn't gone with
+me Sunday; now I am afraid you won't be."
+And now Jerry whistled a few rollicking
+notes.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," he said in a cheery tone. "If
+there is any one thing more than another that I
+don't like to go to, it is a girls' party where they
+make believe act like silly, grown-up men and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
+women. I know just about what kind of a party
+those girls in that class would get up. If you
+have been the means of saving me from an invitation,
+it is just another thing to thank you for.
+Look here, Nettie, let us make another bargain,
+sober earnest, not to be broken. I don't care a
+red cent for the girls, nor their invitations, nor
+their bows; I would just as soon they did not
+know me when they met me as not. If that is
+their game, I shall like nothing better than to
+meet them half-way; girls who would know
+no better than to talk the way they did about you,
+are not to my liking. If because you wear clothes
+that are neat and nice and the best you can afford,
+and because I am an Irish boy and work for my
+board, are good reasons for not having anything
+to do with us, why, we will return the favor
+and not have anything to do with them, for better
+reasons than they have shown. Let's drop
+them. I thought some of them would be good
+friends to you, maybe, and help you to have a
+nice time; but they are not of the right sort, it
+seems. You and I will have just as good times
+as we can get up. And we will bow to them if
+they bow to us; if they don't we will let them
+pass. What is settled is, that we are bound<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+to work out this thing together. Understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Nettie, with a little soft laugh,
+"I understand, and I don't believe I ought to
+let you do it. But you don't know how nice it
+is; and I can't tell you how lonesome I felt when
+I thought I ought not to talk with you any
+more."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to see you help yourself," said
+Jerry, in a complacent tone. "You would find
+it the hardest work you ever did in your life not
+to talk to me, when I should keep up a regular
+fire of questions of all sorts and sizes."</p>
+
+<p>Then Nettie laughed outright, but added,
+after a moment of silence, "But, Jerry, I think
+the worst of it is about father; and that is true,
+you know. They might not think so much about
+the clothes, if it were not for him."</p>
+
+<p>"That has nothing to do with it," said Jerry
+sturdily. "You are not to blame for your father's
+drinking liquor. Wouldn't you stop it
+quick enough if you could? It is only another
+reason why they ought to be friends to you. Besides,
+there wouldn't be so much of the stuff for
+folks to drink, if Lorena Barstow's father did
+not make it."</p>
+
+<p>"O Jerry! does he?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he does. Owns one of the largest distilleries
+in the country."</p>
+
+<p>"Jerry, I think I would rather have my
+father drink liquor than make it for other folks.
+At least he doesn't make money out of other
+people's troubles."</p>
+
+<p>"So would I, enough sight," said Jerry with
+emphasis. Then he lifted up his voice in answer
+to Mrs. Job Smith who appeared in the adjoining
+door. "All right, auntie, we are coming."
+And he carefully gathered the chips he
+had whittled, into his handkerchief, and rose up.</p>
+
+<p>"Going over now, Nettie? I guess auntie
+thinks it is time to lock up."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie darted within for a few minutes, then
+appeared, and they crossed the yard together.
+As they stepped on the lower step of Mrs.
+Smith's porch, Jerry said: "Remember this is
+a bargain forever and aye, Nettie; there is to
+be no backing out, and no caring for what folks
+say, or for what happens, either now or afterwards.
+Do you promise?"</p>
+
+<p>"I promise," said Nettie with a smile. And
+they went into the clean kitchen.
+Before Jerry went to bed that night he took
+out of the fly leaf of his Bible the picture of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
+a tall man, and kissed it, as he said aloud:
+"So you have run away and left your poor little
+Irish boy, have you? But when you run
+back again, won't they all be glad to see you,
+though!"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER X.<br />
+
+<small>PLEASURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>THE day came at last when the front room
+at the Deckers was put in order. I don't
+suppose you have any idea how pretty that room
+looked when the last tack was driven, and the
+last fold in the curtain twitched into place!
+The rag carpet was very bright. "I put a good
+many red and yellows in it," said Mrs. Smith,
+"and now I know why I did it. It is just
+bright enough for this room. I don't see how
+you two could have got it down as firm as you
+have."</div>
+
+<p>"Nettie managed it," said Mrs. Decker, "she
+is a master hand at putting down carpets."</p>
+
+<p>The furniture was done and in place, and certainly
+did justice to the manufacturers. There
+were two "sofas" with backs which were so
+nicely padded that they were very comfortable
+things to lean against, and the gay-flowered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+goods that had looked "so horrid" in a dress
+that Mrs. Smith could never bring herself to
+wear it, proved to be just the thing for a sofa-cover.
+Between the windows was a very marvel
+of a table. Nobody certainly to look at it,
+draped in the whitest of muslin, with a pink
+cambric band around its waist, covered with
+the muslin, and looking as much like pink ribbon
+as possible, would have imagined that a
+square post, about six inches in diameter, and
+two feet long, with a barrel head securely nailed
+to each end, was the "skeleton" out of which
+all this prettiness was evolved. "And mine is
+as like it as two peas," said Mrs. Smith,
+"only mine is tied with blue ribbon. Who
+would have thought such things could be made
+out of what they had to work with! I declare
+them two young things beat all!" This time
+she meant Nettie and Jerry, not the two tables.</p>
+
+<p>The curtains for which, after much consideration,
+cheap unbleached muslin had been chosen,
+when their pinkish lambrequins of the same gay-flowered
+goods as the sofas, had been cut and
+scalloped, and put in place, were almost pretty
+enough to justify the extravagant admiration
+which they called forth. But the crowning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+glory was, after all, a chair which occupied the
+broad space between the window and the door.
+It was cushioned, back, and sides, and arms; it
+was dressed in a robe which had belonged to
+Job Smith's grandmother. It was delightful to
+look at, and delightful to sit in. Mrs. Decker
+declared that the first time she sat down in it,
+she felt more rested than she had in three years.</p>
+
+<p>Those two barrel chairs were triumphs of art.
+Jerry had been a week over the first one, planning,
+trying, failing, trying again; Nettie had
+seen one once, in the room of a house where she
+used to go sometimes to carry flowers to a sick
+woman. She had admired it very much, and
+the lady herself had told her how it was made,
+and that her nephew, a boy of sixteen, made it
+for her. Now, although Jerry was not a boy of
+sixteen, he had no idea there lived one of that
+age who could accomplish anything which he
+could not; so he persevered, and I must say his
+success was complete. Mrs. Smith believed there
+never was such a wonderful chair made, before.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry who had been missing for the last half-hour,
+now appeared, and with long strides
+reached the nice little mantel and set thereon a
+lamp, not very large, but new and bright.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That belongs to the firm," he said, in answer
+to Nettie's look. "I saw a lamp the other day
+that I knew would just fit nicely on that mantel,
+and I couldn't rest until I had tried it."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's cheeks were red. She glanced over
+at her mother to see how she would like this.
+Nettie did not know whether a poor boy's
+money ought to be taken to provide a lamp for
+the new room; she much doubted the propriety
+of it. "The first money I earn, or father gives
+me, I can pay him back," she thought, then gave
+herself up to the enjoyment of her new treasure.</p>
+
+<p>None of them had planned to give a reception
+that evening, yet I do not know but such
+an unusual state of things as was found at the
+Deckers about eight o'clock, is worthy of so
+dignified a name. Mr. Decker and Norm came
+in to supper together, and both a little late.
+Nettie had trembled over what kept them, and
+her heart gave a great bound of relief and
+thanksgiving, when they appeared at last, none
+the worse for liquor. Indeed, she did not think
+either of them had taken even a glass of beer.
+They were in good humor; a bit of what Mr.
+Decker called "extra good luck" had fallen to
+him in the shape of a piece of work which it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
+was found he could manage better than any
+other hand in the shop, and for which extra
+wages were to be paid. And Norm had been
+told that he was quite a success in a certain line
+of work. "He kept me after hours to give the
+new boy a lift," said Norm, good-naturedly;
+"he said I knew how to do the work, and how
+to tell others better than the other fellows."</p>
+
+<p>It was a good time for Mrs. Decker to tell
+what had been going on in the square room, or
+rather to hint at it, and tell them when supper
+was over, they should go in and see. "Nannie
+and I haven't been folding our hands while you
+have been working," she said with a complacent
+air, and a smile for Nettie as warmed that little
+girl's heart, making her feel it would not be a
+hard thing to love this new mother a great deal.</p>
+
+<p>So after supper they went in. I suppose you
+can hardly understand or imagine their surprise;
+because, you see, you have been used all
+your life to nicely arranged rooms. For Mr.
+Decker it stirred old memories. There had
+been a time when his best room if not so fine as
+this, was neat and clean, with many comforts in
+it. "Well, I never," he began, and then his
+voice choked, and he stopped.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>However, Norm could talk, and expressed his
+surprise and pleasure in eager words. "Where
+did you get the table, and the gimcracks around
+that chair? <i>Is</i> that a chair, or a sofa, or what?
+Halloo! here's a new lamp. Let's have it
+lighted and see how it works. I tell you what
+it is, Nannie Decker, I guess you're a brick and
+no mistake."</p>
+
+<p>Then father was coaxed to sit down in the
+barrel chair, and try its strength and its softness,
+and guess what it was made of. And the
+little girls stood at his knee and put in eager
+words as to the effect that they helped, and
+altogether, there was such a time as that family
+had not known before.</p>
+
+<p>Just as Nettie was explaining that it was
+dark enough to try the lamp, and Norm went
+for a match, Mrs. Smith made her way across
+the yard, and who should march solemnly behind
+her but Job Smith himself!</p>
+
+<p>"Come right along," said Mrs. Decker heartily,
+as the new lamp threw a silvery light across
+the room. "Come and try the new sofa. Here,
+Mr. Smith, is a chair for you, if that is too low.
+Decker, he's got the seat of honor; Nettie said
+her pa must have the first chance in it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The name "Nettie" seemed to slip naturally
+from Mrs. Decker's tongue; she had heard
+Jerry use it so often during the past few days,
+that it was beginning to seem like the proper
+name of that young woman. Mr. Smith sat
+down, slowly, solemnly, in much doubt what to
+do or say next.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Neighbor Decker, these young folks
+of ours are busy people, ain't they, and seem to
+be getting the upper hand of us?" Then he
+laughed, a slow, pleasant laugh. Mrs. Smith
+laughed a round, admiring satisfied laugh; she
+was <i>very</i> proud of Job for saying that. Then
+they fell into conversation, the two men, about
+the signs of the times as regarded business, and
+prices, and various interests. Mr. Decker was
+a good talker, and here lay some of his temptations;
+there was always somebody in the saloons
+to talk with; there was never anybody in his
+home. Jerry came, presently, to admire the
+room and the lamp, and to have a little aside
+talk with Nettie. Norm was trying one of the
+lounges near them.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you make this thing?" he asked
+Jerry, and Jerry explained, and Norm listened
+and asked a question now and then, until presently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+he said, "I know a thing that would improve
+it; the next time you make one, try it
+and see."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?" asked Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, look here, in this corner where you
+put the crossbar, if you should take a narrower
+piece, so, and fit it in here so," and the sofa was
+unceremoniously turned upside down and inside
+out, and planned over, Jerry in his turn becoming
+listener until at last he said: "I understand;
+I mean to fix this one, some day."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie nodded, her eyes bright; it was not
+about the sofa that they shone; it gave her such
+intense pleasure as perhaps you cannot understand,
+to see her father sitting beside Mr.
+Smith, talking eagerly, and her mother and Mrs.
+Smith having a good time together, and Jerry
+and Norm interested in each other. "It is exactly
+like other folks!" she said to Jerry, later,
+"and I don't believe either father or Norm will
+go down street to-night." And they didn't.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very happy girl who went over to
+Mrs. Smith's woodhouse chamber to sleep that
+night. She sang softly, while she was getting
+ready for rest; and as often as she looked out
+of the window towards the square room in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+next house, she smiled. It looked so much better
+than she had ever hoped to make it; and
+father and Norm had seemed so pleased, and
+they had all spent such a pleasant evening.</p>
+
+<p>Alas for Nettie! All the next day her happiness
+lasted. She sang over her work; she
+charmed the little girls with stories. She made
+an apple pudding for dinner, she baked some
+choice potatoes for supper; but they were not
+eaten, at least only by the little girls. They
+waited until seven o'clock, and half-past seven,
+and eight o'clock for the father and brother who
+did not come. Jerry, who stopped at the door
+and learned of the anxiety, slipped away to try
+to find out what kept them; but he came back
+in a little while with a grave face and shook his
+head. Both had left their shops at the usual
+time; nobody knew what had become of them.
+Jerry could guess, so also could Mrs. Decker.
+The poor woman was too used to it to be very
+much astonished; but Nettie was overwhelmed.
+She ate no supper; she did not sing at all over
+the dishwashing. She watched every step on
+the street, and turned pale at the sound of passing
+voices. She put the little girls to bed, and
+cried over their gay chatter. She coaxed her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+sad-faced mother to go to bed at last, and drew
+a long sigh of relief when she went into her bedroom
+and shut the door. It had been so dreadful
+to hear her say: "I told you so; I knew
+just how it would be. They will both come
+staggering home. It's of no use."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie did not believe it. She believed that
+work somewhere was holding them; people
+often had extra work to do, or were sent on
+errands, but she went at last over to the woodhouse
+chamber; it would not do to keep the
+Smiths up longer. Instead of making ready for
+bed, she kneeled down before the little window
+which gave her a view of the next house, and
+watched and waited. They came at last; father
+and son; not together. Norm came first, and
+stumbled, and shuffled, and growled; his voice
+was thick, and the few words she could catch
+had no connection or sense. He had too surely
+been drinking. But he was not so far gone as
+the father. <i>He</i> had to be helped along the
+street by some of his companions; he could not
+hold himself upright while they opened the
+door. And when the gentle wind blew it shut
+again, he swore a succession of oaths which
+made Nettie shudder and bury her face in her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+hands. But she did not cry. It was the first
+time in her young life that her heart was too
+heavy for tears. She drew great deep sighs as
+she went about, at last, preparing for bed; she
+wished that the tears would come, for the choking
+feeling might be relieved by them; but the
+tears seemed dried. She tossed about on her
+neat little bed, in a sorrow very unlike childhood.
+Poor, disappointed Nettie!</p>
+
+<p>The sun shone brightly the next morning, but
+there was no brightness in the little girl's heart.
+She was early down stairs, and stole away to
+the next house without seeing anybody. Mrs.
+Decker was up, with a face as wan as Nettie's.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, in a hopeless tone, "it's all
+over. Did you hear them come in last night?
+Both of 'em. If it had been one at a time, we
+could have stood it better; but both of 'em! I
+<i>did</i> have a little hope, as sure as you live.
+Your pa seemed so different by spells, and
+Norm, he seemed to like you, and to stay at
+home more, and I kind of chirked up and thought
+may be, after all, good times was coming to me;
+but it's all of no use; I've give up; and it seems
+to me it would have been easier to have stayed
+down, than to have crept up, to tumble back.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not that I'm blaming you, child," she said,
+"you did your best, and you did wonders; and
+I think sometimes, maybe if I had made such
+a brave shift as that in the beginning, things
+wouldn't have got where they have. But I
+didn't, and it's too late now."</p>
+
+<p>Not a word had Nettie to say. It was a sad
+breakfast-time. Mr. Decker shambled down
+late, and had barely time to swallow his coffee
+very hot, and take a piece of bread in his hand,
+for the seven o'clock bells were ringing, and
+punctuality was something that was insisted on
+by his foreman. Norm came later, and ate very
+little breakfast, and looked miserable enough to
+be sent back to bed again. Nettie only saw
+him through a crack in the door; she stayed out
+in the little back yard, pretending to put it
+in order. He made his stay very short, and
+went away without a word to mother or sister;
+and the heavy burden of life went on. Mrs.
+Decker prepared to do the big ironing which
+yesterday she had been glad over, because it
+would give them a chance to have an extra comfort
+added to the table; but which to-day
+seemed of very little importance.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie washed the dishes, and wished she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
+was at Auntie Marshall's, and tried to plan a
+way for getting there. What was the use of
+staying here? Hadn't she tried her very best
+and failed? didn't the mother say it was harder
+for her than though they hadn't tried at all?</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the morning, Mrs. Smith sent
+in a basket of corn. Sarah Jane brought it.
+"Some folks on a farm that mother ironed for,
+when they lived in town, sent her a great basket
+full; heaps more than we can use, and mother
+said it would be just the thing for your men
+folks; they always like corn, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker took the basket without a smile
+on her face. "Your mother is a very kind
+woman," she said, "the kindest one I ever
+knew; in fact, I haven't known many kind
+people, and that's the truth. She has done all
+she could to help us, but I don't know as we
+can be helped; it seems as though some people
+couldn't."</p>
+
+<p>Sarah Jane went back and told her mother
+that Mrs. Decker seemed dreadful downhearted
+and discouraged; and Mrs. Smith replied with
+a sigh that she didn't know as she wondered at
+it; poor thing! Nettie made the dinner as nice
+as she could. Mr. Decker ate with a relish, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+said the corn was good, and he had sometimes
+thought that the bit of ground back of the
+house might be made to raise corn; and Nettie
+brightened a little, and looked over at Norm
+and was just going to say, "Let's have a garden
+next summer," when he spoiled it by
+declaring that he wouldn't slave in a garden for
+anybody. It was hard enough to work ten
+hours a day. Then his father told him that he
+guessed he did not hurt himself with work; and
+he retorted that he guessed they neither of them
+would die with over-work; and his father told
+him to hold his tongue. In short, nothing was
+plainer than that these two were ashamed of
+themselves, and of each other, and were much
+move irritable than they had been for several
+days.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon work was all done, and Nettie
+had just hung up her apron, and wondered
+whether she should offer to iron for awhile, or
+run away to the woodhouse chamber, and write
+to Auntie Marshall, when Jerry appeared in the
+door. She had not seen him since the sorrow
+of the night before had come upon them; Nettie
+thought he avoided coming in, because he
+too was discouraged. Her face flushed when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+she heard his step, and she wished something
+would happen so that she need not turn around
+to him. She felt so ashamed of her own people,
+and of his efforts to help them. His voice,
+however, sounded just as usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Through, Nettie? Then come out on the
+back step; I want to talk with you."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no use in talking," she said, sadly.
+But she followed him out, and sat down listlessly
+on the broad low step, which the jog in
+Mr. Smith's house shaded from the afternoon
+sun.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry took no notice of the words if indeed
+he heard them.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard some news this morning," he began.
+"Two of the older boys at the corner, that one
+in Peck's store, you know, and the one next
+door told me that a lot of fellows were going
+off to-night on what he called a lark. They
+have hired a boat, and are going to row across
+to Duck Island, and catch some fish and have a
+supper in that mean little hole which is kept on
+the island; they mean to make an all-night of
+it. I don't know what is to be done next; play
+cards, I suppose; they do, whenever they get
+together, and lots of drinking. It is a dreadful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
+place. Well, I heard, by a kind of accident,
+that they thought of asking Norm to join 'em.
+At first they said they wouldn't, because he
+wouldn't be likely to have any money to help
+pay the bills; but then they remembered that
+he was a good rower, and thought they would
+get his share out of him in that way; and I
+say, Nettie, let's spoil their plans for them."</p>
+
+<p>"How?" asked Nettie, drearily.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry talked on eagerly. "I have a plan; I
+rented a boat for this afternoon, and was going
+to ask Mrs. Decker to let me take you and the
+chicks for a ride, and I meant to catch some
+fish for our supper; but this will be better. I
+propose to invite Norm and two fellows that he
+goes with some, to go out with me, fishing. I
+have a splendid fishing rig, you know, and I'll
+lend it to them, and help them to have a good
+time, and then if you will plan a kind of treat
+when we get back&mdash;coffee, you know, and fish,
+and bread and butter, we could have a picnic of
+our own and as much fun as they would get
+with that set on the island. I believe Norm
+would go; he is just after a good time, you see,
+and if he gets it in this way, he will like it as
+well, maybe better, than though he spent the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+night at it and got the worst of his bargain.
+Anyhow, it is worth trying; if we can save him
+from this night's work it will be worth a good
+deal. Don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>Instead of the hearty, "yes, indeed," which
+he expected, Nettie said not a word; and when
+he turned and looked at her, to learn what was
+the matter, her face was red and the tears were
+gathering in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know what has happened?" she
+asked at last. "I thought I heard you in your
+room last night when he came home."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Jerry, speaking gravely, "I was
+up. What of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"What of it? O Jerry!" and here the tears
+which had been choking poor Nettie all day
+had it their own way for a few minutes. She
+had not meant to cry; but she felt at once how
+quickly the tears relieved the lump in her
+throat.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mean that, exactly," Jerry said, after
+waiting a minute for the sobs to grow less deep,
+"of course it was a great trouble, and I have
+been so sorry for Mrs. Decker all day that I
+wanted to stay away, because I could not think
+of the right thing to say; but it's only another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+reason why we should work and plan in all ways
+to get ahead of them and save Norm."</p>
+
+<p>"O Jerry! don't you think it is too late?"</p>
+
+<p>"Too late! What in the world can you
+mean? Has anything happened to-day that I
+haven't heard of? Where is Norm? Has he
+gone away anywhere?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, no," said Nettie, "he has gone to work;
+but I mean&mdash;I meant&mdash;doesn't it all seem to
+you of no use at all? After we worked so hard
+and got everything nice, and he seemed so
+pleased, and stayed at home all the evening and
+talked with us, and then the very next night to
+come home like that!"</p>
+
+<p>Jerry stared in blank astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe I understand," he said at last.
+"You did not think that Norm was going to reform
+the very minute you did anything pleasant
+for him, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"N-no," said Nettie slowly, "I don't suppose
+I did; but it all seemed so dreadful! I expected
+something, I hardly know what, and I
+could not help feeling disappointed and miserable."
+Nettie's face was growing red; she began
+to suspect she might be a very foolish girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that is queer," said Jerry. "Now I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
+am not disappointed a bit. I am sorry, of
+course, but I expected just that thing. Why,
+Nettie, they go after men sometimes for months
+and years before they get real hold and are
+sure of them. There is a lawyer in New York
+that father says kept three men busy for five
+years trying to save him. They didn't succeed,
+either, but they got him to go to the One who
+could save him. He is a grand man now. Suppose
+they had given up during those five years!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think it may take five years to get
+hold of Norm?" There were tears in Nettie's
+eyes, but there was a little suggestion of a
+smile on her face, and she waited eagerly for
+Jerry's answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I hope not," he said, "but if it
+does, we are not to give him up at the end of
+five years; nor <i>before</i> five years, that is certain."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie wiped the tears away, and smiled outright;
+then sat still in deep thought for several
+minutes. Then she arose, decision and energy
+on her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Jerry; I wish you had come in
+this morning. I have been a goose, I guess,
+and I almost spoiled what we tried to do. We'll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
+get up a nice supper if you can get Norm and
+the others to come. I don't believe they will,
+but we can try. We have coffee enough to
+make a nice pot of it, and Mrs. Smith sent us
+some milk out of that pail from the country that
+is almost cream. I will make some baked potato
+balls, they are beautiful with fish; all
+brown, you know; and I was going to make a
+johnny-cake if I could get up interest enough in
+it. I'm interested now, and I shouldn't wonder
+if I staid so," and she blushed and laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," said Jerry, "you must not expect
+things to be done in a minute. Why, even God
+doesn't do things quickly, when he could, as well
+as not. And he doesn't get tired of people,
+either; and that I think is queer. Have you
+ever thought that if you were God, you would
+wipe most all the people out of this world in a
+second, and make some new ones who could behave
+better?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no," said Nettie, wonderment and bewilderment
+struggling together in her face, this
+strange thought sounded almost wicked to her.
+"Well, I do," said Jerry sturdily; "I have
+often thought of it; I believe almost any <i>man</i>
+would get out of patience with this old world,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+full of rum saloons, and gambling saloons and
+tobacco. I think it is such a good thing that
+men don't have the management of it.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, we shall have
+a pretty busy afternoon if we carry out our
+plans, won't we? Suppose you go and talk the
+thing up with your mother, and I will go and
+see what Norm says. Or, hold on, suppose we
+go together and call on him; I'll ask him to go
+fishing, and you ask him to bring his friends
+home to eat the fish. How would that do?"</p>
+
+<p>It was finally agreed that that would do
+beautifully, and Jerry went to see whether his
+long flat stick fitted, while Nettie ran to her
+mother. Mrs. Decker was ironing, her worn
+face looking older and more worn, Nettie
+thought, than she had ever seen it before.
+Poor mother! Why had not she helped her to
+bear her heavy burden, instead of almost sulking
+over failure?</p>
+
+<p>"O, mother," she began, "Jerry has a plan,
+and we want to know what you think of it; he
+has heard of things that are to be done this
+evening." And she hurried through the story
+of the intended frolic on the island, and the fishing
+party that was, if possible, to be pushed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+ahead. Mrs. Decker listened in silence, and at
+first with an uninterested face; presently, when
+she took in the largeness of the plan, she stayed
+her iron long enough to look up and say:</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use, child? I thought you and
+Jerry had given up."</p>
+
+<p>"O, mother," and the cheeks were rosy red
+now, "I'm ashamed that I felt so discouraged;
+Jerry isn't at all; and he thinks it is the strangest
+thing that I should have been! He says they
+have to work for years, sometimes, to get hold
+of people. He knew a man that they kept working
+after for five years, and now he is a grand
+man. He says we must hold on to Norm if it
+is five years, though I don't believe it will be.
+I'm going to begin over again, mother, and not
+get discouraged at anything. It is true, as Jerry
+says, that we can't expect Norm to reform all
+in a minute. He says the boys that Norm goes
+with the most are not bad fellows, only they
+haven't any homes, and they keep getting into
+mischief, because they have nowhere to go to
+have any pleasant times. Don't you think Norm
+would like it to have them asked home with him
+to supper, and show them how to have a real
+good time? Jerry says the two boys that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+means board at a horrid place, where they have
+old bread and weak tea for supper, and where
+people are smoking and drinking in the back end
+of the room while they are eating. I am sure I
+don't know as it is any wonder that they go to
+the saloons sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker still held her iron poised in air,
+on her face a look that was worth studying.
+"Norm hasn't ever had a decent place to ask
+anybody to, nor a decent time of any kind since
+he was old enough to care much about it," she
+said slowly. "I thought I had done about my
+best, but it may be I'll find myself mistaken.
+Well, child, let's try it, for mercy's sake, or anything
+else that that boy thinks of. You and him
+together are the only ones that's done any thinking
+for Norm in years; and if I don't go half-way
+and more too for anybody that wants to do
+anything, it will be a wonder."</p>
+
+<p>In a very few minutes Nettie was in her neat
+street dress, and the two were walking down the
+shady side of the main street, toward Norm's
+shop. They passed Lorena Barstow, and though
+Jerry, without thinking, took off his cap to her,
+she tossed her head and looked the other way.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry laughed. "I did not know she was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
+so nearsighted as all that, did you?" he asked,
+and then continued the sentence which the sight
+of her had interrupted. Nettie could not laugh;
+she was sore over the thought that she had so
+spoiled Jerry's life for him that his old acquaintances
+would not bow to him on the street.</p>
+
+<p>Norm was at work, and worked with energy;
+they stood and looked at him through the window
+for a few minutes. "He works fast," said
+Jerry, "and he works as though he would rather
+do it than not; Mr. Smith says there isn't a lazy
+streak in him. He ought to make a smart man,
+Nettie; and I shouldn't wonder if he would."</p>
+
+<p>Then they went in. To say that Norm was
+astonished at sight of them, would be to tell only
+half the story. He stood in doubt what to say,
+but Jerry was equal to the occasion; nothing
+could have been more matter-of-course than the
+way in which he told about his plans for going
+fishing, declaring that the afternoon was prime
+for such work, and that he was tired of going
+alone. "Wouldn't Norm and his two friends go
+too?" Now a ride in a boat was something that
+Norm rarely had. In the first place, boats cost
+money, and in the second place they took time.
+To be sure, after working hours, there was time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
+enough for rowing, but boats were sure to be
+scarce then, even if money had been plenty.</p>
+
+<p>Norm wiped his face with a corner of his work-apron,
+and admitted that he would like to go,
+first-rate, but did not know as he could get away.
+They were not over busy it was true, neither
+was the foreman troubled with good nature; he
+would be next to certain to say no, if Norm
+asked to be let off at five o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's try him," said Jerry, and he walked
+boldly to the other side of the room where the
+foreman stood.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XI.<br />
+
+<small>A COMPLETE SUCCESS.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>THIS man was a friend of Jerry's; it was
+only two weeks ago that he had done him
+a good turn, in finding and bringing home his
+stray cow. He was perfectly good-natured, and
+found no fault at all with Norm's leaving the
+shop at five; in fact he said he was glad to
+have the boy leave in such good company.</div>
+
+<p>"Would the others go?" Nettie questioned
+eagerly, and Norm, laughing, said he reckoned
+they would go quick enough if they got a
+chance; invitations to take boat rides were not
+so plenty that they could afford to lose them.</p>
+
+<p>Then was time for Nettie's great surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"And, Norm, will you bring them all home
+to supper with you? I'll have everything ready
+to cook the fish in a hurry as soon as you get
+into the house, and you can visit in the new
+room until they are ready."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now indeed, I wish you could have seen
+Norm! It never happened to him before to have
+a chance to invite anybody home to supper with
+him. He looked at Nettie in silent bewilderment
+for a minute; he even rubbed his eyes as
+though possibly he might be dreaming; but she
+looked so real and so trim, and so sure of herself
+standing there quietly waiting his answer, that
+at last he stammered out:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Nannie? You aren't in
+dead earnest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course," said Nettie, deciding in a
+flash upon her plan of action; she would do as
+Jerry had, and take all this as a matter of course.
+"I'm going to make a lovely johnny-cake for
+supper, and some new-fashioned potatoes, and we
+have cream for the coffee. You shall have an
+elegant supper; only be sure you catch lots of
+fish."</p>
+
+<p>It was all arranged at last to their satisfaction,
+and the two conspirators turned away to
+get ready for their part of the business.</p>
+
+<p>"Norm liked it," said Jerry. "Couldn't you
+see by his face that he did? I believe we can
+get hold of him after awhile, by doing things of
+this kind; things that make him remember he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+has a home, and pleasant times, like other boys."</p>
+
+<p>If Jerry had waited fifteen minutes he might
+have been surer of that even than he was.
+Norm's second invitation followed hard on the
+first; and Norm, who felt a little sore over certain
+meannesses of the night before, and who
+knew his foreman was within hearing and would
+be sure to object to this young fellow who had
+come to ask him to go to the island, answered
+loftily: "Can't do it; I've promised to go out
+fishing with a party; and besides, our folks are
+going to have company to tea."</p>
+
+<p>Company to tea! He almost laughed when
+he said it. How very strange the sentence
+sounded.</p>
+
+<p>"O, indeed," said Jim Noxen from the saloon.
+"Seems to me you are getting big."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds like it," said Norman. "I wonder
+if I am?" But this he said to himself; for
+answer to the remark, he only laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had a chance to keep company with a
+young fellow like Jerry, and a trim little woman
+like that sister of yours, I guess I wouldn't often
+be found with the other set."</p>
+
+<p>This the foreman said, with a significant nod
+of his head toward the young fellow who represented<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+the other set. And this, too, had its
+influence.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry and Nettie had a glimpse of one of
+Norm's friends as they passed his shop on their
+homeward way.</p>
+
+<p>"He has a good face," said Nettie. "Poor
+fellow! Hasn't he any home at all? Don't
+you wish we could get hold of him so close that
+he would help us? He looks as though he might."</p>
+
+<p>Then she stepped into the boat and floated
+idly around, while Jerry ran for the oars; and
+while she floated, she thought and planned.
+There was a great deal to be done, both then
+and afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you could go with us and catch a fish,"
+said Jerry, as he saw how she enjoyed the water,
+"but maybe it wouldn't be just the thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it wouldn't," said Nettie; "besides,
+who would make the johnny-cake, and the potato
+balls? There is a great deal to be done to
+make things match, when you are catching fish."</p>
+
+<p>The fishing party was a complete success.
+Jerry said afterwards that the very fish acted as
+though they were in the secret and were bound
+to help. He had never seen them bite so readily.
+By seven o'clock, the boat was headed homeward,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
+with more fish than even four hungry boys
+could possibly eat.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for supper," said Norm, who with secret
+delight had thought constantly of the surprise
+in store for Alf and Rick. "Boys, I'm
+going to take you home with me and show you
+what a prime cook my little sister is. We'll
+have these fish sizzling in a pan quicker than
+you have any notion of; and she knows how to
+sizzle them just right; doesn't she, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>But Jerry was spared the trouble of a reply,
+for Alf with incredulous stare said, "You're
+gassing now."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm not gassing. You can come home
+with me, honor bright, and you shall have such
+a supper as would make old Ma'am Turner
+wild."</p>
+
+<p>Old Ma'am Turner, poor soul, was the woman
+who kept the wretched boarding house where
+these homeless boys boarded, and she really did
+know how to make things taste a little worse,
+probably, than any one you know of.</p>
+
+<p>"What'll your mother say to your bringing
+folks home to supper?" questioned Rick, looking
+as incredulous as his friend. "She'll give
+us a hint of broomstick, I reckon, if we try it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Norm, unconcernedly, dipping
+the oar into the water, "try it and see, if you
+are a mind to, that's all I've got to say. I ain't
+going to force you to eat fish; but I promise
+you a first-class meal of them if you choose to
+come."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! we'll go," said Alf, with a giggle; "if
+we are broomed out the next second, we'll try
+it, just to see what will come of it. Things is
+queerer in this world than folks think, often;
+now I didn't believe a word of it, when you said
+we was going out in a boat to-night; I thought
+it was some of your nonsense; and here the little
+fellow has treated us prime."</p>
+
+<p>The "little fellow" was Jerry, who smiled
+and nodded in honor of his compliment, but
+said nothing; he resolved to let Norm do the
+honors alone.</p>
+
+<p>They went with long strides to the Decker
+home, Jerry waiting to fasten the boat and pay
+his bill. Each boy carried a fine string of fish
+of his own catching; and appeared at the back
+door just as Nettie came out to look.</p>
+
+<p>"O, what beauties!" she said, gleefully;
+"and such a nice lot of them! I'm all ready
+and waiting. You go in, Norm, with your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
+friends, and we'll have them cooking as soon as
+we can."</p>
+
+<p>"Not much," said Norm, coming around to
+the board which she had evidently gotten ready
+for cleaning the fish, and diving his hand in his
+pocket in search of his jack-knife. "Let's fall
+to, boys, and clean these fellows. I know how,
+and I think likely you do, and they'll taste the
+better, like enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," said Rick Walker, who owned the
+face that Nettie had decided was a good one.
+"I'm agreeable; I know how to clean fish as
+well as the next one; used to do it for mother,
+when I was a little shaver."</p>
+
+<p>Did the sentence end in a sigh, or did Nettie
+imagine it? All three went to work with strong
+skilful hands, and Nettie hopped back and forth
+bringing fresh water, and fresh plates, and feeling
+in her secret heart very grateful to the boys
+for doing this, which she had dreaded.</p>
+
+<p>They were all done in a very short time, and
+each boy in turn had washed his hands in the
+basin which shone, and then, the shining, or the
+smoothness and beautiful cleanness of the great
+brown towel, or something, prompted Rick to
+take fresh water and dip his brown face into it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+and toss the water about like a great Newfoundland
+dog.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare, that feels good!" he said. "Try
+it, Alf." And Alf tried it.</p>
+
+<p>Then Norm led the way to the new room. It
+would have done Nettie's heart good if she had
+known how many times he had thought of that
+room during the last hour. He knew it would
+be a surprise to the boys. They had never seen
+anything but the Decker kitchen, and not much
+of that, standing at the door to wait a minute
+for Norm, but the few glimpses they had had of
+it, had not led them to suppose that there was
+any such place in the house as this in which he
+was now going to usher them. Their surprise
+was equal to the occasion. They stopped in the
+doorway, and looked around upon the prettiness,
+the bright carpet, the delicate curtains, the gay
+chairs! nothing like this was to be found at
+Ma'am Turner's, nor in any other room with
+which they were familiar.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew!" said Rick, closing the word with
+a shrill whistle; "I think as much!" said Alf.
+"Who'd have dreamed it. I say, Norm, you're
+a sly one; why didn't you ever let on that you
+had this kind of thing?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>How they entertained one another during
+that next hour, Nettie did not know. Eyes and
+brain were occupied in the kitchen. Jerry
+came, presently, but reported that they were
+getting on all right in the front room, and he
+believed he could do better service in the kitchen;
+so he set the table with a delicate regard for
+nicety which Nettie had been taught at Auntie
+Marshall's, and which she knew he had not
+learned at Mrs. Job Smith's. Sarah Jane was
+rigidly clean, but never what Nettie called
+"nice."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll take the table in the front room," decreed
+Nettie as she surveyed it thoughtfully for
+a few minutes. "It is very warm out here, and
+they will like it better to be quite alone; we can
+put all the dishes on, with the leaves down, and
+set them in their places in a twinkling, after we
+have lifted it in there. Won't that be the way,
+mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Land!" said Mrs. Decker, withdrawing her
+head from the oven, whither it had gone to see
+after the new-fashioned potato balls, "I should
+think they could eat out here; you may depend
+they never saw so clean a kitchen at old Ma'am
+Turner's. But it is hot here, and no mistake;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
+and I should not know what to do with myself
+while they was eating. Please yourself, child,
+and then I'll be pleased. I'm going to save one
+of these potatoes for your pa; I never see
+anything in my life look prettier than they do."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker's tones told much plainer than
+her words, that she liked Nettie's idea of putting
+the table in the front room for Norm's company.
+She would not have owned it, but her
+mother-heart was glad over a "fuss" being
+made for her Norm.</p>
+
+<p>So the table went in; Jerry at one end, and
+Nettie at the other. They hushed a loud laugh
+by their entrance, but Jerry went immediately
+over to Rick Walker to show a new-fashioned
+knife, and Nettie's fingers flew over the table,
+so by the time the knife had been exhausted, she
+was ready to vanish.</p>
+
+<p>Confess now that you would like to have had
+a seat at that table when it was ready. A platter
+of smoking fish, done to the nicest brown,
+without drying or burning; a bowl of lovely
+little brown balls, each of them about the size of
+an egg, a plate of very light and puffy-looking
+Johnny-cake, and to crown all, coffee that filled
+the room with such an aroma as Ma'am Turner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+perhaps dreamed of, but never certainly in these
+days smelled. Mrs. Job Smith at the last minute
+had sent in a pat of genuine country butter,
+and Sate had flown to the grocery for a piece
+of ice with which to keep it in countenance.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry set the chairs, and Nettie poured the
+coffee, and creamed and sugared it, and then
+slipped away.</p>
+
+<p>She knew by the looks on the faces of the
+guests, that they were astonished beyond words,
+and she knew that Norm was both astonished
+and pleased. There was another supper being
+made ready in the kitchen. Mrs. Decker had
+herself tugged in the box which had been lately
+set up as a washbench, and spread the largest
+towel over it, and was serving three lovely fish,
+and a bowl of potato balls for "Decker" and herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I'm going to have company too," she
+said to Nettie, her face beaming. "Your pa has
+gone to wash up, and I thought seeing there was
+only two chairs, and two plates left, you wouldn't
+mind having him and me sit down together, for
+a meal, first."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do mind," said Nettie; "I think it is
+a lovely plan; I'm so glad you thought of it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
+and Jerry and I will keep watch that they have
+everything in the other room, while you eat."
+If you are wondering in your hearts where those
+important beings, Sate and Susie, were at this
+moment, I should have told you before, that
+Sarah Jane had a brilliant thought, but an hour
+before, and carried them out to tea. So all the
+Decker family were visiting that evening, save
+Nettie, and I think perhaps she was the happiest
+among them all. Every time she heard a
+burst of fresh fun from the front room, she
+laughed, too; it was so nice to think that Norm
+was having a good time in his own home, and
+nothing to worry over.</p>
+
+<p>It is almost a pity that, for her encouragement,
+she could not have heard some of the conversation
+in that room.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Norm," said his friend Alf, his tones
+muffled by reason of a large piece of johnny-cake,
+"what an awful sly fellow you are! You
+never let on that you had these kind of doings
+in your house. Who'd have thought that you
+had a stunning room like this for folks, and potatoes
+done up in brown satin, to eat, and coffee
+such as they get up at the hotels! It beats all
+creation!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That's so," said Rick, taking in a quarter of
+a fish at one mouthful, "I never dreamed of such
+a thing; what beats me, is, why a fellow who
+has such nice doings at home, wants to loaf
+around, and spend evenings at Beck's, or at
+Steen's. Hang me if I don't think the contrast
+a little too great. 'Pears to me if I had this
+kind of thing, I should like to enjoy it oftener
+than Norm seems to."</p>
+
+<p>Norman smiled loftily on them. Do you
+think he was going to own that "this kind of
+thing" had never been enjoyed in his home before,
+during all the years of his recollection?
+Not he; he only said that folks liked a change
+once in awhile, of course, and he only laughed
+when Rick and Alf both declared that if they
+knew themselves, and they thought they did,
+they would be content never to change back
+from this kind of thing to Ma'am Turner's supper
+table so long as they lived.</p>
+
+<p>How those boys did eat! Nettie owned to
+herself that she was astonished; and privately
+rejoiced that she had made four johnny-cakes
+instead of three, though it had seemed almost
+extravagant until she remembered that it would
+warm up nicely for breakfast. Not a crumb<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
+would there be for breakfast. She had one regret
+and she told it to Jerry as she went out to
+him on the back stoop, having poured the third
+cup of coffee around, for the three in the front
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Jerry, I am just afraid there won't be a
+speck of johnny-cake left for you to taste.
+Those boys do eat so!"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," laughed Jerry. "We will eat
+the tail of a fish, if any of them have a tail left,
+and rejoice over our success; this thing is going
+to work, I believe, if we can keep it going."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the trouble," said Nettie, an anxious
+look in her eyes. "How can we? Fish won't do
+every time; and there are no other things that
+you can catch. Besides, even this has cost a
+great deal. I paid eight cents for lard to fry
+the fish, and the butter and milk and things
+would have cost as much as fifteen cents certainly.
+Mrs. Smith furnished them this time,
+but of course such things won't happen again."</p>
+
+<p>"A great many things happen," said Jerry,
+wisely. "More than you can calculate on.
+'Never cross a bridge until you come to it, my
+boy.' Didn't I tell you that was what my father
+was always saying to me? I have found it a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
+good plan, too, to follow his advice. Many a
+time I've worried over troubles that never came.
+Look here, don't you believe that if we are to do
+this thing and good is to come from it, we shall
+be able to manage it somehow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, y-e-s," said Nettie, slowly, as though
+she were waiting to see whether her faith could
+climb so high; "I suppose that is so."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if good isn't going to come of it, do
+we want to do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, then," with a little laugh. "What
+are we talking about?" And Nettie laughed,
+and ran in to give her father his last cup of coffee,
+and to hear him say that he hadn't had so
+good a meal in six years.</p>
+
+<p>It was a curious fact that Susie and Sate were
+the chief movers in the next thing that these
+young Fishers did to interest the particular
+fish whom they were after.</p>
+
+<p>It began the next Sabbath morning in Sabbath-school.
+There, the little girls heard with
+deep interest that on the following Sabbath
+there was to be a service especially for the children.
+A special feature of the day was to be
+the decoration of the church with flowers, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
+the children were to bring on the previous Saturday.
+Susie and Sate promised with the rest,
+that they would bring flowers. Promised in the
+confident expectation of childhood that some
+way they could join the others and do as they
+did; though both little girls knew that not a
+flower grew in or about them. During the
+early part of the week they forgot it, but on
+Saturday morning they stood in the little front
+yard and saw a sight which recalled all the delights
+of the coming Sunday in which they
+seemed to be having no share. The little girls
+from the Orphanage on the hill were bringing
+their treasures. Even fat little Karl who was
+only five, had a potted plant in full bloom, which
+he was proudly carrying. Little Dutch Maggie,
+in her queer long apron, carried a plant with
+lovely satiny leaves which were prettier than
+any bloom, and behind her was Robert the
+Scotch gardener with his arms full; then young
+Rob Severn, Miss Wheeler's nephew, had a lovely
+fuchsia just aglow with blossoms, and Miss
+Wheeler herself, who was the matron at the Orphanage,
+was carrying a choice plant. All these
+the hungry eyes of Sate and Susie took in, as
+the procession passed the house, then they ran<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
+wailing to Nettie who had already become the
+long suffering person to whom they must pour
+out their woes.</p>
+
+<p>"We promised, we did," explained Sate, her
+earnest eyes fixed on Nettie, while her arms
+clasped that young lady just as she was in the
+act of throwing out her dishwater. "We did
+promise, and they will 'spect them, and they
+won't be there."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but, darling, what made you promise,
+when you knew we had no flowers? Mrs. Smith
+would give you some in a minute if hers were in
+bloom. Why didn't they wait a little later, I
+wonder? Then Mrs. Smith could have given
+us such lovely china-asters."</p>
+
+<p>"We must have some to-morrow," said the
+emphatic Susie, and she fastened her black eyes
+on Nettie in a way that said: "Now you understand
+what must be, I hope you will at once set
+about bringing it to pass."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie could not help laughing. "If you were
+a fairy queen," she said, "and could wave your
+wand and say, 'Flowers, bloom,' and they would
+obey you, we should certainly have some; as it
+is, I don't quite see how they are to be had. We
+have no friends to ask."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it," said Susie, positively, "we
+<i>promised</i> to bring some, and of course we must.
+You said, Nettie Decker, that we must always
+keep our promises."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Miss Nettie Decker, you are condemned!"
+said Jerry, with grave face but laughing
+eyes; "something must evidently be done
+about this business. Dandelions are gone, except
+the whiteheads, and they would blow away
+before they got themselves settled in church, I
+am afraid. Hold on, I have a thought, just a
+splendid one if can manage it; wait a bit,
+Susie, and we will see what we can do."</p>
+
+<p>Susie, who was beginning to have full faith in
+this wise friend of theirs, told Sate in confidence
+that they were going to have some flowers to
+take to church, as well as the rest of them; she
+did not know what Jerry was going to make
+them out of, but she knew he would <i>make</i> some.</p>
+
+<p>After that, Jerry was not seen again for several
+hours. In fact it was just as the dinner
+dishes were washed, that he appeared with a
+triumphant face. "Have you made some?"
+asked Sate, springing up from her dolly and going
+toward him expectantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Made some what, Curly?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Flowers," said Sate, gravely. "Susie said
+she knew you would."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry laughed. "Susie has boundless faith in
+impossibilities," he said. "No, I haven't made
+the flowers, but I have the boat. That old
+thing that leaked so, you know, Nettie; well,
+I've put it in prime order, and got permission
+to use it, and if you and the chicks will come,
+we will sail away to where they make flowers,
+and pick all we want; unless some wicked fairy
+has whispered my bright thought to somebody
+else, and I don't believe it, for I have seen no
+one out on the pond to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Then Sate, her eyes very large, went in search
+of Susie to tell her that this wonderful boy had
+come to take them where flowers were made,
+and to let them gather for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it is heaven," said Sate, gravely,
+"because the real truly flowers, you know, God
+makes, and he has his things all up in heaven to
+work with, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"What a little goosie you are!" said Susie,
+curling her wise lip; "as if Jerry Mack could
+take us to heaven!"</p>
+
+<p>However, she went at once to see about it,
+and was almost as much astonished to think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
+that they were really going out in a boat, as she
+would have been if they were going to heaven.
+"I s'pose it's safe?" said Mrs. Decker doubtfully,
+watching the light in the little girls' eyes, and
+remembering how few pleasures had been offered
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"O, yes'm," said Jerry, "as safe as the road.
+I could row a boat, ma'am, very well indeed,
+father said, when I was six years old; and you
+couldn't coax that clumsy old thing to tip over,
+if you wanted it to; and if it should, the water
+isn't up to my waist anywhere in the pond."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker laughed, and said it sounded
+safe enough; and went back to her ironing, and
+the four happy people sailed away. If not to
+where the pond lilies were made, at least to where
+they grew in all their wild sweet beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"How very strange," said Nettie, as they
+leaned over the great rude, flat-bottomed boat
+and pulled the beauties in; "how very strange
+that no one has gathered these for to-morrow.
+Why, nothing could be more lovely!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Jerry, "only a few people row
+this way, because it isn't the pleasantest part of
+the pond, you know, for rowing; and I guess
+no one has remembered that the lilies were out;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
+there don't many people, only fishermen, go out
+on this pond, you know, because the boats are
+so ugly; and fishermen don't care for flowers, I
+guess. Anyhow, they haven't been here, for
+the buds are all on hand, just as I thought they
+would be by this time, when I was here on Tuesday.
+But I never thought of the church; so
+you see how little thinking is done."</p>
+
+<p>Well, they gathered great loads of the beauties,
+and rowed home in triumph, and put the
+lilies in a tub of water, and sat down to consider
+how best to arrange them. It was curious that
+Mrs. Job Smith should have been the next one
+with an idea.</p>
+
+<p>"I should think," she said, standing in the
+doorway of her kitchen, her hands on her sides,
+"I should think a great big salver of them laid
+around in their own leaves, would be the prettiest
+thing in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"So it would," said Nettie, "the very thing,
+if we only had the salver."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I've got that. Mrs. Sims, she gave
+me an old battered and bruised one, when they
+were moving. It is big enough to put all the
+cups and saucers on in town, almost; when I
+lugged it home, Job, he wanted to know what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
+on <i>earth</i> I wanted of that, and says I, I don't
+know, but she give it to me, and most everything
+in this world comes good, if you keep it
+long enough. Sarah Ann, you run up to the
+corner in the back garret and get that thing, and
+see what they'll make of it."</p>
+
+<p>So Sarah Ann ran.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XII.<br />
+
+<small>AN UNEXPECTED HELPER.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>PERHAPS you do not see how the pond
+lilies, lovely as they were, arranged on
+that salver, helped Jerry and Nettie in their
+plans for Norm and his friends. But there is
+another part to that story.</div>
+
+<p>After the salver had been filled with sand,
+and covered with moss, and soaked until it
+would absorb no more water, and the lilies
+had been laid in so thickly that they looked
+like a great white bank of bloom, the whole
+was lovely, as I said, but heavy. The walk to
+the church was long, and Nettie, thinking of it,
+surveyed her finished work with a grave face.
+How was it ever to be gotten to the church?
+She tried to lift one end of it, and shook her
+head. There was no hope that she could even
+<i>help</i> carry it for so long a distance. Mrs. Smith
+saw the trouble in her eyes, and guessed at its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
+cause. "It is an awful heavy thing, that's a
+fact," she said, "hefting" it in her strong arms;
+"I don't know how you are going to manage it;
+Sarah Jane would help in a minute, but there's
+her back; she ain't got no back to speak of, Sarah
+Jane hasn't. And there's Job, he ain't at home;
+he went this morning before it was light, away
+over the other side of the clip hill with a load,
+and the last words he says to me was: 'Don't
+you be scairt if I don't get round very early;
+them roads over there is dreadful heavy, and I
+shall have to rest the team in the heat of the
+day,' and like enough he won't get back till nigh
+ten o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>Certainly no help could be expected from the
+Smith family. "We shall have to take some
+of the sand out," said Nettie, surveying the
+mound regretfully; "I'm real sorry; it does
+look so pretty heaped up! but Jerry can never
+carry it away down there alone."</p>
+
+<p>Then came Jerry's bright idea. "I'll get
+Norman to help me."</p>
+
+<p>"Norm!" said Nettie, stopping astonished in
+the very act of picking out some of the lilies. It
+had not once occurred to her that Norm could be
+asked to go to the church on an errand. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
+couldn't have told why, but Norm and the
+church seemed too far apart to have anything
+in common.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Jerry, positively. "Why not?
+I know he'll help; and he and I can carry it
+like a daisy. Don't take out one of them,
+Nettie. I know you will spoil it if you touch
+it again; it is just perfect. Halloo, Norm,
+come this way."</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough at that moment Norm appeared
+from the attic where he slept; he had washed
+his face and combed his hair, and made himself
+as decent looking as he could, and was starting
+for somewhere; and Nettie remembered with a
+sinking heart that it was Saturday night;
+Norm's worst night except Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>He stopped at Jerry's call, and stood waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"You are just the individual I wanted to see
+at this moment," said Jerry with a confident
+air. "This meadow here has got to be dug up
+and carried bodily down to the church; and it is
+as heavy as though its roots were struck deep in
+the soil. Will you shoulder an end with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the church!" repeated Norm with an
+incredulous stare. "What do they want of that
+thing at the church?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They are our flowers," said Sate with a positive
+little nod of her head. "We promised to
+bring them, and they are so big and heavy we
+can't. Will you help?"</p>
+
+<p>Now Norm had really a very warm feeling in
+his heart for this small sister; Susie he considered
+a nuisance, and a vixen, but Sate with her
+slow sweet voice, and shy ways, had several
+times slipped behind his chair to escape a slap
+from her angry father, thus appealing to his
+protection, and once when he lifted her over the
+fence, she kissed him; he was rather willing to
+please Sate. Then there was Jerry who was a
+good fellow as ever lived, and Nettie who was
+a prime girl; why shouldn't he help tote the
+thing down to the church if that was what they
+wanted? To be sure he wanted to go in the
+other direction, and the fellows would be waiting,
+he supposed; but he could go there, afterwards,
+let them wait until he came.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said at last, "come on, I'll help;
+though what they want of all this rubbish at
+the church is more than I can imagine." And
+Nettie and the little girls stood with satisfied
+faces watching the two move off under their
+heavy burden. It was something to have Norm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
+go to church if it was only to carry flowers.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the door, Norm was seized with a
+fit of shyness; the doors were thrown wide
+open, and ladies and children were flitting about,
+and many tongues were going, and flowers and
+vines were being festooned around the gas
+lights, and the pillars, and wherever there was
+a spot for them.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on," said Norm, jerking back, thus
+putting the great salver in eminent peril, "I
+ain't going in there; all the village is there; you
+better pitch this rubbish out, they've got flowers
+enough."</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't a lily among them," said Jerry.
+"And besides they have to go in, anyhow, we
+can't afford to disappoint Sate. Come on, Norm,
+I can't carry the thing alone, any more than I
+could the stove; it is unaccountably heavy."</p>
+
+<p>This was true, but Jerry was very glad that
+it was. He had his reasons for wanting to get
+Norm down the aisle to the front of the pulpit.
+With very reluctant feet Norm followed, bearing
+his share of the burden, his face flushing
+over the exclamations with which they were at
+last greeted.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh! pond lilies! I did not know there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
+were any this year. Where did you get them?
+Girls, look! Did you ever see anything more
+lovely?" And a group of faces were gathered
+about the tray, and one brown head went down
+among the lilies and caressed them.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get them?" she repeated; "I
+asked my cousin if there were any about here,
+and she said she thought not; and last night
+when I was out on the pond I looked and could
+not find any."</p>
+
+<p>"They hide," said Jerry. "The only place
+on the pond where they can be found is down
+behind the old mill; and most people don't go
+there at all, because the channel is so narrow,
+and the water so shallow."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we are so glad you brought them!
+Girls, aren't they too lovely for anything? Who
+arranged them?"</p>
+
+<p>"My sister," said Norm, to whom Jerry
+promptly turned with an air which said as
+plainly as words could have done: "You are
+the one to answer; she belongs to you."</p>
+
+<p>"And who is that?" asked the owner of the
+pretty brown head, as she made way for them
+to pass to the table with their burden. "I am
+sure I would like to know her; for she certainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
+knows how to put flowers into lovely shapes."</p>
+
+<p>Then came from behind the desk a man
+whom Jerry knew and whom he had seen while
+he stood at the door. "Good evening, Jerry,"
+he said, holding out his hand in a cordial way.
+"What a wonderful bank of beauty you have
+brought! Introduce me to your helper, please."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Sherrill, Mr. Norman Decker," said
+Jerry, exactly as though he had been used to
+introducing people all his life; and Norm, his
+face very red, knew that he was shaking hands
+with the new minister. A very cordial hand-shake,
+certainly, and then the minister turning
+to her of the brown head, said, "Eva, come here;
+let me introduce you to Mr. Norman Decker.
+My sister, Mr. Decker."</p>
+
+<p>Norm, hardly knowing what he was about,
+contrived another bow, and then Miss Eva said,
+"Decker, why, that is the name of my two little
+darlings about whom I have been telling you
+for two Sabbaths. Are they your little sisters,
+Mr. Decker? Little Sate and Susie?" And as
+Norm managed to nod an answer, she continued:
+"They have stolen my heart utterly; that little
+Sate is the dearest little thing. By the way, I
+wonder if these are her flowers? She promised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>
+me she would certainly get some; she said they
+had none in their garden, but God would make
+some grow for her somewhere she guessed."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," said Jerry, seeing that Norm would
+not speak, "they are her flowers, hers and
+Susie's, they coaxed us to go for them."</p>
+
+<p>"Decker," said the minister, suddenly, "you
+are pretty tall, I wonder if you are not just the
+one to help me get this wreath fastened back of
+the pulpit? I have been working at it for some
+time, and failed for the want of an arm long
+enough and strong enough to help me." And
+the two disappeared behind the desk up the
+pulpit stairs to the immense satisfaction of Jerry.
+The ladies went on with their work; Miss
+Eva calling to him to help her move the table,
+and then to help arrange the salver on it, and
+then to bring more vines from the lecture room
+to cover the base of the floral cross; and indeed,
+before they knew it, both Jerry and Norm were
+in the thick of the engagement; Jerry flitting
+hither and thither at the call of the girls, and
+Norm following the minister from point to
+point, and using his long limbs to good advantage.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said, wiping his face with his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
+coat sleeve, as, more than an hour after their
+entrance, he and Jerry made their way down
+the churchyard walk, "that is the greatest snarl
+I ever got into. How that fellow can work!
+But he would never have got them things up in
+the world, if I had not been there to help him."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Jerry "I don't believe he would.
+How glad they were to get the lilies! They do
+look prettier than anything there. I did not
+know who that lady was who taught the little
+folks. She has only been there a few weeks.
+She is pretty, isn't she?"</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose so," said Norm, "her voice is, anyhow.
+They say she's a singer. I heard the
+fellows down at the corner talking about her
+one night; Dick Welsh says she can mimic a
+bird so you couldn't tell which was which. I
+wouldn't mind hearing her sing. I like good
+singing."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose they will have her sing in the
+church," said Jerry in a significant tone. But
+to this, Norm made no reply.</p>
+
+<p>"What was it Mr. Sherrill wanted of you
+just as we were coming out?" asked Jerry,
+after reflecting whether he had better ask the
+question or not.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Wanted me to come and see how the things
+looked in the daytime," said Norm with an
+awkward laugh that ended in a half sneer;
+"I'll be likely to I think!"</p>
+
+<p>"Going up home, I s'pose?" said Jerry, trying
+to speak indifferently, and slipping his hand
+through Norm's arm as they reached the corner,
+and Norm half halted.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose I might as well," Norm
+said, allowing himself to be drawn on by never
+so slight a pressure from Jerry's arm. "I was
+going down street, and the boys were to wait
+for me; but they have never waited all this
+while; it must be considerable after nine
+o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Jerry, "it is." And they went
+home.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie, sitting on the doorstep, waiting, will
+never forget that night, nor the sinking of
+heart with which she waited. Her father had
+been kept at home, first by his employer who
+came to give directions about work to be attended
+to the first thing on Monday morning,
+and then by Job Smith getting home before he
+was expected and asking a little friendly help
+with the load he brought; and he had at last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
+decided that it was too late to go out again, and
+had gone to bed. Mrs. Decker in her kitchen,
+hovered between the door and the window,
+peering out into the lovely night, saying nothing,
+but her heart throbbing so with anxiety
+about her boy that she could not lay her tired
+body away. Mrs. Job Smith in her kitchen,
+looked from her door and then her window,
+many misgivings in her heart; if that bad boy
+Norm should lead her good boy Jerry into mischief
+what should she say to his father? How
+could she ever forgive herself for having encouraged
+the intimacy between him and the
+Deckers?</p>
+
+<p>Presently, far down the quiet street came the
+sound of cheery whistling; Nettie knew the
+voice: nothing so very bad could have happened
+when Jerry was whistling like that; or was he
+perhaps doing it to keep his courage up? The
+whistle turned the corner, and in the dim starlight
+she could distinguish two figures; they
+came on briskly, Jerry and Norm. "A nice job
+you set us at," began Jerry, gayly, "we have
+just this minute got through; and here it is
+toward morning somewhere, isn't it?" Then
+all that happy company went to their beds.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After dinner the next day, Nettie studied if
+there were not ways in which she might coax
+Norm to go to church that evening. Jerry had
+told her of the minister's invitation. Norm had
+slept later than usual that morning, and lounged
+at home until after dinner; now he was preparing
+to go out. How could she keep him? How
+could she coax him to go with her?</p>
+
+<p>Before she could decide what to do to try to
+hold him, Susie took matters into her own
+hands by pitching head foremost out of the
+kitchen window, hitting her head on the stones.
+Then there was hurry and confusion in the
+Decker kitchen! Then did Mrs. Smith, and
+Job Smith, and Sarah Jane fly to the rescue.
+Though after all, Norm was the one who stooped
+over poor silent Susie and brought her limp and
+apparently lifeless into the kitchen. Jerry ran
+with all speed for the doctor. It was hours
+before they settled down again, having discovered
+that Susie was not dead, but had fainted;
+was not even badly hurt, save for a bump or two.
+But it took the little lady only a short time,
+after recovering from her fright, to discover
+that she was a person of importance, and to
+like the situation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It happened that Norm had, by the doctor's
+directions, carried her from her mother's bed to
+the cooler atmosphere of the front room. Susie
+had enjoyed the ride, and now announced with
+the air of a conqueror, "I want Norm to carry
+me." So Norm, frightened into love and tenderness,
+lifted the little girl in his strong arms, laid
+the pretty head on his shoulder, and willingly
+tramped up and down the room. Was Susie a
+witch, or a selfish little girl? Certain it was
+that during that walk she took an unaccountable
+and ever increasing fancy for Norm. He
+must wet the brown paper on her head as often
+is the vinegar with which it was saturated dried
+away; he must hold the cup while she took a
+drink of water; he must push the marvel of a
+barrel chair in which she for a time sat in state,
+closer to the window; he must carry her from
+the chair to the table when supper was finally
+ready, and carry her back again when it was
+eaten. Nettie looked on amused and puzzled.
+Certainly Susie had kept Norm at home all the
+afternoon; but was she also likely to accomplish
+it for the evening? For Norm, to her great
+surprise, seemed to like the new order of
+things.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He blushed awkwardly when Susie gently
+pushed her mother aside and demanded Norm,
+but he came at once, with a good-natured laugh,
+and held her in his arms with as much gentleness
+and more strength than the mother could
+have given; and seemed to like the touch of the
+curly head on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>But while Nettie was putting away the dishes
+and puzzling over all the strange events of the
+afternoon, Susie was undressed, partly by Norm,
+according to her decree, and fell asleep in his
+arms and was laid on her mother's bed, and
+Norm slipped away!</p>
+
+<p>Poor Nettie! She ran to the door to try to
+call him, but he was out of sight. "I tried to
+think of something to keep him till you came
+in," explained the disappointed mother, "but I
+couldn't do it; he laid Susie down as quick as
+he could, and shot away as though he was afraid
+you would get hold of him."</p>
+
+<p>So Nettie, her face sad, prepared to go with
+Jerry and the Smiths down to evening meeting,
+and told Jerry on the way, that it did seem
+strange to her, so long as Susie had kept Norm
+busy all the afternoon, that they must let him
+slip away from them at last.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII.<br />
+
+<small>THE LITTLE PICTURE MAKERS.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>AFTER Susie Decker pitched out of the
+window that Sabbath afternoon she became
+such an object of importance that you
+would hardly have supposed anything else could
+have happened worth mentioning; but after the
+excitement was quite over, and Susie had been
+cuddled and petted and cared for more than it
+seemed to her she had ever been in her life before,
+Mr. Decker, finding nothing better to do,
+went out and sat down on the doorstep.</div>
+
+<p>Little Sate dried her eyes and slipped away
+very soon after she discovered that Susie could
+move, and speak, and was therefore not dead.
+She had wandered in search of entertainment
+to the yard just around the corner, where had
+come but a few days before, a small boy on a
+visit.</p>
+
+<p>This boy, Bobby by name, finding Sunday a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
+hard day, had finally, after getting into all sorts
+of mischief within doors, been established by an
+indulgent auntie in the back yard, with her
+apron tied around his chubby neck, to protect
+his new suit, with a few pieces of charcoal, and
+permission to draw some nice Sunday pictures
+on the white boards of the house.</p>
+
+<p>This business interested Sate, and in spite of
+her shyness, drew her the other side of the high
+board fence which separated the neighbor's back
+yard from Mr. Decker's side one.</p>
+
+<p>Just as that gentleman took his seat on the
+doorstep, he heard the voices of the two children;
+first, Bobby's confident one, the words he
+used conveying all assurance of unlimited power
+at his command&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what shall I make?"</p>
+
+<p>"Make," said Sate, her sweet face thrown upward
+in earnest thought, "make the angel who
+would have come for Susie if she had died just
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know any angel would have
+come for her?" asked sturdy Bobby.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, 'cause I <i>know</i> there would. Miss
+Sherrill said so to-day; she told us about that
+little baby that died last night; she said an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
+angel came after it and took it right straight up
+to heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe she don't know," said skeptical
+Bobby.</p>
+
+<p>Then did Sate's eyes flash.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess she does know, Bobby Burns, and
+you will be real mean, and bad if you say so any
+more. She knows all about heaven, and angels,
+and everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Does angels come after all folks that dies?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dunno; I guess so; no, I guess not. Only
+good folks."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Susie good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes she is," said truthful Sate, in
+slow, thoughtful tones, a touch of mournfulness
+in them that might have gone to Susie's heart
+had she heard and understood; "she gave me
+the biggest half of a cookie the other night. It
+was a <i>good deal</i> the biggest; and she takes care
+of me most always; one day she took off her
+shoes and put them on me, because the stones
+and the rough ground hurt my feet. They hurt
+her feet too; they bleeded, oh! just awful, but
+she wouldn't let <i>me</i> be hurt."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you wear your own shoes?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't have any; mine all went to holes;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
+just great big holes that wouldn't stay on; it
+was before my papa got good, and he didn't buy
+me any shoes at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Has your papa got good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Sate confidently, "I guess he has.
+My sister Nettie thinks so; and Susie does too.
+He don't drink bad stuff any more. It was
+some kind of stuff he drank that made him cross;
+mamma said so; and the stuff made him feel so
+bad that he couldn't buy shoes, nor nothing;
+why, sometimes, before Nettie came home, we
+didn't have any bread! He isn't cross to-day,
+and he wasn't last night; and he bought me
+some new shoes&mdash;real pretty ones, and he kissed
+me. I love my papa when he is good. Do you
+love your papa when he is good?"</p>
+
+<p>"My papa is always good," said Bobby, with
+that air of immense superiority.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he?" asked Sate, wonder and admiration
+in her tone. Happy Bobby, to possess a father
+who was always good! "Doesn't he ever drink
+any of that bad stuff?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess he doesn't!" said indignant Bobby.
+"You wouldn't catch him taking a drop of it
+for anything. If he was sick and was going to
+die if he didn't, he says he wouldn't take it. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
+know all about that; the name of it is whiskey,
+and things; it has lots of names, but that is one
+of them. My father is a temperance."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a man who promises that he won't ever
+taste it nor touch it, nor nothing, forever and
+ever. And he won't."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh my!" said Sate. "Then of course you
+love him all the time. I mean to love my papa,
+all the time too. I'm most sure I can. What
+makes you make such a big angel? Susie isn't
+big; a little angel could carry her."</p>
+
+<p>"This angel isn't the one who was coming for
+Susie; it is the one who is going to come for
+my papa when he dies."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! then will you make the one who will
+come for my papa? Make him very big and
+strong, for my papa is a strong man, and I don't
+want the angel to drop him."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker arose suddenly and went round to
+the back part of the house, and cleared his
+throat, and coughed, two or three times, and
+rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes.
+Had he peeped through the fence and caught a
+glimpse of the angel whom Bobby made, he
+might not have been so strangely touched; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
+the words of his little girl seemed to choke him,
+and his eyes, just then, were too dim to see
+angels.</p>
+
+<p>He was very still all the rest of the afternoon.
+At the tea table he scarcely spoke, and afterwards,
+while Mrs. Decker and Nettie were
+mourning over Norm's escape, he too put on
+his coat, and went away down the street.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker came to the door when she discovered
+it, and looked after him. He was still
+in sight, but she did not dare to call. As she
+looked, she gathered up a corner of her apron
+and wiped her eyes. Presently she sat down on
+the step where he had been sitting so short a
+time before, leaned her elbows on her knees, and
+her cheeks on her hands, and thought sad
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>She felt very much discouraged. On this
+first Sunday, after the new room had been made,
+and new hopes excited, they had slipped away,
+both Norm and her husband, to lounge in the
+saloon as usual, and to come home, late at night,
+the worse for liquor. She knew all about it!
+Hadn't she been through it many times?</p>
+
+<p>The little gleam of hope which had started
+again, under Nettie and Jerry's encouraging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>
+words and ways, died quite out. Sitting there,
+Mrs. Decker made up her mind once more, that
+there was no kind of use in working, and struggling,
+and trying to be somebody. She was the
+wife of a drunkard; and the mother of a drunkard;
+Norm would be that, before long. And
+her little girls would grow up beggars. It was
+almost a pity that Susie had not been killed
+when she fell. Why should she want to live to
+be a drunkard's daughter, and a drunkard's sister?
+If the Heaven she used to hear about
+when she was a little girl, was all so, why should
+she not long for Susie and Sate to go there?
+Then if she could go away herself and leave all
+this misery!</p>
+
+<p>She had hurried with her dishes, she had
+hoped that when she was ready to sit down in
+the neat room with the new lamp burning
+brightly, he would sit with her as he used to do
+on Sunday evenings long ago. But here she
+was alone, as usual. More than once that big
+apron which she had not cared to take off after
+she found herself deserted, was made to do
+duty as a handkerchief and wipe away bitter
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Nettie sat in the pretty church and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
+looked at the lovely flowers, and listened to the
+wonderful singing. Miss Sherrill sang the solo
+of something more beautiful than Nettie had
+ever even imagined. "Consider the lilies how
+they grow." What wonderful words were these
+to be sung while looking down at a great bank
+of lilies! It is possible that the singing may
+have been more beautiful to Nettie because her
+own fingers had arranged the lilies, but it was
+in itself enough for any reasonable mortal's ear,
+and as it rolled through the church, there was
+more than one listener who thought of the
+angels, and wondered if their voices could be
+sweeter. Nettie's small handkerchief went to
+her eyes several times during the anthem; she
+could not have told why she cried, but the
+music moved her strangely. Before the anthem
+was fairly concluded there was something else
+to take her attention. Mrs. Job Smith in whose
+seat she sat, gave her arm a vigorous poke with
+a sharp elbow, and whispered in a voice which
+seemed to Nettie must have been heard all over
+the church, "For the land's sake, if there ain't
+your pa sitting down there under the gallery!"</p>
+
+<p>As soon as she dared do so, Nettie turned her
+head for one swift look. Mrs. Smith <i>must</i> be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+mistaken, but she would take one glance to
+assure herself. Certainly that was her father,
+sitting in almost the last seat, leaning his head
+against one of the pillars, the shabbiness of his
+coat showing plainly in the bright gaslight.
+But Nettie did not think of his coat. Her
+cheeks grew red, and her eyes filled again with
+tears. It was not the music, now; it was a
+strange thrill of satisfaction, and of hope. How
+pleasant she had thought it would be to go to
+church with her father. It was one of the
+things she had planned at Auntie Marshall's;
+how she would perhaps take her father's arm,
+being tall for her years, and Auntie Marshall
+said he was not a tall man, and walk to church
+by his side, and find the hymns for him, and receive
+his fatherly smile, and when she handed
+him his hat after service, perhaps he would say,
+"Thank you, my daughter," as she had heard
+Doctor Porter say to his little girl in the seat
+just ahead of theirs. Nettie's hungry little heart
+had wanted to hear that word applied to herself.
+Now all these sweet dreams of hers seemed to
+have been ages ago; actually it felt like years
+since she had hoped for such a thing, or dreamed
+of seeing her father in church, so swiftly had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
+the reality crowded out her pretty dreams. Yet
+there he sat, listening to the reading.</p>
+
+<p>What Nettie would have done or thought
+had she known that Norm and two friends were
+at that moment seated in the gallery just over
+her father's head, I cannot say. On the whole,
+I am glad she did not know it until church was
+out. Especially I am glad she did not know
+that Norm giggled a good deal, and whispered
+more or less, and in various ways so annoyed
+the minister that he found it difficult to keep
+from speaking to the young men in the gallery.
+The fact is, he would have done so, had he not
+recognized in one of them his helper of the evening
+before, and resolved to bear his troubles patiently,
+in the hope that something good would
+grow out of this unusual appearance at church.</p>
+
+<p>It would perhaps be hard work to explain
+what had brought Norm to church. A fancy
+perhaps for seeing how the flowers looked by
+this time. A queer feeling that he was slightly
+connected with the church service for once in
+his life; a lingering desire to know whether in
+the hanging of that tallest wreath, he or the
+minister had been right; they had differed as
+to the distance from one arch to the other;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
+from the gallery he was sure he could tell which
+had possessed the truer eye. All these motives
+pressed him a little. Then they were singing
+when he reached the door, and Rick had said,
+"Hallo! that voice sounds as though it lived
+up in the sky. Who is that, do you s'pose?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Norm proud of his knowledge in the
+matter, explained that she was the minister's
+sister, and they said she could mimic a bird so
+you couldn't tell which was which.</p>
+
+<p>"Poh!" Alf had said; he didn't believe a
+word of that; he should like to see a woman
+who could fool him into thinking that she was a
+bird! but he had added, "Let's go in and hear
+her." And as this was what Norm had been
+half intending to do ever since he started from
+the house, he agreed to do it at once. In they
+slipped and half-hid themselves behind the
+posts in the gallery, and behaved disreputably
+all the evening, more because they felt shamefaced
+about being there at all, and wanted to
+keep each other in countenance, than because
+they really desired to disturb the service. However,
+they heard a great deal.</p>
+
+<p>What do you think was the minister's text
+on that evening? "No drunkard shall inherit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+the kingdom of heaven." I shall have to tell
+you that when he caught sight of Mr. Decker
+half-hidden behind his post and recognized him
+as the man who was so fast growing into a drunkard,
+and as the man who had never been inside
+the church since he had been the pastor, he was
+sorry that his text and subject were what they
+were that evening. He told himself that it was
+very unfortunate. That if he had dreamed of
+such a thing as having that man for a listener,
+he would have told him the story of Jesus as
+simply and as earnestly as he could; and not
+have preached a sermon that would seem to the
+man as a fling at himself. However, there was
+no help for it now; he did not recognize Mr.
+Decker until he had announced his text, and
+fairly commenced his sermon.</p>
+
+<p>It was a sermon for young people; it was intended
+to warn them against the first beginnings
+of this great sin which shut heaven away from
+the sinner. He need not have been troubled
+about not telling the story of Jesus; there was
+a great deal about Jesus in the sermon, as well
+as a great deal about the heaven prepared for
+those who were willing to go. I do not know
+that anywhere in the church you could have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+found a more attentive listener than Mr. Decker.
+At least one who seemed to listen more earnestly;
+from the moment that the text was repeated
+until the great Bible was closed, he did
+not take his eyes from the minister's face. Yet
+some of his words he did not hear. Some of the
+time Mr. Decker was hearing a little voice, very
+sweet, saying: "Make a very big strong angel
+to come for my papa when he dies; my papa is
+a strong man and I don't want the angel to
+drop him." Poor papa! as he thought of it, he
+had to look straight before him and wink hard
+and fast to keep the tears from dropping; he
+had no handkerchief to wipe them away. Think
+of an angel coming for him! "I love my papa
+when he is good!" the sweet voice had said.
+Was he ever good? Then he listened awhile
+to the sermon; heard the vivid description of
+some of the possible glories and joys of Heaven.
+Would he be likely ever to go there? Little
+Sate thought so; she had planned for it that
+very afternoon. Dear little Sate who did not
+want the angel to drop him.</p>
+
+<p>Now it is possible that if the sermon had
+been about drunkards, Mr. Decker would have
+been vexed and would not have listened. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>
+did not call himself a drunkard; it is a sad and
+at the same time a curious fact that he did not
+realize how nearly he had reached the point
+where the name would apply to him. That he
+drank beer, much, and often, and that he was
+growing more and more fond of it, and that it
+kept him miserably poor, was certainly true,
+and there were times when he realized it; but
+that he was ever going to be a common drunkard
+and roll in the gutter, and kick his wife,
+and seize his children by the hair, he did not
+for a moment believe. But the sermon was by
+no means addressed to people who were even so
+far on this road as he. It was addressed to boys,
+who were just beginning to like the taste of hard
+cider, and spruce beer, and hop bitters, and all
+those harmless (?) drinks which so many boys
+were using. It was a plain story of the rapid,
+certain, downward journey of those who began
+in these simple ways. It was illustrated by
+certain facts which Mr. Sherrill had personally
+known. And Mr. Decker, as he listened, owned
+to himself that he knew facts which would have
+proved the same truth.</p>
+
+<p>Then he gave a little start and shrank farther
+into the shadow of the pillar. The moment he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>
+admitted that, he also admitted that he was himself
+in danger. What nonsense that was!
+Couldn't he stop drinking the stuff whenever he
+liked? "There is a time," said the minister,
+"when this matter is in your own hands. You
+have no very great taste for the dangerous
+liquors, you are only using them because those
+with whom you associate do so. You could give
+them up without much effort; but I tell you,
+my friends, the time comes, and to many it
+comes very early in life, when they are like
+slaves bound hand and foot in a habit that they
+cannot break, and cannot control." Mr. Decker
+heard this, and something, what was it? pressed
+the thought home to him just then, that, if he
+did not belong to this last-mentioned class,
+neither did he to the former. He knew it would
+take a good deal of effort for him to give up his
+beer; of course it would; else he should not be
+such a fool as to keep himself and his family in
+poverty for the sake of indulging it. What if
+he were already a slave, bound hand and foot!
+What if the "stuff" which Sate said made him
+"cross" had already made him a drunkard!
+Perhaps the boys on the street called him so;
+though they rarely saw him stagger; his staggering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
+was nearly always done under cover of the
+night. Still, now that he was dealing honestly
+with himself, he must own that it was less easy
+to go without his beer than it used to be.
+Since Nettie had come home he had drank less
+of it than usual, and by that very means he had
+discovered how much it meant to him. "No
+drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven!"
+The minister's earnest voice repeated his text
+just then. Was he a drunkard? Then what
+about the strong angel? Little Sate was to be
+disappointed, after all!</p>
+
+<p>Oh! I am not going to try to tell you all the
+thoughts which passed through Joe Decker's
+mind that evening. I don't think he could tell
+you himself, though he remembers the evening
+vividly. He stood up, during the closing hymn,
+and waited until the benediction was pronounced,
+and then he slipped away, swiftly;
+Nettie tried to get to him, but she did not succeed,
+and she sorrowed over it. He stumbled
+along in the darkness, moving almost as unsteadily
+as though he had been drinking. The
+sky was thick with clouds, and he jostled against
+a lady and gentleman as he crossed the street;
+the lady shrank away. "Who is that?" he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
+heard her ask; and the answer came to him
+distinctly: "Oh! it is old Joe Decker; he is
+drunk, I suppose. He generally is at this time
+of night."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, there it was! he was already counted on
+the streets as a drunkard. "No drunkard shall
+inherit the kingdom of heaven." It was not the
+minister's voice this time; yet it seemed to the
+poor man's excited brain that some one repeated
+those words in his ears. Then he heard again
+the sweet soft voice: "Make him very big and
+strong, for I don't want the angel to drop him."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV.<br />
+
+<small>THE CONCERT.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>WITHIN the church wonderful things were
+going on. Jerry had caught sight of
+Norm as he slipped up the gallery stairs, and
+laid his plans accordingly. He whispered to
+Nettie during the singing of the closing hymn,
+thereby shocking her a little. Jerry did not often
+whisper in church.</div>
+
+<p>This was what he said: "Don't you need
+those lilies to help trim the room to-morrow
+night? Let's take them home."</p>
+
+<p>The moment the "amen" was spoken, he
+dashed out, and was at the stair door as Norm
+came down.</p>
+
+<p>"Norm," he said, "won't you help me carry
+home that tray? We want the flowers for something
+special to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Said Norm, "O bother! I can't help tote
+that heavy thing through the streets."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" asked Rick; and when the
+explanation was briefly made, he added the little
+word of advice which so often turns the scales.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho! that isn't much to do when you are
+going that very road. I'd do as much as that,
+any day, for the little chap who gave us such a
+tall row." This last was in undertone.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Norm, "I don't care; I'll help;
+but how are we going to get the things out
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come inside," answered Jerry; "we can
+wait in the back seat. They will all be gone in
+a few minutes, then we can step up and get the
+salver."</p>
+
+<p>Once inside the church, the rest followed
+easily. Mr. Sherrill who had eyes for all that
+was going on, came forward swiftly and held a
+cordial hand to Norm.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening," he said; "I am glad to see
+you accepted my invitation. How did our work
+look by gaslight?"</p>
+
+<p>"It looked," said Norm, a roguish twinkle in
+his eye, "it looked just as I expected it would;
+crooked. That there arch at the left of the pulpit
+wants to be hung as much as two inches lower
+to match the other."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You don't say so!" said the minister, in
+good-humored surprise. "Does it appear so
+from the gallery? Are my eyes as crooked as
+that? Let us go up gallery and see if I can discover
+it."</p>
+
+<p>So to the gallery they went, Norm clearing
+the space with a few bounds, and taking a triumphant
+station where he could point out the
+defect to the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"That is true," Mr. Sherrill said, with hearty
+frankness. "You are right and I was wrong.
+If I had taken your word last night the wreaths
+would have looked better, wouldn't they? Well,
+perhaps wreaths are not the only things which
+show crooked when we get higher up and look
+down on them. Eh, my friend?"</p>
+
+<p>Norm laughed a good-humored, rather embarrassed
+laugh. It was remarkable that he should
+be up here holding a chatty, almost gay, conversation
+with the minister. There came over him
+the wish that he had behaved himself better
+during the service. That he had not whispered
+so much, nor nudged Rick's elbow to make him
+laugh, just at the moment that the minister's eye
+was fixed on them. He had a half-fancy that if
+the evening were to be lived over again, he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
+go down below and sit up straight and show this
+man that he could behave as well as anybody
+if he were a mind to.</p>
+
+<p>Not a word about the laughing and whispering
+said the minister. But he said a thing which
+startled Norm.</p>
+
+<p>"My sister has a fancy for having the church
+adorned with wreaths or strings of asters in contrasting
+colors for next Sabbath; will you make
+an appointment with me to help hang them on
+Saturday evening? I'll promise to follow your
+eye to the half-inch."</p>
+
+<p>Norm started, flushed, looked into the frank
+face and laughed a little, then seeing that the
+answer was waited for said: "Why, I don't
+care if I do, if you honestly want it."</p>
+
+<p>"I honestly want it," said the minister in
+great satisfaction. Then they went downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>Job Smith and his wife were gone.</p>
+
+<p>"I will wait for my brother," said Nettie, and
+her heart swelled with pride as she said it.</p>
+
+<p>How nice to have a brother to wait for, just
+as Miss Sherrill was doing. At that moment
+the "beautiful lady" as Sate and Susie called
+her, came to Nettie's side.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening," she said pleasantly. "I hope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
+the little girls are well; I met your brother last
+night; he helped my brother to hang the flowers.
+I see they are upstairs together now, admiring
+their work. My brother said he was a
+very intelligent helper. You do not know how
+much I thank you for those flowers. They
+helped me to sing to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought," said Nettie, raising her great
+truthful eyes to the lady's face and speaking with
+an earnestness that showed she felt what she
+said, "I thought you sang as though the angels
+were helping you. I don't think they can sing
+any sweeter."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Miss Sherrill; she smiled
+as she spoke, yet there were tears in her eyes;
+the honest, earnest tribute seemed very unlike a
+little girl, and very unlike the usual way of complimenting
+her wonderful voice. "I saw that
+you liked music," she said, "I noticed you while
+I was singing. Will you let me give you a
+couple of tickets for the concert to-morrow evening;
+and will you and your brother come to hear
+me sing? I am going to sing something that I
+think you will like."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie went home behind the lilies and the
+boys, her heart all in a flutter of delight. What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
+a wonderful thing had come to her! The concert
+for which the best singers in town had been
+so long practising, and for which the tickets
+were fifty cents apiece, and which she had no
+more expected to attend than she had expected
+to hear the real angels sing that week, was to
+take place to-morrow evening, and she had two
+tickets in her pocket!</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker was waiting for them, her nose
+pressed against the glass; she started forward to
+open the door for the boys, before Nettie could
+reach it. There was such a look of relief on her
+face when she saw Norm as ought to have gone
+to his very heart; but he did not see it; he was
+busy settling the salver in a safe place.</p>
+
+<p>"Has father come in?" Nettie asked, as she
+followed her mother to the back step, where she
+went for the dipper at Norm's call.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, child, he has, and went straight to bed.
+He didn't say two words; but he wasn't cross;
+and he hadn't drank a drop, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said Nettie, standing on tiptoe to
+reach the tall woman's ear, and speaking in an
+awe-stricken whisper, "father was in church!"</p>
+
+<p>"For the land of pity!" said Mrs. Decker,
+speaking low and solemnly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And all through the next morning's meal,
+which was an unusually quiet one, she waited on
+her husband with a kind of respectful reverence,
+which if he had noticed, might have bewildered
+him. It seemed to her that the event of the
+evening before had lifted him into a higher world
+than hers, and that she could not tell now, what
+might happen.</p>
+
+<p>The event of the day was the concert; all
+other plans were set aside for that. At first
+Norm scoffed and declared that his ticket might
+be used to light the fire with, for all he cared;
+he didn't want to go to one of their "swell"
+concerts. But this talk Nettie laughed over
+good-naturedly, as though it were intended for
+a joke, and continued her planning as to when
+to have supper, and just when she and Norm
+must start.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the day, that young man discovered
+it to be a fine thing to own tickets for
+this special concert. Before noon tickets were
+at a premium, and several of Norm's fellow-workmen
+gayly advised him to make an honest
+penny by selling his. During the early morning
+it had been delicately hinted by one young fellow
+that Norm Decker's tickets were made of tissue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>
+paper, which was his way of saying, that he did
+not believe that Norm had any; but, thanks to
+Nettie's thoughtful tact, the tickets were at that
+very moment reposing in her brother's pocket,
+and he drew them forth in triumph, wanting to
+know if anybody saw any tissue paper about
+those. Good stiff green pasteboard with the
+magic words on them which would admit two
+people to what was considered on all sides the
+finest entertainment of the sort the town had
+ever enjoyed.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get 'em, Norm? Come, tell
+us, that's a good fellow. You was never so
+green as to go and pay a dollar for two pieces of
+pasteboard."</p>
+
+<p>"They are complimentaries," said Norm, tossing
+off a shaving with a careless air, as though
+complimentary tickets to first-class concerts were
+every-day affairs with him.</p>
+
+<p>"Complimentary? My eyes, aren't we big!"
+(I am very sorry that the boys in Norm's shop
+used these slang phrases; but I want to say this
+for them: it was because they had never been
+taught better. Not one of them had mother or
+father who were grieved by such words; some
+of them were so truly good-hearted that I believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
+if such had been the case, they would never
+have used them again; and I wish the same
+might be said of all boys with cultured and careful
+mothers.)</p>
+
+<p>"How did you get 'em? Been selling tickets
+for the show, or piling chairs, or what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't done a living thing for one of
+them," said Norm composedly; and Ben Halleck
+came to his rescue.</p>
+
+<p>"That's so, boys; or, at least if he had, it
+wouldn't done him no good. They don't pay
+for this show in any such way. The fellows that
+carried around bills were paid in money because
+they said they expected seats would be scarce;
+and they didn't sell no tickets around the streets.
+Them that wanted them had to go to the book-store
+and buy them. Oh, I tell you, it's a big
+thing. I wouldn't mind going myself if I could
+be complimented through. You see that Sherrill
+girl who lives at the new minister's is a most
+amazing singer, and they say everybody wants to
+hear her."</p>
+
+<p>By this time Norm's mind was fully made up
+that he would go to the concert. It is a pity
+Nettie could not have known it. For despite
+the cheerful courage with which she received<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>
+Norm's disagreeable statements in the morning,
+she was secretly very much afraid that he would
+not go. This would have been a great trial to
+her, for her little soul was as full of music as
+possible; and the thought of hearing that wonderful
+voice so soon again filled her with delight;
+but she was a timid little girl so far as appearing
+among strangers was concerned, and the idea
+of going alone to a concert was not to be thought
+of. Her mother proposed Jerry for company,
+but he had gone with Job Smith into the country
+and was not likely to return until too late. So
+Nettie made her little preparations with a
+troubled heart. There was something more to
+it than simply hearing fine music; it would be
+so like other girls whom she knew, so like the
+dreams of home she had indulged in while at
+Auntie Marshall's&mdash;this going out in the evening
+attended and cared for by her brother.</p>
+
+<p>Norm ate his dinner in haste, and was silent
+and almost gruff; nobody knows why. I have
+often wondered why even well brought up boys,
+seem sometimes to like to appear more disagreeable
+than at heart they are.</p>
+
+<p>But by six o'clock the much-thought-about
+brother appeared, his face pleasant enough.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, Nannie," he said, "got your fusses
+and fixings all ready?"</p>
+
+<p>And Nettie with beating heart and laughing
+eyes assured him that she would be all ready
+in good time, and that she had laid his clean
+shirt on his bed, and a clean handkerchief, and
+brushed his coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and she ironed your shirt with her own
+hands," explained his mother, "and the bosom
+shines like a glass bottle."</p>
+
+<p>"O bother!" said Norm. "I don't want a
+clean shirt."</p>
+
+<p>But he went to his attic directly after supper
+and put on the shirt, and combed his hair, and
+rubbed his boots with Jerry's brush which he
+went around the back way and borrowed of
+Mrs. Job Smith before he came in to supper.</p>
+
+<p>He had noticed how very neat and pretty
+Nettie looked as she walked down the church isle
+beside him the night before; and he had also
+noticed Jerry's shining boots.</p>
+
+<p>His mother noticed his the moment he came
+down stairs. "How nice you two do look!"
+she said admiringly; and then the two walked
+away well pleased. It was a wonderful concert.
+Norm had not known that he was particularly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
+fond of music, but he owned to Rick the next
+day, that there was something in that Sherrill
+girl's voice which almost lifted a fellow out of
+his boots.</p>
+
+<p>They had excellent seats! Nettie learned to
+her intense surprise that their tickets called for
+reserved seats. She had studied over certain
+mysterious numbers on the tickets, but had not
+understood them. It appeared also that the
+usher was surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't give you any seats," was his greeting
+as they presented their tickets. "Everything
+is full now except the reserves; you'll have to
+stand in the aisle; there's a good place under
+the gallery. Halloo! What's this? Reserved!
+Why, bless us, I didn't see these numbers.
+Come down this way; you have as nice seats
+as there are in the hall."</p>
+
+<p>It was all delightful. Lorena Barstow and
+two others of the Sabbath-school class were a
+few seats behind them; Nettie could hear
+them whispering and giggling, and for a few
+minutes she had an uncomfortable feeling that
+they were laughing at her; as I am sorry to say
+they were.</p>
+
+<p>But neither this nor anything else troubled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>
+her long, for Norm's unusual toilet having taken
+much longer than was planned for, they were
+really among the late comers; and in a very little
+while the music began. Oh! how wonderful
+it was. Neither Nettie nor Norm had ever
+heard really fine concert music before, and even
+Norm who did not know that he cared for music,
+felt his nerves thrill to his fingers' ends. Then,
+when after the first two or three pieces Miss
+Sherrill appeared, she was so beautiful and her
+voice was so wonderful that Nettie, try as hard
+as she did, could not keep the tears from her
+foolish happy eyes. I will not venture to say
+how much the beautiful silk dress with its long
+train, and the mass of soft white lace at her
+throat had to do with Miss Sherrill's loveliness,
+though I daresay if she had appeared in a twelve-cent
+gingham like Nettie's, she might have sang
+just as sweetly. Norm, however, did not believe
+that.</p>
+
+<p>"Half of it is the fuss and feathers," he declared
+to Rick, next day, looking wise. And
+Rick made a wise answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when you add the handsome voice to
+the fuss and feathers, I s'pose they help, but I
+don't believe folks would go and rave so much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>
+just over a blue silk dress, and some gloves, and
+things. They all had to match, you see." So
+Rick, without knowing it, became a philosopher.</p>
+
+<p>As for Nettie, she told her mother that the
+dress was just lovely, and her voice was as sweet
+as any angel's could possibly be; but there was
+a look in her eyes which was better than all the
+rest; and that when she sang, "Oh that I had
+wings, had wings like a dove!" she, Nettie,
+could not help feeling that they were hidden
+about her somewhere, and that before the song
+was over, she might unfold them and soar away.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XV.<br />
+
+<small>A WILL AND A WAY.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>"THE next thing we want to do is to earn
+some money."</div>
+
+<p>This, Jerry said, as he sat on the side step
+with Nettie, after sunset. They had been having
+a long talk, planning the campaign against
+the enemy, which they had made up their minds
+should be carried on with vigor. At least, they
+had been trying to plan; but that obstacle
+which seems to delight to step into the midst of
+so many plans and overturn them, viz. money,
+met them at every point. So when Jerry made
+that emphatic announcement, Nettie was prepared
+to agree with him fully; but none the
+less did she turn anxious eyes on him as she
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"How can we?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet," Jerry said, whistling a
+few bars of</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+Oh, do not be discouraged,<br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class='unindent'>and stopping in the middle of the line to answer,
+"But of course there is a way. There was an
+old man who worked for my father, who used to
+say so often: 'Where there's a will there's a
+way,' that after awhile we boys got to calling
+him 'Will and Way' for short, you know; his
+name was John," and here Jerry stopped to laugh
+a little over that method of shortening a name;
+"but it was wonderful to see how true it proved;
+he would make out to do the most surprising
+things that even my father thought sometimes
+could not be done. We must <i>make</i> a way to
+earn some money."</div>
+
+<p>Nettie laughed a little. "Well, I am sure,"
+she said, "there is a will in this case; in fact,
+there are two wills; for you seem to have a large
+one, and I know if ever I was determined to do
+a thing I am now; but for all that I can't think
+of a possible way to earn a cent."</p>
+
+<p>Now Sarah Ann Smith was at this moment
+standing by the kitchen window, looking out on
+the two schemers. Her sleeves were rolled
+above her elbow, for she was about to set the
+sponge for bread; she had her large neat work
+apron tied over her neat dress-up calico; and on
+her head was perched the frame out of which,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
+with Nettie's skilful help, and some pieces of
+lace from her mother's old treasure bag, she
+meant to make herself a bonnet every bit as
+pretty as the one worn by Miss Sherrill the Sabbath
+before.</p>
+
+<p>"Talk of keeping things seven years and
+they'll come good," said Mrs. Smith, watching
+with satisfaction while Nettie tumbled over the
+contents of the bag in eager haste and exclaimed
+over this and that piece which would be "just
+lovely." "I've kept the rubbish in that bag going
+on to twenty years, just because the pretty
+girls where I used to do clear-starching, gave
+them to me. I had no kind of notion what I
+should ever do with them; but they looked
+bright and pretty, and I always was a master
+hand for bright colors, and so whenever they
+would hand out a bit of ribbon or lace, and say,
+'Cerinthy, do you want that?' I was sure to say
+I did; and chuck it into this bag; and now to
+think after keeping of them for more than twenty
+years, my girl should be planning to make a bonnet
+out of them! Things is queer! I don't
+ever mean to throw away <i>anything</i>. I never
+was much at throwing away; now that's a
+fact."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now the truth was that Sarah Ann, left to
+herself, would as soon have thought of making
+a <i>house</i> out of the contents of that bag, as a bonnet;
+but Nettie Decker's deft fingers had a natural
+tact for all cunning contrivances in lace and
+silk, and her skill in copying what she saw, was
+something before which Sarah Ann stood in silent
+admiration; when, therefore, she offered to construct
+for Sarah Ann, out of the treasures of
+that bag, a bonnet which should be both becoming
+and economical, Sarah Ann's gratitude knew
+no bounds. She went that very afternoon to the
+milliner's to select her frame, and had it perched
+at that moment as I said, on her head, while she
+listened to the clear young voices under the window.
+She had a great desire to be helpful; but
+money was far from plenty at Job Smith's.</p>
+
+<p>What was it which made her at that moment
+think of a bit of news which she had heard while
+at the milliner's? Why, nothing more remarkable
+than that the color of Nettie Decker's hair
+in the fading light was just the same as Mantie
+Horton's. But what made her suddenly speak
+her bit of news, interrupting the young planners?
+Ah, that Sarah Ann does not know; she only
+knows she felt just like saying it, so she said it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mantie Horton's folks are all going to move
+to the city; they are selling off lots of things; I
+saw her this afternoon when I was at the milliner's,
+and she says about the only thing now
+that they don't know what to do with is her old
+hen and chickens; a nice lot of chicks as ever
+she saw, but of course they can't take them to
+the city. My! I should think they would feel
+dreadful lonesome without chickens, nor pigs,
+nor nothing! <i>We</i> might have some chickens as
+well as not, if we only had a place to keep 'em;
+enough scrapings come from the table every day,
+to feed 'em, most."</p>
+
+<p>Before this sentence was concluded, Jerry had
+turned and given Nettie a sudden look as if to
+ask if she saw what he did; then he whistled a
+low strain which had in it a note of triumph;
+and the moment Sarah Ann paused for breath
+he asked: "Where do the Hortons live?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, out on the pike about a mile; that
+nice white house set back from the road a piece;
+don't you know? It is just a pleasant walk out
+there."</p>
+
+<p>Then Sarah Ann turned away to attend to her
+bread, and as she did so her somewhat homely
+face was lighted by a smile; for an idea had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
+just dawned upon her, and she chuckled over it:
+"I shouldn't wonder if those young things would
+go into business; he's got contrivance enough to
+make a coop, any day, and mother would let
+them have the scrapings, and welcome."</p>
+
+<p>Sarah Ann was right; though Nettie, unused
+to country ways and plans, did not think of such
+a thing, Jerry did. The next morning he was
+up, even before the sun; in fact that luminary
+peeped at him just as he was turning into the
+long carriage drive which led finally to the Horton
+barnyard. There a beautiful sight met his
+eyes; a white and yellow topknot mother, and
+eight or ten fluffy chickens scampering about her.
+"They are nice and plump," said Jerry to himself;
+"I'm afraid I haven't money enough to buy
+them; but then, there is a great deal of risk in
+raising a brood of chickens like these; perhaps
+he will sell them cheap."</p>
+
+<p>Farmer Horton was an early riser, and was
+busy about his stables when Jerry reached there.
+He was anxious to get rid of all his live stock,
+and be away as soon as possible, and here was a
+customer anxious to buy; so in much less time
+than Jerry had supposed it would take, the hen
+and chickens changed owners and much whistling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
+was done by the new owner as he walked
+rapidly back to town to build a house for his
+family.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Smith had been taken into confidence;
+so indeed had Job, before the purchase was made;
+but the whole thing was to be a profound surprise
+to Nettie. Therefore, she saw little of him
+that day, and I will not deny was a trifle hurt
+because he kept himself so busy about something
+which he did not share with her. But I want
+you to imagine, if you can, her surprise the next
+morning when just as she was ready to set the
+potatoes to frying, she heard Jerry's eager voice
+calling her to come and see his house.</p>
+
+<p>"See what?" asked Nettie, appearing in the
+doorway, coffee pot in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"A new house. I built it yesterday, and
+rented it; the family moved in last night. That
+is the reason I was so busy. I had to go
+out and help move them; and I must say they
+were as ill-behaved a set as I ever had anything
+to do with. The mother is the crossest party I
+ever saw; and she has no government whatever;
+her children scurry around just where they
+please."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you talking about?" said astonished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
+Nettie, her face growing more and more
+bewildered as he continued his merry description.</p>
+
+<p>"Come out and see. It is a new house, I tell
+you; I built it yesterday; that is the reason I
+did not come to help you about the bonnet.
+Didn't you miss me? Sarah Ann thinks it is
+actually nicer than the one Miss Sherrill wore."
+And he broke into a merry laugh, checking himself
+to urge Nettie once more to come out and
+see his treasures.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Nettie, "wait until I cover the
+potatoes, and set the teakettle off." This done
+she went in haste and eagerness to discover what
+was taking place behind Job Smith's barn. A
+hen and chickens! Beautiful little yellow darlings,
+racing about as though they were crazy;
+and a speckled mother clucking after them in a
+dignified way, pretending to have authority over
+them, when one could see at a glance that they
+did exactly as they pleased.</p>
+
+<p>Then came a storm of questions. "Where?
+and When? and Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a stock company concern," exclaimed
+Jerry, his merry eyes dancing with pleasure.
+Nettie was fully as astonished and pleased as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
+had hoped. "Don't you know I told you yesterday
+we must plan a way to earn money? This
+is one way, planned for us. <i>We</i> own Mrs.
+Biddy; every feather on her knot, of which she
+is so proud, belongs to us, and she must not only
+earn her own living and that of her children, but
+bring us in a nice profit besides. Those are
+plump little fellows; I can imagine them making
+lovely pot pies for some one who is willing to
+pay a good price for them. Cannot you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little chickens," said Nettie in such a
+mournful tone that Jerry went off into shouts of
+laughter. He was a humane boy, but he could
+not help thinking it very funny that anybody
+should sigh over the thought of a chicken pot
+pie.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know they are to eat," Nettie said,
+smiling in answer to his laughter, "and I know
+how to make nice crust for pot pie; but for all
+that, I cannot help feeling sort of sorry for the
+pretty fluffy chickens. Are you going to fat
+them all, to eat; or raise some of them to lay
+eggs?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what <i>we</i> are going to do, yet,"
+Jerry said with pointed emphasis on the we.
+"You see, we have not had time to consult; this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>
+is a company concern, I told you. What do you
+think about it?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's cheeks began to grow a deep pink;
+she looked down at the hurrying chickens with
+a grave face for a moment, then said gently:
+"You know, Jerry, I haven't any money to help
+buy the chickens, and I cannot help own what I
+do not help buy; they are your chickens, but I
+shall like to watch them and help you plan about
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry sat down on an old nail keg, crossed
+one foot over the other, and clasped his hands
+over his knees, as Job Smith was fond of doing,
+and prepared for argument:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, see here, Nettie Decker, let us understand
+each other once for all; I thought we had
+gone into partnership in this whole business;
+that we were to fight that old fiend Rum, in
+every possible way we could; and were to help
+each other plan, and work all the time, and in all
+ways we possibly could. Now if you are tired
+of me and want to work alone, why, I mustn't
+force myself upon you."</p>
+
+<p>"O, Jerry!" came in a reproachful murmur
+from Nettie, whose cheeks were now flaming.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is a fellow to do? You see you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
+hurt my feelings worse than old Mother Topknot
+did this morning when she pecked me; I want
+to belong, and I mean to; but all that kind of
+talk about helping to buy these half-dozen little
+puff-balls is all nonsense, and a girl of your
+sense ought to be ashamed of it."</p>
+
+<p>Said Nettie, "O, Jerry, I smell the potatoes;
+they are scorching!" and she ran away. Jerry
+looked after her a moment, as though astonished
+at the sudden change of subject, then laughed,
+and rising slowly from the nail-keg addressed
+himself to the hen.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mother Topknot, I want you to understand
+that you belong to the firm; that little
+woman who was just here is your mistress, and
+if you peck her and scratch her as you did me,
+this morning, it will be the worse for you. You
+are just like some people I have seen; haven't
+sense enough to know who is your best friend;
+why, there is no end to the nice little bits she
+will contrive for you and your children, if you
+behave yourself; for that matter, I suspect she
+would do it whether you behaved yourself or
+not; but that part it is quite as well you should
+not understand. I want you to bring these children
+up to take care of themselves, just as soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
+as you can; and then you are to give your attention
+to laying a nice fresh egg every morning;
+and the sooner you begin, the better we
+shall like it." Then he went in to breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>There was no need to say anything more
+about the partnership. Nettie seemed to come
+to the conclusion that she must be ashamed
+of herself or her pride in the matter; and after
+a very short time grew accustomed to hearing
+Jerry talk about "Our chicks," and dropped
+into the fashion of caring for and planning about
+them. None the less was she resolved to find
+some way of earning a little money for her share
+of the stock company. Curiously enough it was
+Susie and little Sate who helped again. They
+came in one morning, with their hands full of the
+lovely field daisies. The moment Nettie looked
+at the two little faces, she knew that a dispute
+of some sort was in progress. Susie's lips were
+curved with that air of superior wisdom, not to
+say scorn, which she knew how to assume; and
+little Sate's eyes were full of the half-grieved but
+wholly positive look which they could wear on
+occasion.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" Nettie asked, stopping on her
+way to the cellar with a nice little pat of batter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
+which she was saving for her father's supper.
+Butter was a luxury which she had decided the
+children at least, herself included, must not expect
+every day.</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Susie, her eyes flashing her contempt
+of the whole thing, "she says these are
+folks; old women with caps, and eyes, and
+noses, and everything; she says they look at
+her, and some of them are pleasant, and some
+are cross. She is too silly for anything. They
+don't look the least bit in the word like old
+women. I told her so, fifty-eleven times, and
+she keeps saying it!"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie held out her hand for the bunch of
+daisies, looked at them carefully, and laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you see them?" was little Sate's eager
+question. "They are just as plain! Don't you
+see them a little bit of a speck, Nannie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course she doesn't!" said scornful Susie.
+"Nobody but a silly baby like you would think
+of such a thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Nettie, still smiling, "I
+don't think I see them as plain as Sate does, but
+maybe we can, after awhile; wait till I get my
+butter put away, and I'll put on my spectacles
+and see what I can find."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So the two waited, Susie incredulous and disgusted,
+Sate with a hopeful light in her eyes,
+which made Nettie very anxious to find the old
+ladies. On her way up stairs she felt in her
+pocket for the pencil Jerry had sharpened with
+such care the evening before; yes, it was there,
+and the point was safe. Jerry had made a neat
+little tube of soft wood for it to slip into, and
+so protect itself.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, let us look for the old lady," she said,
+taking a daisy in hand and retiring to the closet
+window for inspection; it was the work of a
+moment for her fingers which often ached for
+such work, to fashion a pair of eyes, a nose, and
+a mouth; and then to turn down the white
+petals for a cap border, leaving two under the
+chin for strings!</p>
+
+<p>"Does your old lady look anything like that?"
+she questioned, as she came out from her hiding
+place. Little Sate looked, and clasped her
+hands in an ecstacy of delight: "Look, Susie,
+look, quick! there she is, just as plain! O
+Nannie! I'm <i>so</i> glad you found her."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said Susie, "she made her with a
+pencil; she wasn't there at all; and there
+couldn't nobody have found her. So!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And to this day, I suppose it would not be
+possible to make Susie Decker believe that the
+spirits of beautiful old ladies hid in the daisies!
+Some people cannot see things, you know, show
+them as much as you may.</p>
+
+<p>But Nettie was charmed with the little old
+woman. She left the potatoes waiting to be
+washed, and sat down on the steps with eager
+little Sate, and made old lady after old lady.
+Some with spectacles, and some without. Some
+with smooth hair drawn quietly back from quiet
+foreheads, some with the old-fashioned puffs and
+curls which she had seen in old, old pictures of
+"truly" grandmothers. What fun they had!
+The potatoes came near being forgotten entirely.
+It was the faithful old clock in Mrs. Smith's
+kitchen which finally clanged out the hour and
+made Nettie rise in haste, scattering old ladies
+right and left. But little Sate gathered them,
+every one, holding them with as careful hand as
+though she feared a rough touch would really
+hurt their feelings, and went out to hunt Susie
+and soothe her ruffled dignity. She did not find
+Susie; that young woman was helping Jerry nail
+laths on the chicken coop; but she found her
+sweet-faced Sabbath-school teacher, who was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>
+sure to stop and kiss the child, whenever she
+passed. To her, Sate at once showed the sweet
+old women. "Nannie found them," she explained;
+"Susie could not see them at all, and
+she kept saying they were not there; but Nannie
+said she would make them look plainer so
+Susie could see, and now Susie thinks she made
+them out of a pencil; but they were there, before,
+I saw them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you quaint little darling!" said Miss
+Sherrill, kissing her again. "And so your sister
+Nettie made them plainer for you. I must
+say she has done it with a skilful hand. Sate
+dear, would you give one little old woman to
+me? Just one; this dear old face with puffs, I
+want her very much."</p>
+
+<p>So Sate gazed at her with wistful, tender eyes,
+kissed her tenderly, and let Miss Sherrill carry
+her away.</p>
+
+<p>She carried her straight to the minister's
+study, and laid her on the open page of a great
+black commentary which he was studying.
+"Did you ever see anything so cunning? That
+little darling of a Sate says Nannie 'found' her;
+she doesn't seem to think it was made, but simply
+developed, you know, so that commoner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
+eyes than hers could see it; that child was born
+for a poet, or an artist, I don't know which.
+Tremayne, I'm going to take this down to the
+flower committee, and get them to invite Nettie
+to make some bouquets of dear old grandmothers,
+and let little Sate come to the flower
+party and sell them. Won't that be lovely?
+Every gentleman there will want a bouquet of
+the nice old ladies in caps, and spectacles; we
+will make it the fashion; then they will sell
+beautifully, and the little merchant shall go
+shares on the proceeds, for the sake of her artist
+sister."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a good idea," said the minister. "I infer
+from what that handsome boy Jerry has
+told me, that they have some scheme on hand
+which requires money. I am very much interested
+in those young people, my dear. I wish
+you would keep a watch on them, and lend a
+helping hand when you can."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI.<br />
+
+<small>AN ORDEAL.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>THAT was the way it came about that little
+Sate not only, but Susie and Nettie, went
+to the flower party.</div>
+
+<p>They had not expected to do any such thing.
+The little girls, who were not used to going any
+where, had paid no attention to the announcements
+on Sunday, and Nettie had heard as one
+with whom such things had nothing in common.
+Her treatment in the Sabbath-school was
+not such as to make her long for the companionship
+of the girls of her age, and by this time
+she knew that her dress at the flower party
+would be sure to command more attention than
+was pleasant; so she had planned as a matter of
+course to stay away.</p>
+
+<p>But the little old ladies in their caps and spectacles
+springing into active life, put a new face
+on the matter. Certainly no more astonished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
+young person can be imagined than Nettie
+Decker was, the morning Miss Sherrill called on
+her, the one daisy she had begged still carefully
+preserved, and proposed her plan of partnership
+in the flower party.</p>
+
+<p>"It will add ever so much to the fun," she
+explained, "besides bringing you a nice little
+sum for your spending money."</p>
+
+<p>Did Miss Sherrill have any idea how far that
+argument would reach just now, Nettie wondered.</p>
+
+<p>"We can dress the little girls in daisies," continued
+their teacher. "Little Sate will look like
+a flower herself, with daisies wreathed about her
+dress and hair."</p>
+
+<p>"Little Sate will be afraid, I think," Nettie
+objected. "She is very timid, and not used to
+seeing many people."</p>
+
+<p>"But with Susie she will not mind, will she?
+Susie has assurance enough to take her through
+anything. Oh, I wonder if little Sate would not
+recite a verse about the daisy grandmothers?
+I have such a cunning one for her. May I teach
+her, Mrs. Decker, and see if I can get her to
+learn it?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker's consent was very easy to gain;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
+indeed it had been freely given in Mrs. Decker's
+heart before it was asked. For Miss Sherrill had
+not been in the room five minutes before she
+had said: "Your son, Norman, I believe his
+name is, has promised to help my brother with
+the church flowers this evening. My brother
+says he is an excellent helper; his eye is so true;
+they had quite a laugh together, last week. It
+seems one of the wreaths was not hung plumb;
+your son and my brother had an argument about
+it, and it was finally left as my brother had
+placed it, but was out of line several inches. He
+was obliged to admit that if he had followed
+Norman's direction it would have looked much
+better." After that, it would have been hard
+for Miss Sherrill to have asked a favor which
+Mrs. Decker would not grant if she could. <i>She</i>
+saw through it all; these people were in league
+with Nettie, to try to save her boy. What
+wasn't she ready to do at their bidding!</p>
+
+<p>There was but one thing about which she was
+positive. The little girls could not go without
+Nettie; they talked it over in the evening, after
+Miss Sherrill was gone. Nettie looked distressed.
+She liked to please Miss Sherrill; she
+was willing to make many grandmothers; she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
+would help to put the little girls in as dainty
+attire as possible, but she did <i>not</i> want to go to
+the flower festival. She planned various ways;
+Jerry would take them down, or Norm; perhaps
+even <i>he</i> would go with them; surely
+mother would be willing to have them go with
+Norm. Miss Sherrill would look after them
+carefully, and they would come home at eight
+o'clock; before they began to grow very sleepy.</p>
+
+<p>But no, Mrs. Decker was resolved; she could
+not let them go unless Nettie would go with
+them and bring them home. "I let one child
+run the streets," she said with a heavy sigh,
+"and I have lived to most wish he had died
+when he was a baby, before I did it; and I said
+then I would never let another one go out of my
+sight as long as I had control; I can't go; but
+I would just as soon they would be with you as
+with me; and unless you go, they can't stir a
+step, and that's the whole of it." Mrs. Decker
+was a very determined woman when she set out
+to be; and Nettie looked the picture of dismay.
+It did not seem possible to her to go to a flower
+party; and on the other hand it seemed really
+dreadful to thwart Miss Sherrill. Jerry sat listening,
+saying little, but the word he put in now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
+and then, was on Mrs. Decker's side; he owned
+to himself that he never so entirely approved of
+her as at that moment. He wanted Nettie to
+go to the flower party.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have nothing to wear?" said Nettie,
+blushing, and almost weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing to wear!" repeated Mrs. Decker
+in honest astonishment. "Why, what do you
+wear on Sundays, I should like to know? I'm
+sure you look as neat and nice as any girl I ever
+saw, in your gingham. I was watching you last
+Sunday and thinking how pretty it was."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but, mother, they all wear white at
+such places; and I cut up my white dress, you
+know, for the little girls; it was rather short for
+me anyway; but I should feel queer in any other
+color."</p>
+
+<p>"O, well," said Mrs. Decker in some irritation,
+"if they go to such places to show their
+clothes, why, I suppose you must stay at home,
+if you have none that you want to show. I
+thought, being it was a church, it didn't matter,
+so you were neat and clean; but churches are
+like everything else, it seems, places for show."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry looked grave disapproval at Nettie, but
+she felt injured and could have cried. Was it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
+fair to accuse her of going to church to show her
+clothes, or of being over-particular, when she
+went every Sunday in a blue and white gingham
+such as no other girl in her class would wear
+even to school? This was not church, it was a
+party. It was hard that she must be blamed
+for pride, when she was only too glad to stay at
+home from it.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't go in my blue dress, and that is the
+whole of it," she said at last, a good deal of
+decision in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Mrs Decker. "Then we'll
+say no more about it; as for the little girls
+going without you, they sha'n't do it. When I
+set my foot down, it's <i>down</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry instinctively looked down at her foot
+as she spoke. It was a good-sized one, and
+looked as though it could set firmly on any question
+on which it was put. His heart began to
+fail him; the flower party and certain things
+which he hoped to accomplish thereby, were
+fading. He took refuge with Mrs. Smith to
+hide his disappointment, and also to learn wisdom
+about this matter of dress.</p>
+
+<p>"Do clothes make such a very great difference
+to girls?" was his first question.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Difference?" said Mrs. Smith rubbing a little
+more flour on her hands, and plunging them
+again into the sticky mass she was kneading.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm. They seem to think of clothes the
+first thing, when there is any place to go to;
+boys aren't that way. I don't believe a boy
+knows whether his coat ought to be brown or
+green. What makes the difference?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Smith laughed a little. "Well," she
+said reflectively, "there is a difference, now
+that's a fact. I noticed it time and again when
+I was living with Mrs. Jennison. Dick would
+go off with whatever he happened to have on;
+and Florence was always in a flutter as to
+whether she looked as well as the rest. I've
+heard folks say that it is the fault of the
+mothers, because they make such a fuss over the
+girls' clothes, and keep rigging them up in something
+bright, just to make 'em look pretty, till
+they succeed in making them think there isn't
+anything quite so important in life as what they
+wear on their backs. It's all wrong, I believe.
+But then, Nettie ain't one of that kind. She
+hasn't had any mother to perk her up and make
+her vain. I shouldn't think she would be one
+to care about clothes much."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She doesn't," said Jerry firmly. "I don't
+think she would care if other folks didn't. The
+girls in her class act hatefully to her; they don't
+speak, if they can help it. I suppose it's clothes;
+I don't know what else; they are always rigged
+out like hollyhocks or tulips; they make fun of
+her, I guess; and that isn't very pleasant."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the reason she won't go to the flower
+show next week?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm, that's the reason. All the girls are
+going to dress in white; I suppose she thinks
+she will look queerly, and be talked about. But
+I don't understand it. Seems to me if all the
+boys were going to wear blue coats, and I knew
+it, I'd just as soon wear my gray one if gray was
+respectable."</p>
+
+<p>"She ought to have a white dress, now that's
+a fact," said Mrs. Smith with energy, patting
+her brown loaf, and tucking it down into the tin
+in a skilful way. "It isn't much for a girl like
+her to want; if her father was the kind of man
+he ought to be, she might have a white dress for
+best, as well as not; I've no patience with him."</p>
+
+<p>"Her father hasn't drank a drop this week,"
+said Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"Hasn't; well, I'm glad of it; but I'm thinking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+of what he has done, and what he will go
+and do, as likely as not, next week; they might
+be as forehanded as any folks I know of, if he
+was what he ought to be; there isn't a better
+workman in the town. Well, you don't care
+much about the flower party, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't now," said Jerry, wearily. "When
+I thought the little girls were going, I had a plan.
+Sate is such a little thing, she would be sure to
+be half-asleep by eight o'clock; and I was going
+to coax Norm to come for her, and we carry her
+home between us. Norm won't go to a flower
+party, out and out; but he is good-natured, and
+was beginning to think a great deal of Sate;
+then I thought Mr. Sherrill would speak to him.
+The more we can get Norm to feeling he belongs
+in such places, the less he will feel like belonging
+to the corner groceries, and the streets."</p>
+
+<p>"I see," said Mrs. Smith admiringly. "Well,
+I do say I didn't think Nettie was the kind of
+girl to put a white dress between her chances
+of helping folks. Sarah Ann thinks she's a real
+true Christian; but Satan does seem to be into
+the clothes business from beginning to end."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose it is any easier for a Christian
+to be laughed at and slighted, than it is for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
+other people," said Jerry, inclined to resent the
+idea that Nettie was not showing the right spirit;
+although in his heart he was disappointed in her
+for caring so much about the color of her dress.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know about that," said Mrs.
+Smith, stopping in the act of tucking her bread
+under the blankets, to look full at Jerry, "why,
+they even made fun of the Lord Jesus Christ;
+dressed him up in purple, like a king, and
+mocked at him! When it comes to remembering
+that, it would seem as if any common Christian
+might be almost glad of a chance to be made
+fun of, just to stand in the same lot with him."</p>
+
+<p>This was a new thought to Jerry. He studied
+it for awhile in silence. Now it so happened
+that neither Mrs. Smith nor Jerry remembered
+certain facts; one was that Mrs. Smith's kitchen
+window was in a line with Mrs. Decker's bedroom
+window, where Nettie had gone to sit
+while she mended Norm's shirt; the other was
+that a gentle breeze was blowing, which brought
+their words distinctly to Nettie's ears. At first
+she had not noticed the talk, busy with her own
+thoughts, then she heard her name, and paused
+needle in hand, to wonder what was being said
+about her. Then, coming to her senses, she determined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
+to leave the room; but her mother,
+for convenience, had pushed her ironing table
+against the bedroom door, and then had gone to
+the yard in search of chips; Nettie was a prisoner;
+she tried to push the table by pushing
+against the door, but the floor was uneven, and
+the table would not move; meantime the conversation
+going on across the alleyway, came
+distinctly to her. No use to cough, they were
+too much interested to hear her. By and by she
+grew so interested as to forget that the words
+were not intended for her to hear. There were
+more questions involved in this matter of dress
+than she had thought about. Her cheeks began to
+burn a little with the thought that her neighbor
+had been planning help for Norm, which she
+was blocking because she had no white dress!
+This was an astonishment! She had not known
+she was proud. In fact, she had thought herself
+very humble, and worthy of commendation because
+she went Sabbath after Sabbath to the
+school in the same blue and white dress, not so
+fresh now by a great deal as when she first
+came home.</p>
+
+<p>When Mrs. Smith reached the sentence which
+told of the Lord Jesus being robed in purple,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>
+and crowned with thorns, and mocked, two great
+tears fell on Norm's shirt sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very gentle little girl who moved
+about the kitchen getting early tea; Mrs. Decker
+glanced at her from time to time in a bewildered
+way. The sort of girl with whom she was best
+acquainted would have slammed things about a
+little; both because she had not clothes to wear
+like other children, and because she had been
+blamed for not wanting to do what was expected
+of her. But Nettie's face had no trace of anger,
+her movements were gentleness itself; her voice
+when she spoke was low and sweet: "Mother, I
+will take the little girls, if you will let them go."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker drew a relieved sigh. "I'd like
+them to go because <i>she</i> asked to have them; and
+I can see plain enough she is trying to get hold
+of Norm; so is <i>he</i>; that's what helping with the
+flowers means; and there ain't anything I ain't
+willing to do to help, only I couldn't let the little
+girls go without you; they'd be scared to death,
+and it wouldn't look right. I'm sorry enough
+you ain't got suitable clothes; if I could help it,
+you should have as good as the best of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," said Nettie, "I don't think I
+care anything about the dress now." She was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>
+thinking of that crown of thorns. So when Miss
+Sherrill called the way was plain and little Sate
+ready to be taught anything she would teach
+her.</p>
+
+<p>They went away down to the pond under the
+clump of trees which formed such a pretty shade;
+and there Sate's slow sweet voice said over the
+lines as they were told to her, putting in many
+questions which the words suggested. "He makes
+the flowers blow," she repeated with thoughtful
+face, then: "What did He make them for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it was because He loved them; and
+He likes to give you and me sweet and pleasant
+things to look at."</p>
+
+<p>"Does He love flowers?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so, darling."</p>
+
+<p>"And birds? See the birds!" For at that
+moment two beauties standing on the edge of
+their nest, looked down into the clear water, and
+seeing themselves reflected in its smoothness began
+to talk in low sweet chirps to their shadows.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, He loves the birds, I am sure; think
+how many different kinds He has made, and how
+beautiful they are. Then He has given them
+sweet voices, and they are thanking Him as well
+as they know how, for all his goodness. Listen."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sure enough, one of the little birds hopped
+back a trifle, balanced himself well on the nest,
+and, putting up his little throat, trilled a lovely
+song.</p>
+
+<p>"What does he say?" asked Sate, watching
+him intently.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know," said Miss Sherrill, with
+a little laugh. Sate was taxing her powers
+rather too much. "But God understands, you
+know; and I am sure the words are very sweet
+to him."</p>
+
+<p>Sate reflected over this for a minute, then
+went back to the flowers.</p>
+
+<p>"What made Him put the colors on them?
+Does He like to see pretty colors, do you sink?
+Which color does He like just the very bestest
+of all?"</p>
+
+<p>"O you darling! I don't know that, either.
+Perhaps, crimson; or, no, I think He must like
+pure white ones a little the best. But He likes
+little human flowers the best of all. Little white
+flowers with souls. Do you know what I mean,
+darling? White hearts are given to the little
+children who try all the time to do right, because
+they love Jesus, and want to please him."</p>
+
+<p>"Sate wants to," said the little girl earnestly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
+"Sate loves Jesus; and she would like to kiss
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know but you shall, some day.
+Now shall we take another line of the hymn?"
+continued her teacher.</p>
+
+<p>"I tried to teach her," explained Miss Sherrill
+to her brother. "But I think, after all, she
+taught me the most. She is the dearest little
+thing, and asks the strangest questions! When
+I look at her grave, sweet face, and hear her slow,
+sweet voice making wise answers, and asking
+wise questions, a sort of baby wisdom, you
+know, I can only repeat over and over the
+words:</p>
+
+<p>"'Of such is the kingdom of heaven.'</p>
+
+<p>"To-day I told her the story of Jesus taking
+the little children up in his arms and blessing
+them. She listened with that thoughtful look in
+her eyes which is so wonderful, then suddenly
+she held up her pretty arms and said in the
+most coaxing tones:</p>
+
+<p>"'Take little Sate to Him, and let Him bless
+her, yight away.'</p>
+
+<p>"Tremaine, I could hardly keep back the
+tears. Do you think He can be going to call
+her soon?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not necessarily at all. There is no reason
+why a little child should not live very close to
+Him on earth. I hope that little girl has a great
+work to do for Christ in this world. She has a
+very sweet face."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII.<br />
+
+<small>THE FLOWER PARTY.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>I&nbsp;&nbsp; DARE say some of you think Nettie
+Decker was a very silly girl to care so
+much because her dress was a blue and white
+gingham instead of being all white.</div>
+
+<p>You have told your friend Katie about the
+story and asked her if she didn't think it was
+real silly to make such an ado over <i>clothes</i>; you
+have said you were sure you would just as soon
+wear a blue gingham as not if it was clean and
+neat. But now let me venture a hint. I
+shouldn't be surprised if that was because you
+never do have to go to places differently dressed
+from all the others. Because if you did, you
+would know that it was something of a trial.
+Oh! I don't say it is the hardest thing in the
+world; or that one is all ready to die as a martyr
+who does it; but what I <i>do</i> say is, that it
+takes a little moral courage; and, for one, I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
+not surprised that Nettie looked very sober
+about it when the afternoon came.</p>
+
+<p>It took her a good while to dress; not that
+there was so much to be done, but she stopped
+to think. With her hair in her neck, still unbraided,
+she pinned a lovely pink rose at her
+breast just to see how pretty it would look for a
+minute. Miss Sherrill had left it for her to
+wear; but she did not intend to wear it, because
+she thought it would not match well with
+her gingham dress. Just here, I don't mind
+owning that I think her silly; because I believe
+that sweet flowers go with sweet pure
+young faces, whether the dress is of gingham
+or silk.</p>
+
+<p>But Nettie looked grave, as I said, and wished
+it was over; and tried to plan for the hundredth
+time, how it would all be. The girls, Cecelia
+Lester and Lorena Barstow and the rest of
+them, would be out in their elegant toilets, and
+would look at her so! That Ermina Farley
+would be there; she had seen her but once, on
+the first Sunday, and liked her face and her ways
+a little better than the others; but she had been
+away since then. Jerry said she was back, however,
+and Mrs. Smith said they were the richest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
+folks in town; and of course Ermina would be
+elegantly dressed at the flower party.</p>
+
+<p>Well, she did not care. She was willing to
+have them all dressed beautifully; she was not
+mean enough to want them to wear gingham
+dresses, if only they would not make fun of hers.
+Oh! if she could <i>only</i> stay at home, and help
+iron, and get supper, and fry some potatoes
+nicely for father, how happy she would be. Then
+she sighed again, and set about braiding her
+hair. She meant to go, but she could not help
+being sorry for herself to think it must be done;
+and she spent a great deal of trouble in trying
+to plan just how hateful it would all be; how
+the girls would look, and whisper, and giggle;
+and how her cheeks would burn. Oh dear!</p>
+
+<p>Then she found it was late, and had to make
+her fingers fly, and to rush about the little woodhouse
+chamber which was still her room, in a
+way which made Sarah Ann say to her mother
+with a significant nod, "I guess she's woke up
+and gone at it, poor thing!" Yes, she had;
+and was down in fifteen minutes more.</p>
+
+<p>Oh! but didn't the little girls look pretty!
+Nettie forgot her trouble for a few minutes, in
+admiring them when she had put the last touches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
+to their toilet. Susie was to be in a tableau
+where she would need a dolly, and Miss Sherrill
+had furnished one for the occasion. A lovely
+dolly with real hair, and blue eyes, and a bright
+blue sash to match them; and when Susie got it
+in her arms, there came such a sweet, softened
+look over her face that Nettie hardly knew her.
+The sturdy voice, too, which was so apt to be
+fierce, softened and took a motherly tone; the
+dolly was certainly educating Susie. Little Sate
+looked on, interested, pleased, but without the
+slightest shade of envy. She wanted no dolly;
+or, if she did, there was a little black-faced,
+worn, rag one reposing at this moment in the
+trundle bed where little Sate's own head would
+rest at night; kissed, and caressed, and petted,
+and told to be good until mamma came back;
+this dolly had all of Sate's warm heart. For
+the rest, the grave little old women in caps and
+spectacles, which wound about her dress, crept
+up in bunches on her shoulders, lay in nestling
+heaps at her breast, filled all Sate's thoughts.
+She seemed to have become a little old woman
+herself, so serious and womanly was her face.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie took a hand of each, and they went to
+the flower festival. There was to be a five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>
+o'clock tea for all the elderly people of the
+church, and the tables, some of them, were set
+in Mr. Eastman's grounds, which adjoined the
+church. When Nettie entered these grounds
+she found a company of girls several years
+younger than herself, helping to decorate the
+tables with flowers; at least that was their work,
+but as Nettie appeared at the south gate, a queer
+little object pushed in at the west side. A child
+not more than six years old, with a clean face,
+and carefully combed hair, but dressed in a plain
+dark calico; and her pretty pink toes were without
+shoes or stockings.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/facing308.jpg" width="600" height="444" alt="garden party" />
+<div class="caption">AT THE FLOWER PARTY.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>I am not sure that if a little wolf had suddenly
+appeared before them, it could have caused
+more exclamations of astonishment and dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Only look at that child!" "The idea!"
+"Just to think of such a thing!" were a few of
+the exclamations with which the air was thick.
+At last, one bolder than the rest, stepped towards
+her: "Little girl, where did you come
+from? What in the world do you want here?"</p>
+
+<p>Startled by the many eyes and the sharp
+tones, the small new-comer hid her face behind
+an immense bunch of glowing hollyhocks, which
+she held in her hand, and said not a word.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
+Then the chorus of voices became more eager:</p>
+
+<p>"Do look at her hollyhocks! Did ever anybody
+see such a queer little fright! Girls, I do
+believe she has come to the party." Then the
+one who had spoken before, tried again: "See
+here, child, whoever you are, you must go right
+straight home; this is no place for you. I wonder
+what your mother was about&mdash;if you have
+one&mdash;to let you run away barefooted, and
+looking like a fright."</p>
+
+<p>Now the barefooted maiden was thoroughly
+frightened, and sobbed outright. It was precisely
+what Nettie Decker needed to give her
+courage. When she came in at the gate, she
+had felt like shrinking away from all eyes;
+now she darted an indignant glance at the
+speaker, and moved quickly toward the crying
+child, Susie and Sate following close behind.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't cry, little girl," she said in the gentlest
+tones, stooping and putting an arm tenderly
+around the trembling form; "you haven't
+done anything wrong; Miss Sherrill will be
+here soon, and she will make it all right."</p>
+
+<p>Thus comforted, the tears ceased, and the
+small new-comer allowed her hand to be taken;
+while Susie came around to her other side, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>
+scowled fiercely, as though to say: "I'll protect
+this girl myself; let's see you touch her now!"</p>
+
+<p>A burst of laughter greeted Nettie as soon
+as she had time to give heed to it. Others had
+joined the groups, among them Lorena Barstow
+and Irene Lewis. "What's all this?"
+asked Irene.</p>
+
+<p>"O, nothing," said one; "only that Decker
+girl's sister, or cousin, or something has just
+arrived from Cork, and come in search of her.
+Lorena Barstow, did you ever see such a queer-looking
+fright?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see but they look a good deal alike,"
+said Lorena, tossing her curls; "I'm sure their
+dresses correspond; is she a sister?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no," answered one of the smaller
+girls; "those two cunning little things in white
+are Nettie Decker's sisters; I think they are
+real sweet."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Lorena, giving them a disagreeable
+stare, "in white, are they? The unselfish
+older sister has evidently cut up her nightgowns
+to make them white dresses for this occasion."</p>
+
+<p>"Lorena," said the younger girl, "if I were
+you I would be ashamed; mother would not
+like you to talk in that way."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see Miss Nanie, you are not me,
+therefore you cannot tell what you would be,
+or do; and I want to inform you it is not
+your business to tell me what mother would
+like."</p>
+
+<p>Imagine Nettie Decker standing quietly, with
+the barefooted child's small hand closely
+clasped in hers, listening to all this! There was
+a pretense of lowered voices, yet every word
+was distinct to her ears. Her heart beat fast
+and she began to feel as though she really was
+paying quite a high price for the possibility of
+getting Norm into the church parlor for a few
+minutes that evening.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, through the main gateway,
+came Ermina Parley, a colored man with her,
+bearing a basket full of such wonderful roses,
+that for a minute the group could only exclaim
+over them. Ermina was in white, but her dress
+was simply made, and looked as though she
+might not be afraid to tumble about on the
+grass in it; her shoes were thick, and the blue
+sash she wore, though broad and handsome, had
+some way a quiet air of fitness for the occasion,
+which did not seem to belong to most of the
+others. She watched the disposal of her roses,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
+then gave an inquiring glance about the grounds
+as she said, "What are you all doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are having a tableau," said Lorena Barstow.
+"Look behind you, and you will see
+the Misses Bridget and Margaret Mulrooney,
+who have just arrived from ould Ireland shure."</p>
+
+<p>Most of the thoughtless girls laughed, mistaking
+this rudeness for wit, but Ermina turned
+quickly and caught her first glimpse of Nettie's
+burning face; then she hastened toward her.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, here is little Prudy, after all," she
+said eagerly; "I coaxed her mother to let her
+come, but I didn't think she would. Has Miss
+Sherrill seen her? I think she will make such a
+cunning Roman flower-girl, in that tableau, you
+know. Her face is precisely the shape and
+style of the little girls we saw in Rome last winter.
+Poor little girlie, was she frightened?
+How kind you were to take care of her. She
+is a real bright little thing. I want to coax her
+into Sunday-school if I can. Let us go and ask
+Miss Sherrill what she thinks about the flower-girl."</p>
+
+<p>How fast Ermina Farley could talk! She
+did not wait for replies. The truth was, Nettie's
+glowing cheeks, and Susie's fierce looks,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>
+told her the story of trial for somebody else
+besides the Roman flower-girl; she could guess
+at things which might have been said before she
+came. She wound her arm familiarly about
+Nettie's waist as she spoke, and drew her, almost
+against her will, across the lawn. "My!"
+said Irene Lewis. "How good we are!"</p>
+
+<p>"Birds of a feather flock together," quoted
+Lorena Barstow. "I think that barefooted
+child and her protector look alike."</p>
+
+<p>"Still," said Irene, "you must remember
+that Ermina Farley has joined that flock; and
+her feathers are very different."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that is only for effect," was the naughty
+reply, with another toss of the rich curls.</p>
+
+<p>Now what was the matter with all these disagreeable
+young people? Did they really attach
+so much importance to the clothes they wore
+as to think no one was respectable who was
+not dressed like them? Had they really no
+hearts, so that it made no difference to them
+how deeply they wounded poor Nettie Decker?</p>
+
+<p>I do not think it was quite either of these
+things. They had been, so far in their lives,
+unfortunate, in that they had heard a great deal
+about dress, and style, until they had done what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>
+young people and a few older ones are apt to
+do, attached too much importance to these
+things. They were neither old enough, nor
+wise enough, to know that it is a mark of a shallow
+nature to judge of people by the clothes
+they wear; then, in regard to the ill-natured
+things said, I tell you truly, that even Lorena
+Barstow was ashamed of herself. When her
+younger sister reproved her, the flush which
+came on her cheek was not all anger, much of it
+was shame. But she had taught her tongue to
+say so many disagreeable words, and to pride
+itself on its independence in saying what
+she pleased, that the habit asserted itself,
+and she could not seem to control it. The contrast
+between her own conduct and Ermina
+Farley's struck her so sharply and disagreeably
+it served only to make her worse than before;
+precisely the effect which follows when people
+of uncontrolled tempers find themselves rebuked.</p>
+
+<p>Half-way down the lawn the party in search
+of Miss Sherrill met her face to face. Her
+greeting was warm. "Oh! here is my dear
+little grandmother. Thank you, Nettie, for
+coming; I look to you for a great deal of help.
+Why, Ermina, what wee mousie have you here?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She is a little Roman flower-girl, Miss Sherrill;
+they live on Parker street. Her mother
+is a nice woman; my mother has her to run the
+machine. I coaxed her to let Trudie wear her
+red dress and come barefoot, until you would
+see if she would do for the Roman flower-girl.
+Papa says her face is very Roman in style, and
+she always makes us think of the flower-girls
+we saw there. I brought my Roman sash to
+dress her in, if you thought well of it; she is
+real bright, and will do just as she is told."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the very thing," said Miss Sherrill with
+a pleased face; "I am so glad you thought of
+it. And the hollyhocks are just red enough to
+go in the basket. Did you think of them too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am; mamma did. She said the
+more red flowers we could mass about her, the
+better for a Roman peasant."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be a lovely thing," said Miss Sherrill.
+Then she stooped and kissed the small brown
+face, which was now smiling through its tears.
+"You have found good friends, little one. She
+is very small to be here alone. Ermina, will you
+and Nettie take care of her this afternoon, and
+see that she is happy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," said Ermina promptly. "Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
+was taking care of her when I came. She was
+afraid at first, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"They were ugly to her," volunteered Susie,
+"they were just as ugly to her as they could be;
+they made her cry. If they'd done it to Sate I
+would have scratched them and bit them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Miss Sherrill sorrowfully. "How
+sorry I am to hear it; then Susie would have
+been naughty too, and it wouldn't have made
+the others any better; in fact, it would have
+made them worse."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Susie, but she did care.
+She said that, just as you do sometimes, when
+you mean you care a great deal, and don't want
+to let anybody know it. For the first time,
+Susie reflected whether it was a good plan to
+scratch and bite people who did not, in her
+judgment, behave well. It had not been a
+perfect success in her experience, she was
+willing to admit that; and if it made Miss
+Sherrill sorry, it was worth thinking about.</p>
+
+<p>Well, that afternoon which began so dismally,
+blossomed out into a better time than Nettie
+had imagined it possible for her to have. To
+be sure those particular girls who had been the
+cause of her sorrow, would have nothing to do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>
+with her; and whispered, and sent disdainful
+glances her way when they had an opportunity;
+but Nettie went in their direction as little as
+possible, and when she did was in such a hurry
+that she sometimes forgot all about them. Miss
+Sherrill, who was chairman of the committee
+of entertainment, kept her as busy as a bee the
+entire afternoon; running hither and thither,
+carrying messages to this one, and pins to that
+one, setting this vase of flowers at one end, and
+that lovely basket at another, and, a great deal
+of the time, standing right beside Miss Sherrill
+herself, handing her, at call, just what she
+needed when she dressed the girls with their
+special flowers. She could hear the bright
+pleasant talk which passed between Miss Sherrill
+and the other young ladies. She was often
+appealed too with a pleasant word. Her own
+teacher smiled on her more than once, and said
+she was the handiest little body who had ever
+helped them; and all the time that lovely Ermina
+Farley with her beautiful hair, and her
+pretty ways, and her sweet low voice, was near
+at hand, joining in everything which she had
+to do. To be sure she heard, in one of her rapid
+scampers across the lawn, this question asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
+in a loud tone by Lorena Barstow: "I wonder
+how much they pay that girl for running
+errands? Maybe she will earn enough to get
+herself a new white nightgown to wear to parties;"
+but at that particular minute, Ermina
+Farley running from another direction on an
+errand precisely like her own, bumped up
+against her with such force that their noses
+ached; then both stopped to laugh merrily, and
+some way, what with the bump, and the laughter,
+Nettie forgot to cry, when she had a chance,
+over the unkind words. Then, later in the
+afternoon, came Jerry; and in less than five
+minutes he joined their group, and made himself
+so useful that when Mr. Sherrill came presently
+for boys to go with him to the chapel to
+arrange the tables, Miss Sherrill said in low
+tones, "Don't take Jerry please, we need him
+here." Nettie heard it, and beamed her satisfaction.
+Also she heard Irene Lewis say,
+"Now they've taken that Irish boy into their
+crowd&mdash;shouldn't you think Ermina Farley
+would be ashamed!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Nettie's face fairly paled. It is one
+thing to be insulted yourself; it is another to
+stand quietly by and see your friends insulted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>
+She was almost ready to appeal to Miss Sherrill
+for protection from tongues. But Jerry heard
+the same remark, and laughed; not in a forced
+way, but actually as though it was very amusing
+to him. And almost immediately he called out
+something to Ermina, using an unmistakable
+Irish brogue. What was the use in trying to
+protect a boy who was so indifferent as that?</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.<br />
+
+<small>A SATISFACTORY EVENING.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>THE little old grandmothers with their queer
+caps were perhaps the feature of the evening.
+Everybody wanted a bouquet of them. In
+fact, long before eight o'clock, Jerry had been
+hurried away for a fresh supply, and Nettie had
+been established behind a curtain to "make
+more grandmothers." In her excitement she
+made them even prettier than before; and sweet,
+grave little Sate had no trouble in selling every
+one. The pretty Roman flower girl was so much
+admired, that her father, a fine-looking young
+mechanic who came after her bringing red stockings
+and neat shoes, carried her off at last in triumph
+on his shoulder, saying he was afraid her
+head would be turned with so much praise, but
+thanking everybody with bright smiling eyes for
+giving his little girl such a pleasant afternoon.</div>
+
+<p>"She isn't Irish, after all," said Irene Lewis,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>
+watching them. "And Mr. Sherrill shook hands
+with him as familiarly as though he was an old
+friend; I wish we hadn't made such simpletons
+of ourselves. Lorena Barstow, what did you
+want to go and say she was an Irish girl for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't say any such thing," said Lorena in
+a shrill voice; and then these two who had been
+friends in ill humor all the afternoon quarreled,
+and went home more unhappy than before.
+And still I tell you they were not the worst girls
+in the world; and were very much ashamed of
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Before eight o'clock, Norm came. To be sure
+he stoutly refused, at first, to step beyond the
+doorway, and ordered Nettie in a somewhat
+surly tone to "bring that young one out," if she
+wanted her carried home. That, of course, was
+the little grandmother; but her eyes looked as
+though they had not thought of being sleepy,
+and the ladies were not ready to let her go.
+Then the minister, who seemed to understand
+things without having them explained, said,
+"Where is Decker? we'll make it all right;
+come, little grandmother, let us go and see about
+it." So he took Sate on his shoulder and made
+his way through the crowd; and Nettie who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>
+watched anxiously, presently saw Norm coming
+back with them, not looking surly at all; his
+clothes had been brushed, and he had on a clean
+collar, and his hair was combed, quite as though
+he had meant to come in, after all.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after Norm's coming, something happened
+which gave Nettie a glimpse of her
+brother in a new light. Young Ernest Belmont
+was there with his violin. During the afternoon,
+Nettie had heard whispers of what a
+lovely player he was, and at last saw with delight
+that a space was being cleared for him to
+play. Crowds of people gathered about the
+platform to listen, but among them all Norm's
+face was marked; at least it was to Nettie.
+She had never seen him look like that. He
+seemed to forget the crowds, and the lights, and
+everything but the sounds which came from that
+violin. He stood perfectly still, his eyes never
+once turning from their earnest gaze of the fingers
+which were producing such wonderful tones.
+Nettie, looking, and wondering, almost forgot
+the music in her astonishment that her brother
+should be so absorbed. Jerry with some difficulty
+elbowed his way towards her, his face
+beaming, and said, "Isn't it splendid?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For answer she said, "Look at Norm." And
+Jerry looked.</p>
+
+<p>"That's so," he said at last, heartily, speaking
+as though he was answering a remark from
+somebody; "Norm is a musician. Did you
+know he liked it so much?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know anything about it," Nettie
+said, hardly able to keep back the tears, though
+she did not understand why her eyes should fill;
+but there was such a look of intense enjoyment
+in Norm's face, mingled with such a wistful
+longing for something, as made the tears start
+in spite of her. "I didn't know he liked <i>anything</i>
+so much as that."</p>
+
+<p>"He likes <i>that</i>," said Jerry heartily, "and I
+am glad."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. What makes you glad? I
+am almost sorry; because he may never have a
+chance to hear it again."</p>
+
+<p>"He must make his chances; he is going to be
+a man. I'm glad, because it gives us a hint as
+to what his tastes are; don't you see?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," said Nettie, "I see he likes it;
+but what is the use in knowing people's tastes if
+you cannot possibly do anything for them?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's no such thing as it not being possible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>
+to do most anything," Jerry said good humoredly.
+"Maybe we will some of us own a violin
+some day, and Norm will play it for us. Who
+knows? Stranger things than that have happened."</p>
+
+<p>But this thing looked to Nettie so improbable
+that she merely laughed. The music suddenly
+ceased, and Norm came back from dreamland
+and looked about him, and blushed, and felt
+awkward. He saw the people now, and the
+lights, and the flowers; he remembered his
+hands and did not know what to do with them;
+and his feet felt too large for the space they must
+occupy.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry plunged through the crowd and stood
+beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you like it?" he asked, and Norm
+cleared his voice before replying; he could not
+understand why his throat should feel so husky.</p>
+
+<p>"I like a fiddle," he said. "There is a fellow
+comes into the corner grocery down there by
+Crossman's and plays, sometimes; I always go
+down there, when I hear of it."</p>
+
+<p>If Jerry could have caught Nettie's eye just
+then he would have made a significant gesture;
+the store by Crossman's made tobacco and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>
+liquor its chief trade. So a fiddle was one of
+the things used to draw the boys into it!</p>
+
+<p>"Is a fiddle the only kind of music you like?"
+Jerry had been accustomed to calling it a violin,
+but the instinct of true politeness which was
+marked in him, made him say fiddle just now as
+Norm had done.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I like anything that whistles a tune!"
+said Norm. "I've gone a rod out of my way to
+hear a jew's-harp many a time; even an old hand-organ
+sounds nice to me. I don't know why,
+but I never hear one without stopping and listening
+as long as I can." He laughed a little, as
+though ashamed of the taste, and looked at Jerry
+suspiciously. But there was not the slightest
+hint of a smile on the boy's face, only hearty interest
+and approval.</p>
+
+<p>"I like music, too, almost any sort; but I
+don't believe I like it as well as you. Your face
+looked while you were listening as though you
+could make some yourself if you tried."</p>
+
+<p>The smile went out quickly from Norm's face,
+and Jerry thought he heard a little sigh with the
+reply:</p>
+
+<p>"I never had a chance to try; and never expect
+to have."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, I should like to know why not?
+I never could understand why a boy with brains,
+and hands, and feet, shouldn't have a try at
+almost anything which was worth trying, sometime
+in his life." It was not Jerry who said
+this, but the minister who had come up in time
+to hear the last words from both sides. He
+stopped before Norm, smiling as he spoke.
+"Try the music, my friend, by all means, if you
+like it. It is a noble taste, worth cultivating."</p>
+
+<p>Norm looked sullen. "It's easy to talk," he
+said severely, "but when a fellow has to work
+like a dog to get enough to eat and wear, to
+keep him from starving or freezing, I'd like to
+see him get a chance to try at music, or anything
+else of that kind!"</p>
+
+<p>"So should I. He is the very fellow who ought
+to have the chance; and more than that, in nine
+cases out of ten he is the fellow who gets it. A
+boy who is willing and able to work, is pretty
+sure, in this country, to have opportunity to
+gratify his tastes in the end. He may have to
+wait awhile, but that only sharpens the appetite
+of a genuine taste; if it is a worthy taste, as
+music certainly is, it will grow with his growth,
+and will help him to plan, and save, and contrive,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>
+until one of these days he will show you! By
+the way, you would like organ music, I fancy;
+the sort which is sometimes played on parlor
+organs. If you will come to the parsonage to-morrow
+night at eight o'clock, I think I can
+promise you something which you will enjoy.
+My sister is going to try some new music for a
+few friends, at that time; suppose you come and
+pick out your favorite?"</p>
+
+<p>All Jerry's satisfaction and interest shone in
+his face; to-morrow night at eight o'clock! All
+day he had been trying to arrange something
+which would keep Norm at that hour away from
+the aforesaid corner grocery, where he happened
+to know some doubtful plans were to be arranged
+for future mischief, by the set who gathered there.
+If only Norm would go to the parsonage it would
+be the very thing. But Norm flushed and hesitated.
+"Bring a friend with you," said the
+minister. "Bring Jerry, here; you like music,
+don't you, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," said Jerry promptly; "I like
+music very much, and I would like to go if
+Norm is willing."</p>
+
+<p>"Bring Jerry with you." That sentence had a
+pleasant sound. Up to this moment it was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>
+younger boy who had patronized the elder.
+Norm called him the "little chap," but for all
+that looked up to him with a curious sort of respect
+such as he felt for none of the "fellows"
+who were his daily companions; the idea of
+bringing him to a place of entertainment had its
+charms.</p>
+
+<p>"May I expect you?" asked the minister,
+reading his thoughts almost as plainly as though
+they had been printed on his face, and judging
+that this was the time to press an acceptance.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," said Norm, "I suppose so."</p>
+
+<p>One of these days Norman Decker will not
+think of accepting an invitation with such words,
+but his intentions are good, now, and the minister
+thanks him as though he had received a
+favor, and departs well pleased.</p>
+
+<p>And now it is really growing late and little
+Sate must be carried home. It was an evening
+to remember.</p>
+
+<p>They talked it over by inches the next morning.
+Nettie finishing the breakfast dishes, and
+Jerry sitting on the doorstep fashioning a bracket
+for the kitchen lamp.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie talked much about Ermina Farley.
+"She is just as lovely and sweet as she can be.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>
+It was beautiful in her to come over to me as
+she did when she came into that yard; part of
+it was for little Trudie's sake, and a great deal
+of it was for my sake. I saw that at the time;
+and I saw it plainer all the afternoon. She
+didn't give me a chance to feel alone once; and
+she didn't stay near me as though she felt she
+ought to, but didn't want to, either; she just
+took hold and helped do everything Miss Sherrill
+gave me to do, and was as bright and sweet
+as she could be. I shall never forget it of her.
+But for all that," she added as she wrung out
+her dishcloth with an energy which the small
+white rag hardly needed, "I know it was pretty
+hard for her to do it, and I shall not give her a
+chance to do it again."</p>
+
+<p>"I want to know what there was hard
+about it?" said Jerry, looking up in astonishment.
+"I thought Ermina Farley seemed to be
+having as good a time as anybody there."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well now, I know, you are not a girl;
+boys are different from girls. They are not so
+kind-of-mean! At least, some of them are not,"
+she added quickly, having at that moment a
+vivid recollection of some mean things which
+she had endured from boys. "Really I don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>
+think they are," she said, after a moment's
+thoughtful pause, and replying to the quizzical
+look on his face. "They don't think about
+dresses, and hats, and gloves, and all those
+sorts of things as girls do, and they don't say
+such hateful things. Oh! I <i>know</i> there is a
+great difference; and I know just how Ermina
+Farley will be talked about because she went
+with me, and stood up for me so; and I think
+it will be very hard for her. I used to think so
+about you, but you&mdash;are real different from
+girls!"</p>
+
+<p>"It amounts to about this," said Jerry, whittling
+gravely. "Good boys are different from
+bad girls, and bad boys are different from good
+girls."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie laughed merrily. "No," she said, "I
+do know what I am talking about, though you
+don't think so; I know real splendid girls who
+couldn't have done as Ermina Farley did yesterday,
+and as you do all the time; and what I say
+is, I don't mean to put myself where she will
+<i>have</i> to do it, much. I don't want to go to their
+parties; I don't expect a chance to go, but if I
+had it, I wouldn't go; and just for her sake, I
+don't mean to be always around for her to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span>
+to take care of me as she did yesterday. I have
+something else to do." Said Jerry, "Where do
+you think Norm is to take me this evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Norm going to take you!" great wonderment
+in the tone. "Why, where could he take
+you? I don't know, I am sure."</p>
+
+<p>"He is to take me to the parsonage at eight
+o'clock to hear some wonderful music on the
+organ. He has been invited, and has had permission
+to bring me with him if he wants to.
+Don't you talk about not putting yourself where
+other people will have to take care of you! I
+advise you to cultivate the acquaintance of your
+brother. It isn't everybody who gets invited to
+the parsonage to hear such music as Miss Sherrill
+can make."</p>
+
+<p>The dishcloth was hung away now, and every
+bit of work was done. Nettie stood looking at
+the whittling boy in the doorway for a minute
+in blank astonishment, then she clasped her
+hands and said: "O Jerry! Did they do it?
+Aren't they the very splendidest people you ever
+knew in your life?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are pretty good," said Jerry, "that's a
+fact; they are most as good as my father. I'll
+tell you what it is, if you knew my father you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>
+would know a man who would be worth remembering.
+I had a letter from him last night, and
+he sent a message to my friend Nettie."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" asked Nettie, her eyes very bright.</p>
+
+<p>"It was that you were to take good care of
+his boy; for in his opinion the boy was worth
+taking care of. On the strength of that I want
+you to come out and look at Mother Speckle;
+she is in a very important frame of mind, and
+has been scolding her children all the morning.
+I don't know what is the trouble; there are two
+of her daughters who seem to have gone astray
+in some way; at least she is very much displeased
+with them. Twice she has boxed Fluffie's
+ears, and once she pulled a feather out
+of poor Buff. See how forlorn she seems!"</p>
+
+<p>By this time they were making their way to
+the little house where the hen lived, Nettie
+agreeing to go for a very few minutes, declaring
+that if Norm was going out every evening there
+was work to do. He would need a clean collar
+and she must do it up; for mother had gone
+out to iron for the day. "Mother is so grateful
+to Mrs. Smith for getting her a chance to work,"
+she said, as they paused before the two disgraced
+chickens; "she says she would never have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>
+thought of it if it had not been for her; you
+know she always used to sew. Why, how funny
+those chickens look! Only see, Jerry, they are
+studying that eggshell as though they thought
+they could make one. Now don't they look exactly
+as though they were planning something?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are," said Jerry. "They are planning
+going to housekeeping, I believe; you see they
+have quarreled with their mother. They consider
+that they have been unjustly punished, and
+I am in sympathy with them; and they believe
+they could make a house to live in out of that
+eggshell if they could only think of a way to
+stick it together again. I wish <i>we</i> could build a
+house out of eggshells; or even one room, and
+we'd have one before the month was over."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Nettie, stooping down to see
+why Buff kept her foot under her. "Do you
+want a room, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somewhat," said Jerry. "At least I see a
+number of things we could do if we had a room,
+that I don't know how to do without one. Come
+over here, Nettie, and sit down; leave those
+chickens to sulk it out, and let us talk a little. I
+have a plan so large that there is no place to
+put it."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX.<br />
+
+<small>READY TO TRY.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>"YOU see," said Jerry, as Nettie came, protesting
+as she walked that she could stay
+but a few minutes, because there was Norm's
+collar, and she had four nice apples out of
+which she was going to make some splendid
+apple dumplings for dinner, "you see we must
+contrive something to keep a young fellow like
+Norm busy, if we are going to hold him after he
+is caught. It doesn't do to catch a fish and leave
+him on the edge of the bank near enough to
+flounce back into the water. Norm ought to be
+set to work to help along the plans, and kept so
+busy he wouldn't have time to get tired of them."</div>
+
+<p>"But how could that be done?" Nettie said
+in wondering tones, which nevertheless had a
+note of admiration in them. Jerry went so
+deeply into things, it almost took her breath
+away to follow him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Just so; that's the problem which ought to
+be thought out. I can think of things enough;
+but the room, and the tools to begin with, are
+the trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you thought of? What would
+you do if you could?"</p>
+
+<p>"O my!" said Jerry, with a little laugh;
+"don't ask me that question, or your folks will
+have no apple dumplings to-day. I don't believe
+there is any end to the things which I would do
+if I could. But the first beginnings of them are
+like this: suppose we had a few dollars capital,
+and a room."</p>
+
+<p>"You might as well suppose we had a palace,
+and a million dollars," said Nettie, with a long-drawn
+sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"No, because I don't expect either of those
+things; but I do mean to have a room and a few
+dollars in capital for this thing some day; only,
+you see, I don't want to wait for them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go on; what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, then we would start an eating-house,
+you and I, on a little bit of a scale, you know.
+We would have bread with some kind of meat
+between, and coffee, in cold weather, and lemonade
+in hot, and a few apples, and now and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>
+some nuts, and a good deal of gingerbread&mdash;soft,
+like what auntie Smith makes&mdash;and some
+ginger-snaps like those Mrs. Dix sent us from
+the country, and, well, you know the names of
+things better than I do. Real good things, I
+mean, but which don't cost much. Such as you,
+and Sarah Ann, and a good many bright girls
+learn how to make, without using a great deal
+of money. Those things are all rather cheap,
+which I have mentioned, because we have them
+at our house quite often, and the Smiths are
+poor, you know. But they are made so nice
+that they are just capital. Well, I would have
+them for sale, just as cheap as could possibly be
+afforded; a great deal cheaper than beer, or
+cigars, and I would have the room bright and
+cheery; warm in winter, and as cool as I could
+make it in summer; then I would have slips of
+paper scattered about the town, inviting young
+folks to come in and get a lunch; then when
+they came, I would have picture papers if I
+could, for them to look at, and games to play,
+real nice jolly games, and some kind of music
+going on now and then. I'd run opposition to
+that old grocery around the corner from Crossman's,
+with its fiddle and its whiskey. That's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>
+the beginning of what I would do. Just what
+I told you about, that first night we talked it
+over. The fellows, lots of them, have nowhere
+to go; it keeps growing in my mind, the need
+for doing something of the sort. I never pass
+that mean grocery without thinking of it."</p>
+
+<p>You should have seen Nettie's eyes! The little
+touch of discouragement was gone out of
+them, and they were full of intense thought.</p>
+
+<p>"I can see," she said at last, "just how splendid
+it might grow to be. But what did you
+mean about Norm? there isn't any work for
+him in such a plan. At least, I mean, not until
+he was interested to help for the sake of others."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there is, plenty of business for him.
+Don't you see? I would have this room, open
+evenings, after the work was done, and I would
+have Norm head manager. He should wait
+on customers, and keep accounts. When the
+thing got going he would be as busy as a bee;
+and he is just the sort of fellow to do that kind
+of thing well, and like it too," he added.</p>
+
+<p>"O Jerry," said Nettie, and her hands were
+clasped so closely that the blood flowed back
+into her wrists, "was there ever a nicer thought
+than that in the world! I know it would succeed;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>
+and Norm would like it so much. Norm
+likes to do things for others, if he only had the
+chance."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it; and he likes to do things in a
+business way, and keep everything straight.
+Oh! he would be just the one. If we only had
+a room, there is nothing to hinder our beginning
+in a very small way. Those chickens are growing
+as fast as they can, and by Thanksgiving
+there will be a couple of them ready to broil;
+then the little old grandmothers did so well."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it; who would have supposed that
+almost four dollars could be made out of some
+daisy grandmothers! Miss Sherrill gave me
+one dollar and ninety-five cents which she said
+was just half of what they had earned. I do
+think it was so nice in her to give us that
+chance! She couldn't have known how much
+we wanted the money. Jerry, why couldn't we
+begin, just with that? It would start us, and
+then if the things sold, why, the money from
+them would keep us started until we found a
+way to earn more. Why can't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Room," said Jerry, with commendable
+brevity. "Why, we have a room; there's the
+front one that we just put in such nice order.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>
+Why not? It is large enough for now, and
+maybe when our business grew we could get
+another one somehow."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry stopped fitting the toe of his boot to a
+hole which he had made in the ground, and
+looked at the eager young woman of business
+before him. "Do you mean your mother would
+let us have the room, and the chance in the
+kitchen, to go into such business?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mother would do <i>anything</i>," said Nettie
+emphatically, "anything in the world which
+might possibly keep Norm in the house evenings;
+you don't know how dreadfully she feels
+about Norm. She thinks father," and there
+Nettie stopped. How could a daughter put it
+into words that her mother was afraid her father
+would lead his son astray?</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Jerry. "See here, Nettie,
+what is the matter with your father? I never
+saw him look so still, and&mdash;well, queer, in some
+way. Mr. Smith says he doesn't think he is
+drinking a drop; but he looks unlike himself,
+somehow, and I can't decide how."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Nettie, in a low voice.
+"We don't know what to think of him. He
+hasn't been so long without drinking, mother<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>
+says, in four years. But he doesn't act right;
+or, I mean, natural. He isn't cross, as drinking
+beer makes him, but he isn't pleasant, as he was
+for a day or two. He is real sober; hardly
+speaks at all, nor notices the things I make; and
+I try just as hard to please him! He eats
+everything, but he does it as though he didn't
+know he was eating. Mother thinks he is in
+some trouble, but she can't tell what. He can't
+be afraid of losing his place&mdash;because mother
+says he was threatened that two or three times
+when he was drinking so hard, and he didn't
+seem to mind it at all; and why should he be
+discharged now, when he works hard every day?
+Last Saturday night he brought home more
+money than he has in years. Mother cried when
+she saw what there was, but she had debts to
+pay, so we didn't get much start out of it after
+all. Then we spend a good deal in coffee; we
+have it three times a day, hot and strong; I can
+see father seems to need it; and I have heard
+that it helped men who were trying not to drink.
+When I told mother that, she said he should
+have it if she had to beg for it on her knees.
+But I don't know what is the matter with father
+now. Sometimes mother is afraid there is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>
+disease coming on him such as men have who
+drink; she says he doesn't sleep very well nights,
+and he groans some, when he is asleep. Mother
+tries hard," said Nettie, in a closing burst of
+confidence, "and she <i>does</i> have such a hard time!
+If we could only save Norm for her."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you who your mother looks like, or
+would look like if she were dressed up, you
+know. Did you ever see Mrs. Burt?"</p>
+
+<p>"The woman who lives in the cottage where
+the vines climb all around the front, and who
+has birds, and a baby? I saw her yesterday.
+You don't think mother looks like her!"</p>
+
+<p>"She would," said Jerry, positively, "if she
+had on a pink and white dress and a white fold
+about her neck. I passed there last night, while
+Mrs. Burt was sitting out by that window
+garden of hers, with her baby in her arms; Mr.
+Burt sat on one of the steps, and they were talking
+and laughing together. I could not help
+noticing how much like your mother she looked
+when she turned her side face. Oh! she is
+younger, of course; she looks almost as though
+she might be your mother's daughter. I was
+thinking what fun it would be if she were, and
+we could go and visit her, and get her to help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>
+us about all sorts of things. Mr. Burt knows
+how to do every kind of work about building a
+house, or fixing up a room."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a nice man, isn't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, nice enough; he is steady and
+works hard. Mr. Smith thinks he is quite a
+pattern; he has bought that little house where
+he lives, and fixed it all up with vines and things;
+but I should like him better if he didn't puff
+tobacco smoke into his wife's face when he talked
+with her. He doesn't begin to be so good a
+workman as your father, nor to know so much
+in a hundred ways. I think your father is a very
+nice-looking man when he is dressed up. He looks
+smart, and he is smart. Mr. Smith says there
+isn't a man in town who can do the sort of work
+that he can at the shop, and that he could get
+very high wages and be promoted and all that,
+if"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Jerry stopped suddenly, and Nettie finished
+the sentence with a sigh. She too had passed
+the Burt cottage and admired its beauty and
+neatness. To think that Mr. Burt owned it, and
+was a younger man by fifteen years at least than
+her father&mdash;and was not so good a workman!
+then see how well he dressed his wife; and little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>
+Bobby Burt looked as neat and pretty in
+Sunday-school as the best of them. It was very
+hard that there must be such a difference in
+homes. If she could only live in a house like
+the Burt cottage, and have things nice about
+her as they did, and have her father and mother
+sit together and talk, as Mr. and Mrs. Burt did,
+she should be perfectly happy, Nettie told herself.
+Then she sprang up from the log and declared
+that she must not waste another minute
+of time; but that Jerry's plan was the best one
+she had ever heard, and she believed they could
+begin it.</p>
+
+<p>With this thought still in mind, after the dinner
+dishes were carefully cleared away, and her
+mother, returned from the day's ironing, had
+been treated to a piece of the apple dumpling
+warmed over for her, and had said it was as nice
+a bit as she ever tasted, Nettie began on the
+subject which had been in her thoughts all day:</p>
+
+<p>"What would you think of us young folks going
+into business?"</p>
+
+<p>"Going into business!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm. Jerry and Norm and me. Jerry
+has a plan; he has been telling me about it this
+morning. It is nice if we can only carry it out;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>
+and I shouldn't wonder if we could. That is, if
+you think well of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I begin to think there isn't much that you
+and Jerry can't do, with Norm, or with anybody
+else, if you try; and you both appear to be ready
+to try to do all you can for everybody."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker's tone was so hearty and pleased,
+that you would not have known her for the same
+woman who looked forward dismally but a few
+weeks ago to Nettie's home-coming. Her heart
+had so warmed to the girl in her efforts for
+father and brother, that she was almost ready to
+agree to anything which she could have to propose.
+So Nettie, well pleased with this beginning,
+unfolded with great clearness and detail,
+Jerry's wonderful plan for not only catching
+Norm, but setting him up in business.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker listened, and questioned and
+cross-questioned, sewing swiftly the while on
+Norm's jacket which had been torn, and which
+was being skilfully darned in view of the evening
+to be spent at the parsonage.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said at last, "it looks wild to me,
+I own; I should as soon try to fly as of making
+anything like that work in this town; but then,
+you've made things work, you two, that I'd no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>
+notion could be done, and between you, you
+seem to kind of bewitch Norm. He's done
+things for you that I would no sooner have
+thought of asking of him than I would have asked
+him to fly up to the moon; and this may be
+another of them. Anyhow, if you've a mind to
+try it, I won't be the one to stop you. I've been
+that scared for Norm, that I'm ready for anything.
+Oh! the <i>room</i>, of course you may use it.
+If you wanted to have a circus in there, I think
+I'd agree, wild animals and all; I've had worse
+than wild animals in my day. No, your father
+won't object; he thinks what you do is about
+right, I guess. And for the matter of that, he
+doesn't object to anything nowadays; I don't
+know what to make of him."</p>
+
+<p>The sentence ended with a long-drawn,
+troubled sigh.</p>
+
+<p>Just what this strange change in her husband
+meant, Mrs. Decker could not decide; and each
+theory which she started in her mind about it,
+looked worse than the last.</p>
+
+<p>Norm's collar was ready for him, so was his
+jacket. He was somewhat surly; the truth was,
+he had received what he called a "bid" to the
+merry-making which was to take place in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>
+back room of the grocery, around the corner
+from Crossman's, and he was a good deal tried
+to think he had cut himself off by what he
+called a "spooney" promise, from enjoying the
+evening there. At the same time there was a
+certain sense of largeness in saying he could not
+come because he had received an invitation
+elsewhere, which gave him a momentary pleasure.
+To be sure the boys coaxed until they had
+discovered the place of his engagement, and
+joked him the rest of the time, until he was half-inclined
+to wish he had never heard of the parsonage;
+but for all that, a certain something in
+Norman which marked him as different from
+some boys, held him to his word when it was
+passed; and he had no thought of breaking from
+his engagement. It was an evening such as
+Norman had reason to remember. For the first
+time in his life he sat in a pleasantly furnished
+home, among ladies and gentlemen, and heard
+himself spoken to as one who "belonged."</p>
+
+<p>Three ladies were there from the city, and two
+gentlemen whom Norman had never seen before;
+all friends of the Sherrills come out to
+spend a day with them. They were not only
+unlike any people whom he had ever seen before,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>
+but, if he had known it, unlike a great many
+ladies and gentlemen, in that their chief aim in
+life was to be found in their Master's service;
+and a boy about whom they knew nothing, save
+that he was poor, and surrounded by temptations,
+and Satan desired to have him, was in
+their eyes so much stray material which they
+were bound to bring back to the rightful owner
+if they could.</p>
+
+<p>To this end they talked to Norman. Not in
+the form of a lecture, but with bright, winning
+words, on topics which he could understand,
+not only, but actually on certain topics about
+which he knew more than they. For instance,
+there was a cave about two miles from the town,
+of which they had heard, but had never seen
+and Norm had explored every crevice in it many
+a time. He knew on which side of the river it
+was located, whether the entrance was from the
+east or the south; just how far one could walk
+through it, just how far one could creep in it,
+after walking had become impossible, and a
+dozen other things which it had not occurred to
+him were of interest to anybody else. In fact,
+Norm discovered in the course of the hour that
+there was such a thing as conversation. Not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>
+that he made use of that word, in thinking it
+over; his thoughts, if they could have been seen,
+would have been something like this: "These
+are swell folks, but I can understand what they
+say, and they seem to understand what I say,
+and don't stare as though I was a wild animal
+escaped from the woods. I wonder what makes
+the difference between them and other folks?"</p>
+
+<p>But when the music began! I have no words
+to describe to you what it was to Norm to sit
+close to an organ and hear its softest notes, and
+feel the thrill of its heavy bass tones, and be appealed
+to occasionally as to whether he liked
+this or that the best, and to have a piece sung
+because the player thought it would please him;
+she selected it that morning, she told him, with
+this thought in view.</p>
+
+<p>"Decker, you ought to learn to play," said one
+of the guests who had watched him through the
+last piece. "You <i>look</i> music, right out of your
+eyes. Miss Sherrill, here is a pupil for you who
+might do you credit. Have you ever had any
+instrument, Decker?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Norm came back to every-day life, and
+flushed and stammered. "No, he hadn't, and
+was not likely to;" and wondered what they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>
+would think if they were to see the corner
+grocery where he spent most of his leisure
+time.</p>
+
+<p>The questioner laughed pleasantly. "Oh, I'm
+not so sure of that. I have a friend who plays
+the violin in a way to bring tears to people's
+eyes, and he never touched one until he was
+thirty years old; hadn't time until then. He
+was an apprentice, and had his trade to master,
+and himself to get well started in it before he
+had time for music; but when he came to leisure,
+he made music a delight to himself and
+to others."</p>
+
+<p>"A great deal can be done with leisure time,"
+said another of the guests. "Mr. Sherrill, you
+remember Myers, your college classmate? He
+did not learn to read, you know, until he was
+seventeen."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" said Norm, astonished out of his
+diffidence; "didn't know how to read!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," repeated the gentleman, "not until he
+was seventeen. He had a hard childhood&mdash;was
+kicked about in the world, with no leisure and
+no help, had to work evenings as well as days,
+but when he was seventeen he fell into kinder
+hands, and had a couple of hours each evening<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>
+all to himself, and he mastered reading, not
+only, but all the common studies, and graduated
+from college with honor when he was twenty-six."</p>
+
+<p>Now Norm had all his evenings to lounge
+about in, and had not known what to do with
+them; and he could read quite well.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XX.<br />
+
+<small>THE WAY MADE PLAIN.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>IT was a beautiful Sabbath afternoon; just
+warm enough to make people feel still
+and pleasant. The soft summer sunshine lay
+smiling on all the world, and the soft summer
+breeze rustled the leaves of the trees,
+and stole gently in at open windows. In the
+front room of the Deckers, the family was
+gathered, all save Mr. Decker. He could be
+heard in his bedroom stepping about occasionally,
+and great was his wife's fear lest he was
+preparing to go down town and put himself in
+the place of temptation at his old lounging place.
+Sunday could not be said to be a day of rest to
+Mrs. Decker. It had been the day of her greatest
+trials, so far. Norm was in his clean shirt
+and collar, which had been done up again by
+Nettie's careful hands and which shone beautifully.
+He was also in his shirt sleeves; that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>
+mother was glad to see; <i>he</i> was not going out
+just yet, anyway. Mrs. Decker had honored
+the day with a clean calico dress, and had shyly
+and with an almost shamefaced air, pinned into
+it a little cambric ruffle which Nettie had presented
+her, with the remark that it was just like
+the one Mrs. Burt wore, and that Jerry said she
+looked like Mrs. Burt a little, only he thought
+she was the best-looking of the two. Mrs.
+Decker had laughed, and then sighed; and said
+it made dreadful little difference to her how she
+looked. But the sigh meant that the days were
+not so very far distant when Mr. Decker used
+to tell her she was a handsome woman; and she
+used to smile over it, and call him a foolish man
+without any taste; but nevertheless used to like
+it very much, and make herself look as well as
+she could for his sake.</div>
+
+<p>She hadn't done it lately, but whose fault was
+that, she should like to know? However, she
+pinned the ruffle in, and whether Mr. Decker
+noticed it or not, she certainly looked wonderfully
+better. Norm noticed it, but of course he
+would not have said so for the world. Nettie
+in her blue and white gingham which had been
+washed and ironed since the flower party, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>
+which had faded a little and shrunken a little,
+still looked neat and trim, and had the little girls
+one on either side of her, telling them a story in
+low tones; not so low but that the words floated
+over to the window where Norm was pretending
+not to listen: "And so," said the voice, "Daniel
+let himself be put into a den of dreadful fierce
+lions, rather than give up praying."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they frow him in?" this question from
+little Sate, horror in every letter of the words.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they did; and shut the door tight."</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't have been," said fierce Susie;
+"I would have bitten, and scratched and kicked
+just awful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't Daniel shut up the window just
+as <i>tight</i>, and not let anybody know it when he
+said his prayers?"</p>
+
+<p>Oh little Sate! how many older and wiser
+ones than you have tried to slip around conscience
+corners in some such way.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know all the reasons," said Nettie,
+after a thoughtful pause, "but I suppose one
+was, because he wouldn't act in a way to make
+people believe he had given up praying. He
+wanted to show them that he meant to pray,
+whether they forbade it or not."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Go on," said Susie, sharply, "I want to know
+how he felt when the lions bit him."</p>
+
+<p>"They didn't bite him; God wouldn't let
+them touch him. They crouched down and
+kept as <i>still</i>, all night; and in the morning when
+the king came to look, there was Daniel, safe!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh my!" said Sate, drawing a long, quivering
+sigh of relief; "wasn't that just splendid!"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know it is true?" said skeptical
+Susie, looking as though she was prepared not
+to believe anything.</p>
+
+<p>"I know it because God said it, Susie; he put
+it in the Bible."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't ever hear him say it," said Susie
+with a frown. A laugh from Norm at that moment
+gave Nettie her first knowledge of him as
+a listener. Her cheeks grew red, and she would
+have liked to slip away into a more quiet corner
+but Sate was in haste to hear just what the king
+said, and what Daniel said, and all about it, and
+the story went on steadily, Daniel's character
+for true bravery shining out all the more
+strongly, perhaps, because Nettie suspected herself
+of being a coward, and not liking Norm to
+laugh at her Bible stories. As for Norm, he
+knew he was a coward; he knew he had done in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>
+his life dozens of things to make his mother
+cry; not because he was so anxious to do them,
+nor because he feared a den of lions if he refused,
+but simply because some of the fellows
+would laugh at him if he did.</p>
+
+<p>That Sabbath day had been a memorable one
+to the Decker family in some respects; at least
+to part of it. Nettie had taken the little girls
+with her to Sabbath-school, and then to church.
+Mrs. Smith had given her a cordial invitation to
+sit in their seat, but it was not a very large seat,
+and when Job and his wife, and Sarah Ann and
+Jerry were all there, as they were apt to be, there
+was just room for Nettie without the little girls;
+so she went with them to the seat directly under
+the choir gallery where very few sat. It was
+comfortable enough; she could see the minister
+distinctly, and though she had to stretch out her
+neck to see the choir, she could hear their sweet
+voices; and surely that was enough. All went
+smoothly until the sermon was concluded. Sate
+sat quite still, and if she did not listen to the
+sermon, listened to her own thoughts and
+troubled no one.</p>
+
+<p>But when the anthem began, Sate roused herself.
+That wonderful voice which seemed to fill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>
+every corner of the church! She knew the
+voice; it belonged to her dear teacher. She
+stretched out her little neck, and could catch a
+glimpse of her, standing alone, the rest of the choir
+sitting back, out of sight. And what was that
+she was saying, over and over? "Come unto Me,
+unto Me, unto Me"&mdash;the words were repeated
+in the softest of cadences&mdash;"all ye who are
+weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."
+Sate did not understand those words, certainly
+her little feet were not weary, but there was a
+sweetness about the word "rest" as it floated
+out on the still air, which made her seem to want
+to go, she knew not whither. Then came the
+refrain: "Come unto Me, unto Me," swelling
+and rolling until it filled all the aisles, and dying
+away at last in the tenderest of pleading sounds.
+Sate's heart beat fast, and the color came and
+went on her baby face in a way which would have
+startled Nettie had she not been too intent on her
+own exquisite delight in the music, to remember
+the motionless little girl at her left.</p>
+
+<p>"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me,
+learn of Me," called the sweet voice, and Sate,
+understanding the last of it felt that she wanted
+to learn, and of that One above all others. "For<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span>
+I am meek and lowly of heart"&mdash;she did not
+know what the words meant, but she was drawn,
+drawn. Then, listening, breathless, half resolved,
+came again that wondrous pleading, "Come
+unto Me, unto Me, unto Me." Softly the little
+feet slid down to the carpeted floor, softly they
+stepped on the green and gray mosses which
+gave back no sound; softly they moved down
+the aisle as though they carried a spirit with
+them, and when Nettie, hearing no sound, yet
+turned suddenly as people will, to look after her
+charge, little Sate was gone! Where? Nettie
+did not know, could not conjecture. No sight
+of her in the aisle, not under the seat, not in the
+great church anywhere. The door was open
+into the hall, and poor little tired Sate must
+have slipped away into the sunshine outside.
+Well, no harm could come to her there; she
+would surely wait for them, or, failing in that,
+the road home was direct enough, and nothing
+to trouble her; but how strange in little Sate to
+do it! If it had been Susie, resolute, independent
+Susie always sufficient to herself and a little
+more ready to do as she pleased than any other
+way! But Susie sat up prim and dignified on
+Nettie's right; not very conscious of the music,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span>
+and willing enough to have the service over, but
+conscious that she had on her new shoes, and a
+white dress, and a white bonnet, and looked very
+well indeed. Meantime, little Sate was not out
+in the sunshine. She had not thought of sunshine;
+she had been called; it was not possible
+for her sweet little heart to get away from the
+feeling that some one was calling her, and that
+she wanted to go. What better was there to
+do than follow the voice? So she followed it,
+out into the hall, up the gallery stairs, still softly&mdash;the
+new shoes made no sound on the carpet&mdash;through
+the door which stood ajar, quite to
+the singer's side, there slipped this quiet little
+woman who had left her white bonnet by Nettie,
+and stood with her golden head rippling with
+the sunlight which fell upon it. There was a
+rustle in the choir gallery, a soft stir over the
+church, the sort of sound which people make
+when they are moved by some deep feeling which
+they hardly understand; there was a smile on
+some faces, but it was the kind of smile which
+might be given to a baby angel if it had strayed
+away from heaven to look at something bright
+down here. The tenor singer would have
+drawn away the small form from the soloist, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>
+she put forth a protecting hand and circled the
+child, and sang on, her voice taking sweeter tone,
+if possible, and dying away in such tenderness
+as made the smiles on some faces turn to tears,
+and made the echo linger with them of that last
+tremulous "Come unto Me."</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 343px;">
+<img src="images/facing358.jpg" width="343" height="500" alt="woman and little girl in choir loft" />
+<div class="caption">LITTLE SATE IN THE CHOIR GALLERY.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>But little Sate, when she reached the choir
+gallery, saw something which startled her out of
+her sweet resolute calm. Away on the side, up
+there, where few people were, sat her own
+father; and rolling down his cheeks were tears.
+Sate had never seen her father cry before.
+What was the matter? Had she been naughty,
+and was it making him feel bad? She stole a
+startled glance at the face of her teacher, whose
+arm was still around her and had drawn her toward
+the seat into which she dropped, when the
+song was over. No, <i>her</i> face was quiet and
+sweet; not grieved, as Sate was sure it would
+be, if she had been naughty. Neither did the
+people look cross at her; many of them had
+bowed their heads in prayer, but some were sitting
+erect, looking at her and smiling; surely
+she had made no noise. Why should her
+father cry? She looked at him; he had shaded
+his face with his hand. Was he crying still?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>
+Little Sate thought it over, all in a moment of
+time, then suddenly she slipped away from the
+encircling arm, moved softly across the intervening
+space, into the side gallery, and was at her
+father's side, with her small hand on his sleeve.
+He stooped and took her in his arms, and the
+tears were still in his eyes; but he kissed her,
+and <i>kissed</i> her, as little Sate had never been
+kissed before; she nestled in his arms and felt
+safe and comforted.</p>
+
+<p>The prayer was over, the benediction given,
+and the worshipers moved down the aisles.
+Sate rode comfortably in her father's arms, down
+stairs, out into the hall, outside, in the sunshine,
+waiting for Nettie and for her white sunbonnet.
+Presently Nettie came, hurried, flushed, despite
+her judgment, anxious as to where the bonnetless
+little girl could have vanished. "Why,
+Sate," she began, but the rest of the sentence
+died in astonished silence on her lips, for Sate
+held her father's hand and looked content.</p>
+
+<p>They walked home together, the father and his
+youngest baby, saying nothing, for Sate was one
+of those wise-eyed little children who have spells
+of sweet silence come over them, and Nettie,
+with Susie, walked behind, the elder sister speculating:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>
+"Where did little Sate find father?
+Did he pick her up on the street somewhere, and
+would he be angry, and not let Nettie take her
+to church any more? Or did he, passing, spy
+her in the churchyard and come in for her?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie did not know, and Sate did not tell;
+principally because she did not understand that
+there was anything to tell. So while the people
+in their homes talked and laughed about the
+small white waif who had slipped into the choir,
+the people in this home were entirely silent
+about it, and the mother did not know that anything
+strange had happened. It is true, Susie
+began to inquire reprovingly, but was hushed by
+Nettie's warning whisper; certainly Nettie was
+gaining a wonderful control over the self-sufficient
+Susie. The child respected her almost
+enough to follow her lead unquestioningly, which
+was a great deal for Susie to do.</p>
+
+<p>So they sat together that sweet Sabbath afternoon,
+Nettie telling her Bible stories, and wondering
+how she should plan. What did Norm
+intend to do a little later in the day? What
+was there she could do to keep him from lounging
+down street? Why was her father staying
+so long in the choked-up bedroom? What was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>
+matter with her father these days, and how long
+was anything going to last? Why did she feel,
+someway, as though she stood on the very edge
+of something which startled and almost frightened
+her? Was it because she was afraid her
+father would not let her take Sate and Susie to
+church any more?</p>
+
+<p>With all these thoughts floating through her
+mind, it was rather hard to keep herself closely
+confined to Daniel and his experiences. Suddenly
+the bedroom door opened and her father
+came out. Everybody glanced up, though perhaps
+nobody could have told why. There was
+a peculiar look on his face. Mrs. Decker noticed
+it and did not understand it, and felt her heart
+beat in great thuds against the back of her chair.
+Little Sate noticed it, and went over to him and
+slipped her hand inside his. He sat down in the
+state chair which Nettie and her mother had
+both contrived to have left vacant, and took Sate
+in his arms. This of itself was unusual, but after
+that, there was silence, Sate nestling safely in
+the protective arms and seeming satisfied with
+all the world. Nettie felt her face flush, and her
+bosom heave as if the tears were coming, but
+she could not have told why she wanted to cry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>
+Norm seemed oppressed with the stillness, and
+broke it by whistling softly; also he had a small
+stick and was whittling; it was the only thing
+he could think of to do just now. It was too
+early to go out; the boys would not be through
+with their boarding-house dinners yet. Suddenly
+Mr. Decker broke in on the almost silence.
+"Hannah," he said, then he cleared his voice, and
+was still again, "and you children," he added,
+after a moment, "I've got something to tell you
+if I knew how. Something that I guess you will
+be glad to hear. I've turned over a new leaf at
+last. I've turned it, off and on, in my mind a good
+many times lately, though I don't know as any
+of you knew it. I've been thinking about this
+thing, well, as soon as Nannie there came home,
+at least; but I haven't understood it very well,
+and I s'pose I don't now; but I understand it
+enough to have made up my mind; and that's
+more than half the battle. The long and short
+of it is, I have given myself to the Lord, or he
+has got hold of me, somehow; it isn't much of
+a gift, that's a fact, but the queer thing about it
+is, he seems to think it worth taking. I told
+him last night that if he would show a poor
+stick like me how to do it, why, I'd do my part<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>
+without fail; and this morning he not only
+showed the way plain enough, but he sent my
+little girl to help me along."</p>
+
+<p>The father's voice broke then, and a tear
+trembled in his eye. Sate had held her little
+head erect and looked steadily at him as soon as
+he began to talk, wonder and interest, and some
+sort of still excitement in her face as she listened.
+At his first pause she broke forth:</p>
+
+<p>"Did He mean you, papa, when He said
+'Come unto Me'? Was He calling you, all the
+time? and did you tell Him you would?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, bending and kissing the
+earnest face, "He meant me, and He's been calling
+me loud, this good while; but I never got
+started till to-day. Now I'm going along with
+Him the rest of the way."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so glad," said little Sate, nestling contentedly
+back, "I'm so glad, papa; I'm going
+too."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI.<br />
+
+<small>THE NEW ENTERPRISE.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>ONE bright and never-to-be-forgotten day,
+Nettie and Jerry stood together in the
+"new" room and surveyed with intense satisfaction
+all its appointments. They were ready
+to begin business. On that very evening the
+room was to be "open to the public!" They
+looked at each other as they repeated that
+large-sounding phrase, and laughed gleefully.</div>
+
+<p>There had been a great deal to do to get
+ready. Hours and even days had been spent in
+planning. It astonished both these young people
+to discover how many things there were to
+think of, and get ready for, and guard against,
+before one could go into business. There was
+a time when with each new day, new perplexities
+arose. During those days Jerry had spent
+a good deal of his leisure in fishing; both because
+at the Smiths, and also at the Deckers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span>
+fish were highly prized, and also because, as he
+confided to Nettie, "a fellow could somehow
+think a great deal better when his fingers were
+at work, and when it was still everywhere about
+him."</p>
+
+<p>There were times, however, when his solitude
+was disturbed. There had been one day in
+particular when something happened about
+which he did not tell Nettie. He was in his
+fishing suit, which though clean and whole was
+not exactly the style of dress which a boy would
+wear to a party, and he stood leaning against a
+rail fence, rod in hand, trying to decide whether
+he should try his luck on that side, or jump
+across the logs to a shadier spot; trying also to
+decide just how they could manage to get another
+lamp to stand on the reading table, when
+he heard voices under the trees just back of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>They were whispering in that sort of penetrating
+whisper that floats so far in the open
+air, and which some, girls, particularly, do not
+seem to know can be heard a few feet away.
+Jerry could hear distinctly; in fact unless he
+stopped his ears with his hands he could not
+help hearing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And the old rule, that listeners never hear any
+good of themselves, applied here.</p>
+
+<p>"There's that Jerry who lives at the Smiths',"
+said whisperer number one, "do look what a
+fright; I guess he has borrowed a pair of Job
+Smith's overalls! Isn't it a shame that such a
+nice-looking boy is deserted in that way, and
+left to run with all sorts of people?"</p>
+
+<p>"I heard that he wasn't deserted; that his
+father was only staying out West, or down
+South, or somewhere for awhile."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that's a likely story," said whisperer
+number one, her voice unconsciously growing
+louder. "Just as if any father who was anybody,
+would leave a boy at Job Smith's for months,
+and never come near him. I think it is real
+mean; they say the Smiths keep him at work
+all the while, fishing; he about supports them,
+and the Deckers too, with fish and things."</p>
+
+<p>At this point the amused listener nearly forgot
+himself and whistled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh well, that's as good a way as any to
+spend his time; he knows enough to catch fish
+and do such things, and when he is old enough, I
+suppose he will learn a trade; but I must say I
+think he is a nice-looking fellow."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He would be, if he dressed decently. The
+boys like him real well; they say he is smart;
+and I shouldn't wonder if he was; big eyes
+twinkle as though he might be. If he wouldn't
+keep running with that Decker girl all the time,
+he might be noticed now and then."</p>
+
+<p>At this point came up a third young miss who
+spoke louder. Jerry recognized her voice at once
+as belonging to Lorena Barstow. "Girls, what
+are you doing here? Why, there is that Irish
+boy; I wonder if he wouldn't sell us some fish?
+They say he is very anxious to earn money; I
+should think he would be, to get himself some
+decent clothes. Or maybe he wants to make
+his dear Nan a present."</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a laugh which was quickly
+hushed, lest the victim might hear. But the
+victim had heard, and looked more than amused;
+his eyes flashed with a new idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged, Miss Lorena," he said softly,
+nodding his head. "If I don't act on your hint,
+it will be because I am not so bright as you give
+me credit for being."</p>
+
+<p>Then the first whisperer took up the story:</p>
+
+<p>"Say, girls, I heard that Ermina did really
+mean to invite him to her candy pull, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>
+Decker girl too; she says they both belong to
+the Sunday-school, and she is going to invite all
+the boys and girls of that age in the school, and
+her mother thinks it would not be nice to leave
+them out. You know the Farleys are real
+queer about some things."</p>
+
+<p>Lorena Barstow flamed into a voice which
+was almost loud. "Then I say let's just not
+speak a word to either of them the whole evening.
+Ermina Farley need not think that because
+she lives in a grand house, and her father
+has so much money, she can rule us all. I for
+one, don't mean to associate with a drunkard's
+daughter, and I won't be made to, by the Farleys
+or anybody else."</p>
+
+<p>"Her father isn't a drunkard now. Why,
+don't you know he has joined the church? And
+last Wednesday night they say he was in prayer
+meeting."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, and what does that amount to? My
+father says it won't last six weeks; he says
+drunkards are not to be trusted; they never
+reform. And what if he does? That doesn't
+make Nan Decker anything but a dowdy, not
+fit for us girls to go with; and as for that Irish
+boy! Why doesn't Ermina go down on Paddy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span>
+Lane and invite the whole tribe of Irish if she
+is so fond of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Lora, Ermina will hear you."</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough at that moment came Ermina,
+springing briskly over logs and underbrush.
+"Have I kept you waiting?" she asked gayly.
+"The moss was so lovely back there; I wanted
+to carry the whole of it home to mother. Why,
+girls, there is that boy who sits across from us
+in Sabbath-school.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do?" she said pleasantly, for
+at that moment Jerry turned and came toward
+them, lifting his hat as politely as though it was
+in the latest shape and style.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you had good luck in fishing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very good for this side; the fish are not so
+plenty here generally as they are further up.
+I heard you speaking of fish, Miss Barstow,
+and wondering whether I would not supply
+your people? I should be very glad to do so,
+occasionally; I am a pretty successful fellow so
+far as fishing goes."</p>
+
+<p>You should have seen the cheeks of the whisperers
+then! Ermina looked at them, perplexed
+for a moment, then seeing they answered only
+with blushes and silence <i>she</i> spoke: "Mamma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span>
+would be very glad to get some; she was saying
+yesterday she wished she knew some one of
+whom she could get fish as soon as they were
+caught. Have you some to-day for sale?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three beauties which I would like nothing
+better than to sell, for I am in special need of
+the money just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Ermina promptly, "I am
+sure mamma will like them; could you carry
+them down now? I am on my way home and
+could show you where to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Ermina Farley!" remonstrated Lorena Barstow
+in a low shocked tone, but Ermina only
+said: "Good-by, girls, I shall expect you early
+on Thursday evening," and walked briskly down
+the path toward the road, with Jerry beside
+her, swinging his fish. If the girls could have
+seen his eyes just then, they would have been
+sure that they twinkled.</p>
+
+<p>They had a pleasant walk, and Ermina did
+actually invite him to her candy-pull on Thursday
+evening; not only that, but she asked if he
+would take an invitation from her to Nettie
+Decker. "She lives next door to you, I think,"
+said Ermina, "I would like very much to have
+her come; I think she is so pleasant and unselfish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span>
+It is just a few boys and girls of our age,
+in the Sunday-school."</p>
+
+<p>How glad Jerry was that she had invited
+them! He had been so afraid that her courage
+would not be equal to it. Glad was he also to
+be able to say, frankly, that both he and Nettie
+had an engagement for Thursday evening; he
+would be sure to give Nettie the invitation, but
+he knew she could not come. Of course she
+could not, he said to himself; "Isn't that our
+opening evening?" But all the same it was
+very nice in Ermina Farley to have invited
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is another lamp for the table," said
+Jerry gayly, as he rushed into the new room an
+hour later and tossed down a shining silver
+dollar. He had exchanged the fish for it.
+Then he sat down and told part of their story
+to Nettie. About the whisperers, however, he
+kept silent. What was the use in telling that?</p>
+
+<p>But from them he had gotten another idea.
+"Look here, Nettie, some evening we'll have a
+candy-pull, early, with just a few to help, and
+sell it cheap to customers."</p>
+
+<p>So now they stood together in the room to
+see if there was another thing to be done before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span>
+the opening. A row of shelves planed and
+fitted by Norm were ranged two thirds of the
+way up the room and on them were displayed
+tempting pans of ginger cookies, doughnuts,
+molasses cookies, and soft gingerbread. Sandwiches
+made of good bread, and nice slices of
+ham, were shut into the corner cupboard to
+keep from drying; there was also a plate of
+cheese which was a present from Mrs. Smith.
+She had sent it in with the explanation that it
+would be a blessing to her if that cheese could
+get eaten by somebody; she bought it once, a
+purpose, as a treat for Job, and it seemed it
+wasn't the kind he liked, and none of the rest
+of them liked any kind, so there it had stood
+on the shelf eying her for days. There was to
+be coffee; Nettie had planned for that. "Because,"
+she explained, "they <i>all</i> drink beer;
+and things to eat, can never take the place of
+things to drink."</p>
+
+<p>It had been a difficult matter to get the
+materials together for this beginning. All the
+money which came in from the "little old
+grandmothers," as well as that which Jerry contributed,
+had been spent in flour, and sugar,
+and eggs and milk. Nettie was amazed and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span>
+dismayed to find how much even soft gingerbread
+cost, when every pan of it had to be
+counted in money. A good deal of arithmetic
+had been spent on the question: How low can
+we possibly sell this, and not actually lose
+money by it? Of course some allowance had
+to be made for waste. "We'll have to name it
+waste," explained Nettie with an anxious face,
+"because it won't bring in any money; but of
+course not a scrap of it will be wasted; but
+what is left over and gets too dry to sell, we
+shall have to eat."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry shook his head. "We must sell it," he
+said with the air of a financier. Then he went
+away thoughtfully to consult Mrs. Job, and
+came back triumphant. She would take for a
+week at half price, all the stale cake they might
+have left. "That means gingercake," he explained,
+"she says the cookies and things will
+keep for weeks, without getting too old."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure enough!" said radiant Nettie, "I did
+not think of that."</p>
+
+<p>There were other things to think of; some of
+them greatly perplexed Jerry; he had to catch
+many fish before they were thought out. Then
+he came with his views to Nettie.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"See here, do you understand about this firm
+business; it must be you and me, you know?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's bright face clouded. "Why, I
+thought," she said, speaking slowly, "I thought
+you said, or you meant&mdash;I mean I thought it
+was to help Norm; and that he would be a
+partner."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry shook his head. "Can't do it," he
+said decidedly. "Look here, Nettie, we'll get
+into trouble right away if we take in a partner.
+He believes in drinking beer, and smoking
+cigarettes, and doing things of that sort; now
+if he as a partner introduces anything of the
+kind, what are we to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure enough!" the tone expressed conviction,
+but not relief. "Then what are we to do,
+Jerry? I don't see how we are going to help
+Norm any."</p>
+
+<p>"I do; quite as well as though he was a partner.
+Norm is a good-natured fellow; he likes
+to help people. I think he likes to do things
+for others better than for himself. If we explain
+to him that we want to go into this business,
+and that you can't wait on customers, because
+you are a girl, and it wouldn't be the thing, and
+I can't, because it is in your house, and I promised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span>
+my father I would spend my evenings at
+home, and write a piece of a letter to him every
+evening; and ask him to come to the rescue
+and keep the room open, and sell the things for
+us, don't you believe he will be twice as likely
+to do it as though we made him as young as
+ourselves, and tried to be his equals?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Nettie's face was bright. "What a contriver
+you are!" she said admiringly. "I think
+that will do just splendidly."</p>
+
+<p>She was right, it did. Norm might have
+curled his lip and said "pooh" to the scheme,
+had he been placed on an equality; for he was
+getting to the age when to be considered young,
+or childish, is a crime in a boy's eyes. But to
+be appealed to as one who could help the
+"young fry" out of their dilemma, and at the
+same time provide himself with a very pleasant
+place to stay, and very congenial employment
+while he stayed, was quite to Norm's mind.</p>
+
+<p>And as it was an affair of the children's, he
+made no suggestions about beer or cigars; it is
+true he thought of them, but he thought at
+once that neither Nettie or Jerry would probably
+have anything to do with them, and as he
+had no dignity to sustain, he decided to not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span>
+even mention the matter. These two planned
+really better than they knew in appealing to
+Norm for help. His curious pride would never
+have allowed him to say to a boy, "We keep
+cakes and coffee for sale at our house; come in
+and try them." But it was entirely within the
+line of his ideas of respectability to say: "What
+do you think those two young ones over at our
+house have thought up next? They have opened
+an eating-house, cakes and things such as my
+sister can make, and coffee, dirt cheap. I've
+promised to run the thing for them in the evening
+awhile; I suppose you'll patronize them?"</p>
+
+<p>And the boys, who would have sneered at <i>his</i>
+setting himself up in business, answered:
+"What, the little chap who lives at Smith's?
+And your little sister! Ho! what a notion!
+I don't know but it is a bright one, though, as
+sure as you live. There isn't a spot in this
+town where a fellow can get a decent bite unless
+he pays his week's wages for it; boys, let's
+go around and see what the little chaps are
+about."</p>
+
+<p>The very first evening was a success.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie had assured herself that she must not
+be disappointed if no one came, at first.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You see, it is a new thing," she explained
+to her mother, "of course it will take them a
+little while to get acquainted with it; if nobody
+at all comes to-night, I shall not be disappointed.
+Shall you, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," said Jerry, "I should; because I
+know of one boy who is coming, and is going
+to have a ginger-snap and a glass of milk. And
+that is little Ted Locker who lives down the
+lane; they about starve that boy. I shall like
+to see him get something good. He has three
+cents and I assured him he could get a brimming
+glass of milk and a ginger-snap for that.
+He was as delighted as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fellow!" said Nettie, "I mean to tell
+Norm to let him have two snaps, wouldn't
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>And Jerry agreed, not stopping to explain
+that he had furnished the three cents with which
+Ted was to treat his poor little stomach. So
+the work began in benevolence.</p>
+
+<p>Still Nettie was anxious, not to say nervous.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have to eat soft gingerbread at
+your house, for breakfast, dinner and supper, I
+am afraid," she said to Jerry with a half laugh,
+as they stood looking at it. "I don't know why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span>
+I made four tins of it; I seemed to get in a
+gale when I was making it."</p>
+
+<p>"Never you fear," said Jerry, cheerily. "I'll
+be willing to eat such gingerbread as that three
+times a day for a week. Between you and me,"
+lowering his voice, "Sarah Ann can't make very
+good gingerbread; when we get such a run of
+custom that we have none left over to sell, I
+wish you'd teach her how."</p>
+
+<p>I do not know that any member of the two
+households could be said to be more interested
+in the new enterprise than Mr. Decker. He
+helped set up the shelves, and he made a little
+corner shelf on purpose for the lamp, and he
+watched the entire preparations with an interest
+which warmed Nettie's heart. I haven't said
+anything about Mr. Decker during these days,
+because I found it hard to say. You are acquainted
+with him as a sour-faced, unreasonable,
+beer-drinking man; when suddenly he became
+a man who said "Good morning" when he came
+into the room, and who sat down smooth shaven,
+and with quiet eyes and smile to his breakfast,
+and spoke gently to Susie when she tipped her
+cup of water over, and kissed little Sate when
+he lifted her to her seat, and waited for Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>
+Decker to bring the coffee pot, then bowed his
+head and in clear tones asked a blessing on the
+food, how am I to describe him to you? The
+change was something which even Mrs. Decker
+who watched him every minute he was in the
+house and thought of him all day long, could
+not get accustomed to. It astonished her so
+to think that she, Mrs. Decker, lived in a house
+where there was a prayer made every night and
+morning, and where each evening after supper
+Nettie read a few verses in the Bible, and her
+father prayed; that every time she passed her
+own mother's Bible which had been brought out
+of its hiding-place in an old trunk, she said,
+under her breath, "Thank the Lord." No, she
+did not understand it, the marvelous change
+which had come over her husband. She had
+known him as a kind man; he had been that
+when she married him, and for a few months
+afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>She had heard him speak pleasantly to Norm,
+and show him much attention; he had done
+it before they were married, and for awhile
+afterwards; but there was a look in his face,
+and a sound in his voice now, such as she had
+never seen nor heard before.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It isn't Decker," she said in a burst of confidence
+to Nettie. "He is just as good as he
+can be; and I don't know anything in the world
+he ain't willing to do for me, or for any of us;
+and it is beautiful, the whole of it; but it is all
+new. I used to think if the man I married
+could only come back to me I should be perfectly
+happy; but I don't know this man at all;
+he seems to me sometimes most like an angel."</p>
+
+<p>Probably you would have laughed at this.
+Joe Decker did not look in the least like the
+picture you have in your mind of an angel;
+but perhaps if you had known him only a few
+weeks before, as Mrs. Decker did, and could
+have seen the wonderful change in him which
+she saw, the contrast might even have suggested
+angels.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie understood it. She struggled with
+her timidity and her ignorance of just what
+ought to be said; then she made her earnest
+reply:</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I'll tell you the difference. Father
+prays, and when people pray, you know, and
+mean it, as he does, they get to looking very
+different."</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Decker did not pray.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII.<br />
+
+<small>TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>AS a matter of fact there wasn't a cake
+left. Neither doughnut nor gingersnap;
+hardly a crumb to tell the successful tale.
+Nettie surveyed the empty shelves the next
+morning in astonishment. She had been too
+busy the night before to realize how fast things
+were going. Naturally the number and variety
+of dishes in the Decker household was limited
+and the evening to Nettie was a confused
+murmur of, "Hand us some more cups."
+"Can't you raise a few more teaspoons somewhere?"
+"Give us another plate," or, "More
+doughnuts needed;" and Nettie flew hither and
+thither, washed cups, rinsed spoons, said, "What
+did I do with that towel?" or, "Where in the
+world is the bread knife?" or, "Oh! I smell
+the coffee! maybe it is boiling over," and was
+conscious of nothing but weariness and relief<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span>
+when the last cup of coffee was drank, and the
+last teaspoon washed.</div>
+
+<p>But with the next morning's sunshine she
+knew the opening was a success. She counted
+the gains with eager joy, assuring Jerry that
+they could have twice as much gingerbread next
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"And you'll need it," said Norm. "I had to
+tell half a dozen boys that there wasn't a crumb
+left. I felt sorry for 'em, too; they were boarding-house
+fellows who never get anything decent
+to eat."</p>
+
+<p>Already Norm had apparently forgotten that
+he was one who used frequently to make a similar
+complaint.</p>
+
+<p>There was a rarely sweet smile on Nettie's
+face, not born of the chink in the factory bag
+which she had made for the money; it grew
+from the thought that she need not hide the bag
+now, and tremble lest it should be taken to the
+saloon to pay for whiskey. What a little time
+ago it was that she had feared that! What a
+changed world it was!</p>
+
+<p>"But there won't be such a crowd again,"
+she said as they were putting the room in order,
+"that was the first night."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said that wise woman Susie with
+a significant toss of her head; "last night you
+said we mustn't expect anybody because it was
+the first night."</p>
+
+<p>Then "the firm" had a hearty laugh at Nettie's
+expense and set to work preparing for evening.</p>
+
+<p>I am not going to tell you the story of that
+summer and fall. It was beautiful; as any of
+the Deckers will tell you with eager eyes and
+voluble voice if you call on them, and start the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>The business grew and grew, and exceeded
+their most sanguine expectations. Mr. Decker
+interested himself in it most heartily, and
+brought often an old acquaintance to get a cup
+of coffee. "Make it good and strong," he
+would say to Nettie in an earnest whisper.
+"He's thirsty, and I brought him here instead
+of going for beer. I wish the room was larger,
+and I'd get others to come."</p>
+
+<p>In time, and indeed in a very short space of
+time, this grew to be the crying need of the
+firm: "If we only had more room, and more
+dishes!" There was a certain long, low building
+which had once been used as a boarding-house<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span>
+for the factory hands, before that institution
+grew large and moved into new quarters, and
+which was not now in use. At this building
+Jerry and Nettie, and for that matter, Norm,
+looked with longing eyes. They named it "Our
+Rooms," and hardly ever passed that they did
+not suggest some improvement in it which could
+be easily made, and which would make it just
+the thing for their business. They knew just
+what sort of curtains they would have at the
+windows, just what furnishings in front and
+back rooms, just how many lamps would be
+needed. "We will have a hanging lamp over
+the centre table," said Jerry. "One of those
+new-fashioned things which shine and give a
+bright light, almost like gas; and lots of books
+and papers for the boys to read."</p>
+
+<p>"But where would we get the books and
+papers?" would Nettie say, with an anxious
+business face, as though the room, and the
+table, and the hanging lamp, were arranged for,
+and the last-mentioned articles all that were
+needed to complete the list.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! they would gather, little by little. I
+know some people who would donate great
+piles of them if we had a place to put them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span>
+For that matter, as it is, father is going to send
+us some picture-papers, a great bundle of them;
+send them by express, and we must have a table
+to put them on."</p>
+
+<p>So the plans grew, but constantly they looked
+at the long, low building and said what a nice
+place it would be.</p>
+
+<p>One morning Jerry came across the yard with
+a grave face. "What do you think?" he said,
+the moment he caught sight of Nettie. "They
+have gone and rented our rooms for a horrid
+old saloon; whiskey in front, and gambling in
+the back part! Isn't it a shame that they have
+got ahead of us in that kind of way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear me!" said Nettie, drawing out each
+word to twice its usual length, and sitting down
+on a corner of the woodbox with hands clasped
+over the dish towel, and for the moment a look
+on her face as though all was lost.</p>
+
+<p>But it was the very same day that Jerry
+appeared again, his face beaming. This time it
+was hard to make Nettie hear, for Mrs. Decker
+was washing, and mingling with the rapid rub-a-dub
+of the clothes was the sizzle of ham in
+the spider, and the bubble of a kettle which
+was bent on boiling over, and making the half-distracted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span>
+housekeeper all the trouble it could.
+Yet his news was too good to keep; and he
+shouted above the din: "I say, Nettie, the man
+has backed out! Our rooms are not rented,
+after all."</p>
+
+<p>"Goody!" said Nettie, and she smiled on the
+kettle in a way to make it think she did not
+care if everything in it boiled over on the floor;
+whereupon it calmed down, of course, and behaved
+itself.</p>
+
+<p>So the weeks passed, and the enterprise grew
+and flourished. I hope you remember Mrs.
+Speckle? Very early in the autumn she sent
+every one of her chicks out into the world to
+toil for themselves and began business. Each
+morning a good-sized, yellow-tinted, warm, beautiful
+egg lay in the nest waiting for Jerry; and
+when he came, Mrs. Speckle cackled the news
+to him in the most interested way.</p>
+
+<p>"She couldn't do better if she were a regularly
+constituted member of the firm with a
+share in the profits," said Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>The egg was daily carried to Mrs. Farley's,
+where there was an invalid daughter, who had
+a fancy for that warm, plump egg which came
+to her each morning, done up daintily in pink<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span>
+cotton, and laid in a box just large enough for
+it. But there came a morning which was a
+proud one to Nettie. Jerry had returned from
+Mrs. Farley's with news. "The sick daughter
+is going South; she has an auntie who is to
+spend the winter in Florida, so they have decided
+to send her. They start to-morrow morning.
+Mrs. Farley said they would take our
+eggs all the same, and she wished Miss Helen
+could have them; but somebody else would
+have to eat them for her."</p>
+
+<p>Then Nettie, beaming with pleasure, "Jerry,
+I wish you would tell Mrs. Farley that we can't
+spare them any more at present; I would have
+told you before, but I didn't want to take the
+egg from Miss Helen; I want to buy them
+now, every other morning, for mother and
+father; mother thinks there is nothing nicer
+than a fresh egg, and I know father will be
+pleased."</p>
+
+<p>What satisfaction was in Nettie's voice,
+what joy in her heart! Oh! they were poor,
+very poor, "miserably poor" Lorena Barstow
+called them, but they had already reached the
+point where Nettie felt justified in planning for
+a fresh egg apiece for father and mother, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span>
+knew that it could be paid for. So Mrs. Speckle
+began from that day to keep the results of her
+industry in the home circle, and grew more
+important because of that.</p>
+
+<p>Almost every day now brought surprises. One
+of the largest of them was connected with Susie
+Decker. That young woman from the very first
+had shown a commendable interest in everything
+pertaining to the business. She patiently did
+errands for it, in all sorts of weather, and was
+always ready to dust shelves, arrange cookies
+without eating so much as a bite, and even wipe
+teaspoons, a task which she used to think beneath
+her. "If you can't trust me with things
+that would smash," she used to say with scornful
+gravity, to Nettie, "then you can't expect
+me to be willing to wipe those tough spoons."</p>
+
+<p>But in these days, spoons were taken uncomplainingly.
+Susie had a business head, and was
+already learning to count pennies and add them
+to the five and ten cent pieces; and when Jerry
+said approvingly: "One of these days, she will
+be our treasurer," the faintest shadow of a
+blush would appear on Susie's face, but she
+always went on counting gravely, with an air
+of one who had not heard a word.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On a certain stormy, windy day, one of
+November's worst, it was discovered late in the
+afternoon that the molasses jug was empty, and
+the boys had been promised some molasses candy
+that very evening.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do?" asked Nettie, looking
+perplexed, and standing jug in hand in the middle
+of the room. "Jerry won't be home in
+time to get it, and I can't leave those cakes to
+bake themselves; mother, you don't think you
+could see to them a little while till I run to the
+grocery, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker shook her head, but spoke sympathetically:
+"I'd do it in a minute, child, or I'd
+go for the molasses, but these shirts are very
+particular; I never had such fine ones to iron
+before, and the irons are just right, and if I
+should have to leave the bosoms at the wrong
+minute to look at the cakes, why, it would spoil
+the bosoms; and on the other hand, if I left
+the cakes and saved the bosoms, why, they would
+be spoiled."</p>
+
+<p>This seemed logical reasoning. Susie, perched
+on a high chair in front of the table, was counting
+a large pile of pennies, putting them in
+heaps of twenty-five cents each. She waited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span>
+until her fourth heap was complete, then looked
+up. "Why don't you ask me to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure enough!" said Nettie, laughing, "I'd
+'ask' you in a minute if it didn't rain so hard;
+but it seems a pretty stormy day to send out a
+little chicken like you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not a chicken, and I'm not the leastest
+bit afraid of rain; I can go as well as not if
+you only think so."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it will hurt her!" said Mrs.
+Decker, glancing doubtfully out at the sullen
+sky. "It doesn't rain so hard as it did, and she
+has such a nice thick sack now."</p>
+
+<p>It was nice, made of heavy waterproof cloth,
+with a lovely woolly trimming going all around
+it. Susie liked that sack almost better than
+anything else in the world. Her mother had
+bought it second-hand of a woman whose little
+girl had outgrown it; the mother had washed
+all day and ironed another day to pay for it, and
+felt the liveliest delight in seeing Susie in the
+pretty garment.</p>
+
+<p>The rain seemed to be quieting a little, so
+presently the young woman was robed in sack
+and waterproof bonnet with a cape, and started
+on her way.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Half-way to the grocery she met Jerry hastening
+home from school with a bag of books
+slung across his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it so late as that?" asked Susie in dismay.
+"Nettie thought you wouldn't be at
+home in a good while; the candy won't get
+done."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is as early as this," he answered laughing;
+"we were dismissed an hour earlier than
+usual this afternoon. Where are you going?
+after molasses? See here, suppose you give me
+the jug and you take my books and scud home.
+There is a big storm coming on; I think the
+wind is going to blow, and I'm afraid it will
+twist you all up and pour the molasses over
+you. Then you'd be ever so sticky!"</p>
+
+<p>Susie laughed and exchanged not unwillingly
+the heavy jug for the books. There had been
+quite wind enough since she started, and if
+there was to be more, she had no mind to brave
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"If you hurry," called Jerry, "I think you'll
+get home before the next squall comes." So
+she hurried; but Jerry was mistaken. The
+squall came with all its force, and poor small
+Susie was twisted and whirled and lost her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span>
+breath almost, and panted and struggled on, and
+was only too thankful that she hadn't the molasses
+jug.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly opposite the Farley home, their side
+door suddenly opened and a pleasant voice
+called: "Little girl, come in here, and wait
+until the shower is over; you will be wet to the
+skin."</p>
+
+<p>It is true Susie did not believe that her waterproof
+sack <i>could</i> be wet through, but that
+dreadful wind so frightened her, twisting the
+trees as it did, that she was glad to obey the
+kind voice and rush into shelter.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it is Nettie's sister, I do believe!"
+said Ermina Farley, helping her off with the
+dripping hood.</p>
+
+<p>"You dear little mouse, what sent you out in
+such a storm?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Susie not liking the idea of being a
+mouse much more than she did being a chicken,
+answered with dignity, and becoming brevity.</p>
+
+<p>"Molasses candy!" said Mrs. Farley, laughing,
+yet with an undertone of disapproval in
+her voice which keen-minded Susie heard and
+felt, "I shouldn't think that was a necessity of
+life on such a day as this."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is if you have promised it to some boys
+who don't ever have anything nice only what
+they get at our house; and who save their pennies
+that they spend on beer, and cider, and
+cigars to get it."</p>
+
+<p>Wise Susie, indignation in every word, yet
+well controlled, and aware before she finished
+her sentence that she was deeply interesting her
+audience! How they questioned her! What
+was this? Who did it? Who thought of it?
+When did they begin it? Who came? How
+did they get the money to buy their things?
+Susie, thoroughly posted, thoroughly in sympathy
+with the entire movement, calm, collected,
+keen far beyond her years, answered clearly
+and well. Plainly she saw that this lady in a
+silken gown was interested.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if this isn't a revelation!" said Mrs.
+Farley at last. "A young men's Christian
+association not only, but an eating-house flourishing
+right in our midst and we knowing nothing
+about it. Did you know anything of it,
+daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," said Ermina. "But I knew
+that splendid Nettie was trying to do something
+for her brother; and that nice boy who used to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span>
+bring eggs was helping her; it is just like them
+both. I don't believe there is a nicer girl in
+town than Nettie Decker."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Farley seemed unable to give up the
+subject. She asked many questions as to how
+long the boys stayed, and what they did all the
+time.</p>
+
+<p>Susie explained: "Well, they eat, you know;
+and Norm doesn't hurry them; he says they
+have to pitch the things down fast where they
+board, to keep them from freezing; and our
+room is warm, because we keep the kitchen
+door open, and the heat goes in; but we don't
+know what we shall do when the weather gets
+real cold; and after they have eaten all the
+things they can pay for, they look at the pictures.
+Jerry's father sends him picture papers,
+and Mr. Sherrill brings some, most every day.
+Miss Sherrill is coming Thanksgiving night to
+sing for them; and Nettie says if we only had
+an organ she would play beautiful music. We
+want to give them a treat for Thanksgiving;
+we mean to do it without any pay at all if we
+can; and father thinks we can, because he is
+working nights this week, and getting extra
+pay; and Jerry thinks there will be two chickens<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span>
+ready; and Nettie wishes we could have an
+organ for a little while, just for Norm, because
+he loves music so, but of course we can't."</p>
+
+<p>Long before this sentence was finished,
+Ermina and her mother had exchanged glances
+which Susie, being intent on her story, did not
+see.</p>
+
+<p>She was a wise little woman of business;
+what if Mrs. Farley should say: "Well, I will
+give you a chicken myself for the Thanksgiving
+time, and a whole peck of apples!" then indeed,
+Susie believed that their joy would be
+complete; for Nettie had said, if they could
+only afford three chickens she believed that
+with a lot of crust she could make chicken pie
+enough for them each to have a large piece, hot;
+not all the boys, of course, but the seven or
+eight who worked in Norm's shop and boarded
+at the dreary boarding-house; they would so
+like to give Norm a surprise for his birthday,
+and have a treat say at six o'clock for all of
+these; for this year Thanksgiving fell on Norm's
+birthday. The storm held up after a little, and
+Susie, trudging home, a trifle disgusted with
+Mrs. Farley because she said not a word about
+the peck of apples or the other chicken, was met<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span>
+by Jerry coming in search of her. The molasses
+was boiling over, he told her, and so was her
+mother, with anxiety lest the wind had taken
+her, Susie, up in a tree, and had forgotten to
+bring her down again. He hurried her home
+between the squalls, and Susie quietly resolved
+to say not a word about all the things she had
+told at the Farley home. What if Nettie should
+think she hadn't been womanly to talk so much
+about what they were doing! If there was one
+thing that this young woman had a horror of
+during these days, it was that Nettie would
+think she was not womanly. The desire, nay,
+the determination to be so, at all costs had well
+nigh cured her of her fits of rage and screaming,
+because in one of her calm moments Nettie
+had pointed out to her the fact that she never
+in her life heard a <i>woman</i> scream like that.
+Susie being a logical person, argued the rest of
+the matter out for herself, and resolved to
+scream and stamp her foot no more.</p>
+
+<p>Great was the astonishment of the Decker
+family, next morning. Mrs. Farley herself came
+to call on them. She wanted some plain ironing
+done that afternoon. Yes, Mrs. Decker
+would do it and be glad to; it was a leisure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span>
+afternoon with her. Mrs. Farley wanted something
+more! she wanted to know about the
+business in which Nettie and her young friend
+next door were engaged; and Susie listened
+breathlessly, for fear it would appear that she
+had told more than she ought. But Mrs. Farley
+kept her own counsel, only questioning Nettie
+closely, and at last she made a proposition
+that had well nigh been the ruin of the tin of
+cookies which Nettie was taking from the oven.
+She dropped the tin!</p>
+
+<p>"Did you burn you, child?" asked Mrs.
+Decker, rushing forward.</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," said Nettie, laughing, and trying
+not to laugh, and wanting to cry, and being
+too amazed to do so. "But I was so surprised
+and so almost scared, that they dropped.</p>
+
+<p>"O Mrs. Farley, we have wanted that more
+than anything else in the world; ever since
+Mr. Sherrill saw how my brother Norman
+loved music, and said it might be the saving of
+him; Jerry and I have planned and planned,
+but we never thought of being able to do it for
+a long, long time."</p>
+
+<p>Yet all this joy was over an old, somewhat
+wheezy little house organ which stood in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>
+second-story unused room of Mrs. Farley's
+house, and which she had threatened to send
+to the city auction rooms to get out of the
+way.</p>
+
+<p>She offered to lend it to Nettie for her
+"Rooms," and Nettie's gratitude was so great
+that the blood seemed inclined to leave her
+face entirely for a minute, then thought better
+of it and rolled over it in waves.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.<br />
+
+<small>THE CROWNING WONDER.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>AND they did have the Thanksgiving supper!</div>
+
+<p>It seemed wonderful to Nettie, even then,
+and long afterwards the wonder grew, that
+so many things occurred about that time to
+help the scheme along. At first it was to be
+a very simple little affair; two of the boys,
+Rick for instance, and Alf, invited to come in
+an hour or so before the room was open for
+the evening, and have a little supper by themselves&mdash;a
+chicken, and possibly some cranberry
+sauce if she could compass it, though
+cranberries were very expensive at that season,
+and besides, they ate sugar in a way which was
+perfectly alarming! A pie of some sort she had
+quite set her heart on, but whether it would be
+pumpkin or not, depended on how they succeeded
+in saving up for extra milk. The circumstances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span>
+of the Deckers were changing steadily, but when
+a man has tumbled to the foot of a hill, and
+lain there quite awhile, it is generally a slow
+process to get up and climb back to where he
+was before.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker's wages were good, and in time
+he expected to be able to support his family in
+at least ordinary comfort; but when he came
+fully to his senses, he stood for awhile appalled
+before the number of things which had been
+sold to pay his bill at the saloon, and the number
+of things which in the meantime had worn
+out, and not been replaced by new ones; then
+the rent was two months back, and Job Smith
+had been all that stood between him and a home.
+There was a great deal to do if the Deckers
+were to get back to the place from which they
+began to roll down hill; so extra expenses for
+cranberries, or even milk, were not to be thought
+of, if they must be drawn from the family funds.</p>
+
+<p>The business of the firm was flourishing; but
+you must remember that the central feature of
+the enterprise was to keep prices very low, lower
+than beer and bad cigars, and the enterprise of
+the dealers in these things is so great, that if
+you are willing to put up with the meanest sorts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span>
+you can always get them very low indeed. To
+compete with them, Jerry and Nettie had to
+study the most rigid economy to keep their
+shelves supplied, and even to sometimes "shut
+their eyes and make a reckless dash at apples or
+peanuts, regardless of expense." This was the
+way in which Jerry occasionally apologized for
+an extra quantity of these luxuries.</p>
+
+<p>Still, in the most interesting ways the Thanksgiving
+supper grew. Mrs. Decker secured within
+a week of the time, an unexpected ironing
+which she could do in two evenings, and she
+it was who proposed the wild scheme of having
+two chickens and having them hot, and stuffing
+them with bread crumbs as she used to do years
+ago, and having gravy and some baked potatoes.
+She agreed to furnish the extra potatoes, and a
+few turnips, just to make it feel like Thanksgiving.
+Nettie was astonished, but pleased. It
+would be more work, but what of that? Think
+of being able to make a real supper for Norm's
+birthday! Then Mrs. Smith at just the right
+moment had a present of two pumpkins from
+her country friends; as they could never make
+away with two pumpkins before they would
+spoil, of course the Deckers must take part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span>
+one, at least. About that time the minister
+bought a cow, and what did he do but come
+himself one night to know if Mrs. Decker had
+any use for skimmed milk; they were very fond
+of cream at their house, and skimmed milk gathered
+faster than they knew what to do with it.</p>
+
+<p>"Any use for skim milk!" Mrs. Decker
+could only repeat the words in a kind of ecstasy
+at her good luck, and she almost wondered that
+the yellow pumpkin standing behind the door
+in the closet did not laugh outright.</p>
+
+<p>But the crowning wonder came, after all, on
+the morning before the eventful day. Jake, the
+Farleys' man of all work, brought it in a basket
+which was large and closely covered, and very
+heavy looking. It was left at the door with
+Susie, who went to answer the knock, "For
+Miss Nettie." Susie repeated the name with a
+lingering tone as though she liked the sound
+of the unusual prefix. Then they gathered
+about the basket. A great solemn-looking turkey
+with a note in his mouth, which said: "A
+Thanksgiving token for Nettie, from her friend
+<span class="smcap">Ermina Farley</span>."</p>
+
+<p>A turkey in the Decker oven! Mr. Decker
+surveyed the great fellow in silence for a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span>
+minutes, then said impressively, "If we don't
+have a new cook stove before another Thanksgiving
+day comes around, my name is not
+Decker."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Job Smith left her pies half-made, and
+ran in, in a friendly way, to see the wonder;
+and at once remarked that he would exactly fit
+into their oven, and she wasn't going to cook
+their turkey till the day afterwards, because
+they had got to go to Job's uncle's for Thanksgiving;
+so that matter was settled. It was
+then that the Deckers decided to make a reckless
+plunge into society and invite every boy in
+Norm's shop to a three o'clock dinner, with turkey
+and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie and
+turnip, and all the rest.</p>
+
+<p>What a day it was! They grew nearly wild
+in their efforts to keep all the secrets from
+Norm, and act as though nothing unusual was
+happening. Especially was this the case after
+the morning express brought a package for Nettie
+from her dear old home, with two mince
+pies, and a box of Auntie Marshall's doughnuts,
+and a bag of nuts, and as much as two pounds
+of the loveliest candy she ever saw; sent by the
+young man of the home who was clerk in a wholesale<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span>
+confectioner's. It took Mrs. Decker and
+Nettie not five minutes to resolve, looking curiously
+into each other's faces the while to see if
+they really had become insane, that they would
+have a regular dessert following the dinner!</p>
+
+<p>"It is only once a year," said Nettie apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>"It is only once in five years!" said Mrs.
+Decker solemnly. "I haven't had a Thanksgiving
+in five years, child; and I never expected
+to have another."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody was busy all day long. Mrs.
+Smith was in and out, helping as faithfully as
+though Norm was her boy, and Sarah Ann just
+gave herself up to the importance of the occasion,
+and did not go to her uncle's at all. "I can go
+there any time," she said good naturedly, "or
+no time; they always forget that we are alive till
+Thanksgiving Day, and then they ask us because
+they kind of think they've got to. Uncle Jed is
+a clerk, and his wife makes dresses for the folks
+on Belmont street, and they feel stuck up four
+feet above us; I'd rather eat cold pork and potatoes
+at home than to go there any day. I'm
+dreadful glad of an excuse that father thinks is
+worth giving."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Susie was a young woman of importance that
+day. Nettie, who had discovered exactly how
+to manage her, gave her work to do which suited
+her ideas of what a grown person like herself
+ought to be about; and when she wanted the
+table cleared from the picture papers of the
+night before, instead of telling Miss Susie to fold
+them away, said, "What do you think, Susie,
+would it be best for us to fold these papers away
+in the closet for to-day, and have this table left
+clear for the nuts and the candies?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Susie, with her grown-up air, "I
+think it would; I'll attend to it." And she did
+it beautifully.</p>
+
+<p>"It is well we have no little bits of folks
+around," said Nettie, when the nuts were being
+cracked, "they would be tempted to eat some,
+and then I'm afraid we would not have enough
+to go around." And Susie, gravely assenting to
+this theory, arranged the nuts in Mrs. Smith's
+blue saucers, an equal number in each, and ate
+not one!</p>
+
+<p>Little Sate went with Jerry to give the invitations
+to the boys, and to charge them to keep
+the whole thing a profound secret from Norm;
+they came home by way of the Farley woods,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span>
+and little Sate appeared at the door with her
+arms laden with such lovely branches of autumn
+leaves, that Nettie exclaimed in wild delight,
+and left her turnips half-peeled to help adorn
+the walls of the front room. This suggested
+the idea, and by three o'clock that room was a
+bower of beauty. Red and golden and lovely
+brown leaves mixed in with the evergreen tassels
+of the pines, with here and there pine cones,
+and red berries peeping out from everywhere.
+"You little darling," said Nettie, kissing Sate,
+"you have made a picture of it, like what they
+paint on canvas, only a thousand times lovelier."</p>
+
+<p>And Sate, looking on, with her wide sweet
+eyes aglow with feeling, fitted the picture well.</p>
+
+<p>So the feast was spread, and the astonished
+and hungry boys came, and feasted. And
+Norm, too astonished at first to take it in, began
+presently to understand that all this preparation
+and delight were in honor of his birthday!
+And though he said not a word, aloud, he kept
+up in his soul a steady line of thought; the centre
+of which was this:</p>
+
+<p>"I don't deserve it, that's a fact; there's
+mother doing everything for me, and Nettie
+working like a slave, and the children going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span>
+without things to give me a treat. I'll be in a
+better fix to keep a birthday before it gets
+around again, see if I'm not!"</p>
+
+<p>His was not the only thinking which was done
+that day. Rick, merry enough all the afternoon,
+and enjoying his dinner as well as it was possible
+for a hungry fellow to do, nevertheless had
+a sober look on his face more than once, and
+said as he shook hands with Norm at night:
+"I'll tell you what it is, my boy, if I had your
+kind of a home, and folks, I'd be worth something
+in the world; I would, so. I ain't sure,
+between you and me, but I shall, anyhow; just
+for the sake of getting into such Thanksgiving
+houses once in awhile. By and by a fellow will
+have to carry himself pretty straight, or that
+sister of yours won't have nothing to do with
+him; I can see that in her eyes."</p>
+
+<p>Then he went home. And cold though his
+room was he sat down, even after he had pulled
+off his coat, as a memory of some thoughtful
+word of Nettie's came over him, and went all
+over it again; then he brought his hard hand
+down with a thud on the rickety table, on
+which he leaned and said: "As sure as you live,
+and breathe the breath of life, old fellow, you've<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span>
+got to turn over a new leaf; and you've got to
+begin to-night."</p>
+
+<p>It was less than a week after the Thanksgiving
+excitements that the town got itself roused
+over something which reached even to the children.
+Jerry came home from school with it,
+and came directly to Nettie, his cheeks aglow
+with the news. "There's to be the biggest
+kind of a time here next Thursday, Nettie;
+don't you think General McClintock is coming,
+to give a lecture, and they are going to give him
+a reception at Judge Bentley's and I don't know
+what all, and the schools are all going to dismiss
+and go down to the train in procession to meet
+him, and they are going to sing, <i>Hail to the
+Chief</i>, and the band is to play, <i>See, the conquering
+Hero comes</i>, and I don't know what isn't
+going to be done."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is General McClintock?" said ignorant
+Nettie, composedly drying her plate as though
+all the generals in the world were nothing to
+her. Then did Jerry come the nearest impatience
+that Nettie had ever seen in him; and he
+launched forth in such a wild praise of General
+McClintock and such an excited account of the
+things which he had done and said, and prevented,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span>
+and pushed, that Nettie was half bewildered
+and delightfully excited when he
+paused for breath. Henceforth the talk of the
+town was General McClintock.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a wonder they asked him to speak on
+temperance," said Nettie, disdain in her voice;
+she had not a high opinion of the temperance
+enthusiasm of the town in which she lived.</p>
+
+<p>"They didn't," said Jerry. "He asked himself;
+they wanted him to talk about the war, or
+the tariff, or the great West, or some other
+stupid thing, but he said, 'No, sir! the great
+question of the day is temperance, and I shall
+speak on that, or nothing!'"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you happen to know so much about
+him?" Nettie questioned one day when Jerry
+was at his highest pitch of excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho!" he said, almost in scorn, "I have
+known about him ever since I was born; everybody
+knows General McClintock." Then Nettie
+felt meek and ignorant.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing had ever so excited Jerry as the
+coming of the hero; and indeed the town generally
+seemed to have caught fire. General
+McClintock seemed to be the theme of every
+tongue. Connected with these days, Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span>
+had her perplexities and her sorrows. In the
+first place, Jerry was obstinately determined
+that she should join the procession with him to
+meet General McClintock. In vain she protested
+that she did not belong to the public schools.
+He did, he said, and that was enough.</p>
+
+<p>Then when Nettie urged and almost cried, he
+had another plan: "Well, then, we won't go as
+scholars. We'll go ahead, as private individuals;
+I'm only a kind of a scholar, anyhow, just
+holding on for a few weeks till my father comes;
+we'll go up there early and get a good place before
+the procession forms and see the whole of
+it. I know the marshal real well; he's a good
+friend of mine, and I know he will give us a
+place."</p>
+
+<p>It was of no use for Nettie to protest; to
+remind him that the girls would think she was
+putting herself forward, to say that she had
+nothing to wear to such a gathering. She might
+as well have talked to a stone for all the impression
+she made. She had never seen him so resolute
+to have his own way. He did not care
+what she wore, it made not the slightest difference
+to him what the girls said, and he <i>did</i> ask
+it of her as a kindness to him, and he should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span>
+hurt so that he could never get over it if she refused
+to go; he had never wanted anything so
+much in his life, and he <i>could</i> not give it up. So
+Nettie, reluctant, sorrowful, promised, and cried
+over it in her room that night. She wanted to
+please Jerry, for his father was coming now in a
+few weeks perhaps, and Jerry would go away
+with him, and she should never see him again;
+and what in the world would she do without
+him? And here she cried harder than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Then came up that dreadful question of
+clothes; her one winter dress was too short and
+too narrow and a good deal worn. Auntie Marshall
+had thought last winter that it would
+hardly do for a church dress, and here it was
+still her best. There was no such thing as a
+new one for the present; for mother had not
+had anything in so long, she must be clothed,
+and Nettie was willing to wait; but she was
+not willing to take a conspicuous place on a
+public day and be stared at and talked about.</p>
+
+<p>However, Jerry continued merciless to the
+very last; nothing else would satisfy him. He
+hurried her in a breathless state down the hill
+to the platform, smiled and nodded to his
+friend the marshal, who nodded back in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span>
+most confidential manner, and perched them on
+the corner of the temporary platform, right behind
+the reception committee! It was every
+whit as disagreeable as Nettie had planned that
+it should be. Of course Lorena Barstow was
+among the leaders in the young people's procession,
+and of course she contrived to get enough
+to be heard, and to say in a most unnecessarily
+loud voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Do look at that Decker girl perched up
+there on the platform. If she doesn't contrive
+to make herself a laughing stock everywhere!
+Girls, look at her hat; she must have worn it
+ever since they came out of the ark. What business
+is she here, anyway? She doesn't belong
+to the schools?"</p>
+
+<p>There was much more in the same vein; much
+pushing and crowding, and laughing and hateful
+speeches about folks who crowded in where
+they didn't belong, and poor Nettie, the tears
+only kept back by force of will, looked in vain
+for sympathy into Jerry's fairly dancing eyes.
+What ailed the boy? She had never seen him
+so almost wild with eager excitement before.
+Judge Barstow and Dr. Lewis were both on the
+reception committee, of course, and under cover<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span>
+of this, their daughters wedged their way to the
+front, and whispered to the fathers. Loud
+whispers:</p>
+
+<p>"Papa, that ridiculous Decker girl and the
+little Irish boy with her ought not to be
+perched up there in that conspicuous place.
+She doesn't belong here, anyway; she isn't a
+scholar."</p>
+
+<p>Then Judge Barstow in good-humored tones
+to Jerry: "My boy, don't you think you would
+find it quite as pleasant down there among the
+others? This little girl doesn't want to be up
+here, I am sure; suppose you both go down
+and fall behind the procession? You can see
+the General when the carriage passes; it is to be
+thrown open so every one can see."</p>
+
+<p>Then the marshal: "If you please, Judge
+Barstow, it won't do for them to try to get
+through now. The crowd is so great they might
+be hurt; there is plenty of room where they
+stand. They will do no harm."</p>
+
+<p><i>Now</i> the tears must come from the indignant
+eyes. No, they shall not. Jerry doesn't even
+wink. He only laughs, in the highest good
+humor. Has Jerry gone wild with excitement?
+"It will all be over in two minutes," explains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span>
+Judge Barstow. "He wished to drive directly
+to his hotel, and have perfect quiet for two
+hours. He declined to be entertained at a private
+house, or to say a word at the depot. I
+suppose he is fatigued, and doesn't like to trust
+his voice to speak in the open air; so the committee
+are to shake hands with him as rapidly
+as possible, and show him to his carriage, and
+not wait on him for two hours. He has ordered
+a private dinner at the Keppler House."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there is the whistle of the train, the
+band plays <i>See, the conquering Hero comes!</i>
+With the second strain the train comes to a halt,
+and a tall, broad-shouldered man with iron gray
+hair and a military air all about him steps from
+the platform amid the cheers of thousands.
+Now indeed there was some excuse for Lorena
+Barstow's loud exclamations of disapproval!
+There was Jerry, pushing his way among the
+throng, holding so firmly all the while to Nettie's
+hand that escape was impossible&mdash;pushing
+even past the reception committee, notwithstanding
+the detaining hand of Judge Barstow, who
+says,</p>
+
+<p>"See here, my boy, you are impudent, did
+you know it?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I beg pardon," says Jerry respectfully,
+but he slips past him, just as General McClintock
+with courteous words is thanking the committee
+of reception, declining their pressing personal
+invitations, his eyes meantime roving over
+the crowd in search of something or somebody.
+Suddenly they melt with a tenderness which
+does not belong to the soldier, and the firm lips
+quiver as his voice says: "O my boy!" and
+Jerry the Irish boy flings himself into General
+McClintock's arms, and the world stands agape!</p>
+
+<p>Just a second, and his hand holds firmly to
+the sack which covers Nettie's startled frightened
+form, then he releases himself and turns to her:
+"Father, this is Nettie!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure enough!" said the General, and his tall
+head bends and the mustached lips of the old
+soldier touch Nettie's cheek, and the cheering,
+hushed for a second, breaks forth afresh! It is a
+moment of the wildest excitement. Even then
+Nettie tries to break away and is held fast. And
+an officer of the day advances with the military
+salute and assures the General that his carriage
+is in waiting. And the General himself hands
+the bewildered Nettie in, with a friendly smile
+and an assuring: "Of course you must go. My<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span>
+boy planned this whole thing three months ago;
+and you and I must carry out his programme to
+the letter." Then Jerry springs like a cat into
+the carriage, and the scholars sing, <i>Hail to the
+Chief</i>, and the carriage, drawn by four horses,
+rolls down the road made wide for it by the
+homeguard in full uniform, and the General
+lifts his hat and bows right and left, and smiles
+on Nettie Decker sitting by his side, and almost
+devours with his hungry, fatherly eyes, her
+friend the Irish boy on the opposite seat. And
+the scholars almost forget to sing, in their great
+and ever-increasing amazement.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.<br />
+
+<small>THE PAST AND PRESENT.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>NETTIE DECKER sat by the window of
+her father's house, looking out into the
+beautiful world; taking one last look at the
+flowers, and the trees, and the lawn, and all the
+beautiful and familiar things. Saying good-by
+to them, for in a brief two hours she was to
+leave them, and the old home.</div>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 337px;">
+<img src="images/facing418.jpg" width="337" height="500" alt="woman at window" />
+<div class="caption">NETTIE DECKER HAS A SUITABLE DRESS AT LAST.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>She is Nettie Decker still, but you will not
+be able to say that of her in another hour. She
+has changed somewhat since you last saw her in
+her blue gingham dress a trifle faded, or in her
+brown merino much the worse for time.</p>
+
+<p>To-day she is twenty years old. A lovely
+summer day, and her birthday is to be celebrated
+by making it her wedding day. The blue gingham
+has been long gone; so has the brown
+merino. The dress she wears to-day looks unlike
+either of them. It is white, all white; she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span>
+has a suitable dress at last for a gala day. Soft,
+rich, quiet white silk. Long and full and pure;
+not a touch of trimming about it anywhere.
+Not even a flower yet, though she holds one in
+her hand in doubt whether she will add it to the
+whiteness.</p>
+
+<p>I think it will probably be pushed among the
+folds of soft lace which lie across her bosom;
+for that would please little Sate's artist eye, and
+Nettie likes to please Sate.</p>
+
+<p>While she sits there, watching the birds, and
+the flowers, and thinking of the strange sweet
+past, and the strange sweet present, there pass
+by almost underneath the window two young
+ladies; moving slowly, glancing up curiously at
+the open casement, from which Nettie draws a
+little back, that she may not be seen.</p>
+
+<p>"That is Nettie's room where the window is
+open," says one of the ladies. "It is a lovely
+room; I was in it once when the circle met
+there; it is furnished in blue, with creamy tints
+on the walls and furniture. I don't think I
+ever saw a prettier room. Nettie has excellent
+taste."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you say her brother is to be at the wedding?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"O, yes indeed! He came day before yesterday;
+he is a splendid-looking fellow, and smart;
+they say he is the finest student Yale has had
+for years. He graduated with the very highest
+honors, and now he is studying medicine. I
+heard Dr. Hobart say that he would be an honor
+to the profession. You ought to hear him play;
+I thought he would be a musician, he is so fond
+of music, and really he plays exquisitely on the
+organ. Last spring when he was home he played
+in church all day, and I heard ever so many people
+say they had never heard anything finer in
+any church."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't remember him. Was he in our set?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no! he wasn't in any set when you were
+here. Why, Irene Lewis, you must remember
+the Deckers! They weren't in any set."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I remember them, of course; don't you
+know what fun we used to make of Nettie?
+Didn't we call her Nan? I remember she always
+wore an old blue and white gingham to
+Sunday-school."</p>
+
+<p>"That was years ago; she dresses beautifully
+now, and in exquisite taste. She must make a
+lovely bride. I should like to get a glimpse of
+her."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The McClintocks are very rich, I have been
+told."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! immensely so; and they say General
+McClintock just idolizes Nettie. I don't wonder
+at that; she is a perfectly lovely girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to me, Lorena, my dear, about the
+time I left this part of the world you did not
+think so much of her as you do now. I remember
+you used to make all sorts of fun of her,
+and real hateful speeches, as schoolgirls will, you
+know. I have a distinct recollection of a flower
+party where she was, and my conscience, I remember,
+troubled me at the time for saying so
+many disagreeable things about her that afternoon;
+but I recollect I comforted myself with
+the thought that you were much worse than I.
+You used to lead off, in those days, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I remember; I was a perfect little idiot
+in those days. Yes, I was disagreeable enough
+to Nettie Decker; if she hadn't been a real
+sweet girl she would never have forgotten it;
+but I don't believe she ever thinks of it, and
+really she is so utterly changed, and all the
+family are, that I hardly ever remember her as
+the same girl."</p>
+
+<p>"What became of that little Irish boy she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span>
+used to be so fond of&mdash;Jerry, his name was?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Irene Lewis! you don't mean to tell
+me you have never heard about him! Well,
+you have been out of the world, sure enough."</p>
+
+<p>"I have never heard a word of him from the
+time I went with Uncle Lawrence out West.
+Father moved in the spring, you know, so instead
+of my coming back early in the spring as I
+expected, I never came until now? What about
+Jerry? Did he distinguish himself in any way?
+I always thought him a fine-looking boy."</p>
+
+<p>"That is too funny that you shouldn't know!
+Why, the Irish boy, Jerry, as you call him, is
+the Gerald McClintock whom Nettie Decker is
+to marry at twelve o'clock to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Gerald McClintock! How can that be?
+That boy's name was Jerry Mack."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed it wasn't. We were all deceived in
+that boy. It does seem so strange that you
+have never heard the story! Why, you see, he
+was General McClintock's son all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did he pretend he was somebody else?"</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't pretend; or at least I heard he
+said he didn't begin it. It seems that Mrs.
+Smith, the car-man's wife, you know, used to
+live in General McClintock's family before his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span>
+wife died; and Job Smith lived there as coachman.
+When they married, General McClintock
+broke up housekeeping, and went South with
+his family. Then Mrs. McClintock died, and
+the General and this one boy boarded in New
+York, and Gerald attended school. In the
+spring the General was called to California on
+some important law business&mdash;you know he is a
+celebrated lawyer, and they say his son is going
+to be even more brilliant than his father&mdash;well,
+the father had to go, and the boy made him
+promise that he might spend the summer vacation
+with Mrs. Smith out here. The McClintocks
+had been very fond of her and her husband
+and trusted them both; so the General agreed
+to it, thinking he would be back long before the
+vacation closed.</p>
+
+<p>"But he was delayed by one thing and another,
+and the boy coaxed to stay on, and study in the
+public school here; he was a pupil in Whately
+Institute at home. Imagine him taking up with
+our common schools! so he stayed until the first
+of December, and then his father came.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a time as that was! You see we all
+knew of General McClintock, of course, and
+when it was found we could get him to lecture,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span>
+the people nearly went wild over it. We
+couldn't understand why we should have such
+good fortune, when we knew ever so many
+places&mdash;large cities&mdash;had been refused; but it
+was all explained after he came.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a beautiful day when he came; all
+the schools were closed, and we formed a procession
+and marched to the depot, and the band
+was there, and great crowds. I remember as
+though it were yesterday how astonished we
+were to see Nettie Decker and that boy in a conspicuous
+place on the corner of the platform.
+Nettie had on her old brown merino, and looked
+so queer and seemed so out of place, that I went
+and spoke to father about it, and he advised them
+to go down and join the procession; but it
+seems the marshal knew what he was about, and
+objected to their moving. Then the train came,
+and there was a great excitement, and in the
+midst of it, the General almost took that boy
+Jerry in his arms, and kissed and kissed him!
+Then he kissed Nettie Decker, and while we
+stood wondering what on earth it all meant,
+they all three entered an elegant carriage drawn
+by four horses, and were carried to the Keppler
+House.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They had an elegant private dinner, they
+three; and in fact all the time the General was
+here, he kept Nettie Decker with them; he
+treated her more like a daughter than a stranger.
+I don't think there was ever such an excitement
+in this town about anything as we had at that
+time; the circumstances were so peculiar, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't understand it, yet. Why did
+he call himself Jerry Mack? What was his object
+in deceiving us all?"</p>
+
+<p>"He hadn't the slightest intention of doing
+so. I heard he said such a thought never entered
+his mind until we began it. It seems
+when he was a little bit of a fellow he tried to
+speak his name, Gerald McClintock, and the
+nearest he could approach to it, was, Jerry
+Mack. Of course they thought that was cunning,
+and it grew to be his pet name; so before
+they knew it, the servants and all his boy friends
+called him so, all the time. When he came here
+Mrs. Smith and her husband naturally used the
+old name; then somebody, I'm sure I don't
+know who, started the story that he was an
+Irish boy working at the Smiths for his board;
+and it seems he heard of it, and it amused him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span>
+so much he decided to let people think so if
+they wanted to; he coaxed the Smiths not to
+tell who he was, or why he was here; and they
+so nearly worshipped him, that if he had asked
+them to say he was a North American Indian I
+believe they would have done it. It seems he
+liked Nettie Decker from the first, and was annoyed
+because she wasn't invited in our set.
+But I am sure I don't know how we were to
+blame; she had nothing to wear, and how were
+we to know that she was a very smart girl, and
+real sweet and good? The Deckers were very
+poor, and Mr. Decker drank, you know, and
+Norm was sort of a loafer, and we thought they
+were real low people."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember Ermina Farley was friendly
+with Nettie, and with the boy, too."</p>
+
+<p>"O yes, Ermina was always peculiar; she is
+yet. I have always thought that perhaps
+Ermina knew something about the McClintocks,
+but she says she didn't. I heard her say the
+other day that somebody told her he was an Irish
+boy, whose father had run away and left him;
+and the Smiths gave him a home out of pity;
+and she supposed of course it was so, and was
+sorry for him. Then she always thought he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span>
+handsome, and smart; well, so did I, I must
+say."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder who started that absurd story
+about his father deserting him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, I'm sure; somebody imagined
+it was so, I suppose, and spoke of it; such
+things spread, you know, nobody seems to understand
+quite how."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, as I remember things, Jerry&mdash;I shall
+always call him that name, I don't believe I
+could remember to say Mr. McClintock if I
+should meet him now&mdash;as I remember him, he
+seemed to be as poor as Nettie; he dressed very well,
+but not as a gentleman's son, and he
+seemed to be contriving ways to earn little bits
+of money. Don't you remember that old hen
+and chickens he bought? And he used to go to
+the Farleys every morning with a fresh egg for
+Helen; sold it, you know, for I was there one
+morning when Mrs. Farley paid him."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it; he was always contriving ways
+to earn money; why, Irene, don't you remember
+his selling fish to Ermina Farley that day
+when we were talking down by the pond? I
+have always thought he heard more than we
+imagined he did, that day; I don't clearly remember<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span>
+what we said, but I know we were running
+on about Nettie Decker and about Jerry;
+I used to sort of dislike them both, because
+Ermina Farley was always trying to push them
+forward.</p>
+
+<p>"I would give something to know exactly
+what we did say that day. For awhile I did not
+like to meet any of the McClintocks; it always
+seemed to me as though they were thinking
+about that time. But they have been perfectly
+polite and cordial to me, always; and Nettie
+Decker is a perfect lady. But I know all about
+the poverty. It seems the boy Jerry had been
+very fond of giving away money, and books, and
+all sorts of things to people whom he thought
+needed them; and his father began to be afraid
+he would have no knowledge of the value of
+money, and would give carelessly, you know,
+just because he felt like it. So the General had
+a long talk with him, and made an arrangement
+that while he was gone West, Jerry should have
+nothing to give away but what he earned. He
+might earn as much as he liked, or could, and
+give it all away if he chose; but not a penny
+besides, and he was not to appeal to his father
+to help anybody in any way whatever. Of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span>
+course the father was to pay all his bills for
+necessary things&mdash;they say he paid a splendid
+price to the Smiths for taking care of him. Poor
+Mrs. Smith cried when he went away, as though
+he had been her own child. Well, of course
+that crippled him, in his pocket money, but they
+say his father was very much pleased to find
+how many schemes he had started for earning
+money. That plan about the business was his
+from beginning to end, and just see what it has
+grown to!"</p>
+
+<p>"What? I don't know; remember, I only
+came night before last, and haven't heard anything
+about the town since the day I left it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the Norman House, the most elegant
+hotel in town, is the outgrowth of that enterprise
+begun in the Decker's front room! Mr.
+Decker owns the whole thing, now, and manages
+it splendidly. His wife is a perfect genius, they
+say, about managing. She oversees the housekeeping
+herself, and the cooking is perfect they
+say. General McClintock was so pleased with
+the beginning, that he bought that long low
+building on Smith street that first time he was
+here, and fitted it up for Norman and Nettie to
+run. He carried his son away with him, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span>
+course, but they stayed long enough to see
+that matter fairly under way. The Norman
+House is managed on the same general principles;
+strictly temperance, of course. The
+General is as great a fanatic about that as the
+Deckers are, and the prices are very low&mdash;lower
+than other first-class houses, while the
+table is better, and the rooms are beautifully
+furnished. They say it is because Mrs. Decker
+is such an excellent manager that they can
+afford things at such low prices. Then, besides,
+there is a lunch room for young men, where
+they can get excellent things for just what they
+cost; that is a sort of benevolence. General
+McClintock devotes a certain amount to it
+each year; and there is a splendid young man in
+charge of the room; you saw him once, Rick
+Walker, his name is. He used to be considered
+a sort of hard boy, but there isn't a more respected
+young man in town than he. He is
+book-keeper at the Norman House, and has
+the oversight of this Home Dining Room. You
+ought to go in there; it is very nicely furnished,
+and they have flowers, plants, you know, and
+birds, and a fountain, and pictures on the walls,
+and for fifteen cents you can get an excellent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span>
+dinner. Everybody likes Rick Walker; they
+say he has a great influence over the boys in
+town, almost as great as Norman Decker; <i>he</i>
+used to be in charge of it all, before he went
+to college."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, I shouldn't think the McClintocks
+would have liked Nettie Decker to be in quite
+so public a place," interrupted her listener.
+"Oh! she wasn't public; why, she went to
+New York to a private school the very next winter
+after the General came home. She boarded
+with them; the General's sister came East with
+him, and was the lady of the house; then he sent
+her to Wellesley, you know. Didn't you know
+that? She graduated at Wellesley a year ago.
+Yes, the McClintocks educated her, or began it;
+her father has done so well that I suppose he
+hasn't needed their help lately. He is a master
+builder, you know, and keeps at his business,
+and owns and manages this hotel, besides. Oh!
+they are well off; you ought to see Mrs. Decker.
+She is a very pretty woman, and a real lady;
+they say Nettie and Norman are so proud of
+her! What was I telling you? Oh! about the
+room; they have a library connected with it,
+and a reading room, and everything complete;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span>
+it is such a nice thing for our young men. A
+great many wealthy gentlemen contribute to
+the library. There is a little alcove at the
+further end of the reading room, where they
+keep cake and lemonade, and nuts and little
+things of all sorts. They are very cheap, but the
+boys can't get any cigars there; I'm so glad of
+that. The Norman House is in very great
+favor&mdash;quite the fashion, and it makes such a
+difference with the boys who are just beginning
+to imagine themselves young men, and who want
+to be manly, to have an elegant place like that
+frown on all such things. My brother Dick,
+you remember him? He was a little fellow
+when you lived here&mdash;he went into the Norman
+House one day and called for a cigar; he was
+just beginning to smoke, and I suppose he did
+it because he thought it would sound manly. It
+was in the spring when Norman was at home on
+vacation, and it seems he expressed so much astonishment
+that Dick was quite ashamed; I
+don't think he has smoked a cigar since."</p>
+
+<p>"The Deckers seem to be quite a centre of
+interest in town."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they are. They are a sort of exceptional
+family someway; their experience has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span>
+been so romantic. Mr. Decker has become such a
+nice man; Deacon Decker, he is, a prominent
+man in the church, and everywhere. Oh! do
+you remember those two cunning little girls? I
+always thought they were sweet. Susie is a perfect
+lady; she is going with Nettie and her husband
+to Washington; but little Sate is a beauty.
+They say she is going to be a poet and an artist,
+and she looks almost like an angel. General
+McClintock admires her very much; he says she
+shall have the finest art teachers in Europe. I
+never saw a family come up as they did, from
+nothing, you may say. But then it was all owing
+to that fortunate accident of being friends
+with Gerald McClintock, and having the Farleys
+interested in them. Did I tell you Norman was
+engaged to Ermina Farley? O yes! they will
+marry as soon as he graduates from the medical
+college, and then he will take her abroad and
+take a post graduate course in medicine there.
+I suppose they will take Sate with them then.
+They say that is the plan. No, I certainly never
+saw anything like their success in life. Mrs.
+Smith doesn't believe in luck, you know, nor
+much in money, though since her Job has a position
+in the Norman House that pays better than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span>
+carting, they have built an addition to their
+house, and, Sarah Ann says, "live like folks."
+She is housekeeper at the Norman House&mdash;Mrs.
+Decker's right-hand woman. Mrs. Smith says
+the Lord had a great deal to do with the Decker
+family; that Nettie came home resolved to be
+faithful to Him, and to trust Him to save her
+father and brother, and so He did it, of course.
+It seems she and Jerry promised each other to
+work for Norman and the father in every possible
+way until they were converted; and they
+did. I must say I think they are real wonderful
+Christians, all of them. I like to hear Mr.
+Decker pray better than almost any other man
+in our meeting; and as for Norman, he leads a
+meeting beautifully. They say Mr. Sherrill
+thought at first that he ought to preach; but
+now he says he is reconciled; there is greater
+need for Christian physicians than for ministers.
+Mr. Sherrill has always been great friends with
+all the Deckers; you remember he was, from the
+first. Norman studied with him all the time he
+was managing that first little bit of a restaurant
+in the square room of the old Decker house.
+They tore down that house last month, to make
+room for a carriage drive around the back of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span>
+their new house, and they say Nettie cried when
+the square room was torn up.</p>
+
+<p>"She has some of the quaintest furniture!
+Sofas, she calls them, made out of boxes; and a
+queer old-fashioned hour-glass stand, and a barrel
+chair, which have been sent on with all her
+elegant things, to New York; she is going to
+furnish a room for Gerald and her with them;
+he made them, it seems, when they began that
+queer scheme. Who would have supposed it
+could grow as it did? It really seems as though
+the Lord must have had a good deal to do with
+it, doesn't it? I tell you, Irene, it is wonderful
+how many young men they have helped save,
+those two. It seems a pity sometimes that they
+could not have told us girls what they were
+about and let us help; but then, I don't know as
+we would have helped if we had understood; I
+used to be such a perfect little idiot then! Well,
+it was Nettie Decker got hold of me at last.
+Norman signed the pledge that night when General
+McClintock lectured here, and during the
+winter he was converted; but it was two years
+after that before I made up my mind. I was
+miserable all that time, too; because I knew I
+was doing wrong. And I didn't treat Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span>
+wonderfully well any of the time; but when she
+came to me with her eyes shining with tears,
+and said she had been praying for me ever since
+that day of the flower party, I just broke down.</p>
+
+<p>"O Irene, there's the carriage with the bride
+and groom and Norman and Ermina. Doesn't
+the bride look lovely! I wish they had had a
+public wedding and let us all see her! But they
+say General McClintock thinks weddings ought
+to be very private. Never mind, we will see
+her at the reception next week; but then, she
+won't be Nettie Decker; we shall have to say
+good-by to her."</p>
+
+<p>And Miss Lorena Barstow stood still in the
+street, and shaded her eyes from the sunlight to
+watch the bridal party as the carriage wound
+around the square, looking her last with tender,
+loving eyes, upon Nettie Decker.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle1'>CHOICE BOOKS<br />
+
+<small>FOR READERS OF ALL AGES</small></div>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Pansy Books.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'>
+<p><b>The Pansy</b> for 1888. With colored frontispiece. Edited by
+Pansy.</p>
+
+<p>More than 400 pages of reading and pictures for children of
+eight to fifteen years in various lines of interest. Quarto, boards,
+1.25.<br /></p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Pansy Sunday Book</b> for 1889. With colored frontispiece.
+Edited by Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>Just the thing for children on Sunday afternoon, when the whole
+family are gathered in the home to exchange helpful thought and
+gain new courage for future work and study which the tone and
+excellence of these tales impart.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Pansy's Story Book.</b> By Pansy. Quarto, boards,
+1.25.</p>
+
+<p>Made up largely of Pansy's charming stories with an occasional
+sketch or poem by some other well-known children's author to
+give variety.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Mother's Boys and Girls.</b> By Pansy. Quarto, boards,
+1.25.</p>
+
+<p>A book full of stories for boys and girls, most of them short, so
+all the more of them. Easy words and plenty of pictures.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Pansy Token</b> (A); or An Hour with Miss Streator. For
+Sunday School teachers. 24mo, paper, 15 cts.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Young Folks Stories of American History and
+Home Life.</b> Edited by Pansy. Quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Sketches, tales and pictures on New-World subjects.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Young Folks Stories of Foreign Lands.</b> Edited
+by Pansy. First Series, quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Sketches, tales and pictures on Old-World subjects.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Stories and Pictures from the Life of Jesus.</b>
+By Pansy. 12mo, boards, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The life of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels simplified and
+unified for children.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>A Christmas Time.</b> By Pansy, 12mo, boards, 15 cts.</p>
+
+<p>A Christmas story full of Christmas trees and sleigh-rides. Its
+lesson is the joy to be got in helping others.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Travel and History for Young
+Folks.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Story of the American Indian (The).</b> By Elbridge
+S. Brooks. 8vo, cloth, 2.50.</p>
+
+<p>"A thorough compendium of the archæology, history, present
+standing and outlook of our nation's wards.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. We commend
+it as the best and most comprehensive book on the Indian for general
+reading known to us."&mdash;<i>Literary World.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Story of the American Sailor (The).</b> By Elbridge
+S. Brooks. Octavo, cloth, 2.50.</p>
+
+<p>The first consecutive narrative yet attempted, sketching the rise
+and development of the American seaman on board merchant vessel
+and man-of-war.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Ned Harwood's Visit to Jerusalem.</b> By Mrs. S.
+G. Knight. Quarto, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>Travel in the Holy Land. The manuscript was approved by
+Rev. Selah Merrill, for many years U. S. Consul at Jerusalem.
+The strictest accuracy has thus been secured without impairing
+the interest of the story.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Out and About.</b> By Kate Tannatt Woods. Quarto,
+boards, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>Cape Cod to the Golden Gate with a lot of young folks along,
+and plenty of yarns by the way.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Sights Worth Seeing.</b> By those who saw them.
+Quarto, cloth, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>Eleven descriptive articles by such writers as Margaret Sidney,
+Amanda B. Harris, Annie Sawyer Downs, Frank T. Merrill and
+Rose Kingsley. Copiously and beautifully illustrated.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Adventures of the Early Discoverers.</b> By
+Frances A. Humphrey. 4to, cloth, 1.00.</p>
+
+<p>Real history written and pictured for readers both sides of ten
+years old. It begins with the mythology of discovery and comes
+down to the sixteenth and seventeenth century.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>The Golden West</b>: as Seen by the Ridgway Club. By
+Margaret Sidney. Quarto, boards, 1.75.</p>
+
+<p>Description of a trip through Southern California taken by Mr.
+and Mrs. Ridgway and their children. The careful observations
+and the fine illustrations make it a treasure for boys and girls.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Days and Nights in the Tropics.</b> By Felix L.
+Oswald. Quarto, boards, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>The collector of curiosities for the Brazilian museum goes on
+his quest with his eyes open. A book of adventures and hunters'
+yarns.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Illustrated Stories for Young
+Folks.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Young Folks' Cyclopedia of Stories.</b> Quarto,
+cloth, 3.00.</p>
+
+<p>Contains in one large book the following stories with many illustrations:
+Five Little Peppers, Two Young Homesteaders, Royal
+Lowrie's Last Year at St. Olaves, The Dogberry Bunch, Young
+Rick, Nan the New-Fashioned Girl, Good-for-Nothing Polly and
+The Cooking Club of Tu-Whit Hollow.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>What the Seven Did</b>; or, the Doings of the Wordsworth
+Club. By Margaret Sidney. Quarto, boards, 1.75.</p>
+
+<p>The Seven are little girl neighbors who meet once a week at
+their several homes. They helped others and improved themselves.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Me and My Dolls.</b> By L. T. Meade. Quarto, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>A family history. Some of the dolls have had queer adventures.
+Twelve full-page illustrations by Margaret Johnson.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Little Wanderers in Bo-Peep's World.</b> Quarto,
+boards, double lithograph covers, 50 cts.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Polly and the Children.</b> By Margaret Sidney. Boards,
+quarto, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The story of a funny parrot and two charming children. The
+parrot has surprising adventures at the children's party and wears
+a medal after the fire.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Five Little Peppers.</b> By Margaret Sidney. 12mo, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>Story of five little children of a fond, faithful and capable
+"mamsie." Full of young life and family talk.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Seal Series.</b> 10 vols., boards, double lithographed covers,
+quarto.</p>
+
+<p>Rocky Fork, Old Caravan Days, The Dogberry Bunch, by
+Mary H. Catherwood; The Story of Honor Bright and Royal
+Lowrie's Last Year at St. Olaves, by Charles R. Talbot; Their
+Club and Ours, by John Preston True; From the Hudson to the
+Neva, by David Ker; The Silver City, by Fred A. Ober; Two
+Young Homesteaders, by Theodora Jenness; The Cooking Club
+of Tu-Whit Hollow, by Ella Farman.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Cats' Arabian Nights.</b> By Abby Morton Diaz. Quarto,
+cloth, 1.75; boards, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>The wonderful cat story of cat stories told by Pussyanita that
+saved the lives of all the cats.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Natural History.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Stories and Pictures of Wild Animals.</b> By Anna
+F. Burnham. Quarto, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Big letters, big pictures and easy stories of elephants, lions,
+tigers, lynxes, jaguars, bears and many others.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Life and Habits of Wild Animals.</b> Quarto, cloth,
+1.50.</p>
+
+<p>The very best book young folks can have if they are at all interested
+in Natural History. If they are not yet interested it will
+make them so. Illustrated from designs by Joseph Wolf.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Children's Out-Door Neighbors.</b> By Mrs. A. E.
+Andersen-Maskell. 3 volumes, 12mo, cloth, each 1.00.</p>
+
+<p>Three instructive and interesting books: Children with Animals,
+Children with Birds, Children with Fishes. The author has the
+happy faculty of interesting boys and girls in the wonderful neighbors
+around them and that without introducing anything which is
+not borne out by the knowledge of learned men.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Some Animal Pets.</b> By Mrs. Oliver Howard. Quarto,
+boards, 35 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The experiences of a Colorado family with young, wild and
+tame animals. It is one of the pleasantest animal books we have
+met in many a day. Well thought, well written, well pictured,
+the book itself, apart from its contents, is attractive. Full page
+pictures.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Tiny Folk In Red and Black.</b> Quarto, boards, 35 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The tiny folk are ants and they make as interesting a study as
+human folk&mdash;perhaps more interesting in the opinion of some.
+The book gives a full and graphic description of their many wise
+and curious ways&mdash;how they work, how they harvest their grain,
+how they milk their cows, etc. It will teach the children to keep
+eyes and ears open.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>My Land and Water Friends.</b> By Mary E. Bamford.
+Seventy illustrations by Bridgman. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>The frog opens the book with a "talk" about himself, in the
+course of which he tells us all about the changes through which
+he passes before he arrives at perfect froghood. Then the grasshopper
+talks and is followed by others, each giving his view of
+life from his own individual standpoint.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Young Folks' Illustrated
+Quartos.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Wide Awake Volume Z.</b> Quarto, boards, 1.75.</p>
+
+<p>Good literature and art have been put into this volume. Henry
+Bacon's paper about Rosa Bonheur, the great painter of horses
+and lions, and Steffeck's painting of Queen Louise with Kaiser
+William would do credit to any Art publication.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Chit Chat for Boys and Girls.</b> Quarto, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>A volume of selected pieces upon every conceivable subject.
+As a distinctive feature it devotes considerable space to Home
+Life and Sports and Pastimes.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Good Cheer for Boys and Girls.</b></p>
+
+<p>Short stories, sketches, poems, bits of history, biography and
+natural history.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Our Little Men and Women for 1888.</b> Quarto,
+boards, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>No boys and girls who have this book can be ignorant beyond
+their years of history, natural history, foreign sights or the good
+times of other boys and girls.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Babyland for 1888.</b> Quarto, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Finger-plays, cricket stories, Tales told by a Cat and scores of
+jingles and pictures. Large print and easy words. Colored
+frontispiece.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Kings and Queens at Home.</b> By Frances A. Humphrey.
+Quarto, boards, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Short-story accounts of living royal personages.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Queen Victoria at Home.</b> By Frances A. Humphrey.
+Quarto, boards, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Pen picture of a noble woman. It will aid in educating the
+heart by presenting the domestic side of the queen's character.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Stories about Favorite Authors.</b> By Frances A.
+Humphrey. Quarto boards, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Little literature lessons for little boys and girls.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Child Lore.</b> Edited by Clara Doty Bates. Quarto, cloth,
+tinted edges, 2.25; boards, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>More than 50,000 copies sold. The most successful quarto for
+children.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Helpful Books for Young Folks.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Danger Signals.</b> By Rev. F. E. Clark, President of
+the United Society of Christian Endeavor. 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The enemies of youth from the business man's standpoint.
+The substance of a series of addresses delivered two or three
+years ago in one of the Boston churches.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Marion Harland's Cookery for Beginners.</b> 12mo,
+vellum cloth, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The untrained housekeeper needs such directions as will not
+confuse and discourage her. Marion Harland makes her book
+simple and practical enough to meet this demand.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Bible Stories.</b> By Laurie Loring. 4to, boards, 35 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Very short stories with pictures. The Creation, Noah and the
+Dove, Samuel, Joseph, Elijah, the Christ Child, the Good Shepherd,
+Peter, etc.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>The Magic Pear.</b> Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Twelve outline drawing lessons with directions for the amusement
+of little folks. They are genuine pencil puzzles for untaught
+fingers. A pear gives shape to a dozen animal pictures.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>What O'Clock Jingles.</b> By Margaret Johnson. Oblong,
+8vo, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Twelve little counting lessons. Pretty rhymes for small children.
+Twenty-seven artistic illustrations by the author.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Ways for Boys to Make and Do Things.</b> 60 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Eight papers by as many different authors, on subjects that interest
+boys. A book to delight active boys and to inspire lazy
+ones.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Our Young Folks at Home.</b> 4to, boards, 1.00.</p>
+
+<p>A collection of illustrated prose stories by American authors and
+artists. It is sure to make friends among children of all ages.
+Colored frontispiece.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Peep of Day Series.</b> 3 vols., 1.20 each.</p>
+
+<p>Peep of Day, Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept. Sermonettes
+for the children, so cleverly preached that the children
+will not grow sleepy.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Home Primer.</b> Boards, square, 8vo, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>A book for the little ones to learn to read in before they are old
+enough to be sent off to school. 100 illustrations.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">Monteagle.</span> By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop
+Company. Price 75 cents. Both girls and boys
+will find this story of Pansy's pleasant and profitable
+reading. Dilly West is a character whom the
+first will find it an excellent thing to intimate, and
+boys will find in Hart Hammond a noble, manly,
+fellow who walks for a time dangerously near
+temptation, but escapes through providential influences,
+not the least of which is the steady
+devotion to duty of the young girl, who becomes
+an unconscious power of good.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">A Dozen of Them.</span> By Pansy. Boston: D.
+Lothrop Company. Price 60 cents. A Sunday-school
+story, written in Pansy's best vein, and
+having for its hero a twelve-year-old boy who has
+been thrown upon the world by the death of his
+parents, and who has no one left to look after
+him but a sister a little older, whose time is fully
+occupied in the milliner's shop where she is employed.
+Joe, for that is the boy's name, finds a
+place to work at a farmhouse where there is a small
+private school. His sister makes him promise to
+learn by heart a verse of Scripture every month.
+It is a task at first, but he is a boy of his word,
+and he fulfills his promise, with what results the
+reader of the story will find out. It is an excellent
+book for the Sunday-school.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">At Home and Abroad.</span> Stories from <i>The Pansy</i>
+Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price, $1.00. A
+score of short stories which originally appeared
+in the delightful magazine, <i>The Pansy</i>, have been
+here brought together in collected form with the
+illustrations which originally accompanied them.
+They are from the pens of various authors, and
+are bright, instructive and entertaining.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">About Giants.</span> By Isabel Smithson. Boston:
+D. Lothrop Company. Price 60 cents. In this
+little volume Miss Smithson has gathered together
+many curious and interesting facts relating to
+real giants, or people who have grown to an extraordinary
+size. She does not believe that there
+was ever a race of giants, but that those who are
+so-called are exceptional cases, due to some freak
+of nature. Among those described are Cutter,
+the Irish giant, who was eight feet tall, Tony
+Payne, whose height exceeded seven feet, and
+Chang, the Chinese giant, who was on exhibition
+in this country a few years ago. The volume
+contains not only accounts of giants, but also of
+dwarfs, and is illustrated.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">American Authors.</span> By Amanda B. Harris.
+Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price $1.00. This
+is one of the books we can heartily commend to
+young readers, not only for its interest, but for
+the information it contains. All lovers of books
+have a natural curiosity to know something about
+their writers, and the better the books, the keener
+the curiosity. Miss Harris has written the various
+chapters of the volume with a full appreciation of
+this fact. She tells us about the earlier group of
+American writers, Irving, Cooper, Prescott, Emerson,
+and Hawthorne, all of whom are gone, and
+also of some of those who came later, among
+them the Cary sisters, Thoreau, Lowell, Helen
+Hunt, Donald G. Mitchell and others. Miss Harris
+has a happy way of imparting information, and
+the boys and girls into whose hands this little
+book may fall will find it pleasant reading.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">Tilting at Windmills:</span> A Story of the Blue
+Grass Country. By Emma M. Connelly. Boston:
+D. Lothrop Company. 12mo, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p>Not since the days of "A Fool's Errand" has so
+strong and so characteristic a "border novel" been
+brought to the attention of the public as is now
+presented by Miss Connelly in this book which she
+so aptly terms "Tilting at Windmills." Indeed, it
+is questionable whether Judge Tourgee's famous
+book touched so deftly and yet so practically the
+real phases of the reconstruction period and the
+interminable antagonisms of race and section.</p>
+
+<p>The self-sufficient Boston man, a capital fellow
+at heart, but tinged with the traditions and environments
+of his Puritan ancestry and conditions,
+coming into his strange heritage in Kentucky at
+the close of the civil war, seeks to change by instant
+manipulation all the equally strong and deep-rooted
+traditions and environments of Blue Grass
+society.</p>
+
+<p>His ruthless conscience will allow of no compromise,
+and the people whom he seeks to proselyte
+alike misunderstand his motives and spurn his
+proffered assistance.</p>
+
+<p>Presumed errors are materialized and partial
+evils are magnified. Allerton tilts at windmills
+and with the customary Quixotic results. He is,
+seemingly, unhorsed in every encounter.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Connelly's work in this, her first novel, will
+make readers anxious to hear from her again and
+it will certainly create, both in her own and other
+States, a strong desire to see her next forthcoming
+work announced by the same publishers in one of
+their new series&mdash;her "Story of the State of Kentucky."</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">The Art of Living.</span> From the Writings of
+Samuel Smiles. With Introduction by the venerable
+Dr. Peabody of Harvard University, and
+Biographical Sketch by the editor, Carrie Adelaide
+Cooke. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price
+$1.00.</p>
+
+<p>Samuel Smiles is the Benjamin Franklin of England.
+His sayings have a similar terseness, aptness
+and force; they are directed to practical ends,
+like Franklin's; they have the advantage of being
+nearer our time and therefore more directly related
+to subjects upon which practical wisdom is of
+practical use.</p>
+
+<p>Success in life is his subject all through, The Art
+of Living; and he confesses on the very first page
+that "happiness consists in the enjoyment of little
+pleasures scattered along the common path of life,
+which in the eager search for some great and exciting
+joy we are apt to overlook. It finds delight
+in the performance of common duties faithfully
+and honorably fulfilled."</p>
+
+<p>Let the reader go back to that quotation again and
+consider how contrary it is to the spirit that underlies
+the businesses that are nowadays tempting men
+to sudden fortune, torturing with disappointments
+nearly all who yield, and burdening the successful
+beyond their endurance, shortening lives and making
+them weary and most of them empty.</p>
+
+<p>Is it worth while to join the mad rush for the
+lottery; or to take the old road to slow success?</p>
+
+<p>This book of the chosen thoughts of a rare philosopher
+leads to contentment as well as wisdom;
+for, when we choose the less brilliant course because
+we are sure it is the best one, we have the
+most complete and lasting repose from anxiety.</p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class='tnote'><div class='center'><b>Transcriber's Notes:</b></div>
+
+<p>Punctuation errors repaired.</p>
+
+<p>First book list page, "Eaoh" changed to "Each" (Each volume 16mo)</p>
+
+<p>Page 4, "208" changed to "226" to reflect actual first page of Chapter XII.</p>
+
+<p>Page 4, "230" changed to "304" to reflect actual first page of Chapter XVII.</p>
+
+<p>Page 4 and 5, each page number reference increased by two to match actual location
+of remaining chapters. (<i>i.e.</i> 318 is now 320 to reflect location of Chapter
+XVIII)</p>
+
+
+<p>Page 29, "botton" changed to "bottom" (for in the bottom of)</p>
+
+<p>Page 69, "nowdays" changed to "nowadays" (the pennies nowadays)</p>
+
+<p>Page 88, "keees" changed to "knees" (soon on her knees)</p>
+
+<p>Page 200, "think" changed to "thing" (thing that I should)</p>
+
+<p>Page 202, "interruped" changed to "interrupted" (of her had interrupted)</p>
+
+<p>Page 212, "sat" changed to "set" (he set the table)</p>
+
+<p>Page 269, "unsual" changed to "unusual" (unusual toilet having)</p>
+
+<p>Page 385, extra word "the" removed from text. Original read (have at the
+the windows)</p>
+
+<p>Page 407, "pealed" changed to "peeled" (turnips half-peeled)</p>
+
+<p>Page 437, "esson" changed to "lesson" (lesson is the joy)</p>
+</div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45536 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #45536 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45536)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Fishers: and their Nets, by Pansy
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Little Fishers: and their Nets
+
+Author: Pansy
+
+Release Date: April 30, 2014 [EBook #45536]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE FISHERS: AND THEIR NETS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic
+text is surrounded by _underscores_.]
+
+
+
+THE PANSY BOOKS.
+
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.50=
+
+    Chautauqua Girls at Home.
+    Christie's Christmas.
+    Divers Women.
+    Echoing and Re-Echoing.
+    Eighty-Seven.
+    Endless Chain (An).
+    Ester Ried.
+    Ester Ried Yet Speaking.
+    Four Girls at Chautauqua.
+    From Different Standpoints.
+    Hall in the Grove (The).
+    Household Puzzles.
+    Interrupted.
+    Judge Burnham's Daughters.
+    Julia Ried.
+    King's Daughter (The).
+    Little Fishers and Their Nets.
+    Links in Rebecca's Life.
+    Mrs. Solomon Smith Looking On.
+    Modern Prophets.
+    Man of the house.
+    New Graft on the Family Tree (A).
+    One Commonplace Day.
+    Pocket Measure (The).
+    Profiles.
+    Ruth Erskine's Crosses.
+    Randolphs (The).
+    Sevenfold Trouble (A).
+    Sidney Martin's Christmas.
+    Spun from Fact.
+    Those Boys.
+    Three People.
+    Tip Lewis and His Lamp.
+    Wise and Otherwise.
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth. $1.25.=
+
+    Cunning Workmen.
+    Dr. Deane's Way.
+    Grandpa's Darlings.
+    Miss Priscilla Hunter.
+    Mrs. Deane's Way.
+    What She Said.
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.00.=
+
+    At Home and Abroad.
+    Bobby's Wolf and other Stories.
+    Five Friends.
+    In the Woods and Out.
+    Young Folks Worth Knowing.
+    Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening.
+    New Years Tangles.
+    Next Things.
+    Pansy Scrap Book.
+    Some Young Heroines.
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.=
+
+    Couldn't be Bought.
+    Getting Ahead.
+    Mary Burton Abroad.
+    Pansies.
+    Six Little Girls.
+    Stories from the life of Jesus.
+    That Boy Bob.
+    Two Boys.
+
+
+=Each volume 16mo, cloth, 75 cts.=
+
+    Bernie's White Chicken.
+    Docia's Journal.
+    Helen Lester.
+    Jessie Wells.
+    Monteagle.
+
+
+=Each volume 16mo, cloth, 60 cts.=
+
+    Browning Boys.
+    Dozen of Them (A).
+    Gertrude's Diary.
+    Hedge Fence (A).
+    Side by Side.
+    Six O'Clock in the Evening.
+    Stories of Remarkable Women.
+    Stories of Great Men.
+    Story of Puff.
+    "We Twelve girls."
+    World of Little People (A).
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN WAS A HANDSOME BOY WHEN SHE MARRIED MR. DECKER.]
+
+
+
+
+Little Fishers: and Their Nets
+
+    BY
+    PANSY
+    AUTHOR OF "CHRISTIE'S CHRISTMAS," "A HEDGE FENCE," "GERTRUDE'S
+    DIARY," "THE MAN OF THE HOUSE," "INTERRUPTED,"
+    "THE HALL IN THE GROVE," "AN ENDLESS
+    CHAIN," "MRS. SOLOMON SMITH LOOKING
+    ON," "FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA,"
+    "RUTH ERSKINE'S CROSSES,"
+    "SPUN FROM FACT,"
+    ETC., ETC.
+
+
+    _ILLUSTRATED_
+
+    BOSTON
+    D LOTHROP COMPANY
+    FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS
+
+
+
+
+    COPYRIGHT 1887
+    BY
+    D LOTHROP COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+    PAGE.
+
+    CHAPTER I.
+    THE DECKERS' HOME                     7
+
+    CHAPTER II.
+    BEGINNING HER LIFE                   24
+
+    CHAPTER III.
+    THE TRUTH IS TOLD                    43
+
+    CHAPTER IV.
+    NEW FRIENDS                          63
+
+    CHAPTER V.
+    A GREAT UNDERTAKING                  85
+
+    CHAPTER VI.
+    HOW IT SUCCEEDED                    106
+
+    CHAPTER VII.
+    LONG STORIES TO TELL                125
+
+    CHAPTER VIII.
+    A SABBATH TO REMEMBER               143
+
+    CHAPTER IX.
+    A BARGAIN AND A PROMISE             164
+
+    CHAPTER X.
+    PLEASURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT         179
+
+
+    CHAPTER XI.
+    A COMPLETE SUCCESS                  204
+
+    CHAPTER XII.
+    AN UNEXPECTED HELPER                226
+
+    CHAPTER XIII.
+    THE LITTLE PICTURE MAKERS           240
+
+    CHAPTER XIV.
+    THE CONCERT                         257
+
+    CHAPTER XV.
+    A WILL AND A WAY                    271
+
+    CHAPTER XVI.
+    AN ORDEAL                           288
+
+    CHAPTER XVII.
+    THE FLOWER PARTY                    304
+
+    CHAPTER XVIII.
+    A SATISFACTORY EVENING              320
+
+    CHAPTER XIX.
+    READY TO TRY                        334
+
+    CHAPTER XX.
+    THE WAY MADE PLAIN                  351
+
+    CHAPTER XXI.
+    THE NEW ENTERPRISE                  365
+
+    CHAPTER XXII.
+    TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE                 382
+
+    CHAPTER XXIII.
+    THE CROWNING WONDER                 400
+
+    CHAPTER XXIV.
+    THE PAST AND PRESENT                418
+
+
+
+
+Little Fishers: and Their Nets.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DECKERS' HOME.
+
+
+JOE DECKER gave his chair a noisy shove backward from the table, over
+the uneven floor, shambled across the space between it and the kitchen
+door, a look of intense disgust on his face, then stopped for his
+good-morning speech:
+
+"You may as well know, first as last, that I've sent for Nan. I've
+stood this kind of thing just exactly as long as I'm going to. There
+ain't many men, I can tell you, who would have stood it so long. Such a
+meal as that! Ain't fit for a decent dog!
+
+"Nan is coming in the afternoon stage. There must be some place fixed
+up for her to sleep in. Understand, now, that has _got_ to be done, and
+I won't have no words about it."
+
+Then he slammed the door, and went away.
+
+Yes, he was talking to his wife! She could remember the time when he
+used to linger in the door, talking to her, so many last words to say,
+and when at last he would turn away with a kind "Well, good-by, Mary!
+Don't work too hard."
+
+But that seemed ages ago to the poor woman who was left this morning
+in the wretched little room with the door slammed between her and her
+husband. She did not look as though she had life enough left to make
+words about anything. She sat in a limp heap in one of the broken
+chairs, her bared arms lying between the folds of a soiled and ragged
+apron.
+
+Not an old woman, yet her hair was gray, and her cheeks were faded, and
+her eyes looked as though they had not closed in quiet restful sleep
+for months. She had not combed her hair that morning; and thin and
+faded as it was, it hung in straggling locks about her face.
+
+I don't suppose you ever saw a kitchen just like that one! It was
+heated, not only by the fierce sun which streamed in at the two
+uncurtained eastern windows, but by the big old stove, which could
+smoke, not only, and throw out an almost unendurable heat on a warm
+morning like this, when heat was not wanted, but had a way at all
+times of refusing to heat the oven, and indeed had fits of sullenness
+when it would not "draw" at all.
+
+This was one of the mornings when the fire had chosen to burn; it had
+swallowed the legs and back of a rickety chair which the mistress in
+desperation had stuffed in, when she was waiting for the teakettle to
+boil, and now that there was nothing to boil, or fry, and no need for
+heat, the stump of wood, wet by yesterday's rain, had dried itself and
+chosen to burn.
+
+The west windows opened into a side yard, and the sound of children's
+voices in angry dispute, and the smell of a pigsty, came in together,
+and seemed equally discouraging to the wilted woman in the chair.
+
+The sun was already pretty high in the sky, yet the breakfast-table
+still stood in the middle of the room.
+
+I don't know as I can describe that table to you. It was a square one,
+unpainted, and stained with something red, and something green, and
+spotted with grease, and spotted with black, rubbed from endless hot
+kettles set on it, or else from one kettle set on it endless times;
+it must have been that way, for now that I think of it, there was but
+one kettle in that house. No tablecloth covered the stains; there was a
+cracked plate which held a few crusts of very stale bread, and a teacup
+about a third full of molasses, in which several flies were struggling.
+More flies covered the bread crusts, and swam in a little mess of what
+had been butter, but was now oil, and these were the only signs of food.
+
+It was from this breakfast-table that the man had risen in disgust.
+You don't wonder? You think it was enough to disgust anybody? That
+is certainly true, but if the man had only stopped to think that the
+reason it presented such an appearance was because he had steadily
+drank up all that ought to have gone on it during the months past,
+perhaps he would have turned his disgust where it belonged--on himself.
+
+The woman had not tried to eat anything. She had given the best she had
+to the husband and son, and had left it for them. She was very willing
+to do so. It seemed to her as though she never could eat another
+mouthful of anything.
+
+Can you think of her, sitting in that broken chair midway between the
+table and the stove, the heat from the stove puffing into her face; the
+heat from the sun pouring full on her back, her straggling hair silvery
+in the sunlight, her short, faded calico dress frayed about the ankles,
+her feet showing plainly from the holes of the slippers into which they
+were thrust, her hands folded about the soiled apron, and such a look
+of utter hopeless sorrow on her face as cannot be described?
+
+No, I hope you cannot imagine a woman like her, and will never see one
+to help you paint the picture. And yet I don't know; since there are
+such women--scores of them, thousands of them--why should you not know
+about them, and begin now to plan ways of helping them out of these
+kitchens, and out of these sorrows?
+
+Mrs. Decker rose up presently, and staggered toward the table; a dim
+idea of trying to clear it off, and put things in something like order,
+struggled with the faintness she felt. She picked up two plates, sticky
+with molasses, and having a piece of pork rind on one, and set them
+into each other. She poured a slop of weak tea from one cracked cup
+into another cracked cup, her face growing paler the while. Suddenly
+she clutched at the table, and but for its help, would have fallen.
+There was just strength enough left to help her back to the rickety
+chair. Once there, she dropped into the same utterly hopeless position,
+and though there was no one to listen, spoke her sorrowful thoughts.
+
+"It's no use; I must just give up. I'm done for, and that's the truth!
+I've been expecting it all along, and now it's come. I couldn't clear
+up here and get them any dinner, not if he should kill me, and I don't
+know but that will be the next thing. I've slaved and slaved; if
+anybody ever tried to do something with nothing, I'm the one; and now
+I'm done. I've just got to lie down, and stay there, till I die. I wish
+I _could_ die. If I could do it quick, and be done with it, I wouldn't
+care how soon; but it would be awful to lie there and see things go on;
+oh, dear!"
+
+She lifted up her poor bony hands and covered her face with them and
+shook as though she was crying. But she shed no tears. The truth is,
+her poor eyes were tired of crying. It was a good while since any tears
+had come. After a few minutes she went on with her story.
+
+"It isn't enough that we are naked, and half-starved, and things
+growing worse every day, but now that Nan mast come and make one more
+torment. 'Fix a place for her to sleep!' Where, I wonder, and what
+with? It is too much! Flesh and blood can't bear any more. If ever a
+woman did her best I have, and done it with nothing, and got no thanks
+for it; now I've got to the end of my rope. If I have strength enough
+to crawl back into bed, it is all there is left of me."
+
+But for all that, she tried to do something else. Three times she made
+an effort to clear away the few dirty things on that dirty table, and
+each time felt the deadly faintness creeping over her, which sent her
+back frightened to the chair. The children came in, crying, and she
+tried to untie a string for one, and find a pin for the other; but her
+fingers trembled so that the knot grew harder, and not even a pin was
+left for her to give them, and she finally lost all patience with their
+cross little ways and gave each a slap and an order not to come in the
+house again that forenoon.
+
+The door was ajar into the most discouraged looking bedroom that you
+can think of. It was not simply that the bed was unmade; the truth is,
+the clothes were so ragged that you would have thought they could not
+be touched without falling to pieces; and they were badly stained and
+soiled, the print of grimy little hands being all over them. Partly
+pushed under, out of sight, was a trundle-bed, that, if anything,
+looked more repulsive than the large one. There was an old barrel in
+the corner, with a rough board over it, and a chair more rickety than
+either of those in the kitchen, and this was the only furniture there
+was in that room.
+
+The only bright thing there was in it was the sunshine, for there was
+an east window in this room, and the curtain was stretched as high as
+it could be. To the eyes of the poor tired woman who presently dragged
+herself into this room, the light and the heat from the sun seemed
+more than she could bear, and she tugged at the brown paper curtain so
+fiercely that it tore half across, but she got it down, and then she
+fell forward among the rags of the bed with a groan.
+
+Poor Mrs. Decker! I wonder if you have not imagined all her sorrowful
+story without another word from me!
+
+It is such an old story; and it has been told over so many times, that
+all the children in America know it by heart.
+
+Yes; she was the wife of a drunkard. Not that Joe Decker called himself
+a drunkard; the most that he ever admitted was that he sometimes took a
+drop too much! I don't think he had the least idea how many times in a
+month he reeled home, unable to talk straight, unable to help himself
+to his wretched bed.
+
+I don't suppose he knew that his brain was never free from the effects
+of alcohol; but his wife knew it only too well. She knew that he was
+always cross and sullen now, when he was not fierce, and she knew that
+this was not his natural disposition. No one need explain to her how
+alcohol would effect a man's nature; she had watched her husband change
+from month to month, and she knew that he was growing worse every day.
+
+There was another sorrow in this sad woman's heart. She had one boy
+who was nearly ten years old, when she married Mr. Decker; and people
+had said to her often and often, "What a handsome boy you have, Mrs.
+Lloyd; he ought to have been a girl." And the first time she had felt
+any particular interest in Joe Decker was when he made her boy a kite,
+and showed him how to fly it, and gave him one bright evening, such
+as fathers give their boys. This boy's father had died when he was
+a baby, and the Widow Lloyd had struggled on alone; caring for him,
+keeping him neatly dressed, sending him to school as soon as he was old
+enough, bringing him up in such a way that it was often and often said
+in the village, "What a nice boy that Norman Lloyd is! A credit to his
+mother!" And the mother had sat and sewed, in the evenings when Norman
+was in bed, and thought over the things that fathers could do for boys
+which mothers could not; and then thought that there were things which
+mothers could do for girls that fathers could not, and Mr. Joseph
+Decker, the carpenter, had a little girl, she had been told, only a few
+years younger than her Norman. And so, when Mr. Decker had made kites,
+not only, but little sail boats, and once, a little table for Norman to
+put his school books on, with a drawer in it for his writing-book and
+pencil, and when he had in many kind and manly ways won her heart, this
+respectable widow who had for ten years earned her own and her boy's
+living, married him, and went to keep his home for him, and planned as
+to the kind and motherly things which she would do for his little girl
+when she came home.
+
+Alas for plans! She knew, this foolish woman, that Mr. Decker sometimes
+took a drink of beer with his noon meal, and again at night, perhaps;
+but she said to herself, "No wonder, poor man; always having to eat his
+dinner out of a pail! No home, and no woman to see that he had things
+nice and comfortable. She would risk but what he would stay at home,
+when he had one to stay in, and like a bit of beefsteak better than the
+beer, any day."
+
+She had not calculated as to the place which the beer held in his
+heart. Neither had he. He was astonished to find that it was not easy
+to give it up, even when Mary wanted him to. He was astonished at first
+to discover how often he was thirsty with a thirst that nothing but
+beer would satisfy. I have not time for all the story. The beer was not
+given up, the habit grew stronger and stronger, and steadily, though at
+first slowly, the Deckers went down. From being one of the best workmen
+in town, Mr. Decker dropped down to the level of "Old Joe Decker,"
+whom people would not employ if they could get anybody else. The little
+girl had never come home save for a short visit; at first the new
+mother was sorry, then she was glad.
+
+As the days passed, her heart grew heavier and heavier; a horrible fear
+which was almost a certainty, had now gotten hold of her--that her
+handsome, manly Norman was going to copy the father she had given him!
+Poor mother!
+
+I would not, if I could, describe to you all the miseries of that long
+day! How the mother lay and tossed on that miserable bed, and burned
+with fever and groaned with pain. How the children quarreled and cried,
+and ran into mother, and cried again because she could give them no
+attention, and made up, and ran out again to play, and quarreled again.
+How the father came home at noon, more under the influence of liquor
+than he had been in the morning; and swore at the table still standing
+as he had left it at breakfast time, and swore at his wife for "lying
+in bed and sulking, instead of doing her work like a decent woman," and
+swore at his children for crying with hunger; and finally divided what
+remained of the bread between them, and went off himself to a saloon,
+where he spent twenty-five cents for his dinner, and fifty cents for
+liquor. How Norman came home, and looked about the deserted kitchen
+and empty cupboard, and looked in at his mother, and said he was sorry
+she had a headache, and sighed, and wished that he had a decent home
+like other fellows, and wished that a doctor could be found, who didn't
+want more money than he was worth, to pay him for coming to see a
+sick woman, and then went to a bakery and bought a loaf of bread, and
+a piece of cheese, and having munched these, washed them down with
+several glasses of beer, went back to his work. Meantime, the playing
+and the quarreling, and the crying, went on outside, and Mrs. Decker
+continued to sleep her heavy, feverish sleep.
+
+Several times she wakened in a bewilderment of fever and pain, and
+groaned, and tried to get up, and fell back and groaned again, and lost
+her misery in another unnaturally heavy sleep, and the day wore away
+until it was three o'clock in the afternoon. The stages would be due in
+a few minutes--the one that brought passengers over from the railroad
+junction a mile away. The children in the yard did not know that one
+of them was expected to stop at their house; and the father when he
+came home at noon had been drinking too much liquor to remember it; and
+Norman had not heard of it, and for his mother's sake would have been
+too angry to have met it if he had; so Nan was coming home with nobody
+to welcome her.
+
+If you had seen her sitting at that moment, a trim little maiden in the
+stage, her face all flushed over the prospect of seeing father, and the
+rest, in a few minutes, you would not have thought it possible that she
+could belong to the Decker family.
+
+She had not seen her home in seven years. She had been a little thing
+of six when she went away with the Marshall family.
+
+It had all come about naturally. Mrs. Marshall was their neighbor, and
+had known her mother from childhood; and when she died had carried the
+motherless little girl home with her to stay until Mr. Decker decided
+what to do; and he was slow in deciding, and Mrs. Marshall had a family
+of boys, but no little girl, and held the motherless one tenderly for
+her mother's sake; and when the Marshalls suddenly had an offer of
+business which made it necessary for them to move to the city, they
+clung to the little girl, and proposed to Mr. Decker that she should go
+with them and stay until he had a place for her again.
+
+Apparently he had not found a place for her in all these seven years,
+for she had never been sent for to come home.
+
+The new wife had wanted her at first, to be mother to her, as she
+fancied Mr. Decker was going to be father to her boy. But it did not
+take her very many months to get her eyes open to the thought that
+perhaps the girl would be better off away from her father; and of late
+years she had looked on the possible home-coming with positive terror.
+Her own little ones had nothing to eat, sometimes, save what Norman
+provided; and if "he"--and by this Mrs. Decker meant her husband; he
+had ceased to be "Mr. Decker" to her, or "Joseph," or even Joe--if
+"he" should take a notion to turn against the girl, life would be more
+terrible to them in every way; and on the other hand, if he should
+fancy her, and because of her, turn more against the wife, or Norman,
+what would become of them then?
+
+So the years had passed, and beyond an occasional threat when Joe
+Decker was at his worst, to "send for Nan right straight off," nothing
+had been said of her home-coming. The threat had come oftener of late,
+for Joe Decker had discovered that there was just now nothing that his
+wife dreaded more than the presence of this step-daughter; and his
+present manly mood was to do all he could for the discomfort of his
+wife! That was one of the elevating thoughts which liquor had given him!
+
+Three o'clock. The stages came rattling down the stony road. Few people
+who lived on this street had much to do with the stage; they could
+not afford to ride, and they did not belong to the class who had much
+company.
+
+So when the heavy carriages kept straight on, instead of turning the
+corner below, it brought a swarm of children from the various dooryards
+to see who was coming, and where.
+
+"It's stopped at Decker's, as true as I live!" said Mrs. Job Smith,
+peeping out of her clean pantry window to get a view. "I heard that
+Joe had sent for little Nan, but I hoped it wasn't true. Poor Nan! if
+the Marshalls have treated her with any kind of decency, it'll be a
+dreadful change, and I'm sorry enough for her. Yes, that must be Nan
+getting out. She's got the very same bright eyes, but she has grown a
+sight, to be sure!" Which need not have seemed strange to Mrs. Smith,
+if she had stopped to remember that seven years had passed since Nan
+went away.
+
+The little woman got down with a brisk step from the stage, and watched
+her trunk set in the doorway, and got out her red pocket-book, and paid
+the fare, and then looked about her doubtfully. Could this be home!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+BEGINNING HER LIFE.
+
+
+SHE did not remember anything, but the yard was very dirty, and the
+fence was tumbling down, and there were lights of glass out of the
+windows, and a general air of discomfort prevailed. It did not look
+like a home. Besides, where were father and mother? There must be some
+mistake.
+
+The two little Deckers who had played and quarreled together all
+day had left their work to come and stare at the new comer out of
+astonished eyes. Certainly they did not seem to have been expecting her.
+
+The new comer turned to the elder of the two children, and spoke in a
+gentle winning voice: "Little girl, do you live here--in this house?"
+
+The child with her forefinger placed meditatively on her lip, and her
+bright eyes staring intensely, decided to nod that she did.
+
+"And can you tell me what your name is?"
+
+To this question there was no answer for several seconds, then she
+thought better of it and gravely said: "I could."
+
+This seemed so funny, that poor Nan, though by this time carrying a
+very sad heart, could not help smiling.
+
+"Well, will you?" she asked.
+
+But at this the tangled yellow head was shaken violently. No, she
+wouldn't.
+
+"It can't be," said Nan, talking to herself, since there was no one who
+would talk with her, looking with troubled eyes at the two uncombed,
+unwashed children, with their dresses half torn from them, and dirtier
+than any dresses that this trim little maiden had ever seen before,
+"this really cannot be the place! and yet father said this street and
+number; and the driver said this was right." Then she stooped to the
+little one. "Won't you tell me if your name is Satie Decker?"
+
+But this one was shy, and hid her dirty face in her dirty hands, and
+stepped back behind her sister who at once came to the rescue.
+
+"Yes, 'tis," she said, "and you let her alone."
+
+A shadow fell over Nan's face, but she said quickly, "Then you must be
+Susie Decker, and this place is really home!"
+
+But you cannot think how strangely it sounded to her to call such
+a looking spot as this home. There was no use in standing on the
+doorstep. She could feel that curious eyes were peeping at her from
+neighbors' windows. She stepped quickly inside the half-open door, into
+the kitchen where that breakfast-table still stood, with the flies so
+thick around the molasses cup, from which the children had long since
+drained the molasses, that it was difficult to tell whether there was a
+cup behind it, or whether this really was a pyramid of flies.
+
+The children followed her in. Susie had a dark frown on her face, and a
+determined air, as one who meant to stand up for her rights and protect
+the little sister who still tried to hide behind her. I think it was
+well they were there; had they not been, I feel almost sure that the
+stranger would have sat down in the first chair and cried.
+
+Poor little woman! It was such a sorrowful home-coming to her. So
+different from what she had been planning all day.
+
+I wish I could give you a real true picture of her as she stood in
+the middle of that dreadful room, trying to choke back the tears while
+she convinced herself that she was really Nettie Decker. A trim little
+figure in a brown and white gingham dress, a brown straw hat trimmed
+with broad bands and ends of satin ribbon, with brown gloves on her
+hands, and a ruffle in her neck. This was Nettie Decker; neat and
+orderly, from ruffle to buttoned boots. I wonder if you can think what
+a strange contrast she was to everything around her?
+
+What was to be done? she could not stand there, gazing about her; and
+there seemed no place to sit down, and nowhere to go. Where could
+father be? Why had he not stayed at home to welcome his little girl? or
+if too busy for that, surely the mother could have stayed, and he must
+have left a message for her.
+
+If the little girls would only be good and try to tell her what all
+this strangeness meant! She made another effort to get into their
+confidence. She bent toward Susie, smiling as brightly as she could,
+and said: "Didn't you know, little girlie, that I was your sister
+Nettie? I have come home to play with you and help you have a nice
+time."
+
+Even while she said it, she felt ten years older than she ever had
+before, and she wondered if she should ever play anything again; and if
+it could be possible for people to have nice times who lived in such a
+house as this. But Susie was in no sense won, and scowled harder than
+ever, as she said in a suspicious tone: "I ain't got no sister Nettie,
+only Sate, and Nan."
+
+Hot as the room was, the neat little girl shivered. There was something
+dreadful to her in the sound of that name. She had forgotten that she
+ever used to hear it; she remembered her father as having called her
+'Nannie'; that would do very well, though it was not so pleasant to her
+as the 'Nettie' to which she had been answering for seven years.
+
+But how strange and sad it was that these little sisters should have
+been taught to call her Nan! could there be a more hateful name than
+that, she wondered. Did it mean that her step-mother hated her, and had
+taught the children to do so? She swallowed at the lump in her throat.
+What if she should cry! what would those children say or do, and what
+would happen next? she must try to explain.
+
+"I am Nannie," she couldn't make her lips say the word Nan. "I have
+come home to live, and to help you!" She did not feel like saying "play
+with you," now. "Will you be a good girl, and let me love you?"
+
+How Susie scowled at her then! "No," she said, firmly, "I won't."
+
+There seemed to be no truthful answer to make to this, for in the
+bottom of her heart, Nannie did not believe that she could. Still, she
+must make the best of it, and she began slowly to draw off her gloves.
+Clearly she must do something towards getting herself settled.
+
+"Won't you tell me where father is? or mother?" her voice faltered a
+little over that word; "maybe you can show me where to put my trunk; do
+you know which is to be my room?"
+
+There were pauses made between each of these questions. The poor little
+stranger seemed to be trying first one form and then another, to see if
+it was possible to get any help.
+
+Susie decided at last to do something besides scowl.
+
+"Mother's sick. She lies in bed and groans all the time. She ain't got
+us no dinner to-day; Sate and me called her, and called her, and she
+wouldn't say anything to us. There ain't no room only this and that,"
+nodding her head toward the bedroom door, "and the room over the shed
+where Norm sleeps. Norm is hateful. He didn't bring home no bread this
+noon for Sate and me; and he said maybe he would; we're awful hungry."
+
+"Perhaps he couldn't," said poor startled Nettie. She hardly knew
+what she said, only it seemed natural to try to excuse Norm. But what
+dreadful story was this! If there was really a sick mother, why was not
+the father bending over her, and the house hushed and darkened, and
+somebody tiptoeing about, planning comforts for the night? She had seen
+something of sickness, and this was the way it was managed.
+
+Then what was this about there being no room for her? Then what in the
+world was she to do? Oh, what did it all mean! She felt as though she
+must run right back to the depot, and get on the cars and go to her own
+dear home. To be sure she knew that her father was poor; what of that?
+so were the Marshalls; she had heard Mrs. Marshall say many a time
+that "poor folks can't have such things," in answer to some of the
+children's coaxings. But poverty such as this which seemed to surround
+this home was utterly strange to Nettie.
+
+Still, though she felt such a child, she was also a woman; in some
+things at least. She knew there was no going home for her to-night. If
+she had the money to go with, and if there had been a train to go on,
+she would still have been stayed, because it would be wrong to go. Her
+father had sent for her, had said that they wanted her, needed her,
+and her father certainly had a right to her; and she had come away
+with a full heart, and a firm resolve to be as good and as helpful and
+as happy in her old home as she possibly could. And now that nothing
+anywhere was as she had expected it, was no reason why she should not
+still do right. Only, what was there for her to do, and how should she
+begin?
+
+She stood there still in the middle of the room, the children staring.
+Presently she crossed on tiptoe to the bedroom door which was partly
+open and peeped in, catching her first glimpse of the woman whom she
+must call "mother."
+
+Also she caught a glimpse of that dreadful bed; and the horrors of that
+sight almost took away the thought of the woman lying on it. How could
+she help being sick if she had to sleep in such a place as that? Poor
+Nettie Decker! She stood and looked, and looked. Then seeing that the
+woman did not stir, but seemed to be in a heavy sleep, she shut the
+door softly and came away.
+
+I don't suppose that Nettie Decker will ever forget the next three
+hours of her life, even if she lives to be an old woman. Not that
+anything wonderful happened; only that, for years and years afterwards,
+it seemed to her that she grew suddenly, that afternoon, from a
+happy-hearted little girl of thirteen, into a care-taking, sorrowful
+woman. While she stood in that bedroom door, a perfect whirl of
+thoughts rushed through her brain, and when she shut the door, she had
+come to this conclusion:
+
+"I can't help it; I am Nettie Decker; he is my father, and I belong to
+him, and I ought to be here if he wants me; and she is my mother; and
+if it is dreadful, I can't help it; there is everything to do; and I
+must do it."
+
+It was then that she shut the door softly and went back and began her
+life.
+
+There was that trunk out on the stoop. It ought to go somewhere. At
+least she could drag it into the kitchen so that the troops of children
+gathering about the door need not have it to wonder at any longer.
+Putting all her strength to it she drew it in and shut the door. By
+this time, Sate, who was getting used to her as she had gotten used to
+many a new thing in her little life, began to wail that she was hungry,
+and wanted some bread and some molasses.
+
+"Poor little girlie!" Nettie said, "don't cry; I'll see if I can
+find you something to eat. Did she really have no dinner, Susie? Oh,
+darling, don't cry so; you will trouble poor mother."
+
+But Susie had gone back to the scowling mood. "She _shall_ cry, if she
+wants to; you can't stop her; and you needn't try; I'll cry too, just
+as loud as I can."
+
+And Susie Decker who had strong lungs and always did as she said she
+would, immediately set up such a howl as put Sate's milder crying quite
+in the shade.
+
+Nettie looked over at the bedroom door in dismay; but no sound came
+from there. Yet this roaring was fearful. How could it be stopped?
+Suddenly she plunged her hand into the depths of a small travelling bag
+which still hung on her arm, and brought forth a lovely red-cheeked
+peach. She held it before the eyes of the naughty couple and spoke in a
+determined tone: "This is for the one who stops crying this instant."
+
+Both children stopped as suddenly as though they had been wound up, and
+the machinery had run down.
+
+Nettie smiled, and went back into the travelling bag. "There must be
+two of them, it seems," she said, and brought out another peach. "Now
+you are to sit down on the steps and eat them, while I see what can be
+found for our supper."
+
+Down sat the children. There had been quiet determination in this
+new-comer's tone, and peaches were not to be trifled with. Their mouths
+had watered for a taste ever since the dear woolly things began to
+appear in the grocery windows, and not one had they had!
+
+Now began work indeed. Nettie opened her trunk and drew out a work
+apron which covered her dress from throat to shoes, and made her look
+if anything, prettier than before. Where was the broom? The children
+busy with their peaches, neither knew nor cared; however, a vigorous
+search among the rubbish in the shed brought one to light. And then
+there was such a cloud of dust as the Decker kitchen had not seen in a
+long time. Then came a visit to the back yard in search of chips; both
+children following close at her heels, saying nothing, but watching
+every movement with wide-open wondering eyes. Back again to the kitchen
+and the fire was made up. Then an old kettle was dragged out from a
+hole in the corner, which poor Mrs. Decker called a closet. It was to
+hold water, while the fire heated it, but first it must be washed;
+everything must be washed that was touched. Where was the dishcloth?
+
+The children being asked, stared and shook their heads. Nettie
+searched. She found at last a rag so black and ill-smelling that
+without giving the matter much thought she opened the stove door and
+thrust it in. This brought a rebuke from the fierce Susie.
+
+"You better look out how you burn up my mother's things. My mother will
+take your head right off."
+
+"It wasn't good for anything, dear," Nettie said soothingly, "it was
+too dirty." And she stooped down and turned over the contents of the
+trunk. Neat little piles of clothing, carefully marked with her full
+name; a pretty green box which Susie dived for, and pushing off the
+cover disclosed little white ruffles, some of lace, and some of fine
+lawn, lying cosily together; but Nettie was not searching for such
+as these. Quite at the bottom of the trunk was a pile of towels,
+all neatly hemmed and marked. Two of these she selected; looked
+thoughtfully at one of them for a moment, and then with a grave shake
+of her head, got out her scissors and snipped it in two. Now she had
+a dishcloth, and a towel for drying. But what a pity to soil the
+nice white cloth by washing out that iron kettle! Nettie had grave
+suspicions that after such a proceeding it would not be fit for the
+dishes. Still, the kettle must be washed, and to have used the black
+rag which she had burned, was out of the question.
+
+There was no help for it, the other neat dishcloth must be sacrificed.
+So taking the precaution to wipe out the iron kettle with a piece of
+paper, and then to heat it quite hot, and apply soap freely, the cloth
+escaped without very serious injury; and in less time than it takes me
+to tell it, the water was getting itself into bubbles over the stove,
+and a tin pan was being cleaned, ready for the dishes. Then they were
+gathered, and placed in the hot and soapy water, and washed and rinsed
+and polished with the white towel until they shone; and the little
+girls looked on, growing more amazed each moment.
+
+It did not take long to wash every dish there was in that house. I
+suppose you would have been very much astonished if you could have
+seen how few there were! Nettie was very much astonished. She wondered
+how people could get supper with so few dishes, to say nothing of
+breakfasts and dinner. But you see she did not know how little there
+was to put on them.
+
+The next question was, Where to put them? One glance at the upper part
+of the closet where she had found some of them, convinced Nettie that
+her clean dishes could not be happy resting on those shelves. There was
+no help for it; they must be scrubbed, though she had not intended to
+begin housecleaning the first afternoon. More water and more soap, and
+the few shelves were soon cleared of rubbish, and washed. Nettie piled
+all the rubbish on a lower shelf and left it for a future day. She did
+not dare to burn any more property.
+
+"Don't they look pretty?" she said to the children, when at last the
+dishes were neatly arranged on the shelf. One held them all, nicely.
+
+Susie nodded with a grave face that said she had not yet decided
+whether to be pleased or indignant.
+
+"What did you do it for?" she asked, after a moment's silent survey.
+
+"Why, to make them clean and shining. You and I are going to clear up
+the house and make it look ever so nice for mother when she wakes up."
+
+"Did you come home to help mother?"
+
+"Yes, indeed. And you two little sisters must show me how to help her;
+poor sick mother! I am afraid she has too much to do."
+
+"She cries," said Susie gravely, as though she were stating not a
+surprising but simply a settled fact; "she cried every day: not out
+loud like Sate and me, but softly. Father says she is always sniveling."
+
+If you had been watching Nettie Decker just then you would have noticed
+that the blood flamed into her cheeks, and her eyes had a flash of
+wonder, and terror, and anger in them. What did it all mean? Where
+had the children learned such words? Was it possible that her father
+talked in this way to his wife?
+
+"Hush!" she said unguardedly, "you must not talk so." But this made the
+fierce little Susie stamp her foot.
+
+"I _shall_ talk so!" she said angrily; "I shall talk just what I
+please, and you sha'n't stop me." And then the queer little mimic
+beside her stamped her foot, and said, "You sha'n't stop me."
+
+Said Nettie, "There was a little girl on the cars to-day that I knew.
+She had a little gray kitty with three white feet, and a white spot on
+one ear, and it had a blue ribbon around its neck. What if you had such
+a kitty. Would you be real good to it?"
+
+"I will have a _black_ kitty," said Susie, "all black; as black as that
+stove." Nettie glancing at the stove, could not help thinking that it
+was more gray than black; but she kept her thoughts to herself, and
+Susie went on. "And it should have a red ribbon around its neck; as red
+as Janie Martin's dress; her dress is as red as fire, and has ruffles
+on, and ribbons. But what would it eat?"
+
+She did not mean the dress but the kitten.
+
+Nettie laughed, but hastened to explain that the kitten would need a
+saucer of milk quite often, and bits of various things. This made wise
+Susie gravely shake her head.
+
+"We don't have no milk," she said, "only once in awhile when Norm buys
+it; Sate, she often cries for milk, but she don't get none. It don't do
+no good to cry for milk; I ain't cried for any in a long time."
+
+Poor little philosopher! Poor, pitiful childhood without any milk!
+Hardly anything could have told the story of poverty to Nettie's young
+ears more surely than this. Why, she was a big girl thirteen years old,
+and had lived in a city where milk was scarce, and yet her glass had
+been filled every evening. Nettie did not know what to make of it. How
+came her father to be so poor? She was sure that the house did not look
+like this when she went away; and her clothes had been neat and good.
+She had the little red dress now which she wore away. She thought of it
+when Susie was talking, and wondered if with a little fixing it could
+not be made to fit the black-eyed child who seemed to admire red so
+much. Finding the kitty a troublesome subject, at least so far as the
+finding of milk for it was concerned, she turned the conversation to
+the little girls who had been on the cars; the one with the kitty, and
+her little sister, whom she called "Pet." "She was about as old as you,
+Susie, and Pet was about Satie's age. And she was very kind to Pet;
+she always spoke to her so gently, and took such care of her everybody
+seemed to love her for her kindness."
+
+"I take care of Sate," said Susie. "I never let anybody hurt her. I
+would scratch their eyes out if they did; and they know it."
+
+"You slap me sometimes," little Sate said, her voice slightly
+reproachful.
+
+"Yes," said Susie loftily, "but that is when you are bad and need it; I
+don't let anybody else slap you."
+
+"The oldest little girl had curly hair," said Nettie, "but it wasn't so
+long as yours, and did not curl so nicely as I think yours would. And
+Pet's hair was a pretty brown, like Sate's, and looked very pretty. It
+was combed so neatly. One wore a blue dress, and one a white dress; but
+I think they would have looked prettier if they had been dressed both
+alike."
+
+"I don't like white dresses," said Susie; "I like fiery red ones."
+
+So Nettie resolved that the red dress should be made to fit her.
+
+Meantime, the scrubbing had gone on rapidly; the table was as clean as
+soap and water could make it. Now if those children would only let her
+wash their faces and put their hair in order, how different they would
+look. Should she venture to suggest it?
+
+It all depended on how the idea happened to strike Susie.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE TRUTH IS TOLD.
+
+
+IN the bottom of that wonderful little trunk lay side by side two
+little blue and white plaid dresses, made gabrielle fashion, with
+ruffles around the bottom and around the neck. Never were dresses made
+with more patient care. All the stitches were small and very neat.
+
+And they represented hours and hours of steady work. Every stitch in
+them had been taken by Nettie Decker. Long before she had thought of
+such a thing as coming home, they had been commenced. Birthday presents
+they were to be to the little sisters whom she had never seen. She had
+earned the money to buy them. She had borrowed two little neighbors of
+the same age, to fit them to, and with much advice and now and then a
+little skilful handling from Mrs. Marshall, they were finally finished
+to Nettie's great satisfaction.
+
+It was the day the last stitch was set in them that she learned she was
+to come herself and bring them.
+
+She thought of them this afternoon. If the little girls would only let
+her comb their hair and wash their faces and hands, she would put on
+the new dresses. She had not intended to present them in that way, but
+dresses as soiled and faded and worn as those the little sisters had
+on, Nettie Decker had never worn.
+
+She opened the trunk, with both children beside her, watching, and drew
+out the dresses.
+
+"Aren't these almost as pretty as red ones?" she asked, as she unfolded
+them, and displayed the dainty ruffles.
+
+"No," said Susie, "not near so pretty as red ones. But then they are
+pretty. They aren't dresses at all; they are aprons. Are they for you
+to wear?"
+
+"No," said Nettie, "they are for two little girls to wear, who have
+their hair combed beautifully, and their hands and faces very clean."
+
+"Do you mean us?"
+
+"I do if the description fits. I can think just how nice you would look
+if your faces were clean and your hair was combed."
+
+"We will put on the aprons," said Susie firmly, "but we won't have our
+hair combed, nor our faces washed, and you need not try it."
+
+But Miss Susie found that this new sister had as strong a will as she.
+The trunk lid went down with a click, and Nettie rose up.
+
+"Very well," she said, "then we will not waste time over them. I
+brought them for you, and meant to put them on you this afternoon to
+surprise mamma, but if you don't want them, they can lie in the trunk."
+
+"I told you we did want them," said Susie, looking horribly cross. "I
+said we would put them on."
+
+"Yes, but you said some more which spoiled it. _I_ say that they cannot
+go on until your faces and hands are so clean that they shine, and your
+hair is combed beautifully."
+
+"You can't make us have our hair combed."
+
+"I shall not try," said Nettie, as though it was a matter of very small
+importance to her. "I was willing to dress you all up prettily, but if
+you don't choose to look like the little girls I saw on the cars, why
+you can go dirty, of course. But you can't have the clean new dresses."
+
+"Till when?"
+
+"Not ever. Unless you are clean and neat."
+
+"It hurts to have hair combed."
+
+"I know it. Yours would hurt a good deal, because you don't have it
+combed every day; if you kept it smooth and nice it would hardly hurt
+at all. But I didn't suppose you were a cowardly little girl who was
+afraid of a few pulls. If the dresses are not worth those, we had
+better let them lie in the trunk."
+
+Nettie was already beginning to understand her queer fierce little
+sister. She had no idea of being thought a coward.
+
+"Well," she said, after a thoughtful pause, "comb my hair if you like;
+I don't care. Sate, you are going to have your hair combed, and you
+needn't cry; because it won't do any good."
+
+It was certainly a trial to all parties; and poor little Sate in spite
+of this warning, did shed several tears; but Susie, though she frowned,
+and choked, and once jerked the comb away and threw it across the
+floor, did not let a single tear appear on her cheeks. And at last the
+terrible tangles slipped out, and left silky folds of beautiful hair
+that was willing to do whatever Nettie's skilful fingers told it. When
+the faces and hands were clean, and the lovely blue dresses had been
+arranged, Nettie stood back to look at them in genuine delight. What
+pretty little girls they were! She sighed in two minutes after she
+thought this. What did it mean that they looked so neglected and dirty?
+
+"These must go in the wash," she said, as she gathered up the rags
+which had been kicked off.
+
+"Will we put these on in the morning?" asked Susie, in quite a mild
+tone. She was looking down at herself and was very much pleased with
+her changed appearance.
+
+"Oh, no," Nettie said, "they are too light to play in. They are
+dress-up clothes. You must have dark dresses on in the morning."
+
+"We ain't got no dresses only them," and Susie pointed contemptuously
+at the rags in Nettie's hand. This made poor Nettie sigh again. What
+did it all mean?
+
+However, there was no time for sighing. There was still a great deal to
+be done.
+
+"Now we must get tea," she said, bustling about. "Where does mother
+keep the bread, and other things?"
+
+"She don't keep them nowhere. We don't have no things. I go to the
+bakery sometimes for bread, and for potatoes, and sometimes for
+milk. I would go now; I just want to show that hateful little girl in
+there my new dress, and my curls, but it isn't a bit of use to go. He
+won't let us have another single thing without the money. He said so
+yesterday, and he looked so cross he scared Sate; but I made faces at
+him."
+
+This called forth several questions as to where the bakery was, and
+Nettie, finding that it was but a few steps away, and that the little
+girls really bought most of the things which came from there, counted
+out the required number of pennies from her poor little purse for a
+loaf of bread and a pint of milk. In the cupboard was what had once
+been butter, set on the upper shelf in a teacup. It was almost oil, now.
+
+"If I had a lump of ice for this," Nettie murmured, "it might do.
+Butter costs so much."
+
+"They keep ice at the bakery," said that wise young woman, Susie, "but
+we never buy it."
+
+This brought two more pennies from the pocketbook; for to Nettie it
+seemed quite impossible that butter in such a condition could be eaten.
+So the ice was ordered, and two very neat, and very vain little bits of
+girls started on their mission.
+
+Tablecloths? Where would the new housekeeper find them? Where indeed!
+Hunt through the room as she would, no trace of one was to be found.
+She did not know that the Deckers had not used such an article in
+months. She thought of the cupboard drawer at home, and of the neat
+pile which was always waiting there, and at about this hour it had
+been her duty to set the table and make everything ready for tea. It
+would not do to think about it. There were sharper contrasts than
+these. Her proposed present to her mother had been a tablecloth, not
+very large nor very fine, but beautifully smooth and clean, and hemmed
+by her own patient fingers. She must get it out to-night, as no other
+appeared; and of course she could not set the table without one. So it
+was spread on the clean table, and the few dishes arranged as well as
+she could. There was a drawing of tea set up in another teacup, and
+there was a sticky little tin teapot. Nettie, as she washed it, told it
+that to-morrow she would scour it until it shone; then she made tea.
+Meantime the little errand girls had returned with their purchases, the
+butter was resting on a generous lump of ice, the bread which was found
+to be stale, was toasted, a plate of cookies from the wonderful trunk
+was added, and at last there was ready such a supper as had not been
+eaten in that house for weeks. To be sure it looked to Nettie as though
+there was very little to eat; but then she had not been used to living
+at the Deckers. She began to be very nervous about the people who were
+going to sit down at this neat table. Why did not some of them come?
+
+The wise housekeeper knew that neither tea nor toast improved greatly
+by standing, but she drew the teapot to the very edge of the stove,
+covered the toast, and set it in the oven. Then she went softly to the
+bedroom door and opened it. This time a pair of heavy eyes turned,
+as the door creaked, and were fixed on her with a kind of bewildered
+stare. She went softly in.
+
+"How do you feel now?" she asked gently. "I have made a cup of tea and
+a bit of toast for you. Shall I bring them now? The children said you
+did not eat any dinner."
+
+"Who are you?" asked the astonished woman, still regarding her with
+that bewildered stare.
+
+Nettie swallowed at the lump in her throat. It would be dreadful if she
+should burst out crying and run away, as she felt exactly like doing.
+
+"I am Nettie Decker," she said, and her lips quivered a little. "Father
+sent for me, you know. Didn't you think I would be here to-day, ma'am?"
+
+"You can't be Nan!"
+
+I cannot begin to describe to you the astonishment there was in Mrs.
+Decker's voice.
+
+"Yes'm, I am. At least that is what father used to call me once in a
+while, just for fun. My name is Nanette; but Auntie Marshall where I
+live, or where I used to live"--she corrected herself, "always called
+me Nettie. May I bring you the tea, ma'am? I think it will make you
+feel better."
+
+But the two children had stayed in the background as long as they
+intended. They pushed forward, Susie eager-voiced:
+
+"Look at us! See my curls, and see my new apron, only she says it is a
+dress, but it ain't; it is made just like Jennie Brown's apron, ain't
+it? But we ain't got no dresses on. She's got a white cloth on the
+table, and cookies, and a lump of ice, and everything; and we had two
+peaches. Old Jock gave us the bread. She sent the money, and I told him
+to take his old money and give me some bread right straight."
+
+How fast Susie could talk!
+
+There was scarcely room for the slow sweet Satie to get in her gentle,
+"and me too." Meaning look at my dress and hair. The bewildered mother
+raised herself on her elbow and stared--from Nan to the little girls,
+and then back to Nan. She was sufficiently astonished to satisfy even
+Susie.
+
+"Well, I never!" she said at last. "I didn't know, I mean I didn't
+think"--then she stopped and pressed her hand to her head, and pushed
+back the straggling hair behind her ears. "I took dizzy this morning,"
+she said at last, addressing Nettie as though she were a grown-up
+neighbor who had stepped in to see her, "and I staggered to the bed,
+and didn't know nothing for a long while. I had a dreadful pain in
+my head, and then I must have dropped to sleep. Here I've been all
+day, if the day is gone. It must be after three o'clock if you've got
+here. I meant to try to do something towards making things a little
+more decent; though the land knows what it would have been; I don't.
+There's nothing to do with. I didn't know till this morning that he had
+the least notion of sending for you--though he's threatened it times
+enough. I've been ailing all the spring, and this morning I just give
+out. I don't know what is the matter with me. The bed goes round now,
+and things get into a kind of a blur."
+
+"Let me bring you a cup of tea and something to eat," said Nettie; "I
+think you are faint." Then she vanished, the children following. She
+was back in a few minutes, under her arm a white towel from her trunk;
+this she spread on the barrel head which you will remember did duty as
+a table. She spread it with one hand, little Sate carefully smoothing
+out the other end. In her left hand she carried a cup of tea smoking
+hot, and poor Mrs. Decker noticed that the cup shone. Susie followed
+behind, an air of grave importance on her face, and in her hands a
+plate, covered by a smaller one, which being taken off disclosed a
+delicately browned slice of bread with a bit of butter spread carefully
+over it.
+
+"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Decker again, but she drank the tea with
+feverish haste, stopping long enough to feel of the cup with a curious
+look on her face. It was so smooth. There was a sound of heavy feet
+outside, and the children appeared at the door and announced that
+father and Norm had come. Nettie took the emptied cup, promising to
+fill it again, urged the eating of the toast while it was hot, and went
+with trembling heart to meet the father whom she had not seen in so
+many years that she remembered very little about him.
+
+A great rough-faced, unshaven man, with uncombed hair, ragged and dirty
+shirt sleeves, ragged and dirty pants, a red face and eyes that seemed
+but half open, and watery. Nothing less like what Nettie had imagined a
+father, could well be described. However, if she had but known it, this
+was a great improvement on the man who often came home to supper. He
+was nearly sober, and greeted her with a rough sort of kindness, giving
+her a kiss, which made her shrink and tremble. It was perfumed with
+odors which she did not like.
+
+"Well, Nan, my girl, you have grown into a fine young lady, have you?
+Tall for your years, too. And smart, I'll be bound; you wouldn't be
+your mother's girl if you wasn't. Is it you that has fixed up things
+so? It is a good thing you have come to take care of us. We haven't had
+anything decent here in so long, we've most forgot how to treat it.
+Come on, Norm. This table looks something like living again."
+
+And "Norm" shambled in. Rough, and uncombed, and unwashed, except a
+dab at his hands which left long streaks of brown at the wrists. A
+hard-looking boy, harder than Nettie had ever spoken to before. She
+could not help thinking of Jim Daker who lived in a saloon not far from
+her old home, and whom she had always passed with a hurried step, and
+with eyes on the ground, and of whom she thought as of one who lived in
+a different world from hers, and wondered how it felt to be down there
+in the slum. Now here was a boy whom it was her duty to think of as a
+brother; and he reminded her of Jim Daker!
+
+Still there was something about Norm that she could not help half
+liking. He had great brown, wistful-looking eyes, and an honest face.
+She had not much chance, it is true, to observe the eyes; for he did
+not look at her, nor speak, until his father said:
+
+"Why don't you shake hands with Nan? You ought to be glad to see her.
+You ain't used to such a looking supper as this."
+
+The boy laughed, in an embarrassed way, and said he was sure he did
+not know whether he was glad to see her or not: depended on what she
+had come for. He gave her just a gleam then from the brown eyes, and
+she smiled and held out her hand. He took it awkwardly enough, and
+dropped it as suddenly as though it had been hot; then sat down in
+haste at the table, where his step-father was already making havoc with
+the toast. It was not a very substantial meal for people who had dined
+on bread and cheese, and were hungering at that moment for beer; but
+the man had spoken the truth, it was better than they generally found.
+There was one part of the story, however, that he failed to tell: which
+was, that he did not furnish money to get anything better. As for Susie
+and Sate, they had become suddenly silent. They sat close together and
+devoured their toast, like hungry children indeed, but also like scared
+children. They gave occasional frightened glances at their father which
+puzzled and pained Nettie. No suspicion of the truth had yet come to
+her. Oh, yes, she had smelled the liquor when her father kissed her;
+but she thought it was something which had to do with the machinery
+around which he worked.
+
+"Where is the old woman?" he asked suddenly, setting down his empty cup
+which Nettie had filled for the third time. She looked up at him with a
+startled air. To whom was he speaking and what old woman could he mean?
+Her look seemed to make him cross. "What are you staring at?" he said
+sharply. "Can't you answer a question? Where's your mother?"
+
+Nettie hurried to answer; she was sick, had been real sick all day, but
+was better now, and was trying to get up.
+
+"She is everlastingly sick," the father said with a sneer; "you will
+get used to that story if you live here long. I hope you ain't one of
+the sickly kind, because we have heard enough of that."
+
+This sentence and the tone in which it was spoken, brought the blood in
+great waves to Nettie's face. It was the first time she had ever heard
+a man speak of his wife in such a way. Norm looked up from his cookie,
+and flashed angry eyes on his step-father for a moment, and said "he
+didn't know as that was any wonder. She had enough to make any woman
+sick."
+
+"You shut up," said the father in increasing irritability; and the
+children slipped out of their seats and moved toward the door, keeping
+careful eyes on the father until they were fairly outside. Nettie
+felt her limbs trembling so that her knees knocked together under the
+table. But at last every crumb of toast was eaten, and every drop of
+tea swallowed, and Mr. Decker pushed himself back from the table, and
+spoke in a somewhat gentler tone: "Well, my girl, make yourself as
+comfortable as you can. I'm glad to see you. We need your help, you'll
+find, in more ways than one. You've been working for other folks long
+enough. It is a poor place you've come to, and that's a fact. I ain't
+what I used to be; I've been unfortunate. No fellow ever had worse
+luck. Everything has gone wrong with me ever since your mother died.
+A sick wife, and young ones to look after, and nobody to do a thing.
+It is a hard life, but you might as well rough it with the rest of us.
+You'll get along somehow, I s'pose. The rest of us always have. I've
+got to go out for awhile. You tell the old woman to fix up some place
+for you to sleep, and we'll do the best we can."
+
+And he lounged away; Norm having left the table and the room some
+minutes before. And this was the father to whom Nettie Decker had come
+home!
+
+She swallowed at the lump which seemed growing larger every minute in
+her throat. She had choked back a great many tears that afternoon.
+There was no time to cry. Some place must be fixed for her to sleep.
+
+In the home that she had left, there was a little room with matting on
+the floor, and a little white bed in the corner, and a pretty toilet
+set that the carpenter's son had made her at odd times, and a wash bowl
+and pitcher that had been her present on her eleventh birthday, and a
+green rocking-chair that aunt Kate had sent her: not her own aunt Kate,
+but Mrs. Marshall's sister who had adopted her as a niece, and these
+things and many another little knickknack were all her own. The room
+was empty to-night; but then Nettie must not cry!
+
+She began to gather the dishes and get them ready for washing. Just as
+she plunged her hands into the dishwater, the bedroom door opened, and
+her mother came out, stepping feebly, like one just recovering from
+severe illness.
+
+"I'm dreadful weak," she said in answer to Nettie's inquiries, "but
+I guess I'm better than I have been in a good while. I've had a rest
+to-day; the first one I have had in three years. I don't know what made
+me give out so, all of a sudden. I tried to keep on my feet, but I
+couldn't do it no more than I could fly. You oughtn't to have to wash
+them dishes, child, with your pretty hands and your pretty dress. Oh,
+dear! I don't know what is to become of any of us."
+
+"This is my work apron," said Nettie, trying to speak cheerily, "and
+I am used to this work: I always helped with the tea dishes at home."
+Then she plunged into the midst of the subject which was troubling her.
+"Father said I was to ask you where I was to sleep."
+
+"He better ask himself!" said the wilted woman, rousing to sudden
+energy and indignation. "How does he think I know? There isn't the
+first rag to make a bed of, nor a spot to put it, if there was. I say
+it was a sin and a shame for him to send for you, and that's the truth!
+If he had one decent child who had a place to stay, where she would
+be took care of, he ought to have let you alone. You have come to an
+awful home, child. You have got to know the truth, and you might as
+well know it first as last. It is enough sight worse than you have seen
+to-night, though I dare say you think this is bad enough. You don't
+look nor act like what I was afraid of, and you must have had good
+friends who took care of you; and he ought to have let you alone. This
+is no place for a decent girl. It is bad enough for an old woman who
+has given up, and never expects to have anything decent any more. He
+won't provide any place for you, nor any clothes, and what we are to do
+with one more mouth to feed is more than I can see. I wouldn't grudge
+it to you, child, if we had it; but we are starved, half the time, and
+that's the living truth."
+
+"I won't eat much," said poor Nettie, trembling and quivering, "and I
+will try very hard to help; but if you please, what makes things so?
+Can't father get work?"
+
+"Work! of course he can; as much as he can do. He is as good a
+machinist to-day as there is in the shops; when they have a particular
+job they want him to do it. He works hard enough by spells; why, child,
+it's the drink. You didn't know it, did you? Well, you may as well know
+it first as last. He was nearer sober to-night than he has been in a
+week; but he wasn't so very sober or he wouldn't have been cross. He
+used to be good and kind as the best of them, and we had things decent.
+I never thought it would come to this, but it has, and it grows worse
+every day. Yes, you may well turn pale, and cry out. Turning pale won't
+do any good. And you may cry tears of blood, and them that sells the
+rum to poor foolish men will go right on selling it as long as they
+have money to pay, and kick them out when they haven't. That is the way
+it is done, and it keeps going on here year after year, homes ruined,
+and children made beggars, and them that have the making of the laws,
+go right on and let it be done. I've watched it. And I've tried, too.
+You needn't think I gave up and sat down to it without trying as hard
+as ever woman could to struggle against the curse; but I've give up
+now. Nothing is of any use. And the worst of it is my Norm is going the
+same road."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+NEW FRIENDS.
+
+
+AND then the poor woman who thought she had no more tears to shed,
+buried her face in her hands and shed some of the bitterest ones she
+ever did in her life.
+
+Poor Nettie! she tried to turn comforter; tried to think of one
+cheering word to say; but what was there to cheer the wife of a
+drunkard? Or the daughter of a drunkard? Could it be possible that she,
+Nettie Decker, was that! Oh, dear! how often she had stood in the door,
+and with a kind of terrified fascination watched Jane Daker stealing
+home in the darkness, afraid to go in at the front door, lest her
+drunken father should see her and vent his wrath on her. Could she ever
+creep around in the dark and hide away from her own _father_? Wouldn't
+it be possible for her to go back home? She had not money enough to
+get there, but couldn't she work somehow, and earn money? She could
+write a letter to the folks at home and tell them the dreadful story,
+and they would surely find a way of sending for her. But then, money
+was not plenty in that home, and she began to understand that they had
+done a great deal for her, and that it had cost a good deal to pay her
+fare to this place. She had wondered, at the time, that her father did
+not send the money for her to come home, but she said to herself: "I
+suppose he did not know how much it would cost, and he will give it to
+me to send in my first letter. Perhaps he will give me a little bit
+more than it costs, too, for a little present for Jamie."
+
+Oh, poor little girl! building hopes on a father like hers. She had not
+been at home half a day, but she knew now that no money would ever go
+back to the Marshalls in return for all they had done for her. Worse
+than that, she might not be able to get back to them herself. Would her
+father be likely to let her go? He had sent for her, and had told her
+during this first hour of their meeting, that she had worked for other
+people long enough. This made her heart swell with indignation.
+
+Done enough for others, indeed! What had they not done for her? She
+never realized it half so plainly as she did to-night. "I will go
+back!" she muttered, setting the little bowl she was drying on the
+table with a determined thump. "I can't stay in such a place as this.
+I will write to Auntie Marshall this very night if I can get a chance,
+and she will contrive some way."
+
+Certainly, Nettie in that mood could have no comfort for a weeping
+mother, and attempted none, after the first murmured word of pity. But
+meantime she knew very well that she could not go back home that night,
+and the present terror was, where was she to sleep?
+
+Her mother went back into the bedroom after a few minutes of bitter
+weeping, and Nettie finished the work, then stood drearily in the
+doorway, wondering what she could do next, when a good, homely,
+motherly face looked out of the side window of the small house next
+their own, and a cheery voice spoke:
+
+"Are you Joe Decker's little Nannie?"
+
+"Yes'm," said Nettie, sadly, wondering drearily, even then, if it could
+be possible that this was so.
+
+"Well," said the voice, "I calculated that you must be; though I never
+should have known you in the world, if I hadn't heard you was coming,
+you was such a mite of a thing when you went away. What a tall nice
+girl you've got to be. Your ma is sick, the children said. I've been
+away ironing all day, or I would have been in to see if I could help
+the poor thing any. I don't know her very much, but she is sickly, and
+has hard times now and then, and I'm sorry for her. Now what I was
+wondering is, where are they going to put you to sleep? The upper part
+of that house ain't finished off, is it? It is one big attic, ain't it,
+where Norm sleeps? I thought so. I suppose there could be quite a nice
+room made up there with a little work and a few dollars laid out, but
+your pa ain't done it, I'll be bound. And I knew there wasn't but one
+bedroom down-stairs, and I couldn't think how they would manage it."
+
+"It isn't managed at all, ma'am," said Nettie, seeing that she seemed
+to wait for an answer, and there was nothing to say but the simple
+truth. "There is no place for me to sleep."
+
+"You don't say! Now that's a shame. Well, now, what I was thinking was,
+that maybe you would like to sleep in the woodhouse chamber; it is a
+nice little room as ever was, and it opens right out of my Sarah Ann's
+room; so you wouldn't be lonesome. I haven't any manner of use for it,
+now my boy's gone away, and I just as soon you would sleep there as
+not until your folks get things fixed. You're a dreadful clean-looking
+little girl, and I like that. I'm a master hand to have clean things
+around me; Job says he believes I catch the flies and dust their wings
+before I let them go into my front room. Job is my husband, and that is
+his little joke at me, you know." And she laughed such a jolly little
+roly-poly sort of laugh that poor Nettie could not keep a smile from
+her troubled face. A refuge in the woodhouse chamber of this neat,
+good-natured-looking woman seemed like a bit of heaven to the homesick
+child.
+
+"I am very much obliged to you, ma'am," she said respectfully; "I will
+tell my mother how kind you are, and I think she will be glad to accept
+the kindness for a few days. I--" and then Nettie suddenly stopped. It
+might not be well to say to this new friend that she would not need to
+trouble the woodhouse chamber long, for she meant to start for home
+as soon as a letter could travel there, and another travel back.
+Something might come in the way of this resolve, though it made her
+feel hot all over to think of such a possibility.
+
+"Bless my heart!" said Mrs. Job Smith as Nettie vanished to consult her
+mother. "If that ain't as polite and pretty-spoken a child as ever I
+see in my life. She makes me think of our Jerry. To think of that child
+being Joe Decker's girl and coming back to such a home as he keeps! It
+is too bad! I am sure I hope they will let her sleep in the woodhouse
+chamber. It is the only spot where she will get any peace."
+
+Mrs. Decker was only too glad to avail herself of her neighbor's kind
+offer. "It is good of her," she said gratefully to Nettie. "I wish to
+the land you could have such a comfortable room all the time; they are
+real clean-looking folks. You wouldn't suppose from the looks of this
+house that I cared for clean things, but I do, and I used to have them
+about me, too. I was as neat once as the best of them; but it takes
+clothes and soap and strength to be clean, and I have had none of 'em
+in so long that I have most forgot how to do anything decent."
+
+"Soap?" said Nettie, wonderingly. She was beating up the poor rags
+which composed the bed in her mother's room, trying to get a little
+freshness into them.
+
+"Yes, soap; I don't suppose you can imagine how it would seem not to
+have all the soap you wanted; I couldn't, either, once, but I tell
+you I save the pennies nowadays for bread, so that I need not see my
+children starve before my eyes. I would rather do without soap than
+bread; especially when our clothes are so worn out that there is
+nothing much to change with. Oh, I tell you when you get into a house
+where the men folks spend all they can get on beer or whiskey, there
+are not many pennies left. Mrs. Smith has been real kind; she sent the
+children in a bowl of soup one day when their father had gone off and
+not left a thing in the house, nor a cent to get anything with.
+
+"And she has done two or three things like that lately; I'm grateful to
+her, but I'm ashamed to say so. I never expected to sink so low that I
+should be glad of the scraps which a poor neighbor like her could send
+in. Oh, no; they are not very poor. Why, they are rich as kings, come
+to compare them with us; but they are not grand folks at all; he is a
+teamster, and works hard every day; so does she; but he doesn't drink
+a drop, and they have a good many comfortable things. Their boy is away
+at school, and their girl, Sarah Ann, is learning a dressmaker's trade.
+You will have a comfortable bed in there, and I'm glad of it."
+
+And now it was eight o'clock. Susie and Sate were asleep in their
+trundle bed, the tired Nettie having coaxed them to let her give them
+a splendid bath first, making the idea pleasant to them by producing
+from her trunk a cunning little cake of perfumed soap. They looked "as
+pretty as pictures," the sad-eyed mother said, as she bent over them
+when they were asleep, with their moist hair in loose waves, and their
+clean faces flushed with health. "They are real pretty little girls,"
+she added earnestly, as she turned away. "He might be proud of them.
+And he used to be, too. When Sate was a baby, he said she had eyes like
+you, and he used to kiss her and tell her she was pretty, until I was
+afraid he would spoil her; but there isn't the least danger of that
+now. He never notices either of them except to slap them or growl at
+them."
+
+"How came father to begin to drink?" Nettie asked the question
+timidly, hesitating over the last word; it seemed such a dreadful word
+to add to a father's name.
+
+"Don't ask me, child; I don't know. They say he always drank a little;
+a glass of beer now and then. I knew he did when I married him, but I
+thought it was no more than all hard-working men did. I never thought
+much about it. I know it never entered my head that he could be a
+drunkard. I'd have been too afraid for Norm if I had dreamed of such a
+thing as that.
+
+"He kept increasing the drinks, little by little--it grows on them, it
+seems, the habit does; they say that is the way with all the drinks; I
+didn't know it. I never was taught about these things. If I had been,
+I think sometimes my life would have been very different. I know I
+wouldn't have walked right into the fire with my one boy, anyhow. I'm
+talking to you, child, as though you were a woman grown, and you seem
+most like a woman to me, you are so handy, and quiet, and nice-looking.
+I was sorry you were coming, because I thought you would just be an
+added plague; and now I am sorry for your own sake."
+
+Nettie hesitated greatly over the next question. It was a very hard one
+to ask this sick and discouraged mother, but she must know the whole of
+the misery by which she was surrounded. "Does Norman drink too?"
+
+"Norm," said Mrs. Decker, dropping into the one chair, and putting
+her hand to her heart as though there was something stabbing her
+there, "Norm has been led away by your father. He was a bright little
+fellow, and your father took to him amazingly. I used to tell him his
+own little girls would have reason to be jealous of his step-son. He
+took Norm with him everywhere, from the first. And taught him to do
+odd things, for a little fellow, and was proud of his singing, and
+his speaking, and all that. And when Susie there, was a baby, and I
+was kept close at home with her, and Norm would tear around in the
+evening and wake her up, I slipped into the way of letting him go out
+with your father to spend the evenings; I didn't know they spent them
+in bar-rooms, or groceries where they sold beer. I never _dreamed_ of
+such a thing. Your father talked about meeting the men, and I thought
+they met at some of the houses where there wasn't a baby to cry, and
+talked their work over, or the news, you know. And there he was
+teaching Norm to drink. He was a pretty little fellow, and he would
+sing comic songs, and then they would treat him to the sugar in their
+glasses! When I found it out, he had got to liking the stuff, and I
+don't suppose a day goes by without his taking more or less of it now.
+He never gets as bad as your father; but he will. He is never cross
+and ugly to me, nor to the children, but he will be. It grows on him.
+It grows on them all. And to think that I led him into the trap! If I
+had stayed in the country where I was brought up, or if I had left him
+with his grandfather, as he wanted me to, he might have been saved. The
+grandfather is gone now, and so is the farm. Your father got hold of my
+share of that, and lost it somehow. He didn't mean to, and that soured
+him, and he drank the harder and we are going down to the very bottom
+of everything as fast as we can."
+
+It seemed to poor Nettie that they must have reached the bottom now.
+She could not imagine any lower depths than these.
+
+She made up the poor bed as well as she could, and then went back to
+the kitchen to see what could be done about breakfast. Her new mother
+was evidently too weak and sick to be troubled with the thought of
+it, and while she stayed, Nettie resolved that she would help the
+poor woman all she could. She went out into the yard to examine, and
+discovered to her satisfaction that there must be a cooper's shop just
+around the corner, for the chips lay thick. She gathered some for the
+morning fire, determined in her mind that she would buy a few potatoes
+at the grocery in the morning! In the cupboard she had found a cup of
+sour milk; this she had carefully treasured with an eye to breakfast,
+and she now looked into her purse to see if she could spare pennies for
+a quart of flour. If she could, then some excellent cakes would be the
+result. And now everything that she knew how to do towards the next
+day's needs was attended to, and she went out in the moonlight, and sat
+down on the lowest step of the back stoop, and did what she had been
+longing to do all the afternoon--cried as though her poor young heart
+was breaking.
+
+Astride a saw-horse in the yard which belonged to Job Smith, and which
+was separated from the stoop where she sat only by a low fence, was a
+curly-headed boy, who had come there apparently to whittle and whistle
+and watch her. He was not there when she sat down and buried her head
+in her apron. She did not notice his whistling, though he made it loud
+and shrill on purpose to attract her attention, He knew quite a little
+about her by this time. He had come upon the boys of the Grammar School
+in the midst of their afternoon recess and heard Harry Stuart interrupt
+little Ted Barrows who was the youngest one in the class and wrote
+the best compositions. They were gathered under a tree listening to
+Ted, while he read them "The Story of An Hour," which was especially
+interesting because it had some of their own experiences skilfully
+woven in.
+
+"Hold on," Harry was saying, just as the whistling boy appeared within
+hearing. "You didn't make that thing up; you got it from the Deckers;
+that is what is just going to happen there. Old Joe's Nan is coming
+home this very day, and she is about as old as the girl you've got in
+your story, and is freckled, I dare say; most girls are."
+
+"I didn't even know old Joe Decker had a girl to come home!" said
+little Ted, looking injured. "I made every word of it out of my own
+mind."
+
+But the boys did not hear him; their interest had been called in
+another direction. "Is that so? Is Nan Decker coming home? My! What a
+house to come to. Mother said only yesterday that she hoped the folks
+who had her would keep her forever. What is she coming for? Who told
+you?"
+
+"Why, she is coming because Joe thinks that will be another way to
+plague the old lady. At least that is what my mother thinks. Mrs.
+Decker told her once that when Joe had been drinking more than usual
+he always threatened to send for Nan; but she didn't think he would.
+And now it seems he has. I heard it from the old fellow himself. He
+was telling Norm about it, while I stood waiting for father's saw. He
+said she was coming in the stage this afternoon; that she had worked
+for other folks long enough and it was time he had some good of her
+himself. I pity her, I tell you."
+
+Then the whistler had come out from behind the trees, and said
+good-afternoon, and asked a few questions. The boys had answered him
+civilly enough, but in a way which showed that they did not count
+him as one of them. The fact was, he was a good deal of a stranger.
+He had been in town only a few weeks, and he did not go to school,
+and he boarded with or lived with, the Smiths, who lived next door to
+the Deckers, and were nice enough people, but did not have much to do
+with the fathers and mothers of these boys, and--well, the fact was,
+the boys did not know whether to take this new comer in, and make him
+welcome, or not. They sort of liked him; he was good-natured, and
+accommodating so far as they knew, but they knew very little about him.
+He asked a good many questions about the expected Nan Decker. He had
+never heard of her before. Since he was to live next door to her, it
+might be pleasant to know what sort of a person she was. But the boys
+could tell him very little. Seven years, at their time of life, blots
+out a good many memories. They only knew that she was Nan Decker who
+went away when her mother died, and who had lived with the Marshalls
+ever since; and all agreed in being sorry for her that she was obliged
+at last to come home.
+
+The whistling boy walked away, after having cross-questioned first one,
+and then another, and learned that they knew nothing. He was on his
+way to the woods for one of his long summer rambles. He felt a trifle
+lonely, and wished that the boys had asked him to sit down under the
+trees and have a good time with them.
+
+[Illustration: JERRY ON ONE OF HIS SUMMER RAMBLES.]
+
+He would have liked to hear Ted's composition, he said to himself; the
+boy had a sweet face, and a head that looked as though he might be
+going to make a smart man, one of these days. What was the matter with
+those fellows, he wondered, that they were not more cordial?
+
+He thought about it quite awhile, then plunged into the mosses and
+ferns and gathered some lovely specimens, which he arranged in the box
+he carried slung over his shoulder, and forgot all about the boys, and
+poor little Nan Decker. On the way home, in the glow of the setting
+sun, he thought of her again, and wondered if she had come, and if
+she would be a sorrowful and homesick little girl. It seemed queer to
+think of being homesick when one came home! But then, it was only a
+home in name; he had not lived next door to it for five weeks without
+discovering that, and the little girl's mother was dead! Poor Nan
+Decker! A shadow came over his bright face for a moment as he thought
+of this. His mother was dead. He resolved to speak a kind word to
+the little girl the very first time that he had a chance. And here in
+the moonlight was his chance.
+
+He stopped whistling at last and spoke: "If it is anything about which
+I can help, I shall be very glad to do it." A kind, cheerful voice.
+Nettie looked up quickly and choked back her tears. She was not one to
+cry, if there were to be any lookers-on.
+
+"I guess you are homesick," said the boy from, his horse's back;
+"and that isn't any wonder. I'm homesick myself, nearly every night,
+especially if it is moonlight. I don't know what there is about the
+moon that chokes a fellow up so, but I've noticed it often; but then I
+feel all right in the morning."
+
+"Are you away from your home?"
+
+"I should say I was! Or rather home has gone away from me. I haven't
+any home in particular, only my father, and he is away out in
+California. I couldn't go there with him, and since my school closed I
+am waiting here for him to come back. It is home, you know, wherever
+he is. He doesn't expect to be back yet for months. So you and I ought
+to be pretty good friends, we are such near neighbors. I live right
+next door to you. We ought to be introduced. You are Nannie Decker, I
+suppose, and I am Jerry Mack at your service. I don't wonder you are
+homesick; folks always are, the first night."
+
+"My name is Nanette," said Nettie, gently, "but people who like me most
+always say Nettie: and it isn't being homesick that makes me feel so
+badly--though I am homesick; but it is being scared, and astonished,
+and, oh! everything. Nothing is as I thought it would be; and there are
+things about it that I did not understand at all, or maybe I wouldn't
+have come; and now I am here, I don't know what to do." She was very
+near crying again, in spite of a watcher.
+
+"I know," he said, nodding his head, and speaking in a grave,
+sympathetic voice. "Job Smith--that is the man I am staying with--has
+told me how it used to be with your father. He says he was a very nice
+father indeed. I am as sorry for you as I can be. But after all, I
+wouldn't give up if I were you; and I should be real glad that I had
+come home to help him. He needs a great deal of help. Folks reform, you
+know. Why, people who are a great deal worse than your father has ever
+been yet, have turned right around and become splendid men. If I were
+you I would go right to work to have him reform. Then there's Norm--he
+needs help, too; and he ought to have it before he gets any older,
+because it would be so much easier for him to get started right now."
+
+"I don't know the least thing to do," said Nettie; but she dried her
+eyes on her neat little handkerchief as she spoke, and sat up straight,
+and looked with earnest eyes at the boy on the other side the fence.
+This sort of talk interested and helped her.
+
+"No; of course you don't. You haven't studied these things up, I
+suppose. But there is a great deal to do. My father is a temperance
+man, and I have heard him talk. I know a hundred things I would like to
+do, and a few that I can do. I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, say we
+start a society, you and I, and fight this whole thing?
+
+"We can begin with little bits of plans which we can carry out now, and
+let them grow as fast as we can follow them and see what we can do. Is
+it a bargain?"
+
+"There is nothing I would like so well, if you will only show me how,"
+said Nettie, and her eyes were shining.
+
+It was wonderful what a weight these few words seemed to lift from her
+troubled heart. The boy's face had grown more thoughtful. He seemed in
+doubt just how to express what he wanted to say next.
+
+"I don't know how you feel about it," he said as last, "but I know
+somebody who would be sure to help in anything of this kind that we
+tried to do--show us how, you know, and make ways for us to get money,
+and all that."
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+Nettie spoke quickly now, for her heart was beating loud and fast. Was
+there somebody in this town who could be asked to come to the rescue,
+and who was willing to give such hearty help as that? If such were the
+case, she could see that a great deal might be accomplished. She waited
+for her new friend's answer, but he looked down on the stick he was
+whittling and gravely sharpened the end to a very fine point, before he
+spoke again.
+
+"I don't know what you think about such things, but I mean--God. I
+_know_ he is on our side in this business, don't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Nettie, thoughtfully, and her manner changed.
+
+Her voice which had been only eager before, became soft and gentle, and
+she looked over at the boy in the moonlight and smiled. "I know Him,"
+she said, "and I am His servant. It is strange I forgot for a little
+while that He knew all about this home, and father, and everything!
+Maybe He wants me to help father. I mean to begin right away. I will
+do every single thing I can think of, to keep father, and Norm, and
+everybody else from drinking liquor any more forever."
+
+There was a sudden spring from the saw-horse, a long step taken over
+the low fence, and the boy stood beside her.
+
+"There are two of us," he said gravely. "There is my hand on it. I am a
+Christian, too. And father gave me a verse once, which always helps me
+when I think of the rumsellers: 'If God be for us, who _can_ be against
+us!' I know he is for us, and so, though the rumsellers are against us,
+and think they are going to beat, one of these days he will show them!
+What you and I want to do is to keep working at it all we can, so as to
+show that we believe in him."
+
+"Now we are partners--Nettie Decker and Jerry Mack, who knows what we
+can do? Anyhow, we are friends, and will stand by each other through
+thick and thin, won't we?"
+
+"Yes," said Nettie, "we will." And she rose up from the doorstep, and
+they shook hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A GREAT UNDERTAKING.
+
+
+JERRY turned away whistling. Did you ever notice how apt boys are to
+whistle when something has stirred their feelings very much, and they
+don't intend that anybody but themselves shall know it?
+
+Nettie went back into the little brown house to see if her mother was
+comfortable for the night. Her heart was lighter than she had thought
+it ever would be again.
+
+Everything was quiet within the house. The children with their arms
+tossed about one another, and their cheeks flushed with sleep, looked
+sweeter than they often did awake. The heartsick mother had forgotten
+her sorrow again for a little while, in sleep. Where father and Norm
+were, Nettie did not know. It seemed strange to go away and leave the
+light burning, and the door unfastened. At home, they always gathered
+at about this hour, in the neat sitting-room, and sang a hymn and
+repeated each a Bible verse, and then Mr. Marshall prayed, and after
+that she kissed Auntie Marshall and the others, and tripped away to her
+pretty room. The contrast was very sharp. If it had not been for that
+new friend whose voice she heard at this moment softly singing a cheery
+tune, I think the tears would have come again.
+
+As it was, she slipped into Mrs. Job Smith's neat kitchen. What a
+contrast that was to the kitchen next door! The first thing she saw was
+the tall old clock in the corner. "Tick-tock, tick-tock." She had never
+seen so large a clock before; she had never heard one speak in such a
+slow and patronizing tone, as though it were managing all the world.
+She looked up into its face and smiled. It seemed like a great strong
+friend.
+
+There was nothing very remarkable about that kitchen. At least I
+suppose you would not have thought so, unless you had just spent
+an afternoon in the Decker kitchen. Then you might have felt the
+difference. The floor was painted a bright yellow, and had gay rugs
+spread here and there. The stove shone brilliantly, and the two chairs
+under the window were painted green, with dazzling white seats. A high,
+old-fashioned, wooden-backed rocker occupied a cosey corner near the
+clock. A table set against the wall had a bright spread on it, and
+newspapers, and a book or two, and a pair of spectacles lay on it. The
+lamp was in the centre, and was clear and beautifully trimmed.
+
+Simple enough things, all of them, but they spoke to Nettie's heart of
+home.
+
+There was a brisk step on the stair; the door opened, and Mrs. Smith's
+strong, homely face appeared in sight. "Here you are," she said
+cheerily, "tired enough to go to sleep, I dare say. Well, the room is
+all ready for you. I guess you won't be lonesome, for it is right out
+of Sarah Ann's room, and my boy Jerry is across the hall. You've got
+acquainted with Jerry, I guess? I saw you and him talking, out in the
+moonlight. I'm glad of it. Jerry is good at chirking a body up; and
+there never was a better boy made than he is.
+
+"Now you get right to sleep as goon as you can, and dream of all the
+nice things you can think of. It is good luck to have nice dreams in a
+new room, you know."
+
+"Poor little soul!" she said to herself as the door closed after
+Nettie. "I hope she will be so sound asleep that she won't hear her
+father and Norm come stumbling home. Isn't it a mean thing, now, that
+the father of such a little girl as that should go and disgrace her?"
+
+Mrs. Smith was talking to nobody, and so of course nobody answered her;
+and in a little while that house was still for the night. Nettie, in
+the clean, sweet-smelling woodhouse chamber, was soon on her knees; not
+sobbing out a homesick cry, as she thought she would, as soon as ever
+she had a chance, but actually thanking God for these new friends; and
+asking Him to be One in this new society, and show them just what and
+how to do. Then she went into sound sleep; and heard no stumbling, nor
+grumbling, though both father and brother did much of it when at last
+they shambled home.
+
+The new plans came up for consideration early the next morning. Before
+Nettie had opened her eyes to the neatly whitewashed walls in the
+woodhouse chamber, she heard the sound of merry whistling, keeping time
+to the swift blows of an axe. Jerry was preparing kindlings. In a very
+short time after that, he looked up to say good-morning, as Nettie was
+making her way across the yard to the other house.
+
+"Don't you want some of these nice chips? They will make your kettle
+boil in a jiffy."
+
+This was his good-morning; he held out both hands to her, full of broad
+smooth chips. "Aunt Jerusha likes them better than any other kind; I
+keep her supplied. Wait, I'll carry them in."
+
+"Oh, you needn't," Nettie said in haste, and blushing. What would he
+think of the Decker kitchen after being used to Mrs. Smith's! But he
+took long springs across the walk, vaulted the fence and stood at the
+kitchen door waiting for her. It looked even more desolate, in contrast
+with the sunny morning, than it had the night before. Nettie resolved
+to blacken the stove that very day. "Do you know how to make a fire?"
+Jerry asked. "I do. I made aunt Jerusha's for her, two mornings, but it
+is hard work to get ahead of her."
+
+Yes, Nettie knew how. She had made the fire for the supper, in Mrs.
+Marshall's boarding house, many a time. She proceeded to show her skill
+at once; Jerry, looking on admiringly, admitted that she knew more
+about it than he did.
+
+"You see, father and I board," he said apologetically, "and there
+isn't much chance to learn things. I'll tell you what I can do--get you
+a fresh pail of water."
+
+Before she could speak, he darted away. There was a sound of feet
+coming down the unfinished stairs, and Norm lounged into the room,
+rubbing sleepy eyes, and looking as though he had not combed his hair
+in a week. He stared at Nettie as though he had never seen her before,
+and answered her good-morning, with:
+
+"I'll be bound if I didn't forget you! Where have you been all night?"
+
+"Asleep," said Nettie, brightly. "Now I want to have breakfast ready by
+the time mother comes out, to surprise her. Will you tell me whether
+you have tea or coffee?"
+
+Norm laughed slightly. "We have what we can get, as a rule. I heard
+mother say there wasn't any tea in the house. And I don't believe
+we have had any coffee for a month. I'd like some, though; I know
+that. I've got a quarter; I'll go and get some, if you will make us a
+first-rate cup of coffee."
+
+"Well," said Nettie, "I'll do my best."
+
+She spoke a little doubtfully, having a shrewd suspicion that the
+quarter ought to be saved for more important things than coffee;
+but she did not like to object to Norm's first expressed idea of
+partnership; so he went away, and when the fresh water came, the
+teakettle was filled, the table set, the potatoes washed and put in the
+oven; by the time Mrs. Decker appeared, Nettie, with a very flushed
+face, was bending over her hot griddle, testing the cake she had baked.
+
+"Well, I do say!" said Mrs. Decker, and the tone expressed not only
+surprise, but gratitude. There was a pleasant odor of coffee in the
+room, and the potatoes were already beginning to hint that they would
+soon be done. The cake that Nettie had baked was as puffy and sweet as
+her heart could desire.
+
+"I believe you're a witch," said Mrs. Decker. "I couldn't think of a
+thing for breakfast. Where did you get them cakes?"
+
+"Made them," said Nettie; "I found a cup of sour milk; Auntie Marshall
+used to let me make them often for breakfast. Norm went after the
+coffee; and I guess it is good. I saved my egg shell from the cakes to
+settle it."
+
+"You're a regular little housekeeper," said Mrs. Decker. "And so Norm
+went after coffee! Did you ask him to? Went of his own accord! That's
+something wonderful for Norm. He used to think of things for me but he
+don't any more."
+
+Altogether, it was really almost a comfortable breakfast, though it
+seemed to Nettie that she would never get it ready. She was not used
+to managing with so few dishes. Her father drank three cups of coffee,
+said it was something like living, and gave Nettie twenty-five cents,
+with the direction that he hoped there would be something decent to eat
+when they came home at noon.
+
+Nettie's cheeks were red with more than the baking of cakes, then. She
+was ashamed of her father. How could he speak in a way to insult his
+wife! They went off hurriedly at last, Norm and the father; and the
+children who had been silent, began to chatter the moment the door
+closed after them. Mrs. Decker, too, began to talk.
+
+"He thinks twenty-five cents will buy a dinner for us all, and keep us
+in clothes, and get new furniture, and dishes! He will have it that it
+is because things are wasted that we have such poor meals. As if I had
+anything to waste! I don't know what to do, nor which way to turn. We
+need everything."
+
+"Don't you think we had better clean house to-day?" Nettie asked a
+little timidly, as they rose from the table and she began to gather the
+dishes.
+
+"Clean house!" repeated the dazed mother. "Why, yes, child, I suppose
+so. It needs it badly enough. Oh, we can wash up the floor, and the
+shelf. It doesn't take long; there are not many things in the way.
+No furniture to move. But it doesn't stay clean long, I can tell
+you. Just one room in which to do everything! I might have kept it
+looking better, though, if I had not been sick. I have just had to let
+everything go, child. Lying awake nights, and worrying, have used me
+up."
+
+She took the broom as she spoke and began to sweep vigorously,
+scurrying the children out of her way.
+
+It was a long day, and a busy one. And at night, the room certainly
+looked better. The floor had been scrubbed with hot lye to get off the
+grease, and the stove had been blackened until the children shouted
+that it would do for a looking-glass. Several other improvements had
+been made. But after all, to Nettie's eyes it was dreadfully bare and
+comfortless. Not a cushioned chair, nor a rocker, nor anything that to
+her seemed like home. All day she had been casting glances at a closed
+door which opened from the kitchen, and thinking her thoughts about
+the room in there. A large square room, perfectly empty. Why wasn't it
+used? If for nothing else, why didn't Norm sleep in it, instead of in
+that dreadful unfinished attic where the rats must certainly have full
+sweep? Or why did not her mother move in there with the trundle bed,
+instead of being cooped up in that small bedroom? Or why had they not
+prepared it for her to sleep in, if they really did not want it for
+anything else? She gathered courage at last, to ask questions.
+
+"Oh, that room," her mother said with bitterness, "when I first came
+here to live, we pleased ourselves nights, after the children were in
+bed, telling what we would have in it. We meant to furnish it for a
+parlor. We were going to have it carpeted; he wanted a red carpet, and
+I wanted a brown one with a little bit of pink in, but land! I would
+have taken one that was all yellow, just to please him. And we were
+going to have a lounge, and two rocking chairs, and I don't know what
+not. And there it is, shut up. I might have had it for a bedroom at
+first, but I wouldn't. I wanted to save it. And then, when I gave that
+all up, there was nothing to fix it with. Norm couldn't sleep there
+without curtains to the windows; no more could we; it is right on the
+street, almost.
+
+"And things keep getting worse and worse, so I just shut the door and
+locked it and let it go. If I had had a spare chair to put in, I might
+have gone in there and cried, now and then, but I hadn't even that. I
+tried to rent it; but the woman who was hunting rooms heard that your
+father drank, and was afraid to come. Oh, we have a splendid name in
+the place, you'll find. We are just going to ruin as fast as a family
+can; that's the whole story."
+
+In the middle of the afternoon, when Nettie had done everything she
+could think of, unless some money could be raised, and some clothes
+made, so that the children could have the ones washed which they were
+wearing, she stood in the back door, wondering how that could be
+brought about, when Jerry appeared in his favorite seat on the sawhorse.
+
+"Everything done up for the day?" he asked.
+
+Nettie laughed.
+
+"Everything has stopped for the want of things to do with," she said.
+"I don't see but that will be the trouble with what we want to do. Why,
+you can't do a single thing without money; and where is it to come
+from?"
+
+"That is one of the things we must think up," Jerry said gravely. "I
+have thought about it some. This temperance business needs money. One
+of the troubles with boys like Norm is that they have no nice places
+to go to. Boys like to meet together and talk things over, you know,
+and have a good time, and how are some of them going to do it? The
+church isn't the place, nor the schoolhouse, and those fellows haven't
+pleasant homes; the only spot for them is the saloons. I don't much
+wonder that they get in the habit of going there. I have heard my
+father say that saloons were the only places that were fixed up, and
+lighted, where folks without any pleasant homes were made welcome. Why,
+just look at it in this town. There's your Norm. There are two fellows
+who go with him a great deal. If you meet one, you may be sure that
+the other two are not far away. Their names are Alf Barnes and Rick
+Walker. Neither of them have as decent a home as Norm's, oh! not by a
+good deal. And he doesn't feel like inviting them into your kitchen to
+spend the evening. Should you think he would?"
+
+Warm as the day was, Nettie shivered. "I should think they would rather
+stay out in the street than to come there," she said.
+
+"Well, now you see how it is. They don't stay in the streets, such
+fellows don't. Not all the time. They get tired, and sometimes it
+rains, and in winter it is cold, and they look about them for somewhere
+to go. There's a saloon, bright and clean; comfortable chairs, and
+good-natured people. It is the only place that says Come in! to such
+fellows. Why shouldn't they go in?
+
+"I've heard my father talk about this by the hour. In big cities they
+have rooms warmed and lighted, and nicely furnished, on purpose for
+such young men; only father is always saying that they don't begin to
+have enough of them; but in such a town as this, I would like to know
+what the boys who haven't nice homes to stay in, are expected to do
+with themselves evenings? One of these days, when I am a man, that
+is the way I am going to use all my extra money. I'll hunt out towns
+where the fellows have just been left to stay in the streets, or else
+go to the rum-holes, and I'll fit up the nicest kind of a room for
+them. Bright as gas can make it, and elegant, you know, like a parlor;
+and I'll have cakes, and coffee, and lemonades, and all those things,
+cheaper than beer, and serve them in fine style. Wouldn't that be a
+fine thing to do?"
+
+"Then the first thing," said Nettie, "is a room."
+
+Jerry turned round on his horse and looked full at her and laughed.
+"You talk as though it was to be done now," he said. "I was telling
+what I would do in that dim future, when I become a man."
+
+"We might begin pieces of it now. Norm will be too old when you are a
+man; and so will those others. There is our front room. If we only had
+some furniture to put in it. My Auntie Marshall made some real pretty
+seats once, out of old boxes; she padded them with cotton, and covered
+them with pretty calico, and you can't think how nice they were. I
+could make some, if I had the boxes and the calico."
+
+"I could get the boxes," said Jerry. "I know a man in the blacksmith
+shop who has a brother in the grocery down at the corner, and he could
+get boxes for us of him, I'm pretty sure. He is a nice man, that
+blacksmith. I like him better than any man in town, I believe. I could
+fix covers on the boxes myself, and do several other things. I have a
+box of tools, and I often make little things. I say, Nettie, let's fix
+up the front room. I've often wondered what there was in there. Would
+your mother let us have it?"
+
+"She would let us have most everything, I guess," Nettie said
+thoughtfully, "if she thought it would do any good."
+
+"All right. We'll make it do some good. Let's set to work right away.
+The first thing as you say, is a room. No, we have the room; the first
+thing is furniture. I'll go and see Mr. Collins this very evening. He
+is the blacksmith."
+
+In less than half an hour from that time Jerry stood beside Mr. Collins.
+
+That gentleman had on his big leather apron, and was busy about his
+work as usual.
+
+"Boxes?" he said to Jerry. "Why, yes, there are piles of them in his
+cellar, and out by his back door. I should think he would be glad to
+get rid of some. But what do you want of them? Furniture? How are you
+going to make furniture out of boxes? What put such a notion as that
+into your head, and what do you want of furniture, anyhow?"
+
+So Jerry sat down on a box and told the whole story. Mr. Collins
+listened, and nodded, and shook his head, and smiled grimly,
+occasionally, and sighed, and in every possible way showed his interest
+and appreciation.
+
+"And so you two are going to take hold and reform the town?" he said
+at last. "Humph! Well, it needs it bad enough! if old boxes will help,
+it stands to reason that you ought to have as many as you want. I'll
+engage to see that you get them."
+
+When Mr. Collins told his brother-in-law, the grocer, the two laughed
+a good deal, but the blacksmith finished his story with, "Well, now I
+tell you what it is--something is better than nothing, any day; there's
+been nothing done here for so long that I think it is kind of wonderful
+that those two young things should start up and try to do something."
+
+"So do I, so do I," assented the grocer, heartily, "and if old boxes
+will help 'em, why, land, they're welcome to as many as they can use.
+Tell the chap to step around here and select his lumber, and I'll have
+it delivered."
+
+This message Jerry was not slow to obey; so it happened that the very
+next afternoon Mrs. Job Smith stood in her back door and watched with
+curious eyes the unloading of the grocer's wagon. Six, seven, eight
+empty boxes! "For the land's sake, what be you going to do with them?"
+she asked Jerry.
+
+Mrs. Job Smith had a great warm heart, but no education to speak of;
+and no mother had, in her childhood, begged her a dozen times a day not
+to use such expressions as "for the land's sake!" she knew no better
+than to suppose they added emphasis to her words; Jerry laughed.
+
+"It is for the room's sake, auntie," he said. "We are going to have a
+cabinet shop in the barn loft. Mr. Smith said I might. I shall make
+some nice things, auntie, see if I don't. Come up in the loft, will
+you, and see my tool chest?"
+
+This last sentence was addressed to Nettie who had appeared in her
+back door to admire the boxes. So the two climbed the ladder stairs,
+Nettie a little timidly as one unused to ladders, and Jerry with quick
+springs, holding out his hand to her at the top, to help her in making
+the final leap. Then he took from his pocket a curious little key which
+he explained to Nettie would open that tool chest provided you knew
+how to use it; but he supposed that a man who had stolen it might try
+for a week, and yet not get into the chest.
+
+A skilful touch, and the handsome chest was open before her, displaying
+its wonders to her pleased eyes. It was a well-stocked chest. Chisels,
+and saws, and hammers, and augers, and sharp, wicked-looking little
+things for which Nettie had no name, gleamed before her.
+
+"How nice!" she said at last. "How splendid! It looks as though
+somebody who knew how, could make splendid things with them."
+
+"And I know how," said Jerry. "At least, I know some things. I spent a
+summer down in a little country town where father had some business;
+and the man we boarded with kept a small shop, where all sorts of
+things were made. Not a great factory, you know, where they make a
+thousand chairs of one kind, and a thousand of another, and never
+make anything but chairs. This was just a little country shop, where
+they made a table one day, and a chair the next, and a bedstead the
+next; and you could watch the men at work, and ask questions and learn
+ever so much. I got so I could use tools, as well as the next one,
+Mr. Braisted said, whatever he meant by that. Father liked to have
+me learn. He said tools were the cleanest sharp things that he knew
+anything about. I can make ever so many things. I like to do it. I
+wonder I have not been about it since I came here. Now what shall we go
+at first? What does your mother say about the room?"
+
+"She is willing," said Nettie, "only she doesn't see how much of
+anything can be done. She is most discouraged, you see, and nothing
+looks possible to her, I suppose."
+
+"That's all right. She can't be expected to know we can do things until
+we show her. If she will let us try, that is all we need ask."
+
+"She says the room ought to have some kind of a carpet; they always
+have carpets in home-like rooms, she says; and I guess that is so.
+Except in kitchens, of course."
+
+Nettie hastened to say this, apologetically, thinking of Mrs. Job
+Smith's bright yellow floor.
+
+Jerry whistled.
+
+"That is so, I suppose," he said thoughtfully; "and they don't make
+carpets out of boxes, nor with saws and hammers, do they? I don't know
+how we would manage that. There must be a way to do it, though. Let's
+put that one side among the things that have got to be thought about."
+
+"And prayed about," said Nettie.
+
+"Yes," he said, flashing a very bright look at her, "I thought that,
+but somehow I did not like to say it out, in so many words."
+
+"I wonder why?" said Nettie thoughtfully; "I mean, I wonder why it is
+so much harder to say things of that kind than it is to speak about
+anything else?"
+
+"Father used to say it was because people didn't get in the habit of
+talking about religion in a common sense way. They don't, you know;
+hardly anybody. At least hardly anybody that I know; around here,
+anyway. Now my father speaks of those things just as easy as he does of
+anything."
+
+"So does Auntie Marshall; but I used to notice that not many people
+did. Your father must be a good man."
+
+"There never was a better one!"
+
+Notwithstanding Jerry said all this with tremendous energy, his voice
+trembled a little, and there came one of those dashes of feeling over
+him which made him think that he must drop everything and go to that
+dear father right away.
+
+"When he comes after you and takes you away, what will I do?"
+
+Nettie's mournful tone restored the boy's courage.
+
+He laughed a little. "No use in borrowing trouble about that. He is
+afraid he cannot come back before winter, if he does then. I'm going
+to get him to let me stay here until he does come, though. And now we
+must attend to business. What will you have first in my line? Chairs,
+tables, sofas--why, anything you say, ma'am."
+
+And both faces were sunny again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOW IT SUCCEEDED.
+
+
+MRS. JOB SMITH leaned against the table in her bright kitchen, caught
+up the edge of her apron in one hand, then leaned both hands on her
+sides, and thought. Jerry had been consulting her. Was there any way
+of planning so that the front room in the Decker house could have
+a carpet? He repeated all Mrs. Decker said about a room not being
+home-like without one, and Mrs. Smith, at first inclined to combat
+the idea, finally admitted that in winter a room where you sat down
+to visit, did look kind of desolate without a carpet, unless it was
+a kitchen, and had a good-sized cook stove to brighten it up. There
+was no denying that that square front room would be the better for a
+carpet. At the same time there was no denying that the Deckers needed
+a hundred other things worse than they did a carpet. But the hearts of
+the boy and girl were bent on having one; and what the boy was bent
+on, Mrs. Job Smith liked to have accomplished, and believed sooner or
+later that it would be. The question was, How could she help to bring
+it about?
+
+"There's that roll of rag carpeting, bran-new," she said aloud; Mrs.
+Smith had spent a good deal of her time alone and had learned to
+hold long conversations with herself, arguing out questions as well,
+sometimes she thought better, than a second party could have done.
+At this point she put her hands on her sides. "There's enough of it,
+and more than enough. I had it made for the front room the year poor
+Hannah died, and sent me that boughten carpet which just exactly
+fitted, and is good for ten years' wear. That rag carpeting has been
+rolled up and done up in tobacco and things ever since--most two years.
+Sarah Jane doesn't need it, and I don't know as I shall ever put it
+on the kitchen. I don't like a great heavy carpet in a kitchen, much,
+anyway; rugs, and square pieces that a body can take up and shake,
+are enough sight neater, to my way of thinking. But I can't afford to
+give away bran-new carpeting. To be sure it only cost me the warp and
+the weaving; and I got the warp at a bargain, and old Mother Turner
+never did ask me as much for weaving as she did other folks. The rags
+was every one of them saved up. Poor Hannah used to send me a lot of
+rags, and Sarah Jane and I sewed them at odd spells when we wouldn't
+have been doing anything. It is a good deal of bother to take care of
+it, and I'm always afraid the moths will get ahead of me, and eat it
+up. I might sell it to her for what the warp and the weaving cost me.
+But land! what would she pay with? I might give her a chance to do
+ironing. I have to turn away fine ironing every week of my life because
+I can't do more than accommodate my old customers. Who knows but she
+is a pretty good ironer? I might give her the coarse parts to iron,
+and watch her, and find out. Job is always at me to have somebody help
+with the big ironings, and I have always said I wouldn't have a girl
+bothering around, I would rather take less to do. But then, she is a
+decent quiet body, and that Nettie is just a little woman. She will
+have to do something to help along if they ever get started in being
+decent; perhaps ironing is the thing for her, and I can start her if
+she knows how to do it. For the matter of that, I might teach her
+how, if she wanted to learn. To be sure they need other things more
+than carpets, but it wouldn't take her long to pay for this, if I just
+charge for the weaving. I might throw in the warp, maybe, seeing I got
+it at a bargain. The two are so bent on having a carpet for that room;
+and Jerry, he said he had prayed about it, and while he was on his
+knees, it kind of seemed to him as though I was the one to get to think
+it out. That's queer now! Jerry don't know anything about the carpet
+rolled up in tobacco in the box in the garret; why should he think that
+I could help? I feel almost bound to, somehow, after that. I don't like
+to have Jerry disappointed, nor the little girl either, now that's a
+fact. I take to that little Nettie amazingly. Well, I know what I'll
+do. I'll talk with Job about it, and if he is agreed, maybe we will see
+what she says to it."
+
+This last was a kind of "make believe," and the good woman knew it; Job
+Smith thought that his wife was the wisest, most prudent, most capable
+woman in the world, and besides being sure to agree to whatever she had
+to propose, he was himself of such a nature that he would have given
+away unhesitatingly the very clothes he wore, if he thought somebody
+else needed them more than he. There was little need to fear that Job
+Smith would ever put a stumbling-block in the way of any benevolence.
+
+But who shall undertake to tell you how astonished Mrs. Decker was
+when Mrs. Smith, having duly considered, and talked with Sarah Jane,
+and talked with Job, and unrolled the tobacco-smelling carpet, and
+examined it carefully, did finally come over to the Decker home with
+her startling proposition. It is true that a carpet had taken perhaps
+undue proportions in this poor woman's eyes. Her best room during all
+the years of her past life had never been without a neat bright carpet;
+it had been the pleasant dream of her second married-life, so long as
+any pleasantness had been left to allow of dreaming; and she could not
+get away from the feeling that people who had not a scrap of carpeting
+for their best room, were very low down. She opened her eyes very
+wide while listening to Mrs. Smith's rapidly told story. What kind of
+a carpet could it be that was offered to her for simply the price of
+the weaving? for Job and his wife after some figuring with pencil and
+paper, had agreed together heartily to throw in the warp. She went
+over to the neat kitchen and examined the carpet. It was bright and
+pretty. There was a good deal of red in it, and there was a good deal
+of brown; a blending of the two colors which had been the subject of
+much discussion between herself and husband in the days when Mr. Decker
+talked anything about the comforts of his home. How well it would look
+in the square room which had two windows, and was really the only
+pleasant room in the house. Surely she could iron enough to pay for
+that.
+
+"I am not very strong," she said with a sigh. "I used to be, but of
+late I've been failing. But Nannie is so handy, and so willing, that
+she saves me a great deal, and she has a notion that she would like to
+fix up the front room and try to get hold of my Norm. It would be worth
+trying, maybe, but I don't know. We are very low down, Mrs. Smith."
+
+And then Mrs. Decker sank into one of the green painted chairs and
+cried.
+
+"Of course it is worth trying," Mrs. Smith said, bustling about, as
+though she must find some more windows to raise; tears always made her
+feel as though she was choking. "If I were you I would have a carpet,
+and curtains to the windows, and lots of nice things, and make a home
+fit for that boy of yours to have a good time in. There is nothing like
+a nice pleasant home to keep a boy from going wrong."
+
+Before Mrs. Decker went home, she had promised to try the ironing the
+very next week, and if she could do it well enough to suit Mrs. Smith,
+the carpet should be bought.
+
+"Poor thing!" said Mrs. Smith, looking after her, and rubbing her eyes
+with the corner of her apron. "The ironing shall suit; if she irons
+wrinkles into the collars and creases in the cuffs, I won't say a word;
+only I guess maybe I won't give her collars and cuffs to iron; not till
+she learns how. I ought to have done something to kind of help her
+along before; only I don't know what it would have been. It takes that
+boy of mine to set folks to work."
+
+Meantime, "that boy" sat in the kitchen door, studying. Not from a
+book, but from his own puzzled thoughts. He did not see his way clear.
+Under Nettie's direction he had planned a very satisfactory sofa with
+a back to it, and two chairs, but how to get the material needed to
+finish them, and also for curtains for the new room, had sent Nettie
+home in bewilderment, and stranded him on the doorstep in the middle
+of the afternoon to think it out.
+
+"How much stuff does it take for curtains, anyhow?"
+
+"For curtains?" said Mrs. Smith, coming back with a start from her
+ironing table and the plan she had for teaching Mrs. Decker to iron
+shirts. "Why, that depends on what kind of stuff it is, and how many
+curtains you want, and how big the windows are."
+
+"Well, what do they use for curtains?"
+
+Mrs. Smith still looked bewildered.
+
+"A great many things, Jerry. They have lace curtains, and linen ones,
+and muslin ones, and in some of the rooms up at Mrs. Barlow's, on the
+hill, you know, when I helped her do up curtains that time, they had
+great heavy silk things, or maybe velvet, though the stuff didn't look
+much like either. I don't rightly know what it was, but it was heavy,
+and soft, and satiny, and shone like gold, in some places."
+
+Jerry turned around on the doorstep and looked full at Mrs. Smith,
+and laughed. "I know," he said, "I have seen such curtains. They are
+damask. I am not thinking about lace, and damask, and all that sort of
+thing. I mean for Mrs. Decker's front room. What could be used that
+would do, and how much would they cost?"
+
+"Surely!" said Mrs. Smith, coming down to everyday life. "What a goose
+I was. I might have known what you were thinking about. Why, let me
+see. Cheese cloth makes real pretty curtains; if you have a bit of
+bright calico to put over the top, and a nice hem in, or maybe some
+bright calico at the bottom to help them hang straight, I don't know as
+there is anything much prettier. Though to be sure they aren't good for
+much to keep people from looking in; and they aren't quite suitable for
+winter. I suppose you want to plan for winter, too? I'll tell you what
+it is, I believe that unbleached muslin makes about as pretty a curtain
+as a body could have; put bright red at the top and bottom, and they
+look real nice."
+
+"What is unbleached muslin? I mean, how much does it cost?"
+
+"Why," said Mrs. Smith, dropping into her rocking-chair, and folding
+her hands on her lap to give her mind fully to the important question,
+"as to that, I should have to think; I'm not very good at figures.
+Unbleached muslin costs about eight cents a yard, or maybe ten; we'll
+say ten, because I've always noticed that was easier to calculate. Ten
+cents a yard, and two windows, say two yards to each, and no, two yards
+to each half, four yards to each, and twice four is eight, eight yards
+at ten cents a yard. How much would that be, Jerry? You can tell in a
+minute, I dare say."
+
+"Eighty cents," said Jerry with a sigh. "I am afraid she will think
+that is a great deal. And then there's the red to put on them. What
+does that cost?"
+
+"Why, that ought to be oil calico, because the other kind ain't fast
+colors. I don't much believe you could get those curtains up short of
+fifty cents apiece; and that is a good deal for curtains, that's a
+fact. Paper ones don't cost so much, but then there's the rollers and
+the fastenings, I don't know but they do cost just as much. And then
+they tear."
+
+"I don't want her to have paper ones," said Jerry decisively. "A dollar
+for the curtains, and I don't know how much more for the furniture. She
+can't imagine where the money is to come from."
+
+"I could tell where it ought to come from," said Mrs. Smith, nodding
+her head and looking severe. "It ought to come out of Joe Decker's
+pocket. He makes his dollar a day, even now, when he doesn't half work;
+Job said so only last night. But furniture is dreadful dear stuff,
+Jerry, worse than curtains. And they need about everything. I never did
+see such a desolate house! And those little girls need clothes."
+
+"Nettie is going to make them some clothes," said Jerry; "she has some
+that she has outgrown; a great roll in her trunk; she is going to make
+them over to fit the little girls. She is at work at some of them
+to-day. And you know, auntie, I am making the furniture."
+
+"Making it!"
+
+"Well, making its skeleton. If we had some clothes to put on it, I
+guess it would be furniture. I've made a sofa, and two chairs, and I'm
+at work at a table. Only I would like to see how the things were going
+to look, before I went any farther."
+
+"Making furniture!" repeated dazed Mrs. Smith; and she shook her head.
+"I don't see how you can! You can do a great many things that no other
+boy ever thought of; but I'm afraid that's beyond you."
+
+"Why, you see, auntie, she has seen some made, and she showed me what
+to do with hammer and nails. You make a frame, just the size you want
+for a sofa, and put a back to it, then it is padded with cotton, and
+covered with something bright, cretonne, I think she said they called
+it, only it wasn't real cretonne, but a cheap imitation, and they tack
+a skirt to the thing in puckers, so," and he caught up a bit of Mrs.
+Smith's apron to illustrate.
+
+"I see," she said, nodding her head and speaking in an admiring tone.
+"What a contriving little thing she is! And what about the chairs?"
+
+"The chairs are served in very much the same way. The table is just
+two flat boards and a post between them, nailed firmly, then they tack
+red calico, or blue, or whatever they want, around it, and cover it
+with thin white cheese cloth or some lacey stuff, she had the name of
+it, but I've forgotten; it doesn't cost much, she said, and tie a sash
+around it, and it looks like an hour glass. The question is, where are
+the cotton and calico to come from?"
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Smith, "you two do beat all! It can't take much stuff
+for a little table; and I can see that they might be real pretty. I
+want a table myself, to stand under the glass in my front room. What if
+you was to make two, and I'd get cloth enough for two, and she would do
+mine and hers, to pay for the cloth?"
+
+Jerry sprang up from his doorstep, and came over and put both arms
+around Mrs. Smith's trim waist.
+
+"Hurrah!" he said; "you are the contriver. That will do splendidly.
+I'll go this minute and set up the skeleton of another table. I have
+two boards there which will just do it. Then we'll think out a way to
+get the rest of the stuff."
+
+Now Nettie, busy with her fingers in the house next door, had not left
+the others to do all the thinking. She knew the price of "oil calico,"
+and imitation cretonne, and unbleached muslin; she knew to a fraction
+how many yards of each would be needed, and the sum total appalled her.
+Yet she too knew that her father earned at least a dollar a day, and
+did not give them two a week to live on. This her mother had told her.
+
+Also she knew that on this Saturday evening at about six o'clock, he
+would probably be paid for his week's work. Couldn't she contrive to
+coax some of the money from his keeping into hers? She had hinted the
+possibility of her mother's getting hold of it, and Mrs. Decker had
+said that the bare thought of trying made her feel faint and sick; that
+if she had ever seen her father in a passion such as he could get into
+when things did not go just to suit him, she would know what it was to
+ask him for anything. Nettie, who had not yet been at home a week, had
+some faint idea of what her father might do and say if he were very
+angry. Nevertheless, she was trying to plan a way to meet him before he
+left the shop, and secure some of that money if she could.
+
+With this thought in view, she presently laid aside the neat little
+petticoat on which she had been sewing, brushed her hair, put on her
+brown ribboned hat, and her brown gloves, watched her chance while the
+children were quarreling over an apple that Jerry had given them, and
+stole out in the direction of the shop where her father worked. She
+would not ask Jerry to go with her, though he looked after her from the
+barn window and wished she had; if her father was to grow angry and
+swear, and possibly strike, no one should know it but herself, if she
+could help it.
+
+I must not forget to tell you of one thing that she did before
+starting. She went into her mother's little tucked-up bedroom, put a
+nail over the door, which she had herself arranged for a fastening, and
+knelt there so long by the barrel which did duty as a table, that her
+mother, had she seen her, would have been frightened. But Nettie felt
+that she needed courage for this undertaking; and she knew where to get
+it.
+
+Then she had to walk pretty fast; it was later than she thought, for
+just as she turned the corner by the shop where her father worked, the
+six o'clock bell began to ring.
+
+"Halloo!" said one of the men, standing in the door while he untied
+his leather apron. "What party is this coming down the street? The
+neatest little woman I've seen for many a day. A stranger in this part
+of the world, I reckon. Doesn't fit in, somehow. Do you know who it is,
+Decker?"
+
+And Mr. Decker, thus appealed to, came to the door in time to receive
+Nettie's bow and smile.
+
+"That's my girl," he said, and a look of pride stole into his face.
+She was a trim little creature; it was rather pleasant to own her as
+his daughter.
+
+"Your girl!" and the astonishment which the man felt was expressed by a
+slight whistle. "I want to know now if that is the little one who went
+away six, seven years ago, was it? She's as pretty a girl as I've seen
+in a year. Looks smart, too. I say, Decker, you better take good care
+of her. She is a girl to be proud of."
+
+At just that moment Nettie sprang up the steps.
+
+"May I come in, father?" she said; "I wanted to see where you worked."
+Her voice was clear and sweet. All the men in the shop turned to look.
+The foreman who was paying Mr. Decker, and who had begun severely with
+the sentence: "Two half-days off again, Decker; that sort of thing
+won't"--stopped short at the sound of Nettie's voice, and gave him
+the two two dollar bills, and two ones, without further words. Six
+dollars! If only she could get part of it! How should the delicate
+matter be managed? Suddenly Nettie acted on the thought which came to
+her. What more natural than for a child to ask for money just then and
+there? She needed it, and why not say it? Perhaps he would not like
+to refuse her entirely before all the men. And poor Nettie had a very
+disagreeable fear that he would certainly refuse her if she waited
+until the men were gone; even if she found a chance to ask him before
+he reached the saloon just next door, where he spent so much of his
+money. Or at least where his wife thought he spent it.
+
+"May I have some of that, father? I want some money. That was one of
+the things I came after."
+
+This was certainly the truth. Why not treat it as a matter of course?
+"Why should I take it for granted that he is going to waste all his
+money?" said poor Nettie to herself. All the same she knew she had good
+reason for supposing that he would.
+
+"Money!" he said, as he seized the bills. "What do you know about
+money, or want with it?"
+
+"Oh, I want things. The little girls must have some shoes. I promised
+to see about it as soon as I could. And then I want to buy your Sunday
+dinner; a real nice one."
+
+The tone was a winning, coaxing one. Nettie did not know how to coax;
+was not very well acquainted with her father; did not know how he would
+endure coaxing of any sort, but some way must be tried, and this was
+the best one she knew of.
+
+"Divide with her, Decker," said the man who had first called his
+attention to Nettie. "She looks as though she could buy a dinner, and
+cook it too. If I had a trim little girl like that to look out for
+my comfort, hang me if I wouldn't take pleasure in keeping her well
+supplied." He sighed as he spoke, and nobody laughed; for most of them
+remembered that the man's home was desolate. Wife and daughter both
+buried only a few months before. This man sometimes spent his earnings
+on beer, but he was accustomed to say that there was nobody left to
+care; and that while he had them, he took care of them; which was true.
+Nettie looked up at the man with a curious pitiful interest. His tone
+was very sad. She was grateful to him for his words. Was there possibly
+something sometime that she could do for him? She would remember his
+face.
+
+All the men were looking now, and there was Nettie's outstretched hand.
+Her face a good deal flushed; but it wore an expectant look. She was
+going to believe in her father as long as she could.
+
+"Go ahead, Joe, divide with the girl. Such a handsome one as that. You
+ought to be proud of the chance."
+
+"You have something worth taking care of, it seems, Decker." It was the
+foreman who said this, as he passed on his way to the other side of the
+room where the men were waiting.
+
+Whether it was a father's pride, or a father's shame, or both these
+motives which moved Mr. Decker, I cannot say, but he actually took a
+two and a one and placed them in her hands as he said hastily, "There,
+my girl, I've given you half; you can't complain of that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+LONG STORIES TO TELL.
+
+
+IF only I had a good picture of Nettie, so that you might see the
+radiant look in her eyes just then!
+
+She had hoped for the money, she had tried to trust her father, but
+she was, nevertheless, wonderfully surprised when her hand closed over
+three dollars.
+
+"O father!" she said, "how nice." And then her courage rose. "Will you
+go with me, father, to buy the shoes? The little girls are so eager for
+them. I promised to take them with me to Sunday-school to-morrow, if I
+could get shoes, but I don't know how to buy them very well. Could you
+go?"
+
+The shoe shop was farther down the street, in an opposite direction
+from the one where Mr. Decker generally got his liquor, and wily Nettie
+remembered that there was a street leading from it which would take
+them home without passing the saloon. Of course it was true that she
+needed his help to select the shoes, but it was also true that she
+was very glad she did. Mr. Decker was untying his apron, and rolling
+down his sleeves; he felt very thirsty--the sight of the money seemed
+to make him thirsty. He had meant to go directly to the saloon, give
+them one dollar on the old bill, and spend what he needed, only a very
+little, on beer. With the rest of the money he honestly meant to pay
+his rent. Yet no one ought to have understood better than he that he
+would not be likely to get away from that saloon with a cent of money
+in his pocket. For all that, he wanted to go. He wished Nettie would go
+away and let him alone. But the men were watching.
+
+"You can't fit the children to shoes without having them along," he
+said gruffly. But Nettie was ready for him: "Oh!" she said, swiftly
+unrolling a newspaper, "I brought their feet along." And with a bright
+little laugh she plumped down two badly worn shoes on the work table.
+
+"That left-footed one is Satie's. The other was so dreadfully worn out,
+I was afraid the shoemaker couldn't measure it. This is the best one
+of Susie's."
+
+It was plain to any reasonable eyes that two pairs of shoes were badly
+needed.
+
+"I guess they need other things besides shoes."
+
+It was the father who said this, and they were out on the street, and
+he was actually being drawn by Nettie's eager hand in the opposite
+direction from the saloon.
+
+"O no," she said; "I had some clothes which I had outgrown; I have
+been at work at them all day, and they make nice little suits. Auntie
+Marshall sent them each a cunning little white sunbonnet. When we get
+the shoes, they will look just as nice as can be. You don't know how
+pleased they are about going to Sunday-school. I am so glad they will
+not be disappointed to-morrow."
+
+The shoes were bought, good, strong-looking little ones, and
+wonderfully cheap, perhaps because Nettie did the bargaining, and the
+man who knew how scarce her money must be, was sorry for the little
+woman. It did seem a great deal to pay out--two whole dollars--for
+shoes when everything was needed. It was warm weather, perhaps she
+ought to have let the little girls go barefoot for awhile, but then she
+could not take them to Sunday-school very well; at least, it seemed to
+her that she couldn't; and father was willing to have them bought now.
+Who could tell when he would be willing again?
+
+He stood in the door and waited for her, wondering why he did so, why
+he could not leave her and go back to that saloon and get his drink.
+One reason was, that she gave him no chance. She appealed to him every
+minute for advice.
+
+"Father, can we go to market now? I want to get just a splendid piece
+of meat for your Sunday dinner. I know just how to cook it in a way
+that you will like."
+
+"I guess you can do that without me; I have an errand in another
+direction." They were on the street again. She caught his hand eagerly.
+"O, father, do please come with me to the market, there are so many men
+there I don't like to go alone; and it is so nice to take a walk with
+you. I haven't had one since I came. Won't you please come, father?"
+
+Joe Decker hardly knew what to think of himself. There was something
+in her soft coaxing voice which seemed to take him back a dozen years
+into the past, and which led him along in spite of himself.
+
+The meat was bought, Nettie looking wise over the different pieces, and
+insisting on a neck piece, which the boy told her was not fit to eat.
+"I know how to make it fit," she said, with a little nod of her head.
+
+"I want three pounds of it. And then, father, I want two carrots and
+two onions; I'm going to make something nice."
+
+Only sixty-eight cents of her precious money left!
+
+"I did need some butter," she said mournfully, "and that in the tub
+looks nice, but I guess I can't afford it this time."
+
+"How much is butter?" asked Mr. Decker, suddenly rising to the needs of
+the moment. "Twenty-five," said the grocer, shortly. He did not know
+the trim little woman who had paid for her carrots and onions, and held
+them in a paper bag at this moment, but he did know Joe Decker and had
+an account against him. He had no desire to sell him any butter.
+
+"Then give me two pounds, and be quick about it." And Mr. Decker put
+down a dollar bill on the counter.
+
+The man seized it promptly and began to arrange the butter in a neat
+wooden dish, while he said, "By the way, Mr. Decker, when will it be
+convenient to settle that little account?"
+
+"I'll do it as soon as I can," said Mr. Decker, speaking low, for
+Nettie turned toward him startled; this was worse than she thought.
+She had not known of any accounts. Mr. Decker himself had forgotten
+it until he stood in the very door. It was months since he had bought
+groceries.
+
+"Is it much, father?" Nettie asked, and he replied pettishly:
+
+"Much? no. It is only a miserable little three dollars. I mean to pay
+it; he needn't be scared." Yet why he shouldn't be "scared," when he
+had asked for those three dollars perhaps fifty times, Mr. Decker did
+not say.
+
+"Father," said Nettie, in a very low voice, "couldn't you let the man
+keep the fifty cents, on the account, and that would be a beginning?"
+
+But this was too much.
+
+"No," said Mr. Decker; "I will pay my bills when I get ready and not
+before; and it is none of your business when I do it. You must not
+meddle with what does not belong to you."
+
+"No, sir;" said Nettie, though it was hard work to speak just then;
+there was a queer little lump in her throat. She was not in the habit
+of being spoken to in this way. The butter was ready, and the man
+handed back the change.
+
+Mr. Decker pocketed it, saying as he did so, "I'll have some money for
+you next week, I guess." And then they went away.
+
+"If it hadn't been for the girl I'd have kept the fifty cents and got
+so much out of the old drunkard; but someway I couldn't bring myself
+to doing it with her looking on." This was what the grocer muttered as
+they walked away. But they did not hear him. Nettie was bent now on
+tolling her father down the cross street to go home.
+
+"Father," she said, "we are going to have milk toast for supper. Mother
+said she would have it ready, and toast spoils, you know, if it stands
+long. Couldn't we go home this way and make it shorter?"
+
+He was a good deal astonished that he did it. He was still very
+thirsty, but there really came to him no decent excuse for deserting
+his little girl and going back to the saloon. And they walked into the
+house together, so astonishing Mrs. Decker that she almost dropped the
+teapot which she was filling with hot water. Whatever other night, Mr.
+Decker contrived to get home to supper, he was always late on Saturday,
+and in a worse condition than at any other time.
+
+That was really a nice little suppertime. Mrs. Decker had done her part
+well, not for the husband whom she did not expect, but in gratitude to
+the little girl who had worked so hard all the week for herself and
+her neglected babies. The toast was well made, and the tea was good.
+Besides, there was a treat; not ten minutes before, Mrs. Job Smith had
+sent in a plate of ginger cookies; "for the children," she said, and
+the children each had one. So did the father and mother.
+
+Mr. Decker washed his hands before he sat down to the table, for the
+tablecloth had been freshly washed and ironed that day, and his wife
+had on a clean calico apron and a strip of white cloth about her neck,
+and her hair was smooth.
+
+"There!" said Nettie, displaying her meat, "now, mother, we can have
+that stew for to-morrow, just as we planned. Father got the meat, and
+the carrots, and everything. And what do you think, little girlies,
+father bought you each a pair of shoes!"
+
+Mrs. Decker set down the teapot again. She was just in the act of
+giving her husband a cup of tea, and the color came and went on her
+face so queerly that Nettie for a moment was frightened. As for the
+father, he felt very queer. Scared and silent as his little girls
+generally were in his presence, they could not keep back a little
+squeal of delight over this wonderful piece of news. Altogether, Mr.
+Decker could not help feeling that it really was a nice thing to be
+able to buy shoes and meat for his family.
+
+"Come," he said, "give us your tea if you're going to; I'm as dry as a
+fish."
+
+And the tea was poured.
+
+The toast was good, and there was plenty of it, and someway it took
+longer to eat it than this family usually spent at the supper-table;
+and then, after supper, the shoes had to be tried on, and Nettie called
+the little girls to their father to see if the shoes fitted, and he
+took Sate up on his lap to examine them, which was a thing that had not
+happened to Sate in so long that Susie scowled and expected that she
+would be frightened, but Sate seemed to like it, and actually stole an
+arm around her father's neck and patted his cheek, while he was feeling
+of the shoe. Then Mrs. Decker had a happy thought.
+
+She winked and motioned Nettie into the bedroom and whispered: "Don't
+you believe he might like to see the children in their nice clothes?
+I ain't seen him notice them so much in a year; and he hasn't been
+drinking a mite, has he?"
+
+"Not a drop," said Nettie; "I'll dress Susie." And she flew out to the
+kitchen.
+
+"Father, just you wait until Susie is ready to show you something. Come
+here, Susie, quick." And almost in less time than it takes me to tell
+it, Susie was whisked into the pretty petticoats and dress which had
+been shortened and tightened for her that day. The dress was a plain,
+not over-fine white one; but it was beautifully ironed, and the white
+sunbonnet perched on the trim head completed the picture and made a
+pretty creature of Susie. I am sure I don't wonder that the child felt
+a trifle vain as she squeaked out in her new shoes to show herself to
+her father. She had not been neatly dressed long enough to consider it
+as a matter of course.
+
+"Upon my word!" said Mr. Decker, and there he stopped. This was
+certainly a wonderful change. He looked at his little daughter from
+head to foot, and could hardly believe his eyes. What a pretty child
+she was. And to think that she was his! Certainly she ought to have new
+shoes, and new clothes. Sate's arm was still about his neck, and Sate's
+sweet full lips were suddenly touched to his rough cheek.
+
+"I've got new clothes too," she said sweetly, "only I doesn't want to
+get down from here to put them on."
+
+The father turned at that and kissed her. Then he sat her down hastily
+and got up. Something made his eyes dim. He really did not know what
+was the matter with him, only it all seemed to come to him suddenly
+that he had some very nice children, and that they ought to have
+clothes and food and chances like others, and that it was his own fault
+they hadn't.
+
+Nettie hated tobacco, but she went herself in haste and lighted her
+father's pipe and brought it to him; if he must smoke, it would be so
+much better to have him sit in the door and do it rather than to go off
+down to that saloon. She hated the saloon worse than the tobacco. As
+she brought the pipe, she said within her hopeful little heart: "Maybe
+sometime he won't want either to drink or smoke. I most know we can
+coax him to give them both up; and then won't that be nice?"
+
+One thing was troubling her; as soon as she could, she followed her
+mother into the yard and questioned, "Do you know where Norm is?"
+
+Yes, Mrs. Decker knew. He came home just after Nettie had gone out,
+and said he had an hour's holiday; their room had closed early for
+Saturday, and he was going to wash up and go down street before supper.
+
+"My heart was in my mouth," said the poor mother; "because when there
+is a holiday he gets into worse scrapes than he does any other time;
+he goes with a set that don't do anything but have holidays, and they
+always have some mischief hatched up to get Norm into. I never see the
+like of the boys in this town for getting others into scrapes; but I
+didn't dare to say a word, because Norm thinks he is getting too big
+for me to give him any words, and just as he was going out, that boy
+next door--Jerry, you said his name was, didn't you?--he came out
+and called Norm, real friendly, and they stood talking together; he
+appeared to be arguing something, and Norm holding off, and at last
+Norm came in and wanted the tin pail and said he had changed his mind
+and was going fishing; and they went off together, them two." And Mrs.
+Decker finished the sentence with a rare smile. She was grateful to
+Jerry for carrying off her boy, and grateful to Nettie for thinking
+about him and being anxious.
+
+"Good!" said Nettie with a happy little laugh, "then we will have some
+fried fish to-morrow for breakfast. What a nice day to-morrow is going
+to be."
+
+Mr. Decker was a good deal surprised at himself, but he did not go down
+town again that night. After he had smoked, he felt thirsty, it is
+true, and at that very minute Nettie came in with the one glass which
+they had in the house, and it was full of lemonade.
+
+"Did he want a nice cool drink?" she had two lemons which she bought
+with her own money, and she knew how to make good lemonade, Auntie
+Marshall used to say.
+
+The father drank the cool liquid off almost at a swallow, said it was
+good, and that he guessed she knew how to do most things. By this time
+the little girls had been tucked away to bed, and just as Mr. Decker
+rose up to say he guessed he would go down street awhile, Norm appeared
+with a string of fish. They were beauties; he declared that he never
+had such luck in his life; that fellow just bewitched the fish, he
+believed, so they would rather be caught than not. Then came a talk
+about dressing them. Norm said he was sure he did not know how; and Mr.
+Decker said, a great fellow like him ought to know how. When he was a
+boy of fourteen he used to catch fish for his mother almost every day
+of his life, and dress them too; his mother never had to touch them
+until they were ready to cook. Then Nettie, flushed and eager, said:
+
+"O father, then you can show me how to do it, can't you? I would like
+to learn just the right way." And the father laughed, and looked at his
+wife with something like the old look on his face, and said he seemed
+to be fairly caught. And together they went to the box outside, and in
+the soft summer night, with the moon looking down on them, Nettie took
+her lesson in fish dressing.
+
+When the work was all done, Norm having hovered around through it all,
+and watched, and helped a little, Mr. Decker went back to the kitchen
+and yawned, and wondered how late it was. No clock in this house to
+give any idea of time. There used to be, but one day it got out of
+order and Mr. Decker carried it down street to be fixed, and never
+brought it back. Mrs. Decker asked about it a good many times, then
+went herself in search of it, and found it in the saloon at the corner.
+
+"He took it for debt," the owner told her, and a poor bargain it was;
+it never came to time, any better than her husband did. However, just
+as Mr. Decker made his wonderment, the old clock over at Mrs. Smith's
+rose up to its duty, and dignifiedly struck nine.
+
+"Well, I declare," said Mr. Decker, "I did not think it was as late as
+that. There ain't any evenings now days. Well, I guess, after all, I'll
+go to bed. I'm most uncommon tired to-night somehow."
+
+Norm had already gone up to his room; and Mrs. Decker when she heard
+her husband's words, hurried into the bedroom to hide two happy tears.
+
+"I declare for it, I believe you have bewitched him," she said to
+Nettie, who followed her to ask about the breakfast; "I ain't known him
+to do such a thing not in two years, as to go to bed at nine o'clock
+without ever going down street again. He don't act like himself; not
+a mite. I was most scared when I saw him take Sate in his arms; that
+child don't remember his doing it before, I don't believe. Did he
+really buy the things, child, and pay for them? Well, now, it does beat
+all! And Saturday night, too; that has always been his worst night.
+Child, if you get hold of your father, and of my Norm, there ain't
+anything in this world too good for you. I'd work my fingers to the
+bone any time to help along, and be glad to."
+
+It was all very sweet. Nettie ran away before the sentence was fairly
+finished, waiting only to say, "Good-night, mother!" She had done this
+every night since she came, but to-night she reached up and touched
+her lips to the tall woman's thin cheek. Poor Nettie had been used to
+kissing somebody every night when she went to bed. It had made her
+homesick not to do it. But she had not wanted to kiss anybody in this
+house, except the little girls. To-night, she wanted to kiss this
+mother. She reached the back door, then stopped and looked back; her
+father sat in his shirt sleeves, in the act of pulling off one boot.
+Should she tell him good-night? He had not been there for her to do it
+a single evening since she came home. Should she kiss him? Why not?
+Wasn't he her father? Yet he might not like it. She could not be sure.
+He was not like the fathers she had known. However, she came back on
+tiptoe and stooped over him, her voice low and sweet:
+
+"Good-night, father! I am going now." And then she put a kiss on the
+rough cheek, just where little Sate had left her velvet touch.
+
+Mr. Decker started almost as though somebody had struck him. But it was
+not anger which filled his face.
+
+"Good-night, my girl," he said, but his voice was husky; and Nettie ran
+as fast as she could across the yard to the next house.
+
+"I did not get the things," she said to Jerry, who stood in the doorway
+waiting for her; "I couldn't; but, Jerry, I had such a wonderful time!
+Father gave me money, and we went to market, and bought shoes and he
+bought butter; and since we came home almost everything has happened. I
+can't begin to tell you. I can get some of the things on Monday. Father
+gave me money."
+
+"All right," said Jerry; "I didn't get the skeletons ready, either; I
+meant to work after tea, but instead of that I went fishing." And he
+gave her a bright smile.
+
+"Oh! I know it," said Nettie, breathless almost with eagerness. "That
+is part of my nice time. Jerry, I am so glad you went fishing to-night,
+and I am so glad you caught your fish; not the ones which we are to
+eat for our Sunday breakfast, you know, but the other one. Do you
+understand?"
+
+And Jerry laughed. "I understand," he said, "I had a nice time, too. We
+shall have some long stories to tell each other, I guess. We must go in
+now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A SABBATH TO REMEMBER.
+
+
+SUNDAY was a successful day at the Deckers. The sun shone brilliantly;
+a trifle too warm, you might have thought it, for comfort; but the
+little Deckers did not notice it. The fish was beautifully browned and
+the coffee was delicious. Mr. Decker had a clean shirt which his wife
+had contrived to wash and mend, the day before, and all things were
+harmonious. Some time before nine o'clock. Sate and Susie were arrayed
+in their new white suits, and with their trim new shoes, and hair
+beautifully neat, they were as pretty little girls as one need want
+to see. Nettie surveyed them with unqualified satisfaction, and then
+seated them, each with a picture primer, while she made her own toilet.
+She put on the dress which had been her best for Sunday, all summer. It
+was a gingham, a trifle finer and a good deal lighter than the brown
+one in which she had travelled. It was neatly made, and fitted her
+well; and the brown hat and ribbons looked well with it.
+
+On the whole, when they set off for Sabbath-school, Jerry accompanying
+them, arrayed in a fresh brown linen suit, Mrs. Decker watching them
+from the side window, admitted that she never saw a nicer-looking set
+in her life! She even had the courage to call Mr. Decker to see how
+nice the two little girls looked, and he came and watched them out of
+sight. And when he said that his Nan was about as nice a looking girl
+as he wanted to see, she answered heartily that Nannie was the very
+best girl she ever saw in her life.
+
+Fairly in the Sabbath-school, a fit of extreme shyness came over
+the two little Deckers. With Susie, as usual, it took the form
+of fierceness; she planted her two stout feet in the doorway and
+resolutely shook her head to all coaxings to go any farther; keeping
+firm hold of Sate's hand, and giving her arm a jerk now and then, to
+indicate to her that she was not to stir from her protector's side.
+The situation was becoming embarrassing. Nettie could not leave them,
+and Jerry would not; though some of the boys were giggling, those of
+his class were motioning him to leave the group and join them. The
+superintendent came forward and cordially invited the children in, but
+Susie scowled at him and shook her head. Then Jerry went around to
+Sate's side and held out his hand. "Sate," he said in a winning tone,
+"come with me over where all those pretty little girls sit, and I will
+get you a picture paper with a bird on it."
+
+To Susie's utter dismay, Sate who had meekly obeyed her slightest whim
+during all her little life, suddenly dropped the hand that held hers,
+and gave the other to Jerry, with a firm: "I'm going in, Susie; we came
+to go in, and Nettie wants us to." Poor, astonished, deserted Susie!
+
+She had been so sure of Sate that she had neglected to keep firm hold,
+and now she had slid away. There was nothing left for Susie but to
+follow her with what grace she could.
+
+They were seated at last. Seven little girls of nearly Nettie's size
+and age. As she took a seat among them, I wish I could give you an idea
+of how she felt. Up to this hour, it had not occurred to her that she
+was not as well dressed as others of her age. Not quite that, either;
+being a wise little woman of business, she was well aware that her
+clothes were plain, and cheap, and that some girls wore clothes which
+cost a great deal of money. But I mean that this was the first time
+she had taken in the thought of the difference, so that it gave her a
+sting. The Sabbath-school which she had been attending, was a mission,
+in the lower part of the city; the scholars, nearly all of them, coming
+from homes where there was not much to spare on dress; and the girls
+of her class had all of them dressed like herself, neatly and plainly.
+It was very different with these seven girls. She felt at once, as
+she seated herself, as though she had come into the midst of a flower
+garden where choice blossoms were glowing on every side, and she
+might be a poor little weed. Summer silk dresses, broad-brimmed hats
+aglow with flowers, kid gloves, dainty lace-trimmed parasols--what a
+beautiful world it was into which this poor little weed had moved?
+
+Nettie knew that her hat was coarse, and the ribbon narrow and cheap,
+and her gloves cotton, but these things had never troubled her before.
+Why should they now?
+
+The truth is, it was not the pretty things, but the curious glances
+that their owners gave at the small brown thrush which had come in
+among them. They seemed to poor Nettie to be making a memoranda of
+everything she had on, from the narrow blue ribbon on her hair to the
+strong neat boots in which her plump feet were encased. The look in
+their eyes said, "How queerly she is dressed!" It was impossible to
+get away from the thought of their thoughts, and from the fact that
+the girl next to her drew her blue silk dress closer about her, and
+placed her pink-lined parasol on the other side, even though the pretty
+lady who sat before them in the teacher's seat, welcomed her kindly,
+and hoped she would be happy among them. Nettie hoped so, too; but she
+could hardly believe that it could be possible.
+
+She looked over at Jerry. He seemed to be having a good time; there was
+not so much difference in boys' clothes as in girls. She did not see
+but he looked as well as any of them. She looked forward at the little
+girls. Susie had allowed herself to be led in search of Sate, and the
+two were at this moment side by side in a seat full of bobbing heads;
+they had taken off their sunbonnets, and their pretty heads bobbed
+about with the rest, and the white dresses of the two looked as well
+at a distance as the others, though Nettie could see that there were
+ruffles, and tucks, and embroidery and lace. But some were plain; and
+none of the wee ones seemed to notice or to care. It was only Nettie
+who had gotten among those who made her care, by the glance of their
+eyes, and the rustle of their finery. She tried to get away from it
+all; tried hard. She listened to the words read, and joined as well as
+she could, in the hymn sung, and answered quietly and correctly, the
+questions put to her; but all the while there was a queer lump in her
+throat, which kept her swallowing, and swallowing, and a wish in her
+heart that she could go back to Auntie Marshall's.
+
+[Illustration: LORENA BARSTOW.]
+
+When the service was over, she stood waiting, feeling shy and alone.
+Jerry was talking with the boys in his class, and the little girls
+were being kissed by their pretty teacher. Her classmates stood and
+looked at her. At last the teacher who had been talking with one of the
+secretaries turned to her with a pleasant voice:
+
+"Well, Nettie, we are glad to have you with us. Can you come every
+Sabbath, do you think? Are you acquainted with these girls? No? Then
+you must be introduced. This is Irene Lewis, and this is Cecelia
+Lester," and in this way she named the seven girls, each one making in
+turn what seemed to poor Nettie the stiffest little bow she had ever
+seen. At last, Irene Lewis, who stood next to her, and wore an elegant
+fawn-colored silk dress trimmed with lace, tried to think of something
+to say.
+
+"You haven't begun school yet, have you? I haven't seen anything of
+you. What grade are you in?"
+
+Nettie explained that she had not been in a regular school; that she
+went afternoons to a private school which had no grades, and that now
+she did not expect to go at all; because mother could not spare her.
+
+"A private school!" said Miss Irene, "and held only in the afternoon!
+What a queer idea! I should think morning was the time to study. What
+was it for?"
+
+Then it became necessary to further explain that the girls who attended
+this afternoon school, had all of them work to do in the mornings, and
+could not be spared.
+
+"I have heard of them," said Lorena Barstow. "They are sort of charity
+schools, are they not?"
+
+Lorena was dressed in white, and looked almost weighed down with rich
+embroidery; but she had a disagreeable smile on her face, and a look in
+her eyes that made Nettie's face crimson.
+
+"I don't know," she said, quietly, "I never heard it called by that
+name. My auntie thought very well of it, and was glad to have me go."
+Then she turned away, and hoped that none of the girls would ask her
+any more questions, or try to be friendly with her. Just now, she
+could be glad of only one thing, and that was, that she need not go to
+school with these disagreeable people. She stepped quite out of sight
+behind the screen which shielded the next class, and waited impatiently
+for the little girls. They seemed to be having a very nice time, and
+were in no haste to come to her. Standing there, waiting, she had the
+pleasure of hearing herself talked about.
+
+"Isn't she a queer little object?" said Lorena Barstow. And when one of
+the others was kind enough to say that she did not see anything very
+queer about her, Lorena proceeded to explain.
+
+"You don't! Well, I should think you might. Did you ever see a girl in
+our class before, with a gingham dress on? Of course she wore her very
+best for the first Sunday; and her hat is of very coarse straw, just
+the commonest kind, and last year's shape at that; then look at her
+cotton gloves! I'm sure I think she is as funny a little object as ever
+came into this room."
+
+"What of it? I am sure she looks neat and clean, and she spoke very
+prettily, and knew her lesson better than any of us."
+
+"I didn't say she didn't. I was only talking about her clothes."
+
+"Clothes are not of much consequence."
+
+"O Miss Ermina! When you dress better than any of us. Why don't you
+wear gingham dresses, and cheap ribbons, and cotton gloves, if you
+think they look as well as nice ones?"
+
+"I did not say that; I wear the clothes my mother gets for me; but I
+truly don't think they are the most important things in the world."
+
+"Neither do I. You needn't take a person up in that way, as though you
+were better than anybody else. I am sure I am willing she should wear
+what she likes."
+
+Then Cecelia Lester took up the conversation:
+
+"She could not be expected to dress very well, of course. Don't you
+know she is old Joe Decker's daughter?"
+
+"Who is Joe Decker? I never heard of him."
+
+"Well, he is just a drunkard; they live over on Hamlin street. Mrs.
+Decker washes for my auntie once in awhile, when they have extra
+company, and I have seen her there, with both the little girls. I heard
+that Joe's daughter who has been living out, for years, was coming
+home."
+
+"Living out! that little thing! No wonder she hasn't better clothes.
+She has a pretty face, I think. But it seems sort of queer to have her
+come into our class, doesn't it? We sha'n't know what to do with her!
+She can't go in our set, of course."
+
+"O, I don't know. Perhaps Ermina Farley will invite her to her party."
+At this point, all the others laughed, as though a funny thing had
+been said, but Ermina spoke quietly: "So far as her gingham dress is
+concerned, I am sure I would just as soon. I don't choose my friends on
+account of the clothes they wear; and I suppose the poor thing cannot
+help her father being a drunkard; but then, I shouldn't like to invite
+her, for fear you girls would not treat her well."
+
+Nettie could see the toss of Lorena Barstow's yellow curls as she
+answered: "Well, I must say I like to be careful with whom I associate;
+and mother likes to have me careful. I am sorry for the girl; but
+I don't know that I need make her my most intimate friend on that
+account. Say, girls, did you ever notice what fine eyes that boy has
+who came in with her? Some think he is a real handsome fellow."
+
+"He seems to be a particular friend of this girl; I saw them on the
+street together yesterday, and they were talking and laughing, as
+though they enjoyed each other ever so much. Who is that boy?"
+
+Lorena seemed to be prepared to answer all questions.
+
+"He isn't much," she said, with another toss of her yellow curls. "His
+name is Jerry Mack; a regular Irish name, and he is Irish in face; I
+think he is coarse-looking; dreadful red cheeks! The girls over on the
+West Side say he is smart, and handsome, and all that. I don't see
+where they find it."
+
+"O, he is smart," said Cecelia Lester. "My brother knows him, and he
+says there isn't a more intelligent boy in town. I used to think he
+was splendid; I have talked with him some, and he is real pleasant; but
+I must say I don't understand why he goes with that Decker girl all the
+time."
+
+"I don't see why he shouldn't," declared Lorena. "For my part, I think
+they are well matched; he works for his board at Job Smith's the
+carman's, and she is a drunkard's daughter; they ought to be able to
+have nice times together."
+
+"Does he work for his board?" chimed in two or three voices at once.
+
+"Why, I suppose so, or gets it without working for it. He lives there,
+anyway. They say his father has deserted him, run away to California,
+or somewhere; Jerry will have to learn the carman's trade, and support
+himself, and Nettie, too, maybe." Whereupon there was a chorus of
+giggles. Something about this seemed to be thought funny.
+
+Ermina seemed to have left the group, so they took her up next. "Ermina
+Farley meant to invite him to her party, but I hardly think she will,
+when she finds out how all we girls feel about it. She tries to do
+things different from everybody else, though; so perhaps that will be
+the very reason why she will ask them both. I'll tell you what it is,
+girls, we must stand up for our rights, and not let her have everything
+her own way. Let's say squarely that we will not go to her party if she
+invites out of our set. I could endure the boy if I had to, because he
+is very polite, and merry; and so few of the boys around here know how
+to behave themselves; but if he has chosen that Decker girl for his
+friend, we must just let them both alone. This class isn't the place
+for that girl; I wonder who invited her in? I think it was real mean
+in Miss Wheeler to ask her to come again, without knowing how we felt
+about it."
+
+All this time was poor Nettie behind that screen. Not daring to stir,
+because there was no place for her to go. The little girls were still
+engaged with their teacher, who had Sate on her lap, and Susie by her
+side, and was showing them some picture cards, and apparently telling
+them a story about the pictures. Jerry had sat down beside a boy who
+was copying something which Jerry seemed to be reading to him, and
+various groups stood about, chatting. They were waiting for the bell
+to toll before they went into church. Nettie could not go without the
+little girls, and she could not stir without being brought into full
+view. And just then she felt as though it would not be possible for her
+to meet the eyes of anybody. If only she could run away and hide, where
+she need never see any of those dreadful girls again! or, for that
+matter, see anybody. It was true, she was a drunkard's daughter, and
+would go down lower and lower, until her neat dress would be in rags,
+and her hat, coarse as it was, would grow frayed, and be many years
+behind the fashion. What a cruel, wicked world it was! Who could have
+imagined that those pretty, beautifully dressed girls could have such
+cruel tongues, and say such hateful words! Didn't they know she was
+within hearing? Couldn't they have waited until she got out of the way,
+so that she need not have known how dreadful they were?
+
+So far as that was concerned, they did not know it. To do them justice,
+I think none of them would have wounded her so, quite to her face.
+They might have been cold, but they would not have been cruel in her
+presence. They thought she went out of the room, instead of behind the
+screen. The bell tolled, at last, and Jerry finished his reading, and
+came over to her, his face bright. The girls in their beautiful plumage
+fluttered away like gay birds, the teacher of the little girls came
+toward her holding a hand of each, and saying brightly: "Are these your
+little sisters? What dear little treasures they are! We have had such
+a pleasant time together. I hope you have enjoyed your first day at
+Sabbath-school?"
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," said Nettie. She was in great doubt as to whether
+this was a correct answer, for the sentence had the tone of a question
+in it, but truthful Nettie could not say that she enjoyed it very much,
+and did not want to say that she had never had a more miserable time in
+her life.
+
+Jerry was harder to answer. "Was it nice?" he asked her, as soon as
+they were fairly outside. "Did you have a good time? Those girls looked
+a trifle like peacocks, didn't they? I thought you were the best
+dressed one among them."
+
+O, ignorant boy! If there hadn't been such a lump in Nettie's throat,
+she would have laughed at this bit of folly. As it was, she contrived
+to give him a very little shadow of a smile, and was glad that the
+church door was near at hand, and that there was no more time for
+closer questions.
+
+All through the morning service she was trying to forget. It was
+not easy to do, for there sat three of the girls in a seat on which
+she could look down all the time; and try as she would, it seemed
+impossible to keep eyes or thoughts from turning that way. The girls
+did not behave very well. They whispered a good deal, during the Bible
+reading, and giggled over a book that fell while the hymn was being
+sung; and though Nettie covered her eyes during prayer, she could not
+help hearing a soft little buzz of whispering voices, even then. Jerry
+looked straight before him, with bright, untroubled face, and seemed
+to be having a good time. Susie and Sate, who had never been in church
+before in their lives, behaved remarkably well. In the course of the
+morning Sate leaned her little brown head trustingly against Nettie and
+dropped asleep, and Nettie put her arm around her, arranged her pretty
+head comfortably, and looked lovingly down upon her, and was glad that
+she had a little sister to love. Two of them, indeed, for Susie sat
+bolt upright and looked straight before her, and took in everything
+with wide-open eyes, and looked so handsome with her glowing cheeks and
+her lovely curls, that it was almost impossible not to feel proud of
+the womanly little face.
+
+Nettie contrived to keep herself occupied with the prattle of the
+children during the walk home. She was not yet ready for Jerry's
+questions. She did not know what to say. Of one thing she felt sure;
+that was, that she never meant to go to that Sabbath-school again.
+
+Dinner was nearly ready when they reached home; such an appetizing
+smell of soup as had never filled the Decker kitchen before. Mrs.
+Decker had followed the directions of her young daughter with great
+care; and presently a very comfortable family sat down to the table.
+There were no soup plates, but there were two bowls for the father and
+mother, and a deep saucer for Norm; and the little girls were made
+happy with tin cups, two of which Nettie had found and scoured, the day
+before. It was certainly a very pleasant time. After dinner, as Nettie
+was preparing to wash the dishes, her mother came out with a troubled
+face, and whispered:
+
+"Norm says he guesses he will go out for a walk; and I know what
+that means; he gets with a mean set every Sunday, and they carouse
+dreadful; it is the worst day in the week for boys. I was thinking,
+what if you could get that boy next door to go a-fishing again; Norm
+enjoyed it last night first-rate; and he said that boy was as jolly
+company as he should ever want. If he could keep him away from that
+set, he would be doing a good deed."
+
+"But, mother," she said, "it is Sunday."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Decker, "that's just what I've been saying; Sunday is
+the day when he gets into the worst kind of scrapes. Do you think Jerry
+would help us?"
+
+"I know he would if he could; but he could not go fishing on Sunday,
+you know."
+
+"Why not? I should think it was enough sight better than for Norm to go
+off with a set of loafers, who do all sorts of wicked things."
+
+Poor Nettie was not skilled in argument; she did not know how to
+explain to her mother that Jerry must not do one wrong thing, to keep
+Norm from doing another wrong thing, even though the thing he chose
+might be the worse of the two. There was only a simple statement which
+she could make. "This is God's day, mother, and he says we must not do
+our own work, or our own pleasure on his day; and I know Jerry will
+try to obey him, because he is his soldier."
+
+Mrs. Decker looked at the red-cheeked young girl a moment, then drew a
+long sigh.
+
+"Well," she said, "I know that is the way good folks talk; I used to
+hear plenty of it when I was young; and I was brought up to keep the
+Sabbath as strict as anybody; I would do it now if I could; but I'm
+free to confess that I would rather have Norm go a-fishing, ten times
+over, than to go with those fellows and get drunk."
+
+"Yes'm," said Nettie, respectfully. "But then, God says we must obey
+him; and he has told us just how to keep the Sabbath day. He couldn't
+help us to do things for other people, if we begin by disobeying Him."
+
+Mrs. Decker went away, the trouble still on her face, and Nettie began
+to wash the dishes. Suddenly, she dropped her dish towel and rushed
+after Norman as he lounged out of the door.
+
+"Norman," she called, just as he was moving down the street, "won't you
+take the little girls and me over to that green place, that I see, the
+other side of the pond? There is such a pretty tree there, and it looks
+so pleasant on the bank. I have some story papers that I promised
+to read to the little girls, and that would be such a nice place for
+reading. Won't you?"
+
+Norm stopped and looked down at her in astonishment, and some
+embarrassment. "You can go over there without me," he said, at last;
+"it isn't such a dreadful ways off; there's a plank across the stream
+down there a ways, where it is narrow. Lots of girls go there."
+
+Nettie looked over at it timidly. She was honestly afraid of the water,
+and nothing short of keeping Norm out of harm's way would have tempted
+her to cross a plank, with the little girls for companions. She spoke
+in genuine timidity.
+
+"I wouldn't like to go over there alone, with just the children. I am
+not used to going about alone. Couldn't you go with us, for just a
+little while? It will seem so nice to have a big brother to take care
+of me."
+
+Something about it all seemed suddenly rather nice to Norm. He had
+never been asked to take care of anybody before. He stood irresolutely
+for a moment, then said lazily, "Well, I don't know as I care; bring on
+your babies, then, and we'll go."
+
+Nettie sped back to the kitchen, dashed after the little girls and
+their sunbonnets, saying to Mrs. Decker as she went: "Mother, would you
+mind finishing the dishes? Norman is going to take the little girls and
+me over to the big tree, and we are going to stay there awhile, and
+read."
+
+"I'll finish,'em," said Mrs. Decker, comfort in her tone, and she
+murmured, as she watched them away, Sate with her hand slipped inside
+of Norm's, "I declare, I never see the beat of that girl in all my
+life."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A BARGAIN AND A PROMISE.
+
+
+DURING the next few days work went on rapidly in the Decker home:
+or, more properly speaking, in the room over Job Smith's barn.
+Jerry developed such taste in the manufacture of furniture, or of
+"skeletons," that Nettie grew alarmed lest there should never be found
+clothing enough to cover them. However, matters in that respect began
+to look brighter. Mrs. Job Smith, as she grew into an understanding of
+the plan, dragged out certain old trunks from her woodhouse chamber and
+looked them over. There were treasures in those trunks, which even Mrs.
+Job herself had forgotten. A gay chintz dress of Job's mother's, which
+had been saved by her daughter-in-law "she couldn't rightly tell for
+what, only Job set store by it because it was his old mother's." Nettie
+fairly clapped her hands in delight over it, and then blushed crimson
+when she remembered it was not hers.
+
+"Well, now," said Mrs. Job, "I'll just tell you what it is. If you see
+anything in life to do with these rolls of things, here is a bundle of
+old muslin curtains, embroidered, you know, and dreadful pretty once, I
+suppose, but they are all to pieces now. Mrs. Percival, a lady I used
+to clear starch and iron for, gave them to me; paid me in that kind of
+trash, you know, though what in the world she thought I could ever do
+with them is more than I could imagine. But I was younger then than I
+am now, and was kind of meek, and I lugged home the great roll and said
+nothing; only I remember when I got home I just sat down on a corner
+of the table and cried, I was so disappointed. I had expected to be
+paid in money, and I had planned two or three things to surprise Job,
+and they had to be given up. Well, as I was saying," she added, in a
+brisker tone, having roused from her little dream of the past to watch
+Nettie's fingers linger lovingly and wistfully among the rolls of soft
+muslin, "they have never been the least mite of good to me. I have just
+kept them because it didn't seem quite the thing to throw such pretty
+soft stuff into the rag-bag, and they were dreadful poor trash to give
+away; and Sarah Jane, she is tired of having them in the attic taking
+up room, and if there is anything in life can be done with these things
+in this trunk, I wish you would just go shares, and make some things
+for me too. Sarah Jane would like it, first-rate."
+
+This sentence fairly made Nettie catch her breath. The treasures in
+that trunk were so wonderful to her. "I could make such lovely things!"
+she said, almost gasping out the words; "but, O Mrs. Smith, you can't
+mean it! I'm afraid I oughtn't to."
+
+"Why, bless your heart, child, I tell you I don't know of a single
+useful thing in that trunk; not one; it is just a pack of rubbish, now,
+that's the truth; and if Sarah Jane has begged me once to let her sell
+it to the rag pedlers, I believe she has twenty times."
+
+The bare thought of such a sacrifice as this almost made Nettie pale.
+Also it settled her resolution and her conscience. She reached forward
+and plunged into the delights of the despised trunk with a satisfied
+air. "I will make you some of the prettiest things you ever saw in
+your life," she said, with the air of one who knew she could do it. And
+Mrs. Smith laughed, and watched her with admiring eyes, and told Sarah
+Jane that she believed the child could do some things that other folks
+couldn't.
+
+It was after the day's work was done, and the little girls were asleep,
+and Nettie sat in the back door waiting for father and Norm, and
+wishing that they had not gone down town again, that she had a chance
+to say the few little words which she had made up her mind to say to
+Jerry. While her hands had been busy over long seams of rag carpeting,
+and over the wonderful trunk full of treasures, her thoughts had, much
+of the time, been busy with other matters. Yesterday at noon she had
+been sure that she should never go to that Sabbath-school again. By
+night, after the quiet talk under the trees with Norm and the little
+girls, she had not been so sure of it. The little girls could not go
+without her, and they had learned sweet lessons that very day, which
+had filled their young heads full of wondering thoughts, and they had
+asked questions which had at least amused Norm, and which might set
+him to thinking. In any case, ought she, because she had not been
+happy in her class, to deprive the little girls of the help which the
+Sabbath-school might be to them? Then how badly it would look to Norm,
+and to her mother, if she went no more. And what would Jerry think? On
+the whole, the longer she thought about it, the more she felt inclined
+to believe that her decision might have been a hasty one, and it was
+her duty to continue in that Sabbath-school, and even in that class,
+at least until the superintendent placed her in some other. It was a
+good deal of a trial to her to decide the question in this way, but she
+could not make any other seem right.
+
+There had also been another question to decide, which had been harder,
+and cost her more tears than the other. She was a very lonely little
+girl, and it seemed hard to give up a friend. But this, too, seemed to
+be the only right thing to do, so she made it known to Jerry in the
+moonlight.
+
+"Do you know, Jerry, I have been thinking all day of something that I
+ought to say to you?"
+
+"All right," said Jerry, whittling away at the stick which he was
+fashioning into a proper shape to do duty as a towel rack for Mrs. Job
+Smith's kitchen towel. "Go ahead, this is a good time to say it."
+And he held the stick up and took a scientific squint at it in the
+moonlight. "This thing would work better if the wood were a little
+softer. I am going to make one for your mother if it is a success, and
+it will be. Now what is your news?"
+
+"It isn't news," said Nettie, "it is only something that I have made
+up my mind I ought to say. Jerry, I think, that is, I don't think, I
+mean"-- And there she stopped.
+
+"Just so," said Jerry, nodding his head gravely, "that is plain, I am
+sure, and interesting; I agree with you entirely." After that, both of
+them had to laugh a little, and the story did not get on.
+
+"But I truly mean it," Nettie said at last, her face growing grave
+again, "and I ought to say it. What I want to tell you is, that I have
+made up my mind that you and I must not be friends any more."
+
+Jerry did not laugh now, he did not even whistle. His knife suddenly
+stopped, and he squared around to get a full view of her face.
+
+"What!" he said at last, as though he did not think it possible that he
+could have understood her.
+
+"Yes," she said firmly, "I mean it, Jerry, and it is real hard to say;
+you and I ought not to be friends, or, I mean we must not let folks
+know that we are friends. We mustn't take walks together, nor work
+together. I don't mean that I shall not like you all the same; but we
+mustn't have anything to do with each other."
+
+"Why not, pray? Have I done anything to make you ashamed of me? I'll
+try to behave myself, I'm sure."
+
+This was so ridiculous that Nettie could not help smiling a little.
+
+"O, Jerry!" she said, "you know better than to talk in that way. It
+sounds strange, I know, and it is real hard to do, but I am sure it is
+right, and we must do it."
+
+"But what in the world is the trouble? Can't you give a fellow a reason
+for things? Is it your brother who doesn't like it?"
+
+"O no! Norm likes you; and mother is as much obliged to you as she can
+be, for getting him to go a-fishing. But, you see, it is bad for you to
+be my friend."
+
+"Oh-ho! I don't believe your influence is very hard on me; I don't feel
+as though you had led me very far astray!"
+
+"It isn't fun, Jerry, it is sober earnest. I have heard things said
+that set me to thinking. I overheard the girls talk! those girls in the
+class, you know, yesterday. I guess they did not know I was there. They
+talked about me a good deal. They said I had a last year's hat on, and
+that is true, and my dress was only gingham, and washed at that."
+
+"Washed!" interrupted Jerry in bewilderment; "well, what of that? Would
+they have had you wear it dirty?"
+
+But Nettie hastened on; she did not feel equal to explaining to him
+the subtle distinction between a brand-new dress and one that had been
+"done up."
+
+"They said a good deal more than that, Jerry, and it was all true. They
+said I was nothing but a drunkard's daughter," and here Nettie found it
+hard work to control the sob in her throat.
+
+"That is not true," said Jerry, indignantly. "Your father has not drank
+a drop in three days."
+
+"Oh! but, Jerry, you know he does drink; and he has gone down town
+to-night, and mother is sure that he will not come home sober. It is
+all true, Jerry. I don't mean that I am going to give up. I shall try
+for father all the time; and I think maybe he will reform, after a
+while. And I won't forget our promise, and I know you won't; but it is
+best for us not to act like friends. They talked about you, too; they
+said you were handsome, and they used to like you; they thought you
+were smart. But now you had begun to go with me, so you couldn't be
+much. One of them said you were an Irish boy, that you had a real Irish
+name. Are you Irish, Jerry?"
+
+"Not much! Or, hold on, I don't know but I am. Why, yes, my
+great-grandmother came from the North of Ireland. Father is proud of
+it, I remember."
+
+"Well, I don't care where you came from, you know. Nor whether you are
+Irish, or Dutch, or what; I am only telling you what they said. They
+told how you worked at Job Smith's for your board; and one of them said
+your father had run away and left you."
+
+"Well, he has; run three thousand miles away, and left me, as sure as
+time. But he means to run back again, when he gets ready."
+
+"I knew that wasn't true, Jerry; and I only tell you because I thought
+you might want to speak about your father in a way that would show them
+it wasn't so. But what I want to say is, that I know they will get all
+over those feelings when they come to know you; and they will like
+you, and invite you to places, if you don't go with me; but they won't
+any of them have anything to do with me, on account of my father. And,
+Jerry, I want you not to go with me, or talk with me any more."
+
+"Just so," said Jerry, in an unconcerned voice. "Do you think I am
+making this stick too long for the frame? Our kitchen towels are pretty
+wide. Well, now, see here, Miss Nettie Decker, you would not make a
+very honest business woman if you went back on a square bargain in
+that fashion. You and I settled it to be partners in a very important
+business; and partners can't get along very well without speaking to
+each other. There is no use in talking. You are several days too late.
+The mischief is done. I'm your friend and fellow-laborer and partner in
+the cabinet business, and the upholstery line, and all the other lines.
+You will find me the hardest fellow to get rid of that ever was. I
+don't shake off worth a cent. I shall take walks with you every chance
+I can get; and shout to you from the woodshed window when you are over
+home, and wait for you to come out when I think it is about time you
+should appear, and be on hand in all imaginable places. Now I hope you
+understand what sort of a fellow I am."
+
+If the boy had looked in Nettie's face just then, he would have seen a
+sudden light flash over it which carried away a good deal of the look
+of patient endurance which it had worn for the last few hours. Still
+her voice was full of earnestness.
+
+"But, Jerry, they will not have anything to do with you if you act
+so. By and by they will not even speak to you. And they won't invite
+you to their parties, nor anywhere. There is going to be a party next
+week, and I think you would have been invited if you hadn't gone with
+me Sunday; now I am afraid you won't be." And now Jerry whistled a few
+rollicking notes.
+
+"All right," he said in a cheery tone. "If there is any one thing more
+than another that I don't like to go to, it is a girls' party where
+they make believe act like silly, grown-up men and women. I know just
+about what kind of a party those girls in that class would get up. If
+you have been the means of saving me from an invitation, it is just
+another thing to thank you for. Look here, Nettie, let us make another
+bargain, sober earnest, not to be broken. I don't care a red cent for
+the girls, nor their invitations, nor their bows; I would just as soon
+they did not know me when they met me as not. If that is their game, I
+shall like nothing better than to meet them half-way; girls who would
+know no better than to talk the way they did about you, are not to my
+liking. If because you wear clothes that are neat and nice and the best
+you can afford, and because I am an Irish boy and work for my board,
+are good reasons for not having anything to do with us, why, we will
+return the favor and not have anything to do with them, for better
+reasons than they have shown. Let's drop them. I thought some of them
+would be good friends to you, maybe, and help you to have a nice time;
+but they are not of the right sort, it seems. You and I will have just
+as good times as we can get up. And we will bow to them if they bow to
+us; if they don't we will let them pass. What is settled is, that we
+are bound to work out this thing together. Understand?"
+
+"Yes," said Nettie, with a little soft laugh, "I understand, and I
+don't believe I ought to let you do it. But you don't know how nice it
+is; and I can't tell you how lonesome I felt when I thought I ought not
+to talk with you any more."
+
+"I should like to see you help yourself," said Jerry, in a complacent
+tone. "You would find it the hardest work you ever did in your life not
+to talk to me, when I should keep up a regular fire of questions of all
+sorts and sizes."
+
+Then Nettie laughed outright, but added, after a moment of silence,
+"But, Jerry, I think the worst of it is about father; and that is true,
+you know. They might not think so much about the clothes, if it were
+not for him."
+
+"That has nothing to do with it," said Jerry sturdily. "You are not to
+blame for your father's drinking liquor. Wouldn't you stop it quick
+enough if you could? It is only another reason why they ought to be
+friends to you. Besides, there wouldn't be so much of the stuff for
+folks to drink, if Lorena Barstow's father did not make it."
+
+"O Jerry! does he?"
+
+"Yes, he does. Owns one of the largest distilleries in the country."
+
+"Jerry, I think I would rather have my father drink liquor than make it
+for other folks. At least he doesn't make money out of other people's
+troubles."
+
+"So would I, enough sight," said Jerry with emphasis. Then he lifted
+up his voice in answer to Mrs. Job Smith who appeared in the adjoining
+door. "All right, auntie, we are coming." And he carefully gathered the
+chips he had whittled, into his handkerchief, and rose up.
+
+"Going over now, Nettie? I guess auntie thinks it is time to lock up."
+
+Nettie darted within for a few minutes, then appeared, and they crossed
+the yard together. As they stepped on the lower step of Mrs. Smith's
+porch, Jerry said: "Remember this is a bargain forever and aye, Nettie;
+there is to be no backing out, and no caring for what folks say, or for
+what happens, either now or afterwards. Do you promise?"
+
+"I promise," said Nettie with a smile. And they went into the clean
+kitchen. Before Jerry went to bed that night he took out of the fly
+leaf of his Bible the picture of a tall man, and kissed it, as he said
+aloud: "So you have run away and left your poor little Irish boy, have
+you? But when you run back again, won't they all be glad to see you,
+though!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+PLEASURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+
+THE day came at last when the front room at the Deckers was put in
+order. I don't suppose you have any idea how pretty that room looked
+when the last tack was driven, and the last fold in the curtain
+twitched into place! The rag carpet was very bright. "I put a good many
+red and yellows in it," said Mrs. Smith, "and now I know why I did it.
+It is just bright enough for this room. I don't see how you two could
+have got it down as firm as you have."
+
+"Nettie managed it," said Mrs. Decker, "she is a master hand at putting
+down carpets."
+
+The furniture was done and in place, and certainly did justice to the
+manufacturers. There were two "sofas" with backs which were so nicely
+padded that they were very comfortable things to lean against, and the
+gay-flowered goods that had looked "so horrid" in a dress that Mrs.
+Smith could never bring herself to wear it, proved to be just the thing
+for a sofa-cover. Between the windows was a very marvel of a table.
+Nobody certainly to look at it, draped in the whitest of muslin, with
+a pink cambric band around its waist, covered with the muslin, and
+looking as much like pink ribbon as possible, would have imagined that
+a square post, about six inches in diameter, and two feet long, with
+a barrel head securely nailed to each end, was the "skeleton" out of
+which all this prettiness was evolved. "And mine is as like it as two
+peas," said Mrs. Smith, "only mine is tied with blue ribbon. Who would
+have thought such things could be made out of what they had to work
+with! I declare them two young things beat all!" This time she meant
+Nettie and Jerry, not the two tables.
+
+The curtains for which, after much consideration, cheap unbleached
+muslin had been chosen, when their pinkish lambrequins of the same
+gay-flowered goods as the sofas, had been cut and scalloped, and put in
+place, were almost pretty enough to justify the extravagant admiration
+which they called forth. But the crowning glory was, after all, a
+chair which occupied the broad space between the window and the door.
+It was cushioned, back, and sides, and arms; it was dressed in a robe
+which had belonged to Job Smith's grandmother. It was delightful to
+look at, and delightful to sit in. Mrs. Decker declared that the first
+time she sat down in it, she felt more rested than she had in three
+years.
+
+Those two barrel chairs were triumphs of art. Jerry had been a week
+over the first one, planning, trying, failing, trying again; Nettie had
+seen one once, in the room of a house where she used to go sometimes
+to carry flowers to a sick woman. She had admired it very much, and
+the lady herself had told her how it was made, and that her nephew,
+a boy of sixteen, made it for her. Now, although Jerry was not a boy
+of sixteen, he had no idea there lived one of that age who could
+accomplish anything which he could not; so he persevered, and I must
+say his success was complete. Mrs. Smith believed there never was such
+a wonderful chair made, before.
+
+Jerry who had been missing for the last half-hour, now appeared, and
+with long strides reached the nice little mantel and set thereon a
+lamp, not very large, but new and bright.
+
+"That belongs to the firm," he said, in answer to Nettie's look. "I saw
+a lamp the other day that I knew would just fit nicely on that mantel,
+and I couldn't rest until I had tried it."
+
+Nettie's cheeks were red. She glanced over at her mother to see how she
+would like this. Nettie did not know whether a poor boy's money ought
+to be taken to provide a lamp for the new room; she much doubted the
+propriety of it. "The first money I earn, or father gives me, I can pay
+him back," she thought, then gave herself up to the enjoyment of her
+new treasure.
+
+None of them had planned to give a reception that evening, yet I do not
+know but such an unusual state of things as was found at the Deckers
+about eight o'clock, is worthy of so dignified a name. Mr. Decker and
+Norm came in to supper together, and both a little late. Nettie had
+trembled over what kept them, and her heart gave a great bound of
+relief and thanksgiving, when they appeared at last, none the worse
+for liquor. Indeed, she did not think either of them had taken even
+a glass of beer. They were in good humor; a bit of what Mr. Decker
+called "extra good luck" had fallen to him in the shape of a piece of
+work which it was found he could manage better than any other hand in
+the shop, and for which extra wages were to be paid. And Norm had been
+told that he was quite a success in a certain line of work. "He kept me
+after hours to give the new boy a lift," said Norm, good-naturedly; "he
+said I knew how to do the work, and how to tell others better than the
+other fellows."
+
+It was a good time for Mrs. Decker to tell what had been going on in
+the square room, or rather to hint at it, and tell them when supper was
+over, they should go in and see. "Nannie and I haven't been folding our
+hands while you have been working," she said with a complacent air, and
+a smile for Nettie as warmed that little girl's heart, making her feel
+it would not be a hard thing to love this new mother a great deal.
+
+So after supper they went in. I suppose you can hardly understand or
+imagine their surprise; because, you see, you have been used all your
+life to nicely arranged rooms. For Mr. Decker it stirred old memories.
+There had been a time when his best room if not so fine as this, was
+neat and clean, with many comforts in it. "Well, I never," he began,
+and then his voice choked, and he stopped.
+
+However, Norm could talk, and expressed his surprise and pleasure in
+eager words. "Where did you get the table, and the gimcracks around
+that chair? _Is_ that a chair, or a sofa, or what? Halloo! here's a new
+lamp. Let's have it lighted and see how it works. I tell you what it
+is, Nannie Decker, I guess you're a brick and no mistake."
+
+Then father was coaxed to sit down in the barrel chair, and try its
+strength and its softness, and guess what it was made of. And the
+little girls stood at his knee and put in eager words as to the effect
+that they helped, and altogether, there was such a time as that family
+had not known before.
+
+Just as Nettie was explaining that it was dark enough to try the lamp,
+and Norm went for a match, Mrs. Smith made her way across the yard, and
+who should march solemnly behind her but Job Smith himself!
+
+"Come right along," said Mrs. Decker heartily, as the new lamp threw a
+silvery light across the room. "Come and try the new sofa. Here, Mr.
+Smith, is a chair for you, if that is too low. Decker, he's got the
+seat of honor; Nettie said her pa must have the first chance in it."
+
+The name "Nettie" seemed to slip naturally from Mrs. Decker's tongue;
+she had heard Jerry use it so often during the past few days, that it
+was beginning to seem like the proper name of that young woman. Mr.
+Smith sat down, slowly, solemnly, in much doubt what to do or say next.
+
+"Well, Neighbor Decker, these young folks of ours are busy people,
+ain't they, and seem to be getting the upper hand of us?" Then he
+laughed, a slow, pleasant laugh. Mrs. Smith laughed a round, admiring
+satisfied laugh; she was _very_ proud of Job for saying that. Then they
+fell into conversation, the two men, about the signs of the times as
+regarded business, and prices, and various interests. Mr. Decker was
+a good talker, and here lay some of his temptations; there was always
+somebody in the saloons to talk with; there was never anybody in his
+home. Jerry came, presently, to admire the room and the lamp, and
+to have a little aside talk with Nettie. Norm was trying one of the
+lounges near them.
+
+"How did you make this thing?" he asked Jerry, and Jerry explained,
+and Norm listened and asked a question now and then, until presently
+he said, "I know a thing that would improve it; the next time you make
+one, try it and see."
+
+"What is that?" asked Jerry.
+
+"Why, look here, in this corner where you put the crossbar, if you
+should take a narrower piece, so, and fit it in here so," and the sofa
+was unceremoniously turned upside down and inside out, and planned
+over, Jerry in his turn becoming listener until at last he said: "I
+understand; I mean to fix this one, some day."
+
+Nettie nodded, her eyes bright; it was not about the sofa that they
+shone; it gave her such intense pleasure as perhaps you cannot
+understand, to see her father sitting beside Mr. Smith, talking
+eagerly, and her mother and Mrs. Smith having a good time together,
+and Jerry and Norm interested in each other. "It is exactly like other
+folks!" she said to Jerry, later, "and I don't believe either father or
+Norm will go down street to-night." And they didn't.
+
+It was a very happy girl who went over to Mrs. Smith's woodhouse
+chamber to sleep that night. She sang softly, while she was getting
+ready for rest; and as often as she looked out of the window towards
+the square room in the next house, she smiled. It looked so much
+better than she had ever hoped to make it; and father and Norm had
+seemed so pleased, and they had all spent such a pleasant evening.
+
+Alas for Nettie! All the next day her happiness lasted. She sang over
+her work; she charmed the little girls with stories. She made an apple
+pudding for dinner, she baked some choice potatoes for supper; but
+they were not eaten, at least only by the little girls. They waited
+until seven o'clock, and half-past seven, and eight o'clock for the
+father and brother who did not come. Jerry, who stopped at the door
+and learned of the anxiety, slipped away to try to find out what kept
+them; but he came back in a little while with a grave face and shook
+his head. Both had left their shops at the usual time; nobody knew what
+had become of them. Jerry could guess, so also could Mrs. Decker. The
+poor woman was too used to it to be very much astonished; but Nettie
+was overwhelmed. She ate no supper; she did not sing at all over the
+dishwashing. She watched every step on the street, and turned pale at
+the sound of passing voices. She put the little girls to bed, and cried
+over their gay chatter. She coaxed her sad-faced mother to go to bed
+at last, and drew a long sigh of relief when she went into her bedroom
+and shut the door. It had been so dreadful to hear her say: "I told you
+so; I knew just how it would be. They will both come staggering home.
+It's of no use."
+
+Nettie did not believe it. She believed that work somewhere was holding
+them; people often had extra work to do, or were sent on errands, but
+she went at last over to the woodhouse chamber; it would not do to keep
+the Smiths up longer. Instead of making ready for bed, she kneeled down
+before the little window which gave her a view of the next house, and
+watched and waited. They came at last; father and son; not together.
+Norm came first, and stumbled, and shuffled, and growled; his voice was
+thick, and the few words she could catch had no connection or sense. He
+had too surely been drinking. But he was not so far gone as the father.
+_He_ had to be helped along the street by some of his companions; he
+could not hold himself upright while they opened the door. And when
+the gentle wind blew it shut again, he swore a succession of oaths
+which made Nettie shudder and bury her face in her hands. But she
+did not cry. It was the first time in her young life that her heart
+was too heavy for tears. She drew great deep sighs as she went about,
+at last, preparing for bed; she wished that the tears would come, for
+the choking feeling might be relieved by them; but the tears seemed
+dried. She tossed about on her neat little bed, in a sorrow very unlike
+childhood. Poor, disappointed Nettie!
+
+The sun shone brightly the next morning, but there was no brightness in
+the little girl's heart. She was early down stairs, and stole away to
+the next house without seeing anybody. Mrs. Decker was up, with a face
+as wan as Nettie's.
+
+"Well," she said, in a hopeless tone, "it's all over. Did you hear them
+come in last night? Both of 'em. If it had been one at a time, we could
+have stood it better; but both of 'em! I _did_ have a little hope, as
+sure as you live. Your pa seemed so different by spells, and Norm, he
+seemed to like you, and to stay at home more, and I kind of chirked up
+and thought may be, after all, good times was coming to me; but it's
+all of no use; I've give up; and it seems to me it would have been
+easier to have stayed down, than to have crept up, to tumble back.
+
+"Not that I'm blaming you, child," she said, "you did your best, and
+you did wonders; and I think sometimes, maybe if I had made such a
+brave shift as that in the beginning, things wouldn't have got where
+they have. But I didn't, and it's too late now."
+
+Not a word had Nettie to say. It was a sad breakfast-time. Mr. Decker
+shambled down late, and had barely time to swallow his coffee very hot,
+and take a piece of bread in his hand, for the seven o'clock bells were
+ringing, and punctuality was something that was insisted on by his
+foreman. Norm came later, and ate very little breakfast, and looked
+miserable enough to be sent back to bed again. Nettie only saw him
+through a crack in the door; she stayed out in the little back yard,
+pretending to put it in order. He made his stay very short, and went
+away without a word to mother or sister; and the heavy burden of life
+went on. Mrs. Decker prepared to do the big ironing which yesterday
+she had been glad over, because it would give them a chance to have
+an extra comfort added to the table; but which to-day seemed of very
+little importance.
+
+Nettie washed the dishes, and wished she was at Auntie Marshall's,
+and tried to plan a way for getting there. What was the use of staying
+here? Hadn't she tried her very best and failed? didn't the mother say
+it was harder for her than though they hadn't tried at all?
+
+In the course of the morning, Mrs. Smith sent in a basket of corn.
+Sarah Jane brought it. "Some folks on a farm that mother ironed for,
+when they lived in town, sent her a great basket full; heaps more than
+we can use, and mother said it would be just the thing for your men
+folks; they always like corn, you know."
+
+Mrs. Decker took the basket without a smile on her face. "Your mother
+is a very kind woman," she said, "the kindest one I ever knew; in fact,
+I haven't known many kind people, and that's the truth. She has done
+all she could to help us, but I don't know as we can be helped; it
+seems as though some people couldn't."
+
+Sarah Jane went back and told her mother that Mrs. Decker seemed
+dreadful downhearted and discouraged; and Mrs. Smith replied with a
+sigh that she didn't know as she wondered at it; poor thing! Nettie
+made the dinner as nice as she could. Mr. Decker ate with a relish,
+and said the corn was good, and he had sometimes thought that the bit
+of ground back of the house might be made to raise corn; and Nettie
+brightened a little, and looked over at Norm and was just going to say,
+"Let's have a garden next summer," when he spoiled it by declaring that
+he wouldn't slave in a garden for anybody. It was hard enough to work
+ten hours a day. Then his father told him that he guessed he did not
+hurt himself with work; and he retorted that he guessed they neither
+of them would die with over-work; and his father told him to hold his
+tongue. In short, nothing was plainer than that these two were ashamed
+of themselves, and of each other, and were much move irritable than
+they had been for several days.
+
+The afternoon work was all done, and Nettie had just hung up her
+apron, and wondered whether she should offer to iron for awhile, or
+run away to the woodhouse chamber, and write to Auntie Marshall, when
+Jerry appeared in the door. She had not seen him since the sorrow of
+the night before had come upon them; Nettie thought he avoided coming
+in, because he too was discouraged. Her face flushed when she heard
+his step, and she wished something would happen so that she need not
+turn around to him. She felt so ashamed of her own people, and of his
+efforts to help them. His voice, however, sounded just as usual.
+
+"Through, Nettie? Then come out on the back step; I want to talk with
+you."
+
+"There is no use in talking," she said, sadly. But she followed him
+out, and sat down listlessly on the broad low step, which the jog in
+Mr. Smith's house shaded from the afternoon sun.
+
+Jerry took no notice of the words if indeed he heard them.
+
+"I heard some news this morning," he began. "Two of the older boys at
+the corner, that one in Peck's store, you know, and the one next door
+told me that a lot of fellows were going off to-night on what he called
+a lark. They have hired a boat, and are going to row across to Duck
+Island, and catch some fish and have a supper in that mean little hole
+which is kept on the island; they mean to make an all-night of it. I
+don't know what is to be done next; play cards, I suppose; they do,
+whenever they get together, and lots of drinking. It is a dreadful
+place. Well, I heard, by a kind of accident, that they thought of
+asking Norm to join 'em. At first they said they wouldn't, because he
+wouldn't be likely to have any money to help pay the bills; but then
+they remembered that he was a good rower, and thought they would get
+his share out of him in that way; and I say, Nettie, let's spoil their
+plans for them."
+
+"How?" asked Nettie, drearily.
+
+Jerry talked on eagerly. "I have a plan; I rented a boat for this
+afternoon, and was going to ask Mrs. Decker to let me take you and
+the chicks for a ride, and I meant to catch some fish for our supper;
+but this will be better. I propose to invite Norm and two fellows
+that he goes with some, to go out with me, fishing. I have a splendid
+fishing rig, you know, and I'll lend it to them, and help them to have
+a good time, and then if you will plan a kind of treat when we get
+back--coffee, you know, and fish, and bread and butter, we could have
+a picnic of our own and as much fun as they would get with that set
+on the island. I believe Norm would go; he is just after a good time,
+you see, and if he gets it in this way, he will like it as well, maybe
+better, than though he spent the night at it and got the worst of
+his bargain. Anyhow, it is worth trying; if we can save him from this
+night's work it will be worth a good deal. Don't you think so?"
+
+Instead of the hearty, "yes, indeed," which he expected, Nettie said
+not a word; and when he turned and looked at her, to learn what was the
+matter, her face was red and the tears were gathering in her eyes.
+
+"Don't you know what has happened?" she asked at last. "I thought I
+heard you in your room last night when he came home."
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, speaking gravely, "I was up. What of it?"
+
+"What of it? O Jerry!" and here the tears which had been choking poor
+Nettie all day had it their own way for a few minutes. She had not
+meant to cry; but she felt at once how quickly the tears relieved the
+lump in her throat.
+
+"I don't mean that, exactly," Jerry said, after waiting a minute for
+the sobs to grow less deep, "of course it was a great trouble, and I
+have been so sorry for Mrs. Decker all day that I wanted to stay away,
+because I could not think of the right thing to say; but it's only
+another reason why we should work and plan in all ways to get ahead of
+them and save Norm."
+
+"O Jerry! don't you think it is too late?"
+
+"Too late! What in the world can you mean? Has anything happened to-day
+that I haven't heard of? Where is Norm? Has he gone away anywhere?"
+
+"O, no," said Nettie, "he has gone to work; but I mean--I
+meant--doesn't it all seem to you of no use at all? After we worked so
+hard and got everything nice, and he seemed so pleased, and stayed at
+home all the evening and talked with us, and then the very next night
+to come home like that!"
+
+Jerry stared in blank astonishment.
+
+"I don't believe I understand," he said at last. "You did not think
+that Norm was going to reform the very minute you did anything pleasant
+for him, did you?"
+
+"N-no," said Nettie slowly, "I don't suppose I did; but it all seemed
+so dreadful! I expected something, I hardly know what, and I could not
+help feeling disappointed and miserable." Nettie's face was growing
+red; she began to suspect she might be a very foolish girl.
+
+"Why, that is queer," said Jerry. "Now I am not disappointed a bit.
+I am sorry, of course, but I expected just that thing. Why, Nettie,
+they go after men sometimes for months and years before they get real
+hold and are sure of them. There is a lawyer in New York that father
+says kept three men busy for five years trying to save him. They didn't
+succeed, either, but they got him to go to the One who could save him.
+He is a grand man now. Suppose they had given up during those five
+years!"
+
+"Do you think it may take five years to get hold of Norm?" There were
+tears in Nettie's eyes, but there was a little suggestion of a smile on
+her face, and she waited eagerly for Jerry's answer.
+
+"I'm sure I hope not," he said, "but if it does, we are not to give him
+up at the end of five years; nor _before_ five years, that is certain."
+
+Nettie wiped the tears away, and smiled outright; then sat still in
+deep thought for several minutes. Then she arose, decision and energy
+on her face.
+
+"Thank you, Jerry; I wish you had come in this morning. I have been a
+goose, I guess, and I almost spoiled what we tried to do. We'll get
+up a nice supper if you can get Norm and the others to come. I don't
+believe they will, but we can try. We have coffee enough to make a nice
+pot of it, and Mrs. Smith sent us some milk out of that pail from the
+country that is almost cream. I will make some baked potato balls, they
+are beautiful with fish; all brown, you know; and I was going to make
+a johnny-cake if I could get up interest enough in it. I'm interested
+now, and I shouldn't wonder if I staid so," and she blushed and laughed.
+
+"You see," said Jerry, "you must not expect things to be done in a
+minute. Why, even God doesn't do things quickly, when he could, as well
+as not. And he doesn't get tired of people, either; and that I think is
+queer. Have you ever thought that if you were God, you would wipe most
+all the people out of this world in a second, and make some new ones
+who could behave better?"
+
+"Why, no," said Nettie, wonderment and bewilderment struggling together
+in her face, this strange thought sounded almost wicked to her. "Well,
+I do," said Jerry sturdily; "I have often thought of it; I believe
+almost any _man_ would get out of patience with this old world, full
+of rum saloons, and gambling saloons and tobacco. I think it is such a
+good thing that men don't have the management of it.
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, we shall have a pretty busy
+afternoon if we carry out our plans, won't we? Suppose you go and talk
+the thing up with your mother, and I will go and see what Norm says.
+Or, hold on, suppose we go together and call on him; I'll ask him to go
+fishing, and you ask him to bring his friends home to eat the fish. How
+would that do?"
+
+It was finally agreed that that would do beautifully, and Jerry went to
+see whether his long flat stick fitted, while Nettie ran to her mother.
+Mrs. Decker was ironing, her worn face looking older and more worn,
+Nettie thought, than she had ever seen it before. Poor mother! Why had
+not she helped her to bear her heavy burden, instead of almost sulking
+over failure?
+
+"O, mother," she began, "Jerry has a plan, and we want to know what you
+think of it; he has heard of things that are to be done this evening."
+And she hurried through the story of the intended frolic on the island,
+and the fishing party that was, if possible, to be pushed in ahead.
+Mrs. Decker listened in silence, and at first with an uninterested
+face; presently, when she took in the largeness of the plan, she stayed
+her iron long enough to look up and say:
+
+"What's the use, child? I thought you and Jerry had given up."
+
+"O, mother," and the cheeks were rosy red now, "I'm ashamed that I felt
+so discouraged; Jerry isn't at all; and he thinks it is the strangest
+thing that I should have been! He says they have to work for years,
+sometimes, to get hold of people. He knew a man that they kept working
+after for five years, and now he is a grand man. He says we must hold
+on to Norm if it is five years, though I don't believe it will be. I'm
+going to begin over again, mother, and not get discouraged at anything.
+It is true, as Jerry says, that we can't expect Norm to reform all
+in a minute. He says the boys that Norm goes with the most are not
+bad fellows, only they haven't any homes, and they keep getting into
+mischief, because they have nowhere to go to have any pleasant times.
+Don't you think Norm would like it to have them asked home with him to
+supper, and show them how to have a real good time? Jerry says the two
+boys that he means board at a horrid place, where they have old bread
+and weak tea for supper, and where people are smoking and drinking in
+the back end of the room while they are eating. I am sure I don't know
+as it is any wonder that they go to the saloons sometimes."
+
+Mrs. Decker still held her iron poised in air, on her face a look that
+was worth studying. "Norm hasn't ever had a decent place to ask anybody
+to, nor a decent time of any kind since he was old enough to care much
+about it," she said slowly. "I thought I had done about my best, but
+it may be I'll find myself mistaken. Well, child, let's try it, for
+mercy's sake, or anything else that that boy thinks of. You and him
+together are the only ones that's done any thinking for Norm in years;
+and if I don't go half-way and more too for anybody that wants to do
+anything, it will be a wonder."
+
+In a very few minutes Nettie was in her neat street dress, and the two
+were walking down the shady side of the main street, toward Norm's
+shop. They passed Lorena Barstow, and though Jerry, without thinking,
+took off his cap to her, she tossed her head and looked the other way.
+
+Jerry laughed. "I did not know she was so nearsighted as all that, did
+you?" he asked, and then continued the sentence which the sight of her
+had interrupted. Nettie could not laugh; she was sore over the thought
+that she had so spoiled Jerry's life for him that his old acquaintances
+would not bow to him on the street.
+
+Norm was at work, and worked with energy; they stood and looked at him
+through the window for a few minutes. "He works fast," said Jerry, "and
+he works as though he would rather do it than not; Mr. Smith says there
+isn't a lazy streak in him. He ought to make a smart man, Nettie; and I
+shouldn't wonder if he would."
+
+Then they went in. To say that Norm was astonished at sight of them,
+would be to tell only half the story. He stood in doubt what to say,
+but Jerry was equal to the occasion; nothing could have been more
+matter-of-course than the way in which he told about his plans for
+going fishing, declaring that the afternoon was prime for such work,
+and that he was tired of going alone. "Wouldn't Norm and his two
+friends go too?" Now a ride in a boat was something that Norm rarely
+had. In the first place, boats cost money, and in the second place they
+took time. To be sure, after working hours, there was time enough for
+rowing, but boats were sure to be scarce then, even if money had been
+plenty.
+
+Norm wiped his face with a corner of his work-apron, and admitted that
+he would like to go, first-rate, but did not know as he could get away.
+They were not over busy it was true, neither was the foreman troubled
+with good nature; he would be next to certain to say no, if Norm asked
+to be let off at five o'clock.
+
+"Let's try him," said Jerry, and he walked boldly to the other side of
+the room where the foreman stood.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A COMPLETE SUCCESS.
+
+
+THIS man was a friend of Jerry's; it was only two weeks ago that he
+had done him a good turn, in finding and bringing home his stray cow.
+He was perfectly good-natured, and found no fault at all with Norm's
+leaving the shop at five; in fact he said he was glad to have the boy
+leave in such good company.
+
+"Would the others go?" Nettie questioned eagerly, and Norm, laughing,
+said he reckoned they would go quick enough if they got a chance;
+invitations to take boat rides were not so plenty that they could
+afford to lose them.
+
+Then was time for Nettie's great surprise.
+
+"And, Norm, will you bring them all home to supper with you? I'll have
+everything ready to cook the fish in a hurry as soon as you get into
+the house, and you can visit in the new room until they are ready."
+
+Now indeed, I wish you could have seen Norm! It never happened to him
+before to have a chance to invite anybody home to supper with him. He
+looked at Nettie in silent bewilderment for a minute; he even rubbed
+his eyes as though possibly he might be dreaming; but she looked so
+real and so trim, and so sure of herself standing there quietly waiting
+his answer, that at last he stammered out:
+
+"What do you mean, Nannie? You aren't in dead earnest?"
+
+"Why, of course," said Nettie, deciding in a flash upon her plan of
+action; she would do as Jerry had, and take all this as a matter of
+course. "I'm going to make a lovely johnny-cake for supper, and some
+new-fashioned potatoes, and we have cream for the coffee. You shall
+have an elegant supper; only be sure you catch lots of fish."
+
+It was all arranged at last to their satisfaction, and the two
+conspirators turned away to get ready for their part of the business.
+
+"Norm liked it," said Jerry. "Couldn't you see by his face that he did?
+I believe we can get hold of him after awhile, by doing things of this
+kind; things that make him remember he has a home, and pleasant times,
+like other boys."
+
+If Jerry had waited fifteen minutes he might have been surer of that
+even than he was. Norm's second invitation followed hard on the first;
+and Norm, who felt a little sore over certain meannesses of the night
+before, and who knew his foreman was within hearing and would be sure
+to object to this young fellow who had come to ask him to go to the
+island, answered loftily: "Can't do it; I've promised to go out fishing
+with a party; and besides, our folks are going to have company to tea."
+
+Company to tea! He almost laughed when he said it. How very strange the
+sentence sounded.
+
+"O, indeed," said Jim Noxen from the saloon. "Seems to me you are
+getting big."
+
+"It sounds like it," said Norman. "I wonder if I am?" But this he said
+to himself; for answer to the remark, he only laughed.
+
+"If I had a chance to keep company with a young fellow like Jerry, and
+a trim little woman like that sister of yours, I guess I wouldn't often
+be found with the other set."
+
+This the foreman said, with a significant nod of his head toward the
+young fellow who represented the other set. And this, too, had its
+influence.
+
+Jerry and Nettie had a glimpse of one of Norm's friends as they passed
+his shop on their homeward way.
+
+"He has a good face," said Nettie. "Poor fellow! Hasn't he any home at
+all? Don't you wish we could get hold of him so close that he would
+help us? He looks as though he might."
+
+Then she stepped into the boat and floated idly around, while Jerry ran
+for the oars; and while she floated, she thought and planned. There was
+a great deal to be done, both then and afterwards.
+
+"I wish you could go with us and catch a fish," said Jerry, as he saw
+how she enjoyed the water, "but maybe it wouldn't be just the thing."
+
+"I know it wouldn't," said Nettie; "besides, who would make the
+johnny-cake, and the potato balls? There is a great deal to be done to
+make things match, when you are catching fish."
+
+The fishing party was a complete success. Jerry said afterwards that
+the very fish acted as though they were in the secret and were bound
+to help. He had never seen them bite so readily. By seven o'clock, the
+boat was headed homeward, with more fish than even four hungry boys
+could possibly eat.
+
+"Now for supper," said Norm, who with secret delight had thought
+constantly of the surprise in store for Alf and Rick. "Boys, I'm going
+to take you home with me and show you what a prime cook my little
+sister is. We'll have these fish sizzling in a pan quicker than you
+have any notion of; and she knows how to sizzle them just right;
+doesn't she, Jerry?"
+
+But Jerry was spared the trouble of a reply, for Alf with incredulous
+stare said, "You're gassing now."
+
+"No, I'm not gassing. You can come home with me, honor bright, and you
+shall have such a supper as would make old Ma'am Turner wild."
+
+Old Ma'am Turner, poor soul, was the woman who kept the wretched
+boarding house where these homeless boys boarded, and she really did
+know how to make things taste a little worse, probably, than any one
+you know of.
+
+"What'll your mother say to your bringing folks home to supper?"
+questioned Rick, looking as incredulous as his friend. "She'll give us
+a hint of broomstick, I reckon, if we try it."
+
+"Well," said Norm, unconcernedly, dipping the oar into the water, "try
+it and see, if you are a mind to, that's all I've got to say. I ain't
+going to force you to eat fish; but I promise you a first-class meal of
+them if you choose to come."
+
+"Oh! we'll go," said Alf, with a giggle; "if we are broomed out the
+next second, we'll try it, just to see what will come of it. Things is
+queerer in this world than folks think, often; now I didn't believe
+a word of it, when you said we was going out in a boat to-night; I
+thought it was some of your nonsense; and here the little fellow has
+treated us prime."
+
+The "little fellow" was Jerry, who smiled and nodded in honor of his
+compliment, but said nothing; he resolved to let Norm do the honors
+alone.
+
+They went with long strides to the Decker home, Jerry waiting to fasten
+the boat and pay his bill. Each boy carried a fine string of fish of
+his own catching; and appeared at the back door just as Nettie came out
+to look.
+
+"O, what beauties!" she said, gleefully; "and such a nice lot of them!
+I'm all ready and waiting. You go in, Norm, with your friends, and
+we'll have them cooking as soon as we can."
+
+"Not much," said Norm, coming around to the board which she had
+evidently gotten ready for cleaning the fish, and diving his hand in
+his pocket in search of his jack-knife. "Let's fall to, boys, and clean
+these fellows. I know how, and I think likely you do, and they'll taste
+the better, like enough."
+
+"Just so," said Rick Walker, who owned the face that Nettie had decided
+was a good one. "I'm agreeable; I know how to clean fish as well as the
+next one; used to do it for mother, when I was a little shaver."
+
+Did the sentence end in a sigh, or did Nettie imagine it? All three
+went to work with strong skilful hands, and Nettie hopped back and
+forth bringing fresh water, and fresh plates, and feeling in her secret
+heart very grateful to the boys for doing this, which she had dreaded.
+
+They were all done in a very short time, and each boy in turn had
+washed his hands in the basin which shone, and then, the shining, or
+the smoothness and beautiful cleanness of the great brown towel, or
+something, prompted Rick to take fresh water and dip his brown face
+into it, and toss the water about like a great Newfoundland dog.
+
+"I declare, that feels good!" he said. "Try it, Alf." And Alf tried it.
+
+Then Norm led the way to the new room. It would have done Nettie's
+heart good if she had known how many times he had thought of that room
+during the last hour. He knew it would be a surprise to the boys. They
+had never seen anything but the Decker kitchen, and not much of that,
+standing at the door to wait a minute for Norm, but the few glimpses
+they had had of it, had not led them to suppose that there was any such
+place in the house as this in which he was now going to usher them.
+Their surprise was equal to the occasion. They stopped in the doorway,
+and looked around upon the prettiness, the bright carpet, the delicate
+curtains, the gay chairs! nothing like this was to be found at Ma'am
+Turner's, nor in any other room with which they were familiar.
+
+"Whew!" said Rick, closing the word with a shrill whistle; "I think as
+much!" said Alf. "Who'd have dreamed it. I say, Norm, you're a sly one;
+why didn't you ever let on that you had this kind of thing?"
+
+How they entertained one another during that next hour, Nettie did
+not know. Eyes and brain were occupied in the kitchen. Jerry came,
+presently, but reported that they were getting on all right in the
+front room, and he believed he could do better service in the kitchen;
+so he set the table with a delicate regard for nicety which Nettie had
+been taught at Auntie Marshall's, and which she knew he had not learned
+at Mrs. Job Smith's. Sarah Jane was rigidly clean, but never what
+Nettie called "nice."
+
+"We'll take the table in the front room," decreed Nettie as she
+surveyed it thoughtfully for a few minutes. "It is very warm out here,
+and they will like it better to be quite alone; we can put all the
+dishes on, with the leaves down, and set them in their places in a
+twinkling, after we have lifted it in there. Won't that be the way,
+mother?"
+
+"Land!" said Mrs. Decker, withdrawing her head from the oven, whither
+it had gone to see after the new-fashioned potato balls, "I should
+think they could eat out here; you may depend they never saw so clean
+a kitchen at old Ma'am Turner's. But it is hot here, and no mistake;
+and I should not know what to do with myself while they was eating.
+Please yourself, child, and then I'll be pleased. I'm going to save one
+of these potatoes for your pa; I never see anything in my life look
+prettier than they do."
+
+Mrs. Decker's tones told much plainer than her words, that she liked
+Nettie's idea of putting the table in the front room for Norm's
+company. She would not have owned it, but her mother-heart was glad
+over a "fuss" being made for her Norm.
+
+So the table went in; Jerry at one end, and Nettie at the other. They
+hushed a loud laugh by their entrance, but Jerry went immediately over
+to Rick Walker to show a new-fashioned knife, and Nettie's fingers flew
+over the table, so by the time the knife had been exhausted, she was
+ready to vanish.
+
+Confess now that you would like to have had a seat at that table when
+it was ready. A platter of smoking fish, done to the nicest brown,
+without drying or burning; a bowl of lovely little brown balls, each of
+them about the size of an egg, a plate of very light and puffy-looking
+Johnny-cake, and to crown all, coffee that filled the room with such an
+aroma as Ma'am Turner perhaps dreamed of, but never certainly in these
+days smelled. Mrs. Job Smith at the last minute had sent in a pat of
+genuine country butter, and Sate had flown to the grocery for a piece
+of ice with which to keep it in countenance.
+
+Jerry set the chairs, and Nettie poured the coffee, and creamed and
+sugared it, and then slipped away.
+
+She knew by the looks on the faces of the guests, that they were
+astonished beyond words, and she knew that Norm was both astonished and
+pleased. There was another supper being made ready in the kitchen. Mrs.
+Decker had herself tugged in the box which had been lately set up as a
+washbench, and spread the largest towel over it, and was serving three
+lovely fish, and a bowl of potato balls for "Decker" and herself.
+
+"I guess I'm going to have company too," she said to Nettie, her face
+beaming. "Your pa has gone to wash up, and I thought seeing there was
+only two chairs, and two plates left, you wouldn't mind having him and
+me sit down together, for a meal, first."
+
+"Yes, I do mind," said Nettie; "I think it is a lovely plan; I'm so
+glad you thought of it, and Jerry and I will keep watch that they have
+everything in the other room, while you eat." If you are wondering in
+your hearts where those important beings, Sate and Susie, were at this
+moment, I should have told you before, that Sarah Jane had a brilliant
+thought, but an hour before, and carried them out to tea. So all the
+Decker family were visiting that evening, save Nettie, and I think
+perhaps she was the happiest among them all. Every time she heard a
+burst of fresh fun from the front room, she laughed, too; it was so
+nice to think that Norm was having a good time in his own home, and
+nothing to worry over.
+
+It is almost a pity that, for her encouragement, she could not have
+heard some of the conversation in that room.
+
+"I say, Norm," said his friend Alf, his tones muffled by reason of a
+large piece of johnny-cake, "what an awful sly fellow you are! You
+never let on that you had these kind of doings in your house. Who'd
+have thought that you had a stunning room like this for folks, and
+potatoes done up in brown satin, to eat, and coffee such as they get up
+at the hotels! It beats all creation!"
+
+"That's so," said Rick, taking in a quarter of a fish at one mouthful,
+"I never dreamed of such a thing; what beats me, is, why a fellow who
+has such nice doings at home, wants to loaf around, and spend evenings
+at Beck's, or at Steen's. Hang me if I don't think the contrast a
+little too great. 'Pears to me if I had this kind of thing, I should
+like to enjoy it oftener than Norm seems to."
+
+Norman smiled loftily on them. Do you think he was going to own that
+"this kind of thing" had never been enjoyed in his home before, during
+all the years of his recollection? Not he; he only said that folks
+liked a change once in awhile, of course, and he only laughed when Rick
+and Alf both declared that if they knew themselves, and they thought
+they did, they would be content never to change back from this kind of
+thing to Ma'am Turner's supper table so long as they lived.
+
+How those boys did eat! Nettie owned to herself that she was
+astonished; and privately rejoiced that she had made four johnny-cakes
+instead of three, though it had seemed almost extravagant until she
+remembered that it would warm up nicely for breakfast. Not a crumb
+would there be for breakfast. She had one regret and she told it to
+Jerry as she went out to him on the back stoop, having poured the third
+cup of coffee around, for the three in the front room.
+
+"Jerry, I am just afraid there won't be a speck of johnny-cake left for
+you to taste. Those boys do eat so!"
+
+"Never mind," laughed Jerry. "We will eat the tail of a fish, if any
+of them have a tail left, and rejoice over our success; this thing is
+going to work, I believe, if we can keep it going."
+
+"That's the trouble," said Nettie, an anxious look in her eyes. "How
+can we? Fish won't do every time; and there are no other things that
+you can catch. Besides, even this has cost a great deal. I paid
+eight cents for lard to fry the fish, and the butter and milk and
+things would have cost as much as fifteen cents certainly. Mrs. Smith
+furnished them this time, but of course such things won't happen again."
+
+"A great many things happen," said Jerry, wisely. "More than you can
+calculate on. 'Never cross a bridge until you come to it, my boy.'
+Didn't I tell you that was what my father was always saying to me? I
+have found it a good plan, too, to follow his advice. Many a time I've
+worried over troubles that never came. Look here, don't you believe
+that if we are to do this thing and good is to come from it, we shall
+be able to manage it somehow?"
+
+"Why, y-e-s," said Nettie, slowly, as though she were waiting to see
+whether her faith could climb so high; "I suppose that is so."
+
+"Well, if good isn't going to come of it, do we want to do it?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"All right, then," with a little laugh. "What are we talking about?"
+And Nettie laughed, and ran in to give her father his last cup of
+coffee, and to hear him say that he hadn't had so good a meal in six
+years.
+
+It was a curious fact that Susie and Sate were the chief movers in the
+next thing that these young Fishers did to interest the particular fish
+whom they were after.
+
+It began the next Sabbath morning in Sabbath-school. There, the little
+girls heard with deep interest that on the following Sabbath there
+was to be a service especially for the children. A special feature of
+the day was to be the decoration of the church with flowers, which
+the children were to bring on the previous Saturday. Susie and Sate
+promised with the rest, that they would bring flowers. Promised in the
+confident expectation of childhood that some way they could join the
+others and do as they did; though both little girls knew that not a
+flower grew in or about them. During the early part of the week they
+forgot it, but on Saturday morning they stood in the little front yard
+and saw a sight which recalled all the delights of the coming Sunday
+in which they seemed to be having no share. The little girls from the
+Orphanage on the hill were bringing their treasures. Even fat little
+Karl who was only five, had a potted plant in full bloom, which he was
+proudly carrying. Little Dutch Maggie, in her queer long apron, carried
+a plant with lovely satiny leaves which were prettier than any bloom,
+and behind her was Robert the Scotch gardener with his arms full; then
+young Rob Severn, Miss Wheeler's nephew, had a lovely fuchsia just
+aglow with blossoms, and Miss Wheeler herself, who was the matron at
+the Orphanage, was carrying a choice plant. All these the hungry eyes
+of Sate and Susie took in, as the procession passed the house, then
+they ran wailing to Nettie who had already become the long suffering
+person to whom they must pour out their woes.
+
+"We promised, we did," explained Sate, her earnest eyes fixed on
+Nettie, while her arms clasped that young lady just as she was in the
+act of throwing out her dishwater. "We did promise, and they will
+'spect them, and they won't be there."
+
+"Well, but, darling, what made you promise, when you knew we had no
+flowers? Mrs. Smith would give you some in a minute if hers were in
+bloom. Why didn't they wait a little later, I wonder? Then Mrs. Smith
+could have given us such lovely china-asters."
+
+"We must have some to-morrow," said the emphatic Susie, and she
+fastened her black eyes on Nettie in a way that said: "Now you
+understand what must be, I hope you will at once set about bringing it
+to pass."
+
+Nettie could not help laughing. "If you were a fairy queen," she said,
+"and could wave your wand and say, 'Flowers, bloom,' and they would
+obey you, we should certainly have some; as it is, I don't quite see
+how they are to be had. We have no friends to ask."
+
+"I can't help it," said Susie, positively, "we _promised_ to bring
+some, and of course we must. You said, Nettie Decker, that we must
+always keep our promises."
+
+"Now, Miss Nettie Decker, you are condemned!" said Jerry, with grave
+face but laughing eyes; "something must evidently be done about this
+business. Dandelions are gone, except the whiteheads, and they would
+blow away before they got themselves settled in church, I am afraid.
+Hold on, I have a thought, just a splendid one if can manage it; wait a
+bit, Susie, and we will see what we can do."
+
+Susie, who was beginning to have full faith in this wise friend of
+theirs, told Sate in confidence that they were going to have some
+flowers to take to church, as well as the rest of them; she did not
+know what Jerry was going to make them out of, but she knew he would
+_make_ some.
+
+After that, Jerry was not seen again for several hours. In fact it
+was just as the dinner dishes were washed, that he appeared with a
+triumphant face. "Have you made some?" asked Sate, springing up from
+her dolly and going toward him expectantly.
+
+"Made some what, Curly?"
+
+"Flowers," said Sate, gravely. "Susie said she knew you would."
+
+Jerry laughed. "Susie has boundless faith in impossibilities," he said.
+"No, I haven't made the flowers, but I have the boat. That old thing
+that leaked so, you know, Nettie; well, I've put it in prime order, and
+got permission to use it, and if you and the chicks will come, we will
+sail away to where they make flowers, and pick all we want; unless some
+wicked fairy has whispered my bright thought to somebody else, and I
+don't believe it, for I have seen no one out on the pond to-day."
+
+Then Sate, her eyes very large, went in search of Susie to tell her
+that this wonderful boy had come to take them where flowers were made,
+and to let them gather for themselves.
+
+"I suppose it is heaven," said Sate, gravely, "because the real truly
+flowers, you know, God makes, and he has his things all up in heaven to
+work with, I guess."
+
+"What a little goosie you are!" said Susie, curling her wise lip; "as
+if Jerry Mack could take us to heaven!"
+
+However, she went at once to see about it, and was almost as much
+astonished to think that they were really going out in a boat, as she
+would have been if they were going to heaven. "I s'pose it's safe?"
+said Mrs. Decker doubtfully, watching the light in the little girls'
+eyes, and remembering how few pleasures had been offered them.
+
+"O, yes'm," said Jerry, "as safe as the road. I could row a boat,
+ma'am, very well indeed, father said, when I was six years old; and you
+couldn't coax that clumsy old thing to tip over, if you wanted it to;
+and if it should, the water isn't up to my waist anywhere in the pond."
+
+Mrs. Decker laughed, and said it sounded safe enough; and went back to
+her ironing, and the four happy people sailed away. If not to where the
+pond lilies were made, at least to where they grew in all their wild
+sweet beauty.
+
+"How very strange," said Nettie, as they leaned over the great rude,
+flat-bottomed boat and pulled the beauties in; "how very strange that
+no one has gathered these for to-morrow. Why, nothing could be more
+lovely!"
+
+"Well," said Jerry, "only a few people row this way, because it isn't
+the pleasantest part of the pond, you know, for rowing; and I guess no
+one has remembered that the lilies were out; there don't many people,
+only fishermen, go out on this pond, you know, because the boats are
+so ugly; and fishermen don't care for flowers, I guess. Anyhow, they
+haven't been here, for the buds are all on hand, just as I thought they
+would be by this time, when I was here on Tuesday. But I never thought
+of the church; so you see how little thinking is done."
+
+Well, they gathered great loads of the beauties, and rowed home in
+triumph, and put the lilies in a tub of water, and sat down to consider
+how best to arrange them. It was curious that Mrs. Job Smith should
+have been the next one with an idea.
+
+"I should think," she said, standing in the doorway of her kitchen, her
+hands on her sides, "I should think a great big salver of them laid
+around in their own leaves, would be the prettiest thing in the world."
+
+"So it would," said Nettie, "the very thing, if we only had the salver."
+
+"Well, I've got that. Mrs. Sims, she gave me an old battered and
+bruised one, when they were moving. It is big enough to put all the
+cups and saucers on in town, almost; when I lugged it home, Job, he
+wanted to know what on _earth_ I wanted of that, and says I, I don't
+know, but she give it to me, and most everything in this world comes
+good, if you keep it long enough. Sarah Ann, you run up to the corner
+in the back garret and get that thing, and see what they'll make of it."
+
+So Sarah Ann ran.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED HELPER.
+
+
+PERHAPS you do not see how the pond lilies, lovely as they were,
+arranged on that salver, helped Jerry and Nettie in their plans for
+Norm and his friends. But there is another part to that story.
+
+After the salver had been filled with sand, and covered with moss, and
+soaked until it would absorb no more water, and the lilies had been
+laid in so thickly that they looked like a great white bank of bloom,
+the whole was lovely, as I said, but heavy. The walk to the church
+was long, and Nettie, thinking of it, surveyed her finished work with
+a grave face. How was it ever to be gotten to the church? She tried
+to lift one end of it, and shook her head. There was no hope that she
+could even _help_ carry it for so long a distance. Mrs. Smith saw the
+trouble in her eyes, and guessed at its cause. "It is an awful heavy
+thing, that's a fact," she said, "hefting" it in her strong arms; "I
+don't know how you are going to manage it; Sarah Jane would help in a
+minute, but there's her back; she ain't got no back to speak of, Sarah
+Jane hasn't. And there's Job, he ain't at home; he went this morning
+before it was light, away over the other side of the clip hill with a
+load, and the last words he says to me was: 'Don't you be scairt if I
+don't get round very early; them roads over there is dreadful heavy,
+and I shall have to rest the team in the heat of the day,' and like
+enough he won't get back till nigh ten o'clock."
+
+Certainly no help could be expected from the Smith family. "We shall
+have to take some of the sand out," said Nettie, surveying the mound
+regretfully; "I'm real sorry; it does look so pretty heaped up! but
+Jerry can never carry it away down there alone."
+
+Then came Jerry's bright idea. "I'll get Norman to help me."
+
+"Norm!" said Nettie, stopping astonished in the very act of picking out
+some of the lilies. It had not once occurred to her that Norm could be
+asked to go to the church on an errand. She couldn't have told why,
+but Norm and the church seemed too far apart to have anything in common.
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, positively. "Why not? I know he'll help; and he and
+I can carry it like a daisy. Don't take out one of them, Nettie. I know
+you will spoil it if you touch it again; it is just perfect. Halloo,
+Norm, come this way."
+
+Sure enough at that moment Norm appeared from the attic where he
+slept; he had washed his face and combed his hair, and made himself as
+decent looking as he could, and was starting for somewhere; and Nettie
+remembered with a sinking heart that it was Saturday night; Norm's
+worst night except Sunday.
+
+He stopped at Jerry's call, and stood waiting.
+
+"You are just the individual I wanted to see at this moment," said
+Jerry with a confident air. "This meadow here has got to be dug up and
+carried bodily down to the church; and it is as heavy as though its
+roots were struck deep in the soil. Will you shoulder an end with me?"
+
+"To the church!" repeated Norm with an incredulous stare. "What do they
+want of that thing at the church?"
+
+"They are our flowers," said Sate with a positive little nod of her
+head. "We promised to bring them, and they are so big and heavy we
+can't. Will you help?"
+
+Now Norm had really a very warm feeling in his heart for this small
+sister; Susie he considered a nuisance, and a vixen, but Sate with her
+slow sweet voice, and shy ways, had several times slipped behind his
+chair to escape a slap from her angry father, thus appealing to his
+protection, and once when he lifted her over the fence, she kissed
+him; he was rather willing to please Sate. Then there was Jerry who
+was a good fellow as ever lived, and Nettie who was a prime girl; why
+shouldn't he help tote the thing down to the church if that was what
+they wanted? To be sure he wanted to go in the other direction, and
+the fellows would be waiting, he supposed; but he could go there,
+afterwards, let them wait until he came.
+
+"Well," he said at last, "come on, I'll help; though what they want of
+all this rubbish at the church is more than I can imagine." And Nettie
+and the little girls stood with satisfied faces watching the two move
+off under their heavy burden. It was something to have Norm go to
+church if it was only to carry flowers.
+
+Arrived at the door, Norm was seized with a fit of shyness; the doors
+were thrown wide open, and ladies and children were flitting about, and
+many tongues were going, and flowers and vines were being festooned
+around the gas lights, and the pillars, and wherever there was a spot
+for them.
+
+"Hold on," said Norm, jerking back, thus putting the great salver in
+eminent peril, "I ain't going in there; all the village is there; you
+better pitch this rubbish out, they've got flowers enough."
+
+"There isn't a lily among them," said Jerry. "And besides they have
+to go in, anyhow, we can't afford to disappoint Sate. Come on, Norm,
+I can't carry the thing alone, any more than I could the stove; it is
+unaccountably heavy."
+
+This was true, but Jerry was very glad that it was. He had his reasons
+for wanting to get Norm down the aisle to the front of the pulpit. With
+very reluctant feet Norm followed, bearing his share of the burden,
+his face flushing over the exclamations with which they were at last
+greeted.
+
+"Oh, oh! pond lilies! I did not know there were any this year. Where
+did you get them? Girls, look! Did you ever see anything more lovely?"
+And a group of faces were gathered about the tray, and one brown head
+went down among the lilies and caressed them.
+
+"Where did you get them?" she repeated; "I asked my cousin if there
+were any about here, and she said she thought not; and last night when
+I was out on the pond I looked and could not find any."
+
+"They hide," said Jerry. "The only place on the pond where they can be
+found is down behind the old mill; and most people don't go there at
+all, because the channel is so narrow, and the water so shallow."
+
+"Well, we are so glad you brought them! Girls, aren't they too lovely
+for anything? Who arranged them?"
+
+"My sister," said Norm, to whom Jerry promptly turned with an air which
+said as plainly as words could have done: "You are the one to answer;
+she belongs to you."
+
+"And who is that?" asked the owner of the pretty brown head, as she
+made way for them to pass to the table with their burden. "I am sure
+I would like to know her; for she certainly knows how to put flowers
+into lovely shapes."
+
+Then came from behind the desk a man whom Jerry knew and whom he had
+seen while he stood at the door. "Good evening, Jerry," he said,
+holding out his hand in a cordial way. "What a wonderful bank of beauty
+you have brought! Introduce me to your helper, please."
+
+"Mr. Sherrill, Mr. Norman Decker," said Jerry, exactly as though he
+had been used to introducing people all his life; and Norm, his face
+very red, knew that he was shaking hands with the new minister. A very
+cordial hand-shake, certainly, and then the minister turning to her
+of the brown head, said, "Eva, come here; let me introduce you to Mr.
+Norman Decker. My sister, Mr. Decker."
+
+Norm, hardly knowing what he was about, contrived another bow, and then
+Miss Eva said, "Decker, why, that is the name of my two little darlings
+about whom I have been telling you for two Sabbaths. Are they your
+little sisters, Mr. Decker? Little Sate and Susie?" And as Norm managed
+to nod an answer, she continued: "They have stolen my heart utterly;
+that little Sate is the dearest little thing. By the way, I wonder if
+these are her flowers? She promised me she would certainly get some;
+she said they had none in their garden, but God would make some grow
+for her somewhere she guessed."
+
+"Yes'm," said Jerry, seeing that Norm would not speak, "they are her
+flowers, hers and Susie's, they coaxed us to go for them."
+
+"Decker," said the minister, suddenly, "you are pretty tall, I wonder
+if you are not just the one to help me get this wreath fastened back
+of the pulpit? I have been working at it for some time, and failed for
+the want of an arm long enough and strong enough to help me." And the
+two disappeared behind the desk up the pulpit stairs to the immense
+satisfaction of Jerry. The ladies went on with their work; Miss Eva
+calling to him to help her move the table, and then to help arrange the
+salver on it, and then to bring more vines from the lecture room to
+cover the base of the floral cross; and indeed, before they knew it,
+both Jerry and Norm were in the thick of the engagement; Jerry flitting
+hither and thither at the call of the girls, and Norm following
+the minister from point to point, and using his long limbs to good
+advantage.
+
+"Well," he said, wiping his face with his coat sleeve, as, more than
+an hour after their entrance, he and Jerry made their way down the
+churchyard walk, "that is the greatest snarl I ever got into. How that
+fellow can work! But he would never have got them things up in the
+world, if I had not been there to help him."
+
+"No," said Jerry "I don't believe he would. How glad they were to get
+the lilies! They do look prettier than anything there. I did not know
+who that lady was who taught the little folks. She has only been there
+a few weeks. She is pretty, isn't she?"
+
+"I s'pose so," said Norm, "her voice is, anyhow. They say she's a
+singer. I heard the fellows down at the corner talking about her one
+night; Dick Welsh says she can mimic a bird so you couldn't tell which
+was which. I wouldn't mind hearing her sing. I like good singing."
+
+"I suppose they will have her sing in the church," said Jerry in a
+significant tone. But to this, Norm made no reply.
+
+"What was it Mr. Sherrill wanted of you just as we were coming out?"
+asked Jerry, after reflecting whether he had better ask the question or
+not.
+
+"Wanted me to come and see how the things looked in the daytime," said
+Norm with an awkward laugh that ended in a half sneer; "I'll be likely
+to I think!"
+
+"Going up home, I s'pose?" said Jerry, trying to speak indifferently,
+and slipping his hand through Norm's arm as they reached the corner,
+and Norm half halted.
+
+"Well, I suppose I might as well," Norm said, allowing himself to be
+drawn on by never so slight a pressure from Jerry's arm. "I was going
+down street, and the boys were to wait for me; but they have never
+waited all this while; it must be considerable after nine o'clock."
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, "it is." And they went home.
+
+Nettie, sitting on the doorstep, waiting, will never forget that night,
+nor the sinking of heart with which she waited. Her father had been
+kept at home, first by his employer who came to give directions about
+work to be attended to the first thing on Monday morning, and then
+by Job Smith getting home before he was expected and asking a little
+friendly help with the load he brought; and he had at last decided
+that it was too late to go out again, and had gone to bed. Mrs. Decker
+in her kitchen, hovered between the door and the window, peering out
+into the lovely night, saying nothing, but her heart throbbing so with
+anxiety about her boy that she could not lay her tired body away. Mrs.
+Job Smith in her kitchen, looked from her door and then her window,
+many misgivings in her heart; if that bad boy Norm should lead her good
+boy Jerry into mischief what should she say to his father? How could
+she ever forgive herself for having encouraged the intimacy between him
+and the Deckers?
+
+Presently, far down the quiet street came the sound of cheery
+whistling; Nettie knew the voice: nothing so very bad could have
+happened when Jerry was whistling like that; or was he perhaps doing
+it to keep his courage up? The whistle turned the corner, and in the
+dim starlight she could distinguish two figures; they came on briskly,
+Jerry and Norm. "A nice job you set us at," began Jerry, gayly, "we
+have just this minute got through; and here it is toward morning
+somewhere, isn't it?" Then all that happy company went to their beds.
+
+After dinner the next day, Nettie studied if there were not ways in
+which she might coax Norm to go to church that evening. Jerry had told
+her of the minister's invitation. Norm had slept later than usual that
+morning, and lounged at home until after dinner; now he was preparing
+to go out. How could she keep him? How could she coax him to go with
+her?
+
+Before she could decide what to do to try to hold him, Susie took
+matters into her own hands by pitching head foremost out of the kitchen
+window, hitting her head on the stones. Then there was hurry and
+confusion in the Decker kitchen! Then did Mrs. Smith, and Job Smith,
+and Sarah Jane fly to the rescue. Though after all, Norm was the one
+who stooped over poor silent Susie and brought her limp and apparently
+lifeless into the kitchen. Jerry ran with all speed for the doctor. It
+was hours before they settled down again, having discovered that Susie
+was not dead, but had fainted; was not even badly hurt, save for a bump
+or two. But it took the little lady only a short time, after recovering
+from her fright, to discover that she was a person of importance, and
+to like the situation.
+
+It happened that Norm had, by the doctor's directions, carried her from
+her mother's bed to the cooler atmosphere of the front room. Susie had
+enjoyed the ride, and now announced with the air of a conqueror, "I
+want Norm to carry me." So Norm, frightened into love and tenderness,
+lifted the little girl in his strong arms, laid the pretty head on
+his shoulder, and willingly tramped up and down the room. Was Susie a
+witch, or a selfish little girl? Certain it was that during that walk
+she took an unaccountable and ever increasing fancy for Norm. He must
+wet the brown paper on her head as often is the vinegar with which it
+was saturated dried away; he must hold the cup while she took a drink
+of water; he must push the marvel of a barrel chair in which she for
+a time sat in state, closer to the window; he must carry her from the
+chair to the table when supper was finally ready, and carry her back
+again when it was eaten. Nettie looked on amused and puzzled. Certainly
+Susie had kept Norm at home all the afternoon; but was she also likely
+to accomplish it for the evening? For Norm, to her great surprise,
+seemed to like the new order of things.
+
+He blushed awkwardly when Susie gently pushed her mother aside and
+demanded Norm, but he came at once, with a good-natured laugh, and held
+her in his arms with as much gentleness and more strength than the
+mother could have given; and seemed to like the touch of the curly head
+on his shoulder.
+
+But while Nettie was putting away the dishes and puzzling over all the
+strange events of the afternoon, Susie was undressed, partly by Norm,
+according to her decree, and fell asleep in his arms and was laid on
+her mother's bed, and Norm slipped away!
+
+Poor Nettie! She ran to the door to try to call him, but he was out of
+sight. "I tried to think of something to keep him till you came in,"
+explained the disappointed mother, "but I couldn't do it; he laid Susie
+down as quick as he could, and shot away as though he was afraid you
+would get hold of him."
+
+So Nettie, her face sad, prepared to go with Jerry and the Smiths down
+to evening meeting, and told Jerry on the way, that it did seem strange
+to her, so long as Susie had kept Norm busy all the afternoon, that
+they must let him slip away from them at last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE LITTLE PICTURE MAKERS.
+
+
+AFTER Susie Decker pitched out of the window that Sabbath afternoon
+she became such an object of importance that you would hardly have
+supposed anything else could have happened worth mentioning; but after
+the excitement was quite over, and Susie had been cuddled and petted
+and cared for more than it seemed to her she had ever been in her life
+before, Mr. Decker, finding nothing better to do, went out and sat down
+on the doorstep.
+
+Little Sate dried her eyes and slipped away very soon after she
+discovered that Susie could move, and speak, and was therefore not
+dead. She had wandered in search of entertainment to the yard just
+around the corner, where had come but a few days before, a small boy on
+a visit.
+
+This boy, Bobby by name, finding Sunday a hard day, had finally, after
+getting into all sorts of mischief within doors, been established by
+an indulgent auntie in the back yard, with her apron tied around his
+chubby neck, to protect his new suit, with a few pieces of charcoal,
+and permission to draw some nice Sunday pictures on the white boards of
+the house.
+
+This business interested Sate, and in spite of her shyness, drew her
+the other side of the high board fence which separated the neighbor's
+back yard from Mr. Decker's side one.
+
+Just as that gentleman took his seat on the doorstep, he heard the
+voices of the two children; first, Bobby's confident one, the words he
+used conveying all assurance of unlimited power at his command--
+
+"Now, what shall I make?"
+
+"Make," said Sate, her sweet face thrown upward in earnest thought,
+"make the angel who would have come for Susie if she had died just now."
+
+"How do you know any angel would have come for her?" asked sturdy Bobby.
+
+"Why, 'cause I _know_ there would. Miss Sherrill said so to-day; she
+told us about that little baby that died last night; she said an angel
+came after it and took it right straight up to heaven."
+
+"Maybe she don't know," said skeptical Bobby.
+
+Then did Sate's eyes flash.
+
+"I guess she does know, Bobby Burns, and you will be real mean, and bad
+if you say so any more. She knows all about heaven, and angels, and
+everything."
+
+"Does angels come after all folks that dies?"
+
+"I dunno; I guess so; no, I guess not. Only good folks."
+
+"Is Susie good?"
+
+"Sometimes she is," said truthful Sate, in slow, thoughtful tones, a
+touch of mournfulness in them that might have gone to Susie's heart had
+she heard and understood; "she gave me the biggest half of a cookie the
+other night. It was a _good deal_ the biggest; and she takes care of me
+most always; one day she took off her shoes and put them on me, because
+the stones and the rough ground hurt my feet. They hurt her feet too;
+they bleeded, oh! just awful, but she wouldn't let _me_ be hurt."
+
+"Why didn't you wear your own shoes?"
+
+"I didn't have any; mine all went to holes; just great big holes that
+wouldn't stay on; it was before my papa got good, and he didn't buy me
+any shoes at all."
+
+"Has your papa got good?"
+
+"Yes," said Sate confidently, "I guess he has. My sister Nettie thinks
+so; and Susie does too. He don't drink bad stuff any more. It was some
+kind of stuff he drank that made him cross; mamma said so; and the
+stuff made him feel so bad that he couldn't buy shoes, nor nothing;
+why, sometimes, before Nettie came home, we didn't have any bread! He
+isn't cross to-day, and he wasn't last night; and he bought me some new
+shoes--real pretty ones, and he kissed me. I love my papa when he is
+good. Do you love your papa when he is good?"
+
+"My papa is always good," said Bobby, with that air of immense
+superiority.
+
+"Is he?" asked Sate, wonder and admiration in her tone. Happy Bobby,
+to possess a father who was always good! "Doesn't he ever drink any of
+that bad stuff?"
+
+"I guess he doesn't!" said indignant Bobby. "You wouldn't catch him
+taking a drop of it for anything. If he was sick and was going to die
+if he didn't, he says he wouldn't take it. I know all about that; the
+name of it is whiskey, and things; it has lots of names, but that is
+one of them. My father is a temperance."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"It is a man who promises that he won't ever taste it nor touch it, nor
+nothing, forever and ever. And he won't."
+
+"Oh my!" said Sate. "Then of course you love him all the time. I mean
+to love my papa, all the time too. I'm most sure I can. What makes you
+make such a big angel? Susie isn't big; a little angel could carry her."
+
+"This angel isn't the one who was coming for Susie; it is the one who
+is going to come for my papa when he dies."
+
+"Oh! then will you make the one who will come for my papa? Make him
+very big and strong, for my papa is a strong man, and I don't want the
+angel to drop him."
+
+Mr. Decker arose suddenly and went round to the back part of the house,
+and cleared his throat, and coughed, two or three times, and rubbed the
+back of his hand across his eyes. Had he peeped through the fence and
+caught a glimpse of the angel whom Bobby made, he might not have been
+so strangely touched; but the words of his little girl seemed to choke
+him, and his eyes, just then, were too dim to see angels.
+
+He was very still all the rest of the afternoon. At the tea table he
+scarcely spoke, and afterwards, while Mrs. Decker and Nettie were
+mourning over Norm's escape, he too put on his coat, and went away down
+the street.
+
+Mrs. Decker came to the door when she discovered it, and looked after
+him. He was still in sight, but she did not dare to call. As she
+looked, she gathered up a corner of her apron and wiped her eyes.
+Presently she sat down on the step where he had been sitting so short
+a time before, leaned her elbows on her knees, and her cheeks on her
+hands, and thought sad thoughts.
+
+She felt very much discouraged. On this first Sunday, after the new
+room had been made, and new hopes excited, they had slipped away, both
+Norm and her husband, to lounge in the saloon as usual, and to come
+home, late at night, the worse for liquor. She knew all about it!
+Hadn't she been through it many times?
+
+The little gleam of hope which had started again, under Nettie and
+Jerry's encouraging words and ways, died quite out. Sitting there,
+Mrs. Decker made up her mind once more, that there was no kind of use
+in working, and struggling, and trying to be somebody. She was the
+wife of a drunkard; and the mother of a drunkard; Norm would be that,
+before long. And her little girls would grow up beggars. It was almost
+a pity that Susie had not been killed when she fell. Why should she
+want to live to be a drunkard's daughter, and a drunkard's sister? If
+the Heaven she used to hear about when she was a little girl, was all
+so, why should she not long for Susie and Sate to go there? Then if she
+could go away herself and leave all this misery!
+
+She had hurried with her dishes, she had hoped that when she was ready
+to sit down in the neat room with the new lamp burning brightly, he
+would sit with her as he used to do on Sunday evenings long ago. But
+here she was alone, as usual. More than once that big apron which she
+had not cared to take off after she found herself deserted, was made to
+do duty as a handkerchief and wipe away bitter tears.
+
+Meantime, Nettie sat in the pretty church and looked at the lovely
+flowers, and listened to the wonderful singing. Miss Sherrill sang the
+solo of something more beautiful than Nettie had ever even imagined.
+"Consider the lilies how they grow." What wonderful words were these to
+be sung while looking down at a great bank of lilies! It is possible
+that the singing may have been more beautiful to Nettie because her own
+fingers had arranged the lilies, but it was in itself enough for any
+reasonable mortal's ear, and as it rolled through the church, there
+was more than one listener who thought of the angels, and wondered if
+their voices could be sweeter. Nettie's small handkerchief went to her
+eyes several times during the anthem; she could not have told why she
+cried, but the music moved her strangely. Before the anthem was fairly
+concluded there was something else to take her attention. Mrs. Job
+Smith in whose seat she sat, gave her arm a vigorous poke with a sharp
+elbow, and whispered in a voice which seemed to Nettie must have been
+heard all over the church, "For the land's sake, if there ain't your pa
+sitting down there under the gallery!"
+
+As soon as she dared do so, Nettie turned her head for one swift look.
+Mrs. Smith _must_ be mistaken, but she would take one glance to assure
+herself. Certainly that was her father, sitting in almost the last
+seat, leaning his head against one of the pillars, the shabbiness of
+his coat showing plainly in the bright gaslight. But Nettie did not
+think of his coat. Her cheeks grew red, and her eyes filled again
+with tears. It was not the music, now; it was a strange thrill of
+satisfaction, and of hope. How pleasant she had thought it would be
+to go to church with her father. It was one of the things she had
+planned at Auntie Marshall's; how she would perhaps take her father's
+arm, being tall for her years, and Auntie Marshall said he was not
+a tall man, and walk to church by his side, and find the hymns for
+him, and receive his fatherly smile, and when she handed him his hat
+after service, perhaps he would say, "Thank you, my daughter," as she
+had heard Doctor Porter say to his little girl in the seat just ahead
+of theirs. Nettie's hungry little heart had wanted to hear that word
+applied to herself. Now all these sweet dreams of hers seemed to have
+been ages ago; actually it felt like years since she had hoped for such
+a thing, or dreamed of seeing her father in church, so swiftly had the
+reality crowded out her pretty dreams. Yet there he sat, listening to
+the reading.
+
+What Nettie would have done or thought had she known that Norm and
+two friends were at that moment seated in the gallery just over her
+father's head, I cannot say. On the whole, I am glad she did not know
+it until church was out. Especially I am glad she did not know that
+Norm giggled a good deal, and whispered more or less, and in various
+ways so annoyed the minister that he found it difficult to keep from
+speaking to the young men in the gallery. The fact is, he would have
+done so, had he not recognized in one of them his helper of the evening
+before, and resolved to bear his troubles patiently, in the hope that
+something good would grow out of this unusual appearance at church.
+
+It would perhaps be hard work to explain what had brought Norm to
+church. A fancy perhaps for seeing how the flowers looked by this
+time. A queer feeling that he was slightly connected with the church
+service for once in his life; a lingering desire to know whether in the
+hanging of that tallest wreath, he or the minister had been right; they
+had differed as to the distance from one arch to the other; from the
+gallery he was sure he could tell which had possessed the truer eye.
+All these motives pressed him a little. Then they were singing when
+he reached the door, and Rick had said, "Hallo! that voice sounds as
+though it lived up in the sky. Who is that, do you s'pose?"
+
+Then Norm proud of his knowledge in the matter, explained that she was
+the minister's sister, and they said she could mimic a bird so you
+couldn't tell which was which.
+
+"Poh!" Alf had said; he didn't believe a word of that; he should like
+to see a woman who could fool him into thinking that she was a bird!
+but he had added, "Let's go in and hear her." And as this was what Norm
+had been half intending to do ever since he started from the house, he
+agreed to do it at once. In they slipped and half-hid themselves behind
+the posts in the gallery, and behaved disreputably all the evening,
+more because they felt shamefaced about being there at all, and wanted
+to keep each other in countenance, than because they really desired to
+disturb the service. However, they heard a great deal.
+
+What do you think was the minister's text on that evening? "No drunkard
+shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." I shall have to tell you that
+when he caught sight of Mr. Decker half-hidden behind his post and
+recognized him as the man who was so fast growing into a drunkard, and
+as the man who had never been inside the church since he had been the
+pastor, he was sorry that his text and subject were what they were
+that evening. He told himself that it was very unfortunate. That if
+he had dreamed of such a thing as having that man for a listener, he
+would have told him the story of Jesus as simply and as earnestly as
+he could; and not have preached a sermon that would seem to the man
+as a fling at himself. However, there was no help for it now; he did
+not recognize Mr. Decker until he had announced his text, and fairly
+commenced his sermon.
+
+It was a sermon for young people; it was intended to warn them against
+the first beginnings of this great sin which shut heaven away from the
+sinner. He need not have been troubled about not telling the story of
+Jesus; there was a great deal about Jesus in the sermon, as well as a
+great deal about the heaven prepared for those who were willing to go.
+I do not know that anywhere in the church you could have found a more
+attentive listener than Mr. Decker. At least one who seemed to listen
+more earnestly; from the moment that the text was repeated until the
+great Bible was closed, he did not take his eyes from the minister's
+face. Yet some of his words he did not hear. Some of the time Mr.
+Decker was hearing a little voice, very sweet, saying: "Make a very
+big strong angel to come for my papa when he dies; my papa is a strong
+man and I don't want the angel to drop him." Poor papa! as he thought
+of it, he had to look straight before him and wink hard and fast to
+keep the tears from dropping; he had no handkerchief to wipe them away.
+Think of an angel coming for him! "I love my papa when he is good!" the
+sweet voice had said. Was he ever good? Then he listened awhile to the
+sermon; heard the vivid description of some of the possible glories
+and joys of Heaven. Would he be likely ever to go there? Little Sate
+thought so; she had planned for it that very afternoon. Dear little
+Sate who did not want the angel to drop him.
+
+Now it is possible that if the sermon had been about drunkards, Mr.
+Decker would have been vexed and would not have listened. He did not
+call himself a drunkard; it is a sad and at the same time a curious
+fact that he did not realize how nearly he had reached the point where
+the name would apply to him. That he drank beer, much, and often,
+and that he was growing more and more fond of it, and that it kept
+him miserably poor, was certainly true, and there were times when he
+realized it; but that he was ever going to be a common drunkard and
+roll in the gutter, and kick his wife, and seize his children by the
+hair, he did not for a moment believe. But the sermon was by no means
+addressed to people who were even so far on this road as he. It was
+addressed to boys, who were just beginning to like the taste of hard
+cider, and spruce beer, and hop bitters, and all those harmless (?)
+drinks which so many boys were using. It was a plain story of the
+rapid, certain, downward journey of those who began in these simple
+ways. It was illustrated by certain facts which Mr. Sherrill had
+personally known. And Mr. Decker, as he listened, owned to himself that
+he knew facts which would have proved the same truth.
+
+Then he gave a little start and shrank farther into the shadow of the
+pillar. The moment he admitted that, he also admitted that he was
+himself in danger. What nonsense that was! Couldn't he stop drinking
+the stuff whenever he liked? "There is a time," said the minister,
+"when this matter is in your own hands. You have no very great taste
+for the dangerous liquors, you are only using them because those with
+whom you associate do so. You could give them up without much effort;
+but I tell you, my friends, the time comes, and to many it comes very
+early in life, when they are like slaves bound hand and foot in a habit
+that they cannot break, and cannot control." Mr. Decker heard this,
+and something, what was it? pressed the thought home to him just then,
+that, if he did not belong to this last-mentioned class, neither did
+he to the former. He knew it would take a good deal of effort for him
+to give up his beer; of course it would; else he should not be such
+a fool as to keep himself and his family in poverty for the sake of
+indulging it. What if he were already a slave, bound hand and foot!
+What if the "stuff" which Sate said made him "cross" had already made
+him a drunkard! Perhaps the boys on the street called him so; though
+they rarely saw him stagger; his staggering was nearly always done
+under cover of the night. Still, now that he was dealing honestly with
+himself, he must own that it was less easy to go without his beer than
+it used to be. Since Nettie had come home he had drank less of it than
+usual, and by that very means he had discovered how much it meant to
+him. "No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven!" The minister's
+earnest voice repeated his text just then. Was he a drunkard? Then what
+about the strong angel? Little Sate was to be disappointed, after all!
+
+Oh! I am not going to try to tell you all the thoughts which passed
+through Joe Decker's mind that evening. I don't think he could tell you
+himself, though he remembers the evening vividly. He stood up, during
+the closing hymn, and waited until the benediction was pronounced,
+and then he slipped away, swiftly; Nettie tried to get to him, but
+she did not succeed, and she sorrowed over it. He stumbled along
+in the darkness, moving almost as unsteadily as though he had been
+drinking. The sky was thick with clouds, and he jostled against a lady
+and gentleman as he crossed the street; the lady shrank away. "Who is
+that?" he heard her ask; and the answer came to him distinctly: "Oh!
+it is old Joe Decker; he is drunk, I suppose. He generally is at this
+time of night."
+
+Yes, there it was! he was already counted on the streets as a drunkard.
+"No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." It was not the
+minister's voice this time; yet it seemed to the poor man's excited
+brain that some one repeated those words in his ears. Then he heard
+again the sweet soft voice: "Make him very big and strong, for I don't
+want the angel to drop him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE CONCERT.
+
+
+WITHIN the church wonderful things were going on. Jerry had caught
+sight of Norm as he slipped up the gallery stairs, and laid his plans
+accordingly. He whispered to Nettie during the singing of the closing
+hymn, thereby shocking her a little. Jerry did not often whisper in
+church.
+
+This was what he said: "Don't you need those lilies to help trim the
+room to-morrow night? Let's take them home."
+
+The moment the "amen" was spoken, he dashed out, and was at the stair
+door as Norm came down.
+
+"Norm," he said, "won't you help me carry home that tray? We want the
+flowers for something special to-morrow."
+
+Said Norm, "O bother! I can't help tote that heavy thing through the
+streets."
+
+"What's that?" asked Rick; and when the explanation was briefly made,
+he added the little word of advice which so often turns the scales.
+
+"Ho! that isn't much to do when you are going that very road. I'd do
+as much as that, any day, for the little chap who gave us such a tall
+row." This last was in undertone.
+
+"Well," said Norm, "I don't care; I'll help; but how are we going to
+get the things out here?"
+
+"Come inside," answered Jerry; "we can wait in the back seat. They will
+all be gone in a few minutes, then we can step up and get the salver."
+
+Once inside the church, the rest followed easily. Mr. Sherrill who had
+eyes for all that was going on, came forward swiftly and held a cordial
+hand to Norm.
+
+"Good-evening," he said; "I am glad to see you accepted my invitation.
+How did our work look by gaslight?"
+
+"It looked," said Norm, a roguish twinkle in his eye, "it looked
+just as I expected it would; crooked. That there arch at the left of
+the pulpit wants to be hung as much as two inches lower to match the
+other."
+
+"You don't say so!" said the minister, in good-humored surprise. "Does
+it appear so from the gallery? Are my eyes as crooked as that? Let us
+go up gallery and see if I can discover it."
+
+So to the gallery they went, Norm clearing the space with a few bounds,
+and taking a triumphant station where he could point out the defect to
+the minister.
+
+"That is true," Mr. Sherrill said, with hearty frankness. "You are
+right and I was wrong. If I had taken your word last night the wreaths
+would have looked better, wouldn't they? Well, perhaps wreaths are not
+the only things which show crooked when we get higher up and look down
+on them. Eh, my friend?"
+
+Norm laughed a good-humored, rather embarrassed laugh. It was
+remarkable that he should be up here holding a chatty, almost gay,
+conversation with the minister. There came over him the wish that
+he had behaved himself better during the service. That he had not
+whispered so much, nor nudged Rick's elbow to make him laugh, just
+at the moment that the minister's eye was fixed on them. He had a
+half-fancy that if the evening were to be lived over again, he would
+go down below and sit up straight and show this man that he could
+behave as well as anybody if he were a mind to.
+
+Not a word about the laughing and whispering said the minister. But he
+said a thing which startled Norm.
+
+"My sister has a fancy for having the church adorned with wreaths or
+strings of asters in contrasting colors for next Sabbath; will you make
+an appointment with me to help hang them on Saturday evening? I'll
+promise to follow your eye to the half-inch."
+
+Norm started, flushed, looked into the frank face and laughed a little,
+then seeing that the answer was waited for said: "Why, I don't care if
+I do, if you honestly want it."
+
+"I honestly want it," said the minister in great satisfaction. Then
+they went downstairs.
+
+Job Smith and his wife were gone.
+
+"I will wait for my brother," said Nettie, and her heart swelled with
+pride as she said it.
+
+How nice to have a brother to wait for, just as Miss Sherrill was
+doing. At that moment the "beautiful lady" as Sate and Susie called
+her, came to Nettie's side.
+
+"Good-evening," she said pleasantly. "I hope the little girls are
+well; I met your brother last night; he helped my brother to hang the
+flowers. I see they are upstairs together now, admiring their work. My
+brother said he was a very intelligent helper. You do not know how much
+I thank you for those flowers. They helped me to sing to-night."
+
+"I thought," said Nettie, raising her great truthful eyes to the lady's
+face and speaking with an earnestness that showed she felt what she
+said, "I thought you sang as though the angels were helping you. I
+don't think they can sing any sweeter."
+
+"Thank you," said Miss Sherrill; she smiled as she spoke, yet there
+were tears in her eyes; the honest, earnest tribute seemed very unlike
+a little girl, and very unlike the usual way of complimenting her
+wonderful voice. "I saw that you liked music," she said, "I noticed you
+while I was singing. Will you let me give you a couple of tickets for
+the concert to-morrow evening; and will you and your brother come to
+hear me sing? I am going to sing something that I think you will like."
+
+Nettie went home behind the lilies and the boys, her heart all in
+a flutter of delight. What a wonderful thing had come to her! The
+concert for which the best singers in town had been so long practising,
+and for which the tickets were fifty cents apiece, and which she had no
+more expected to attend than she had expected to hear the real angels
+sing that week, was to take place to-morrow evening, and she had two
+tickets in her pocket!
+
+Mrs. Decker was waiting for them, her nose pressed against the glass;
+she started forward to open the door for the boys, before Nettie could
+reach it. There was such a look of relief on her face when she saw Norm
+as ought to have gone to his very heart; but he did not see it; he was
+busy settling the salver in a safe place.
+
+"Has father come in?" Nettie asked, as she followed her mother to the
+back step, where she went for the dipper at Norm's call.
+
+"Yes, child, he has, and went straight to bed. He didn't say two words;
+but he wasn't cross; and he hadn't drank a drop, I believe."
+
+"Mother," said Nettie, standing on tiptoe to reach the tall woman's
+ear, and speaking in an awe-stricken whisper, "father was in church!"
+
+"For the land of pity!" said Mrs. Decker, speaking low and solemnly.
+
+And all through the next morning's meal, which was an unusually quiet
+one, she waited on her husband with a kind of respectful reverence,
+which if he had noticed, might have bewildered him. It seemed to her
+that the event of the evening before had lifted him into a higher world
+than hers, and that she could not tell now, what might happen.
+
+The event of the day was the concert; all other plans were set aside
+for that. At first Norm scoffed and declared that his ticket might be
+used to light the fire with, for all he cared; he didn't want to go
+to one of their "swell" concerts. But this talk Nettie laughed over
+good-naturedly, as though it were intended for a joke, and continued
+her planning as to when to have supper, and just when she and Norm must
+start.
+
+In the course of the day, that young man discovered it to be a fine
+thing to own tickets for this special concert. Before noon tickets were
+at a premium, and several of Norm's fellow-workmen gayly advised him to
+make an honest penny by selling his. During the early morning it had
+been delicately hinted by one young fellow that Norm Decker's tickets
+were made of tissue paper, which was his way of saying, that he did
+not believe that Norm had any; but, thanks to Nettie's thoughtful tact,
+the tickets were at that very moment reposing in her brother's pocket,
+and he drew them forth in triumph, wanting to know if anybody saw any
+tissue paper about those. Good stiff green pasteboard with the magic
+words on them which would admit two people to what was considered
+on all sides the finest entertainment of the sort the town had ever
+enjoyed.
+
+"Where did you get 'em, Norm? Come, tell us, that's a good fellow.
+You was never so green as to go and pay a dollar for two pieces of
+pasteboard."
+
+"They are complimentaries," said Norm, tossing off a shaving with a
+careless air, as though complimentary tickets to first-class concerts
+were every-day affairs with him.
+
+"Complimentary? My eyes, aren't we big!" (I am very sorry that the boys
+in Norm's shop used these slang phrases; but I want to say this for
+them: it was because they had never been taught better. Not one of them
+had mother or father who were grieved by such words; some of them were
+so truly good-hearted that I believe if such had been the case, they
+would never have used them again; and I wish the same might be said of
+all boys with cultured and careful mothers.)
+
+"How did you get 'em? Been selling tickets for the show, or piling
+chairs, or what?"
+
+"I haven't done a living thing for one of them," said Norm composedly;
+and Ben Halleck came to his rescue.
+
+"That's so, boys; or, at least if he had, it wouldn't done him no good.
+They don't pay for this show in any such way. The fellows that carried
+around bills were paid in money because they said they expected seats
+would be scarce; and they didn't sell no tickets around the streets.
+Them that wanted them had to go to the book-store and buy them. Oh, I
+tell you, it's a big thing. I wouldn't mind going myself if I could be
+complimented through. You see that Sherrill girl who lives at the new
+minister's is a most amazing singer, and they say everybody wants to
+hear her."
+
+By this time Norm's mind was fully made up that he would go to the
+concert. It is a pity Nettie could not have known it. For despite
+the cheerful courage with which she received Norm's disagreeable
+statements in the morning, she was secretly very much afraid that he
+would not go. This would have been a great trial to her, for her little
+soul was as full of music as possible; and the thought of hearing that
+wonderful voice so soon again filled her with delight; but she was a
+timid little girl so far as appearing among strangers was concerned,
+and the idea of going alone to a concert was not to be thought of. Her
+mother proposed Jerry for company, but he had gone with Job Smith into
+the country and was not likely to return until too late. So Nettie made
+her little preparations with a troubled heart. There was something more
+to it than simply hearing fine music; it would be so like other girls
+whom she knew, so like the dreams of home she had indulged in while at
+Auntie Marshall's--this going out in the evening attended and cared for
+by her brother.
+
+Norm ate his dinner in haste, and was silent and almost gruff; nobody
+knows why. I have often wondered why even well brought up boys, seem
+sometimes to like to appear more disagreeable than at heart they are.
+
+But by six o'clock the much-thought-about brother appeared, his face
+pleasant enough.
+
+"Well, Nannie," he said, "got your fusses and fixings all ready?"
+
+And Nettie with beating heart and laughing eyes assured him that she
+would be all ready in good time, and that she had laid his clean shirt
+on his bed, and a clean handkerchief, and brushed his coat.
+
+"Yes; and she ironed your shirt with her own hands," explained his
+mother, "and the bosom shines like a glass bottle."
+
+"O bother!" said Norm. "I don't want a clean shirt."
+
+But he went to his attic directly after supper and put on the shirt,
+and combed his hair, and rubbed his boots with Jerry's brush which he
+went around the back way and borrowed of Mrs. Job Smith before he came
+in to supper.
+
+He had noticed how very neat and pretty Nettie looked as she walked
+down the church isle beside him the night before; and he had also
+noticed Jerry's shining boots.
+
+His mother noticed his the moment he came down stairs. "How nice you
+two do look!" she said admiringly; and then the two walked away well
+pleased. It was a wonderful concert. Norm had not known that he was
+particularly fond of music, but he owned to Rick the next day, that
+there was something in that Sherrill girl's voice which almost lifted a
+fellow out of his boots.
+
+They had excellent seats! Nettie learned to her intense surprise that
+their tickets called for reserved seats. She had studied over certain
+mysterious numbers on the tickets, but had not understood them. It
+appeared also that the usher was surprised.
+
+"Can't give you any seats," was his greeting as they presented their
+tickets. "Everything is full now except the reserves; you'll have to
+stand in the aisle; there's a good place under the gallery. Halloo!
+What's this? Reserved! Why, bless us, I didn't see these numbers. Come
+down this way; you have as nice seats as there are in the hall."
+
+It was all delightful. Lorena Barstow and two others of the
+Sabbath-school class were a few seats behind them; Nettie could
+hear them whispering and giggling, and for a few minutes she had an
+uncomfortable feeling that they were laughing at her; as I am sorry to
+say they were.
+
+But neither this nor anything else troubled her long, for Norm's
+unusual toilet having taken much longer than was planned for, they were
+really among the late comers; and in a very little while the music
+began. Oh! how wonderful it was. Neither Nettie nor Norm had ever heard
+really fine concert music before, and even Norm who did not know that
+he cared for music, felt his nerves thrill to his fingers' ends. Then,
+when after the first two or three pieces Miss Sherrill appeared, she
+was so beautiful and her voice was so wonderful that Nettie, try as
+hard as she did, could not keep the tears from her foolish happy eyes.
+I will not venture to say how much the beautiful silk dress with its
+long train, and the mass of soft white lace at her throat had to do
+with Miss Sherrill's loveliness, though I daresay if she had appeared
+in a twelve-cent gingham like Nettie's, she might have sang just as
+sweetly. Norm, however, did not believe that.
+
+"Half of it is the fuss and feathers," he declared to Rick, next day,
+looking wise. And Rick made a wise answer.
+
+"Well, when you add the handsome voice to the fuss and feathers, I
+s'pose they help, but I don't believe folks would go and rave so much
+just over a blue silk dress, and some gloves, and things. They all had
+to match, you see." So Rick, without knowing it, became a philosopher.
+
+As for Nettie, she told her mother that the dress was just lovely, and
+her voice was as sweet as any angel's could possibly be; but there was
+a look in her eyes which was better than all the rest; and that when
+she sang, "Oh that I had wings, had wings like a dove!" she, Nettie,
+could not help feeling that they were hidden about her somewhere, and
+that before the song was over, she might unfold them and soar away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A WILL AND A WAY.
+
+
+"THE next thing we want to do is to earn some money."
+
+This, Jerry said, as he sat on the side step with Nettie, after sunset.
+They had been having a long talk, planning the campaign against the
+enemy, which they had made up their minds should be carried on with
+vigor. At least, they had been trying to plan; but that obstacle which
+seems to delight to step into the midst of so many plans and overturn
+them, viz. money, met them at every point. So when Jerry made that
+emphatic announcement, Nettie was prepared to agree with him fully; but
+none the less did she turn anxious eyes on him as she said:
+
+"How can we?"
+
+"I don't know yet," Jerry said, whistling a few bars of
+
+    Oh, do not be discouraged,
+
+and stopping in the middle of the line to answer, "But of course there
+is a way. There was an old man who worked for my father, who used to
+say so often: 'Where there's a will there's a way,' that after awhile
+we boys got to calling him 'Will and Way' for short, you know; his name
+was John," and here Jerry stopped to laugh a little over that method
+of shortening a name; "but it was wonderful to see how true it proved;
+he would make out to do the most surprising things that even my father
+thought sometimes could not be done. We must _make_ a way to earn some
+money."
+
+Nettie laughed a little. "Well, I am sure," she said, "there is a will
+in this case; in fact, there are two wills; for you seem to have a
+large one, and I know if ever I was determined to do a thing I am now;
+but for all that I can't think of a possible way to earn a cent."
+
+Now Sarah Ann Smith was at this moment standing by the kitchen window,
+looking out on the two schemers. Her sleeves were rolled above her
+elbow, for she was about to set the sponge for bread; she had her large
+neat work apron tied over her neat dress-up calico; and on her head was
+perched the frame out of which, with Nettie's skilful help, and some
+pieces of lace from her mother's old treasure bag, she meant to make
+herself a bonnet every bit as pretty as the one worn by Miss Sherrill
+the Sabbath before.
+
+"Talk of keeping things seven years and they'll come good," said
+Mrs. Smith, watching with satisfaction while Nettie tumbled over the
+contents of the bag in eager haste and exclaimed over this and that
+piece which would be "just lovely." "I've kept the rubbish in that bag
+going on to twenty years, just because the pretty girls where I used
+to do clear-starching, gave them to me. I had no kind of notion what
+I should ever do with them; but they looked bright and pretty, and I
+always was a master hand for bright colors, and so whenever they would
+hand out a bit of ribbon or lace, and say, 'Cerinthy, do you want
+that?' I was sure to say I did; and chuck it into this bag; and now to
+think after keeping of them for more than twenty years, my girl should
+be planning to make a bonnet out of them! Things is queer! I don't ever
+mean to throw away _anything_. I never was much at throwing away; now
+that's a fact."
+
+Now the truth was that Sarah Ann, left to herself, would as soon
+have thought of making a _house_ out of the contents of that bag, as
+a bonnet; but Nettie Decker's deft fingers had a natural tact for
+all cunning contrivances in lace and silk, and her skill in copying
+what she saw, was something before which Sarah Ann stood in silent
+admiration; when, therefore, she offered to construct for Sarah Ann,
+out of the treasures of that bag, a bonnet which should be both
+becoming and economical, Sarah Ann's gratitude knew no bounds. She went
+that very afternoon to the milliner's to select her frame, and had it
+perched at that moment as I said, on her head, while she listened to
+the clear young voices under the window. She had a great desire to be
+helpful; but money was far from plenty at Job Smith's.
+
+What was it which made her at that moment think of a bit of news which
+she had heard while at the milliner's? Why, nothing more remarkable
+than that the color of Nettie Decker's hair in the fading light was
+just the same as Mantie Horton's. But what made her suddenly speak her
+bit of news, interrupting the young planners? Ah, that Sarah Ann does
+not know; she only knows she felt just like saying it, so she said it.
+
+"Mantie Horton's folks are all going to move to the city; they are
+selling off lots of things; I saw her this afternoon when I was at the
+milliner's, and she says about the only thing now that they don't know
+what to do with is her old hen and chickens; a nice lot of chicks as
+ever she saw, but of course they can't take them to the city. My! I
+should think they would feel dreadful lonesome without chickens, nor
+pigs, nor nothing! _We_ might have some chickens as well as not, if
+we only had a place to keep 'em; enough scrapings come from the table
+every day, to feed 'em, most."
+
+Before this sentence was concluded, Jerry had turned and given Nettie
+a sudden look as if to ask if she saw what he did; then he whistled a
+low strain which had in it a note of triumph; and the moment Sarah Ann
+paused for breath he asked: "Where do the Hortons live?"
+
+"Why, out on the pike about a mile; that nice white house set back from
+the road a piece; don't you know? It is just a pleasant walk out there."
+
+Then Sarah Ann turned away to attend to her bread, and as she did so
+her somewhat homely face was lighted by a smile; for an idea had just
+dawned upon her, and she chuckled over it: "I shouldn't wonder if those
+young things would go into business; he's got contrivance enough to
+make a coop, any day, and mother would let them have the scrapings, and
+welcome."
+
+Sarah Ann was right; though Nettie, unused to country ways and plans,
+did not think of such a thing, Jerry did. The next morning he was up,
+even before the sun; in fact that luminary peeped at him just as he was
+turning into the long carriage drive which led finally to the Horton
+barnyard. There a beautiful sight met his eyes; a white and yellow
+topknot mother, and eight or ten fluffy chickens scampering about her.
+"They are nice and plump," said Jerry to himself; "I'm afraid I haven't
+money enough to buy them; but then, there is a great deal of risk in
+raising a brood of chickens like these; perhaps he will sell them
+cheap."
+
+Farmer Horton was an early riser, and was busy about his stables when
+Jerry reached there. He was anxious to get rid of all his live stock,
+and be away as soon as possible, and here was a customer anxious to
+buy; so in much less time than Jerry had supposed it would take, the
+hen and chickens changed owners and much whistling was done by the new
+owner as he walked rapidly back to town to build a house for his family.
+
+Mrs. Smith had been taken into confidence; so indeed had Job, before
+the purchase was made; but the whole thing was to be a profound
+surprise to Nettie. Therefore, she saw little of him that day, and I
+will not deny was a trifle hurt because he kept himself so busy about
+something which he did not share with her. But I want you to imagine,
+if you can, her surprise the next morning when just as she was ready to
+set the potatoes to frying, she heard Jerry's eager voice calling her
+to come and see his house.
+
+"See what?" asked Nettie, appearing in the doorway, coffee pot in hand.
+
+"A new house. I built it yesterday, and rented it; the family moved in
+last night. That is the reason I was so busy. I had to go out and help
+move them; and I must say they were as ill-behaved a set as I ever had
+anything to do with. The mother is the crossest party I ever saw; and
+she has no government whatever; her children scurry around just where
+they please."
+
+"What are you talking about?" said astonished Nettie, her face growing
+more and more bewildered as he continued his merry description.
+
+"Come out and see. It is a new house, I tell you; I built it yesterday;
+that is the reason I did not come to help you about the bonnet. Didn't
+you miss me? Sarah Ann thinks it is actually nicer than the one Miss
+Sherrill wore." And he broke into a merry laugh, checking himself to
+urge Nettie once more to come out and see his treasures.
+
+"Well," said Nettie, "wait until I cover the potatoes, and set the
+teakettle off." This done she went in haste and eagerness to discover
+what was taking place behind Job Smith's barn. A hen and chickens!
+Beautiful little yellow darlings, racing about as though they were
+crazy; and a speckled mother clucking after them in a dignified way,
+pretending to have authority over them, when one could see at a glance
+that they did exactly as they pleased.
+
+Then came a storm of questions. "Where? and When? and Why?"
+
+"It is a stock company concern," exclaimed Jerry, his merry eyes
+dancing with pleasure. Nettie was fully as astonished and pleased as
+he had hoped. "Don't you know I told you yesterday we must plan a way
+to earn money? This is one way, planned for us. _We_ own Mrs. Biddy;
+every feather on her knot, of which she is so proud, belongs to us, and
+she must not only earn her own living and that of her children, but
+bring us in a nice profit besides. Those are plump little fellows; I
+can imagine them making lovely pot pies for some one who is willing to
+pay a good price for them. Cannot you?"
+
+"Poor little chickens," said Nettie in such a mournful tone that Jerry
+went off into shouts of laughter. He was a humane boy, but he could not
+help thinking it very funny that anybody should sigh over the thought
+of a chicken pot pie.
+
+"Oh, I know they are to eat," Nettie said, smiling in answer to his
+laughter, "and I know how to make nice crust for pot pie; but for
+all that, I cannot help feeling sort of sorry for the pretty fluffy
+chickens. Are you going to fat them all, to eat; or raise some of them
+to lay eggs?"
+
+"I don't know what _we_ are going to do, yet," Jerry said with pointed
+emphasis on the we. "You see, we have not had time to consult; this is
+a company concern, I told you. What do you think about it?"
+
+Nettie's cheeks began to grow a deep pink; she looked down at the
+hurrying chickens with a grave face for a moment, then said gently:
+"You know, Jerry, I haven't any money to help buy the chickens, and I
+cannot help own what I do not help buy; they are your chickens, but I
+shall like to watch them and help you plan about them."
+
+Jerry sat down on an old nail keg, crossed one foot over the other, and
+clasped his hands over his knees, as Job Smith was fond of doing, and
+prepared for argument:
+
+"Now, see here, Nettie Decker, let us understand each other once for
+all; I thought we had gone into partnership in this whole business;
+that we were to fight that old fiend Rum, in every possible way we
+could; and were to help each other plan, and work all the time, and in
+all ways we possibly could. Now if you are tired of me and want to work
+alone, why, I mustn't force myself upon you."
+
+"O, Jerry!" came in a reproachful murmur from Nettie, whose cheeks were
+now flaming.
+
+"Well, what is a fellow to do? You see you hurt my feelings worse
+than old Mother Topknot did this morning when she pecked me; I want to
+belong, and I mean to; but all that kind of talk about helping to buy
+these half-dozen little puff-balls is all nonsense, and a girl of your
+sense ought to be ashamed of it."
+
+Said Nettie, "O, Jerry, I smell the potatoes; they are scorching!" and
+she ran away. Jerry looked after her a moment, as though astonished at
+the sudden change of subject, then laughed, and rising slowly from the
+nail-keg addressed himself to the hen.
+
+"Now, Mother Topknot, I want you to understand that you belong to the
+firm; that little woman who was just here is your mistress, and if you
+peck her and scratch her as you did me, this morning, it will be the
+worse for you. You are just like some people I have seen; haven't sense
+enough to know who is your best friend; why, there is no end to the
+nice little bits she will contrive for you and your children, if you
+behave yourself; for that matter, I suspect she would do it whether you
+behaved yourself or not; but that part it is quite as well you should
+not understand. I want you to bring these children up to take care of
+themselves, just as soon as you can; and then you are to give your
+attention to laying a nice fresh egg every morning; and the sooner you
+begin, the better we shall like it." Then he went in to breakfast.
+
+There was no need to say anything more about the partnership.
+Nettie seemed to come to the conclusion that she must be ashamed of
+herself or her pride in the matter; and after a very short time grew
+accustomed to hearing Jerry talk about "Our chicks," and dropped into
+the fashion of caring for and planning about them. None the less was
+she resolved to find some way of earning a little money for her share
+of the stock company. Curiously enough it was Susie and little Sate
+who helped again. They came in one morning, with their hands full of
+the lovely field daisies. The moment Nettie looked at the two little
+faces, she knew that a dispute of some sort was in progress. Susie's
+lips were curved with that air of superior wisdom, not to say scorn,
+which she knew how to assume; and little Sate's eyes were full of the
+half-grieved but wholly positive look which they could wear on occasion.
+
+"What is it?" Nettie asked, stopping on her way to the cellar with
+a nice little pat of batter which she was saving for her father's
+supper. Butter was a luxury which she had decided the children at
+least, herself included, must not expect every day.
+
+"Why," said Susie, her eyes flashing her contempt of the whole thing,
+"she says these are folks; old women with caps, and eyes, and noses,
+and everything; she says they look at her, and some of them are
+pleasant, and some are cross. She is too silly for anything. They
+don't look the least bit in the word like old women. I told her so,
+fifty-eleven times, and she keeps saying it!"
+
+Nettie held out her hand for the bunch of daisies, looked at them
+carefully, and laughed.
+
+"Can't you see them?" was little Sate's eager question. "They are just
+as plain! Don't you see them a little bit of a speck, Nannie?"
+
+"Of course she doesn't!" said scornful Susie. "Nobody but a silly baby
+like you would think of such a thing."
+
+"I don't know," said Nettie, still smiling, "I don't think I see them
+as plain as Sate does, but maybe we can, after awhile; wait till I get
+my butter put away, and I'll put on my spectacles and see what I can
+find."
+
+So the two waited, Susie incredulous and disgusted, Sate with a hopeful
+light in her eyes, which made Nettie very anxious to find the old
+ladies. On her way up stairs she felt in her pocket for the pencil
+Jerry had sharpened with such care the evening before; yes, it was
+there, and the point was safe. Jerry had made a neat little tube of
+soft wood for it to slip into, and so protect itself.
+
+"Now, let us look for the old lady," she said, taking a daisy in hand
+and retiring to the closet window for inspection; it was the work of
+a moment for her fingers which often ached for such work, to fashion
+a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth; and then to turn down the white
+petals for a cap border, leaving two under the chin for strings!
+
+"Does your old lady look anything like that?" she questioned, as she
+came out from her hiding place. Little Sate looked, and clasped her
+hands in an ecstacy of delight: "Look, Susie, look, quick! there she
+is, just as plain! O Nannie! I'm _so_ glad you found her."
+
+"Humph!" said Susie, "she made her with a pencil; she wasn't there at
+all; and there couldn't nobody have found her. So!"
+
+And to this day, I suppose it would not be possible to make Susie
+Decker believe that the spirits of beautiful old ladies hid in the
+daisies! Some people cannot see things, you know, show them as much as
+you may.
+
+But Nettie was charmed with the little old woman. She left the potatoes
+waiting to be washed, and sat down on the steps with eager little
+Sate, and made old lady after old lady. Some with spectacles, and some
+without. Some with smooth hair drawn quietly back from quiet foreheads,
+some with the old-fashioned puffs and curls which she had seen in old,
+old pictures of "truly" grandmothers. What fun they had! The potatoes
+came near being forgotten entirely. It was the faithful old clock in
+Mrs. Smith's kitchen which finally clanged out the hour and made Nettie
+rise in haste, scattering old ladies right and left. But little Sate
+gathered them, every one, holding them with as careful hand as though
+she feared a rough touch would really hurt their feelings, and went out
+to hunt Susie and soothe her ruffled dignity. She did not find Susie;
+that young woman was helping Jerry nail laths on the chicken coop;
+but she found her sweet-faced Sabbath-school teacher, who was sure
+to stop and kiss the child, whenever she passed. To her, Sate at once
+showed the sweet old women. "Nannie found them," she explained; "Susie
+could not see them at all, and she kept saying they were not there; but
+Nannie said she would make them look plainer so Susie could see, and
+now Susie thinks she made them out of a pencil; but they were there,
+before, I saw them."
+
+"Oh, you quaint little darling!" said Miss Sherrill, kissing her again.
+"And so your sister Nettie made them plainer for you. I must say she
+has done it with a skilful hand. Sate dear, would you give one little
+old woman to me? Just one; this dear old face with puffs, I want her
+very much."
+
+So Sate gazed at her with wistful, tender eyes, kissed her tenderly,
+and let Miss Sherrill carry her away.
+
+She carried her straight to the minister's study, and laid her on the
+open page of a great black commentary which he was studying. "Did
+you ever see anything so cunning? That little darling of a Sate says
+Nannie 'found' her; she doesn't seem to think it was made, but simply
+developed, you know, so that commoner eyes than hers could see it;
+that child was born for a poet, or an artist, I don't know which.
+Tremayne, I'm going to take this down to the flower committee, and get
+them to invite Nettie to make some bouquets of dear old grandmothers,
+and let little Sate come to the flower party and sell them. Won't that
+be lovely? Every gentleman there will want a bouquet of the nice old
+ladies in caps, and spectacles; we will make it the fashion; then they
+will sell beautifully, and the little merchant shall go shares on the
+proceeds, for the sake of her artist sister."
+
+"It is a good idea," said the minister. "I infer from what that
+handsome boy Jerry has told me, that they have some scheme on hand
+which requires money. I am very much interested in those young people,
+my dear. I wish you would keep a watch on them, and lend a helping hand
+when you can."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+AN ORDEAL.
+
+
+THAT was the way it came about that little Sate not only, but Susie and
+Nettie, went to the flower party.
+
+They had not expected to do any such thing. The little girls, who were
+not used to going any where, had paid no attention to the announcements
+on Sunday, and Nettie had heard as one with whom such things had
+nothing in common. Her treatment in the Sabbath-school was not such as
+to make her long for the companionship of the girls of her age, and by
+this time she knew that her dress at the flower party would be sure
+to command more attention than was pleasant; so she had planned as a
+matter of course to stay away.
+
+But the little old ladies in their caps and spectacles springing
+into active life, put a new face on the matter. Certainly no more
+astonished young person can be imagined than Nettie Decker was, the
+morning Miss Sherrill called on her, the one daisy she had begged still
+carefully preserved, and proposed her plan of partnership in the flower
+party.
+
+"It will add ever so much to the fun," she explained, "besides bringing
+you a nice little sum for your spending money."
+
+Did Miss Sherrill have any idea how far that argument would reach just
+now, Nettie wondered.
+
+"We can dress the little girls in daisies," continued their teacher.
+"Little Sate will look like a flower herself, with daisies wreathed
+about her dress and hair."
+
+"Little Sate will be afraid, I think," Nettie objected. "She is very
+timid, and not used to seeing many people."
+
+"But with Susie she will not mind, will she? Susie has assurance enough
+to take her through anything. Oh, I wonder if little Sate would not
+recite a verse about the daisy grandmothers? I have such a cunning one
+for her. May I teach her, Mrs. Decker, and see if I can get her to
+learn it?"
+
+Mrs. Decker's consent was very easy to gain; indeed it had been freely
+given in Mrs. Decker's heart before it was asked. For Miss Sherrill
+had not been in the room five minutes before she had said: "Your son,
+Norman, I believe his name is, has promised to help my brother with
+the church flowers this evening. My brother says he is an excellent
+helper; his eye is so true; they had quite a laugh together, last week.
+It seems one of the wreaths was not hung plumb; your son and my brother
+had an argument about it, and it was finally left as my brother had
+placed it, but was out of line several inches. He was obliged to admit
+that if he had followed Norman's direction it would have looked much
+better." After that, it would have been hard for Miss Sherrill to have
+asked a favor which Mrs. Decker would not grant if she could. _She_ saw
+through it all; these people were in league with Nettie, to try to save
+her boy. What wasn't she ready to do at their bidding!
+
+There was but one thing about which she was positive. The little girls
+could not go without Nettie; they talked it over in the evening, after
+Miss Sherrill was gone. Nettie looked distressed. She liked to please
+Miss Sherrill; she was willing to make many grandmothers; she would
+help to put the little girls in as dainty attire as possible, but she
+did _not_ want to go to the flower festival. She planned various ways;
+Jerry would take them down, or Norm; perhaps even _he_ would go with
+them; surely mother would be willing to have them go with Norm. Miss
+Sherrill would look after them carefully, and they would come home at
+eight o'clock; before they began to grow very sleepy.
+
+But no, Mrs. Decker was resolved; she could not let them go unless
+Nettie would go with them and bring them home. "I let one child run the
+streets," she said with a heavy sigh, "and I have lived to most wish he
+had died when he was a baby, before I did it; and I said then I would
+never let another one go out of my sight as long as I had control; I
+can't go; but I would just as soon they would be with you as with me;
+and unless you go, they can't stir a step, and that's the whole of it."
+Mrs. Decker was a very determined woman when she set out to be; and
+Nettie looked the picture of dismay. It did not seem possible to her to
+go to a flower party; and on the other hand it seemed really dreadful
+to thwart Miss Sherrill. Jerry sat listening, saying little, but the
+word he put in now and then, was on Mrs. Decker's side; he owned to
+himself that he never so entirely approved of her as at that moment. He
+wanted Nettie to go to the flower party.
+
+"But I have nothing to wear?" said Nettie, blushing, and almost weeping.
+
+"Nothing to wear!" repeated Mrs. Decker in honest astonishment. "Why,
+what do you wear on Sundays, I should like to know? I'm sure you
+look as neat and nice as any girl I ever saw, in your gingham. I was
+watching you last Sunday and thinking how pretty it was."
+
+"Yes; but, mother, they all wear white at such places; and I cut up my
+white dress, you know, for the little girls; it was rather short for me
+anyway; but I should feel queer in any other color."
+
+"O, well," said Mrs. Decker in some irritation, "if they go to such
+places to show their clothes, why, I suppose you must stay at home, if
+you have none that you want to show. I thought, being it was a church,
+it didn't matter, so you were neat and clean; but churches are like
+everything else, it seems, places for show."
+
+Jerry looked grave disapproval at Nettie, but she felt injured and
+could have cried. Was it fair to accuse her of going to church to show
+her clothes, or of being over-particular, when she went every Sunday in
+a blue and white gingham such as no other girl in her class would wear
+even to school? This was not church, it was a party. It was hard that
+she must be blamed for pride, when she was only too glad to stay at
+home from it.
+
+"I can't go in my blue dress, and that is the whole of it," she said at
+last, a good deal of decision in her voice.
+
+"Very well," said Mrs Decker. "Then we'll say no more about it; as for
+the little girls going without you, they sha'n't do it. When I set my
+foot down, it's _down_."
+
+Jerry instinctively looked down at her foot as she spoke. It was
+a good-sized one, and looked as though it could set firmly on any
+question on which it was put. His heart began to fail him; the flower
+party and certain things which he hoped to accomplish thereby, were
+fading. He took refuge with Mrs. Smith to hide his disappointment, and
+also to learn wisdom about this matter of dress.
+
+"Do clothes make such a very great difference to girls?" was his first
+question.
+
+"Difference?" said Mrs. Smith rubbing a little more flour on her hands,
+and plunging them again into the sticky mass she was kneading.
+
+"Yes'm. They seem to think of clothes the first thing, when there is
+any place to go to; boys aren't that way. I don't believe a boy knows
+whether his coat ought to be brown or green. What makes the difference?"
+
+Mrs. Smith laughed a little. "Well," she said reflectively, "there is a
+difference, now that's a fact. I noticed it time and again when I was
+living with Mrs. Jennison. Dick would go off with whatever he happened
+to have on; and Florence was always in a flutter as to whether she
+looked as well as the rest. I've heard folks say that it is the fault
+of the mothers, because they make such a fuss over the girls' clothes,
+and keep rigging them up in something bright, just to make 'em look
+pretty, till they succeed in making them think there isn't anything
+quite so important in life as what they wear on their backs. It's all
+wrong, I believe. But then, Nettie ain't one of that kind. She hasn't
+had any mother to perk her up and make her vain. I shouldn't think she
+would be one to care about clothes much."
+
+"She doesn't," said Jerry firmly. "I don't think she would care if
+other folks didn't. The girls in her class act hatefully to her; they
+don't speak, if they can help it. I suppose it's clothes; I don't know
+what else; they are always rigged out like hollyhocks or tulips; they
+make fun of her, I guess; and that isn't very pleasant."
+
+"Is that the reason she won't go to the flower show next week?"
+
+"Yes'm, that's the reason. All the girls are going to dress in white;
+I suppose she thinks she will look queerly, and be talked about. But
+I don't understand it. Seems to me if all the boys were going to wear
+blue coats, and I knew it, I'd just as soon wear my gray one if gray
+was respectable."
+
+"She ought to have a white dress, now that's a fact," said Mrs. Smith
+with energy, patting her brown loaf, and tucking it down into the tin
+in a skilful way. "It isn't much for a girl like her to want; if her
+father was the kind of man he ought to be, she might have a white dress
+for best, as well as not; I've no patience with him."
+
+"Her father hasn't drank a drop this week," said Jerry.
+
+"Hasn't; well, I'm glad of it; but I'm thinking of what he has done,
+and what he will go and do, as likely as not, next week; they might be
+as forehanded as any folks I know of, if he was what he ought to be;
+there isn't a better workman in the town. Well, you don't care much
+about the flower party, I suppose?"
+
+"I don't now," said Jerry, wearily. "When I thought the little girls
+were going, I had a plan. Sate is such a little thing, she would be
+sure to be half-asleep by eight o'clock; and I was going to coax Norm
+to come for her, and we carry her home between us. Norm won't go to a
+flower party, out and out; but he is good-natured, and was beginning
+to think a great deal of Sate; then I thought Mr. Sherrill would speak
+to him. The more we can get Norm to feeling he belongs in such places,
+the less he will feel like belonging to the corner groceries, and the
+streets."
+
+"I see," said Mrs. Smith admiringly. "Well, I do say I didn't think
+Nettie was the kind of girl to put a white dress between her chances of
+helping folks. Sarah Ann thinks she's a real true Christian; but Satan
+does seem to be into the clothes business from beginning to end."
+
+"I don't suppose it is any easier for a Christian to be laughed at and
+slighted, than it is for other people," said Jerry, inclined to resent
+the idea that Nettie was not showing the right spirit; although in his
+heart he was disappointed in her for caring so much about the color of
+her dress.
+
+"Well, I don't know about that," said Mrs. Smith, stopping in the act
+of tucking her bread under the blankets, to look full at Jerry, "why,
+they even made fun of the Lord Jesus Christ; dressed him up in purple,
+like a king, and mocked at him! When it comes to remembering that, it
+would seem as if any common Christian might be almost glad of a chance
+to be made fun of, just to stand in the same lot with him."
+
+This was a new thought to Jerry. He studied it for awhile in silence.
+Now it so happened that neither Mrs. Smith nor Jerry remembered certain
+facts; one was that Mrs. Smith's kitchen window was in a line with
+Mrs. Decker's bedroom window, where Nettie had gone to sit while she
+mended Norm's shirt; the other was that a gentle breeze was blowing,
+which brought their words distinctly to Nettie's ears. At first she had
+not noticed the talk, busy with her own thoughts, then she heard her
+name, and paused needle in hand, to wonder what was being said about
+her. Then, coming to her senses, she determined to leave the room; but
+her mother, for convenience, had pushed her ironing table against the
+bedroom door, and then had gone to the yard in search of chips; Nettie
+was a prisoner; she tried to push the table by pushing against the
+door, but the floor was uneven, and the table would not move; meantime
+the conversation going on across the alleyway, came distinctly to her.
+No use to cough, they were too much interested to hear her. By and by
+she grew so interested as to forget that the words were not intended
+for her to hear. There were more questions involved in this matter of
+dress than she had thought about. Her cheeks began to burn a little
+with the thought that her neighbor had been planning help for Norm,
+which she was blocking because she had no white dress! This was an
+astonishment! She had not known she was proud. In fact, she had thought
+herself very humble, and worthy of commendation because she went
+Sabbath after Sabbath to the school in the same blue and white dress,
+not so fresh now by a great deal as when she first came home.
+
+When Mrs. Smith reached the sentence which told of the Lord Jesus being
+robed in purple, and crowned with thorns, and mocked, two great tears
+fell on Norm's shirt sleeve.
+
+It was a very gentle little girl who moved about the kitchen getting
+early tea; Mrs. Decker glanced at her from time to time in a bewildered
+way. The sort of girl with whom she was best acquainted would have
+slammed things about a little; both because she had not clothes to wear
+like other children, and because she had been blamed for not wanting to
+do what was expected of her. But Nettie's face had no trace of anger,
+her movements were gentleness itself; her voice when she spoke was low
+and sweet: "Mother, I will take the little girls, if you will let them
+go."
+
+Mrs. Decker drew a relieved sigh. "I'd like them to go because _she_
+asked to have them; and I can see plain enough she is trying to get
+hold of Norm; so is _he_; that's what helping with the flowers means;
+and there ain't anything I ain't willing to do to help, only I couldn't
+let the little girls go without you; they'd be scared to death, and it
+wouldn't look right. I'm sorry enough you ain't got suitable clothes;
+if I could help it, you should have as good as the best of them."
+
+"Never mind," said Nettie, "I don't think I care anything about the
+dress now." She was thinking of that crown of thorns. So when Miss
+Sherrill called the way was plain and little Sate ready to be taught
+anything she would teach her.
+
+They went away down to the pond under the clump of trees which formed
+such a pretty shade; and there Sate's slow sweet voice said over
+the lines as they were told to her, putting in many questions which
+the words suggested. "He makes the flowers blow," she repeated with
+thoughtful face, then: "What did He make them for?"
+
+"I think it was because He loved them; and He likes to give you and me
+sweet and pleasant things to look at."
+
+"Does He love flowers?"
+
+"I think so, darling."
+
+"And birds? See the birds!" For at that moment two beauties standing on
+the edge of their nest, looked down into the clear water, and seeing
+themselves reflected in its smoothness began to talk in low sweet
+chirps to their shadows.
+
+"Oh, yes, He loves the birds, I am sure; think how many different kinds
+He has made, and how beautiful they are. Then He has given them sweet
+voices, and they are thanking Him as well as they know how, for all his
+goodness. Listen."
+
+Sure enough, one of the little birds hopped back a trifle, balanced
+himself well on the nest, and, putting up his little throat, trilled a
+lovely song.
+
+"What does he say?" asked Sate, watching him intently.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said Miss Sherrill, with a little laugh. Sate was
+taxing her powers rather too much. "But God understands, you know; and
+I am sure the words are very sweet to him."
+
+Sate reflected over this for a minute, then went back to the flowers.
+
+"What made Him put the colors on them? Does He like to see pretty
+colors, do you sink? Which color does He like just the very bestest of
+all?"
+
+"O you darling! I don't know that, either. Perhaps, crimson; or, no,
+I think He must like pure white ones a little the best. But He likes
+little human flowers the best of all. Little white flowers with souls.
+Do you know what I mean, darling? White hearts are given to the little
+children who try all the time to do right, because they love Jesus, and
+want to please him."
+
+"Sate wants to," said the little girl earnestly. "Sate loves Jesus;
+and she would like to kiss him."
+
+"I do not know but you shall, some day. Now shall we take another line
+of the hymn?" continued her teacher.
+
+"I tried to teach her," explained Miss Sherrill to her brother. "But
+I think, after all, she taught me the most. She is the dearest little
+thing, and asks the strangest questions! When I look at her grave,
+sweet face, and hear her slow, sweet voice making wise answers, and
+asking wise questions, a sort of baby wisdom, you know, I can only
+repeat over and over the words:
+
+"'Of such is the kingdom of heaven.'
+
+"To-day I told her the story of Jesus taking the little children up in
+his arms and blessing them. She listened with that thoughtful look in
+her eyes which is so wonderful, then suddenly she held up her pretty
+arms and said in the most coaxing tones:
+
+"'Take little Sate to Him, and let Him bless her, yight away.'
+
+"Tremaine, I could hardly keep back the tears. Do you think He can be
+going to call her soon?"
+
+"Not necessarily at all. There is no reason why a little child should
+not live very close to Him on earth. I hope that little girl has a
+great work to do for Christ in this world. She has a very sweet face."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE FLOWER PARTY.
+
+
+I DARE say some of you think Nettie Decker was a very silly girl to
+care so much because her dress was a blue and white gingham instead of
+being all white.
+
+You have told your friend Katie about the story and asked her if she
+didn't think it was real silly to make such an ado over _clothes_; you
+have said you were sure you would just as soon wear a blue gingham
+as not if it was clean and neat. But now let me venture a hint. I
+shouldn't be surprised if that was because you never do have to go to
+places differently dressed from all the others. Because if you did,
+you would know that it was something of a trial. Oh! I don't say it
+is the hardest thing in the world; or that one is all ready to die as
+a martyr who does it; but what I _do_ say is, that it takes a little
+moral courage; and, for one, I am not surprised that Nettie looked
+very sober about it when the afternoon came.
+
+It took her a good while to dress; not that there was so much to be
+done, but she stopped to think. With her hair in her neck, still
+unbraided, she pinned a lovely pink rose at her breast just to see how
+pretty it would look for a minute. Miss Sherrill had left it for her to
+wear; but she did not intend to wear it, because she thought it would
+not match well with her gingham dress. Just here, I don't mind owning
+that I think her silly; because I believe that sweet flowers go with
+sweet pure young faces, whether the dress is of gingham or silk.
+
+But Nettie looked grave, as I said, and wished it was over; and tried
+to plan for the hundredth time, how it would all be. The girls, Cecelia
+Lester and Lorena Barstow and the rest of them, would be out in their
+elegant toilets, and would look at her so! That Ermina Farley would be
+there; she had seen her but once, on the first Sunday, and liked her
+face and her ways a little better than the others; but she had been
+away since then. Jerry said she was back, however, and Mrs. Smith said
+they were the richest folks in town; and of course Ermina would be
+elegantly dressed at the flower party.
+
+Well, she did not care. She was willing to have them all dressed
+beautifully; she was not mean enough to want them to wear gingham
+dresses, if only they would not make fun of hers. Oh! if she could
+_only_ stay at home, and help iron, and get supper, and fry some
+potatoes nicely for father, how happy she would be. Then she sighed
+again, and set about braiding her hair. She meant to go, but she could
+not help being sorry for herself to think it must be done; and she
+spent a great deal of trouble in trying to plan just how hateful it
+would all be; how the girls would look, and whisper, and giggle; and
+how her cheeks would burn. Oh dear!
+
+Then she found it was late, and had to make her fingers fly, and to
+rush about the little woodhouse chamber which was still her room, in a
+way which made Sarah Ann say to her mother with a significant nod, "I
+guess she's woke up and gone at it, poor thing!" Yes, she had; and was
+down in fifteen minutes more.
+
+Oh! but didn't the little girls look pretty! Nettie forgot her trouble
+for a few minutes, in admiring them when she had put the last touches
+to their toilet. Susie was to be in a tableau where she would need a
+dolly, and Miss Sherrill had furnished one for the occasion. A lovely
+dolly with real hair, and blue eyes, and a bright blue sash to match
+them; and when Susie got it in her arms, there came such a sweet,
+softened look over her face that Nettie hardly knew her. The sturdy
+voice, too, which was so apt to be fierce, softened and took a motherly
+tone; the dolly was certainly educating Susie. Little Sate looked
+on, interested, pleased, but without the slightest shade of envy.
+She wanted no dolly; or, if she did, there was a little black-faced,
+worn, rag one reposing at this moment in the trundle bed where little
+Sate's own head would rest at night; kissed, and caressed, and petted,
+and told to be good until mamma came back; this dolly had all of
+Sate's warm heart. For the rest, the grave little old women in caps
+and spectacles, which wound about her dress, crept up in bunches on
+her shoulders, lay in nestling heaps at her breast, filled all Sate's
+thoughts. She seemed to have become a little old woman herself, so
+serious and womanly was her face.
+
+Nettie took a hand of each, and they went to the flower festival. There
+was to be a five o'clock tea for all the elderly people of the church,
+and the tables, some of them, were set in Mr. Eastman's grounds, which
+adjoined the church. When Nettie entered these grounds she found
+a company of girls several years younger than herself, helping to
+decorate the tables with flowers; at least that was their work, but as
+Nettie appeared at the south gate, a queer little object pushed in at
+the west side. A child not more than six years old, with a clean face,
+and carefully combed hair, but dressed in a plain dark calico; and her
+pretty pink toes were without shoes or stockings.
+
+[Illustration: AT THE FLOWER PARTY.]
+
+I am not sure that if a little wolf had suddenly appeared before them,
+it could have caused more exclamations of astonishment and dismay.
+
+"Only look at that child!" "The idea!" "Just to think of such a thing!"
+were a few of the exclamations with which the air was thick. At last,
+one bolder than the rest, stepped towards her: "Little girl, where did
+you come from? What in the world do you want here?"
+
+Startled by the many eyes and the sharp tones, the small new-comer hid
+her face behind an immense bunch of glowing hollyhocks, which she held
+in her hand, and said not a word. Then the chorus of voices became
+more eager:
+
+"Do look at her hollyhocks! Did ever anybody see such a queer little
+fright! Girls, I do believe she has come to the party." Then the one
+who had spoken before, tried again: "See here, child, whoever you are,
+you must go right straight home; this is no place for you. I wonder
+what your mother was about--if you have one--to let you run away
+barefooted, and looking like a fright."
+
+Now the barefooted maiden was thoroughly frightened, and sobbed
+outright. It was precisely what Nettie Decker needed to give her
+courage. When she came in at the gate, she had felt like shrinking away
+from all eyes; now she darted an indignant glance at the speaker, and
+moved quickly toward the crying child, Susie and Sate following close
+behind.
+
+"Don't cry, little girl," she said in the gentlest tones, stooping and
+putting an arm tenderly around the trembling form; "you haven't done
+anything wrong; Miss Sherrill will be here soon, and she will make it
+all right."
+
+Thus comforted, the tears ceased, and the small new-comer allowed her
+hand to be taken; while Susie came around to her other side, and
+scowled fiercely, as though to say: "I'll protect this girl myself;
+let's see you touch her now!"
+
+A burst of laughter greeted Nettie as soon as she had time to give heed
+to it. Others had joined the groups, among them Lorena Barstow and
+Irene Lewis. "What's all this?" asked Irene.
+
+"O, nothing," said one; "only that Decker girl's sister, or cousin, or
+something has just arrived from Cork, and come in search of her. Lorena
+Barstow, did you ever see such a queer-looking fright?"
+
+"I don't see but they look a good deal alike," said Lorena, tossing her
+curls; "I'm sure their dresses correspond; is she a sister?"
+
+"Why, no," answered one of the smaller girls; "those two cunning little
+things in white are Nettie Decker's sisters; I think they are real
+sweet."
+
+"Oh!" said Lorena, giving them a disagreeable stare, "in white, are
+they? The unselfish older sister has evidently cut up her nightgowns to
+make them white dresses for this occasion."
+
+"Lorena," said the younger girl, "if I were you I would be ashamed;
+mother would not like you to talk in that way."
+
+"Well, you see Miss Nanie, you are not me, therefore you cannot tell
+what you would be, or do; and I want to inform you it is not your
+business to tell me what mother would like."
+
+Imagine Nettie Decker standing quietly, with the barefooted child's
+small hand closely clasped in hers, listening to all this! There was a
+pretense of lowered voices, yet every word was distinct to her ears.
+Her heart beat fast and she began to feel as though she really was
+paying quite a high price for the possibility of getting Norm into the
+church parlor for a few minutes that evening.
+
+At that moment, through the main gateway, came Ermina Parley, a colored
+man with her, bearing a basket full of such wonderful roses, that for a
+minute the group could only exclaim over them. Ermina was in white, but
+her dress was simply made, and looked as though she might not be afraid
+to tumble about on the grass in it; her shoes were thick, and the blue
+sash she wore, though broad and handsome, had some way a quiet air of
+fitness for the occasion, which did not seem to belong to most of the
+others. She watched the disposal of her roses, then gave an inquiring
+glance about the grounds as she said, "What are you all doing here?"
+
+"We are having a tableau," said Lorena Barstow. "Look behind you, and
+you will see the Misses Bridget and Margaret Mulrooney, who have just
+arrived from ould Ireland shure."
+
+Most of the thoughtless girls laughed, mistaking this rudeness for wit,
+but Ermina turned quickly and caught her first glimpse of Nettie's
+burning face; then she hastened toward her.
+
+"Why, here is little Prudy, after all," she said eagerly; "I coaxed her
+mother to let her come, but I didn't think she would. Has Miss Sherrill
+seen her? I think she will make such a cunning Roman flower-girl, in
+that tableau, you know. Her face is precisely the shape and style of
+the little girls we saw in Rome last winter. Poor little girlie, was
+she frightened? How kind you were to take care of her. She is a real
+bright little thing. I want to coax her into Sunday-school if I can.
+Let us go and ask Miss Sherrill what she thinks about the flower-girl."
+
+How fast Ermina Farley could talk! She did not wait for replies. The
+truth was, Nettie's glowing cheeks, and Susie's fierce looks, told her
+the story of trial for somebody else besides the Roman flower-girl; she
+could guess at things which might have been said before she came. She
+wound her arm familiarly about Nettie's waist as she spoke, and drew
+her, almost against her will, across the lawn. "My!" said Irene Lewis.
+"How good we are!"
+
+"Birds of a feather flock together," quoted Lorena Barstow. "I think
+that barefooted child and her protector look alike."
+
+"Still," said Irene, "you must remember that Ermina Farley has joined
+that flock; and her feathers are very different."
+
+"Oh! that is only for effect," was the naughty reply, with another toss
+of the rich curls.
+
+Now what was the matter with all these disagreeable young people? Did
+they really attach so much importance to the clothes they wore as to
+think no one was respectable who was not dressed like them? Had they
+really no hearts, so that it made no difference to them how deeply they
+wounded poor Nettie Decker?
+
+I do not think it was quite either of these things. They had been, so
+far in their lives, unfortunate, in that they had heard a great deal
+about dress, and style, until they had done what young people and a
+few older ones are apt to do, attached too much importance to these
+things. They were neither old enough, nor wise enough, to know that
+it is a mark of a shallow nature to judge of people by the clothes
+they wear; then, in regard to the ill-natured things said, I tell
+you truly, that even Lorena Barstow was ashamed of herself. When her
+younger sister reproved her, the flush which came on her cheek was not
+all anger, much of it was shame. But she had taught her tongue to say
+so many disagreeable words, and to pride itself on its independence in
+saying what she pleased, that the habit asserted itself, and she could
+not seem to control it. The contrast between her own conduct and Ermina
+Farley's struck her so sharply and disagreeably it served only to make
+her worse than before; precisely the effect which follows when people
+of uncontrolled tempers find themselves rebuked.
+
+Half-way down the lawn the party in search of Miss Sherrill met her
+face to face. Her greeting was warm. "Oh! here is my dear little
+grandmother. Thank you, Nettie, for coming; I look to you for a great
+deal of help. Why, Ermina, what wee mousie have you here?"
+
+"She is a little Roman flower-girl, Miss Sherrill; they live on
+Parker street. Her mother is a nice woman; my mother has her to
+run the machine. I coaxed her to let Trudie wear her red dress and
+come barefoot, until you would see if she would do for the Roman
+flower-girl. Papa says her face is very Roman in style, and she always
+makes us think of the flower-girls we saw there. I brought my Roman
+sash to dress her in, if you thought well of it; she is real bright,
+and will do just as she is told."
+
+"It is the very thing," said Miss Sherrill with a pleased face; "I am
+so glad you thought of it. And the hollyhocks are just red enough to go
+in the basket. Did you think of them too?"
+
+"No, ma'am; mamma did. She said the more red flowers we could mass
+about her, the better for a Roman peasant."
+
+"It will be a lovely thing," said Miss Sherrill. Then she stooped and
+kissed the small brown face, which was now smiling through its tears.
+"You have found good friends, little one. She is very small to be here
+alone. Ermina, will you and Nettie take care of her this afternoon, and
+see that she is happy?"
+
+"Yes'm," said Ermina promptly. "Nettie was taking care of her when I
+came. She was afraid at first, I think."
+
+"They were ugly to her," volunteered Susie, "they were just as ugly to
+her as they could be; they made her cry. If they'd done it to Sate I
+would have scratched them and bit them."
+
+"Oh," said Miss Sherrill sorrowfully. "How sorry I am to hear it; then
+Susie would have been naughty too, and it wouldn't have made the others
+any better; in fact, it would have made them worse."
+
+"I don't care," said Susie, but she did care. She said that, just
+as you do sometimes, when you mean you care a great deal, and don't
+want to let anybody know it. For the first time, Susie reflected
+whether it was a good plan to scratch and bite people who did not, in
+her judgment, behave well. It had not been a perfect success in her
+experience, she was willing to admit that; and if it made Miss Sherrill
+sorry, it was worth thinking about.
+
+Well, that afternoon which began so dismally, blossomed out into a
+better time than Nettie had imagined it possible for her to have. To
+be sure those particular girls who had been the cause of her sorrow,
+would have nothing to do with her; and whispered, and sent disdainful
+glances her way when they had an opportunity; but Nettie went in their
+direction as little as possible, and when she did was in such a hurry
+that she sometimes forgot all about them. Miss Sherrill, who was
+chairman of the committee of entertainment, kept her as busy as a bee
+the entire afternoon; running hither and thither, carrying messages to
+this one, and pins to that one, setting this vase of flowers at one
+end, and that lovely basket at another, and, a great deal of the time,
+standing right beside Miss Sherrill herself, handing her, at call,
+just what she needed when she dressed the girls with their special
+flowers. She could hear the bright pleasant talk which passed between
+Miss Sherrill and the other young ladies. She was often appealed too
+with a pleasant word. Her own teacher smiled on her more than once, and
+said she was the handiest little body who had ever helped them; and
+all the time that lovely Ermina Farley with her beautiful hair, and
+her pretty ways, and her sweet low voice, was near at hand, joining
+in everything which she had to do. To be sure she heard, in one of
+her rapid scampers across the lawn, this question asked in a loud
+tone by Lorena Barstow: "I wonder how much they pay that girl for
+running errands? Maybe she will earn enough to get herself a new white
+nightgown to wear to parties;" but at that particular minute, Ermina
+Farley running from another direction on an errand precisely like her
+own, bumped up against her with such force that their noses ached; then
+both stopped to laugh merrily, and some way, what with the bump, and
+the laughter, Nettie forgot to cry, when she had a chance, over the
+unkind words. Then, later in the afternoon, came Jerry; and in less
+than five minutes he joined their group, and made himself so useful
+that when Mr. Sherrill came presently for boys to go with him to the
+chapel to arrange the tables, Miss Sherrill said in low tones, "Don't
+take Jerry please, we need him here." Nettie heard it, and beamed her
+satisfaction. Also she heard Irene Lewis say, "Now they've taken that
+Irish boy into their crowd--shouldn't you think Ermina Farley would be
+ashamed!"
+
+Then Nettie's face fairly paled. It is one thing to be insulted
+yourself; it is another to stand quietly by and see your friends
+insulted. She was almost ready to appeal to Miss Sherrill for
+protection from tongues. But Jerry heard the same remark, and laughed;
+not in a forced way, but actually as though it was very amusing to him.
+And almost immediately he called out something to Ermina, using an
+unmistakable Irish brogue. What was the use in trying to protect a boy
+who was so indifferent as that?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A SATISFACTORY EVENING.
+
+
+THE little old grandmothers with their queer caps were perhaps the
+feature of the evening. Everybody wanted a bouquet of them. In fact,
+long before eight o'clock, Jerry had been hurried away for a fresh
+supply, and Nettie had been established behind a curtain to "make more
+grandmothers." In her excitement she made them even prettier than
+before; and sweet, grave little Sate had no trouble in selling every
+one. The pretty Roman flower girl was so much admired, that her father,
+a fine-looking young mechanic who came after her bringing red stockings
+and neat shoes, carried her off at last in triumph on his shoulder,
+saying he was afraid her head would be turned with so much praise, but
+thanking everybody with bright smiling eyes for giving his little girl
+such a pleasant afternoon.
+
+"She isn't Irish, after all," said Irene Lewis, watching them. "And
+Mr. Sherrill shook hands with him as familiarly as though he was an
+old friend; I wish we hadn't made such simpletons of ourselves. Lorena
+Barstow, what did you want to go and say she was an Irish girl for?"
+
+"I didn't say any such thing," said Lorena in a shrill voice; and
+then these two who had been friends in ill humor all the afternoon
+quarreled, and went home more unhappy than before. And still I tell you
+they were not the worst girls in the world; and were very much ashamed
+of themselves.
+
+Before eight o'clock, Norm came. To be sure he stoutly refused, at
+first, to step beyond the doorway, and ordered Nettie in a somewhat
+surly tone to "bring that young one out," if she wanted her carried
+home. That, of course, was the little grandmother; but her eyes looked
+as though they had not thought of being sleepy, and the ladies were not
+ready to let her go. Then the minister, who seemed to understand things
+without having them explained, said, "Where is Decker? we'll make it
+all right; come, little grandmother, let us go and see about it." So
+he took Sate on his shoulder and made his way through the crowd; and
+Nettie who watched anxiously, presently saw Norm coming back with
+them, not looking surly at all; his clothes had been brushed, and he
+had on a clean collar, and his hair was combed, quite as though he had
+meant to come in, after all.
+
+Soon after Norm's coming, something happened which gave Nettie a
+glimpse of her brother in a new light. Young Ernest Belmont was there
+with his violin. During the afternoon, Nettie had heard whispers of
+what a lovely player he was, and at last saw with delight that a space
+was being cleared for him to play. Crowds of people gathered about the
+platform to listen, but among them all Norm's face was marked; at least
+it was to Nettie. She had never seen him look like that. He seemed to
+forget the crowds, and the lights, and everything but the sounds which
+came from that violin. He stood perfectly still, his eyes never once
+turning from their earnest gaze of the fingers which were producing
+such wonderful tones. Nettie, looking, and wondering, almost forgot the
+music in her astonishment that her brother should be so absorbed. Jerry
+with some difficulty elbowed his way towards her, his face beaming, and
+said, "Isn't it splendid?"
+
+For answer she said, "Look at Norm." And Jerry looked.
+
+"That's so," he said at last, heartily, speaking as though he was
+answering a remark from somebody; "Norm is a musician. Did you know he
+liked it so much?"
+
+"I didn't know anything about it," Nettie said, hardly able to keep
+back the tears, though she did not understand why her eyes should fill;
+but there was such a look of intense enjoyment in Norm's face, mingled
+with such a wistful longing for something, as made the tears start in
+spite of her. "I didn't know he liked _anything_ so much as that."
+
+"He likes _that_," said Jerry heartily, "and I am glad."
+
+"I don't know. What makes you glad? I am almost sorry; because he may
+never have a chance to hear it again."
+
+"He must make his chances; he is going to be a man. I'm glad, because
+it gives us a hint as to what his tastes are; don't you see?"
+
+"Why, yes," said Nettie, "I see he likes it; but what is the use in
+knowing people's tastes if you cannot possibly do anything for them?"
+
+"There's no such thing as it not being possible to do most anything,"
+Jerry said good humoredly. "Maybe we will some of us own a violin some
+day, and Norm will play it for us. Who knows? Stranger things than that
+have happened."
+
+But this thing looked to Nettie so improbable that she merely laughed.
+The music suddenly ceased, and Norm came back from dreamland and looked
+about him, and blushed, and felt awkward. He saw the people now, and
+the lights, and the flowers; he remembered his hands and did not know
+what to do with them; and his feet felt too large for the space they
+must occupy.
+
+Jerry plunged through the crowd and stood beside him.
+
+"How did you like it?" he asked, and Norm cleared his voice before
+replying; he could not understand why his throat should feel so husky.
+
+"I like a fiddle," he said. "There is a fellow comes into the corner
+grocery down there by Crossman's and plays, sometimes; I always go down
+there, when I hear of it."
+
+If Jerry could have caught Nettie's eye just then he would have made a
+significant gesture; the store by Crossman's made tobacco and liquor
+its chief trade. So a fiddle was one of the things used to draw the
+boys into it!
+
+"Is a fiddle the only kind of music you like?" Jerry had been
+accustomed to calling it a violin, but the instinct of true politeness
+which was marked in him, made him say fiddle just now as Norm had done.
+
+"Oh! I like anything that whistles a tune!" said Norm. "I've gone
+a rod out of my way to hear a jew's-harp many a time; even an old
+hand-organ sounds nice to me. I don't know why, but I never hear one
+without stopping and listening as long as I can." He laughed a little,
+as though ashamed of the taste, and looked at Jerry suspiciously. But
+there was not the slightest hint of a smile on the boy's face, only
+hearty interest and approval.
+
+"I like music, too, almost any sort; but I don't believe I like it as
+well as you. Your face looked while you were listening as though you
+could make some yourself if you tried."
+
+The smile went out quickly from Norm's face, and Jerry thought he heard
+a little sigh with the reply:
+
+"I never had a chance to try; and never expect to have."
+
+"Well, now, I should like to know why not? I never could understand why
+a boy with brains, and hands, and feet, shouldn't have a try at almost
+anything which was worth trying, sometime in his life." It was not
+Jerry who said this, but the minister who had come up in time to hear
+the last words from both sides. He stopped before Norm, smiling as he
+spoke. "Try the music, my friend, by all means, if you like it. It is a
+noble taste, worth cultivating."
+
+Norm looked sullen. "It's easy to talk," he said severely, "but when a
+fellow has to work like a dog to get enough to eat and wear, to keep
+him from starving or freezing, I'd like to see him get a chance to try
+at music, or anything else of that kind!"
+
+"So should I. He is the very fellow who ought to have the chance; and
+more than that, in nine cases out of ten he is the fellow who gets it.
+A boy who is willing and able to work, is pretty sure, in this country,
+to have opportunity to gratify his tastes in the end. He may have to
+wait awhile, but that only sharpens the appetite of a genuine taste;
+if it is a worthy taste, as music certainly is, it will grow with his
+growth, and will help him to plan, and save, and contrive, until one
+of these days he will show you! By the way, you would like organ music,
+I fancy; the sort which is sometimes played on parlor organs. If you
+will come to the parsonage to-morrow night at eight o'clock, I think I
+can promise you something which you will enjoy. My sister is going to
+try some new music for a few friends, at that time; suppose you come
+and pick out your favorite?"
+
+All Jerry's satisfaction and interest shone in his face; to-morrow
+night at eight o'clock! All day he had been trying to arrange something
+which would keep Norm at that hour away from the aforesaid corner
+grocery, where he happened to know some doubtful plans were to be
+arranged for future mischief, by the set who gathered there. If only
+Norm would go to the parsonage it would be the very thing. But Norm
+flushed and hesitated. "Bring a friend with you," said the minister.
+"Bring Jerry, here; you like music, don't you, Jerry?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Jerry promptly; "I like music very much, and I would
+like to go if Norm is willing."
+
+"Bring Jerry with you." That sentence had a pleasant sound. Up to this
+moment it was the younger boy who had patronized the elder. Norm
+called him the "little chap," but for all that looked up to him with
+a curious sort of respect such as he felt for none of the "fellows"
+who were his daily companions; the idea of bringing him to a place of
+entertainment had its charms.
+
+"May I expect you?" asked the minister, reading his thoughts almost as
+plainly as though they had been printed on his face, and judging that
+this was the time to press an acceptance.
+
+"Why, yes," said Norm, "I suppose so."
+
+One of these days Norman Decker will not think of accepting an
+invitation with such words, but his intentions are good, now, and the
+minister thanks him as though he had received a favor, and departs well
+pleased.
+
+And now it is really growing late and little Sate must be carried home.
+It was an evening to remember.
+
+They talked it over by inches the next morning. Nettie finishing the
+breakfast dishes, and Jerry sitting on the doorstep fashioning a
+bracket for the kitchen lamp.
+
+Nettie talked much about Ermina Farley. "She is just as lovely and
+sweet as she can be. It was beautiful in her to come over to me as she
+did when she came into that yard; part of it was for little Trudie's
+sake, and a great deal of it was for my sake. I saw that at the time;
+and I saw it plainer all the afternoon. She didn't give me a chance to
+feel alone once; and she didn't stay near me as though she felt she
+ought to, but didn't want to, either; she just took hold and helped do
+everything Miss Sherrill gave me to do, and was as bright and sweet as
+she could be. I shall never forget it of her. But for all that," she
+added as she wrung out her dishcloth with an energy which the small
+white rag hardly needed, "I know it was pretty hard for her to do it,
+and I shall not give her a chance to do it again."
+
+"I want to know what there was hard about it?" said Jerry, looking up
+in astonishment. "I thought Ermina Farley seemed to be having as good a
+time as anybody there."
+
+"Oh, well now, I know, you are not a girl; boys are different from
+girls. They are not so kind-of-mean! At least, some of them are not,"
+she added quickly, having at that moment a vivid recollection of some
+mean things which she had endured from boys. "Really I don't think
+they are," she said, after a moment's thoughtful pause, and replying
+to the quizzical look on his face. "They don't think about dresses,
+and hats, and gloves, and all those sorts of things as girls do, and
+they don't say such hateful things. Oh! I _know_ there is a great
+difference; and I know just how Ermina Farley will be talked about
+because she went with me, and stood up for me so; and I think it will
+be very hard for her. I used to think so about you, but you--are real
+different from girls!"
+
+"It amounts to about this," said Jerry, whittling gravely. "Good boys
+are different from bad girls, and bad boys are different from good
+girls."
+
+Nettie laughed merrily. "No," she said, "I do know what I am talking
+about, though you don't think so; I know real splendid girls who
+couldn't have done as Ermina Farley did yesterday, and as you do all
+the time; and what I say is, I don't mean to put myself where she will
+_have_ to do it, much. I don't want to go to their parties; I don't
+expect a chance to go, but if I had it, I wouldn't go; and just for her
+sake, I don't mean to be always around for her to have to take care
+of me as she did yesterday. I have something else to do." Said Jerry,
+"Where do you think Norm is to take me this evening?"
+
+"Norm going to take you!" great wonderment in the tone. "Why, where
+could he take you? I don't know, I am sure."
+
+"He is to take me to the parsonage at eight o'clock to hear some
+wonderful music on the organ. He has been invited, and has had
+permission to bring me with him if he wants to. Don't you talk about
+not putting yourself where other people will have to take care of you!
+I advise you to cultivate the acquaintance of your brother. It isn't
+everybody who gets invited to the parsonage to hear such music as Miss
+Sherrill can make."
+
+The dishcloth was hung away now, and every bit of work was done. Nettie
+stood looking at the whittling boy in the doorway for a minute in blank
+astonishment, then she clasped her hands and said: "O Jerry! Did they
+do it? Aren't they the very splendidest people you ever knew in your
+life?"
+
+"They are pretty good," said Jerry, "that's a fact; they are most as
+good as my father. I'll tell you what it is, if you knew my father you
+would know a man who would be worth remembering. I had a letter from
+him last night, and he sent a message to my friend Nettie."
+
+"What?" asked Nettie, her eyes very bright.
+
+"It was that you were to take good care of his boy; for in his opinion
+the boy was worth taking care of. On the strength of that I want you to
+come out and look at Mother Speckle; she is in a very important frame
+of mind, and has been scolding her children all the morning. I don't
+know what is the trouble; there are two of her daughters who seem to
+have gone astray in some way; at least she is very much displeased with
+them. Twice she has boxed Fluffie's ears, and once she pulled a feather
+out of poor Buff. See how forlorn she seems!"
+
+By this time they were making their way to the little house where the
+hen lived, Nettie agreeing to go for a very few minutes, declaring that
+if Norm was going out every evening there was work to do. He would
+need a clean collar and she must do it up; for mother had gone out to
+iron for the day. "Mother is so grateful to Mrs. Smith for getting her
+a chance to work," she said, as they paused before the two disgraced
+chickens; "she says she would never have thought of it if it had not
+been for her; you know she always used to sew. Why, how funny those
+chickens look! Only see, Jerry, they are studying that eggshell as
+though they thought they could make one. Now don't they look exactly as
+though they were planning something?"
+
+"They are," said Jerry. "They are planning going to housekeeping, I
+believe; you see they have quarreled with their mother. They consider
+that they have been unjustly punished, and I am in sympathy with
+them; and they believe they could make a house to live in out of that
+eggshell if they could only think of a way to stick it together again.
+I wish _we_ could build a house out of eggshells; or even one room, and
+we'd have one before the month was over."
+
+"Why?" said Nettie, stooping down to see why Buff kept her foot under
+her. "Do you want a room, Jerry?"
+
+"Somewhat," said Jerry. "At least I see a number of things we could do
+if we had a room, that I don't know how to do without one. Come over
+here, Nettie, and sit down; leave those chickens to sulk it out, and
+let us talk a little. I have a plan so large that there is no place to
+put it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+READY TO TRY.
+
+
+"YOU see," said Jerry, as Nettie came, protesting as she walked that
+she could stay but a few minutes, because there was Norm's collar,
+and she had four nice apples out of which she was going to make
+some splendid apple dumplings for dinner, "you see we must contrive
+something to keep a young fellow like Norm busy, if we are going to
+hold him after he is caught. It doesn't do to catch a fish and leave
+him on the edge of the bank near enough to flounce back into the water.
+Norm ought to be set to work to help along the plans, and kept so busy
+he wouldn't have time to get tired of them."
+
+"But how could that be done?" Nettie said in wondering tones, which
+nevertheless had a note of admiration in them. Jerry went so deeply
+into things, it almost took her breath away to follow him.
+
+"Just so; that's the problem which ought to be thought out. I can think
+of things enough; but the room, and the tools to begin with, are the
+trouble."
+
+"What have you thought of? What would you do if you could?"
+
+"O my!" said Jerry, with a little laugh; "don't ask me that question,
+or your folks will have no apple dumplings to-day. I don't believe
+there is any end to the things which I would do if I could. But the
+first beginnings of them are like this: suppose we had a few dollars
+capital, and a room."
+
+"You might as well suppose we had a palace, and a million dollars,"
+said Nettie, with a long-drawn sigh.
+
+"No, because I don't expect either of those things; but I do mean to
+have a room and a few dollars in capital for this thing some day; only,
+you see, I don't want to wait for them."
+
+"Well, go on; what then?"
+
+"Why, then we would start an eating-house, you and I, on a little
+bit of a scale, you know. We would have bread with some kind of
+meat between, and coffee, in cold weather, and lemonade in hot,
+and a few apples, and now and then some nuts, and a good deal of
+gingerbread--soft, like what auntie Smith makes--and some ginger-snaps
+like those Mrs. Dix sent us from the country, and, well, you know the
+names of things better than I do. Real good things, I mean, but which
+don't cost much. Such as you, and Sarah Ann, and a good many bright
+girls learn how to make, without using a great deal of money. Those
+things are all rather cheap, which I have mentioned, because we have
+them at our house quite often, and the Smiths are poor, you know. But
+they are made so nice that they are just capital. Well, I would have
+them for sale, just as cheap as could possibly be afforded; a great
+deal cheaper than beer, or cigars, and I would have the room bright and
+cheery; warm in winter, and as cool as I could make it in summer; then
+I would have slips of paper scattered about the town, inviting young
+folks to come in and get a lunch; then when they came, I would have
+picture papers if I could, for them to look at, and games to play, real
+nice jolly games, and some kind of music going on now and then. I'd
+run opposition to that old grocery around the corner from Crossman's,
+with its fiddle and its whiskey. That's the beginning of what I would
+do. Just what I told you about, that first night we talked it over.
+The fellows, lots of them, have nowhere to go; it keeps growing in my
+mind, the need for doing something of the sort. I never pass that mean
+grocery without thinking of it."
+
+You should have seen Nettie's eyes! The little touch of discouragement
+was gone out of them, and they were full of intense thought.
+
+"I can see," she said at last, "just how splendid it might grow to be.
+But what did you mean about Norm? there isn't any work for him in such
+a plan. At least, I mean, not until he was interested to help for the
+sake of others."
+
+"Yes, there is, plenty of business for him. Don't you see? I would have
+this room, open evenings, after the work was done, and I would have
+Norm head manager. He should wait on customers, and keep accounts.
+When the thing got going he would be as busy as a bee; and he is just
+the sort of fellow to do that kind of thing well, and like it too," he
+added.
+
+"O Jerry," said Nettie, and her hands were clasped so closely that the
+blood flowed back into her wrists, "was there ever a nicer thought than
+that in the world! I know it would succeed; and Norm would like it so
+much. Norm likes to do things for others, if he only had the chance."
+
+"I know it; and he likes to do things in a business way, and keep
+everything straight. Oh! he would be just the one. If we only had a
+room, there is nothing to hinder our beginning in a very small way.
+Those chickens are growing as fast as they can, and by Thanksgiving
+there will be a couple of them ready to broil; then the little old
+grandmothers did so well."
+
+"I know it; who would have supposed that almost four dollars could be
+made out of some daisy grandmothers! Miss Sherrill gave me one dollar
+and ninety-five cents which she said was just half of what they had
+earned. I do think it was so nice in her to give us that chance! She
+couldn't have known how much we wanted the money. Jerry, why couldn't
+we begin, just with that? It would start us, and then if the things
+sold, why, the money from them would keep us started until we found a
+way to earn more. Why can't we?"
+
+"Room," said Jerry, with commendable brevity. "Why, we have a room;
+there's the front one that we just put in such nice order. Why not? It
+is large enough for now, and maybe when our business grew we could get
+another one somehow."
+
+Jerry stopped fitting the toe of his boot to a hole which he had made
+in the ground, and looked at the eager young woman of business before
+him. "Do you mean your mother would let us have the room, and the
+chance in the kitchen, to go into such business?"
+
+"Mother would do _anything_," said Nettie emphatically, "anything in
+the world which might possibly keep Norm in the house evenings; you
+don't know how dreadfully she feels about Norm. She thinks father," and
+there Nettie stopped. How could a daughter put it into words that her
+mother was afraid her father would lead his son astray?
+
+"I know," said Jerry. "See here, Nettie, what is the matter with your
+father? I never saw him look so still, and--well, queer, in some way.
+Mr. Smith says he doesn't think he is drinking a drop; but he looks
+unlike himself, somehow, and I can't decide how."
+
+"I don't know," said Nettie, in a low voice. "We don't know what to
+think of him. He hasn't been so long without drinking, mother says,
+in four years. But he doesn't act right; or, I mean, natural. He isn't
+cross, as drinking beer makes him, but he isn't pleasant, as he was
+for a day or two. He is real sober; hardly speaks at all, nor notices
+the things I make; and I try just as hard to please him! He eats
+everything, but he does it as though he didn't know he was eating.
+Mother thinks he is in some trouble, but she can't tell what. He can't
+be afraid of losing his place--because mother says he was threatened
+that two or three times when he was drinking so hard, and he didn't
+seem to mind it at all; and why should he be discharged now, when he
+works hard every day? Last Saturday night he brought home more money
+than he has in years. Mother cried when she saw what there was, but
+she had debts to pay, so we didn't get much start out of it after all.
+Then we spend a good deal in coffee; we have it three times a day, hot
+and strong; I can see father seems to need it; and I have heard that
+it helped men who were trying not to drink. When I told mother that,
+she said he should have it if she had to beg for it on her knees. But
+I don't know what is the matter with father now. Sometimes mother is
+afraid there is a disease coming on him such as men have who drink;
+she says he doesn't sleep very well nights, and he groans some, when
+he is asleep. Mother tries hard," said Nettie, in a closing burst of
+confidence, "and she _does_ have such a hard time! If we could only
+save Norm for her."
+
+"I'll tell you who your mother looks like, or would look like if she
+were dressed up, you know. Did you ever see Mrs. Burt?"
+
+"The woman who lives in the cottage where the vines climb all around
+the front, and who has birds, and a baby? I saw her yesterday. You
+don't think mother looks like her!"
+
+"She would," said Jerry, positively, "if she had on a pink and white
+dress and a white fold about her neck. I passed there last night, while
+Mrs. Burt was sitting out by that window garden of hers, with her baby
+in her arms; Mr. Burt sat on one of the steps, and they were talking
+and laughing together. I could not help noticing how much like your
+mother she looked when she turned her side face. Oh! she is younger, of
+course; she looks almost as though she might be your mother's daughter.
+I was thinking what fun it would be if she were, and we could go and
+visit her, and get her to help us about all sorts of things. Mr. Burt
+knows how to do every kind of work about building a house, or fixing up
+a room."
+
+"He is a nice man, isn't he?"
+
+"Why, yes, nice enough; he is steady and works hard. Mr. Smith thinks
+he is quite a pattern; he has bought that little house where he lives,
+and fixed it all up with vines and things; but I should like him better
+if he didn't puff tobacco smoke into his wife's face when he talked
+with her. He doesn't begin to be so good a workman as your father,
+nor to know so much in a hundred ways. I think your father is a very
+nice-looking man when he is dressed up. He looks smart, and he is
+smart. Mr. Smith says there isn't a man in town who can do the sort of
+work that he can at the shop, and that he could get very high wages and
+be promoted and all that, if"--
+
+Jerry stopped suddenly, and Nettie finished the sentence with a
+sigh. She too had passed the Burt cottage and admired its beauty and
+neatness. To think that Mr. Burt owned it, and was a younger man by
+fifteen years at least than her father--and was not so good a workman!
+then see how well he dressed his wife; and little Bobby Burt looked as
+neat and pretty in Sunday-school as the best of them. It was very hard
+that there must be such a difference in homes. If she could only live
+in a house like the Burt cottage, and have things nice about her as
+they did, and have her father and mother sit together and talk, as Mr.
+and Mrs. Burt did, she should be perfectly happy, Nettie told herself.
+Then she sprang up from the log and declared that she must not waste
+another minute of time; but that Jerry's plan was the best one she had
+ever heard, and she believed they could begin it.
+
+With this thought still in mind, after the dinner dishes were carefully
+cleared away, and her mother, returned from the day's ironing, had
+been treated to a piece of the apple dumpling warmed over for her, and
+had said it was as nice a bit as she ever tasted, Nettie began on the
+subject which had been in her thoughts all day:
+
+"What would you think of us young folks going into business?"
+
+"Going into business!"
+
+"Yes'm. Jerry and Norm and me. Jerry has a plan; he has been telling me
+about it this morning. It is nice if we can only carry it out; and I
+shouldn't wonder if we could. That is, if you think well of it."
+
+"I begin to think there isn't much that you and Jerry can't do, with
+Norm, or with anybody else, if you try; and you both appear to be ready
+to try to do all you can for everybody."
+
+Mrs. Decker's tone was so hearty and pleased, that you would not have
+known her for the same woman who looked forward dismally but a few
+weeks ago to Nettie's home-coming. Her heart had so warmed to the girl
+in her efforts for father and brother, that she was almost ready to
+agree to anything which she could have to propose. So Nettie, well
+pleased with this beginning, unfolded with great clearness and detail,
+Jerry's wonderful plan for not only catching Norm, but setting him up
+in business.
+
+Mrs. Decker listened, and questioned and cross-questioned, sewing
+swiftly the while on Norm's jacket which had been torn, and which
+was being skilfully darned in view of the evening to be spent at the
+parsonage.
+
+"Well," she said at last, "it looks wild to me, I own; I should as soon
+try to fly as of making anything like that work in this town; but then,
+you've made things work, you two, that I'd no notion could be done,
+and between you, you seem to kind of bewitch Norm. He's done things
+for you that I would no sooner have thought of asking of him than I
+would have asked him to fly up to the moon; and this may be another of
+them. Anyhow, if you've a mind to try it, I won't be the one to stop
+you. I've been that scared for Norm, that I'm ready for anything. Oh!
+the _room_, of course you may use it. If you wanted to have a circus
+in there, I think I'd agree, wild animals and all; I've had worse than
+wild animals in my day. No, your father won't object; he thinks what
+you do is about right, I guess. And for the matter of that, he doesn't
+object to anything nowadays; I don't know what to make of him."
+
+The sentence ended with a long-drawn, troubled sigh.
+
+Just what this strange change in her husband meant, Mrs. Decker could
+not decide; and each theory which she started in her mind about it,
+looked worse than the last.
+
+Norm's collar was ready for him, so was his jacket. He was somewhat
+surly; the truth was, he had received what he called a "bid" to
+the merry-making which was to take place in the back room of the
+grocery, around the corner from Crossman's, and he was a good deal
+tried to think he had cut himself off by what he called a "spooney"
+promise, from enjoying the evening there. At the same time there was
+a certain sense of largeness in saying he could not come because he
+had received an invitation elsewhere, which gave him a momentary
+pleasure. To be sure the boys coaxed until they had discovered the
+place of his engagement, and joked him the rest of the time, until he
+was half-inclined to wish he had never heard of the parsonage; but for
+all that, a certain something in Norman which marked him as different
+from some boys, held him to his word when it was passed; and he had
+no thought of breaking from his engagement. It was an evening such as
+Norman had reason to remember. For the first time in his life he sat
+in a pleasantly furnished home, among ladies and gentlemen, and heard
+himself spoken to as one who "belonged."
+
+Three ladies were there from the city, and two gentlemen whom Norman
+had never seen before; all friends of the Sherrills come out to spend
+a day with them. They were not only unlike any people whom he had ever
+seen before, but, if he had known it, unlike a great many ladies and
+gentlemen, in that their chief aim in life was to be found in their
+Master's service; and a boy about whom they knew nothing, save that he
+was poor, and surrounded by temptations, and Satan desired to have him,
+was in their eyes so much stray material which they were bound to bring
+back to the rightful owner if they could.
+
+To this end they talked to Norman. Not in the form of a lecture, but
+with bright, winning words, on topics which he could understand, not
+only, but actually on certain topics about which he knew more than
+they. For instance, there was a cave about two miles from the town, of
+which they had heard, but had never seen and Norm had explored every
+crevice in it many a time. He knew on which side of the river it was
+located, whether the entrance was from the east or the south; just how
+far one could walk through it, just how far one could creep in it,
+after walking had become impossible, and a dozen other things which it
+had not occurred to him were of interest to anybody else. In fact, Norm
+discovered in the course of the hour that there was such a thing as
+conversation. Not that he made use of that word, in thinking it over;
+his thoughts, if they could have been seen, would have been something
+like this: "These are swell folks, but I can understand what they say,
+and they seem to understand what I say, and don't stare as though I
+was a wild animal escaped from the woods. I wonder what makes the
+difference between them and other folks?"
+
+But when the music began! I have no words to describe to you what
+it was to Norm to sit close to an organ and hear its softest notes,
+and feel the thrill of its heavy bass tones, and be appealed to
+occasionally as to whether he liked this or that the best, and to
+have a piece sung because the player thought it would please him; she
+selected it that morning, she told him, with this thought in view.
+
+"Decker, you ought to learn to play," said one of the guests who had
+watched him through the last piece. "You _look_ music, right out of
+your eyes. Miss Sherrill, here is a pupil for you who might do you
+credit. Have you ever had any instrument, Decker?"
+
+Then Norm came back to every-day life, and flushed and stammered. "No,
+he hadn't, and was not likely to;" and wondered what they would think
+if they were to see the corner grocery where he spent most of his
+leisure time.
+
+The questioner laughed pleasantly. "Oh, I'm not so sure of that. I
+have a friend who plays the violin in a way to bring tears to people's
+eyes, and he never touched one until he was thirty years old; hadn't
+time until then. He was an apprentice, and had his trade to master,
+and himself to get well started in it before he had time for music;
+but when he came to leisure, he made music a delight to himself and to
+others."
+
+"A great deal can be done with leisure time," said another of the
+guests. "Mr. Sherrill, you remember Myers, your college classmate? He
+did not learn to read, you know, until he was seventeen."
+
+"What?" said Norm, astonished out of his diffidence; "didn't know how
+to read!"
+
+"No," repeated the gentleman, "not until he was seventeen. He had a
+hard childhood--was kicked about in the world, with no leisure and no
+help, had to work evenings as well as days, but when he was seventeen
+he fell into kinder hands, and had a couple of hours each evening
+all to himself, and he mastered reading, not only, but all the common
+studies, and graduated from college with honor when he was twenty-six."
+
+Now Norm had all his evenings to lounge about in, and had not known
+what to do with them; and he could read quite well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE WAY MADE PLAIN.
+
+
+IT was a beautiful Sabbath afternoon; just warm enough to make people
+feel still and pleasant. The soft summer sunshine lay smiling on all
+the world, and the soft summer breeze rustled the leaves of the trees,
+and stole gently in at open windows. In the front room of the Deckers,
+the family was gathered, all save Mr. Decker. He could be heard in his
+bedroom stepping about occasionally, and great was his wife's fear
+lest he was preparing to go down town and put himself in the place of
+temptation at his old lounging place. Sunday could not be said to be a
+day of rest to Mrs. Decker. It had been the day of her greatest trials,
+so far. Norm was in his clean shirt and collar, which had been done up
+again by Nettie's careful hands and which shone beautifully. He was
+also in his shirt sleeves; that the mother was glad to see; _he_ was
+not going out just yet, anyway. Mrs. Decker had honored the day with a
+clean calico dress, and had shyly and with an almost shamefaced air,
+pinned into it a little cambric ruffle which Nettie had presented her,
+with the remark that it was just like the one Mrs. Burt wore, and that
+Jerry said she looked like Mrs. Burt a little, only he thought she was
+the best-looking of the two. Mrs. Decker had laughed, and then sighed;
+and said it made dreadful little difference to her how she looked. But
+the sigh meant that the days were not so very far distant when Mr.
+Decker used to tell her she was a handsome woman; and she used to smile
+over it, and call him a foolish man without any taste; but nevertheless
+used to like it very much, and make herself look as well as she could
+for his sake.
+
+She hadn't done it lately, but whose fault was that, she should like to
+know? However, she pinned the ruffle in, and whether Mr. Decker noticed
+it or not, she certainly looked wonderfully better. Norm noticed it,
+but of course he would not have said so for the world. Nettie in her
+blue and white gingham which had been washed and ironed since the
+flower party, and which had faded a little and shrunken a little,
+still looked neat and trim, and had the little girls one on either
+side of her, telling them a story in low tones; not so low but that
+the words floated over to the window where Norm was pretending not to
+listen: "And so," said the voice, "Daniel let himself be put into a den
+of dreadful fierce lions, rather than give up praying."
+
+"Did they frow him in?" this question from little Sate, horror in every
+letter of the words.
+
+"Yes, they did; and shut the door tight."
+
+"I wouldn't have been," said fierce Susie; "I would have bitten, and
+scratched and kicked just awful!"
+
+"Why didn't Daniel shut up the window just as _tight_, and not let
+anybody know it when he said his prayers?"
+
+Oh little Sate! how many older and wiser ones than you have tried to
+slip around conscience corners in some such way.
+
+"I don't know all the reasons," said Nettie, after a thoughtful pause,
+"but I suppose one was, because he wouldn't act in a way to make people
+believe he had given up praying. He wanted to show them that he meant
+to pray, whether they forbade it or not."
+
+"Go on," said Susie, sharply, "I want to know how he felt when the
+lions bit him."
+
+"They didn't bite him; God wouldn't let them touch him. They crouched
+down and kept as _still_, all night; and in the morning when the king
+came to look, there was Daniel, safe!"
+
+"Oh my!" said Sate, drawing a long, quivering sigh of relief; "wasn't
+that just splendid!"
+
+"How do you know it is true?" said skeptical Susie, looking as though
+she was prepared not to believe anything.
+
+"I know it because God said it, Susie; he put it in the Bible."
+
+"I didn't ever hear him say it," said Susie with a frown. A laugh
+from Norm at that moment gave Nettie her first knowledge of him as a
+listener. Her cheeks grew red, and she would have liked to slip away
+into a more quiet corner but Sate was in haste to hear just what the
+king said, and what Daniel said, and all about it, and the story went
+on steadily, Daniel's character for true bravery shining out all the
+more strongly, perhaps, because Nettie suspected herself of being a
+coward, and not liking Norm to laugh at her Bible stories. As for Norm,
+he knew he was a coward; he knew he had done in his life dozens of
+things to make his mother cry; not because he was so anxious to do
+them, nor because he feared a den of lions if he refused, but simply
+because some of the fellows would laugh at him if he did.
+
+That Sabbath day had been a memorable one to the Decker family in some
+respects; at least to part of it. Nettie had taken the little girls
+with her to Sabbath-school, and then to church. Mrs. Smith had given
+her a cordial invitation to sit in their seat, but it was not a very
+large seat, and when Job and his wife, and Sarah Ann and Jerry were all
+there, as they were apt to be, there was just room for Nettie without
+the little girls; so she went with them to the seat directly under the
+choir gallery where very few sat. It was comfortable enough; she could
+see the minister distinctly, and though she had to stretch out her neck
+to see the choir, she could hear their sweet voices; and surely that
+was enough. All went smoothly until the sermon was concluded. Sate sat
+quite still, and if she did not listen to the sermon, listened to her
+own thoughts and troubled no one.
+
+But when the anthem began, Sate roused herself. That wonderful voice
+which seemed to fill every corner of the church! She knew the voice;
+it belonged to her dear teacher. She stretched out her little neck, and
+could catch a glimpse of her, standing alone, the rest of the choir
+sitting back, out of sight. And what was that she was saying, over and
+over? "Come unto Me, unto Me, unto Me"--the words were repeated in the
+softest of cadences--"all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will
+give you rest." Sate did not understand those words, certainly her
+little feet were not weary, but there was a sweetness about the word
+"rest" as it floated out on the still air, which made her seem to want
+to go, she knew not whither. Then came the refrain: "Come unto Me, unto
+Me," swelling and rolling until it filled all the aisles, and dying
+away at last in the tenderest of pleading sounds. Sate's heart beat
+fast, and the color came and went on her baby face in a way which would
+have startled Nettie had she not been too intent on her own exquisite
+delight in the music, to remember the motionless little girl at her
+left.
+
+"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, learn of Me," called the sweet
+voice, and Sate, understanding the last of it felt that she wanted to
+learn, and of that One above all others. "For I am meek and lowly
+of heart"--she did not know what the words meant, but she was drawn,
+drawn. Then, listening, breathless, half resolved, came again that
+wondrous pleading, "Come unto Me, unto Me, unto Me." Softly the little
+feet slid down to the carpeted floor, softly they stepped on the green
+and gray mosses which gave back no sound; softly they moved down the
+aisle as though they carried a spirit with them, and when Nettie,
+hearing no sound, yet turned suddenly as people will, to look after her
+charge, little Sate was gone! Where? Nettie did not know, could not
+conjecture. No sight of her in the aisle, not under the seat, not in
+the great church anywhere. The door was open into the hall, and poor
+little tired Sate must have slipped away into the sunshine outside.
+Well, no harm could come to her there; she would surely wait for them,
+or, failing in that, the road home was direct enough, and nothing to
+trouble her; but how strange in little Sate to do it! If it had been
+Susie, resolute, independent Susie always sufficient to herself and a
+little more ready to do as she pleased than any other way! But Susie
+sat up prim and dignified on Nettie's right; not very conscious of the
+music, and willing enough to have the service over, but conscious
+that she had on her new shoes, and a white dress, and a white bonnet,
+and looked very well indeed. Meantime, little Sate was not out in the
+sunshine. She had not thought of sunshine; she had been called; it was
+not possible for her sweet little heart to get away from the feeling
+that some one was calling her, and that she wanted to go. What better
+was there to do than follow the voice? So she followed it, out into the
+hall, up the gallery stairs, still softly--the new shoes made no sound
+on the carpet--through the door which stood ajar, quite to the singer's
+side, there slipped this quiet little woman who had left her white
+bonnet by Nettie, and stood with her golden head rippling with the
+sunlight which fell upon it. There was a rustle in the choir gallery,
+a soft stir over the church, the sort of sound which people make when
+they are moved by some deep feeling which they hardly understand; there
+was a smile on some faces, but it was the kind of smile which might be
+given to a baby angel if it had strayed away from heaven to look at
+something bright down here. The tenor singer would have drawn away the
+small form from the soloist, but she put forth a protecting hand
+and circled the child, and sang on, her voice taking sweeter tone, if
+possible, and dying away in such tenderness as made the smiles on some
+faces turn to tears, and made the echo linger with them of that last
+tremulous "Come unto Me."
+
+[Illustration: LITTLE SATE IN THE CHOIR GALLERY.]
+
+But little Sate, when she reached the choir gallery, saw something
+which startled her out of her sweet resolute calm. Away on the side, up
+there, where few people were, sat her own father; and rolling down his
+cheeks were tears. Sate had never seen her father cry before. What was
+the matter? Had she been naughty, and was it making him feel bad? She
+stole a startled glance at the face of her teacher, whose arm was still
+around her and had drawn her toward the seat into which she dropped,
+when the song was over. No, _her_ face was quiet and sweet; not
+grieved, as Sate was sure it would be, if she had been naughty. Neither
+did the people look cross at her; many of them had bowed their heads in
+prayer, but some were sitting erect, looking at her and smiling; surely
+she had made no noise. Why should her father cry? She looked at him; he
+had shaded his face with his hand. Was he crying still? Little Sate
+thought it over, all in a moment of time, then suddenly she slipped
+away from the encircling arm, moved softly across the intervening
+space, into the side gallery, and was at her father's side, with her
+small hand on his sleeve. He stooped and took her in his arms, and the
+tears were still in his eyes; but he kissed her, and _kissed_ her, as
+little Sate had never been kissed before; she nestled in his arms and
+felt safe and comforted.
+
+The prayer was over, the benediction given, and the worshipers moved
+down the aisles. Sate rode comfortably in her father's arms, down
+stairs, out into the hall, outside, in the sunshine, waiting for Nettie
+and for her white sunbonnet. Presently Nettie came, hurried, flushed,
+despite her judgment, anxious as to where the bonnetless little girl
+could have vanished. "Why, Sate," she began, but the rest of the
+sentence died in astonished silence on her lips, for Sate held her
+father's hand and looked content.
+
+They walked home together, the father and his youngest baby, saying
+nothing, for Sate was one of those wise-eyed little children who
+have spells of sweet silence come over them, and Nettie, with Susie,
+walked behind, the elder sister speculating: "Where did little Sate
+find father? Did he pick her up on the street somewhere, and would he
+be angry, and not let Nettie take her to church any more? Or did he,
+passing, spy her in the churchyard and come in for her?"
+
+Nettie did not know, and Sate did not tell; principally because she
+did not understand that there was anything to tell. So while the
+people in their homes talked and laughed about the small white waif
+who had slipped into the choir, the people in this home were entirely
+silent about it, and the mother did not know that anything strange
+had happened. It is true, Susie began to inquire reprovingly, but was
+hushed by Nettie's warning whisper; certainly Nettie was gaining a
+wonderful control over the self-sufficient Susie. The child respected
+her almost enough to follow her lead unquestioningly, which was a great
+deal for Susie to do.
+
+So they sat together that sweet Sabbath afternoon, Nettie telling her
+Bible stories, and wondering how she should plan. What did Norm intend
+to do a little later in the day? What was there she could do to keep
+him from lounging down street? Why was her father staying so long in
+the choked-up bedroom? What was the matter with her father these days,
+and how long was anything going to last? Why did she feel, someway,
+as though she stood on the very edge of something which startled and
+almost frightened her? Was it because she was afraid her father would
+not let her take Sate and Susie to church any more?
+
+With all these thoughts floating through her mind, it was rather
+hard to keep herself closely confined to Daniel and his experiences.
+Suddenly the bedroom door opened and her father came out. Everybody
+glanced up, though perhaps nobody could have told why. There was
+a peculiar look on his face. Mrs. Decker noticed it and did not
+understand it, and felt her heart beat in great thuds against the back
+of her chair. Little Sate noticed it, and went over to him and slipped
+her hand inside his. He sat down in the state chair which Nettie and
+her mother had both contrived to have left vacant, and took Sate in his
+arms. This of itself was unusual, but after that, there was silence,
+Sate nestling safely in the protective arms and seeming satisfied with
+all the world. Nettie felt her face flush, and her bosom heave as if
+the tears were coming, but she could not have told why she wanted
+to cry Norm seemed oppressed with the stillness, and broke it by
+whistling softly; also he had a small stick and was whittling; it was
+the only thing he could think of to do just now. It was too early to go
+out; the boys would not be through with their boarding-house dinners
+yet. Suddenly Mr. Decker broke in on the almost silence. "Hannah,"
+he said, then he cleared his voice, and was still again, "and you
+children," he added, after a moment, "I've got something to tell you
+if I knew how. Something that I guess you will be glad to hear. I've
+turned over a new leaf at last. I've turned it, off and on, in my mind
+a good many times lately, though I don't know as any of you knew it.
+I've been thinking about this thing, well, as soon as Nannie there came
+home, at least; but I haven't understood it very well, and I s'pose
+I don't now; but I understand it enough to have made up my mind; and
+that's more than half the battle. The long and short of it is, I have
+given myself to the Lord, or he has got hold of me, somehow; it isn't
+much of a gift, that's a fact, but the queer thing about it is, he
+seems to think it worth taking. I told him last night that if he would
+show a poor stick like me how to do it, why, I'd do my part without
+fail; and this morning he not only showed the way plain enough, but he
+sent my little girl to help me along."
+
+The father's voice broke then, and a tear trembled in his eye. Sate had
+held her little head erect and looked steadily at him as soon as he
+began to talk, wonder and interest, and some sort of still excitement
+in her face as she listened. At his first pause she broke forth:
+
+"Did He mean you, papa, when He said 'Come unto Me'? Was He calling
+you, all the time? and did you tell Him you would?"
+
+"Yes," he said, bending and kissing the earnest face, "He meant me, and
+He's been calling me loud, this good while; but I never got started
+till to-day. Now I'm going along with Him the rest of the way."
+
+"I'm so glad," said little Sate, nestling contentedly back, "I'm so
+glad, papa; I'm going too."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE NEW ENTERPRISE.
+
+
+ONE bright and never-to-be-forgotten day, Nettie and Jerry stood
+together in the "new" room and surveyed with intense satisfaction
+all its appointments. They were ready to begin business. On that
+very evening the room was to be "open to the public!" They looked at
+each other as they repeated that large-sounding phrase, and laughed
+gleefully.
+
+There had been a great deal to do to get ready. Hours and even days
+had been spent in planning. It astonished both these young people to
+discover how many things there were to think of, and get ready for,
+and guard against, before one could go into business. There was a time
+when with each new day, new perplexities arose. During those days Jerry
+had spent a good deal of his leisure in fishing; both because at the
+Smiths, and also at the Deckers, fish were highly prized, and also
+because, as he confided to Nettie, "a fellow could somehow think a
+great deal better when his fingers were at work, and when it was still
+everywhere about him."
+
+There were times, however, when his solitude was disturbed. There had
+been one day in particular when something happened about which he did
+not tell Nettie. He was in his fishing suit, which though clean and
+whole was not exactly the style of dress which a boy would wear to a
+party, and he stood leaning against a rail fence, rod in hand, trying
+to decide whether he should try his luck on that side, or jump across
+the logs to a shadier spot; trying also to decide just how they could
+manage to get another lamp to stand on the reading table, when he heard
+voices under the trees just back of him.
+
+They were whispering in that sort of penetrating whisper that floats
+so far in the open air, and which some, girls, particularly, do not
+seem to know can be heard a few feet away. Jerry could hear distinctly;
+in fact unless he stopped his ears with his hands he could not help
+hearing.
+
+And the old rule, that listeners never hear any good of themselves,
+applied here.
+
+"There's that Jerry who lives at the Smiths'," said whisperer number
+one, "do look what a fright; I guess he has borrowed a pair of Job
+Smith's overalls! Isn't it a shame that such a nice-looking boy is
+deserted in that way, and left to run with all sorts of people?"
+
+"I heard that he wasn't deserted; that his father was only staying out
+West, or down South, or somewhere for awhile."
+
+"Oh! that's a likely story," said whisperer number one, her voice
+unconsciously growing louder. "Just as if any father who was anybody,
+would leave a boy at Job Smith's for months, and never come near him.
+I think it is real mean; they say the Smiths keep him at work all the
+while, fishing; he about supports them, and the Deckers too, with fish
+and things."
+
+At this point the amused listener nearly forgot himself and whistled.
+
+"Oh well, that's as good a way as any to spend his time; he knows
+enough to catch fish and do such things, and when he is old enough,
+I suppose he will learn a trade; but I must say I think he is a
+nice-looking fellow."
+
+"He would be, if he dressed decently. The boys like him real well; they
+say he is smart; and I shouldn't wonder if he was; big eyes twinkle as
+though he might be. If he wouldn't keep running with that Decker girl
+all the time, he might be noticed now and then."
+
+At this point came up a third young miss who spoke louder. Jerry
+recognized her voice at once as belonging to Lorena Barstow. "Girls,
+what are you doing here? Why, there is that Irish boy; I wonder if he
+wouldn't sell us some fish? They say he is very anxious to earn money;
+I should think he would be, to get himself some decent clothes. Or
+maybe he wants to make his dear Nan a present."
+
+Then followed a laugh which was quickly hushed, lest the victim might
+hear. But the victim had heard, and looked more than amused; his eyes
+flashed with a new idea.
+
+"Much obliged, Miss Lorena," he said softly, nodding his head. "If I
+don't act on your hint, it will be because I am not so bright as you
+give me credit for being."
+
+Then the first whisperer took up the story:
+
+"Say, girls, I heard that Ermina did really mean to invite him to her
+candy pull, and the Decker girl too; she says they both belong to the
+Sunday-school, and she is going to invite all the boys and girls of
+that age in the school, and her mother thinks it would not be nice to
+leave them out. You know the Farleys are real queer about some things."
+
+Lorena Barstow flamed into a voice which was almost loud. "Then I say
+let's just not speak a word to either of them the whole evening. Ermina
+Farley need not think that because she lives in a grand house, and her
+father has so much money, she can rule us all. I for one, don't mean to
+associate with a drunkard's daughter, and I won't be made to, by the
+Farleys or anybody else."
+
+"Her father isn't a drunkard now. Why, don't you know he has joined the
+church? And last Wednesday night they say he was in prayer meeting."
+
+"Oh, yes, and what does that amount to? My father says it won't last
+six weeks; he says drunkards are not to be trusted; they never reform.
+And what if he does? That doesn't make Nan Decker anything but a dowdy,
+not fit for us girls to go with; and as for that Irish boy! Why doesn't
+Ermina go down on Paddy Lane and invite the whole tribe of Irish if
+she is so fond of them?"
+
+"Hush, Lora, Ermina will hear you."
+
+Sure enough at that moment came Ermina, springing briskly over logs and
+underbrush. "Have I kept you waiting?" she asked gayly. "The moss was
+so lovely back there; I wanted to carry the whole of it home to mother.
+Why, girls, there is that boy who sits across from us in Sabbath-school.
+
+"How do you do?" she said pleasantly, for at that moment Jerry turned
+and came toward them, lifting his hat as politely as though it was in
+the latest shape and style.
+
+"Have you had good luck in fishing?"
+
+"Very good for this side; the fish are not so plenty here generally
+as they are further up. I heard you speaking of fish, Miss Barstow,
+and wondering whether I would not supply your people? I should be very
+glad to do so, occasionally; I am a pretty successful fellow so far as
+fishing goes."
+
+You should have seen the cheeks of the whisperers then! Ermina looked
+at them, perplexed for a moment, then seeing they answered only with
+blushes and silence _she_ spoke: "Mamma would be very glad to get
+some; she was saying yesterday she wished she knew some one of whom she
+could get fish as soon as they were caught. Have you some to-day for
+sale?"
+
+"Three beauties which I would like nothing better than to sell, for I
+am in special need of the money just now."
+
+"Very well," said Ermina promptly, "I am sure mamma will like them;
+could you carry them down now? I am on my way home and could show you
+where to go."
+
+"Ermina Farley!" remonstrated Lorena Barstow in a low shocked tone, but
+Ermina only said: "Good-by, girls, I shall expect you early on Thursday
+evening," and walked briskly down the path toward the road, with Jerry
+beside her, swinging his fish. If the girls could have seen his eyes
+just then, they would have been sure that they twinkled.
+
+They had a pleasant walk, and Ermina did actually invite him to her
+candy-pull on Thursday evening; not only that, but she asked if he
+would take an invitation from her to Nettie Decker. "She lives next
+door to you, I think," said Ermina, "I would like very much to have her
+come; I think she is so pleasant and unselfish. It is just a few boys
+and girls of our age, in the Sunday-school."
+
+How glad Jerry was that she had invited them! He had been so afraid
+that her courage would not be equal to it. Glad was he also to be able
+to say, frankly, that both he and Nettie had an engagement for Thursday
+evening; he would be sure to give Nettie the invitation, but he knew
+she could not come. Of course she could not, he said to himself; "Isn't
+that our opening evening?" But all the same it was very nice in Ermina
+Farley to have invited them.
+
+"Here is another lamp for the table," said Jerry gayly, as he rushed
+into the new room an hour later and tossed down a shining silver
+dollar. He had exchanged the fish for it. Then he sat down and told
+part of their story to Nettie. About the whisperers, however, he kept
+silent. What was the use in telling that?
+
+But from them he had gotten another idea. "Look here, Nettie, some
+evening we'll have a candy-pull, early, with just a few to help, and
+sell it cheap to customers."
+
+So now they stood together in the room to see if there was another
+thing to be done before the opening. A row of shelves planed and
+fitted by Norm were ranged two thirds of the way up the room and
+on them were displayed tempting pans of ginger cookies, doughnuts,
+molasses cookies, and soft gingerbread. Sandwiches made of good bread,
+and nice slices of ham, were shut into the corner cupboard to keep
+from drying; there was also a plate of cheese which was a present from
+Mrs. Smith. She had sent it in with the explanation that it would be a
+blessing to her if that cheese could get eaten by somebody; she bought
+it once, a purpose, as a treat for Job, and it seemed it wasn't the
+kind he liked, and none of the rest of them liked any kind, so there
+it had stood on the shelf eying her for days. There was to be coffee;
+Nettie had planned for that. "Because," she explained, "they _all_
+drink beer; and things to eat, can never take the place of things to
+drink."
+
+It had been a difficult matter to get the materials together for
+this beginning. All the money which came in from the "little old
+grandmothers," as well as that which Jerry contributed, had been spent
+in flour, and sugar, and eggs and milk. Nettie was amazed and dismayed
+to find how much even soft gingerbread cost, when every pan of it had
+to be counted in money. A good deal of arithmetic had been spent on
+the question: How low can we possibly sell this, and not actually lose
+money by it? Of course some allowance had to be made for waste. "We'll
+have to name it waste," explained Nettie with an anxious face, "because
+it won't bring in any money; but of course not a scrap of it will be
+wasted; but what is left over and gets too dry to sell, we shall have
+to eat."
+
+Jerry shook his head. "We must sell it," he said with the air of a
+financier. Then he went away thoughtfully to consult Mrs. Job, and came
+back triumphant. She would take for a week at half price, all the stale
+cake they might have left. "That means gingercake," he explained, "she
+says the cookies and things will keep for weeks, without getting too
+old."
+
+"Sure enough!" said radiant Nettie, "I did not think of that."
+
+There were other things to think of; some of them greatly perplexed
+Jerry; he had to catch many fish before they were thought out. Then he
+came with his views to Nettie.
+
+"See here, do you understand about this firm business; it must be you
+and me, you know?"
+
+Nettie's bright face clouded. "Why, I thought," she said, speaking
+slowly, "I thought you said, or you meant--I mean I thought it was to
+help Norm; and that he would be a partner."
+
+Jerry shook his head. "Can't do it," he said decidedly. "Look here,
+Nettie, we'll get into trouble right away if we take in a partner. He
+believes in drinking beer, and smoking cigarettes, and doing things of
+that sort; now if he as a partner introduces anything of the kind, what
+are we to do?"
+
+"Sure enough!" the tone expressed conviction, but not relief. "Then
+what are we to do, Jerry? I don't see how we are going to help Norm
+any."
+
+"I do; quite as well as though he was a partner. Norm is a good-natured
+fellow; he likes to help people. I think he likes to do things for
+others better than for himself. If we explain to him that we want to go
+into this business, and that you can't wait on customers, because you
+are a girl, and it wouldn't be the thing, and I can't, because it is
+in your house, and I promised my father I would spend my evenings at
+home, and write a piece of a letter to him every evening; and ask him
+to come to the rescue and keep the room open, and sell the things for
+us, don't you believe he will be twice as likely to do it as though we
+made him as young as ourselves, and tried to be his equals?"
+
+Then Nettie's face was bright. "What a contriver you are!" she said
+admiringly. "I think that will do just splendidly."
+
+She was right, it did. Norm might have curled his lip and said "pooh"
+to the scheme, had he been placed on an equality; for he was getting
+to the age when to be considered young, or childish, is a crime in a
+boy's eyes. But to be appealed to as one who could help the "young fry"
+out of their dilemma, and at the same time provide himself with a very
+pleasant place to stay, and very congenial employment while he stayed,
+was quite to Norm's mind.
+
+And as it was an affair of the children's, he made no suggestions about
+beer or cigars; it is true he thought of them, but he thought at once
+that neither Nettie or Jerry would probably have anything to do with
+them, and as he had no dignity to sustain, he decided to not even
+mention the matter. These two planned really better than they knew in
+appealing to Norm for help. His curious pride would never have allowed
+him to say to a boy, "We keep cakes and coffee for sale at our house;
+come in and try them." But it was entirely within the line of his ideas
+of respectability to say: "What do you think those two young ones over
+at our house have thought up next? They have opened an eating-house,
+cakes and things such as my sister can make, and coffee, dirt cheap.
+I've promised to run the thing for them in the evening awhile; I
+suppose you'll patronize them?"
+
+And the boys, who would have sneered at _his_ setting himself up in
+business, answered: "What, the little chap who lives at Smith's? And
+your little sister! Ho! what a notion! I don't know but it is a bright
+one, though, as sure as you live. There isn't a spot in this town where
+a fellow can get a decent bite unless he pays his week's wages for it;
+boys, let's go around and see what the little chaps are about."
+
+The very first evening was a success.
+
+Nettie had assured herself that she must not be disappointed if no one
+came, at first.
+
+"You see, it is a new thing," she explained to her mother, "of course
+it will take them a little while to get acquainted with it; if nobody
+at all comes to-night, I shall not be disappointed. Shall you, Jerry?"
+
+"Why, yes," said Jerry, "I should; because I know of one boy who is
+coming, and is going to have a ginger-snap and a glass of milk. And
+that is little Ted Locker who lives down the lane; they about starve
+that boy. I shall like to see him get something good. He has three
+cents and I assured him he could get a brimming glass of milk and a
+ginger-snap for that. He was as delighted as possible."
+
+"Poor fellow!" said Nettie, "I mean to tell Norm to let him have two
+snaps, wouldn't you?"
+
+And Jerry agreed, not stopping to explain that he had furnished the
+three cents with which Ted was to treat his poor little stomach. So the
+work began in benevolence.
+
+Still Nettie was anxious, not to say nervous.
+
+"You will have to eat soft gingerbread at your house, for breakfast,
+dinner and supper, I am afraid," she said to Jerry with a half laugh,
+as they stood looking at it. "I don't know why I made four tins of it;
+I seemed to get in a gale when I was making it."
+
+"Never you fear," said Jerry, cheerily. "I'll be willing to eat such
+gingerbread as that three times a day for a week. Between you and me,"
+lowering his voice, "Sarah Ann can't make very good gingerbread; when
+we get such a run of custom that we have none left over to sell, I wish
+you'd teach her how."
+
+I do not know that any member of the two households could be said to be
+more interested in the new enterprise than Mr. Decker. He helped set up
+the shelves, and he made a little corner shelf on purpose for the lamp,
+and he watched the entire preparations with an interest which warmed
+Nettie's heart. I haven't said anything about Mr. Decker during these
+days, because I found it hard to say. You are acquainted with him as a
+sour-faced, unreasonable, beer-drinking man; when suddenly he became
+a man who said "Good morning" when he came into the room, and who sat
+down smooth shaven, and with quiet eyes and smile to his breakfast, and
+spoke gently to Susie when she tipped her cup of water over, and kissed
+little Sate when he lifted her to her seat, and waited for Mrs. Decker
+to bring the coffee pot, then bowed his head and in clear tones asked a
+blessing on the food, how am I to describe him to you? The change was
+something which even Mrs. Decker who watched him every minute he was in
+the house and thought of him all day long, could not get accustomed to.
+It astonished her so to think that she, Mrs. Decker, lived in a house
+where there was a prayer made every night and morning, and where each
+evening after supper Nettie read a few verses in the Bible, and her
+father prayed; that every time she passed her own mother's Bible which
+had been brought out of its hiding-place in an old trunk, she said,
+under her breath, "Thank the Lord." No, she did not understand it, the
+marvelous change which had come over her husband. She had known him as
+a kind man; he had been that when she married him, and for a few months
+afterwards.
+
+She had heard him speak pleasantly to Norm, and show him much
+attention; he had done it before they were married, and for awhile
+afterwards; but there was a look in his face, and a sound in his voice
+now, such as she had never seen nor heard before.
+
+"It isn't Decker," she said in a burst of confidence to Nettie. "He is
+just as good as he can be; and I don't know anything in the world he
+ain't willing to do for me, or for any of us; and it is beautiful, the
+whole of it; but it is all new. I used to think if the man I married
+could only come back to me I should be perfectly happy; but I don't
+know this man at all; he seems to me sometimes most like an angel."
+
+Probably you would have laughed at this. Joe Decker did not look in the
+least like the picture you have in your mind of an angel; but perhaps
+if you had known him only a few weeks before, as Mrs. Decker did, and
+could have seen the wonderful change in him which she saw, the contrast
+might even have suggested angels.
+
+Nettie understood it. She struggled with her timidity and her ignorance
+of just what ought to be said; then she made her earnest reply:
+
+"Mother, I'll tell you the difference. Father prays, and when people
+pray, you know, and mean it, as he does, they get to looking very
+different."
+
+But Mrs. Decker did not pray.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.
+
+
+AS a matter of fact there wasn't a cake left. Neither doughnut nor
+gingersnap; hardly a crumb to tell the successful tale. Nettie surveyed
+the empty shelves the next morning in astonishment. She had been too
+busy the night before to realize how fast things were going. Naturally
+the number and variety of dishes in the Decker household was limited
+and the evening to Nettie was a confused murmur of, "Hand us some more
+cups." "Can't you raise a few more teaspoons somewhere?" "Give us
+another plate," or, "More doughnuts needed;" and Nettie flew hither and
+thither, washed cups, rinsed spoons, said, "What did I do with that
+towel?" or, "Where in the world is the bread knife?" or, "Oh! I smell
+the coffee! maybe it is boiling over," and was conscious of nothing but
+weariness and relief when the last cup of coffee was drank, and the
+last teaspoon washed.
+
+But with the next morning's sunshine she knew the opening was a
+success. She counted the gains with eager joy, assuring Jerry that they
+could have twice as much gingerbread next time.
+
+"And you'll need it," said Norm. "I had to tell half a dozen boys
+that there wasn't a crumb left. I felt sorry for 'em, too; they were
+boarding-house fellows who never get anything decent to eat."
+
+Already Norm had apparently forgotten that he was one who used
+frequently to make a similar complaint.
+
+There was a rarely sweet smile on Nettie's face, not born of the chink
+in the factory bag which she had made for the money; it grew from the
+thought that she need not hide the bag now, and tremble lest it should
+be taken to the saloon to pay for whiskey. What a little time ago it
+was that she had feared that! What a changed world it was!
+
+"But there won't be such a crowd again," she said as they were putting
+the room in order, "that was the first night."
+
+"Humph!" said that wise woman Susie with a significant toss of her
+head; "last night you said we mustn't expect anybody because it was the
+first night."
+
+Then "the firm" had a hearty laugh at Nettie's expense and set to work
+preparing for evening.
+
+I am not going to tell you the story of that summer and fall. It was
+beautiful; as any of the Deckers will tell you with eager eyes and
+voluble voice if you call on them, and start the subject.
+
+The business grew and grew, and exceeded their most sanguine
+expectations. Mr. Decker interested himself in it most heartily, and
+brought often an old acquaintance to get a cup of coffee. "Make it
+good and strong," he would say to Nettie in an earnest whisper. "He's
+thirsty, and I brought him here instead of going for beer. I wish the
+room was larger, and I'd get others to come."
+
+In time, and indeed in a very short space of time, this grew to be the
+crying need of the firm: "If we only had more room, and more dishes!"
+There was a certain long, low building which had once been used as a
+boarding-house for the factory hands, before that institution grew
+large and moved into new quarters, and which was not now in use. At
+this building Jerry and Nettie, and for that matter, Norm, looked with
+longing eyes. They named it "Our Rooms," and hardly ever passed that
+they did not suggest some improvement in it which could be easily
+made, and which would make it just the thing for their business. They
+knew just what sort of curtains they would have at the windows, just
+what furnishings in front and back rooms, just how many lamps would
+be needed. "We will have a hanging lamp over the centre table," said
+Jerry. "One of those new-fashioned things which shine and give a bright
+light, almost like gas; and lots of books and papers for the boys to
+read."
+
+"But where would we get the books and papers?" would Nettie say, with
+an anxious business face, as though the room, and the table, and the
+hanging lamp, were arranged for, and the last-mentioned articles all
+that were needed to complete the list.
+
+"Oh! they would gather, little by little. I know some people who would
+donate great piles of them if we had a place to put them. For that
+matter, as it is, father is going to send us some picture-papers, a
+great bundle of them; send them by express, and we must have a table to
+put them on."
+
+So the plans grew, but constantly they looked at the long, low building
+and said what a nice place it would be.
+
+One morning Jerry came across the yard with a grave face. "What do you
+think?" he said, the moment he caught sight of Nettie. "They have gone
+and rented our rooms for a horrid old saloon; whiskey in front, and
+gambling in the back part! Isn't it a shame that they have got ahead of
+us in that kind of way?"
+
+"Oh dear me!" said Nettie, drawing out each word to twice its usual
+length, and sitting down on a corner of the woodbox with hands clasped
+over the dish towel, and for the moment a look on her face as though
+all was lost.
+
+But it was the very same day that Jerry appeared again, his face
+beaming. This time it was hard to make Nettie hear, for Mrs. Decker
+was washing, and mingling with the rapid rub-a-dub of the clothes was
+the sizzle of ham in the spider, and the bubble of a kettle which was
+bent on boiling over, and making the half-distracted housekeeper all
+the trouble it could. Yet his news was too good to keep; and he shouted
+above the din: "I say, Nettie, the man has backed out! Our rooms are
+not rented, after all."
+
+"Goody!" said Nettie, and she smiled on the kettle in a way to make it
+think she did not care if everything in it boiled over on the floor;
+whereupon it calmed down, of course, and behaved itself.
+
+So the weeks passed, and the enterprise grew and flourished. I hope
+you remember Mrs. Speckle? Very early in the autumn she sent every
+one of her chicks out into the world to toil for themselves and began
+business. Each morning a good-sized, yellow-tinted, warm, beautiful
+egg lay in the nest waiting for Jerry; and when he came, Mrs. Speckle
+cackled the news to him in the most interested way.
+
+"She couldn't do better if she were a regularly constituted member of
+the firm with a share in the profits," said Jerry.
+
+The egg was daily carried to Mrs. Farley's, where there was an invalid
+daughter, who had a fancy for that warm, plump egg which came to her
+each morning, done up daintily in pink cotton, and laid in a box just
+large enough for it. But there came a morning which was a proud one
+to Nettie. Jerry had returned from Mrs. Farley's with news. "The sick
+daughter is going South; she has an auntie who is to spend the winter
+in Florida, so they have decided to send her. They start to-morrow
+morning. Mrs. Farley said they would take our eggs all the same, and
+she wished Miss Helen could have them; but somebody else would have to
+eat them for her."
+
+Then Nettie, beaming with pleasure, "Jerry, I wish you would tell Mrs.
+Farley that we can't spare them any more at present; I would have told
+you before, but I didn't want to take the egg from Miss Helen; I want
+to buy them now, every other morning, for mother and father; mother
+thinks there is nothing nicer than a fresh egg, and I know father will
+be pleased."
+
+What satisfaction was in Nettie's voice, what joy in her heart! Oh!
+they were poor, very poor, "miserably poor" Lorena Barstow called them,
+but they had already reached the point where Nettie felt justified in
+planning for a fresh egg apiece for father and mother, and knew that
+it could be paid for. So Mrs. Speckle began from that day to keep the
+results of her industry in the home circle, and grew more important
+because of that.
+
+Almost every day now brought surprises. One of the largest of them was
+connected with Susie Decker. That young woman from the very first had
+shown a commendable interest in everything pertaining to the business.
+She patiently did errands for it, in all sorts of weather, and was
+always ready to dust shelves, arrange cookies without eating so much as
+a bite, and even wipe teaspoons, a task which she used to think beneath
+her. "If you can't trust me with things that would smash," she used to
+say with scornful gravity, to Nettie, "then you can't expect me to be
+willing to wipe those tough spoons."
+
+But in these days, spoons were taken uncomplainingly. Susie had a
+business head, and was already learning to count pennies and add them
+to the five and ten cent pieces; and when Jerry said approvingly: "One
+of these days, she will be our treasurer," the faintest shadow of a
+blush would appear on Susie's face, but she always went on counting
+gravely, with an air of one who had not heard a word.
+
+On a certain stormy, windy day, one of November's worst, it was
+discovered late in the afternoon that the molasses jug was empty, and
+the boys had been promised some molasses candy that very evening.
+
+"What shall we do?" asked Nettie, looking perplexed, and standing jug
+in hand in the middle of the room. "Jerry won't be home in time to get
+it, and I can't leave those cakes to bake themselves; mother, you don't
+think you could see to them a little while till I run to the grocery,
+do you?"
+
+Mrs. Decker shook her head, but spoke sympathetically: "I'd do it in a
+minute, child, or I'd go for the molasses, but these shirts are very
+particular; I never had such fine ones to iron before, and the irons
+are just right, and if I should have to leave the bosoms at the wrong
+minute to look at the cakes, why, it would spoil the bosoms; and on the
+other hand, if I left the cakes and saved the bosoms, why, they would
+be spoiled."
+
+This seemed logical reasoning. Susie, perched on a high chair in front
+of the table, was counting a large pile of pennies, putting them in
+heaps of twenty-five cents each. She waited until her fourth heap was
+complete, then looked up. "Why don't you ask me to go?"
+
+"Sure enough!" said Nettie, laughing, "I'd 'ask' you in a minute if it
+didn't rain so hard; but it seems a pretty stormy day to send out a
+little chicken like you."
+
+"I'm not a chicken, and I'm not the leastest bit afraid of rain; I can
+go as well as not if you only think so."
+
+"I don't believe it will hurt her!" said Mrs. Decker, glancing
+doubtfully out at the sullen sky. "It doesn't rain so hard as it did,
+and she has such a nice thick sack now."
+
+It was nice, made of heavy waterproof cloth, with a lovely woolly
+trimming going all around it. Susie liked that sack almost better than
+anything else in the world. Her mother had bought it second-hand of a
+woman whose little girl had outgrown it; the mother had washed all day
+and ironed another day to pay for it, and felt the liveliest delight in
+seeing Susie in the pretty garment.
+
+The rain seemed to be quieting a little, so presently the young woman
+was robed in sack and waterproof bonnet with a cape, and started on her
+way.
+
+Half-way to the grocery she met Jerry hastening home from school with a
+bag of books slung across his shoulder.
+
+"Is it so late as that?" asked Susie in dismay. "Nettie thought you
+wouldn't be at home in a good while; the candy won't get done."
+
+"No, it is as early as this," he answered laughing; "we were dismissed
+an hour earlier than usual this afternoon. Where are you going? after
+molasses? See here, suppose you give me the jug and you take my books
+and scud home. There is a big storm coming on; I think the wind is
+going to blow, and I'm afraid it will twist you all up and pour the
+molasses over you. Then you'd be ever so sticky!"
+
+Susie laughed and exchanged not unwillingly the heavy jug for the
+books. There had been quite wind enough since she started, and if there
+was to be more, she had no mind to brave it.
+
+"If you hurry," called Jerry, "I think you'll get home before the next
+squall comes." So she hurried; but Jerry was mistaken. The squall came
+with all its force, and poor small Susie was twisted and whirled and
+lost her breath almost, and panted and struggled on, and was only too
+thankful that she hadn't the molasses jug.
+
+Nearly opposite the Farley home, their side door suddenly opened and a
+pleasant voice called: "Little girl, come in here, and wait until the
+shower is over; you will be wet to the skin."
+
+It is true Susie did not believe that her waterproof sack _could_ be
+wet through, but that dreadful wind so frightened her, twisting the
+trees as it did, that she was glad to obey the kind voice and rush into
+shelter.
+
+"Why, it is Nettie's sister, I do believe!" said Ermina Farley, helping
+her off with the dripping hood.
+
+"You dear little mouse, what sent you out in such a storm?"
+
+Miss Susie not liking the idea of being a mouse much more than she did
+being a chicken, answered with dignity, and becoming brevity.
+
+"Molasses candy!" said Mrs. Farley, laughing, yet with an undertone of
+disapproval in her voice which keen-minded Susie heard and felt, "I
+shouldn't think that was a necessity of life on such a day as this."
+
+"It is if you have promised it to some boys who don't ever have
+anything nice only what they get at our house; and who save their
+pennies that they spend on beer, and cider, and cigars to get it."
+
+Wise Susie, indignation in every word, yet well controlled, and aware
+before she finished her sentence that she was deeply interesting her
+audience! How they questioned her! What was this? Who did it? Who
+thought of it? When did they begin it? Who came? How did they get the
+money to buy their things? Susie, thoroughly posted, thoroughly in
+sympathy with the entire movement, calm, collected, keen far beyond her
+years, answered clearly and well. Plainly she saw that this lady in a
+silken gown was interested.
+
+"Well, if this isn't a revelation!" said Mrs. Farley at last. "A young
+men's Christian association not only, but an eating-house flourishing
+right in our midst and we knowing nothing about it. Did you know
+anything of it, daughter?"
+
+"No, ma'am," said Ermina. "But I knew that splendid Nettie was trying
+to do something for her brother; and that nice boy who used to bring
+eggs was helping her; it is just like them both. I don't believe there
+is a nicer girl in town than Nettie Decker."
+
+Mrs. Farley seemed unable to give up the subject. She asked many
+questions as to how long the boys stayed, and what they did all the
+time.
+
+Susie explained: "Well, they eat, you know; and Norm doesn't hurry
+them; he says they have to pitch the things down fast where they board,
+to keep them from freezing; and our room is warm, because we keep the
+kitchen door open, and the heat goes in; but we don't know what we
+shall do when the weather gets real cold; and after they have eaten all
+the things they can pay for, they look at the pictures. Jerry's father
+sends him picture papers, and Mr. Sherrill brings some, most every day.
+Miss Sherrill is coming Thanksgiving night to sing for them; and Nettie
+says if we only had an organ she would play beautiful music. We want
+to give them a treat for Thanksgiving; we mean to do it without any
+pay at all if we can; and father thinks we can, because he is working
+nights this week, and getting extra pay; and Jerry thinks there will
+be two chickens ready; and Nettie wishes we could have an organ for a
+little while, just for Norm, because he loves music so, but of course
+we can't."
+
+Long before this sentence was finished, Ermina and her mother had
+exchanged glances which Susie, being intent on her story, did not see.
+
+She was a wise little woman of business; what if Mrs. Farley should
+say: "Well, I will give you a chicken myself for the Thanksgiving time,
+and a whole peck of apples!" then indeed, Susie believed that their
+joy would be complete; for Nettie had said, if they could only afford
+three chickens she believed that with a lot of crust she could make
+chicken pie enough for them each to have a large piece, hot; not all
+the boys, of course, but the seven or eight who worked in Norm's shop
+and boarded at the dreary boarding-house; they would so like to give
+Norm a surprise for his birthday, and have a treat say at six o'clock
+for all of these; for this year Thanksgiving fell on Norm's birthday.
+The storm held up after a little, and Susie, trudging home, a trifle
+disgusted with Mrs. Farley because she said not a word about the peck
+of apples or the other chicken, was met by Jerry coming in search of
+her. The molasses was boiling over, he told her, and so was her mother,
+with anxiety lest the wind had taken her, Susie, up in a tree, and had
+forgotten to bring her down again. He hurried her home between the
+squalls, and Susie quietly resolved to say not a word about all the
+things she had told at the Farley home. What if Nettie should think
+she hadn't been womanly to talk so much about what they were doing! If
+there was one thing that this young woman had a horror of during these
+days, it was that Nettie would think she was not womanly. The desire,
+nay, the determination to be so, at all costs had well nigh cured her
+of her fits of rage and screaming, because in one of her calm moments
+Nettie had pointed out to her the fact that she never in her life heard
+a _woman_ scream like that. Susie being a logical person, argued the
+rest of the matter out for herself, and resolved to scream and stamp
+her foot no more.
+
+Great was the astonishment of the Decker family, next morning. Mrs.
+Farley herself came to call on them. She wanted some plain ironing done
+that afternoon. Yes, Mrs. Decker would do it and be glad to; it was a
+leisure afternoon with her. Mrs. Farley wanted something more! she
+wanted to know about the business in which Nettie and her young friend
+next door were engaged; and Susie listened breathlessly, for fear it
+would appear that she had told more than she ought. But Mrs. Farley
+kept her own counsel, only questioning Nettie closely, and at last
+she made a proposition that had well nigh been the ruin of the tin of
+cookies which Nettie was taking from the oven. She dropped the tin!
+
+"Did you burn you, child?" asked Mrs. Decker, rushing forward.
+
+"No, ma'am," said Nettie, laughing, and trying not to laugh, and
+wanting to cry, and being too amazed to do so. "But I was so surprised
+and so almost scared, that they dropped.
+
+"O Mrs. Farley, we have wanted that more than anything else in the
+world; ever since Mr. Sherrill saw how my brother Norman loved music,
+and said it might be the saving of him; Jerry and I have planned and
+planned, but we never thought of being able to do it for a long, long
+time."
+
+Yet all this joy was over an old, somewhat wheezy little house organ
+which stood in the second-story unused room of Mrs. Farley's house,
+and which she had threatened to send to the city auction rooms to get
+out of the way.
+
+She offered to lend it to Nettie for her "Rooms," and Nettie's
+gratitude was so great that the blood seemed inclined to leave her face
+entirely for a minute, then thought better of it and rolled over it in
+waves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE CROWNING WONDER.
+
+
+AND they did have the Thanksgiving supper!
+
+It seemed wonderful to Nettie, even then, and long afterwards the
+wonder grew, that so many things occurred about that time to help the
+scheme along. At first it was to be a very simple little affair; two of
+the boys, Rick for instance, and Alf, invited to come in an hour or so
+before the room was open for the evening, and have a little supper by
+themselves--a chicken, and possibly some cranberry sauce if she could
+compass it, though cranberries were very expensive at that season, and
+besides, they ate sugar in a way which was perfectly alarming! A pie
+of some sort she had quite set her heart on, but whether it would be
+pumpkin or not, depended on how they succeeded in saving up for extra
+milk. The circumstances of the Deckers were changing steadily, but
+when a man has tumbled to the foot of a hill, and lain there quite
+awhile, it is generally a slow process to get up and climb back to
+where he was before.
+
+Mr. Decker's wages were good, and in time he expected to be able to
+support his family in at least ordinary comfort; but when he came fully
+to his senses, he stood for awhile appalled before the number of things
+which had been sold to pay his bill at the saloon, and the number of
+things which in the meantime had worn out, and not been replaced by new
+ones; then the rent was two months back, and Job Smith had been all
+that stood between him and a home. There was a great deal to do if the
+Deckers were to get back to the place from which they began to roll
+down hill; so extra expenses for cranberries, or even milk, were not to
+be thought of, if they must be drawn from the family funds.
+
+The business of the firm was flourishing; but you must remember that
+the central feature of the enterprise was to keep prices very low,
+lower than beer and bad cigars, and the enterprise of the dealers in
+these things is so great, that if you are willing to put up with the
+meanest sorts you can always get them very low indeed. To compete with
+them, Jerry and Nettie had to study the most rigid economy to keep
+their shelves supplied, and even to sometimes "shut their eyes and make
+a reckless dash at apples or peanuts, regardless of expense." This was
+the way in which Jerry occasionally apologized for an extra quantity of
+these luxuries.
+
+Still, in the most interesting ways the Thanksgiving supper grew.
+Mrs. Decker secured within a week of the time, an unexpected ironing
+which she could do in two evenings, and she it was who proposed the
+wild scheme of having two chickens and having them hot, and stuffing
+them with bread crumbs as she used to do years ago, and having gravy
+and some baked potatoes. She agreed to furnish the extra potatoes,
+and a few turnips, just to make it feel like Thanksgiving. Nettie was
+astonished, but pleased. It would be more work, but what of that?
+Think of being able to make a real supper for Norm's birthday! Then
+Mrs. Smith at just the right moment had a present of two pumpkins from
+her country friends; as they could never make away with two pumpkins
+before they would spoil, of course the Deckers must take part of one,
+at least. About that time the minister bought a cow, and what did he
+do but come himself one night to know if Mrs. Decker had any use for
+skimmed milk; they were very fond of cream at their house, and skimmed
+milk gathered faster than they knew what to do with it.
+
+"Any use for skim milk!" Mrs. Decker could only repeat the words in
+a kind of ecstasy at her good luck, and she almost wondered that the
+yellow pumpkin standing behind the door in the closet did not laugh
+outright.
+
+But the crowning wonder came, after all, on the morning before the
+eventful day. Jake, the Farleys' man of all work, brought it in a
+basket which was large and closely covered, and very heavy looking. It
+was left at the door with Susie, who went to answer the knock, "For
+Miss Nettie." Susie repeated the name with a lingering tone as though
+she liked the sound of the unusual prefix. Then they gathered about the
+basket. A great solemn-looking turkey with a note in his mouth, which
+said: "A Thanksgiving token for Nettie, from her friend ERMINA FARLEY."
+
+A turkey in the Decker oven! Mr. Decker surveyed the great fellow in
+silence for a few minutes, then said impressively, "If we don't have a
+new cook stove before another Thanksgiving day comes around, my name is
+not Decker."
+
+Mrs. Job Smith left her pies half-made, and ran in, in a friendly
+way, to see the wonder; and at once remarked that he would exactly
+fit into their oven, and she wasn't going to cook their turkey till
+the day afterwards, because they had got to go to Job's uncle's for
+Thanksgiving; so that matter was settled. It was then that the Deckers
+decided to make a reckless plunge into society and invite every boy in
+Norm's shop to a three o'clock dinner, with turkey and cranberry sauce
+and pumpkin pie and turnip, and all the rest.
+
+What a day it was! They grew nearly wild in their efforts to keep all
+the secrets from Norm, and act as though nothing unusual was happening.
+Especially was this the case after the morning express brought a
+package for Nettie from her dear old home, with two mince pies, and a
+box of Auntie Marshall's doughnuts, and a bag of nuts, and as much as
+two pounds of the loveliest candy she ever saw; sent by the young man
+of the home who was clerk in a wholesale confectioner's. It took Mrs.
+Decker and Nettie not five minutes to resolve, looking curiously into
+each other's faces the while to see if they really had become insane,
+that they would have a regular dessert following the dinner!
+
+"It is only once a year," said Nettie apologetically.
+
+"It is only once in five years!" said Mrs. Decker solemnly. "I haven't
+had a Thanksgiving in five years, child; and I never expected to have
+another."
+
+Everybody was busy all day long. Mrs. Smith was in and out, helping as
+faithfully as though Norm was her boy, and Sarah Ann just gave herself
+up to the importance of the occasion, and did not go to her uncle's at
+all. "I can go there any time," she said good naturedly, "or no time;
+they always forget that we are alive till Thanksgiving Day, and then
+they ask us because they kind of think they've got to. Uncle Jed is
+a clerk, and his wife makes dresses for the folks on Belmont street,
+and they feel stuck up four feet above us; I'd rather eat cold pork
+and potatoes at home than to go there any day. I'm dreadful glad of an
+excuse that father thinks is worth giving."
+
+Susie was a young woman of importance that day. Nettie, who had
+discovered exactly how to manage her, gave her work to do which suited
+her ideas of what a grown person like herself ought to be about; and
+when she wanted the table cleared from the picture papers of the night
+before, instead of telling Miss Susie to fold them away, said, "What do
+you think, Susie, would it be best for us to fold these papers away in
+the closet for to-day, and have this table left clear for the nuts and
+the candies?"
+
+"Yes," said Susie, with her grown-up air, "I think it would; I'll
+attend to it." And she did it beautifully.
+
+"It is well we have no little bits of folks around," said Nettie, when
+the nuts were being cracked, "they would be tempted to eat some, and
+then I'm afraid we would not have enough to go around." And Susie,
+gravely assenting to this theory, arranged the nuts in Mrs. Smith's
+blue saucers, an equal number in each, and ate not one!
+
+Little Sate went with Jerry to give the invitations to the boys, and to
+charge them to keep the whole thing a profound secret from Norm; they
+came home by way of the Farley woods, and little Sate appeared at the
+door with her arms laden with such lovely branches of autumn leaves,
+that Nettie exclaimed in wild delight, and left her turnips half-peeled
+to help adorn the walls of the front room. This suggested the idea,
+and by three o'clock that room was a bower of beauty. Red and golden
+and lovely brown leaves mixed in with the evergreen tassels of the
+pines, with here and there pine cones, and red berries peeping out from
+everywhere. "You little darling," said Nettie, kissing Sate, "you have
+made a picture of it, like what they paint on canvas, only a thousand
+times lovelier."
+
+And Sate, looking on, with her wide sweet eyes aglow with feeling,
+fitted the picture well.
+
+So the feast was spread, and the astonished and hungry boys came,
+and feasted. And Norm, too astonished at first to take it in, began
+presently to understand that all this preparation and delight were in
+honor of his birthday! And though he said not a word, aloud, he kept up
+in his soul a steady line of thought; the centre of which was this:
+
+"I don't deserve it, that's a fact; there's mother doing everything for
+me, and Nettie working like a slave, and the children going without
+things to give me a treat. I'll be in a better fix to keep a birthday
+before it gets around again, see if I'm not!"
+
+His was not the only thinking which was done that day. Rick, merry
+enough all the afternoon, and enjoying his dinner as well as it was
+possible for a hungry fellow to do, nevertheless had a sober look on
+his face more than once, and said as he shook hands with Norm at night:
+"I'll tell you what it is, my boy, if I had your kind of a home, and
+folks, I'd be worth something in the world; I would, so. I ain't sure,
+between you and me, but I shall, anyhow; just for the sake of getting
+into such Thanksgiving houses once in awhile. By and by a fellow will
+have to carry himself pretty straight, or that sister of yours won't
+have nothing to do with him; I can see that in her eyes."
+
+Then he went home. And cold though his room was he sat down, even after
+he had pulled off his coat, as a memory of some thoughtful word of
+Nettie's came over him, and went all over it again; then he brought his
+hard hand down with a thud on the rickety table, on which he leaned and
+said: "As sure as you live, and breathe the breath of life, old fellow,
+you've got to turn over a new leaf; and you've got to begin to-night."
+
+It was less than a week after the Thanksgiving excitements that the
+town got itself roused over something which reached even to the
+children. Jerry came home from school with it, and came directly to
+Nettie, his cheeks aglow with the news. "There's to be the biggest
+kind of a time here next Thursday, Nettie; don't you think General
+McClintock is coming, to give a lecture, and they are going to give
+him a reception at Judge Bentley's and I don't know what all, and the
+schools are all going to dismiss and go down to the train in procession
+to meet him, and they are going to sing, _Hail to the Chief_, and the
+band is to play, _See, the conquering Hero comes_, and I don't know
+what isn't going to be done."
+
+"Who is General McClintock?" said ignorant Nettie, composedly drying
+her plate as though all the generals in the world were nothing to
+her. Then did Jerry come the nearest impatience that Nettie had ever
+seen in him; and he launched forth in such a wild praise of General
+McClintock and such an excited account of the things which he had done
+and said, and prevented, and pushed, that Nettie was half bewildered
+and delightfully excited when he paused for breath. Henceforth the talk
+of the town was General McClintock.
+
+"It is a wonder they asked him to speak on temperance," said Nettie,
+disdain in her voice; she had not a high opinion of the temperance
+enthusiasm of the town in which she lived.
+
+"They didn't," said Jerry. "He asked himself; they wanted him to
+talk about the war, or the tariff, or the great West, or some other
+stupid thing, but he said, 'No, sir! the great question of the day is
+temperance, and I shall speak on that, or nothing!'"
+
+"How do you happen to know so much about him?" Nettie questioned one
+day when Jerry was at his highest pitch of excitement.
+
+"Ho!" he said, almost in scorn, "I have known about him ever since I
+was born; everybody knows General McClintock." Then Nettie felt meek
+and ignorant.
+
+Nothing had ever so excited Jerry as the coming of the hero; and indeed
+the town generally seemed to have caught fire. General McClintock
+seemed to be the theme of every tongue. Connected with these days,
+Nettie had her perplexities and her sorrows. In the first place, Jerry
+was obstinately determined that she should join the procession with
+him to meet General McClintock. In vain she protested that she did not
+belong to the public schools. He did, he said, and that was enough.
+
+Then when Nettie urged and almost cried, he had another plan: "Well,
+then, we won't go as scholars. We'll go ahead, as private individuals;
+I'm only a kind of a scholar, anyhow, just holding on for a few weeks
+till my father comes; we'll go up there early and get a good place
+before the procession forms and see the whole of it. I know the marshal
+real well; he's a good friend of mine, and I know he will give us a
+place."
+
+It was of no use for Nettie to protest; to remind him that the girls
+would think she was putting herself forward, to say that she had
+nothing to wear to such a gathering. She might as well have talked to
+a stone for all the impression she made. She had never seen him so
+resolute to have his own way. He did not care what she wore, it made
+not the slightest difference to him what the girls said, and he _did_
+ask it of her as a kindness to him, and he should be hurt so that
+he could never get over it if she refused to go; he had never wanted
+anything so much in his life, and he _could_ not give it up. So Nettie,
+reluctant, sorrowful, promised, and cried over it in her room that
+night. She wanted to please Jerry, for his father was coming now in a
+few weeks perhaps, and Jerry would go away with him, and she should
+never see him again; and what in the world would she do without him?
+And here she cried harder than ever.
+
+Then came up that dreadful question of clothes; her one winter dress
+was too short and too narrow and a good deal worn. Auntie Marshall had
+thought last winter that it would hardly do for a church dress, and
+here it was still her best. There was no such thing as a new one for
+the present; for mother had not had anything in so long, she must be
+clothed, and Nettie was willing to wait; but she was not willing to
+take a conspicuous place on a public day and be stared at and talked
+about.
+
+However, Jerry continued merciless to the very last; nothing else would
+satisfy him. He hurried her in a breathless state down the hill to the
+platform, smiled and nodded to his friend the marshal, who nodded back
+in the most confidential manner, and perched them on the corner of the
+temporary platform, right behind the reception committee! It was every
+whit as disagreeable as Nettie had planned that it should be. Of course
+Lorena Barstow was among the leaders in the young people's procession,
+and of course she contrived to get enough to be heard, and to say in a
+most unnecessarily loud voice:
+
+"Do look at that Decker girl perched up there on the platform. If she
+doesn't contrive to make herself a laughing stock everywhere! Girls,
+look at her hat; she must have worn it ever since they came out of
+the ark. What business is she here, anyway? She doesn't belong to the
+schools?"
+
+There was much more in the same vein; much pushing and crowding, and
+laughing and hateful speeches about folks who crowded in where they
+didn't belong, and poor Nettie, the tears only kept back by force
+of will, looked in vain for sympathy into Jerry's fairly dancing
+eyes. What ailed the boy? She had never seen him so almost wild with
+eager excitement before. Judge Barstow and Dr. Lewis were both on
+the reception committee, of course, and under cover of this, their
+daughters wedged their way to the front, and whispered to the fathers.
+Loud whispers:
+
+"Papa, that ridiculous Decker girl and the little Irish boy with her
+ought not to be perched up there in that conspicuous place. She doesn't
+belong here, anyway; she isn't a scholar."
+
+Then Judge Barstow in good-humored tones to Jerry: "My boy, don't you
+think you would find it quite as pleasant down there among the others?
+This little girl doesn't want to be up here, I am sure; suppose you
+both go down and fall behind the procession? You can see the General
+when the carriage passes; it is to be thrown open so every one can see."
+
+Then the marshal: "If you please, Judge Barstow, it won't do for them
+to try to get through now. The crowd is so great they might be hurt;
+there is plenty of room where they stand. They will do no harm."
+
+_Now_ the tears must come from the indignant eyes. No, they shall not.
+Jerry doesn't even wink. He only laughs, in the highest good humor. Has
+Jerry gone wild with excitement? "It will all be over in two minutes,"
+explains Judge Barstow. "He wished to drive directly to his hotel, and
+have perfect quiet for two hours. He declined to be entertained at a
+private house, or to say a word at the depot. I suppose he is fatigued,
+and doesn't like to trust his voice to speak in the open air; so the
+committee are to shake hands with him as rapidly as possible, and show
+him to his carriage, and not wait on him for two hours. He has ordered
+a private dinner at the Keppler House."
+
+Suddenly there is the whistle of the train, the band plays _See, the
+conquering Hero comes!_ With the second strain the train comes to
+a halt, and a tall, broad-shouldered man with iron gray hair and a
+military air all about him steps from the platform amid the cheers
+of thousands. Now indeed there was some excuse for Lorena Barstow's
+loud exclamations of disapproval! There was Jerry, pushing his way
+among the throng, holding so firmly all the while to Nettie's hand
+that escape was impossible--pushing even past the reception committee,
+notwithstanding the detaining hand of Judge Barstow, who says,
+
+"See here, my boy, you are impudent, did you know it?"
+
+"I beg pardon," says Jerry respectfully, but he slips past him, just
+as General McClintock with courteous words is thanking the committee
+of reception, declining their pressing personal invitations, his eyes
+meantime roving over the crowd in search of something or somebody.
+Suddenly they melt with a tenderness which does not belong to the
+soldier, and the firm lips quiver as his voice says: "O my boy!" and
+Jerry the Irish boy flings himself into General McClintock's arms, and
+the world stands agape!
+
+Just a second, and his hand holds firmly to the sack which covers
+Nettie's startled frightened form, then he releases himself and turns
+to her: "Father, this is Nettie!"
+
+"Sure enough!" said the General, and his tall head bends and the
+mustached lips of the old soldier touch Nettie's cheek, and the
+cheering, hushed for a second, breaks forth afresh! It is a moment
+of the wildest excitement. Even then Nettie tries to break away and
+is held fast. And an officer of the day advances with the military
+salute and assures the General that his carriage is in waiting. And the
+General himself hands the bewildered Nettie in, with a friendly smile
+and an assuring: "Of course you must go. My boy planned this whole
+thing three months ago; and you and I must carry out his programme to
+the letter." Then Jerry springs like a cat into the carriage, and the
+scholars sing, _Hail to the Chief_, and the carriage, drawn by four
+horses, rolls down the road made wide for it by the homeguard in full
+uniform, and the General lifts his hat and bows right and left, and
+smiles on Nettie Decker sitting by his side, and almost devours with
+his hungry, fatherly eyes, her friend the Irish boy on the opposite
+seat. And the scholars almost forget to sing, in their great and
+ever-increasing amazement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE PAST AND PRESENT.
+
+
+NETTIE DECKER sat by the window of her father's house, looking out
+into the beautiful world; taking one last look at the flowers, and the
+trees, and the lawn, and all the beautiful and familiar things. Saying
+good-by to them, for in a brief two hours she was to leave them, and
+the old home.
+
+[Illustration: NETTIE DECKER HAS A SUITABLE DRESS AT LAST.]
+
+She is Nettie Decker still, but you will not be able to say that of her
+in another hour. She has changed somewhat since you last saw her in
+her blue gingham dress a trifle faded, or in her brown merino much the
+worse for time.
+
+To-day she is twenty years old. A lovely summer day, and her birthday
+is to be celebrated by making it her wedding day. The blue gingham has
+been long gone; so has the brown merino. The dress she wears to-day
+looks unlike either of them. It is white, all white; she has a
+suitable dress at last for a gala day. Soft, rich, quiet white silk.
+Long and full and pure; not a touch of trimming about it anywhere. Not
+even a flower yet, though she holds one in her hand in doubt whether
+she will add it to the whiteness.
+
+I think it will probably be pushed among the folds of soft lace which
+lie across her bosom; for that would please little Sate's artist eye,
+and Nettie likes to please Sate.
+
+While she sits there, watching the birds, and the flowers, and thinking
+of the strange sweet past, and the strange sweet present, there pass by
+almost underneath the window two young ladies; moving slowly, glancing
+up curiously at the open casement, from which Nettie draws a little
+back, that she may not be seen.
+
+"That is Nettie's room where the window is open," says one of the
+ladies. "It is a lovely room; I was in it once when the circle met
+there; it is furnished in blue, with creamy tints on the walls and
+furniture. I don't think I ever saw a prettier room. Nettie has
+excellent taste."
+
+"Do you say her brother is to be at the wedding?"
+
+"O, yes indeed! He came day before yesterday; he is a splendid-looking
+fellow, and smart; they say he is the finest student Yale has had
+for years. He graduated with the very highest honors, and now he is
+studying medicine. I heard Dr. Hobart say that he would be an honor to
+the profession. You ought to hear him play; I thought he would be a
+musician, he is so fond of music, and really he plays exquisitely on
+the organ. Last spring when he was home he played in church all day,
+and I heard ever so many people say they had never heard anything finer
+in any church."
+
+"I don't remember him. Was he in our set?"
+
+"O no! he wasn't in any set when you were here. Why, Irene Lewis, you
+must remember the Deckers! They weren't in any set."
+
+"Oh! I remember them, of course; don't you know what fun we used to
+make of Nettie? Didn't we call her Nan? I remember she always wore an
+old blue and white gingham to Sunday-school."
+
+"That was years ago; she dresses beautifully now, and in exquisite
+taste. She must make a lovely bride. I should like to get a glimpse of
+her."
+
+"The McClintocks are very rich, I have been told."
+
+"Oh! immensely so; and they say General McClintock just idolizes
+Nettie. I don't wonder at that; she is a perfectly lovely girl."
+
+"Seems to me, Lorena, my dear, about the time I left this part of the
+world you did not think so much of her as you do now. I remember you
+used to make all sorts of fun of her, and real hateful speeches, as
+schoolgirls will, you know. I have a distinct recollection of a flower
+party where she was, and my conscience, I remember, troubled me at the
+time for saying so many disagreeable things about her that afternoon;
+but I recollect I comforted myself with the thought that you were much
+worse than I. You used to lead off, in those days, you know."
+
+"Oh! I remember; I was a perfect little idiot in those days. Yes, I was
+disagreeable enough to Nettie Decker; if she hadn't been a real sweet
+girl she would never have forgotten it; but I don't believe she ever
+thinks of it, and really she is so utterly changed, and all the family
+are, that I hardly ever remember her as the same girl."
+
+"What became of that little Irish boy she used to be so fond
+of--Jerry, his name was?"
+
+"Now, Irene Lewis! you don't mean to tell me you have never heard about
+him! Well, you have been out of the world, sure enough."
+
+"I have never heard a word of him from the time I went with Uncle
+Lawrence out West. Father moved in the spring, you know, so instead of
+my coming back early in the spring as I expected, I never came until
+now? What about Jerry? Did he distinguish himself in any way? I always
+thought him a fine-looking boy."
+
+"That is too funny that you shouldn't know! Why, the Irish boy, Jerry,
+as you call him, is the Gerald McClintock whom Nettie Decker is to
+marry at twelve o'clock to-day."
+
+"Gerald McClintock! How can that be? That boy's name was Jerry Mack."
+
+"Indeed it wasn't. We were all deceived in that boy. It does seem so
+strange that you have never heard the story! Why, you see, he was
+General McClintock's son all the time."
+
+"Why did he pretend he was somebody else?"
+
+"He didn't pretend; or at least I heard he said he didn't begin it.
+It seems that Mrs. Smith, the car-man's wife, you know, used to live
+in General McClintock's family before his wife died; and Job Smith
+lived there as coachman. When they married, General McClintock broke
+up housekeeping, and went South with his family. Then Mrs. McClintock
+died, and the General and this one boy boarded in New York, and Gerald
+attended school. In the spring the General was called to California
+on some important law business--you know he is a celebrated lawyer,
+and they say his son is going to be even more brilliant than his
+father--well, the father had to go, and the boy made him promise that
+he might spend the summer vacation with Mrs. Smith out here. The
+McClintocks had been very fond of her and her husband and trusted them
+both; so the General agreed to it, thinking he would be back long
+before the vacation closed.
+
+"But he was delayed by one thing and another, and the boy coaxed to
+stay on, and study in the public school here; he was a pupil in Whately
+Institute at home. Imagine him taking up with our common schools! so he
+stayed until the first of December, and then his father came.
+
+"Such a time as that was! You see we all knew of General McClintock, of
+course, and when it was found we could get him to lecture, the people
+nearly went wild over it. We couldn't understand why we should have
+such good fortune, when we knew ever so many places--large cities--had
+been refused; but it was all explained after he came.
+
+"It was a beautiful day when he came; all the schools were closed,
+and we formed a procession and marched to the depot, and the band was
+there, and great crowds. I remember as though it were yesterday how
+astonished we were to see Nettie Decker and that boy in a conspicuous
+place on the corner of the platform. Nettie had on her old brown
+merino, and looked so queer and seemed so out of place, that I went
+and spoke to father about it, and he advised them to go down and join
+the procession; but it seems the marshal knew what he was about, and
+objected to their moving. Then the train came, and there was a great
+excitement, and in the midst of it, the General almost took that boy
+Jerry in his arms, and kissed and kissed him! Then he kissed Nettie
+Decker, and while we stood wondering what on earth it all meant, they
+all three entered an elegant carriage drawn by four horses, and were
+carried to the Keppler House.
+
+"They had an elegant private dinner, they three; and in fact all the
+time the General was here, he kept Nettie Decker with them; he treated
+her more like a daughter than a stranger. I don't think there was ever
+such an excitement in this town about anything as we had at that time;
+the circumstances were so peculiar, you know."
+
+"But I don't understand it, yet. Why did he call himself Jerry Mack?
+What was his object in deceiving us all?"
+
+"He hadn't the slightest intention of doing so. I heard he said such
+a thought never entered his mind until we began it. It seems when
+he was a little bit of a fellow he tried to speak his name, Gerald
+McClintock, and the nearest he could approach to it, was, Jerry Mack.
+Of course they thought that was cunning, and it grew to be his pet
+name; so before they knew it, the servants and all his boy friends
+called him so, all the time. When he came here Mrs. Smith and her
+husband naturally used the old name; then somebody, I'm sure I don't
+know who, started the story that he was an Irish boy working at the
+Smiths for his board; and it seems he heard of it, and it amused
+him so much he decided to let people think so if they wanted to; he
+coaxed the Smiths not to tell who he was, or why he was here; and they
+so nearly worshipped him, that if he had asked them to say he was a
+North American Indian I believe they would have done it. It seems he
+liked Nettie Decker from the first, and was annoyed because she wasn't
+invited in our set. But I am sure I don't know how we were to blame;
+she had nothing to wear, and how were we to know that she was a very
+smart girl, and real sweet and good? The Deckers were very poor, and
+Mr. Decker drank, you know, and Norm was sort of a loafer, and we
+thought they were real low people."
+
+"I remember Ermina Farley was friendly with Nettie, and with the boy,
+too."
+
+"O yes, Ermina was always peculiar; she is yet. I have always thought
+that perhaps Ermina knew something about the McClintocks, but she says
+she didn't. I heard her say the other day that somebody told her he was
+an Irish boy, whose father had run away and left him; and the Smiths
+gave him a home out of pity; and she supposed of course it was so, and
+was sorry for him. Then she always thought he was handsome, and smart;
+well, so did I, I must say."
+
+"I wonder who started that absurd story about his father deserting him?"
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure; somebody imagined it was so, I suppose, and
+spoke of it; such things spread, you know, nobody seems to understand
+quite how."
+
+"Well, as I remember things, Jerry--I shall always call him that name,
+I don't believe I could remember to say Mr. McClintock if I should
+meet him now--as I remember him, he seemed to be as poor as Nettie; he
+dressed very well, but not as a gentleman's son, and he seemed to be
+contriving ways to earn little bits of money. Don't you remember that
+old hen and chickens he bought? And he used to go to the Farleys every
+morning with a fresh egg for Helen; sold it, you know, for I was there
+one morning when Mrs. Farley paid him."
+
+"I know it; he was always contriving ways to earn money; why, Irene,
+don't you remember his selling fish to Ermina Farley that day when we
+were talking down by the pond? I have always thought he heard more than
+we imagined he did, that day; I don't clearly remember what we said,
+but I know we were running on about Nettie Decker and about Jerry; I
+used to sort of dislike them both, because Ermina Farley was always
+trying to push them forward.
+
+"I would give something to know exactly what we did say that day. For
+awhile I did not like to meet any of the McClintocks; it always seemed
+to me as though they were thinking about that time. But they have been
+perfectly polite and cordial to me, always; and Nettie Decker is a
+perfect lady. But I know all about the poverty. It seems the boy Jerry
+had been very fond of giving away money, and books, and all sorts of
+things to people whom he thought needed them; and his father began to
+be afraid he would have no knowledge of the value of money, and would
+give carelessly, you know, just because he felt like it. So the General
+had a long talk with him, and made an arrangement that while he was
+gone West, Jerry should have nothing to give away but what he earned.
+He might earn as much as he liked, or could, and give it all away if he
+chose; but not a penny besides, and he was not to appeal to his father
+to help anybody in any way whatever. Of course the father was to pay
+all his bills for necessary things--they say he paid a splendid price
+to the Smiths for taking care of him. Poor Mrs. Smith cried when he
+went away, as though he had been her own child. Well, of course that
+crippled him, in his pocket money, but they say his father was very
+much pleased to find how many schemes he had started for earning money.
+That plan about the business was his from beginning to end, and just
+see what it has grown to!"
+
+"What? I don't know; remember, I only came night before last, and
+haven't heard anything about the town since the day I left it."
+
+"Why, the Norman House, the most elegant hotel in town, is the
+outgrowth of that enterprise begun in the Decker's front room! Mr.
+Decker owns the whole thing, now, and manages it splendidly. His
+wife is a perfect genius, they say, about managing. She oversees the
+housekeeping herself, and the cooking is perfect they say. General
+McClintock was so pleased with the beginning, that he bought that
+long low building on Smith street that first time he was here, and
+fitted it up for Norman and Nettie to run. He carried his son away
+with him, of course, but they stayed long enough to see that matter
+fairly under way. The Norman House is managed on the same general
+principles; strictly temperance, of course. The General is as great
+a fanatic about that as the Deckers are, and the prices are very
+low--lower than other first-class houses, while the table is better,
+and the rooms are beautifully furnished. They say it is because Mrs.
+Decker is such an excellent manager that they can afford things at
+such low prices. Then, besides, there is a lunch room for young men,
+where they can get excellent things for just what they cost; that is
+a sort of benevolence. General McClintock devotes a certain amount to
+it each year; and there is a splendid young man in charge of the room;
+you saw him once, Rick Walker, his name is. He used to be considered a
+sort of hard boy, but there isn't a more respected young man in town
+than he. He is book-keeper at the Norman House, and has the oversight
+of this Home Dining Room. You ought to go in there; it is very nicely
+furnished, and they have flowers, plants, you know, and birds, and a
+fountain, and pictures on the walls, and for fifteen cents you can get
+an excellent dinner. Everybody likes Rick Walker; they say he has
+a great influence over the boys in town, almost as great as Norman
+Decker; _he_ used to be in charge of it all, before he went to college."
+
+"Still, I shouldn't think the McClintocks would have liked Nettie
+Decker to be in quite so public a place," interrupted her listener.
+"Oh! she wasn't public; why, she went to New York to a private school
+the very next winter after the General came home. She boarded with
+them; the General's sister came East with him, and was the lady of the
+house; then he sent her to Wellesley, you know. Didn't you know that?
+She graduated at Wellesley a year ago. Yes, the McClintocks educated
+her, or began it; her father has done so well that I suppose he hasn't
+needed their help lately. He is a master builder, you know, and keeps
+at his business, and owns and manages this hotel, besides. Oh! they are
+well off; you ought to see Mrs. Decker. She is a very pretty woman,
+and a real lady; they say Nettie and Norman are so proud of her! What
+was I telling you? Oh! about the room; they have a library connected
+with it, and a reading room, and everything complete; it is such a
+nice thing for our young men. A great many wealthy gentlemen contribute
+to the library. There is a little alcove at the further end of the
+reading room, where they keep cake and lemonade, and nuts and little
+things of all sorts. They are very cheap, but the boys can't get any
+cigars there; I'm so glad of that. The Norman House is in very great
+favor--quite the fashion, and it makes such a difference with the boys
+who are just beginning to imagine themselves young men, and who want
+to be manly, to have an elegant place like that frown on all such
+things. My brother Dick, you remember him? He was a little fellow when
+you lived here--he went into the Norman House one day and called for a
+cigar; he was just beginning to smoke, and I suppose he did it because
+he thought it would sound manly. It was in the spring when Norman was
+at home on vacation, and it seems he expressed so much astonishment
+that Dick was quite ashamed; I don't think he has smoked a cigar since."
+
+"The Deckers seem to be quite a centre of interest in town."
+
+"Well, they are. They are a sort of exceptional family someway;
+their experience has been so romantic. Mr. Decker has become such
+a nice man; Deacon Decker, he is, a prominent man in the church,
+and everywhere. Oh! do you remember those two cunning little girls?
+I always thought they were sweet. Susie is a perfect lady; she is
+going with Nettie and her husband to Washington; but little Sate is
+a beauty. They say she is going to be a poet and an artist, and she
+looks almost like an angel. General McClintock admires her very much;
+he says she shall have the finest art teachers in Europe. I never saw
+a family come up as they did, from nothing, you may say. But then it
+was all owing to that fortunate accident of being friends with Gerald
+McClintock, and having the Farleys interested in them. Did I tell you
+Norman was engaged to Ermina Farley? O yes! they will marry as soon
+as he graduates from the medical college, and then he will take her
+abroad and take a post graduate course in medicine there. I suppose
+they will take Sate with them then. They say that is the plan. No, I
+certainly never saw anything like their success in life. Mrs. Smith
+doesn't believe in luck, you know, nor much in money, though since her
+Job has a position in the Norman House that pays better than carting,
+they have built an addition to their house, and, Sarah Ann says, "live
+like folks." She is housekeeper at the Norman House--Mrs. Decker's
+right-hand woman. Mrs. Smith says the Lord had a great deal to do with
+the Decker family; that Nettie came home resolved to be faithful to
+Him, and to trust Him to save her father and brother, and so He did
+it, of course. It seems she and Jerry promised each other to work for
+Norman and the father in every possible way until they were converted;
+and they did. I must say I think they are real wonderful Christians,
+all of them. I like to hear Mr. Decker pray better than almost any
+other man in our meeting; and as for Norman, he leads a meeting
+beautifully. They say Mr. Sherrill thought at first that he ought to
+preach; but now he says he is reconciled; there is greater need for
+Christian physicians than for ministers. Mr. Sherrill has always been
+great friends with all the Deckers; you remember he was, from the
+first. Norman studied with him all the time he was managing that first
+little bit of a restaurant in the square room of the old Decker house.
+They tore down that house last month, to make room for a carriage drive
+around the back of their new house, and they say Nettie cried when the
+square room was torn up.
+
+"She has some of the quaintest furniture! Sofas, she calls them, made
+out of boxes; and a queer old-fashioned hour-glass stand, and a barrel
+chair, which have been sent on with all her elegant things, to New
+York; she is going to furnish a room for Gerald and her with them; he
+made them, it seems, when they began that queer scheme. Who would have
+supposed it could grow as it did? It really seems as though the Lord
+must have had a good deal to do with it, doesn't it? I tell you, Irene,
+it is wonderful how many young men they have helped save, those two.
+It seems a pity sometimes that they could not have told us girls what
+they were about and let us help; but then, I don't know as we would
+have helped if we had understood; I used to be such a perfect little
+idiot then! Well, it was Nettie Decker got hold of me at last. Norman
+signed the pledge that night when General McClintock lectured here, and
+during the winter he was converted; but it was two years after that
+before I made up my mind. I was miserable all that time, too; because I
+knew I was doing wrong. And I didn't treat Nettie wonderfully well any
+of the time; but when she came to me with her eyes shining with tears,
+and said she had been praying for me ever since that day of the flower
+party, I just broke down.
+
+"O Irene, there's the carriage with the bride and groom and Norman and
+Ermina. Doesn't the bride look lovely! I wish they had had a public
+wedding and let us all see her! But they say General McClintock thinks
+weddings ought to be very private. Never mind, we will see her at the
+reception next week; but then, she won't be Nettie Decker; we shall
+have to say good-by to her."
+
+And Miss Lorena Barstow stood still in the street, and shaded her eyes
+from the sunlight to watch the bridal party as the carriage wound
+around the square, looking her last with tender, loving eyes, upon
+Nettie Decker.
+
+
+
+
+CHOICE BOOKS
+
+FOR READERS OF ALL AGES
+
+
+
+
+Pansy Books.
+
+
+=The Pansy= for 1888. With colored frontispiece. Edited by Pansy.
+
+More than 400 pages of reading and pictures for children of eight to
+fifteen years in various lines of interest. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+
+=Pansy Sunday Book= for 1889. With colored frontispiece. Edited by
+Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+Just the thing for children on Sunday afternoon, when the whole family
+are gathered in the home to exchange helpful thought and gain new
+courage for future work and study which the tone and excellence of
+these tales impart.
+
+
+=Pansy's Story Book.= By Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+Made up largely of Pansy's charming stories with an occasional sketch
+or poem by some other well-known children's author to give variety.
+
+
+=Mother's Boys and Girls.= By Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+A book full of stories for boys and girls, most of them short, so all
+the more of them. Easy words and plenty of pictures.
+
+
+=Pansy Token= (A); or An Hour with Miss Streator. For Sunday School
+teachers. 24mo, paper, 15 cts.
+
+
+=Young Folks Stories of American History and Home Life.= Edited by
+Pansy. Quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.
+
+Sketches, tales and pictures on New-World subjects.
+
+
+=Young Folks Stories of Foreign Lands.= Edited by Pansy. First Series,
+quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.
+
+Sketches, tales and pictures on Old-World subjects.
+
+
+=Stories and Pictures from the Life of Jesus.= By Pansy. 12mo, boards,
+50 cts.
+
+The life of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels simplified and
+unified for children.
+
+
+=A Christmas Time.= By Pansy, 12mo, boards, 15 cts.
+
+A Christmas story full of Christmas trees and sleigh-rides. Its lesson
+is the joy to be got in helping others.
+
+
+
+
+Travel and History for Young Folks.
+
+
+=Story of the American Indian (The).= By Elbridge S. Brooks. 8vo,
+cloth, 2.50.
+
+"A thorough compendium of the archæology, history, present standing
+and outlook of our nation's wards.... We commend it as the best and
+most comprehensive book on the Indian for general reading known to
+us."--_Literary World._
+
+
+=Story of the American Sailor (The).= By Elbridge S. Brooks. Octavo,
+cloth, 2.50.
+
+The first consecutive narrative yet attempted, sketching the rise
+and development of the American seaman on board merchant vessel and
+man-of-war.
+
+
+=Ned Harwood's Visit to Jerusalem.= By Mrs. S. G. Knight. Quarto, 1.25.
+
+Travel in the Holy Land. The manuscript was approved by Rev. Selah
+Merrill, for many years U. S. Consul at Jerusalem. The strictest
+accuracy has thus been secured without impairing the interest of the
+story.
+
+
+=Out and About.= By Kate Tannatt Woods. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+Cape Cod to the Golden Gate with a lot of young folks along, and plenty
+of yarns by the way.
+
+
+=Sights Worth Seeing.= By those who saw them. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
+
+Eleven descriptive articles by such writers as Margaret Sidney, Amanda
+B. Harris, Annie Sawyer Downs, Frank T. Merrill and Rose Kingsley.
+Copiously and beautifully illustrated.
+
+
+=Adventures of the Early Discoverers.= By Frances A. Humphrey. 4to,
+cloth, 1.00.
+
+Real history written and pictured for readers both sides of ten years
+old. It begins with the mythology of discovery and comes down to the
+sixteenth and seventeenth century.
+
+
+=The Golden West=: as Seen by the Ridgway Club. By Margaret Sidney.
+Quarto, boards, 1.75.
+
+Description of a trip through Southern California taken by Mr. and
+Mrs. Ridgway and their children. The careful observations and the fine
+illustrations make it a treasure for boys and girls.
+
+
+=Days and Nights in the Tropics.= By Felix L. Oswald. Quarto, boards,
+1.25.
+
+The collector of curiosities for the Brazilian museum goes on his quest
+with his eyes open. A book of adventures and hunters' yarns.
+
+
+
+
+Illustrated Stories for Young Folks.
+
+
+=Young Folks' Cyclopedia of Stories.= Quarto, cloth, 3.00.
+
+Contains in one large book the following stories with many
+illustrations: Five Little Peppers, Two Young Homesteaders, Royal
+Lowrie's Last Year at St. Olaves, The Dogberry Bunch, Young Rick, Nan
+the New-Fashioned Girl, Good-for-Nothing Polly and The Cooking Club of
+Tu-Whit Hollow.
+
+
+=What the Seven Did=; or, the Doings of the Wordsworth Club. By
+Margaret Sidney. Quarto, boards, 1.75.
+
+The Seven are little girl neighbors who meet once a week at their
+several homes. They helped others and improved themselves.
+
+
+=Me and My Dolls.= By L. T. Meade. Quarto, 50 cts.
+
+A family history. Some of the dolls have had queer adventures. Twelve
+full-page illustrations by Margaret Johnson.
+
+
+=Little Wanderers in Bo-Peep's World.= Quarto, boards, double
+lithograph covers, 50 cts.
+
+
+=Polly and the Children.= By Margaret Sidney. Boards, quarto, 50 cts.
+
+The story of a funny parrot and two charming children. The parrot has
+surprising adventures at the children's party and wears a medal after
+the fire.
+
+
+=Five Little Peppers.= By Margaret Sidney. 12mo, 1.50.
+
+Story of five little children of a fond, faithful and capable "mamsie."
+Full of young life and family talk.
+
+
+=Seal Series.= 10 vols., boards, double lithographed covers, quarto.
+
+Rocky Fork, Old Caravan Days, The Dogberry Bunch, by Mary H.
+Catherwood; The Story of Honor Bright and Royal Lowrie's Last Year at
+St. Olaves, by Charles R. Talbot; Their Club and Ours, by John Preston
+True; From the Hudson to the Neva, by David Ker; The Silver City, by
+Fred A. Ober; Two Young Homesteaders, by Theodora Jenness; The Cooking
+Club of Tu-Whit Hollow, by Ella Farman.
+
+
+=Cats' Arabian Nights.= By Abby Morton Diaz. Quarto, cloth, 1.75;
+boards, 1.25.
+
+The wonderful cat story of cat stories told by Pussyanita that saved
+the lives of all the cats.
+
+
+
+
+Natural History.
+
+
+=Stories and Pictures of Wild Animals.= By Anna F. Burnham. Quarto,
+boards, 75 cts.
+
+Big letters, big pictures and easy stories of elephants, lions, tigers,
+lynxes, jaguars, bears and many others.
+
+
+=Life and Habits of Wild Animals.= Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
+
+The very best book young folks can have if they are at all interested
+in Natural History. If they are not yet interested it will make them
+so. Illustrated from designs by Joseph Wolf.
+
+
+=Children's Out-Door Neighbors.= By Mrs. A. E. Andersen-Maskell. 3
+volumes, 12mo, cloth, each 1.00.
+
+Three instructive and interesting books: Children with Animals,
+Children with Birds, Children with Fishes. The author has the happy
+faculty of interesting boys and girls in the wonderful neighbors around
+them and that without introducing anything which is not borne out by
+the knowledge of learned men.
+
+
+=Some Animal Pets.= By Mrs. Oliver Howard. Quarto, boards, 35 cts.
+
+The experiences of a Colorado family with young, wild and tame animals.
+It is one of the pleasantest animal books we have met in many a day.
+Well thought, well written, well pictured, the book itself, apart from
+its contents, is attractive. Full page pictures.
+
+
+=Tiny Folk In Red and Black.= Quarto, boards, 35 cts.
+
+The tiny folk are ants and they make as interesting a study as human
+folk--perhaps more interesting in the opinion of some. The book gives a
+full and graphic description of their many wise and curious ways--how
+they work, how they harvest their grain, how they milk their cows, etc.
+It will teach the children to keep eyes and ears open.
+
+
+=My Land and Water Friends.= By Mary E. Bamford. Seventy illustrations
+by Bridgman. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
+
+The frog opens the book with a "talk" about himself, in the course
+of which he tells us all about the changes through which he passes
+before he arrives at perfect froghood. Then the grasshopper talks
+and is followed by others, each giving his view of life from his own
+individual standpoint.
+
+
+
+
+Young Folks' Illustrated Quartos.
+
+
+=Wide Awake Volume Z.= Quarto, boards, 1.75.
+
+Good literature and art have been put into this volume. Henry Bacon's
+paper about Rosa Bonheur, the great painter of horses and lions, and
+Steffeck's painting of Queen Louise with Kaiser William would do credit
+to any Art publication.
+
+
+=Chit Chat for Boys and Girls.= Quarto, boards, 75 cts.
+
+A volume of selected pieces upon every conceivable subject. As a
+distinctive feature it devotes considerable space to Home Life and
+Sports and Pastimes.
+
+
+=Good Cheer for Boys and Girls.=
+
+Short stories, sketches, poems, bits of history, biography and natural
+history.
+
+
+=Our Little Men and Women for 1888.= Quarto, boards, 1.50.
+
+No boys and girls who have this book can be ignorant beyond their years
+of history, natural history, foreign sights or the good times of other
+boys and girls.
+
+
+=Babyland for 1888.= Quarto, boards, 75 cts.
+
+Finger-plays, cricket stories, Tales told by a Cat and scores of
+jingles and pictures. Large print and easy words. Colored frontispiece.
+
+
+=Kings and Queens at Home.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto, boards, 50
+cts.
+
+Short-story accounts of living royal personages.
+
+
+=Queen Victoria at Home.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto, boards, 50
+cts.
+
+Pen picture of a noble woman. It will aid in educating the heart by
+presenting the domestic side of the queen's character.
+
+
+=Stories about Favorite Authors.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto
+boards, 50 cts.
+
+Little literature lessons for little boys and girls.
+
+
+=Child Lore.= Edited by Clara Doty Bates. Quarto, cloth, tinted edges,
+2.25; boards, 1.50.
+
+More than 50,000 copies sold. The most successful quarto for children.
+
+
+
+
+Helpful Books for Young Folks.
+
+
+=Danger Signals.= By Rev. F. E. Clark, President of the United Society
+of Christian Endeavor. 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.
+
+The enemies of youth from the business man's standpoint. The substance
+of a series of addresses delivered two or three years ago in one of the
+Boston churches.
+
+
+=Marion Harland's Cookery for Beginners.= 12mo, vellum cloth, 75 cts.
+
+The untrained housekeeper needs such directions as will not confuse
+and discourage her. Marion Harland makes her book simple and practical
+enough to meet this demand.
+
+
+=Bible Stories.= By Laurie Loring. 4to, boards, 35 cts.
+
+Very short stories with pictures. The Creation, Noah and the Dove,
+Samuel, Joseph, Elijah, the Christ Child, the Good Shepherd, Peter, etc.
+
+
+=The Magic Pear.= Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75 cts.
+
+Twelve outline drawing lessons with directions for the amusement of
+little folks. They are genuine pencil puzzles for untaught fingers. A
+pear gives shape to a dozen animal pictures.
+
+
+=What O'Clock Jingles.= By Margaret Johnson. Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75
+cts.
+
+Twelve little counting lessons. Pretty rhymes for small children.
+Twenty-seven artistic illustrations by the author.
+
+
+=Ways for Boys to Make and Do Things.= 60 cts.
+
+Eight papers by as many different authors, on subjects that interest
+boys. A book to delight active boys and to inspire lazy ones.
+
+
+=Our Young Folks at Home.= 4to, boards, 1.00.
+
+A collection of illustrated prose stories by American authors and
+artists. It is sure to make friends among children of all ages. Colored
+frontispiece.
+
+
+=Peep of Day Series.= 3 vols., 1.20 each.
+
+Peep of Day, Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept. Sermonettes for the
+children, so cleverly preached that the children will not grow sleepy.
+
+
+=Home Primer.= Boards, square, 8vo, 50 cts.
+
+A book for the little ones to learn to read in before they are old
+enough to be sent off to school. 100 illustrations.
+
+
+MONTEAGLE. By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price 75 cents. Both
+girls and boys will find this story of Pansy's pleasant and profitable
+reading. Dilly West is a character whom the first will find it an
+excellent thing to intimate, and boys will find in Hart Hammond a
+noble, manly, fellow who walks for a time dangerously near temptation,
+but escapes through providential influences, not the least of which
+is the steady devotion to duty of the young girl, who becomes an
+unconscious power of good.
+
+
+A DOZEN OF THEM. By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price 60 cents.
+A Sunday-school story, written in Pansy's best vein, and having for its
+hero a twelve-year-old boy who has been thrown upon the world by the
+death of his parents, and who has no one left to look after him but a
+sister a little older, whose time is fully occupied in the milliner's
+shop where she is employed. Joe, for that is the boy's name, finds a
+place to work at a farmhouse where there is a small private school.
+His sister makes him promise to learn by heart a verse of Scripture
+every month. It is a task at first, but he is a boy of his word, and he
+fulfills his promise, with what results the reader of the story will
+find out. It is an excellent book for the Sunday-school.
+
+
+AT HOME AND ABROAD. Stories from _The Pansy_ Boston: D. Lothrop
+Company. Price, $1.00. A score of short stories which originally
+appeared in the delightful magazine, _The Pansy_, have been here
+brought together in collected form with the illustrations which
+originally accompanied them. They are from the pens of various authors,
+and are bright, instructive and entertaining.
+
+
+ABOUT GIANTS. By Isabel Smithson. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price
+60 cents. In this little volume Miss Smithson has gathered together
+many curious and interesting facts relating to real giants, or people
+who have grown to an extraordinary size. She does not believe that
+there was ever a race of giants, but that those who are so-called are
+exceptional cases, due to some freak of nature. Among those described
+are Cutter, the Irish giant, who was eight feet tall, Tony Payne, whose
+height exceeded seven feet, and Chang, the Chinese giant, who was on
+exhibition in this country a few years ago. The volume contains not
+only accounts of giants, but also of dwarfs, and is illustrated.
+
+
+AMERICAN AUTHORS. By Amanda B. Harris. Boston: D. Lothrop Company.
+Price $1.00. This is one of the books we can heartily commend to
+young readers, not only for its interest, but for the information
+it contains. All lovers of books have a natural curiosity to know
+something about their writers, and the better the books, the keener
+the curiosity. Miss Harris has written the various chapters of the
+volume with a full appreciation of this fact. She tells us about the
+earlier group of American writers, Irving, Cooper, Prescott, Emerson,
+and Hawthorne, all of whom are gone, and also of some of those who
+came later, among them the Cary sisters, Thoreau, Lowell, Helen Hunt,
+Donald G. Mitchell and others. Miss Harris has a happy way of imparting
+information, and the boys and girls into whose hands this little book
+may fall will find it pleasant reading.
+
+
+TILTING AT WINDMILLS: A Story of the Blue Grass Country. By Emma M.
+Connelly. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. 12mo, $1.50.
+
+Not since the days of "A Fool's Errand" has so strong and so
+characteristic a "border novel" been brought to the attention of the
+public as is now presented by Miss Connelly in this book which she so
+aptly terms "Tilting at Windmills." Indeed, it is questionable whether
+Judge Tourgee's famous book touched so deftly and yet so practically
+the real phases of the reconstruction period and the interminable
+antagonisms of race and section.
+
+The self-sufficient Boston man, a capital fellow at heart, but tinged
+with the traditions and environments of his Puritan ancestry and
+conditions, coming into his strange heritage in Kentucky at the close
+of the civil war, seeks to change by instant manipulation all the
+equally strong and deep-rooted traditions and environments of Blue
+Grass society.
+
+His ruthless conscience will allow of no compromise, and the people
+whom he seeks to proselyte alike misunderstand his motives and spurn
+his proffered assistance.
+
+Presumed errors are materialized and partial evils are magnified.
+Allerton tilts at windmills and with the customary Quixotic results. He
+is, seemingly, unhorsed in every encounter.
+
+Miss Connelly's work in this, her first novel, will make readers
+anxious to hear from her again and it will certainly create, both in
+her own and other States, a strong desire to see her next forthcoming
+work announced by the same publishers in one of their new series--her
+"Story of the State of Kentucky."
+
+
+THE ART OF LIVING. From the Writings of Samuel Smiles. With
+Introduction by the venerable Dr. Peabody of Harvard University, and
+Biographical Sketch by the editor, Carrie Adelaide Cooke. Boston: D.
+Lothrop Company. Price $1.00.
+
+Samuel Smiles is the Benjamin Franklin of England. His sayings have a
+similar terseness, aptness and force; they are directed to practical
+ends, like Franklin's; they have the advantage of being nearer our time
+and therefore more directly related to subjects upon which practical
+wisdom is of practical use.
+
+Success in life is his subject all through, The Art of Living; and
+he confesses on the very first page that "happiness consists in the
+enjoyment of little pleasures scattered along the common path of life,
+which in the eager search for some great and exciting joy we are apt
+to overlook. It finds delight in the performance of common duties
+faithfully and honorably fulfilled."
+
+Let the reader go back to that quotation again and consider how
+contrary it is to the spirit that underlies the businesses that are
+nowadays tempting men to sudden fortune, torturing with disappointments
+nearly all who yield, and burdening the successful beyond their
+endurance, shortening lives and making them weary and most of them
+empty.
+
+Is it worth while to join the mad rush for the lottery; or to take the
+old road to slow success?
+
+This book of the chosen thoughts of a rare philosopher leads to
+contentment as well as wisdom; for, when we choose the less brilliant
+course because we are sure it is the best one, we have the most
+complete and lasting repose from anxiety.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Punctuation errors repaired.
+
+First book list page, "Eaoh" changed to "Each" (Each volume 16mo)
+
+Page 4, "208" changed to "226" to reflect actual first page of Chapter
+XII.
+
+Page 4, "230" changed to "304" to reflect actual first page of Chapter
+XVII.
+
+Page 4 and 5, each page number reference increased by two to match
+actual location of remaining chapters. (_i.e._ 318 is now 320 to
+reflect location of Chapter XVIII)
+
+Page 29, "botton" changed to "bottom" (for in the bottom of)
+
+Page 69, "nowdays" changed to "nowadays" (the pennies nowadays)
+
+Page 88, "keees" changed to "knees" (soon on her knees)
+
+Page 200, "think" changed to "thing" (thing that I should)
+
+Page 202, "interruped" changed to "interrupted" (of her had interrupted)
+
+Page 212, "sat" changed to "set" (he set the table)
+
+Page 269, "unsual" changed to "unusual" (unusual toilet having)
+
+Page 385, extra word "the" removed from text. Original read (have at
+the the windows)
+
+Page 407, "pealed" changed to "peeled" (turnips half-peeled)
+
+Page 437, "esson" changed to "lesson" (lesson is the joy)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Fishers: and their Nets, by Pansy
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE FISHERS: AND THEIR NETS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 45536-8.txt or 45536-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Little Fishers: and Their Nets, by Pansy (Isabella Alden).
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Fishers: and their Nets, by Pansy
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Little Fishers: and their Nets
+
+Author: Pansy
+
+Release Date: April 30, 2014 [EBook #45536]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE FISHERS: AND THEIR NETS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 506px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="506" height="800" alt="cover" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>THE PANSY BOOKS.</div>
+
+
+<div class='center'><b>Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.50</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Chautauqua Girls at Home.</li>
+<li>Christie's Christmas.</li>
+<li>Divers Women.</li>
+<li>Echoing and Re-Echoing.</li>
+<li>Eighty-Seven.</li>
+<li>Endless Chain (An).</li>
+<li>Ester Ried.</li>
+<li>Ester Ried Yet Speaking.</li>
+<li>Four Girls at Chautauqua.</li>
+<li>From Different Standpoints.</li>
+<li>Hall in the Grove (The).</li>
+<li>Household Puzzles.</li>
+<li>Interrupted.</li>
+<li>Judge Burnham's Daughters.</li>
+<li>Julia Ried.</li>
+<li>King's Daughter (The).</li>
+<li>Little Fishers and Their Nets.</li>
+<li>Links in Rebecca's Life.</li>
+<li>Mrs. Solomon Smith Looking On.</li>
+<li>Modern Prophets.</li>
+<li>Man of the house.</li>
+<li>New Graft on the Family Tree (A).</li>
+<li>One Commonplace Day.</li>
+<li>Pocket Measure (The).</li>
+<li>Profiles.</li>
+<li>Ruth Erskine's Crosses.</li>
+<li>Randolphs (The).</li>
+<li>Sevenfold Trouble (A).</li>
+<li>Sidney Martin's Christmas.</li>
+<li>Spun from Fact.</li>
+<li>Those Boys.</li>
+<li>Three People.</li>
+<li>Tip Lewis and His Lamp.</li>
+<li>Wise and Otherwise.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 12mo, cloth. $1.25.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Cunning Workmen.</li>
+<li>Dr. Deane's Way.</li>
+<li>Grandpa's Darlings.</li>
+<li>Miss Priscilla Hunter.</li>
+<li>Mrs. Deane's Way.</li>
+<li>What She Said.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.00.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>At Home and Abroad.</li>
+<li>Bobby's Wolf and other Stories.</li>
+<li>Five Friends.</li>
+<li>In the Woods and Out.</li>
+<li>Young Folks Worth Knowing.</li>
+<li>Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening.</li>
+<li>New Years Tangles.</li>
+<li>Next Things.</li>
+<li>Pansy Scrap Book.</li>
+<li>Some Young Heroines.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Couldn't be Bought.</li>
+<li>Getting Ahead.</li>
+<li>Mary Burton Abroad.</li>
+<li>Pansies.</li>
+<li>Six Little Girls.</li>
+<li>Stories from the life of Jesus.</li>
+<li>That Boy Bob.</li>
+<li>Two Boys.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 16mo, cloth, 75 cts.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Bernie's White Chicken.</li>
+<li>Docia's Journal.</li>
+<li>Helen Lester.</li>
+<li>Jessie Wells.</li>
+<li>Monteagle.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class='center'><br /><b>Each volume 16mo, cloth, 60 cts.</b></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Browning Boys.</li>
+<li>Dozen of Them (A).</li>
+<li>Gertrude's Diary.</li>
+<li>Hedge Fence (A).</li>
+<li>Side by Side.</li>
+<li>Six O'Clock in the Evening.</li>
+<li>Stories of Remarkable Women.</li>
+<li>Stories of Great Men.</li>
+<li>Story of Puff.</li>
+<li>"We Twelve girls."</li>
+<li>World of Little People (A).</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;">
+<img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="older man seated looking at young boy" />
+<div class="caption">NORMAN WAS A HANDSOME BOY WHEN SHE MARRIED MR. DECKER.</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h1>Little Fishers: and Their Nets</h1>
+
+<div class='center'>
+BY<br />
+<span class='author'>PANSY</span><br />
+<span class='authorof'>AUTHOR OF "CHRISTIE'S CHRISTMAS," "A HEDGE FENCE," "GERTRUDE'S<br />
+DIARY," "THE MAN OF THE HOUSE," "INTERRUPTED,"<br />
+"THE HALL IN THE GROVE," "AN ENDLESS<br />
+CHAIN," "MRS. SOLOMON SMITH LOOKING<br />
+ON," "FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA,"<br />
+"RUTH ERSKINE'S CROSSES,"<br />
+"SPUN FROM FACT,"<br />
+ETC., ETC.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<i>ILLUSTRATED</i><br />
+<br /><br /><br />
+<small>BOSTON</small><br />
+D LOTHROP COMPANY<br />
+<small>FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS</small><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='copyright'>
+<span class="smcap">Copyright 1887<br />
+by<br />
+D Lothrop Company</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents">
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="right"><small>PAGE.</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'>CHAPTER I.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Deckers' Home</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER II.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Beginning her Life</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER III.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Truth is told</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IV.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">New Friends</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER V.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A great Undertaking</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VI.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">How it succeeded</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Long Stories to tell</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER VIII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span><span class="smcap">A Sabbath to remember</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER IX.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Bargain and a Promise</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER X.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Pleasure and Disappointment</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XI.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A complete Success</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">An unexpected Helper</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The little Picture Makers</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIV.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Concert</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XV.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Will and a Way</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVI.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">An Ordeal</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Flower Party</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XVIII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A satisfactory Evening</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XIX.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span><span class="smcap">Ready to try</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XX.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Way made plain</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXI.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The New Enterprise</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_365">365</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Too good to be True</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_382">382</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXIII.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The crowning Wonder</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_400">400</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="center" colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER XXIV.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Past and Present</span></td>
+<td align='right'><a href="#Page_418">418</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a><br /><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='maintitle'>Little Fishers: and Their Nets.</div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>CHAPTER I.<br />
+
+<small>THE DECKERS' HOME.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>JOE DECKER gave his chair a noisy shove
+backward from the table, over the uneven
+floor, shambled across the space between it and
+the kitchen door, a look of intense disgust on his
+face, then stopped for his good-morning speech:</div>
+
+<p>"You may as well know, first as last, that
+I've sent for Nan. I've stood this kind of
+thing just exactly as long as I'm going to.
+There ain't many men, I can tell you, who would
+have stood it so long. Such a meal as that!
+Ain't fit for a decent dog!</p>
+
+<p>"Nan is coming in the afternoon stage.
+There must be some place fixed up for her to
+sleep in. Understand, now, that has <i>got</i> to be
+done, and I won't have no words about it."</p>
+
+<p>Then he slammed the door, and went away.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Yes, he was talking to his wife! She could
+remember the time when he used to linger in
+the door, talking to her, so many last words to
+say, and when at last he would turn away with
+a kind "Well, good-by, Mary! Don't work too
+hard."</p>
+
+<p>But that seemed ages ago to the poor woman
+who was left this morning in the wretched little
+room with the door slammed between her
+and her husband. She did not look as though
+she had life enough left to make words about
+anything. She sat in a limp heap in one of the
+broken chairs, her bared arms lying between
+the folds of a soiled and ragged apron.</p>
+
+<p>Not an old woman, yet her hair was gray, and
+her cheeks were faded, and her eyes looked as
+though they had not closed in quiet restful
+sleep for months. She had not combed her hair
+that morning; and thin and faded as it was, it
+hung in straggling locks about her face.</p>
+
+<p>I don't suppose you ever saw a kitchen just like
+that one! It was heated, not only by the fierce
+sun which streamed in at the two uncurtained
+eastern windows, but by the big old stove,
+which could smoke, not only, and throw out an
+almost unendurable heat on a warm morning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+like this, when heat was not wanted, but had a
+way at all times of refusing to heat the oven,
+and indeed had fits of sullenness when it would
+not "draw" at all.</p>
+
+<p>This was one of the mornings when the fire
+had chosen to burn; it had swallowed the legs
+and back of a rickety chair which the mistress
+in desperation had stuffed in, when she was
+waiting for the teakettle to boil, and now that
+there was nothing to boil, or fry, and no need
+for heat, the stump of wood, wet by yesterday's
+rain, had dried itself and chosen to burn.</p>
+
+<p>The west windows opened into a side yard,
+and the sound of children's voices in angry dispute,
+and the smell of a pigsty, came in together,
+and seemed equally discouraging to the
+wilted woman in the chair.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was already pretty high in the sky,
+yet the breakfast-table still stood in the middle
+of the room.</p>
+
+<p>I don't know as I can describe that table to
+you. It was a square one, unpainted, and
+stained with something red, and something
+green, and spotted with grease, and spotted with
+black, rubbed from endless hot kettles set on
+it, or else from one kettle set on it endless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+times; it must have been that way, for now that
+I think of it, there was but one kettle in that
+house. No tablecloth covered the stains; there
+was a cracked plate which held a few crusts of
+very stale bread, and a teacup about a third full
+of molasses, in which several flies were struggling.
+More flies covered the bread crusts, and
+swam in a little mess of what had been butter,
+but was now oil, and these were the only signs
+of food.</p>
+
+<p>It was from this breakfast-table that the man
+had risen in disgust. You don't wonder? You
+think it was enough to disgust anybody? That
+is certainly true, but if the man had only stopped
+to think that the reason it presented such an
+appearance was because he had steadily drank
+up all that ought to have gone on it during the
+months past, perhaps he would have turned his
+disgust where it belonged&mdash;on himself.</p>
+
+<p>The woman had not tried to eat anything.
+She had given the best she had to the husband
+and son, and had left it for them. She was very
+willing to do so. It seemed to her as though
+she never could eat another mouthful of anything.</p>
+
+<p>Can you think of her, sitting in that broken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+chair midway between the table and the stove,
+the heat from the stove puffing into her face;
+the heat from the sun pouring full on her back,
+her straggling hair silvery in the sunlight, her
+short, faded calico dress frayed about the ankles,
+her feet showing plainly from the holes of the
+slippers into which they were thrust, her hands
+folded about the soiled apron, and such a look
+of utter hopeless sorrow on her face as cannot
+be described?</p>
+
+<p>No, I hope you cannot imagine a woman like
+her, and will never see one to help you paint the
+picture. And yet I don't know; since there
+are such women&mdash;scores of them, thousands of
+them&mdash;why should you not know about them,
+and begin now to plan ways of helping them out
+of these kitchens, and out of these sorrows?</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker rose up presently, and staggered
+toward the table; a dim idea of trying to clear
+it off, and put things in something like order,
+struggled with the faintness she felt. She
+picked up two plates, sticky with molasses, and
+having a piece of pork rind on one, and set
+them into each other. She poured a slop of
+weak tea from one cracked cup into another
+cracked cup, her face growing paler the while.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+Suddenly she clutched at the table, and but for
+its help, would have fallen. There was just
+strength enough left to help her back to the
+rickety chair. Once there, she dropped into
+the same utterly hopeless position, and though
+there was no one to listen, spoke her sorrowful
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"It's no use; I must just give up. I'm done
+for, and that's the truth! I've been expecting
+it all along, and now it's come. I couldn't clear
+up here and get them any dinner, not if he
+should kill me, and I don't know but that will
+be the next thing. I've slaved and slaved; if
+anybody ever tried to do something with nothing,
+I'm the one; and now I'm done. I've just
+got to lie down, and stay there, till I die. I
+wish I <i>could</i> die. If I could do it quick, and be
+done with it, I wouldn't care how soon; but it
+would be awful to lie there and see things go
+on; oh, dear!"</p>
+
+<p>She lifted up her poor bony hands and covered
+her face with them and shook as though she
+was crying. But she shed no tears. The truth
+is, her poor eyes were tired of crying. It was
+a good while since any tears had come. After
+a few minutes she went on with her story.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It isn't enough that we are naked, and half-starved,
+and things growing worse every day,
+but now that Nan mast come and make one
+more torment. 'Fix a place for her to sleep!'
+Where, I wonder, and what with? It is too
+much! Flesh and blood can't bear any more.
+If ever a woman did her best I have, and done
+it with nothing, and got no thanks for it; now
+I've got to the end of my rope. If I have
+strength enough to crawl back into bed, it is all
+there is left of me."</p>
+
+<p>But for all that, she tried to do something
+else. Three times she made an effort to clear
+away the few dirty things on that dirty table,
+and each time felt the deadly faintness creeping
+over her, which sent her back frightened to the
+chair. The children came in, crying, and she
+tried to untie a string for one, and find a pin
+for the other; but her fingers trembled so that
+the knot grew harder, and not even a pin was
+left for her to give them, and she finally lost all
+patience with their cross little ways and gave
+each a slap and an order not to come in the
+house again that forenoon.</p>
+
+<p>The door was ajar into the most discouraged
+looking bedroom that you can think of. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+not simply that the bed was unmade; the
+truth is, the clothes were so ragged that you
+would have thought they could not be touched
+without falling to pieces; and they were badly
+stained and soiled, the print of grimy little
+hands being all over them. Partly pushed under,
+out of sight, was a trundle-bed, that, if anything,
+looked more repulsive than the large one.
+There was an old barrel in the corner, with a
+rough board over it, and a chair more rickety
+than either of those in the kitchen, and this was
+the only furniture there was in that room.</p>
+
+<p>The only bright thing there was in it was the
+sunshine, for there was an east window in this
+room, and the curtain was stretched as high as
+it could be. To the eyes of the poor tired
+woman who presently dragged herself into this
+room, the light and the heat from the sun seemed
+more than she could bear, and she tugged at the
+brown paper curtain so fiercely that it tore half
+across, but she got it down, and then she fell
+forward among the rags of the bed with a
+groan.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Mrs. Decker! I wonder if you have not
+imagined all her sorrowful story without another
+word from me!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is such an old story; and it has been told
+over so many times, that all the children in
+America know it by heart.</p>
+
+<p>Yes; she was the wife of a drunkard. Not
+that Joe Decker called himself a drunkard; the
+most that he ever admitted was that he sometimes
+took a drop too much! I don't think he
+had the least idea how many times in a month
+he reeled home, unable to talk straight, unable
+to help himself to his wretched bed.</p>
+
+<p>I don't suppose he knew that his brain was
+never free from the effects of alcohol; but his
+wife knew it only too well. She knew that he
+was always cross and sullen now, when he was
+not fierce, and she knew that this was not his
+natural disposition. No one need explain to her
+how alcohol would effect a man's nature; she
+had watched her husband change from month to
+month, and she knew that he was growing worse
+every day.</p>
+
+<p>There was another sorrow in this sad woman's
+heart. She had one boy who was nearly ten
+years old, when she married Mr. Decker; and
+people had said to her often and often, "What
+a handsome boy you have, Mrs. Lloyd; he ought
+to have been a girl." And the first time she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+had felt any particular interest in Joe Decker
+was when he made her boy a kite, and showed
+him how to fly it, and gave him one bright evening,
+such as fathers give their boys. This boy's
+father had died when he was a baby, and the
+Widow Lloyd had struggled on alone; caring for
+him, keeping him neatly dressed, sending him
+to school as soon as he was old enough, bringing
+him up in such a way that it was often and
+often said in the village, "What a nice boy that
+Norman Lloyd is! A credit to his mother!"
+And the mother had sat and sewed, in the evenings
+when Norman was in bed, and thought
+over the things that fathers could do for boys
+which mothers could not; and then thought that
+there were things which mothers could do for
+girls that fathers could not, and Mr. Joseph
+Decker, the carpenter, had a little girl, she had
+been told, only a few years younger than her
+Norman. And so, when Mr. Decker had made
+kites, not only, but little sail boats, and once, a
+little table for Norman to put his school books
+on, with a drawer in it for his writing-book and
+pencil, and when he had in many kind and manly
+ways won her heart, this respectable widow who
+had for ten years earned her own and her boy's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+living, married him, and went to keep his home
+for him, and planned as to the kind and motherly
+things which she would do for his little girl
+when she came home.</p>
+
+<p>Alas for plans! She knew, this foolish woman,
+that Mr. Decker sometimes took a drink of
+beer with his noon meal, and again at night, perhaps;
+but she said to herself, "No wonder, poor
+man; always having to eat his dinner out of a
+pail! No home, and no woman to see that he
+had things nice and comfortable. She would
+risk but what he would stay at home, when he
+had one to stay in, and like a bit of beefsteak
+better than the beer, any day."</p>
+
+<p>She had not calculated as to the place which
+the beer held in his heart. Neither had he. He
+was astonished to find that it was not easy to
+give it up, even when Mary wanted him to. He
+was astonished at first to discover how often he
+was thirsty with a thirst that nothing but beer
+would satisfy. I have not time for all the story.
+The beer was not given up, the habit grew
+stronger and stronger, and steadily, though at
+first slowly, the Deckers went down. From
+being one of the best workmen in town, Mr.
+Decker dropped down to the level of "Old Joe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+Decker," whom people would not employ if they
+could get anybody else. The little girl had
+never come home save for a short visit; at first
+the new mother was sorry, then she was glad.</p>
+
+<p>As the days passed, her heart grew heavier
+and heavier; a horrible fear which was almost
+a certainty, had now gotten hold of her&mdash;that
+her handsome, manly Norman was going to copy
+the father she had given him! Poor mother!</p>
+
+<p>I would not, if I could, describe to you all the
+miseries of that long day! How the mother lay
+and tossed on that miserable bed, and burned
+with fever and groaned with pain. How the
+children quarreled and cried, and ran into
+mother, and cried again because she could give
+them no attention, and made up, and ran out
+again to play, and quarreled again. How the
+father came home at noon, more under the influence
+of liquor than he had been in the morning;
+and swore at the table still standing as he
+had left it at breakfast time, and swore at his
+wife for "lying in bed and sulking, instead of
+doing her work like a decent woman," and swore
+at his children for crying with hunger; and
+finally divided what remained of the bread between
+them, and went off himself to a saloon,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+where he spent twenty-five cents for his dinner,
+and fifty cents for liquor. How Norman came
+home, and looked about the deserted kitchen and
+empty cupboard, and looked in at his mother,
+and said he was sorry she had a headache, and
+sighed, and wished that he had a decent home
+like other fellows, and wished that a doctor
+could be found, who didn't want more money
+than he was worth, to pay him for coming to see
+a sick woman, and then went to a bakery and
+bought a loaf of bread, and a piece of cheese,
+and having munched these, washed them down
+with several glasses of beer, went back to his
+work. Meantime, the playing and the quarreling,
+and the crying, went on outside, and Mrs.
+Decker continued to sleep her heavy, feverish
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Several times she wakened in a bewilderment
+of fever and pain, and groaned, and tried to get
+up, and fell back and groaned again, and lost her
+misery in another unnaturally heavy sleep, and
+the day wore away until it was three o'clock in
+the afternoon. The stages would be due in a few
+minutes&mdash;the one that brought passengers over
+from the railroad junction a mile away. The children
+in the yard did not know that one of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+was expected to stop at their house; and the
+father when he came home at noon had been
+drinking too much liquor to remember it; and
+Norman had not heard of it, and for his mother's
+sake would have been too angry to have met it if
+he had; so Nan was coming home with nobody
+to welcome her.</p>
+
+<p>If you had seen her sitting at that moment, a
+trim little maiden in the stage, her face all
+flushed over the prospect of seeing father, and
+the rest, in a few minutes, you would not have
+thought it possible that she could belong to the
+Decker family.</p>
+
+<p>She had not seen her home in seven years.
+She had been a little thing of six when she went
+away with the Marshall family.</p>
+
+<p>It had all come about naturally. Mrs. Marshall
+was their neighbor, and had known her
+mother from childhood; and when she died had
+carried the motherless little girl home with her
+to stay until Mr. Decker decided what to do;
+and he was slow in deciding, and Mrs. Marshall
+had a family of boys, but no little girl, and held
+the motherless one tenderly for her mother's
+sake; and when the Marshalls suddenly had an
+offer of business which made it necessary for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+them to move to the city, they clung to the little
+girl, and proposed to Mr. Decker that she
+should go with them and stay until he had a
+place for her again.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently he had not found a place for her
+in all these seven years, for she had never been
+sent for to come home.</p>
+
+<p>The new wife had wanted her at first, to be
+mother to her, as she fancied Mr. Decker was
+going to be father to her boy. But it did not
+take her very many months to get her eyes
+open to the thought that perhaps the girl would
+be better off away from her father; and of late
+years she had looked on the possible home-coming
+with positive terror. Her own little ones
+had nothing to eat, sometimes, save what Norman
+provided; and if "he"&mdash;and by this Mrs.
+Decker meant her husband; he had ceased to
+be "Mr. Decker" to her, or "Joseph," or even
+Joe&mdash;if "he" should take a notion to turn
+against the girl, life would be more terrible to
+them in every way; and on the other hand, if
+he should fancy her, and because of her, turn
+more against the wife, or Norman, what would
+become of them then?</p>
+
+<p>So the years had passed, and beyond an occasional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+threat when Joe Decker was at his worst,
+to "send for Nan right straight off," nothing
+had been said of her home-coming. The threat
+had come oftener of late, for Joe Decker had
+discovered that there was just now nothing that
+his wife dreaded more than the presence of this
+step-daughter; and his present manly mood was
+to do all he could for the discomfort of his wife!
+That was one of the elevating thoughts which
+liquor had given him!</p>
+
+<p>Three o'clock. The stages came rattling
+down the stony road. Few people who lived on
+this street had much to do with the stage; they
+could not afford to ride, and they did not belong
+to the class who had much company.</p>
+
+<p>So when the heavy carriages kept straight on,
+instead of turning the corner below, it brought
+a swarm of children from the various dooryards
+to see who was coming, and where.</p>
+
+<p>"It's stopped at Decker's, as true as I live!"
+said Mrs. Job Smith, peeping out of her clean
+pantry window to get a view. "I heard that
+Joe had sent for little Nan, but I hoped it wasn't
+true. Poor Nan! if the Marshalls have treated
+her with any kind of decency, it'll be a dreadful
+change, and I'm sorry enough for her. Yes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+that must be Nan getting out. She's got the
+very same bright eyes, but she has grown a sight,
+to be sure!" Which need not have seemed
+strange to Mrs. Smith, if she had stopped to
+remember that seven years had passed since Nan
+went away.</p>
+
+<p>The little woman got down with a brisk step
+from the stage, and watched her trunk set in the
+doorway, and got out her red pocket-book, and
+paid the fare, and then looked about her doubtfully.
+Could this be home!</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER II.<br />
+
+<small>BEGINNING HER LIFE.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>SHE did not remember anything, but the
+yard was very dirty, and the fence was
+tumbling down, and there were lights of glass
+out of the windows, and a general air of discomfort
+prevailed. It did not look like a home.
+Besides, where were father and mother? There
+must be some mistake.</div>
+
+<p>The two little Deckers who had played and
+quarreled together all day had left their work
+to come and stare at the new comer out of astonished
+eyes. Certainly they did not seem to
+have been expecting her.</p>
+
+<p>The new comer turned to the elder of the two
+children, and spoke in a gentle winning voice:
+"Little girl, do you live here&mdash;in this house?"</p>
+
+<p>The child with her forefinger placed meditatively
+on her lip, and her bright eyes staring intensely,
+decided to nod that she did.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And can you tell me what your name is?"</p>
+
+<p>To this question there was no answer for several
+seconds, then she thought better of it and
+gravely said: "I could."</p>
+
+<p>This seemed so funny, that poor Nan, though
+by this time carrying a very sad heart, could not
+help smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, will you?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>But at this the tangled yellow head was
+shaken violently. No, she wouldn't.</p>
+
+<p>"It can't be," said Nan, talking to herself,
+since there was no one who would talk with her,
+looking with troubled eyes at the two uncombed,
+unwashed children, with their dresses half torn
+from them, and dirtier than any dresses that
+this trim little maiden had ever seen before,
+"this really cannot be the place! and yet father
+said this street and number; and the driver said
+this was right." Then she stooped to the little
+one. "Won't you tell me if your name is Satie
+Decker?"</p>
+
+<p>But this one was shy, and hid her dirty face
+in her dirty hands, and stepped back behind her
+sister who at once came to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, 'tis," she said, "and you let her alone."</p>
+
+<p>A shadow fell over Nan's face, but she said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+quickly, "Then you must be Susie Decker, and
+this place is really home!"</p>
+
+<p>But you cannot think how strangely it sounded
+to her to call such a looking spot as this home.
+There was no use in standing on the doorstep.
+She could feel that curious eyes were peeping
+at her from neighbors' windows. She stepped
+quickly inside the half-open door, into the kitchen
+where that breakfast-table still stood, with the
+flies so thick around the molasses cup, from
+which the children had long since drained the
+molasses, that it was difficult to tell whether
+there was a cup behind it, or whether this really
+was a pyramid of flies.</p>
+
+<p>The children followed her in. Susie had a
+dark frown on her face, and a determined air,
+as one who meant to stand up for her rights and
+protect the little sister who still tried to hide
+behind her. I think it was well they were there;
+had they not been, I feel almost sure that the
+stranger would have sat down in the first chair
+and cried.</p>
+
+<p>Poor little woman! It was such a sorrowful
+home-coming to her. So different from what
+she had been planning all day.</p>
+
+<p>I wish I could give you a real true picture of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+her as she stood in the middle of that dreadful
+room, trying to choke back the tears while she
+convinced herself that she was really Nettie
+Decker. A trim little figure in a brown and
+white gingham dress, a brown straw hat trimmed
+with broad bands and ends of satin ribbon, with
+brown gloves on her hands, and a ruffle in her
+neck. This was Nettie Decker; neat and orderly,
+from ruffle to buttoned boots. I wonder if
+you can think what a strange contrast she was
+to everything around her?</p>
+
+<p>What was to be done? she could not stand
+there, gazing about her; and there seemed no
+place to sit down, and nowhere to go. Where
+could father be? Why had he not stayed at
+home to welcome his little girl? or if too busy
+for that, surely the mother could have stayed,
+and he must have left a message for her.</p>
+
+<p>If the little girls would only be good and try
+to tell her what all this strangeness meant! She
+made another effort to get into their confidence.
+She bent toward Susie, smiling as brightly as
+she could, and said: "Didn't you know, little
+girlie, that I was your sister Nettie? I have
+come home to play with you and help you have
+a nice time."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Even while she said it, she felt ten years older
+than she ever had before, and she wondered if
+she should ever play anything again; and if it
+could be possible for people to have nice times
+who lived in such a house as this. But Susie
+was in no sense won, and scowled harder than
+ever, as she said in a suspicious tone: "I ain't
+got no sister Nettie, only Sate, and Nan."</p>
+
+<p>Hot as the room was, the neat little girl shivered.
+There was something dreadful to her in
+the sound of that name. She had forgotten that
+she ever used to hear it; she remembered her
+father as having called her 'Nannie'; that would
+do very well, though it was not so pleasant to
+her as the 'Nettie' to which she had been answering
+for seven years.</p>
+
+<p>But how strange and sad it was that these
+little sisters should have been taught to call her
+Nan! could there be a more hateful name than
+that, she wondered. Did it mean that her step-mother
+hated her, and had taught the children
+to do so? She swallowed at the lump in her
+throat. What if she should cry! what would
+those children say or do, and what would happen
+next? she must try to explain.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Nannie," she couldn't make her lips say<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+the word Nan. "I have come home to live, and
+to help you!" She did not feel like saying
+"play with you," now. "Will you be a good
+girl, and let me love you?"</p>
+
+<p>How Susie scowled at her then! "No," she
+said, firmly, "I won't."</p>
+
+<p>There seemed to be no truthful answer to
+make to this, for in the bottom of her heart, Nannie
+did not believe that she could. Still, she
+must make the best of it, and she began slowly
+to draw off her gloves. Clearly she must do
+something towards getting herself settled.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you tell me where father is? or
+mother?" her voice faltered a little over that
+word; "maybe you can show me where to put
+my trunk; do you know which is to be my
+room?"</p>
+
+<p>There were pauses made between each of
+these questions. The poor little stranger seemed
+to be trying first one form and then another, to
+see if it was possible to get any help.</p>
+
+<p>Susie decided at last to do something besides
+scowl.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother's sick. She lies in bed and groans
+all the time. She ain't got us no dinner to-day;
+Sate and me called her, and called her, and she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+wouldn't say anything to us. There ain't no
+room only this and that," nodding her head
+toward the bedroom door, "and the room over
+the shed where Norm sleeps. Norm is hateful.
+He didn't bring home no bread this noon for
+Sate and me; and he said maybe he would;
+we're awful hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he couldn't," said poor startled Nettie.
+She hardly knew what she said, only it
+seemed natural to try to excuse Norm. But
+what dreadful story was this! If there was
+really a sick mother, why was not the father
+bending over her, and the house hushed and
+darkened, and somebody tiptoeing about, planning
+comforts for the night? She had seen
+something of sickness, and this was the way it
+was managed.</p>
+
+<p>Then what was this about there being no room
+for her? Then what in the world was she to do?
+Oh, what did it all mean! She felt as though
+she must run right back to the depot, and get on
+the cars and go to her own dear home. To be
+sure she knew that her father was poor; what
+of that? so were the Marshalls; she had heard
+Mrs. Marshall say many a time that "poor folks
+can't have such things," in answer to some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+the children's coaxings. But poverty such as
+this which seemed to surround this home was
+utterly strange to Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>Still, though she felt such a child, she was
+also a woman; in some things at least. She
+knew there was no going home for her to-night.
+If she had the money to go with, and if there
+had been a train to go on, she would still have
+been stayed, because it would be wrong to
+go. Her father had sent for her, had said that
+they wanted her, needed her, and her father certainly
+had a right to her; and she had come
+away with a full heart, and a firm resolve to be
+as good and as helpful and as happy in her old
+home as she possibly could. And now that
+nothing anywhere was as she had expected it,
+was no reason why she should not still do right.
+Only, what was there for her to do, and how
+should she begin?</p>
+
+<p>She stood there still in the middle of the
+room, the children staring. Presently she crossed
+on tiptoe to the bedroom door which was partly
+open and peeped in, catching her first glimpse of
+the woman whom she must call "mother."</p>
+
+<p>Also she caught a glimpse of that dreadful
+bed; and the horrors of that sight almost took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+away the thought of the woman lying on it.
+How could she help being sick if she had to sleep
+in such a place as that? Poor Nettie Decker!
+She stood and looked, and looked. Then seeing
+that the woman did not stir, but seemed to be
+in a heavy sleep, she shut the door softly and
+came away.</p>
+
+<p>I don't suppose that Nettie Decker will ever
+forget the next three hours of her life, even if
+she lives to be an old woman. Not that anything
+wonderful happened; only that, for years
+and years afterwards, it seemed to her that she
+grew suddenly, that afternoon, from a happy-hearted
+little girl of thirteen, into a care-taking,
+sorrowful woman. While she stood in that bedroom
+door, a perfect whirl of thoughts rushed
+through her brain, and when she shut the door,
+she had come to this conclusion:</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it; I am Nettie Decker; he is
+my father, and I belong to him, and I ought to
+be here if he wants me; and she is my mother;
+and if it is dreadful, I can't help it; there is
+everything to do; and I must do it."</p>
+
+<p>It was then that she shut the door softly and
+went back and began her life.</p>
+
+<p>There was that trunk out on the stoop. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+ought to go somewhere. At least she could drag
+it into the kitchen so that the troops of children
+gathering about the door need not have it to
+wonder at any longer. Putting all her strength
+to it she drew it in and shut the door. By this
+time, Sate, who was getting used to her as she
+had gotten used to many a new thing in her little
+life, began to wail that she was hungry, and
+wanted some bread and some molasses.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little girlie!" Nettie said, "don't cry;
+I'll see if I can find you something to eat. Did
+she really have no dinner, Susie? Oh, darling,
+don't cry so; you will trouble poor mother."</p>
+
+<p>But Susie had gone back to the scowling mood.
+"She <i>shall</i> cry, if she wants to; you can't stop
+her; and you needn't try; I'll cry too, just as
+loud as I can."</p>
+
+<p>And Susie Decker who had strong lungs and
+always did as she said she would, immediately
+set up such a howl as put Sate's milder crying
+quite in the shade.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie looked over at the bedroom door in
+dismay; but no sound came from there. Yet
+this roaring was fearful. How could it be stopped?
+Suddenly she plunged her hand into the depths
+of a small travelling bag which still hung on her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+arm, and brought forth a lovely red-cheeked
+peach. She held it before the eyes of the naughty
+couple and spoke in a determined tone: "This
+is for the one who stops crying this instant."</p>
+
+<p>Both children stopped as suddenly as though
+they had been wound up, and the machinery had
+run down.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie smiled, and went back into the travelling
+bag. "There must be two of them, it
+seems," she said, and brought out another peach.
+"Now you are to sit down on the steps and eat
+them, while I see what can be found for our
+supper."</p>
+
+<p>Down sat the children. There had been
+quiet determination in this new-comer's tone,
+and peaches were not to be trifled with. Their
+mouths had watered for a taste ever since the
+dear woolly things began to appear in the grocery
+windows, and not one had they had!</p>
+
+<p>Now began work indeed. Nettie opened her
+trunk and drew out a work apron which covered
+her dress from throat to shoes, and made her
+look if anything, prettier than before. Where
+was the broom? The children busy with their
+peaches, neither knew nor cared; however, a
+vigorous search among the rubbish in the shed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+brought one to light. And then there was such
+a cloud of dust as the Decker kitchen had not
+seen in a long time. Then came a visit to the
+back yard in search of chips; both children following
+close at her heels, saying nothing, but
+watching every movement with wide-open wondering
+eyes. Back again to the kitchen and the
+fire was made up. Then an old kettle was
+dragged out from a hole in the corner, which
+poor Mrs. Decker called a closet. It was to hold
+water, while the fire heated it, but first it must
+be washed; everything must be washed that
+was touched. Where was the dishcloth?</p>
+
+<p>The children being asked, stared and shook
+their heads. Nettie searched. She found at
+last a rag so black and ill-smelling that without
+giving the matter much thought she opened the
+stove door and thrust it in. This brought a rebuke
+from the fierce Susie.</p>
+
+<p>"You better look out how you burn up my
+mother's things. My mother will take your
+head right off."</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't good for anything, dear," Nettie
+said soothingly, "it was too dirty." And she
+stooped down and turned over the contents of
+the trunk. Neat little piles of clothing, carefully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+marked with her full name; a pretty green box
+which Susie dived for, and pushing off the cover
+disclosed little white ruffles, some of lace, and
+some of fine lawn, lying cosily together; but
+Nettie was not searching for such as these.
+Quite at the bottom of the trunk was a pile of
+towels, all neatly hemmed and marked. Two
+of these she selected; looked thoughtfully at
+one of them for a moment, and then with a
+grave shake of her head, got out her scissors and
+snipped it in two. Now she had a dishcloth, and
+a towel for drying. But what a pity to soil the
+nice white cloth by washing out that iron kettle!
+Nettie had grave suspicions that after such a
+proceeding it would not be fit for the dishes.
+Still, the kettle must be washed, and to have
+used the black rag which she had burned, was
+out of the question.</p>
+
+<p>There was no help for it, the other neat dishcloth
+must be sacrificed. So taking the precaution
+to wipe out the iron kettle with a piece of
+paper, and then to heat it quite hot, and apply
+soap freely, the cloth escaped without very serious
+injury; and in less time than it takes me to
+tell it, the water was getting itself into bubbles
+over the stove, and a tin pan was being cleaned,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+ready for the dishes. Then they were gathered,
+and placed in the hot and soapy water, and
+washed and rinsed and polished with the white
+towel until they shone; and the little girls
+looked on, growing more amazed each moment.</p>
+
+<p>It did not take long to wash every dish there
+was in that house. I suppose you would have
+been very much astonished if you could have
+seen how few there were! Nettie was very
+much astonished. She wondered how people
+could get supper with so few dishes, to say nothing
+of breakfasts and dinner. But you see she
+did not know how little there was to put on
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The next question was, Where to put them?
+One glance at the upper part of the closet where
+she had found some of them, convinced Nettie
+that her clean dishes could not be happy resting
+on those shelves. There was no help for it;
+they must be scrubbed, though she had not intended
+to begin housecleaning the first afternoon.
+More water and more soap, and the few
+shelves were soon cleared of rubbish, and washed.
+Nettie piled all the rubbish on a lower shelf and
+left it for a future day. She did not dare to
+burn any more property.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Don't they look pretty?" she said to the
+children, when at last the dishes were neatly arranged
+on the shelf. One held them all, nicely.</p>
+
+<p>Susie nodded with a grave face that said she
+had not yet decided whether to be pleased or
+indignant.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do it for?" she asked, after a
+moment's silent survey.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, to make them clean and shining.
+You and I are going to clear up the house and
+make it look ever so nice for mother when she
+wakes up."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you come home to help mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed. And you two little sisters
+must show me how to help her; poor sick
+mother! I am afraid she has too much to do."</p>
+
+<p>"She cries," said Susie gravely, as though
+she were stating not a surprising but simply a
+settled fact; "she cried every day: not out loud
+like Sate and me, but softly. Father says she
+is always sniveling."</p>
+
+<p>If you had been watching Nettie Decker just
+then you would have noticed that the blood
+flamed into her cheeks, and her eyes had a flash
+of wonder, and terror, and anger in them. What
+did it all mean? Where had the children learned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+such words? Was it possible that her father
+talked in this way to his wife?</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" she said unguardedly, "you must
+not talk so." But this made the fierce little
+Susie stamp her foot.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>shall</i> talk so!" she said angrily; "I shall
+talk just what I please, and you sha'n't stop me."
+And then the queer little mimic beside her
+stamped her foot, and said, "You sha'n't stop
+me."</p>
+
+<p>Said Nettie, "There was a little girl on the
+cars to-day that I knew. She had a little gray
+kitty with three white feet, and a white spot
+on one ear, and it had a blue ribbon around its
+neck. What if you had such a kitty. Would
+you be real good to it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will have a <i>black</i> kitty," said Susie, "all
+black; as black as that stove." Nettie glancing
+at the stove, could not help thinking that it was
+more gray than black; but she kept her thoughts
+to herself, and Susie went on. "And it should
+have a red ribbon around its neck; as red as
+Janie Martin's dress; her dress is as red as fire,
+and has ruffles on, and ribbons. But what would
+it eat?"</p>
+
+<p>She did not mean the dress but the kitten.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nettie laughed, but hastened to explain that
+the kitten would need a saucer of milk quite
+often, and bits of various things. This made
+wise Susie gravely shake her head.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't have no milk," she said, "only
+once in awhile when Norm buys it; Sate, she
+often cries for milk, but she don't get none. It
+don't do no good to cry for milk; I ain't cried
+for any in a long time."</p>
+
+<p>Poor little philosopher! Poor, pitiful childhood
+without any milk! Hardly anything could
+have told the story of poverty to Nettie's young
+ears more surely than this. Why, she was a
+big girl thirteen years old, and had lived in a
+city where milk was scarce, and yet her glass
+had been filled every evening. Nettie did not
+know what to make of it. How came her father
+to be so poor? She was sure that the house
+did not look like this when she went away; and
+her clothes had been neat and good. She had
+the little red dress now which she wore away.
+She thought of it when Susie was talking, and
+wondered if with a little fixing it could not be
+made to fit the black-eyed child who seemed to
+admire red so much. Finding the kitty a troublesome
+subject, at least so far as the finding of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+milk for it was concerned, she turned the conversation
+to the little girls who had been on the
+cars; the one with the kitty, and her little sister,
+whom she called "Pet." "She was about as
+old as you, Susie, and Pet was about Satie's age.
+And she was very kind to Pet; she always spoke
+to her so gently, and took such care of her everybody
+seemed to love her for her kindness."</p>
+
+<p>"I take care of Sate," said Susie. "I never
+let anybody hurt her. I would scratch their
+eyes out if they did; and they know it."</p>
+
+<p>"You slap me sometimes," little Sate said,
+her voice slightly reproachful.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Susie loftily, "but that is when
+you are bad and need it; I don't let anybody
+else slap you."</p>
+
+<p>"The oldest little girl had curly hair," said
+Nettie, "but it wasn't so long as yours, and did
+not curl so nicely as I think yours would. And
+Pet's hair was a pretty brown, like Sate's, and
+looked very pretty. It was combed so neatly.
+One wore a blue dress, and one a white dress;
+but I think they would have looked prettier if
+they had been dressed both alike."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like white dresses," said Susie; "I
+like fiery red ones."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So Nettie resolved that the red dress should
+be made to fit her.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, the scrubbing had gone on rapidly;
+the table was as clean as soap and water could
+make it. Now if those children would only let
+her wash their faces and put their hair in order,
+how different they would look. Should she
+venture to suggest it?</p>
+
+<p>It all depended on how the idea happened to
+strike Susie.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER III.<br />
+
+<small>THE TRUTH IS TOLD.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>IN the bottom of that wonderful little trunk
+lay side by side two little blue and white
+plaid dresses, made gabrielle fashion, with ruffles
+around the bottom and around the neck.
+Never were dresses made with more patient
+care. All the stitches were small and very neat.</div>
+
+<p>And they represented hours and hours of
+steady work. Every stitch in them had been
+taken by Nettie Decker. Long before she had
+thought of such a thing as coming home, they
+had been commenced. Birthday presents they
+were to be to the little sisters whom she had
+never seen. She had earned the money to buy
+them. She had borrowed two little neighbors
+of the same age, to fit them to, and with much
+advice and now and then a little skilful handling
+from Mrs. Marshall, they were finally finished to
+Nettie's great satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was the day the last stitch was set in them
+that she learned she was to come herself and
+bring them.</p>
+
+<p>She thought of them this afternoon. If the
+little girls would only let her comb their hair
+and wash their faces and hands, she would put
+on the new dresses. She had not intended to
+present them in that way, but dresses as soiled
+and faded and worn as those the little sisters
+had on, Nettie Decker had never worn.</p>
+
+<p>She opened the trunk, with both children beside
+her, watching, and drew out the dresses.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't these almost as pretty as red ones?"
+she asked, as she unfolded them, and displayed
+the dainty ruffles.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Susie, "not near so pretty as red
+ones. But then they are pretty. They aren't
+dresses at all; they are aprons. Are they for
+you to wear?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Nettie, "they are for two little
+girls to wear, who have their hair combed beautifully,
+and their hands and faces very clean."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do if the description fits. I can think just
+how nice you would look if your faces were clean
+and your hair was combed."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We will put on the aprons," said Susie firmly,
+"but we won't have our hair combed, nor our
+faces washed, and you need not try it."</p>
+
+<p>But Miss Susie found that this new sister had
+as strong a will as she. The trunk lid went
+down with a click, and Nettie rose up.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," she said, "then we will not waste
+time over them. I brought them for you, and
+meant to put them on you this afternoon to surprise
+mamma, but if you don't want them, they
+can lie in the trunk."</p>
+
+<p>"I told you we did want them," said Susie,
+looking horribly cross. "I said we would put
+them on."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but you said some more which spoiled
+it. <i>I</i> say that they cannot go on until your
+faces and hands are so clean that they shine, and
+your hair is combed beautifully."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't make us have our hair combed."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not try," said Nettie, as though it
+was a matter of very small importance to her.
+"I was willing to dress you all up prettily, but
+if you don't choose to look like the little girls I
+saw on the cars, why you can go dirty, of course.
+But you can't have the clean new dresses."</p>
+
+<p>"Till when?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not ever. Unless you are clean and neat."</p>
+
+<p>"It hurts to have hair combed."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it. Yours would hurt a good deal,
+because you don't have it combed every day; if
+you kept it smooth and nice it would hardly
+hurt at all. But I didn't suppose you were a
+cowardly little girl who was afraid of a few
+pulls. If the dresses are not worth those, we
+had better let them lie in the trunk."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie was already beginning to understand
+her queer fierce little sister. She had no idea of
+being thought a coward.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, after a thoughtful pause,
+"comb my hair if you like; I don't care. Sate,
+you are going to have your hair combed, and
+you needn't cry; because it won't do any good."</p>
+
+<p>It was certainly a trial to all parties; and poor
+little Sate in spite of this warning, did shed several
+tears; but Susie, though she frowned, and
+choked, and once jerked the comb away and
+threw it across the floor, did not let a single
+tear appear on her cheeks. And at last the terrible
+tangles slipped out, and left silky folds of
+beautiful hair that was willing to do whatever
+Nettie's skilful fingers told it. When the faces
+and hands were clean, and the lovely blue dresses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+had been arranged, Nettie stood back to look at
+them in genuine delight. What pretty little girls
+they were! She sighed in two minutes after
+she thought this. What did it mean that they
+looked so neglected and dirty?</p>
+
+<p>"These must go in the wash," she said, as she
+gathered up the rags which had been kicked off.</p>
+
+<p>"Will we put these on in the morning?"
+asked Susie, in quite a mild tone. She was
+looking down at herself and was very much
+pleased with her changed appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no," Nettie said, "they are too light to
+play in. They are dress-up clothes. You must
+have dark dresses on in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"We ain't got no dresses only them," and
+Susie pointed contemptuously at the rags in
+Nettie's hand. This made poor Nettie sigh
+again. What did it all mean?</p>
+
+<p>However, there was no time for sighing.
+There was still a great deal to be done.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we must get tea," she said, bustling
+about. "Where does mother keep the bread,
+and other things?"</p>
+
+<p>"She don't keep them nowhere. We don't
+have no things. I go to the bakery sometimes
+for bread, and for potatoes, and sometimes for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+milk. I would go now; I just want to show
+that hateful little girl in there my new dress,
+and my curls, but it isn't a bit of use to go. He
+won't let us have another single thing without
+the money. He said so yesterday, and he looked
+so cross he scared Sate; but I made faces at
+him."</p>
+
+<p>This called forth several questions as to where
+the bakery was, and Nettie, finding that it was
+but a few steps away, and that the little girls
+really bought most of the things which came
+from there, counted out the required number of
+pennies from her poor little purse for a loaf of
+bread and a pint of milk. In the cupboard was
+what had once been butter, set on the upper
+shelf in a teacup. It was almost oil, now.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had a lump of ice for this," Nettie murmured,
+"it might do. Butter costs so much."</p>
+
+<p>"They keep ice at the bakery," said that wise
+young woman, Susie, "but we never buy it."</p>
+
+<p>This brought two more pennies from the
+pocketbook; for to Nettie it seemed quite impossible
+that butter in such a condition could be
+eaten. So the ice was ordered, and two very
+neat, and very vain little bits of girls started on
+their mission.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Tablecloths? Where would the new housekeeper
+find them? Where indeed! Hunt through
+the room as she would, no trace of one was to
+be found. She did not know that the Deckers
+had not used such an article in months. She
+thought of the cupboard drawer at home, and of
+the neat pile which was always waiting there,
+and at about this hour it had been her duty to
+set the table and make everything ready for tea.
+It would not do to think about it. There were
+sharper contrasts than these. Her proposed
+present to her mother had been a tablecloth, not
+very large nor very fine, but beautifully smooth
+and clean, and hemmed by her own patient fingers.
+She must get it out to-night, as no other
+appeared; and of course she could not set the
+table without one. So it was spread on the clean
+table, and the few dishes arranged as well as she
+could. There was a drawing of tea set up in
+another teacup, and there was a sticky little tin
+teapot. Nettie, as she washed it, told it that
+to-morrow she would scour it until it shone;
+then she made tea. Meantime the little errand
+girls had returned with their purchases, the
+butter was resting on a generous lump of ice,
+the bread which was found to be stale, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+toasted, a plate of cookies from the wonderful
+trunk was added, and at last there was ready
+such a supper as had not been eaten in that
+house for weeks. To be sure it looked to Nettie
+as though there was very little to eat; but then
+she had not been used to living at the Deckers.
+She began to be very nervous about the people
+who were going to sit down at this neat table.
+Why did not some of them come?</p>
+
+<p>The wise housekeeper knew that neither tea
+nor toast improved greatly by standing, but she
+drew the teapot to the very edge of the stove,
+covered the toast, and set it in the oven. Then
+she went softly to the bedroom door and opened
+it. This time a pair of heavy eyes turned, as
+the door creaked, and were fixed on her with a
+kind of bewildered stare. She went softly in.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you feel now?" she asked gently.
+"I have made a cup of tea and a bit of toast
+for you. Shall I bring them now? The children
+said you did not eat any dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" asked the astonished woman,
+still regarding her with that bewildered stare.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie swallowed at the lump in her throat.
+It would be dreadful if she should burst out crying
+and run away, as she felt exactly like doing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am Nettie Decker," she said, and her lips
+quivered a little. "Father sent for me, you
+know. Didn't you think I would be here to-day,
+ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can't be Nan!"</p>
+
+<p>I cannot begin to describe to you the astonishment
+there was in Mrs. Decker's voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm, I am. At least that is what father
+used to call me once in a while, just for fun.
+My name is Nanette; but Auntie Marshall where
+I live, or where I used to live"&mdash;she corrected
+herself, "always called me Nettie. May I bring
+you the tea, ma'am? I think it will make you
+feel better."</p>
+
+<p>But the two children had stayed in the background
+as long as they intended. They pushed
+forward, Susie eager-voiced:</p>
+
+<p>"Look at us! See my curls, and see my new
+apron, only she says it is a dress, but it ain't; it
+is made just like Jennie Brown's apron, ain't it?
+But we ain't got no dresses on. She's got a
+white cloth on the table, and cookies, and a
+lump of ice, and everything; and we had two
+peaches. Old Jock gave us the bread. She
+sent the money, and I told him to take his old
+money and give me some bread right straight."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>How fast Susie could talk!</p>
+
+<p>There was scarcely room for the slow sweet
+Satie to get in her gentle, "and me too." Meaning
+look at my dress and hair. The bewildered
+mother raised herself on her elbow and stared&mdash;from
+Nan to the little girls, and then back to
+Nan. She was sufficiently astonished to satisfy
+even Susie.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I never!" she said at last. "I didn't
+know, I mean I didn't think"&mdash;then she stopped
+and pressed her hand to her head, and pushed
+back the straggling hair behind her ears. "I
+took dizzy this morning," she said at last, addressing
+Nettie as though she were a grown-up
+neighbor who had stepped in to see her, "and
+I staggered to the bed, and didn't know nothing
+for a long while. I had a dreadful pain in my
+head, and then I must have dropped to sleep.
+Here I've been all day, if the day is gone. It
+must be after three o'clock if you've got here.
+I meant to try to do something towards making
+things a little more decent; though the land
+knows what it would have been; I don't.
+There's nothing to do with. I didn't know till
+this morning that he had the least notion of
+sending for you&mdash;though he's threatened it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+times enough. I've been ailing all the spring,
+and this morning I just give out. I don't know
+what is the matter with me. The bed goes
+round now, and things get into a kind of a
+blur."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me bring you a cup of tea and something
+to eat," said Nettie; "I think you are faint."
+Then she vanished, the children following.
+She was back in a few minutes, under her arm
+a white towel from her trunk; this she spread
+on the barrel head which you will remember did
+duty as a table. She spread it with one hand,
+little Sate carefully smoothing out the other
+end. In her left hand she carried a cup of tea
+smoking hot, and poor Mrs. Decker noticed that
+the cup shone. Susie followed behind, an air of
+grave importance on her face, and in her hands
+a plate, covered by a smaller one, which being
+taken off disclosed a delicately browned slice of
+bread with a bit of butter spread carefully
+over it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Decker again,
+but she drank the tea with feverish haste, stopping
+long enough to feel of the cup with a curious
+look on her face. It was so smooth. There
+was a sound of heavy feet outside, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+children appeared at the door and announced
+that father and Norm had come. Nettie took
+the emptied cup, promising to fill it again, urged
+the eating of the toast while it was hot, and
+went with trembling heart to meet the father
+whom she had not seen in so many years that
+she remembered very little about him.</p>
+
+<p>A great rough-faced, unshaven man, with uncombed
+hair, ragged and dirty shirt sleeves,
+ragged and dirty pants, a red face and eyes that
+seemed but half open, and watery. Nothing
+less like what Nettie had imagined a father,
+could well be described. However, if she had
+but known it, this was a great improvement on
+the man who often came home to supper. He
+was nearly sober, and greeted her with a rough
+sort of kindness, giving her a kiss, which made
+her shrink and tremble. It was perfumed with
+odors which she did not like.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Nan, my girl, you have grown into a
+fine young lady, have you? Tall for your years,
+too. And smart, I'll be bound; you wouldn't
+be your mother's girl if you wasn't. Is it you
+that has fixed up things so? It is a good thing
+you have come to take care of us. We haven't
+had anything decent here in so long, we've most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+forgot how to treat it. Come on, Norm. This
+table looks something like living again."</p>
+
+<p>And "Norm" shambled in. Rough, and uncombed,
+and unwashed, except a dab at his
+hands which left long streaks of brown at the
+wrists. A hard-looking boy, harder than Nettie
+had ever spoken to before. She could not help
+thinking of Jim Daker who lived in a saloon not
+far from her old home, and whom she had
+always passed with a hurried step, and with
+eyes on the ground, and of whom she thought
+as of one who lived in a different world from
+hers, and wondered how it felt to be down there
+in the slum. Now here was a boy whom it was
+her duty to think of as a brother; and he reminded
+her of Jim Daker!</p>
+
+<p>Still there was something about Norm that
+she could not help half liking. He had great
+brown, wistful-looking eyes, and an honest face.
+She had not much chance, it is true, to observe
+the eyes; for he did not look at her, nor speak,
+until his father said:</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you shake hands with Nan?
+You ought to be glad to see her. You ain't
+used to such a looking supper as this."</p>
+
+<p>The boy laughed, in an embarrassed way, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+said he was sure he did not know whether he
+was glad to see her or not: depended on what
+she had come for. He gave her just a gleam
+then from the brown eyes, and she smiled and
+held out her hand. He took it awkwardly
+enough, and dropped it as suddenly as though it
+had been hot; then sat down in haste at the
+table, where his step-father was already making
+havoc with the toast. It was not a very substantial
+meal for people who had dined on bread
+and cheese, and were hungering at that moment
+for beer; but the man had spoken the truth, it
+was better than they generally found. There
+was one part of the story, however, that he failed
+to tell: which was, that he did not furnish money
+to get anything better. As for Susie and Sate,
+they had become suddenly silent. They sat
+close together and devoured their toast, like
+hungry children indeed, but also like scared
+children. They gave occasional frightened
+glances at their father which puzzled and pained
+Nettie. No suspicion of the truth had yet come
+to her. Oh, yes, she had smelled the liquor
+when her father kissed her; but she thought it
+was something which had to do with the machinery
+around which he worked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Where is the old woman?" he asked suddenly,
+setting down his empty cup which Nettie
+had filled for the third time. She looked up at
+him with a startled air. To whom was he speaking
+and what old woman could he mean? Her
+look seemed to make him cross. "What are
+you staring at?" he said sharply. "Can't you
+answer a question? Where's your mother?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie hurried to answer; she was sick, had
+been real sick all day, but was better now, and
+was trying to get up.</p>
+
+<p>"She is everlastingly sick," the father said
+with a sneer; "you will get used to that story
+if you live here long. I hope you ain't one of
+the sickly kind, because we have heard enough
+of that."</p>
+
+<p>This sentence and the tone in which it was
+spoken, brought the blood in great waves to
+Nettie's face. It was the first time she had
+ever heard a man speak of his wife in such a
+way. Norm looked up from his cookie, and
+flashed angry eyes on his step-father for a moment,
+and said "he didn't know as that was
+any wonder. She had enough to make any
+woman sick."</p>
+
+<p>"You shut up," said the father in increasing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+irritability; and the children slipped out of their
+seats and moved toward the door, keeping careful
+eyes on the father until they were fairly outside.
+Nettie felt her limbs trembling so that
+her knees knocked together under the table.
+But at last every crumb of toast was eaten, and
+every drop of tea swallowed, and Mr. Decker
+pushed himself back from the table, and spoke
+in a somewhat gentler tone: "Well, my girl,
+make yourself as comfortable as you can. I'm
+glad to see you. We need your help, you'll
+find, in more ways than one. You've been working
+for other folks long enough. It is a poor
+place you've come to, and that's a fact. I ain't
+what I used to be; I've been unfortunate. No
+fellow ever had worse luck. Everything has
+gone wrong with me ever since your mother
+died. A sick wife, and young ones to look
+after, and nobody to do a thing. It is a hard
+life, but you might as well rough it with the
+rest of us. You'll get along somehow, I s'pose.
+The rest of us always have. I've got to go out
+for awhile. You tell the old woman to fix up
+some place for you to sleep, and we'll do the
+best we can."</p>
+
+<p>And he lounged away; Norm having left the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+table and the room some minutes before. And
+this was the father to whom Nettie Decker had
+come home!</p>
+
+<p>She swallowed at the lump which seemed
+growing larger every minute in her throat. She
+had choked back a great many tears that afternoon.
+There was no time to cry. Some place
+must be fixed for her to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>In the home that she had left, there was a little
+room with matting on the floor, and a little
+white bed in the corner, and a pretty toilet set
+that the carpenter's son had made her at odd
+times, and a wash bowl and pitcher that had been
+her present on her eleventh birthday, and a green
+rocking-chair that aunt Kate had sent her: not
+her own aunt Kate, but Mrs. Marshall's sister
+who had adopted her as a niece, and these things
+and many another little knickknack were all her
+own. The room was empty to-night; but then
+Nettie must not cry!</p>
+
+<p>She began to gather the dishes and get them
+ready for washing. Just as she plunged her
+hands into the dishwater, the bedroom door
+opened, and her mother came out, stepping
+feebly, like one just recovering from severe illness.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'm dreadful weak," she said in answer to
+Nettie's inquiries, "but I guess I'm better than
+I have been in a good while. I've had a rest to-day;
+the first one I have had in three years. I
+don't know what made me give out so, all of a
+sudden. I tried to keep on my feet, but I couldn't
+do it no more than I could fly. You oughtn't
+to have to wash them dishes, child, with your
+pretty hands and your pretty dress. Oh, dear!
+I don't know what is to become of any of us."</p>
+
+<p>"This is my work apron," said Nettie, trying
+to speak cheerily, "and I am used to this work:
+I always helped with the tea dishes at home."
+Then she plunged into the midst of the subject
+which was troubling her. "Father said I was to
+ask you where I was to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"He better ask himself!" said the wilted
+woman, rousing to sudden energy and indignation.
+"How does he think I know? There isn't
+the first rag to make a bed of, nor a spot to put
+it, if there was. I say it was a sin and a shame
+for him to send for you, and that's the truth!
+If he had one decent child who had a place to
+stay, where she would be took care of, he ought
+to have let you alone. You have come to an awful
+home, child. You have got to know the truth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+and you might as well know it first as last. It
+is enough sight worse than you have seen to-night,
+though I dare say you think this is bad enough.
+You don't look nor act like what I was afraid of,
+and you must have had good friends who took
+care of you; and he ought to have let you alone.
+This is no place for a decent girl. It is bad
+enough for an old woman who has given up, and
+never expects to have anything decent any more.
+He won't provide any place for you, nor any
+clothes, and what we are to do with one more
+mouth to feed is more than I can see. I wouldn't
+grudge it to you, child, if we had it; but we are
+starved, half the time, and that's the living
+truth."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't eat much," said poor Nettie, trembling
+and quivering, "and I will try very hard
+to help; but if you please, what makes things so?
+Can't father get work?"</p>
+
+<p>"Work! of course he can; as much as he can
+do. He is as good a machinist to-day as there is
+in the shops; when they have a particular job
+they want him to do it. He works hard enough
+by spells; why, child, it's the drink. You didn't
+know it, did you? Well, you may as well know
+it first as last. He was nearer sober to-night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+than he has been in a week; but he wasn't so
+very sober or he wouldn't have been cross. He
+used to be good and kind as the best of them,
+and we had things decent. I never thought it
+would come to this, but it has, and it grows
+worse every day. Yes, you may well turn pale,
+and cry out. Turning pale won't do any good.
+And you may cry tears of blood, and them that
+sells the rum to poor foolish men will go right on
+selling it as long as they have money to pay,
+and kick them out when they haven't. That is
+the way it is done, and it keeps going on here
+year after year, homes ruined, and children made
+beggars, and them that have the making of the
+laws, go right on and let it be done. I've watched
+it. And I've tried, too. You needn't think I gave
+up and sat down to it without trying as hard as
+ever woman could to struggle against the curse;
+but I've give up now. Nothing is of any use.
+And the worst of it is my Norm is going the
+same road."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.<br />
+
+<small>NEW FRIENDS.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>AND then the poor woman who thought
+she had no more tears to shed, buried
+her face in her hands and shed some of the bitterest
+ones she ever did in her life.</div>
+
+<p>Poor Nettie! she tried to turn comforter;
+tried to think of one cheering word to say; but
+what was there to cheer the wife of a drunkard?
+Or the daughter of a drunkard? Could
+it be possible that she, Nettie Decker, was that!
+Oh, dear! how often she had stood in the door,
+and with a kind of terrified fascination watched
+Jane Daker stealing home in the darkness, afraid
+to go in at the front door, lest her drunken
+father should see her and vent his wrath on her.
+Could she ever creep around in the dark and
+hide away from her own <i>father</i>? Wouldn't it
+be possible for her to go back home? She had
+not money enough to get there, but couldn't she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+work somehow, and earn money? She could
+write a letter to the folks at home and tell them
+the dreadful story, and they would surely find
+a way of sending for her. But then, money was
+not plenty in that home, and she began to understand
+that they had done a great deal for her,
+and that it had cost a good deal to pay her fare
+to this place. She had wondered, at the time,
+that her father did not send the money for her
+to come home, but she said to herself: "I suppose
+he did not know how much it would cost,
+and he will give it to me to send in my first letter.
+Perhaps he will give me a little bit more
+than it costs, too, for a little present for Jamie."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, poor little girl! building hopes on a father
+like hers. She had not been at home half a day,
+but she knew now that no money would ever go
+back to the Marshalls in return for all they had
+done for her. Worse than that, she might not
+be able to get back to them herself. Would her
+father be likely to let her go? He had sent for
+her, and had told her during this first hour of
+their meeting, that she had worked for other
+people long enough. This made her heart swell
+with indignation.</p>
+
+<p>Done enough for others, indeed! What had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+they not done for her? She never realized it
+half so plainly as she did to-night. "I will go
+back!" she muttered, setting the little bowl she
+was drying on the table with a determined
+thump. "I can't stay in such a place as this. I
+will write to Auntie Marshall this very night if
+I can get a chance, and she will contrive some
+way."</p>
+
+<p>Certainly, Nettie in that mood could have no
+comfort for a weeping mother, and attempted
+none, after the first murmured word of pity.
+But meantime she knew very well that she could
+not go back home that night, and the present
+terror was, where was she to sleep?</p>
+
+<p>Her mother went back into the bedroom after
+a few minutes of bitter weeping, and Nettie finished
+the work, then stood drearily in the doorway,
+wondering what she could do next, when a
+good, homely, motherly face looked out of the
+side window of the small house next their own,
+and a cheery voice spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you Joe Decker's little Nannie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," said Nettie, sadly, wondering drearily,
+even then, if it could be possible that this
+was so.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the voice, "I calculated that you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+must be; though I never should have known
+you in the world, if I hadn't heard you was
+coming, you was such a mite of a thing when
+you went away. What a tall nice girl you've
+got to be. Your ma is sick, the children said.
+I've been away ironing all day, or I would have
+been in to see if I could help the poor thing any.
+I don't know her very much, but she is sickly,
+and has hard times now and then, and I'm sorry
+for her. Now what I was wondering is, where
+are they going to put you to sleep? The upper
+part of that house ain't finished off, is it? It is
+one big attic, ain't it, where Norm sleeps? I
+thought so. I suppose there could be quite a
+nice room made up there with a little work and
+a few dollars laid out, but your pa ain't done it,
+I'll be bound. And I knew there wasn't but
+one bedroom down-stairs, and I couldn't think
+how they would manage it."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't managed at all, ma'am," said Nettie,
+seeing that she seemed to wait for an answer,
+and there was nothing to say but the simple
+truth. "There is no place for me to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say! Now that's a shame. Well,
+now, what I was thinking was, that maybe you
+would like to sleep in the woodhouse chamber;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+it is a nice little room as ever was, and it opens
+right out of my Sarah Ann's room; so you
+wouldn't be lonesome. I haven't any manner of
+use for it, now my boy's gone away, and I just
+as soon you would sleep there as not until your
+folks get things fixed. You're a dreadful clean-looking
+little girl, and I like that. I'm a master
+hand to have clean things around me; Job says
+he believes I catch the flies and dust their wings
+before I let them go into my front room. Job
+is my husband, and that is his little joke at me,
+you know." And she laughed such a jolly little
+roly-poly sort of laugh that poor Nettie could
+not keep a smile from her troubled face. A
+refuge in the woodhouse chamber of this neat,
+good-natured-looking woman seemed like a bit
+of heaven to the homesick child.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very much obliged to you, ma'am,"
+she said respectfully; "I will tell my mother how
+kind you are, and I think she will be glad to
+accept the kindness for a few days. I&mdash;" and
+then Nettie suddenly stopped. It might not be
+well to say to this new friend that she would not
+need to trouble the woodhouse chamber long,
+for she meant to start for home as soon as a letter
+could travel there, and another travel back.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+Something might come in the way of this resolve,
+though it made her feel hot all over to
+think of such a possibility.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless my heart!" said Mrs. Job Smith as
+Nettie vanished to consult her mother. "If that
+ain't as polite and pretty-spoken a child as ever
+I see in my life. She makes me think of our
+Jerry. To think of that child being Joe Decker's
+girl and coming back to such a home as he
+keeps! It is too bad! I am sure I hope they
+will let her sleep in the woodhouse chamber.
+It is the only spot where she will get any
+peace."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker was only too glad to avail herself
+of her neighbor's kind offer. "It is good of
+her," she said gratefully to Nettie. "I wish to
+the land you could have such a comfortable room
+all the time; they are real clean-looking folks.
+You wouldn't suppose from the looks of this
+house that I cared for clean things, but I do, and
+I used to have them about me, too. I was as
+neat once as the best of them; but it takes
+clothes and soap and strength to be clean, and
+I have had none of 'em in so long that I have
+most forgot how to do anything decent."</p>
+
+<p>"Soap?" said Nettie, wonderingly. She was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+beating up the poor rags which composed the
+bed in her mother's room, trying to get a little
+freshness into them.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, soap; I don't suppose you can imagine
+how it would seem not to have all the soap you
+wanted; I couldn't, either, once, but I tell you
+I save the pennies nowadays for bread, so that
+I need not see my children starve before my
+eyes. I would rather do without soap than
+bread; especially when our clothes are so worn
+out that there is nothing much to change with.
+Oh, I tell you when you get into a house where
+the men folks spend all they can get on beer or
+whiskey, there are not many pennies left. Mrs.
+Smith has been real kind; she sent the children
+in a bowl of soup one day when their father had
+gone off and not left a thing in the house, nor a
+cent to get anything with.</p>
+
+<p>"And she has done two or three things like
+that lately; I'm grateful to her, but I'm ashamed
+to say so. I never expected to sink so low that
+I should be glad of the scraps which a poor
+neighbor like her could send in. Oh, no; they
+are not very poor. Why, they are rich as kings,
+come to compare them with us; but they are
+not grand folks at all; he is a teamster, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+works hard every day; so does she; but he
+doesn't drink a drop, and they have a good
+many comfortable things. Their boy is away
+at school, and their girl, Sarah Ann, is learning
+a dressmaker's trade. You will have a comfortable
+bed in there, and I'm glad of it."</p>
+
+<p>And now it was eight o'clock. Susie and
+Sate were asleep in their trundle bed, the tired
+Nettie having coaxed them to let her give them
+a splendid bath first, making the idea pleasant
+to them by producing from her trunk a cunning
+little cake of perfumed soap. They looked
+"as pretty as pictures," the sad-eyed mother
+said, as she bent over them when they were
+asleep, with their moist hair in loose waves, and
+their clean faces flushed with health. "They are
+real pretty little girls," she added earnestly, as
+she turned away. "He might be proud of
+them. And he used to be, too. When Sate
+was a baby, he said she had eyes like you, and
+he used to kiss her and tell her she was pretty,
+until I was afraid he would spoil her; but there
+isn't the least danger of that now. He never
+notices either of them except to slap them or
+growl at them."</p>
+
+<p>"How came father to begin to drink?" Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+asked the question timidly, hesitating over
+the last word; it seemed such a dreadful word
+to add to a father's name.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't ask me, child; I don't know. They
+say he always drank a little; a glass of beer
+now and then. I knew he did when I married
+him, but I thought it was no more than all hard-working
+men did. I never thought much about
+it. I know it never entered my head that he
+could be a drunkard. I'd have been too afraid
+for Norm if I had dreamed of such a thing as
+that.</p>
+
+<p>"He kept increasing the drinks, little by little&mdash;it
+grows on them, it seems, the habit does; they
+say that is the way with all the drinks; I didn't
+know it. I never was taught about these things.
+If I had been, I think sometimes my life would
+have been very different. I know I wouldn't
+have walked right into the fire with my one boy,
+anyhow. I'm talking to you, child, as though
+you were a woman grown, and you seem most
+like a woman to me, you are so handy, and
+quiet, and nice-looking. I was sorry you were
+coming, because I thought you would just be
+an added plague; and now I am sorry for your
+own sake."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nettie hesitated greatly over the next question.
+It was a very hard one to ask this sick
+and discouraged mother, but she must know the
+whole of the misery by which she was surrounded.
+"Does Norman drink too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Norm," said Mrs. Decker, dropping into the
+one chair, and putting her hand to her heart as
+though there was something stabbing her there,
+"Norm has been led away by your father. He
+was a bright little fellow, and your father took
+to him amazingly. I used to tell him his own
+little girls would have reason to be jealous of
+his step-son. He took Norm with him everywhere,
+from the first. And taught him to do
+odd things, for a little fellow, and was proud of
+his singing, and his speaking, and all that. And
+when Susie there, was a baby, and I was kept close
+at home with her, and Norm would tear around
+in the evening and wake her up, I slipped into
+the way of letting him go out with your father
+to spend the evenings; I didn't know they
+spent them in bar-rooms, or groceries where they
+sold beer. I never <i>dreamed</i> of such a thing.
+Your father talked about meeting the men, and
+I thought they met at some of the houses where
+there wasn't a baby to cry, and talked their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+work over, or the news, you know. And there
+he was teaching Norm to drink. He was a
+pretty little fellow, and he would sing comic
+songs, and then they would treat him to the sugar
+in their glasses! When I found it out, he
+had got to liking the stuff, and I don't suppose
+a day goes by without his taking more or less of
+it now. He never gets as bad as your father;
+but he will. He is never cross and ugly to me,
+nor to the children, but he will be. It grows
+on him. It grows on them all. And to think
+that I led him into the trap! If I had stayed
+in the country where I was brought up, or if I
+had left him with his grandfather, as he wanted
+me to, he might have been saved. The grandfather
+is gone now, and so is the farm. Your
+father got hold of my share of that, and lost it
+somehow. He didn't mean to, and that soured
+him, and he drank the harder and we are going
+down to the very bottom of everything as fast
+as we can."</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to poor Nettie that they must have
+reached the bottom now. She could not imagine
+any lower depths than these.</p>
+
+<p>She made up the poor bed as well as she could,
+and then went back to the kitchen to see what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+could be done about breakfast. Her new mother
+was evidently too weak and sick to be troubled
+with the thought of it, and while she stayed,
+Nettie resolved that she would help the poor
+woman all she could. She went out into the
+yard to examine, and discovered to her satisfaction
+that there must be a cooper's shop just
+around the corner, for the chips lay thick. She
+gathered some for the morning fire, determined
+in her mind that she would buy a few potatoes at
+the grocery in the morning! In the cupboard she
+had found a cup of sour milk; this she had carefully
+treasured with an eye to breakfast, and she
+now looked into her purse to see if she could
+spare pennies for a quart of flour. If she could,
+then some excellent cakes would be the result.
+And now everything that she knew how to do
+towards the next day's needs was attended to,
+and she went out in the moonlight, and sat down
+on the lowest step of the back stoop, and did
+what she had been longing to do all the afternoon&mdash;cried
+as though her poor young heart
+was breaking.</p>
+
+<p>Astride a saw-horse in the yard which belonged
+to Job Smith, and which was separated
+from the stoop where she sat only by a low<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+fence, was a curly-headed boy, who had come
+there apparently to whittle and whistle and
+watch her. He was not there when she sat
+down and buried her head in her apron. She did
+not notice his whistling, though he made it loud
+and shrill on purpose to attract her attention,
+He knew quite a little about her by this time.
+He had come upon the boys of the Grammar
+School in the midst of their afternoon recess and
+heard Harry Stuart interrupt little Ted Barrows
+who was the youngest one in the class and wrote
+the best compositions. They were gathered
+under a tree listening to Ted, while he read them
+"The Story of An Hour," which was especially
+interesting because it had some of their own experiences
+skilfully woven in.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on," Harry was saying, just as the
+whistling boy appeared within hearing. "You
+didn't make that thing up; you got it from the
+Deckers; that is what is just going to happen
+there. Old Joe's Nan is coming home this very
+day, and she is about as old as the girl you've
+got in your story, and is freckled, I dare say;
+most girls are."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't even know old Joe Decker had a
+girl to come home!" said little Ted, looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+injured. "I made every word of it out of my
+own mind."</p>
+
+<p>But the boys did not hear him; their interest
+had been called in another direction. "Is that
+so? Is Nan Decker coming home? My! What
+a house to come to. Mother said only yesterday
+that she hoped the folks who had her would keep
+her forever. What is she coming for? Who
+told you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, she is coming because Joe thinks that
+will be another way to plague the old lady. At
+least that is what my mother thinks. Mrs.
+Decker told her once that when Joe had been
+drinking more than usual he always threatened
+to send for Nan; but she didn't think he would.
+And now it seems he has. I heard it from the
+old fellow himself. He was telling Norm about
+it, while I stood waiting for father's saw. He
+said she was coming in the stage this afternoon;
+that she had worked for other folks long enough
+and it was time he had some good of her himself.
+I pity her, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>Then the whistler had come out from behind
+the trees, and said good-afternoon, and asked a
+few questions. The boys had answered him
+civilly enough, but in a way which showed that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+they did not count him as one of them. The
+fact was, he was a good deal of a stranger. He
+had been in town only a few weeks, and he did
+not go to school, and he boarded with or lived
+with, the Smiths, who lived next door to the
+Deckers, and were nice enough people, but did
+not have much to do with the fathers and
+mothers of these boys, and&mdash;well, the fact was,
+the boys did not know whether to take this new
+comer in, and make him welcome, or not. They
+sort of liked him; he was good-natured, and accommodating
+so far as they knew, but they knew
+very little about him. He asked a good many
+questions about the expected Nan Decker. He
+had never heard of her before. Since he was to
+live next door to her, it might be pleasant to
+know what sort of a person she was. But the
+boys could tell him very little. Seven years, at
+their time of life, blots out a good many memories.
+They only knew that she was Nan Decker
+who went away when her mother died, and who
+had lived with the Marshalls ever since; and all
+agreed in being sorry for her that she was obliged
+at last to come home.</p>
+
+<p>The whistling boy walked away, after having
+cross-questioned first one, and then another, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+learned that they knew nothing. He was on his
+way to the woods for one of his long summer
+rambles. He felt a trifle lonely, and wished that
+the boys had asked him to sit down under the
+trees and have a good time with them.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 346px;">
+<img src="images/facing078.jpg" width="346" height="500" alt="boy with sun behind him" />
+<div class="caption">JERRY ON ONE OF HIS SUMMER RAMBLES.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>He would have liked to hear Ted's composition,
+he said to himself; the boy had a sweet
+face, and a head that looked as though he might
+be going to make a smart man, one of these days.
+What was the matter with those fellows, he wondered,
+that they were not more cordial?</p>
+
+<p>He thought about it quite awhile, then plunged
+into the mosses and ferns and gathered some
+lovely specimens, which he arranged in the box
+he carried slung over his shoulder, and forgot all
+about the boys, and poor little Nan Decker. On
+the way home, in the glow of the setting sun, he
+thought of her again, and wondered if she had
+come, and if she would be a sorrowful and homesick
+little girl. It seemed queer to think of being
+homesick when one came home! But then, it
+was only a home in name; he had not lived next
+door to it for five weeks without discovering
+that, and the little girl's mother was dead!
+Poor Nan Decker! A shadow came over his
+bright face for a moment as he thought of this.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+His mother was dead. He resolved to speak a
+kind word to the little girl the very first time
+that he had a chance. And here in the moonlight
+was his chance.</p>
+
+<p>He stopped whistling at last and spoke: "If
+it is anything about which I can help, I shall be
+very glad to do it." A kind, cheerful voice.
+Nettie looked up quickly and choked back her
+tears. She was not one to cry, if there were to
+be any lookers-on.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you are homesick," said the boy from,
+his horse's back; "and that isn't any wonder. I'm
+homesick myself, nearly every night, especially
+if it is moonlight. I don't know what there is
+about the moon that chokes a fellow up so, but
+I've noticed it often; but then I feel all right in
+the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you away from your home?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should say I was! Or rather home has
+gone away from me. I haven't any home in particular,
+only my father, and he is away out in
+California. I couldn't go there with him, and
+since my school closed I am waiting here for him
+to come back. It is home, you know, wherever
+he is. He doesn't expect to be back yet for
+months. So you and I ought to be pretty good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+friends, we are such near neighbors. I live right
+next door to you. We ought to be introduced.
+You are Nannie Decker, I suppose, and I am
+Jerry Mack at your service. I don't wonder you
+are homesick; folks always are, the first night."</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Nanette," said Nettie, gently,
+"but people who like me most always say Nettie:
+and it isn't being homesick that makes me feel
+so badly&mdash;though I am homesick; but it is
+being scared, and astonished, and, oh! everything.
+Nothing is as I thought it would be; and
+there are things about it that I did not understand
+at all, or maybe I wouldn't have come;
+and now I am here, I don't know what to do."
+She was very near crying again, in spite of a
+watcher.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," he said, nodding his head, and
+speaking in a grave, sympathetic voice. "Job
+Smith&mdash;that is the man I am staying with&mdash;has
+told me how it used to be with your father.
+He says he was a very nice father indeed. I am
+as sorry for you as I can be. But after all, I
+wouldn't give up if I were you; and I should be
+real glad that I had come home to help him.
+He needs a great deal of help. Folks reform,
+you know. Why, people who are a great deal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+worse than your father has ever been yet, have
+turned right around and become splendid men.
+If I were you I would go right to work to have
+him reform. Then there's Norm&mdash;he needs
+help, too; and he ought to have it before he gets
+any older, because it would be so much easier
+for him to get started right now."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know the least thing to do," said
+Nettie; but she dried her eyes on her neat little
+handkerchief as she spoke, and sat up straight,
+and looked with earnest eyes at the boy on the
+other side the fence. This sort of talk interested
+and helped her.</p>
+
+<p>"No; of course you don't. You haven't
+studied these things up, I suppose. But there
+is a great deal to do. My father is a temperance
+man, and I have heard him talk. I know a hundred
+things I would like to do, and a few that I
+can do. I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, say we
+start a society, you and I, and fight this whole
+thing?</p>
+
+<p>"We can begin with little bits of plans which
+we can carry out now, and let them grow
+as fast as we can follow them and see what we
+can do. Is it a bargain?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing I would like so well, if you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+will only show me how," said Nettie, and her
+eyes were shining.</p>
+
+<p>It was wonderful what a weight these few
+words seemed to lift from her troubled heart.
+The boy's face had grown more thoughtful.
+He seemed in doubt just how to express what he
+wanted to say next.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how you feel about it," he said
+as last, "but I know somebody who would be
+sure to help in anything of this kind that we
+tried to do&mdash;show us how, you know, and make
+ways for us to get money, and all that."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is it?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie spoke quickly now, for her heart
+was beating loud and fast. Was there somebody
+in this town who could be asked to come
+to the rescue, and who was willing to give
+such hearty help as that? If such were the case,
+she could see that a great deal might be accomplished.
+She waited for her new friend's answer,
+but he looked down on the stick he was whittling
+and gravely sharpened the end to a very
+fine point, before he spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you think about such
+things, but I mean&mdash;God. I <i>know</i> he is on our
+side in this business, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Nettie, thoughtfully, and her
+manner changed.</p>
+
+<p>Her voice which had been only eager before,
+became soft and gentle, and she looked over at
+the boy in the moonlight and smiled. "I know
+Him," she said, "and I am His servant. It is
+strange I forgot for a little while that He knew
+all about this home, and father, and everything!
+Maybe He wants me to help father. I mean to
+begin right away. I will do every single thing
+I can think of, to keep father, and Norm, and
+everybody else from drinking liquor any more
+forever."</p>
+
+<p>There was a sudden spring from the saw-horse,
+a long step taken over the low fence, and the boy
+stood beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"There are two of us," he said gravely.
+"There is my hand on it. I am a Christian, too.
+And father gave me a verse once, which always
+helps me when I think of the rumsellers: 'If God
+be for us, who <i>can</i> be against us!' I know he is
+for us, and so, though the rumsellers are against
+us, and think they are going to beat, one of these
+days he will show them! What you and I want
+to do is to keep working at it all we can, so as to
+show that we believe in him."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now we are partners&mdash;Nettie Decker and
+Jerry Mack, who knows what we can do? Anyhow,
+we are friends, and will stand by each other
+through thick and thin, won't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Nettie, "we will." And she rose
+up from the doorstep, and they shook hands.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER V.<br />
+
+<small>A GREAT UNDERTAKING.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>JERRY turned away whistling. Did you
+ever notice how apt boys are to whistle
+when something has stirred their feelings very
+much, and they don't intend that anybody but
+themselves shall know it?</div>
+
+<p>Nettie went back into the little brown house to
+see if her mother was comfortable for the night.
+Her heart was lighter than she had thought it
+ever would be again.</p>
+
+<p>Everything was quiet within the house. The
+children with their arms tossed about one another,
+and their cheeks flushed with sleep, looked
+sweeter than they often did awake. The heartsick
+mother had forgotten her sorrow again for
+a little while, in sleep. Where father and Norm
+were, Nettie did not know. It seemed strange
+to go away and leave the light burning, and the
+door unfastened. At home, they always gathered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+at about this hour, in the neat sitting-room,
+and sang a hymn and repeated each a Bible
+verse, and then Mr. Marshall prayed, and after
+that she kissed Auntie Marshall and the others,
+and tripped away to her pretty room. The contrast
+was very sharp. If it had not been for that
+new friend whose voice she heard at this moment
+softly singing a cheery tune, I think the tears
+would have come again.</p>
+
+<p>As it was, she slipped into Mrs. Job Smith's
+neat kitchen. What a contrast that was to the
+kitchen next door! The first thing she saw was
+the tall old clock in the corner. "Tick-tock,
+tick-tock." She had never seen so large a clock
+before; she had never heard one speak in such a
+slow and patronizing tone, as though it were
+managing all the world. She looked up into its
+face and smiled. It seemed like a great strong
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing very remarkable about that
+kitchen. At least I suppose you would not have
+thought so, unless you had just spent an afternoon
+in the Decker kitchen. Then you might
+have felt the difference. The floor was painted
+a bright yellow, and had gay rugs spread here
+and there. The stove shone brilliantly, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+two chairs under the window were painted green,
+with dazzling white seats. A high, old-fashioned,
+wooden-backed rocker occupied a cosey corner
+near the clock. A table set against the wall had
+a bright spread on it, and newspapers, and a
+book or two, and a pair of spectacles lay on it.
+The lamp was in the centre, and was clear and
+beautifully trimmed.</p>
+
+<p>Simple enough things, all of them, but they
+spoke to Nettie's heart of home.</p>
+
+<p>There was a brisk step on the stair; the door
+opened, and Mrs. Smith's strong, homely face
+appeared in sight. "Here you are," she said
+cheerily, "tired enough to go to sleep, I dare say.
+Well, the room is all ready for you. I guess you
+won't be lonesome, for it is right out of Sarah
+Ann's room, and my boy Jerry is across the hall.
+You've got acquainted with Jerry, I guess? I
+saw you and him talking, out in the moonlight.
+I'm glad of it. Jerry is good at chirking a body
+up; and there never was a better boy made than
+he is.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you get right to sleep as goon as you can,
+and dream of all the nice things you can think
+of. It is good luck to have nice dreams in a new
+room, you know."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Poor little soul!" she said to herself as the
+door closed after Nettie. "I hope she will be so
+sound asleep that she won't hear her father and
+Norm come stumbling home. Isn't it a mean
+thing, now, that the father of such a little girl as
+that should go and disgrace her?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Smith was talking to nobody, and so of
+course nobody answered her; and in a little while
+that house was still for the night. Nettie, in the
+clean, sweet-smelling woodhouse chamber, was
+soon on her knees; not sobbing out a homesick
+cry, as she thought she would, as soon as ever
+she had a chance, but actually thanking God for
+these new friends; and asking Him to be One in
+this new society, and show them just what and
+how to do. Then she went into sound sleep; and
+heard no stumbling, nor grumbling, though both
+father and brother did much of it when at last
+they shambled home.</p>
+
+<p>The new plans came up for consideration early
+the next morning. Before Nettie had opened her
+eyes to the neatly whitewashed walls in the woodhouse
+chamber, she heard the sound of merry
+whistling, keeping time to the swift blows of an
+axe. Jerry was preparing kindlings. In a very
+short time after that, he looked up to say good-morning,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+as Nettie was making her way across
+the yard to the other house.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you want some of these nice chips?
+They will make your kettle boil in a jiffy."</p>
+
+<p>This was his good-morning; he held out both
+hands to her, full of broad smooth chips. "Aunt
+Jerusha likes them better than any other kind;
+I keep her supplied. Wait, I'll carry them in."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you needn't," Nettie said in haste, and
+blushing. What would he think of the Decker
+kitchen after being used to Mrs. Smith's! But
+he took long springs across the walk, vaulted the
+fence and stood at the kitchen door waiting for
+her. It looked even more desolate, in contrast
+with the sunny morning, than it had the night
+before. Nettie resolved to blacken the stove that
+very day. "Do you know how to make a fire?"
+Jerry asked. "I do. I made aunt Jerusha's for
+her, two mornings, but it is hard work to get
+ahead of her."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Nettie knew how. She had made the fire
+for the supper, in Mrs. Marshall's boarding house,
+many a time. She proceeded to show her skill
+at once; Jerry, looking on admiringly, admitted
+that she knew more about it than he did.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, father and I board," he said apologetically,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+"and there isn't much chance to learn
+things. I'll tell you what I can do&mdash;get you a
+fresh pail of water."</p>
+
+<p>Before she could speak, he darted away.
+There was a sound of feet coming down the unfinished
+stairs, and Norm lounged into the room,
+rubbing sleepy eyes, and looking as though he had
+not combed his hair in a week. He stared at
+Nettie as though he had never seen her before,
+and answered her good-morning, with:</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be bound if I didn't forget you! Where
+have you been all night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Asleep," said Nettie, brightly. "Now I
+want to have breakfast ready by the time mother
+comes out, to surprise her. Will you tell me
+whether you have tea or coffee?"</p>
+
+<p>Norm laughed slightly. "We have what we
+can get, as a rule. I heard mother say there
+wasn't any tea in the house. And I don't believe
+we have had any coffee for a month. I'd like
+some, though; I know that. I've got a quarter;
+I'll go and get some, if you will make us a first-rate
+cup of coffee."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Nettie, "I'll do my best."</p>
+
+<p>She spoke a little doubtfully, having a shrewd
+suspicion that the quarter ought to be saved for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+more important things than coffee; but she did
+not like to object to Norm's first expressed idea
+of partnership; so he went away, and when the
+fresh water came, the teakettle was filled, the
+table set, the potatoes washed and put in the
+oven; by the time Mrs. Decker appeared, Nettie,
+with a very flushed face, was bending over her
+hot griddle, testing the cake she had baked.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I do say!" said Mrs. Decker, and the
+tone expressed not only surprise, but gratitude.
+There was a pleasant odor of coffee in the room,
+and the potatoes were already beginning to hint
+that they would soon be done. The cake that
+Nettie had baked was as puffy and sweet as her
+heart could desire.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you're a witch," said Mrs. Decker.
+"I couldn't think of a thing for breakfast. Where
+did you get them cakes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Made them," said Nettie; "I found a cup of
+sour milk; Auntie Marshall used to let me make
+them often for breakfast. Norm went after the
+coffee; and I guess it is good. I saved my egg
+shell from the cakes to settle it."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a regular little housekeeper," said
+Mrs. Decker. "And so Norm went after coffee!
+Did you ask him to? Went of his own accord!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+That's something wonderful for Norm. He used
+to think of things for me but he don't any more."</p>
+
+<p>Altogether, it was really almost a comfortable
+breakfast, though it seemed to Nettie that she
+would never get it ready. She was not used to
+managing with so few dishes. Her father drank
+three cups of coffee, said it was something like
+living, and gave Nettie twenty-five cents, with the
+direction that he hoped there would be something
+decent to eat when they came home at noon.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's cheeks were red with more than the
+baking of cakes, then. She was ashamed of her
+father. How could he speak in a way to insult
+his wife! They went off hurriedly at last, Norm
+and the father; and the children who had been
+silent, began to chatter the moment the door
+closed after them. Mrs. Decker, too, began to
+talk.</p>
+
+<p>"He thinks twenty-five cents will buy a dinner
+for us all, and keep us in clothes, and get new
+furniture, and dishes! He will have it that it is
+because things are wasted that we have such
+poor meals. As if I had anything to waste! I
+don't know what to do, nor which way to turn.
+We need everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think we had better clean house<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+to-day?" Nettie asked a little timidly, as they
+rose from the table and she began to gather the
+dishes.</p>
+
+<p>"Clean house!" repeated the dazed mother.
+"Why, yes, child, I suppose so. It needs it
+badly enough. Oh, we can wash up the floor,
+and the shelf. It doesn't take long; there are
+not many things in the way. No furniture to
+move. But it doesn't stay clean long, I can tell
+you. Just one room in which to do everything!
+I might have kept it looking better, though, if
+I had not been sick. I have just had to let
+everything go, child. Lying awake nights, and
+worrying, have used me up."</p>
+
+<p>She took the broom as she spoke and began to
+sweep vigorously, scurrying the children out of
+her way.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long day, and a busy one. And at
+night, the room certainly looked better. The
+floor had been scrubbed with hot lye to get off
+the grease, and the stove had been blackened
+until the children shouted that it would do for
+a looking-glass. Several other improvements
+had been made. But after all, to Nettie's eyes
+it was dreadfully bare and comfortless. Not a
+cushioned chair, nor a rocker, nor anything that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+to her seemed like home. All day she had been
+casting glances at a closed door which opened
+from the kitchen, and thinking her thoughts
+about the room in there. A large square room,
+perfectly empty. Why wasn't it used? If for
+nothing else, why didn't Norm sleep in it, instead
+of in that dreadful unfinished attic where the
+rats must certainly have full sweep? Or why
+did not her mother move in there with the
+trundle bed, instead of being cooped up in that
+small bedroom? Or why had they not prepared
+it for her to sleep in, if they really did not want
+it for anything else? She gathered courage at
+last, to ask questions.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that room," her mother said with bitterness,
+"when I first came here to live, we pleased
+ourselves nights, after the children were in bed,
+telling what we would have in it. We meant
+to furnish it for a parlor. We were going to
+have it carpeted; he wanted a red carpet, and I
+wanted a brown one with a little bit of pink in,
+but land! I would have taken one that was all
+yellow, just to please him. And we were going
+to have a lounge, and two rocking chairs, and I
+don't know what not. And there it is, shut up.
+I might have had it for a bedroom at first, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+I wouldn't. I wanted to save it. And then,
+when I gave that all up, there was nothing to
+fix it with. Norm couldn't sleep there without
+curtains to the windows; no more could we; it
+is right on the street, almost.</p>
+
+<p>"And things keep getting worse and worse, so
+I just shut the door and locked it and let it go.
+If I had had a spare chair to put in, I might
+have gone in there and cried, now and then, but
+I hadn't even that. I tried to rent it; but the
+woman who was hunting rooms heard that your
+father drank, and was afraid to come. Oh, we
+have a splendid name in the place, you'll find.
+We are just going to ruin as fast as a family
+can; that's the whole story."</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the afternoon, when Nettie had
+done everything she could think of, unless some
+money could be raised, and some clothes made,
+so that the children could have the ones washed
+which they were wearing, she stood in the back
+door, wondering how that could be brought
+about, when Jerry appeared in his favorite seat
+on the sawhorse.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything done up for the day?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything has stopped for the want of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+things to do with," she said. "I don't see but
+that will be the trouble with what we want to
+do. Why, you can't do a single thing without
+money; and where is it to come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is one of the things we must think up,"
+Jerry said gravely. "I have thought about it
+some. This temperance business needs money.
+One of the troubles with boys like Norm is that
+they have no nice places to go to. Boys like to
+meet together and talk things over, you know,
+and have a good time, and how are some of them
+going to do it? The church isn't the place, nor
+the schoolhouse, and those fellows haven't pleasant
+homes; the only spot for them is the saloons.
+I don't much wonder that they get in the habit
+of going there. I have heard my father say that
+saloons were the only places that were fixed up,
+and lighted, where folks without any pleasant
+homes were made welcome. Why, just look at
+it in this town. There's your Norm. There are
+two fellows who go with him a great deal. If
+you meet one, you may be sure that the other
+two are not far away. Their names are Alf
+Barnes and Rick Walker. Neither of them
+have as decent a home as Norm's, oh! not by a
+good deal. And he doesn't feel like inviting them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+into your kitchen to spend the evening. Should
+you think he would?"</p>
+
+<p>Warm as the day was, Nettie shivered. "I
+should think they would rather stay out in the
+street than to come there," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now you see how it is. They don't
+stay in the streets, such fellows don't. Not all
+the time. They get tired, and sometimes it rains,
+and in winter it is cold, and they look about
+them for somewhere to go. There's a saloon,
+bright and clean; comfortable chairs, and good-natured
+people. It is the only place that says
+Come in! to such fellows. Why shouldn't they
+go in?</p>
+
+<p>"I've heard my father talk about this by the
+hour. In big cities they have rooms warmed
+and lighted, and nicely furnished, on purpose for
+such young men; only father is always saying
+that they don't begin to have enough of them;
+but in such a town as this, I would like to know
+what the boys who haven't nice homes to stay
+in, are expected to do with themselves evenings?
+One of these days, when I am a man, that is the
+way I am going to use all my extra money. I'll
+hunt out towns where the fellows have just been
+left to stay in the streets, or else go to the rum-holes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+and I'll fit up the nicest kind of a room
+for them. Bright as gas can make it, and elegant,
+you know, like a parlor; and I'll have
+cakes, and coffee, and lemonades, and all those
+things, cheaper than beer, and serve them in fine
+style. Wouldn't that be a fine thing to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then the first thing," said Nettie, "is a
+room."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry turned round on his horse and looked
+full at her and laughed. "You talk as though
+it was to be done now," he said. "I was telling
+what I would do in that dim future, when I become
+a man."</p>
+
+<p>"We might begin pieces of it now. Norm
+will be too old when you are a man; and so will
+those others. There is our front room. If we
+only had some furniture to put in it. My Auntie
+Marshall made some real pretty seats once, out
+of old boxes; she padded them with cotton, and
+covered them with pretty calico, and you can't
+think how nice they were. I could make some,
+if I had the boxes and the calico."</p>
+
+<p>"I could get the boxes," said Jerry. "I know
+a man in the blacksmith shop who has a brother
+in the grocery down at the corner, and he could
+get boxes for us of him, I'm pretty sure. He is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+a nice man, that blacksmith. I like him better
+than any man in town, I believe. I could fix
+covers on the boxes myself, and do several other
+things. I have a box of tools, and I often make
+little things. I say, Nettie, let's fix up the front
+room. I've often wondered what there was in
+there. Would your mother let us have it?"</p>
+
+<p>"She would let us have most everything, I
+guess," Nettie said thoughtfully, "if she thought
+it would do any good."</p>
+
+<p>"All right. We'll make it do some good.
+Let's set to work right away. The first thing as
+you say, is a room. No, we have the room; the
+first thing is furniture. I'll go and see Mr.
+Collins this very evening. He is the blacksmith."</p>
+
+<p>In less than half an hour from that time
+Jerry stood beside Mr. Collins.</p>
+
+<p>That gentleman had on his big leather apron,
+and was busy about his work as usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Boxes?" he said to Jerry. "Why, yes,
+there are piles of them in his cellar, and out by
+his back door. I should think he would be glad
+to get rid of some. But what do you want of
+them? Furniture? How are you going to make
+furniture out of boxes? What put such a notion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+as that into your head, and what do you want of
+furniture, anyhow?"</p>
+
+<p>So Jerry sat down on a box and told the
+whole story. Mr. Collins listened, and nodded,
+and shook his head, and smiled grimly, occasionally,
+and sighed, and in every possible way
+showed his interest and appreciation.</p>
+
+<p>"And so you two are going to take hold and
+reform the town?" he said at last. "Humph!
+Well, it needs it bad enough! if old boxes will
+help, it stands to reason that you ought to have
+as many as you want. I'll engage to see that you
+get them."</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Collins told his brother-in-law, the
+grocer, the two laughed a good deal, but the
+blacksmith finished his story with, "Well, now
+I tell you what it is&mdash;something is better than
+nothing, any day; there's been nothing done
+here for so long that I think it is kind of wonderful
+that those two young things should start up
+and try to do something."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I, so do I," assented the grocer,
+heartily, "and if old boxes will help 'em, why,
+land, they're welcome to as many as they can
+use. Tell the chap to step around here and
+select his lumber, and I'll have it delivered."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This message Jerry was not slow to obey; so
+it happened that the very next afternoon Mrs.
+Job Smith stood in her back door and watched
+with curious eyes the unloading of the grocer's
+wagon. Six, seven, eight empty boxes! "For
+the land's sake, what be you going to do with
+them?" she asked Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Job Smith had a great warm heart, but
+no education to speak of; and no mother had, in
+her childhood, begged her a dozen times a day
+not to use such expressions as "for the land's
+sake!" she knew no better than to suppose they
+added emphasis to her words; Jerry laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is for the room's sake, auntie," he said.
+"We are going to have a cabinet shop in the
+barn loft. Mr. Smith said I might. I shall make
+some nice things, auntie, see if I don't. Come
+up in the loft, will you, and see my tool chest?"</p>
+
+<p>This last sentence was addressed to Nettie
+who had appeared in her back door to admire
+the boxes. So the two climbed the ladder stairs,
+Nettie a little timidly as one unused to ladders,
+and Jerry with quick springs, holding out his
+hand to her at the top, to help her in making the
+final leap. Then he took from his pocket a curious
+little key which he explained to Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+would open that tool chest provided you knew
+how to use it; but he supposed that a man who
+had stolen it might try for a week, and yet not
+get into the chest.</p>
+
+<p>A skilful touch, and the handsome chest was
+open before her, displaying its wonders to her
+pleased eyes. It was a well-stocked chest. Chisels,
+and saws, and hammers, and augers, and
+sharp, wicked-looking little things for which Nettie
+had no name, gleamed before her.</p>
+
+<p>"How nice!" she said at last. "How splendid!
+It looks as though somebody who knew
+how, could make splendid things with them."</p>
+
+<p>"And I know how," said Jerry. "At least, I
+know some things. I spent a summer down in
+a little country town where father had some business;
+and the man we boarded with kept a small
+shop, where all sorts of things were made. Not
+a great factory, you know, where they make a
+thousand chairs of one kind, and a thousand of
+another, and never make anything but chairs.
+This was just a little country shop, where they
+made a table one day, and a chair the next, and
+a bedstead the next; and you could watch the
+men at work, and ask questions and learn ever so
+much. I got so I could use tools, as well as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+next one, Mr. Braisted said, whatever he meant
+by that. Father liked to have me learn. He
+said tools were the cleanest sharp things that he
+knew anything about. I can make ever so many
+things. I like to do it. I wonder I have not
+been about it since I came here. Now what shall
+we go at first? What does your mother say about
+the room?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is willing," said Nettie, "only she doesn't
+see how much of anything can be done. She is
+most discouraged, you see, and nothing looks
+possible to her, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right. She can't be expected to
+know we can do things until we show her. If
+she will let us try, that is all we need ask."</p>
+
+<p>"She says the room ought to have some kind
+of a carpet; they always have carpets in home-like
+rooms, she says; and I guess that is so.
+Except in kitchens, of course."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie hastened to say this, apologetically,
+thinking of Mrs. Job Smith's bright yellow
+floor.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry whistled.</p>
+
+<p>"That is so, I suppose," he said thoughtfully;
+"and they don't make carpets out of boxes,
+nor with saws and hammers, do they? I don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+know how we would manage that. There must
+be a way to do it, though. Let's put that one
+side among the things that have got to be thought
+about."</p>
+
+<p>"And prayed about," said Nettie.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, flashing a very bright look at
+her, "I thought that, but somehow I did not like
+to say it out, in so many words."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder why?" said Nettie thoughtfully;
+"I mean, I wonder why it is so much harder to
+say things of that kind than it is to speak about
+anything else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Father used to say it was because people
+didn't get in the habit of talking about religion
+in a common sense way. They don't, you know;
+hardly anybody. At least hardly anybody that
+I know; around here, anyway. Now my father
+speaks of those things just as easy as he does
+of anything."</p>
+
+<p>"So does Auntie Marshall; but I used to notice
+that not many people did. Your father
+must be a good man."</p>
+
+<p>"There never was a better one!"</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding Jerry said all this with tremendous
+energy, his voice trembled a little, and
+there came one of those dashes of feeling over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+him which made him think that he must drop
+everything and go to that dear father right
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"When he comes after you and takes you
+away, what will I do?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's mournful tone restored the boy's courage.</p>
+
+<p>He laughed a little. "No use in borrowing
+trouble about that. He is afraid he cannot
+come back before winter, if he does then. I'm
+going to get him to let me stay here until he does
+come, though. And now we must attend to business.
+What will you have first in my line?
+Chairs, tables, sofas&mdash;why, anything you say,
+ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>And both faces were sunny again.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.<br />
+
+<small>HOW IT SUCCEEDED.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>MRS. JOB SMITH leaned against the table
+in her bright kitchen, caught up the
+edge of her apron in one hand, then leaned both
+hands on her sides, and thought. Jerry had been
+consulting her. Was there any way of planning
+so that the front room in the Decker house could
+have a carpet? He repeated all Mrs. Decker said
+about a room not being home-like without one,
+and Mrs. Smith, at first inclined to combat the
+idea, finally admitted that in winter a room where
+you sat down to visit, did look kind of desolate
+without a carpet, unless it was a kitchen, and had
+a good-sized cook stove to brighten it up. There
+was no denying that that square front room
+would be the better for a carpet. At the same
+time there was no denying that the Deckers
+needed a hundred other things worse than they
+did a carpet. But the hearts of the boy and girl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+were bent on having one; and what the boy was
+bent on, Mrs. Job Smith liked to have accomplished,
+and believed sooner or later that it would
+be. The question was, How could she help to
+bring it about?</div>
+
+<p>"There's that roll of rag carpeting, bran-new,"
+she said aloud; Mrs. Smith had spent a good
+deal of her time alone and had learned to hold
+long conversations with herself, arguing out
+questions as well, sometimes she thought better,
+than a second party could have done. At this
+point she put her hands on her sides. "There's
+enough of it, and more than enough. I had it
+made for the front room the year poor Hannah
+died, and sent me that boughten carpet which
+just exactly fitted, and is good for ten years'
+wear. That rag carpeting has been rolled up
+and done up in tobacco and things ever since&mdash;most
+two years. Sarah Jane doesn't need it,
+and I don't know as I shall ever put it on the
+kitchen. I don't like a great heavy carpet in a
+kitchen, much, anyway; rugs, and square pieces
+that a body can take up and shake, are enough
+sight neater, to my way of thinking. But I can't
+afford to give away bran-new carpeting. To be
+sure it only cost me the warp and the weaving;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+and I got the warp at a bargain, and old Mother
+Turner never did ask me as much for weaving
+as she did other folks. The rags was every one
+of them saved up. Poor Hannah used to send
+me a lot of rags, and Sarah Jane and I sewed
+them at odd spells when we wouldn't have been
+doing anything. It is a good deal of bother to
+take care of it, and I'm always afraid the moths
+will get ahead of me, and eat it up. I might sell
+it to her for what the warp and the weaving cost
+me. But land! what would she pay with? I
+might give her a chance to do ironing. I have
+to turn away fine ironing every week of my life
+because I can't do more than accommodate my
+old customers. Who knows but she is a pretty
+good ironer? I might give her the coarse parts
+to iron, and watch her, and find out. Job is always
+at me to have somebody help with the big
+ironings, and I have always said I wouldn't have
+a girl bothering around, I would rather take less
+to do. But then, she is a decent quiet body, and
+that Nettie is just a little woman. She will have
+to do something to help along if they ever get
+started in being decent; perhaps ironing is the
+thing for her, and I can start her if she knows
+how to do it. For the matter of that, I might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+teach her how, if she wanted to learn. To be sure
+they need other things more than carpets, but
+it wouldn't take her long to pay for this, if I just
+charge for the weaving. I might throw in the
+warp, maybe, seeing I got it at a bargain. The
+two are so bent on having a carpet for that
+room; and Jerry, he said he had prayed about
+it, and while he was on his knees, it kind of
+seemed to him as though I was the one to get to
+think it out. That's queer now! Jerry don't
+know anything about the carpet rolled up in tobacco
+in the box in the garret; why should he
+think that I could help? I feel almost bound to,
+somehow, after that. I don't like to have Jerry
+disappointed, nor the little girl either, now that's
+a fact. I take to that little Nettie amazingly.
+Well, I know what I'll do. I'll talk with Job
+about it, and if he is agreed, maybe we will see
+what she says to it."</p>
+
+<p>This last was a kind of "make believe," and
+the good woman knew it; Job Smith thought that
+his wife was the wisest, most prudent, most capable
+woman in the world, and besides being sure to
+agree to whatever she had to propose, he was
+himself of such a nature that he would have given
+away unhesitatingly the very clothes he wore, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+he thought somebody else needed them more
+than he. There was little need to fear that Job
+Smith would ever put a stumbling-block in the
+way of any benevolence.</p>
+
+<p>But who shall undertake to tell you how astonished
+Mrs. Decker was when Mrs. Smith, having
+duly considered, and talked with Sarah Jane,
+and talked with Job, and unrolled the tobacco-smelling
+carpet, and examined it carefully, did
+finally come over to the Decker home with her
+startling proposition. It is true that a carpet
+had taken perhaps undue proportions in this
+poor woman's eyes. Her best room during all
+the years of her past life had never been without
+a neat bright carpet; it had been the pleasant
+dream of her second married-life, so long as any
+pleasantness had been left to allow of dreaming;
+and she could not get away from the feeling that
+people who had not a scrap of carpeting for their
+best room, were very low down. She opened
+her eyes very wide while listening to Mrs.
+Smith's rapidly told story. What kind of a carpet
+could it be that was offered to her for simply
+the price of the weaving? for Job and his wife
+after some figuring with pencil and paper, had
+agreed together heartily to throw in the warp.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+She went over to the neat kitchen and examined
+the carpet. It was bright and pretty. There
+was a good deal of red in it, and there was a
+good deal of brown; a blending of the two colors
+which had been the subject of much discussion
+between herself and husband in the days
+when Mr. Decker talked anything about the comforts
+of his home. How well it would look in
+the square room which had two windows, and
+was really the only pleasant room in the house.
+Surely she could iron enough to pay for that.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not very strong," she said with a sigh.
+"I used to be, but of late I've been failing. But
+Nannie is so handy, and so willing, that she
+saves me a great deal, and she has a notion that
+she would like to fix up the front room and try
+to get hold of my Norm. It would be worth
+trying, maybe, but I don't know. We are very
+low down, Mrs. Smith."</p>
+
+<p>And then Mrs. Decker sank into one of the
+green painted chairs and cried.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is worth trying," Mrs. Smith
+said, bustling about, as though she must find
+some more windows to raise; tears always made
+her feel as though she was choking. "If I were
+you I would have a carpet, and curtains to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+windows, and lots of nice things, and make a
+home fit for that boy of yours to have a good
+time in. There is nothing like a nice pleasant
+home to keep a boy from going wrong."</p>
+
+<p>Before Mrs. Decker went home, she had promised
+to try the ironing the very next week, and
+if she could do it well enough to suit Mrs. Smith,
+the carpet should be bought.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor thing!" said Mrs. Smith, looking after
+her, and rubbing her eyes with the corner of her
+apron. "The ironing shall suit; if she irons
+wrinkles into the collars and creases in the cuffs,
+I won't say a word; only I guess maybe I won't
+give her collars and cuffs to iron; not till she
+learns how. I ought to have done something to
+kind of help her along before; only I don't know
+what it would have been. It takes that boy of
+mine to set folks to work."</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, "that boy" sat in the kitchen door,
+studying. Not from a book, but from his own
+puzzled thoughts. He did not see his way clear.
+Under Nettie's direction he had planned a very
+satisfactory sofa with a back to it, and two chairs,
+but how to get the material needed to finish
+them, and also for curtains for the new room, had
+sent Nettie home in bewilderment, and stranded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+him on the doorstep in the middle of the afternoon
+to think it out.</p>
+
+<p>"How much stuff does it take for curtains,
+anyhow?"</p>
+
+<p>"For curtains?" said Mrs. Smith, coming
+back with a start from her ironing table and the
+plan she had for teaching Mrs. Decker to iron
+shirts. "Why, that depends on what kind of
+stuff it is, and how many curtains you want, and
+how big the windows are."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what do they use for curtains?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Smith still looked bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"A great many things, Jerry. They have lace
+curtains, and linen ones, and muslin ones, and in
+some of the rooms up at Mrs. Barlow's, on the hill,
+you know, when I helped her do up curtains that
+time, they had great heavy silk things, or maybe
+velvet, though the stuff didn't look much like
+either. I don't rightly know what it was, but it
+was heavy, and soft, and satiny, and shone like
+gold, in some places."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry turned around on the doorstep and
+looked full at Mrs. Smith, and laughed.
+"I know," he said, "I have seen such curtains.
+They are damask. I am not thinking about lace,
+and damask, and all that sort of thing. I mean<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+for Mrs. Decker's front room. What could be
+used that would do, and how much would they
+cost?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely!" said Mrs. Smith, coming down to
+everyday life. "What a goose I was. I might
+have known what you were thinking about.
+Why, let me see. Cheese cloth makes real pretty
+curtains; if you have a bit of bright calico to put
+over the top, and a nice hem in, or maybe some
+bright calico at the bottom to help them hang
+straight, I don't know as there is anything much
+prettier. Though to be sure they aren't good
+for much to keep people from looking in; and
+they aren't quite suitable for winter. I suppose
+you want to plan for winter, too? I'll tell you
+what it is, I believe that unbleached muslin makes
+about as pretty a curtain as a body could have;
+put bright red at the top and bottom, and they
+look real nice."</p>
+
+<p>"What is unbleached muslin? I mean, how
+much does it cost?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Mrs. Smith, dropping into her
+rocking-chair, and folding her hands on her lap
+to give her mind fully to the important question,
+"as to that, I should have to think; I'm not
+very good at figures. Unbleached muslin costs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+about eight cents a yard, or maybe ten; we'll
+say ten, because I've always noticed that was
+easier to calculate. Ten cents a yard, and two
+windows, say two yards to each, and no, two
+yards to each half, four yards to each, and twice
+four is eight, eight yards at ten cents a yard.
+How much would that be, Jerry? You can tell
+in a minute, I dare say."</p>
+
+<p>"Eighty cents," said Jerry with a sigh. "I
+am afraid she will think that is a great deal.
+And then there's the red to put on them. What
+does that cost?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that ought to be oil calico, because the
+other kind ain't fast colors. I don't much believe
+you could get those curtains up short of
+fifty cents apiece; and that is a good deal for
+curtains, that's a fact. Paper ones don't cost so
+much, but then there's the rollers and the fastenings,
+I don't know but they do cost just as much.
+And then they tear."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want her to have paper ones," said
+Jerry decisively. "A dollar for the curtains,
+and I don't know how much more for the furniture.
+She can't imagine where the money is to
+come from."</p>
+
+<p>"I could tell where it ought to come from,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+said Mrs. Smith, nodding her head and looking
+severe. "It ought to come out of Joe Decker's
+pocket. He makes his dollar a day, even now,
+when he doesn't half work; Job said so only last
+night. But furniture is dreadful dear stuff,
+Jerry, worse than curtains. And they need
+about everything. I never did see such a desolate
+house! And those little girls need clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Nettie is going to make them some clothes,"
+said Jerry; "she has some that she has outgrown;
+a great roll in her trunk; she is going to make
+them over to fit the little girls. She is at work
+at some of them to-day. And you know, auntie,
+I am making the furniture."</p>
+
+<p>"Making it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, making its skeleton. If we had some
+clothes to put on it, I guess it would be furniture.
+I've made a sofa, and two chairs, and I'm at
+work at a table. Only I would like to see how
+the things were going to look, before I went any
+farther."</p>
+
+<p>"Making furniture!" repeated dazed Mrs.
+Smith; and she shook her head. "I don't see
+how you can! You can do a great many things
+that no other boy ever thought of; but I'm
+afraid that's beyond you."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, you see, auntie, she has seen some
+made, and she showed me what to do with hammer
+and nails. You make a frame, just the
+size you want for a sofa, and put a back to it,
+then it is padded with cotton, and covered with
+something bright, cretonne, I think she said
+they called it, only it wasn't real cretonne, but
+a cheap imitation, and they tack a skirt to the
+thing in puckers, so," and he caught up a bit of
+Mrs. Smith's apron to illustrate.</p>
+
+<p>"I see," she said, nodding her head and speaking
+in an admiring tone. "What a contriving
+little thing she is! And what about the
+chairs?"</p>
+
+<p>"The chairs are served in very much the
+same way. The table is just two flat boards and
+a post between them, nailed firmly, then they
+tack red calico, or blue, or whatever they want,
+around it, and cover it with thin white cheese
+cloth or some lacey stuff, she had the name of
+it, but I've forgotten; it doesn't cost much, she
+said, and tie a sash around it, and it looks like
+an hour glass. The question is, where are the
+cotton and calico to come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mrs. Smith, "you two do beat
+all! It can't take much stuff for a little table;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+and I can see that they might be real pretty. I
+want a table myself, to stand under the glass in
+my front room. What if you was to make two,
+and I'd get cloth enough for two, and she would
+do mine and hers, to pay for the cloth?"</p>
+
+<p>Jerry sprang up from his doorstep, and came
+over and put both arms around Mrs. Smith's
+trim waist.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" he said; "you are the contriver.
+That will do splendidly. I'll go this minute and
+set up the skeleton of another table. I have
+two boards there which will just do it. Then
+we'll think out a way to get the rest of the
+stuff."</p>
+
+<p>Now Nettie, busy with her fingers in the
+house next door, had not left the others to do
+all the thinking. She knew the price of "oil
+calico," and imitation cretonne, and unbleached
+muslin; she knew to a fraction how many yards
+of each would be needed, and the sum total appalled
+her. Yet she too knew that her father
+earned at least a dollar a day, and did not give
+them two a week to live on. This her mother
+had told her.</p>
+
+<p>Also she knew that on this Saturday evening
+at about six o'clock, he would probably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+be paid for his week's work. Couldn't she contrive
+to coax some of the money from his keeping
+into hers? She had hinted the possibility of
+her mother's getting hold of it, and Mrs. Decker
+had said that the bare thought of trying made
+her feel faint and sick; that if she had ever
+seen her father in a passion such as he could get
+into when things did not go just to suit him,
+she would know what it was to ask him for anything.
+Nettie, who had not yet been at home a
+week, had some faint idea of what her father
+might do and say if he were very angry. Nevertheless,
+she was trying to plan a way to meet
+him before he left the shop, and secure some of
+that money if she could.</p>
+
+<p>With this thought in view, she presently laid
+aside the neat little petticoat on which she had
+been sewing, brushed her hair, put on her brown
+ribboned hat, and her brown gloves, watched
+her chance while the children were quarreling
+over an apple that Jerry had given them, and
+stole out in the direction of the shop where her
+father worked. She would not ask Jerry to go
+with her, though he looked after her from the
+barn window and wished she had; if her father
+was to grow angry and swear, and possibly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+strike, no one should know it but herself, if she
+could help it.</p>
+
+<p>I must not forget to tell you of one thing that
+she did before starting. She went into her
+mother's little tucked-up bedroom, put a nail
+over the door, which she had herself arranged
+for a fastening, and knelt there so long by the
+barrel which did duty as a table, that her mother,
+had she seen her, would have been frightened.
+But Nettie felt that she needed courage for this
+undertaking; and she knew where to get it.</p>
+
+<p>Then she had to walk pretty fast; it was
+later than she thought, for just as she turned the
+corner by the shop where her father worked, the
+six o'clock bell began to ring.</p>
+
+<p>"Halloo!" said one of the men, standing in
+the door while he untied his leather apron.
+"What party is this coming down the street?
+The neatest little woman I've seen for many a
+day. A stranger in this part of the world, I
+reckon. Doesn't fit in, somehow. Do you know
+who it is, Decker?"</p>
+
+<p>And Mr. Decker, thus appealed to, came to
+the door in time to receive Nettie's bow and
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"That's my girl," he said, and a look of pride<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+stole into his face. She was a trim little creature;
+it was rather pleasant to own her as his
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Your girl!" and the astonishment which the
+man felt was expressed by a slight whistle. "I
+want to know now if that is the little one who
+went away six, seven years ago, was it? She's
+as pretty a girl as I've seen in a year. Looks
+smart, too. I say, Decker, you better take good
+care of her. She is a girl to be proud of."</p>
+
+<p>At just that moment Nettie sprang up the
+steps.</p>
+
+<p>"May I come in, father?" she said; "I
+wanted to see where you worked." Her voice
+was clear and sweet. All the men in the shop
+turned to look. The foreman who was paying
+Mr. Decker, and who had begun severely with
+the sentence: "Two half-days off again, Decker;
+that sort of thing won't"&mdash;stopped short at the
+sound of Nettie's voice, and gave him the two two
+dollar bills, and two ones, without further words.
+Six dollars! If only she could get part of it!
+How should the delicate matter be managed?
+Suddenly Nettie acted on the thought which
+came to her. What more natural than for a child
+to ask for money just then and there? She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+needed it, and why not say it? Perhaps he
+would not like to refuse her entirely before all
+the men. And poor Nettie had a very disagreeable
+fear that he would certainly refuse her
+if she waited until the men were gone; even if
+she found a chance to ask him before he reached
+the saloon just next door, where he spent so
+much of his money. Or at least where his wife
+thought he spent it.</p>
+
+<p>"May I have some of that, father? I want
+some money. That was one of the things I
+came after."</p>
+
+<p>This was certainly the truth. Why not treat
+it as a matter of course? "Why should I take
+it for granted that he is going to waste all his
+money?" said poor Nettie to herself. All the
+same she knew she had good reason for supposing
+that he would.</p>
+
+<p>"Money!" he said, as he seized the bills.
+"What do you know about money, or want with
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I want things. The little girls must
+have some shoes. I promised to see about it as
+soon as I could. And then I want to buy your
+Sunday dinner; a real nice one."</p>
+
+<p>The tone was a winning, coaxing one. Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+did not know how to coax; was not very well
+acquainted with her father; did not know how
+he would endure coaxing of any sort, but some
+way must be tried, and this was the best one
+she knew of.</p>
+
+<p>"Divide with her, Decker," said the man who
+had first called his attention to Nettie. "She
+looks as though she could buy a dinner, and
+cook it too. If I had a trim little girl like that
+to look out for my comfort, hang me if I wouldn't
+take pleasure in keeping her well supplied." He
+sighed as he spoke, and nobody laughed; for
+most of them remembered that the man's home
+was desolate. Wife and daughter both buried
+only a few months before. This man sometimes
+spent his earnings on beer, but he was accustomed
+to say that there was nobody left to care;
+and that while he had them, he took care of
+them; which was true. Nettie looked up at the
+man with a curious pitiful interest. His tone
+was very sad. She was grateful to him for his
+words. Was there possibly something sometime
+that she could do for him? She would remember
+his face.</p>
+
+<p>All the men were looking now, and there was
+Nettie's outstretched hand. Her face a good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+deal flushed; but it wore an expectant look.
+She was going to believe in her father as long as
+she could.</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead, Joe, divide with the girl. Such a
+handsome one as that. You ought to be proud
+of the chance."</p>
+
+<p>"You have something worth taking care of,
+it seems, Decker." It was the foreman who
+said this, as he passed on his way to the other
+side of the room where the men were waiting.</p>
+
+<p>Whether it was a father's pride, or a father's
+shame, or both these motives which moved Mr.
+Decker, I cannot say, but he actually took a two
+and a one and placed them in her hands as he
+said hastily, "There, my girl, I've given you
+half; you can't complain of that."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.<br />
+
+<small>LONG STORIES TO TELL.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>IF only I had a good picture of Nettie, so that
+you might see the radiant look in her eyes
+just then!</div>
+
+<p>She had hoped for the money, she had tried
+to trust her father, but she was, nevertheless,
+wonderfully surprised when her hand closed
+over three dollars.</p>
+
+<p>"O father!" she said, "how nice." And then
+her courage rose. "Will you go with me, father,
+to buy the shoes? The little girls are so eager
+for them. I promised to take them with me to
+Sunday-school to-morrow, if I could get shoes,
+but I don't know how to buy them very well.
+Could you go?"</p>
+
+<p>The shoe shop was farther down the street, in
+an opposite direction from the one where Mr.
+Decker generally got his liquor, and wily Nettie
+remembered that there was a street leading from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+it which would take them home without passing
+the saloon. Of course it was true that she needed
+his help to select the shoes, but it was also true
+that she was very glad she did. Mr. Decker was
+untying his apron, and rolling down his sleeves;
+he felt very thirsty&mdash;the sight of the money
+seemed to make him thirsty. He had meant to go
+directly to the saloon, give them one dollar on the
+old bill, and spend what he needed, only a very
+little, on beer. With the rest of the money he
+honestly meant to pay his rent. Yet no one
+ought to have understood better than he that he
+would not be likely to get away from that saloon
+with a cent of money in his pocket. For all that,
+he wanted to go. He wished Nettie would go
+away and let him alone. But the men were
+watching.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't fit the children to shoes without
+having them along," he said gruffly.
+But Nettie was ready for him: "Oh!" she said,
+swiftly unrolling a newspaper, "I brought their
+feet along." And with a bright little laugh she
+plumped down two badly worn shoes on the work
+table.</p>
+
+<p>"That left-footed one is Satie's. The other
+was so dreadfully worn out, I was afraid the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+shoemaker couldn't measure it. This is the best
+one of Susie's."</p>
+
+<p>It was plain to any reasonable eyes that two
+pairs of shoes were badly needed.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess they need other things besides
+shoes."</p>
+
+<p>It was the father who said this, and they were
+out on the street, and he was actually being
+drawn by Nettie's eager hand in the opposite
+direction from the saloon.</p>
+
+<p>"O no," she said; "I had some clothes which
+I had outgrown; I have been at work at them
+all day, and they make nice little suits. Auntie
+Marshall sent them each a cunning little white sunbonnet.
+When we get the shoes, they will look
+just as nice as can be. You don't know how
+pleased they are about going to Sunday-school.
+I am so glad they will not be disappointed to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>The shoes were bought, good, strong-looking
+little ones, and wonderfully cheap, perhaps because
+Nettie did the bargaining, and the man
+who knew how scarce her money must be, was
+sorry for the little woman. It did seem a great
+deal to pay out&mdash;two whole dollars&mdash;for shoes
+when everything was needed. It was warm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+weather, perhaps she ought to have let the little
+girls go barefoot for awhile, but then she could
+not take them to Sunday-school very well; at
+least, it seemed to her that she couldn't; and
+father was willing to have them bought now.
+Who could tell when he would be willing again?</p>
+
+<p>He stood in the door and waited for her, wondering
+why he did so, why he could not leave
+her and go back to that saloon and get his drink.
+One reason was, that she gave him no chance.
+She appealed to him every minute for advice.</p>
+
+<p>"Father, can we go to market now? I want
+to get just a splendid piece of meat for your
+Sunday dinner. I know just how to cook it in
+a way that you will like."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you can do that without me; I have
+an errand in another direction." They were on
+the street again. She caught his hand eagerly.
+"O, father, do please come with me to the market,
+there are so many men there I don't like to
+go alone; and it is so nice to take a walk with
+you. I haven't had one since I came. Won't
+you please come, father?"</p>
+
+<p>Joe Decker hardly knew what to think of himself.
+There was something in her soft coaxing
+voice which seemed to take him back a dozen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+years into the past, and which led him along in
+spite of himself.</p>
+
+<p>The meat was bought, Nettie looking wise
+over the different pieces, and insisting on a neck
+piece, which the boy told her was not fit to eat.
+"I know how to make it fit," she said, with a
+little nod of her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I want three pounds of it. And then, father,
+I want two carrots and two onions; I'm going to
+make something nice."</p>
+
+<p>Only sixty-eight cents of her precious money
+left!</p>
+
+<p>"I did need some butter," she said mournfully,
+"and that in the tub looks nice, but I guess
+I can't afford it this time."</p>
+
+<p>"How much is butter?" asked Mr. Decker,
+suddenly rising to the needs of the moment.
+"Twenty-five," said the grocer, shortly. He
+did not know the trim little woman who had paid
+for her carrots and onions, and held them in a
+paper bag at this moment, but he did know Joe
+Decker and had an account against him. He had
+no desire to sell him any butter.</p>
+
+<p>"Then give me two pounds, and be quick
+about it." And Mr. Decker put down a dollar
+bill on the counter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The man seized it promptly and began to arrange
+the butter in a neat wooden dish, while he
+said, "By the way, Mr. Decker, when will it be
+convenient to settle that little account?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do it as soon as I can," said Mr. Decker,
+speaking low, for Nettie turned toward him
+startled; this was worse than she thought. She
+had not known of any accounts. Mr. Decker
+himself had forgotten it until he stood in the
+very door. It was months since he had bought
+groceries.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it much, father?" Nettie asked, and he
+replied pettishly:</p>
+
+<p>"Much? no. It is only a miserable little
+three dollars. I mean to pay it; he needn't be
+scared." Yet why he shouldn't be "scared,"
+when he had asked for those three dollars perhaps
+fifty times, Mr. Decker did not say.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said Nettie, in a very low voice,
+"couldn't you let the man keep the fifty cents,
+on the account, and that would be a beginning?"</p>
+
+<p>But this was too much.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Mr. Decker; "I will pay my bills
+when I get ready and not before; and it is none
+of your business when I do it. You must not
+meddle with what does not belong to you."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, sir;" said Nettie, though it was hard
+work to speak just then; there was a queer little
+lump in her throat. She was not in the habit of
+being spoken to in this way. The butter was
+ready, and the man handed back the change.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker pocketed it, saying as he did so,
+"I'll have some money for you next week, I
+guess." And then they went away.</p>
+
+<p>"If it hadn't been for the girl I'd have kept
+the fifty cents and got so much out of the old
+drunkard; but someway I couldn't bring myself
+to doing it with her looking on." This was
+what the grocer muttered as they walked away.
+But they did not hear him. Nettie was bent
+now on tolling her father down the cross street
+to go home.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," she said, "we are going to have
+milk toast for supper. Mother said she would
+have it ready, and toast spoils, you know, if it
+stands long. Couldn't we go home this way and
+make it shorter?"</p>
+
+<p>He was a good deal astonished that he did it.
+He was still very thirsty, but there really came
+to him no decent excuse for deserting his little
+girl and going back to the saloon. And they
+walked into the house together, so astonishing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+Mrs. Decker that she almost dropped the teapot
+which she was filling with hot water. Whatever
+other night, Mr. Decker contrived to get
+home to supper, he was always late on Saturday,
+and in a worse condition than at any other time.</p>
+
+<p>That was really a nice little suppertime. Mrs.
+Decker had done her part well, not for the husband
+whom she did not expect, but in gratitude
+to the little girl who had worked so hard all the
+week for herself and her neglected babies. The
+toast was well made, and the tea was good.
+Besides, there was a treat; not ten minutes before,
+Mrs. Job Smith had sent in a plate of ginger
+cookies; "for the children," she said, and
+the children each had one. So did the father
+and mother.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker washed his hands before he sat
+down to the table, for the tablecloth had been
+freshly washed and ironed that day, and his
+wife had on a clean calico apron and a strip of
+white cloth about her neck, and her hair was
+smooth.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" said Nettie, displaying her meat,
+"now, mother, we can have that stew for to-morrow,
+just as we planned. Father got the
+meat, and the carrots, and everything. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+what do you think, little girlies, father bought
+you each a pair of shoes!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker set down the teapot again. She
+was just in the act of giving her husband a cup
+of tea, and the color came and went on her face
+so queerly that Nettie for a moment was frightened.
+As for the father, he felt very queer.
+Scared and silent as his little girls generally were
+in his presence, they could not keep back a little
+squeal of delight over this wonderful piece of
+news. Altogether, Mr. Decker could not help
+feeling that it really was a nice thing to be able
+to buy shoes and meat for his family.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," he said, "give us your tea if you're
+going to; I'm as dry as a fish."</p>
+
+<p>And the tea was poured.</p>
+
+<p>The toast was good, and there was plenty of
+it, and someway it took longer to eat it than this
+family usually spent at the supper-table; and
+then, after supper, the shoes had to be tried on,
+and Nettie called the little girls to their father
+to see if the shoes fitted, and he took Sate up on
+his lap to examine them, which was a thing that
+had not happened to Sate in so long that Susie
+scowled and expected that she would be frightened,
+but Sate seemed to like it, and actually<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+stole an arm around her father's neck and patted
+his cheek, while he was feeling of the shoe.
+Then Mrs. Decker had a happy thought.</p>
+
+<p>She winked and motioned Nettie into the bedroom
+and whispered: "Don't you believe he
+might like to see the children in their nice
+clothes? I ain't seen him notice them so much
+in a year; and he hasn't been drinking a mite,
+has he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a drop," said Nettie; "I'll dress Susie."
+And she flew out to the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"Father, just you wait until Susie is ready to
+show you something. Come here, Susie, quick."
+And almost in less time than it takes me to tell
+it, Susie was whisked into the pretty petticoats
+and dress which had been shortened and tightened
+for her that day. The dress was a plain,
+not over-fine white one; but it was beautifully
+ironed, and the white sunbonnet perched on the
+trim head completed the picture and made a
+pretty creature of Susie. I am sure I don't
+wonder that the child felt a trifle vain as she
+squeaked out in her new shoes to show herself
+to her father. She had not been neatly dressed
+long enough to consider it as a matter of course.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word!" said Mr. Decker, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+there he stopped. This was certainly a wonderful
+change. He looked at his little daughter
+from head to foot, and could hardly believe his
+eyes. What a pretty child she was. And to
+think that she was his! Certainly she ought to
+have new shoes, and new clothes. Sate's arm
+was still about his neck, and Sate's sweet full
+lips were suddenly touched to his rough cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got new clothes too," she said sweetly,
+"only I doesn't want to get down from here to
+put them on."</p>
+
+<p>The father turned at that and kissed her. Then
+he sat her down hastily and got up. Something
+made his eyes dim. He really did not know what
+was the matter with him, only it all seemed to
+come to him suddenly that he had some very
+nice children, and that they ought to have
+clothes and food and chances like others, and
+that it was his own fault they hadn't.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie hated tobacco, but she went herself in
+haste and lighted her father's pipe and brought
+it to him; if he must smoke, it would be so much
+better to have him sit in the door and do it
+rather than to go off down to that saloon. She
+hated the saloon worse than the tobacco. As
+she brought the pipe, she said within her hopeful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+little heart: "Maybe sometime he won't
+want either to drink or smoke. I most know we
+can coax him to give them both up; and then
+won't that be nice?"</p>
+
+<p>One thing was troubling her; as soon as she
+could, she followed her mother into the yard and
+questioned, "Do you know where Norm is?"</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Mrs. Decker knew. He came home just
+after Nettie had gone out, and said he had an
+hour's holiday; their room had closed early for
+Saturday, and he was going to wash up and go
+down street before supper.</p>
+
+<p>"My heart was in my mouth," said the poor
+mother; "because when there is a holiday he
+gets into worse scrapes than he does any other
+time; he goes with a set that don't do anything
+but have holidays, and they always have some
+mischief hatched up to get Norm into. I never
+see the like of the boys in this town for getting
+others into scrapes; but I didn't dare to say a
+word, because Norm thinks he is getting too big
+for me to give him any words, and just as he was
+going out, that boy next door&mdash;Jerry, you said
+his name was, didn't you?&mdash;he came out and
+called Norm, real friendly, and they stood talking
+together; he appeared to be arguing something,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
+and Norm holding off, and at last Norm
+came in and wanted the tin pail and said he had
+changed his mind and was going fishing; and
+they went off together, them two." And Mrs.
+Decker finished the sentence with a rare smile.
+She was grateful to Jerry for carrying off her
+boy, and grateful to Nettie for thinking about
+him and being anxious.</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" said Nettie with a happy little
+laugh, "then we will have some fried fish to-morrow
+for breakfast. What a nice day to-morrow
+is going to be."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker was a good deal surprised at himself,
+but he did not go down town again that
+night. After he had smoked, he felt thirsty, it
+is true, and at that very minute Nettie came in
+with the one glass which they had in the house,
+and it was full of lemonade.</p>
+
+<p>"Did he want a nice cool drink?" she had
+two lemons which she bought with her own
+money, and she knew how to make good lemonade,
+Auntie Marshall used to say.</p>
+
+<p>The father drank the cool liquid off almost at
+a swallow, said it was good, and that he guessed
+she knew how to do most things. By this time
+the little girls had been tucked away to bed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+and just as Mr. Decker rose up to say he guessed
+he would go down street awhile, Norm appeared
+with a string of fish. They were beauties; he
+declared that he never had such luck in his life;
+that fellow just bewitched the fish, he believed,
+so they would rather be caught than not. Then
+came a talk about dressing them. Norm said
+he was sure he did not know how; and Mr.
+Decker said, a great fellow like him ought to
+know how. When he was a boy of fourteen he
+used to catch fish for his mother almost every
+day of his life, and dress them too; his mother
+never had to touch them until they were ready to
+cook. Then Nettie, flushed and eager, said:</p>
+
+<p>"O father, then you can show me how to do
+it, can't you? I would like to learn just the
+right way." And the father laughed, and looked
+at his wife with something like the old look on
+his face, and said he seemed to be fairly caught.
+And together they went to the box outside, and
+in the soft summer night, with the moon looking
+down on them, Nettie took her lesson in fish
+dressing.</p>
+
+<p>When the work was all done, Norm having
+hovered around through it all, and watched, and
+helped a little, Mr. Decker went back to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+kitchen and yawned, and wondered how late it
+was. No clock in this house to give any idea of
+time. There used to be, but one day it got out
+of order and Mr. Decker carried it down street to
+be fixed, and never brought it back. Mrs. Decker
+asked about it a good many times, then went
+herself in search of it, and found it in the saloon
+at the corner.</p>
+
+<p>"He took it for debt," the owner told her,
+and a poor bargain it was; it never came to time,
+any better than her husband did. However,
+just as Mr. Decker made his wonderment, the
+old clock over at Mrs. Smith's rose up to its
+duty, and dignifiedly struck nine.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare," said Mr. Decker, "I did
+not think it was as late as that. There ain't any
+evenings now days. Well, I guess, after all, I'll
+go to bed. I'm most uncommon tired to-night
+somehow."</p>
+
+<p>Norm had already gone up to his room; and
+Mrs. Decker when she heard her husband's
+words, hurried into the bedroom to hide two
+happy tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare for it, I believe you have bewitched
+him," she said to Nettie, who followed her to
+ask about the breakfast; "I ain't known him to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+do such a thing not in two years, as to go to bed
+at nine o'clock without ever going down street
+again. He don't act like himself; not a mite.
+I was most scared when I saw him take Sate in
+his arms; that child don't remember his doing it
+before, I don't believe. Did he really buy the
+things, child, and pay for them? Well, now, it
+does beat all! And Saturday night, too; that
+has always been his worst night. Child, if you
+get hold of your father, and of my Norm, there
+ain't anything in this world too good for you.
+I'd work my fingers to the bone any time to help
+along, and be glad to."</p>
+
+<p>It was all very sweet. Nettie ran away before
+the sentence was fairly finished, waiting
+only to say, "Good-night, mother!" She had
+done this every night since she came, but to-night
+she reached up and touched her lips to the
+tall woman's thin cheek. Poor Nettie had been
+used to kissing somebody every night when she
+went to bed. It had made her homesick not to
+do it. But she had not wanted to kiss anybody in
+this house, except the little girls. To-night, she
+wanted to kiss this mother. She reached the
+back door, then stopped and looked back; her
+father sat in his shirt sleeves, in the act of pulling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+off one boot. Should she tell him good-night?
+He had not been there for her to do it
+a single evening since she came home. Should
+she kiss him? Why not? Wasn't he her father?
+Yet he might not like it. She could not be sure.
+He was not like the fathers she had known. However,
+she came back on tiptoe and stooped over
+him, her voice low and sweet:</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, father! I am going now." And
+then she put a kiss on the rough cheek, just
+where little Sate had left her velvet touch.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker started almost as though somebody
+had struck him. But it was not anger
+which filled his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, my girl," he said, but his voice
+was husky; and Nettie ran as fast as she could
+across the yard to the next house.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not get the things," she said to Jerry,
+who stood in the doorway waiting for her; "I
+couldn't; but, Jerry, I had such a wonderful
+time! Father gave me money, and we went to
+market, and bought shoes and he bought butter;
+and since we came home almost everything has
+happened. I can't begin to tell you. I can get
+some of the things on Monday. Father gave
+me money."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Jerry; "I didn't get the
+skeletons ready, either; I meant to work after
+tea, but instead of that I went fishing." And he
+gave her a bright smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I know it," said Nettie, breathless
+almost with eagerness. "That is part of my nice
+time. Jerry, I am so glad you went fishing to-night,
+and I am so glad you caught your fish;
+not the ones which we are to eat for our Sunday
+breakfast, you know, but the other one. Do you
+understand?"</p>
+
+<p>And Jerry laughed. "I understand," he said,
+"I had a nice time, too. We shall have some
+long stories to tell each other, I guess. We
+must go in now."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.<br />
+
+<small>A SABBATH TO REMEMBER.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>SUNDAY was a successful day at the Deckers.
+The sun shone brilliantly; a trifle too
+warm, you might have thought it, for comfort;
+but the little Deckers did not notice it. The
+fish was beautifully browned and the coffee was
+delicious. Mr. Decker had a clean shirt which
+his wife had contrived to wash and mend, the
+day before, and all things were harmonious.
+Some time before nine o'clock. Sate and Susie
+were arrayed in their new white suits, and with
+their trim new shoes, and hair beautifully neat,
+they were as pretty little girls as one need want
+to see. Nettie surveyed them with unqualified
+satisfaction, and then seated them, each with a
+picture primer, while she made her own toilet.
+She put on the dress which had been her best
+for Sunday, all summer. It was a gingham, a
+trifle finer and a good deal lighter than the brown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+one in which she had travelled. It was neatly
+made, and fitted her well; and the brown hat
+and ribbons looked well with it.</div>
+
+<p>On the whole, when they set off for Sabbath-school,
+Jerry accompanying them, arrayed in a
+fresh brown linen suit, Mrs. Decker watching
+them from the side window, admitted that she
+never saw a nicer-looking set in her life! She
+even had the courage to call Mr. Decker to see
+how nice the two little girls looked, and he came
+and watched them out of sight. And when he
+said that his Nan was about as nice a looking
+girl as he wanted to see, she answered heartily
+that Nannie was the very best girl she ever saw
+in her life.</p>
+
+<p>Fairly in the Sabbath-school, a fit of extreme
+shyness came over the two little Deckers. With
+Susie, as usual, it took the form of fierceness;
+she planted her two stout feet in the doorway
+and resolutely shook her head to all coaxings to
+go any farther; keeping firm hold of Sate's
+hand, and giving her arm a jerk now and then,
+to indicate to her that she was not to stir from
+her protector's side. The situation was becoming
+embarrassing. Nettie could not leave them,
+and Jerry would not; though some of the boys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+were giggling, those of his class were motioning
+him to leave the group and join them. The superintendent
+came forward and cordially invited
+the children in, but Susie scowled at him and
+shook her head. Then Jerry went around to
+Sate's side and held out his hand. "Sate," he
+said in a winning tone, "come with me over
+where all those pretty little girls sit, and I will
+get you a picture paper with a bird on it."</p>
+
+<p>To Susie's utter dismay, Sate who had meekly
+obeyed her slightest whim during all her little
+life, suddenly dropped the hand that held hers,
+and gave the other to Jerry, with a firm: "I'm
+going in, Susie; we came to go in, and Nettie
+wants us to." Poor, astonished, deserted Susie!</p>
+
+<p>She had been so sure of Sate that she had neglected
+to keep firm hold, and now she had slid
+away. There was nothing left for Susie but to
+follow her with what grace she could.</p>
+
+<p>They were seated at last. Seven little girls
+of nearly Nettie's size and age. As she took a
+seat among them, I wish I could give you an
+idea of how she felt. Up to this hour, it had
+not occurred to her that she was not as well
+dressed as others of her age. Not quite that,
+either; being a wise little woman of business, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+was well aware that her clothes were plain, and
+cheap, and that some girls wore clothes which
+cost a great deal of money. But I mean that
+this was the first time she had taken in the
+thought of the difference, so that it gave her a
+sting. The Sabbath-school which she had been
+attending, was a mission, in the lower part of
+the city; the scholars, nearly all of them, coming
+from homes where there was not much to
+spare on dress; and the girls of her class had
+all of them dressed like herself, neatly and
+plainly. It was very different with these seven
+girls. She felt at once, as she seated herself, as
+though she had come into the midst of a flower
+garden where choice blossoms were glowing on
+every side, and she might be a poor little weed.
+Summer silk dresses, broad-brimmed hats aglow
+with flowers, kid gloves, dainty lace-trimmed
+parasols&mdash;what a beautiful world it was into
+which this poor little weed had moved?</p>
+
+<p>Nettie knew that her hat was coarse, and the
+ribbon narrow and cheap, and her gloves cotton,
+but these things had never troubled her before.
+Why should they now?</p>
+
+<p>The truth is, it was not the pretty things, but
+the curious glances that their owners gave at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+small brown thrush which had come in among
+them. They seemed to poor Nettie to be making
+a memoranda of everything she had on,
+from the narrow blue ribbon on her hair to the
+strong neat boots in which her plump feet were
+encased. The look in their eyes said, "How
+queerly she is dressed!" It was impossible to
+get away from the thought of their thoughts,
+and from the fact that the girl next to her drew
+her blue silk dress closer about her, and placed
+her pink-lined parasol on the other side, even
+though the pretty lady who sat before them in
+the teacher's seat, welcomed her kindly, and
+hoped she would be happy among them. Nettie
+hoped so, too; but she could hardly believe that
+it could be possible.</p>
+
+<p>She looked over at Jerry. He seemed to be
+having a good time; there was not so much difference
+in boys' clothes as in girls. She did not
+see but he looked as well as any of them. She
+looked forward at the little girls. Susie had
+allowed herself to be led in search of Sate, and
+the two were at this moment side by side in a
+seat full of bobbing heads; they had taken off
+their sunbonnets, and their pretty heads bobbed
+about with the rest, and the white dresses of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+two looked as well at a distance as the others,
+though Nettie could see that there were ruffles,
+and tucks, and embroidery and lace. But some
+were plain; and none of the wee ones seemed to
+notice or to care. It was only Nettie who had
+gotten among those who made her care, by the
+glance of their eyes, and the rustle of their
+finery. She tried to get away from it all; tried
+hard. She listened to the words read, and
+joined as well as she could, in the hymn sung,
+and answered quietly and correctly, the questions
+put to her; but all the while there was a
+queer lump in her throat, which kept her swallowing,
+and swallowing, and a wish in her heart
+that she could go back to Auntie Marshall's.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 344px;">
+<img src="images/facing148.jpg" width="344" height="450" alt="girl with ringlets in coned hat" />
+<div class="caption">LORENA BARSTOW.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>When the service was over, she stood waiting,
+feeling shy and alone. Jerry was talking with
+the boys in his class, and the little girls were
+being kissed by their pretty teacher. Her classmates
+stood and looked at her. At last the
+teacher who had been talking with one of the
+secretaries turned to her with a pleasant voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Nettie, we are glad to have you with
+us. Can you come every Sabbath, do you think?
+Are you acquainted with these girls? No?
+Then you must be introduced. This is Irene<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+Lewis, and this is Cecelia Lester," and in this
+way she named the seven girls, each one making
+in turn what seemed to poor Nettie the stiffest
+little bow she had ever seen. At last, Irene
+Lewis, who stood next to her, and wore an elegant
+fawn-colored silk dress trimmed with lace,
+tried to think of something to say.</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't begun school yet, have you?
+I haven't seen anything of you. What grade
+are you in?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie explained that she had not been in a
+regular school; that she went afternoons to a
+private school which had no grades, and that
+now she did not expect to go at all; because
+mother could not spare her.</p>
+
+<p>"A private school!" said Miss Irene, "and
+held only in the afternoon! What a queer
+idea! I should think morning was the time to
+study. What was it for?"</p>
+
+<p>Then it became necessary to further explain
+that the girls who attended this afternoon school,
+had all of them work to do in the mornings, and
+could not be spared.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of them," said Lorena Barstow.
+"They are sort of charity schools, are
+they not?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lorena was dressed in white, and looked almost
+weighed down with rich embroidery; but
+she had a disagreeable smile on her face, and a
+look in her eyes that made Nettie's face crimson.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," she said, quietly, "I never
+heard it called by that name. My auntie thought
+very well of it, and was glad to have me go."
+Then she turned away, and hoped that none of
+the girls would ask her any more questions, or
+try to be friendly with her. Just now, she
+could be glad of only one thing, and that was,
+that she need not go to school with these disagreeable
+people. She stepped quite out of
+sight behind the screen which shielded the next
+class, and waited impatiently for the little girls.
+They seemed to be having a very nice time, and
+were in no haste to come to her. Standing
+there, waiting, she had the pleasure of hearing
+herself talked about.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't she a queer little object?" said Lorena
+Barstow. And when one of the others was kind
+enough to say that she did not see anything very
+queer about her, Lorena proceeded to explain.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't! Well, I should think you might.
+Did you ever see a girl in our class before, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+a gingham dress on? Of course she wore her
+very best for the first Sunday; and her hat is
+of very coarse straw, just the commonest kind,
+and last year's shape at that; then look at her
+cotton gloves! I'm sure I think she is as funny
+a little object as ever came into this room."</p>
+
+<p>"What of it? I am sure she looks neat and
+clean, and she spoke very prettily, and knew her
+lesson better than any of us."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't say she didn't. I was only talking
+about her clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Clothes are not of much consequence."</p>
+
+<p>"O Miss Ermina! When you dress better
+than any of us. Why don't you wear gingham
+dresses, and cheap ribbons, and cotton gloves, if
+you think they look as well as nice ones?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say that; I wear the clothes my
+mother gets for me; but I truly don't think
+they are the most important things in the
+world."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I. You needn't take a person
+up in that way, as though you were better than
+anybody else. I am sure I am willing she should
+wear what she likes."</p>
+
+<p>Then Cecelia Lester took up the conversation:</p>
+
+<p>"She could not be expected to dress very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+well, of course. Don't you know she is old
+Joe Decker's daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who is Joe Decker? I never heard of
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he is just a drunkard; they live over
+on Hamlin street. Mrs. Decker washes for my
+auntie once in awhile, when they have extra
+company, and I have seen her there, with both
+the little girls. I heard that Joe's daughter
+who has been living out, for years, was coming
+home."</p>
+
+<p>"Living out! that little thing! No wonder
+she hasn't better clothes. She has a pretty face,
+I think. But it seems sort of queer to have her
+come into our class, doesn't it? We sha'n't know
+what to do with her! She can't go in our set,
+of course."</p>
+
+<p>"O, I don't know. Perhaps Ermina Farley
+will invite her to her party." At this point, all
+the others laughed, as though a funny thing had
+been said, but Ermina spoke quietly: "So far
+as her gingham dress is concerned, I am sure I
+would just as soon. I don't choose my friends
+on account of the clothes they wear; and I suppose
+the poor thing cannot help her father being
+a drunkard; but then, I shouldn't like to invite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+her, for fear you girls would not treat her well."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie could see the toss of Lorena Barstow's
+yellow curls as she answered: "Well, I must say
+I like to be careful with whom I associate; and
+mother likes to have me careful. I am sorry for
+the girl; but I don't know that I need make her
+my most intimate friend on that account. Say,
+girls, did you ever notice what fine eyes that
+boy has who came in with her? Some think he
+is a real handsome fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"He seems to be a particular friend of this
+girl; I saw them on the street together yesterday,
+and they were talking and laughing, as
+though they enjoyed each other ever so much.
+Who is that boy?"</p>
+
+<p>Lorena seemed to be prepared to answer all
+questions.</p>
+
+<p>"He isn't much," she said, with another toss
+of her yellow curls. "His name is Jerry Mack;
+a regular Irish name, and he is Irish in face; I
+think he is coarse-looking; dreadful red cheeks!
+The girls over on the West Side say he is smart,
+and handsome, and all that. I don't see where
+they find it."</p>
+
+<p>"O, he is smart," said Cecelia Lester. "My
+brother knows him, and he says there isn't a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+more intelligent boy in town. I used to think
+he was splendid; I have talked with him some,
+and he is real pleasant; but I must say I don't
+understand why he goes with that Decker girl
+all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why he shouldn't," declared
+Lorena. "For my part, I think they are well
+matched; he works for his board at Job Smith's
+the carman's, and she is a drunkard's daughter;
+they ought to be able to have nice times together."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he work for his board?" chimed in
+two or three voices at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I suppose so, or gets it without working
+for it. He lives there, anyway. They say his
+father has deserted him, run away to California,
+or somewhere; Jerry will have to learn the carman's
+trade, and support himself, and Nettie,
+too, maybe." Whereupon there was a chorus
+of giggles. Something about this seemed to be
+thought funny.</p>
+
+<p>Ermina seemed to have left the group, so
+they took her up next. "Ermina Farley meant
+to invite him to her party, but I hardly think
+she will, when she finds out how all we girls
+feel about it. She tries to do things different<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+from everybody else, though; so perhaps that
+will be the very reason why she will ask them
+both. I'll tell you what it is, girls, we must
+stand up for our rights, and not let her have
+everything her own way. Let's say squarely
+that we will not go to her party if she invites
+out of our set. I could endure the boy if I had
+to, because he is very polite, and merry; and so
+few of the boys around here know how to behave
+themselves; but if he has chosen that
+Decker girl for his friend, we must just let them
+both alone. This class isn't the place for that
+girl; I wonder who invited her in? I think it
+was real mean in Miss Wheeler to ask her to
+come again, without knowing how we felt about
+it."</p>
+
+<p>All this time was poor Nettie behind that
+screen. Not daring to stir, because there was no
+place for her to go. The little girls were still engaged
+with their teacher, who had Sate on her
+lap, and Susie by her side, and was showing
+them some picture cards, and apparently telling
+them a story about the pictures. Jerry had sat
+down beside a boy who was copying something
+which Jerry seemed to be reading to him, and
+various groups stood about, chatting. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+were waiting for the bell to toll before they went
+into church. Nettie could not go without the
+little girls, and she could not stir without being
+brought into full view. And just then she felt
+as though it would not be possible for her to
+meet the eyes of anybody. If only she could
+run away and hide, where she need never see
+any of those dreadful girls again! or, for that
+matter, see anybody. It was true, she was a
+drunkard's daughter, and would go down lower
+and lower, until her neat dress would be in rags,
+and her hat, coarse as it was, would grow frayed,
+and be many years behind the fashion. What
+a cruel, wicked world it was! Who could have
+imagined that those pretty, beautifully dressed
+girls could have such cruel tongues, and say such
+hateful words! Didn't they know she was
+within hearing? Couldn't they have waited
+until she got out of the way, so that she need
+not have known how dreadful they were?</p>
+
+<p>So far as that was concerned, they did not
+know it. To do them justice, I think none of
+them would have wounded her so, quite to her
+face. They might have been cold, but they
+would not have been cruel in her presence. They
+thought she went out of the room, instead of behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+the screen. The bell tolled, at last, and
+Jerry finished his reading, and came over to her,
+his face bright. The girls in their beautiful
+plumage fluttered away like gay birds, the
+teacher of the little girls came toward her holding
+a hand of each, and saying brightly: "Are
+these your little sisters? What dear little treasures
+they are! We have had such a pleasant
+time together. I hope you have enjoyed your
+first day at Sabbath-school?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, ma'am," said Nettie. She was
+in great doubt as to whether this was a correct
+answer, for the sentence had the tone of a question
+in it, but truthful Nettie could not say that
+she enjoyed it very much, and did not want to
+say that she had never had a more miserable
+time in her life.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry was harder to answer. "Was it nice?"
+he asked her, as soon as they were fairly outside.
+"Did you have a good time? Those girls looked
+a trifle like peacocks, didn't they? I thought
+you were the best dressed one among them."</p>
+
+<p>O, ignorant boy! If there hadn't been such
+a lump in Nettie's throat, she would have laughed
+at this bit of folly. As it was, she contrived to
+give him a very little shadow of a smile, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+glad that the church door was near at hand, and
+that there was no more time for closer questions.</p>
+
+<p>All through the morning service she was trying
+to forget. It was not easy to do, for
+there sat three of the girls in a seat on which
+she could look down all the time; and try as
+she would, it seemed impossible to keep eyes
+or thoughts from turning that way. The girls
+did not behave very well. They whispered
+a good deal, during the Bible reading, and
+giggled over a book that fell while the hymn
+was being sung; and though Nettie covered her
+eyes during prayer, she could not help hearing a
+soft little buzz of whispering voices, even then.
+Jerry looked straight before him, with bright,
+untroubled face, and seemed to be having a good
+time. Susie and Sate, who had never been in
+church before in their lives, behaved remarkably
+well. In the course of the morning Sate leaned
+her little brown head trustingly against Nettie
+and dropped asleep, and Nettie put her arm
+around her, arranged her pretty head comfortably,
+and looked lovingly down upon her, and
+was glad that she had a little sister to love.
+Two of them, indeed, for Susie sat bolt upright
+and looked straight before her, and took in everything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
+with wide-open eyes, and looked so handsome
+with her glowing cheeks and her lovely
+curls, that it was almost impossible not to feel
+proud of the womanly little face.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie contrived to keep herself occupied with
+the prattle of the children during the walk
+home. She was not yet ready for Jerry's questions.
+She did not know what to say. Of one
+thing she felt sure; that was, that she never
+meant to go to that Sabbath-school again.</p>
+
+<p>Dinner was nearly ready when they reached
+home; such an appetizing smell of soup as had
+never filled the Decker kitchen before. Mrs.
+Decker had followed the directions of her young
+daughter with great care; and presently a very
+comfortable family sat down to the table. There
+were no soup plates, but there were two bowls
+for the father and mother, and a deep saucer for
+Norm; and the little girls were made happy
+with tin cups, two of which Nettie had found
+and scoured, the day before. It was certainly a
+very pleasant time. After dinner, as Nettie was
+preparing to wash the dishes, her mother came
+out with a troubled face, and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Norm says he guesses he will go out for a
+walk; and I know what that means; he gets<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+with a mean set every Sunday, and they carouse
+dreadful; it is the worst day in the week for
+boys. I was thinking, what if you could get
+that boy next door to go a-fishing again; Norm
+enjoyed it last night first-rate; and he said that
+boy was as jolly company as he should ever
+want. If he could keep him away from that
+set, he would be doing a good deed."</p>
+
+<p>"But, mother," she said, "it is Sunday."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Decker, "that's just what
+I've been saying; Sunday is the day when he
+gets into the worst kind of scrapes. Do you
+think Jerry would help us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know he would if he could; but he could
+not go fishing on Sunday, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? I should think it was enough
+sight better than for Norm to go off with a set
+of loafers, who do all sorts of wicked things."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Nettie was not skilled in argument; she
+did not know how to explain to her mother that
+Jerry must not do one wrong thing, to keep
+Norm from doing another wrong thing, even
+though the thing he chose might be the worse of
+the two. There was only a simple statement
+which she could make. "This is God's day,
+mother, and he says we must not do our own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
+work, or our own pleasure on his day; and I
+know Jerry will try to obey him, because he is
+his soldier."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker looked at the red-cheeked young
+girl a moment, then drew a long sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, "I know that is the way
+good folks talk; I used to hear plenty of it when
+I was young; and I was brought up to keep the
+Sabbath as strict as anybody; I would do it now
+if I could; but I'm free to confess that I would
+rather have Norm go a-fishing, ten times over,
+than to go with those fellows and get drunk."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," said Nettie, respectfully. "But
+then, God says we must obey him; and he has
+told us just how to keep the Sabbath day.
+He couldn't help us to do things for other people,
+if we begin by disobeying Him."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker went away, the trouble still on
+her face, and Nettie began to wash the dishes.
+Suddenly, she dropped her dish towel and rushed
+after Norman as he lounged out of the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Norman," she called, just as he was moving
+down the street, "won't you take the little girls
+and me over to that green place, that I see, the
+other side of the pond? There is such a pretty
+tree there, and it looks so pleasant on the bank.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
+I have some story papers that I promised to
+read to the little girls, and that would be such a
+nice place for reading. Won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>Norm stopped and looked down at her in
+astonishment, and some embarrassment. "You
+can go over there without me," he said, at
+last; "it isn't such a dreadful ways off; there's
+a plank across the stream down there a ways,
+where it is narrow. Lots of girls go there."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie looked over at it timidly. She was
+honestly afraid of the water, and nothing short
+of keeping Norm out of harm's way would have
+tempted her to cross a plank, with the little
+girls for companions. She spoke in genuine
+timidity.</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't like to go over there alone, with
+just the children. I am not used to going about
+alone. Couldn't you go with us, for just a little
+while? It will seem so nice to have a big
+brother to take care of me."</p>
+
+<p>Something about it all seemed suddenly rather
+nice to Norm. He had never been asked to
+take care of anybody before. He stood irresolutely
+for a moment, then said lazily, "Well, I
+don't know as I care; bring on your babies,
+then, and we'll go."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nettie sped back to the kitchen, dashed after
+the little girls and their sunbonnets, saying to
+Mrs. Decker as she went: "Mother, would you
+mind finishing the dishes? Norman is going to
+take the little girls and me over to the big tree,
+and we are going to stay there awhile, and read."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll finish,'em," said Mrs. Decker, comfort in
+her tone, and she murmured, as she watched
+them away, Sate with her hand slipped inside of
+Norm's, "I declare, I never see the beat of that
+girl in all my life."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IX.<br />
+
+<small>A BARGAIN AND A PROMISE.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>DURING the next few days work went on
+rapidly in the Decker home: or, more
+properly speaking, in the room over Job Smith's
+barn. Jerry developed such taste in the manufacture
+of furniture, or of "skeletons," that
+Nettie grew alarmed lest there should never
+be found clothing enough to cover them. However,
+matters in that respect began to look
+brighter. Mrs. Job Smith, as she grew into an
+understanding of the plan, dragged out certain
+old trunks from her woodhouse chamber and
+looked them over. There were treasures in
+those trunks, which even Mrs. Job herself had
+forgotten. A gay chintz dress of Job's mother's,
+which had been saved by her daughter-in-law
+"she couldn't rightly tell for what, only Job
+set store by it because it was his old mother's."
+Nettie fairly clapped her hands in delight over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
+it, and then blushed crimson when she remembered
+it was not hers.</div>
+
+<p>"Well, now," said Mrs. Job, "I'll just tell
+you what it is. If you see anything in life to do
+with these rolls of things, here is a bundle of old
+muslin curtains, embroidered, you know, and
+dreadful pretty once, I suppose, but they are all
+to pieces now. Mrs. Percival, a lady I used to
+clear starch and iron for, gave them to me; paid
+me in that kind of trash, you know, though
+what in the world she thought I could ever do
+with them is more than I could imagine. But
+I was younger then than I am now, and was
+kind of meek, and I lugged home the great roll
+and said nothing; only I remember when I got
+home I just sat down on a corner of the table
+and cried, I was so disappointed. I had expected
+to be paid in money, and I had planned two or
+three things to surprise Job, and they had to be
+given up. Well, as I was saying," she added,
+in a brisker tone, having roused from her little
+dream of the past to watch Nettie's fingers linger
+lovingly and wistfully among the rolls of
+soft muslin, "they have never been the least
+mite of good to me. I have just kept them because
+it didn't seem quite the thing to throw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
+such pretty soft stuff into the rag-bag, and they
+were dreadful poor trash to give away; and
+Sarah Jane, she is tired of having them in the
+attic taking up room, and if there is anything in
+life can be done with these things in this trunk,
+I wish you would just go shares, and make some
+things for me too. Sarah Jane would like it,
+first-rate."</p>
+
+<p>This sentence fairly made Nettie catch her
+breath. The treasures in that trunk were so
+wonderful to her. "I could make such lovely
+things!" she said, almost gasping out the
+words; "but, O Mrs. Smith, you can't mean it!
+I'm afraid I oughtn't to."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, bless your heart, child, I tell you I
+don't know of a single useful thing in that
+trunk; not one; it is just a pack of rubbish,
+now, that's the truth; and if Sarah Jane has
+begged me once to let her sell it to the rag pedlers,
+I believe she has twenty times."</p>
+
+<p>The bare thought of such a sacrifice as this
+almost made Nettie pale. Also it settled her
+resolution and her conscience. She reached forward
+and plunged into the delights of the despised
+trunk with a satisfied air. "I will make
+you some of the prettiest things you ever saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+in your life," she said, with the air of one who
+knew she could do it. And Mrs. Smith laughed,
+and watched her with admiring eyes, and told
+Sarah Jane that she believed the child could do
+some things that other folks couldn't.</p>
+
+<p>It was after the day's work was done, and the
+little girls were asleep, and Nettie sat in the
+back door waiting for father and Norm, and
+wishing that they had not gone down town
+again, that she had a chance to say the few little
+words which she had made up her mind to say
+to Jerry. While her hands had been busy over
+long seams of rag carpeting, and over the wonderful
+trunk full of treasures, her thoughts had,
+much of the time, been busy with other matters.
+Yesterday at noon she had been sure that she
+should never go to that Sabbath-school again.
+By night, after the quiet talk under the trees
+with Norm and the little girls, she had not been
+so sure of it. The little girls could not go without
+her, and they had learned sweet lessons that
+very day, which had filled their young heads
+full of wondering thoughts, and they had asked
+questions which had at least amused Norm, and
+which might set him to thinking. In any case,
+ought she, because she had not been happy in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+her class, to deprive the little girls of the help
+which the Sabbath-school might be to them?
+Then how badly it would look to Norm, and to
+her mother, if she went no more. And what
+would Jerry think? On the whole, the longer
+she thought about it, the more she felt inclined
+to believe that her decision might have been a
+hasty one, and it was her duty to continue in
+that Sabbath-school, and even in that class, at
+least until the superintendent placed her in some
+other. It was a good deal of a trial to her to
+decide the question in this way, but she could
+not make any other seem right.</p>
+
+<p>There had also been another question to decide,
+which had been harder, and cost her more
+tears than the other. She was a very lonely little
+girl, and it seemed hard to give up a friend.
+But this, too, seemed to be the only right thing
+to do, so she made it known to Jerry in the
+moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Jerry, I have been thinking
+all day of something that I ought to say to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Jerry, whittling away at the
+stick which he was fashioning into a proper shape
+to do duty as a towel rack for Mrs. Job Smith's
+kitchen towel. "Go ahead, this is a good time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>
+to say it." And he held the stick up and took a
+scientific squint at it in the moonlight. "This
+thing would work better if the wood were a little
+softer. I am going to make one for your
+mother if it is a success, and it will be. Now
+what is your news?"</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't news," said Nettie, "it is only something
+that I have made up my mind I ought to
+say. Jerry, I think, that is, I don't think, I
+mean"&mdash; And there she stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," said Jerry, nodding his head
+gravely, "that is plain, I am sure, and interesting;
+I agree with you entirely." After that,
+both of them had to laugh a little, and the story
+did not get on.</p>
+
+<p>"But I truly mean it," Nettie said at last, her
+face growing grave again, "and I ought to say
+it. What I want to tell you is, that I have
+made up my mind that you and I must not be
+friends any more."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry did not laugh now, he did not even
+whistle. His knife suddenly stopped, and he
+squared around to get a full view of her face.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" he said at last, as though he did
+not think it possible that he could have understood
+her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said firmly, "I mean it, Jerry, and
+it is real hard to say; you and I ought not to be
+friends, or, I mean we must not let folks know
+that we are friends. We mustn't take walks together,
+nor work together. I don't mean that I
+shall not like you all the same; but we mustn't
+have anything to do with each other."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, pray? Have I done anything to
+make you ashamed of me? I'll try to behave
+myself, I'm sure."</p>
+
+<p>This was so ridiculous that Nettie could not
+help smiling a little.</p>
+
+<p>"O, Jerry!" she said, "you know better than
+to talk in that way. It sounds strange, I know,
+and it is real hard to do, but I am sure it is
+right, and we must do it."</p>
+
+<p>"But what in the world is the trouble? Can't
+you give a fellow a reason for things? Is it
+your brother who doesn't like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no! Norm likes you; and mother is as
+much obliged to you as she can be, for getting
+him to go a-fishing. But, you see, it is bad for
+you to be my friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh-ho! I don't believe your influence is
+very hard on me; I don't feel as though you
+had led me very far astray!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It isn't fun, Jerry, it is sober earnest. I
+have heard things said that set me to thinking.
+I overheard the girls talk! those girls in the
+class, you know, yesterday. I guess they did
+not know I was there. They talked about me a
+good deal. They said I had a last year's hat on,
+and that is true, and my dress was only gingham,
+and washed at that."</p>
+
+<p>"Washed!" interrupted Jerry in bewilderment;
+"well, what of that? Would they have
+had you wear it dirty?"</p>
+
+<p>But Nettie hastened on; she did not feel
+equal to explaining to him the subtle distinction
+between a brand-new dress and one that had
+been "done up."</p>
+
+<p>"They said a good deal more than that,
+Jerry, and it was all true. They said I was
+nothing but a drunkard's daughter," and here
+Nettie found it hard work to control the sob in
+her throat.</p>
+
+<p>"That is not true," said Jerry, indignantly.
+"Your father has not drank a drop in three
+days."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! but, Jerry, you know he does drink;
+and he has gone down town to-night, and mother
+is sure that he will not come home sober. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+all true, Jerry. I don't mean that I am going
+to give up. I shall try for father all the time;
+and I think maybe he will reform, after a while.
+And I won't forget our promise, and I know
+you won't; but it is best for us not to act like
+friends. They talked about you, too; they said
+you were handsome, and they used to like you;
+they thought you were smart. But now you
+had begun to go with me, so you couldn't be
+much. One of them said you were an Irish
+boy, that you had a real Irish name. Are you
+Irish, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not much! Or, hold on, I don't know but
+I am. Why, yes, my great-grandmother came
+from the North of Ireland. Father is proud of
+it, I remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't care where you came from,
+you know. Nor whether you are Irish, or Dutch,
+or what; I am only telling you what they said.
+They told how you worked at Job Smith's for
+your board; and one of them said your father
+had run away and left you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he has; run three thousand miles
+away, and left me, as sure as time. But he
+means to run back again, when he gets ready."</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that wasn't true, Jerry; and I only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+tell you because I thought you might want to
+speak about your father in a way that would
+show them it wasn't so. But what I want to
+say is, that I know they will get all over those
+feelings when they come to know you; and they
+will like you, and invite you to places, if you
+don't go with me; but they won't any of them
+have anything to do with me, on account of my
+father. And, Jerry, I want you not to go with
+me, or talk with me any more."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," said Jerry, in an unconcerned
+voice. "Do you think I am making this stick
+too long for the frame? Our kitchen towels are
+pretty wide. Well, now, see here, Miss Nettie
+Decker, you would not make a very honest business
+woman if you went back on a square bargain
+in that fashion. You and I settled it to be
+partners in a very important business; and partners
+can't get along very well without speaking
+to each other. There is no use in talking. You
+are several days too late. The mischief is done.
+I'm your friend and fellow-laborer and partner
+in the cabinet business, and the upholstery line,
+and all the other lines. You will find me the
+hardest fellow to get rid of that ever was. I
+don't shake off worth a cent. I shall take walks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
+with you every chance I can get; and shout to
+you from the woodshed window when you are
+over home, and wait for you to come out when
+I think it is about time you should appear, and
+be on hand in all imaginable places. Now I
+hope you understand what sort of a fellow I
+am."</p>
+
+<p>If the boy had looked in Nettie's face just
+then, he would have seen a sudden light flash
+over it which carried away a good deal of the
+look of patient endurance which it had worn for
+the last few hours. Still her voice was full of
+earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Jerry, they will not have anything to
+do with you if you act so. By and by they will
+not even speak to you. And they won't invite
+you to their parties, nor anywhere. There is
+going to be a party next week, and I think you
+would have been invited if you hadn't gone with
+me Sunday; now I am afraid you won't be."
+And now Jerry whistled a few rollicking
+notes.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," he said in a cheery tone. "If
+there is any one thing more than another that I
+don't like to go to, it is a girls' party where they
+make believe act like silly, grown-up men and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
+women. I know just about what kind of a party
+those girls in that class would get up. If you
+have been the means of saving me from an invitation,
+it is just another thing to thank you for.
+Look here, Nettie, let us make another bargain,
+sober earnest, not to be broken. I don't care a
+red cent for the girls, nor their invitations, nor
+their bows; I would just as soon they did not
+know me when they met me as not. If that is
+their game, I shall like nothing better than to
+meet them half-way; girls who would know
+no better than to talk the way they did about you,
+are not to my liking. If because you wear clothes
+that are neat and nice and the best you can afford,
+and because I am an Irish boy and work for my
+board, are good reasons for not having anything
+to do with us, why, we will return the favor
+and not have anything to do with them, for better
+reasons than they have shown. Let's drop
+them. I thought some of them would be good
+friends to you, maybe, and help you to have a
+nice time; but they are not of the right sort, it
+seems. You and I will have just as good times
+as we can get up. And we will bow to them if
+they bow to us; if they don't we will let them
+pass. What is settled is, that we are bound<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+to work out this thing together. Understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Nettie, with a little soft laugh,
+"I understand, and I don't believe I ought to
+let you do it. But you don't know how nice it
+is; and I can't tell you how lonesome I felt when
+I thought I ought not to talk with you any
+more."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to see you help yourself," said
+Jerry, in a complacent tone. "You would find
+it the hardest work you ever did in your life not
+to talk to me, when I should keep up a regular
+fire of questions of all sorts and sizes."</p>
+
+<p>Then Nettie laughed outright, but added,
+after a moment of silence, "But, Jerry, I think
+the worst of it is about father; and that is true,
+you know. They might not think so much about
+the clothes, if it were not for him."</p>
+
+<p>"That has nothing to do with it," said Jerry
+sturdily. "You are not to blame for your father's
+drinking liquor. Wouldn't you stop it
+quick enough if you could? It is only another
+reason why they ought to be friends to you. Besides,
+there wouldn't be so much of the stuff for
+folks to drink, if Lorena Barstow's father did
+not make it."</p>
+
+<p>"O Jerry! does he?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he does. Owns one of the largest distilleries
+in the country."</p>
+
+<p>"Jerry, I think I would rather have my
+father drink liquor than make it for other folks.
+At least he doesn't make money out of other
+people's troubles."</p>
+
+<p>"So would I, enough sight," said Jerry with
+emphasis. Then he lifted up his voice in answer
+to Mrs. Job Smith who appeared in the adjoining
+door. "All right, auntie, we are coming."
+And he carefully gathered the chips he
+had whittled, into his handkerchief, and rose up.</p>
+
+<p>"Going over now, Nettie? I guess auntie
+thinks it is time to lock up."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie darted within for a few minutes, then
+appeared, and they crossed the yard together.
+As they stepped on the lower step of Mrs.
+Smith's porch, Jerry said: "Remember this is
+a bargain forever and aye, Nettie; there is to
+be no backing out, and no caring for what folks
+say, or for what happens, either now or afterwards.
+Do you promise?"</p>
+
+<p>"I promise," said Nettie with a smile. And
+they went into the clean kitchen.
+Before Jerry went to bed that night he took
+out of the fly leaf of his Bible the picture of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
+a tall man, and kissed it, as he said aloud:
+"So you have run away and left your poor little
+Irish boy, have you? But when you run
+back again, won't they all be glad to see you,
+though!"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER X.<br />
+
+<small>PLEASURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>THE day came at last when the front room
+at the Deckers was put in order. I don't
+suppose you have any idea how pretty that room
+looked when the last tack was driven, and the
+last fold in the curtain twitched into place!
+The rag carpet was very bright. "I put a good
+many red and yellows in it," said Mrs. Smith,
+"and now I know why I did it. It is just
+bright enough for this room. I don't see how
+you two could have got it down as firm as you
+have."</div>
+
+<p>"Nettie managed it," said Mrs. Decker, "she
+is a master hand at putting down carpets."</p>
+
+<p>The furniture was done and in place, and certainly
+did justice to the manufacturers. There
+were two "sofas" with backs which were so
+nicely padded that they were very comfortable
+things to lean against, and the gay-flowered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+goods that had looked "so horrid" in a dress
+that Mrs. Smith could never bring herself to
+wear it, proved to be just the thing for a sofa-cover.
+Between the windows was a very marvel
+of a table. Nobody certainly to look at it,
+draped in the whitest of muslin, with a pink
+cambric band around its waist, covered with
+the muslin, and looking as much like pink ribbon
+as possible, would have imagined that a
+square post, about six inches in diameter, and
+two feet long, with a barrel head securely nailed
+to each end, was the "skeleton" out of which
+all this prettiness was evolved. "And mine is
+as like it as two peas," said Mrs. Smith,
+"only mine is tied with blue ribbon. Who
+would have thought such things could be made
+out of what they had to work with! I declare
+them two young things beat all!" This time
+she meant Nettie and Jerry, not the two tables.</p>
+
+<p>The curtains for which, after much consideration,
+cheap unbleached muslin had been chosen,
+when their pinkish lambrequins of the same gay-flowered
+goods as the sofas, had been cut and
+scalloped, and put in place, were almost pretty
+enough to justify the extravagant admiration
+which they called forth. But the crowning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+glory was, after all, a chair which occupied the
+broad space between the window and the door.
+It was cushioned, back, and sides, and arms; it
+was dressed in a robe which had belonged to
+Job Smith's grandmother. It was delightful to
+look at, and delightful to sit in. Mrs. Decker
+declared that the first time she sat down in it,
+she felt more rested than she had in three years.</p>
+
+<p>Those two barrel chairs were triumphs of art.
+Jerry had been a week over the first one, planning,
+trying, failing, trying again; Nettie had
+seen one once, in the room of a house where she
+used to go sometimes to carry flowers to a sick
+woman. She had admired it very much, and
+the lady herself had told her how it was made,
+and that her nephew, a boy of sixteen, made it
+for her. Now, although Jerry was not a boy of
+sixteen, he had no idea there lived one of that
+age who could accomplish anything which he
+could not; so he persevered, and I must say his
+success was complete. Mrs. Smith believed there
+never was such a wonderful chair made, before.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry who had been missing for the last half-hour,
+now appeared, and with long strides
+reached the nice little mantel and set thereon a
+lamp, not very large, but new and bright.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That belongs to the firm," he said, in answer
+to Nettie's look. "I saw a lamp the other day
+that I knew would just fit nicely on that mantel,
+and I couldn't rest until I had tried it."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's cheeks were red. She glanced over
+at her mother to see how she would like this.
+Nettie did not know whether a poor boy's
+money ought to be taken to provide a lamp for
+the new room; she much doubted the propriety
+of it. "The first money I earn, or father gives
+me, I can pay him back," she thought, then gave
+herself up to the enjoyment of her new treasure.</p>
+
+<p>None of them had planned to give a reception
+that evening, yet I do not know but such
+an unusual state of things as was found at the
+Deckers about eight o'clock, is worthy of so
+dignified a name. Mr. Decker and Norm came
+in to supper together, and both a little late.
+Nettie had trembled over what kept them, and
+her heart gave a great bound of relief and
+thanksgiving, when they appeared at last, none
+the worse for liquor. Indeed, she did not think
+either of them had taken even a glass of beer.
+They were in good humor; a bit of what Mr.
+Decker called "extra good luck" had fallen to
+him in the shape of a piece of work which it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
+was found he could manage better than any
+other hand in the shop, and for which extra
+wages were to be paid. And Norm had been
+told that he was quite a success in a certain line
+of work. "He kept me after hours to give the
+new boy a lift," said Norm, good-naturedly;
+"he said I knew how to do the work, and how
+to tell others better than the other fellows."</p>
+
+<p>It was a good time for Mrs. Decker to tell
+what had been going on in the square room, or
+rather to hint at it, and tell them when supper
+was over, they should go in and see. "Nannie
+and I haven't been folding our hands while you
+have been working," she said with a complacent
+air, and a smile for Nettie as warmed that little
+girl's heart, making her feel it would not be a
+hard thing to love this new mother a great deal.</p>
+
+<p>So after supper they went in. I suppose you
+can hardly understand or imagine their surprise;
+because, you see, you have been used all
+your life to nicely arranged rooms. For Mr.
+Decker it stirred old memories. There had
+been a time when his best room if not so fine as
+this, was neat and clean, with many comforts in
+it. "Well, I never," he began, and then his
+voice choked, and he stopped.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>However, Norm could talk, and expressed his
+surprise and pleasure in eager words. "Where
+did you get the table, and the gimcracks around
+that chair? <i>Is</i> that a chair, or a sofa, or what?
+Halloo! here's a new lamp. Let's have it
+lighted and see how it works. I tell you what
+it is, Nannie Decker, I guess you're a brick and
+no mistake."</p>
+
+<p>Then father was coaxed to sit down in the
+barrel chair, and try its strength and its softness,
+and guess what it was made of. And the
+little girls stood at his knee and put in eager
+words as to the effect that they helped, and
+altogether, there was such a time as that family
+had not known before.</p>
+
+<p>Just as Nettie was explaining that it was
+dark enough to try the lamp, and Norm went
+for a match, Mrs. Smith made her way across
+the yard, and who should march solemnly behind
+her but Job Smith himself!</p>
+
+<p>"Come right along," said Mrs. Decker heartily,
+as the new lamp threw a silvery light across
+the room. "Come and try the new sofa. Here,
+Mr. Smith, is a chair for you, if that is too low.
+Decker, he's got the seat of honor; Nettie said
+her pa must have the first chance in it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The name "Nettie" seemed to slip naturally
+from Mrs. Decker's tongue; she had heard
+Jerry use it so often during the past few days,
+that it was beginning to seem like the proper
+name of that young woman. Mr. Smith sat
+down, slowly, solemnly, in much doubt what to
+do or say next.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Neighbor Decker, these young folks
+of ours are busy people, ain't they, and seem to
+be getting the upper hand of us?" Then he
+laughed, a slow, pleasant laugh. Mrs. Smith
+laughed a round, admiring satisfied laugh; she
+was <i>very</i> proud of Job for saying that. Then
+they fell into conversation, the two men, about
+the signs of the times as regarded business, and
+prices, and various interests. Mr. Decker was
+a good talker, and here lay some of his temptations;
+there was always somebody in the saloons
+to talk with; there was never anybody in his
+home. Jerry came, presently, to admire the
+room and the lamp, and to have a little aside
+talk with Nettie. Norm was trying one of the
+lounges near them.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you make this thing?" he asked
+Jerry, and Jerry explained, and Norm listened
+and asked a question now and then, until presently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+he said, "I know a thing that would improve
+it; the next time you make one, try it
+and see."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?" asked Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, look here, in this corner where you
+put the crossbar, if you should take a narrower
+piece, so, and fit it in here so," and the sofa was
+unceremoniously turned upside down and inside
+out, and planned over, Jerry in his turn becoming
+listener until at last he said: "I understand;
+I mean to fix this one, some day."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie nodded, her eyes bright; it was not
+about the sofa that they shone; it gave her such
+intense pleasure as perhaps you cannot understand,
+to see her father sitting beside Mr.
+Smith, talking eagerly, and her mother and Mrs.
+Smith having a good time together, and Jerry
+and Norm interested in each other. "It is exactly
+like other folks!" she said to Jerry, later,
+"and I don't believe either father or Norm will
+go down street to-night." And they didn't.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very happy girl who went over to
+Mrs. Smith's woodhouse chamber to sleep that
+night. She sang softly, while she was getting
+ready for rest; and as often as she looked out
+of the window towards the square room in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+next house, she smiled. It looked so much better
+than she had ever hoped to make it; and
+father and Norm had seemed so pleased, and
+they had all spent such a pleasant evening.</p>
+
+<p>Alas for Nettie! All the next day her happiness
+lasted. She sang over her work; she
+charmed the little girls with stories. She made
+an apple pudding for dinner, she baked some
+choice potatoes for supper; but they were not
+eaten, at least only by the little girls. They
+waited until seven o'clock, and half-past seven,
+and eight o'clock for the father and brother who
+did not come. Jerry, who stopped at the door
+and learned of the anxiety, slipped away to try
+to find out what kept them; but he came back
+in a little while with a grave face and shook his
+head. Both had left their shops at the usual
+time; nobody knew what had become of them.
+Jerry could guess, so also could Mrs. Decker.
+The poor woman was too used to it to be very
+much astonished; but Nettie was overwhelmed.
+She ate no supper; she did not sing at all over
+the dishwashing. She watched every step on
+the street, and turned pale at the sound of passing
+voices. She put the little girls to bed, and
+cried over their gay chatter. She coaxed her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+sad-faced mother to go to bed at last, and drew
+a long sigh of relief when she went into her bedroom
+and shut the door. It had been so dreadful
+to hear her say: "I told you so; I knew
+just how it would be. They will both come
+staggering home. It's of no use."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie did not believe it. She believed that
+work somewhere was holding them; people
+often had extra work to do, or were sent on
+errands, but she went at last over to the woodhouse
+chamber; it would not do to keep the
+Smiths up longer. Instead of making ready for
+bed, she kneeled down before the little window
+which gave her a view of the next house, and
+watched and waited. They came at last; father
+and son; not together. Norm came first, and
+stumbled, and shuffled, and growled; his voice
+was thick, and the few words she could catch
+had no connection or sense. He had too surely
+been drinking. But he was not so far gone as
+the father. <i>He</i> had to be helped along the
+street by some of his companions; he could not
+hold himself upright while they opened the
+door. And when the gentle wind blew it shut
+again, he swore a succession of oaths which
+made Nettie shudder and bury her face in her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+hands. But she did not cry. It was the first
+time in her young life that her heart was too
+heavy for tears. She drew great deep sighs as
+she went about, at last, preparing for bed; she
+wished that the tears would come, for the choking
+feeling might be relieved by them; but the
+tears seemed dried. She tossed about on her
+neat little bed, in a sorrow very unlike childhood.
+Poor, disappointed Nettie!</p>
+
+<p>The sun shone brightly the next morning, but
+there was no brightness in the little girl's heart.
+She was early down stairs, and stole away to
+the next house without seeing anybody. Mrs.
+Decker was up, with a face as wan as Nettie's.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, in a hopeless tone, "it's all
+over. Did you hear them come in last night?
+Both of 'em. If it had been one at a time, we
+could have stood it better; but both of 'em! I
+<i>did</i> have a little hope, as sure as you live.
+Your pa seemed so different by spells, and
+Norm, he seemed to like you, and to stay at
+home more, and I kind of chirked up and thought
+may be, after all, good times was coming to me;
+but it's all of no use; I've give up; and it seems
+to me it would have been easier to have stayed
+down, than to have crept up, to tumble back.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not that I'm blaming you, child," she said,
+"you did your best, and you did wonders; and
+I think sometimes, maybe if I had made such
+a brave shift as that in the beginning, things
+wouldn't have got where they have. But I
+didn't, and it's too late now."</p>
+
+<p>Not a word had Nettie to say. It was a sad
+breakfast-time. Mr. Decker shambled down
+late, and had barely time to swallow his coffee
+very hot, and take a piece of bread in his hand,
+for the seven o'clock bells were ringing, and
+punctuality was something that was insisted on
+by his foreman. Norm came later, and ate very
+little breakfast, and looked miserable enough to
+be sent back to bed again. Nettie only saw
+him through a crack in the door; she stayed out
+in the little back yard, pretending to put it
+in order. He made his stay very short, and
+went away without a word to mother or sister;
+and the heavy burden of life went on. Mrs.
+Decker prepared to do the big ironing which
+yesterday she had been glad over, because it
+would give them a chance to have an extra comfort
+added to the table; but which to-day
+seemed of very little importance.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie washed the dishes, and wished she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
+was at Auntie Marshall's, and tried to plan a
+way for getting there. What was the use of
+staying here? Hadn't she tried her very best
+and failed? didn't the mother say it was harder
+for her than though they hadn't tried at all?</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the morning, Mrs. Smith sent
+in a basket of corn. Sarah Jane brought it.
+"Some folks on a farm that mother ironed for,
+when they lived in town, sent her a great basket
+full; heaps more than we can use, and mother
+said it would be just the thing for your men
+folks; they always like corn, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker took the basket without a smile
+on her face. "Your mother is a very kind
+woman," she said, "the kindest one I ever
+knew; in fact, I haven't known many kind
+people, and that's the truth. She has done all
+she could to help us, but I don't know as we
+can be helped; it seems as though some people
+couldn't."</p>
+
+<p>Sarah Jane went back and told her mother
+that Mrs. Decker seemed dreadful downhearted
+and discouraged; and Mrs. Smith replied with
+a sigh that she didn't know as she wondered at
+it; poor thing! Nettie made the dinner as nice
+as she could. Mr. Decker ate with a relish, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+said the corn was good, and he had sometimes
+thought that the bit of ground back of the
+house might be made to raise corn; and Nettie
+brightened a little, and looked over at Norm
+and was just going to say, "Let's have a garden
+next summer," when he spoiled it by
+declaring that he wouldn't slave in a garden for
+anybody. It was hard enough to work ten
+hours a day. Then his father told him that he
+guessed he did not hurt himself with work; and
+he retorted that he guessed they neither of them
+would die with over-work; and his father told
+him to hold his tongue. In short, nothing was
+plainer than that these two were ashamed of
+themselves, and of each other, and were much
+move irritable than they had been for several
+days.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon work was all done, and Nettie
+had just hung up her apron, and wondered
+whether she should offer to iron for awhile, or
+run away to the woodhouse chamber, and write
+to Auntie Marshall, when Jerry appeared in the
+door. She had not seen him since the sorrow
+of the night before had come upon them; Nettie
+thought he avoided coming in, because he
+too was discouraged. Her face flushed when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+she heard his step, and she wished something
+would happen so that she need not turn around
+to him. She felt so ashamed of her own people,
+and of his efforts to help them. His voice,
+however, sounded just as usual.</p>
+
+<p>"Through, Nettie? Then come out on the
+back step; I want to talk with you."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no use in talking," she said, sadly.
+But she followed him out, and sat down listlessly
+on the broad low step, which the jog in
+Mr. Smith's house shaded from the afternoon
+sun.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry took no notice of the words if indeed
+he heard them.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard some news this morning," he began.
+"Two of the older boys at the corner, that one
+in Peck's store, you know, and the one next
+door told me that a lot of fellows were going
+off to-night on what he called a lark. They
+have hired a boat, and are going to row across
+to Duck Island, and catch some fish and have a
+supper in that mean little hole which is kept on
+the island; they mean to make an all-night of
+it. I don't know what is to be done next; play
+cards, I suppose; they do, whenever they get
+together, and lots of drinking. It is a dreadful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
+place. Well, I heard, by a kind of accident,
+that they thought of asking Norm to join 'em.
+At first they said they wouldn't, because he
+wouldn't be likely to have any money to help
+pay the bills; but then they remembered that
+he was a good rower, and thought they would
+get his share out of him in that way; and I
+say, Nettie, let's spoil their plans for them."</p>
+
+<p>"How?" asked Nettie, drearily.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry talked on eagerly. "I have a plan; I
+rented a boat for this afternoon, and was going
+to ask Mrs. Decker to let me take you and the
+chicks for a ride, and I meant to catch some
+fish for our supper; but this will be better. I
+propose to invite Norm and two fellows that he
+goes with some, to go out with me, fishing. I
+have a splendid fishing rig, you know, and I'll
+lend it to them, and help them to have a good
+time, and then if you will plan a kind of treat
+when we get back&mdash;coffee, you know, and fish,
+and bread and butter, we could have a picnic of
+our own and as much fun as they would get
+with that set on the island. I believe Norm
+would go; he is just after a good time, you see,
+and if he gets it in this way, he will like it as
+well, maybe better, than though he spent the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+night at it and got the worst of his bargain.
+Anyhow, it is worth trying; if we can save him
+from this night's work it will be worth a good
+deal. Don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>Instead of the hearty, "yes, indeed," which
+he expected, Nettie said not a word; and when
+he turned and looked at her, to learn what was
+the matter, her face was red and the tears were
+gathering in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know what has happened?" she
+asked at last. "I thought I heard you in your
+room last night when he came home."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Jerry, speaking gravely, "I was
+up. What of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"What of it? O Jerry!" and here the tears
+which had been choking poor Nettie all day
+had it their own way for a few minutes. She
+had not meant to cry; but she felt at once how
+quickly the tears relieved the lump in her
+throat.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mean that, exactly," Jerry said, after
+waiting a minute for the sobs to grow less deep,
+"of course it was a great trouble, and I have
+been so sorry for Mrs. Decker all day that I
+wanted to stay away, because I could not think
+of the right thing to say; but it's only another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+reason why we should work and plan in all ways
+to get ahead of them and save Norm."</p>
+
+<p>"O Jerry! don't you think it is too late?"</p>
+
+<p>"Too late! What in the world can you
+mean? Has anything happened to-day that I
+haven't heard of? Where is Norm? Has he
+gone away anywhere?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, no," said Nettie, "he has gone to work;
+but I mean&mdash;I meant&mdash;doesn't it all seem to
+you of no use at all? After we worked so hard
+and got everything nice, and he seemed so
+pleased, and stayed at home all the evening and
+talked with us, and then the very next night to
+come home like that!"</p>
+
+<p>Jerry stared in blank astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe I understand," he said at last.
+"You did not think that Norm was going to reform
+the very minute you did anything pleasant
+for him, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"N-no," said Nettie slowly, "I don't suppose
+I did; but it all seemed so dreadful! I expected
+something, I hardly know what, and I
+could not help feeling disappointed and miserable."
+Nettie's face was growing red; she began
+to suspect she might be a very foolish girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that is queer," said Jerry. "Now I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
+am not disappointed a bit. I am sorry, of
+course, but I expected just that thing. Why,
+Nettie, they go after men sometimes for months
+and years before they get real hold and are
+sure of them. There is a lawyer in New York
+that father says kept three men busy for five
+years trying to save him. They didn't succeed,
+either, but they got him to go to the One who
+could save him. He is a grand man now. Suppose
+they had given up during those five years!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think it may take five years to get
+hold of Norm?" There were tears in Nettie's
+eyes, but there was a little suggestion of a
+smile on her face, and she waited eagerly for
+Jerry's answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I hope not," he said, "but if it
+does, we are not to give him up at the end of
+five years; nor <i>before</i> five years, that is certain."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie wiped the tears away, and smiled outright;
+then sat still in deep thought for several
+minutes. Then she arose, decision and energy
+on her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Jerry; I wish you had come in
+this morning. I have been a goose, I guess,
+and I almost spoiled what we tried to do. We'll<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
+get up a nice supper if you can get Norm and
+the others to come. I don't believe they will,
+but we can try. We have coffee enough to
+make a nice pot of it, and Mrs. Smith sent us
+some milk out of that pail from the country that
+is almost cream. I will make some baked potato
+balls, they are beautiful with fish; all
+brown, you know; and I was going to make a
+johnny-cake if I could get up interest enough in
+it. I'm interested now, and I shouldn't wonder
+if I staid so," and she blushed and laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," said Jerry, "you must not expect
+things to be done in a minute. Why, even God
+doesn't do things quickly, when he could, as well
+as not. And he doesn't get tired of people,
+either; and that I think is queer. Have you
+ever thought that if you were God, you would
+wipe most all the people out of this world in a
+second, and make some new ones who could behave
+better?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no," said Nettie, wonderment and bewilderment
+struggling together in her face, this
+strange thought sounded almost wicked to her.
+"Well, I do," said Jerry sturdily; "I have
+often thought of it; I believe almost any <i>man</i>
+would get out of patience with this old world,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+full of rum saloons, and gambling saloons and
+tobacco. I think it is such a good thing that
+men don't have the management of it.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, we shall have
+a pretty busy afternoon if we carry out our
+plans, won't we? Suppose you go and talk the
+thing up with your mother, and I will go and
+see what Norm says. Or, hold on, suppose we
+go together and call on him; I'll ask him to go
+fishing, and you ask him to bring his friends
+home to eat the fish. How would that do?"</p>
+
+<p>It was finally agreed that that would do
+beautifully, and Jerry went to see whether his
+long flat stick fitted, while Nettie ran to her
+mother. Mrs. Decker was ironing, her worn
+face looking older and more worn, Nettie
+thought, than she had ever seen it before.
+Poor mother! Why had not she helped her to
+bear her heavy burden, instead of almost sulking
+over failure?</p>
+
+<p>"O, mother," she began, "Jerry has a plan,
+and we want to know what you think of it; he
+has heard of things that are to be done this
+evening." And she hurried through the story
+of the intended frolic on the island, and the fishing
+party that was, if possible, to be pushed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+ahead. Mrs. Decker listened in silence, and at
+first with an uninterested face; presently, when
+she took in the largeness of the plan, she stayed
+her iron long enough to look up and say:</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use, child? I thought you and
+Jerry had given up."</p>
+
+<p>"O, mother," and the cheeks were rosy red
+now, "I'm ashamed that I felt so discouraged;
+Jerry isn't at all; and he thinks it is the strangest
+thing that I should have been! He says they
+have to work for years, sometimes, to get hold
+of people. He knew a man that they kept working
+after for five years, and now he is a grand
+man. He says we must hold on to Norm if it
+is five years, though I don't believe it will be.
+I'm going to begin over again, mother, and not
+get discouraged at anything. It is true, as Jerry
+says, that we can't expect Norm to reform all
+in a minute. He says the boys that Norm goes
+with the most are not bad fellows, only they
+haven't any homes, and they keep getting into
+mischief, because they have nowhere to go to
+have any pleasant times. Don't you think Norm
+would like it to have them asked home with him
+to supper, and show them how to have a real
+good time? Jerry says the two boys that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+means board at a horrid place, where they have
+old bread and weak tea for supper, and where
+people are smoking and drinking in the back end
+of the room while they are eating. I am sure I
+don't know as it is any wonder that they go to
+the saloons sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker still held her iron poised in air,
+on her face a look that was worth studying.
+"Norm hasn't ever had a decent place to ask
+anybody to, nor a decent time of any kind since
+he was old enough to care much about it," she
+said slowly. "I thought I had done about my
+best, but it may be I'll find myself mistaken.
+Well, child, let's try it, for mercy's sake, or anything
+else that that boy thinks of. You and him
+together are the only ones that's done any thinking
+for Norm in years; and if I don't go half-way
+and more too for anybody that wants to do
+anything, it will be a wonder."</p>
+
+<p>In a very few minutes Nettie was in her neat
+street dress, and the two were walking down the
+shady side of the main street, toward Norm's
+shop. They passed Lorena Barstow, and though
+Jerry, without thinking, took off his cap to her,
+she tossed her head and looked the other way.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry laughed. "I did not know she was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
+so nearsighted as all that, did you?" he asked,
+and then continued the sentence which the sight
+of her had interrupted. Nettie could not laugh;
+she was sore over the thought that she had so
+spoiled Jerry's life for him that his old acquaintances
+would not bow to him on the street.</p>
+
+<p>Norm was at work, and worked with energy;
+they stood and looked at him through the window
+for a few minutes. "He works fast," said
+Jerry, "and he works as though he would rather
+do it than not; Mr. Smith says there isn't a lazy
+streak in him. He ought to make a smart man,
+Nettie; and I shouldn't wonder if he would."</p>
+
+<p>Then they went in. To say that Norm was
+astonished at sight of them, would be to tell only
+half the story. He stood in doubt what to say,
+but Jerry was equal to the occasion; nothing
+could have been more matter-of-course than the
+way in which he told about his plans for going
+fishing, declaring that the afternoon was prime
+for such work, and that he was tired of going
+alone. "Wouldn't Norm and his two friends go
+too?" Now a ride in a boat was something that
+Norm rarely had. In the first place, boats cost
+money, and in the second place they took time.
+To be sure, after working hours, there was time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
+enough for rowing, but boats were sure to be
+scarce then, even if money had been plenty.</p>
+
+<p>Norm wiped his face with a corner of his work-apron,
+and admitted that he would like to go,
+first-rate, but did not know as he could get away.
+They were not over busy it was true, neither
+was the foreman troubled with good nature; he
+would be next to certain to say no, if Norm
+asked to be let off at five o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's try him," said Jerry, and he walked
+boldly to the other side of the room where the
+foreman stood.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XI.<br />
+
+<small>A COMPLETE SUCCESS.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>THIS man was a friend of Jerry's; it was
+only two weeks ago that he had done him
+a good turn, in finding and bringing home his
+stray cow. He was perfectly good-natured, and
+found no fault at all with Norm's leaving the
+shop at five; in fact he said he was glad to
+have the boy leave in such good company.</div>
+
+<p>"Would the others go?" Nettie questioned
+eagerly, and Norm, laughing, said he reckoned
+they would go quick enough if they got a
+chance; invitations to take boat rides were not
+so plenty that they could afford to lose them.</p>
+
+<p>Then was time for Nettie's great surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"And, Norm, will you bring them all home
+to supper with you? I'll have everything ready
+to cook the fish in a hurry as soon as you get
+into the house, and you can visit in the new
+room until they are ready."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now indeed, I wish you could have seen
+Norm! It never happened to him before to have
+a chance to invite anybody home to supper with
+him. He looked at Nettie in silent bewilderment
+for a minute; he even rubbed his eyes as
+though possibly he might be dreaming; but she
+looked so real and so trim, and so sure of herself
+standing there quietly waiting his answer, that
+at last he stammered out:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Nannie? You aren't in
+dead earnest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course," said Nettie, deciding in a
+flash upon her plan of action; she would do as
+Jerry had, and take all this as a matter of course.
+"I'm going to make a lovely johnny-cake for
+supper, and some new-fashioned potatoes, and we
+have cream for the coffee. You shall have an
+elegant supper; only be sure you catch lots of
+fish."</p>
+
+<p>It was all arranged at last to their satisfaction,
+and the two conspirators turned away to
+get ready for their part of the business.</p>
+
+<p>"Norm liked it," said Jerry. "Couldn't you
+see by his face that he did? I believe we can
+get hold of him after awhile, by doing things of
+this kind; things that make him remember he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+has a home, and pleasant times, like other boys."</p>
+
+<p>If Jerry had waited fifteen minutes he might
+have been surer of that even than he was.
+Norm's second invitation followed hard on the
+first; and Norm, who felt a little sore over certain
+meannesses of the night before, and who
+knew his foreman was within hearing and would
+be sure to object to this young fellow who had
+come to ask him to go to the island, answered
+loftily: "Can't do it; I've promised to go out
+fishing with a party; and besides, our folks are
+going to have company to tea."</p>
+
+<p>Company to tea! He almost laughed when
+he said it. How very strange the sentence
+sounded.</p>
+
+<p>"O, indeed," said Jim Noxen from the saloon.
+"Seems to me you are getting big."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds like it," said Norman. "I wonder
+if I am?" But this he said to himself; for
+answer to the remark, he only laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had a chance to keep company with a
+young fellow like Jerry, and a trim little woman
+like that sister of yours, I guess I wouldn't often
+be found with the other set."</p>
+
+<p>This the foreman said, with a significant nod
+of his head toward the young fellow who represented<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+the other set. And this, too, had its
+influence.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry and Nettie had a glimpse of one of
+Norm's friends as they passed his shop on their
+homeward way.</p>
+
+<p>"He has a good face," said Nettie. "Poor
+fellow! Hasn't he any home at all? Don't
+you wish we could get hold of him so close that
+he would help us? He looks as though he might."</p>
+
+<p>Then she stepped into the boat and floated
+idly around, while Jerry ran for the oars; and
+while she floated, she thought and planned.
+There was a great deal to be done, both then
+and afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you could go with us and catch a fish,"
+said Jerry, as he saw how she enjoyed the water,
+"but maybe it wouldn't be just the thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it wouldn't," said Nettie; "besides,
+who would make the johnny-cake, and the potato
+balls? There is a great deal to be done to
+make things match, when you are catching fish."</p>
+
+<p>The fishing party was a complete success.
+Jerry said afterwards that the very fish acted as
+though they were in the secret and were bound
+to help. He had never seen them bite so readily.
+By seven o'clock, the boat was headed homeward,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
+with more fish than even four hungry boys
+could possibly eat.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for supper," said Norm, who with secret
+delight had thought constantly of the surprise
+in store for Alf and Rick. "Boys, I'm
+going to take you home with me and show you
+what a prime cook my little sister is. We'll
+have these fish sizzling in a pan quicker than
+you have any notion of; and she knows how to
+sizzle them just right; doesn't she, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>But Jerry was spared the trouble of a reply,
+for Alf with incredulous stare said, "You're
+gassing now."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm not gassing. You can come home
+with me, honor bright, and you shall have such
+a supper as would make old Ma'am Turner
+wild."</p>
+
+<p>Old Ma'am Turner, poor soul, was the woman
+who kept the wretched boarding house where
+these homeless boys boarded, and she really did
+know how to make things taste a little worse,
+probably, than any one you know of.</p>
+
+<p>"What'll your mother say to your bringing
+folks home to supper?" questioned Rick, looking
+as incredulous as his friend. "She'll give
+us a hint of broomstick, I reckon, if we try it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Norm, unconcernedly, dipping
+the oar into the water, "try it and see, if you
+are a mind to, that's all I've got to say. I ain't
+going to force you to eat fish; but I promise
+you a first-class meal of them if you choose to
+come."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! we'll go," said Alf, with a giggle; "if
+we are broomed out the next second, we'll try
+it, just to see what will come of it. Things is
+queerer in this world than folks think, often;
+now I didn't believe a word of it, when you said
+we was going out in a boat to-night; I thought
+it was some of your nonsense; and here the little
+fellow has treated us prime."</p>
+
+<p>The "little fellow" was Jerry, who smiled
+and nodded in honor of his compliment, but
+said nothing; he resolved to let Norm do the
+honors alone.</p>
+
+<p>They went with long strides to the Decker
+home, Jerry waiting to fasten the boat and pay
+his bill. Each boy carried a fine string of fish
+of his own catching; and appeared at the back
+door just as Nettie came out to look.</p>
+
+<p>"O, what beauties!" she said, gleefully;
+"and such a nice lot of them! I'm all ready
+and waiting. You go in, Norm, with your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
+friends, and we'll have them cooking as soon as
+we can."</p>
+
+<p>"Not much," said Norm, coming around to
+the board which she had evidently gotten ready
+for cleaning the fish, and diving his hand in his
+pocket in search of his jack-knife. "Let's fall
+to, boys, and clean these fellows. I know how,
+and I think likely you do, and they'll taste the
+better, like enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," said Rick Walker, who owned the
+face that Nettie had decided was a good one.
+"I'm agreeable; I know how to clean fish as
+well as the next one; used to do it for mother,
+when I was a little shaver."</p>
+
+<p>Did the sentence end in a sigh, or did Nettie
+imagine it? All three went to work with strong
+skilful hands, and Nettie hopped back and forth
+bringing fresh water, and fresh plates, and feeling
+in her secret heart very grateful to the boys
+for doing this, which she had dreaded.</p>
+
+<p>They were all done in a very short time, and
+each boy in turn had washed his hands in the
+basin which shone, and then, the shining, or the
+smoothness and beautiful cleanness of the great
+brown towel, or something, prompted Rick to
+take fresh water and dip his brown face into it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+and toss the water about like a great Newfoundland
+dog.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare, that feels good!" he said. "Try
+it, Alf." And Alf tried it.</p>
+
+<p>Then Norm led the way to the new room. It
+would have done Nettie's heart good if she had
+known how many times he had thought of that
+room during the last hour. He knew it would
+be a surprise to the boys. They had never seen
+anything but the Decker kitchen, and not much
+of that, standing at the door to wait a minute
+for Norm, but the few glimpses they had had of
+it, had not led them to suppose that there was
+any such place in the house as this in which he
+was now going to usher them. Their surprise
+was equal to the occasion. They stopped in the
+doorway, and looked around upon the prettiness,
+the bright carpet, the delicate curtains, the gay
+chairs! nothing like this was to be found at
+Ma'am Turner's, nor in any other room with
+which they were familiar.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew!" said Rick, closing the word with
+a shrill whistle; "I think as much!" said Alf.
+"Who'd have dreamed it. I say, Norm, you're
+a sly one; why didn't you ever let on that you
+had this kind of thing?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>How they entertained one another during
+that next hour, Nettie did not know. Eyes and
+brain were occupied in the kitchen. Jerry
+came, presently, but reported that they were
+getting on all right in the front room, and he
+believed he could do better service in the kitchen;
+so he set the table with a delicate regard for
+nicety which Nettie had been taught at Auntie
+Marshall's, and which she knew he had not
+learned at Mrs. Job Smith's. Sarah Jane was
+rigidly clean, but never what Nettie called
+"nice."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll take the table in the front room," decreed
+Nettie as she surveyed it thoughtfully for
+a few minutes. "It is very warm out here, and
+they will like it better to be quite alone; we can
+put all the dishes on, with the leaves down, and
+set them in their places in a twinkling, after we
+have lifted it in there. Won't that be the way,
+mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Land!" said Mrs. Decker, withdrawing her
+head from the oven, whither it had gone to see
+after the new-fashioned potato balls, "I should
+think they could eat out here; you may depend
+they never saw so clean a kitchen at old Ma'am
+Turner's. But it is hot here, and no mistake;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
+and I should not know what to do with myself
+while they was eating. Please yourself, child,
+and then I'll be pleased. I'm going to save one
+of these potatoes for your pa; I never see
+anything in my life look prettier than they do."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker's tones told much plainer than
+her words, that she liked Nettie's idea of putting
+the table in the front room for Norm's company.
+She would not have owned it, but her
+mother-heart was glad over a "fuss" being
+made for her Norm.</p>
+
+<p>So the table went in; Jerry at one end, and
+Nettie at the other. They hushed a loud laugh
+by their entrance, but Jerry went immediately
+over to Rick Walker to show a new-fashioned
+knife, and Nettie's fingers flew over the table,
+so by the time the knife had been exhausted, she
+was ready to vanish.</p>
+
+<p>Confess now that you would like to have had
+a seat at that table when it was ready. A platter
+of smoking fish, done to the nicest brown,
+without drying or burning; a bowl of lovely
+little brown balls, each of them about the size of
+an egg, a plate of very light and puffy-looking
+Johnny-cake, and to crown all, coffee that filled
+the room with such an aroma as Ma'am Turner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+perhaps dreamed of, but never certainly in these
+days smelled. Mrs. Job Smith at the last minute
+had sent in a pat of genuine country butter,
+and Sate had flown to the grocery for a piece
+of ice with which to keep it in countenance.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry set the chairs, and Nettie poured the
+coffee, and creamed and sugared it, and then
+slipped away.</p>
+
+<p>She knew by the looks on the faces of the
+guests, that they were astonished beyond words,
+and she knew that Norm was both astonished
+and pleased. There was another supper being
+made ready in the kitchen. Mrs. Decker had
+herself tugged in the box which had been lately
+set up as a washbench, and spread the largest
+towel over it, and was serving three lovely fish,
+and a bowl of potato balls for "Decker" and herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I'm going to have company too," she
+said to Nettie, her face beaming. "Your pa has
+gone to wash up, and I thought seeing there was
+only two chairs, and two plates left, you wouldn't
+mind having him and me sit down together, for
+a meal, first."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do mind," said Nettie; "I think it is
+a lovely plan; I'm so glad you thought of it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
+and Jerry and I will keep watch that they have
+everything in the other room, while you eat."
+If you are wondering in your hearts where those
+important beings, Sate and Susie, were at this
+moment, I should have told you before, that
+Sarah Jane had a brilliant thought, but an hour
+before, and carried them out to tea. So all the
+Decker family were visiting that evening, save
+Nettie, and I think perhaps she was the happiest
+among them all. Every time she heard a
+burst of fresh fun from the front room, she
+laughed, too; it was so nice to think that Norm
+was having a good time in his own home, and
+nothing to worry over.</p>
+
+<p>It is almost a pity that, for her encouragement,
+she could not have heard some of the conversation
+in that room.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Norm," said his friend Alf, his tones
+muffled by reason of a large piece of johnny-cake,
+"what an awful sly fellow you are! You
+never let on that you had these kind of doings
+in your house. Who'd have thought that you
+had a stunning room like this for folks, and potatoes
+done up in brown satin, to eat, and coffee
+such as they get up at the hotels! It beats all
+creation!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That's so," said Rick, taking in a quarter of
+a fish at one mouthful, "I never dreamed of such
+a thing; what beats me, is, why a fellow who
+has such nice doings at home, wants to loaf
+around, and spend evenings at Beck's, or at
+Steen's. Hang me if I don't think the contrast
+a little too great. 'Pears to me if I had this
+kind of thing, I should like to enjoy it oftener
+than Norm seems to."</p>
+
+<p>Norman smiled loftily on them. Do you
+think he was going to own that "this kind of
+thing" had never been enjoyed in his home before,
+during all the years of his recollection?
+Not he; he only said that folks liked a change
+once in awhile, of course, and he only laughed
+when Rick and Alf both declared that if they
+knew themselves, and they thought they did,
+they would be content never to change back
+from this kind of thing to Ma'am Turner's supper
+table so long as they lived.</p>
+
+<p>How those boys did eat! Nettie owned to
+herself that she was astonished; and privately
+rejoiced that she had made four johnny-cakes
+instead of three, though it had seemed almost
+extravagant until she remembered that it would
+warm up nicely for breakfast. Not a crumb<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
+would there be for breakfast. She had one regret
+and she told it to Jerry as she went out to
+him on the back stoop, having poured the third
+cup of coffee around, for the three in the front
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Jerry, I am just afraid there won't be a
+speck of johnny-cake left for you to taste.
+Those boys do eat so!"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," laughed Jerry. "We will eat
+the tail of a fish, if any of them have a tail left,
+and rejoice over our success; this thing is going
+to work, I believe, if we can keep it going."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the trouble," said Nettie, an anxious
+look in her eyes. "How can we? Fish won't do
+every time; and there are no other things that
+you can catch. Besides, even this has cost a
+great deal. I paid eight cents for lard to fry
+the fish, and the butter and milk and things
+would have cost as much as fifteen cents certainly.
+Mrs. Smith furnished them this time,
+but of course such things won't happen again."</p>
+
+<p>"A great many things happen," said Jerry,
+wisely. "More than you can calculate on.
+'Never cross a bridge until you come to it, my
+boy.' Didn't I tell you that was what my father
+was always saying to me? I have found it a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
+good plan, too, to follow his advice. Many a
+time I've worried over troubles that never came.
+Look here, don't you believe that if we are to do
+this thing and good is to come from it, we shall
+be able to manage it somehow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, y-e-s," said Nettie, slowly, as though
+she were waiting to see whether her faith could
+climb so high; "I suppose that is so."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if good isn't going to come of it, do
+we want to do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, then," with a little laugh. "What
+are we talking about?" And Nettie laughed,
+and ran in to give her father his last cup of coffee,
+and to hear him say that he hadn't had so
+good a meal in six years.</p>
+
+<p>It was a curious fact that Susie and Sate were
+the chief movers in the next thing that these
+young Fishers did to interest the particular
+fish whom they were after.</p>
+
+<p>It began the next Sabbath morning in Sabbath-school.
+There, the little girls heard with
+deep interest that on the following Sabbath
+there was to be a service especially for the children.
+A special feature of the day was to be
+the decoration of the church with flowers, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
+the children were to bring on the previous Saturday.
+Susie and Sate promised with the rest,
+that they would bring flowers. Promised in the
+confident expectation of childhood that some
+way they could join the others and do as they
+did; though both little girls knew that not a
+flower grew in or about them. During the
+early part of the week they forgot it, but on
+Saturday morning they stood in the little front
+yard and saw a sight which recalled all the delights
+of the coming Sunday in which they
+seemed to be having no share. The little girls
+from the Orphanage on the hill were bringing
+their treasures. Even fat little Karl who was
+only five, had a potted plant in full bloom, which
+he was proudly carrying. Little Dutch Maggie,
+in her queer long apron, carried a plant with
+lovely satiny leaves which were prettier than
+any bloom, and behind her was Robert the
+Scotch gardener with his arms full; then young
+Rob Severn, Miss Wheeler's nephew, had a lovely
+fuchsia just aglow with blossoms, and Miss
+Wheeler herself, who was the matron at the Orphanage,
+was carrying a choice plant. All these
+the hungry eyes of Sate and Susie took in, as
+the procession passed the house, then they ran<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
+wailing to Nettie who had already become the
+long suffering person to whom they must pour
+out their woes.</p>
+
+<p>"We promised, we did," explained Sate, her
+earnest eyes fixed on Nettie, while her arms
+clasped that young lady just as she was in the
+act of throwing out her dishwater. "We did
+promise, and they will 'spect them, and they
+won't be there."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but, darling, what made you promise,
+when you knew we had no flowers? Mrs. Smith
+would give you some in a minute if hers were in
+bloom. Why didn't they wait a little later, I
+wonder? Then Mrs. Smith could have given
+us such lovely china-asters."</p>
+
+<p>"We must have some to-morrow," said the
+emphatic Susie, and she fastened her black eyes
+on Nettie in a way that said: "Now you understand
+what must be, I hope you will at once set
+about bringing it to pass."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie could not help laughing. "If you were
+a fairy queen," she said, "and could wave your
+wand and say, 'Flowers, bloom,' and they would
+obey you, we should certainly have some; as it
+is, I don't quite see how they are to be had. We
+have no friends to ask."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it," said Susie, positively, "we
+<i>promised</i> to bring some, and of course we must.
+You said, Nettie Decker, that we must always
+keep our promises."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Miss Nettie Decker, you are condemned!"
+said Jerry, with grave face but laughing
+eyes; "something must evidently be done
+about this business. Dandelions are gone, except
+the whiteheads, and they would blow away
+before they got themselves settled in church, I
+am afraid. Hold on, I have a thought, just a
+splendid one if can manage it; wait a bit,
+Susie, and we will see what we can do."</p>
+
+<p>Susie, who was beginning to have full faith in
+this wise friend of theirs, told Sate in confidence
+that they were going to have some flowers to
+take to church, as well as the rest of them; she
+did not know what Jerry was going to make
+them out of, but she knew he would <i>make</i> some.</p>
+
+<p>After that, Jerry was not seen again for several
+hours. In fact it was just as the dinner
+dishes were washed, that he appeared with a
+triumphant face. "Have you made some?"
+asked Sate, springing up from her dolly and going
+toward him expectantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Made some what, Curly?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Flowers," said Sate, gravely. "Susie said
+she knew you would."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry laughed. "Susie has boundless faith in
+impossibilities," he said. "No, I haven't made
+the flowers, but I have the boat. That old
+thing that leaked so, you know, Nettie; well,
+I've put it in prime order, and got permission
+to use it, and if you and the chicks will come,
+we will sail away to where they make flowers,
+and pick all we want; unless some wicked fairy
+has whispered my bright thought to somebody
+else, and I don't believe it, for I have seen no
+one out on the pond to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Then Sate, her eyes very large, went in search
+of Susie to tell her that this wonderful boy had
+come to take them where flowers were made,
+and to let them gather for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it is heaven," said Sate, gravely,
+"because the real truly flowers, you know, God
+makes, and he has his things all up in heaven to
+work with, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"What a little goosie you are!" said Susie,
+curling her wise lip; "as if Jerry Mack could
+take us to heaven!"</p>
+
+<p>However, she went at once to see about it,
+and was almost as much astonished to think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
+that they were really going out in a boat, as she
+would have been if they were going to heaven.
+"I s'pose it's safe?" said Mrs. Decker doubtfully,
+watching the light in the little girls' eyes, and
+remembering how few pleasures had been offered
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"O, yes'm," said Jerry, "as safe as the road.
+I could row a boat, ma'am, very well indeed,
+father said, when I was six years old; and you
+couldn't coax that clumsy old thing to tip over,
+if you wanted it to; and if it should, the water
+isn't up to my waist anywhere in the pond."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker laughed, and said it sounded
+safe enough; and went back to her ironing, and
+the four happy people sailed away. If not to
+where the pond lilies were made, at least to where
+they grew in all their wild sweet beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"How very strange," said Nettie, as they
+leaned over the great rude, flat-bottomed boat
+and pulled the beauties in; "how very strange
+that no one has gathered these for to-morrow.
+Why, nothing could be more lovely!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Jerry, "only a few people row
+this way, because it isn't the pleasantest part of
+the pond, you know, for rowing; and I guess
+no one has remembered that the lilies were out;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
+there don't many people, only fishermen, go out
+on this pond, you know, because the boats are
+so ugly; and fishermen don't care for flowers, I
+guess. Anyhow, they haven't been here, for
+the buds are all on hand, just as I thought they
+would be by this time, when I was here on Tuesday.
+But I never thought of the church; so
+you see how little thinking is done."</p>
+
+<p>Well, they gathered great loads of the beauties,
+and rowed home in triumph, and put the
+lilies in a tub of water, and sat down to consider
+how best to arrange them. It was curious that
+Mrs. Job Smith should have been the next one
+with an idea.</p>
+
+<p>"I should think," she said, standing in the
+doorway of her kitchen, her hands on her sides,
+"I should think a great big salver of them laid
+around in their own leaves, would be the prettiest
+thing in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"So it would," said Nettie, "the very thing,
+if we only had the salver."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I've got that. Mrs. Sims, she gave
+me an old battered and bruised one, when they
+were moving. It is big enough to put all the
+cups and saucers on in town, almost; when I
+lugged it home, Job, he wanted to know what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
+on <i>earth</i> I wanted of that, and says I, I don't
+know, but she give it to me, and most everything
+in this world comes good, if you keep it
+long enough. Sarah Ann, you run up to the
+corner in the back garret and get that thing, and
+see what they'll make of it."</p>
+
+<p>So Sarah Ann ran.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XII.<br />
+
+<small>AN UNEXPECTED HELPER.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>PERHAPS you do not see how the pond
+lilies, lovely as they were, arranged on
+that salver, helped Jerry and Nettie in their
+plans for Norm and his friends. But there is
+another part to that story.</div>
+
+<p>After the salver had been filled with sand,
+and covered with moss, and soaked until it
+would absorb no more water, and the lilies
+had been laid in so thickly that they looked
+like a great white bank of bloom, the whole
+was lovely, as I said, but heavy. The walk to
+the church was long, and Nettie, thinking of it,
+surveyed her finished work with a grave face.
+How was it ever to be gotten to the church?
+She tried to lift one end of it, and shook her
+head. There was no hope that she could even
+<i>help</i> carry it for so long a distance. Mrs. Smith
+saw the trouble in her eyes, and guessed at its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
+cause. "It is an awful heavy thing, that's a
+fact," she said, "hefting" it in her strong arms;
+"I don't know how you are going to manage it;
+Sarah Jane would help in a minute, but there's
+her back; she ain't got no back to speak of, Sarah
+Jane hasn't. And there's Job, he ain't at home;
+he went this morning before it was light, away
+over the other side of the clip hill with a load,
+and the last words he says to me was: 'Don't
+you be scairt if I don't get round very early;
+them roads over there is dreadful heavy, and I
+shall have to rest the team in the heat of the
+day,' and like enough he won't get back till nigh
+ten o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>Certainly no help could be expected from the
+Smith family. "We shall have to take some
+of the sand out," said Nettie, surveying the
+mound regretfully; "I'm real sorry; it does
+look so pretty heaped up! but Jerry can never
+carry it away down there alone."</p>
+
+<p>Then came Jerry's bright idea. "I'll get
+Norman to help me."</p>
+
+<p>"Norm!" said Nettie, stopping astonished in
+the very act of picking out some of the lilies. It
+had not once occurred to her that Norm could be
+asked to go to the church on an errand. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
+couldn't have told why, but Norm and the
+church seemed too far apart to have anything
+in common.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Jerry, positively. "Why not?
+I know he'll help; and he and I can carry it
+like a daisy. Don't take out one of them,
+Nettie. I know you will spoil it if you touch
+it again; it is just perfect. Halloo, Norm,
+come this way."</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough at that moment Norm appeared
+from the attic where he slept; he had washed
+his face and combed his hair, and made himself
+as decent looking as he could, and was starting
+for somewhere; and Nettie remembered with a
+sinking heart that it was Saturday night;
+Norm's worst night except Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>He stopped at Jerry's call, and stood waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"You are just the individual I wanted to see
+at this moment," said Jerry with a confident
+air. "This meadow here has got to be dug up
+and carried bodily down to the church; and it is
+as heavy as though its roots were struck deep in
+the soil. Will you shoulder an end with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the church!" repeated Norm with an
+incredulous stare. "What do they want of that
+thing at the church?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They are our flowers," said Sate with a positive
+little nod of her head. "We promised to
+bring them, and they are so big and heavy we
+can't. Will you help?"</p>
+
+<p>Now Norm had really a very warm feeling in
+his heart for this small sister; Susie he considered
+a nuisance, and a vixen, but Sate with her
+slow sweet voice, and shy ways, had several
+times slipped behind his chair to escape a slap
+from her angry father, thus appealing to his
+protection, and once when he lifted her over the
+fence, she kissed him; he was rather willing to
+please Sate. Then there was Jerry who was a
+good fellow as ever lived, and Nettie who was
+a prime girl; why shouldn't he help tote the
+thing down to the church if that was what they
+wanted? To be sure he wanted to go in the
+other direction, and the fellows would be waiting,
+he supposed; but he could go there, afterwards,
+let them wait until he came.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said at last, "come on, I'll help;
+though what they want of all this rubbish at
+the church is more than I can imagine." And
+Nettie and the little girls stood with satisfied
+faces watching the two move off under their
+heavy burden. It was something to have Norm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
+go to church if it was only to carry flowers.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the door, Norm was seized with a
+fit of shyness; the doors were thrown wide
+open, and ladies and children were flitting about,
+and many tongues were going, and flowers and
+vines were being festooned around the gas
+lights, and the pillars, and wherever there was
+a spot for them.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on," said Norm, jerking back, thus
+putting the great salver in eminent peril, "I
+ain't going in there; all the village is there; you
+better pitch this rubbish out, they've got flowers
+enough."</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't a lily among them," said Jerry.
+"And besides they have to go in, anyhow, we
+can't afford to disappoint Sate. Come on, Norm,
+I can't carry the thing alone, any more than I
+could the stove; it is unaccountably heavy."</p>
+
+<p>This was true, but Jerry was very glad that
+it was. He had his reasons for wanting to get
+Norm down the aisle to the front of the pulpit.
+With very reluctant feet Norm followed, bearing
+his share of the burden, his face flushing
+over the exclamations with which they were at
+last greeted.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh! pond lilies! I did not know there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
+were any this year. Where did you get them?
+Girls, look! Did you ever see anything more
+lovely?" And a group of faces were gathered
+about the tray, and one brown head went down
+among the lilies and caressed them.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get them?" she repeated; "I
+asked my cousin if there were any about here,
+and she said she thought not; and last night
+when I was out on the pond I looked and could
+not find any."</p>
+
+<p>"They hide," said Jerry. "The only place
+on the pond where they can be found is down
+behind the old mill; and most people don't go
+there at all, because the channel is so narrow,
+and the water so shallow."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we are so glad you brought them!
+Girls, aren't they too lovely for anything? Who
+arranged them?"</p>
+
+<p>"My sister," said Norm, to whom Jerry
+promptly turned with an air which said as
+plainly as words could have done: "You are
+the one to answer; she belongs to you."</p>
+
+<p>"And who is that?" asked the owner of the
+pretty brown head, as she made way for them
+to pass to the table with their burden. "I am
+sure I would like to know her; for she certainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
+knows how to put flowers into lovely shapes."</p>
+
+<p>Then came from behind the desk a man
+whom Jerry knew and whom he had seen while
+he stood at the door. "Good evening, Jerry,"
+he said, holding out his hand in a cordial way.
+"What a wonderful bank of beauty you have
+brought! Introduce me to your helper, please."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Sherrill, Mr. Norman Decker," said
+Jerry, exactly as though he had been used to
+introducing people all his life; and Norm, his
+face very red, knew that he was shaking hands
+with the new minister. A very cordial hand-shake,
+certainly, and then the minister turning
+to her of the brown head, said, "Eva, come here;
+let me introduce you to Mr. Norman Decker.
+My sister, Mr. Decker."</p>
+
+<p>Norm, hardly knowing what he was about,
+contrived another bow, and then Miss Eva said,
+"Decker, why, that is the name of my two little
+darlings about whom I have been telling you
+for two Sabbaths. Are they your little sisters,
+Mr. Decker? Little Sate and Susie?" And as
+Norm managed to nod an answer, she continued:
+"They have stolen my heart utterly; that little
+Sate is the dearest little thing. By the way, I
+wonder if these are her flowers? She promised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>
+me she would certainly get some; she said they
+had none in their garden, but God would make
+some grow for her somewhere she guessed."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," said Jerry, seeing that Norm would
+not speak, "they are her flowers, hers and
+Susie's, they coaxed us to go for them."</p>
+
+<p>"Decker," said the minister, suddenly, "you
+are pretty tall, I wonder if you are not just the
+one to help me get this wreath fastened back of
+the pulpit? I have been working at it for some
+time, and failed for the want of an arm long
+enough and strong enough to help me." And
+the two disappeared behind the desk up the
+pulpit stairs to the immense satisfaction of Jerry.
+The ladies went on with their work; Miss
+Eva calling to him to help her move the table,
+and then to help arrange the salver on it, and
+then to bring more vines from the lecture room
+to cover the base of the floral cross; and indeed,
+before they knew it, both Jerry and Norm were
+in the thick of the engagement; Jerry flitting
+hither and thither at the call of the girls, and
+Norm following the minister from point to
+point, and using his long limbs to good advantage.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said, wiping his face with his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
+coat sleeve, as, more than an hour after their
+entrance, he and Jerry made their way down
+the churchyard walk, "that is the greatest snarl
+I ever got into. How that fellow can work!
+But he would never have got them things up in
+the world, if I had not been there to help him."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Jerry "I don't believe he would.
+How glad they were to get the lilies! They do
+look prettier than anything there. I did not
+know who that lady was who taught the little
+folks. She has only been there a few weeks.
+She is pretty, isn't she?"</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose so," said Norm, "her voice is, anyhow.
+They say she's a singer. I heard the
+fellows down at the corner talking about her
+one night; Dick Welsh says she can mimic a
+bird so you couldn't tell which was which. I
+wouldn't mind hearing her sing. I like good
+singing."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose they will have her sing in the
+church," said Jerry in a significant tone. But
+to this, Norm made no reply.</p>
+
+<p>"What was it Mr. Sherrill wanted of you
+just as we were coming out?" asked Jerry,
+after reflecting whether he had better ask the
+question or not.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Wanted me to come and see how the things
+looked in the daytime," said Norm with an
+awkward laugh that ended in a half sneer;
+"I'll be likely to I think!"</p>
+
+<p>"Going up home, I s'pose?" said Jerry, trying
+to speak indifferently, and slipping his hand
+through Norm's arm as they reached the corner,
+and Norm half halted.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose I might as well," Norm
+said, allowing himself to be drawn on by never
+so slight a pressure from Jerry's arm. "I was
+going down street, and the boys were to wait
+for me; but they have never waited all this
+while; it must be considerable after nine
+o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Jerry, "it is." And they went
+home.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie, sitting on the doorstep, waiting, will
+never forget that night, nor the sinking of
+heart with which she waited. Her father had
+been kept at home, first by his employer who
+came to give directions about work to be attended
+to the first thing on Monday morning,
+and then by Job Smith getting home before he
+was expected and asking a little friendly help
+with the load he brought; and he had at last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
+decided that it was too late to go out again, and
+had gone to bed. Mrs. Decker in her kitchen,
+hovered between the door and the window,
+peering out into the lovely night, saying nothing,
+but her heart throbbing so with anxiety
+about her boy that she could not lay her tired
+body away. Mrs. Job Smith in her kitchen,
+looked from her door and then her window,
+many misgivings in her heart; if that bad boy
+Norm should lead her good boy Jerry into mischief
+what should she say to his father? How
+could she ever forgive herself for having encouraged
+the intimacy between him and the
+Deckers?</p>
+
+<p>Presently, far down the quiet street came the
+sound of cheery whistling; Nettie knew the
+voice: nothing so very bad could have happened
+when Jerry was whistling like that; or was he
+perhaps doing it to keep his courage up? The
+whistle turned the corner, and in the dim starlight
+she could distinguish two figures; they
+came on briskly, Jerry and Norm. "A nice job
+you set us at," began Jerry, gayly, "we have
+just this minute got through; and here it is
+toward morning somewhere, isn't it?" Then
+all that happy company went to their beds.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After dinner the next day, Nettie studied if
+there were not ways in which she might coax
+Norm to go to church that evening. Jerry had
+told her of the minister's invitation. Norm had
+slept later than usual that morning, and lounged
+at home until after dinner; now he was preparing
+to go out. How could she keep him? How
+could she coax him to go with her?</p>
+
+<p>Before she could decide what to do to try to
+hold him, Susie took matters into her own
+hands by pitching head foremost out of the
+kitchen window, hitting her head on the stones.
+Then there was hurry and confusion in the
+Decker kitchen! Then did Mrs. Smith, and
+Job Smith, and Sarah Jane fly to the rescue.
+Though after all, Norm was the one who stooped
+over poor silent Susie and brought her limp and
+apparently lifeless into the kitchen. Jerry ran
+with all speed for the doctor. It was hours
+before they settled down again, having discovered
+that Susie was not dead, but had fainted;
+was not even badly hurt, save for a bump or two.
+But it took the little lady only a short time,
+after recovering from her fright, to discover
+that she was a person of importance, and to
+like the situation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It happened that Norm had, by the doctor's
+directions, carried her from her mother's bed to
+the cooler atmosphere of the front room. Susie
+had enjoyed the ride, and now announced with
+the air of a conqueror, "I want Norm to carry
+me." So Norm, frightened into love and tenderness,
+lifted the little girl in his strong arms, laid
+the pretty head on his shoulder, and willingly
+tramped up and down the room. Was Susie a
+witch, or a selfish little girl? Certain it was
+that during that walk she took an unaccountable
+and ever increasing fancy for Norm. He
+must wet the brown paper on her head as often
+is the vinegar with which it was saturated dried
+away; he must hold the cup while she took a
+drink of water; he must push the marvel of a
+barrel chair in which she for a time sat in state,
+closer to the window; he must carry her from
+the chair to the table when supper was finally
+ready, and carry her back again when it was
+eaten. Nettie looked on amused and puzzled.
+Certainly Susie had kept Norm at home all the
+afternoon; but was she also likely to accomplish
+it for the evening? For Norm, to her great
+surprise, seemed to like the new order of
+things.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He blushed awkwardly when Susie gently
+pushed her mother aside and demanded Norm,
+but he came at once, with a good-natured laugh,
+and held her in his arms with as much gentleness
+and more strength than the mother could
+have given; and seemed to like the touch of the
+curly head on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>But while Nettie was putting away the dishes
+and puzzling over all the strange events of the
+afternoon, Susie was undressed, partly by Norm,
+according to her decree, and fell asleep in his
+arms and was laid on her mother's bed, and
+Norm slipped away!</p>
+
+<p>Poor Nettie! She ran to the door to try to
+call him, but he was out of sight. "I tried to
+think of something to keep him till you came
+in," explained the disappointed mother, "but I
+couldn't do it; he laid Susie down as quick as
+he could, and shot away as though he was afraid
+you would get hold of him."</p>
+
+<p>So Nettie, her face sad, prepared to go with
+Jerry and the Smiths down to evening meeting,
+and told Jerry on the way, that it did seem
+strange to her, so long as Susie had kept Norm
+busy all the afternoon, that they must let him
+slip away from them at last.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII.<br />
+
+<small>THE LITTLE PICTURE MAKERS.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>AFTER Susie Decker pitched out of the
+window that Sabbath afternoon she became
+such an object of importance that you
+would hardly have supposed anything else could
+have happened worth mentioning; but after the
+excitement was quite over, and Susie had been
+cuddled and petted and cared for more than it
+seemed to her she had ever been in her life before,
+Mr. Decker, finding nothing better to do,
+went out and sat down on the doorstep.</div>
+
+<p>Little Sate dried her eyes and slipped away
+very soon after she discovered that Susie could
+move, and speak, and was therefore not dead.
+She had wandered in search of entertainment
+to the yard just around the corner, where had
+come but a few days before, a small boy on a
+visit.</p>
+
+<p>This boy, Bobby by name, finding Sunday a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
+hard day, had finally, after getting into all sorts
+of mischief within doors, been established by an
+indulgent auntie in the back yard, with her
+apron tied around his chubby neck, to protect
+his new suit, with a few pieces of charcoal, and
+permission to draw some nice Sunday pictures
+on the white boards of the house.</p>
+
+<p>This business interested Sate, and in spite of
+her shyness, drew her the other side of the high
+board fence which separated the neighbor's back
+yard from Mr. Decker's side one.</p>
+
+<p>Just as that gentleman took his seat on the
+doorstep, he heard the voices of the two children;
+first, Bobby's confident one, the words he
+used conveying all assurance of unlimited power
+at his command&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what shall I make?"</p>
+
+<p>"Make," said Sate, her sweet face thrown upward
+in earnest thought, "make the angel who
+would have come for Susie if she had died just
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know any angel would have
+come for her?" asked sturdy Bobby.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, 'cause I <i>know</i> there would. Miss
+Sherrill said so to-day; she told us about that
+little baby that died last night; she said an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
+angel came after it and took it right straight up
+to heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe she don't know," said skeptical
+Bobby.</p>
+
+<p>Then did Sate's eyes flash.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess she does know, Bobby Burns, and
+you will be real mean, and bad if you say so any
+more. She knows all about heaven, and angels,
+and everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Does angels come after all folks that dies?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dunno; I guess so; no, I guess not. Only
+good folks."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Susie good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes she is," said truthful Sate, in
+slow, thoughtful tones, a touch of mournfulness
+in them that might have gone to Susie's heart
+had she heard and understood; "she gave me
+the biggest half of a cookie the other night. It
+was a <i>good deal</i> the biggest; and she takes care
+of me most always; one day she took off her
+shoes and put them on me, because the stones
+and the rough ground hurt my feet. They hurt
+her feet too; they bleeded, oh! just awful, but
+she wouldn't let <i>me</i> be hurt."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you wear your own shoes?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't have any; mine all went to holes;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
+just great big holes that wouldn't stay on; it
+was before my papa got good, and he didn't buy
+me any shoes at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Has your papa got good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Sate confidently, "I guess he has.
+My sister Nettie thinks so; and Susie does too.
+He don't drink bad stuff any more. It was
+some kind of stuff he drank that made him cross;
+mamma said so; and the stuff made him feel so
+bad that he couldn't buy shoes, nor nothing;
+why, sometimes, before Nettie came home, we
+didn't have any bread! He isn't cross to-day,
+and he wasn't last night; and he bought me
+some new shoes&mdash;real pretty ones, and he kissed
+me. I love my papa when he is good. Do you
+love your papa when he is good?"</p>
+
+<p>"My papa is always good," said Bobby, with
+that air of immense superiority.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he?" asked Sate, wonder and admiration
+in her tone. Happy Bobby, to possess a father
+who was always good! "Doesn't he ever drink
+any of that bad stuff?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess he doesn't!" said indignant Bobby.
+"You wouldn't catch him taking a drop of it
+for anything. If he was sick and was going to
+die if he didn't, he says he wouldn't take it. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
+know all about that; the name of it is whiskey,
+and things; it has lots of names, but that is one
+of them. My father is a temperance."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a man who promises that he won't ever
+taste it nor touch it, nor nothing, forever and
+ever. And he won't."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh my!" said Sate. "Then of course you
+love him all the time. I mean to love my papa,
+all the time too. I'm most sure I can. What
+makes you make such a big angel? Susie isn't
+big; a little angel could carry her."</p>
+
+<p>"This angel isn't the one who was coming for
+Susie; it is the one who is going to come for
+my papa when he dies."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! then will you make the one who will
+come for my papa? Make him very big and
+strong, for my papa is a strong man, and I don't
+want the angel to drop him."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker arose suddenly and went round to
+the back part of the house, and cleared his
+throat, and coughed, two or three times, and
+rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes.
+Had he peeped through the fence and caught a
+glimpse of the angel whom Bobby made, he
+might not have been so strangely touched; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
+the words of his little girl seemed to choke him,
+and his eyes, just then, were too dim to see
+angels.</p>
+
+<p>He was very still all the rest of the afternoon.
+At the tea table he scarcely spoke, and afterwards,
+while Mrs. Decker and Nettie were
+mourning over Norm's escape, he too put on
+his coat, and went away down the street.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker came to the door when she discovered
+it, and looked after him. He was still
+in sight, but she did not dare to call. As she
+looked, she gathered up a corner of her apron
+and wiped her eyes. Presently she sat down on
+the step where he had been sitting so short a
+time before, leaned her elbows on her knees, and
+her cheeks on her hands, and thought sad
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>She felt very much discouraged. On this
+first Sunday, after the new room had been made,
+and new hopes excited, they had slipped away,
+both Norm and her husband, to lounge in the
+saloon as usual, and to come home, late at night,
+the worse for liquor. She knew all about it!
+Hadn't she been through it many times?</p>
+
+<p>The little gleam of hope which had started
+again, under Nettie and Jerry's encouraging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>
+words and ways, died quite out. Sitting there,
+Mrs. Decker made up her mind once more, that
+there was no kind of use in working, and struggling,
+and trying to be somebody. She was the
+wife of a drunkard; and the mother of a drunkard;
+Norm would be that, before long. And
+her little girls would grow up beggars. It was
+almost a pity that Susie had not been killed
+when she fell. Why should she want to live to
+be a drunkard's daughter, and a drunkard's sister?
+If the Heaven she used to hear about
+when she was a little girl, was all so, why should
+she not long for Susie and Sate to go there?
+Then if she could go away herself and leave all
+this misery!</p>
+
+<p>She had hurried with her dishes, she had
+hoped that when she was ready to sit down in
+the neat room with the new lamp burning
+brightly, he would sit with her as he used to do
+on Sunday evenings long ago. But here she
+was alone, as usual. More than once that big
+apron which she had not cared to take off after
+she found herself deserted, was made to do
+duty as a handkerchief and wipe away bitter
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Nettie sat in the pretty church and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
+looked at the lovely flowers, and listened to the
+wonderful singing. Miss Sherrill sang the solo
+of something more beautiful than Nettie had
+ever even imagined. "Consider the lilies how
+they grow." What wonderful words were these
+to be sung while looking down at a great bank
+of lilies! It is possible that the singing may
+have been more beautiful to Nettie because her
+own fingers had arranged the lilies, but it was
+in itself enough for any reasonable mortal's ear,
+and as it rolled through the church, there was
+more than one listener who thought of the
+angels, and wondered if their voices could be
+sweeter. Nettie's small handkerchief went to
+her eyes several times during the anthem; she
+could not have told why she cried, but the
+music moved her strangely. Before the anthem
+was fairly concluded there was something else
+to take her attention. Mrs. Job Smith in whose
+seat she sat, gave her arm a vigorous poke with
+a sharp elbow, and whispered in a voice which
+seemed to Nettie must have been heard all over
+the church, "For the land's sake, if there ain't
+your pa sitting down there under the gallery!"</p>
+
+<p>As soon as she dared do so, Nettie turned her
+head for one swift look. Mrs. Smith <i>must</i> be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+mistaken, but she would take one glance to
+assure herself. Certainly that was her father,
+sitting in almost the last seat, leaning his head
+against one of the pillars, the shabbiness of his
+coat showing plainly in the bright gaslight.
+But Nettie did not think of his coat. Her
+cheeks grew red, and her eyes filled again with
+tears. It was not the music, now; it was a
+strange thrill of satisfaction, and of hope. How
+pleasant she had thought it would be to go to
+church with her father. It was one of the
+things she had planned at Auntie Marshall's;
+how she would perhaps take her father's arm,
+being tall for her years, and Auntie Marshall
+said he was not a tall man, and walk to church
+by his side, and find the hymns for him, and receive
+his fatherly smile, and when she handed
+him his hat after service, perhaps he would say,
+"Thank you, my daughter," as she had heard
+Doctor Porter say to his little girl in the seat
+just ahead of theirs. Nettie's hungry little heart
+had wanted to hear that word applied to herself.
+Now all these sweet dreams of hers seemed to
+have been ages ago; actually it felt like years
+since she had hoped for such a thing, or dreamed
+of seeing her father in church, so swiftly had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
+the reality crowded out her pretty dreams. Yet
+there he sat, listening to the reading.</p>
+
+<p>What Nettie would have done or thought
+had she known that Norm and two friends were
+at that moment seated in the gallery just over
+her father's head, I cannot say. On the whole,
+I am glad she did not know it until church was
+out. Especially I am glad she did not know
+that Norm giggled a good deal, and whispered
+more or less, and in various ways so annoyed
+the minister that he found it difficult to keep
+from speaking to the young men in the gallery.
+The fact is, he would have done so, had he not
+recognized in one of them his helper of the evening
+before, and resolved to bear his troubles patiently,
+in the hope that something good would
+grow out of this unusual appearance at church.</p>
+
+<p>It would perhaps be hard work to explain
+what had brought Norm to church. A fancy
+perhaps for seeing how the flowers looked by
+this time. A queer feeling that he was slightly
+connected with the church service for once in
+his life; a lingering desire to know whether in
+the hanging of that tallest wreath, he or the
+minister had been right; they had differed as
+to the distance from one arch to the other;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
+from the gallery he was sure he could tell which
+had possessed the truer eye. All these motives
+pressed him a little. Then they were singing
+when he reached the door, and Rick had said,
+"Hallo! that voice sounds as though it lived
+up in the sky. Who is that, do you s'pose?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Norm proud of his knowledge in the
+matter, explained that she was the minister's
+sister, and they said she could mimic a bird so
+you couldn't tell which was which.</p>
+
+<p>"Poh!" Alf had said; he didn't believe a
+word of that; he should like to see a woman
+who could fool him into thinking that she was a
+bird! but he had added, "Let's go in and hear
+her." And as this was what Norm had been
+half intending to do ever since he started from
+the house, he agreed to do it at once. In they
+slipped and half-hid themselves behind the
+posts in the gallery, and behaved disreputably
+all the evening, more because they felt shamefaced
+about being there at all, and wanted to
+keep each other in countenance, than because
+they really desired to disturb the service. However,
+they heard a great deal.</p>
+
+<p>What do you think was the minister's text
+on that evening? "No drunkard shall inherit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+the kingdom of heaven." I shall have to tell
+you that when he caught sight of Mr. Decker
+half-hidden behind his post and recognized him
+as the man who was so fast growing into a drunkard,
+and as the man who had never been inside
+the church since he had been the pastor, he was
+sorry that his text and subject were what they
+were that evening. He told himself that it was
+very unfortunate. That if he had dreamed of
+such a thing as having that man for a listener,
+he would have told him the story of Jesus as
+simply and as earnestly as he could; and not
+have preached a sermon that would seem to the
+man as a fling at himself. However, there was
+no help for it now; he did not recognize Mr.
+Decker until he had announced his text, and
+fairly commenced his sermon.</p>
+
+<p>It was a sermon for young people; it was intended
+to warn them against the first beginnings
+of this great sin which shut heaven away from
+the sinner. He need not have been troubled
+about not telling the story of Jesus; there was
+a great deal about Jesus in the sermon, as well
+as a great deal about the heaven prepared for
+those who were willing to go. I do not know
+that anywhere in the church you could have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+found a more attentive listener than Mr. Decker.
+At least one who seemed to listen more earnestly;
+from the moment that the text was repeated
+until the great Bible was closed, he did
+not take his eyes from the minister's face. Yet
+some of his words he did not hear. Some of the
+time Mr. Decker was hearing a little voice, very
+sweet, saying: "Make a very big strong angel
+to come for my papa when he dies; my papa is
+a strong man and I don't want the angel to
+drop him." Poor papa! as he thought of it, he
+had to look straight before him and wink hard
+and fast to keep the tears from dropping; he
+had no handkerchief to wipe them away. Think
+of an angel coming for him! "I love my papa
+when he is good!" the sweet voice had said.
+Was he ever good? Then he listened awhile
+to the sermon; heard the vivid description of
+some of the possible glories and joys of Heaven.
+Would he be likely ever to go there? Little
+Sate thought so; she had planned for it that
+very afternoon. Dear little Sate who did not
+want the angel to drop him.</p>
+
+<p>Now it is possible that if the sermon had
+been about drunkards, Mr. Decker would have
+been vexed and would not have listened. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>
+did not call himself a drunkard; it is a sad and
+at the same time a curious fact that he did not
+realize how nearly he had reached the point
+where the name would apply to him. That he
+drank beer, much, and often, and that he was
+growing more and more fond of it, and that it
+kept him miserably poor, was certainly true,
+and there were times when he realized it; but
+that he was ever going to be a common drunkard
+and roll in the gutter, and kick his wife,
+and seize his children by the hair, he did not
+for a moment believe. But the sermon was by
+no means addressed to people who were even so
+far on this road as he. It was addressed to boys,
+who were just beginning to like the taste of hard
+cider, and spruce beer, and hop bitters, and all
+those harmless (?) drinks which so many boys
+were using. It was a plain story of the rapid,
+certain, downward journey of those who began
+in these simple ways. It was illustrated by
+certain facts which Mr. Sherrill had personally
+known. And Mr. Decker, as he listened, owned
+to himself that he knew facts which would have
+proved the same truth.</p>
+
+<p>Then he gave a little start and shrank farther
+into the shadow of the pillar. The moment he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>
+admitted that, he also admitted that he was himself
+in danger. What nonsense that was!
+Couldn't he stop drinking the stuff whenever he
+liked? "There is a time," said the minister,
+"when this matter is in your own hands. You
+have no very great taste for the dangerous
+liquors, you are only using them because those
+with whom you associate do so. You could give
+them up without much effort; but I tell you,
+my friends, the time comes, and to many it
+comes very early in life, when they are like
+slaves bound hand and foot in a habit that they
+cannot break, and cannot control." Mr. Decker
+heard this, and something, what was it? pressed
+the thought home to him just then, that, if he
+did not belong to this last-mentioned class,
+neither did he to the former. He knew it would
+take a good deal of effort for him to give up his
+beer; of course it would; else he should not be
+such a fool as to keep himself and his family in
+poverty for the sake of indulging it. What if
+he were already a slave, bound hand and foot!
+What if the "stuff" which Sate said made him
+"cross" had already made him a drunkard!
+Perhaps the boys on the street called him so;
+though they rarely saw him stagger; his staggering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
+was nearly always done under cover of the
+night. Still, now that he was dealing honestly
+with himself, he must own that it was less easy
+to go without his beer than it used to be.
+Since Nettie had come home he had drank less
+of it than usual, and by that very means he had
+discovered how much it meant to him. "No
+drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven!"
+The minister's earnest voice repeated his text
+just then. Was he a drunkard? Then what
+about the strong angel? Little Sate was to be
+disappointed, after all!</p>
+
+<p>Oh! I am not going to try to tell you all the
+thoughts which passed through Joe Decker's
+mind that evening. I don't think he could tell
+you himself, though he remembers the evening
+vividly. He stood up, during the closing hymn,
+and waited until the benediction was pronounced,
+and then he slipped away, swiftly;
+Nettie tried to get to him, but she did not succeed,
+and she sorrowed over it. He stumbled
+along in the darkness, moving almost as unsteadily
+as though he had been drinking. The
+sky was thick with clouds, and he jostled against
+a lady and gentleman as he crossed the street;
+the lady shrank away. "Who is that?" he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
+heard her ask; and the answer came to him
+distinctly: "Oh! it is old Joe Decker; he is
+drunk, I suppose. He generally is at this time
+of night."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, there it was! he was already counted on
+the streets as a drunkard. "No drunkard shall
+inherit the kingdom of heaven." It was not the
+minister's voice this time; yet it seemed to the
+poor man's excited brain that some one repeated
+those words in his ears. Then he heard again
+the sweet soft voice: "Make him very big and
+strong, for I don't want the angel to drop him."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV.<br />
+
+<small>THE CONCERT.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>WITHIN the church wonderful things were
+going on. Jerry had caught sight of
+Norm as he slipped up the gallery stairs, and
+laid his plans accordingly. He whispered to
+Nettie during the singing of the closing hymn,
+thereby shocking her a little. Jerry did not often
+whisper in church.</div>
+
+<p>This was what he said: "Don't you need
+those lilies to help trim the room to-morrow
+night? Let's take them home."</p>
+
+<p>The moment the "amen" was spoken, he
+dashed out, and was at the stair door as Norm
+came down.</p>
+
+<p>"Norm," he said, "won't you help me carry
+home that tray? We want the flowers for something
+special to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Said Norm, "O bother! I can't help tote
+that heavy thing through the streets."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" asked Rick; and when the
+explanation was briefly made, he added the little
+word of advice which so often turns the scales.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho! that isn't much to do when you are
+going that very road. I'd do as much as that,
+any day, for the little chap who gave us such a
+tall row." This last was in undertone.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Norm, "I don't care; I'll help;
+but how are we going to get the things out
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come inside," answered Jerry; "we can
+wait in the back seat. They will all be gone in
+a few minutes, then we can step up and get the
+salver."</p>
+
+<p>Once inside the church, the rest followed
+easily. Mr. Sherrill who had eyes for all that
+was going on, came forward swiftly and held a
+cordial hand to Norm.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening," he said; "I am glad to see
+you accepted my invitation. How did our work
+look by gaslight?"</p>
+
+<p>"It looked," said Norm, a roguish twinkle in
+his eye, "it looked just as I expected it would;
+crooked. That there arch at the left of the pulpit
+wants to be hung as much as two inches lower
+to match the other."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You don't say so!" said the minister, in
+good-humored surprise. "Does it appear so
+from the gallery? Are my eyes as crooked as
+that? Let us go up gallery and see if I can discover
+it."</p>
+
+<p>So to the gallery they went, Norm clearing
+the space with a few bounds, and taking a triumphant
+station where he could point out the
+defect to the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"That is true," Mr. Sherrill said, with hearty
+frankness. "You are right and I was wrong.
+If I had taken your word last night the wreaths
+would have looked better, wouldn't they? Well,
+perhaps wreaths are not the only things which
+show crooked when we get higher up and look
+down on them. Eh, my friend?"</p>
+
+<p>Norm laughed a good-humored, rather embarrassed
+laugh. It was remarkable that he should
+be up here holding a chatty, almost gay, conversation
+with the minister. There came over him
+the wish that he had behaved himself better
+during the service. That he had not whispered
+so much, nor nudged Rick's elbow to make him
+laugh, just at the moment that the minister's eye
+was fixed on them. He had a half-fancy that if
+the evening were to be lived over again, he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
+go down below and sit up straight and show this
+man that he could behave as well as anybody
+if he were a mind to.</p>
+
+<p>Not a word about the laughing and whispering
+said the minister. But he said a thing which
+startled Norm.</p>
+
+<p>"My sister has a fancy for having the church
+adorned with wreaths or strings of asters in contrasting
+colors for next Sabbath; will you make
+an appointment with me to help hang them on
+Saturday evening? I'll promise to follow your
+eye to the half-inch."</p>
+
+<p>Norm started, flushed, looked into the frank
+face and laughed a little, then seeing that the
+answer was waited for said: "Why, I don't
+care if I do, if you honestly want it."</p>
+
+<p>"I honestly want it," said the minister in
+great satisfaction. Then they went downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>Job Smith and his wife were gone.</p>
+
+<p>"I will wait for my brother," said Nettie, and
+her heart swelled with pride as she said it.</p>
+
+<p>How nice to have a brother to wait for, just
+as Miss Sherrill was doing. At that moment
+the "beautiful lady" as Sate and Susie called
+her, came to Nettie's side.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening," she said pleasantly. "I hope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
+the little girls are well; I met your brother last
+night; he helped my brother to hang the flowers.
+I see they are upstairs together now, admiring
+their work. My brother said he was a
+very intelligent helper. You do not know how
+much I thank you for those flowers. They
+helped me to sing to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought," said Nettie, raising her great
+truthful eyes to the lady's face and speaking with
+an earnestness that showed she felt what she
+said, "I thought you sang as though the angels
+were helping you. I don't think they can sing
+any sweeter."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Miss Sherrill; she smiled
+as she spoke, yet there were tears in her eyes;
+the honest, earnest tribute seemed very unlike a
+little girl, and very unlike the usual way of complimenting
+her wonderful voice. "I saw that
+you liked music," she said, "I noticed you while
+I was singing. Will you let me give you a
+couple of tickets for the concert to-morrow evening;
+and will you and your brother come to hear
+me sing? I am going to sing something that I
+think you will like."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie went home behind the lilies and the
+boys, her heart all in a flutter of delight. What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
+a wonderful thing had come to her! The concert
+for which the best singers in town had been
+so long practising, and for which the tickets
+were fifty cents apiece, and which she had no
+more expected to attend than she had expected
+to hear the real angels sing that week, was to
+take place to-morrow evening, and she had two
+tickets in her pocket!</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker was waiting for them, her nose
+pressed against the glass; she started forward to
+open the door for the boys, before Nettie could
+reach it. There was such a look of relief on her
+face when she saw Norm as ought to have gone
+to his very heart; but he did not see it; he was
+busy settling the salver in a safe place.</p>
+
+<p>"Has father come in?" Nettie asked, as she
+followed her mother to the back step, where she
+went for the dipper at Norm's call.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, child, he has, and went straight to bed.
+He didn't say two words; but he wasn't cross;
+and he hadn't drank a drop, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said Nettie, standing on tiptoe to
+reach the tall woman's ear, and speaking in an
+awe-stricken whisper, "father was in church!"</p>
+
+<p>"For the land of pity!" said Mrs. Decker,
+speaking low and solemnly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And all through the next morning's meal,
+which was an unusually quiet one, she waited on
+her husband with a kind of respectful reverence,
+which if he had noticed, might have bewildered
+him. It seemed to her that the event of the
+evening before had lifted him into a higher world
+than hers, and that she could not tell now, what
+might happen.</p>
+
+<p>The event of the day was the concert; all
+other plans were set aside for that. At first
+Norm scoffed and declared that his ticket might
+be used to light the fire with, for all he cared;
+he didn't want to go to one of their "swell"
+concerts. But this talk Nettie laughed over
+good-naturedly, as though it were intended for
+a joke, and continued her planning as to when
+to have supper, and just when she and Norm
+must start.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the day, that young man discovered
+it to be a fine thing to own tickets for
+this special concert. Before noon tickets were
+at a premium, and several of Norm's fellow-workmen
+gayly advised him to make an honest
+penny by selling his. During the early morning
+it had been delicately hinted by one young fellow
+that Norm Decker's tickets were made of tissue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>
+paper, which was his way of saying, that he did
+not believe that Norm had any; but, thanks to
+Nettie's thoughtful tact, the tickets were at that
+very moment reposing in her brother's pocket,
+and he drew them forth in triumph, wanting to
+know if anybody saw any tissue paper about
+those. Good stiff green pasteboard with the
+magic words on them which would admit two
+people to what was considered on all sides the
+finest entertainment of the sort the town had
+ever enjoyed.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get 'em, Norm? Come, tell
+us, that's a good fellow. You was never so
+green as to go and pay a dollar for two pieces of
+pasteboard."</p>
+
+<p>"They are complimentaries," said Norm, tossing
+off a shaving with a careless air, as though
+complimentary tickets to first-class concerts were
+every-day affairs with him.</p>
+
+<p>"Complimentary? My eyes, aren't we big!"
+(I am very sorry that the boys in Norm's shop
+used these slang phrases; but I want to say this
+for them: it was because they had never been
+taught better. Not one of them had mother or
+father who were grieved by such words; some
+of them were so truly good-hearted that I believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
+if such had been the case, they would never
+have used them again; and I wish the same
+might be said of all boys with cultured and careful
+mothers.)</p>
+
+<p>"How did you get 'em? Been selling tickets
+for the show, or piling chairs, or what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't done a living thing for one of
+them," said Norm composedly; and Ben Halleck
+came to his rescue.</p>
+
+<p>"That's so, boys; or, at least if he had, it
+wouldn't done him no good. They don't pay
+for this show in any such way. The fellows that
+carried around bills were paid in money because
+they said they expected seats would be scarce;
+and they didn't sell no tickets around the streets.
+Them that wanted them had to go to the book-store
+and buy them. Oh, I tell you, it's a big
+thing. I wouldn't mind going myself if I could
+be complimented through. You see that Sherrill
+girl who lives at the new minister's is a most
+amazing singer, and they say everybody wants to
+hear her."</p>
+
+<p>By this time Norm's mind was fully made up
+that he would go to the concert. It is a pity
+Nettie could not have known it. For despite
+the cheerful courage with which she received<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>
+Norm's disagreeable statements in the morning,
+she was secretly very much afraid that he would
+not go. This would have been a great trial to
+her, for her little soul was as full of music as
+possible; and the thought of hearing that wonderful
+voice so soon again filled her with delight;
+but she was a timid little girl so far as appearing
+among strangers was concerned, and the idea
+of going alone to a concert was not to be thought
+of. Her mother proposed Jerry for company,
+but he had gone with Job Smith into the country
+and was not likely to return until too late. So
+Nettie made her little preparations with a
+troubled heart. There was something more to
+it than simply hearing fine music; it would be
+so like other girls whom she knew, so like the
+dreams of home she had indulged in while at
+Auntie Marshall's&mdash;this going out in the evening
+attended and cared for by her brother.</p>
+
+<p>Norm ate his dinner in haste, and was silent
+and almost gruff; nobody knows why. I have
+often wondered why even well brought up boys,
+seem sometimes to like to appear more disagreeable
+than at heart they are.</p>
+
+<p>But by six o'clock the much-thought-about
+brother appeared, his face pleasant enough.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, Nannie," he said, "got your fusses
+and fixings all ready?"</p>
+
+<p>And Nettie with beating heart and laughing
+eyes assured him that she would be all ready
+in good time, and that she had laid his clean
+shirt on his bed, and a clean handkerchief, and
+brushed his coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and she ironed your shirt with her own
+hands," explained his mother, "and the bosom
+shines like a glass bottle."</p>
+
+<p>"O bother!" said Norm. "I don't want a
+clean shirt."</p>
+
+<p>But he went to his attic directly after supper
+and put on the shirt, and combed his hair, and
+rubbed his boots with Jerry's brush which he
+went around the back way and borrowed of
+Mrs. Job Smith before he came in to supper.</p>
+
+<p>He had noticed how very neat and pretty
+Nettie looked as she walked down the church isle
+beside him the night before; and he had also
+noticed Jerry's shining boots.</p>
+
+<p>His mother noticed his the moment he came
+down stairs. "How nice you two do look!"
+she said admiringly; and then the two walked
+away well pleased. It was a wonderful concert.
+Norm had not known that he was particularly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
+fond of music, but he owned to Rick the next
+day, that there was something in that Sherrill
+girl's voice which almost lifted a fellow out of
+his boots.</p>
+
+<p>They had excellent seats! Nettie learned to
+her intense surprise that their tickets called for
+reserved seats. She had studied over certain
+mysterious numbers on the tickets, but had not
+understood them. It appeared also that the
+usher was surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't give you any seats," was his greeting
+as they presented their tickets. "Everything
+is full now except the reserves; you'll have to
+stand in the aisle; there's a good place under
+the gallery. Halloo! What's this? Reserved!
+Why, bless us, I didn't see these numbers.
+Come down this way; you have as nice seats
+as there are in the hall."</p>
+
+<p>It was all delightful. Lorena Barstow and
+two others of the Sabbath-school class were a
+few seats behind them; Nettie could hear
+them whispering and giggling, and for a few
+minutes she had an uncomfortable feeling that
+they were laughing at her; as I am sorry to say
+they were.</p>
+
+<p>But neither this nor anything else troubled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>
+her long, for Norm's unusual toilet having taken
+much longer than was planned for, they were
+really among the late comers; and in a very little
+while the music began. Oh! how wonderful
+it was. Neither Nettie nor Norm had ever
+heard really fine concert music before, and even
+Norm who did not know that he cared for music,
+felt his nerves thrill to his fingers' ends. Then,
+when after the first two or three pieces Miss
+Sherrill appeared, she was so beautiful and her
+voice was so wonderful that Nettie, try as hard
+as she did, could not keep the tears from her
+foolish happy eyes. I will not venture to say
+how much the beautiful silk dress with its long
+train, and the mass of soft white lace at her
+throat had to do with Miss Sherrill's loveliness,
+though I daresay if she had appeared in a twelve-cent
+gingham like Nettie's, she might have sang
+just as sweetly. Norm, however, did not believe
+that.</p>
+
+<p>"Half of it is the fuss and feathers," he declared
+to Rick, next day, looking wise. And
+Rick made a wise answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when you add the handsome voice to
+the fuss and feathers, I s'pose they help, but I
+don't believe folks would go and rave so much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>
+just over a blue silk dress, and some gloves, and
+things. They all had to match, you see." So
+Rick, without knowing it, became a philosopher.</p>
+
+<p>As for Nettie, she told her mother that the
+dress was just lovely, and her voice was as sweet
+as any angel's could possibly be; but there was
+a look in her eyes which was better than all the
+rest; and that when she sang, "Oh that I had
+wings, had wings like a dove!" she, Nettie,
+could not help feeling that they were hidden
+about her somewhere, and that before the song
+was over, she might unfold them and soar away.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XV.<br />
+
+<small>A WILL AND A WAY.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>"THE next thing we want to do is to earn
+some money."</div>
+
+<p>This, Jerry said, as he sat on the side step
+with Nettie, after sunset. They had been having
+a long talk, planning the campaign against
+the enemy, which they had made up their minds
+should be carried on with vigor. At least, they
+had been trying to plan; but that obstacle
+which seems to delight to step into the midst of
+so many plans and overturn them, viz. money,
+met them at every point. So when Jerry made
+that emphatic announcement, Nettie was prepared
+to agree with him fully; but none the
+less did she turn anxious eyes on him as she
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"How can we?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet," Jerry said, whistling a
+few bars of</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+Oh, do not be discouraged,<br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class='unindent'>and stopping in the middle of the line to answer,
+"But of course there is a way. There was an
+old man who worked for my father, who used to
+say so often: 'Where there's a will there's a
+way,' that after awhile we boys got to calling
+him 'Will and Way' for short, you know; his
+name was John," and here Jerry stopped to laugh
+a little over that method of shortening a name;
+"but it was wonderful to see how true it proved;
+he would make out to do the most surprising
+things that even my father thought sometimes
+could not be done. We must <i>make</i> a way to
+earn some money."</div>
+
+<p>Nettie laughed a little. "Well, I am sure,"
+she said, "there is a will in this case; in fact,
+there are two wills; for you seem to have a large
+one, and I know if ever I was determined to do
+a thing I am now; but for all that I can't think
+of a possible way to earn a cent."</p>
+
+<p>Now Sarah Ann Smith was at this moment
+standing by the kitchen window, looking out on
+the two schemers. Her sleeves were rolled
+above her elbow, for she was about to set the
+sponge for bread; she had her large neat work
+apron tied over her neat dress-up calico; and on
+her head was perched the frame out of which,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
+with Nettie's skilful help, and some pieces of
+lace from her mother's old treasure bag, she
+meant to make herself a bonnet every bit as
+pretty as the one worn by Miss Sherrill the Sabbath
+before.</p>
+
+<p>"Talk of keeping things seven years and
+they'll come good," said Mrs. Smith, watching
+with satisfaction while Nettie tumbled over the
+contents of the bag in eager haste and exclaimed
+over this and that piece which would be "just
+lovely." "I've kept the rubbish in that bag going
+on to twenty years, just because the pretty
+girls where I used to do clear-starching, gave
+them to me. I had no kind of notion what I
+should ever do with them; but they looked
+bright and pretty, and I always was a master
+hand for bright colors, and so whenever they
+would hand out a bit of ribbon or lace, and say,
+'Cerinthy, do you want that?' I was sure to say
+I did; and chuck it into this bag; and now to
+think after keeping of them for more than twenty
+years, my girl should be planning to make a bonnet
+out of them! Things is queer! I don't
+ever mean to throw away <i>anything</i>. I never
+was much at throwing away; now that's a
+fact."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now the truth was that Sarah Ann, left to
+herself, would as soon have thought of making
+a <i>house</i> out of the contents of that bag, as a bonnet;
+but Nettie Decker's deft fingers had a natural
+tact for all cunning contrivances in lace and
+silk, and her skill in copying what she saw, was
+something before which Sarah Ann stood in silent
+admiration; when, therefore, she offered to construct
+for Sarah Ann, out of the treasures of
+that bag, a bonnet which should be both becoming
+and economical, Sarah Ann's gratitude knew
+no bounds. She went that very afternoon to the
+milliner's to select her frame, and had it perched
+at that moment as I said, on her head, while she
+listened to the clear young voices under the window.
+She had a great desire to be helpful; but
+money was far from plenty at Job Smith's.</p>
+
+<p>What was it which made her at that moment
+think of a bit of news which she had heard while
+at the milliner's? Why, nothing more remarkable
+than that the color of Nettie Decker's hair
+in the fading light was just the same as Mantie
+Horton's. But what made her suddenly speak
+her bit of news, interrupting the young planners?
+Ah, that Sarah Ann does not know; she only
+knows she felt just like saying it, so she said it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mantie Horton's folks are all going to move
+to the city; they are selling off lots of things; I
+saw her this afternoon when I was at the milliner's,
+and she says about the only thing now
+that they don't know what to do with is her old
+hen and chickens; a nice lot of chicks as ever
+she saw, but of course they can't take them to
+the city. My! I should think they would feel
+dreadful lonesome without chickens, nor pigs,
+nor nothing! <i>We</i> might have some chickens as
+well as not, if we only had a place to keep 'em;
+enough scrapings come from the table every day,
+to feed 'em, most."</p>
+
+<p>Before this sentence was concluded, Jerry had
+turned and given Nettie a sudden look as if to
+ask if she saw what he did; then he whistled a
+low strain which had in it a note of triumph;
+and the moment Sarah Ann paused for breath
+he asked: "Where do the Hortons live?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, out on the pike about a mile; that
+nice white house set back from the road a piece;
+don't you know? It is just a pleasant walk out
+there."</p>
+
+<p>Then Sarah Ann turned away to attend to her
+bread, and as she did so her somewhat homely
+face was lighted by a smile; for an idea had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
+just dawned upon her, and she chuckled over it:
+"I shouldn't wonder if those young things would
+go into business; he's got contrivance enough to
+make a coop, any day, and mother would let
+them have the scrapings, and welcome."</p>
+
+<p>Sarah Ann was right; though Nettie, unused
+to country ways and plans, did not think of such
+a thing, Jerry did. The next morning he was
+up, even before the sun; in fact that luminary
+peeped at him just as he was turning into the
+long carriage drive which led finally to the Horton
+barnyard. There a beautiful sight met his
+eyes; a white and yellow topknot mother, and
+eight or ten fluffy chickens scampering about her.
+"They are nice and plump," said Jerry to himself;
+"I'm afraid I haven't money enough to buy
+them; but then, there is a great deal of risk in
+raising a brood of chickens like these; perhaps
+he will sell them cheap."</p>
+
+<p>Farmer Horton was an early riser, and was
+busy about his stables when Jerry reached there.
+He was anxious to get rid of all his live stock,
+and be away as soon as possible, and here was a
+customer anxious to buy; so in much less time
+than Jerry had supposed it would take, the hen
+and chickens changed owners and much whistling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
+was done by the new owner as he walked
+rapidly back to town to build a house for his
+family.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Smith had been taken into confidence;
+so indeed had Job, before the purchase was made;
+but the whole thing was to be a profound surprise
+to Nettie. Therefore, she saw little of him
+that day, and I will not deny was a trifle hurt
+because he kept himself so busy about something
+which he did not share with her. But I want
+you to imagine, if you can, her surprise the next
+morning when just as she was ready to set the
+potatoes to frying, she heard Jerry's eager voice
+calling her to come and see his house.</p>
+
+<p>"See what?" asked Nettie, appearing in the
+doorway, coffee pot in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"A new house. I built it yesterday, and
+rented it; the family moved in last night. That
+is the reason I was so busy. I had to go
+out and help move them; and I must say they
+were as ill-behaved a set as I ever had anything
+to do with. The mother is the crossest party I
+ever saw; and she has no government whatever;
+her children scurry around just where they
+please."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you talking about?" said astonished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
+Nettie, her face growing more and more
+bewildered as he continued his merry description.</p>
+
+<p>"Come out and see. It is a new house, I tell
+you; I built it yesterday; that is the reason I
+did not come to help you about the bonnet.
+Didn't you miss me? Sarah Ann thinks it is
+actually nicer than the one Miss Sherrill wore."
+And he broke into a merry laugh, checking himself
+to urge Nettie once more to come out and
+see his treasures.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Nettie, "wait until I cover the
+potatoes, and set the teakettle off." This done
+she went in haste and eagerness to discover what
+was taking place behind Job Smith's barn. A
+hen and chickens! Beautiful little yellow darlings,
+racing about as though they were crazy;
+and a speckled mother clucking after them in a
+dignified way, pretending to have authority over
+them, when one could see at a glance that they
+did exactly as they pleased.</p>
+
+<p>Then came a storm of questions. "Where?
+and When? and Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a stock company concern," exclaimed
+Jerry, his merry eyes dancing with pleasure.
+Nettie was fully as astonished and pleased as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
+had hoped. "Don't you know I told you yesterday
+we must plan a way to earn money? This
+is one way, planned for us. <i>We</i> own Mrs.
+Biddy; every feather on her knot, of which she
+is so proud, belongs to us, and she must not only
+earn her own living and that of her children, but
+bring us in a nice profit besides. Those are
+plump little fellows; I can imagine them making
+lovely pot pies for some one who is willing to
+pay a good price for them. Cannot you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little chickens," said Nettie in such a
+mournful tone that Jerry went off into shouts of
+laughter. He was a humane boy, but he could
+not help thinking it very funny that anybody
+should sigh over the thought of a chicken pot
+pie.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know they are to eat," Nettie said,
+smiling in answer to his laughter, "and I know
+how to make nice crust for pot pie; but for all
+that, I cannot help feeling sort of sorry for the
+pretty fluffy chickens. Are you going to fat
+them all, to eat; or raise some of them to lay
+eggs?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what <i>we</i> are going to do, yet,"
+Jerry said with pointed emphasis on the we.
+"You see, we have not had time to consult; this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>
+is a company concern, I told you. What do you
+think about it?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's cheeks began to grow a deep pink;
+she looked down at the hurrying chickens with
+a grave face for a moment, then said gently:
+"You know, Jerry, I haven't any money to help
+buy the chickens, and I cannot help own what I
+do not help buy; they are your chickens, but I
+shall like to watch them and help you plan about
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry sat down on an old nail keg, crossed
+one foot over the other, and clasped his hands
+over his knees, as Job Smith was fond of doing,
+and prepared for argument:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, see here, Nettie Decker, let us understand
+each other once for all; I thought we had
+gone into partnership in this whole business;
+that we were to fight that old fiend Rum, in
+every possible way we could; and were to help
+each other plan, and work all the time, and in all
+ways we possibly could. Now if you are tired
+of me and want to work alone, why, I mustn't
+force myself upon you."</p>
+
+<p>"O, Jerry!" came in a reproachful murmur
+from Nettie, whose cheeks were now flaming.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is a fellow to do? You see you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
+hurt my feelings worse than old Mother Topknot
+did this morning when she pecked me; I want
+to belong, and I mean to; but all that kind of
+talk about helping to buy these half-dozen little
+puff-balls is all nonsense, and a girl of your
+sense ought to be ashamed of it."</p>
+
+<p>Said Nettie, "O, Jerry, I smell the potatoes;
+they are scorching!" and she ran away. Jerry
+looked after her a moment, as though astonished
+at the sudden change of subject, then laughed,
+and rising slowly from the nail-keg addressed
+himself to the hen.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mother Topknot, I want you to understand
+that you belong to the firm; that little
+woman who was just here is your mistress, and
+if you peck her and scratch her as you did me,
+this morning, it will be the worse for you. You
+are just like some people I have seen; haven't
+sense enough to know who is your best friend;
+why, there is no end to the nice little bits she
+will contrive for you and your children, if you
+behave yourself; for that matter, I suspect she
+would do it whether you behaved yourself or
+not; but that part it is quite as well you should
+not understand. I want you to bring these children
+up to take care of themselves, just as soon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
+as you can; and then you are to give your attention
+to laying a nice fresh egg every morning;
+and the sooner you begin, the better we
+shall like it." Then he went in to breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>There was no need to say anything more
+about the partnership. Nettie seemed to come
+to the conclusion that she must be ashamed
+of herself or her pride in the matter; and after
+a very short time grew accustomed to hearing
+Jerry talk about "Our chicks," and dropped
+into the fashion of caring for and planning about
+them. None the less was she resolved to find
+some way of earning a little money for her share
+of the stock company. Curiously enough it was
+Susie and little Sate who helped again. They
+came in one morning, with their hands full of the
+lovely field daisies. The moment Nettie looked
+at the two little faces, she knew that a dispute
+of some sort was in progress. Susie's lips were
+curved with that air of superior wisdom, not to
+say scorn, which she knew how to assume; and
+little Sate's eyes were full of the half-grieved but
+wholly positive look which they could wear on
+occasion.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" Nettie asked, stopping on her
+way to the cellar with a nice little pat of batter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
+which she was saving for her father's supper.
+Butter was a luxury which she had decided the
+children at least, herself included, must not expect
+every day.</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Susie, her eyes flashing her contempt
+of the whole thing, "she says these are
+folks; old women with caps, and eyes, and
+noses, and everything; she says they look at
+her, and some of them are pleasant, and some
+are cross. She is too silly for anything. They
+don't look the least bit in the word like old
+women. I told her so, fifty-eleven times, and
+she keeps saying it!"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie held out her hand for the bunch of
+daisies, looked at them carefully, and laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you see them?" was little Sate's eager
+question. "They are just as plain! Don't you
+see them a little bit of a speck, Nannie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course she doesn't!" said scornful Susie.
+"Nobody but a silly baby like you would think
+of such a thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Nettie, still smiling, "I
+don't think I see them as plain as Sate does, but
+maybe we can, after awhile; wait till I get my
+butter put away, and I'll put on my spectacles
+and see what I can find."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So the two waited, Susie incredulous and disgusted,
+Sate with a hopeful light in her eyes,
+which made Nettie very anxious to find the old
+ladies. On her way up stairs she felt in her
+pocket for the pencil Jerry had sharpened with
+such care the evening before; yes, it was there,
+and the point was safe. Jerry had made a neat
+little tube of soft wood for it to slip into, and
+so protect itself.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, let us look for the old lady," she said,
+taking a daisy in hand and retiring to the closet
+window for inspection; it was the work of a
+moment for her fingers which often ached for
+such work, to fashion a pair of eyes, a nose, and
+a mouth; and then to turn down the white
+petals for a cap border, leaving two under the
+chin for strings!</p>
+
+<p>"Does your old lady look anything like that?"
+she questioned, as she came out from her hiding
+place. Little Sate looked, and clasped her
+hands in an ecstacy of delight: "Look, Susie,
+look, quick! there she is, just as plain! O
+Nannie! I'm <i>so</i> glad you found her."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said Susie, "she made her with a
+pencil; she wasn't there at all; and there
+couldn't nobody have found her. So!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And to this day, I suppose it would not be
+possible to make Susie Decker believe that the
+spirits of beautiful old ladies hid in the daisies!
+Some people cannot see things, you know, show
+them as much as you may.</p>
+
+<p>But Nettie was charmed with the little old
+woman. She left the potatoes waiting to be
+washed, and sat down on the steps with eager
+little Sate, and made old lady after old lady.
+Some with spectacles, and some without. Some
+with smooth hair drawn quietly back from quiet
+foreheads, some with the old-fashioned puffs and
+curls which she had seen in old, old pictures of
+"truly" grandmothers. What fun they had!
+The potatoes came near being forgotten entirely.
+It was the faithful old clock in Mrs. Smith's
+kitchen which finally clanged out the hour and
+made Nettie rise in haste, scattering old ladies
+right and left. But little Sate gathered them,
+every one, holding them with as careful hand as
+though she feared a rough touch would really
+hurt their feelings, and went out to hunt Susie
+and soothe her ruffled dignity. She did not find
+Susie; that young woman was helping Jerry nail
+laths on the chicken coop; but she found her
+sweet-faced Sabbath-school teacher, who was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>
+sure to stop and kiss the child, whenever she
+passed. To her, Sate at once showed the sweet
+old women. "Nannie found them," she explained;
+"Susie could not see them at all, and
+she kept saying they were not there; but Nannie
+said she would make them look plainer so
+Susie could see, and now Susie thinks she made
+them out of a pencil; but they were there, before,
+I saw them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you quaint little darling!" said Miss
+Sherrill, kissing her again. "And so your sister
+Nettie made them plainer for you. I must
+say she has done it with a skilful hand. Sate
+dear, would you give one little old woman to
+me? Just one; this dear old face with puffs, I
+want her very much."</p>
+
+<p>So Sate gazed at her with wistful, tender eyes,
+kissed her tenderly, and let Miss Sherrill carry
+her away.</p>
+
+<p>She carried her straight to the minister's
+study, and laid her on the open page of a great
+black commentary which he was studying.
+"Did you ever see anything so cunning? That
+little darling of a Sate says Nannie 'found' her;
+she doesn't seem to think it was made, but simply
+developed, you know, so that commoner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
+eyes than hers could see it; that child was born
+for a poet, or an artist, I don't know which.
+Tremayne, I'm going to take this down to the
+flower committee, and get them to invite Nettie
+to make some bouquets of dear old grandmothers,
+and let little Sate come to the flower
+party and sell them. Won't that be lovely?
+Every gentleman there will want a bouquet of
+the nice old ladies in caps, and spectacles; we
+will make it the fashion; then they will sell
+beautifully, and the little merchant shall go
+shares on the proceeds, for the sake of her artist
+sister."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a good idea," said the minister. "I infer
+from what that handsome boy Jerry has
+told me, that they have some scheme on hand
+which requires money. I am very much interested
+in those young people, my dear. I wish
+you would keep a watch on them, and lend a
+helping hand when you can."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI.<br />
+
+<small>AN ORDEAL.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>THAT was the way it came about that little
+Sate not only, but Susie and Nettie, went
+to the flower party.</div>
+
+<p>They had not expected to do any such thing.
+The little girls, who were not used to going any
+where, had paid no attention to the announcements
+on Sunday, and Nettie had heard as one
+with whom such things had nothing in common.
+Her treatment in the Sabbath-school was
+not such as to make her long for the companionship
+of the girls of her age, and by this time
+she knew that her dress at the flower party
+would be sure to command more attention than
+was pleasant; so she had planned as a matter of
+course to stay away.</p>
+
+<p>But the little old ladies in their caps and spectacles
+springing into active life, put a new face
+on the matter. Certainly no more astonished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
+young person can be imagined than Nettie
+Decker was, the morning Miss Sherrill called on
+her, the one daisy she had begged still carefully
+preserved, and proposed her plan of partnership
+in the flower party.</p>
+
+<p>"It will add ever so much to the fun," she
+explained, "besides bringing you a nice little
+sum for your spending money."</p>
+
+<p>Did Miss Sherrill have any idea how far that
+argument would reach just now, Nettie wondered.</p>
+
+<p>"We can dress the little girls in daisies," continued
+their teacher. "Little Sate will look like
+a flower herself, with daisies wreathed about her
+dress and hair."</p>
+
+<p>"Little Sate will be afraid, I think," Nettie
+objected. "She is very timid, and not used to
+seeing many people."</p>
+
+<p>"But with Susie she will not mind, will she?
+Susie has assurance enough to take her through
+anything. Oh, I wonder if little Sate would not
+recite a verse about the daisy grandmothers?
+I have such a cunning one for her. May I teach
+her, Mrs. Decker, and see if I can get her to
+learn it?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker's consent was very easy to gain;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
+indeed it had been freely given in Mrs. Decker's
+heart before it was asked. For Miss Sherrill had
+not been in the room five minutes before she
+had said: "Your son, Norman, I believe his
+name is, has promised to help my brother with
+the church flowers this evening. My brother
+says he is an excellent helper; his eye is so true;
+they had quite a laugh together, last week. It
+seems one of the wreaths was not hung plumb;
+your son and my brother had an argument about
+it, and it was finally left as my brother had
+placed it, but was out of line several inches. He
+was obliged to admit that if he had followed
+Norman's direction it would have looked much
+better." After that, it would have been hard
+for Miss Sherrill to have asked a favor which
+Mrs. Decker would not grant if she could. <i>She</i>
+saw through it all; these people were in league
+with Nettie, to try to save her boy. What
+wasn't she ready to do at their bidding!</p>
+
+<p>There was but one thing about which she was
+positive. The little girls could not go without
+Nettie; they talked it over in the evening, after
+Miss Sherrill was gone. Nettie looked distressed.
+She liked to please Miss Sherrill; she
+was willing to make many grandmothers; she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
+would help to put the little girls in as dainty
+attire as possible, but she did <i>not</i> want to go to
+the flower festival. She planned various ways;
+Jerry would take them down, or Norm; perhaps
+even <i>he</i> would go with them; surely
+mother would be willing to have them go with
+Norm. Miss Sherrill would look after them
+carefully, and they would come home at eight
+o'clock; before they began to grow very sleepy.</p>
+
+<p>But no, Mrs. Decker was resolved; she could
+not let them go unless Nettie would go with
+them and bring them home. "I let one child
+run the streets," she said with a heavy sigh,
+"and I have lived to most wish he had died
+when he was a baby, before I did it; and I said
+then I would never let another one go out of my
+sight as long as I had control; I can't go; but
+I would just as soon they would be with you as
+with me; and unless you go, they can't stir a
+step, and that's the whole of it." Mrs. Decker
+was a very determined woman when she set out
+to be; and Nettie looked the picture of dismay.
+It did not seem possible to her to go to a flower
+party; and on the other hand it seemed really
+dreadful to thwart Miss Sherrill. Jerry sat listening,
+saying little, but the word he put in now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
+and then, was on Mrs. Decker's side; he owned
+to himself that he never so entirely approved of
+her as at that moment. He wanted Nettie to
+go to the flower party.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have nothing to wear?" said Nettie,
+blushing, and almost weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing to wear!" repeated Mrs. Decker
+in honest astonishment. "Why, what do you
+wear on Sundays, I should like to know? I'm
+sure you look as neat and nice as any girl I ever
+saw, in your gingham. I was watching you last
+Sunday and thinking how pretty it was."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but, mother, they all wear white at
+such places; and I cut up my white dress, you
+know, for the little girls; it was rather short for
+me anyway; but I should feel queer in any other
+color."</p>
+
+<p>"O, well," said Mrs. Decker in some irritation,
+"if they go to such places to show their
+clothes, why, I suppose you must stay at home,
+if you have none that you want to show. I
+thought, being it was a church, it didn't matter,
+so you were neat and clean; but churches are
+like everything else, it seems, places for show."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry looked grave disapproval at Nettie, but
+she felt injured and could have cried. Was it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
+fair to accuse her of going to church to show her
+clothes, or of being over-particular, when she
+went every Sunday in a blue and white gingham
+such as no other girl in her class would wear
+even to school? This was not church, it was a
+party. It was hard that she must be blamed
+for pride, when she was only too glad to stay at
+home from it.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't go in my blue dress, and that is the
+whole of it," she said at last, a good deal of
+decision in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Mrs Decker. "Then we'll
+say no more about it; as for the little girls
+going without you, they sha'n't do it. When I
+set my foot down, it's <i>down</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry instinctively looked down at her foot
+as she spoke. It was a good-sized one, and
+looked as though it could set firmly on any question
+on which it was put. His heart began to
+fail him; the flower party and certain things
+which he hoped to accomplish thereby, were
+fading. He took refuge with Mrs. Smith to
+hide his disappointment, and also to learn wisdom
+about this matter of dress.</p>
+
+<p>"Do clothes make such a very great difference
+to girls?" was his first question.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Difference?" said Mrs. Smith rubbing a little
+more flour on her hands, and plunging them
+again into the sticky mass she was kneading.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm. They seem to think of clothes the
+first thing, when there is any place to go to;
+boys aren't that way. I don't believe a boy
+knows whether his coat ought to be brown or
+green. What makes the difference?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Smith laughed a little. "Well," she
+said reflectively, "there is a difference, now
+that's a fact. I noticed it time and again when
+I was living with Mrs. Jennison. Dick would
+go off with whatever he happened to have on;
+and Florence was always in a flutter as to
+whether she looked as well as the rest. I've
+heard folks say that it is the fault of the
+mothers, because they make such a fuss over the
+girls' clothes, and keep rigging them up in something
+bright, just to make 'em look pretty, till
+they succeed in making them think there isn't
+anything quite so important in life as what they
+wear on their backs. It's all wrong, I believe.
+But then, Nettie ain't one of that kind. She
+hasn't had any mother to perk her up and make
+her vain. I shouldn't think she would be one
+to care about clothes much."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She doesn't," said Jerry firmly. "I don't
+think she would care if other folks didn't. The
+girls in her class act hatefully to her; they don't
+speak, if they can help it. I suppose it's clothes;
+I don't know what else; they are always rigged
+out like hollyhocks or tulips; they make fun of
+her, I guess; and that isn't very pleasant."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the reason she won't go to the flower
+show next week?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm, that's the reason. All the girls are
+going to dress in white; I suppose she thinks
+she will look queerly, and be talked about. But
+I don't understand it. Seems to me if all the
+boys were going to wear blue coats, and I knew
+it, I'd just as soon wear my gray one if gray was
+respectable."</p>
+
+<p>"She ought to have a white dress, now that's
+a fact," said Mrs. Smith with energy, patting
+her brown loaf, and tucking it down into the tin
+in a skilful way. "It isn't much for a girl like
+her to want; if her father was the kind of man
+he ought to be, she might have a white dress for
+best, as well as not; I've no patience with him."</p>
+
+<p>"Her father hasn't drank a drop this week,"
+said Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"Hasn't; well, I'm glad of it; but I'm thinking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+of what he has done, and what he will go
+and do, as likely as not, next week; they might
+be as forehanded as any folks I know of, if he
+was what he ought to be; there isn't a better
+workman in the town. Well, you don't care
+much about the flower party, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't now," said Jerry, wearily. "When
+I thought the little girls were going, I had a plan.
+Sate is such a little thing, she would be sure to
+be half-asleep by eight o'clock; and I was going
+to coax Norm to come for her, and we carry her
+home between us. Norm won't go to a flower
+party, out and out; but he is good-natured, and
+was beginning to think a great deal of Sate;
+then I thought Mr. Sherrill would speak to him.
+The more we can get Norm to feeling he belongs
+in such places, the less he will feel like belonging
+to the corner groceries, and the streets."</p>
+
+<p>"I see," said Mrs. Smith admiringly. "Well,
+I do say I didn't think Nettie was the kind of
+girl to put a white dress between her chances
+of helping folks. Sarah Ann thinks she's a real
+true Christian; but Satan does seem to be into
+the clothes business from beginning to end."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose it is any easier for a Christian
+to be laughed at and slighted, than it is for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
+other people," said Jerry, inclined to resent the
+idea that Nettie was not showing the right spirit;
+although in his heart he was disappointed in her
+for caring so much about the color of her dress.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know about that," said Mrs.
+Smith, stopping in the act of tucking her bread
+under the blankets, to look full at Jerry, "why,
+they even made fun of the Lord Jesus Christ;
+dressed him up in purple, like a king, and
+mocked at him! When it comes to remembering
+that, it would seem as if any common Christian
+might be almost glad of a chance to be made
+fun of, just to stand in the same lot with him."</p>
+
+<p>This was a new thought to Jerry. He studied
+it for awhile in silence. Now it so happened
+that neither Mrs. Smith nor Jerry remembered
+certain facts; one was that Mrs. Smith's kitchen
+window was in a line with Mrs. Decker's bedroom
+window, where Nettie had gone to sit
+while she mended Norm's shirt; the other was
+that a gentle breeze was blowing, which brought
+their words distinctly to Nettie's ears. At first
+she had not noticed the talk, busy with her own
+thoughts, then she heard her name, and paused
+needle in hand, to wonder what was being said
+about her. Then, coming to her senses, she determined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
+to leave the room; but her mother,
+for convenience, had pushed her ironing table
+against the bedroom door, and then had gone to
+the yard in search of chips; Nettie was a prisoner;
+she tried to push the table by pushing
+against the door, but the floor was uneven, and
+the table would not move; meantime the conversation
+going on across the alleyway, came
+distinctly to her. No use to cough, they were
+too much interested to hear her. By and by she
+grew so interested as to forget that the words
+were not intended for her to hear. There were
+more questions involved in this matter of dress
+than she had thought about. Her cheeks began to
+burn a little with the thought that her neighbor
+had been planning help for Norm, which she
+was blocking because she had no white dress!
+This was an astonishment! She had not known
+she was proud. In fact, she had thought herself
+very humble, and worthy of commendation because
+she went Sabbath after Sabbath to the
+school in the same blue and white dress, not so
+fresh now by a great deal as when she first
+came home.</p>
+
+<p>When Mrs. Smith reached the sentence which
+told of the Lord Jesus being robed in purple,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>
+and crowned with thorns, and mocked, two great
+tears fell on Norm's shirt sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very gentle little girl who moved
+about the kitchen getting early tea; Mrs. Decker
+glanced at her from time to time in a bewildered
+way. The sort of girl with whom she was best
+acquainted would have slammed things about a
+little; both because she had not clothes to wear
+like other children, and because she had been
+blamed for not wanting to do what was expected
+of her. But Nettie's face had no trace of anger,
+her movements were gentleness itself; her voice
+when she spoke was low and sweet: "Mother, I
+will take the little girls, if you will let them go."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker drew a relieved sigh. "I'd like
+them to go because <i>she</i> asked to have them; and
+I can see plain enough she is trying to get hold
+of Norm; so is <i>he</i>; that's what helping with the
+flowers means; and there ain't anything I ain't
+willing to do to help, only I couldn't let the little
+girls go without you; they'd be scared to death,
+and it wouldn't look right. I'm sorry enough
+you ain't got suitable clothes; if I could help it,
+you should have as good as the best of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," said Nettie, "I don't think I
+care anything about the dress now." She was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>
+thinking of that crown of thorns. So when Miss
+Sherrill called the way was plain and little Sate
+ready to be taught anything she would teach
+her.</p>
+
+<p>They went away down to the pond under the
+clump of trees which formed such a pretty shade;
+and there Sate's slow sweet voice said over the
+lines as they were told to her, putting in many
+questions which the words suggested. "He makes
+the flowers blow," she repeated with thoughtful
+face, then: "What did He make them for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it was because He loved them; and
+He likes to give you and me sweet and pleasant
+things to look at."</p>
+
+<p>"Does He love flowers?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so, darling."</p>
+
+<p>"And birds? See the birds!" For at that
+moment two beauties standing on the edge of
+their nest, looked down into the clear water, and
+seeing themselves reflected in its smoothness began
+to talk in low sweet chirps to their shadows.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, He loves the birds, I am sure; think
+how many different kinds He has made, and how
+beautiful they are. Then He has given them
+sweet voices, and they are thanking Him as well
+as they know how, for all his goodness. Listen."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sure enough, one of the little birds hopped
+back a trifle, balanced himself well on the nest,
+and, putting up his little throat, trilled a lovely
+song.</p>
+
+<p>"What does he say?" asked Sate, watching
+him intently.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know," said Miss Sherrill, with
+a little laugh. Sate was taxing her powers
+rather too much. "But God understands, you
+know; and I am sure the words are very sweet
+to him."</p>
+
+<p>Sate reflected over this for a minute, then
+went back to the flowers.</p>
+
+<p>"What made Him put the colors on them?
+Does He like to see pretty colors, do you sink?
+Which color does He like just the very bestest
+of all?"</p>
+
+<p>"O you darling! I don't know that, either.
+Perhaps, crimson; or, no, I think He must like
+pure white ones a little the best. But He likes
+little human flowers the best of all. Little white
+flowers with souls. Do you know what I mean,
+darling? White hearts are given to the little
+children who try all the time to do right, because
+they love Jesus, and want to please him."</p>
+
+<p>"Sate wants to," said the little girl earnestly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
+"Sate loves Jesus; and she would like to kiss
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know but you shall, some day.
+Now shall we take another line of the hymn?"
+continued her teacher.</p>
+
+<p>"I tried to teach her," explained Miss Sherrill
+to her brother. "But I think, after all, she
+taught me the most. She is the dearest little
+thing, and asks the strangest questions! When
+I look at her grave, sweet face, and hear her slow,
+sweet voice making wise answers, and asking
+wise questions, a sort of baby wisdom, you
+know, I can only repeat over and over the
+words:</p>
+
+<p>"'Of such is the kingdom of heaven.'</p>
+
+<p>"To-day I told her the story of Jesus taking
+the little children up in his arms and blessing
+them. She listened with that thoughtful look in
+her eyes which is so wonderful, then suddenly
+she held up her pretty arms and said in the
+most coaxing tones:</p>
+
+<p>"'Take little Sate to Him, and let Him bless
+her, yight away.'</p>
+
+<p>"Tremaine, I could hardly keep back the
+tears. Do you think He can be going to call
+her soon?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not necessarily at all. There is no reason
+why a little child should not live very close to
+Him on earth. I hope that little girl has a great
+work to do for Christ in this world. She has a
+very sweet face."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII.<br />
+
+<small>THE FLOWER PARTY.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>I&nbsp;&nbsp; DARE say some of you think Nettie
+Decker was a very silly girl to care so
+much because her dress was a blue and white
+gingham instead of being all white.</div>
+
+<p>You have told your friend Katie about the
+story and asked her if she didn't think it was
+real silly to make such an ado over <i>clothes</i>; you
+have said you were sure you would just as soon
+wear a blue gingham as not if it was clean and
+neat. But now let me venture a hint. I
+shouldn't be surprised if that was because you
+never do have to go to places differently dressed
+from all the others. Because if you did, you
+would know that it was something of a trial.
+Oh! I don't say it is the hardest thing in the
+world; or that one is all ready to die as a martyr
+who does it; but what I <i>do</i> say is, that it
+takes a little moral courage; and, for one, I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
+not surprised that Nettie looked very sober
+about it when the afternoon came.</p>
+
+<p>It took her a good while to dress; not that
+there was so much to be done, but she stopped
+to think. With her hair in her neck, still unbraided,
+she pinned a lovely pink rose at her
+breast just to see how pretty it would look for a
+minute. Miss Sherrill had left it for her to
+wear; but she did not intend to wear it, because
+she thought it would not match well with
+her gingham dress. Just here, I don't mind
+owning that I think her silly; because I believe
+that sweet flowers go with sweet pure
+young faces, whether the dress is of gingham
+or silk.</p>
+
+<p>But Nettie looked grave, as I said, and wished
+it was over; and tried to plan for the hundredth
+time, how it would all be. The girls, Cecelia
+Lester and Lorena Barstow and the rest of
+them, would be out in their elegant toilets, and
+would look at her so! That Ermina Farley
+would be there; she had seen her but once, on
+the first Sunday, and liked her face and her ways
+a little better than the others; but she had been
+away since then. Jerry said she was back, however,
+and Mrs. Smith said they were the richest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
+folks in town; and of course Ermina would be
+elegantly dressed at the flower party.</p>
+
+<p>Well, she did not care. She was willing to
+have them all dressed beautifully; she was not
+mean enough to want them to wear gingham
+dresses, if only they would not make fun of hers.
+Oh! if she could <i>only</i> stay at home, and help
+iron, and get supper, and fry some potatoes
+nicely for father, how happy she would be. Then
+she sighed again, and set about braiding her
+hair. She meant to go, but she could not help
+being sorry for herself to think it must be done;
+and she spent a great deal of trouble in trying
+to plan just how hateful it would all be; how
+the girls would look, and whisper, and giggle;
+and how her cheeks would burn. Oh dear!</p>
+
+<p>Then she found it was late, and had to make
+her fingers fly, and to rush about the little woodhouse
+chamber which was still her room, in a
+way which made Sarah Ann say to her mother
+with a significant nod, "I guess she's woke up
+and gone at it, poor thing!" Yes, she had;
+and was down in fifteen minutes more.</p>
+
+<p>Oh! but didn't the little girls look pretty!
+Nettie forgot her trouble for a few minutes, in
+admiring them when she had put the last touches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
+to their toilet. Susie was to be in a tableau
+where she would need a dolly, and Miss Sherrill
+had furnished one for the occasion. A lovely
+dolly with real hair, and blue eyes, and a bright
+blue sash to match them; and when Susie got it
+in her arms, there came such a sweet, softened
+look over her face that Nettie hardly knew her.
+The sturdy voice, too, which was so apt to be
+fierce, softened and took a motherly tone; the
+dolly was certainly educating Susie. Little Sate
+looked on, interested, pleased, but without the
+slightest shade of envy. She wanted no dolly;
+or, if she did, there was a little black-faced,
+worn, rag one reposing at this moment in the
+trundle bed where little Sate's own head would
+rest at night; kissed, and caressed, and petted,
+and told to be good until mamma came back;
+this dolly had all of Sate's warm heart. For
+the rest, the grave little old women in caps and
+spectacles, which wound about her dress, crept
+up in bunches on her shoulders, lay in nestling
+heaps at her breast, filled all Sate's thoughts.
+She seemed to have become a little old woman
+herself, so serious and womanly was her face.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie took a hand of each, and they went to
+the flower festival. There was to be a five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>
+o'clock tea for all the elderly people of the
+church, and the tables, some of them, were set
+in Mr. Eastman's grounds, which adjoined the
+church. When Nettie entered these grounds
+she found a company of girls several years
+younger than herself, helping to decorate the
+tables with flowers; at least that was their work,
+but as Nettie appeared at the south gate, a queer
+little object pushed in at the west side. A child
+not more than six years old, with a clean face,
+and carefully combed hair, but dressed in a plain
+dark calico; and her pretty pink toes were without
+shoes or stockings.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/facing308.jpg" width="600" height="444" alt="garden party" />
+<div class="caption">AT THE FLOWER PARTY.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>I am not sure that if a little wolf had suddenly
+appeared before them, it could have caused
+more exclamations of astonishment and dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Only look at that child!" "The idea!"
+"Just to think of such a thing!" were a few of
+the exclamations with which the air was thick.
+At last, one bolder than the rest, stepped towards
+her: "Little girl, where did you come
+from? What in the world do you want here?"</p>
+
+<p>Startled by the many eyes and the sharp
+tones, the small new-comer hid her face behind
+an immense bunch of glowing hollyhocks, which
+she held in her hand, and said not a word.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
+Then the chorus of voices became more eager:</p>
+
+<p>"Do look at her hollyhocks! Did ever anybody
+see such a queer little fright! Girls, I do
+believe she has come to the party." Then the
+one who had spoken before, tried again: "See
+here, child, whoever you are, you must go right
+straight home; this is no place for you. I wonder
+what your mother was about&mdash;if you have
+one&mdash;to let you run away barefooted, and
+looking like a fright."</p>
+
+<p>Now the barefooted maiden was thoroughly
+frightened, and sobbed outright. It was precisely
+what Nettie Decker needed to give her
+courage. When she came in at the gate, she
+had felt like shrinking away from all eyes;
+now she darted an indignant glance at the
+speaker, and moved quickly toward the crying
+child, Susie and Sate following close behind.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't cry, little girl," she said in the gentlest
+tones, stooping and putting an arm tenderly
+around the trembling form; "you haven't
+done anything wrong; Miss Sherrill will be
+here soon, and she will make it all right."</p>
+
+<p>Thus comforted, the tears ceased, and the
+small new-comer allowed her hand to be taken;
+while Susie came around to her other side, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>
+scowled fiercely, as though to say: "I'll protect
+this girl myself; let's see you touch her now!"</p>
+
+<p>A burst of laughter greeted Nettie as soon
+as she had time to give heed to it. Others had
+joined the groups, among them Lorena Barstow
+and Irene Lewis. "What's all this?"
+asked Irene.</p>
+
+<p>"O, nothing," said one; "only that Decker
+girl's sister, or cousin, or something has just
+arrived from Cork, and come in search of her.
+Lorena Barstow, did you ever see such a queer-looking
+fright?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see but they look a good deal alike,"
+said Lorena, tossing her curls; "I'm sure their
+dresses correspond; is she a sister?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no," answered one of the smaller
+girls; "those two cunning little things in white
+are Nettie Decker's sisters; I think they are
+real sweet."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Lorena, giving them a disagreeable
+stare, "in white, are they? The unselfish
+older sister has evidently cut up her nightgowns
+to make them white dresses for this occasion."</p>
+
+<p>"Lorena," said the younger girl, "if I were
+you I would be ashamed; mother would not
+like you to talk in that way."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see Miss Nanie, you are not me,
+therefore you cannot tell what you would be,
+or do; and I want to inform you it is not
+your business to tell me what mother would
+like."</p>
+
+<p>Imagine Nettie Decker standing quietly, with
+the barefooted child's small hand closely
+clasped in hers, listening to all this! There was
+a pretense of lowered voices, yet every word
+was distinct to her ears. Her heart beat fast
+and she began to feel as though she really was
+paying quite a high price for the possibility of
+getting Norm into the church parlor for a few
+minutes that evening.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, through the main gateway,
+came Ermina Parley, a colored man with her,
+bearing a basket full of such wonderful roses,
+that for a minute the group could only exclaim
+over them. Ermina was in white, but her dress
+was simply made, and looked as though she
+might not be afraid to tumble about on the
+grass in it; her shoes were thick, and the blue
+sash she wore, though broad and handsome, had
+some way a quiet air of fitness for the occasion,
+which did not seem to belong to most of the
+others. She watched the disposal of her roses,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
+then gave an inquiring glance about the grounds
+as she said, "What are you all doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are having a tableau," said Lorena Barstow.
+"Look behind you, and you will see
+the Misses Bridget and Margaret Mulrooney,
+who have just arrived from ould Ireland shure."</p>
+
+<p>Most of the thoughtless girls laughed, mistaking
+this rudeness for wit, but Ermina turned
+quickly and caught her first glimpse of Nettie's
+burning face; then she hastened toward her.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, here is little Prudy, after all," she
+said eagerly; "I coaxed her mother to let her
+come, but I didn't think she would. Has Miss
+Sherrill seen her? I think she will make such a
+cunning Roman flower-girl, in that tableau, you
+know. Her face is precisely the shape and
+style of the little girls we saw in Rome last winter.
+Poor little girlie, was she frightened?
+How kind you were to take care of her. She
+is a real bright little thing. I want to coax her
+into Sunday-school if I can. Let us go and ask
+Miss Sherrill what she thinks about the flower-girl."</p>
+
+<p>How fast Ermina Farley could talk! She
+did not wait for replies. The truth was, Nettie's
+glowing cheeks, and Susie's fierce looks,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>
+told her the story of trial for somebody else
+besides the Roman flower-girl; she could guess
+at things which might have been said before she
+came. She wound her arm familiarly about
+Nettie's waist as she spoke, and drew her, almost
+against her will, across the lawn. "My!"
+said Irene Lewis. "How good we are!"</p>
+
+<p>"Birds of a feather flock together," quoted
+Lorena Barstow. "I think that barefooted
+child and her protector look alike."</p>
+
+<p>"Still," said Irene, "you must remember
+that Ermina Farley has joined that flock; and
+her feathers are very different."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that is only for effect," was the naughty
+reply, with another toss of the rich curls.</p>
+
+<p>Now what was the matter with all these disagreeable
+young people? Did they really attach
+so much importance to the clothes they wore
+as to think no one was respectable who was
+not dressed like them? Had they really no
+hearts, so that it made no difference to them
+how deeply they wounded poor Nettie Decker?</p>
+
+<p>I do not think it was quite either of these
+things. They had been, so far in their lives,
+unfortunate, in that they had heard a great deal
+about dress, and style, until they had done what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>
+young people and a few older ones are apt to
+do, attached too much importance to these
+things. They were neither old enough, nor
+wise enough, to know that it is a mark of a shallow
+nature to judge of people by the clothes
+they wear; then, in regard to the ill-natured
+things said, I tell you truly, that even Lorena
+Barstow was ashamed of herself. When her
+younger sister reproved her, the flush which
+came on her cheek was not all anger, much of it
+was shame. But she had taught her tongue to
+say so many disagreeable words, and to pride
+itself on its independence in saying what
+she pleased, that the habit asserted itself,
+and she could not seem to control it. The contrast
+between her own conduct and Ermina
+Farley's struck her so sharply and disagreeably
+it served only to make her worse than before;
+precisely the effect which follows when people
+of uncontrolled tempers find themselves rebuked.</p>
+
+<p>Half-way down the lawn the party in search
+of Miss Sherrill met her face to face. Her
+greeting was warm. "Oh! here is my dear
+little grandmother. Thank you, Nettie, for
+coming; I look to you for a great deal of help.
+Why, Ermina, what wee mousie have you here?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She is a little Roman flower-girl, Miss Sherrill;
+they live on Parker street. Her mother
+is a nice woman; my mother has her to run the
+machine. I coaxed her to let Trudie wear her
+red dress and come barefoot, until you would
+see if she would do for the Roman flower-girl.
+Papa says her face is very Roman in style, and
+she always makes us think of the flower-girls
+we saw there. I brought my Roman sash to
+dress her in, if you thought well of it; she is
+real bright, and will do just as she is told."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the very thing," said Miss Sherrill with
+a pleased face; "I am so glad you thought of
+it. And the hollyhocks are just red enough to
+go in the basket. Did you think of them too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am; mamma did. She said the
+more red flowers we could mass about her, the
+better for a Roman peasant."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be a lovely thing," said Miss Sherrill.
+Then she stooped and kissed the small brown
+face, which was now smiling through its tears.
+"You have found good friends, little one. She
+is very small to be here alone. Ermina, will you
+and Nettie take care of her this afternoon, and
+see that she is happy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm," said Ermina promptly. "Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
+was taking care of her when I came. She was
+afraid at first, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"They were ugly to her," volunteered Susie,
+"they were just as ugly to her as they could be;
+they made her cry. If they'd done it to Sate I
+would have scratched them and bit them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Miss Sherrill sorrowfully. "How
+sorry I am to hear it; then Susie would have
+been naughty too, and it wouldn't have made
+the others any better; in fact, it would have
+made them worse."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Susie, but she did care.
+She said that, just as you do sometimes, when
+you mean you care a great deal, and don't want
+to let anybody know it. For the first time,
+Susie reflected whether it was a good plan to
+scratch and bite people who did not, in her
+judgment, behave well. It had not been a
+perfect success in her experience, she was
+willing to admit that; and if it made Miss
+Sherrill sorry, it was worth thinking about.</p>
+
+<p>Well, that afternoon which began so dismally,
+blossomed out into a better time than Nettie
+had imagined it possible for her to have. To
+be sure those particular girls who had been the
+cause of her sorrow, would have nothing to do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>
+with her; and whispered, and sent disdainful
+glances her way when they had an opportunity;
+but Nettie went in their direction as little as
+possible, and when she did was in such a hurry
+that she sometimes forgot all about them. Miss
+Sherrill, who was chairman of the committee
+of entertainment, kept her as busy as a bee the
+entire afternoon; running hither and thither,
+carrying messages to this one, and pins to that
+one, setting this vase of flowers at one end, and
+that lovely basket at another, and, a great deal
+of the time, standing right beside Miss Sherrill
+herself, handing her, at call, just what she
+needed when she dressed the girls with their
+special flowers. She could hear the bright
+pleasant talk which passed between Miss Sherrill
+and the other young ladies. She was often
+appealed too with a pleasant word. Her own
+teacher smiled on her more than once, and said
+she was the handiest little body who had ever
+helped them; and all the time that lovely Ermina
+Farley with her beautiful hair, and her
+pretty ways, and her sweet low voice, was near
+at hand, joining in everything which she had
+to do. To be sure she heard, in one of her rapid
+scampers across the lawn, this question asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
+in a loud tone by Lorena Barstow: "I wonder
+how much they pay that girl for running
+errands? Maybe she will earn enough to get
+herself a new white nightgown to wear to parties;"
+but at that particular minute, Ermina
+Farley running from another direction on an
+errand precisely like her own, bumped up
+against her with such force that their noses
+ached; then both stopped to laugh merrily, and
+some way, what with the bump, and the laughter,
+Nettie forgot to cry, when she had a chance,
+over the unkind words. Then, later in the
+afternoon, came Jerry; and in less than five
+minutes he joined their group, and made himself
+so useful that when Mr. Sherrill came presently
+for boys to go with him to the chapel to
+arrange the tables, Miss Sherrill said in low
+tones, "Don't take Jerry please, we need him
+here." Nettie heard it, and beamed her satisfaction.
+Also she heard Irene Lewis say,
+"Now they've taken that Irish boy into their
+crowd&mdash;shouldn't you think Ermina Farley
+would be ashamed!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Nettie's face fairly paled. It is one
+thing to be insulted yourself; it is another to
+stand quietly by and see your friends insulted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>
+She was almost ready to appeal to Miss Sherrill
+for protection from tongues. But Jerry heard
+the same remark, and laughed; not in a forced
+way, but actually as though it was very amusing
+to him. And almost immediately he called out
+something to Ermina, using an unmistakable
+Irish brogue. What was the use in trying to
+protect a boy who was so indifferent as that?</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.<br />
+
+<small>A SATISFACTORY EVENING.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>THE little old grandmothers with their queer
+caps were perhaps the feature of the evening.
+Everybody wanted a bouquet of them. In
+fact, long before eight o'clock, Jerry had been
+hurried away for a fresh supply, and Nettie had
+been established behind a curtain to "make
+more grandmothers." In her excitement she
+made them even prettier than before; and sweet,
+grave little Sate had no trouble in selling every
+one. The pretty Roman flower girl was so much
+admired, that her father, a fine-looking young
+mechanic who came after her bringing red stockings
+and neat shoes, carried her off at last in triumph
+on his shoulder, saying he was afraid her
+head would be turned with so much praise, but
+thanking everybody with bright smiling eyes for
+giving his little girl such a pleasant afternoon.</div>
+
+<p>"She isn't Irish, after all," said Irene Lewis,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>
+watching them. "And Mr. Sherrill shook hands
+with him as familiarly as though he was an old
+friend; I wish we hadn't made such simpletons
+of ourselves. Lorena Barstow, what did you
+want to go and say she was an Irish girl for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't say any such thing," said Lorena in
+a shrill voice; and then these two who had been
+friends in ill humor all the afternoon quarreled,
+and went home more unhappy than before.
+And still I tell you they were not the worst girls
+in the world; and were very much ashamed of
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Before eight o'clock, Norm came. To be sure
+he stoutly refused, at first, to step beyond the
+doorway, and ordered Nettie in a somewhat
+surly tone to "bring that young one out," if she
+wanted her carried home. That, of course, was
+the little grandmother; but her eyes looked as
+though they had not thought of being sleepy,
+and the ladies were not ready to let her go.
+Then the minister, who seemed to understand
+things without having them explained, said,
+"Where is Decker? we'll make it all right;
+come, little grandmother, let us go and see about
+it." So he took Sate on his shoulder and made
+his way through the crowd; and Nettie who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>
+watched anxiously, presently saw Norm coming
+back with them, not looking surly at all; his
+clothes had been brushed, and he had on a clean
+collar, and his hair was combed, quite as though
+he had meant to come in, after all.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after Norm's coming, something happened
+which gave Nettie a glimpse of her
+brother in a new light. Young Ernest Belmont
+was there with his violin. During the afternoon,
+Nettie had heard whispers of what a
+lovely player he was, and at last saw with delight
+that a space was being cleared for him to
+play. Crowds of people gathered about the
+platform to listen, but among them all Norm's
+face was marked; at least it was to Nettie.
+She had never seen him look like that. He
+seemed to forget the crowds, and the lights, and
+everything but the sounds which came from that
+violin. He stood perfectly still, his eyes never
+once turning from their earnest gaze of the fingers
+which were producing such wonderful tones.
+Nettie, looking, and wondering, almost forgot
+the music in her astonishment that her brother
+should be so absorbed. Jerry with some difficulty
+elbowed his way towards her, his face
+beaming, and said, "Isn't it splendid?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For answer she said, "Look at Norm." And
+Jerry looked.</p>
+
+<p>"That's so," he said at last, heartily, speaking
+as though he was answering a remark from
+somebody; "Norm is a musician. Did you
+know he liked it so much?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know anything about it," Nettie
+said, hardly able to keep back the tears, though
+she did not understand why her eyes should fill;
+but there was such a look of intense enjoyment
+in Norm's face, mingled with such a wistful
+longing for something, as made the tears start
+in spite of her. "I didn't know he liked <i>anything</i>
+so much as that."</p>
+
+<p>"He likes <i>that</i>," said Jerry heartily, "and I
+am glad."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. What makes you glad? I
+am almost sorry; because he may never have a
+chance to hear it again."</p>
+
+<p>"He must make his chances; he is going to be
+a man. I'm glad, because it gives us a hint as
+to what his tastes are; don't you see?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," said Nettie, "I see he likes it;
+but what is the use in knowing people's tastes if
+you cannot possibly do anything for them?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's no such thing as it not being possible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>
+to do most anything," Jerry said good humoredly.
+"Maybe we will some of us own a violin
+some day, and Norm will play it for us. Who
+knows? Stranger things than that have happened."</p>
+
+<p>But this thing looked to Nettie so improbable
+that she merely laughed. The music suddenly
+ceased, and Norm came back from dreamland
+and looked about him, and blushed, and felt
+awkward. He saw the people now, and the
+lights, and the flowers; he remembered his
+hands and did not know what to do with them;
+and his feet felt too large for the space they must
+occupy.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry plunged through the crowd and stood
+beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you like it?" he asked, and Norm
+cleared his voice before replying; he could not
+understand why his throat should feel so husky.</p>
+
+<p>"I like a fiddle," he said. "There is a fellow
+comes into the corner grocery down there by
+Crossman's and plays, sometimes; I always go
+down there, when I hear of it."</p>
+
+<p>If Jerry could have caught Nettie's eye just
+then he would have made a significant gesture;
+the store by Crossman's made tobacco and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>
+liquor its chief trade. So a fiddle was one of
+the things used to draw the boys into it!</p>
+
+<p>"Is a fiddle the only kind of music you like?"
+Jerry had been accustomed to calling it a violin,
+but the instinct of true politeness which was
+marked in him, made him say fiddle just now as
+Norm had done.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I like anything that whistles a tune!"
+said Norm. "I've gone a rod out of my way to
+hear a jew's-harp many a time; even an old hand-organ
+sounds nice to me. I don't know why,
+but I never hear one without stopping and listening
+as long as I can." He laughed a little, as
+though ashamed of the taste, and looked at Jerry
+suspiciously. But there was not the slightest
+hint of a smile on the boy's face, only hearty interest
+and approval.</p>
+
+<p>"I like music, too, almost any sort; but I
+don't believe I like it as well as you. Your face
+looked while you were listening as though you
+could make some yourself if you tried."</p>
+
+<p>The smile went out quickly from Norm's face,
+and Jerry thought he heard a little sigh with the
+reply:</p>
+
+<p>"I never had a chance to try; and never expect
+to have."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, I should like to know why not?
+I never could understand why a boy with brains,
+and hands, and feet, shouldn't have a try at
+almost anything which was worth trying, sometime
+in his life." It was not Jerry who said
+this, but the minister who had come up in time
+to hear the last words from both sides. He
+stopped before Norm, smiling as he spoke.
+"Try the music, my friend, by all means, if you
+like it. It is a noble taste, worth cultivating."</p>
+
+<p>Norm looked sullen. "It's easy to talk," he
+said severely, "but when a fellow has to work
+like a dog to get enough to eat and wear, to
+keep him from starving or freezing, I'd like to
+see him get a chance to try at music, or anything
+else of that kind!"</p>
+
+<p>"So should I. He is the very fellow who ought
+to have the chance; and more than that, in nine
+cases out of ten he is the fellow who gets it. A
+boy who is willing and able to work, is pretty
+sure, in this country, to have opportunity to
+gratify his tastes in the end. He may have to
+wait awhile, but that only sharpens the appetite
+of a genuine taste; if it is a worthy taste, as
+music certainly is, it will grow with his growth,
+and will help him to plan, and save, and contrive,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>
+until one of these days he will show you! By
+the way, you would like organ music, I fancy;
+the sort which is sometimes played on parlor
+organs. If you will come to the parsonage to-morrow
+night at eight o'clock, I think I can
+promise you something which you will enjoy.
+My sister is going to try some new music for a
+few friends, at that time; suppose you come and
+pick out your favorite?"</p>
+
+<p>All Jerry's satisfaction and interest shone in
+his face; to-morrow night at eight o'clock! All
+day he had been trying to arrange something
+which would keep Norm at that hour away from
+the aforesaid corner grocery, where he happened
+to know some doubtful plans were to be arranged
+for future mischief, by the set who gathered there.
+If only Norm would go to the parsonage it would
+be the very thing. But Norm flushed and hesitated.
+"Bring a friend with you," said the
+minister. "Bring Jerry, here; you like music,
+don't you, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," said Jerry promptly; "I like
+music very much, and I would like to go if
+Norm is willing."</p>
+
+<p>"Bring Jerry with you." That sentence had a
+pleasant sound. Up to this moment it was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>
+younger boy who had patronized the elder.
+Norm called him the "little chap," but for all
+that looked up to him with a curious sort of respect
+such as he felt for none of the "fellows"
+who were his daily companions; the idea of
+bringing him to a place of entertainment had its
+charms.</p>
+
+<p>"May I expect you?" asked the minister,
+reading his thoughts almost as plainly as though
+they had been printed on his face, and judging
+that this was the time to press an acceptance.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," said Norm, "I suppose so."</p>
+
+<p>One of these days Norman Decker will not
+think of accepting an invitation with such words,
+but his intentions are good, now, and the minister
+thanks him as though he had received a
+favor, and departs well pleased.</p>
+
+<p>And now it is really growing late and little
+Sate must be carried home. It was an evening
+to remember.</p>
+
+<p>They talked it over by inches the next morning.
+Nettie finishing the breakfast dishes, and
+Jerry sitting on the doorstep fashioning a bracket
+for the kitchen lamp.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie talked much about Ermina Farley.
+"She is just as lovely and sweet as she can be.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>
+It was beautiful in her to come over to me as
+she did when she came into that yard; part of
+it was for little Trudie's sake, and a great deal
+of it was for my sake. I saw that at the time;
+and I saw it plainer all the afternoon. She
+didn't give me a chance to feel alone once; and
+she didn't stay near me as though she felt she
+ought to, but didn't want to, either; she just
+took hold and helped do everything Miss Sherrill
+gave me to do, and was as bright and sweet
+as she could be. I shall never forget it of her.
+But for all that," she added as she wrung out
+her dishcloth with an energy which the small
+white rag hardly needed, "I know it was pretty
+hard for her to do it, and I shall not give her a
+chance to do it again."</p>
+
+<p>"I want to know what there was hard
+about it?" said Jerry, looking up in astonishment.
+"I thought Ermina Farley seemed to be
+having as good a time as anybody there."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well now, I know, you are not a girl;
+boys are different from girls. They are not so
+kind-of-mean! At least, some of them are not,"
+she added quickly, having at that moment a
+vivid recollection of some mean things which
+she had endured from boys. "Really I don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>
+think they are," she said, after a moment's
+thoughtful pause, and replying to the quizzical
+look on his face. "They don't think about
+dresses, and hats, and gloves, and all those
+sorts of things as girls do, and they don't say
+such hateful things. Oh! I <i>know</i> there is a
+great difference; and I know just how Ermina
+Farley will be talked about because she went
+with me, and stood up for me so; and I think
+it will be very hard for her. I used to think so
+about you, but you&mdash;are real different from
+girls!"</p>
+
+<p>"It amounts to about this," said Jerry, whittling
+gravely. "Good boys are different from
+bad girls, and bad boys are different from good
+girls."</p>
+
+<p>Nettie laughed merrily. "No," she said, "I
+do know what I am talking about, though you
+don't think so; I know real splendid girls who
+couldn't have done as Ermina Farley did yesterday,
+and as you do all the time; and what I say
+is, I don't mean to put myself where she will
+<i>have</i> to do it, much. I don't want to go to their
+parties; I don't expect a chance to go, but if I
+had it, I wouldn't go; and just for her sake, I
+don't mean to be always around for her to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span>
+to take care of me as she did yesterday. I have
+something else to do." Said Jerry, "Where do
+you think Norm is to take me this evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Norm going to take you!" great wonderment
+in the tone. "Why, where could he take
+you? I don't know, I am sure."</p>
+
+<p>"He is to take me to the parsonage at eight
+o'clock to hear some wonderful music on the
+organ. He has been invited, and has had permission
+to bring me with him if he wants to.
+Don't you talk about not putting yourself where
+other people will have to take care of you! I
+advise you to cultivate the acquaintance of your
+brother. It isn't everybody who gets invited to
+the parsonage to hear such music as Miss Sherrill
+can make."</p>
+
+<p>The dishcloth was hung away now, and every
+bit of work was done. Nettie stood looking at
+the whittling boy in the doorway for a minute
+in blank astonishment, then she clasped her
+hands and said: "O Jerry! Did they do it?
+Aren't they the very splendidest people you ever
+knew in your life?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are pretty good," said Jerry, "that's a
+fact; they are most as good as my father. I'll
+tell you what it is, if you knew my father you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>
+would know a man who would be worth remembering.
+I had a letter from him last night, and
+he sent a message to my friend Nettie."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" asked Nettie, her eyes very bright.</p>
+
+<p>"It was that you were to take good care of
+his boy; for in his opinion the boy was worth
+taking care of. On the strength of that I want
+you to come out and look at Mother Speckle;
+she is in a very important frame of mind, and
+has been scolding her children all the morning.
+I don't know what is the trouble; there are two
+of her daughters who seem to have gone astray
+in some way; at least she is very much displeased
+with them. Twice she has boxed Fluffie's
+ears, and once she pulled a feather out
+of poor Buff. See how forlorn she seems!"</p>
+
+<p>By this time they were making their way to
+the little house where the hen lived, Nettie
+agreeing to go for a very few minutes, declaring
+that if Norm was going out every evening there
+was work to do. He would need a clean collar
+and she must do it up; for mother had gone
+out to iron for the day. "Mother is so grateful
+to Mrs. Smith for getting her a chance to work,"
+she said, as they paused before the two disgraced
+chickens; "she says she would never have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>
+thought of it if it had not been for her; you
+know she always used to sew. Why, how funny
+those chickens look! Only see, Jerry, they are
+studying that eggshell as though they thought
+they could make one. Now don't they look exactly
+as though they were planning something?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are," said Jerry. "They are planning
+going to housekeeping, I believe; you see they
+have quarreled with their mother. They consider
+that they have been unjustly punished, and
+I am in sympathy with them; and they believe
+they could make a house to live in out of that
+eggshell if they could only think of a way to
+stick it together again. I wish <i>we</i> could build a
+house out of eggshells; or even one room, and
+we'd have one before the month was over."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Nettie, stooping down to see
+why Buff kept her foot under her. "Do you
+want a room, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Somewhat," said Jerry. "At least I see a
+number of things we could do if we had a room,
+that I don't know how to do without one. Come
+over here, Nettie, and sit down; leave those
+chickens to sulk it out, and let us talk a little. I
+have a plan so large that there is no place to
+put it."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX.<br />
+
+<small>READY TO TRY.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>"YOU see," said Jerry, as Nettie came, protesting
+as she walked that she could stay
+but a few minutes, because there was Norm's
+collar, and she had four nice apples out of
+which she was going to make some splendid
+apple dumplings for dinner, "you see we must
+contrive something to keep a young fellow like
+Norm busy, if we are going to hold him after he
+is caught. It doesn't do to catch a fish and leave
+him on the edge of the bank near enough to
+flounce back into the water. Norm ought to be
+set to work to help along the plans, and kept so
+busy he wouldn't have time to get tired of them."</div>
+
+<p>"But how could that be done?" Nettie said
+in wondering tones, which nevertheless had a
+note of admiration in them. Jerry went so
+deeply into things, it almost took her breath
+away to follow him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Just so; that's the problem which ought to
+be thought out. I can think of things enough;
+but the room, and the tools to begin with, are
+the trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you thought of? What would
+you do if you could?"</p>
+
+<p>"O my!" said Jerry, with a little laugh;
+"don't ask me that question, or your folks will
+have no apple dumplings to-day. I don't believe
+there is any end to the things which I would do
+if I could. But the first beginnings of them are
+like this: suppose we had a few dollars capital,
+and a room."</p>
+
+<p>"You might as well suppose we had a palace,
+and a million dollars," said Nettie, with a long-drawn
+sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"No, because I don't expect either of those
+things; but I do mean to have a room and a few
+dollars in capital for this thing some day; only,
+you see, I don't want to wait for them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go on; what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, then we would start an eating-house,
+you and I, on a little bit of a scale, you know.
+We would have bread with some kind of meat
+between, and coffee, in cold weather, and lemonade
+in hot, and a few apples, and now and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>
+some nuts, and a good deal of gingerbread&mdash;soft,
+like what auntie Smith makes&mdash;and some
+ginger-snaps like those Mrs. Dix sent us from
+the country, and, well, you know the names of
+things better than I do. Real good things, I
+mean, but which don't cost much. Such as you,
+and Sarah Ann, and a good many bright girls
+learn how to make, without using a great deal
+of money. Those things are all rather cheap,
+which I have mentioned, because we have them
+at our house quite often, and the Smiths are
+poor, you know. But they are made so nice
+that they are just capital. Well, I would have
+them for sale, just as cheap as could possibly be
+afforded; a great deal cheaper than beer, or
+cigars, and I would have the room bright and
+cheery; warm in winter, and as cool as I could
+make it in summer; then I would have slips of
+paper scattered about the town, inviting young
+folks to come in and get a lunch; then when
+they came, I would have picture papers if I
+could, for them to look at, and games to play,
+real nice jolly games, and some kind of music
+going on now and then. I'd run opposition to
+that old grocery around the corner from Crossman's,
+with its fiddle and its whiskey. That's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>
+the beginning of what I would do. Just what
+I told you about, that first night we talked it
+over. The fellows, lots of them, have nowhere
+to go; it keeps growing in my mind, the need
+for doing something of the sort. I never pass
+that mean grocery without thinking of it."</p>
+
+<p>You should have seen Nettie's eyes! The little
+touch of discouragement was gone out of
+them, and they were full of intense thought.</p>
+
+<p>"I can see," she said at last, "just how splendid
+it might grow to be. But what did you
+mean about Norm? there isn't any work for
+him in such a plan. At least, I mean, not until
+he was interested to help for the sake of others."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there is, plenty of business for him.
+Don't you see? I would have this room, open
+evenings, after the work was done, and I would
+have Norm head manager. He should wait
+on customers, and keep accounts. When the
+thing got going he would be as busy as a bee;
+and he is just the sort of fellow to do that kind
+of thing well, and like it too," he added.</p>
+
+<p>"O Jerry," said Nettie, and her hands were
+clasped so closely that the blood flowed back
+into her wrists, "was there ever a nicer thought
+than that in the world! I know it would succeed;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>
+and Norm would like it so much. Norm
+likes to do things for others, if he only had the
+chance."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it; and he likes to do things in a
+business way, and keep everything straight.
+Oh! he would be just the one. If we only had
+a room, there is nothing to hinder our beginning
+in a very small way. Those chickens are growing
+as fast as they can, and by Thanksgiving
+there will be a couple of them ready to broil;
+then the little old grandmothers did so well."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it; who would have supposed that
+almost four dollars could be made out of some
+daisy grandmothers! Miss Sherrill gave me
+one dollar and ninety-five cents which she said
+was just half of what they had earned. I do
+think it was so nice in her to give us that
+chance! She couldn't have known how much
+we wanted the money. Jerry, why couldn't we
+begin, just with that? It would start us, and
+then if the things sold, why, the money from
+them would keep us started until we found a
+way to earn more. Why can't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Room," said Jerry, with commendable
+brevity. "Why, we have a room; there's the
+front one that we just put in such nice order.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>
+Why not? It is large enough for now, and
+maybe when our business grew we could get
+another one somehow."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry stopped fitting the toe of his boot to a
+hole which he had made in the ground, and
+looked at the eager young woman of business
+before him. "Do you mean your mother would
+let us have the room, and the chance in the
+kitchen, to go into such business?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mother would do <i>anything</i>," said Nettie
+emphatically, "anything in the world which
+might possibly keep Norm in the house evenings;
+you don't know how dreadfully she feels
+about Norm. She thinks father," and there
+Nettie stopped. How could a daughter put it
+into words that her mother was afraid her father
+would lead his son astray?</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Jerry. "See here, Nettie,
+what is the matter with your father? I never
+saw him look so still, and&mdash;well, queer, in some
+way. Mr. Smith says he doesn't think he is
+drinking a drop; but he looks unlike himself,
+somehow, and I can't decide how."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Nettie, in a low voice.
+"We don't know what to think of him. He
+hasn't been so long without drinking, mother<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>
+says, in four years. But he doesn't act right;
+or, I mean, natural. He isn't cross, as drinking
+beer makes him, but he isn't pleasant, as he was
+for a day or two. He is real sober; hardly
+speaks at all, nor notices the things I make; and
+I try just as hard to please him! He eats
+everything, but he does it as though he didn't
+know he was eating. Mother thinks he is in
+some trouble, but she can't tell what. He can't
+be afraid of losing his place&mdash;because mother
+says he was threatened that two or three times
+when he was drinking so hard, and he didn't
+seem to mind it at all; and why should he be
+discharged now, when he works hard every day?
+Last Saturday night he brought home more
+money than he has in years. Mother cried when
+she saw what there was, but she had debts to
+pay, so we didn't get much start out of it after
+all. Then we spend a good deal in coffee; we
+have it three times a day, hot and strong; I can
+see father seems to need it; and I have heard
+that it helped men who were trying not to drink.
+When I told mother that, she said he should
+have it if she had to beg for it on her knees.
+But I don't know what is the matter with father
+now. Sometimes mother is afraid there is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>
+disease coming on him such as men have who
+drink; she says he doesn't sleep very well nights,
+and he groans some, when he is asleep. Mother
+tries hard," said Nettie, in a closing burst of
+confidence, "and she <i>does</i> have such a hard time!
+If we could only save Norm for her."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you who your mother looks like, or
+would look like if she were dressed up, you
+know. Did you ever see Mrs. Burt?"</p>
+
+<p>"The woman who lives in the cottage where
+the vines climb all around the front, and who
+has birds, and a baby? I saw her yesterday.
+You don't think mother looks like her!"</p>
+
+<p>"She would," said Jerry, positively, "if she
+had on a pink and white dress and a white fold
+about her neck. I passed there last night, while
+Mrs. Burt was sitting out by that window
+garden of hers, with her baby in her arms; Mr.
+Burt sat on one of the steps, and they were talking
+and laughing together. I could not help
+noticing how much like your mother she looked
+when she turned her side face. Oh! she is
+younger, of course; she looks almost as though
+she might be your mother's daughter. I was
+thinking what fun it would be if she were, and
+we could go and visit her, and get her to help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>
+us about all sorts of things. Mr. Burt knows
+how to do every kind of work about building a
+house, or fixing up a room."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a nice man, isn't he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, nice enough; he is steady and
+works hard. Mr. Smith thinks he is quite a
+pattern; he has bought that little house where
+he lives, and fixed it all up with vines and things;
+but I should like him better if he didn't puff
+tobacco smoke into his wife's face when he talked
+with her. He doesn't begin to be so good a
+workman as your father, nor to know so much
+in a hundred ways. I think your father is a very
+nice-looking man when he is dressed up. He looks
+smart, and he is smart. Mr. Smith says there
+isn't a man in town who can do the sort of work
+that he can at the shop, and that he could get
+very high wages and be promoted and all that,
+if"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Jerry stopped suddenly, and Nettie finished
+the sentence with a sigh. She too had passed
+the Burt cottage and admired its beauty and
+neatness. To think that Mr. Burt owned it, and
+was a younger man by fifteen years at least than
+her father&mdash;and was not so good a workman!
+then see how well he dressed his wife; and little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>
+Bobby Burt looked as neat and pretty in
+Sunday-school as the best of them. It was very
+hard that there must be such a difference in
+homes. If she could only live in a house like
+the Burt cottage, and have things nice about
+her as they did, and have her father and mother
+sit together and talk, as Mr. and Mrs. Burt did,
+she should be perfectly happy, Nettie told herself.
+Then she sprang up from the log and declared
+that she must not waste another minute
+of time; but that Jerry's plan was the best one
+she had ever heard, and she believed they could
+begin it.</p>
+
+<p>With this thought still in mind, after the dinner
+dishes were carefully cleared away, and her
+mother, returned from the day's ironing, had
+been treated to a piece of the apple dumpling
+warmed over for her, and had said it was as nice
+a bit as she ever tasted, Nettie began on the
+subject which had been in her thoughts all day:</p>
+
+<p>"What would you think of us young folks going
+into business?"</p>
+
+<p>"Going into business!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm. Jerry and Norm and me. Jerry
+has a plan; he has been telling me about it this
+morning. It is nice if we can only carry it out;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>
+and I shouldn't wonder if we could. That is, if
+you think well of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I begin to think there isn't much that you
+and Jerry can't do, with Norm, or with anybody
+else, if you try; and you both appear to be ready
+to try to do all you can for everybody."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker's tone was so hearty and pleased,
+that you would not have known her for the same
+woman who looked forward dismally but a few
+weeks ago to Nettie's home-coming. Her heart
+had so warmed to the girl in her efforts for
+father and brother, that she was almost ready to
+agree to anything which she could have to propose.
+So Nettie, well pleased with this beginning,
+unfolded with great clearness and detail,
+Jerry's wonderful plan for not only catching
+Norm, but setting him up in business.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker listened, and questioned and
+cross-questioned, sewing swiftly the while on
+Norm's jacket which had been torn, and which
+was being skilfully darned in view of the evening
+to be spent at the parsonage.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said at last, "it looks wild to me,
+I own; I should as soon try to fly as of making
+anything like that work in this town; but then,
+you've made things work, you two, that I'd no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>
+notion could be done, and between you, you
+seem to kind of bewitch Norm. He's done
+things for you that I would no sooner have
+thought of asking of him than I would have asked
+him to fly up to the moon; and this may be
+another of them. Anyhow, if you've a mind to
+try it, I won't be the one to stop you. I've been
+that scared for Norm, that I'm ready for anything.
+Oh! the <i>room</i>, of course you may use it.
+If you wanted to have a circus in there, I think
+I'd agree, wild animals and all; I've had worse
+than wild animals in my day. No, your father
+won't object; he thinks what you do is about
+right, I guess. And for the matter of that, he
+doesn't object to anything nowadays; I don't
+know what to make of him."</p>
+
+<p>The sentence ended with a long-drawn,
+troubled sigh.</p>
+
+<p>Just what this strange change in her husband
+meant, Mrs. Decker could not decide; and each
+theory which she started in her mind about it,
+looked worse than the last.</p>
+
+<p>Norm's collar was ready for him, so was his
+jacket. He was somewhat surly; the truth was,
+he had received what he called a "bid" to the
+merry-making which was to take place in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>
+back room of the grocery, around the corner
+from Crossman's, and he was a good deal tried
+to think he had cut himself off by what he
+called a "spooney" promise, from enjoying the
+evening there. At the same time there was a
+certain sense of largeness in saying he could not
+come because he had received an invitation
+elsewhere, which gave him a momentary pleasure.
+To be sure the boys coaxed until they had
+discovered the place of his engagement, and
+joked him the rest of the time, until he was half-inclined
+to wish he had never heard of the parsonage;
+but for all that, a certain something in
+Norman which marked him as different from
+some boys, held him to his word when it was
+passed; and he had no thought of breaking from
+his engagement. It was an evening such as
+Norman had reason to remember. For the first
+time in his life he sat in a pleasantly furnished
+home, among ladies and gentlemen, and heard
+himself spoken to as one who "belonged."</p>
+
+<p>Three ladies were there from the city, and two
+gentlemen whom Norman had never seen before;
+all friends of the Sherrills come out to
+spend a day with them. They were not only
+unlike any people whom he had ever seen before,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>
+but, if he had known it, unlike a great many
+ladies and gentlemen, in that their chief aim in
+life was to be found in their Master's service;
+and a boy about whom they knew nothing, save
+that he was poor, and surrounded by temptations,
+and Satan desired to have him, was in
+their eyes so much stray material which they
+were bound to bring back to the rightful owner
+if they could.</p>
+
+<p>To this end they talked to Norman. Not in
+the form of a lecture, but with bright, winning
+words, on topics which he could understand,
+not only, but actually on certain topics about
+which he knew more than they. For instance,
+there was a cave about two miles from the town,
+of which they had heard, but had never seen
+and Norm had explored every crevice in it many
+a time. He knew on which side of the river it
+was located, whether the entrance was from the
+east or the south; just how far one could walk
+through it, just how far one could creep in it,
+after walking had become impossible, and a
+dozen other things which it had not occurred to
+him were of interest to anybody else. In fact,
+Norm discovered in the course of the hour that
+there was such a thing as conversation. Not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>
+that he made use of that word, in thinking it
+over; his thoughts, if they could have been seen,
+would have been something like this: "These
+are swell folks, but I can understand what they
+say, and they seem to understand what I say,
+and don't stare as though I was a wild animal
+escaped from the woods. I wonder what makes
+the difference between them and other folks?"</p>
+
+<p>But when the music began! I have no words
+to describe to you what it was to Norm to sit
+close to an organ and hear its softest notes, and
+feel the thrill of its heavy bass tones, and be appealed
+to occasionally as to whether he liked
+this or that the best, and to have a piece sung
+because the player thought it would please him;
+she selected it that morning, she told him, with
+this thought in view.</p>
+
+<p>"Decker, you ought to learn to play," said one
+of the guests who had watched him through the
+last piece. "You <i>look</i> music, right out of your
+eyes. Miss Sherrill, here is a pupil for you who
+might do you credit. Have you ever had any
+instrument, Decker?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Norm came back to every-day life, and
+flushed and stammered. "No, he hadn't, and
+was not likely to;" and wondered what they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>
+would think if they were to see the corner
+grocery where he spent most of his leisure
+time.</p>
+
+<p>The questioner laughed pleasantly. "Oh, I'm
+not so sure of that. I have a friend who plays
+the violin in a way to bring tears to people's
+eyes, and he never touched one until he was
+thirty years old; hadn't time until then. He
+was an apprentice, and had his trade to master,
+and himself to get well started in it before he
+had time for music; but when he came to leisure,
+he made music a delight to himself and
+to others."</p>
+
+<p>"A great deal can be done with leisure time,"
+said another of the guests. "Mr. Sherrill, you
+remember Myers, your college classmate? He
+did not learn to read, you know, until he was
+seventeen."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" said Norm, astonished out of his
+diffidence; "didn't know how to read!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," repeated the gentleman, "not until he
+was seventeen. He had a hard childhood&mdash;was
+kicked about in the world, with no leisure and
+no help, had to work evenings as well as days,
+but when he was seventeen he fell into kinder
+hands, and had a couple of hours each evening<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>
+all to himself, and he mastered reading, not
+only, but all the common studies, and graduated
+from college with honor when he was twenty-six."</p>
+
+<p>Now Norm had all his evenings to lounge
+about in, and had not known what to do with
+them; and he could read quite well.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XX.<br />
+
+<small>THE WAY MADE PLAIN.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>IT was a beautiful Sabbath afternoon; just
+warm enough to make people feel still
+and pleasant. The soft summer sunshine lay
+smiling on all the world, and the soft summer
+breeze rustled the leaves of the trees,
+and stole gently in at open windows. In the
+front room of the Deckers, the family was
+gathered, all save Mr. Decker. He could be
+heard in his bedroom stepping about occasionally,
+and great was his wife's fear lest he was
+preparing to go down town and put himself in
+the place of temptation at his old lounging place.
+Sunday could not be said to be a day of rest to
+Mrs. Decker. It had been the day of her greatest
+trials, so far. Norm was in his clean shirt
+and collar, which had been done up again by
+Nettie's careful hands and which shone beautifully.
+He was also in his shirt sleeves; that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>
+mother was glad to see; <i>he</i> was not going out
+just yet, anyway. Mrs. Decker had honored
+the day with a clean calico dress, and had shyly
+and with an almost shamefaced air, pinned into
+it a little cambric ruffle which Nettie had presented
+her, with the remark that it was just like
+the one Mrs. Burt wore, and that Jerry said she
+looked like Mrs. Burt a little, only he thought
+she was the best-looking of the two. Mrs.
+Decker had laughed, and then sighed; and said
+it made dreadful little difference to her how she
+looked. But the sigh meant that the days were
+not so very far distant when Mr. Decker used
+to tell her she was a handsome woman; and she
+used to smile over it, and call him a foolish man
+without any taste; but nevertheless used to like
+it very much, and make herself look as well as
+she could for his sake.</div>
+
+<p>She hadn't done it lately, but whose fault was
+that, she should like to know? However, she
+pinned the ruffle in, and whether Mr. Decker
+noticed it or not, she certainly looked wonderfully
+better. Norm noticed it, but of course he
+would not have said so for the world. Nettie
+in her blue and white gingham which had been
+washed and ironed since the flower party, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>
+which had faded a little and shrunken a little,
+still looked neat and trim, and had the little girls
+one on either side of her, telling them a story in
+low tones; not so low but that the words floated
+over to the window where Norm was pretending
+not to listen: "And so," said the voice, "Daniel
+let himself be put into a den of dreadful fierce
+lions, rather than give up praying."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they frow him in?" this question from
+little Sate, horror in every letter of the words.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they did; and shut the door tight."</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't have been," said fierce Susie;
+"I would have bitten, and scratched and kicked
+just awful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't Daniel shut up the window just
+as <i>tight</i>, and not let anybody know it when he
+said his prayers?"</p>
+
+<p>Oh little Sate! how many older and wiser
+ones than you have tried to slip around conscience
+corners in some such way.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know all the reasons," said Nettie,
+after a thoughtful pause, "but I suppose one
+was, because he wouldn't act in a way to make
+people believe he had given up praying. He
+wanted to show them that he meant to pray,
+whether they forbade it or not."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Go on," said Susie, sharply, "I want to know
+how he felt when the lions bit him."</p>
+
+<p>"They didn't bite him; God wouldn't let
+them touch him. They crouched down and
+kept as <i>still</i>, all night; and in the morning when
+the king came to look, there was Daniel, safe!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh my!" said Sate, drawing a long, quivering
+sigh of relief; "wasn't that just splendid!"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know it is true?" said skeptical
+Susie, looking as though she was prepared not
+to believe anything.</p>
+
+<p>"I know it because God said it, Susie; he put
+it in the Bible."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't ever hear him say it," said Susie
+with a frown. A laugh from Norm at that moment
+gave Nettie her first knowledge of him as
+a listener. Her cheeks grew red, and she would
+have liked to slip away into a more quiet corner
+but Sate was in haste to hear just what the king
+said, and what Daniel said, and all about it, and
+the story went on steadily, Daniel's character
+for true bravery shining out all the more
+strongly, perhaps, because Nettie suspected herself
+of being a coward, and not liking Norm to
+laugh at her Bible stories. As for Norm, he
+knew he was a coward; he knew he had done in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>
+his life dozens of things to make his mother
+cry; not because he was so anxious to do them,
+nor because he feared a den of lions if he refused,
+but simply because some of the fellows
+would laugh at him if he did.</p>
+
+<p>That Sabbath day had been a memorable one
+to the Decker family in some respects; at least
+to part of it. Nettie had taken the little girls
+with her to Sabbath-school, and then to church.
+Mrs. Smith had given her a cordial invitation to
+sit in their seat, but it was not a very large seat,
+and when Job and his wife, and Sarah Ann and
+Jerry were all there, as they were apt to be, there
+was just room for Nettie without the little girls;
+so she went with them to the seat directly under
+the choir gallery where very few sat. It was
+comfortable enough; she could see the minister
+distinctly, and though she had to stretch out her
+neck to see the choir, she could hear their sweet
+voices; and surely that was enough. All went
+smoothly until the sermon was concluded. Sate
+sat quite still, and if she did not listen to the
+sermon, listened to her own thoughts and
+troubled no one.</p>
+
+<p>But when the anthem began, Sate roused herself.
+That wonderful voice which seemed to fill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>
+every corner of the church! She knew the
+voice; it belonged to her dear teacher. She
+stretched out her little neck, and could catch a
+glimpse of her, standing alone, the rest of the choir
+sitting back, out of sight. And what was that
+she was saying, over and over? "Come unto Me,
+unto Me, unto Me"&mdash;the words were repeated
+in the softest of cadences&mdash;"all ye who are
+weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."
+Sate did not understand those words, certainly
+her little feet were not weary, but there was a
+sweetness about the word "rest" as it floated
+out on the still air, which made her seem to want
+to go, she knew not whither. Then came the
+refrain: "Come unto Me, unto Me," swelling
+and rolling until it filled all the aisles, and dying
+away at last in the tenderest of pleading sounds.
+Sate's heart beat fast, and the color came and
+went on her baby face in a way which would have
+startled Nettie had she not been too intent on her
+own exquisite delight in the music, to remember
+the motionless little girl at her left.</p>
+
+<p>"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me,
+learn of Me," called the sweet voice, and Sate,
+understanding the last of it felt that she wanted
+to learn, and of that One above all others. "For<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span>
+I am meek and lowly of heart"&mdash;she did not
+know what the words meant, but she was drawn,
+drawn. Then, listening, breathless, half resolved,
+came again that wondrous pleading, "Come
+unto Me, unto Me, unto Me." Softly the little
+feet slid down to the carpeted floor, softly they
+stepped on the green and gray mosses which
+gave back no sound; softly they moved down
+the aisle as though they carried a spirit with
+them, and when Nettie, hearing no sound, yet
+turned suddenly as people will, to look after her
+charge, little Sate was gone! Where? Nettie
+did not know, could not conjecture. No sight
+of her in the aisle, not under the seat, not in the
+great church anywhere. The door was open
+into the hall, and poor little tired Sate must
+have slipped away into the sunshine outside.
+Well, no harm could come to her there; she
+would surely wait for them, or, failing in that,
+the road home was direct enough, and nothing
+to trouble her; but how strange in little Sate to
+do it! If it had been Susie, resolute, independent
+Susie always sufficient to herself and a little
+more ready to do as she pleased than any other
+way! But Susie sat up prim and dignified on
+Nettie's right; not very conscious of the music,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span>
+and willing enough to have the service over, but
+conscious that she had on her new shoes, and a
+white dress, and a white bonnet, and looked very
+well indeed. Meantime, little Sate was not out
+in the sunshine. She had not thought of sunshine;
+she had been called; it was not possible
+for her sweet little heart to get away from the
+feeling that some one was calling her, and that
+she wanted to go. What better was there to
+do than follow the voice? So she followed it,
+out into the hall, up the gallery stairs, still softly&mdash;the
+new shoes made no sound on the carpet&mdash;through
+the door which stood ajar, quite to
+the singer's side, there slipped this quiet little
+woman who had left her white bonnet by Nettie,
+and stood with her golden head rippling with
+the sunlight which fell upon it. There was a
+rustle in the choir gallery, a soft stir over the
+church, the sort of sound which people make
+when they are moved by some deep feeling which
+they hardly understand; there was a smile on
+some faces, but it was the kind of smile which
+might be given to a baby angel if it had strayed
+away from heaven to look at something bright
+down here. The tenor singer would have
+drawn away the small form from the soloist, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>
+she put forth a protecting hand and circled the
+child, and sang on, her voice taking sweeter tone,
+if possible, and dying away in such tenderness
+as made the smiles on some faces turn to tears,
+and made the echo linger with them of that last
+tremulous "Come unto Me."</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 343px;">
+<img src="images/facing358.jpg" width="343" height="500" alt="woman and little girl in choir loft" />
+<div class="caption">LITTLE SATE IN THE CHOIR GALLERY.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>But little Sate, when she reached the choir
+gallery, saw something which startled her out of
+her sweet resolute calm. Away on the side, up
+there, where few people were, sat her own
+father; and rolling down his cheeks were tears.
+Sate had never seen her father cry before.
+What was the matter? Had she been naughty,
+and was it making him feel bad? She stole a
+startled glance at the face of her teacher, whose
+arm was still around her and had drawn her toward
+the seat into which she dropped, when the
+song was over. No, <i>her</i> face was quiet and
+sweet; not grieved, as Sate was sure it would
+be, if she had been naughty. Neither did the
+people look cross at her; many of them had
+bowed their heads in prayer, but some were sitting
+erect, looking at her and smiling; surely
+she had made no noise. Why should her
+father cry? She looked at him; he had shaded
+his face with his hand. Was he crying still?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>
+Little Sate thought it over, all in a moment of
+time, then suddenly she slipped away from the
+encircling arm, moved softly across the intervening
+space, into the side gallery, and was at her
+father's side, with her small hand on his sleeve.
+He stooped and took her in his arms, and the
+tears were still in his eyes; but he kissed her,
+and <i>kissed</i> her, as little Sate had never been
+kissed before; she nestled in his arms and felt
+safe and comforted.</p>
+
+<p>The prayer was over, the benediction given,
+and the worshipers moved down the aisles.
+Sate rode comfortably in her father's arms, down
+stairs, out into the hall, outside, in the sunshine,
+waiting for Nettie and for her white sunbonnet.
+Presently Nettie came, hurried, flushed, despite
+her judgment, anxious as to where the bonnetless
+little girl could have vanished. "Why,
+Sate," she began, but the rest of the sentence
+died in astonished silence on her lips, for Sate
+held her father's hand and looked content.</p>
+
+<p>They walked home together, the father and his
+youngest baby, saying nothing, for Sate was one
+of those wise-eyed little children who have spells
+of sweet silence come over them, and Nettie,
+with Susie, walked behind, the elder sister speculating:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>
+"Where did little Sate find father?
+Did he pick her up on the street somewhere, and
+would he be angry, and not let Nettie take her
+to church any more? Or did he, passing, spy
+her in the churchyard and come in for her?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie did not know, and Sate did not tell;
+principally because she did not understand that
+there was anything to tell. So while the people
+in their homes talked and laughed about the
+small white waif who had slipped into the choir,
+the people in this home were entirely silent
+about it, and the mother did not know that anything
+strange had happened. It is true, Susie
+began to inquire reprovingly, but was hushed by
+Nettie's warning whisper; certainly Nettie was
+gaining a wonderful control over the self-sufficient
+Susie. The child respected her almost
+enough to follow her lead unquestioningly, which
+was a great deal for Susie to do.</p>
+
+<p>So they sat together that sweet Sabbath afternoon,
+Nettie telling her Bible stories, and wondering
+how she should plan. What did Norm
+intend to do a little later in the day? What
+was there she could do to keep him from lounging
+down street? Why was her father staying
+so long in the choked-up bedroom? What was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>
+matter with her father these days, and how long
+was anything going to last? Why did she feel,
+someway, as though she stood on the very edge
+of something which startled and almost frightened
+her? Was it because she was afraid her
+father would not let her take Sate and Susie to
+church any more?</p>
+
+<p>With all these thoughts floating through her
+mind, it was rather hard to keep herself closely
+confined to Daniel and his experiences. Suddenly
+the bedroom door opened and her father
+came out. Everybody glanced up, though perhaps
+nobody could have told why. There was
+a peculiar look on his face. Mrs. Decker noticed
+it and did not understand it, and felt her heart
+beat in great thuds against the back of her chair.
+Little Sate noticed it, and went over to him and
+slipped her hand inside his. He sat down in the
+state chair which Nettie and her mother had
+both contrived to have left vacant, and took Sate
+in his arms. This of itself was unusual, but after
+that, there was silence, Sate nestling safely in
+the protective arms and seeming satisfied with
+all the world. Nettie felt her face flush, and her
+bosom heave as if the tears were coming, but
+she could not have told why she wanted to cry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>
+Norm seemed oppressed with the stillness, and
+broke it by whistling softly; also he had a small
+stick and was whittling; it was the only thing
+he could think of to do just now. It was too
+early to go out; the boys would not be through
+with their boarding-house dinners yet. Suddenly
+Mr. Decker broke in on the almost silence.
+"Hannah," he said, then he cleared his voice, and
+was still again, "and you children," he added,
+after a moment, "I've got something to tell you
+if I knew how. Something that I guess you will
+be glad to hear. I've turned over a new leaf at
+last. I've turned it, off and on, in my mind a good
+many times lately, though I don't know as any
+of you knew it. I've been thinking about this
+thing, well, as soon as Nannie there came home,
+at least; but I haven't understood it very well,
+and I s'pose I don't now; but I understand it
+enough to have made up my mind; and that's
+more than half the battle. The long and short
+of it is, I have given myself to the Lord, or he
+has got hold of me, somehow; it isn't much of
+a gift, that's a fact, but the queer thing about it
+is, he seems to think it worth taking. I told
+him last night that if he would show a poor
+stick like me how to do it, why, I'd do my part<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>
+without fail; and this morning he not only
+showed the way plain enough, but he sent my
+little girl to help me along."</p>
+
+<p>The father's voice broke then, and a tear
+trembled in his eye. Sate had held her little
+head erect and looked steadily at him as soon as
+he began to talk, wonder and interest, and some
+sort of still excitement in her face as she listened.
+At his first pause she broke forth:</p>
+
+<p>"Did He mean you, papa, when He said
+'Come unto Me'? Was He calling you, all the
+time? and did you tell Him you would?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, bending and kissing the
+earnest face, "He meant me, and He's been calling
+me loud, this good while; but I never got
+started till to-day. Now I'm going along with
+Him the rest of the way."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so glad," said little Sate, nestling contentedly
+back, "I'm so glad, papa; I'm going
+too."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI.<br />
+
+<small>THE NEW ENTERPRISE.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>ONE bright and never-to-be-forgotten day,
+Nettie and Jerry stood together in the
+"new" room and surveyed with intense satisfaction
+all its appointments. They were ready
+to begin business. On that very evening the
+room was to be "open to the public!" They
+looked at each other as they repeated that
+large-sounding phrase, and laughed gleefully.</div>
+
+<p>There had been a great deal to do to get
+ready. Hours and even days had been spent in
+planning. It astonished both these young people
+to discover how many things there were to
+think of, and get ready for, and guard against,
+before one could go into business. There was
+a time when with each new day, new perplexities
+arose. During those days Jerry had spent
+a good deal of his leisure in fishing; both because
+at the Smiths, and also at the Deckers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span>
+fish were highly prized, and also because, as he
+confided to Nettie, "a fellow could somehow
+think a great deal better when his fingers were
+at work, and when it was still everywhere about
+him."</p>
+
+<p>There were times, however, when his solitude
+was disturbed. There had been one day in
+particular when something happened about
+which he did not tell Nettie. He was in his
+fishing suit, which though clean and whole was
+not exactly the style of dress which a boy would
+wear to a party, and he stood leaning against a
+rail fence, rod in hand, trying to decide whether
+he should try his luck on that side, or jump
+across the logs to a shadier spot; trying also to
+decide just how they could manage to get another
+lamp to stand on the reading table, when
+he heard voices under the trees just back of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>They were whispering in that sort of penetrating
+whisper that floats so far in the open
+air, and which some, girls, particularly, do not
+seem to know can be heard a few feet away.
+Jerry could hear distinctly; in fact unless he
+stopped his ears with his hands he could not
+help hearing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And the old rule, that listeners never hear any
+good of themselves, applied here.</p>
+
+<p>"There's that Jerry who lives at the Smiths',"
+said whisperer number one, "do look what a
+fright; I guess he has borrowed a pair of Job
+Smith's overalls! Isn't it a shame that such a
+nice-looking boy is deserted in that way, and
+left to run with all sorts of people?"</p>
+
+<p>"I heard that he wasn't deserted; that his
+father was only staying out West, or down
+South, or somewhere for awhile."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that's a likely story," said whisperer
+number one, her voice unconsciously growing
+louder. "Just as if any father who was anybody,
+would leave a boy at Job Smith's for months,
+and never come near him. I think it is real
+mean; they say the Smiths keep him at work
+all the while, fishing; he about supports them,
+and the Deckers too, with fish and things."</p>
+
+<p>At this point the amused listener nearly forgot
+himself and whistled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh well, that's as good a way as any to
+spend his time; he knows enough to catch fish
+and do such things, and when he is old enough, I
+suppose he will learn a trade; but I must say I
+think he is a nice-looking fellow."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He would be, if he dressed decently. The
+boys like him real well; they say he is smart;
+and I shouldn't wonder if he was; big eyes
+twinkle as though he might be. If he wouldn't
+keep running with that Decker girl all the time,
+he might be noticed now and then."</p>
+
+<p>At this point came up a third young miss who
+spoke louder. Jerry recognized her voice at once
+as belonging to Lorena Barstow. "Girls, what
+are you doing here? Why, there is that Irish
+boy; I wonder if he wouldn't sell us some fish?
+They say he is very anxious to earn money; I
+should think he would be, to get himself some
+decent clothes. Or maybe he wants to make
+his dear Nan a present."</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a laugh which was quickly
+hushed, lest the victim might hear. But the
+victim had heard, and looked more than amused;
+his eyes flashed with a new idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged, Miss Lorena," he said softly,
+nodding his head. "If I don't act on your hint,
+it will be because I am not so bright as you give
+me credit for being."</p>
+
+<p>Then the first whisperer took up the story:</p>
+
+<p>"Say, girls, I heard that Ermina did really
+mean to invite him to her candy pull, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>
+Decker girl too; she says they both belong to
+the Sunday-school, and she is going to invite all
+the boys and girls of that age in the school, and
+her mother thinks it would not be nice to leave
+them out. You know the Farleys are real
+queer about some things."</p>
+
+<p>Lorena Barstow flamed into a voice which
+was almost loud. "Then I say let's just not
+speak a word to either of them the whole evening.
+Ermina Farley need not think that because
+she lives in a grand house, and her father
+has so much money, she can rule us all. I for
+one, don't mean to associate with a drunkard's
+daughter, and I won't be made to, by the Farleys
+or anybody else."</p>
+
+<p>"Her father isn't a drunkard now. Why,
+don't you know he has joined the church? And
+last Wednesday night they say he was in prayer
+meeting."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, and what does that amount to? My
+father says it won't last six weeks; he says
+drunkards are not to be trusted; they never
+reform. And what if he does? That doesn't
+make Nan Decker anything but a dowdy, not
+fit for us girls to go with; and as for that Irish
+boy! Why doesn't Ermina go down on Paddy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span>
+Lane and invite the whole tribe of Irish if she
+is so fond of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Lora, Ermina will hear you."</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough at that moment came Ermina,
+springing briskly over logs and underbrush.
+"Have I kept you waiting?" she asked gayly.
+"The moss was so lovely back there; I wanted
+to carry the whole of it home to mother. Why,
+girls, there is that boy who sits across from us
+in Sabbath-school.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do?" she said pleasantly, for
+at that moment Jerry turned and came toward
+them, lifting his hat as politely as though it was
+in the latest shape and style.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you had good luck in fishing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very good for this side; the fish are not so
+plenty here generally as they are further up.
+I heard you speaking of fish, Miss Barstow,
+and wondering whether I would not supply
+your people? I should be very glad to do so,
+occasionally; I am a pretty successful fellow so
+far as fishing goes."</p>
+
+<p>You should have seen the cheeks of the whisperers
+then! Ermina looked at them, perplexed
+for a moment, then seeing they answered only
+with blushes and silence <i>she</i> spoke: "Mamma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span>
+would be very glad to get some; she was saying
+yesterday she wished she knew some one of
+whom she could get fish as soon as they were
+caught. Have you some to-day for sale?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three beauties which I would like nothing
+better than to sell, for I am in special need of
+the money just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Ermina promptly, "I am
+sure mamma will like them; could you carry
+them down now? I am on my way home and
+could show you where to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Ermina Farley!" remonstrated Lorena Barstow
+in a low shocked tone, but Ermina only
+said: "Good-by, girls, I shall expect you early
+on Thursday evening," and walked briskly down
+the path toward the road, with Jerry beside
+her, swinging his fish. If the girls could have
+seen his eyes just then, they would have been
+sure that they twinkled.</p>
+
+<p>They had a pleasant walk, and Ermina did
+actually invite him to her candy-pull on Thursday
+evening; not only that, but she asked if he
+would take an invitation from her to Nettie
+Decker. "She lives next door to you, I think,"
+said Ermina, "I would like very much to have
+her come; I think she is so pleasant and unselfish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span>
+It is just a few boys and girls of our age,
+in the Sunday-school."</p>
+
+<p>How glad Jerry was that she had invited
+them! He had been so afraid that her courage
+would not be equal to it. Glad was he also to
+be able to say, frankly, that both he and Nettie
+had an engagement for Thursday evening; he
+would be sure to give Nettie the invitation, but
+he knew she could not come. Of course she
+could not, he said to himself; "Isn't that our
+opening evening?" But all the same it was
+very nice in Ermina Farley to have invited
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is another lamp for the table," said
+Jerry gayly, as he rushed into the new room an
+hour later and tossed down a shining silver
+dollar. He had exchanged the fish for it.
+Then he sat down and told part of their story
+to Nettie. About the whisperers, however, he
+kept silent. What was the use in telling that?</p>
+
+<p>But from them he had gotten another idea.
+"Look here, Nettie, some evening we'll have a
+candy-pull, early, with just a few to help, and
+sell it cheap to customers."</p>
+
+<p>So now they stood together in the room to
+see if there was another thing to be done before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span>
+the opening. A row of shelves planed and
+fitted by Norm were ranged two thirds of the
+way up the room and on them were displayed
+tempting pans of ginger cookies, doughnuts,
+molasses cookies, and soft gingerbread. Sandwiches
+made of good bread, and nice slices of
+ham, were shut into the corner cupboard to
+keep from drying; there was also a plate of
+cheese which was a present from Mrs. Smith.
+She had sent it in with the explanation that it
+would be a blessing to her if that cheese could
+get eaten by somebody; she bought it once, a
+purpose, as a treat for Job, and it seemed it
+wasn't the kind he liked, and none of the rest
+of them liked any kind, so there it had stood
+on the shelf eying her for days. There was to
+be coffee; Nettie had planned for that. "Because,"
+she explained, "they <i>all</i> drink beer;
+and things to eat, can never take the place of
+things to drink."</p>
+
+<p>It had been a difficult matter to get the
+materials together for this beginning. All the
+money which came in from the "little old
+grandmothers," as well as that which Jerry contributed,
+had been spent in flour, and sugar,
+and eggs and milk. Nettie was amazed and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span>
+dismayed to find how much even soft gingerbread
+cost, when every pan of it had to be
+counted in money. A good deal of arithmetic
+had been spent on the question: How low can
+we possibly sell this, and not actually lose
+money by it? Of course some allowance had
+to be made for waste. "We'll have to name it
+waste," explained Nettie with an anxious face,
+"because it won't bring in any money; but of
+course not a scrap of it will be wasted; but
+what is left over and gets too dry to sell, we
+shall have to eat."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry shook his head. "We must sell it," he
+said with the air of a financier. Then he went
+away thoughtfully to consult Mrs. Job, and
+came back triumphant. She would take for a
+week at half price, all the stale cake they might
+have left. "That means gingercake," he explained,
+"she says the cookies and things will
+keep for weeks, without getting too old."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure enough!" said radiant Nettie, "I did
+not think of that."</p>
+
+<p>There were other things to think of; some of
+them greatly perplexed Jerry; he had to catch
+many fish before they were thought out. Then
+he came with his views to Nettie.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"See here, do you understand about this firm
+business; it must be you and me, you know?"</p>
+
+<p>Nettie's bright face clouded. "Why, I
+thought," she said, speaking slowly, "I thought
+you said, or you meant&mdash;I mean I thought it
+was to help Norm; and that he would be a
+partner."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry shook his head. "Can't do it," he
+said decidedly. "Look here, Nettie, we'll get
+into trouble right away if we take in a partner.
+He believes in drinking beer, and smoking
+cigarettes, and doing things of that sort; now
+if he as a partner introduces anything of the
+kind, what are we to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure enough!" the tone expressed conviction,
+but not relief. "Then what are we to do,
+Jerry? I don't see how we are going to help
+Norm any."</p>
+
+<p>"I do; quite as well as though he was a partner.
+Norm is a good-natured fellow; he likes
+to help people. I think he likes to do things
+for others better than for himself. If we explain
+to him that we want to go into this business,
+and that you can't wait on customers, because
+you are a girl, and it wouldn't be the thing, and
+I can't, because it is in your house, and I promised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span>
+my father I would spend my evenings at
+home, and write a piece of a letter to him every
+evening; and ask him to come to the rescue
+and keep the room open, and sell the things for
+us, don't you believe he will be twice as likely
+to do it as though we made him as young as
+ourselves, and tried to be his equals?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Nettie's face was bright. "What a contriver
+you are!" she said admiringly. "I think
+that will do just splendidly."</p>
+
+<p>She was right, it did. Norm might have
+curled his lip and said "pooh" to the scheme,
+had he been placed on an equality; for he was
+getting to the age when to be considered young,
+or childish, is a crime in a boy's eyes. But to
+be appealed to as one who could help the
+"young fry" out of their dilemma, and at the
+same time provide himself with a very pleasant
+place to stay, and very congenial employment
+while he stayed, was quite to Norm's mind.</p>
+
+<p>And as it was an affair of the children's, he
+made no suggestions about beer or cigars; it is
+true he thought of them, but he thought at
+once that neither Nettie or Jerry would probably
+have anything to do with them, and as he
+had no dignity to sustain, he decided to not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span>
+even mention the matter. These two planned
+really better than they knew in appealing to
+Norm for help. His curious pride would never
+have allowed him to say to a boy, "We keep
+cakes and coffee for sale at our house; come in
+and try them." But it was entirely within the
+line of his ideas of respectability to say: "What
+do you think those two young ones over at our
+house have thought up next? They have opened
+an eating-house, cakes and things such as my
+sister can make, and coffee, dirt cheap. I've
+promised to run the thing for them in the evening
+awhile; I suppose you'll patronize them?"</p>
+
+<p>And the boys, who would have sneered at <i>his</i>
+setting himself up in business, answered:
+"What, the little chap who lives at Smith's?
+And your little sister! Ho! what a notion!
+I don't know but it is a bright one, though, as
+sure as you live. There isn't a spot in this
+town where a fellow can get a decent bite unless
+he pays his week's wages for it; boys, let's
+go around and see what the little chaps are
+about."</p>
+
+<p>The very first evening was a success.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie had assured herself that she must not
+be disappointed if no one came, at first.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You see, it is a new thing," she explained
+to her mother, "of course it will take them a
+little while to get acquainted with it; if nobody
+at all comes to-night, I shall not be disappointed.
+Shall you, Jerry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," said Jerry, "I should; because I
+know of one boy who is coming, and is going
+to have a ginger-snap and a glass of milk. And
+that is little Ted Locker who lives down the
+lane; they about starve that boy. I shall like
+to see him get something good. He has three
+cents and I assured him he could get a brimming
+glass of milk and a ginger-snap for that.
+He was as delighted as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fellow!" said Nettie, "I mean to tell
+Norm to let him have two snaps, wouldn't
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>And Jerry agreed, not stopping to explain
+that he had furnished the three cents with which
+Ted was to treat his poor little stomach. So
+the work began in benevolence.</p>
+
+<p>Still Nettie was anxious, not to say nervous.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have to eat soft gingerbread at
+your house, for breakfast, dinner and supper, I
+am afraid," she said to Jerry with a half laugh,
+as they stood looking at it. "I don't know why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span>
+I made four tins of it; I seemed to get in a
+gale when I was making it."</p>
+
+<p>"Never you fear," said Jerry, cheerily. "I'll
+be willing to eat such gingerbread as that three
+times a day for a week. Between you and me,"
+lowering his voice, "Sarah Ann can't make very
+good gingerbread; when we get such a run of
+custom that we have none left over to sell, I
+wish you'd teach her how."</p>
+
+<p>I do not know that any member of the two
+households could be said to be more interested
+in the new enterprise than Mr. Decker. He
+helped set up the shelves, and he made a little
+corner shelf on purpose for the lamp, and he
+watched the entire preparations with an interest
+which warmed Nettie's heart. I haven't said
+anything about Mr. Decker during these days,
+because I found it hard to say. You are acquainted
+with him as a sour-faced, unreasonable,
+beer-drinking man; when suddenly he became
+a man who said "Good morning" when he came
+into the room, and who sat down smooth shaven,
+and with quiet eyes and smile to his breakfast,
+and spoke gently to Susie when she tipped her
+cup of water over, and kissed little Sate when
+he lifted her to her seat, and waited for Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>
+Decker to bring the coffee pot, then bowed his
+head and in clear tones asked a blessing on the
+food, how am I to describe him to you? The
+change was something which even Mrs. Decker
+who watched him every minute he was in the
+house and thought of him all day long, could
+not get accustomed to. It astonished her so
+to think that she, Mrs. Decker, lived in a house
+where there was a prayer made every night and
+morning, and where each evening after supper
+Nettie read a few verses in the Bible, and her
+father prayed; that every time she passed her
+own mother's Bible which had been brought out
+of its hiding-place in an old trunk, she said,
+under her breath, "Thank the Lord." No, she
+did not understand it, the marvelous change
+which had come over her husband. She had
+known him as a kind man; he had been that
+when she married him, and for a few months
+afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>She had heard him speak pleasantly to Norm,
+and show him much attention; he had done
+it before they were married, and for awhile
+afterwards; but there was a look in his face,
+and a sound in his voice now, such as she had
+never seen nor heard before.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It isn't Decker," she said in a burst of confidence
+to Nettie. "He is just as good as he
+can be; and I don't know anything in the world
+he ain't willing to do for me, or for any of us;
+and it is beautiful, the whole of it; but it is all
+new. I used to think if the man I married
+could only come back to me I should be perfectly
+happy; but I don't know this man at all;
+he seems to me sometimes most like an angel."</p>
+
+<p>Probably you would have laughed at this.
+Joe Decker did not look in the least like the
+picture you have in your mind of an angel;
+but perhaps if you had known him only a few
+weeks before, as Mrs. Decker did, and could
+have seen the wonderful change in him which
+she saw, the contrast might even have suggested
+angels.</p>
+
+<p>Nettie understood it. She struggled with
+her timidity and her ignorance of just what
+ought to be said; then she made her earnest
+reply:</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I'll tell you the difference. Father
+prays, and when people pray, you know, and
+mean it, as he does, they get to looking very
+different."</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Decker did not pray.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII.<br />
+
+<small>TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>AS a matter of fact there wasn't a cake
+left. Neither doughnut nor gingersnap;
+hardly a crumb to tell the successful tale.
+Nettie surveyed the empty shelves the next
+morning in astonishment. She had been too
+busy the night before to realize how fast things
+were going. Naturally the number and variety
+of dishes in the Decker household was limited
+and the evening to Nettie was a confused
+murmur of, "Hand us some more cups."
+"Can't you raise a few more teaspoons somewhere?"
+"Give us another plate," or, "More
+doughnuts needed;" and Nettie flew hither and
+thither, washed cups, rinsed spoons, said, "What
+did I do with that towel?" or, "Where in the
+world is the bread knife?" or, "Oh! I smell
+the coffee! maybe it is boiling over," and was
+conscious of nothing but weariness and relief<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span>
+when the last cup of coffee was drank, and the
+last teaspoon washed.</div>
+
+<p>But with the next morning's sunshine she
+knew the opening was a success. She counted
+the gains with eager joy, assuring Jerry that
+they could have twice as much gingerbread next
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"And you'll need it," said Norm. "I had to
+tell half a dozen boys that there wasn't a crumb
+left. I felt sorry for 'em, too; they were boarding-house
+fellows who never get anything decent
+to eat."</p>
+
+<p>Already Norm had apparently forgotten that
+he was one who used frequently to make a similar
+complaint.</p>
+
+<p>There was a rarely sweet smile on Nettie's
+face, not born of the chink in the factory bag
+which she had made for the money; it grew
+from the thought that she need not hide the bag
+now, and tremble lest it should be taken to the
+saloon to pay for whiskey. What a little time
+ago it was that she had feared that! What a
+changed world it was!</p>
+
+<p>"But there won't be such a crowd again,"
+she said as they were putting the room in order,
+"that was the first night."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said that wise woman Susie with
+a significant toss of her head; "last night you
+said we mustn't expect anybody because it was
+the first night."</p>
+
+<p>Then "the firm" had a hearty laugh at Nettie's
+expense and set to work preparing for evening.</p>
+
+<p>I am not going to tell you the story of that
+summer and fall. It was beautiful; as any of
+the Deckers will tell you with eager eyes and
+voluble voice if you call on them, and start the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>The business grew and grew, and exceeded
+their most sanguine expectations. Mr. Decker
+interested himself in it most heartily, and
+brought often an old acquaintance to get a cup
+of coffee. "Make it good and strong," he
+would say to Nettie in an earnest whisper.
+"He's thirsty, and I brought him here instead
+of going for beer. I wish the room was larger,
+and I'd get others to come."</p>
+
+<p>In time, and indeed in a very short space of
+time, this grew to be the crying need of the
+firm: "If we only had more room, and more
+dishes!" There was a certain long, low building
+which had once been used as a boarding-house<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span>
+for the factory hands, before that institution
+grew large and moved into new quarters, and
+which was not now in use. At this building
+Jerry and Nettie, and for that matter, Norm,
+looked with longing eyes. They named it "Our
+Rooms," and hardly ever passed that they did
+not suggest some improvement in it which could
+be easily made, and which would make it just
+the thing for their business. They knew just
+what sort of curtains they would have at the
+windows, just what furnishings in front and
+back rooms, just how many lamps would be
+needed. "We will have a hanging lamp over
+the centre table," said Jerry. "One of those
+new-fashioned things which shine and give a
+bright light, almost like gas; and lots of books
+and papers for the boys to read."</p>
+
+<p>"But where would we get the books and
+papers?" would Nettie say, with an anxious
+business face, as though the room, and the
+table, and the hanging lamp, were arranged for,
+and the last-mentioned articles all that were
+needed to complete the list.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! they would gather, little by little. I
+know some people who would donate great
+piles of them if we had a place to put them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span>
+For that matter, as it is, father is going to send
+us some picture-papers, a great bundle of them;
+send them by express, and we must have a table
+to put them on."</p>
+
+<p>So the plans grew, but constantly they looked
+at the long, low building and said what a nice
+place it would be.</p>
+
+<p>One morning Jerry came across the yard with
+a grave face. "What do you think?" he said,
+the moment he caught sight of Nettie. "They
+have gone and rented our rooms for a horrid
+old saloon; whiskey in front, and gambling in
+the back part! Isn't it a shame that they have
+got ahead of us in that kind of way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear me!" said Nettie, drawing out each
+word to twice its usual length, and sitting down
+on a corner of the woodbox with hands clasped
+over the dish towel, and for the moment a look
+on her face as though all was lost.</p>
+
+<p>But it was the very same day that Jerry
+appeared again, his face beaming. This time it
+was hard to make Nettie hear, for Mrs. Decker
+was washing, and mingling with the rapid rub-a-dub
+of the clothes was the sizzle of ham in
+the spider, and the bubble of a kettle which
+was bent on boiling over, and making the half-distracted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span>
+housekeeper all the trouble it could.
+Yet his news was too good to keep; and he
+shouted above the din: "I say, Nettie, the man
+has backed out! Our rooms are not rented,
+after all."</p>
+
+<p>"Goody!" said Nettie, and she smiled on the
+kettle in a way to make it think she did not
+care if everything in it boiled over on the floor;
+whereupon it calmed down, of course, and behaved
+itself.</p>
+
+<p>So the weeks passed, and the enterprise grew
+and flourished. I hope you remember Mrs.
+Speckle? Very early in the autumn she sent
+every one of her chicks out into the world to
+toil for themselves and began business. Each
+morning a good-sized, yellow-tinted, warm, beautiful
+egg lay in the nest waiting for Jerry; and
+when he came, Mrs. Speckle cackled the news
+to him in the most interested way.</p>
+
+<p>"She couldn't do better if she were a regularly
+constituted member of the firm with a
+share in the profits," said Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>The egg was daily carried to Mrs. Farley's,
+where there was an invalid daughter, who had
+a fancy for that warm, plump egg which came
+to her each morning, done up daintily in pink<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span>
+cotton, and laid in a box just large enough for
+it. But there came a morning which was a
+proud one to Nettie. Jerry had returned from
+Mrs. Farley's with news. "The sick daughter
+is going South; she has an auntie who is to
+spend the winter in Florida, so they have decided
+to send her. They start to-morrow morning.
+Mrs. Farley said they would take our
+eggs all the same, and she wished Miss Helen
+could have them; but somebody else would
+have to eat them for her."</p>
+
+<p>Then Nettie, beaming with pleasure, "Jerry,
+I wish you would tell Mrs. Farley that we can't
+spare them any more at present; I would have
+told you before, but I didn't want to take the
+egg from Miss Helen; I want to buy them
+now, every other morning, for mother and
+father; mother thinks there is nothing nicer
+than a fresh egg, and I know father will be
+pleased."</p>
+
+<p>What satisfaction was in Nettie's voice,
+what joy in her heart! Oh! they were poor,
+very poor, "miserably poor" Lorena Barstow
+called them, but they had already reached the
+point where Nettie felt justified in planning for
+a fresh egg apiece for father and mother, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span>
+knew that it could be paid for. So Mrs. Speckle
+began from that day to keep the results of her
+industry in the home circle, and grew more
+important because of that.</p>
+
+<p>Almost every day now brought surprises. One
+of the largest of them was connected with Susie
+Decker. That young woman from the very first
+had shown a commendable interest in everything
+pertaining to the business. She patiently did
+errands for it, in all sorts of weather, and was
+always ready to dust shelves, arrange cookies
+without eating so much as a bite, and even wipe
+teaspoons, a task which she used to think beneath
+her. "If you can't trust me with things
+that would smash," she used to say with scornful
+gravity, to Nettie, "then you can't expect
+me to be willing to wipe those tough spoons."</p>
+
+<p>But in these days, spoons were taken uncomplainingly.
+Susie had a business head, and was
+already learning to count pennies and add them
+to the five and ten cent pieces; and when Jerry
+said approvingly: "One of these days, she will
+be our treasurer," the faintest shadow of a
+blush would appear on Susie's face, but she
+always went on counting gravely, with an air
+of one who had not heard a word.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On a certain stormy, windy day, one of
+November's worst, it was discovered late in the
+afternoon that the molasses jug was empty, and
+the boys had been promised some molasses candy
+that very evening.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do?" asked Nettie, looking
+perplexed, and standing jug in hand in the middle
+of the room. "Jerry won't be home in
+time to get it, and I can't leave those cakes to
+bake themselves; mother, you don't think you
+could see to them a little while till I run to the
+grocery, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Decker shook her head, but spoke sympathetically:
+"I'd do it in a minute, child, or I'd
+go for the molasses, but these shirts are very
+particular; I never had such fine ones to iron
+before, and the irons are just right, and if I
+should have to leave the bosoms at the wrong
+minute to look at the cakes, why, it would spoil
+the bosoms; and on the other hand, if I left
+the cakes and saved the bosoms, why, they would
+be spoiled."</p>
+
+<p>This seemed logical reasoning. Susie, perched
+on a high chair in front of the table, was counting
+a large pile of pennies, putting them in
+heaps of twenty-five cents each. She waited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span>
+until her fourth heap was complete, then looked
+up. "Why don't you ask me to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure enough!" said Nettie, laughing, "I'd
+'ask' you in a minute if it didn't rain so hard;
+but it seems a pretty stormy day to send out a
+little chicken like you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not a chicken, and I'm not the leastest
+bit afraid of rain; I can go as well as not if
+you only think so."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it will hurt her!" said Mrs.
+Decker, glancing doubtfully out at the sullen
+sky. "It doesn't rain so hard as it did, and she
+has such a nice thick sack now."</p>
+
+<p>It was nice, made of heavy waterproof cloth,
+with a lovely woolly trimming going all around
+it. Susie liked that sack almost better than
+anything else in the world. Her mother had
+bought it second-hand of a woman whose little
+girl had outgrown it; the mother had washed
+all day and ironed another day to pay for it, and
+felt the liveliest delight in seeing Susie in the
+pretty garment.</p>
+
+<p>The rain seemed to be quieting a little, so
+presently the young woman was robed in sack
+and waterproof bonnet with a cape, and started
+on her way.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Half-way to the grocery she met Jerry hastening
+home from school with a bag of books
+slung across his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it so late as that?" asked Susie in dismay.
+"Nettie thought you wouldn't be at
+home in a good while; the candy won't get
+done."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is as early as this," he answered laughing;
+"we were dismissed an hour earlier than
+usual this afternoon. Where are you going?
+after molasses? See here, suppose you give me
+the jug and you take my books and scud home.
+There is a big storm coming on; I think the
+wind is going to blow, and I'm afraid it will
+twist you all up and pour the molasses over
+you. Then you'd be ever so sticky!"</p>
+
+<p>Susie laughed and exchanged not unwillingly
+the heavy jug for the books. There had been
+quite wind enough since she started, and if
+there was to be more, she had no mind to brave
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"If you hurry," called Jerry, "I think you'll
+get home before the next squall comes." So
+she hurried; but Jerry was mistaken. The
+squall came with all its force, and poor small
+Susie was twisted and whirled and lost her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span>
+breath almost, and panted and struggled on, and
+was only too thankful that she hadn't the molasses
+jug.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly opposite the Farley home, their side
+door suddenly opened and a pleasant voice
+called: "Little girl, come in here, and wait
+until the shower is over; you will be wet to the
+skin."</p>
+
+<p>It is true Susie did not believe that her waterproof
+sack <i>could</i> be wet through, but that
+dreadful wind so frightened her, twisting the
+trees as it did, that she was glad to obey the
+kind voice and rush into shelter.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it is Nettie's sister, I do believe!"
+said Ermina Farley, helping her off with the
+dripping hood.</p>
+
+<p>"You dear little mouse, what sent you out in
+such a storm?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Susie not liking the idea of being a
+mouse much more than she did being a chicken,
+answered with dignity, and becoming brevity.</p>
+
+<p>"Molasses candy!" said Mrs. Farley, laughing,
+yet with an undertone of disapproval in
+her voice which keen-minded Susie heard and
+felt, "I shouldn't think that was a necessity of
+life on such a day as this."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is if you have promised it to some boys
+who don't ever have anything nice only what
+they get at our house; and who save their pennies
+that they spend on beer, and cider, and
+cigars to get it."</p>
+
+<p>Wise Susie, indignation in every word, yet
+well controlled, and aware before she finished
+her sentence that she was deeply interesting her
+audience! How they questioned her! What
+was this? Who did it? Who thought of it?
+When did they begin it? Who came? How
+did they get the money to buy their things?
+Susie, thoroughly posted, thoroughly in sympathy
+with the entire movement, calm, collected,
+keen far beyond her years, answered clearly
+and well. Plainly she saw that this lady in a
+silken gown was interested.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if this isn't a revelation!" said Mrs.
+Farley at last. "A young men's Christian
+association not only, but an eating-house flourishing
+right in our midst and we knowing nothing
+about it. Did you know anything of it,
+daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," said Ermina. "But I knew
+that splendid Nettie was trying to do something
+for her brother; and that nice boy who used to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span>
+bring eggs was helping her; it is just like them
+both. I don't believe there is a nicer girl in
+town than Nettie Decker."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Farley seemed unable to give up the
+subject. She asked many questions as to how
+long the boys stayed, and what they did all the
+time.</p>
+
+<p>Susie explained: "Well, they eat, you know;
+and Norm doesn't hurry them; he says they
+have to pitch the things down fast where they
+board, to keep them from freezing; and our
+room is warm, because we keep the kitchen
+door open, and the heat goes in; but we don't
+know what we shall do when the weather gets
+real cold; and after they have eaten all the
+things they can pay for, they look at the pictures.
+Jerry's father sends him picture papers,
+and Mr. Sherrill brings some, most every day.
+Miss Sherrill is coming Thanksgiving night to
+sing for them; and Nettie says if we only had
+an organ she would play beautiful music. We
+want to give them a treat for Thanksgiving;
+we mean to do it without any pay at all if we
+can; and father thinks we can, because he is
+working nights this week, and getting extra
+pay; and Jerry thinks there will be two chickens<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span>
+ready; and Nettie wishes we could have an
+organ for a little while, just for Norm, because
+he loves music so, but of course we can't."</p>
+
+<p>Long before this sentence was finished,
+Ermina and her mother had exchanged glances
+which Susie, being intent on her story, did not
+see.</p>
+
+<p>She was a wise little woman of business;
+what if Mrs. Farley should say: "Well, I will
+give you a chicken myself for the Thanksgiving
+time, and a whole peck of apples!" then indeed,
+Susie believed that their joy would be
+complete; for Nettie had said, if they could
+only afford three chickens she believed that
+with a lot of crust she could make chicken pie
+enough for them each to have a large piece, hot;
+not all the boys, of course, but the seven or
+eight who worked in Norm's shop and boarded
+at the dreary boarding-house; they would so
+like to give Norm a surprise for his birthday,
+and have a treat say at six o'clock for all of
+these; for this year Thanksgiving fell on Norm's
+birthday. The storm held up after a little, and
+Susie, trudging home, a trifle disgusted with
+Mrs. Farley because she said not a word about
+the peck of apples or the other chicken, was met<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span>
+by Jerry coming in search of her. The molasses
+was boiling over, he told her, and so was her
+mother, with anxiety lest the wind had taken
+her, Susie, up in a tree, and had forgotten to
+bring her down again. He hurried her home
+between the squalls, and Susie quietly resolved
+to say not a word about all the things she had
+told at the Farley home. What if Nettie should
+think she hadn't been womanly to talk so much
+about what they were doing! If there was one
+thing that this young woman had a horror of
+during these days, it was that Nettie would
+think she was not womanly. The desire, nay,
+the determination to be so, at all costs had well
+nigh cured her of her fits of rage and screaming,
+because in one of her calm moments Nettie
+had pointed out to her the fact that she never
+in her life heard a <i>woman</i> scream like that.
+Susie being a logical person, argued the rest of
+the matter out for herself, and resolved to
+scream and stamp her foot no more.</p>
+
+<p>Great was the astonishment of the Decker
+family, next morning. Mrs. Farley herself came
+to call on them. She wanted some plain ironing
+done that afternoon. Yes, Mrs. Decker
+would do it and be glad to; it was a leisure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span>
+afternoon with her. Mrs. Farley wanted something
+more! she wanted to know about the
+business in which Nettie and her young friend
+next door were engaged; and Susie listened
+breathlessly, for fear it would appear that she
+had told more than she ought. But Mrs. Farley
+kept her own counsel, only questioning Nettie
+closely, and at last she made a proposition
+that had well nigh been the ruin of the tin of
+cookies which Nettie was taking from the oven.
+She dropped the tin!</p>
+
+<p>"Did you burn you, child?" asked Mrs.
+Decker, rushing forward.</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," said Nettie, laughing, and trying
+not to laugh, and wanting to cry, and being
+too amazed to do so. "But I was so surprised
+and so almost scared, that they dropped.</p>
+
+<p>"O Mrs. Farley, we have wanted that more
+than anything else in the world; ever since
+Mr. Sherrill saw how my brother Norman
+loved music, and said it might be the saving of
+him; Jerry and I have planned and planned,
+but we never thought of being able to do it for
+a long, long time."</p>
+
+<p>Yet all this joy was over an old, somewhat
+wheezy little house organ which stood in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>
+second-story unused room of Mrs. Farley's
+house, and which she had threatened to send
+to the city auction rooms to get out of the
+way.</p>
+
+<p>She offered to lend it to Nettie for her
+"Rooms," and Nettie's gratitude was so great
+that the blood seemed inclined to leave her
+face entirely for a minute, then thought better
+of it and rolled over it in waves.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.<br />
+
+<small>THE CROWNING WONDER.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>AND they did have the Thanksgiving supper!</div>
+
+<p>It seemed wonderful to Nettie, even then,
+and long afterwards the wonder grew, that
+so many things occurred about that time to
+help the scheme along. At first it was to be
+a very simple little affair; two of the boys,
+Rick for instance, and Alf, invited to come in
+an hour or so before the room was open for
+the evening, and have a little supper by themselves&mdash;a
+chicken, and possibly some cranberry
+sauce if she could compass it, though
+cranberries were very expensive at that season,
+and besides, they ate sugar in a way which was
+perfectly alarming! A pie of some sort she had
+quite set her heart on, but whether it would be
+pumpkin or not, depended on how they succeeded
+in saving up for extra milk. The circumstances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span>
+of the Deckers were changing steadily, but when
+a man has tumbled to the foot of a hill, and
+lain there quite awhile, it is generally a slow
+process to get up and climb back to where he
+was before.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Decker's wages were good, and in time
+he expected to be able to support his family in
+at least ordinary comfort; but when he came
+fully to his senses, he stood for awhile appalled
+before the number of things which had been
+sold to pay his bill at the saloon, and the number
+of things which in the meantime had worn
+out, and not been replaced by new ones; then
+the rent was two months back, and Job Smith
+had been all that stood between him and a home.
+There was a great deal to do if the Deckers
+were to get back to the place from which they
+began to roll down hill; so extra expenses for
+cranberries, or even milk, were not to be thought
+of, if they must be drawn from the family funds.</p>
+
+<p>The business of the firm was flourishing; but
+you must remember that the central feature of
+the enterprise was to keep prices very low, lower
+than beer and bad cigars, and the enterprise of
+the dealers in these things is so great, that if
+you are willing to put up with the meanest sorts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span>
+you can always get them very low indeed. To
+compete with them, Jerry and Nettie had to
+study the most rigid economy to keep their
+shelves supplied, and even to sometimes "shut
+their eyes and make a reckless dash at apples or
+peanuts, regardless of expense." This was the
+way in which Jerry occasionally apologized for
+an extra quantity of these luxuries.</p>
+
+<p>Still, in the most interesting ways the Thanksgiving
+supper grew. Mrs. Decker secured within
+a week of the time, an unexpected ironing
+which she could do in two evenings, and she
+it was who proposed the wild scheme of having
+two chickens and having them hot, and stuffing
+them with bread crumbs as she used to do years
+ago, and having gravy and some baked potatoes.
+She agreed to furnish the extra potatoes, and a
+few turnips, just to make it feel like Thanksgiving.
+Nettie was astonished, but pleased. It
+would be more work, but what of that? Think
+of being able to make a real supper for Norm's
+birthday! Then Mrs. Smith at just the right
+moment had a present of two pumpkins from
+her country friends; as they could never make
+away with two pumpkins before they would
+spoil, of course the Deckers must take part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span>
+one, at least. About that time the minister
+bought a cow, and what did he do but come
+himself one night to know if Mrs. Decker had
+any use for skimmed milk; they were very fond
+of cream at their house, and skimmed milk gathered
+faster than they knew what to do with it.</p>
+
+<p>"Any use for skim milk!" Mrs. Decker
+could only repeat the words in a kind of ecstasy
+at her good luck, and she almost wondered that
+the yellow pumpkin standing behind the door
+in the closet did not laugh outright.</p>
+
+<p>But the crowning wonder came, after all, on
+the morning before the eventful day. Jake, the
+Farleys' man of all work, brought it in a basket
+which was large and closely covered, and very
+heavy looking. It was left at the door with
+Susie, who went to answer the knock, "For
+Miss Nettie." Susie repeated the name with a
+lingering tone as though she liked the sound
+of the unusual prefix. Then they gathered
+about the basket. A great solemn-looking turkey
+with a note in his mouth, which said: "A
+Thanksgiving token for Nettie, from her friend
+<span class="smcap">Ermina Farley</span>."</p>
+
+<p>A turkey in the Decker oven! Mr. Decker
+surveyed the great fellow in silence for a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span>
+minutes, then said impressively, "If we don't
+have a new cook stove before another Thanksgiving
+day comes around, my name is not
+Decker."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Job Smith left her pies half-made, and
+ran in, in a friendly way, to see the wonder;
+and at once remarked that he would exactly fit
+into their oven, and she wasn't going to cook
+their turkey till the day afterwards, because
+they had got to go to Job's uncle's for Thanksgiving;
+so that matter was settled. It was
+then that the Deckers decided to make a reckless
+plunge into society and invite every boy in
+Norm's shop to a three o'clock dinner, with turkey
+and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie and
+turnip, and all the rest.</p>
+
+<p>What a day it was! They grew nearly wild
+in their efforts to keep all the secrets from
+Norm, and act as though nothing unusual was
+happening. Especially was this the case after
+the morning express brought a package for Nettie
+from her dear old home, with two mince
+pies, and a box of Auntie Marshall's doughnuts,
+and a bag of nuts, and as much as two pounds
+of the loveliest candy she ever saw; sent by the
+young man of the home who was clerk in a wholesale<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span>
+confectioner's. It took Mrs. Decker and
+Nettie not five minutes to resolve, looking curiously
+into each other's faces the while to see if
+they really had become insane, that they would
+have a regular dessert following the dinner!</p>
+
+<p>"It is only once a year," said Nettie apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>"It is only once in five years!" said Mrs.
+Decker solemnly. "I haven't had a Thanksgiving
+in five years, child; and I never expected
+to have another."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody was busy all day long. Mrs.
+Smith was in and out, helping as faithfully as
+though Norm was her boy, and Sarah Ann just
+gave herself up to the importance of the occasion,
+and did not go to her uncle's at all. "I can go
+there any time," she said good naturedly, "or
+no time; they always forget that we are alive till
+Thanksgiving Day, and then they ask us because
+they kind of think they've got to. Uncle Jed is
+a clerk, and his wife makes dresses for the folks
+on Belmont street, and they feel stuck up four
+feet above us; I'd rather eat cold pork and potatoes
+at home than to go there any day. I'm
+dreadful glad of an excuse that father thinks is
+worth giving."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Susie was a young woman of importance that
+day. Nettie, who had discovered exactly how
+to manage her, gave her work to do which suited
+her ideas of what a grown person like herself
+ought to be about; and when she wanted the
+table cleared from the picture papers of the
+night before, instead of telling Miss Susie to fold
+them away, said, "What do you think, Susie,
+would it be best for us to fold these papers away
+in the closet for to-day, and have this table left
+clear for the nuts and the candies?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Susie, with her grown-up air, "I
+think it would; I'll attend to it." And she did
+it beautifully.</p>
+
+<p>"It is well we have no little bits of folks
+around," said Nettie, when the nuts were being
+cracked, "they would be tempted to eat some,
+and then I'm afraid we would not have enough
+to go around." And Susie, gravely assenting to
+this theory, arranged the nuts in Mrs. Smith's
+blue saucers, an equal number in each, and ate
+not one!</p>
+
+<p>Little Sate went with Jerry to give the invitations
+to the boys, and to charge them to keep
+the whole thing a profound secret from Norm;
+they came home by way of the Farley woods,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span>
+and little Sate appeared at the door with her
+arms laden with such lovely branches of autumn
+leaves, that Nettie exclaimed in wild delight,
+and left her turnips half-peeled to help adorn
+the walls of the front room. This suggested
+the idea, and by three o'clock that room was a
+bower of beauty. Red and golden and lovely
+brown leaves mixed in with the evergreen tassels
+of the pines, with here and there pine cones,
+and red berries peeping out from everywhere.
+"You little darling," said Nettie, kissing Sate,
+"you have made a picture of it, like what they
+paint on canvas, only a thousand times lovelier."</p>
+
+<p>And Sate, looking on, with her wide sweet
+eyes aglow with feeling, fitted the picture well.</p>
+
+<p>So the feast was spread, and the astonished
+and hungry boys came, and feasted. And
+Norm, too astonished at first to take it in, began
+presently to understand that all this preparation
+and delight were in honor of his birthday!
+And though he said not a word, aloud, he kept
+up in his soul a steady line of thought; the centre
+of which was this:</p>
+
+<p>"I don't deserve it, that's a fact; there's
+mother doing everything for me, and Nettie
+working like a slave, and the children going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span>
+without things to give me a treat. I'll be in a
+better fix to keep a birthday before it gets
+around again, see if I'm not!"</p>
+
+<p>His was not the only thinking which was done
+that day. Rick, merry enough all the afternoon,
+and enjoying his dinner as well as it was possible
+for a hungry fellow to do, nevertheless had
+a sober look on his face more than once, and
+said as he shook hands with Norm at night:
+"I'll tell you what it is, my boy, if I had your
+kind of a home, and folks, I'd be worth something
+in the world; I would, so. I ain't sure,
+between you and me, but I shall, anyhow; just
+for the sake of getting into such Thanksgiving
+houses once in awhile. By and by a fellow will
+have to carry himself pretty straight, or that
+sister of yours won't have nothing to do with
+him; I can see that in her eyes."</p>
+
+<p>Then he went home. And cold though his
+room was he sat down, even after he had pulled
+off his coat, as a memory of some thoughtful
+word of Nettie's came over him, and went all
+over it again; then he brought his hard hand
+down with a thud on the rickety table, on
+which he leaned and said: "As sure as you live,
+and breathe the breath of life, old fellow, you've<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span>
+got to turn over a new leaf; and you've got to
+begin to-night."</p>
+
+<p>It was less than a week after the Thanksgiving
+excitements that the town got itself roused
+over something which reached even to the children.
+Jerry came home from school with it,
+and came directly to Nettie, his cheeks aglow
+with the news. "There's to be the biggest
+kind of a time here next Thursday, Nettie;
+don't you think General McClintock is coming,
+to give a lecture, and they are going to give him
+a reception at Judge Bentley's and I don't know
+what all, and the schools are all going to dismiss
+and go down to the train in procession to meet
+him, and they are going to sing, <i>Hail to the
+Chief</i>, and the band is to play, <i>See, the conquering
+Hero comes</i>, and I don't know what isn't
+going to be done."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is General McClintock?" said ignorant
+Nettie, composedly drying her plate as though
+all the generals in the world were nothing to
+her. Then did Jerry come the nearest impatience
+that Nettie had ever seen in him; and he
+launched forth in such a wild praise of General
+McClintock and such an excited account of the
+things which he had done and said, and prevented,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span>
+and pushed, that Nettie was half bewildered
+and delightfully excited when he
+paused for breath. Henceforth the talk of the
+town was General McClintock.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a wonder they asked him to speak on
+temperance," said Nettie, disdain in her voice;
+she had not a high opinion of the temperance
+enthusiasm of the town in which she lived.</p>
+
+<p>"They didn't," said Jerry. "He asked himself;
+they wanted him to talk about the war, or
+the tariff, or the great West, or some other
+stupid thing, but he said, 'No, sir! the great
+question of the day is temperance, and I shall
+speak on that, or nothing!'"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you happen to know so much about
+him?" Nettie questioned one day when Jerry
+was at his highest pitch of excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho!" he said, almost in scorn, "I have
+known about him ever since I was born; everybody
+knows General McClintock." Then Nettie
+felt meek and ignorant.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing had ever so excited Jerry as the
+coming of the hero; and indeed the town generally
+seemed to have caught fire. General
+McClintock seemed to be the theme of every
+tongue. Connected with these days, Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span>
+had her perplexities and her sorrows. In the
+first place, Jerry was obstinately determined
+that she should join the procession with him to
+meet General McClintock. In vain she protested
+that she did not belong to the public schools.
+He did, he said, and that was enough.</p>
+
+<p>Then when Nettie urged and almost cried, he
+had another plan: "Well, then, we won't go as
+scholars. We'll go ahead, as private individuals;
+I'm only a kind of a scholar, anyhow, just
+holding on for a few weeks till my father comes;
+we'll go up there early and get a good place before
+the procession forms and see the whole of
+it. I know the marshal real well; he's a good
+friend of mine, and I know he will give us a
+place."</p>
+
+<p>It was of no use for Nettie to protest; to
+remind him that the girls would think she was
+putting herself forward, to say that she had
+nothing to wear to such a gathering. She might
+as well have talked to a stone for all the impression
+she made. She had never seen him so resolute
+to have his own way. He did not care
+what she wore, it made not the slightest difference
+to him what the girls said, and he <i>did</i> ask
+it of her as a kindness to him, and he should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span>
+hurt so that he could never get over it if she refused
+to go; he had never wanted anything so
+much in his life, and he <i>could</i> not give it up. So
+Nettie, reluctant, sorrowful, promised, and cried
+over it in her room that night. She wanted to
+please Jerry, for his father was coming now in a
+few weeks perhaps, and Jerry would go away
+with him, and she should never see him again;
+and what in the world would she do without
+him? And here she cried harder than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Then came up that dreadful question of
+clothes; her one winter dress was too short and
+too narrow and a good deal worn. Auntie Marshall
+had thought last winter that it would
+hardly do for a church dress, and here it was
+still her best. There was no such thing as a
+new one for the present; for mother had not
+had anything in so long, she must be clothed,
+and Nettie was willing to wait; but she was
+not willing to take a conspicuous place on a
+public day and be stared at and talked about.</p>
+
+<p>However, Jerry continued merciless to the
+very last; nothing else would satisfy him. He
+hurried her in a breathless state down the hill
+to the platform, smiled and nodded to his
+friend the marshal, who nodded back in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span>
+most confidential manner, and perched them on
+the corner of the temporary platform, right behind
+the reception committee! It was every
+whit as disagreeable as Nettie had planned that
+it should be. Of course Lorena Barstow was
+among the leaders in the young people's procession,
+and of course she contrived to get enough
+to be heard, and to say in a most unnecessarily
+loud voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Do look at that Decker girl perched up
+there on the platform. If she doesn't contrive
+to make herself a laughing stock everywhere!
+Girls, look at her hat; she must have worn it
+ever since they came out of the ark. What business
+is she here, anyway? She doesn't belong
+to the schools?"</p>
+
+<p>There was much more in the same vein; much
+pushing and crowding, and laughing and hateful
+speeches about folks who crowded in where
+they didn't belong, and poor Nettie, the tears
+only kept back by force of will, looked in vain
+for sympathy into Jerry's fairly dancing eyes.
+What ailed the boy? She had never seen him
+so almost wild with eager excitement before.
+Judge Barstow and Dr. Lewis were both on the
+reception committee, of course, and under cover<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span>
+of this, their daughters wedged their way to the
+front, and whispered to the fathers. Loud
+whispers:</p>
+
+<p>"Papa, that ridiculous Decker girl and the
+little Irish boy with her ought not to be
+perched up there in that conspicuous place.
+She doesn't belong here, anyway; she isn't a
+scholar."</p>
+
+<p>Then Judge Barstow in good-humored tones
+to Jerry: "My boy, don't you think you would
+find it quite as pleasant down there among the
+others? This little girl doesn't want to be up
+here, I am sure; suppose you both go down
+and fall behind the procession? You can see
+the General when the carriage passes; it is to be
+thrown open so every one can see."</p>
+
+<p>Then the marshal: "If you please, Judge
+Barstow, it won't do for them to try to get
+through now. The crowd is so great they might
+be hurt; there is plenty of room where they
+stand. They will do no harm."</p>
+
+<p><i>Now</i> the tears must come from the indignant
+eyes. No, they shall not. Jerry doesn't even
+wink. He only laughs, in the highest good
+humor. Has Jerry gone wild with excitement?
+"It will all be over in two minutes," explains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span>
+Judge Barstow. "He wished to drive directly
+to his hotel, and have perfect quiet for two
+hours. He declined to be entertained at a private
+house, or to say a word at the depot. I
+suppose he is fatigued, and doesn't like to trust
+his voice to speak in the open air; so the committee
+are to shake hands with him as rapidly
+as possible, and show him to his carriage, and
+not wait on him for two hours. He has ordered
+a private dinner at the Keppler House."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there is the whistle of the train, the
+band plays <i>See, the conquering Hero comes!</i>
+With the second strain the train comes to a halt,
+and a tall, broad-shouldered man with iron gray
+hair and a military air all about him steps from
+the platform amid the cheers of thousands.
+Now indeed there was some excuse for Lorena
+Barstow's loud exclamations of disapproval!
+There was Jerry, pushing his way among the
+throng, holding so firmly all the while to Nettie's
+hand that escape was impossible&mdash;pushing
+even past the reception committee, notwithstanding
+the detaining hand of Judge Barstow, who
+says,</p>
+
+<p>"See here, my boy, you are impudent, did
+you know it?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I beg pardon," says Jerry respectfully,
+but he slips past him, just as General McClintock
+with courteous words is thanking the committee
+of reception, declining their pressing personal
+invitations, his eyes meantime roving over
+the crowd in search of something or somebody.
+Suddenly they melt with a tenderness which
+does not belong to the soldier, and the firm lips
+quiver as his voice says: "O my boy!" and
+Jerry the Irish boy flings himself into General
+McClintock's arms, and the world stands agape!</p>
+
+<p>Just a second, and his hand holds firmly to
+the sack which covers Nettie's startled frightened
+form, then he releases himself and turns to her:
+"Father, this is Nettie!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure enough!" said the General, and his tall
+head bends and the mustached lips of the old
+soldier touch Nettie's cheek, and the cheering,
+hushed for a second, breaks forth afresh! It is a
+moment of the wildest excitement. Even then
+Nettie tries to break away and is held fast. And
+an officer of the day advances with the military
+salute and assures the General that his carriage
+is in waiting. And the General himself hands
+the bewildered Nettie in, with a friendly smile
+and an assuring: "Of course you must go. My<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span>
+boy planned this whole thing three months ago;
+and you and I must carry out his programme to
+the letter." Then Jerry springs like a cat into
+the carriage, and the scholars sing, <i>Hail to the
+Chief</i>, and the carriage, drawn by four horses,
+rolls down the road made wide for it by the
+homeguard in full uniform, and the General
+lifts his hat and bows right and left, and smiles
+on Nettie Decker sitting by his side, and almost
+devours with his hungry, fatherly eyes, her
+friend the Irish boy on the opposite seat. And
+the scholars almost forget to sing, in their great
+and ever-increasing amazement.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.<br />
+
+<small>THE PAST AND PRESENT.</small></h2>
+
+
+<div class='drop-cap'>NETTIE DECKER sat by the window of
+her father's house, looking out into the
+beautiful world; taking one last look at the
+flowers, and the trees, and the lawn, and all the
+beautiful and familiar things. Saying good-by
+to them, for in a brief two hours she was to
+leave them, and the old home.</div>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 337px;">
+<img src="images/facing418.jpg" width="337" height="500" alt="woman at window" />
+<div class="caption">NETTIE DECKER HAS A SUITABLE DRESS AT LAST.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>She is Nettie Decker still, but you will not
+be able to say that of her in another hour. She
+has changed somewhat since you last saw her in
+her blue gingham dress a trifle faded, or in her
+brown merino much the worse for time.</p>
+
+<p>To-day she is twenty years old. A lovely
+summer day, and her birthday is to be celebrated
+by making it her wedding day. The blue gingham
+has been long gone; so has the brown
+merino. The dress she wears to-day looks unlike
+either of them. It is white, all white; she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span>
+has a suitable dress at last for a gala day. Soft,
+rich, quiet white silk. Long and full and pure;
+not a touch of trimming about it anywhere.
+Not even a flower yet, though she holds one in
+her hand in doubt whether she will add it to the
+whiteness.</p>
+
+<p>I think it will probably be pushed among the
+folds of soft lace which lie across her bosom;
+for that would please little Sate's artist eye, and
+Nettie likes to please Sate.</p>
+
+<p>While she sits there, watching the birds, and
+the flowers, and thinking of the strange sweet
+past, and the strange sweet present, there pass
+by almost underneath the window two young
+ladies; moving slowly, glancing up curiously at
+the open casement, from which Nettie draws a
+little back, that she may not be seen.</p>
+
+<p>"That is Nettie's room where the window is
+open," says one of the ladies. "It is a lovely
+room; I was in it once when the circle met
+there; it is furnished in blue, with creamy tints
+on the walls and furniture. I don't think I
+ever saw a prettier room. Nettie has excellent
+taste."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you say her brother is to be at the wedding?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"O, yes indeed! He came day before yesterday;
+he is a splendid-looking fellow, and smart;
+they say he is the finest student Yale has had
+for years. He graduated with the very highest
+honors, and now he is studying medicine. I
+heard Dr. Hobart say that he would be an honor
+to the profession. You ought to hear him play;
+I thought he would be a musician, he is so fond
+of music, and really he plays exquisitely on the
+organ. Last spring when he was home he played
+in church all day, and I heard ever so many people
+say they had never heard anything finer in
+any church."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't remember him. Was he in our set?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no! he wasn't in any set when you were
+here. Why, Irene Lewis, you must remember
+the Deckers! They weren't in any set."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I remember them, of course; don't you
+know what fun we used to make of Nettie?
+Didn't we call her Nan? I remember she always
+wore an old blue and white gingham to
+Sunday-school."</p>
+
+<p>"That was years ago; she dresses beautifully
+now, and in exquisite taste. She must make a
+lovely bride. I should like to get a glimpse of
+her."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The McClintocks are very rich, I have been
+told."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! immensely so; and they say General
+McClintock just idolizes Nettie. I don't wonder
+at that; she is a perfectly lovely girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to me, Lorena, my dear, about the
+time I left this part of the world you did not
+think so much of her as you do now. I remember
+you used to make all sorts of fun of her,
+and real hateful speeches, as schoolgirls will, you
+know. I have a distinct recollection of a flower
+party where she was, and my conscience, I remember,
+troubled me at the time for saying so
+many disagreeable things about her that afternoon;
+but I recollect I comforted myself with
+the thought that you were much worse than I.
+You used to lead off, in those days, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I remember; I was a perfect little idiot
+in those days. Yes, I was disagreeable enough
+to Nettie Decker; if she hadn't been a real
+sweet girl she would never have forgotten it;
+but I don't believe she ever thinks of it, and
+really she is so utterly changed, and all the
+family are, that I hardly ever remember her as
+the same girl."</p>
+
+<p>"What became of that little Irish boy she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span>
+used to be so fond of&mdash;Jerry, his name was?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Irene Lewis! you don't mean to tell
+me you have never heard about him! Well,
+you have been out of the world, sure enough."</p>
+
+<p>"I have never heard a word of him from the
+time I went with Uncle Lawrence out West.
+Father moved in the spring, you know, so instead
+of my coming back early in the spring as I
+expected, I never came until now? What about
+Jerry? Did he distinguish himself in any way?
+I always thought him a fine-looking boy."</p>
+
+<p>"That is too funny that you shouldn't know!
+Why, the Irish boy, Jerry, as you call him, is
+the Gerald McClintock whom Nettie Decker is
+to marry at twelve o'clock to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Gerald McClintock! How can that be?
+That boy's name was Jerry Mack."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed it wasn't. We were all deceived in
+that boy. It does seem so strange that you
+have never heard the story! Why, you see, he
+was General McClintock's son all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did he pretend he was somebody else?"</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't pretend; or at least I heard he
+said he didn't begin it. It seems that Mrs.
+Smith, the car-man's wife, you know, used to
+live in General McClintock's family before his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span>
+wife died; and Job Smith lived there as coachman.
+When they married, General McClintock
+broke up housekeeping, and went South with
+his family. Then Mrs. McClintock died, and
+the General and this one boy boarded in New
+York, and Gerald attended school. In the
+spring the General was called to California on
+some important law business&mdash;you know he is a
+celebrated lawyer, and they say his son is going
+to be even more brilliant than his father&mdash;well,
+the father had to go, and the boy made him
+promise that he might spend the summer vacation
+with Mrs. Smith out here. The McClintocks
+had been very fond of her and her husband
+and trusted them both; so the General agreed
+to it, thinking he would be back long before the
+vacation closed.</p>
+
+<p>"But he was delayed by one thing and another,
+and the boy coaxed to stay on, and study in the
+public school here; he was a pupil in Whately
+Institute at home. Imagine him taking up with
+our common schools! so he stayed until the first
+of December, and then his father came.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a time as that was! You see we all
+knew of General McClintock, of course, and
+when it was found we could get him to lecture,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span>
+the people nearly went wild over it. We
+couldn't understand why we should have such
+good fortune, when we knew ever so many
+places&mdash;large cities&mdash;had been refused; but it
+was all explained after he came.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a beautiful day when he came; all
+the schools were closed, and we formed a procession
+and marched to the depot, and the band
+was there, and great crowds. I remember as
+though it were yesterday how astonished we
+were to see Nettie Decker and that boy in a conspicuous
+place on the corner of the platform.
+Nettie had on her old brown merino, and looked
+so queer and seemed so out of place, that I went
+and spoke to father about it, and he advised them
+to go down and join the procession; but it
+seems the marshal knew what he was about, and
+objected to their moving. Then the train came,
+and there was a great excitement, and in the
+midst of it, the General almost took that boy
+Jerry in his arms, and kissed and kissed him!
+Then he kissed Nettie Decker, and while we
+stood wondering what on earth it all meant,
+they all three entered an elegant carriage drawn
+by four horses, and were carried to the Keppler
+House.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They had an elegant private dinner, they
+three; and in fact all the time the General was
+here, he kept Nettie Decker with them; he
+treated her more like a daughter than a stranger.
+I don't think there was ever such an excitement
+in this town about anything as we had at that
+time; the circumstances were so peculiar, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't understand it, yet. Why did
+he call himself Jerry Mack? What was his object
+in deceiving us all?"</p>
+
+<p>"He hadn't the slightest intention of doing
+so. I heard he said such a thought never entered
+his mind until we began it. It seems
+when he was a little bit of a fellow he tried to
+speak his name, Gerald McClintock, and the
+nearest he could approach to it, was, Jerry
+Mack. Of course they thought that was cunning,
+and it grew to be his pet name; so before
+they knew it, the servants and all his boy friends
+called him so, all the time. When he came here
+Mrs. Smith and her husband naturally used the
+old name; then somebody, I'm sure I don't
+know who, started the story that he was an
+Irish boy working at the Smiths for his board;
+and it seems he heard of it, and it amused him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span>
+so much he decided to let people think so if
+they wanted to; he coaxed the Smiths not to
+tell who he was, or why he was here; and they
+so nearly worshipped him, that if he had asked
+them to say he was a North American Indian I
+believe they would have done it. It seems he
+liked Nettie Decker from the first, and was annoyed
+because she wasn't invited in our set.
+But I am sure I don't know how we were to
+blame; she had nothing to wear, and how were
+we to know that she was a very smart girl, and
+real sweet and good? The Deckers were very
+poor, and Mr. Decker drank, you know, and
+Norm was sort of a loafer, and we thought they
+were real low people."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember Ermina Farley was friendly
+with Nettie, and with the boy, too."</p>
+
+<p>"O yes, Ermina was always peculiar; she is
+yet. I have always thought that perhaps
+Ermina knew something about the McClintocks,
+but she says she didn't. I heard her say the
+other day that somebody told her he was an Irish
+boy, whose father had run away and left him;
+and the Smiths gave him a home out of pity;
+and she supposed of course it was so, and was
+sorry for him. Then she always thought he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span>
+handsome, and smart; well, so did I, I must
+say."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder who started that absurd story
+about his father deserting him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, I'm sure; somebody imagined
+it was so, I suppose, and spoke of it; such
+things spread, you know, nobody seems to understand
+quite how."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, as I remember things, Jerry&mdash;I shall
+always call him that name, I don't believe I
+could remember to say Mr. McClintock if I
+should meet him now&mdash;as I remember him, he
+seemed to be as poor as Nettie; he dressed very well,
+but not as a gentleman's son, and he
+seemed to be contriving ways to earn little bits
+of money. Don't you remember that old hen
+and chickens he bought? And he used to go to
+the Farleys every morning with a fresh egg for
+Helen; sold it, you know, for I was there one
+morning when Mrs. Farley paid him."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it; he was always contriving ways
+to earn money; why, Irene, don't you remember
+his selling fish to Ermina Farley that day
+when we were talking down by the pond? I
+have always thought he heard more than we
+imagined he did, that day; I don't clearly remember<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span>
+what we said, but I know we were running
+on about Nettie Decker and about Jerry;
+I used to sort of dislike them both, because
+Ermina Farley was always trying to push them
+forward.</p>
+
+<p>"I would give something to know exactly
+what we did say that day. For awhile I did not
+like to meet any of the McClintocks; it always
+seemed to me as though they were thinking
+about that time. But they have been perfectly
+polite and cordial to me, always; and Nettie
+Decker is a perfect lady. But I know all about
+the poverty. It seems the boy Jerry had been
+very fond of giving away money, and books, and
+all sorts of things to people whom he thought
+needed them; and his father began to be afraid
+he would have no knowledge of the value of
+money, and would give carelessly, you know,
+just because he felt like it. So the General had
+a long talk with him, and made an arrangement
+that while he was gone West, Jerry should have
+nothing to give away but what he earned. He
+might earn as much as he liked, or could, and
+give it all away if he chose; but not a penny
+besides, and he was not to appeal to his father
+to help anybody in any way whatever. Of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span>
+course the father was to pay all his bills for
+necessary things&mdash;they say he paid a splendid
+price to the Smiths for taking care of him. Poor
+Mrs. Smith cried when he went away, as though
+he had been her own child. Well, of course
+that crippled him, in his pocket money, but they
+say his father was very much pleased to find
+how many schemes he had started for earning
+money. That plan about the business was his
+from beginning to end, and just see what it has
+grown to!"</p>
+
+<p>"What? I don't know; remember, I only
+came night before last, and haven't heard anything
+about the town since the day I left it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the Norman House, the most elegant
+hotel in town, is the outgrowth of that enterprise
+begun in the Decker's front room! Mr.
+Decker owns the whole thing, now, and manages
+it splendidly. His wife is a perfect genius, they
+say, about managing. She oversees the housekeeping
+herself, and the cooking is perfect they
+say. General McClintock was so pleased with
+the beginning, that he bought that long low
+building on Smith street that first time he was
+here, and fitted it up for Norman and Nettie to
+run. He carried his son away with him, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span>
+course, but they stayed long enough to see
+that matter fairly under way. The Norman
+House is managed on the same general principles;
+strictly temperance, of course. The
+General is as great a fanatic about that as the
+Deckers are, and the prices are very low&mdash;lower
+than other first-class houses, while the
+table is better, and the rooms are beautifully
+furnished. They say it is because Mrs. Decker
+is such an excellent manager that they can
+afford things at such low prices. Then, besides,
+there is a lunch room for young men, where
+they can get excellent things for just what they
+cost; that is a sort of benevolence. General
+McClintock devotes a certain amount to it
+each year; and there is a splendid young man in
+charge of the room; you saw him once, Rick
+Walker, his name is. He used to be considered
+a sort of hard boy, but there isn't a more respected
+young man in town than he. He is
+book-keeper at the Norman House, and has
+the oversight of this Home Dining Room. You
+ought to go in there; it is very nicely furnished,
+and they have flowers, plants, you know, and
+birds, and a fountain, and pictures on the walls,
+and for fifteen cents you can get an excellent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span>
+dinner. Everybody likes Rick Walker; they
+say he has a great influence over the boys in
+town, almost as great as Norman Decker; <i>he</i>
+used to be in charge of it all, before he went
+to college."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, I shouldn't think the McClintocks
+would have liked Nettie Decker to be in quite
+so public a place," interrupted her listener.
+"Oh! she wasn't public; why, she went to
+New York to a private school the very next winter
+after the General came home. She boarded
+with them; the General's sister came East with
+him, and was the lady of the house; then he sent
+her to Wellesley, you know. Didn't you know
+that? She graduated at Wellesley a year ago.
+Yes, the McClintocks educated her, or began it;
+her father has done so well that I suppose he
+hasn't needed their help lately. He is a master
+builder, you know, and keeps at his business,
+and owns and manages this hotel, besides. Oh!
+they are well off; you ought to see Mrs. Decker.
+She is a very pretty woman, and a real lady;
+they say Nettie and Norman are so proud of
+her! What was I telling you? Oh! about the
+room; they have a library connected with it,
+and a reading room, and everything complete;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span>
+it is such a nice thing for our young men. A
+great many wealthy gentlemen contribute to
+the library. There is a little alcove at the
+further end of the reading room, where they
+keep cake and lemonade, and nuts and little
+things of all sorts. They are very cheap, but the
+boys can't get any cigars there; I'm so glad of
+that. The Norman House is in very great
+favor&mdash;quite the fashion, and it makes such a
+difference with the boys who are just beginning
+to imagine themselves young men, and who want
+to be manly, to have an elegant place like that
+frown on all such things. My brother Dick,
+you remember him? He was a little fellow
+when you lived here&mdash;he went into the Norman
+House one day and called for a cigar; he was
+just beginning to smoke, and I suppose he did
+it because he thought it would sound manly. It
+was in the spring when Norman was at home on
+vacation, and it seems he expressed so much astonishment
+that Dick was quite ashamed; I
+don't think he has smoked a cigar since."</p>
+
+<p>"The Deckers seem to be quite a centre of
+interest in town."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they are. They are a sort of exceptional
+family someway; their experience has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span>
+been so romantic. Mr. Decker has become such a
+nice man; Deacon Decker, he is, a prominent
+man in the church, and everywhere. Oh! do
+you remember those two cunning little girls? I
+always thought they were sweet. Susie is a perfect
+lady; she is going with Nettie and her husband
+to Washington; but little Sate is a beauty.
+They say she is going to be a poet and an artist,
+and she looks almost like an angel. General
+McClintock admires her very much; he says she
+shall have the finest art teachers in Europe. I
+never saw a family come up as they did, from
+nothing, you may say. But then it was all owing
+to that fortunate accident of being friends
+with Gerald McClintock, and having the Farleys
+interested in them. Did I tell you Norman was
+engaged to Ermina Farley? O yes! they will
+marry as soon as he graduates from the medical
+college, and then he will take her abroad and
+take a post graduate course in medicine there.
+I suppose they will take Sate with them then.
+They say that is the plan. No, I certainly never
+saw anything like their success in life. Mrs.
+Smith doesn't believe in luck, you know, nor
+much in money, though since her Job has a position
+in the Norman House that pays better than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span>
+carting, they have built an addition to their
+house, and, Sarah Ann says, "live like folks."
+She is housekeeper at the Norman House&mdash;Mrs.
+Decker's right-hand woman. Mrs. Smith says
+the Lord had a great deal to do with the Decker
+family; that Nettie came home resolved to be
+faithful to Him, and to trust Him to save her
+father and brother, and so He did it, of course.
+It seems she and Jerry promised each other to
+work for Norman and the father in every possible
+way until they were converted; and they
+did. I must say I think they are real wonderful
+Christians, all of them. I like to hear Mr.
+Decker pray better than almost any other man
+in our meeting; and as for Norman, he leads a
+meeting beautifully. They say Mr. Sherrill
+thought at first that he ought to preach; but
+now he says he is reconciled; there is greater
+need for Christian physicians than for ministers.
+Mr. Sherrill has always been great friends with
+all the Deckers; you remember he was, from the
+first. Norman studied with him all the time he
+was managing that first little bit of a restaurant
+in the square room of the old Decker house.
+They tore down that house last month, to make
+room for a carriage drive around the back of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span>
+their new house, and they say Nettie cried when
+the square room was torn up.</p>
+
+<p>"She has some of the quaintest furniture!
+Sofas, she calls them, made out of boxes; and a
+queer old-fashioned hour-glass stand, and a barrel
+chair, which have been sent on with all her
+elegant things, to New York; she is going to
+furnish a room for Gerald and her with them;
+he made them, it seems, when they began that
+queer scheme. Who would have supposed it
+could grow as it did? It really seems as though
+the Lord must have had a good deal to do with
+it, doesn't it? I tell you, Irene, it is wonderful
+how many young men they have helped save,
+those two. It seems a pity sometimes that they
+could not have told us girls what they were
+about and let us help; but then, I don't know as
+we would have helped if we had understood; I
+used to be such a perfect little idiot then! Well,
+it was Nettie Decker got hold of me at last.
+Norman signed the pledge that night when General
+McClintock lectured here, and during the
+winter he was converted; but it was two years
+after that before I made up my mind. I was
+miserable all that time, too; because I knew I
+was doing wrong. And I didn't treat Nettie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span>
+wonderfully well any of the time; but when she
+came to me with her eyes shining with tears,
+and said she had been praying for me ever since
+that day of the flower party, I just broke down.</p>
+
+<p>"O Irene, there's the carriage with the bride
+and groom and Norman and Ermina. Doesn't
+the bride look lovely! I wish they had had a
+public wedding and let us all see her! But they
+say General McClintock thinks weddings ought
+to be very private. Never mind, we will see
+her at the reception next week; but then, she
+won't be Nettie Decker; we shall have to say
+good-by to her."</p>
+
+<p>And Miss Lorena Barstow stood still in the
+street, and shaded her eyes from the sunlight to
+watch the bridal party as the carriage wound
+around the square, looking her last with tender,
+loving eyes, upon Nettie Decker.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle1'>CHOICE BOOKS<br />
+
+<small>FOR READERS OF ALL AGES</small></div>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Pansy Books.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'>
+<p><b>The Pansy</b> for 1888. With colored frontispiece. Edited by
+Pansy.</p>
+
+<p>More than 400 pages of reading and pictures for children of
+eight to fifteen years in various lines of interest. Quarto, boards,
+1.25.<br /></p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Pansy Sunday Book</b> for 1889. With colored frontispiece.
+Edited by Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>Just the thing for children on Sunday afternoon, when the whole
+family are gathered in the home to exchange helpful thought and
+gain new courage for future work and study which the tone and
+excellence of these tales impart.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Pansy's Story Book.</b> By Pansy. Quarto, boards,
+1.25.</p>
+
+<p>Made up largely of Pansy's charming stories with an occasional
+sketch or poem by some other well-known children's author to
+give variety.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Mother's Boys and Girls.</b> By Pansy. Quarto, boards,
+1.25.</p>
+
+<p>A book full of stories for boys and girls, most of them short, so
+all the more of them. Easy words and plenty of pictures.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Pansy Token</b> (A); or An Hour with Miss Streator. For
+Sunday School teachers. 24mo, paper, 15 cts.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Young Folks Stories of American History and
+Home Life.</b> Edited by Pansy. Quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Sketches, tales and pictures on New-World subjects.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Young Folks Stories of Foreign Lands.</b> Edited
+by Pansy. First Series, quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Sketches, tales and pictures on Old-World subjects.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Stories and Pictures from the Life of Jesus.</b>
+By Pansy. 12mo, boards, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The life of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels simplified and
+unified for children.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>A Christmas Time.</b> By Pansy, 12mo, boards, 15 cts.</p>
+
+<p>A Christmas story full of Christmas trees and sleigh-rides. Its
+lesson is the joy to be got in helping others.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Travel and History for Young
+Folks.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Story of the American Indian (The).</b> By Elbridge
+S. Brooks. 8vo, cloth, 2.50.</p>
+
+<p>"A thorough compendium of the archæology, history, present
+standing and outlook of our nation's wards.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. We commend
+it as the best and most comprehensive book on the Indian for general
+reading known to us."&mdash;<i>Literary World.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Story of the American Sailor (The).</b> By Elbridge
+S. Brooks. Octavo, cloth, 2.50.</p>
+
+<p>The first consecutive narrative yet attempted, sketching the rise
+and development of the American seaman on board merchant vessel
+and man-of-war.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Ned Harwood's Visit to Jerusalem.</b> By Mrs. S.
+G. Knight. Quarto, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>Travel in the Holy Land. The manuscript was approved by
+Rev. Selah Merrill, for many years U. S. Consul at Jerusalem.
+The strictest accuracy has thus been secured without impairing
+the interest of the story.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Out and About.</b> By Kate Tannatt Woods. Quarto,
+boards, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>Cape Cod to the Golden Gate with a lot of young folks along,
+and plenty of yarns by the way.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Sights Worth Seeing.</b> By those who saw them.
+Quarto, cloth, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>Eleven descriptive articles by such writers as Margaret Sidney,
+Amanda B. Harris, Annie Sawyer Downs, Frank T. Merrill and
+Rose Kingsley. Copiously and beautifully illustrated.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Adventures of the Early Discoverers.</b> By
+Frances A. Humphrey. 4to, cloth, 1.00.</p>
+
+<p>Real history written and pictured for readers both sides of ten
+years old. It begins with the mythology of discovery and comes
+down to the sixteenth and seventeenth century.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>The Golden West</b>: as Seen by the Ridgway Club. By
+Margaret Sidney. Quarto, boards, 1.75.</p>
+
+<p>Description of a trip through Southern California taken by Mr.
+and Mrs. Ridgway and their children. The careful observations
+and the fine illustrations make it a treasure for boys and girls.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Days and Nights in the Tropics.</b> By Felix L.
+Oswald. Quarto, boards, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>The collector of curiosities for the Brazilian museum goes on
+his quest with his eyes open. A book of adventures and hunters'
+yarns.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Illustrated Stories for Young
+Folks.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Young Folks' Cyclopedia of Stories.</b> Quarto,
+cloth, 3.00.</p>
+
+<p>Contains in one large book the following stories with many illustrations:
+Five Little Peppers, Two Young Homesteaders, Royal
+Lowrie's Last Year at St. Olaves, The Dogberry Bunch, Young
+Rick, Nan the New-Fashioned Girl, Good-for-Nothing Polly and
+The Cooking Club of Tu-Whit Hollow.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>What the Seven Did</b>; or, the Doings of the Wordsworth
+Club. By Margaret Sidney. Quarto, boards, 1.75.</p>
+
+<p>The Seven are little girl neighbors who meet once a week at
+their several homes. They helped others and improved themselves.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Me and My Dolls.</b> By L. T. Meade. Quarto, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>A family history. Some of the dolls have had queer adventures.
+Twelve full-page illustrations by Margaret Johnson.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Little Wanderers in Bo-Peep's World.</b> Quarto,
+boards, double lithograph covers, 50 cts.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Polly and the Children.</b> By Margaret Sidney. Boards,
+quarto, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The story of a funny parrot and two charming children. The
+parrot has surprising adventures at the children's party and wears
+a medal after the fire.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Five Little Peppers.</b> By Margaret Sidney. 12mo, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>Story of five little children of a fond, faithful and capable
+"mamsie." Full of young life and family talk.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Seal Series.</b> 10 vols., boards, double lithographed covers,
+quarto.</p>
+
+<p>Rocky Fork, Old Caravan Days, The Dogberry Bunch, by
+Mary H. Catherwood; The Story of Honor Bright and Royal
+Lowrie's Last Year at St. Olaves, by Charles R. Talbot; Their
+Club and Ours, by John Preston True; From the Hudson to the
+Neva, by David Ker; The Silver City, by Fred A. Ober; Two
+Young Homesteaders, by Theodora Jenness; The Cooking Club
+of Tu-Whit Hollow, by Ella Farman.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Cats' Arabian Nights.</b> By Abby Morton Diaz. Quarto,
+cloth, 1.75; boards, 1.25.</p>
+
+<p>The wonderful cat story of cat stories told by Pussyanita that
+saved the lives of all the cats.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Natural History.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Stories and Pictures of Wild Animals.</b> By Anna
+F. Burnham. Quarto, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Big letters, big pictures and easy stories of elephants, lions,
+tigers, lynxes, jaguars, bears and many others.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Life and Habits of Wild Animals.</b> Quarto, cloth,
+1.50.</p>
+
+<p>The very best book young folks can have if they are at all interested
+in Natural History. If they are not yet interested it will
+make them so. Illustrated from designs by Joseph Wolf.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Children's Out-Door Neighbors.</b> By Mrs. A. E.
+Andersen-Maskell. 3 volumes, 12mo, cloth, each 1.00.</p>
+
+<p>Three instructive and interesting books: Children with Animals,
+Children with Birds, Children with Fishes. The author has the
+happy faculty of interesting boys and girls in the wonderful neighbors
+around them and that without introducing anything which is
+not borne out by the knowledge of learned men.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Some Animal Pets.</b> By Mrs. Oliver Howard. Quarto,
+boards, 35 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The experiences of a Colorado family with young, wild and
+tame animals. It is one of the pleasantest animal books we have
+met in many a day. Well thought, well written, well pictured,
+the book itself, apart from its contents, is attractive. Full page
+pictures.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Tiny Folk In Red and Black.</b> Quarto, boards, 35 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The tiny folk are ants and they make as interesting a study as
+human folk&mdash;perhaps more interesting in the opinion of some.
+The book gives a full and graphic description of their many wise
+and curious ways&mdash;how they work, how they harvest their grain,
+how they milk their cows, etc. It will teach the children to keep
+eyes and ears open.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>My Land and Water Friends.</b> By Mary E. Bamford.
+Seventy illustrations by Bridgman. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>The frog opens the book with a "talk" about himself, in the
+course of which he tells us all about the changes through which
+he passes before he arrives at perfect froghood. Then the grasshopper
+talks and is followed by others, each giving his view of
+life from his own individual standpoint.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Young Folks' Illustrated
+Quartos.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Wide Awake Volume Z.</b> Quarto, boards, 1.75.</p>
+
+<p>Good literature and art have been put into this volume. Henry
+Bacon's paper about Rosa Bonheur, the great painter of horses
+and lions, and Steffeck's painting of Queen Louise with Kaiser
+William would do credit to any Art publication.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Chit Chat for Boys and Girls.</b> Quarto, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>A volume of selected pieces upon every conceivable subject.
+As a distinctive feature it devotes considerable space to Home
+Life and Sports and Pastimes.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Good Cheer for Boys and Girls.</b></p>
+
+<p>Short stories, sketches, poems, bits of history, biography and
+natural history.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Our Little Men and Women for 1888.</b> Quarto,
+boards, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>No boys and girls who have this book can be ignorant beyond
+their years of history, natural history, foreign sights or the good
+times of other boys and girls.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Babyland for 1888.</b> Quarto, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Finger-plays, cricket stories, Tales told by a Cat and scores of
+jingles and pictures. Large print and easy words. Colored
+frontispiece.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Kings and Queens at Home.</b> By Frances A. Humphrey.
+Quarto, boards, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Short-story accounts of living royal personages.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Queen Victoria at Home.</b> By Frances A. Humphrey.
+Quarto, boards, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Pen picture of a noble woman. It will aid in educating the
+heart by presenting the domestic side of the queen's character.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Stories about Favorite Authors.</b> By Frances A.
+Humphrey. Quarto boards, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Little literature lessons for little boys and girls.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Child Lore.</b> Edited by Clara Doty Bates. Quarto, cloth,
+tinted edges, 2.25; boards, 1.50.</p>
+
+<p>More than 50,000 copies sold. The most successful quarto for
+children.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='adtitle2'>Helpful Books for Young Folks.</div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Danger Signals.</b> By Rev. F. E. Clark, President of
+the United Society of Christian Endeavor. 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The enemies of youth from the business man's standpoint.
+The substance of a series of addresses delivered two or three
+years ago in one of the Boston churches.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Marion Harland's Cookery for Beginners.</b> 12mo,
+vellum cloth, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>The untrained housekeeper needs such directions as will not
+confuse and discourage her. Marion Harland makes her book
+simple and practical enough to meet this demand.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Bible Stories.</b> By Laurie Loring. 4to, boards, 35 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Very short stories with pictures. The Creation, Noah and the
+Dove, Samuel, Joseph, Elijah, the Christ Child, the Good Shepherd,
+Peter, etc.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>The Magic Pear.</b> Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Twelve outline drawing lessons with directions for the amusement
+of little folks. They are genuine pencil puzzles for untaught
+fingers. A pear gives shape to a dozen animal pictures.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>What O'Clock Jingles.</b> By Margaret Johnson. Oblong,
+8vo, boards, 75 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Twelve little counting lessons. Pretty rhymes for small children.
+Twenty-seven artistic illustrations by the author.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Ways for Boys to Make and Do Things.</b> 60 cts.</p>
+
+<p>Eight papers by as many different authors, on subjects that interest
+boys. A book to delight active boys and to inspire lazy
+ones.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Our Young Folks at Home.</b> 4to, boards, 1.00.</p>
+
+<p>A collection of illustrated prose stories by American authors and
+artists. It is sure to make friends among children of all ages.
+Colored frontispiece.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Peep of Day Series.</b> 3 vols., 1.20 each.</p>
+
+<p>Peep of Day, Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept. Sermonettes
+for the children, so cleverly preached that the children
+will not grow sleepy.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><b>Home Primer.</b> Boards, square, 8vo, 50 cts.</p>
+
+<p>A book for the little ones to learn to read in before they are old
+enough to be sent off to school. 100 illustrations.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">Monteagle.</span> By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop
+Company. Price 75 cents. Both girls and boys
+will find this story of Pansy's pleasant and profitable
+reading. Dilly West is a character whom the
+first will find it an excellent thing to intimate, and
+boys will find in Hart Hammond a noble, manly,
+fellow who walks for a time dangerously near
+temptation, but escapes through providential influences,
+not the least of which is the steady
+devotion to duty of the young girl, who becomes
+an unconscious power of good.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">A Dozen of Them.</span> By Pansy. Boston: D.
+Lothrop Company. Price 60 cents. A Sunday-school
+story, written in Pansy's best vein, and
+having for its hero a twelve-year-old boy who has
+been thrown upon the world by the death of his
+parents, and who has no one left to look after
+him but a sister a little older, whose time is fully
+occupied in the milliner's shop where she is employed.
+Joe, for that is the boy's name, finds a
+place to work at a farmhouse where there is a small
+private school. His sister makes him promise to
+learn by heart a verse of Scripture every month.
+It is a task at first, but he is a boy of his word,
+and he fulfills his promise, with what results the
+reader of the story will find out. It is an excellent
+book for the Sunday-school.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">At Home and Abroad.</span> Stories from <i>The Pansy</i>
+Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price, $1.00. A
+score of short stories which originally appeared
+in the delightful magazine, <i>The Pansy</i>, have been
+here brought together in collected form with the
+illustrations which originally accompanied them.
+They are from the pens of various authors, and
+are bright, instructive and entertaining.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">About Giants.</span> By Isabel Smithson. Boston:
+D. Lothrop Company. Price 60 cents. In this
+little volume Miss Smithson has gathered together
+many curious and interesting facts relating to
+real giants, or people who have grown to an extraordinary
+size. She does not believe that there
+was ever a race of giants, but that those who are
+so-called are exceptional cases, due to some freak
+of nature. Among those described are Cutter,
+the Irish giant, who was eight feet tall, Tony
+Payne, whose height exceeded seven feet, and
+Chang, the Chinese giant, who was on exhibition
+in this country a few years ago. The volume
+contains not only accounts of giants, but also of
+dwarfs, and is illustrated.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">American Authors.</span> By Amanda B. Harris.
+Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price $1.00. This
+is one of the books we can heartily commend to
+young readers, not only for its interest, but for
+the information it contains. All lovers of books
+have a natural curiosity to know something about
+their writers, and the better the books, the keener
+the curiosity. Miss Harris has written the various
+chapters of the volume with a full appreciation of
+this fact. She tells us about the earlier group of
+American writers, Irving, Cooper, Prescott, Emerson,
+and Hawthorne, all of whom are gone, and
+also of some of those who came later, among
+them the Cary sisters, Thoreau, Lowell, Helen
+Hunt, Donald G. Mitchell and others. Miss Harris
+has a happy way of imparting information, and
+the boys and girls into whose hands this little
+book may fall will find it pleasant reading.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">Tilting at Windmills:</span> A Story of the Blue
+Grass Country. By Emma M. Connelly. Boston:
+D. Lothrop Company. 12mo, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p>Not since the days of "A Fool's Errand" has so
+strong and so characteristic a "border novel" been
+brought to the attention of the public as is now
+presented by Miss Connelly in this book which she
+so aptly terms "Tilting at Windmills." Indeed, it
+is questionable whether Judge Tourgee's famous
+book touched so deftly and yet so practically the
+real phases of the reconstruction period and the
+interminable antagonisms of race and section.</p>
+
+<p>The self-sufficient Boston man, a capital fellow
+at heart, but tinged with the traditions and environments
+of his Puritan ancestry and conditions,
+coming into his strange heritage in Kentucky at
+the close of the civil war, seeks to change by instant
+manipulation all the equally strong and deep-rooted
+traditions and environments of Blue Grass
+society.</p>
+
+<p>His ruthless conscience will allow of no compromise,
+and the people whom he seeks to proselyte
+alike misunderstand his motives and spurn his
+proffered assistance.</p>
+
+<p>Presumed errors are materialized and partial
+evils are magnified. Allerton tilts at windmills
+and with the customary Quixotic results. He is,
+seemingly, unhorsed in every encounter.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Connelly's work in this, her first novel, will
+make readers anxious to hear from her again and
+it will certainly create, both in her own and other
+States, a strong desire to see her next forthcoming
+work announced by the same publishers in one of
+their new series&mdash;her "Story of the State of Kentucky."</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class='adspacing'><p><span class="smcap">The Art of Living.</span> From the Writings of
+Samuel Smiles. With Introduction by the venerable
+Dr. Peabody of Harvard University, and
+Biographical Sketch by the editor, Carrie Adelaide
+Cooke. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price
+$1.00.</p>
+
+<p>Samuel Smiles is the Benjamin Franklin of England.
+His sayings have a similar terseness, aptness
+and force; they are directed to practical ends,
+like Franklin's; they have the advantage of being
+nearer our time and therefore more directly related
+to subjects upon which practical wisdom is of
+practical use.</p>
+
+<p>Success in life is his subject all through, The Art
+of Living; and he confesses on the very first page
+that "happiness consists in the enjoyment of little
+pleasures scattered along the common path of life,
+which in the eager search for some great and exciting
+joy we are apt to overlook. It finds delight
+in the performance of common duties faithfully
+and honorably fulfilled."</p>
+
+<p>Let the reader go back to that quotation again and
+consider how contrary it is to the spirit that underlies
+the businesses that are nowadays tempting men
+to sudden fortune, torturing with disappointments
+nearly all who yield, and burdening the successful
+beyond their endurance, shortening lives and making
+them weary and most of them empty.</p>
+
+<p>Is it worth while to join the mad rush for the
+lottery; or to take the old road to slow success?</p>
+
+<p>This book of the chosen thoughts of a rare philosopher
+leads to contentment as well as wisdom;
+for, when we choose the less brilliant course because
+we are sure it is the best one, we have the
+most complete and lasting repose from anxiety.</p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class='tnote'><div class='center'><b>Transcriber's Notes:</b></div>
+
+<p>Punctuation errors repaired.</p>
+
+<p>First book list page, "Eaoh" changed to "Each" (Each volume 16mo)</p>
+
+<p>Page 4, "208" changed to "226" to reflect actual first page of Chapter XII.</p>
+
+<p>Page 4, "230" changed to "304" to reflect actual first page of Chapter XVII.</p>
+
+<p>Page 4 and 5, each page number reference increased by two to match actual location
+of remaining chapters. (<i>i.e.</i> 318 is now 320 to reflect location of Chapter
+XVIII)</p>
+
+
+<p>Page 29, "botton" changed to "bottom" (for in the bottom of)</p>
+
+<p>Page 69, "nowdays" changed to "nowadays" (the pennies nowadays)</p>
+
+<p>Page 88, "keees" changed to "knees" (soon on her knees)</p>
+
+<p>Page 200, "think" changed to "thing" (thing that I should)</p>
+
+<p>Page 202, "interruped" changed to "interrupted" (of her had interrupted)</p>
+
+<p>Page 212, "sat" changed to "set" (he set the table)</p>
+
+<p>Page 269, "unsual" changed to "unusual" (unusual toilet having)</p>
+
+<p>Page 385, extra word "the" removed from text. Original read (have at the
+the windows)</p>
+
+<p>Page 407, "pealed" changed to "peeled" (turnips half-peeled)</p>
+
+<p>Page 437, "esson" changed to "lesson" (lesson is the joy)</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Fishers: and their Nets, by Pansy
+
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Fishers: and their Nets, by Pansy
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Little Fishers: and their Nets
+
+Author: Pansy
+
+Release Date: April 30, 2014 [EBook #45536]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE FISHERS: AND THEIR NETS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic
+text is surrounded by _underscores_.]
+
+
+
+THE PANSY BOOKS.
+
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.50=
+
+    Chautauqua Girls at Home.
+    Christie's Christmas.
+    Divers Women.
+    Echoing and Re-Echoing.
+    Eighty-Seven.
+    Endless Chain (An).
+    Ester Ried.
+    Ester Ried Yet Speaking.
+    Four Girls at Chautauqua.
+    From Different Standpoints.
+    Hall in the Grove (The).
+    Household Puzzles.
+    Interrupted.
+    Judge Burnham's Daughters.
+    Julia Ried.
+    King's Daughter (The).
+    Little Fishers and Their Nets.
+    Links in Rebecca's Life.
+    Mrs. Solomon Smith Looking On.
+    Modern Prophets.
+    Man of the house.
+    New Graft on the Family Tree (A).
+    One Commonplace Day.
+    Pocket Measure (The).
+    Profiles.
+    Ruth Erskine's Crosses.
+    Randolphs (The).
+    Sevenfold Trouble (A).
+    Sidney Martin's Christmas.
+    Spun from Fact.
+    Those Boys.
+    Three People.
+    Tip Lewis and His Lamp.
+    Wise and Otherwise.
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth. $1.25.=
+
+    Cunning Workmen.
+    Dr. Deane's Way.
+    Grandpa's Darlings.
+    Miss Priscilla Hunter.
+    Mrs. Deane's Way.
+    What She Said.
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.00.=
+
+    At Home and Abroad.
+    Bobby's Wolf and other Stories.
+    Five Friends.
+    In the Woods and Out.
+    Young Folks Worth Knowing.
+    Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening.
+    New Years Tangles.
+    Next Things.
+    Pansy Scrap Book.
+    Some Young Heroines.
+
+
+=Each volume 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.=
+
+    Couldn't be Bought.
+    Getting Ahead.
+    Mary Burton Abroad.
+    Pansies.
+    Six Little Girls.
+    Stories from the life of Jesus.
+    That Boy Bob.
+    Two Boys.
+
+
+=Each volume 16mo, cloth, 75 cts.=
+
+    Bernie's White Chicken.
+    Docia's Journal.
+    Helen Lester.
+    Jessie Wells.
+    Monteagle.
+
+
+=Each volume 16mo, cloth, 60 cts.=
+
+    Browning Boys.
+    Dozen of Them (A).
+    Gertrude's Diary.
+    Hedge Fence (A).
+    Side by Side.
+    Six O'Clock in the Evening.
+    Stories of Remarkable Women.
+    Stories of Great Men.
+    Story of Puff.
+    "We Twelve girls."
+    World of Little People (A).
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN WAS A HANDSOME BOY WHEN SHE MARRIED MR. DECKER.]
+
+
+
+
+Little Fishers: and Their Nets
+
+    BY
+    PANSY
+    AUTHOR OF "CHRISTIE'S CHRISTMAS," "A HEDGE FENCE," "GERTRUDE'S
+    DIARY," "THE MAN OF THE HOUSE," "INTERRUPTED,"
+    "THE HALL IN THE GROVE," "AN ENDLESS
+    CHAIN," "MRS. SOLOMON SMITH LOOKING
+    ON," "FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA,"
+    "RUTH ERSKINE'S CROSSES,"
+    "SPUN FROM FACT,"
+    ETC., ETC.
+
+
+    _ILLUSTRATED_
+
+    BOSTON
+    D LOTHROP COMPANY
+    FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS
+
+
+
+
+    COPYRIGHT 1887
+    BY
+    D LOTHROP COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+    PAGE.
+
+    CHAPTER I.
+    THE DECKERS' HOME                     7
+
+    CHAPTER II.
+    BEGINNING HER LIFE                   24
+
+    CHAPTER III.
+    THE TRUTH IS TOLD                    43
+
+    CHAPTER IV.
+    NEW FRIENDS                          63
+
+    CHAPTER V.
+    A GREAT UNDERTAKING                  85
+
+    CHAPTER VI.
+    HOW IT SUCCEEDED                    106
+
+    CHAPTER VII.
+    LONG STORIES TO TELL                125
+
+    CHAPTER VIII.
+    A SABBATH TO REMEMBER               143
+
+    CHAPTER IX.
+    A BARGAIN AND A PROMISE             164
+
+    CHAPTER X.
+    PLEASURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT         179
+
+
+    CHAPTER XI.
+    A COMPLETE SUCCESS                  204
+
+    CHAPTER XII.
+    AN UNEXPECTED HELPER                226
+
+    CHAPTER XIII.
+    THE LITTLE PICTURE MAKERS           240
+
+    CHAPTER XIV.
+    THE CONCERT                         257
+
+    CHAPTER XV.
+    A WILL AND A WAY                    271
+
+    CHAPTER XVI.
+    AN ORDEAL                           288
+
+    CHAPTER XVII.
+    THE FLOWER PARTY                    304
+
+    CHAPTER XVIII.
+    A SATISFACTORY EVENING              320
+
+    CHAPTER XIX.
+    READY TO TRY                        334
+
+    CHAPTER XX.
+    THE WAY MADE PLAIN                  351
+
+    CHAPTER XXI.
+    THE NEW ENTERPRISE                  365
+
+    CHAPTER XXII.
+    TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE                 382
+
+    CHAPTER XXIII.
+    THE CROWNING WONDER                 400
+
+    CHAPTER XXIV.
+    THE PAST AND PRESENT                418
+
+
+
+
+Little Fishers: and Their Nets.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DECKERS' HOME.
+
+
+JOE DECKER gave his chair a noisy shove backward from the table, over
+the uneven floor, shambled across the space between it and the kitchen
+door, a look of intense disgust on his face, then stopped for his
+good-morning speech:
+
+"You may as well know, first as last, that I've sent for Nan. I've
+stood this kind of thing just exactly as long as I'm going to. There
+ain't many men, I can tell you, who would have stood it so long. Such a
+meal as that! Ain't fit for a decent dog!
+
+"Nan is coming in the afternoon stage. There must be some place fixed
+up for her to sleep in. Understand, now, that has _got_ to be done, and
+I won't have no words about it."
+
+Then he slammed the door, and went away.
+
+Yes, he was talking to his wife! She could remember the time when he
+used to linger in the door, talking to her, so many last words to say,
+and when at last he would turn away with a kind "Well, good-by, Mary!
+Don't work too hard."
+
+But that seemed ages ago to the poor woman who was left this morning
+in the wretched little room with the door slammed between her and her
+husband. She did not look as though she had life enough left to make
+words about anything. She sat in a limp heap in one of the broken
+chairs, her bared arms lying between the folds of a soiled and ragged
+apron.
+
+Not an old woman, yet her hair was gray, and her cheeks were faded, and
+her eyes looked as though they had not closed in quiet restful sleep
+for months. She had not combed her hair that morning; and thin and
+faded as it was, it hung in straggling locks about her face.
+
+I don't suppose you ever saw a kitchen just like that one! It was
+heated, not only by the fierce sun which streamed in at the two
+uncurtained eastern windows, but by the big old stove, which could
+smoke, not only, and throw out an almost unendurable heat on a warm
+morning like this, when heat was not wanted, but had a way at all
+times of refusing to heat the oven, and indeed had fits of sullenness
+when it would not "draw" at all.
+
+This was one of the mornings when the fire had chosen to burn; it had
+swallowed the legs and back of a rickety chair which the mistress in
+desperation had stuffed in, when she was waiting for the teakettle to
+boil, and now that there was nothing to boil, or fry, and no need for
+heat, the stump of wood, wet by yesterday's rain, had dried itself and
+chosen to burn.
+
+The west windows opened into a side yard, and the sound of children's
+voices in angry dispute, and the smell of a pigsty, came in together,
+and seemed equally discouraging to the wilted woman in the chair.
+
+The sun was already pretty high in the sky, yet the breakfast-table
+still stood in the middle of the room.
+
+I don't know as I can describe that table to you. It was a square one,
+unpainted, and stained with something red, and something green, and
+spotted with grease, and spotted with black, rubbed from endless hot
+kettles set on it, or else from one kettle set on it endless times;
+it must have been that way, for now that I think of it, there was but
+one kettle in that house. No tablecloth covered the stains; there was a
+cracked plate which held a few crusts of very stale bread, and a teacup
+about a third full of molasses, in which several flies were struggling.
+More flies covered the bread crusts, and swam in a little mess of what
+had been butter, but was now oil, and these were the only signs of food.
+
+It was from this breakfast-table that the man had risen in disgust.
+You don't wonder? You think it was enough to disgust anybody? That
+is certainly true, but if the man had only stopped to think that the
+reason it presented such an appearance was because he had steadily
+drank up all that ought to have gone on it during the months past,
+perhaps he would have turned his disgust where it belonged--on himself.
+
+The woman had not tried to eat anything. She had given the best she had
+to the husband and son, and had left it for them. She was very willing
+to do so. It seemed to her as though she never could eat another
+mouthful of anything.
+
+Can you think of her, sitting in that broken chair midway between the
+table and the stove, the heat from the stove puffing into her face; the
+heat from the sun pouring full on her back, her straggling hair silvery
+in the sunlight, her short, faded calico dress frayed about the ankles,
+her feet showing plainly from the holes of the slippers into which they
+were thrust, her hands folded about the soiled apron, and such a look
+of utter hopeless sorrow on her face as cannot be described?
+
+No, I hope you cannot imagine a woman like her, and will never see one
+to help you paint the picture. And yet I don't know; since there are
+such women--scores of them, thousands of them--why should you not know
+about them, and begin now to plan ways of helping them out of these
+kitchens, and out of these sorrows?
+
+Mrs. Decker rose up presently, and staggered toward the table; a dim
+idea of trying to clear it off, and put things in something like order,
+struggled with the faintness she felt. She picked up two plates, sticky
+with molasses, and having a piece of pork rind on one, and set them
+into each other. She poured a slop of weak tea from one cracked cup
+into another cracked cup, her face growing paler the while. Suddenly
+she clutched at the table, and but for its help, would have fallen.
+There was just strength enough left to help her back to the rickety
+chair. Once there, she dropped into the same utterly hopeless position,
+and though there was no one to listen, spoke her sorrowful thoughts.
+
+"It's no use; I must just give up. I'm done for, and that's the truth!
+I've been expecting it all along, and now it's come. I couldn't clear
+up here and get them any dinner, not if he should kill me, and I don't
+know but that will be the next thing. I've slaved and slaved; if
+anybody ever tried to do something with nothing, I'm the one; and now
+I'm done. I've just got to lie down, and stay there, till I die. I wish
+I _could_ die. If I could do it quick, and be done with it, I wouldn't
+care how soon; but it would be awful to lie there and see things go on;
+oh, dear!"
+
+She lifted up her poor bony hands and covered her face with them and
+shook as though she was crying. But she shed no tears. The truth is,
+her poor eyes were tired of crying. It was a good while since any tears
+had come. After a few minutes she went on with her story.
+
+"It isn't enough that we are naked, and half-starved, and things
+growing worse every day, but now that Nan mast come and make one more
+torment. 'Fix a place for her to sleep!' Where, I wonder, and what
+with? It is too much! Flesh and blood can't bear any more. If ever a
+woman did her best I have, and done it with nothing, and got no thanks
+for it; now I've got to the end of my rope. If I have strength enough
+to crawl back into bed, it is all there is left of me."
+
+But for all that, she tried to do something else. Three times she made
+an effort to clear away the few dirty things on that dirty table, and
+each time felt the deadly faintness creeping over her, which sent her
+back frightened to the chair. The children came in, crying, and she
+tried to untie a string for one, and find a pin for the other; but her
+fingers trembled so that the knot grew harder, and not even a pin was
+left for her to give them, and she finally lost all patience with their
+cross little ways and gave each a slap and an order not to come in the
+house again that forenoon.
+
+The door was ajar into the most discouraged looking bedroom that you
+can think of. It was not simply that the bed was unmade; the truth is,
+the clothes were so ragged that you would have thought they could not
+be touched without falling to pieces; and they were badly stained and
+soiled, the print of grimy little hands being all over them. Partly
+pushed under, out of sight, was a trundle-bed, that, if anything,
+looked more repulsive than the large one. There was an old barrel in
+the corner, with a rough board over it, and a chair more rickety than
+either of those in the kitchen, and this was the only furniture there
+was in that room.
+
+The only bright thing there was in it was the sunshine, for there was
+an east window in this room, and the curtain was stretched as high as
+it could be. To the eyes of the poor tired woman who presently dragged
+herself into this room, the light and the heat from the sun seemed
+more than she could bear, and she tugged at the brown paper curtain so
+fiercely that it tore half across, but she got it down, and then she
+fell forward among the rags of the bed with a groan.
+
+Poor Mrs. Decker! I wonder if you have not imagined all her sorrowful
+story without another word from me!
+
+It is such an old story; and it has been told over so many times, that
+all the children in America know it by heart.
+
+Yes; she was the wife of a drunkard. Not that Joe Decker called himself
+a drunkard; the most that he ever admitted was that he sometimes took a
+drop too much! I don't think he had the least idea how many times in a
+month he reeled home, unable to talk straight, unable to help himself
+to his wretched bed.
+
+I don't suppose he knew that his brain was never free from the effects
+of alcohol; but his wife knew it only too well. She knew that he was
+always cross and sullen now, when he was not fierce, and she knew that
+this was not his natural disposition. No one need explain to her how
+alcohol would effect a man's nature; she had watched her husband change
+from month to month, and she knew that he was growing worse every day.
+
+There was another sorrow in this sad woman's heart. She had one boy
+who was nearly ten years old, when she married Mr. Decker; and people
+had said to her often and often, "What a handsome boy you have, Mrs.
+Lloyd; he ought to have been a girl." And the first time she had felt
+any particular interest in Joe Decker was when he made her boy a kite,
+and showed him how to fly it, and gave him one bright evening, such
+as fathers give their boys. This boy's father had died when he was
+a baby, and the Widow Lloyd had struggled on alone; caring for him,
+keeping him neatly dressed, sending him to school as soon as he was old
+enough, bringing him up in such a way that it was often and often said
+in the village, "What a nice boy that Norman Lloyd is! A credit to his
+mother!" And the mother had sat and sewed, in the evenings when Norman
+was in bed, and thought over the things that fathers could do for boys
+which mothers could not; and then thought that there were things which
+mothers could do for girls that fathers could not, and Mr. Joseph
+Decker, the carpenter, had a little girl, she had been told, only a few
+years younger than her Norman. And so, when Mr. Decker had made kites,
+not only, but little sail boats, and once, a little table for Norman to
+put his school books on, with a drawer in it for his writing-book and
+pencil, and when he had in many kind and manly ways won her heart, this
+respectable widow who had for ten years earned her own and her boy's
+living, married him, and went to keep his home for him, and planned as
+to the kind and motherly things which she would do for his little girl
+when she came home.
+
+Alas for plans! She knew, this foolish woman, that Mr. Decker sometimes
+took a drink of beer with his noon meal, and again at night, perhaps;
+but she said to herself, "No wonder, poor man; always having to eat his
+dinner out of a pail! No home, and no woman to see that he had things
+nice and comfortable. She would risk but what he would stay at home,
+when he had one to stay in, and like a bit of beefsteak better than the
+beer, any day."
+
+She had not calculated as to the place which the beer held in his
+heart. Neither had he. He was astonished to find that it was not easy
+to give it up, even when Mary wanted him to. He was astonished at first
+to discover how often he was thirsty with a thirst that nothing but
+beer would satisfy. I have not time for all the story. The beer was not
+given up, the habit grew stronger and stronger, and steadily, though at
+first slowly, the Deckers went down. From being one of the best workmen
+in town, Mr. Decker dropped down to the level of "Old Joe Decker,"
+whom people would not employ if they could get anybody else. The little
+girl had never come home save for a short visit; at first the new
+mother was sorry, then she was glad.
+
+As the days passed, her heart grew heavier and heavier; a horrible fear
+which was almost a certainty, had now gotten hold of her--that her
+handsome, manly Norman was going to copy the father she had given him!
+Poor mother!
+
+I would not, if I could, describe to you all the miseries of that long
+day! How the mother lay and tossed on that miserable bed, and burned
+with fever and groaned with pain. How the children quarreled and cried,
+and ran into mother, and cried again because she could give them no
+attention, and made up, and ran out again to play, and quarreled again.
+How the father came home at noon, more under the influence of liquor
+than he had been in the morning; and swore at the table still standing
+as he had left it at breakfast time, and swore at his wife for "lying
+in bed and sulking, instead of doing her work like a decent woman," and
+swore at his children for crying with hunger; and finally divided what
+remained of the bread between them, and went off himself to a saloon,
+where he spent twenty-five cents for his dinner, and fifty cents for
+liquor. How Norman came home, and looked about the deserted kitchen
+and empty cupboard, and looked in at his mother, and said he was sorry
+she had a headache, and sighed, and wished that he had a decent home
+like other fellows, and wished that a doctor could be found, who didn't
+want more money than he was worth, to pay him for coming to see a
+sick woman, and then went to a bakery and bought a loaf of bread, and
+a piece of cheese, and having munched these, washed them down with
+several glasses of beer, went back to his work. Meantime, the playing
+and the quarreling, and the crying, went on outside, and Mrs. Decker
+continued to sleep her heavy, feverish sleep.
+
+Several times she wakened in a bewilderment of fever and pain, and
+groaned, and tried to get up, and fell back and groaned again, and lost
+her misery in another unnaturally heavy sleep, and the day wore away
+until it was three o'clock in the afternoon. The stages would be due in
+a few minutes--the one that brought passengers over from the railroad
+junction a mile away. The children in the yard did not know that one
+of them was expected to stop at their house; and the father when he
+came home at noon had been drinking too much liquor to remember it; and
+Norman had not heard of it, and for his mother's sake would have been
+too angry to have met it if he had; so Nan was coming home with nobody
+to welcome her.
+
+If you had seen her sitting at that moment, a trim little maiden in the
+stage, her face all flushed over the prospect of seeing father, and the
+rest, in a few minutes, you would not have thought it possible that she
+could belong to the Decker family.
+
+She had not seen her home in seven years. She had been a little thing
+of six when she went away with the Marshall family.
+
+It had all come about naturally. Mrs. Marshall was their neighbor, and
+had known her mother from childhood; and when she died had carried the
+motherless little girl home with her to stay until Mr. Decker decided
+what to do; and he was slow in deciding, and Mrs. Marshall had a family
+of boys, but no little girl, and held the motherless one tenderly for
+her mother's sake; and when the Marshalls suddenly had an offer of
+business which made it necessary for them to move to the city, they
+clung to the little girl, and proposed to Mr. Decker that she should go
+with them and stay until he had a place for her again.
+
+Apparently he had not found a place for her in all these seven years,
+for she had never been sent for to come home.
+
+The new wife had wanted her at first, to be mother to her, as she
+fancied Mr. Decker was going to be father to her boy. But it did not
+take her very many months to get her eyes open to the thought that
+perhaps the girl would be better off away from her father; and of late
+years she had looked on the possible home-coming with positive terror.
+Her own little ones had nothing to eat, sometimes, save what Norman
+provided; and if "he"--and by this Mrs. Decker meant her husband; he
+had ceased to be "Mr. Decker" to her, or "Joseph," or even Joe--if
+"he" should take a notion to turn against the girl, life would be more
+terrible to them in every way; and on the other hand, if he should
+fancy her, and because of her, turn more against the wife, or Norman,
+what would become of them then?
+
+So the years had passed, and beyond an occasional threat when Joe
+Decker was at his worst, to "send for Nan right straight off," nothing
+had been said of her home-coming. The threat had come oftener of late,
+for Joe Decker had discovered that there was just now nothing that his
+wife dreaded more than the presence of this step-daughter; and his
+present manly mood was to do all he could for the discomfort of his
+wife! That was one of the elevating thoughts which liquor had given him!
+
+Three o'clock. The stages came rattling down the stony road. Few people
+who lived on this street had much to do with the stage; they could
+not afford to ride, and they did not belong to the class who had much
+company.
+
+So when the heavy carriages kept straight on, instead of turning the
+corner below, it brought a swarm of children from the various dooryards
+to see who was coming, and where.
+
+"It's stopped at Decker's, as true as I live!" said Mrs. Job Smith,
+peeping out of her clean pantry window to get a view. "I heard that
+Joe had sent for little Nan, but I hoped it wasn't true. Poor Nan! if
+the Marshalls have treated her with any kind of decency, it'll be a
+dreadful change, and I'm sorry enough for her. Yes, that must be Nan
+getting out. She's got the very same bright eyes, but she has grown a
+sight, to be sure!" Which need not have seemed strange to Mrs. Smith,
+if she had stopped to remember that seven years had passed since Nan
+went away.
+
+The little woman got down with a brisk step from the stage, and watched
+her trunk set in the doorway, and got out her red pocket-book, and paid
+the fare, and then looked about her doubtfully. Could this be home!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+BEGINNING HER LIFE.
+
+
+SHE did not remember anything, but the yard was very dirty, and the
+fence was tumbling down, and there were lights of glass out of the
+windows, and a general air of discomfort prevailed. It did not look
+like a home. Besides, where were father and mother? There must be some
+mistake.
+
+The two little Deckers who had played and quarreled together all
+day had left their work to come and stare at the new comer out of
+astonished eyes. Certainly they did not seem to have been expecting her.
+
+The new comer turned to the elder of the two children, and spoke in a
+gentle winning voice: "Little girl, do you live here--in this house?"
+
+The child with her forefinger placed meditatively on her lip, and her
+bright eyes staring intensely, decided to nod that she did.
+
+"And can you tell me what your name is?"
+
+To this question there was no answer for several seconds, then she
+thought better of it and gravely said: "I could."
+
+This seemed so funny, that poor Nan, though by this time carrying a
+very sad heart, could not help smiling.
+
+"Well, will you?" she asked.
+
+But at this the tangled yellow head was shaken violently. No, she
+wouldn't.
+
+"It can't be," said Nan, talking to herself, since there was no one who
+would talk with her, looking with troubled eyes at the two uncombed,
+unwashed children, with their dresses half torn from them, and dirtier
+than any dresses that this trim little maiden had ever seen before,
+"this really cannot be the place! and yet father said this street and
+number; and the driver said this was right." Then she stooped to the
+little one. "Won't you tell me if your name is Satie Decker?"
+
+But this one was shy, and hid her dirty face in her dirty hands, and
+stepped back behind her sister who at once came to the rescue.
+
+"Yes, 'tis," she said, "and you let her alone."
+
+A shadow fell over Nan's face, but she said quickly, "Then you must be
+Susie Decker, and this place is really home!"
+
+But you cannot think how strangely it sounded to her to call such
+a looking spot as this home. There was no use in standing on the
+doorstep. She could feel that curious eyes were peeping at her from
+neighbors' windows. She stepped quickly inside the half-open door, into
+the kitchen where that breakfast-table still stood, with the flies so
+thick around the molasses cup, from which the children had long since
+drained the molasses, that it was difficult to tell whether there was a
+cup behind it, or whether this really was a pyramid of flies.
+
+The children followed her in. Susie had a dark frown on her face, and a
+determined air, as one who meant to stand up for her rights and protect
+the little sister who still tried to hide behind her. I think it was
+well they were there; had they not been, I feel almost sure that the
+stranger would have sat down in the first chair and cried.
+
+Poor little woman! It was such a sorrowful home-coming to her. So
+different from what she had been planning all day.
+
+I wish I could give you a real true picture of her as she stood in
+the middle of that dreadful room, trying to choke back the tears while
+she convinced herself that she was really Nettie Decker. A trim little
+figure in a brown and white gingham dress, a brown straw hat trimmed
+with broad bands and ends of satin ribbon, with brown gloves on her
+hands, and a ruffle in her neck. This was Nettie Decker; neat and
+orderly, from ruffle to buttoned boots. I wonder if you can think what
+a strange contrast she was to everything around her?
+
+What was to be done? she could not stand there, gazing about her; and
+there seemed no place to sit down, and nowhere to go. Where could
+father be? Why had he not stayed at home to welcome his little girl? or
+if too busy for that, surely the mother could have stayed, and he must
+have left a message for her.
+
+If the little girls would only be good and try to tell her what all
+this strangeness meant! She made another effort to get into their
+confidence. She bent toward Susie, smiling as brightly as she could,
+and said: "Didn't you know, little girlie, that I was your sister
+Nettie? I have come home to play with you and help you have a nice
+time."
+
+Even while she said it, she felt ten years older than she ever had
+before, and she wondered if she should ever play anything again; and if
+it could be possible for people to have nice times who lived in such a
+house as this. But Susie was in no sense won, and scowled harder than
+ever, as she said in a suspicious tone: "I ain't got no sister Nettie,
+only Sate, and Nan."
+
+Hot as the room was, the neat little girl shivered. There was something
+dreadful to her in the sound of that name. She had forgotten that she
+ever used to hear it; she remembered her father as having called her
+'Nannie'; that would do very well, though it was not so pleasant to her
+as the 'Nettie' to which she had been answering for seven years.
+
+But how strange and sad it was that these little sisters should have
+been taught to call her Nan! could there be a more hateful name than
+that, she wondered. Did it mean that her step-mother hated her, and had
+taught the children to do so? She swallowed at the lump in her throat.
+What if she should cry! what would those children say or do, and what
+would happen next? she must try to explain.
+
+"I am Nannie," she couldn't make her lips say the word Nan. "I have
+come home to live, and to help you!" She did not feel like saying "play
+with you," now. "Will you be a good girl, and let me love you?"
+
+How Susie scowled at her then! "No," she said, firmly, "I won't."
+
+There seemed to be no truthful answer to make to this, for in the
+bottom of her heart, Nannie did not believe that she could. Still, she
+must make the best of it, and she began slowly to draw off her gloves.
+Clearly she must do something towards getting herself settled.
+
+"Won't you tell me where father is? or mother?" her voice faltered a
+little over that word; "maybe you can show me where to put my trunk; do
+you know which is to be my room?"
+
+There were pauses made between each of these questions. The poor little
+stranger seemed to be trying first one form and then another, to see if
+it was possible to get any help.
+
+Susie decided at last to do something besides scowl.
+
+"Mother's sick. She lies in bed and groans all the time. She ain't got
+us no dinner to-day; Sate and me called her, and called her, and she
+wouldn't say anything to us. There ain't no room only this and that,"
+nodding her head toward the bedroom door, "and the room over the shed
+where Norm sleeps. Norm is hateful. He didn't bring home no bread this
+noon for Sate and me; and he said maybe he would; we're awful hungry."
+
+"Perhaps he couldn't," said poor startled Nettie. She hardly knew
+what she said, only it seemed natural to try to excuse Norm. But what
+dreadful story was this! If there was really a sick mother, why was not
+the father bending over her, and the house hushed and darkened, and
+somebody tiptoeing about, planning comforts for the night? She had seen
+something of sickness, and this was the way it was managed.
+
+Then what was this about there being no room for her? Then what in the
+world was she to do? Oh, what did it all mean! She felt as though she
+must run right back to the depot, and get on the cars and go to her own
+dear home. To be sure she knew that her father was poor; what of that?
+so were the Marshalls; she had heard Mrs. Marshall say many a time
+that "poor folks can't have such things," in answer to some of the
+children's coaxings. But poverty such as this which seemed to surround
+this home was utterly strange to Nettie.
+
+Still, though she felt such a child, she was also a woman; in some
+things at least. She knew there was no going home for her to-night. If
+she had the money to go with, and if there had been a train to go on,
+she would still have been stayed, because it would be wrong to go. Her
+father had sent for her, had said that they wanted her, needed her,
+and her father certainly had a right to her; and she had come away
+with a full heart, and a firm resolve to be as good and as helpful and
+as happy in her old home as she possibly could. And now that nothing
+anywhere was as she had expected it, was no reason why she should not
+still do right. Only, what was there for her to do, and how should she
+begin?
+
+She stood there still in the middle of the room, the children staring.
+Presently she crossed on tiptoe to the bedroom door which was partly
+open and peeped in, catching her first glimpse of the woman whom she
+must call "mother."
+
+Also she caught a glimpse of that dreadful bed; and the horrors of that
+sight almost took away the thought of the woman lying on it. How could
+she help being sick if she had to sleep in such a place as that? Poor
+Nettie Decker! She stood and looked, and looked. Then seeing that the
+woman did not stir, but seemed to be in a heavy sleep, she shut the
+door softly and came away.
+
+I don't suppose that Nettie Decker will ever forget the next three
+hours of her life, even if she lives to be an old woman. Not that
+anything wonderful happened; only that, for years and years afterwards,
+it seemed to her that she grew suddenly, that afternoon, from a
+happy-hearted little girl of thirteen, into a care-taking, sorrowful
+woman. While she stood in that bedroom door, a perfect whirl of
+thoughts rushed through her brain, and when she shut the door, she had
+come to this conclusion:
+
+"I can't help it; I am Nettie Decker; he is my father, and I belong to
+him, and I ought to be here if he wants me; and she is my mother; and
+if it is dreadful, I can't help it; there is everything to do; and I
+must do it."
+
+It was then that she shut the door softly and went back and began her
+life.
+
+There was that trunk out on the stoop. It ought to go somewhere. At
+least she could drag it into the kitchen so that the troops of children
+gathering about the door need not have it to wonder at any longer.
+Putting all her strength to it she drew it in and shut the door. By
+this time, Sate, who was getting used to her as she had gotten used to
+many a new thing in her little life, began to wail that she was hungry,
+and wanted some bread and some molasses.
+
+"Poor little girlie!" Nettie said, "don't cry; I'll see if I can
+find you something to eat. Did she really have no dinner, Susie? Oh,
+darling, don't cry so; you will trouble poor mother."
+
+But Susie had gone back to the scowling mood. "She _shall_ cry, if she
+wants to; you can't stop her; and you needn't try; I'll cry too, just
+as loud as I can."
+
+And Susie Decker who had strong lungs and always did as she said she
+would, immediately set up such a howl as put Sate's milder crying quite
+in the shade.
+
+Nettie looked over at the bedroom door in dismay; but no sound came
+from there. Yet this roaring was fearful. How could it be stopped?
+Suddenly she plunged her hand into the depths of a small travelling bag
+which still hung on her arm, and brought forth a lovely red-cheeked
+peach. She held it before the eyes of the naughty couple and spoke in a
+determined tone: "This is for the one who stops crying this instant."
+
+Both children stopped as suddenly as though they had been wound up, and
+the machinery had run down.
+
+Nettie smiled, and went back into the travelling bag. "There must be
+two of them, it seems," she said, and brought out another peach. "Now
+you are to sit down on the steps and eat them, while I see what can be
+found for our supper."
+
+Down sat the children. There had been quiet determination in this
+new-comer's tone, and peaches were not to be trifled with. Their mouths
+had watered for a taste ever since the dear woolly things began to
+appear in the grocery windows, and not one had they had!
+
+Now began work indeed. Nettie opened her trunk and drew out a work
+apron which covered her dress from throat to shoes, and made her look
+if anything, prettier than before. Where was the broom? The children
+busy with their peaches, neither knew nor cared; however, a vigorous
+search among the rubbish in the shed brought one to light. And then
+there was such a cloud of dust as the Decker kitchen had not seen in a
+long time. Then came a visit to the back yard in search of chips; both
+children following close at her heels, saying nothing, but watching
+every movement with wide-open wondering eyes. Back again to the kitchen
+and the fire was made up. Then an old kettle was dragged out from a
+hole in the corner, which poor Mrs. Decker called a closet. It was to
+hold water, while the fire heated it, but first it must be washed;
+everything must be washed that was touched. Where was the dishcloth?
+
+The children being asked, stared and shook their heads. Nettie
+searched. She found at last a rag so black and ill-smelling that
+without giving the matter much thought she opened the stove door and
+thrust it in. This brought a rebuke from the fierce Susie.
+
+"You better look out how you burn up my mother's things. My mother will
+take your head right off."
+
+"It wasn't good for anything, dear," Nettie said soothingly, "it was
+too dirty." And she stooped down and turned over the contents of the
+trunk. Neat little piles of clothing, carefully marked with her full
+name; a pretty green box which Susie dived for, and pushing off the
+cover disclosed little white ruffles, some of lace, and some of fine
+lawn, lying cosily together; but Nettie was not searching for such
+as these. Quite at the bottom of the trunk was a pile of towels,
+all neatly hemmed and marked. Two of these she selected; looked
+thoughtfully at one of them for a moment, and then with a grave shake
+of her head, got out her scissors and snipped it in two. Now she had
+a dishcloth, and a towel for drying. But what a pity to soil the
+nice white cloth by washing out that iron kettle! Nettie had grave
+suspicions that after such a proceeding it would not be fit for the
+dishes. Still, the kettle must be washed, and to have used the black
+rag which she had burned, was out of the question.
+
+There was no help for it, the other neat dishcloth must be sacrificed.
+So taking the precaution to wipe out the iron kettle with a piece of
+paper, and then to heat it quite hot, and apply soap freely, the cloth
+escaped without very serious injury; and in less time than it takes me
+to tell it, the water was getting itself into bubbles over the stove,
+and a tin pan was being cleaned, ready for the dishes. Then they were
+gathered, and placed in the hot and soapy water, and washed and rinsed
+and polished with the white towel until they shone; and the little
+girls looked on, growing more amazed each moment.
+
+It did not take long to wash every dish there was in that house. I
+suppose you would have been very much astonished if you could have
+seen how few there were! Nettie was very much astonished. She wondered
+how people could get supper with so few dishes, to say nothing of
+breakfasts and dinner. But you see she did not know how little there
+was to put on them.
+
+The next question was, Where to put them? One glance at the upper part
+of the closet where she had found some of them, convinced Nettie that
+her clean dishes could not be happy resting on those shelves. There was
+no help for it; they must be scrubbed, though she had not intended to
+begin housecleaning the first afternoon. More water and more soap, and
+the few shelves were soon cleared of rubbish, and washed. Nettie piled
+all the rubbish on a lower shelf and left it for a future day. She did
+not dare to burn any more property.
+
+"Don't they look pretty?" she said to the children, when at last the
+dishes were neatly arranged on the shelf. One held them all, nicely.
+
+Susie nodded with a grave face that said she had not yet decided
+whether to be pleased or indignant.
+
+"What did you do it for?" she asked, after a moment's silent survey.
+
+"Why, to make them clean and shining. You and I are going to clear up
+the house and make it look ever so nice for mother when she wakes up."
+
+"Did you come home to help mother?"
+
+"Yes, indeed. And you two little sisters must show me how to help her;
+poor sick mother! I am afraid she has too much to do."
+
+"She cries," said Susie gravely, as though she were stating not a
+surprising but simply a settled fact; "she cried every day: not out
+loud like Sate and me, but softly. Father says she is always sniveling."
+
+If you had been watching Nettie Decker just then you would have noticed
+that the blood flamed into her cheeks, and her eyes had a flash of
+wonder, and terror, and anger in them. What did it all mean? Where
+had the children learned such words? Was it possible that her father
+talked in this way to his wife?
+
+"Hush!" she said unguardedly, "you must not talk so." But this made the
+fierce little Susie stamp her foot.
+
+"I _shall_ talk so!" she said angrily; "I shall talk just what I
+please, and you sha'n't stop me." And then the queer little mimic
+beside her stamped her foot, and said, "You sha'n't stop me."
+
+Said Nettie, "There was a little girl on the cars to-day that I knew.
+She had a little gray kitty with three white feet, and a white spot on
+one ear, and it had a blue ribbon around its neck. What if you had such
+a kitty. Would you be real good to it?"
+
+"I will have a _black_ kitty," said Susie, "all black; as black as that
+stove." Nettie glancing at the stove, could not help thinking that it
+was more gray than black; but she kept her thoughts to herself, and
+Susie went on. "And it should have a red ribbon around its neck; as red
+as Janie Martin's dress; her dress is as red as fire, and has ruffles
+on, and ribbons. But what would it eat?"
+
+She did not mean the dress but the kitten.
+
+Nettie laughed, but hastened to explain that the kitten would need a
+saucer of milk quite often, and bits of various things. This made wise
+Susie gravely shake her head.
+
+"We don't have no milk," she said, "only once in awhile when Norm buys
+it; Sate, she often cries for milk, but she don't get none. It don't do
+no good to cry for milk; I ain't cried for any in a long time."
+
+Poor little philosopher! Poor, pitiful childhood without any milk!
+Hardly anything could have told the story of poverty to Nettie's young
+ears more surely than this. Why, she was a big girl thirteen years old,
+and had lived in a city where milk was scarce, and yet her glass had
+been filled every evening. Nettie did not know what to make of it. How
+came her father to be so poor? She was sure that the house did not look
+like this when she went away; and her clothes had been neat and good.
+She had the little red dress now which she wore away. She thought of it
+when Susie was talking, and wondered if with a little fixing it could
+not be made to fit the black-eyed child who seemed to admire red so
+much. Finding the kitty a troublesome subject, at least so far as the
+finding of milk for it was concerned, she turned the conversation to
+the little girls who had been on the cars; the one with the kitty, and
+her little sister, whom she called "Pet." "She was about as old as you,
+Susie, and Pet was about Satie's age. And she was very kind to Pet;
+she always spoke to her so gently, and took such care of her everybody
+seemed to love her for her kindness."
+
+"I take care of Sate," said Susie. "I never let anybody hurt her. I
+would scratch their eyes out if they did; and they know it."
+
+"You slap me sometimes," little Sate said, her voice slightly
+reproachful.
+
+"Yes," said Susie loftily, "but that is when you are bad and need it; I
+don't let anybody else slap you."
+
+"The oldest little girl had curly hair," said Nettie, "but it wasn't so
+long as yours, and did not curl so nicely as I think yours would. And
+Pet's hair was a pretty brown, like Sate's, and looked very pretty. It
+was combed so neatly. One wore a blue dress, and one a white dress; but
+I think they would have looked prettier if they had been dressed both
+alike."
+
+"I don't like white dresses," said Susie; "I like fiery red ones."
+
+So Nettie resolved that the red dress should be made to fit her.
+
+Meantime, the scrubbing had gone on rapidly; the table was as clean as
+soap and water could make it. Now if those children would only let her
+wash their faces and put their hair in order, how different they would
+look. Should she venture to suggest it?
+
+It all depended on how the idea happened to strike Susie.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE TRUTH IS TOLD.
+
+
+IN the bottom of that wonderful little trunk lay side by side two
+little blue and white plaid dresses, made gabrielle fashion, with
+ruffles around the bottom and around the neck. Never were dresses made
+with more patient care. All the stitches were small and very neat.
+
+And they represented hours and hours of steady work. Every stitch in
+them had been taken by Nettie Decker. Long before she had thought of
+such a thing as coming home, they had been commenced. Birthday presents
+they were to be to the little sisters whom she had never seen. She had
+earned the money to buy them. She had borrowed two little neighbors of
+the same age, to fit them to, and with much advice and now and then a
+little skilful handling from Mrs. Marshall, they were finally finished
+to Nettie's great satisfaction.
+
+It was the day the last stitch was set in them that she learned she was
+to come herself and bring them.
+
+She thought of them this afternoon. If the little girls would only let
+her comb their hair and wash their faces and hands, she would put on
+the new dresses. She had not intended to present them in that way, but
+dresses as soiled and faded and worn as those the little sisters had
+on, Nettie Decker had never worn.
+
+She opened the trunk, with both children beside her, watching, and drew
+out the dresses.
+
+"Aren't these almost as pretty as red ones?" she asked, as she unfolded
+them, and displayed the dainty ruffles.
+
+"No," said Susie, "not near so pretty as red ones. But then they are
+pretty. They aren't dresses at all; they are aprons. Are they for you
+to wear?"
+
+"No," said Nettie, "they are for two little girls to wear, who have
+their hair combed beautifully, and their hands and faces very clean."
+
+"Do you mean us?"
+
+"I do if the description fits. I can think just how nice you would look
+if your faces were clean and your hair was combed."
+
+"We will put on the aprons," said Susie firmly, "but we won't have our
+hair combed, nor our faces washed, and you need not try it."
+
+But Miss Susie found that this new sister had as strong a will as she.
+The trunk lid went down with a click, and Nettie rose up.
+
+"Very well," she said, "then we will not waste time over them. I
+brought them for you, and meant to put them on you this afternoon to
+surprise mamma, but if you don't want them, they can lie in the trunk."
+
+"I told you we did want them," said Susie, looking horribly cross. "I
+said we would put them on."
+
+"Yes, but you said some more which spoiled it. _I_ say that they cannot
+go on until your faces and hands are so clean that they shine, and your
+hair is combed beautifully."
+
+"You can't make us have our hair combed."
+
+"I shall not try," said Nettie, as though it was a matter of very small
+importance to her. "I was willing to dress you all up prettily, but if
+you don't choose to look like the little girls I saw on the cars, why
+you can go dirty, of course. But you can't have the clean new dresses."
+
+"Till when?"
+
+"Not ever. Unless you are clean and neat."
+
+"It hurts to have hair combed."
+
+"I know it. Yours would hurt a good deal, because you don't have it
+combed every day; if you kept it smooth and nice it would hardly hurt
+at all. But I didn't suppose you were a cowardly little girl who was
+afraid of a few pulls. If the dresses are not worth those, we had
+better let them lie in the trunk."
+
+Nettie was already beginning to understand her queer fierce little
+sister. She had no idea of being thought a coward.
+
+"Well," she said, after a thoughtful pause, "comb my hair if you like;
+I don't care. Sate, you are going to have your hair combed, and you
+needn't cry; because it won't do any good."
+
+It was certainly a trial to all parties; and poor little Sate in spite
+of this warning, did shed several tears; but Susie, though she frowned,
+and choked, and once jerked the comb away and threw it across the
+floor, did not let a single tear appear on her cheeks. And at last the
+terrible tangles slipped out, and left silky folds of beautiful hair
+that was willing to do whatever Nettie's skilful fingers told it. When
+the faces and hands were clean, and the lovely blue dresses had been
+arranged, Nettie stood back to look at them in genuine delight. What
+pretty little girls they were! She sighed in two minutes after she
+thought this. What did it mean that they looked so neglected and dirty?
+
+"These must go in the wash," she said, as she gathered up the rags
+which had been kicked off.
+
+"Will we put these on in the morning?" asked Susie, in quite a mild
+tone. She was looking down at herself and was very much pleased with
+her changed appearance.
+
+"Oh, no," Nettie said, "they are too light to play in. They are
+dress-up clothes. You must have dark dresses on in the morning."
+
+"We ain't got no dresses only them," and Susie pointed contemptuously
+at the rags in Nettie's hand. This made poor Nettie sigh again. What
+did it all mean?
+
+However, there was no time for sighing. There was still a great deal to
+be done.
+
+"Now we must get tea," she said, bustling about. "Where does mother
+keep the bread, and other things?"
+
+"She don't keep them nowhere. We don't have no things. I go to the
+bakery sometimes for bread, and for potatoes, and sometimes for
+milk. I would go now; I just want to show that hateful little girl in
+there my new dress, and my curls, but it isn't a bit of use to go. He
+won't let us have another single thing without the money. He said so
+yesterday, and he looked so cross he scared Sate; but I made faces at
+him."
+
+This called forth several questions as to where the bakery was, and
+Nettie, finding that it was but a few steps away, and that the little
+girls really bought most of the things which came from there, counted
+out the required number of pennies from her poor little purse for a
+loaf of bread and a pint of milk. In the cupboard was what had once
+been butter, set on the upper shelf in a teacup. It was almost oil, now.
+
+"If I had a lump of ice for this," Nettie murmured, "it might do.
+Butter costs so much."
+
+"They keep ice at the bakery," said that wise young woman, Susie, "but
+we never buy it."
+
+This brought two more pennies from the pocketbook; for to Nettie it
+seemed quite impossible that butter in such a condition could be eaten.
+So the ice was ordered, and two very neat, and very vain little bits of
+girls started on their mission.
+
+Tablecloths? Where would the new housekeeper find them? Where indeed!
+Hunt through the room as she would, no trace of one was to be found.
+She did not know that the Deckers had not used such an article in
+months. She thought of the cupboard drawer at home, and of the neat
+pile which was always waiting there, and at about this hour it had
+been her duty to set the table and make everything ready for tea. It
+would not do to think about it. There were sharper contrasts than
+these. Her proposed present to her mother had been a tablecloth, not
+very large nor very fine, but beautifully smooth and clean, and hemmed
+by her own patient fingers. She must get it out to-night, as no other
+appeared; and of course she could not set the table without one. So it
+was spread on the clean table, and the few dishes arranged as well as
+she could. There was a drawing of tea set up in another teacup, and
+there was a sticky little tin teapot. Nettie, as she washed it, told it
+that to-morrow she would scour it until it shone; then she made tea.
+Meantime the little errand girls had returned with their purchases, the
+butter was resting on a generous lump of ice, the bread which was found
+to be stale, was toasted, a plate of cookies from the wonderful trunk
+was added, and at last there was ready such a supper as had not been
+eaten in that house for weeks. To be sure it looked to Nettie as though
+there was very little to eat; but then she had not been used to living
+at the Deckers. She began to be very nervous about the people who were
+going to sit down at this neat table. Why did not some of them come?
+
+The wise housekeeper knew that neither tea nor toast improved greatly
+by standing, but she drew the teapot to the very edge of the stove,
+covered the toast, and set it in the oven. Then she went softly to the
+bedroom door and opened it. This time a pair of heavy eyes turned,
+as the door creaked, and were fixed on her with a kind of bewildered
+stare. She went softly in.
+
+"How do you feel now?" she asked gently. "I have made a cup of tea and
+a bit of toast for you. Shall I bring them now? The children said you
+did not eat any dinner."
+
+"Who are you?" asked the astonished woman, still regarding her with
+that bewildered stare.
+
+Nettie swallowed at the lump in her throat. It would be dreadful if she
+should burst out crying and run away, as she felt exactly like doing.
+
+"I am Nettie Decker," she said, and her lips quivered a little. "Father
+sent for me, you know. Didn't you think I would be here to-day, ma'am?"
+
+"You can't be Nan!"
+
+I cannot begin to describe to you the astonishment there was in Mrs.
+Decker's voice.
+
+"Yes'm, I am. At least that is what father used to call me once in a
+while, just for fun. My name is Nanette; but Auntie Marshall where I
+live, or where I used to live"--she corrected herself, "always called
+me Nettie. May I bring you the tea, ma'am? I think it will make you
+feel better."
+
+But the two children had stayed in the background as long as they
+intended. They pushed forward, Susie eager-voiced:
+
+"Look at us! See my curls, and see my new apron, only she says it is a
+dress, but it ain't; it is made just like Jennie Brown's apron, ain't
+it? But we ain't got no dresses on. She's got a white cloth on the
+table, and cookies, and a lump of ice, and everything; and we had two
+peaches. Old Jock gave us the bread. She sent the money, and I told him
+to take his old money and give me some bread right straight."
+
+How fast Susie could talk!
+
+There was scarcely room for the slow sweet Satie to get in her gentle,
+"and me too." Meaning look at my dress and hair. The bewildered mother
+raised herself on her elbow and stared--from Nan to the little girls,
+and then back to Nan. She was sufficiently astonished to satisfy even
+Susie.
+
+"Well, I never!" she said at last. "I didn't know, I mean I didn't
+think"--then she stopped and pressed her hand to her head, and pushed
+back the straggling hair behind her ears. "I took dizzy this morning,"
+she said at last, addressing Nettie as though she were a grown-up
+neighbor who had stepped in to see her, "and I staggered to the bed,
+and didn't know nothing for a long while. I had a dreadful pain in
+my head, and then I must have dropped to sleep. Here I've been all
+day, if the day is gone. It must be after three o'clock if you've got
+here. I meant to try to do something towards making things a little
+more decent; though the land knows what it would have been; I don't.
+There's nothing to do with. I didn't know till this morning that he had
+the least notion of sending for you--though he's threatened it times
+enough. I've been ailing all the spring, and this morning I just give
+out. I don't know what is the matter with me. The bed goes round now,
+and things get into a kind of a blur."
+
+"Let me bring you a cup of tea and something to eat," said Nettie; "I
+think you are faint." Then she vanished, the children following. She
+was back in a few minutes, under her arm a white towel from her trunk;
+this she spread on the barrel head which you will remember did duty as
+a table. She spread it with one hand, little Sate carefully smoothing
+out the other end. In her left hand she carried a cup of tea smoking
+hot, and poor Mrs. Decker noticed that the cup shone. Susie followed
+behind, an air of grave importance on her face, and in her hands a
+plate, covered by a smaller one, which being taken off disclosed a
+delicately browned slice of bread with a bit of butter spread carefully
+over it.
+
+"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Decker again, but she drank the tea with
+feverish haste, stopping long enough to feel of the cup with a curious
+look on her face. It was so smooth. There was a sound of heavy feet
+outside, and the children appeared at the door and announced that
+father and Norm had come. Nettie took the emptied cup, promising to
+fill it again, urged the eating of the toast while it was hot, and went
+with trembling heart to meet the father whom she had not seen in so
+many years that she remembered very little about him.
+
+A great rough-faced, unshaven man, with uncombed hair, ragged and dirty
+shirt sleeves, ragged and dirty pants, a red face and eyes that seemed
+but half open, and watery. Nothing less like what Nettie had imagined a
+father, could well be described. However, if she had but known it, this
+was a great improvement on the man who often came home to supper. He
+was nearly sober, and greeted her with a rough sort of kindness, giving
+her a kiss, which made her shrink and tremble. It was perfumed with
+odors which she did not like.
+
+"Well, Nan, my girl, you have grown into a fine young lady, have you?
+Tall for your years, too. And smart, I'll be bound; you wouldn't be
+your mother's girl if you wasn't. Is it you that has fixed up things
+so? It is a good thing you have come to take care of us. We haven't had
+anything decent here in so long, we've most forgot how to treat it.
+Come on, Norm. This table looks something like living again."
+
+And "Norm" shambled in. Rough, and uncombed, and unwashed, except a
+dab at his hands which left long streaks of brown at the wrists. A
+hard-looking boy, harder than Nettie had ever spoken to before. She
+could not help thinking of Jim Daker who lived in a saloon not far from
+her old home, and whom she had always passed with a hurried step, and
+with eyes on the ground, and of whom she thought as of one who lived in
+a different world from hers, and wondered how it felt to be down there
+in the slum. Now here was a boy whom it was her duty to think of as a
+brother; and he reminded her of Jim Daker!
+
+Still there was something about Norm that she could not help half
+liking. He had great brown, wistful-looking eyes, and an honest face.
+She had not much chance, it is true, to observe the eyes; for he did
+not look at her, nor speak, until his father said:
+
+"Why don't you shake hands with Nan? You ought to be glad to see her.
+You ain't used to such a looking supper as this."
+
+The boy laughed, in an embarrassed way, and said he was sure he did
+not know whether he was glad to see her or not: depended on what she
+had come for. He gave her just a gleam then from the brown eyes, and
+she smiled and held out her hand. He took it awkwardly enough, and
+dropped it as suddenly as though it had been hot; then sat down in
+haste at the table, where his step-father was already making havoc with
+the toast. It was not a very substantial meal for people who had dined
+on bread and cheese, and were hungering at that moment for beer; but
+the man had spoken the truth, it was better than they generally found.
+There was one part of the story, however, that he failed to tell: which
+was, that he did not furnish money to get anything better. As for Susie
+and Sate, they had become suddenly silent. They sat close together and
+devoured their toast, like hungry children indeed, but also like scared
+children. They gave occasional frightened glances at their father which
+puzzled and pained Nettie. No suspicion of the truth had yet come to
+her. Oh, yes, she had smelled the liquor when her father kissed her;
+but she thought it was something which had to do with the machinery
+around which he worked.
+
+"Where is the old woman?" he asked suddenly, setting down his empty cup
+which Nettie had filled for the third time. She looked up at him with a
+startled air. To whom was he speaking and what old woman could he mean?
+Her look seemed to make him cross. "What are you staring at?" he said
+sharply. "Can't you answer a question? Where's your mother?"
+
+Nettie hurried to answer; she was sick, had been real sick all day, but
+was better now, and was trying to get up.
+
+"She is everlastingly sick," the father said with a sneer; "you will
+get used to that story if you live here long. I hope you ain't one of
+the sickly kind, because we have heard enough of that."
+
+This sentence and the tone in which it was spoken, brought the blood in
+great waves to Nettie's face. It was the first time she had ever heard
+a man speak of his wife in such a way. Norm looked up from his cookie,
+and flashed angry eyes on his step-father for a moment, and said "he
+didn't know as that was any wonder. She had enough to make any woman
+sick."
+
+"You shut up," said the father in increasing irritability; and the
+children slipped out of their seats and moved toward the door, keeping
+careful eyes on the father until they were fairly outside. Nettie
+felt her limbs trembling so that her knees knocked together under the
+table. But at last every crumb of toast was eaten, and every drop of
+tea swallowed, and Mr. Decker pushed himself back from the table, and
+spoke in a somewhat gentler tone: "Well, my girl, make yourself as
+comfortable as you can. I'm glad to see you. We need your help, you'll
+find, in more ways than one. You've been working for other folks long
+enough. It is a poor place you've come to, and that's a fact. I ain't
+what I used to be; I've been unfortunate. No fellow ever had worse
+luck. Everything has gone wrong with me ever since your mother died.
+A sick wife, and young ones to look after, and nobody to do a thing.
+It is a hard life, but you might as well rough it with the rest of us.
+You'll get along somehow, I s'pose. The rest of us always have. I've
+got to go out for awhile. You tell the old woman to fix up some place
+for you to sleep, and we'll do the best we can."
+
+And he lounged away; Norm having left the table and the room some
+minutes before. And this was the father to whom Nettie Decker had come
+home!
+
+She swallowed at the lump which seemed growing larger every minute in
+her throat. She had choked back a great many tears that afternoon.
+There was no time to cry. Some place must be fixed for her to sleep.
+
+In the home that she had left, there was a little room with matting on
+the floor, and a little white bed in the corner, and a pretty toilet
+set that the carpenter's son had made her at odd times, and a wash bowl
+and pitcher that had been her present on her eleventh birthday, and a
+green rocking-chair that aunt Kate had sent her: not her own aunt Kate,
+but Mrs. Marshall's sister who had adopted her as a niece, and these
+things and many another little knickknack were all her own. The room
+was empty to-night; but then Nettie must not cry!
+
+She began to gather the dishes and get them ready for washing. Just as
+she plunged her hands into the dishwater, the bedroom door opened, and
+her mother came out, stepping feebly, like one just recovering from
+severe illness.
+
+"I'm dreadful weak," she said in answer to Nettie's inquiries, "but
+I guess I'm better than I have been in a good while. I've had a rest
+to-day; the first one I have had in three years. I don't know what made
+me give out so, all of a sudden. I tried to keep on my feet, but I
+couldn't do it no more than I could fly. You oughtn't to have to wash
+them dishes, child, with your pretty hands and your pretty dress. Oh,
+dear! I don't know what is to become of any of us."
+
+"This is my work apron," said Nettie, trying to speak cheerily, "and
+I am used to this work: I always helped with the tea dishes at home."
+Then she plunged into the midst of the subject which was troubling her.
+"Father said I was to ask you where I was to sleep."
+
+"He better ask himself!" said the wilted woman, rousing to sudden
+energy and indignation. "How does he think I know? There isn't the
+first rag to make a bed of, nor a spot to put it, if there was. I say
+it was a sin and a shame for him to send for you, and that's the truth!
+If he had one decent child who had a place to stay, where she would
+be took care of, he ought to have let you alone. You have come to an
+awful home, child. You have got to know the truth, and you might as
+well know it first as last. It is enough sight worse than you have seen
+to-night, though I dare say you think this is bad enough. You don't
+look nor act like what I was afraid of, and you must have had good
+friends who took care of you; and he ought to have let you alone. This
+is no place for a decent girl. It is bad enough for an old woman who
+has given up, and never expects to have anything decent any more. He
+won't provide any place for you, nor any clothes, and what we are to do
+with one more mouth to feed is more than I can see. I wouldn't grudge
+it to you, child, if we had it; but we are starved, half the time, and
+that's the living truth."
+
+"I won't eat much," said poor Nettie, trembling and quivering, "and I
+will try very hard to help; but if you please, what makes things so?
+Can't father get work?"
+
+"Work! of course he can; as much as he can do. He is as good a
+machinist to-day as there is in the shops; when they have a particular
+job they want him to do it. He works hard enough by spells; why, child,
+it's the drink. You didn't know it, did you? Well, you may as well know
+it first as last. He was nearer sober to-night than he has been in a
+week; but he wasn't so very sober or he wouldn't have been cross. He
+used to be good and kind as the best of them, and we had things decent.
+I never thought it would come to this, but it has, and it grows worse
+every day. Yes, you may well turn pale, and cry out. Turning pale won't
+do any good. And you may cry tears of blood, and them that sells the
+rum to poor foolish men will go right on selling it as long as they
+have money to pay, and kick them out when they haven't. That is the way
+it is done, and it keeps going on here year after year, homes ruined,
+and children made beggars, and them that have the making of the laws,
+go right on and let it be done. I've watched it. And I've tried, too.
+You needn't think I gave up and sat down to it without trying as hard
+as ever woman could to struggle against the curse; but I've give up
+now. Nothing is of any use. And the worst of it is my Norm is going the
+same road."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+NEW FRIENDS.
+
+
+AND then the poor woman who thought she had no more tears to shed,
+buried her face in her hands and shed some of the bitterest ones she
+ever did in her life.
+
+Poor Nettie! she tried to turn comforter; tried to think of one
+cheering word to say; but what was there to cheer the wife of a
+drunkard? Or the daughter of a drunkard? Could it be possible that she,
+Nettie Decker, was that! Oh, dear! how often she had stood in the door,
+and with a kind of terrified fascination watched Jane Daker stealing
+home in the darkness, afraid to go in at the front door, lest her
+drunken father should see her and vent his wrath on her. Could she ever
+creep around in the dark and hide away from her own _father_? Wouldn't
+it be possible for her to go back home? She had not money enough to
+get there, but couldn't she work somehow, and earn money? She could
+write a letter to the folks at home and tell them the dreadful story,
+and they would surely find a way of sending for her. But then, money
+was not plenty in that home, and she began to understand that they had
+done a great deal for her, and that it had cost a good deal to pay her
+fare to this place. She had wondered, at the time, that her father did
+not send the money for her to come home, but she said to herself: "I
+suppose he did not know how much it would cost, and he will give it to
+me to send in my first letter. Perhaps he will give me a little bit
+more than it costs, too, for a little present for Jamie."
+
+Oh, poor little girl! building hopes on a father like hers. She had not
+been at home half a day, but she knew now that no money would ever go
+back to the Marshalls in return for all they had done for her. Worse
+than that, she might not be able to get back to them herself. Would her
+father be likely to let her go? He had sent for her, and had told her
+during this first hour of their meeting, that she had worked for other
+people long enough. This made her heart swell with indignation.
+
+Done enough for others, indeed! What had they not done for her? She
+never realized it half so plainly as she did to-night. "I will go
+back!" she muttered, setting the little bowl she was drying on the
+table with a determined thump. "I can't stay in such a place as this.
+I will write to Auntie Marshall this very night if I can get a chance,
+and she will contrive some way."
+
+Certainly, Nettie in that mood could have no comfort for a weeping
+mother, and attempted none, after the first murmured word of pity. But
+meantime she knew very well that she could not go back home that night,
+and the present terror was, where was she to sleep?
+
+Her mother went back into the bedroom after a few minutes of bitter
+weeping, and Nettie finished the work, then stood drearily in the
+doorway, wondering what she could do next, when a good, homely,
+motherly face looked out of the side window of the small house next
+their own, and a cheery voice spoke:
+
+"Are you Joe Decker's little Nannie?"
+
+"Yes'm," said Nettie, sadly, wondering drearily, even then, if it could
+be possible that this was so.
+
+"Well," said the voice, "I calculated that you must be; though I never
+should have known you in the world, if I hadn't heard you was coming,
+you was such a mite of a thing when you went away. What a tall nice
+girl you've got to be. Your ma is sick, the children said. I've been
+away ironing all day, or I would have been in to see if I could help
+the poor thing any. I don't know her very much, but she is sickly, and
+has hard times now and then, and I'm sorry for her. Now what I was
+wondering is, where are they going to put you to sleep? The upper part
+of that house ain't finished off, is it? It is one big attic, ain't it,
+where Norm sleeps? I thought so. I suppose there could be quite a nice
+room made up there with a little work and a few dollars laid out, but
+your pa ain't done it, I'll be bound. And I knew there wasn't but one
+bedroom down-stairs, and I couldn't think how they would manage it."
+
+"It isn't managed at all, ma'am," said Nettie, seeing that she seemed
+to wait for an answer, and there was nothing to say but the simple
+truth. "There is no place for me to sleep."
+
+"You don't say! Now that's a shame. Well, now, what I was thinking was,
+that maybe you would like to sleep in the woodhouse chamber; it is a
+nice little room as ever was, and it opens right out of my Sarah Ann's
+room; so you wouldn't be lonesome. I haven't any manner of use for it,
+now my boy's gone away, and I just as soon you would sleep there as
+not until your folks get things fixed. You're a dreadful clean-looking
+little girl, and I like that. I'm a master hand to have clean things
+around me; Job says he believes I catch the flies and dust their wings
+before I let them go into my front room. Job is my husband, and that is
+his little joke at me, you know." And she laughed such a jolly little
+roly-poly sort of laugh that poor Nettie could not keep a smile from
+her troubled face. A refuge in the woodhouse chamber of this neat,
+good-natured-looking woman seemed like a bit of heaven to the homesick
+child.
+
+"I am very much obliged to you, ma'am," she said respectfully; "I will
+tell my mother how kind you are, and I think she will be glad to accept
+the kindness for a few days. I--" and then Nettie suddenly stopped. It
+might not be well to say to this new friend that she would not need to
+trouble the woodhouse chamber long, for she meant to start for home
+as soon as a letter could travel there, and another travel back.
+Something might come in the way of this resolve, though it made her
+feel hot all over to think of such a possibility.
+
+"Bless my heart!" said Mrs. Job Smith as Nettie vanished to consult her
+mother. "If that ain't as polite and pretty-spoken a child as ever I
+see in my life. She makes me think of our Jerry. To think of that child
+being Joe Decker's girl and coming back to such a home as he keeps! It
+is too bad! I am sure I hope they will let her sleep in the woodhouse
+chamber. It is the only spot where she will get any peace."
+
+Mrs. Decker was only too glad to avail herself of her neighbor's kind
+offer. "It is good of her," she said gratefully to Nettie. "I wish to
+the land you could have such a comfortable room all the time; they are
+real clean-looking folks. You wouldn't suppose from the looks of this
+house that I cared for clean things, but I do, and I used to have them
+about me, too. I was as neat once as the best of them; but it takes
+clothes and soap and strength to be clean, and I have had none of 'em
+in so long that I have most forgot how to do anything decent."
+
+"Soap?" said Nettie, wonderingly. She was beating up the poor rags
+which composed the bed in her mother's room, trying to get a little
+freshness into them.
+
+"Yes, soap; I don't suppose you can imagine how it would seem not to
+have all the soap you wanted; I couldn't, either, once, but I tell
+you I save the pennies nowadays for bread, so that I need not see my
+children starve before my eyes. I would rather do without soap than
+bread; especially when our clothes are so worn out that there is
+nothing much to change with. Oh, I tell you when you get into a house
+where the men folks spend all they can get on beer or whiskey, there
+are not many pennies left. Mrs. Smith has been real kind; she sent the
+children in a bowl of soup one day when their father had gone off and
+not left a thing in the house, nor a cent to get anything with.
+
+"And she has done two or three things like that lately; I'm grateful to
+her, but I'm ashamed to say so. I never expected to sink so low that I
+should be glad of the scraps which a poor neighbor like her could send
+in. Oh, no; they are not very poor. Why, they are rich as kings, come
+to compare them with us; but they are not grand folks at all; he is a
+teamster, and works hard every day; so does she; but he doesn't drink
+a drop, and they have a good many comfortable things. Their boy is away
+at school, and their girl, Sarah Ann, is learning a dressmaker's trade.
+You will have a comfortable bed in there, and I'm glad of it."
+
+And now it was eight o'clock. Susie and Sate were asleep in their
+trundle bed, the tired Nettie having coaxed them to let her give them
+a splendid bath first, making the idea pleasant to them by producing
+from her trunk a cunning little cake of perfumed soap. They looked "as
+pretty as pictures," the sad-eyed mother said, as she bent over them
+when they were asleep, with their moist hair in loose waves, and their
+clean faces flushed with health. "They are real pretty little girls,"
+she added earnestly, as she turned away. "He might be proud of them.
+And he used to be, too. When Sate was a baby, he said she had eyes like
+you, and he used to kiss her and tell her she was pretty, until I was
+afraid he would spoil her; but there isn't the least danger of that
+now. He never notices either of them except to slap them or growl at
+them."
+
+"How came father to begin to drink?" Nettie asked the question
+timidly, hesitating over the last word; it seemed such a dreadful word
+to add to a father's name.
+
+"Don't ask me, child; I don't know. They say he always drank a little;
+a glass of beer now and then. I knew he did when I married him, but I
+thought it was no more than all hard-working men did. I never thought
+much about it. I know it never entered my head that he could be a
+drunkard. I'd have been too afraid for Norm if I had dreamed of such a
+thing as that.
+
+"He kept increasing the drinks, little by little--it grows on them, it
+seems, the habit does; they say that is the way with all the drinks; I
+didn't know it. I never was taught about these things. If I had been,
+I think sometimes my life would have been very different. I know I
+wouldn't have walked right into the fire with my one boy, anyhow. I'm
+talking to you, child, as though you were a woman grown, and you seem
+most like a woman to me, you are so handy, and quiet, and nice-looking.
+I was sorry you were coming, because I thought you would just be an
+added plague; and now I am sorry for your own sake."
+
+Nettie hesitated greatly over the next question. It was a very hard one
+to ask this sick and discouraged mother, but she must know the whole of
+the misery by which she was surrounded. "Does Norman drink too?"
+
+"Norm," said Mrs. Decker, dropping into the one chair, and putting
+her hand to her heart as though there was something stabbing her
+there, "Norm has been led away by your father. He was a bright little
+fellow, and your father took to him amazingly. I used to tell him his
+own little girls would have reason to be jealous of his step-son. He
+took Norm with him everywhere, from the first. And taught him to do
+odd things, for a little fellow, and was proud of his singing, and
+his speaking, and all that. And when Susie there, was a baby, and I
+was kept close at home with her, and Norm would tear around in the
+evening and wake her up, I slipped into the way of letting him go out
+with your father to spend the evenings; I didn't know they spent them
+in bar-rooms, or groceries where they sold beer. I never _dreamed_ of
+such a thing. Your father talked about meeting the men, and I thought
+they met at some of the houses where there wasn't a baby to cry, and
+talked their work over, or the news, you know. And there he was
+teaching Norm to drink. He was a pretty little fellow, and he would
+sing comic songs, and then they would treat him to the sugar in their
+glasses! When I found it out, he had got to liking the stuff, and I
+don't suppose a day goes by without his taking more or less of it now.
+He never gets as bad as your father; but he will. He is never cross
+and ugly to me, nor to the children, but he will be. It grows on him.
+It grows on them all. And to think that I led him into the trap! If I
+had stayed in the country where I was brought up, or if I had left him
+with his grandfather, as he wanted me to, he might have been saved. The
+grandfather is gone now, and so is the farm. Your father got hold of my
+share of that, and lost it somehow. He didn't mean to, and that soured
+him, and he drank the harder and we are going down to the very bottom
+of everything as fast as we can."
+
+It seemed to poor Nettie that they must have reached the bottom now.
+She could not imagine any lower depths than these.
+
+She made up the poor bed as well as she could, and then went back to
+the kitchen to see what could be done about breakfast. Her new mother
+was evidently too weak and sick to be troubled with the thought of
+it, and while she stayed, Nettie resolved that she would help the
+poor woman all she could. She went out into the yard to examine, and
+discovered to her satisfaction that there must be a cooper's shop just
+around the corner, for the chips lay thick. She gathered some for the
+morning fire, determined in her mind that she would buy a few potatoes
+at the grocery in the morning! In the cupboard she had found a cup of
+sour milk; this she had carefully treasured with an eye to breakfast,
+and she now looked into her purse to see if she could spare pennies for
+a quart of flour. If she could, then some excellent cakes would be the
+result. And now everything that she knew how to do towards the next
+day's needs was attended to, and she went out in the moonlight, and sat
+down on the lowest step of the back stoop, and did what she had been
+longing to do all the afternoon--cried as though her poor young heart
+was breaking.
+
+Astride a saw-horse in the yard which belonged to Job Smith, and which
+was separated from the stoop where she sat only by a low fence, was a
+curly-headed boy, who had come there apparently to whittle and whistle
+and watch her. He was not there when she sat down and buried her head
+in her apron. She did not notice his whistling, though he made it loud
+and shrill on purpose to attract her attention, He knew quite a little
+about her by this time. He had come upon the boys of the Grammar School
+in the midst of their afternoon recess and heard Harry Stuart interrupt
+little Ted Barrows who was the youngest one in the class and wrote
+the best compositions. They were gathered under a tree listening to
+Ted, while he read them "The Story of An Hour," which was especially
+interesting because it had some of their own experiences skilfully
+woven in.
+
+"Hold on," Harry was saying, just as the whistling boy appeared within
+hearing. "You didn't make that thing up; you got it from the Deckers;
+that is what is just going to happen there. Old Joe's Nan is coming
+home this very day, and she is about as old as the girl you've got in
+your story, and is freckled, I dare say; most girls are."
+
+"I didn't even know old Joe Decker had a girl to come home!" said
+little Ted, looking injured. "I made every word of it out of my own
+mind."
+
+But the boys did not hear him; their interest had been called in
+another direction. "Is that so? Is Nan Decker coming home? My! What a
+house to come to. Mother said only yesterday that she hoped the folks
+who had her would keep her forever. What is she coming for? Who told
+you?"
+
+"Why, she is coming because Joe thinks that will be another way to
+plague the old lady. At least that is what my mother thinks. Mrs.
+Decker told her once that when Joe had been drinking more than usual
+he always threatened to send for Nan; but she didn't think he would.
+And now it seems he has. I heard it from the old fellow himself. He
+was telling Norm about it, while I stood waiting for father's saw. He
+said she was coming in the stage this afternoon; that she had worked
+for other folks long enough and it was time he had some good of her
+himself. I pity her, I tell you."
+
+Then the whistler had come out from behind the trees, and said
+good-afternoon, and asked a few questions. The boys had answered him
+civilly enough, but in a way which showed that they did not count
+him as one of them. The fact was, he was a good deal of a stranger.
+He had been in town only a few weeks, and he did not go to school,
+and he boarded with or lived with, the Smiths, who lived next door to
+the Deckers, and were nice enough people, but did not have much to do
+with the fathers and mothers of these boys, and--well, the fact was,
+the boys did not know whether to take this new comer in, and make him
+welcome, or not. They sort of liked him; he was good-natured, and
+accommodating so far as they knew, but they knew very little about him.
+He asked a good many questions about the expected Nan Decker. He had
+never heard of her before. Since he was to live next door to her, it
+might be pleasant to know what sort of a person she was. But the boys
+could tell him very little. Seven years, at their time of life, blots
+out a good many memories. They only knew that she was Nan Decker who
+went away when her mother died, and who had lived with the Marshalls
+ever since; and all agreed in being sorry for her that she was obliged
+at last to come home.
+
+The whistling boy walked away, after having cross-questioned first one,
+and then another, and learned that they knew nothing. He was on his
+way to the woods for one of his long summer rambles. He felt a trifle
+lonely, and wished that the boys had asked him to sit down under the
+trees and have a good time with them.
+
+[Illustration: JERRY ON ONE OF HIS SUMMER RAMBLES.]
+
+He would have liked to hear Ted's composition, he said to himself; the
+boy had a sweet face, and a head that looked as though he might be
+going to make a smart man, one of these days. What was the matter with
+those fellows, he wondered, that they were not more cordial?
+
+He thought about it quite awhile, then plunged into the mosses and
+ferns and gathered some lovely specimens, which he arranged in the box
+he carried slung over his shoulder, and forgot all about the boys, and
+poor little Nan Decker. On the way home, in the glow of the setting
+sun, he thought of her again, and wondered if she had come, and if
+she would be a sorrowful and homesick little girl. It seemed queer to
+think of being homesick when one came home! But then, it was only a
+home in name; he had not lived next door to it for five weeks without
+discovering that, and the little girl's mother was dead! Poor Nan
+Decker! A shadow came over his bright face for a moment as he thought
+of this. His mother was dead. He resolved to speak a kind word to
+the little girl the very first time that he had a chance. And here in
+the moonlight was his chance.
+
+He stopped whistling at last and spoke: "If it is anything about which
+I can help, I shall be very glad to do it." A kind, cheerful voice.
+Nettie looked up quickly and choked back her tears. She was not one to
+cry, if there were to be any lookers-on.
+
+"I guess you are homesick," said the boy from, his horse's back;
+"and that isn't any wonder. I'm homesick myself, nearly every night,
+especially if it is moonlight. I don't know what there is about the
+moon that chokes a fellow up so, but I've noticed it often; but then I
+feel all right in the morning."
+
+"Are you away from your home?"
+
+"I should say I was! Or rather home has gone away from me. I haven't
+any home in particular, only my father, and he is away out in
+California. I couldn't go there with him, and since my school closed I
+am waiting here for him to come back. It is home, you know, wherever
+he is. He doesn't expect to be back yet for months. So you and I ought
+to be pretty good friends, we are such near neighbors. I live right
+next door to you. We ought to be introduced. You are Nannie Decker, I
+suppose, and I am Jerry Mack at your service. I don't wonder you are
+homesick; folks always are, the first night."
+
+"My name is Nanette," said Nettie, gently, "but people who like me most
+always say Nettie: and it isn't being homesick that makes me feel so
+badly--though I am homesick; but it is being scared, and astonished,
+and, oh! everything. Nothing is as I thought it would be; and there are
+things about it that I did not understand at all, or maybe I wouldn't
+have come; and now I am here, I don't know what to do." She was very
+near crying again, in spite of a watcher.
+
+"I know," he said, nodding his head, and speaking in a grave,
+sympathetic voice. "Job Smith--that is the man I am staying with--has
+told me how it used to be with your father. He says he was a very nice
+father indeed. I am as sorry for you as I can be. But after all, I
+wouldn't give up if I were you; and I should be real glad that I had
+come home to help him. He needs a great deal of help. Folks reform, you
+know. Why, people who are a great deal worse than your father has ever
+been yet, have turned right around and become splendid men. If I were
+you I would go right to work to have him reform. Then there's Norm--he
+needs help, too; and he ought to have it before he gets any older,
+because it would be so much easier for him to get started right now."
+
+"I don't know the least thing to do," said Nettie; but she dried her
+eyes on her neat little handkerchief as she spoke, and sat up straight,
+and looked with earnest eyes at the boy on the other side the fence.
+This sort of talk interested and helped her.
+
+"No; of course you don't. You haven't studied these things up, I
+suppose. But there is a great deal to do. My father is a temperance
+man, and I have heard him talk. I know a hundred things I would like to
+do, and a few that I can do. I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, say we
+start a society, you and I, and fight this whole thing?
+
+"We can begin with little bits of plans which we can carry out now, and
+let them grow as fast as we can follow them and see what we can do. Is
+it a bargain?"
+
+"There is nothing I would like so well, if you will only show me how,"
+said Nettie, and her eyes were shining.
+
+It was wonderful what a weight these few words seemed to lift from her
+troubled heart. The boy's face had grown more thoughtful. He seemed in
+doubt just how to express what he wanted to say next.
+
+"I don't know how you feel about it," he said as last, "but I know
+somebody who would be sure to help in anything of this kind that we
+tried to do--show us how, you know, and make ways for us to get money,
+and all that."
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+Nettie spoke quickly now, for her heart was beating loud and fast. Was
+there somebody in this town who could be asked to come to the rescue,
+and who was willing to give such hearty help as that? If such were the
+case, she could see that a great deal might be accomplished. She waited
+for her new friend's answer, but he looked down on the stick he was
+whittling and gravely sharpened the end to a very fine point, before he
+spoke again.
+
+"I don't know what you think about such things, but I mean--God. I
+_know_ he is on our side in this business, don't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Nettie, thoughtfully, and her manner changed.
+
+Her voice which had been only eager before, became soft and gentle, and
+she looked over at the boy in the moonlight and smiled. "I know Him,"
+she said, "and I am His servant. It is strange I forgot for a little
+while that He knew all about this home, and father, and everything!
+Maybe He wants me to help father. I mean to begin right away. I will
+do every single thing I can think of, to keep father, and Norm, and
+everybody else from drinking liquor any more forever."
+
+There was a sudden spring from the saw-horse, a long step taken over
+the low fence, and the boy stood beside her.
+
+"There are two of us," he said gravely. "There is my hand on it. I am a
+Christian, too. And father gave me a verse once, which always helps me
+when I think of the rumsellers: 'If God be for us, who _can_ be against
+us!' I know he is for us, and so, though the rumsellers are against us,
+and think they are going to beat, one of these days he will show them!
+What you and I want to do is to keep working at it all we can, so as to
+show that we believe in him."
+
+"Now we are partners--Nettie Decker and Jerry Mack, who knows what we
+can do? Anyhow, we are friends, and will stand by each other through
+thick and thin, won't we?"
+
+"Yes," said Nettie, "we will." And she rose up from the doorstep, and
+they shook hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A GREAT UNDERTAKING.
+
+
+JERRY turned away whistling. Did you ever notice how apt boys are to
+whistle when something has stirred their feelings very much, and they
+don't intend that anybody but themselves shall know it?
+
+Nettie went back into the little brown house to see if her mother was
+comfortable for the night. Her heart was lighter than she had thought
+it ever would be again.
+
+Everything was quiet within the house. The children with their arms
+tossed about one another, and their cheeks flushed with sleep, looked
+sweeter than they often did awake. The heartsick mother had forgotten
+her sorrow again for a little while, in sleep. Where father and Norm
+were, Nettie did not know. It seemed strange to go away and leave the
+light burning, and the door unfastened. At home, they always gathered
+at about this hour, in the neat sitting-room, and sang a hymn and
+repeated each a Bible verse, and then Mr. Marshall prayed, and after
+that she kissed Auntie Marshall and the others, and tripped away to her
+pretty room. The contrast was very sharp. If it had not been for that
+new friend whose voice she heard at this moment softly singing a cheery
+tune, I think the tears would have come again.
+
+As it was, she slipped into Mrs. Job Smith's neat kitchen. What a
+contrast that was to the kitchen next door! The first thing she saw was
+the tall old clock in the corner. "Tick-tock, tick-tock." She had never
+seen so large a clock before; she had never heard one speak in such a
+slow and patronizing tone, as though it were managing all the world.
+She looked up into its face and smiled. It seemed like a great strong
+friend.
+
+There was nothing very remarkable about that kitchen. At least I
+suppose you would not have thought so, unless you had just spent
+an afternoon in the Decker kitchen. Then you might have felt the
+difference. The floor was painted a bright yellow, and had gay rugs
+spread here and there. The stove shone brilliantly, and the two chairs
+under the window were painted green, with dazzling white seats. A high,
+old-fashioned, wooden-backed rocker occupied a cosey corner near the
+clock. A table set against the wall had a bright spread on it, and
+newspapers, and a book or two, and a pair of spectacles lay on it. The
+lamp was in the centre, and was clear and beautifully trimmed.
+
+Simple enough things, all of them, but they spoke to Nettie's heart of
+home.
+
+There was a brisk step on the stair; the door opened, and Mrs. Smith's
+strong, homely face appeared in sight. "Here you are," she said
+cheerily, "tired enough to go to sleep, I dare say. Well, the room is
+all ready for you. I guess you won't be lonesome, for it is right out
+of Sarah Ann's room, and my boy Jerry is across the hall. You've got
+acquainted with Jerry, I guess? I saw you and him talking, out in the
+moonlight. I'm glad of it. Jerry is good at chirking a body up; and
+there never was a better boy made than he is.
+
+"Now you get right to sleep as goon as you can, and dream of all the
+nice things you can think of. It is good luck to have nice dreams in a
+new room, you know."
+
+"Poor little soul!" she said to herself as the door closed after
+Nettie. "I hope she will be so sound asleep that she won't hear her
+father and Norm come stumbling home. Isn't it a mean thing, now, that
+the father of such a little girl as that should go and disgrace her?"
+
+Mrs. Smith was talking to nobody, and so of course nobody answered her;
+and in a little while that house was still for the night. Nettie, in
+the clean, sweet-smelling woodhouse chamber, was soon on her knees; not
+sobbing out a homesick cry, as she thought she would, as soon as ever
+she had a chance, but actually thanking God for these new friends; and
+asking Him to be One in this new society, and show them just what and
+how to do. Then she went into sound sleep; and heard no stumbling, nor
+grumbling, though both father and brother did much of it when at last
+they shambled home.
+
+The new plans came up for consideration early the next morning. Before
+Nettie had opened her eyes to the neatly whitewashed walls in the
+woodhouse chamber, she heard the sound of merry whistling, keeping time
+to the swift blows of an axe. Jerry was preparing kindlings. In a very
+short time after that, he looked up to say good-morning, as Nettie was
+making her way across the yard to the other house.
+
+"Don't you want some of these nice chips? They will make your kettle
+boil in a jiffy."
+
+This was his good-morning; he held out both hands to her, full of broad
+smooth chips. "Aunt Jerusha likes them better than any other kind; I
+keep her supplied. Wait, I'll carry them in."
+
+"Oh, you needn't," Nettie said in haste, and blushing. What would he
+think of the Decker kitchen after being used to Mrs. Smith's! But he
+took long springs across the walk, vaulted the fence and stood at the
+kitchen door waiting for her. It looked even more desolate, in contrast
+with the sunny morning, than it had the night before. Nettie resolved
+to blacken the stove that very day. "Do you know how to make a fire?"
+Jerry asked. "I do. I made aunt Jerusha's for her, two mornings, but it
+is hard work to get ahead of her."
+
+Yes, Nettie knew how. She had made the fire for the supper, in Mrs.
+Marshall's boarding house, many a time. She proceeded to show her skill
+at once; Jerry, looking on admiringly, admitted that she knew more
+about it than he did.
+
+"You see, father and I board," he said apologetically, "and there
+isn't much chance to learn things. I'll tell you what I can do--get you
+a fresh pail of water."
+
+Before she could speak, he darted away. There was a sound of feet
+coming down the unfinished stairs, and Norm lounged into the room,
+rubbing sleepy eyes, and looking as though he had not combed his hair
+in a week. He stared at Nettie as though he had never seen her before,
+and answered her good-morning, with:
+
+"I'll be bound if I didn't forget you! Where have you been all night?"
+
+"Asleep," said Nettie, brightly. "Now I want to have breakfast ready by
+the time mother comes out, to surprise her. Will you tell me whether
+you have tea or coffee?"
+
+Norm laughed slightly. "We have what we can get, as a rule. I heard
+mother say there wasn't any tea in the house. And I don't believe
+we have had any coffee for a month. I'd like some, though; I know
+that. I've got a quarter; I'll go and get some, if you will make us a
+first-rate cup of coffee."
+
+"Well," said Nettie, "I'll do my best."
+
+She spoke a little doubtfully, having a shrewd suspicion that the
+quarter ought to be saved for more important things than coffee;
+but she did not like to object to Norm's first expressed idea of
+partnership; so he went away, and when the fresh water came, the
+teakettle was filled, the table set, the potatoes washed and put in the
+oven; by the time Mrs. Decker appeared, Nettie, with a very flushed
+face, was bending over her hot griddle, testing the cake she had baked.
+
+"Well, I do say!" said Mrs. Decker, and the tone expressed not only
+surprise, but gratitude. There was a pleasant odor of coffee in the
+room, and the potatoes were already beginning to hint that they would
+soon be done. The cake that Nettie had baked was as puffy and sweet as
+her heart could desire.
+
+"I believe you're a witch," said Mrs. Decker. "I couldn't think of a
+thing for breakfast. Where did you get them cakes?"
+
+"Made them," said Nettie; "I found a cup of sour milk; Auntie Marshall
+used to let me make them often for breakfast. Norm went after the
+coffee; and I guess it is good. I saved my egg shell from the cakes to
+settle it."
+
+"You're a regular little housekeeper," said Mrs. Decker. "And so Norm
+went after coffee! Did you ask him to? Went of his own accord! That's
+something wonderful for Norm. He used to think of things for me but he
+don't any more."
+
+Altogether, it was really almost a comfortable breakfast, though it
+seemed to Nettie that she would never get it ready. She was not used
+to managing with so few dishes. Her father drank three cups of coffee,
+said it was something like living, and gave Nettie twenty-five cents,
+with the direction that he hoped there would be something decent to eat
+when they came home at noon.
+
+Nettie's cheeks were red with more than the baking of cakes, then. She
+was ashamed of her father. How could he speak in a way to insult his
+wife! They went off hurriedly at last, Norm and the father; and the
+children who had been silent, began to chatter the moment the door
+closed after them. Mrs. Decker, too, began to talk.
+
+"He thinks twenty-five cents will buy a dinner for us all, and keep us
+in clothes, and get new furniture, and dishes! He will have it that it
+is because things are wasted that we have such poor meals. As if I had
+anything to waste! I don't know what to do, nor which way to turn. We
+need everything."
+
+"Don't you think we had better clean house to-day?" Nettie asked a
+little timidly, as they rose from the table and she began to gather the
+dishes.
+
+"Clean house!" repeated the dazed mother. "Why, yes, child, I suppose
+so. It needs it badly enough. Oh, we can wash up the floor, and the
+shelf. It doesn't take long; there are not many things in the way.
+No furniture to move. But it doesn't stay clean long, I can tell
+you. Just one room in which to do everything! I might have kept it
+looking better, though, if I had not been sick. I have just had to let
+everything go, child. Lying awake nights, and worrying, have used me
+up."
+
+She took the broom as she spoke and began to sweep vigorously,
+scurrying the children out of her way.
+
+It was a long day, and a busy one. And at night, the room certainly
+looked better. The floor had been scrubbed with hot lye to get off the
+grease, and the stove had been blackened until the children shouted
+that it would do for a looking-glass. Several other improvements had
+been made. But after all, to Nettie's eyes it was dreadfully bare and
+comfortless. Not a cushioned chair, nor a rocker, nor anything that to
+her seemed like home. All day she had been casting glances at a closed
+door which opened from the kitchen, and thinking her thoughts about
+the room in there. A large square room, perfectly empty. Why wasn't it
+used? If for nothing else, why didn't Norm sleep in it, instead of in
+that dreadful unfinished attic where the rats must certainly have full
+sweep? Or why did not her mother move in there with the trundle bed,
+instead of being cooped up in that small bedroom? Or why had they not
+prepared it for her to sleep in, if they really did not want it for
+anything else? She gathered courage at last, to ask questions.
+
+"Oh, that room," her mother said with bitterness, "when I first came
+here to live, we pleased ourselves nights, after the children were in
+bed, telling what we would have in it. We meant to furnish it for a
+parlor. We were going to have it carpeted; he wanted a red carpet, and
+I wanted a brown one with a little bit of pink in, but land! I would
+have taken one that was all yellow, just to please him. And we were
+going to have a lounge, and two rocking chairs, and I don't know what
+not. And there it is, shut up. I might have had it for a bedroom at
+first, but I wouldn't. I wanted to save it. And then, when I gave that
+all up, there was nothing to fix it with. Norm couldn't sleep there
+without curtains to the windows; no more could we; it is right on the
+street, almost.
+
+"And things keep getting worse and worse, so I just shut the door and
+locked it and let it go. If I had had a spare chair to put in, I might
+have gone in there and cried, now and then, but I hadn't even that. I
+tried to rent it; but the woman who was hunting rooms heard that your
+father drank, and was afraid to come. Oh, we have a splendid name in
+the place, you'll find. We are just going to ruin as fast as a family
+can; that's the whole story."
+
+In the middle of the afternoon, when Nettie had done everything she
+could think of, unless some money could be raised, and some clothes
+made, so that the children could have the ones washed which they were
+wearing, she stood in the back door, wondering how that could be
+brought about, when Jerry appeared in his favorite seat on the sawhorse.
+
+"Everything done up for the day?" he asked.
+
+Nettie laughed.
+
+"Everything has stopped for the want of things to do with," she said.
+"I don't see but that will be the trouble with what we want to do. Why,
+you can't do a single thing without money; and where is it to come
+from?"
+
+"That is one of the things we must think up," Jerry said gravely. "I
+have thought about it some. This temperance business needs money. One
+of the troubles with boys like Norm is that they have no nice places
+to go to. Boys like to meet together and talk things over, you know,
+and have a good time, and how are some of them going to do it? The
+church isn't the place, nor the schoolhouse, and those fellows haven't
+pleasant homes; the only spot for them is the saloons. I don't much
+wonder that they get in the habit of going there. I have heard my
+father say that saloons were the only places that were fixed up, and
+lighted, where folks without any pleasant homes were made welcome. Why,
+just look at it in this town. There's your Norm. There are two fellows
+who go with him a great deal. If you meet one, you may be sure that
+the other two are not far away. Their names are Alf Barnes and Rick
+Walker. Neither of them have as decent a home as Norm's, oh! not by a
+good deal. And he doesn't feel like inviting them into your kitchen to
+spend the evening. Should you think he would?"
+
+Warm as the day was, Nettie shivered. "I should think they would rather
+stay out in the street than to come there," she said.
+
+"Well, now you see how it is. They don't stay in the streets, such
+fellows don't. Not all the time. They get tired, and sometimes it
+rains, and in winter it is cold, and they look about them for somewhere
+to go. There's a saloon, bright and clean; comfortable chairs, and
+good-natured people. It is the only place that says Come in! to such
+fellows. Why shouldn't they go in?
+
+"I've heard my father talk about this by the hour. In big cities they
+have rooms warmed and lighted, and nicely furnished, on purpose for
+such young men; only father is always saying that they don't begin to
+have enough of them; but in such a town as this, I would like to know
+what the boys who haven't nice homes to stay in, are expected to do
+with themselves evenings? One of these days, when I am a man, that
+is the way I am going to use all my extra money. I'll hunt out towns
+where the fellows have just been left to stay in the streets, or else
+go to the rum-holes, and I'll fit up the nicest kind of a room for
+them. Bright as gas can make it, and elegant, you know, like a parlor;
+and I'll have cakes, and coffee, and lemonades, and all those things,
+cheaper than beer, and serve them in fine style. Wouldn't that be a
+fine thing to do?"
+
+"Then the first thing," said Nettie, "is a room."
+
+Jerry turned round on his horse and looked full at her and laughed.
+"You talk as though it was to be done now," he said. "I was telling
+what I would do in that dim future, when I become a man."
+
+"We might begin pieces of it now. Norm will be too old when you are a
+man; and so will those others. There is our front room. If we only had
+some furniture to put in it. My Auntie Marshall made some real pretty
+seats once, out of old boxes; she padded them with cotton, and covered
+them with pretty calico, and you can't think how nice they were. I
+could make some, if I had the boxes and the calico."
+
+"I could get the boxes," said Jerry. "I know a man in the blacksmith
+shop who has a brother in the grocery down at the corner, and he could
+get boxes for us of him, I'm pretty sure. He is a nice man, that
+blacksmith. I like him better than any man in town, I believe. I could
+fix covers on the boxes myself, and do several other things. I have a
+box of tools, and I often make little things. I say, Nettie, let's fix
+up the front room. I've often wondered what there was in there. Would
+your mother let us have it?"
+
+"She would let us have most everything, I guess," Nettie said
+thoughtfully, "if she thought it would do any good."
+
+"All right. We'll make it do some good. Let's set to work right away.
+The first thing as you say, is a room. No, we have the room; the first
+thing is furniture. I'll go and see Mr. Collins this very evening. He
+is the blacksmith."
+
+In less than half an hour from that time Jerry stood beside Mr. Collins.
+
+That gentleman had on his big leather apron, and was busy about his
+work as usual.
+
+"Boxes?" he said to Jerry. "Why, yes, there are piles of them in his
+cellar, and out by his back door. I should think he would be glad to
+get rid of some. But what do you want of them? Furniture? How are you
+going to make furniture out of boxes? What put such a notion as that
+into your head, and what do you want of furniture, anyhow?"
+
+So Jerry sat down on a box and told the whole story. Mr. Collins
+listened, and nodded, and shook his head, and smiled grimly,
+occasionally, and sighed, and in every possible way showed his interest
+and appreciation.
+
+"And so you two are going to take hold and reform the town?" he said
+at last. "Humph! Well, it needs it bad enough! if old boxes will help,
+it stands to reason that you ought to have as many as you want. I'll
+engage to see that you get them."
+
+When Mr. Collins told his brother-in-law, the grocer, the two laughed
+a good deal, but the blacksmith finished his story with, "Well, now I
+tell you what it is--something is better than nothing, any day; there's
+been nothing done here for so long that I think it is kind of wonderful
+that those two young things should start up and try to do something."
+
+"So do I, so do I," assented the grocer, heartily, "and if old boxes
+will help 'em, why, land, they're welcome to as many as they can use.
+Tell the chap to step around here and select his lumber, and I'll have
+it delivered."
+
+This message Jerry was not slow to obey; so it happened that the very
+next afternoon Mrs. Job Smith stood in her back door and watched with
+curious eyes the unloading of the grocer's wagon. Six, seven, eight
+empty boxes! "For the land's sake, what be you going to do with them?"
+she asked Jerry.
+
+Mrs. Job Smith had a great warm heart, but no education to speak of;
+and no mother had, in her childhood, begged her a dozen times a day not
+to use such expressions as "for the land's sake!" she knew no better
+than to suppose they added emphasis to her words; Jerry laughed.
+
+"It is for the room's sake, auntie," he said. "We are going to have a
+cabinet shop in the barn loft. Mr. Smith said I might. I shall make
+some nice things, auntie, see if I don't. Come up in the loft, will
+you, and see my tool chest?"
+
+This last sentence was addressed to Nettie who had appeared in her
+back door to admire the boxes. So the two climbed the ladder stairs,
+Nettie a little timidly as one unused to ladders, and Jerry with quick
+springs, holding out his hand to her at the top, to help her in making
+the final leap. Then he took from his pocket a curious little key which
+he explained to Nettie would open that tool chest provided you knew
+how to use it; but he supposed that a man who had stolen it might try
+for a week, and yet not get into the chest.
+
+A skilful touch, and the handsome chest was open before her, displaying
+its wonders to her pleased eyes. It was a well-stocked chest. Chisels,
+and saws, and hammers, and augers, and sharp, wicked-looking little
+things for which Nettie had no name, gleamed before her.
+
+"How nice!" she said at last. "How splendid! It looks as though
+somebody who knew how, could make splendid things with them."
+
+"And I know how," said Jerry. "At least, I know some things. I spent a
+summer down in a little country town where father had some business;
+and the man we boarded with kept a small shop, where all sorts of
+things were made. Not a great factory, you know, where they make a
+thousand chairs of one kind, and a thousand of another, and never
+make anything but chairs. This was just a little country shop, where
+they made a table one day, and a chair the next, and a bedstead the
+next; and you could watch the men at work, and ask questions and learn
+ever so much. I got so I could use tools, as well as the next one,
+Mr. Braisted said, whatever he meant by that. Father liked to have
+me learn. He said tools were the cleanest sharp things that he knew
+anything about. I can make ever so many things. I like to do it. I
+wonder I have not been about it since I came here. Now what shall we go
+at first? What does your mother say about the room?"
+
+"She is willing," said Nettie, "only she doesn't see how much of
+anything can be done. She is most discouraged, you see, and nothing
+looks possible to her, I suppose."
+
+"That's all right. She can't be expected to know we can do things until
+we show her. If she will let us try, that is all we need ask."
+
+"She says the room ought to have some kind of a carpet; they always
+have carpets in home-like rooms, she says; and I guess that is so.
+Except in kitchens, of course."
+
+Nettie hastened to say this, apologetically, thinking of Mrs. Job
+Smith's bright yellow floor.
+
+Jerry whistled.
+
+"That is so, I suppose," he said thoughtfully; "and they don't make
+carpets out of boxes, nor with saws and hammers, do they? I don't know
+how we would manage that. There must be a way to do it, though. Let's
+put that one side among the things that have got to be thought about."
+
+"And prayed about," said Nettie.
+
+"Yes," he said, flashing a very bright look at her, "I thought that,
+but somehow I did not like to say it out, in so many words."
+
+"I wonder why?" said Nettie thoughtfully; "I mean, I wonder why it is
+so much harder to say things of that kind than it is to speak about
+anything else?"
+
+"Father used to say it was because people didn't get in the habit of
+talking about religion in a common sense way. They don't, you know;
+hardly anybody. At least hardly anybody that I know; around here,
+anyway. Now my father speaks of those things just as easy as he does of
+anything."
+
+"So does Auntie Marshall; but I used to notice that not many people
+did. Your father must be a good man."
+
+"There never was a better one!"
+
+Notwithstanding Jerry said all this with tremendous energy, his voice
+trembled a little, and there came one of those dashes of feeling over
+him which made him think that he must drop everything and go to that
+dear father right away.
+
+"When he comes after you and takes you away, what will I do?"
+
+Nettie's mournful tone restored the boy's courage.
+
+He laughed a little. "No use in borrowing trouble about that. He is
+afraid he cannot come back before winter, if he does then. I'm going
+to get him to let me stay here until he does come, though. And now we
+must attend to business. What will you have first in my line? Chairs,
+tables, sofas--why, anything you say, ma'am."
+
+And both faces were sunny again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOW IT SUCCEEDED.
+
+
+MRS. JOB SMITH leaned against the table in her bright kitchen, caught
+up the edge of her apron in one hand, then leaned both hands on her
+sides, and thought. Jerry had been consulting her. Was there any way
+of planning so that the front room in the Decker house could have
+a carpet? He repeated all Mrs. Decker said about a room not being
+home-like without one, and Mrs. Smith, at first inclined to combat
+the idea, finally admitted that in winter a room where you sat down
+to visit, did look kind of desolate without a carpet, unless it was
+a kitchen, and had a good-sized cook stove to brighten it up. There
+was no denying that that square front room would be the better for a
+carpet. At the same time there was no denying that the Deckers needed
+a hundred other things worse than they did a carpet. But the hearts of
+the boy and girl were bent on having one; and what the boy was bent
+on, Mrs. Job Smith liked to have accomplished, and believed sooner or
+later that it would be. The question was, How could she help to bring
+it about?
+
+"There's that roll of rag carpeting, bran-new," she said aloud; Mrs.
+Smith had spent a good deal of her time alone and had learned to
+hold long conversations with herself, arguing out questions as well,
+sometimes she thought better, than a second party could have done.
+At this point she put her hands on her sides. "There's enough of it,
+and more than enough. I had it made for the front room the year poor
+Hannah died, and sent me that boughten carpet which just exactly
+fitted, and is good for ten years' wear. That rag carpeting has been
+rolled up and done up in tobacco and things ever since--most two years.
+Sarah Jane doesn't need it, and I don't know as I shall ever put it
+on the kitchen. I don't like a great heavy carpet in a kitchen, much,
+anyway; rugs, and square pieces that a body can take up and shake,
+are enough sight neater, to my way of thinking. But I can't afford to
+give away bran-new carpeting. To be sure it only cost me the warp and
+the weaving; and I got the warp at a bargain, and old Mother Turner
+never did ask me as much for weaving as she did other folks. The rags
+was every one of them saved up. Poor Hannah used to send me a lot of
+rags, and Sarah Jane and I sewed them at odd spells when we wouldn't
+have been doing anything. It is a good deal of bother to take care of
+it, and I'm always afraid the moths will get ahead of me, and eat it
+up. I might sell it to her for what the warp and the weaving cost me.
+But land! what would she pay with? I might give her a chance to do
+ironing. I have to turn away fine ironing every week of my life because
+I can't do more than accommodate my old customers. Who knows but she
+is a pretty good ironer? I might give her the coarse parts to iron,
+and watch her, and find out. Job is always at me to have somebody help
+with the big ironings, and I have always said I wouldn't have a girl
+bothering around, I would rather take less to do. But then, she is a
+decent quiet body, and that Nettie is just a little woman. She will
+have to do something to help along if they ever get started in being
+decent; perhaps ironing is the thing for her, and I can start her if
+she knows how to do it. For the matter of that, I might teach her
+how, if she wanted to learn. To be sure they need other things more
+than carpets, but it wouldn't take her long to pay for this, if I just
+charge for the weaving. I might throw in the warp, maybe, seeing I got
+it at a bargain. The two are so bent on having a carpet for that room;
+and Jerry, he said he had prayed about it, and while he was on his
+knees, it kind of seemed to him as though I was the one to get to think
+it out. That's queer now! Jerry don't know anything about the carpet
+rolled up in tobacco in the box in the garret; why should he think that
+I could help? I feel almost bound to, somehow, after that. I don't like
+to have Jerry disappointed, nor the little girl either, now that's a
+fact. I take to that little Nettie amazingly. Well, I know what I'll
+do. I'll talk with Job about it, and if he is agreed, maybe we will see
+what she says to it."
+
+This last was a kind of "make believe," and the good woman knew it; Job
+Smith thought that his wife was the wisest, most prudent, most capable
+woman in the world, and besides being sure to agree to whatever she had
+to propose, he was himself of such a nature that he would have given
+away unhesitatingly the very clothes he wore, if he thought somebody
+else needed them more than he. There was little need to fear that Job
+Smith would ever put a stumbling-block in the way of any benevolence.
+
+But who shall undertake to tell you how astonished Mrs. Decker was
+when Mrs. Smith, having duly considered, and talked with Sarah Jane,
+and talked with Job, and unrolled the tobacco-smelling carpet, and
+examined it carefully, did finally come over to the Decker home with
+her startling proposition. It is true that a carpet had taken perhaps
+undue proportions in this poor woman's eyes. Her best room during all
+the years of her past life had never been without a neat bright carpet;
+it had been the pleasant dream of her second married-life, so long as
+any pleasantness had been left to allow of dreaming; and she could not
+get away from the feeling that people who had not a scrap of carpeting
+for their best room, were very low down. She opened her eyes very
+wide while listening to Mrs. Smith's rapidly told story. What kind of
+a carpet could it be that was offered to her for simply the price of
+the weaving? for Job and his wife after some figuring with pencil and
+paper, had agreed together heartily to throw in the warp. She went
+over to the neat kitchen and examined the carpet. It was bright and
+pretty. There was a good deal of red in it, and there was a good deal
+of brown; a blending of the two colors which had been the subject of
+much discussion between herself and husband in the days when Mr. Decker
+talked anything about the comforts of his home. How well it would look
+in the square room which had two windows, and was really the only
+pleasant room in the house. Surely she could iron enough to pay for
+that.
+
+"I am not very strong," she said with a sigh. "I used to be, but of
+late I've been failing. But Nannie is so handy, and so willing, that
+she saves me a great deal, and she has a notion that she would like to
+fix up the front room and try to get hold of my Norm. It would be worth
+trying, maybe, but I don't know. We are very low down, Mrs. Smith."
+
+And then Mrs. Decker sank into one of the green painted chairs and
+cried.
+
+"Of course it is worth trying," Mrs. Smith said, bustling about, as
+though she must find some more windows to raise; tears always made her
+feel as though she was choking. "If I were you I would have a carpet,
+and curtains to the windows, and lots of nice things, and make a home
+fit for that boy of yours to have a good time in. There is nothing like
+a nice pleasant home to keep a boy from going wrong."
+
+Before Mrs. Decker went home, she had promised to try the ironing the
+very next week, and if she could do it well enough to suit Mrs. Smith,
+the carpet should be bought.
+
+"Poor thing!" said Mrs. Smith, looking after her, and rubbing her eyes
+with the corner of her apron. "The ironing shall suit; if she irons
+wrinkles into the collars and creases in the cuffs, I won't say a word;
+only I guess maybe I won't give her collars and cuffs to iron; not till
+she learns how. I ought to have done something to kind of help her
+along before; only I don't know what it would have been. It takes that
+boy of mine to set folks to work."
+
+Meantime, "that boy" sat in the kitchen door, studying. Not from a
+book, but from his own puzzled thoughts. He did not see his way clear.
+Under Nettie's direction he had planned a very satisfactory sofa with
+a back to it, and two chairs, but how to get the material needed to
+finish them, and also for curtains for the new room, had sent Nettie
+home in bewilderment, and stranded him on the doorstep in the middle
+of the afternoon to think it out.
+
+"How much stuff does it take for curtains, anyhow?"
+
+"For curtains?" said Mrs. Smith, coming back with a start from her
+ironing table and the plan she had for teaching Mrs. Decker to iron
+shirts. "Why, that depends on what kind of stuff it is, and how many
+curtains you want, and how big the windows are."
+
+"Well, what do they use for curtains?"
+
+Mrs. Smith still looked bewildered.
+
+"A great many things, Jerry. They have lace curtains, and linen ones,
+and muslin ones, and in some of the rooms up at Mrs. Barlow's, on the
+hill, you know, when I helped her do up curtains that time, they had
+great heavy silk things, or maybe velvet, though the stuff didn't look
+much like either. I don't rightly know what it was, but it was heavy,
+and soft, and satiny, and shone like gold, in some places."
+
+Jerry turned around on the doorstep and looked full at Mrs. Smith,
+and laughed. "I know," he said, "I have seen such curtains. They are
+damask. I am not thinking about lace, and damask, and all that sort of
+thing. I mean for Mrs. Decker's front room. What could be used that
+would do, and how much would they cost?"
+
+"Surely!" said Mrs. Smith, coming down to everyday life. "What a goose
+I was. I might have known what you were thinking about. Why, let me
+see. Cheese cloth makes real pretty curtains; if you have a bit of
+bright calico to put over the top, and a nice hem in, or maybe some
+bright calico at the bottom to help them hang straight, I don't know as
+there is anything much prettier. Though to be sure they aren't good for
+much to keep people from looking in; and they aren't quite suitable for
+winter. I suppose you want to plan for winter, too? I'll tell you what
+it is, I believe that unbleached muslin makes about as pretty a curtain
+as a body could have; put bright red at the top and bottom, and they
+look real nice."
+
+"What is unbleached muslin? I mean, how much does it cost?"
+
+"Why," said Mrs. Smith, dropping into her rocking-chair, and folding
+her hands on her lap to give her mind fully to the important question,
+"as to that, I should have to think; I'm not very good at figures.
+Unbleached muslin costs about eight cents a yard, or maybe ten; we'll
+say ten, because I've always noticed that was easier to calculate. Ten
+cents a yard, and two windows, say two yards to each, and no, two yards
+to each half, four yards to each, and twice four is eight, eight yards
+at ten cents a yard. How much would that be, Jerry? You can tell in a
+minute, I dare say."
+
+"Eighty cents," said Jerry with a sigh. "I am afraid she will think
+that is a great deal. And then there's the red to put on them. What
+does that cost?"
+
+"Why, that ought to be oil calico, because the other kind ain't fast
+colors. I don't much believe you could get those curtains up short of
+fifty cents apiece; and that is a good deal for curtains, that's a
+fact. Paper ones don't cost so much, but then there's the rollers and
+the fastenings, I don't know but they do cost just as much. And then
+they tear."
+
+"I don't want her to have paper ones," said Jerry decisively. "A dollar
+for the curtains, and I don't know how much more for the furniture. She
+can't imagine where the money is to come from."
+
+"I could tell where it ought to come from," said Mrs. Smith, nodding
+her head and looking severe. "It ought to come out of Joe Decker's
+pocket. He makes his dollar a day, even now, when he doesn't half work;
+Job said so only last night. But furniture is dreadful dear stuff,
+Jerry, worse than curtains. And they need about everything. I never did
+see such a desolate house! And those little girls need clothes."
+
+"Nettie is going to make them some clothes," said Jerry; "she has some
+that she has outgrown; a great roll in her trunk; she is going to make
+them over to fit the little girls. She is at work at some of them
+to-day. And you know, auntie, I am making the furniture."
+
+"Making it!"
+
+"Well, making its skeleton. If we had some clothes to put on it, I
+guess it would be furniture. I've made a sofa, and two chairs, and I'm
+at work at a table. Only I would like to see how the things were going
+to look, before I went any farther."
+
+"Making furniture!" repeated dazed Mrs. Smith; and she shook her head.
+"I don't see how you can! You can do a great many things that no other
+boy ever thought of; but I'm afraid that's beyond you."
+
+"Why, you see, auntie, she has seen some made, and she showed me what
+to do with hammer and nails. You make a frame, just the size you want
+for a sofa, and put a back to it, then it is padded with cotton, and
+covered with something bright, cretonne, I think she said they called
+it, only it wasn't real cretonne, but a cheap imitation, and they tack
+a skirt to the thing in puckers, so," and he caught up a bit of Mrs.
+Smith's apron to illustrate.
+
+"I see," she said, nodding her head and speaking in an admiring tone.
+"What a contriving little thing she is! And what about the chairs?"
+
+"The chairs are served in very much the same way. The table is just
+two flat boards and a post between them, nailed firmly, then they tack
+red calico, or blue, or whatever they want, around it, and cover it
+with thin white cheese cloth or some lacey stuff, she had the name of
+it, but I've forgotten; it doesn't cost much, she said, and tie a sash
+around it, and it looks like an hour glass. The question is, where are
+the cotton and calico to come from?"
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Smith, "you two do beat all! It can't take much stuff
+for a little table; and I can see that they might be real pretty. I
+want a table myself, to stand under the glass in my front room. What if
+you was to make two, and I'd get cloth enough for two, and she would do
+mine and hers, to pay for the cloth?"
+
+Jerry sprang up from his doorstep, and came over and put both arms
+around Mrs. Smith's trim waist.
+
+"Hurrah!" he said; "you are the contriver. That will do splendidly.
+I'll go this minute and set up the skeleton of another table. I have
+two boards there which will just do it. Then we'll think out a way to
+get the rest of the stuff."
+
+Now Nettie, busy with her fingers in the house next door, had not left
+the others to do all the thinking. She knew the price of "oil calico,"
+and imitation cretonne, and unbleached muslin; she knew to a fraction
+how many yards of each would be needed, and the sum total appalled her.
+Yet she too knew that her father earned at least a dollar a day, and
+did not give them two a week to live on. This her mother had told her.
+
+Also she knew that on this Saturday evening at about six o'clock, he
+would probably be paid for his week's work. Couldn't she contrive to
+coax some of the money from his keeping into hers? She had hinted the
+possibility of her mother's getting hold of it, and Mrs. Decker had
+said that the bare thought of trying made her feel faint and sick; that
+if she had ever seen her father in a passion such as he could get into
+when things did not go just to suit him, she would know what it was to
+ask him for anything. Nettie, who had not yet been at home a week, had
+some faint idea of what her father might do and say if he were very
+angry. Nevertheless, she was trying to plan a way to meet him before he
+left the shop, and secure some of that money if she could.
+
+With this thought in view, she presently laid aside the neat little
+petticoat on which she had been sewing, brushed her hair, put on her
+brown ribboned hat, and her brown gloves, watched her chance while the
+children were quarreling over an apple that Jerry had given them, and
+stole out in the direction of the shop where her father worked. She
+would not ask Jerry to go with her, though he looked after her from the
+barn window and wished she had; if her father was to grow angry and
+swear, and possibly strike, no one should know it but herself, if she
+could help it.
+
+I must not forget to tell you of one thing that she did before
+starting. She went into her mother's little tucked-up bedroom, put a
+nail over the door, which she had herself arranged for a fastening, and
+knelt there so long by the barrel which did duty as a table, that her
+mother, had she seen her, would have been frightened. But Nettie felt
+that she needed courage for this undertaking; and she knew where to get
+it.
+
+Then she had to walk pretty fast; it was later than she thought, for
+just as she turned the corner by the shop where her father worked, the
+six o'clock bell began to ring.
+
+"Halloo!" said one of the men, standing in the door while he untied
+his leather apron. "What party is this coming down the street? The
+neatest little woman I've seen for many a day. A stranger in this part
+of the world, I reckon. Doesn't fit in, somehow. Do you know who it is,
+Decker?"
+
+And Mr. Decker, thus appealed to, came to the door in time to receive
+Nettie's bow and smile.
+
+"That's my girl," he said, and a look of pride stole into his face.
+She was a trim little creature; it was rather pleasant to own her as
+his daughter.
+
+"Your girl!" and the astonishment which the man felt was expressed by a
+slight whistle. "I want to know now if that is the little one who went
+away six, seven years ago, was it? She's as pretty a girl as I've seen
+in a year. Looks smart, too. I say, Decker, you better take good care
+of her. She is a girl to be proud of."
+
+At just that moment Nettie sprang up the steps.
+
+"May I come in, father?" she said; "I wanted to see where you worked."
+Her voice was clear and sweet. All the men in the shop turned to look.
+The foreman who was paying Mr. Decker, and who had begun severely with
+the sentence: "Two half-days off again, Decker; that sort of thing
+won't"--stopped short at the sound of Nettie's voice, and gave him
+the two two dollar bills, and two ones, without further words. Six
+dollars! If only she could get part of it! How should the delicate
+matter be managed? Suddenly Nettie acted on the thought which came to
+her. What more natural than for a child to ask for money just then and
+there? She needed it, and why not say it? Perhaps he would not like
+to refuse her entirely before all the men. And poor Nettie had a very
+disagreeable fear that he would certainly refuse her if she waited
+until the men were gone; even if she found a chance to ask him before
+he reached the saloon just next door, where he spent so much of his
+money. Or at least where his wife thought he spent it.
+
+"May I have some of that, father? I want some money. That was one of
+the things I came after."
+
+This was certainly the truth. Why not treat it as a matter of course?
+"Why should I take it for granted that he is going to waste all his
+money?" said poor Nettie to herself. All the same she knew she had good
+reason for supposing that he would.
+
+"Money!" he said, as he seized the bills. "What do you know about
+money, or want with it?"
+
+"Oh, I want things. The little girls must have some shoes. I promised
+to see about it as soon as I could. And then I want to buy your Sunday
+dinner; a real nice one."
+
+The tone was a winning, coaxing one. Nettie did not know how to coax;
+was not very well acquainted with her father; did not know how he would
+endure coaxing of any sort, but some way must be tried, and this was
+the best one she knew of.
+
+"Divide with her, Decker," said the man who had first called his
+attention to Nettie. "She looks as though she could buy a dinner, and
+cook it too. If I had a trim little girl like that to look out for
+my comfort, hang me if I wouldn't take pleasure in keeping her well
+supplied." He sighed as he spoke, and nobody laughed; for most of them
+remembered that the man's home was desolate. Wife and daughter both
+buried only a few months before. This man sometimes spent his earnings
+on beer, but he was accustomed to say that there was nobody left to
+care; and that while he had them, he took care of them; which was true.
+Nettie looked up at the man with a curious pitiful interest. His tone
+was very sad. She was grateful to him for his words. Was there possibly
+something sometime that she could do for him? She would remember his
+face.
+
+All the men were looking now, and there was Nettie's outstretched hand.
+Her face a good deal flushed; but it wore an expectant look. She was
+going to believe in her father as long as she could.
+
+"Go ahead, Joe, divide with the girl. Such a handsome one as that. You
+ought to be proud of the chance."
+
+"You have something worth taking care of, it seems, Decker." It was the
+foreman who said this, as he passed on his way to the other side of the
+room where the men were waiting.
+
+Whether it was a father's pride, or a father's shame, or both these
+motives which moved Mr. Decker, I cannot say, but he actually took a
+two and a one and placed them in her hands as he said hastily, "There,
+my girl, I've given you half; you can't complain of that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+LONG STORIES TO TELL.
+
+
+IF only I had a good picture of Nettie, so that you might see the
+radiant look in her eyes just then!
+
+She had hoped for the money, she had tried to trust her father, but
+she was, nevertheless, wonderfully surprised when her hand closed over
+three dollars.
+
+"O father!" she said, "how nice." And then her courage rose. "Will you
+go with me, father, to buy the shoes? The little girls are so eager for
+them. I promised to take them with me to Sunday-school to-morrow, if I
+could get shoes, but I don't know how to buy them very well. Could you
+go?"
+
+The shoe shop was farther down the street, in an opposite direction
+from the one where Mr. Decker generally got his liquor, and wily Nettie
+remembered that there was a street leading from it which would take
+them home without passing the saloon. Of course it was true that she
+needed his help to select the shoes, but it was also true that she
+was very glad she did. Mr. Decker was untying his apron, and rolling
+down his sleeves; he felt very thirsty--the sight of the money seemed
+to make him thirsty. He had meant to go directly to the saloon, give
+them one dollar on the old bill, and spend what he needed, only a very
+little, on beer. With the rest of the money he honestly meant to pay
+his rent. Yet no one ought to have understood better than he that he
+would not be likely to get away from that saloon with a cent of money
+in his pocket. For all that, he wanted to go. He wished Nettie would go
+away and let him alone. But the men were watching.
+
+"You can't fit the children to shoes without having them along," he
+said gruffly. But Nettie was ready for him: "Oh!" she said, swiftly
+unrolling a newspaper, "I brought their feet along." And with a bright
+little laugh she plumped down two badly worn shoes on the work table.
+
+"That left-footed one is Satie's. The other was so dreadfully worn out,
+I was afraid the shoemaker couldn't measure it. This is the best one
+of Susie's."
+
+It was plain to any reasonable eyes that two pairs of shoes were badly
+needed.
+
+"I guess they need other things besides shoes."
+
+It was the father who said this, and they were out on the street, and
+he was actually being drawn by Nettie's eager hand in the opposite
+direction from the saloon.
+
+"O no," she said; "I had some clothes which I had outgrown; I have
+been at work at them all day, and they make nice little suits. Auntie
+Marshall sent them each a cunning little white sunbonnet. When we get
+the shoes, they will look just as nice as can be. You don't know how
+pleased they are about going to Sunday-school. I am so glad they will
+not be disappointed to-morrow."
+
+The shoes were bought, good, strong-looking little ones, and
+wonderfully cheap, perhaps because Nettie did the bargaining, and the
+man who knew how scarce her money must be, was sorry for the little
+woman. It did seem a great deal to pay out--two whole dollars--for
+shoes when everything was needed. It was warm weather, perhaps she
+ought to have let the little girls go barefoot for awhile, but then she
+could not take them to Sunday-school very well; at least, it seemed to
+her that she couldn't; and father was willing to have them bought now.
+Who could tell when he would be willing again?
+
+He stood in the door and waited for her, wondering why he did so, why
+he could not leave her and go back to that saloon and get his drink.
+One reason was, that she gave him no chance. She appealed to him every
+minute for advice.
+
+"Father, can we go to market now? I want to get just a splendid piece
+of meat for your Sunday dinner. I know just how to cook it in a way
+that you will like."
+
+"I guess you can do that without me; I have an errand in another
+direction." They were on the street again. She caught his hand eagerly.
+"O, father, do please come with me to the market, there are so many men
+there I don't like to go alone; and it is so nice to take a walk with
+you. I haven't had one since I came. Won't you please come, father?"
+
+Joe Decker hardly knew what to think of himself. There was something
+in her soft coaxing voice which seemed to take him back a dozen years
+into the past, and which led him along in spite of himself.
+
+The meat was bought, Nettie looking wise over the different pieces, and
+insisting on a neck piece, which the boy told her was not fit to eat.
+"I know how to make it fit," she said, with a little nod of her head.
+
+"I want three pounds of it. And then, father, I want two carrots and
+two onions; I'm going to make something nice."
+
+Only sixty-eight cents of her precious money left!
+
+"I did need some butter," she said mournfully, "and that in the tub
+looks nice, but I guess I can't afford it this time."
+
+"How much is butter?" asked Mr. Decker, suddenly rising to the needs of
+the moment. "Twenty-five," said the grocer, shortly. He did not know
+the trim little woman who had paid for her carrots and onions, and held
+them in a paper bag at this moment, but he did know Joe Decker and had
+an account against him. He had no desire to sell him any butter.
+
+"Then give me two pounds, and be quick about it." And Mr. Decker put
+down a dollar bill on the counter.
+
+The man seized it promptly and began to arrange the butter in a neat
+wooden dish, while he said, "By the way, Mr. Decker, when will it be
+convenient to settle that little account?"
+
+"I'll do it as soon as I can," said Mr. Decker, speaking low, for
+Nettie turned toward him startled; this was worse than she thought.
+She had not known of any accounts. Mr. Decker himself had forgotten
+it until he stood in the very door. It was months since he had bought
+groceries.
+
+"Is it much, father?" Nettie asked, and he replied pettishly:
+
+"Much? no. It is only a miserable little three dollars. I mean to pay
+it; he needn't be scared." Yet why he shouldn't be "scared," when he
+had asked for those three dollars perhaps fifty times, Mr. Decker did
+not say.
+
+"Father," said Nettie, in a very low voice, "couldn't you let the man
+keep the fifty cents, on the account, and that would be a beginning?"
+
+But this was too much.
+
+"No," said Mr. Decker; "I will pay my bills when I get ready and not
+before; and it is none of your business when I do it. You must not
+meddle with what does not belong to you."
+
+"No, sir;" said Nettie, though it was hard work to speak just then;
+there was a queer little lump in her throat. She was not in the habit
+of being spoken to in this way. The butter was ready, and the man
+handed back the change.
+
+Mr. Decker pocketed it, saying as he did so, "I'll have some money for
+you next week, I guess." And then they went away.
+
+"If it hadn't been for the girl I'd have kept the fifty cents and got
+so much out of the old drunkard; but someway I couldn't bring myself
+to doing it with her looking on." This was what the grocer muttered as
+they walked away. But they did not hear him. Nettie was bent now on
+tolling her father down the cross street to go home.
+
+"Father," she said, "we are going to have milk toast for supper. Mother
+said she would have it ready, and toast spoils, you know, if it stands
+long. Couldn't we go home this way and make it shorter?"
+
+He was a good deal astonished that he did it. He was still very
+thirsty, but there really came to him no decent excuse for deserting
+his little girl and going back to the saloon. And they walked into the
+house together, so astonishing Mrs. Decker that she almost dropped the
+teapot which she was filling with hot water. Whatever other night, Mr.
+Decker contrived to get home to supper, he was always late on Saturday,
+and in a worse condition than at any other time.
+
+That was really a nice little suppertime. Mrs. Decker had done her part
+well, not for the husband whom she did not expect, but in gratitude to
+the little girl who had worked so hard all the week for herself and
+her neglected babies. The toast was well made, and the tea was good.
+Besides, there was a treat; not ten minutes before, Mrs. Job Smith had
+sent in a plate of ginger cookies; "for the children," she said, and
+the children each had one. So did the father and mother.
+
+Mr. Decker washed his hands before he sat down to the table, for the
+tablecloth had been freshly washed and ironed that day, and his wife
+had on a clean calico apron and a strip of white cloth about her neck,
+and her hair was smooth.
+
+"There!" said Nettie, displaying her meat, "now, mother, we can have
+that stew for to-morrow, just as we planned. Father got the meat, and
+the carrots, and everything. And what do you think, little girlies,
+father bought you each a pair of shoes!"
+
+Mrs. Decker set down the teapot again. She was just in the act of
+giving her husband a cup of tea, and the color came and went on her
+face so queerly that Nettie for a moment was frightened. As for the
+father, he felt very queer. Scared and silent as his little girls
+generally were in his presence, they could not keep back a little
+squeal of delight over this wonderful piece of news. Altogether, Mr.
+Decker could not help feeling that it really was a nice thing to be
+able to buy shoes and meat for his family.
+
+"Come," he said, "give us your tea if you're going to; I'm as dry as a
+fish."
+
+And the tea was poured.
+
+The toast was good, and there was plenty of it, and someway it took
+longer to eat it than this family usually spent at the supper-table;
+and then, after supper, the shoes had to be tried on, and Nettie called
+the little girls to their father to see if the shoes fitted, and he
+took Sate up on his lap to examine them, which was a thing that had not
+happened to Sate in so long that Susie scowled and expected that she
+would be frightened, but Sate seemed to like it, and actually stole an
+arm around her father's neck and patted his cheek, while he was feeling
+of the shoe. Then Mrs. Decker had a happy thought.
+
+She winked and motioned Nettie into the bedroom and whispered: "Don't
+you believe he might like to see the children in their nice clothes?
+I ain't seen him notice them so much in a year; and he hasn't been
+drinking a mite, has he?"
+
+"Not a drop," said Nettie; "I'll dress Susie." And she flew out to the
+kitchen.
+
+"Father, just you wait until Susie is ready to show you something. Come
+here, Susie, quick." And almost in less time than it takes me to tell
+it, Susie was whisked into the pretty petticoats and dress which had
+been shortened and tightened for her that day. The dress was a plain,
+not over-fine white one; but it was beautifully ironed, and the white
+sunbonnet perched on the trim head completed the picture and made a
+pretty creature of Susie. I am sure I don't wonder that the child felt
+a trifle vain as she squeaked out in her new shoes to show herself to
+her father. She had not been neatly dressed long enough to consider it
+as a matter of course.
+
+"Upon my word!" said Mr. Decker, and there he stopped. This was
+certainly a wonderful change. He looked at his little daughter from
+head to foot, and could hardly believe his eyes. What a pretty child
+she was. And to think that she was his! Certainly she ought to have new
+shoes, and new clothes. Sate's arm was still about his neck, and Sate's
+sweet full lips were suddenly touched to his rough cheek.
+
+"I've got new clothes too," she said sweetly, "only I doesn't want to
+get down from here to put them on."
+
+The father turned at that and kissed her. Then he sat her down hastily
+and got up. Something made his eyes dim. He really did not know what
+was the matter with him, only it all seemed to come to him suddenly
+that he had some very nice children, and that they ought to have
+clothes and food and chances like others, and that it was his own fault
+they hadn't.
+
+Nettie hated tobacco, but she went herself in haste and lighted her
+father's pipe and brought it to him; if he must smoke, it would be so
+much better to have him sit in the door and do it rather than to go off
+down to that saloon. She hated the saloon worse than the tobacco. As
+she brought the pipe, she said within her hopeful little heart: "Maybe
+sometime he won't want either to drink or smoke. I most know we can
+coax him to give them both up; and then won't that be nice?"
+
+One thing was troubling her; as soon as she could, she followed her
+mother into the yard and questioned, "Do you know where Norm is?"
+
+Yes, Mrs. Decker knew. He came home just after Nettie had gone out,
+and said he had an hour's holiday; their room had closed early for
+Saturday, and he was going to wash up and go down street before supper.
+
+"My heart was in my mouth," said the poor mother; "because when there
+is a holiday he gets into worse scrapes than he does any other time;
+he goes with a set that don't do anything but have holidays, and they
+always have some mischief hatched up to get Norm into. I never see the
+like of the boys in this town for getting others into scrapes; but I
+didn't dare to say a word, because Norm thinks he is getting too big
+for me to give him any words, and just as he was going out, that boy
+next door--Jerry, you said his name was, didn't you?--he came out
+and called Norm, real friendly, and they stood talking together; he
+appeared to be arguing something, and Norm holding off, and at last
+Norm came in and wanted the tin pail and said he had changed his mind
+and was going fishing; and they went off together, them two." And Mrs.
+Decker finished the sentence with a rare smile. She was grateful to
+Jerry for carrying off her boy, and grateful to Nettie for thinking
+about him and being anxious.
+
+"Good!" said Nettie with a happy little laugh, "then we will have some
+fried fish to-morrow for breakfast. What a nice day to-morrow is going
+to be."
+
+Mr. Decker was a good deal surprised at himself, but he did not go down
+town again that night. After he had smoked, he felt thirsty, it is
+true, and at that very minute Nettie came in with the one glass which
+they had in the house, and it was full of lemonade.
+
+"Did he want a nice cool drink?" she had two lemons which she bought
+with her own money, and she knew how to make good lemonade, Auntie
+Marshall used to say.
+
+The father drank the cool liquid off almost at a swallow, said it was
+good, and that he guessed she knew how to do most things. By this time
+the little girls had been tucked away to bed, and just as Mr. Decker
+rose up to say he guessed he would go down street awhile, Norm appeared
+with a string of fish. They were beauties; he declared that he never
+had such luck in his life; that fellow just bewitched the fish, he
+believed, so they would rather be caught than not. Then came a talk
+about dressing them. Norm said he was sure he did not know how; and Mr.
+Decker said, a great fellow like him ought to know how. When he was a
+boy of fourteen he used to catch fish for his mother almost every day
+of his life, and dress them too; his mother never had to touch them
+until they were ready to cook. Then Nettie, flushed and eager, said:
+
+"O father, then you can show me how to do it, can't you? I would like
+to learn just the right way." And the father laughed, and looked at his
+wife with something like the old look on his face, and said he seemed
+to be fairly caught. And together they went to the box outside, and in
+the soft summer night, with the moon looking down on them, Nettie took
+her lesson in fish dressing.
+
+When the work was all done, Norm having hovered around through it all,
+and watched, and helped a little, Mr. Decker went back to the kitchen
+and yawned, and wondered how late it was. No clock in this house to
+give any idea of time. There used to be, but one day it got out of
+order and Mr. Decker carried it down street to be fixed, and never
+brought it back. Mrs. Decker asked about it a good many times, then
+went herself in search of it, and found it in the saloon at the corner.
+
+"He took it for debt," the owner told her, and a poor bargain it was;
+it never came to time, any better than her husband did. However, just
+as Mr. Decker made his wonderment, the old clock over at Mrs. Smith's
+rose up to its duty, and dignifiedly struck nine.
+
+"Well, I declare," said Mr. Decker, "I did not think it was as late as
+that. There ain't any evenings now days. Well, I guess, after all, I'll
+go to bed. I'm most uncommon tired to-night somehow."
+
+Norm had already gone up to his room; and Mrs. Decker when she heard
+her husband's words, hurried into the bedroom to hide two happy tears.
+
+"I declare for it, I believe you have bewitched him," she said to
+Nettie, who followed her to ask about the breakfast; "I ain't known him
+to do such a thing not in two years, as to go to bed at nine o'clock
+without ever going down street again. He don't act like himself; not
+a mite. I was most scared when I saw him take Sate in his arms; that
+child don't remember his doing it before, I don't believe. Did he
+really buy the things, child, and pay for them? Well, now, it does beat
+all! And Saturday night, too; that has always been his worst night.
+Child, if you get hold of your father, and of my Norm, there ain't
+anything in this world too good for you. I'd work my fingers to the
+bone any time to help along, and be glad to."
+
+It was all very sweet. Nettie ran away before the sentence was fairly
+finished, waiting only to say, "Good-night, mother!" She had done this
+every night since she came, but to-night she reached up and touched
+her lips to the tall woman's thin cheek. Poor Nettie had been used to
+kissing somebody every night when she went to bed. It had made her
+homesick not to do it. But she had not wanted to kiss anybody in this
+house, except the little girls. To-night, she wanted to kiss this
+mother. She reached the back door, then stopped and looked back; her
+father sat in his shirt sleeves, in the act of pulling off one boot.
+Should she tell him good-night? He had not been there for her to do it
+a single evening since she came home. Should she kiss him? Why not?
+Wasn't he her father? Yet he might not like it. She could not be sure.
+He was not like the fathers she had known. However, she came back on
+tiptoe and stooped over him, her voice low and sweet:
+
+"Good-night, father! I am going now." And then she put a kiss on the
+rough cheek, just where little Sate had left her velvet touch.
+
+Mr. Decker started almost as though somebody had struck him. But it was
+not anger which filled his face.
+
+"Good-night, my girl," he said, but his voice was husky; and Nettie ran
+as fast as she could across the yard to the next house.
+
+"I did not get the things," she said to Jerry, who stood in the doorway
+waiting for her; "I couldn't; but, Jerry, I had such a wonderful time!
+Father gave me money, and we went to market, and bought shoes and he
+bought butter; and since we came home almost everything has happened. I
+can't begin to tell you. I can get some of the things on Monday. Father
+gave me money."
+
+"All right," said Jerry; "I didn't get the skeletons ready, either; I
+meant to work after tea, but instead of that I went fishing." And he
+gave her a bright smile.
+
+"Oh! I know it," said Nettie, breathless almost with eagerness. "That
+is part of my nice time. Jerry, I am so glad you went fishing to-night,
+and I am so glad you caught your fish; not the ones which we are to
+eat for our Sunday breakfast, you know, but the other one. Do you
+understand?"
+
+And Jerry laughed. "I understand," he said, "I had a nice time, too. We
+shall have some long stories to tell each other, I guess. We must go in
+now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A SABBATH TO REMEMBER.
+
+
+SUNDAY was a successful day at the Deckers. The sun shone brilliantly;
+a trifle too warm, you might have thought it, for comfort; but the
+little Deckers did not notice it. The fish was beautifully browned and
+the coffee was delicious. Mr. Decker had a clean shirt which his wife
+had contrived to wash and mend, the day before, and all things were
+harmonious. Some time before nine o'clock. Sate and Susie were arrayed
+in their new white suits, and with their trim new shoes, and hair
+beautifully neat, they were as pretty little girls as one need want
+to see. Nettie surveyed them with unqualified satisfaction, and then
+seated them, each with a picture primer, while she made her own toilet.
+She put on the dress which had been her best for Sunday, all summer. It
+was a gingham, a trifle finer and a good deal lighter than the brown
+one in which she had travelled. It was neatly made, and fitted her
+well; and the brown hat and ribbons looked well with it.
+
+On the whole, when they set off for Sabbath-school, Jerry accompanying
+them, arrayed in a fresh brown linen suit, Mrs. Decker watching them
+from the side window, admitted that she never saw a nicer-looking set
+in her life! She even had the courage to call Mr. Decker to see how
+nice the two little girls looked, and he came and watched them out of
+sight. And when he said that his Nan was about as nice a looking girl
+as he wanted to see, she answered heartily that Nannie was the very
+best girl she ever saw in her life.
+
+Fairly in the Sabbath-school, a fit of extreme shyness came over
+the two little Deckers. With Susie, as usual, it took the form
+of fierceness; she planted her two stout feet in the doorway and
+resolutely shook her head to all coaxings to go any farther; keeping
+firm hold of Sate's hand, and giving her arm a jerk now and then, to
+indicate to her that she was not to stir from her protector's side.
+The situation was becoming embarrassing. Nettie could not leave them,
+and Jerry would not; though some of the boys were giggling, those of
+his class were motioning him to leave the group and join them. The
+superintendent came forward and cordially invited the children in, but
+Susie scowled at him and shook her head. Then Jerry went around to
+Sate's side and held out his hand. "Sate," he said in a winning tone,
+"come with me over where all those pretty little girls sit, and I will
+get you a picture paper with a bird on it."
+
+To Susie's utter dismay, Sate who had meekly obeyed her slightest whim
+during all her little life, suddenly dropped the hand that held hers,
+and gave the other to Jerry, with a firm: "I'm going in, Susie; we came
+to go in, and Nettie wants us to." Poor, astonished, deserted Susie!
+
+She had been so sure of Sate that she had neglected to keep firm hold,
+and now she had slid away. There was nothing left for Susie but to
+follow her with what grace she could.
+
+They were seated at last. Seven little girls of nearly Nettie's size
+and age. As she took a seat among them, I wish I could give you an idea
+of how she felt. Up to this hour, it had not occurred to her that she
+was not as well dressed as others of her age. Not quite that, either;
+being a wise little woman of business, she was well aware that her
+clothes were plain, and cheap, and that some girls wore clothes which
+cost a great deal of money. But I mean that this was the first time
+she had taken in the thought of the difference, so that it gave her a
+sting. The Sabbath-school which she had been attending, was a mission,
+in the lower part of the city; the scholars, nearly all of them, coming
+from homes where there was not much to spare on dress; and the girls
+of her class had all of them dressed like herself, neatly and plainly.
+It was very different with these seven girls. She felt at once, as
+she seated herself, as though she had come into the midst of a flower
+garden where choice blossoms were glowing on every side, and she
+might be a poor little weed. Summer silk dresses, broad-brimmed hats
+aglow with flowers, kid gloves, dainty lace-trimmed parasols--what a
+beautiful world it was into which this poor little weed had moved?
+
+Nettie knew that her hat was coarse, and the ribbon narrow and cheap,
+and her gloves cotton, but these things had never troubled her before.
+Why should they now?
+
+The truth is, it was not the pretty things, but the curious glances
+that their owners gave at the small brown thrush which had come in
+among them. They seemed to poor Nettie to be making a memoranda of
+everything she had on, from the narrow blue ribbon on her hair to the
+strong neat boots in which her plump feet were encased. The look in
+their eyes said, "How queerly she is dressed!" It was impossible to
+get away from the thought of their thoughts, and from the fact that
+the girl next to her drew her blue silk dress closer about her, and
+placed her pink-lined parasol on the other side, even though the pretty
+lady who sat before them in the teacher's seat, welcomed her kindly,
+and hoped she would be happy among them. Nettie hoped so, too; but she
+could hardly believe that it could be possible.
+
+She looked over at Jerry. He seemed to be having a good time; there was
+not so much difference in boys' clothes as in girls. She did not see
+but he looked as well as any of them. She looked forward at the little
+girls. Susie had allowed herself to be led in search of Sate, and the
+two were at this moment side by side in a seat full of bobbing heads;
+they had taken off their sunbonnets, and their pretty heads bobbed
+about with the rest, and the white dresses of the two looked as well
+at a distance as the others, though Nettie could see that there were
+ruffles, and tucks, and embroidery and lace. But some were plain; and
+none of the wee ones seemed to notice or to care. It was only Nettie
+who had gotten among those who made her care, by the glance of their
+eyes, and the rustle of their finery. She tried to get away from it
+all; tried hard. She listened to the words read, and joined as well as
+she could, in the hymn sung, and answered quietly and correctly, the
+questions put to her; but all the while there was a queer lump in her
+throat, which kept her swallowing, and swallowing, and a wish in her
+heart that she could go back to Auntie Marshall's.
+
+[Illustration: LORENA BARSTOW.]
+
+When the service was over, she stood waiting, feeling shy and alone.
+Jerry was talking with the boys in his class, and the little girls
+were being kissed by their pretty teacher. Her classmates stood and
+looked at her. At last the teacher who had been talking with one of the
+secretaries turned to her with a pleasant voice:
+
+"Well, Nettie, we are glad to have you with us. Can you come every
+Sabbath, do you think? Are you acquainted with these girls? No? Then
+you must be introduced. This is Irene Lewis, and this is Cecelia
+Lester," and in this way she named the seven girls, each one making in
+turn what seemed to poor Nettie the stiffest little bow she had ever
+seen. At last, Irene Lewis, who stood next to her, and wore an elegant
+fawn-colored silk dress trimmed with lace, tried to think of something
+to say.
+
+"You haven't begun school yet, have you? I haven't seen anything of
+you. What grade are you in?"
+
+Nettie explained that she had not been in a regular school; that she
+went afternoons to a private school which had no grades, and that now
+she did not expect to go at all; because mother could not spare her.
+
+"A private school!" said Miss Irene, "and held only in the afternoon!
+What a queer idea! I should think morning was the time to study. What
+was it for?"
+
+Then it became necessary to further explain that the girls who attended
+this afternoon school, had all of them work to do in the mornings, and
+could not be spared.
+
+"I have heard of them," said Lorena Barstow. "They are sort of charity
+schools, are they not?"
+
+Lorena was dressed in white, and looked almost weighed down with rich
+embroidery; but she had a disagreeable smile on her face, and a look in
+her eyes that made Nettie's face crimson.
+
+"I don't know," she said, quietly, "I never heard it called by that
+name. My auntie thought very well of it, and was glad to have me go."
+Then she turned away, and hoped that none of the girls would ask her
+any more questions, or try to be friendly with her. Just now, she
+could be glad of only one thing, and that was, that she need not go to
+school with these disagreeable people. She stepped quite out of sight
+behind the screen which shielded the next class, and waited impatiently
+for the little girls. They seemed to be having a very nice time, and
+were in no haste to come to her. Standing there, waiting, she had the
+pleasure of hearing herself talked about.
+
+"Isn't she a queer little object?" said Lorena Barstow. And when one of
+the others was kind enough to say that she did not see anything very
+queer about her, Lorena proceeded to explain.
+
+"You don't! Well, I should think you might. Did you ever see a girl in
+our class before, with a gingham dress on? Of course she wore her very
+best for the first Sunday; and her hat is of very coarse straw, just
+the commonest kind, and last year's shape at that; then look at her
+cotton gloves! I'm sure I think she is as funny a little object as ever
+came into this room."
+
+"What of it? I am sure she looks neat and clean, and she spoke very
+prettily, and knew her lesson better than any of us."
+
+"I didn't say she didn't. I was only talking about her clothes."
+
+"Clothes are not of much consequence."
+
+"O Miss Ermina! When you dress better than any of us. Why don't you
+wear gingham dresses, and cheap ribbons, and cotton gloves, if you
+think they look as well as nice ones?"
+
+"I did not say that; I wear the clothes my mother gets for me; but I
+truly don't think they are the most important things in the world."
+
+"Neither do I. You needn't take a person up in that way, as though you
+were better than anybody else. I am sure I am willing she should wear
+what she likes."
+
+Then Cecelia Lester took up the conversation:
+
+"She could not be expected to dress very well, of course. Don't you
+know she is old Joe Decker's daughter?"
+
+"Who is Joe Decker? I never heard of him."
+
+"Well, he is just a drunkard; they live over on Hamlin street. Mrs.
+Decker washes for my auntie once in awhile, when they have extra
+company, and I have seen her there, with both the little girls. I heard
+that Joe's daughter who has been living out, for years, was coming
+home."
+
+"Living out! that little thing! No wonder she hasn't better clothes.
+She has a pretty face, I think. But it seems sort of queer to have her
+come into our class, doesn't it? We sha'n't know what to do with her!
+She can't go in our set, of course."
+
+"O, I don't know. Perhaps Ermina Farley will invite her to her party."
+At this point, all the others laughed, as though a funny thing had
+been said, but Ermina spoke quietly: "So far as her gingham dress is
+concerned, I am sure I would just as soon. I don't choose my friends on
+account of the clothes they wear; and I suppose the poor thing cannot
+help her father being a drunkard; but then, I shouldn't like to invite
+her, for fear you girls would not treat her well."
+
+Nettie could see the toss of Lorena Barstow's yellow curls as she
+answered: "Well, I must say I like to be careful with whom I associate;
+and mother likes to have me careful. I am sorry for the girl; but
+I don't know that I need make her my most intimate friend on that
+account. Say, girls, did you ever notice what fine eyes that boy has
+who came in with her? Some think he is a real handsome fellow."
+
+"He seems to be a particular friend of this girl; I saw them on the
+street together yesterday, and they were talking and laughing, as
+though they enjoyed each other ever so much. Who is that boy?"
+
+Lorena seemed to be prepared to answer all questions.
+
+"He isn't much," she said, with another toss of her yellow curls. "His
+name is Jerry Mack; a regular Irish name, and he is Irish in face; I
+think he is coarse-looking; dreadful red cheeks! The girls over on the
+West Side say he is smart, and handsome, and all that. I don't see
+where they find it."
+
+"O, he is smart," said Cecelia Lester. "My brother knows him, and he
+says there isn't a more intelligent boy in town. I used to think he
+was splendid; I have talked with him some, and he is real pleasant; but
+I must say I don't understand why he goes with that Decker girl all the
+time."
+
+"I don't see why he shouldn't," declared Lorena. "For my part, I think
+they are well matched; he works for his board at Job Smith's the
+carman's, and she is a drunkard's daughter; they ought to be able to
+have nice times together."
+
+"Does he work for his board?" chimed in two or three voices at once.
+
+"Why, I suppose so, or gets it without working for it. He lives there,
+anyway. They say his father has deserted him, run away to California,
+or somewhere; Jerry will have to learn the carman's trade, and support
+himself, and Nettie, too, maybe." Whereupon there was a chorus of
+giggles. Something about this seemed to be thought funny.
+
+Ermina seemed to have left the group, so they took her up next. "Ermina
+Farley meant to invite him to her party, but I hardly think she will,
+when she finds out how all we girls feel about it. She tries to do
+things different from everybody else, though; so perhaps that will be
+the very reason why she will ask them both. I'll tell you what it is,
+girls, we must stand up for our rights, and not let her have everything
+her own way. Let's say squarely that we will not go to her party if she
+invites out of our set. I could endure the boy if I had to, because he
+is very polite, and merry; and so few of the boys around here know how
+to behave themselves; but if he has chosen that Decker girl for his
+friend, we must just let them both alone. This class isn't the place
+for that girl; I wonder who invited her in? I think it was real mean
+in Miss Wheeler to ask her to come again, without knowing how we felt
+about it."
+
+All this time was poor Nettie behind that screen. Not daring to stir,
+because there was no place for her to go. The little girls were still
+engaged with their teacher, who had Sate on her lap, and Susie by her
+side, and was showing them some picture cards, and apparently telling
+them a story about the pictures. Jerry had sat down beside a boy who
+was copying something which Jerry seemed to be reading to him, and
+various groups stood about, chatting. They were waiting for the bell
+to toll before they went into church. Nettie could not go without the
+little girls, and she could not stir without being brought into full
+view. And just then she felt as though it would not be possible for her
+to meet the eyes of anybody. If only she could run away and hide, where
+she need never see any of those dreadful girls again! or, for that
+matter, see anybody. It was true, she was a drunkard's daughter, and
+would go down lower and lower, until her neat dress would be in rags,
+and her hat, coarse as it was, would grow frayed, and be many years
+behind the fashion. What a cruel, wicked world it was! Who could have
+imagined that those pretty, beautifully dressed girls could have such
+cruel tongues, and say such hateful words! Didn't they know she was
+within hearing? Couldn't they have waited until she got out of the way,
+so that she need not have known how dreadful they were?
+
+So far as that was concerned, they did not know it. To do them justice,
+I think none of them would have wounded her so, quite to her face.
+They might have been cold, but they would not have been cruel in her
+presence. They thought she went out of the room, instead of behind the
+screen. The bell tolled, at last, and Jerry finished his reading, and
+came over to her, his face bright. The girls in their beautiful plumage
+fluttered away like gay birds, the teacher of the little girls came
+toward her holding a hand of each, and saying brightly: "Are these your
+little sisters? What dear little treasures they are! We have had such
+a pleasant time together. I hope you have enjoyed your first day at
+Sabbath-school?"
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," said Nettie. She was in great doubt as to whether
+this was a correct answer, for the sentence had the tone of a question
+in it, but truthful Nettie could not say that she enjoyed it very much,
+and did not want to say that she had never had a more miserable time in
+her life.
+
+Jerry was harder to answer. "Was it nice?" he asked her, as soon as
+they were fairly outside. "Did you have a good time? Those girls looked
+a trifle like peacocks, didn't they? I thought you were the best
+dressed one among them."
+
+O, ignorant boy! If there hadn't been such a lump in Nettie's throat,
+she would have laughed at this bit of folly. As it was, she contrived
+to give him a very little shadow of a smile, and was glad that the
+church door was near at hand, and that there was no more time for
+closer questions.
+
+All through the morning service she was trying to forget. It was
+not easy to do, for there sat three of the girls in a seat on which
+she could look down all the time; and try as she would, it seemed
+impossible to keep eyes or thoughts from turning that way. The girls
+did not behave very well. They whispered a good deal, during the Bible
+reading, and giggled over a book that fell while the hymn was being
+sung; and though Nettie covered her eyes during prayer, she could not
+help hearing a soft little buzz of whispering voices, even then. Jerry
+looked straight before him, with bright, untroubled face, and seemed
+to be having a good time. Susie and Sate, who had never been in church
+before in their lives, behaved remarkably well. In the course of the
+morning Sate leaned her little brown head trustingly against Nettie and
+dropped asleep, and Nettie put her arm around her, arranged her pretty
+head comfortably, and looked lovingly down upon her, and was glad that
+she had a little sister to love. Two of them, indeed, for Susie sat
+bolt upright and looked straight before her, and took in everything
+with wide-open eyes, and looked so handsome with her glowing cheeks and
+her lovely curls, that it was almost impossible not to feel proud of
+the womanly little face.
+
+Nettie contrived to keep herself occupied with the prattle of the
+children during the walk home. She was not yet ready for Jerry's
+questions. She did not know what to say. Of one thing she felt sure;
+that was, that she never meant to go to that Sabbath-school again.
+
+Dinner was nearly ready when they reached home; such an appetizing
+smell of soup as had never filled the Decker kitchen before. Mrs.
+Decker had followed the directions of her young daughter with great
+care; and presently a very comfortable family sat down to the table.
+There were no soup plates, but there were two bowls for the father and
+mother, and a deep saucer for Norm; and the little girls were made
+happy with tin cups, two of which Nettie had found and scoured, the day
+before. It was certainly a very pleasant time. After dinner, as Nettie
+was preparing to wash the dishes, her mother came out with a troubled
+face, and whispered:
+
+"Norm says he guesses he will go out for a walk; and I know what
+that means; he gets with a mean set every Sunday, and they carouse
+dreadful; it is the worst day in the week for boys. I was thinking,
+what if you could get that boy next door to go a-fishing again; Norm
+enjoyed it last night first-rate; and he said that boy was as jolly
+company as he should ever want. If he could keep him away from that
+set, he would be doing a good deed."
+
+"But, mother," she said, "it is Sunday."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Decker, "that's just what I've been saying; Sunday is
+the day when he gets into the worst kind of scrapes. Do you think Jerry
+would help us?"
+
+"I know he would if he could; but he could not go fishing on Sunday,
+you know."
+
+"Why not? I should think it was enough sight better than for Norm to go
+off with a set of loafers, who do all sorts of wicked things."
+
+Poor Nettie was not skilled in argument; she did not know how to
+explain to her mother that Jerry must not do one wrong thing, to keep
+Norm from doing another wrong thing, even though the thing he chose
+might be the worse of the two. There was only a simple statement which
+she could make. "This is God's day, mother, and he says we must not do
+our own work, or our own pleasure on his day; and I know Jerry will
+try to obey him, because he is his soldier."
+
+Mrs. Decker looked at the red-cheeked young girl a moment, then drew a
+long sigh.
+
+"Well," she said, "I know that is the way good folks talk; I used to
+hear plenty of it when I was young; and I was brought up to keep the
+Sabbath as strict as anybody; I would do it now if I could; but I'm
+free to confess that I would rather have Norm go a-fishing, ten times
+over, than to go with those fellows and get drunk."
+
+"Yes'm," said Nettie, respectfully. "But then, God says we must obey
+him; and he has told us just how to keep the Sabbath day. He couldn't
+help us to do things for other people, if we begin by disobeying Him."
+
+Mrs. Decker went away, the trouble still on her face, and Nettie began
+to wash the dishes. Suddenly, she dropped her dish towel and rushed
+after Norman as he lounged out of the door.
+
+"Norman," she called, just as he was moving down the street, "won't you
+take the little girls and me over to that green place, that I see, the
+other side of the pond? There is such a pretty tree there, and it looks
+so pleasant on the bank. I have some story papers that I promised
+to read to the little girls, and that would be such a nice place for
+reading. Won't you?"
+
+Norm stopped and looked down at her in astonishment, and some
+embarrassment. "You can go over there without me," he said, at last;
+"it isn't such a dreadful ways off; there's a plank across the stream
+down there a ways, where it is narrow. Lots of girls go there."
+
+Nettie looked over at it timidly. She was honestly afraid of the water,
+and nothing short of keeping Norm out of harm's way would have tempted
+her to cross a plank, with the little girls for companions. She spoke
+in genuine timidity.
+
+"I wouldn't like to go over there alone, with just the children. I am
+not used to going about alone. Couldn't you go with us, for just a
+little while? It will seem so nice to have a big brother to take care
+of me."
+
+Something about it all seemed suddenly rather nice to Norm. He had
+never been asked to take care of anybody before. He stood irresolutely
+for a moment, then said lazily, "Well, I don't know as I care; bring on
+your babies, then, and we'll go."
+
+Nettie sped back to the kitchen, dashed after the little girls and
+their sunbonnets, saying to Mrs. Decker as she went: "Mother, would you
+mind finishing the dishes? Norman is going to take the little girls and
+me over to the big tree, and we are going to stay there awhile, and
+read."
+
+"I'll finish,'em," said Mrs. Decker, comfort in her tone, and she
+murmured, as she watched them away, Sate with her hand slipped inside
+of Norm's, "I declare, I never see the beat of that girl in all my
+life."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A BARGAIN AND A PROMISE.
+
+
+DURING the next few days work went on rapidly in the Decker home:
+or, more properly speaking, in the room over Job Smith's barn.
+Jerry developed such taste in the manufacture of furniture, or of
+"skeletons," that Nettie grew alarmed lest there should never be found
+clothing enough to cover them. However, matters in that respect began
+to look brighter. Mrs. Job Smith, as she grew into an understanding of
+the plan, dragged out certain old trunks from her woodhouse chamber and
+looked them over. There were treasures in those trunks, which even Mrs.
+Job herself had forgotten. A gay chintz dress of Job's mother's, which
+had been saved by her daughter-in-law "she couldn't rightly tell for
+what, only Job set store by it because it was his old mother's." Nettie
+fairly clapped her hands in delight over it, and then blushed crimson
+when she remembered it was not hers.
+
+"Well, now," said Mrs. Job, "I'll just tell you what it is. If you see
+anything in life to do with these rolls of things, here is a bundle of
+old muslin curtains, embroidered, you know, and dreadful pretty once, I
+suppose, but they are all to pieces now. Mrs. Percival, a lady I used
+to clear starch and iron for, gave them to me; paid me in that kind of
+trash, you know, though what in the world she thought I could ever do
+with them is more than I could imagine. But I was younger then than I
+am now, and was kind of meek, and I lugged home the great roll and said
+nothing; only I remember when I got home I just sat down on a corner
+of the table and cried, I was so disappointed. I had expected to be
+paid in money, and I had planned two or three things to surprise Job,
+and they had to be given up. Well, as I was saying," she added, in a
+brisker tone, having roused from her little dream of the past to watch
+Nettie's fingers linger lovingly and wistfully among the rolls of soft
+muslin, "they have never been the least mite of good to me. I have just
+kept them because it didn't seem quite the thing to throw such pretty
+soft stuff into the rag-bag, and they were dreadful poor trash to give
+away; and Sarah Jane, she is tired of having them in the attic taking
+up room, and if there is anything in life can be done with these things
+in this trunk, I wish you would just go shares, and make some things
+for me too. Sarah Jane would like it, first-rate."
+
+This sentence fairly made Nettie catch her breath. The treasures in
+that trunk were so wonderful to her. "I could make such lovely things!"
+she said, almost gasping out the words; "but, O Mrs. Smith, you can't
+mean it! I'm afraid I oughtn't to."
+
+"Why, bless your heart, child, I tell you I don't know of a single
+useful thing in that trunk; not one; it is just a pack of rubbish, now,
+that's the truth; and if Sarah Jane has begged me once to let her sell
+it to the rag pedlers, I believe she has twenty times."
+
+The bare thought of such a sacrifice as this almost made Nettie pale.
+Also it settled her resolution and her conscience. She reached forward
+and plunged into the delights of the despised trunk with a satisfied
+air. "I will make you some of the prettiest things you ever saw in
+your life," she said, with the air of one who knew she could do it. And
+Mrs. Smith laughed, and watched her with admiring eyes, and told Sarah
+Jane that she believed the child could do some things that other folks
+couldn't.
+
+It was after the day's work was done, and the little girls were asleep,
+and Nettie sat in the back door waiting for father and Norm, and
+wishing that they had not gone down town again, that she had a chance
+to say the few little words which she had made up her mind to say to
+Jerry. While her hands had been busy over long seams of rag carpeting,
+and over the wonderful trunk full of treasures, her thoughts had, much
+of the time, been busy with other matters. Yesterday at noon she had
+been sure that she should never go to that Sabbath-school again. By
+night, after the quiet talk under the trees with Norm and the little
+girls, she had not been so sure of it. The little girls could not go
+without her, and they had learned sweet lessons that very day, which
+had filled their young heads full of wondering thoughts, and they had
+asked questions which had at least amused Norm, and which might set
+him to thinking. In any case, ought she, because she had not been
+happy in her class, to deprive the little girls of the help which the
+Sabbath-school might be to them? Then how badly it would look to Norm,
+and to her mother, if she went no more. And what would Jerry think? On
+the whole, the longer she thought about it, the more she felt inclined
+to believe that her decision might have been a hasty one, and it was
+her duty to continue in that Sabbath-school, and even in that class,
+at least until the superintendent placed her in some other. It was a
+good deal of a trial to her to decide the question in this way, but she
+could not make any other seem right.
+
+There had also been another question to decide, which had been harder,
+and cost her more tears than the other. She was a very lonely little
+girl, and it seemed hard to give up a friend. But this, too, seemed to
+be the only right thing to do, so she made it known to Jerry in the
+moonlight.
+
+"Do you know, Jerry, I have been thinking all day of something that I
+ought to say to you?"
+
+"All right," said Jerry, whittling away at the stick which he was
+fashioning into a proper shape to do duty as a towel rack for Mrs. Job
+Smith's kitchen towel. "Go ahead, this is a good time to say it."
+And he held the stick up and took a scientific squint at it in the
+moonlight. "This thing would work better if the wood were a little
+softer. I am going to make one for your mother if it is a success, and
+it will be. Now what is your news?"
+
+"It isn't news," said Nettie, "it is only something that I have made
+up my mind I ought to say. Jerry, I think, that is, I don't think, I
+mean"-- And there she stopped.
+
+"Just so," said Jerry, nodding his head gravely, "that is plain, I am
+sure, and interesting; I agree with you entirely." After that, both of
+them had to laugh a little, and the story did not get on.
+
+"But I truly mean it," Nettie said at last, her face growing grave
+again, "and I ought to say it. What I want to tell you is, that I have
+made up my mind that you and I must not be friends any more."
+
+Jerry did not laugh now, he did not even whistle. His knife suddenly
+stopped, and he squared around to get a full view of her face.
+
+"What!" he said at last, as though he did not think it possible that he
+could have understood her.
+
+"Yes," she said firmly, "I mean it, Jerry, and it is real hard to say;
+you and I ought not to be friends, or, I mean we must not let folks
+know that we are friends. We mustn't take walks together, nor work
+together. I don't mean that I shall not like you all the same; but we
+mustn't have anything to do with each other."
+
+"Why not, pray? Have I done anything to make you ashamed of me? I'll
+try to behave myself, I'm sure."
+
+This was so ridiculous that Nettie could not help smiling a little.
+
+"O, Jerry!" she said, "you know better than to talk in that way. It
+sounds strange, I know, and it is real hard to do, but I am sure it is
+right, and we must do it."
+
+"But what in the world is the trouble? Can't you give a fellow a reason
+for things? Is it your brother who doesn't like it?"
+
+"O no! Norm likes you; and mother is as much obliged to you as she can
+be, for getting him to go a-fishing. But, you see, it is bad for you to
+be my friend."
+
+"Oh-ho! I don't believe your influence is very hard on me; I don't feel
+as though you had led me very far astray!"
+
+"It isn't fun, Jerry, it is sober earnest. I have heard things said
+that set me to thinking. I overheard the girls talk! those girls in the
+class, you know, yesterday. I guess they did not know I was there. They
+talked about me a good deal. They said I had a last year's hat on, and
+that is true, and my dress was only gingham, and washed at that."
+
+"Washed!" interrupted Jerry in bewilderment; "well, what of that? Would
+they have had you wear it dirty?"
+
+But Nettie hastened on; she did not feel equal to explaining to him
+the subtle distinction between a brand-new dress and one that had been
+"done up."
+
+"They said a good deal more than that, Jerry, and it was all true. They
+said I was nothing but a drunkard's daughter," and here Nettie found it
+hard work to control the sob in her throat.
+
+"That is not true," said Jerry, indignantly. "Your father has not drank
+a drop in three days."
+
+"Oh! but, Jerry, you know he does drink; and he has gone down town
+to-night, and mother is sure that he will not come home sober. It is
+all true, Jerry. I don't mean that I am going to give up. I shall try
+for father all the time; and I think maybe he will reform, after a
+while. And I won't forget our promise, and I know you won't; but it is
+best for us not to act like friends. They talked about you, too; they
+said you were handsome, and they used to like you; they thought you
+were smart. But now you had begun to go with me, so you couldn't be
+much. One of them said you were an Irish boy, that you had a real Irish
+name. Are you Irish, Jerry?"
+
+"Not much! Or, hold on, I don't know but I am. Why, yes, my
+great-grandmother came from the North of Ireland. Father is proud of
+it, I remember."
+
+"Well, I don't care where you came from, you know. Nor whether you are
+Irish, or Dutch, or what; I am only telling you what they said. They
+told how you worked at Job Smith's for your board; and one of them said
+your father had run away and left you."
+
+"Well, he has; run three thousand miles away, and left me, as sure as
+time. But he means to run back again, when he gets ready."
+
+"I knew that wasn't true, Jerry; and I only tell you because I thought
+you might want to speak about your father in a way that would show them
+it wasn't so. But what I want to say is, that I know they will get all
+over those feelings when they come to know you; and they will like
+you, and invite you to places, if you don't go with me; but they won't
+any of them have anything to do with me, on account of my father. And,
+Jerry, I want you not to go with me, or talk with me any more."
+
+"Just so," said Jerry, in an unconcerned voice. "Do you think I am
+making this stick too long for the frame? Our kitchen towels are pretty
+wide. Well, now, see here, Miss Nettie Decker, you would not make a
+very honest business woman if you went back on a square bargain in
+that fashion. You and I settled it to be partners in a very important
+business; and partners can't get along very well without speaking to
+each other. There is no use in talking. You are several days too late.
+The mischief is done. I'm your friend and fellow-laborer and partner in
+the cabinet business, and the upholstery line, and all the other lines.
+You will find me the hardest fellow to get rid of that ever was. I
+don't shake off worth a cent. I shall take walks with you every chance
+I can get; and shout to you from the woodshed window when you are over
+home, and wait for you to come out when I think it is about time you
+should appear, and be on hand in all imaginable places. Now I hope you
+understand what sort of a fellow I am."
+
+If the boy had looked in Nettie's face just then, he would have seen a
+sudden light flash over it which carried away a good deal of the look
+of patient endurance which it had worn for the last few hours. Still
+her voice was full of earnestness.
+
+"But, Jerry, they will not have anything to do with you if you act
+so. By and by they will not even speak to you. And they won't invite
+you to their parties, nor anywhere. There is going to be a party next
+week, and I think you would have been invited if you hadn't gone with
+me Sunday; now I am afraid you won't be." And now Jerry whistled a few
+rollicking notes.
+
+"All right," he said in a cheery tone. "If there is any one thing more
+than another that I don't like to go to, it is a girls' party where
+they make believe act like silly, grown-up men and women. I know just
+about what kind of a party those girls in that class would get up. If
+you have been the means of saving me from an invitation, it is just
+another thing to thank you for. Look here, Nettie, let us make another
+bargain, sober earnest, not to be broken. I don't care a red cent for
+the girls, nor their invitations, nor their bows; I would just as soon
+they did not know me when they met me as not. If that is their game, I
+shall like nothing better than to meet them half-way; girls who would
+know no better than to talk the way they did about you, are not to my
+liking. If because you wear clothes that are neat and nice and the best
+you can afford, and because I am an Irish boy and work for my board,
+are good reasons for not having anything to do with us, why, we will
+return the favor and not have anything to do with them, for better
+reasons than they have shown. Let's drop them. I thought some of them
+would be good friends to you, maybe, and help you to have a nice time;
+but they are not of the right sort, it seems. You and I will have just
+as good times as we can get up. And we will bow to them if they bow to
+us; if they don't we will let them pass. What is settled is, that we
+are bound to work out this thing together. Understand?"
+
+"Yes," said Nettie, with a little soft laugh, "I understand, and I
+don't believe I ought to let you do it. But you don't know how nice it
+is; and I can't tell you how lonesome I felt when I thought I ought not
+to talk with you any more."
+
+"I should like to see you help yourself," said Jerry, in a complacent
+tone. "You would find it the hardest work you ever did in your life not
+to talk to me, when I should keep up a regular fire of questions of all
+sorts and sizes."
+
+Then Nettie laughed outright, but added, after a moment of silence,
+"But, Jerry, I think the worst of it is about father; and that is true,
+you know. They might not think so much about the clothes, if it were
+not for him."
+
+"That has nothing to do with it," said Jerry sturdily. "You are not to
+blame for your father's drinking liquor. Wouldn't you stop it quick
+enough if you could? It is only another reason why they ought to be
+friends to you. Besides, there wouldn't be so much of the stuff for
+folks to drink, if Lorena Barstow's father did not make it."
+
+"O Jerry! does he?"
+
+"Yes, he does. Owns one of the largest distilleries in the country."
+
+"Jerry, I think I would rather have my father drink liquor than make it
+for other folks. At least he doesn't make money out of other people's
+troubles."
+
+"So would I, enough sight," said Jerry with emphasis. Then he lifted
+up his voice in answer to Mrs. Job Smith who appeared in the adjoining
+door. "All right, auntie, we are coming." And he carefully gathered the
+chips he had whittled, into his handkerchief, and rose up.
+
+"Going over now, Nettie? I guess auntie thinks it is time to lock up."
+
+Nettie darted within for a few minutes, then appeared, and they crossed
+the yard together. As they stepped on the lower step of Mrs. Smith's
+porch, Jerry said: "Remember this is a bargain forever and aye, Nettie;
+there is to be no backing out, and no caring for what folks say, or for
+what happens, either now or afterwards. Do you promise?"
+
+"I promise," said Nettie with a smile. And they went into the clean
+kitchen. Before Jerry went to bed that night he took out of the fly
+leaf of his Bible the picture of a tall man, and kissed it, as he said
+aloud: "So you have run away and left your poor little Irish boy, have
+you? But when you run back again, won't they all be glad to see you,
+though!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+PLEASURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+
+THE day came at last when the front room at the Deckers was put in
+order. I don't suppose you have any idea how pretty that room looked
+when the last tack was driven, and the last fold in the curtain
+twitched into place! The rag carpet was very bright. "I put a good many
+red and yellows in it," said Mrs. Smith, "and now I know why I did it.
+It is just bright enough for this room. I don't see how you two could
+have got it down as firm as you have."
+
+"Nettie managed it," said Mrs. Decker, "she is a master hand at putting
+down carpets."
+
+The furniture was done and in place, and certainly did justice to the
+manufacturers. There were two "sofas" with backs which were so nicely
+padded that they were very comfortable things to lean against, and the
+gay-flowered goods that had looked "so horrid" in a dress that Mrs.
+Smith could never bring herself to wear it, proved to be just the thing
+for a sofa-cover. Between the windows was a very marvel of a table.
+Nobody certainly to look at it, draped in the whitest of muslin, with
+a pink cambric band around its waist, covered with the muslin, and
+looking as much like pink ribbon as possible, would have imagined that
+a square post, about six inches in diameter, and two feet long, with
+a barrel head securely nailed to each end, was the "skeleton" out of
+which all this prettiness was evolved. "And mine is as like it as two
+peas," said Mrs. Smith, "only mine is tied with blue ribbon. Who would
+have thought such things could be made out of what they had to work
+with! I declare them two young things beat all!" This time she meant
+Nettie and Jerry, not the two tables.
+
+The curtains for which, after much consideration, cheap unbleached
+muslin had been chosen, when their pinkish lambrequins of the same
+gay-flowered goods as the sofas, had been cut and scalloped, and put in
+place, were almost pretty enough to justify the extravagant admiration
+which they called forth. But the crowning glory was, after all, a
+chair which occupied the broad space between the window and the door.
+It was cushioned, back, and sides, and arms; it was dressed in a robe
+which had belonged to Job Smith's grandmother. It was delightful to
+look at, and delightful to sit in. Mrs. Decker declared that the first
+time she sat down in it, she felt more rested than she had in three
+years.
+
+Those two barrel chairs were triumphs of art. Jerry had been a week
+over the first one, planning, trying, failing, trying again; Nettie had
+seen one once, in the room of a house where she used to go sometimes
+to carry flowers to a sick woman. She had admired it very much, and
+the lady herself had told her how it was made, and that her nephew,
+a boy of sixteen, made it for her. Now, although Jerry was not a boy
+of sixteen, he had no idea there lived one of that age who could
+accomplish anything which he could not; so he persevered, and I must
+say his success was complete. Mrs. Smith believed there never was such
+a wonderful chair made, before.
+
+Jerry who had been missing for the last half-hour, now appeared, and
+with long strides reached the nice little mantel and set thereon a
+lamp, not very large, but new and bright.
+
+"That belongs to the firm," he said, in answer to Nettie's look. "I saw
+a lamp the other day that I knew would just fit nicely on that mantel,
+and I couldn't rest until I had tried it."
+
+Nettie's cheeks were red. She glanced over at her mother to see how she
+would like this. Nettie did not know whether a poor boy's money ought
+to be taken to provide a lamp for the new room; she much doubted the
+propriety of it. "The first money I earn, or father gives me, I can pay
+him back," she thought, then gave herself up to the enjoyment of her
+new treasure.
+
+None of them had planned to give a reception that evening, yet I do not
+know but such an unusual state of things as was found at the Deckers
+about eight o'clock, is worthy of so dignified a name. Mr. Decker and
+Norm came in to supper together, and both a little late. Nettie had
+trembled over what kept them, and her heart gave a great bound of
+relief and thanksgiving, when they appeared at last, none the worse
+for liquor. Indeed, she did not think either of them had taken even
+a glass of beer. They were in good humor; a bit of what Mr. Decker
+called "extra good luck" had fallen to him in the shape of a piece of
+work which it was found he could manage better than any other hand in
+the shop, and for which extra wages were to be paid. And Norm had been
+told that he was quite a success in a certain line of work. "He kept me
+after hours to give the new boy a lift," said Norm, good-naturedly; "he
+said I knew how to do the work, and how to tell others better than the
+other fellows."
+
+It was a good time for Mrs. Decker to tell what had been going on in
+the square room, or rather to hint at it, and tell them when supper was
+over, they should go in and see. "Nannie and I haven't been folding our
+hands while you have been working," she said with a complacent air, and
+a smile for Nettie as warmed that little girl's heart, making her feel
+it would not be a hard thing to love this new mother a great deal.
+
+So after supper they went in. I suppose you can hardly understand or
+imagine their surprise; because, you see, you have been used all your
+life to nicely arranged rooms. For Mr. Decker it stirred old memories.
+There had been a time when his best room if not so fine as this, was
+neat and clean, with many comforts in it. "Well, I never," he began,
+and then his voice choked, and he stopped.
+
+However, Norm could talk, and expressed his surprise and pleasure in
+eager words. "Where did you get the table, and the gimcracks around
+that chair? _Is_ that a chair, or a sofa, or what? Halloo! here's a new
+lamp. Let's have it lighted and see how it works. I tell you what it
+is, Nannie Decker, I guess you're a brick and no mistake."
+
+Then father was coaxed to sit down in the barrel chair, and try its
+strength and its softness, and guess what it was made of. And the
+little girls stood at his knee and put in eager words as to the effect
+that they helped, and altogether, there was such a time as that family
+had not known before.
+
+Just as Nettie was explaining that it was dark enough to try the lamp,
+and Norm went for a match, Mrs. Smith made her way across the yard, and
+who should march solemnly behind her but Job Smith himself!
+
+"Come right along," said Mrs. Decker heartily, as the new lamp threw a
+silvery light across the room. "Come and try the new sofa. Here, Mr.
+Smith, is a chair for you, if that is too low. Decker, he's got the
+seat of honor; Nettie said her pa must have the first chance in it."
+
+The name "Nettie" seemed to slip naturally from Mrs. Decker's tongue;
+she had heard Jerry use it so often during the past few days, that it
+was beginning to seem like the proper name of that young woman. Mr.
+Smith sat down, slowly, solemnly, in much doubt what to do or say next.
+
+"Well, Neighbor Decker, these young folks of ours are busy people,
+ain't they, and seem to be getting the upper hand of us?" Then he
+laughed, a slow, pleasant laugh. Mrs. Smith laughed a round, admiring
+satisfied laugh; she was _very_ proud of Job for saying that. Then they
+fell into conversation, the two men, about the signs of the times as
+regarded business, and prices, and various interests. Mr. Decker was
+a good talker, and here lay some of his temptations; there was always
+somebody in the saloons to talk with; there was never anybody in his
+home. Jerry came, presently, to admire the room and the lamp, and
+to have a little aside talk with Nettie. Norm was trying one of the
+lounges near them.
+
+"How did you make this thing?" he asked Jerry, and Jerry explained,
+and Norm listened and asked a question now and then, until presently
+he said, "I know a thing that would improve it; the next time you make
+one, try it and see."
+
+"What is that?" asked Jerry.
+
+"Why, look here, in this corner where you put the crossbar, if you
+should take a narrower piece, so, and fit it in here so," and the sofa
+was unceremoniously turned upside down and inside out, and planned
+over, Jerry in his turn becoming listener until at last he said: "I
+understand; I mean to fix this one, some day."
+
+Nettie nodded, her eyes bright; it was not about the sofa that they
+shone; it gave her such intense pleasure as perhaps you cannot
+understand, to see her father sitting beside Mr. Smith, talking
+eagerly, and her mother and Mrs. Smith having a good time together,
+and Jerry and Norm interested in each other. "It is exactly like other
+folks!" she said to Jerry, later, "and I don't believe either father or
+Norm will go down street to-night." And they didn't.
+
+It was a very happy girl who went over to Mrs. Smith's woodhouse
+chamber to sleep that night. She sang softly, while she was getting
+ready for rest; and as often as she looked out of the window towards
+the square room in the next house, she smiled. It looked so much
+better than she had ever hoped to make it; and father and Norm had
+seemed so pleased, and they had all spent such a pleasant evening.
+
+Alas for Nettie! All the next day her happiness lasted. She sang over
+her work; she charmed the little girls with stories. She made an apple
+pudding for dinner, she baked some choice potatoes for supper; but
+they were not eaten, at least only by the little girls. They waited
+until seven o'clock, and half-past seven, and eight o'clock for the
+father and brother who did not come. Jerry, who stopped at the door
+and learned of the anxiety, slipped away to try to find out what kept
+them; but he came back in a little while with a grave face and shook
+his head. Both had left their shops at the usual time; nobody knew what
+had become of them. Jerry could guess, so also could Mrs. Decker. The
+poor woman was too used to it to be very much astonished; but Nettie
+was overwhelmed. She ate no supper; she did not sing at all over the
+dishwashing. She watched every step on the street, and turned pale at
+the sound of passing voices. She put the little girls to bed, and cried
+over their gay chatter. She coaxed her sad-faced mother to go to bed
+at last, and drew a long sigh of relief when she went into her bedroom
+and shut the door. It had been so dreadful to hear her say: "I told you
+so; I knew just how it would be. They will both come staggering home.
+It's of no use."
+
+Nettie did not believe it. She believed that work somewhere was holding
+them; people often had extra work to do, or were sent on errands, but
+she went at last over to the woodhouse chamber; it would not do to keep
+the Smiths up longer. Instead of making ready for bed, she kneeled down
+before the little window which gave her a view of the next house, and
+watched and waited. They came at last; father and son; not together.
+Norm came first, and stumbled, and shuffled, and growled; his voice was
+thick, and the few words she could catch had no connection or sense. He
+had too surely been drinking. But he was not so far gone as the father.
+_He_ had to be helped along the street by some of his companions; he
+could not hold himself upright while they opened the door. And when
+the gentle wind blew it shut again, he swore a succession of oaths
+which made Nettie shudder and bury her face in her hands. But she
+did not cry. It was the first time in her young life that her heart
+was too heavy for tears. She drew great deep sighs as she went about,
+at last, preparing for bed; she wished that the tears would come, for
+the choking feeling might be relieved by them; but the tears seemed
+dried. She tossed about on her neat little bed, in a sorrow very unlike
+childhood. Poor, disappointed Nettie!
+
+The sun shone brightly the next morning, but there was no brightness in
+the little girl's heart. She was early down stairs, and stole away to
+the next house without seeing anybody. Mrs. Decker was up, with a face
+as wan as Nettie's.
+
+"Well," she said, in a hopeless tone, "it's all over. Did you hear them
+come in last night? Both of 'em. If it had been one at a time, we could
+have stood it better; but both of 'em! I _did_ have a little hope, as
+sure as you live. Your pa seemed so different by spells, and Norm, he
+seemed to like you, and to stay at home more, and I kind of chirked up
+and thought may be, after all, good times was coming to me; but it's
+all of no use; I've give up; and it seems to me it would have been
+easier to have stayed down, than to have crept up, to tumble back.
+
+"Not that I'm blaming you, child," she said, "you did your best, and
+you did wonders; and I think sometimes, maybe if I had made such a
+brave shift as that in the beginning, things wouldn't have got where
+they have. But I didn't, and it's too late now."
+
+Not a word had Nettie to say. It was a sad breakfast-time. Mr. Decker
+shambled down late, and had barely time to swallow his coffee very hot,
+and take a piece of bread in his hand, for the seven o'clock bells were
+ringing, and punctuality was something that was insisted on by his
+foreman. Norm came later, and ate very little breakfast, and looked
+miserable enough to be sent back to bed again. Nettie only saw him
+through a crack in the door; she stayed out in the little back yard,
+pretending to put it in order. He made his stay very short, and went
+away without a word to mother or sister; and the heavy burden of life
+went on. Mrs. Decker prepared to do the big ironing which yesterday
+she had been glad over, because it would give them a chance to have
+an extra comfort added to the table; but which to-day seemed of very
+little importance.
+
+Nettie washed the dishes, and wished she was at Auntie Marshall's,
+and tried to plan a way for getting there. What was the use of staying
+here? Hadn't she tried her very best and failed? didn't the mother say
+it was harder for her than though they hadn't tried at all?
+
+In the course of the morning, Mrs. Smith sent in a basket of corn.
+Sarah Jane brought it. "Some folks on a farm that mother ironed for,
+when they lived in town, sent her a great basket full; heaps more than
+we can use, and mother said it would be just the thing for your men
+folks; they always like corn, you know."
+
+Mrs. Decker took the basket without a smile on her face. "Your mother
+is a very kind woman," she said, "the kindest one I ever knew; in fact,
+I haven't known many kind people, and that's the truth. She has done
+all she could to help us, but I don't know as we can be helped; it
+seems as though some people couldn't."
+
+Sarah Jane went back and told her mother that Mrs. Decker seemed
+dreadful downhearted and discouraged; and Mrs. Smith replied with a
+sigh that she didn't know as she wondered at it; poor thing! Nettie
+made the dinner as nice as she could. Mr. Decker ate with a relish,
+and said the corn was good, and he had sometimes thought that the bit
+of ground back of the house might be made to raise corn; and Nettie
+brightened a little, and looked over at Norm and was just going to say,
+"Let's have a garden next summer," when he spoiled it by declaring that
+he wouldn't slave in a garden for anybody. It was hard enough to work
+ten hours a day. Then his father told him that he guessed he did not
+hurt himself with work; and he retorted that he guessed they neither
+of them would die with over-work; and his father told him to hold his
+tongue. In short, nothing was plainer than that these two were ashamed
+of themselves, and of each other, and were much move irritable than
+they had been for several days.
+
+The afternoon work was all done, and Nettie had just hung up her
+apron, and wondered whether she should offer to iron for awhile, or
+run away to the woodhouse chamber, and write to Auntie Marshall, when
+Jerry appeared in the door. She had not seen him since the sorrow of
+the night before had come upon them; Nettie thought he avoided coming
+in, because he too was discouraged. Her face flushed when she heard
+his step, and she wished something would happen so that she need not
+turn around to him. She felt so ashamed of her own people, and of his
+efforts to help them. His voice, however, sounded just as usual.
+
+"Through, Nettie? Then come out on the back step; I want to talk with
+you."
+
+"There is no use in talking," she said, sadly. But she followed him
+out, and sat down listlessly on the broad low step, which the jog in
+Mr. Smith's house shaded from the afternoon sun.
+
+Jerry took no notice of the words if indeed he heard them.
+
+"I heard some news this morning," he began. "Two of the older boys at
+the corner, that one in Peck's store, you know, and the one next door
+told me that a lot of fellows were going off to-night on what he called
+a lark. They have hired a boat, and are going to row across to Duck
+Island, and catch some fish and have a supper in that mean little hole
+which is kept on the island; they mean to make an all-night of it. I
+don't know what is to be done next; play cards, I suppose; they do,
+whenever they get together, and lots of drinking. It is a dreadful
+place. Well, I heard, by a kind of accident, that they thought of
+asking Norm to join 'em. At first they said they wouldn't, because he
+wouldn't be likely to have any money to help pay the bills; but then
+they remembered that he was a good rower, and thought they would get
+his share out of him in that way; and I say, Nettie, let's spoil their
+plans for them."
+
+"How?" asked Nettie, drearily.
+
+Jerry talked on eagerly. "I have a plan; I rented a boat for this
+afternoon, and was going to ask Mrs. Decker to let me take you and
+the chicks for a ride, and I meant to catch some fish for our supper;
+but this will be better. I propose to invite Norm and two fellows
+that he goes with some, to go out with me, fishing. I have a splendid
+fishing rig, you know, and I'll lend it to them, and help them to have
+a good time, and then if you will plan a kind of treat when we get
+back--coffee, you know, and fish, and bread and butter, we could have
+a picnic of our own and as much fun as they would get with that set
+on the island. I believe Norm would go; he is just after a good time,
+you see, and if he gets it in this way, he will like it as well, maybe
+better, than though he spent the night at it and got the worst of
+his bargain. Anyhow, it is worth trying; if we can save him from this
+night's work it will be worth a good deal. Don't you think so?"
+
+Instead of the hearty, "yes, indeed," which he expected, Nettie said
+not a word; and when he turned and looked at her, to learn what was the
+matter, her face was red and the tears were gathering in her eyes.
+
+"Don't you know what has happened?" she asked at last. "I thought I
+heard you in your room last night when he came home."
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, speaking gravely, "I was up. What of it?"
+
+"What of it? O Jerry!" and here the tears which had been choking poor
+Nettie all day had it their own way for a few minutes. She had not
+meant to cry; but she felt at once how quickly the tears relieved the
+lump in her throat.
+
+"I don't mean that, exactly," Jerry said, after waiting a minute for
+the sobs to grow less deep, "of course it was a great trouble, and I
+have been so sorry for Mrs. Decker all day that I wanted to stay away,
+because I could not think of the right thing to say; but it's only
+another reason why we should work and plan in all ways to get ahead of
+them and save Norm."
+
+"O Jerry! don't you think it is too late?"
+
+"Too late! What in the world can you mean? Has anything happened to-day
+that I haven't heard of? Where is Norm? Has he gone away anywhere?"
+
+"O, no," said Nettie, "he has gone to work; but I mean--I
+meant--doesn't it all seem to you of no use at all? After we worked so
+hard and got everything nice, and he seemed so pleased, and stayed at
+home all the evening and talked with us, and then the very next night
+to come home like that!"
+
+Jerry stared in blank astonishment.
+
+"I don't believe I understand," he said at last. "You did not think
+that Norm was going to reform the very minute you did anything pleasant
+for him, did you?"
+
+"N-no," said Nettie slowly, "I don't suppose I did; but it all seemed
+so dreadful! I expected something, I hardly know what, and I could not
+help feeling disappointed and miserable." Nettie's face was growing
+red; she began to suspect she might be a very foolish girl.
+
+"Why, that is queer," said Jerry. "Now I am not disappointed a bit.
+I am sorry, of course, but I expected just that thing. Why, Nettie,
+they go after men sometimes for months and years before they get real
+hold and are sure of them. There is a lawyer in New York that father
+says kept three men busy for five years trying to save him. They didn't
+succeed, either, but they got him to go to the One who could save him.
+He is a grand man now. Suppose they had given up during those five
+years!"
+
+"Do you think it may take five years to get hold of Norm?" There were
+tears in Nettie's eyes, but there was a little suggestion of a smile on
+her face, and she waited eagerly for Jerry's answer.
+
+"I'm sure I hope not," he said, "but if it does, we are not to give him
+up at the end of five years; nor _before_ five years, that is certain."
+
+Nettie wiped the tears away, and smiled outright; then sat still in
+deep thought for several minutes. Then she arose, decision and energy
+on her face.
+
+"Thank you, Jerry; I wish you had come in this morning. I have been a
+goose, I guess, and I almost spoiled what we tried to do. We'll get
+up a nice supper if you can get Norm and the others to come. I don't
+believe they will, but we can try. We have coffee enough to make a nice
+pot of it, and Mrs. Smith sent us some milk out of that pail from the
+country that is almost cream. I will make some baked potato balls, they
+are beautiful with fish; all brown, you know; and I was going to make
+a johnny-cake if I could get up interest enough in it. I'm interested
+now, and I shouldn't wonder if I staid so," and she blushed and laughed.
+
+"You see," said Jerry, "you must not expect things to be done in a
+minute. Why, even God doesn't do things quickly, when he could, as well
+as not. And he doesn't get tired of people, either; and that I think is
+queer. Have you ever thought that if you were God, you would wipe most
+all the people out of this world in a second, and make some new ones
+who could behave better?"
+
+"Why, no," said Nettie, wonderment and bewilderment struggling together
+in her face, this strange thought sounded almost wicked to her. "Well,
+I do," said Jerry sturdily; "I have often thought of it; I believe
+almost any _man_ would get out of patience with this old world, full
+of rum saloons, and gambling saloons and tobacco. I think it is such a
+good thing that men don't have the management of it.
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, Nettie, we shall have a pretty busy
+afternoon if we carry out our plans, won't we? Suppose you go and talk
+the thing up with your mother, and I will go and see what Norm says.
+Or, hold on, suppose we go together and call on him; I'll ask him to go
+fishing, and you ask him to bring his friends home to eat the fish. How
+would that do?"
+
+It was finally agreed that that would do beautifully, and Jerry went to
+see whether his long flat stick fitted, while Nettie ran to her mother.
+Mrs. Decker was ironing, her worn face looking older and more worn,
+Nettie thought, than she had ever seen it before. Poor mother! Why had
+not she helped her to bear her heavy burden, instead of almost sulking
+over failure?
+
+"O, mother," she began, "Jerry has a plan, and we want to know what you
+think of it; he has heard of things that are to be done this evening."
+And she hurried through the story of the intended frolic on the island,
+and the fishing party that was, if possible, to be pushed in ahead.
+Mrs. Decker listened in silence, and at first with an uninterested
+face; presently, when she took in the largeness of the plan, she stayed
+her iron long enough to look up and say:
+
+"What's the use, child? I thought you and Jerry had given up."
+
+"O, mother," and the cheeks were rosy red now, "I'm ashamed that I felt
+so discouraged; Jerry isn't at all; and he thinks it is the strangest
+thing that I should have been! He says they have to work for years,
+sometimes, to get hold of people. He knew a man that they kept working
+after for five years, and now he is a grand man. He says we must hold
+on to Norm if it is five years, though I don't believe it will be. I'm
+going to begin over again, mother, and not get discouraged at anything.
+It is true, as Jerry says, that we can't expect Norm to reform all
+in a minute. He says the boys that Norm goes with the most are not
+bad fellows, only they haven't any homes, and they keep getting into
+mischief, because they have nowhere to go to have any pleasant times.
+Don't you think Norm would like it to have them asked home with him to
+supper, and show them how to have a real good time? Jerry says the two
+boys that he means board at a horrid place, where they have old bread
+and weak tea for supper, and where people are smoking and drinking in
+the back end of the room while they are eating. I am sure I don't know
+as it is any wonder that they go to the saloons sometimes."
+
+Mrs. Decker still held her iron poised in air, on her face a look that
+was worth studying. "Norm hasn't ever had a decent place to ask anybody
+to, nor a decent time of any kind since he was old enough to care much
+about it," she said slowly. "I thought I had done about my best, but
+it may be I'll find myself mistaken. Well, child, let's try it, for
+mercy's sake, or anything else that that boy thinks of. You and him
+together are the only ones that's done any thinking for Norm in years;
+and if I don't go half-way and more too for anybody that wants to do
+anything, it will be a wonder."
+
+In a very few minutes Nettie was in her neat street dress, and the two
+were walking down the shady side of the main street, toward Norm's
+shop. They passed Lorena Barstow, and though Jerry, without thinking,
+took off his cap to her, she tossed her head and looked the other way.
+
+Jerry laughed. "I did not know she was so nearsighted as all that, did
+you?" he asked, and then continued the sentence which the sight of her
+had interrupted. Nettie could not laugh; she was sore over the thought
+that she had so spoiled Jerry's life for him that his old acquaintances
+would not bow to him on the street.
+
+Norm was at work, and worked with energy; they stood and looked at him
+through the window for a few minutes. "He works fast," said Jerry, "and
+he works as though he would rather do it than not; Mr. Smith says there
+isn't a lazy streak in him. He ought to make a smart man, Nettie; and I
+shouldn't wonder if he would."
+
+Then they went in. To say that Norm was astonished at sight of them,
+would be to tell only half the story. He stood in doubt what to say,
+but Jerry was equal to the occasion; nothing could have been more
+matter-of-course than the way in which he told about his plans for
+going fishing, declaring that the afternoon was prime for such work,
+and that he was tired of going alone. "Wouldn't Norm and his two
+friends go too?" Now a ride in a boat was something that Norm rarely
+had. In the first place, boats cost money, and in the second place they
+took time. To be sure, after working hours, there was time enough for
+rowing, but boats were sure to be scarce then, even if money had been
+plenty.
+
+Norm wiped his face with a corner of his work-apron, and admitted that
+he would like to go, first-rate, but did not know as he could get away.
+They were not over busy it was true, neither was the foreman troubled
+with good nature; he would be next to certain to say no, if Norm asked
+to be let off at five o'clock.
+
+"Let's try him," said Jerry, and he walked boldly to the other side of
+the room where the foreman stood.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A COMPLETE SUCCESS.
+
+
+THIS man was a friend of Jerry's; it was only two weeks ago that he
+had done him a good turn, in finding and bringing home his stray cow.
+He was perfectly good-natured, and found no fault at all with Norm's
+leaving the shop at five; in fact he said he was glad to have the boy
+leave in such good company.
+
+"Would the others go?" Nettie questioned eagerly, and Norm, laughing,
+said he reckoned they would go quick enough if they got a chance;
+invitations to take boat rides were not so plenty that they could
+afford to lose them.
+
+Then was time for Nettie's great surprise.
+
+"And, Norm, will you bring them all home to supper with you? I'll have
+everything ready to cook the fish in a hurry as soon as you get into
+the house, and you can visit in the new room until they are ready."
+
+Now indeed, I wish you could have seen Norm! It never happened to him
+before to have a chance to invite anybody home to supper with him. He
+looked at Nettie in silent bewilderment for a minute; he even rubbed
+his eyes as though possibly he might be dreaming; but she looked so
+real and so trim, and so sure of herself standing there quietly waiting
+his answer, that at last he stammered out:
+
+"What do you mean, Nannie? You aren't in dead earnest?"
+
+"Why, of course," said Nettie, deciding in a flash upon her plan of
+action; she would do as Jerry had, and take all this as a matter of
+course. "I'm going to make a lovely johnny-cake for supper, and some
+new-fashioned potatoes, and we have cream for the coffee. You shall
+have an elegant supper; only be sure you catch lots of fish."
+
+It was all arranged at last to their satisfaction, and the two
+conspirators turned away to get ready for their part of the business.
+
+"Norm liked it," said Jerry. "Couldn't you see by his face that he did?
+I believe we can get hold of him after awhile, by doing things of this
+kind; things that make him remember he has a home, and pleasant times,
+like other boys."
+
+If Jerry had waited fifteen minutes he might have been surer of that
+even than he was. Norm's second invitation followed hard on the first;
+and Norm, who felt a little sore over certain meannesses of the night
+before, and who knew his foreman was within hearing and would be sure
+to object to this young fellow who had come to ask him to go to the
+island, answered loftily: "Can't do it; I've promised to go out fishing
+with a party; and besides, our folks are going to have company to tea."
+
+Company to tea! He almost laughed when he said it. How very strange the
+sentence sounded.
+
+"O, indeed," said Jim Noxen from the saloon. "Seems to me you are
+getting big."
+
+"It sounds like it," said Norman. "I wonder if I am?" But this he said
+to himself; for answer to the remark, he only laughed.
+
+"If I had a chance to keep company with a young fellow like Jerry, and
+a trim little woman like that sister of yours, I guess I wouldn't often
+be found with the other set."
+
+This the foreman said, with a significant nod of his head toward the
+young fellow who represented the other set. And this, too, had its
+influence.
+
+Jerry and Nettie had a glimpse of one of Norm's friends as they passed
+his shop on their homeward way.
+
+"He has a good face," said Nettie. "Poor fellow! Hasn't he any home at
+all? Don't you wish we could get hold of him so close that he would
+help us? He looks as though he might."
+
+Then she stepped into the boat and floated idly around, while Jerry ran
+for the oars; and while she floated, she thought and planned. There was
+a great deal to be done, both then and afterwards.
+
+"I wish you could go with us and catch a fish," said Jerry, as he saw
+how she enjoyed the water, "but maybe it wouldn't be just the thing."
+
+"I know it wouldn't," said Nettie; "besides, who would make the
+johnny-cake, and the potato balls? There is a great deal to be done to
+make things match, when you are catching fish."
+
+The fishing party was a complete success. Jerry said afterwards that
+the very fish acted as though they were in the secret and were bound
+to help. He had never seen them bite so readily. By seven o'clock, the
+boat was headed homeward, with more fish than even four hungry boys
+could possibly eat.
+
+"Now for supper," said Norm, who with secret delight had thought
+constantly of the surprise in store for Alf and Rick. "Boys, I'm going
+to take you home with me and show you what a prime cook my little
+sister is. We'll have these fish sizzling in a pan quicker than you
+have any notion of; and she knows how to sizzle them just right;
+doesn't she, Jerry?"
+
+But Jerry was spared the trouble of a reply, for Alf with incredulous
+stare said, "You're gassing now."
+
+"No, I'm not gassing. You can come home with me, honor bright, and you
+shall have such a supper as would make old Ma'am Turner wild."
+
+Old Ma'am Turner, poor soul, was the woman who kept the wretched
+boarding house where these homeless boys boarded, and she really did
+know how to make things taste a little worse, probably, than any one
+you know of.
+
+"What'll your mother say to your bringing folks home to supper?"
+questioned Rick, looking as incredulous as his friend. "She'll give us
+a hint of broomstick, I reckon, if we try it."
+
+"Well," said Norm, unconcernedly, dipping the oar into the water, "try
+it and see, if you are a mind to, that's all I've got to say. I ain't
+going to force you to eat fish; but I promise you a first-class meal of
+them if you choose to come."
+
+"Oh! we'll go," said Alf, with a giggle; "if we are broomed out the
+next second, we'll try it, just to see what will come of it. Things is
+queerer in this world than folks think, often; now I didn't believe
+a word of it, when you said we was going out in a boat to-night; I
+thought it was some of your nonsense; and here the little fellow has
+treated us prime."
+
+The "little fellow" was Jerry, who smiled and nodded in honor of his
+compliment, but said nothing; he resolved to let Norm do the honors
+alone.
+
+They went with long strides to the Decker home, Jerry waiting to fasten
+the boat and pay his bill. Each boy carried a fine string of fish of
+his own catching; and appeared at the back door just as Nettie came out
+to look.
+
+"O, what beauties!" she said, gleefully; "and such a nice lot of them!
+I'm all ready and waiting. You go in, Norm, with your friends, and
+we'll have them cooking as soon as we can."
+
+"Not much," said Norm, coming around to the board which she had
+evidently gotten ready for cleaning the fish, and diving his hand in
+his pocket in search of his jack-knife. "Let's fall to, boys, and clean
+these fellows. I know how, and I think likely you do, and they'll taste
+the better, like enough."
+
+"Just so," said Rick Walker, who owned the face that Nettie had decided
+was a good one. "I'm agreeable; I know how to clean fish as well as the
+next one; used to do it for mother, when I was a little shaver."
+
+Did the sentence end in a sigh, or did Nettie imagine it? All three
+went to work with strong skilful hands, and Nettie hopped back and
+forth bringing fresh water, and fresh plates, and feeling in her secret
+heart very grateful to the boys for doing this, which she had dreaded.
+
+They were all done in a very short time, and each boy in turn had
+washed his hands in the basin which shone, and then, the shining, or
+the smoothness and beautiful cleanness of the great brown towel, or
+something, prompted Rick to take fresh water and dip his brown face
+into it, and toss the water about like a great Newfoundland dog.
+
+"I declare, that feels good!" he said. "Try it, Alf." And Alf tried it.
+
+Then Norm led the way to the new room. It would have done Nettie's
+heart good if she had known how many times he had thought of that room
+during the last hour. He knew it would be a surprise to the boys. They
+had never seen anything but the Decker kitchen, and not much of that,
+standing at the door to wait a minute for Norm, but the few glimpses
+they had had of it, had not led them to suppose that there was any such
+place in the house as this in which he was now going to usher them.
+Their surprise was equal to the occasion. They stopped in the doorway,
+and looked around upon the prettiness, the bright carpet, the delicate
+curtains, the gay chairs! nothing like this was to be found at Ma'am
+Turner's, nor in any other room with which they were familiar.
+
+"Whew!" said Rick, closing the word with a shrill whistle; "I think as
+much!" said Alf. "Who'd have dreamed it. I say, Norm, you're a sly one;
+why didn't you ever let on that you had this kind of thing?"
+
+How they entertained one another during that next hour, Nettie did
+not know. Eyes and brain were occupied in the kitchen. Jerry came,
+presently, but reported that they were getting on all right in the
+front room, and he believed he could do better service in the kitchen;
+so he set the table with a delicate regard for nicety which Nettie had
+been taught at Auntie Marshall's, and which she knew he had not learned
+at Mrs. Job Smith's. Sarah Jane was rigidly clean, but never what
+Nettie called "nice."
+
+"We'll take the table in the front room," decreed Nettie as she
+surveyed it thoughtfully for a few minutes. "It is very warm out here,
+and they will like it better to be quite alone; we can put all the
+dishes on, with the leaves down, and set them in their places in a
+twinkling, after we have lifted it in there. Won't that be the way,
+mother?"
+
+"Land!" said Mrs. Decker, withdrawing her head from the oven, whither
+it had gone to see after the new-fashioned potato balls, "I should
+think they could eat out here; you may depend they never saw so clean
+a kitchen at old Ma'am Turner's. But it is hot here, and no mistake;
+and I should not know what to do with myself while they was eating.
+Please yourself, child, and then I'll be pleased. I'm going to save one
+of these potatoes for your pa; I never see anything in my life look
+prettier than they do."
+
+Mrs. Decker's tones told much plainer than her words, that she liked
+Nettie's idea of putting the table in the front room for Norm's
+company. She would not have owned it, but her mother-heart was glad
+over a "fuss" being made for her Norm.
+
+So the table went in; Jerry at one end, and Nettie at the other. They
+hushed a loud laugh by their entrance, but Jerry went immediately over
+to Rick Walker to show a new-fashioned knife, and Nettie's fingers flew
+over the table, so by the time the knife had been exhausted, she was
+ready to vanish.
+
+Confess now that you would like to have had a seat at that table when
+it was ready. A platter of smoking fish, done to the nicest brown,
+without drying or burning; a bowl of lovely little brown balls, each of
+them about the size of an egg, a plate of very light and puffy-looking
+Johnny-cake, and to crown all, coffee that filled the room with such an
+aroma as Ma'am Turner perhaps dreamed of, but never certainly in these
+days smelled. Mrs. Job Smith at the last minute had sent in a pat of
+genuine country butter, and Sate had flown to the grocery for a piece
+of ice with which to keep it in countenance.
+
+Jerry set the chairs, and Nettie poured the coffee, and creamed and
+sugared it, and then slipped away.
+
+She knew by the looks on the faces of the guests, that they were
+astonished beyond words, and she knew that Norm was both astonished and
+pleased. There was another supper being made ready in the kitchen. Mrs.
+Decker had herself tugged in the box which had been lately set up as a
+washbench, and spread the largest towel over it, and was serving three
+lovely fish, and a bowl of potato balls for "Decker" and herself.
+
+"I guess I'm going to have company too," she said to Nettie, her face
+beaming. "Your pa has gone to wash up, and I thought seeing there was
+only two chairs, and two plates left, you wouldn't mind having him and
+me sit down together, for a meal, first."
+
+"Yes, I do mind," said Nettie; "I think it is a lovely plan; I'm so
+glad you thought of it, and Jerry and I will keep watch that they have
+everything in the other room, while you eat." If you are wondering in
+your hearts where those important beings, Sate and Susie, were at this
+moment, I should have told you before, that Sarah Jane had a brilliant
+thought, but an hour before, and carried them out to tea. So all the
+Decker family were visiting that evening, save Nettie, and I think
+perhaps she was the happiest among them all. Every time she heard a
+burst of fresh fun from the front room, she laughed, too; it was so
+nice to think that Norm was having a good time in his own home, and
+nothing to worry over.
+
+It is almost a pity that, for her encouragement, she could not have
+heard some of the conversation in that room.
+
+"I say, Norm," said his friend Alf, his tones muffled by reason of a
+large piece of johnny-cake, "what an awful sly fellow you are! You
+never let on that you had these kind of doings in your house. Who'd
+have thought that you had a stunning room like this for folks, and
+potatoes done up in brown satin, to eat, and coffee such as they get up
+at the hotels! It beats all creation!"
+
+"That's so," said Rick, taking in a quarter of a fish at one mouthful,
+"I never dreamed of such a thing; what beats me, is, why a fellow who
+has such nice doings at home, wants to loaf around, and spend evenings
+at Beck's, or at Steen's. Hang me if I don't think the contrast a
+little too great. 'Pears to me if I had this kind of thing, I should
+like to enjoy it oftener than Norm seems to."
+
+Norman smiled loftily on them. Do you think he was going to own that
+"this kind of thing" had never been enjoyed in his home before, during
+all the years of his recollection? Not he; he only said that folks
+liked a change once in awhile, of course, and he only laughed when Rick
+and Alf both declared that if they knew themselves, and they thought
+they did, they would be content never to change back from this kind of
+thing to Ma'am Turner's supper table so long as they lived.
+
+How those boys did eat! Nettie owned to herself that she was
+astonished; and privately rejoiced that she had made four johnny-cakes
+instead of three, though it had seemed almost extravagant until she
+remembered that it would warm up nicely for breakfast. Not a crumb
+would there be for breakfast. She had one regret and she told it to
+Jerry as she went out to him on the back stoop, having poured the third
+cup of coffee around, for the three in the front room.
+
+"Jerry, I am just afraid there won't be a speck of johnny-cake left for
+you to taste. Those boys do eat so!"
+
+"Never mind," laughed Jerry. "We will eat the tail of a fish, if any
+of them have a tail left, and rejoice over our success; this thing is
+going to work, I believe, if we can keep it going."
+
+"That's the trouble," said Nettie, an anxious look in her eyes. "How
+can we? Fish won't do every time; and there are no other things that
+you can catch. Besides, even this has cost a great deal. I paid
+eight cents for lard to fry the fish, and the butter and milk and
+things would have cost as much as fifteen cents certainly. Mrs. Smith
+furnished them this time, but of course such things won't happen again."
+
+"A great many things happen," said Jerry, wisely. "More than you can
+calculate on. 'Never cross a bridge until you come to it, my boy.'
+Didn't I tell you that was what my father was always saying to me? I
+have found it a good plan, too, to follow his advice. Many a time I've
+worried over troubles that never came. Look here, don't you believe
+that if we are to do this thing and good is to come from it, we shall
+be able to manage it somehow?"
+
+"Why, y-e-s," said Nettie, slowly, as though she were waiting to see
+whether her faith could climb so high; "I suppose that is so."
+
+"Well, if good isn't going to come of it, do we want to do it?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"All right, then," with a little laugh. "What are we talking about?"
+And Nettie laughed, and ran in to give her father his last cup of
+coffee, and to hear him say that he hadn't had so good a meal in six
+years.
+
+It was a curious fact that Susie and Sate were the chief movers in the
+next thing that these young Fishers did to interest the particular fish
+whom they were after.
+
+It began the next Sabbath morning in Sabbath-school. There, the little
+girls heard with deep interest that on the following Sabbath there
+was to be a service especially for the children. A special feature of
+the day was to be the decoration of the church with flowers, which
+the children were to bring on the previous Saturday. Susie and Sate
+promised with the rest, that they would bring flowers. Promised in the
+confident expectation of childhood that some way they could join the
+others and do as they did; though both little girls knew that not a
+flower grew in or about them. During the early part of the week they
+forgot it, but on Saturday morning they stood in the little front yard
+and saw a sight which recalled all the delights of the coming Sunday
+in which they seemed to be having no share. The little girls from the
+Orphanage on the hill were bringing their treasures. Even fat little
+Karl who was only five, had a potted plant in full bloom, which he was
+proudly carrying. Little Dutch Maggie, in her queer long apron, carried
+a plant with lovely satiny leaves which were prettier than any bloom,
+and behind her was Robert the Scotch gardener with his arms full; then
+young Rob Severn, Miss Wheeler's nephew, had a lovely fuchsia just
+aglow with blossoms, and Miss Wheeler herself, who was the matron at
+the Orphanage, was carrying a choice plant. All these the hungry eyes
+of Sate and Susie took in, as the procession passed the house, then
+they ran wailing to Nettie who had already become the long suffering
+person to whom they must pour out their woes.
+
+"We promised, we did," explained Sate, her earnest eyes fixed on
+Nettie, while her arms clasped that young lady just as she was in the
+act of throwing out her dishwater. "We did promise, and they will
+'spect them, and they won't be there."
+
+"Well, but, darling, what made you promise, when you knew we had no
+flowers? Mrs. Smith would give you some in a minute if hers were in
+bloom. Why didn't they wait a little later, I wonder? Then Mrs. Smith
+could have given us such lovely china-asters."
+
+"We must have some to-morrow," said the emphatic Susie, and she
+fastened her black eyes on Nettie in a way that said: "Now you
+understand what must be, I hope you will at once set about bringing it
+to pass."
+
+Nettie could not help laughing. "If you were a fairy queen," she said,
+"and could wave your wand and say, 'Flowers, bloom,' and they would
+obey you, we should certainly have some; as it is, I don't quite see
+how they are to be had. We have no friends to ask."
+
+"I can't help it," said Susie, positively, "we _promised_ to bring
+some, and of course we must. You said, Nettie Decker, that we must
+always keep our promises."
+
+"Now, Miss Nettie Decker, you are condemned!" said Jerry, with grave
+face but laughing eyes; "something must evidently be done about this
+business. Dandelions are gone, except the whiteheads, and they would
+blow away before they got themselves settled in church, I am afraid.
+Hold on, I have a thought, just a splendid one if can manage it; wait a
+bit, Susie, and we will see what we can do."
+
+Susie, who was beginning to have full faith in this wise friend of
+theirs, told Sate in confidence that they were going to have some
+flowers to take to church, as well as the rest of them; she did not
+know what Jerry was going to make them out of, but she knew he would
+_make_ some.
+
+After that, Jerry was not seen again for several hours. In fact it
+was just as the dinner dishes were washed, that he appeared with a
+triumphant face. "Have you made some?" asked Sate, springing up from
+her dolly and going toward him expectantly.
+
+"Made some what, Curly?"
+
+"Flowers," said Sate, gravely. "Susie said she knew you would."
+
+Jerry laughed. "Susie has boundless faith in impossibilities," he said.
+"No, I haven't made the flowers, but I have the boat. That old thing
+that leaked so, you know, Nettie; well, I've put it in prime order, and
+got permission to use it, and if you and the chicks will come, we will
+sail away to where they make flowers, and pick all we want; unless some
+wicked fairy has whispered my bright thought to somebody else, and I
+don't believe it, for I have seen no one out on the pond to-day."
+
+Then Sate, her eyes very large, went in search of Susie to tell her
+that this wonderful boy had come to take them where flowers were made,
+and to let them gather for themselves.
+
+"I suppose it is heaven," said Sate, gravely, "because the real truly
+flowers, you know, God makes, and he has his things all up in heaven to
+work with, I guess."
+
+"What a little goosie you are!" said Susie, curling her wise lip; "as
+if Jerry Mack could take us to heaven!"
+
+However, she went at once to see about it, and was almost as much
+astonished to think that they were really going out in a boat, as she
+would have been if they were going to heaven. "I s'pose it's safe?"
+said Mrs. Decker doubtfully, watching the light in the little girls'
+eyes, and remembering how few pleasures had been offered them.
+
+"O, yes'm," said Jerry, "as safe as the road. I could row a boat,
+ma'am, very well indeed, father said, when I was six years old; and you
+couldn't coax that clumsy old thing to tip over, if you wanted it to;
+and if it should, the water isn't up to my waist anywhere in the pond."
+
+Mrs. Decker laughed, and said it sounded safe enough; and went back to
+her ironing, and the four happy people sailed away. If not to where the
+pond lilies were made, at least to where they grew in all their wild
+sweet beauty.
+
+"How very strange," said Nettie, as they leaned over the great rude,
+flat-bottomed boat and pulled the beauties in; "how very strange that
+no one has gathered these for to-morrow. Why, nothing could be more
+lovely!"
+
+"Well," said Jerry, "only a few people row this way, because it isn't
+the pleasantest part of the pond, you know, for rowing; and I guess no
+one has remembered that the lilies were out; there don't many people,
+only fishermen, go out on this pond, you know, because the boats are
+so ugly; and fishermen don't care for flowers, I guess. Anyhow, they
+haven't been here, for the buds are all on hand, just as I thought they
+would be by this time, when I was here on Tuesday. But I never thought
+of the church; so you see how little thinking is done."
+
+Well, they gathered great loads of the beauties, and rowed home in
+triumph, and put the lilies in a tub of water, and sat down to consider
+how best to arrange them. It was curious that Mrs. Job Smith should
+have been the next one with an idea.
+
+"I should think," she said, standing in the doorway of her kitchen, her
+hands on her sides, "I should think a great big salver of them laid
+around in their own leaves, would be the prettiest thing in the world."
+
+"So it would," said Nettie, "the very thing, if we only had the salver."
+
+"Well, I've got that. Mrs. Sims, she gave me an old battered and
+bruised one, when they were moving. It is big enough to put all the
+cups and saucers on in town, almost; when I lugged it home, Job, he
+wanted to know what on _earth_ I wanted of that, and says I, I don't
+know, but she give it to me, and most everything in this world comes
+good, if you keep it long enough. Sarah Ann, you run up to the corner
+in the back garret and get that thing, and see what they'll make of it."
+
+So Sarah Ann ran.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED HELPER.
+
+
+PERHAPS you do not see how the pond lilies, lovely as they were,
+arranged on that salver, helped Jerry and Nettie in their plans for
+Norm and his friends. But there is another part to that story.
+
+After the salver had been filled with sand, and covered with moss, and
+soaked until it would absorb no more water, and the lilies had been
+laid in so thickly that they looked like a great white bank of bloom,
+the whole was lovely, as I said, but heavy. The walk to the church
+was long, and Nettie, thinking of it, surveyed her finished work with
+a grave face. How was it ever to be gotten to the church? She tried
+to lift one end of it, and shook her head. There was no hope that she
+could even _help_ carry it for so long a distance. Mrs. Smith saw the
+trouble in her eyes, and guessed at its cause. "It is an awful heavy
+thing, that's a fact," she said, "hefting" it in her strong arms; "I
+don't know how you are going to manage it; Sarah Jane would help in a
+minute, but there's her back; she ain't got no back to speak of, Sarah
+Jane hasn't. And there's Job, he ain't at home; he went this morning
+before it was light, away over the other side of the clip hill with a
+load, and the last words he says to me was: 'Don't you be scairt if I
+don't get round very early; them roads over there is dreadful heavy,
+and I shall have to rest the team in the heat of the day,' and like
+enough he won't get back till nigh ten o'clock."
+
+Certainly no help could be expected from the Smith family. "We shall
+have to take some of the sand out," said Nettie, surveying the mound
+regretfully; "I'm real sorry; it does look so pretty heaped up! but
+Jerry can never carry it away down there alone."
+
+Then came Jerry's bright idea. "I'll get Norman to help me."
+
+"Norm!" said Nettie, stopping astonished in the very act of picking out
+some of the lilies. It had not once occurred to her that Norm could be
+asked to go to the church on an errand. She couldn't have told why,
+but Norm and the church seemed too far apart to have anything in common.
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, positively. "Why not? I know he'll help; and he and
+I can carry it like a daisy. Don't take out one of them, Nettie. I know
+you will spoil it if you touch it again; it is just perfect. Halloo,
+Norm, come this way."
+
+Sure enough at that moment Norm appeared from the attic where he
+slept; he had washed his face and combed his hair, and made himself as
+decent looking as he could, and was starting for somewhere; and Nettie
+remembered with a sinking heart that it was Saturday night; Norm's
+worst night except Sunday.
+
+He stopped at Jerry's call, and stood waiting.
+
+"You are just the individual I wanted to see at this moment," said
+Jerry with a confident air. "This meadow here has got to be dug up and
+carried bodily down to the church; and it is as heavy as though its
+roots were struck deep in the soil. Will you shoulder an end with me?"
+
+"To the church!" repeated Norm with an incredulous stare. "What do they
+want of that thing at the church?"
+
+"They are our flowers," said Sate with a positive little nod of her
+head. "We promised to bring them, and they are so big and heavy we
+can't. Will you help?"
+
+Now Norm had really a very warm feeling in his heart for this small
+sister; Susie he considered a nuisance, and a vixen, but Sate with her
+slow sweet voice, and shy ways, had several times slipped behind his
+chair to escape a slap from her angry father, thus appealing to his
+protection, and once when he lifted her over the fence, she kissed
+him; he was rather willing to please Sate. Then there was Jerry who
+was a good fellow as ever lived, and Nettie who was a prime girl; why
+shouldn't he help tote the thing down to the church if that was what
+they wanted? To be sure he wanted to go in the other direction, and
+the fellows would be waiting, he supposed; but he could go there,
+afterwards, let them wait until he came.
+
+"Well," he said at last, "come on, I'll help; though what they want of
+all this rubbish at the church is more than I can imagine." And Nettie
+and the little girls stood with satisfied faces watching the two move
+off under their heavy burden. It was something to have Norm go to
+church if it was only to carry flowers.
+
+Arrived at the door, Norm was seized with a fit of shyness; the doors
+were thrown wide open, and ladies and children were flitting about, and
+many tongues were going, and flowers and vines were being festooned
+around the gas lights, and the pillars, and wherever there was a spot
+for them.
+
+"Hold on," said Norm, jerking back, thus putting the great salver in
+eminent peril, "I ain't going in there; all the village is there; you
+better pitch this rubbish out, they've got flowers enough."
+
+"There isn't a lily among them," said Jerry. "And besides they have
+to go in, anyhow, we can't afford to disappoint Sate. Come on, Norm,
+I can't carry the thing alone, any more than I could the stove; it is
+unaccountably heavy."
+
+This was true, but Jerry was very glad that it was. He had his reasons
+for wanting to get Norm down the aisle to the front of the pulpit. With
+very reluctant feet Norm followed, bearing his share of the burden,
+his face flushing over the exclamations with which they were at last
+greeted.
+
+"Oh, oh! pond lilies! I did not know there were any this year. Where
+did you get them? Girls, look! Did you ever see anything more lovely?"
+And a group of faces were gathered about the tray, and one brown head
+went down among the lilies and caressed them.
+
+"Where did you get them?" she repeated; "I asked my cousin if there
+were any about here, and she said she thought not; and last night when
+I was out on the pond I looked and could not find any."
+
+"They hide," said Jerry. "The only place on the pond where they can be
+found is down behind the old mill; and most people don't go there at
+all, because the channel is so narrow, and the water so shallow."
+
+"Well, we are so glad you brought them! Girls, aren't they too lovely
+for anything? Who arranged them?"
+
+"My sister," said Norm, to whom Jerry promptly turned with an air which
+said as plainly as words could have done: "You are the one to answer;
+she belongs to you."
+
+"And who is that?" asked the owner of the pretty brown head, as she
+made way for them to pass to the table with their burden. "I am sure
+I would like to know her; for she certainly knows how to put flowers
+into lovely shapes."
+
+Then came from behind the desk a man whom Jerry knew and whom he had
+seen while he stood at the door. "Good evening, Jerry," he said,
+holding out his hand in a cordial way. "What a wonderful bank of beauty
+you have brought! Introduce me to your helper, please."
+
+"Mr. Sherrill, Mr. Norman Decker," said Jerry, exactly as though he
+had been used to introducing people all his life; and Norm, his face
+very red, knew that he was shaking hands with the new minister. A very
+cordial hand-shake, certainly, and then the minister turning to her
+of the brown head, said, "Eva, come here; let me introduce you to Mr.
+Norman Decker. My sister, Mr. Decker."
+
+Norm, hardly knowing what he was about, contrived another bow, and then
+Miss Eva said, "Decker, why, that is the name of my two little darlings
+about whom I have been telling you for two Sabbaths. Are they your
+little sisters, Mr. Decker? Little Sate and Susie?" And as Norm managed
+to nod an answer, she continued: "They have stolen my heart utterly;
+that little Sate is the dearest little thing. By the way, I wonder if
+these are her flowers? She promised me she would certainly get some;
+she said they had none in their garden, but God would make some grow
+for her somewhere she guessed."
+
+"Yes'm," said Jerry, seeing that Norm would not speak, "they are her
+flowers, hers and Susie's, they coaxed us to go for them."
+
+"Decker," said the minister, suddenly, "you are pretty tall, I wonder
+if you are not just the one to help me get this wreath fastened back
+of the pulpit? I have been working at it for some time, and failed for
+the want of an arm long enough and strong enough to help me." And the
+two disappeared behind the desk up the pulpit stairs to the immense
+satisfaction of Jerry. The ladies went on with their work; Miss Eva
+calling to him to help her move the table, and then to help arrange the
+salver on it, and then to bring more vines from the lecture room to
+cover the base of the floral cross; and indeed, before they knew it,
+both Jerry and Norm were in the thick of the engagement; Jerry flitting
+hither and thither at the call of the girls, and Norm following
+the minister from point to point, and using his long limbs to good
+advantage.
+
+"Well," he said, wiping his face with his coat sleeve, as, more than
+an hour after their entrance, he and Jerry made their way down the
+churchyard walk, "that is the greatest snarl I ever got into. How that
+fellow can work! But he would never have got them things up in the
+world, if I had not been there to help him."
+
+"No," said Jerry "I don't believe he would. How glad they were to get
+the lilies! They do look prettier than anything there. I did not know
+who that lady was who taught the little folks. She has only been there
+a few weeks. She is pretty, isn't she?"
+
+"I s'pose so," said Norm, "her voice is, anyhow. They say she's a
+singer. I heard the fellows down at the corner talking about her one
+night; Dick Welsh says she can mimic a bird so you couldn't tell which
+was which. I wouldn't mind hearing her sing. I like good singing."
+
+"I suppose they will have her sing in the church," said Jerry in a
+significant tone. But to this, Norm made no reply.
+
+"What was it Mr. Sherrill wanted of you just as we were coming out?"
+asked Jerry, after reflecting whether he had better ask the question or
+not.
+
+"Wanted me to come and see how the things looked in the daytime," said
+Norm with an awkward laugh that ended in a half sneer; "I'll be likely
+to I think!"
+
+"Going up home, I s'pose?" said Jerry, trying to speak indifferently,
+and slipping his hand through Norm's arm as they reached the corner,
+and Norm half halted.
+
+"Well, I suppose I might as well," Norm said, allowing himself to be
+drawn on by never so slight a pressure from Jerry's arm. "I was going
+down street, and the boys were to wait for me; but they have never
+waited all this while; it must be considerable after nine o'clock."
+
+"Yes," said Jerry, "it is." And they went home.
+
+Nettie, sitting on the doorstep, waiting, will never forget that night,
+nor the sinking of heart with which she waited. Her father had been
+kept at home, first by his employer who came to give directions about
+work to be attended to the first thing on Monday morning, and then
+by Job Smith getting home before he was expected and asking a little
+friendly help with the load he brought; and he had at last decided
+that it was too late to go out again, and had gone to bed. Mrs. Decker
+in her kitchen, hovered between the door and the window, peering out
+into the lovely night, saying nothing, but her heart throbbing so with
+anxiety about her boy that she could not lay her tired body away. Mrs.
+Job Smith in her kitchen, looked from her door and then her window,
+many misgivings in her heart; if that bad boy Norm should lead her good
+boy Jerry into mischief what should she say to his father? How could
+she ever forgive herself for having encouraged the intimacy between him
+and the Deckers?
+
+Presently, far down the quiet street came the sound of cheery
+whistling; Nettie knew the voice: nothing so very bad could have
+happened when Jerry was whistling like that; or was he perhaps doing
+it to keep his courage up? The whistle turned the corner, and in the
+dim starlight she could distinguish two figures; they came on briskly,
+Jerry and Norm. "A nice job you set us at," began Jerry, gayly, "we
+have just this minute got through; and here it is toward morning
+somewhere, isn't it?" Then all that happy company went to their beds.
+
+After dinner the next day, Nettie studied if there were not ways in
+which she might coax Norm to go to church that evening. Jerry had told
+her of the minister's invitation. Norm had slept later than usual that
+morning, and lounged at home until after dinner; now he was preparing
+to go out. How could she keep him? How could she coax him to go with
+her?
+
+Before she could decide what to do to try to hold him, Susie took
+matters into her own hands by pitching head foremost out of the kitchen
+window, hitting her head on the stones. Then there was hurry and
+confusion in the Decker kitchen! Then did Mrs. Smith, and Job Smith,
+and Sarah Jane fly to the rescue. Though after all, Norm was the one
+who stooped over poor silent Susie and brought her limp and apparently
+lifeless into the kitchen. Jerry ran with all speed for the doctor. It
+was hours before they settled down again, having discovered that Susie
+was not dead, but had fainted; was not even badly hurt, save for a bump
+or two. But it took the little lady only a short time, after recovering
+from her fright, to discover that she was a person of importance, and
+to like the situation.
+
+It happened that Norm had, by the doctor's directions, carried her from
+her mother's bed to the cooler atmosphere of the front room. Susie had
+enjoyed the ride, and now announced with the air of a conqueror, "I
+want Norm to carry me." So Norm, frightened into love and tenderness,
+lifted the little girl in his strong arms, laid the pretty head on
+his shoulder, and willingly tramped up and down the room. Was Susie a
+witch, or a selfish little girl? Certain it was that during that walk
+she took an unaccountable and ever increasing fancy for Norm. He must
+wet the brown paper on her head as often is the vinegar with which it
+was saturated dried away; he must hold the cup while she took a drink
+of water; he must push the marvel of a barrel chair in which she for
+a time sat in state, closer to the window; he must carry her from the
+chair to the table when supper was finally ready, and carry her back
+again when it was eaten. Nettie looked on amused and puzzled. Certainly
+Susie had kept Norm at home all the afternoon; but was she also likely
+to accomplish it for the evening? For Norm, to her great surprise,
+seemed to like the new order of things.
+
+He blushed awkwardly when Susie gently pushed her mother aside and
+demanded Norm, but he came at once, with a good-natured laugh, and held
+her in his arms with as much gentleness and more strength than the
+mother could have given; and seemed to like the touch of the curly head
+on his shoulder.
+
+But while Nettie was putting away the dishes and puzzling over all the
+strange events of the afternoon, Susie was undressed, partly by Norm,
+according to her decree, and fell asleep in his arms and was laid on
+her mother's bed, and Norm slipped away!
+
+Poor Nettie! She ran to the door to try to call him, but he was out of
+sight. "I tried to think of something to keep him till you came in,"
+explained the disappointed mother, "but I couldn't do it; he laid Susie
+down as quick as he could, and shot away as though he was afraid you
+would get hold of him."
+
+So Nettie, her face sad, prepared to go with Jerry and the Smiths down
+to evening meeting, and told Jerry on the way, that it did seem strange
+to her, so long as Susie had kept Norm busy all the afternoon, that
+they must let him slip away from them at last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE LITTLE PICTURE MAKERS.
+
+
+AFTER Susie Decker pitched out of the window that Sabbath afternoon
+she became such an object of importance that you would hardly have
+supposed anything else could have happened worth mentioning; but after
+the excitement was quite over, and Susie had been cuddled and petted
+and cared for more than it seemed to her she had ever been in her life
+before, Mr. Decker, finding nothing better to do, went out and sat down
+on the doorstep.
+
+Little Sate dried her eyes and slipped away very soon after she
+discovered that Susie could move, and speak, and was therefore not
+dead. She had wandered in search of entertainment to the yard just
+around the corner, where had come but a few days before, a small boy on
+a visit.
+
+This boy, Bobby by name, finding Sunday a hard day, had finally, after
+getting into all sorts of mischief within doors, been established by
+an indulgent auntie in the back yard, with her apron tied around his
+chubby neck, to protect his new suit, with a few pieces of charcoal,
+and permission to draw some nice Sunday pictures on the white boards of
+the house.
+
+This business interested Sate, and in spite of her shyness, drew her
+the other side of the high board fence which separated the neighbor's
+back yard from Mr. Decker's side one.
+
+Just as that gentleman took his seat on the doorstep, he heard the
+voices of the two children; first, Bobby's confident one, the words he
+used conveying all assurance of unlimited power at his command--
+
+"Now, what shall I make?"
+
+"Make," said Sate, her sweet face thrown upward in earnest thought,
+"make the angel who would have come for Susie if she had died just now."
+
+"How do you know any angel would have come for her?" asked sturdy Bobby.
+
+"Why, 'cause I _know_ there would. Miss Sherrill said so to-day; she
+told us about that little baby that died last night; she said an angel
+came after it and took it right straight up to heaven."
+
+"Maybe she don't know," said skeptical Bobby.
+
+Then did Sate's eyes flash.
+
+"I guess she does know, Bobby Burns, and you will be real mean, and bad
+if you say so any more. She knows all about heaven, and angels, and
+everything."
+
+"Does angels come after all folks that dies?"
+
+"I dunno; I guess so; no, I guess not. Only good folks."
+
+"Is Susie good?"
+
+"Sometimes she is," said truthful Sate, in slow, thoughtful tones, a
+touch of mournfulness in them that might have gone to Susie's heart had
+she heard and understood; "she gave me the biggest half of a cookie the
+other night. It was a _good deal_ the biggest; and she takes care of me
+most always; one day she took off her shoes and put them on me, because
+the stones and the rough ground hurt my feet. They hurt her feet too;
+they bleeded, oh! just awful, but she wouldn't let _me_ be hurt."
+
+"Why didn't you wear your own shoes?"
+
+"I didn't have any; mine all went to holes; just great big holes that
+wouldn't stay on; it was before my papa got good, and he didn't buy me
+any shoes at all."
+
+"Has your papa got good?"
+
+"Yes," said Sate confidently, "I guess he has. My sister Nettie thinks
+so; and Susie does too. He don't drink bad stuff any more. It was some
+kind of stuff he drank that made him cross; mamma said so; and the
+stuff made him feel so bad that he couldn't buy shoes, nor nothing;
+why, sometimes, before Nettie came home, we didn't have any bread! He
+isn't cross to-day, and he wasn't last night; and he bought me some new
+shoes--real pretty ones, and he kissed me. I love my papa when he is
+good. Do you love your papa when he is good?"
+
+"My papa is always good," said Bobby, with that air of immense
+superiority.
+
+"Is he?" asked Sate, wonder and admiration in her tone. Happy Bobby,
+to possess a father who was always good! "Doesn't he ever drink any of
+that bad stuff?"
+
+"I guess he doesn't!" said indignant Bobby. "You wouldn't catch him
+taking a drop of it for anything. If he was sick and was going to die
+if he didn't, he says he wouldn't take it. I know all about that; the
+name of it is whiskey, and things; it has lots of names, but that is
+one of them. My father is a temperance."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"It is a man who promises that he won't ever taste it nor touch it, nor
+nothing, forever and ever. And he won't."
+
+"Oh my!" said Sate. "Then of course you love him all the time. I mean
+to love my papa, all the time too. I'm most sure I can. What makes you
+make such a big angel? Susie isn't big; a little angel could carry her."
+
+"This angel isn't the one who was coming for Susie; it is the one who
+is going to come for my papa when he dies."
+
+"Oh! then will you make the one who will come for my papa? Make him
+very big and strong, for my papa is a strong man, and I don't want the
+angel to drop him."
+
+Mr. Decker arose suddenly and went round to the back part of the house,
+and cleared his throat, and coughed, two or three times, and rubbed the
+back of his hand across his eyes. Had he peeped through the fence and
+caught a glimpse of the angel whom Bobby made, he might not have been
+so strangely touched; but the words of his little girl seemed to choke
+him, and his eyes, just then, were too dim to see angels.
+
+He was very still all the rest of the afternoon. At the tea table he
+scarcely spoke, and afterwards, while Mrs. Decker and Nettie were
+mourning over Norm's escape, he too put on his coat, and went away down
+the street.
+
+Mrs. Decker came to the door when she discovered it, and looked after
+him. He was still in sight, but she did not dare to call. As she
+looked, she gathered up a corner of her apron and wiped her eyes.
+Presently she sat down on the step where he had been sitting so short
+a time before, leaned her elbows on her knees, and her cheeks on her
+hands, and thought sad thoughts.
+
+She felt very much discouraged. On this first Sunday, after the new
+room had been made, and new hopes excited, they had slipped away, both
+Norm and her husband, to lounge in the saloon as usual, and to come
+home, late at night, the worse for liquor. She knew all about it!
+Hadn't she been through it many times?
+
+The little gleam of hope which had started again, under Nettie and
+Jerry's encouraging words and ways, died quite out. Sitting there,
+Mrs. Decker made up her mind once more, that there was no kind of use
+in working, and struggling, and trying to be somebody. She was the
+wife of a drunkard; and the mother of a drunkard; Norm would be that,
+before long. And her little girls would grow up beggars. It was almost
+a pity that Susie had not been killed when she fell. Why should she
+want to live to be a drunkard's daughter, and a drunkard's sister? If
+the Heaven she used to hear about when she was a little girl, was all
+so, why should she not long for Susie and Sate to go there? Then if she
+could go away herself and leave all this misery!
+
+She had hurried with her dishes, she had hoped that when she was ready
+to sit down in the neat room with the new lamp burning brightly, he
+would sit with her as he used to do on Sunday evenings long ago. But
+here she was alone, as usual. More than once that big apron which she
+had not cared to take off after she found herself deserted, was made to
+do duty as a handkerchief and wipe away bitter tears.
+
+Meantime, Nettie sat in the pretty church and looked at the lovely
+flowers, and listened to the wonderful singing. Miss Sherrill sang the
+solo of something more beautiful than Nettie had ever even imagined.
+"Consider the lilies how they grow." What wonderful words were these to
+be sung while looking down at a great bank of lilies! It is possible
+that the singing may have been more beautiful to Nettie because her own
+fingers had arranged the lilies, but it was in itself enough for any
+reasonable mortal's ear, and as it rolled through the church, there
+was more than one listener who thought of the angels, and wondered if
+their voices could be sweeter. Nettie's small handkerchief went to her
+eyes several times during the anthem; she could not have told why she
+cried, but the music moved her strangely. Before the anthem was fairly
+concluded there was something else to take her attention. Mrs. Job
+Smith in whose seat she sat, gave her arm a vigorous poke with a sharp
+elbow, and whispered in a voice which seemed to Nettie must have been
+heard all over the church, "For the land's sake, if there ain't your pa
+sitting down there under the gallery!"
+
+As soon as she dared do so, Nettie turned her head for one swift look.
+Mrs. Smith _must_ be mistaken, but she would take one glance to assure
+herself. Certainly that was her father, sitting in almost the last
+seat, leaning his head against one of the pillars, the shabbiness of
+his coat showing plainly in the bright gaslight. But Nettie did not
+think of his coat. Her cheeks grew red, and her eyes filled again
+with tears. It was not the music, now; it was a strange thrill of
+satisfaction, and of hope. How pleasant she had thought it would be
+to go to church with her father. It was one of the things she had
+planned at Auntie Marshall's; how she would perhaps take her father's
+arm, being tall for her years, and Auntie Marshall said he was not
+a tall man, and walk to church by his side, and find the hymns for
+him, and receive his fatherly smile, and when she handed him his hat
+after service, perhaps he would say, "Thank you, my daughter," as she
+had heard Doctor Porter say to his little girl in the seat just ahead
+of theirs. Nettie's hungry little heart had wanted to hear that word
+applied to herself. Now all these sweet dreams of hers seemed to have
+been ages ago; actually it felt like years since she had hoped for such
+a thing, or dreamed of seeing her father in church, so swiftly had the
+reality crowded out her pretty dreams. Yet there he sat, listening to
+the reading.
+
+What Nettie would have done or thought had she known that Norm and
+two friends were at that moment seated in the gallery just over her
+father's head, I cannot say. On the whole, I am glad she did not know
+it until church was out. Especially I am glad she did not know that
+Norm giggled a good deal, and whispered more or less, and in various
+ways so annoyed the minister that he found it difficult to keep from
+speaking to the young men in the gallery. The fact is, he would have
+done so, had he not recognized in one of them his helper of the evening
+before, and resolved to bear his troubles patiently, in the hope that
+something good would grow out of this unusual appearance at church.
+
+It would perhaps be hard work to explain what had brought Norm to
+church. A fancy perhaps for seeing how the flowers looked by this
+time. A queer feeling that he was slightly connected with the church
+service for once in his life; a lingering desire to know whether in the
+hanging of that tallest wreath, he or the minister had been right; they
+had differed as to the distance from one arch to the other; from the
+gallery he was sure he could tell which had possessed the truer eye.
+All these motives pressed him a little. Then they were singing when
+he reached the door, and Rick had said, "Hallo! that voice sounds as
+though it lived up in the sky. Who is that, do you s'pose?"
+
+Then Norm proud of his knowledge in the matter, explained that she was
+the minister's sister, and they said she could mimic a bird so you
+couldn't tell which was which.
+
+"Poh!" Alf had said; he didn't believe a word of that; he should like
+to see a woman who could fool him into thinking that she was a bird!
+but he had added, "Let's go in and hear her." And as this was what Norm
+had been half intending to do ever since he started from the house, he
+agreed to do it at once. In they slipped and half-hid themselves behind
+the posts in the gallery, and behaved disreputably all the evening,
+more because they felt shamefaced about being there at all, and wanted
+to keep each other in countenance, than because they really desired to
+disturb the service. However, they heard a great deal.
+
+What do you think was the minister's text on that evening? "No drunkard
+shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." I shall have to tell you that
+when he caught sight of Mr. Decker half-hidden behind his post and
+recognized him as the man who was so fast growing into a drunkard, and
+as the man who had never been inside the church since he had been the
+pastor, he was sorry that his text and subject were what they were
+that evening. He told himself that it was very unfortunate. That if
+he had dreamed of such a thing as having that man for a listener, he
+would have told him the story of Jesus as simply and as earnestly as
+he could; and not have preached a sermon that would seem to the man
+as a fling at himself. However, there was no help for it now; he did
+not recognize Mr. Decker until he had announced his text, and fairly
+commenced his sermon.
+
+It was a sermon for young people; it was intended to warn them against
+the first beginnings of this great sin which shut heaven away from the
+sinner. He need not have been troubled about not telling the story of
+Jesus; there was a great deal about Jesus in the sermon, as well as a
+great deal about the heaven prepared for those who were willing to go.
+I do not know that anywhere in the church you could have found a more
+attentive listener than Mr. Decker. At least one who seemed to listen
+more earnestly; from the moment that the text was repeated until the
+great Bible was closed, he did not take his eyes from the minister's
+face. Yet some of his words he did not hear. Some of the time Mr.
+Decker was hearing a little voice, very sweet, saying: "Make a very
+big strong angel to come for my papa when he dies; my papa is a strong
+man and I don't want the angel to drop him." Poor papa! as he thought
+of it, he had to look straight before him and wink hard and fast to
+keep the tears from dropping; he had no handkerchief to wipe them away.
+Think of an angel coming for him! "I love my papa when he is good!" the
+sweet voice had said. Was he ever good? Then he listened awhile to the
+sermon; heard the vivid description of some of the possible glories
+and joys of Heaven. Would he be likely ever to go there? Little Sate
+thought so; she had planned for it that very afternoon. Dear little
+Sate who did not want the angel to drop him.
+
+Now it is possible that if the sermon had been about drunkards, Mr.
+Decker would have been vexed and would not have listened. He did not
+call himself a drunkard; it is a sad and at the same time a curious
+fact that he did not realize how nearly he had reached the point where
+the name would apply to him. That he drank beer, much, and often,
+and that he was growing more and more fond of it, and that it kept
+him miserably poor, was certainly true, and there were times when he
+realized it; but that he was ever going to be a common drunkard and
+roll in the gutter, and kick his wife, and seize his children by the
+hair, he did not for a moment believe. But the sermon was by no means
+addressed to people who were even so far on this road as he. It was
+addressed to boys, who were just beginning to like the taste of hard
+cider, and spruce beer, and hop bitters, and all those harmless (?)
+drinks which so many boys were using. It was a plain story of the
+rapid, certain, downward journey of those who began in these simple
+ways. It was illustrated by certain facts which Mr. Sherrill had
+personally known. And Mr. Decker, as he listened, owned to himself that
+he knew facts which would have proved the same truth.
+
+Then he gave a little start and shrank farther into the shadow of the
+pillar. The moment he admitted that, he also admitted that he was
+himself in danger. What nonsense that was! Couldn't he stop drinking
+the stuff whenever he liked? "There is a time," said the minister,
+"when this matter is in your own hands. You have no very great taste
+for the dangerous liquors, you are only using them because those with
+whom you associate do so. You could give them up without much effort;
+but I tell you, my friends, the time comes, and to many it comes very
+early in life, when they are like slaves bound hand and foot in a habit
+that they cannot break, and cannot control." Mr. Decker heard this,
+and something, what was it? pressed the thought home to him just then,
+that, if he did not belong to this last-mentioned class, neither did
+he to the former. He knew it would take a good deal of effort for him
+to give up his beer; of course it would; else he should not be such
+a fool as to keep himself and his family in poverty for the sake of
+indulging it. What if he were already a slave, bound hand and foot!
+What if the "stuff" which Sate said made him "cross" had already made
+him a drunkard! Perhaps the boys on the street called him so; though
+they rarely saw him stagger; his staggering was nearly always done
+under cover of the night. Still, now that he was dealing honestly with
+himself, he must own that it was less easy to go without his beer than
+it used to be. Since Nettie had come home he had drank less of it than
+usual, and by that very means he had discovered how much it meant to
+him. "No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven!" The minister's
+earnest voice repeated his text just then. Was he a drunkard? Then what
+about the strong angel? Little Sate was to be disappointed, after all!
+
+Oh! I am not going to try to tell you all the thoughts which passed
+through Joe Decker's mind that evening. I don't think he could tell you
+himself, though he remembers the evening vividly. He stood up, during
+the closing hymn, and waited until the benediction was pronounced,
+and then he slipped away, swiftly; Nettie tried to get to him, but
+she did not succeed, and she sorrowed over it. He stumbled along
+in the darkness, moving almost as unsteadily as though he had been
+drinking. The sky was thick with clouds, and he jostled against a lady
+and gentleman as he crossed the street; the lady shrank away. "Who is
+that?" he heard her ask; and the answer came to him distinctly: "Oh!
+it is old Joe Decker; he is drunk, I suppose. He generally is at this
+time of night."
+
+Yes, there it was! he was already counted on the streets as a drunkard.
+"No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." It was not the
+minister's voice this time; yet it seemed to the poor man's excited
+brain that some one repeated those words in his ears. Then he heard
+again the sweet soft voice: "Make him very big and strong, for I don't
+want the angel to drop him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE CONCERT.
+
+
+WITHIN the church wonderful things were going on. Jerry had caught
+sight of Norm as he slipped up the gallery stairs, and laid his plans
+accordingly. He whispered to Nettie during the singing of the closing
+hymn, thereby shocking her a little. Jerry did not often whisper in
+church.
+
+This was what he said: "Don't you need those lilies to help trim the
+room to-morrow night? Let's take them home."
+
+The moment the "amen" was spoken, he dashed out, and was at the stair
+door as Norm came down.
+
+"Norm," he said, "won't you help me carry home that tray? We want the
+flowers for something special to-morrow."
+
+Said Norm, "O bother! I can't help tote that heavy thing through the
+streets."
+
+"What's that?" asked Rick; and when the explanation was briefly made,
+he added the little word of advice which so often turns the scales.
+
+"Ho! that isn't much to do when you are going that very road. I'd do
+as much as that, any day, for the little chap who gave us such a tall
+row." This last was in undertone.
+
+"Well," said Norm, "I don't care; I'll help; but how are we going to
+get the things out here?"
+
+"Come inside," answered Jerry; "we can wait in the back seat. They will
+all be gone in a few minutes, then we can step up and get the salver."
+
+Once inside the church, the rest followed easily. Mr. Sherrill who had
+eyes for all that was going on, came forward swiftly and held a cordial
+hand to Norm.
+
+"Good-evening," he said; "I am glad to see you accepted my invitation.
+How did our work look by gaslight?"
+
+"It looked," said Norm, a roguish twinkle in his eye, "it looked
+just as I expected it would; crooked. That there arch at the left of
+the pulpit wants to be hung as much as two inches lower to match the
+other."
+
+"You don't say so!" said the minister, in good-humored surprise. "Does
+it appear so from the gallery? Are my eyes as crooked as that? Let us
+go up gallery and see if I can discover it."
+
+So to the gallery they went, Norm clearing the space with a few bounds,
+and taking a triumphant station where he could point out the defect to
+the minister.
+
+"That is true," Mr. Sherrill said, with hearty frankness. "You are
+right and I was wrong. If I had taken your word last night the wreaths
+would have looked better, wouldn't they? Well, perhaps wreaths are not
+the only things which show crooked when we get higher up and look down
+on them. Eh, my friend?"
+
+Norm laughed a good-humored, rather embarrassed laugh. It was
+remarkable that he should be up here holding a chatty, almost gay,
+conversation with the minister. There came over him the wish that
+he had behaved himself better during the service. That he had not
+whispered so much, nor nudged Rick's elbow to make him laugh, just
+at the moment that the minister's eye was fixed on them. He had a
+half-fancy that if the evening were to be lived over again, he would
+go down below and sit up straight and show this man that he could
+behave as well as anybody if he were a mind to.
+
+Not a word about the laughing and whispering said the minister. But he
+said a thing which startled Norm.
+
+"My sister has a fancy for having the church adorned with wreaths or
+strings of asters in contrasting colors for next Sabbath; will you make
+an appointment with me to help hang them on Saturday evening? I'll
+promise to follow your eye to the half-inch."
+
+Norm started, flushed, looked into the frank face and laughed a little,
+then seeing that the answer was waited for said: "Why, I don't care if
+I do, if you honestly want it."
+
+"I honestly want it," said the minister in great satisfaction. Then
+they went downstairs.
+
+Job Smith and his wife were gone.
+
+"I will wait for my brother," said Nettie, and her heart swelled with
+pride as she said it.
+
+How nice to have a brother to wait for, just as Miss Sherrill was
+doing. At that moment the "beautiful lady" as Sate and Susie called
+her, came to Nettie's side.
+
+"Good-evening," she said pleasantly. "I hope the little girls are
+well; I met your brother last night; he helped my brother to hang the
+flowers. I see they are upstairs together now, admiring their work. My
+brother said he was a very intelligent helper. You do not know how much
+I thank you for those flowers. They helped me to sing to-night."
+
+"I thought," said Nettie, raising her great truthful eyes to the lady's
+face and speaking with an earnestness that showed she felt what she
+said, "I thought you sang as though the angels were helping you. I
+don't think they can sing any sweeter."
+
+"Thank you," said Miss Sherrill; she smiled as she spoke, yet there
+were tears in her eyes; the honest, earnest tribute seemed very unlike
+a little girl, and very unlike the usual way of complimenting her
+wonderful voice. "I saw that you liked music," she said, "I noticed you
+while I was singing. Will you let me give you a couple of tickets for
+the concert to-morrow evening; and will you and your brother come to
+hear me sing? I am going to sing something that I think you will like."
+
+Nettie went home behind the lilies and the boys, her heart all in
+a flutter of delight. What a wonderful thing had come to her! The
+concert for which the best singers in town had been so long practising,
+and for which the tickets were fifty cents apiece, and which she had no
+more expected to attend than she had expected to hear the real angels
+sing that week, was to take place to-morrow evening, and she had two
+tickets in her pocket!
+
+Mrs. Decker was waiting for them, her nose pressed against the glass;
+she started forward to open the door for the boys, before Nettie could
+reach it. There was such a look of relief on her face when she saw Norm
+as ought to have gone to his very heart; but he did not see it; he was
+busy settling the salver in a safe place.
+
+"Has father come in?" Nettie asked, as she followed her mother to the
+back step, where she went for the dipper at Norm's call.
+
+"Yes, child, he has, and went straight to bed. He didn't say two words;
+but he wasn't cross; and he hadn't drank a drop, I believe."
+
+"Mother," said Nettie, standing on tiptoe to reach the tall woman's
+ear, and speaking in an awe-stricken whisper, "father was in church!"
+
+"For the land of pity!" said Mrs. Decker, speaking low and solemnly.
+
+And all through the next morning's meal, which was an unusually quiet
+one, she waited on her husband with a kind of respectful reverence,
+which if he had noticed, might have bewildered him. It seemed to her
+that the event of the evening before had lifted him into a higher world
+than hers, and that she could not tell now, what might happen.
+
+The event of the day was the concert; all other plans were set aside
+for that. At first Norm scoffed and declared that his ticket might be
+used to light the fire with, for all he cared; he didn't want to go
+to one of their "swell" concerts. But this talk Nettie laughed over
+good-naturedly, as though it were intended for a joke, and continued
+her planning as to when to have supper, and just when she and Norm must
+start.
+
+In the course of the day, that young man discovered it to be a fine
+thing to own tickets for this special concert. Before noon tickets were
+at a premium, and several of Norm's fellow-workmen gayly advised him to
+make an honest penny by selling his. During the early morning it had
+been delicately hinted by one young fellow that Norm Decker's tickets
+were made of tissue paper, which was his way of saying, that he did
+not believe that Norm had any; but, thanks to Nettie's thoughtful tact,
+the tickets were at that very moment reposing in her brother's pocket,
+and he drew them forth in triumph, wanting to know if anybody saw any
+tissue paper about those. Good stiff green pasteboard with the magic
+words on them which would admit two people to what was considered
+on all sides the finest entertainment of the sort the town had ever
+enjoyed.
+
+"Where did you get 'em, Norm? Come, tell us, that's a good fellow.
+You was never so green as to go and pay a dollar for two pieces of
+pasteboard."
+
+"They are complimentaries," said Norm, tossing off a shaving with a
+careless air, as though complimentary tickets to first-class concerts
+were every-day affairs with him.
+
+"Complimentary? My eyes, aren't we big!" (I am very sorry that the boys
+in Norm's shop used these slang phrases; but I want to say this for
+them: it was because they had never been taught better. Not one of them
+had mother or father who were grieved by such words; some of them were
+so truly good-hearted that I believe if such had been the case, they
+would never have used them again; and I wish the same might be said of
+all boys with cultured and careful mothers.)
+
+"How did you get 'em? Been selling tickets for the show, or piling
+chairs, or what?"
+
+"I haven't done a living thing for one of them," said Norm composedly;
+and Ben Halleck came to his rescue.
+
+"That's so, boys; or, at least if he had, it wouldn't done him no good.
+They don't pay for this show in any such way. The fellows that carried
+around bills were paid in money because they said they expected seats
+would be scarce; and they didn't sell no tickets around the streets.
+Them that wanted them had to go to the book-store and buy them. Oh, I
+tell you, it's a big thing. I wouldn't mind going myself if I could be
+complimented through. You see that Sherrill girl who lives at the new
+minister's is a most amazing singer, and they say everybody wants to
+hear her."
+
+By this time Norm's mind was fully made up that he would go to the
+concert. It is a pity Nettie could not have known it. For despite
+the cheerful courage with which she received Norm's disagreeable
+statements in the morning, she was secretly very much afraid that he
+would not go. This would have been a great trial to her, for her little
+soul was as full of music as possible; and the thought of hearing that
+wonderful voice so soon again filled her with delight; but she was a
+timid little girl so far as appearing among strangers was concerned,
+and the idea of going alone to a concert was not to be thought of. Her
+mother proposed Jerry for company, but he had gone with Job Smith into
+the country and was not likely to return until too late. So Nettie made
+her little preparations with a troubled heart. There was something more
+to it than simply hearing fine music; it would be so like other girls
+whom she knew, so like the dreams of home she had indulged in while at
+Auntie Marshall's--this going out in the evening attended and cared for
+by her brother.
+
+Norm ate his dinner in haste, and was silent and almost gruff; nobody
+knows why. I have often wondered why even well brought up boys, seem
+sometimes to like to appear more disagreeable than at heart they are.
+
+But by six o'clock the much-thought-about brother appeared, his face
+pleasant enough.
+
+"Well, Nannie," he said, "got your fusses and fixings all ready?"
+
+And Nettie with beating heart and laughing eyes assured him that she
+would be all ready in good time, and that she had laid his clean shirt
+on his bed, and a clean handkerchief, and brushed his coat.
+
+"Yes; and she ironed your shirt with her own hands," explained his
+mother, "and the bosom shines like a glass bottle."
+
+"O bother!" said Norm. "I don't want a clean shirt."
+
+But he went to his attic directly after supper and put on the shirt,
+and combed his hair, and rubbed his boots with Jerry's brush which he
+went around the back way and borrowed of Mrs. Job Smith before he came
+in to supper.
+
+He had noticed how very neat and pretty Nettie looked as she walked
+down the church isle beside him the night before; and he had also
+noticed Jerry's shining boots.
+
+His mother noticed his the moment he came down stairs. "How nice you
+two do look!" she said admiringly; and then the two walked away well
+pleased. It was a wonderful concert. Norm had not known that he was
+particularly fond of music, but he owned to Rick the next day, that
+there was something in that Sherrill girl's voice which almost lifted a
+fellow out of his boots.
+
+They had excellent seats! Nettie learned to her intense surprise that
+their tickets called for reserved seats. She had studied over certain
+mysterious numbers on the tickets, but had not understood them. It
+appeared also that the usher was surprised.
+
+"Can't give you any seats," was his greeting as they presented their
+tickets. "Everything is full now except the reserves; you'll have to
+stand in the aisle; there's a good place under the gallery. Halloo!
+What's this? Reserved! Why, bless us, I didn't see these numbers. Come
+down this way; you have as nice seats as there are in the hall."
+
+It was all delightful. Lorena Barstow and two others of the
+Sabbath-school class were a few seats behind them; Nettie could
+hear them whispering and giggling, and for a few minutes she had an
+uncomfortable feeling that they were laughing at her; as I am sorry to
+say they were.
+
+But neither this nor anything else troubled her long, for Norm's
+unusual toilet having taken much longer than was planned for, they were
+really among the late comers; and in a very little while the music
+began. Oh! how wonderful it was. Neither Nettie nor Norm had ever heard
+really fine concert music before, and even Norm who did not know that
+he cared for music, felt his nerves thrill to his fingers' ends. Then,
+when after the first two or three pieces Miss Sherrill appeared, she
+was so beautiful and her voice was so wonderful that Nettie, try as
+hard as she did, could not keep the tears from her foolish happy eyes.
+I will not venture to say how much the beautiful silk dress with its
+long train, and the mass of soft white lace at her throat had to do
+with Miss Sherrill's loveliness, though I daresay if she had appeared
+in a twelve-cent gingham like Nettie's, she might have sang just as
+sweetly. Norm, however, did not believe that.
+
+"Half of it is the fuss and feathers," he declared to Rick, next day,
+looking wise. And Rick made a wise answer.
+
+"Well, when you add the handsome voice to the fuss and feathers, I
+s'pose they help, but I don't believe folks would go and rave so much
+just over a blue silk dress, and some gloves, and things. They all had
+to match, you see." So Rick, without knowing it, became a philosopher.
+
+As for Nettie, she told her mother that the dress was just lovely, and
+her voice was as sweet as any angel's could possibly be; but there was
+a look in her eyes which was better than all the rest; and that when
+she sang, "Oh that I had wings, had wings like a dove!" she, Nettie,
+could not help feeling that they were hidden about her somewhere, and
+that before the song was over, she might unfold them and soar away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A WILL AND A WAY.
+
+
+"THE next thing we want to do is to earn some money."
+
+This, Jerry said, as he sat on the side step with Nettie, after sunset.
+They had been having a long talk, planning the campaign against the
+enemy, which they had made up their minds should be carried on with
+vigor. At least, they had been trying to plan; but that obstacle which
+seems to delight to step into the midst of so many plans and overturn
+them, viz. money, met them at every point. So when Jerry made that
+emphatic announcement, Nettie was prepared to agree with him fully; but
+none the less did she turn anxious eyes on him as she said:
+
+"How can we?"
+
+"I don't know yet," Jerry said, whistling a few bars of
+
+    Oh, do not be discouraged,
+
+and stopping in the middle of the line to answer, "But of course there
+is a way. There was an old man who worked for my father, who used to
+say so often: 'Where there's a will there's a way,' that after awhile
+we boys got to calling him 'Will and Way' for short, you know; his name
+was John," and here Jerry stopped to laugh a little over that method
+of shortening a name; "but it was wonderful to see how true it proved;
+he would make out to do the most surprising things that even my father
+thought sometimes could not be done. We must _make_ a way to earn some
+money."
+
+Nettie laughed a little. "Well, I am sure," she said, "there is a will
+in this case; in fact, there are two wills; for you seem to have a
+large one, and I know if ever I was determined to do a thing I am now;
+but for all that I can't think of a possible way to earn a cent."
+
+Now Sarah Ann Smith was at this moment standing by the kitchen window,
+looking out on the two schemers. Her sleeves were rolled above her
+elbow, for she was about to set the sponge for bread; she had her large
+neat work apron tied over her neat dress-up calico; and on her head was
+perched the frame out of which, with Nettie's skilful help, and some
+pieces of lace from her mother's old treasure bag, she meant to make
+herself a bonnet every bit as pretty as the one worn by Miss Sherrill
+the Sabbath before.
+
+"Talk of keeping things seven years and they'll come good," said
+Mrs. Smith, watching with satisfaction while Nettie tumbled over the
+contents of the bag in eager haste and exclaimed over this and that
+piece which would be "just lovely." "I've kept the rubbish in that bag
+going on to twenty years, just because the pretty girls where I used
+to do clear-starching, gave them to me. I had no kind of notion what
+I should ever do with them; but they looked bright and pretty, and I
+always was a master hand for bright colors, and so whenever they would
+hand out a bit of ribbon or lace, and say, 'Cerinthy, do you want
+that?' I was sure to say I did; and chuck it into this bag; and now to
+think after keeping of them for more than twenty years, my girl should
+be planning to make a bonnet out of them! Things is queer! I don't ever
+mean to throw away _anything_. I never was much at throwing away; now
+that's a fact."
+
+Now the truth was that Sarah Ann, left to herself, would as soon
+have thought of making a _house_ out of the contents of that bag, as
+a bonnet; but Nettie Decker's deft fingers had a natural tact for
+all cunning contrivances in lace and silk, and her skill in copying
+what she saw, was something before which Sarah Ann stood in silent
+admiration; when, therefore, she offered to construct for Sarah Ann,
+out of the treasures of that bag, a bonnet which should be both
+becoming and economical, Sarah Ann's gratitude knew no bounds. She went
+that very afternoon to the milliner's to select her frame, and had it
+perched at that moment as I said, on her head, while she listened to
+the clear young voices under the window. She had a great desire to be
+helpful; but money was far from plenty at Job Smith's.
+
+What was it which made her at that moment think of a bit of news which
+she had heard while at the milliner's? Why, nothing more remarkable
+than that the color of Nettie Decker's hair in the fading light was
+just the same as Mantie Horton's. But what made her suddenly speak her
+bit of news, interrupting the young planners? Ah, that Sarah Ann does
+not know; she only knows she felt just like saying it, so she said it.
+
+"Mantie Horton's folks are all going to move to the city; they are
+selling off lots of things; I saw her this afternoon when I was at the
+milliner's, and she says about the only thing now that they don't know
+what to do with is her old hen and chickens; a nice lot of chicks as
+ever she saw, but of course they can't take them to the city. My! I
+should think they would feel dreadful lonesome without chickens, nor
+pigs, nor nothing! _We_ might have some chickens as well as not, if
+we only had a place to keep 'em; enough scrapings come from the table
+every day, to feed 'em, most."
+
+Before this sentence was concluded, Jerry had turned and given Nettie
+a sudden look as if to ask if she saw what he did; then he whistled a
+low strain which had in it a note of triumph; and the moment Sarah Ann
+paused for breath he asked: "Where do the Hortons live?"
+
+"Why, out on the pike about a mile; that nice white house set back from
+the road a piece; don't you know? It is just a pleasant walk out there."
+
+Then Sarah Ann turned away to attend to her bread, and as she did so
+her somewhat homely face was lighted by a smile; for an idea had just
+dawned upon her, and she chuckled over it: "I shouldn't wonder if those
+young things would go into business; he's got contrivance enough to
+make a coop, any day, and mother would let them have the scrapings, and
+welcome."
+
+Sarah Ann was right; though Nettie, unused to country ways and plans,
+did not think of such a thing, Jerry did. The next morning he was up,
+even before the sun; in fact that luminary peeped at him just as he was
+turning into the long carriage drive which led finally to the Horton
+barnyard. There a beautiful sight met his eyes; a white and yellow
+topknot mother, and eight or ten fluffy chickens scampering about her.
+"They are nice and plump," said Jerry to himself; "I'm afraid I haven't
+money enough to buy them; but then, there is a great deal of risk in
+raising a brood of chickens like these; perhaps he will sell them
+cheap."
+
+Farmer Horton was an early riser, and was busy about his stables when
+Jerry reached there. He was anxious to get rid of all his live stock,
+and be away as soon as possible, and here was a customer anxious to
+buy; so in much less time than Jerry had supposed it would take, the
+hen and chickens changed owners and much whistling was done by the new
+owner as he walked rapidly back to town to build a house for his family.
+
+Mrs. Smith had been taken into confidence; so indeed had Job, before
+the purchase was made; but the whole thing was to be a profound
+surprise to Nettie. Therefore, she saw little of him that day, and I
+will not deny was a trifle hurt because he kept himself so busy about
+something which he did not share with her. But I want you to imagine,
+if you can, her surprise the next morning when just as she was ready to
+set the potatoes to frying, she heard Jerry's eager voice calling her
+to come and see his house.
+
+"See what?" asked Nettie, appearing in the doorway, coffee pot in hand.
+
+"A new house. I built it yesterday, and rented it; the family moved in
+last night. That is the reason I was so busy. I had to go out and help
+move them; and I must say they were as ill-behaved a set as I ever had
+anything to do with. The mother is the crossest party I ever saw; and
+she has no government whatever; her children scurry around just where
+they please."
+
+"What are you talking about?" said astonished Nettie, her face growing
+more and more bewildered as he continued his merry description.
+
+"Come out and see. It is a new house, I tell you; I built it yesterday;
+that is the reason I did not come to help you about the bonnet. Didn't
+you miss me? Sarah Ann thinks it is actually nicer than the one Miss
+Sherrill wore." And he broke into a merry laugh, checking himself to
+urge Nettie once more to come out and see his treasures.
+
+"Well," said Nettie, "wait until I cover the potatoes, and set the
+teakettle off." This done she went in haste and eagerness to discover
+what was taking place behind Job Smith's barn. A hen and chickens!
+Beautiful little yellow darlings, racing about as though they were
+crazy; and a speckled mother clucking after them in a dignified way,
+pretending to have authority over them, when one could see at a glance
+that they did exactly as they pleased.
+
+Then came a storm of questions. "Where? and When? and Why?"
+
+"It is a stock company concern," exclaimed Jerry, his merry eyes
+dancing with pleasure. Nettie was fully as astonished and pleased as
+he had hoped. "Don't you know I told you yesterday we must plan a way
+to earn money? This is one way, planned for us. _We_ own Mrs. Biddy;
+every feather on her knot, of which she is so proud, belongs to us, and
+she must not only earn her own living and that of her children, but
+bring us in a nice profit besides. Those are plump little fellows; I
+can imagine them making lovely pot pies for some one who is willing to
+pay a good price for them. Cannot you?"
+
+"Poor little chickens," said Nettie in such a mournful tone that Jerry
+went off into shouts of laughter. He was a humane boy, but he could not
+help thinking it very funny that anybody should sigh over the thought
+of a chicken pot pie.
+
+"Oh, I know they are to eat," Nettie said, smiling in answer to his
+laughter, "and I know how to make nice crust for pot pie; but for
+all that, I cannot help feeling sort of sorry for the pretty fluffy
+chickens. Are you going to fat them all, to eat; or raise some of them
+to lay eggs?"
+
+"I don't know what _we_ are going to do, yet," Jerry said with pointed
+emphasis on the we. "You see, we have not had time to consult; this is
+a company concern, I told you. What do you think about it?"
+
+Nettie's cheeks began to grow a deep pink; she looked down at the
+hurrying chickens with a grave face for a moment, then said gently:
+"You know, Jerry, I haven't any money to help buy the chickens, and I
+cannot help own what I do not help buy; they are your chickens, but I
+shall like to watch them and help you plan about them."
+
+Jerry sat down on an old nail keg, crossed one foot over the other, and
+clasped his hands over his knees, as Job Smith was fond of doing, and
+prepared for argument:
+
+"Now, see here, Nettie Decker, let us understand each other once for
+all; I thought we had gone into partnership in this whole business;
+that we were to fight that old fiend Rum, in every possible way we
+could; and were to help each other plan, and work all the time, and in
+all ways we possibly could. Now if you are tired of me and want to work
+alone, why, I mustn't force myself upon you."
+
+"O, Jerry!" came in a reproachful murmur from Nettie, whose cheeks were
+now flaming.
+
+"Well, what is a fellow to do? You see you hurt my feelings worse
+than old Mother Topknot did this morning when she pecked me; I want to
+belong, and I mean to; but all that kind of talk about helping to buy
+these half-dozen little puff-balls is all nonsense, and a girl of your
+sense ought to be ashamed of it."
+
+Said Nettie, "O, Jerry, I smell the potatoes; they are scorching!" and
+she ran away. Jerry looked after her a moment, as though astonished at
+the sudden change of subject, then laughed, and rising slowly from the
+nail-keg addressed himself to the hen.
+
+"Now, Mother Topknot, I want you to understand that you belong to the
+firm; that little woman who was just here is your mistress, and if you
+peck her and scratch her as you did me, this morning, it will be the
+worse for you. You are just like some people I have seen; haven't sense
+enough to know who is your best friend; why, there is no end to the
+nice little bits she will contrive for you and your children, if you
+behave yourself; for that matter, I suspect she would do it whether you
+behaved yourself or not; but that part it is quite as well you should
+not understand. I want you to bring these children up to take care of
+themselves, just as soon as you can; and then you are to give your
+attention to laying a nice fresh egg every morning; and the sooner you
+begin, the better we shall like it." Then he went in to breakfast.
+
+There was no need to say anything more about the partnership.
+Nettie seemed to come to the conclusion that she must be ashamed of
+herself or her pride in the matter; and after a very short time grew
+accustomed to hearing Jerry talk about "Our chicks," and dropped into
+the fashion of caring for and planning about them. None the less was
+she resolved to find some way of earning a little money for her share
+of the stock company. Curiously enough it was Susie and little Sate
+who helped again. They came in one morning, with their hands full of
+the lovely field daisies. The moment Nettie looked at the two little
+faces, she knew that a dispute of some sort was in progress. Susie's
+lips were curved with that air of superior wisdom, not to say scorn,
+which she knew how to assume; and little Sate's eyes were full of the
+half-grieved but wholly positive look which they could wear on occasion.
+
+"What is it?" Nettie asked, stopping on her way to the cellar with
+a nice little pat of batter which she was saving for her father's
+supper. Butter was a luxury which she had decided the children at
+least, herself included, must not expect every day.
+
+"Why," said Susie, her eyes flashing her contempt of the whole thing,
+"she says these are folks; old women with caps, and eyes, and noses,
+and everything; she says they look at her, and some of them are
+pleasant, and some are cross. She is too silly for anything. They
+don't look the least bit in the word like old women. I told her so,
+fifty-eleven times, and she keeps saying it!"
+
+Nettie held out her hand for the bunch of daisies, looked at them
+carefully, and laughed.
+
+"Can't you see them?" was little Sate's eager question. "They are just
+as plain! Don't you see them a little bit of a speck, Nannie?"
+
+"Of course she doesn't!" said scornful Susie. "Nobody but a silly baby
+like you would think of such a thing."
+
+"I don't know," said Nettie, still smiling, "I don't think I see them
+as plain as Sate does, but maybe we can, after awhile; wait till I get
+my butter put away, and I'll put on my spectacles and see what I can
+find."
+
+So the two waited, Susie incredulous and disgusted, Sate with a hopeful
+light in her eyes, which made Nettie very anxious to find the old
+ladies. On her way up stairs she felt in her pocket for the pencil
+Jerry had sharpened with such care the evening before; yes, it was
+there, and the point was safe. Jerry had made a neat little tube of
+soft wood for it to slip into, and so protect itself.
+
+"Now, let us look for the old lady," she said, taking a daisy in hand
+and retiring to the closet window for inspection; it was the work of
+a moment for her fingers which often ached for such work, to fashion
+a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth; and then to turn down the white
+petals for a cap border, leaving two under the chin for strings!
+
+"Does your old lady look anything like that?" she questioned, as she
+came out from her hiding place. Little Sate looked, and clasped her
+hands in an ecstacy of delight: "Look, Susie, look, quick! there she
+is, just as plain! O Nannie! I'm _so_ glad you found her."
+
+"Humph!" said Susie, "she made her with a pencil; she wasn't there at
+all; and there couldn't nobody have found her. So!"
+
+And to this day, I suppose it would not be possible to make Susie
+Decker believe that the spirits of beautiful old ladies hid in the
+daisies! Some people cannot see things, you know, show them as much as
+you may.
+
+But Nettie was charmed with the little old woman. She left the potatoes
+waiting to be washed, and sat down on the steps with eager little
+Sate, and made old lady after old lady. Some with spectacles, and some
+without. Some with smooth hair drawn quietly back from quiet foreheads,
+some with the old-fashioned puffs and curls which she had seen in old,
+old pictures of "truly" grandmothers. What fun they had! The potatoes
+came near being forgotten entirely. It was the faithful old clock in
+Mrs. Smith's kitchen which finally clanged out the hour and made Nettie
+rise in haste, scattering old ladies right and left. But little Sate
+gathered them, every one, holding them with as careful hand as though
+she feared a rough touch would really hurt their feelings, and went out
+to hunt Susie and soothe her ruffled dignity. She did not find Susie;
+that young woman was helping Jerry nail laths on the chicken coop;
+but she found her sweet-faced Sabbath-school teacher, who was sure
+to stop and kiss the child, whenever she passed. To her, Sate at once
+showed the sweet old women. "Nannie found them," she explained; "Susie
+could not see them at all, and she kept saying they were not there; but
+Nannie said she would make them look plainer so Susie could see, and
+now Susie thinks she made them out of a pencil; but they were there,
+before, I saw them."
+
+"Oh, you quaint little darling!" said Miss Sherrill, kissing her again.
+"And so your sister Nettie made them plainer for you. I must say she
+has done it with a skilful hand. Sate dear, would you give one little
+old woman to me? Just one; this dear old face with puffs, I want her
+very much."
+
+So Sate gazed at her with wistful, tender eyes, kissed her tenderly,
+and let Miss Sherrill carry her away.
+
+She carried her straight to the minister's study, and laid her on the
+open page of a great black commentary which he was studying. "Did
+you ever see anything so cunning? That little darling of a Sate says
+Nannie 'found' her; she doesn't seem to think it was made, but simply
+developed, you know, so that commoner eyes than hers could see it;
+that child was born for a poet, or an artist, I don't know which.
+Tremayne, I'm going to take this down to the flower committee, and get
+them to invite Nettie to make some bouquets of dear old grandmothers,
+and let little Sate come to the flower party and sell them. Won't that
+be lovely? Every gentleman there will want a bouquet of the nice old
+ladies in caps, and spectacles; we will make it the fashion; then they
+will sell beautifully, and the little merchant shall go shares on the
+proceeds, for the sake of her artist sister."
+
+"It is a good idea," said the minister. "I infer from what that
+handsome boy Jerry has told me, that they have some scheme on hand
+which requires money. I am very much interested in those young people,
+my dear. I wish you would keep a watch on them, and lend a helping hand
+when you can."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+AN ORDEAL.
+
+
+THAT was the way it came about that little Sate not only, but Susie and
+Nettie, went to the flower party.
+
+They had not expected to do any such thing. The little girls, who were
+not used to going any where, had paid no attention to the announcements
+on Sunday, and Nettie had heard as one with whom such things had
+nothing in common. Her treatment in the Sabbath-school was not such as
+to make her long for the companionship of the girls of her age, and by
+this time she knew that her dress at the flower party would be sure
+to command more attention than was pleasant; so she had planned as a
+matter of course to stay away.
+
+But the little old ladies in their caps and spectacles springing
+into active life, put a new face on the matter. Certainly no more
+astonished young person can be imagined than Nettie Decker was, the
+morning Miss Sherrill called on her, the one daisy she had begged still
+carefully preserved, and proposed her plan of partnership in the flower
+party.
+
+"It will add ever so much to the fun," she explained, "besides bringing
+you a nice little sum for your spending money."
+
+Did Miss Sherrill have any idea how far that argument would reach just
+now, Nettie wondered.
+
+"We can dress the little girls in daisies," continued their teacher.
+"Little Sate will look like a flower herself, with daisies wreathed
+about her dress and hair."
+
+"Little Sate will be afraid, I think," Nettie objected. "She is very
+timid, and not used to seeing many people."
+
+"But with Susie she will not mind, will she? Susie has assurance enough
+to take her through anything. Oh, I wonder if little Sate would not
+recite a verse about the daisy grandmothers? I have such a cunning one
+for her. May I teach her, Mrs. Decker, and see if I can get her to
+learn it?"
+
+Mrs. Decker's consent was very easy to gain; indeed it had been freely
+given in Mrs. Decker's heart before it was asked. For Miss Sherrill
+had not been in the room five minutes before she had said: "Your son,
+Norman, I believe his name is, has promised to help my brother with
+the church flowers this evening. My brother says he is an excellent
+helper; his eye is so true; they had quite a laugh together, last week.
+It seems one of the wreaths was not hung plumb; your son and my brother
+had an argument about it, and it was finally left as my brother had
+placed it, but was out of line several inches. He was obliged to admit
+that if he had followed Norman's direction it would have looked much
+better." After that, it would have been hard for Miss Sherrill to have
+asked a favor which Mrs. Decker would not grant if she could. _She_ saw
+through it all; these people were in league with Nettie, to try to save
+her boy. What wasn't she ready to do at their bidding!
+
+There was but one thing about which she was positive. The little girls
+could not go without Nettie; they talked it over in the evening, after
+Miss Sherrill was gone. Nettie looked distressed. She liked to please
+Miss Sherrill; she was willing to make many grandmothers; she would
+help to put the little girls in as dainty attire as possible, but she
+did _not_ want to go to the flower festival. She planned various ways;
+Jerry would take them down, or Norm; perhaps even _he_ would go with
+them; surely mother would be willing to have them go with Norm. Miss
+Sherrill would look after them carefully, and they would come home at
+eight o'clock; before they began to grow very sleepy.
+
+But no, Mrs. Decker was resolved; she could not let them go unless
+Nettie would go with them and bring them home. "I let one child run the
+streets," she said with a heavy sigh, "and I have lived to most wish he
+had died when he was a baby, before I did it; and I said then I would
+never let another one go out of my sight as long as I had control; I
+can't go; but I would just as soon they would be with you as with me;
+and unless you go, they can't stir a step, and that's the whole of it."
+Mrs. Decker was a very determined woman when she set out to be; and
+Nettie looked the picture of dismay. It did not seem possible to her to
+go to a flower party; and on the other hand it seemed really dreadful
+to thwart Miss Sherrill. Jerry sat listening, saying little, but the
+word he put in now and then, was on Mrs. Decker's side; he owned to
+himself that he never so entirely approved of her as at that moment. He
+wanted Nettie to go to the flower party.
+
+"But I have nothing to wear?" said Nettie, blushing, and almost weeping.
+
+"Nothing to wear!" repeated Mrs. Decker in honest astonishment. "Why,
+what do you wear on Sundays, I should like to know? I'm sure you
+look as neat and nice as any girl I ever saw, in your gingham. I was
+watching you last Sunday and thinking how pretty it was."
+
+"Yes; but, mother, they all wear white at such places; and I cut up my
+white dress, you know, for the little girls; it was rather short for me
+anyway; but I should feel queer in any other color."
+
+"O, well," said Mrs. Decker in some irritation, "if they go to such
+places to show their clothes, why, I suppose you must stay at home, if
+you have none that you want to show. I thought, being it was a church,
+it didn't matter, so you were neat and clean; but churches are like
+everything else, it seems, places for show."
+
+Jerry looked grave disapproval at Nettie, but she felt injured and
+could have cried. Was it fair to accuse her of going to church to show
+her clothes, or of being over-particular, when she went every Sunday in
+a blue and white gingham such as no other girl in her class would wear
+even to school? This was not church, it was a party. It was hard that
+she must be blamed for pride, when she was only too glad to stay at
+home from it.
+
+"I can't go in my blue dress, and that is the whole of it," she said at
+last, a good deal of decision in her voice.
+
+"Very well," said Mrs Decker. "Then we'll say no more about it; as for
+the little girls going without you, they sha'n't do it. When I set my
+foot down, it's _down_."
+
+Jerry instinctively looked down at her foot as she spoke. It was
+a good-sized one, and looked as though it could set firmly on any
+question on which it was put. His heart began to fail him; the flower
+party and certain things which he hoped to accomplish thereby, were
+fading. He took refuge with Mrs. Smith to hide his disappointment, and
+also to learn wisdom about this matter of dress.
+
+"Do clothes make such a very great difference to girls?" was his first
+question.
+
+"Difference?" said Mrs. Smith rubbing a little more flour on her hands,
+and plunging them again into the sticky mass she was kneading.
+
+"Yes'm. They seem to think of clothes the first thing, when there is
+any place to go to; boys aren't that way. I don't believe a boy knows
+whether his coat ought to be brown or green. What makes the difference?"
+
+Mrs. Smith laughed a little. "Well," she said reflectively, "there is a
+difference, now that's a fact. I noticed it time and again when I was
+living with Mrs. Jennison. Dick would go off with whatever he happened
+to have on; and Florence was always in a flutter as to whether she
+looked as well as the rest. I've heard folks say that it is the fault
+of the mothers, because they make such a fuss over the girls' clothes,
+and keep rigging them up in something bright, just to make 'em look
+pretty, till they succeed in making them think there isn't anything
+quite so important in life as what they wear on their backs. It's all
+wrong, I believe. But then, Nettie ain't one of that kind. She hasn't
+had any mother to perk her up and make her vain. I shouldn't think she
+would be one to care about clothes much."
+
+"She doesn't," said Jerry firmly. "I don't think she would care if
+other folks didn't. The girls in her class act hatefully to her; they
+don't speak, if they can help it. I suppose it's clothes; I don't know
+what else; they are always rigged out like hollyhocks or tulips; they
+make fun of her, I guess; and that isn't very pleasant."
+
+"Is that the reason she won't go to the flower show next week?"
+
+"Yes'm, that's the reason. All the girls are going to dress in white;
+I suppose she thinks she will look queerly, and be talked about. But
+I don't understand it. Seems to me if all the boys were going to wear
+blue coats, and I knew it, I'd just as soon wear my gray one if gray
+was respectable."
+
+"She ought to have a white dress, now that's a fact," said Mrs. Smith
+with energy, patting her brown loaf, and tucking it down into the tin
+in a skilful way. "It isn't much for a girl like her to want; if her
+father was the kind of man he ought to be, she might have a white dress
+for best, as well as not; I've no patience with him."
+
+"Her father hasn't drank a drop this week," said Jerry.
+
+"Hasn't; well, I'm glad of it; but I'm thinking of what he has done,
+and what he will go and do, as likely as not, next week; they might be
+as forehanded as any folks I know of, if he was what he ought to be;
+there isn't a better workman in the town. Well, you don't care much
+about the flower party, I suppose?"
+
+"I don't now," said Jerry, wearily. "When I thought the little girls
+were going, I had a plan. Sate is such a little thing, she would be
+sure to be half-asleep by eight o'clock; and I was going to coax Norm
+to come for her, and we carry her home between us. Norm won't go to a
+flower party, out and out; but he is good-natured, and was beginning
+to think a great deal of Sate; then I thought Mr. Sherrill would speak
+to him. The more we can get Norm to feeling he belongs in such places,
+the less he will feel like belonging to the corner groceries, and the
+streets."
+
+"I see," said Mrs. Smith admiringly. "Well, I do say I didn't think
+Nettie was the kind of girl to put a white dress between her chances of
+helping folks. Sarah Ann thinks she's a real true Christian; but Satan
+does seem to be into the clothes business from beginning to end."
+
+"I don't suppose it is any easier for a Christian to be laughed at and
+slighted, than it is for other people," said Jerry, inclined to resent
+the idea that Nettie was not showing the right spirit; although in his
+heart he was disappointed in her for caring so much about the color of
+her dress.
+
+"Well, I don't know about that," said Mrs. Smith, stopping in the act
+of tucking her bread under the blankets, to look full at Jerry, "why,
+they even made fun of the Lord Jesus Christ; dressed him up in purple,
+like a king, and mocked at him! When it comes to remembering that, it
+would seem as if any common Christian might be almost glad of a chance
+to be made fun of, just to stand in the same lot with him."
+
+This was a new thought to Jerry. He studied it for awhile in silence.
+Now it so happened that neither Mrs. Smith nor Jerry remembered certain
+facts; one was that Mrs. Smith's kitchen window was in a line with
+Mrs. Decker's bedroom window, where Nettie had gone to sit while she
+mended Norm's shirt; the other was that a gentle breeze was blowing,
+which brought their words distinctly to Nettie's ears. At first she had
+not noticed the talk, busy with her own thoughts, then she heard her
+name, and paused needle in hand, to wonder what was being said about
+her. Then, coming to her senses, she determined to leave the room; but
+her mother, for convenience, had pushed her ironing table against the
+bedroom door, and then had gone to the yard in search of chips; Nettie
+was a prisoner; she tried to push the table by pushing against the
+door, but the floor was uneven, and the table would not move; meantime
+the conversation going on across the alleyway, came distinctly to her.
+No use to cough, they were too much interested to hear her. By and by
+she grew so interested as to forget that the words were not intended
+for her to hear. There were more questions involved in this matter of
+dress than she had thought about. Her cheeks began to burn a little
+with the thought that her neighbor had been planning help for Norm,
+which she was blocking because she had no white dress! This was an
+astonishment! She had not known she was proud. In fact, she had thought
+herself very humble, and worthy of commendation because she went
+Sabbath after Sabbath to the school in the same blue and white dress,
+not so fresh now by a great deal as when she first came home.
+
+When Mrs. Smith reached the sentence which told of the Lord Jesus being
+robed in purple, and crowned with thorns, and mocked, two great tears
+fell on Norm's shirt sleeve.
+
+It was a very gentle little girl who moved about the kitchen getting
+early tea; Mrs. Decker glanced at her from time to time in a bewildered
+way. The sort of girl with whom she was best acquainted would have
+slammed things about a little; both because she had not clothes to wear
+like other children, and because she had been blamed for not wanting to
+do what was expected of her. But Nettie's face had no trace of anger,
+her movements were gentleness itself; her voice when she spoke was low
+and sweet: "Mother, I will take the little girls, if you will let them
+go."
+
+Mrs. Decker drew a relieved sigh. "I'd like them to go because _she_
+asked to have them; and I can see plain enough she is trying to get
+hold of Norm; so is _he_; that's what helping with the flowers means;
+and there ain't anything I ain't willing to do to help, only I couldn't
+let the little girls go without you; they'd be scared to death, and it
+wouldn't look right. I'm sorry enough you ain't got suitable clothes;
+if I could help it, you should have as good as the best of them."
+
+"Never mind," said Nettie, "I don't think I care anything about the
+dress now." She was thinking of that crown of thorns. So when Miss
+Sherrill called the way was plain and little Sate ready to be taught
+anything she would teach her.
+
+They went away down to the pond under the clump of trees which formed
+such a pretty shade; and there Sate's slow sweet voice said over
+the lines as they were told to her, putting in many questions which
+the words suggested. "He makes the flowers blow," she repeated with
+thoughtful face, then: "What did He make them for?"
+
+"I think it was because He loved them; and He likes to give you and me
+sweet and pleasant things to look at."
+
+"Does He love flowers?"
+
+"I think so, darling."
+
+"And birds? See the birds!" For at that moment two beauties standing on
+the edge of their nest, looked down into the clear water, and seeing
+themselves reflected in its smoothness began to talk in low sweet
+chirps to their shadows.
+
+"Oh, yes, He loves the birds, I am sure; think how many different kinds
+He has made, and how beautiful they are. Then He has given them sweet
+voices, and they are thanking Him as well as they know how, for all his
+goodness. Listen."
+
+Sure enough, one of the little birds hopped back a trifle, balanced
+himself well on the nest, and, putting up his little throat, trilled a
+lovely song.
+
+"What does he say?" asked Sate, watching him intently.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said Miss Sherrill, with a little laugh. Sate was
+taxing her powers rather too much. "But God understands, you know; and
+I am sure the words are very sweet to him."
+
+Sate reflected over this for a minute, then went back to the flowers.
+
+"What made Him put the colors on them? Does He like to see pretty
+colors, do you sink? Which color does He like just the very bestest of
+all?"
+
+"O you darling! I don't know that, either. Perhaps, crimson; or, no,
+I think He must like pure white ones a little the best. But He likes
+little human flowers the best of all. Little white flowers with souls.
+Do you know what I mean, darling? White hearts are given to the little
+children who try all the time to do right, because they love Jesus, and
+want to please him."
+
+"Sate wants to," said the little girl earnestly. "Sate loves Jesus;
+and she would like to kiss him."
+
+"I do not know but you shall, some day. Now shall we take another line
+of the hymn?" continued her teacher.
+
+"I tried to teach her," explained Miss Sherrill to her brother. "But
+I think, after all, she taught me the most. She is the dearest little
+thing, and asks the strangest questions! When I look at her grave,
+sweet face, and hear her slow, sweet voice making wise answers, and
+asking wise questions, a sort of baby wisdom, you know, I can only
+repeat over and over the words:
+
+"'Of such is the kingdom of heaven.'
+
+"To-day I told her the story of Jesus taking the little children up in
+his arms and blessing them. She listened with that thoughtful look in
+her eyes which is so wonderful, then suddenly she held up her pretty
+arms and said in the most coaxing tones:
+
+"'Take little Sate to Him, and let Him bless her, yight away.'
+
+"Tremaine, I could hardly keep back the tears. Do you think He can be
+going to call her soon?"
+
+"Not necessarily at all. There is no reason why a little child should
+not live very close to Him on earth. I hope that little girl has a
+great work to do for Christ in this world. She has a very sweet face."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE FLOWER PARTY.
+
+
+I DARE say some of you think Nettie Decker was a very silly girl to
+care so much because her dress was a blue and white gingham instead of
+being all white.
+
+You have told your friend Katie about the story and asked her if she
+didn't think it was real silly to make such an ado over _clothes_; you
+have said you were sure you would just as soon wear a blue gingham
+as not if it was clean and neat. But now let me venture a hint. I
+shouldn't be surprised if that was because you never do have to go to
+places differently dressed from all the others. Because if you did,
+you would know that it was something of a trial. Oh! I don't say it
+is the hardest thing in the world; or that one is all ready to die as
+a martyr who does it; but what I _do_ say is, that it takes a little
+moral courage; and, for one, I am not surprised that Nettie looked
+very sober about it when the afternoon came.
+
+It took her a good while to dress; not that there was so much to be
+done, but she stopped to think. With her hair in her neck, still
+unbraided, she pinned a lovely pink rose at her breast just to see how
+pretty it would look for a minute. Miss Sherrill had left it for her to
+wear; but she did not intend to wear it, because she thought it would
+not match well with her gingham dress. Just here, I don't mind owning
+that I think her silly; because I believe that sweet flowers go with
+sweet pure young faces, whether the dress is of gingham or silk.
+
+But Nettie looked grave, as I said, and wished it was over; and tried
+to plan for the hundredth time, how it would all be. The girls, Cecelia
+Lester and Lorena Barstow and the rest of them, would be out in their
+elegant toilets, and would look at her so! That Ermina Farley would be
+there; she had seen her but once, on the first Sunday, and liked her
+face and her ways a little better than the others; but she had been
+away since then. Jerry said she was back, however, and Mrs. Smith said
+they were the richest folks in town; and of course Ermina would be
+elegantly dressed at the flower party.
+
+Well, she did not care. She was willing to have them all dressed
+beautifully; she was not mean enough to want them to wear gingham
+dresses, if only they would not make fun of hers. Oh! if she could
+_only_ stay at home, and help iron, and get supper, and fry some
+potatoes nicely for father, how happy she would be. Then she sighed
+again, and set about braiding her hair. She meant to go, but she could
+not help being sorry for herself to think it must be done; and she
+spent a great deal of trouble in trying to plan just how hateful it
+would all be; how the girls would look, and whisper, and giggle; and
+how her cheeks would burn. Oh dear!
+
+Then she found it was late, and had to make her fingers fly, and to
+rush about the little woodhouse chamber which was still her room, in a
+way which made Sarah Ann say to her mother with a significant nod, "I
+guess she's woke up and gone at it, poor thing!" Yes, she had; and was
+down in fifteen minutes more.
+
+Oh! but didn't the little girls look pretty! Nettie forgot her trouble
+for a few minutes, in admiring them when she had put the last touches
+to their toilet. Susie was to be in a tableau where she would need a
+dolly, and Miss Sherrill had furnished one for the occasion. A lovely
+dolly with real hair, and blue eyes, and a bright blue sash to match
+them; and when Susie got it in her arms, there came such a sweet,
+softened look over her face that Nettie hardly knew her. The sturdy
+voice, too, which was so apt to be fierce, softened and took a motherly
+tone; the dolly was certainly educating Susie. Little Sate looked
+on, interested, pleased, but without the slightest shade of envy.
+She wanted no dolly; or, if she did, there was a little black-faced,
+worn, rag one reposing at this moment in the trundle bed where little
+Sate's own head would rest at night; kissed, and caressed, and petted,
+and told to be good until mamma came back; this dolly had all of
+Sate's warm heart. For the rest, the grave little old women in caps
+and spectacles, which wound about her dress, crept up in bunches on
+her shoulders, lay in nestling heaps at her breast, filled all Sate's
+thoughts. She seemed to have become a little old woman herself, so
+serious and womanly was her face.
+
+Nettie took a hand of each, and they went to the flower festival. There
+was to be a five o'clock tea for all the elderly people of the church,
+and the tables, some of them, were set in Mr. Eastman's grounds, which
+adjoined the church. When Nettie entered these grounds she found
+a company of girls several years younger than herself, helping to
+decorate the tables with flowers; at least that was their work, but as
+Nettie appeared at the south gate, a queer little object pushed in at
+the west side. A child not more than six years old, with a clean face,
+and carefully combed hair, but dressed in a plain dark calico; and her
+pretty pink toes were without shoes or stockings.
+
+[Illustration: AT THE FLOWER PARTY.]
+
+I am not sure that if a little wolf had suddenly appeared before them,
+it could have caused more exclamations of astonishment and dismay.
+
+"Only look at that child!" "The idea!" "Just to think of such a thing!"
+were a few of the exclamations with which the air was thick. At last,
+one bolder than the rest, stepped towards her: "Little girl, where did
+you come from? What in the world do you want here?"
+
+Startled by the many eyes and the sharp tones, the small new-comer hid
+her face behind an immense bunch of glowing hollyhocks, which she held
+in her hand, and said not a word. Then the chorus of voices became
+more eager:
+
+"Do look at her hollyhocks! Did ever anybody see such a queer little
+fright! Girls, I do believe she has come to the party." Then the one
+who had spoken before, tried again: "See here, child, whoever you are,
+you must go right straight home; this is no place for you. I wonder
+what your mother was about--if you have one--to let you run away
+barefooted, and looking like a fright."
+
+Now the barefooted maiden was thoroughly frightened, and sobbed
+outright. It was precisely what Nettie Decker needed to give her
+courage. When she came in at the gate, she had felt like shrinking away
+from all eyes; now she darted an indignant glance at the speaker, and
+moved quickly toward the crying child, Susie and Sate following close
+behind.
+
+"Don't cry, little girl," she said in the gentlest tones, stooping and
+putting an arm tenderly around the trembling form; "you haven't done
+anything wrong; Miss Sherrill will be here soon, and she will make it
+all right."
+
+Thus comforted, the tears ceased, and the small new-comer allowed her
+hand to be taken; while Susie came around to her other side, and
+scowled fiercely, as though to say: "I'll protect this girl myself;
+let's see you touch her now!"
+
+A burst of laughter greeted Nettie as soon as she had time to give heed
+to it. Others had joined the groups, among them Lorena Barstow and
+Irene Lewis. "What's all this?" asked Irene.
+
+"O, nothing," said one; "only that Decker girl's sister, or cousin, or
+something has just arrived from Cork, and come in search of her. Lorena
+Barstow, did you ever see such a queer-looking fright?"
+
+"I don't see but they look a good deal alike," said Lorena, tossing her
+curls; "I'm sure their dresses correspond; is she a sister?"
+
+"Why, no," answered one of the smaller girls; "those two cunning little
+things in white are Nettie Decker's sisters; I think they are real
+sweet."
+
+"Oh!" said Lorena, giving them a disagreeable stare, "in white, are
+they? The unselfish older sister has evidently cut up her nightgowns to
+make them white dresses for this occasion."
+
+"Lorena," said the younger girl, "if I were you I would be ashamed;
+mother would not like you to talk in that way."
+
+"Well, you see Miss Nanie, you are not me, therefore you cannot tell
+what you would be, or do; and I want to inform you it is not your
+business to tell me what mother would like."
+
+Imagine Nettie Decker standing quietly, with the barefooted child's
+small hand closely clasped in hers, listening to all this! There was a
+pretense of lowered voices, yet every word was distinct to her ears.
+Her heart beat fast and she began to feel as though she really was
+paying quite a high price for the possibility of getting Norm into the
+church parlor for a few minutes that evening.
+
+At that moment, through the main gateway, came Ermina Parley, a colored
+man with her, bearing a basket full of such wonderful roses, that for a
+minute the group could only exclaim over them. Ermina was in white, but
+her dress was simply made, and looked as though she might not be afraid
+to tumble about on the grass in it; her shoes were thick, and the blue
+sash she wore, though broad and handsome, had some way a quiet air of
+fitness for the occasion, which did not seem to belong to most of the
+others. She watched the disposal of her roses, then gave an inquiring
+glance about the grounds as she said, "What are you all doing here?"
+
+"We are having a tableau," said Lorena Barstow. "Look behind you, and
+you will see the Misses Bridget and Margaret Mulrooney, who have just
+arrived from ould Ireland shure."
+
+Most of the thoughtless girls laughed, mistaking this rudeness for wit,
+but Ermina turned quickly and caught her first glimpse of Nettie's
+burning face; then she hastened toward her.
+
+"Why, here is little Prudy, after all," she said eagerly; "I coaxed her
+mother to let her come, but I didn't think she would. Has Miss Sherrill
+seen her? I think she will make such a cunning Roman flower-girl, in
+that tableau, you know. Her face is precisely the shape and style of
+the little girls we saw in Rome last winter. Poor little girlie, was
+she frightened? How kind you were to take care of her. She is a real
+bright little thing. I want to coax her into Sunday-school if I can.
+Let us go and ask Miss Sherrill what she thinks about the flower-girl."
+
+How fast Ermina Farley could talk! She did not wait for replies. The
+truth was, Nettie's glowing cheeks, and Susie's fierce looks, told her
+the story of trial for somebody else besides the Roman flower-girl; she
+could guess at things which might have been said before she came. She
+wound her arm familiarly about Nettie's waist as she spoke, and drew
+her, almost against her will, across the lawn. "My!" said Irene Lewis.
+"How good we are!"
+
+"Birds of a feather flock together," quoted Lorena Barstow. "I think
+that barefooted child and her protector look alike."
+
+"Still," said Irene, "you must remember that Ermina Farley has joined
+that flock; and her feathers are very different."
+
+"Oh! that is only for effect," was the naughty reply, with another toss
+of the rich curls.
+
+Now what was the matter with all these disagreeable young people? Did
+they really attach so much importance to the clothes they wore as to
+think no one was respectable who was not dressed like them? Had they
+really no hearts, so that it made no difference to them how deeply they
+wounded poor Nettie Decker?
+
+I do not think it was quite either of these things. They had been, so
+far in their lives, unfortunate, in that they had heard a great deal
+about dress, and style, until they had done what young people and a
+few older ones are apt to do, attached too much importance to these
+things. They were neither old enough, nor wise enough, to know that
+it is a mark of a shallow nature to judge of people by the clothes
+they wear; then, in regard to the ill-natured things said, I tell
+you truly, that even Lorena Barstow was ashamed of herself. When her
+younger sister reproved her, the flush which came on her cheek was not
+all anger, much of it was shame. But she had taught her tongue to say
+so many disagreeable words, and to pride itself on its independence in
+saying what she pleased, that the habit asserted itself, and she could
+not seem to control it. The contrast between her own conduct and Ermina
+Farley's struck her so sharply and disagreeably it served only to make
+her worse than before; precisely the effect which follows when people
+of uncontrolled tempers find themselves rebuked.
+
+Half-way down the lawn the party in search of Miss Sherrill met her
+face to face. Her greeting was warm. "Oh! here is my dear little
+grandmother. Thank you, Nettie, for coming; I look to you for a great
+deal of help. Why, Ermina, what wee mousie have you here?"
+
+"She is a little Roman flower-girl, Miss Sherrill; they live on
+Parker street. Her mother is a nice woman; my mother has her to
+run the machine. I coaxed her to let Trudie wear her red dress and
+come barefoot, until you would see if she would do for the Roman
+flower-girl. Papa says her face is very Roman in style, and she always
+makes us think of the flower-girls we saw there. I brought my Roman
+sash to dress her in, if you thought well of it; she is real bright,
+and will do just as she is told."
+
+"It is the very thing," said Miss Sherrill with a pleased face; "I am
+so glad you thought of it. And the hollyhocks are just red enough to go
+in the basket. Did you think of them too?"
+
+"No, ma'am; mamma did. She said the more red flowers we could mass
+about her, the better for a Roman peasant."
+
+"It will be a lovely thing," said Miss Sherrill. Then she stooped and
+kissed the small brown face, which was now smiling through its tears.
+"You have found good friends, little one. She is very small to be here
+alone. Ermina, will you and Nettie take care of her this afternoon, and
+see that she is happy?"
+
+"Yes'm," said Ermina promptly. "Nettie was taking care of her when I
+came. She was afraid at first, I think."
+
+"They were ugly to her," volunteered Susie, "they were just as ugly to
+her as they could be; they made her cry. If they'd done it to Sate I
+would have scratched them and bit them."
+
+"Oh," said Miss Sherrill sorrowfully. "How sorry I am to hear it; then
+Susie would have been naughty too, and it wouldn't have made the others
+any better; in fact, it would have made them worse."
+
+"I don't care," said Susie, but she did care. She said that, just
+as you do sometimes, when you mean you care a great deal, and don't
+want to let anybody know it. For the first time, Susie reflected
+whether it was a good plan to scratch and bite people who did not, in
+her judgment, behave well. It had not been a perfect success in her
+experience, she was willing to admit that; and if it made Miss Sherrill
+sorry, it was worth thinking about.
+
+Well, that afternoon which began so dismally, blossomed out into a
+better time than Nettie had imagined it possible for her to have. To
+be sure those particular girls who had been the cause of her sorrow,
+would have nothing to do with her; and whispered, and sent disdainful
+glances her way when they had an opportunity; but Nettie went in their
+direction as little as possible, and when she did was in such a hurry
+that she sometimes forgot all about them. Miss Sherrill, who was
+chairman of the committee of entertainment, kept her as busy as a bee
+the entire afternoon; running hither and thither, carrying messages to
+this one, and pins to that one, setting this vase of flowers at one
+end, and that lovely basket at another, and, a great deal of the time,
+standing right beside Miss Sherrill herself, handing her, at call,
+just what she needed when she dressed the girls with their special
+flowers. She could hear the bright pleasant talk which passed between
+Miss Sherrill and the other young ladies. She was often appealed too
+with a pleasant word. Her own teacher smiled on her more than once, and
+said she was the handiest little body who had ever helped them; and
+all the time that lovely Ermina Farley with her beautiful hair, and
+her pretty ways, and her sweet low voice, was near at hand, joining
+in everything which she had to do. To be sure she heard, in one of
+her rapid scampers across the lawn, this question asked in a loud
+tone by Lorena Barstow: "I wonder how much they pay that girl for
+running errands? Maybe she will earn enough to get herself a new white
+nightgown to wear to parties;" but at that particular minute, Ermina
+Farley running from another direction on an errand precisely like her
+own, bumped up against her with such force that their noses ached; then
+both stopped to laugh merrily, and some way, what with the bump, and
+the laughter, Nettie forgot to cry, when she had a chance, over the
+unkind words. Then, later in the afternoon, came Jerry; and in less
+than five minutes he joined their group, and made himself so useful
+that when Mr. Sherrill came presently for boys to go with him to the
+chapel to arrange the tables, Miss Sherrill said in low tones, "Don't
+take Jerry please, we need him here." Nettie heard it, and beamed her
+satisfaction. Also she heard Irene Lewis say, "Now they've taken that
+Irish boy into their crowd--shouldn't you think Ermina Farley would be
+ashamed!"
+
+Then Nettie's face fairly paled. It is one thing to be insulted
+yourself; it is another to stand quietly by and see your friends
+insulted. She was almost ready to appeal to Miss Sherrill for
+protection from tongues. But Jerry heard the same remark, and laughed;
+not in a forced way, but actually as though it was very amusing to him.
+And almost immediately he called out something to Ermina, using an
+unmistakable Irish brogue. What was the use in trying to protect a boy
+who was so indifferent as that?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A SATISFACTORY EVENING.
+
+
+THE little old grandmothers with their queer caps were perhaps the
+feature of the evening. Everybody wanted a bouquet of them. In fact,
+long before eight o'clock, Jerry had been hurried away for a fresh
+supply, and Nettie had been established behind a curtain to "make more
+grandmothers." In her excitement she made them even prettier than
+before; and sweet, grave little Sate had no trouble in selling every
+one. The pretty Roman flower girl was so much admired, that her father,
+a fine-looking young mechanic who came after her bringing red stockings
+and neat shoes, carried her off at last in triumph on his shoulder,
+saying he was afraid her head would be turned with so much praise, but
+thanking everybody with bright smiling eyes for giving his little girl
+such a pleasant afternoon.
+
+"She isn't Irish, after all," said Irene Lewis, watching them. "And
+Mr. Sherrill shook hands with him as familiarly as though he was an
+old friend; I wish we hadn't made such simpletons of ourselves. Lorena
+Barstow, what did you want to go and say she was an Irish girl for?"
+
+"I didn't say any such thing," said Lorena in a shrill voice; and
+then these two who had been friends in ill humor all the afternoon
+quarreled, and went home more unhappy than before. And still I tell you
+they were not the worst girls in the world; and were very much ashamed
+of themselves.
+
+Before eight o'clock, Norm came. To be sure he stoutly refused, at
+first, to step beyond the doorway, and ordered Nettie in a somewhat
+surly tone to "bring that young one out," if she wanted her carried
+home. That, of course, was the little grandmother; but her eyes looked
+as though they had not thought of being sleepy, and the ladies were not
+ready to let her go. Then the minister, who seemed to understand things
+without having them explained, said, "Where is Decker? we'll make it
+all right; come, little grandmother, let us go and see about it." So
+he took Sate on his shoulder and made his way through the crowd; and
+Nettie who watched anxiously, presently saw Norm coming back with
+them, not looking surly at all; his clothes had been brushed, and he
+had on a clean collar, and his hair was combed, quite as though he had
+meant to come in, after all.
+
+Soon after Norm's coming, something happened which gave Nettie a
+glimpse of her brother in a new light. Young Ernest Belmont was there
+with his violin. During the afternoon, Nettie had heard whispers of
+what a lovely player he was, and at last saw with delight that a space
+was being cleared for him to play. Crowds of people gathered about the
+platform to listen, but among them all Norm's face was marked; at least
+it was to Nettie. She had never seen him look like that. He seemed to
+forget the crowds, and the lights, and everything but the sounds which
+came from that violin. He stood perfectly still, his eyes never once
+turning from their earnest gaze of the fingers which were producing
+such wonderful tones. Nettie, looking, and wondering, almost forgot the
+music in her astonishment that her brother should be so absorbed. Jerry
+with some difficulty elbowed his way towards her, his face beaming, and
+said, "Isn't it splendid?"
+
+For answer she said, "Look at Norm." And Jerry looked.
+
+"That's so," he said at last, heartily, speaking as though he was
+answering a remark from somebody; "Norm is a musician. Did you know he
+liked it so much?"
+
+"I didn't know anything about it," Nettie said, hardly able to keep
+back the tears, though she did not understand why her eyes should fill;
+but there was such a look of intense enjoyment in Norm's face, mingled
+with such a wistful longing for something, as made the tears start in
+spite of her. "I didn't know he liked _anything_ so much as that."
+
+"He likes _that_," said Jerry heartily, "and I am glad."
+
+"I don't know. What makes you glad? I am almost sorry; because he may
+never have a chance to hear it again."
+
+"He must make his chances; he is going to be a man. I'm glad, because
+it gives us a hint as to what his tastes are; don't you see?"
+
+"Why, yes," said Nettie, "I see he likes it; but what is the use in
+knowing people's tastes if you cannot possibly do anything for them?"
+
+"There's no such thing as it not being possible to do most anything,"
+Jerry said good humoredly. "Maybe we will some of us own a violin some
+day, and Norm will play it for us. Who knows? Stranger things than that
+have happened."
+
+But this thing looked to Nettie so improbable that she merely laughed.
+The music suddenly ceased, and Norm came back from dreamland and looked
+about him, and blushed, and felt awkward. He saw the people now, and
+the lights, and the flowers; he remembered his hands and did not know
+what to do with them; and his feet felt too large for the space they
+must occupy.
+
+Jerry plunged through the crowd and stood beside him.
+
+"How did you like it?" he asked, and Norm cleared his voice before
+replying; he could not understand why his throat should feel so husky.
+
+"I like a fiddle," he said. "There is a fellow comes into the corner
+grocery down there by Crossman's and plays, sometimes; I always go down
+there, when I hear of it."
+
+If Jerry could have caught Nettie's eye just then he would have made a
+significant gesture; the store by Crossman's made tobacco and liquor
+its chief trade. So a fiddle was one of the things used to draw the
+boys into it!
+
+"Is a fiddle the only kind of music you like?" Jerry had been
+accustomed to calling it a violin, but the instinct of true politeness
+which was marked in him, made him say fiddle just now as Norm had done.
+
+"Oh! I like anything that whistles a tune!" said Norm. "I've gone
+a rod out of my way to hear a jew's-harp many a time; even an old
+hand-organ sounds nice to me. I don't know why, but I never hear one
+without stopping and listening as long as I can." He laughed a little,
+as though ashamed of the taste, and looked at Jerry suspiciously. But
+there was not the slightest hint of a smile on the boy's face, only
+hearty interest and approval.
+
+"I like music, too, almost any sort; but I don't believe I like it as
+well as you. Your face looked while you were listening as though you
+could make some yourself if you tried."
+
+The smile went out quickly from Norm's face, and Jerry thought he heard
+a little sigh with the reply:
+
+"I never had a chance to try; and never expect to have."
+
+"Well, now, I should like to know why not? I never could understand why
+a boy with brains, and hands, and feet, shouldn't have a try at almost
+anything which was worth trying, sometime in his life." It was not
+Jerry who said this, but the minister who had come up in time to hear
+the last words from both sides. He stopped before Norm, smiling as he
+spoke. "Try the music, my friend, by all means, if you like it. It is a
+noble taste, worth cultivating."
+
+Norm looked sullen. "It's easy to talk," he said severely, "but when a
+fellow has to work like a dog to get enough to eat and wear, to keep
+him from starving or freezing, I'd like to see him get a chance to try
+at music, or anything else of that kind!"
+
+"So should I. He is the very fellow who ought to have the chance; and
+more than that, in nine cases out of ten he is the fellow who gets it.
+A boy who is willing and able to work, is pretty sure, in this country,
+to have opportunity to gratify his tastes in the end. He may have to
+wait awhile, but that only sharpens the appetite of a genuine taste;
+if it is a worthy taste, as music certainly is, it will grow with his
+growth, and will help him to plan, and save, and contrive, until one
+of these days he will show you! By the way, you would like organ music,
+I fancy; the sort which is sometimes played on parlor organs. If you
+will come to the parsonage to-morrow night at eight o'clock, I think I
+can promise you something which you will enjoy. My sister is going to
+try some new music for a few friends, at that time; suppose you come
+and pick out your favorite?"
+
+All Jerry's satisfaction and interest shone in his face; to-morrow
+night at eight o'clock! All day he had been trying to arrange something
+which would keep Norm at that hour away from the aforesaid corner
+grocery, where he happened to know some doubtful plans were to be
+arranged for future mischief, by the set who gathered there. If only
+Norm would go to the parsonage it would be the very thing. But Norm
+flushed and hesitated. "Bring a friend with you," said the minister.
+"Bring Jerry, here; you like music, don't you, Jerry?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Jerry promptly; "I like music very much, and I would
+like to go if Norm is willing."
+
+"Bring Jerry with you." That sentence had a pleasant sound. Up to this
+moment it was the younger boy who had patronized the elder. Norm
+called him the "little chap," but for all that looked up to him with
+a curious sort of respect such as he felt for none of the "fellows"
+who were his daily companions; the idea of bringing him to a place of
+entertainment had its charms.
+
+"May I expect you?" asked the minister, reading his thoughts almost as
+plainly as though they had been printed on his face, and judging that
+this was the time to press an acceptance.
+
+"Why, yes," said Norm, "I suppose so."
+
+One of these days Norman Decker will not think of accepting an
+invitation with such words, but his intentions are good, now, and the
+minister thanks him as though he had received a favor, and departs well
+pleased.
+
+And now it is really growing late and little Sate must be carried home.
+It was an evening to remember.
+
+They talked it over by inches the next morning. Nettie finishing the
+breakfast dishes, and Jerry sitting on the doorstep fashioning a
+bracket for the kitchen lamp.
+
+Nettie talked much about Ermina Farley. "She is just as lovely and
+sweet as she can be. It was beautiful in her to come over to me as she
+did when she came into that yard; part of it was for little Trudie's
+sake, and a great deal of it was for my sake. I saw that at the time;
+and I saw it plainer all the afternoon. She didn't give me a chance to
+feel alone once; and she didn't stay near me as though she felt she
+ought to, but didn't want to, either; she just took hold and helped do
+everything Miss Sherrill gave me to do, and was as bright and sweet as
+she could be. I shall never forget it of her. But for all that," she
+added as she wrung out her dishcloth with an energy which the small
+white rag hardly needed, "I know it was pretty hard for her to do it,
+and I shall not give her a chance to do it again."
+
+"I want to know what there was hard about it?" said Jerry, looking up
+in astonishment. "I thought Ermina Farley seemed to be having as good a
+time as anybody there."
+
+"Oh, well now, I know, you are not a girl; boys are different from
+girls. They are not so kind-of-mean! At least, some of them are not,"
+she added quickly, having at that moment a vivid recollection of some
+mean things which she had endured from boys. "Really I don't think
+they are," she said, after a moment's thoughtful pause, and replying
+to the quizzical look on his face. "They don't think about dresses,
+and hats, and gloves, and all those sorts of things as girls do, and
+they don't say such hateful things. Oh! I _know_ there is a great
+difference; and I know just how Ermina Farley will be talked about
+because she went with me, and stood up for me so; and I think it will
+be very hard for her. I used to think so about you, but you--are real
+different from girls!"
+
+"It amounts to about this," said Jerry, whittling gravely. "Good boys
+are different from bad girls, and bad boys are different from good
+girls."
+
+Nettie laughed merrily. "No," she said, "I do know what I am talking
+about, though you don't think so; I know real splendid girls who
+couldn't have done as Ermina Farley did yesterday, and as you do all
+the time; and what I say is, I don't mean to put myself where she will
+_have_ to do it, much. I don't want to go to their parties; I don't
+expect a chance to go, but if I had it, I wouldn't go; and just for her
+sake, I don't mean to be always around for her to have to take care
+of me as she did yesterday. I have something else to do." Said Jerry,
+"Where do you think Norm is to take me this evening?"
+
+"Norm going to take you!" great wonderment in the tone. "Why, where
+could he take you? I don't know, I am sure."
+
+"He is to take me to the parsonage at eight o'clock to hear some
+wonderful music on the organ. He has been invited, and has had
+permission to bring me with him if he wants to. Don't you talk about
+not putting yourself where other people will have to take care of you!
+I advise you to cultivate the acquaintance of your brother. It isn't
+everybody who gets invited to the parsonage to hear such music as Miss
+Sherrill can make."
+
+The dishcloth was hung away now, and every bit of work was done. Nettie
+stood looking at the whittling boy in the doorway for a minute in blank
+astonishment, then she clasped her hands and said: "O Jerry! Did they
+do it? Aren't they the very splendidest people you ever knew in your
+life?"
+
+"They are pretty good," said Jerry, "that's a fact; they are most as
+good as my father. I'll tell you what it is, if you knew my father you
+would know a man who would be worth remembering. I had a letter from
+him last night, and he sent a message to my friend Nettie."
+
+"What?" asked Nettie, her eyes very bright.
+
+"It was that you were to take good care of his boy; for in his opinion
+the boy was worth taking care of. On the strength of that I want you to
+come out and look at Mother Speckle; she is in a very important frame
+of mind, and has been scolding her children all the morning. I don't
+know what is the trouble; there are two of her daughters who seem to
+have gone astray in some way; at least she is very much displeased with
+them. Twice she has boxed Fluffie's ears, and once she pulled a feather
+out of poor Buff. See how forlorn she seems!"
+
+By this time they were making their way to the little house where the
+hen lived, Nettie agreeing to go for a very few minutes, declaring that
+if Norm was going out every evening there was work to do. He would
+need a clean collar and she must do it up; for mother had gone out to
+iron for the day. "Mother is so grateful to Mrs. Smith for getting her
+a chance to work," she said, as they paused before the two disgraced
+chickens; "she says she would never have thought of it if it had not
+been for her; you know she always used to sew. Why, how funny those
+chickens look! Only see, Jerry, they are studying that eggshell as
+though they thought they could make one. Now don't they look exactly as
+though they were planning something?"
+
+"They are," said Jerry. "They are planning going to housekeeping, I
+believe; you see they have quarreled with their mother. They consider
+that they have been unjustly punished, and I am in sympathy with
+them; and they believe they could make a house to live in out of that
+eggshell if they could only think of a way to stick it together again.
+I wish _we_ could build a house out of eggshells; or even one room, and
+we'd have one before the month was over."
+
+"Why?" said Nettie, stooping down to see why Buff kept her foot under
+her. "Do you want a room, Jerry?"
+
+"Somewhat," said Jerry. "At least I see a number of things we could do
+if we had a room, that I don't know how to do without one. Come over
+here, Nettie, and sit down; leave those chickens to sulk it out, and
+let us talk a little. I have a plan so large that there is no place to
+put it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+READY TO TRY.
+
+
+"YOU see," said Jerry, as Nettie came, protesting as she walked that
+she could stay but a few minutes, because there was Norm's collar,
+and she had four nice apples out of which she was going to make
+some splendid apple dumplings for dinner, "you see we must contrive
+something to keep a young fellow like Norm busy, if we are going to
+hold him after he is caught. It doesn't do to catch a fish and leave
+him on the edge of the bank near enough to flounce back into the water.
+Norm ought to be set to work to help along the plans, and kept so busy
+he wouldn't have time to get tired of them."
+
+"But how could that be done?" Nettie said in wondering tones, which
+nevertheless had a note of admiration in them. Jerry went so deeply
+into things, it almost took her breath away to follow him.
+
+"Just so; that's the problem which ought to be thought out. I can think
+of things enough; but the room, and the tools to begin with, are the
+trouble."
+
+"What have you thought of? What would you do if you could?"
+
+"O my!" said Jerry, with a little laugh; "don't ask me that question,
+or your folks will have no apple dumplings to-day. I don't believe
+there is any end to the things which I would do if I could. But the
+first beginnings of them are like this: suppose we had a few dollars
+capital, and a room."
+
+"You might as well suppose we had a palace, and a million dollars,"
+said Nettie, with a long-drawn sigh.
+
+"No, because I don't expect either of those things; but I do mean to
+have a room and a few dollars in capital for this thing some day; only,
+you see, I don't want to wait for them."
+
+"Well, go on; what then?"
+
+"Why, then we would start an eating-house, you and I, on a little
+bit of a scale, you know. We would have bread with some kind of
+meat between, and coffee, in cold weather, and lemonade in hot,
+and a few apples, and now and then some nuts, and a good deal of
+gingerbread--soft, like what auntie Smith makes--and some ginger-snaps
+like those Mrs. Dix sent us from the country, and, well, you know the
+names of things better than I do. Real good things, I mean, but which
+don't cost much. Such as you, and Sarah Ann, and a good many bright
+girls learn how to make, without using a great deal of money. Those
+things are all rather cheap, which I have mentioned, because we have
+them at our house quite often, and the Smiths are poor, you know. But
+they are made so nice that they are just capital. Well, I would have
+them for sale, just as cheap as could possibly be afforded; a great
+deal cheaper than beer, or cigars, and I would have the room bright and
+cheery; warm in winter, and as cool as I could make it in summer; then
+I would have slips of paper scattered about the town, inviting young
+folks to come in and get a lunch; then when they came, I would have
+picture papers if I could, for them to look at, and games to play, real
+nice jolly games, and some kind of music going on now and then. I'd
+run opposition to that old grocery around the corner from Crossman's,
+with its fiddle and its whiskey. That's the beginning of what I would
+do. Just what I told you about, that first night we talked it over.
+The fellows, lots of them, have nowhere to go; it keeps growing in my
+mind, the need for doing something of the sort. I never pass that mean
+grocery without thinking of it."
+
+You should have seen Nettie's eyes! The little touch of discouragement
+was gone out of them, and they were full of intense thought.
+
+"I can see," she said at last, "just how splendid it might grow to be.
+But what did you mean about Norm? there isn't any work for him in such
+a plan. At least, I mean, not until he was interested to help for the
+sake of others."
+
+"Yes, there is, plenty of business for him. Don't you see? I would have
+this room, open evenings, after the work was done, and I would have
+Norm head manager. He should wait on customers, and keep accounts.
+When the thing got going he would be as busy as a bee; and he is just
+the sort of fellow to do that kind of thing well, and like it too," he
+added.
+
+"O Jerry," said Nettie, and her hands were clasped so closely that the
+blood flowed back into her wrists, "was there ever a nicer thought than
+that in the world! I know it would succeed; and Norm would like it so
+much. Norm likes to do things for others, if he only had the chance."
+
+"I know it; and he likes to do things in a business way, and keep
+everything straight. Oh! he would be just the one. If we only had a
+room, there is nothing to hinder our beginning in a very small way.
+Those chickens are growing as fast as they can, and by Thanksgiving
+there will be a couple of them ready to broil; then the little old
+grandmothers did so well."
+
+"I know it; who would have supposed that almost four dollars could be
+made out of some daisy grandmothers! Miss Sherrill gave me one dollar
+and ninety-five cents which she said was just half of what they had
+earned. I do think it was so nice in her to give us that chance! She
+couldn't have known how much we wanted the money. Jerry, why couldn't
+we begin, just with that? It would start us, and then if the things
+sold, why, the money from them would keep us started until we found a
+way to earn more. Why can't we?"
+
+"Room," said Jerry, with commendable brevity. "Why, we have a room;
+there's the front one that we just put in such nice order. Why not? It
+is large enough for now, and maybe when our business grew we could get
+another one somehow."
+
+Jerry stopped fitting the toe of his boot to a hole which he had made
+in the ground, and looked at the eager young woman of business before
+him. "Do you mean your mother would let us have the room, and the
+chance in the kitchen, to go into such business?"
+
+"Mother would do _anything_," said Nettie emphatically, "anything in
+the world which might possibly keep Norm in the house evenings; you
+don't know how dreadfully she feels about Norm. She thinks father," and
+there Nettie stopped. How could a daughter put it into words that her
+mother was afraid her father would lead his son astray?
+
+"I know," said Jerry. "See here, Nettie, what is the matter with your
+father? I never saw him look so still, and--well, queer, in some way.
+Mr. Smith says he doesn't think he is drinking a drop; but he looks
+unlike himself, somehow, and I can't decide how."
+
+"I don't know," said Nettie, in a low voice. "We don't know what to
+think of him. He hasn't been so long without drinking, mother says,
+in four years. But he doesn't act right; or, I mean, natural. He isn't
+cross, as drinking beer makes him, but he isn't pleasant, as he was
+for a day or two. He is real sober; hardly speaks at all, nor notices
+the things I make; and I try just as hard to please him! He eats
+everything, but he does it as though he didn't know he was eating.
+Mother thinks he is in some trouble, but she can't tell what. He can't
+be afraid of losing his place--because mother says he was threatened
+that two or three times when he was drinking so hard, and he didn't
+seem to mind it at all; and why should he be discharged now, when he
+works hard every day? Last Saturday night he brought home more money
+than he has in years. Mother cried when she saw what there was, but
+she had debts to pay, so we didn't get much start out of it after all.
+Then we spend a good deal in coffee; we have it three times a day, hot
+and strong; I can see father seems to need it; and I have heard that
+it helped men who were trying not to drink. When I told mother that,
+she said he should have it if she had to beg for it on her knees. But
+I don't know what is the matter with father now. Sometimes mother is
+afraid there is a disease coming on him such as men have who drink;
+she says he doesn't sleep very well nights, and he groans some, when
+he is asleep. Mother tries hard," said Nettie, in a closing burst of
+confidence, "and she _does_ have such a hard time! If we could only
+save Norm for her."
+
+"I'll tell you who your mother looks like, or would look like if she
+were dressed up, you know. Did you ever see Mrs. Burt?"
+
+"The woman who lives in the cottage where the vines climb all around
+the front, and who has birds, and a baby? I saw her yesterday. You
+don't think mother looks like her!"
+
+"She would," said Jerry, positively, "if she had on a pink and white
+dress and a white fold about her neck. I passed there last night, while
+Mrs. Burt was sitting out by that window garden of hers, with her baby
+in her arms; Mr. Burt sat on one of the steps, and they were talking
+and laughing together. I could not help noticing how much like your
+mother she looked when she turned her side face. Oh! she is younger, of
+course; she looks almost as though she might be your mother's daughter.
+I was thinking what fun it would be if she were, and we could go and
+visit her, and get her to help us about all sorts of things. Mr. Burt
+knows how to do every kind of work about building a house, or fixing up
+a room."
+
+"He is a nice man, isn't he?"
+
+"Why, yes, nice enough; he is steady and works hard. Mr. Smith thinks
+he is quite a pattern; he has bought that little house where he lives,
+and fixed it all up with vines and things; but I should like him better
+if he didn't puff tobacco smoke into his wife's face when he talked
+with her. He doesn't begin to be so good a workman as your father,
+nor to know so much in a hundred ways. I think your father is a very
+nice-looking man when he is dressed up. He looks smart, and he is
+smart. Mr. Smith says there isn't a man in town who can do the sort of
+work that he can at the shop, and that he could get very high wages and
+be promoted and all that, if"--
+
+Jerry stopped suddenly, and Nettie finished the sentence with a
+sigh. She too had passed the Burt cottage and admired its beauty and
+neatness. To think that Mr. Burt owned it, and was a younger man by
+fifteen years at least than her father--and was not so good a workman!
+then see how well he dressed his wife; and little Bobby Burt looked as
+neat and pretty in Sunday-school as the best of them. It was very hard
+that there must be such a difference in homes. If she could only live
+in a house like the Burt cottage, and have things nice about her as
+they did, and have her father and mother sit together and talk, as Mr.
+and Mrs. Burt did, she should be perfectly happy, Nettie told herself.
+Then she sprang up from the log and declared that she must not waste
+another minute of time; but that Jerry's plan was the best one she had
+ever heard, and she believed they could begin it.
+
+With this thought still in mind, after the dinner dishes were carefully
+cleared away, and her mother, returned from the day's ironing, had
+been treated to a piece of the apple dumpling warmed over for her, and
+had said it was as nice a bit as she ever tasted, Nettie began on the
+subject which had been in her thoughts all day:
+
+"What would you think of us young folks going into business?"
+
+"Going into business!"
+
+"Yes'm. Jerry and Norm and me. Jerry has a plan; he has been telling me
+about it this morning. It is nice if we can only carry it out; and I
+shouldn't wonder if we could. That is, if you think well of it."
+
+"I begin to think there isn't much that you and Jerry can't do, with
+Norm, or with anybody else, if you try; and you both appear to be ready
+to try to do all you can for everybody."
+
+Mrs. Decker's tone was so hearty and pleased, that you would not have
+known her for the same woman who looked forward dismally but a few
+weeks ago to Nettie's home-coming. Her heart had so warmed to the girl
+in her efforts for father and brother, that she was almost ready to
+agree to anything which she could have to propose. So Nettie, well
+pleased with this beginning, unfolded with great clearness and detail,
+Jerry's wonderful plan for not only catching Norm, but setting him up
+in business.
+
+Mrs. Decker listened, and questioned and cross-questioned, sewing
+swiftly the while on Norm's jacket which had been torn, and which
+was being skilfully darned in view of the evening to be spent at the
+parsonage.
+
+"Well," she said at last, "it looks wild to me, I own; I should as soon
+try to fly as of making anything like that work in this town; but then,
+you've made things work, you two, that I'd no notion could be done,
+and between you, you seem to kind of bewitch Norm. He's done things
+for you that I would no sooner have thought of asking of him than I
+would have asked him to fly up to the moon; and this may be another of
+them. Anyhow, if you've a mind to try it, I won't be the one to stop
+you. I've been that scared for Norm, that I'm ready for anything. Oh!
+the _room_, of course you may use it. If you wanted to have a circus
+in there, I think I'd agree, wild animals and all; I've had worse than
+wild animals in my day. No, your father won't object; he thinks what
+you do is about right, I guess. And for the matter of that, he doesn't
+object to anything nowadays; I don't know what to make of him."
+
+The sentence ended with a long-drawn, troubled sigh.
+
+Just what this strange change in her husband meant, Mrs. Decker could
+not decide; and each theory which she started in her mind about it,
+looked worse than the last.
+
+Norm's collar was ready for him, so was his jacket. He was somewhat
+surly; the truth was, he had received what he called a "bid" to
+the merry-making which was to take place in the back room of the
+grocery, around the corner from Crossman's, and he was a good deal
+tried to think he had cut himself off by what he called a "spooney"
+promise, from enjoying the evening there. At the same time there was
+a certain sense of largeness in saying he could not come because he
+had received an invitation elsewhere, which gave him a momentary
+pleasure. To be sure the boys coaxed until they had discovered the
+place of his engagement, and joked him the rest of the time, until he
+was half-inclined to wish he had never heard of the parsonage; but for
+all that, a certain something in Norman which marked him as different
+from some boys, held him to his word when it was passed; and he had
+no thought of breaking from his engagement. It was an evening such as
+Norman had reason to remember. For the first time in his life he sat
+in a pleasantly furnished home, among ladies and gentlemen, and heard
+himself spoken to as one who "belonged."
+
+Three ladies were there from the city, and two gentlemen whom Norman
+had never seen before; all friends of the Sherrills come out to spend
+a day with them. They were not only unlike any people whom he had ever
+seen before, but, if he had known it, unlike a great many ladies and
+gentlemen, in that their chief aim in life was to be found in their
+Master's service; and a boy about whom they knew nothing, save that he
+was poor, and surrounded by temptations, and Satan desired to have him,
+was in their eyes so much stray material which they were bound to bring
+back to the rightful owner if they could.
+
+To this end they talked to Norman. Not in the form of a lecture, but
+with bright, winning words, on topics which he could understand, not
+only, but actually on certain topics about which he knew more than
+they. For instance, there was a cave about two miles from the town, of
+which they had heard, but had never seen and Norm had explored every
+crevice in it many a time. He knew on which side of the river it was
+located, whether the entrance was from the east or the south; just how
+far one could walk through it, just how far one could creep in it,
+after walking had become impossible, and a dozen other things which it
+had not occurred to him were of interest to anybody else. In fact, Norm
+discovered in the course of the hour that there was such a thing as
+conversation. Not that he made use of that word, in thinking it over;
+his thoughts, if they could have been seen, would have been something
+like this: "These are swell folks, but I can understand what they say,
+and they seem to understand what I say, and don't stare as though I
+was a wild animal escaped from the woods. I wonder what makes the
+difference between them and other folks?"
+
+But when the music began! I have no words to describe to you what
+it was to Norm to sit close to an organ and hear its softest notes,
+and feel the thrill of its heavy bass tones, and be appealed to
+occasionally as to whether he liked this or that the best, and to
+have a piece sung because the player thought it would please him; she
+selected it that morning, she told him, with this thought in view.
+
+"Decker, you ought to learn to play," said one of the guests who had
+watched him through the last piece. "You _look_ music, right out of
+your eyes. Miss Sherrill, here is a pupil for you who might do you
+credit. Have you ever had any instrument, Decker?"
+
+Then Norm came back to every-day life, and flushed and stammered. "No,
+he hadn't, and was not likely to;" and wondered what they would think
+if they were to see the corner grocery where he spent most of his
+leisure time.
+
+The questioner laughed pleasantly. "Oh, I'm not so sure of that. I
+have a friend who plays the violin in a way to bring tears to people's
+eyes, and he never touched one until he was thirty years old; hadn't
+time until then. He was an apprentice, and had his trade to master,
+and himself to get well started in it before he had time for music;
+but when he came to leisure, he made music a delight to himself and to
+others."
+
+"A great deal can be done with leisure time," said another of the
+guests. "Mr. Sherrill, you remember Myers, your college classmate? He
+did not learn to read, you know, until he was seventeen."
+
+"What?" said Norm, astonished out of his diffidence; "didn't know how
+to read!"
+
+"No," repeated the gentleman, "not until he was seventeen. He had a
+hard childhood--was kicked about in the world, with no leisure and no
+help, had to work evenings as well as days, but when he was seventeen
+he fell into kinder hands, and had a couple of hours each evening
+all to himself, and he mastered reading, not only, but all the common
+studies, and graduated from college with honor when he was twenty-six."
+
+Now Norm had all his evenings to lounge about in, and had not known
+what to do with them; and he could read quite well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE WAY MADE PLAIN.
+
+
+IT was a beautiful Sabbath afternoon; just warm enough to make people
+feel still and pleasant. The soft summer sunshine lay smiling on all
+the world, and the soft summer breeze rustled the leaves of the trees,
+and stole gently in at open windows. In the front room of the Deckers,
+the family was gathered, all save Mr. Decker. He could be heard in his
+bedroom stepping about occasionally, and great was his wife's fear
+lest he was preparing to go down town and put himself in the place of
+temptation at his old lounging place. Sunday could not be said to be a
+day of rest to Mrs. Decker. It had been the day of her greatest trials,
+so far. Norm was in his clean shirt and collar, which had been done up
+again by Nettie's careful hands and which shone beautifully. He was
+also in his shirt sleeves; that the mother was glad to see; _he_ was
+not going out just yet, anyway. Mrs. Decker had honored the day with a
+clean calico dress, and had shyly and with an almost shamefaced air,
+pinned into it a little cambric ruffle which Nettie had presented her,
+with the remark that it was just like the one Mrs. Burt wore, and that
+Jerry said she looked like Mrs. Burt a little, only he thought she was
+the best-looking of the two. Mrs. Decker had laughed, and then sighed;
+and said it made dreadful little difference to her how she looked. But
+the sigh meant that the days were not so very far distant when Mr.
+Decker used to tell her she was a handsome woman; and she used to smile
+over it, and call him a foolish man without any taste; but nevertheless
+used to like it very much, and make herself look as well as she could
+for his sake.
+
+She hadn't done it lately, but whose fault was that, she should like to
+know? However, she pinned the ruffle in, and whether Mr. Decker noticed
+it or not, she certainly looked wonderfully better. Norm noticed it,
+but of course he would not have said so for the world. Nettie in her
+blue and white gingham which had been washed and ironed since the
+flower party, and which had faded a little and shrunken a little,
+still looked neat and trim, and had the little girls one on either
+side of her, telling them a story in low tones; not so low but that
+the words floated over to the window where Norm was pretending not to
+listen: "And so," said the voice, "Daniel let himself be put into a den
+of dreadful fierce lions, rather than give up praying."
+
+"Did they frow him in?" this question from little Sate, horror in every
+letter of the words.
+
+"Yes, they did; and shut the door tight."
+
+"I wouldn't have been," said fierce Susie; "I would have bitten, and
+scratched and kicked just awful!"
+
+"Why didn't Daniel shut up the window just as _tight_, and not let
+anybody know it when he said his prayers?"
+
+Oh little Sate! how many older and wiser ones than you have tried to
+slip around conscience corners in some such way.
+
+"I don't know all the reasons," said Nettie, after a thoughtful pause,
+"but I suppose one was, because he wouldn't act in a way to make people
+believe he had given up praying. He wanted to show them that he meant
+to pray, whether they forbade it or not."
+
+"Go on," said Susie, sharply, "I want to know how he felt when the
+lions bit him."
+
+"They didn't bite him; God wouldn't let them touch him. They crouched
+down and kept as _still_, all night; and in the morning when the king
+came to look, there was Daniel, safe!"
+
+"Oh my!" said Sate, drawing a long, quivering sigh of relief; "wasn't
+that just splendid!"
+
+"How do you know it is true?" said skeptical Susie, looking as though
+she was prepared not to believe anything.
+
+"I know it because God said it, Susie; he put it in the Bible."
+
+"I didn't ever hear him say it," said Susie with a frown. A laugh
+from Norm at that moment gave Nettie her first knowledge of him as a
+listener. Her cheeks grew red, and she would have liked to slip away
+into a more quiet corner but Sate was in haste to hear just what the
+king said, and what Daniel said, and all about it, and the story went
+on steadily, Daniel's character for true bravery shining out all the
+more strongly, perhaps, because Nettie suspected herself of being a
+coward, and not liking Norm to laugh at her Bible stories. As for Norm,
+he knew he was a coward; he knew he had done in his life dozens of
+things to make his mother cry; not because he was so anxious to do
+them, nor because he feared a den of lions if he refused, but simply
+because some of the fellows would laugh at him if he did.
+
+That Sabbath day had been a memorable one to the Decker family in some
+respects; at least to part of it. Nettie had taken the little girls
+with her to Sabbath-school, and then to church. Mrs. Smith had given
+her a cordial invitation to sit in their seat, but it was not a very
+large seat, and when Job and his wife, and Sarah Ann and Jerry were all
+there, as they were apt to be, there was just room for Nettie without
+the little girls; so she went with them to the seat directly under the
+choir gallery where very few sat. It was comfortable enough; she could
+see the minister distinctly, and though she had to stretch out her neck
+to see the choir, she could hear their sweet voices; and surely that
+was enough. All went smoothly until the sermon was concluded. Sate sat
+quite still, and if she did not listen to the sermon, listened to her
+own thoughts and troubled no one.
+
+But when the anthem began, Sate roused herself. That wonderful voice
+which seemed to fill every corner of the church! She knew the voice;
+it belonged to her dear teacher. She stretched out her little neck, and
+could catch a glimpse of her, standing alone, the rest of the choir
+sitting back, out of sight. And what was that she was saying, over and
+over? "Come unto Me, unto Me, unto Me"--the words were repeated in the
+softest of cadences--"all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will
+give you rest." Sate did not understand those words, certainly her
+little feet were not weary, but there was a sweetness about the word
+"rest" as it floated out on the still air, which made her seem to want
+to go, she knew not whither. Then came the refrain: "Come unto Me, unto
+Me," swelling and rolling until it filled all the aisles, and dying
+away at last in the tenderest of pleading sounds. Sate's heart beat
+fast, and the color came and went on her baby face in a way which would
+have startled Nettie had she not been too intent on her own exquisite
+delight in the music, to remember the motionless little girl at her
+left.
+
+"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, learn of Me," called the sweet
+voice, and Sate, understanding the last of it felt that she wanted to
+learn, and of that One above all others. "For I am meek and lowly
+of heart"--she did not know what the words meant, but she was drawn,
+drawn. Then, listening, breathless, half resolved, came again that
+wondrous pleading, "Come unto Me, unto Me, unto Me." Softly the little
+feet slid down to the carpeted floor, softly they stepped on the green
+and gray mosses which gave back no sound; softly they moved down the
+aisle as though they carried a spirit with them, and when Nettie,
+hearing no sound, yet turned suddenly as people will, to look after her
+charge, little Sate was gone! Where? Nettie did not know, could not
+conjecture. No sight of her in the aisle, not under the seat, not in
+the great church anywhere. The door was open into the hall, and poor
+little tired Sate must have slipped away into the sunshine outside.
+Well, no harm could come to her there; she would surely wait for them,
+or, failing in that, the road home was direct enough, and nothing to
+trouble her; but how strange in little Sate to do it! If it had been
+Susie, resolute, independent Susie always sufficient to herself and a
+little more ready to do as she pleased than any other way! But Susie
+sat up prim and dignified on Nettie's right; not very conscious of the
+music, and willing enough to have the service over, but conscious
+that she had on her new shoes, and a white dress, and a white bonnet,
+and looked very well indeed. Meantime, little Sate was not out in the
+sunshine. She had not thought of sunshine; she had been called; it was
+not possible for her sweet little heart to get away from the feeling
+that some one was calling her, and that she wanted to go. What better
+was there to do than follow the voice? So she followed it, out into the
+hall, up the gallery stairs, still softly--the new shoes made no sound
+on the carpet--through the door which stood ajar, quite to the singer's
+side, there slipped this quiet little woman who had left her white
+bonnet by Nettie, and stood with her golden head rippling with the
+sunlight which fell upon it. There was a rustle in the choir gallery,
+a soft stir over the church, the sort of sound which people make when
+they are moved by some deep feeling which they hardly understand; there
+was a smile on some faces, but it was the kind of smile which might be
+given to a baby angel if it had strayed away from heaven to look at
+something bright down here. The tenor singer would have drawn away the
+small form from the soloist, but she put forth a protecting hand
+and circled the child, and sang on, her voice taking sweeter tone, if
+possible, and dying away in such tenderness as made the smiles on some
+faces turn to tears, and made the echo linger with them of that last
+tremulous "Come unto Me."
+
+[Illustration: LITTLE SATE IN THE CHOIR GALLERY.]
+
+But little Sate, when she reached the choir gallery, saw something
+which startled her out of her sweet resolute calm. Away on the side, up
+there, where few people were, sat her own father; and rolling down his
+cheeks were tears. Sate had never seen her father cry before. What was
+the matter? Had she been naughty, and was it making him feel bad? She
+stole a startled glance at the face of her teacher, whose arm was still
+around her and had drawn her toward the seat into which she dropped,
+when the song was over. No, _her_ face was quiet and sweet; not
+grieved, as Sate was sure it would be, if she had been naughty. Neither
+did the people look cross at her; many of them had bowed their heads in
+prayer, but some were sitting erect, looking at her and smiling; surely
+she had made no noise. Why should her father cry? She looked at him; he
+had shaded his face with his hand. Was he crying still? Little Sate
+thought it over, all in a moment of time, then suddenly she slipped
+away from the encircling arm, moved softly across the intervening
+space, into the side gallery, and was at her father's side, with her
+small hand on his sleeve. He stooped and took her in his arms, and the
+tears were still in his eyes; but he kissed her, and _kissed_ her, as
+little Sate had never been kissed before; she nestled in his arms and
+felt safe and comforted.
+
+The prayer was over, the benediction given, and the worshipers moved
+down the aisles. Sate rode comfortably in her father's arms, down
+stairs, out into the hall, outside, in the sunshine, waiting for Nettie
+and for her white sunbonnet. Presently Nettie came, hurried, flushed,
+despite her judgment, anxious as to where the bonnetless little girl
+could have vanished. "Why, Sate," she began, but the rest of the
+sentence died in astonished silence on her lips, for Sate held her
+father's hand and looked content.
+
+They walked home together, the father and his youngest baby, saying
+nothing, for Sate was one of those wise-eyed little children who
+have spells of sweet silence come over them, and Nettie, with Susie,
+walked behind, the elder sister speculating: "Where did little Sate
+find father? Did he pick her up on the street somewhere, and would he
+be angry, and not let Nettie take her to church any more? Or did he,
+passing, spy her in the churchyard and come in for her?"
+
+Nettie did not know, and Sate did not tell; principally because she
+did not understand that there was anything to tell. So while the
+people in their homes talked and laughed about the small white waif
+who had slipped into the choir, the people in this home were entirely
+silent about it, and the mother did not know that anything strange
+had happened. It is true, Susie began to inquire reprovingly, but was
+hushed by Nettie's warning whisper; certainly Nettie was gaining a
+wonderful control over the self-sufficient Susie. The child respected
+her almost enough to follow her lead unquestioningly, which was a great
+deal for Susie to do.
+
+So they sat together that sweet Sabbath afternoon, Nettie telling her
+Bible stories, and wondering how she should plan. What did Norm intend
+to do a little later in the day? What was there she could do to keep
+him from lounging down street? Why was her father staying so long in
+the choked-up bedroom? What was the matter with her father these days,
+and how long was anything going to last? Why did she feel, someway,
+as though she stood on the very edge of something which startled and
+almost frightened her? Was it because she was afraid her father would
+not let her take Sate and Susie to church any more?
+
+With all these thoughts floating through her mind, it was rather
+hard to keep herself closely confined to Daniel and his experiences.
+Suddenly the bedroom door opened and her father came out. Everybody
+glanced up, though perhaps nobody could have told why. There was
+a peculiar look on his face. Mrs. Decker noticed it and did not
+understand it, and felt her heart beat in great thuds against the back
+of her chair. Little Sate noticed it, and went over to him and slipped
+her hand inside his. He sat down in the state chair which Nettie and
+her mother had both contrived to have left vacant, and took Sate in his
+arms. This of itself was unusual, but after that, there was silence,
+Sate nestling safely in the protective arms and seeming satisfied with
+all the world. Nettie felt her face flush, and her bosom heave as if
+the tears were coming, but she could not have told why she wanted
+to cry Norm seemed oppressed with the stillness, and broke it by
+whistling softly; also he had a small stick and was whittling; it was
+the only thing he could think of to do just now. It was too early to go
+out; the boys would not be through with their boarding-house dinners
+yet. Suddenly Mr. Decker broke in on the almost silence. "Hannah,"
+he said, then he cleared his voice, and was still again, "and you
+children," he added, after a moment, "I've got something to tell you
+if I knew how. Something that I guess you will be glad to hear. I've
+turned over a new leaf at last. I've turned it, off and on, in my mind
+a good many times lately, though I don't know as any of you knew it.
+I've been thinking about this thing, well, as soon as Nannie there came
+home, at least; but I haven't understood it very well, and I s'pose
+I don't now; but I understand it enough to have made up my mind; and
+that's more than half the battle. The long and short of it is, I have
+given myself to the Lord, or he has got hold of me, somehow; it isn't
+much of a gift, that's a fact, but the queer thing about it is, he
+seems to think it worth taking. I told him last night that if he would
+show a poor stick like me how to do it, why, I'd do my part without
+fail; and this morning he not only showed the way plain enough, but he
+sent my little girl to help me along."
+
+The father's voice broke then, and a tear trembled in his eye. Sate had
+held her little head erect and looked steadily at him as soon as he
+began to talk, wonder and interest, and some sort of still excitement
+in her face as she listened. At his first pause she broke forth:
+
+"Did He mean you, papa, when He said 'Come unto Me'? Was He calling
+you, all the time? and did you tell Him you would?"
+
+"Yes," he said, bending and kissing the earnest face, "He meant me, and
+He's been calling me loud, this good while; but I never got started
+till to-day. Now I'm going along with Him the rest of the way."
+
+"I'm so glad," said little Sate, nestling contentedly back, "I'm so
+glad, papa; I'm going too."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE NEW ENTERPRISE.
+
+
+ONE bright and never-to-be-forgotten day, Nettie and Jerry stood
+together in the "new" room and surveyed with intense satisfaction
+all its appointments. They were ready to begin business. On that
+very evening the room was to be "open to the public!" They looked at
+each other as they repeated that large-sounding phrase, and laughed
+gleefully.
+
+There had been a great deal to do to get ready. Hours and even days
+had been spent in planning. It astonished both these young people to
+discover how many things there were to think of, and get ready for,
+and guard against, before one could go into business. There was a time
+when with each new day, new perplexities arose. During those days Jerry
+had spent a good deal of his leisure in fishing; both because at the
+Smiths, and also at the Deckers, fish were highly prized, and also
+because, as he confided to Nettie, "a fellow could somehow think a
+great deal better when his fingers were at work, and when it was still
+everywhere about him."
+
+There were times, however, when his solitude was disturbed. There had
+been one day in particular when something happened about which he did
+not tell Nettie. He was in his fishing suit, which though clean and
+whole was not exactly the style of dress which a boy would wear to a
+party, and he stood leaning against a rail fence, rod in hand, trying
+to decide whether he should try his luck on that side, or jump across
+the logs to a shadier spot; trying also to decide just how they could
+manage to get another lamp to stand on the reading table, when he heard
+voices under the trees just back of him.
+
+They were whispering in that sort of penetrating whisper that floats
+so far in the open air, and which some, girls, particularly, do not
+seem to know can be heard a few feet away. Jerry could hear distinctly;
+in fact unless he stopped his ears with his hands he could not help
+hearing.
+
+And the old rule, that listeners never hear any good of themselves,
+applied here.
+
+"There's that Jerry who lives at the Smiths'," said whisperer number
+one, "do look what a fright; I guess he has borrowed a pair of Job
+Smith's overalls! Isn't it a shame that such a nice-looking boy is
+deserted in that way, and left to run with all sorts of people?"
+
+"I heard that he wasn't deserted; that his father was only staying out
+West, or down South, or somewhere for awhile."
+
+"Oh! that's a likely story," said whisperer number one, her voice
+unconsciously growing louder. "Just as if any father who was anybody,
+would leave a boy at Job Smith's for months, and never come near him.
+I think it is real mean; they say the Smiths keep him at work all the
+while, fishing; he about supports them, and the Deckers too, with fish
+and things."
+
+At this point the amused listener nearly forgot himself and whistled.
+
+"Oh well, that's as good a way as any to spend his time; he knows
+enough to catch fish and do such things, and when he is old enough,
+I suppose he will learn a trade; but I must say I think he is a
+nice-looking fellow."
+
+"He would be, if he dressed decently. The boys like him real well; they
+say he is smart; and I shouldn't wonder if he was; big eyes twinkle as
+though he might be. If he wouldn't keep running with that Decker girl
+all the time, he might be noticed now and then."
+
+At this point came up a third young miss who spoke louder. Jerry
+recognized her voice at once as belonging to Lorena Barstow. "Girls,
+what are you doing here? Why, there is that Irish boy; I wonder if he
+wouldn't sell us some fish? They say he is very anxious to earn money;
+I should think he would be, to get himself some decent clothes. Or
+maybe he wants to make his dear Nan a present."
+
+Then followed a laugh which was quickly hushed, lest the victim might
+hear. But the victim had heard, and looked more than amused; his eyes
+flashed with a new idea.
+
+"Much obliged, Miss Lorena," he said softly, nodding his head. "If I
+don't act on your hint, it will be because I am not so bright as you
+give me credit for being."
+
+Then the first whisperer took up the story:
+
+"Say, girls, I heard that Ermina did really mean to invite him to her
+candy pull, and the Decker girl too; she says they both belong to the
+Sunday-school, and she is going to invite all the boys and girls of
+that age in the school, and her mother thinks it would not be nice to
+leave them out. You know the Farleys are real queer about some things."
+
+Lorena Barstow flamed into a voice which was almost loud. "Then I say
+let's just not speak a word to either of them the whole evening. Ermina
+Farley need not think that because she lives in a grand house, and her
+father has so much money, she can rule us all. I for one, don't mean to
+associate with a drunkard's daughter, and I won't be made to, by the
+Farleys or anybody else."
+
+"Her father isn't a drunkard now. Why, don't you know he has joined the
+church? And last Wednesday night they say he was in prayer meeting."
+
+"Oh, yes, and what does that amount to? My father says it won't last
+six weeks; he says drunkards are not to be trusted; they never reform.
+And what if he does? That doesn't make Nan Decker anything but a dowdy,
+not fit for us girls to go with; and as for that Irish boy! Why doesn't
+Ermina go down on Paddy Lane and invite the whole tribe of Irish if
+she is so fond of them?"
+
+"Hush, Lora, Ermina will hear you."
+
+Sure enough at that moment came Ermina, springing briskly over logs and
+underbrush. "Have I kept you waiting?" she asked gayly. "The moss was
+so lovely back there; I wanted to carry the whole of it home to mother.
+Why, girls, there is that boy who sits across from us in Sabbath-school.
+
+"How do you do?" she said pleasantly, for at that moment Jerry turned
+and came toward them, lifting his hat as politely as though it was in
+the latest shape and style.
+
+"Have you had good luck in fishing?"
+
+"Very good for this side; the fish are not so plenty here generally
+as they are further up. I heard you speaking of fish, Miss Barstow,
+and wondering whether I would not supply your people? I should be very
+glad to do so, occasionally; I am a pretty successful fellow so far as
+fishing goes."
+
+You should have seen the cheeks of the whisperers then! Ermina looked
+at them, perplexed for a moment, then seeing they answered only with
+blushes and silence _she_ spoke: "Mamma would be very glad to get
+some; she was saying yesterday she wished she knew some one of whom she
+could get fish as soon as they were caught. Have you some to-day for
+sale?"
+
+"Three beauties which I would like nothing better than to sell, for I
+am in special need of the money just now."
+
+"Very well," said Ermina promptly, "I am sure mamma will like them;
+could you carry them down now? I am on my way home and could show you
+where to go."
+
+"Ermina Farley!" remonstrated Lorena Barstow in a low shocked tone, but
+Ermina only said: "Good-by, girls, I shall expect you early on Thursday
+evening," and walked briskly down the path toward the road, with Jerry
+beside her, swinging his fish. If the girls could have seen his eyes
+just then, they would have been sure that they twinkled.
+
+They had a pleasant walk, and Ermina did actually invite him to her
+candy-pull on Thursday evening; not only that, but she asked if he
+would take an invitation from her to Nettie Decker. "She lives next
+door to you, I think," said Ermina, "I would like very much to have her
+come; I think she is so pleasant and unselfish. It is just a few boys
+and girls of our age, in the Sunday-school."
+
+How glad Jerry was that she had invited them! He had been so afraid
+that her courage would not be equal to it. Glad was he also to be able
+to say, frankly, that both he and Nettie had an engagement for Thursday
+evening; he would be sure to give Nettie the invitation, but he knew
+she could not come. Of course she could not, he said to himself; "Isn't
+that our opening evening?" But all the same it was very nice in Ermina
+Farley to have invited them.
+
+"Here is another lamp for the table," said Jerry gayly, as he rushed
+into the new room an hour later and tossed down a shining silver
+dollar. He had exchanged the fish for it. Then he sat down and told
+part of their story to Nettie. About the whisperers, however, he kept
+silent. What was the use in telling that?
+
+But from them he had gotten another idea. "Look here, Nettie, some
+evening we'll have a candy-pull, early, with just a few to help, and
+sell it cheap to customers."
+
+So now they stood together in the room to see if there was another
+thing to be done before the opening. A row of shelves planed and
+fitted by Norm were ranged two thirds of the way up the room and
+on them were displayed tempting pans of ginger cookies, doughnuts,
+molasses cookies, and soft gingerbread. Sandwiches made of good bread,
+and nice slices of ham, were shut into the corner cupboard to keep
+from drying; there was also a plate of cheese which was a present from
+Mrs. Smith. She had sent it in with the explanation that it would be a
+blessing to her if that cheese could get eaten by somebody; she bought
+it once, a purpose, as a treat for Job, and it seemed it wasn't the
+kind he liked, and none of the rest of them liked any kind, so there
+it had stood on the shelf eying her for days. There was to be coffee;
+Nettie had planned for that. "Because," she explained, "they _all_
+drink beer; and things to eat, can never take the place of things to
+drink."
+
+It had been a difficult matter to get the materials together for
+this beginning. All the money which came in from the "little old
+grandmothers," as well as that which Jerry contributed, had been spent
+in flour, and sugar, and eggs and milk. Nettie was amazed and dismayed
+to find how much even soft gingerbread cost, when every pan of it had
+to be counted in money. A good deal of arithmetic had been spent on
+the question: How low can we possibly sell this, and not actually lose
+money by it? Of course some allowance had to be made for waste. "We'll
+have to name it waste," explained Nettie with an anxious face, "because
+it won't bring in any money; but of course not a scrap of it will be
+wasted; but what is left over and gets too dry to sell, we shall have
+to eat."
+
+Jerry shook his head. "We must sell it," he said with the air of a
+financier. Then he went away thoughtfully to consult Mrs. Job, and came
+back triumphant. She would take for a week at half price, all the stale
+cake they might have left. "That means gingercake," he explained, "she
+says the cookies and things will keep for weeks, without getting too
+old."
+
+"Sure enough!" said radiant Nettie, "I did not think of that."
+
+There were other things to think of; some of them greatly perplexed
+Jerry; he had to catch many fish before they were thought out. Then he
+came with his views to Nettie.
+
+"See here, do you understand about this firm business; it must be you
+and me, you know?"
+
+Nettie's bright face clouded. "Why, I thought," she said, speaking
+slowly, "I thought you said, or you meant--I mean I thought it was to
+help Norm; and that he would be a partner."
+
+Jerry shook his head. "Can't do it," he said decidedly. "Look here,
+Nettie, we'll get into trouble right away if we take in a partner. He
+believes in drinking beer, and smoking cigarettes, and doing things of
+that sort; now if he as a partner introduces anything of the kind, what
+are we to do?"
+
+"Sure enough!" the tone expressed conviction, but not relief. "Then
+what are we to do, Jerry? I don't see how we are going to help Norm
+any."
+
+"I do; quite as well as though he was a partner. Norm is a good-natured
+fellow; he likes to help people. I think he likes to do things for
+others better than for himself. If we explain to him that we want to go
+into this business, and that you can't wait on customers, because you
+are a girl, and it wouldn't be the thing, and I can't, because it is
+in your house, and I promised my father I would spend my evenings at
+home, and write a piece of a letter to him every evening; and ask him
+to come to the rescue and keep the room open, and sell the things for
+us, don't you believe he will be twice as likely to do it as though we
+made him as young as ourselves, and tried to be his equals?"
+
+Then Nettie's face was bright. "What a contriver you are!" she said
+admiringly. "I think that will do just splendidly."
+
+She was right, it did. Norm might have curled his lip and said "pooh"
+to the scheme, had he been placed on an equality; for he was getting
+to the age when to be considered young, or childish, is a crime in a
+boy's eyes. But to be appealed to as one who could help the "young fry"
+out of their dilemma, and at the same time provide himself with a very
+pleasant place to stay, and very congenial employment while he stayed,
+was quite to Norm's mind.
+
+And as it was an affair of the children's, he made no suggestions about
+beer or cigars; it is true he thought of them, but he thought at once
+that neither Nettie or Jerry would probably have anything to do with
+them, and as he had no dignity to sustain, he decided to not even
+mention the matter. These two planned really better than they knew in
+appealing to Norm for help. His curious pride would never have allowed
+him to say to a boy, "We keep cakes and coffee for sale at our house;
+come in and try them." But it was entirely within the line of his ideas
+of respectability to say: "What do you think those two young ones over
+at our house have thought up next? They have opened an eating-house,
+cakes and things such as my sister can make, and coffee, dirt cheap.
+I've promised to run the thing for them in the evening awhile; I
+suppose you'll patronize them?"
+
+And the boys, who would have sneered at _his_ setting himself up in
+business, answered: "What, the little chap who lives at Smith's? And
+your little sister! Ho! what a notion! I don't know but it is a bright
+one, though, as sure as you live. There isn't a spot in this town where
+a fellow can get a decent bite unless he pays his week's wages for it;
+boys, let's go around and see what the little chaps are about."
+
+The very first evening was a success.
+
+Nettie had assured herself that she must not be disappointed if no one
+came, at first.
+
+"You see, it is a new thing," she explained to her mother, "of course
+it will take them a little while to get acquainted with it; if nobody
+at all comes to-night, I shall not be disappointed. Shall you, Jerry?"
+
+"Why, yes," said Jerry, "I should; because I know of one boy who is
+coming, and is going to have a ginger-snap and a glass of milk. And
+that is little Ted Locker who lives down the lane; they about starve
+that boy. I shall like to see him get something good. He has three
+cents and I assured him he could get a brimming glass of milk and a
+ginger-snap for that. He was as delighted as possible."
+
+"Poor fellow!" said Nettie, "I mean to tell Norm to let him have two
+snaps, wouldn't you?"
+
+And Jerry agreed, not stopping to explain that he had furnished the
+three cents with which Ted was to treat his poor little stomach. So the
+work began in benevolence.
+
+Still Nettie was anxious, not to say nervous.
+
+"You will have to eat soft gingerbread at your house, for breakfast,
+dinner and supper, I am afraid," she said to Jerry with a half laugh,
+as they stood looking at it. "I don't know why I made four tins of it;
+I seemed to get in a gale when I was making it."
+
+"Never you fear," said Jerry, cheerily. "I'll be willing to eat such
+gingerbread as that three times a day for a week. Between you and me,"
+lowering his voice, "Sarah Ann can't make very good gingerbread; when
+we get such a run of custom that we have none left over to sell, I wish
+you'd teach her how."
+
+I do not know that any member of the two households could be said to be
+more interested in the new enterprise than Mr. Decker. He helped set up
+the shelves, and he made a little corner shelf on purpose for the lamp,
+and he watched the entire preparations with an interest which warmed
+Nettie's heart. I haven't said anything about Mr. Decker during these
+days, because I found it hard to say. You are acquainted with him as a
+sour-faced, unreasonable, beer-drinking man; when suddenly he became
+a man who said "Good morning" when he came into the room, and who sat
+down smooth shaven, and with quiet eyes and smile to his breakfast, and
+spoke gently to Susie when she tipped her cup of water over, and kissed
+little Sate when he lifted her to her seat, and waited for Mrs. Decker
+to bring the coffee pot, then bowed his head and in clear tones asked a
+blessing on the food, how am I to describe him to you? The change was
+something which even Mrs. Decker who watched him every minute he was in
+the house and thought of him all day long, could not get accustomed to.
+It astonished her so to think that she, Mrs. Decker, lived in a house
+where there was a prayer made every night and morning, and where each
+evening after supper Nettie read a few verses in the Bible, and her
+father prayed; that every time she passed her own mother's Bible which
+had been brought out of its hiding-place in an old trunk, she said,
+under her breath, "Thank the Lord." No, she did not understand it, the
+marvelous change which had come over her husband. She had known him as
+a kind man; he had been that when she married him, and for a few months
+afterwards.
+
+She had heard him speak pleasantly to Norm, and show him much
+attention; he had done it before they were married, and for awhile
+afterwards; but there was a look in his face, and a sound in his voice
+now, such as she had never seen nor heard before.
+
+"It isn't Decker," she said in a burst of confidence to Nettie. "He is
+just as good as he can be; and I don't know anything in the world he
+ain't willing to do for me, or for any of us; and it is beautiful, the
+whole of it; but it is all new. I used to think if the man I married
+could only come back to me I should be perfectly happy; but I don't
+know this man at all; he seems to me sometimes most like an angel."
+
+Probably you would have laughed at this. Joe Decker did not look in the
+least like the picture you have in your mind of an angel; but perhaps
+if you had known him only a few weeks before, as Mrs. Decker did, and
+could have seen the wonderful change in him which she saw, the contrast
+might even have suggested angels.
+
+Nettie understood it. She struggled with her timidity and her ignorance
+of just what ought to be said; then she made her earnest reply:
+
+"Mother, I'll tell you the difference. Father prays, and when people
+pray, you know, and mean it, as he does, they get to looking very
+different."
+
+But Mrs. Decker did not pray.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.
+
+
+AS a matter of fact there wasn't a cake left. Neither doughnut nor
+gingersnap; hardly a crumb to tell the successful tale. Nettie surveyed
+the empty shelves the next morning in astonishment. She had been too
+busy the night before to realize how fast things were going. Naturally
+the number and variety of dishes in the Decker household was limited
+and the evening to Nettie was a confused murmur of, "Hand us some more
+cups." "Can't you raise a few more teaspoons somewhere?" "Give us
+another plate," or, "More doughnuts needed;" and Nettie flew hither and
+thither, washed cups, rinsed spoons, said, "What did I do with that
+towel?" or, "Where in the world is the bread knife?" or, "Oh! I smell
+the coffee! maybe it is boiling over," and was conscious of nothing but
+weariness and relief when the last cup of coffee was drank, and the
+last teaspoon washed.
+
+But with the next morning's sunshine she knew the opening was a
+success. She counted the gains with eager joy, assuring Jerry that they
+could have twice as much gingerbread next time.
+
+"And you'll need it," said Norm. "I had to tell half a dozen boys
+that there wasn't a crumb left. I felt sorry for 'em, too; they were
+boarding-house fellows who never get anything decent to eat."
+
+Already Norm had apparently forgotten that he was one who used
+frequently to make a similar complaint.
+
+There was a rarely sweet smile on Nettie's face, not born of the chink
+in the factory bag which she had made for the money; it grew from the
+thought that she need not hide the bag now, and tremble lest it should
+be taken to the saloon to pay for whiskey. What a little time ago it
+was that she had feared that! What a changed world it was!
+
+"But there won't be such a crowd again," she said as they were putting
+the room in order, "that was the first night."
+
+"Humph!" said that wise woman Susie with a significant toss of her
+head; "last night you said we mustn't expect anybody because it was the
+first night."
+
+Then "the firm" had a hearty laugh at Nettie's expense and set to work
+preparing for evening.
+
+I am not going to tell you the story of that summer and fall. It was
+beautiful; as any of the Deckers will tell you with eager eyes and
+voluble voice if you call on them, and start the subject.
+
+The business grew and grew, and exceeded their most sanguine
+expectations. Mr. Decker interested himself in it most heartily, and
+brought often an old acquaintance to get a cup of coffee. "Make it
+good and strong," he would say to Nettie in an earnest whisper. "He's
+thirsty, and I brought him here instead of going for beer. I wish the
+room was larger, and I'd get others to come."
+
+In time, and indeed in a very short space of time, this grew to be the
+crying need of the firm: "If we only had more room, and more dishes!"
+There was a certain long, low building which had once been used as a
+boarding-house for the factory hands, before that institution grew
+large and moved into new quarters, and which was not now in use. At
+this building Jerry and Nettie, and for that matter, Norm, looked with
+longing eyes. They named it "Our Rooms," and hardly ever passed that
+they did not suggest some improvement in it which could be easily
+made, and which would make it just the thing for their business. They
+knew just what sort of curtains they would have at the windows, just
+what furnishings in front and back rooms, just how many lamps would
+be needed. "We will have a hanging lamp over the centre table," said
+Jerry. "One of those new-fashioned things which shine and give a bright
+light, almost like gas; and lots of books and papers for the boys to
+read."
+
+"But where would we get the books and papers?" would Nettie say, with
+an anxious business face, as though the room, and the table, and the
+hanging lamp, were arranged for, and the last-mentioned articles all
+that were needed to complete the list.
+
+"Oh! they would gather, little by little. I know some people who would
+donate great piles of them if we had a place to put them. For that
+matter, as it is, father is going to send us some picture-papers, a
+great bundle of them; send them by express, and we must have a table to
+put them on."
+
+So the plans grew, but constantly they looked at the long, low building
+and said what a nice place it would be.
+
+One morning Jerry came across the yard with a grave face. "What do you
+think?" he said, the moment he caught sight of Nettie. "They have gone
+and rented our rooms for a horrid old saloon; whiskey in front, and
+gambling in the back part! Isn't it a shame that they have got ahead of
+us in that kind of way?"
+
+"Oh dear me!" said Nettie, drawing out each word to twice its usual
+length, and sitting down on a corner of the woodbox with hands clasped
+over the dish towel, and for the moment a look on her face as though
+all was lost.
+
+But it was the very same day that Jerry appeared again, his face
+beaming. This time it was hard to make Nettie hear, for Mrs. Decker
+was washing, and mingling with the rapid rub-a-dub of the clothes was
+the sizzle of ham in the spider, and the bubble of a kettle which was
+bent on boiling over, and making the half-distracted housekeeper all
+the trouble it could. Yet his news was too good to keep; and he shouted
+above the din: "I say, Nettie, the man has backed out! Our rooms are
+not rented, after all."
+
+"Goody!" said Nettie, and she smiled on the kettle in a way to make it
+think she did not care if everything in it boiled over on the floor;
+whereupon it calmed down, of course, and behaved itself.
+
+So the weeks passed, and the enterprise grew and flourished. I hope
+you remember Mrs. Speckle? Very early in the autumn she sent every
+one of her chicks out into the world to toil for themselves and began
+business. Each morning a good-sized, yellow-tinted, warm, beautiful
+egg lay in the nest waiting for Jerry; and when he came, Mrs. Speckle
+cackled the news to him in the most interested way.
+
+"She couldn't do better if she were a regularly constituted member of
+the firm with a share in the profits," said Jerry.
+
+The egg was daily carried to Mrs. Farley's, where there was an invalid
+daughter, who had a fancy for that warm, plump egg which came to her
+each morning, done up daintily in pink cotton, and laid in a box just
+large enough for it. But there came a morning which was a proud one
+to Nettie. Jerry had returned from Mrs. Farley's with news. "The sick
+daughter is going South; she has an auntie who is to spend the winter
+in Florida, so they have decided to send her. They start to-morrow
+morning. Mrs. Farley said they would take our eggs all the same, and
+she wished Miss Helen could have them; but somebody else would have to
+eat them for her."
+
+Then Nettie, beaming with pleasure, "Jerry, I wish you would tell Mrs.
+Farley that we can't spare them any more at present; I would have told
+you before, but I didn't want to take the egg from Miss Helen; I want
+to buy them now, every other morning, for mother and father; mother
+thinks there is nothing nicer than a fresh egg, and I know father will
+be pleased."
+
+What satisfaction was in Nettie's voice, what joy in her heart! Oh!
+they were poor, very poor, "miserably poor" Lorena Barstow called them,
+but they had already reached the point where Nettie felt justified in
+planning for a fresh egg apiece for father and mother, and knew that
+it could be paid for. So Mrs. Speckle began from that day to keep the
+results of her industry in the home circle, and grew more important
+because of that.
+
+Almost every day now brought surprises. One of the largest of them was
+connected with Susie Decker. That young woman from the very first had
+shown a commendable interest in everything pertaining to the business.
+She patiently did errands for it, in all sorts of weather, and was
+always ready to dust shelves, arrange cookies without eating so much as
+a bite, and even wipe teaspoons, a task which she used to think beneath
+her. "If you can't trust me with things that would smash," she used to
+say with scornful gravity, to Nettie, "then you can't expect me to be
+willing to wipe those tough spoons."
+
+But in these days, spoons were taken uncomplainingly. Susie had a
+business head, and was already learning to count pennies and add them
+to the five and ten cent pieces; and when Jerry said approvingly: "One
+of these days, she will be our treasurer," the faintest shadow of a
+blush would appear on Susie's face, but she always went on counting
+gravely, with an air of one who had not heard a word.
+
+On a certain stormy, windy day, one of November's worst, it was
+discovered late in the afternoon that the molasses jug was empty, and
+the boys had been promised some molasses candy that very evening.
+
+"What shall we do?" asked Nettie, looking perplexed, and standing jug
+in hand in the middle of the room. "Jerry won't be home in time to get
+it, and I can't leave those cakes to bake themselves; mother, you don't
+think you could see to them a little while till I run to the grocery,
+do you?"
+
+Mrs. Decker shook her head, but spoke sympathetically: "I'd do it in a
+minute, child, or I'd go for the molasses, but these shirts are very
+particular; I never had such fine ones to iron before, and the irons
+are just right, and if I should have to leave the bosoms at the wrong
+minute to look at the cakes, why, it would spoil the bosoms; and on the
+other hand, if I left the cakes and saved the bosoms, why, they would
+be spoiled."
+
+This seemed logical reasoning. Susie, perched on a high chair in front
+of the table, was counting a large pile of pennies, putting them in
+heaps of twenty-five cents each. She waited until her fourth heap was
+complete, then looked up. "Why don't you ask me to go?"
+
+"Sure enough!" said Nettie, laughing, "I'd 'ask' you in a minute if it
+didn't rain so hard; but it seems a pretty stormy day to send out a
+little chicken like you."
+
+"I'm not a chicken, and I'm not the leastest bit afraid of rain; I can
+go as well as not if you only think so."
+
+"I don't believe it will hurt her!" said Mrs. Decker, glancing
+doubtfully out at the sullen sky. "It doesn't rain so hard as it did,
+and she has such a nice thick sack now."
+
+It was nice, made of heavy waterproof cloth, with a lovely woolly
+trimming going all around it. Susie liked that sack almost better than
+anything else in the world. Her mother had bought it second-hand of a
+woman whose little girl had outgrown it; the mother had washed all day
+and ironed another day to pay for it, and felt the liveliest delight in
+seeing Susie in the pretty garment.
+
+The rain seemed to be quieting a little, so presently the young woman
+was robed in sack and waterproof bonnet with a cape, and started on her
+way.
+
+Half-way to the grocery she met Jerry hastening home from school with a
+bag of books slung across his shoulder.
+
+"Is it so late as that?" asked Susie in dismay. "Nettie thought you
+wouldn't be at home in a good while; the candy won't get done."
+
+"No, it is as early as this," he answered laughing; "we were dismissed
+an hour earlier than usual this afternoon. Where are you going? after
+molasses? See here, suppose you give me the jug and you take my books
+and scud home. There is a big storm coming on; I think the wind is
+going to blow, and I'm afraid it will twist you all up and pour the
+molasses over you. Then you'd be ever so sticky!"
+
+Susie laughed and exchanged not unwillingly the heavy jug for the
+books. There had been quite wind enough since she started, and if there
+was to be more, she had no mind to brave it.
+
+"If you hurry," called Jerry, "I think you'll get home before the next
+squall comes." So she hurried; but Jerry was mistaken. The squall came
+with all its force, and poor small Susie was twisted and whirled and
+lost her breath almost, and panted and struggled on, and was only too
+thankful that she hadn't the molasses jug.
+
+Nearly opposite the Farley home, their side door suddenly opened and a
+pleasant voice called: "Little girl, come in here, and wait until the
+shower is over; you will be wet to the skin."
+
+It is true Susie did not believe that her waterproof sack _could_ be
+wet through, but that dreadful wind so frightened her, twisting the
+trees as it did, that she was glad to obey the kind voice and rush into
+shelter.
+
+"Why, it is Nettie's sister, I do believe!" said Ermina Farley, helping
+her off with the dripping hood.
+
+"You dear little mouse, what sent you out in such a storm?"
+
+Miss Susie not liking the idea of being a mouse much more than she did
+being a chicken, answered with dignity, and becoming brevity.
+
+"Molasses candy!" said Mrs. Farley, laughing, yet with an undertone of
+disapproval in her voice which keen-minded Susie heard and felt, "I
+shouldn't think that was a necessity of life on such a day as this."
+
+"It is if you have promised it to some boys who don't ever have
+anything nice only what they get at our house; and who save their
+pennies that they spend on beer, and cider, and cigars to get it."
+
+Wise Susie, indignation in every word, yet well controlled, and aware
+before she finished her sentence that she was deeply interesting her
+audience! How they questioned her! What was this? Who did it? Who
+thought of it? When did they begin it? Who came? How did they get the
+money to buy their things? Susie, thoroughly posted, thoroughly in
+sympathy with the entire movement, calm, collected, keen far beyond her
+years, answered clearly and well. Plainly she saw that this lady in a
+silken gown was interested.
+
+"Well, if this isn't a revelation!" said Mrs. Farley at last. "A young
+men's Christian association not only, but an eating-house flourishing
+right in our midst and we knowing nothing about it. Did you know
+anything of it, daughter?"
+
+"No, ma'am," said Ermina. "But I knew that splendid Nettie was trying
+to do something for her brother; and that nice boy who used to bring
+eggs was helping her; it is just like them both. I don't believe there
+is a nicer girl in town than Nettie Decker."
+
+Mrs. Farley seemed unable to give up the subject. She asked many
+questions as to how long the boys stayed, and what they did all the
+time.
+
+Susie explained: "Well, they eat, you know; and Norm doesn't hurry
+them; he says they have to pitch the things down fast where they board,
+to keep them from freezing; and our room is warm, because we keep the
+kitchen door open, and the heat goes in; but we don't know what we
+shall do when the weather gets real cold; and after they have eaten all
+the things they can pay for, they look at the pictures. Jerry's father
+sends him picture papers, and Mr. Sherrill brings some, most every day.
+Miss Sherrill is coming Thanksgiving night to sing for them; and Nettie
+says if we only had an organ she would play beautiful music. We want
+to give them a treat for Thanksgiving; we mean to do it without any
+pay at all if we can; and father thinks we can, because he is working
+nights this week, and getting extra pay; and Jerry thinks there will
+be two chickens ready; and Nettie wishes we could have an organ for a
+little while, just for Norm, because he loves music so, but of course
+we can't."
+
+Long before this sentence was finished, Ermina and her mother had
+exchanged glances which Susie, being intent on her story, did not see.
+
+She was a wise little woman of business; what if Mrs. Farley should
+say: "Well, I will give you a chicken myself for the Thanksgiving time,
+and a whole peck of apples!" then indeed, Susie believed that their
+joy would be complete; for Nettie had said, if they could only afford
+three chickens she believed that with a lot of crust she could make
+chicken pie enough for them each to have a large piece, hot; not all
+the boys, of course, but the seven or eight who worked in Norm's shop
+and boarded at the dreary boarding-house; they would so like to give
+Norm a surprise for his birthday, and have a treat say at six o'clock
+for all of these; for this year Thanksgiving fell on Norm's birthday.
+The storm held up after a little, and Susie, trudging home, a trifle
+disgusted with Mrs. Farley because she said not a word about the peck
+of apples or the other chicken, was met by Jerry coming in search of
+her. The molasses was boiling over, he told her, and so was her mother,
+with anxiety lest the wind had taken her, Susie, up in a tree, and had
+forgotten to bring her down again. He hurried her home between the
+squalls, and Susie quietly resolved to say not a word about all the
+things she had told at the Farley home. What if Nettie should think
+she hadn't been womanly to talk so much about what they were doing! If
+there was one thing that this young woman had a horror of during these
+days, it was that Nettie would think she was not womanly. The desire,
+nay, the determination to be so, at all costs had well nigh cured her
+of her fits of rage and screaming, because in one of her calm moments
+Nettie had pointed out to her the fact that she never in her life heard
+a _woman_ scream like that. Susie being a logical person, argued the
+rest of the matter out for herself, and resolved to scream and stamp
+her foot no more.
+
+Great was the astonishment of the Decker family, next morning. Mrs.
+Farley herself came to call on them. She wanted some plain ironing done
+that afternoon. Yes, Mrs. Decker would do it and be glad to; it was a
+leisure afternoon with her. Mrs. Farley wanted something more! she
+wanted to know about the business in which Nettie and her young friend
+next door were engaged; and Susie listened breathlessly, for fear it
+would appear that she had told more than she ought. But Mrs. Farley
+kept her own counsel, only questioning Nettie closely, and at last
+she made a proposition that had well nigh been the ruin of the tin of
+cookies which Nettie was taking from the oven. She dropped the tin!
+
+"Did you burn you, child?" asked Mrs. Decker, rushing forward.
+
+"No, ma'am," said Nettie, laughing, and trying not to laugh, and
+wanting to cry, and being too amazed to do so. "But I was so surprised
+and so almost scared, that they dropped.
+
+"O Mrs. Farley, we have wanted that more than anything else in the
+world; ever since Mr. Sherrill saw how my brother Norman loved music,
+and said it might be the saving of him; Jerry and I have planned and
+planned, but we never thought of being able to do it for a long, long
+time."
+
+Yet all this joy was over an old, somewhat wheezy little house organ
+which stood in the second-story unused room of Mrs. Farley's house,
+and which she had threatened to send to the city auction rooms to get
+out of the way.
+
+She offered to lend it to Nettie for her "Rooms," and Nettie's
+gratitude was so great that the blood seemed inclined to leave her face
+entirely for a minute, then thought better of it and rolled over it in
+waves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE CROWNING WONDER.
+
+
+AND they did have the Thanksgiving supper!
+
+It seemed wonderful to Nettie, even then, and long afterwards the
+wonder grew, that so many things occurred about that time to help the
+scheme along. At first it was to be a very simple little affair; two of
+the boys, Rick for instance, and Alf, invited to come in an hour or so
+before the room was open for the evening, and have a little supper by
+themselves--a chicken, and possibly some cranberry sauce if she could
+compass it, though cranberries were very expensive at that season, and
+besides, they ate sugar in a way which was perfectly alarming! A pie
+of some sort she had quite set her heart on, but whether it would be
+pumpkin or not, depended on how they succeeded in saving up for extra
+milk. The circumstances of the Deckers were changing steadily, but
+when a man has tumbled to the foot of a hill, and lain there quite
+awhile, it is generally a slow process to get up and climb back to
+where he was before.
+
+Mr. Decker's wages were good, and in time he expected to be able to
+support his family in at least ordinary comfort; but when he came fully
+to his senses, he stood for awhile appalled before the number of things
+which had been sold to pay his bill at the saloon, and the number of
+things which in the meantime had worn out, and not been replaced by new
+ones; then the rent was two months back, and Job Smith had been all
+that stood between him and a home. There was a great deal to do if the
+Deckers were to get back to the place from which they began to roll
+down hill; so extra expenses for cranberries, or even milk, were not to
+be thought of, if they must be drawn from the family funds.
+
+The business of the firm was flourishing; but you must remember that
+the central feature of the enterprise was to keep prices very low,
+lower than beer and bad cigars, and the enterprise of the dealers in
+these things is so great, that if you are willing to put up with the
+meanest sorts you can always get them very low indeed. To compete with
+them, Jerry and Nettie had to study the most rigid economy to keep
+their shelves supplied, and even to sometimes "shut their eyes and make
+a reckless dash at apples or peanuts, regardless of expense." This was
+the way in which Jerry occasionally apologized for an extra quantity of
+these luxuries.
+
+Still, in the most interesting ways the Thanksgiving supper grew.
+Mrs. Decker secured within a week of the time, an unexpected ironing
+which she could do in two evenings, and she it was who proposed the
+wild scheme of having two chickens and having them hot, and stuffing
+them with bread crumbs as she used to do years ago, and having gravy
+and some baked potatoes. She agreed to furnish the extra potatoes,
+and a few turnips, just to make it feel like Thanksgiving. Nettie was
+astonished, but pleased. It would be more work, but what of that?
+Think of being able to make a real supper for Norm's birthday! Then
+Mrs. Smith at just the right moment had a present of two pumpkins from
+her country friends; as they could never make away with two pumpkins
+before they would spoil, of course the Deckers must take part of one,
+at least. About that time the minister bought a cow, and what did he
+do but come himself one night to know if Mrs. Decker had any use for
+skimmed milk; they were very fond of cream at their house, and skimmed
+milk gathered faster than they knew what to do with it.
+
+"Any use for skim milk!" Mrs. Decker could only repeat the words in
+a kind of ecstasy at her good luck, and she almost wondered that the
+yellow pumpkin standing behind the door in the closet did not laugh
+outright.
+
+But the crowning wonder came, after all, on the morning before the
+eventful day. Jake, the Farleys' man of all work, brought it in a
+basket which was large and closely covered, and very heavy looking. It
+was left at the door with Susie, who went to answer the knock, "For
+Miss Nettie." Susie repeated the name with a lingering tone as though
+she liked the sound of the unusual prefix. Then they gathered about the
+basket. A great solemn-looking turkey with a note in his mouth, which
+said: "A Thanksgiving token for Nettie, from her friend ERMINA FARLEY."
+
+A turkey in the Decker oven! Mr. Decker surveyed the great fellow in
+silence for a few minutes, then said impressively, "If we don't have a
+new cook stove before another Thanksgiving day comes around, my name is
+not Decker."
+
+Mrs. Job Smith left her pies half-made, and ran in, in a friendly
+way, to see the wonder; and at once remarked that he would exactly
+fit into their oven, and she wasn't going to cook their turkey till
+the day afterwards, because they had got to go to Job's uncle's for
+Thanksgiving; so that matter was settled. It was then that the Deckers
+decided to make a reckless plunge into society and invite every boy in
+Norm's shop to a three o'clock dinner, with turkey and cranberry sauce
+and pumpkin pie and turnip, and all the rest.
+
+What a day it was! They grew nearly wild in their efforts to keep all
+the secrets from Norm, and act as though nothing unusual was happening.
+Especially was this the case after the morning express brought a
+package for Nettie from her dear old home, with two mince pies, and a
+box of Auntie Marshall's doughnuts, and a bag of nuts, and as much as
+two pounds of the loveliest candy she ever saw; sent by the young man
+of the home who was clerk in a wholesale confectioner's. It took Mrs.
+Decker and Nettie not five minutes to resolve, looking curiously into
+each other's faces the while to see if they really had become insane,
+that they would have a regular dessert following the dinner!
+
+"It is only once a year," said Nettie apologetically.
+
+"It is only once in five years!" said Mrs. Decker solemnly. "I haven't
+had a Thanksgiving in five years, child; and I never expected to have
+another."
+
+Everybody was busy all day long. Mrs. Smith was in and out, helping as
+faithfully as though Norm was her boy, and Sarah Ann just gave herself
+up to the importance of the occasion, and did not go to her uncle's at
+all. "I can go there any time," she said good naturedly, "or no time;
+they always forget that we are alive till Thanksgiving Day, and then
+they ask us because they kind of think they've got to. Uncle Jed is
+a clerk, and his wife makes dresses for the folks on Belmont street,
+and they feel stuck up four feet above us; I'd rather eat cold pork
+and potatoes at home than to go there any day. I'm dreadful glad of an
+excuse that father thinks is worth giving."
+
+Susie was a young woman of importance that day. Nettie, who had
+discovered exactly how to manage her, gave her work to do which suited
+her ideas of what a grown person like herself ought to be about; and
+when she wanted the table cleared from the picture papers of the night
+before, instead of telling Miss Susie to fold them away, said, "What do
+you think, Susie, would it be best for us to fold these papers away in
+the closet for to-day, and have this table left clear for the nuts and
+the candies?"
+
+"Yes," said Susie, with her grown-up air, "I think it would; I'll
+attend to it." And she did it beautifully.
+
+"It is well we have no little bits of folks around," said Nettie, when
+the nuts were being cracked, "they would be tempted to eat some, and
+then I'm afraid we would not have enough to go around." And Susie,
+gravely assenting to this theory, arranged the nuts in Mrs. Smith's
+blue saucers, an equal number in each, and ate not one!
+
+Little Sate went with Jerry to give the invitations to the boys, and to
+charge them to keep the whole thing a profound secret from Norm; they
+came home by way of the Farley woods, and little Sate appeared at the
+door with her arms laden with such lovely branches of autumn leaves,
+that Nettie exclaimed in wild delight, and left her turnips half-peeled
+to help adorn the walls of the front room. This suggested the idea,
+and by three o'clock that room was a bower of beauty. Red and golden
+and lovely brown leaves mixed in with the evergreen tassels of the
+pines, with here and there pine cones, and red berries peeping out from
+everywhere. "You little darling," said Nettie, kissing Sate, "you have
+made a picture of it, like what they paint on canvas, only a thousand
+times lovelier."
+
+And Sate, looking on, with her wide sweet eyes aglow with feeling,
+fitted the picture well.
+
+So the feast was spread, and the astonished and hungry boys came,
+and feasted. And Norm, too astonished at first to take it in, began
+presently to understand that all this preparation and delight were in
+honor of his birthday! And though he said not a word, aloud, he kept up
+in his soul a steady line of thought; the centre of which was this:
+
+"I don't deserve it, that's a fact; there's mother doing everything for
+me, and Nettie working like a slave, and the children going without
+things to give me a treat. I'll be in a better fix to keep a birthday
+before it gets around again, see if I'm not!"
+
+His was not the only thinking which was done that day. Rick, merry
+enough all the afternoon, and enjoying his dinner as well as it was
+possible for a hungry fellow to do, nevertheless had a sober look on
+his face more than once, and said as he shook hands with Norm at night:
+"I'll tell you what it is, my boy, if I had your kind of a home, and
+folks, I'd be worth something in the world; I would, so. I ain't sure,
+between you and me, but I shall, anyhow; just for the sake of getting
+into such Thanksgiving houses once in awhile. By and by a fellow will
+have to carry himself pretty straight, or that sister of yours won't
+have nothing to do with him; I can see that in her eyes."
+
+Then he went home. And cold though his room was he sat down, even after
+he had pulled off his coat, as a memory of some thoughtful word of
+Nettie's came over him, and went all over it again; then he brought his
+hard hand down with a thud on the rickety table, on which he leaned and
+said: "As sure as you live, and breathe the breath of life, old fellow,
+you've got to turn over a new leaf; and you've got to begin to-night."
+
+It was less than a week after the Thanksgiving excitements that the
+town got itself roused over something which reached even to the
+children. Jerry came home from school with it, and came directly to
+Nettie, his cheeks aglow with the news. "There's to be the biggest
+kind of a time here next Thursday, Nettie; don't you think General
+McClintock is coming, to give a lecture, and they are going to give
+him a reception at Judge Bentley's and I don't know what all, and the
+schools are all going to dismiss and go down to the train in procession
+to meet him, and they are going to sing, _Hail to the Chief_, and the
+band is to play, _See, the conquering Hero comes_, and I don't know
+what isn't going to be done."
+
+"Who is General McClintock?" said ignorant Nettie, composedly drying
+her plate as though all the generals in the world were nothing to
+her. Then did Jerry come the nearest impatience that Nettie had ever
+seen in him; and he launched forth in such a wild praise of General
+McClintock and such an excited account of the things which he had done
+and said, and prevented, and pushed, that Nettie was half bewildered
+and delightfully excited when he paused for breath. Henceforth the talk
+of the town was General McClintock.
+
+"It is a wonder they asked him to speak on temperance," said Nettie,
+disdain in her voice; she had not a high opinion of the temperance
+enthusiasm of the town in which she lived.
+
+"They didn't," said Jerry. "He asked himself; they wanted him to
+talk about the war, or the tariff, or the great West, or some other
+stupid thing, but he said, 'No, sir! the great question of the day is
+temperance, and I shall speak on that, or nothing!'"
+
+"How do you happen to know so much about him?" Nettie questioned one
+day when Jerry was at his highest pitch of excitement.
+
+"Ho!" he said, almost in scorn, "I have known about him ever since I
+was born; everybody knows General McClintock." Then Nettie felt meek
+and ignorant.
+
+Nothing had ever so excited Jerry as the coming of the hero; and indeed
+the town generally seemed to have caught fire. General McClintock
+seemed to be the theme of every tongue. Connected with these days,
+Nettie had her perplexities and her sorrows. In the first place, Jerry
+was obstinately determined that she should join the procession with
+him to meet General McClintock. In vain she protested that she did not
+belong to the public schools. He did, he said, and that was enough.
+
+Then when Nettie urged and almost cried, he had another plan: "Well,
+then, we won't go as scholars. We'll go ahead, as private individuals;
+I'm only a kind of a scholar, anyhow, just holding on for a few weeks
+till my father comes; we'll go up there early and get a good place
+before the procession forms and see the whole of it. I know the marshal
+real well; he's a good friend of mine, and I know he will give us a
+place."
+
+It was of no use for Nettie to protest; to remind him that the girls
+would think she was putting herself forward, to say that she had
+nothing to wear to such a gathering. She might as well have talked to
+a stone for all the impression she made. She had never seen him so
+resolute to have his own way. He did not care what she wore, it made
+not the slightest difference to him what the girls said, and he _did_
+ask it of her as a kindness to him, and he should be hurt so that
+he could never get over it if she refused to go; he had never wanted
+anything so much in his life, and he _could_ not give it up. So Nettie,
+reluctant, sorrowful, promised, and cried over it in her room that
+night. She wanted to please Jerry, for his father was coming now in a
+few weeks perhaps, and Jerry would go away with him, and she should
+never see him again; and what in the world would she do without him?
+And here she cried harder than ever.
+
+Then came up that dreadful question of clothes; her one winter dress
+was too short and too narrow and a good deal worn. Auntie Marshall had
+thought last winter that it would hardly do for a church dress, and
+here it was still her best. There was no such thing as a new one for
+the present; for mother had not had anything in so long, she must be
+clothed, and Nettie was willing to wait; but she was not willing to
+take a conspicuous place on a public day and be stared at and talked
+about.
+
+However, Jerry continued merciless to the very last; nothing else would
+satisfy him. He hurried her in a breathless state down the hill to the
+platform, smiled and nodded to his friend the marshal, who nodded back
+in the most confidential manner, and perched them on the corner of the
+temporary platform, right behind the reception committee! It was every
+whit as disagreeable as Nettie had planned that it should be. Of course
+Lorena Barstow was among the leaders in the young people's procession,
+and of course she contrived to get enough to be heard, and to say in a
+most unnecessarily loud voice:
+
+"Do look at that Decker girl perched up there on the platform. If she
+doesn't contrive to make herself a laughing stock everywhere! Girls,
+look at her hat; she must have worn it ever since they came out of
+the ark. What business is she here, anyway? She doesn't belong to the
+schools?"
+
+There was much more in the same vein; much pushing and crowding, and
+laughing and hateful speeches about folks who crowded in where they
+didn't belong, and poor Nettie, the tears only kept back by force
+of will, looked in vain for sympathy into Jerry's fairly dancing
+eyes. What ailed the boy? She had never seen him so almost wild with
+eager excitement before. Judge Barstow and Dr. Lewis were both on
+the reception committee, of course, and under cover of this, their
+daughters wedged their way to the front, and whispered to the fathers.
+Loud whispers:
+
+"Papa, that ridiculous Decker girl and the little Irish boy with her
+ought not to be perched up there in that conspicuous place. She doesn't
+belong here, anyway; she isn't a scholar."
+
+Then Judge Barstow in good-humored tones to Jerry: "My boy, don't you
+think you would find it quite as pleasant down there among the others?
+This little girl doesn't want to be up here, I am sure; suppose you
+both go down and fall behind the procession? You can see the General
+when the carriage passes; it is to be thrown open so every one can see."
+
+Then the marshal: "If you please, Judge Barstow, it won't do for them
+to try to get through now. The crowd is so great they might be hurt;
+there is plenty of room where they stand. They will do no harm."
+
+_Now_ the tears must come from the indignant eyes. No, they shall not.
+Jerry doesn't even wink. He only laughs, in the highest good humor. Has
+Jerry gone wild with excitement? "It will all be over in two minutes,"
+explains Judge Barstow. "He wished to drive directly to his hotel, and
+have perfect quiet for two hours. He declined to be entertained at a
+private house, or to say a word at the depot. I suppose he is fatigued,
+and doesn't like to trust his voice to speak in the open air; so the
+committee are to shake hands with him as rapidly as possible, and show
+him to his carriage, and not wait on him for two hours. He has ordered
+a private dinner at the Keppler House."
+
+Suddenly there is the whistle of the train, the band plays _See, the
+conquering Hero comes!_ With the second strain the train comes to
+a halt, and a tall, broad-shouldered man with iron gray hair and a
+military air all about him steps from the platform amid the cheers
+of thousands. Now indeed there was some excuse for Lorena Barstow's
+loud exclamations of disapproval! There was Jerry, pushing his way
+among the throng, holding so firmly all the while to Nettie's hand
+that escape was impossible--pushing even past the reception committee,
+notwithstanding the detaining hand of Judge Barstow, who says,
+
+"See here, my boy, you are impudent, did you know it?"
+
+"I beg pardon," says Jerry respectfully, but he slips past him, just
+as General McClintock with courteous words is thanking the committee
+of reception, declining their pressing personal invitations, his eyes
+meantime roving over the crowd in search of something or somebody.
+Suddenly they melt with a tenderness which does not belong to the
+soldier, and the firm lips quiver as his voice says: "O my boy!" and
+Jerry the Irish boy flings himself into General McClintock's arms, and
+the world stands agape!
+
+Just a second, and his hand holds firmly to the sack which covers
+Nettie's startled frightened form, then he releases himself and turns
+to her: "Father, this is Nettie!"
+
+"Sure enough!" said the General, and his tall head bends and the
+mustached lips of the old soldier touch Nettie's cheek, and the
+cheering, hushed for a second, breaks forth afresh! It is a moment
+of the wildest excitement. Even then Nettie tries to break away and
+is held fast. And an officer of the day advances with the military
+salute and assures the General that his carriage is in waiting. And the
+General himself hands the bewildered Nettie in, with a friendly smile
+and an assuring: "Of course you must go. My boy planned this whole
+thing three months ago; and you and I must carry out his programme to
+the letter." Then Jerry springs like a cat into the carriage, and the
+scholars sing, _Hail to the Chief_, and the carriage, drawn by four
+horses, rolls down the road made wide for it by the homeguard in full
+uniform, and the General lifts his hat and bows right and left, and
+smiles on Nettie Decker sitting by his side, and almost devours with
+his hungry, fatherly eyes, her friend the Irish boy on the opposite
+seat. And the scholars almost forget to sing, in their great and
+ever-increasing amazement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE PAST AND PRESENT.
+
+
+NETTIE DECKER sat by the window of her father's house, looking out
+into the beautiful world; taking one last look at the flowers, and the
+trees, and the lawn, and all the beautiful and familiar things. Saying
+good-by to them, for in a brief two hours she was to leave them, and
+the old home.
+
+[Illustration: NETTIE DECKER HAS A SUITABLE DRESS AT LAST.]
+
+She is Nettie Decker still, but you will not be able to say that of her
+in another hour. She has changed somewhat since you last saw her in
+her blue gingham dress a trifle faded, or in her brown merino much the
+worse for time.
+
+To-day she is twenty years old. A lovely summer day, and her birthday
+is to be celebrated by making it her wedding day. The blue gingham has
+been long gone; so has the brown merino. The dress she wears to-day
+looks unlike either of them. It is white, all white; she has a
+suitable dress at last for a gala day. Soft, rich, quiet white silk.
+Long and full and pure; not a touch of trimming about it anywhere. Not
+even a flower yet, though she holds one in her hand in doubt whether
+she will add it to the whiteness.
+
+I think it will probably be pushed among the folds of soft lace which
+lie across her bosom; for that would please little Sate's artist eye,
+and Nettie likes to please Sate.
+
+While she sits there, watching the birds, and the flowers, and thinking
+of the strange sweet past, and the strange sweet present, there pass by
+almost underneath the window two young ladies; moving slowly, glancing
+up curiously at the open casement, from which Nettie draws a little
+back, that she may not be seen.
+
+"That is Nettie's room where the window is open," says one of the
+ladies. "It is a lovely room; I was in it once when the circle met
+there; it is furnished in blue, with creamy tints on the walls and
+furniture. I don't think I ever saw a prettier room. Nettie has
+excellent taste."
+
+"Do you say her brother is to be at the wedding?"
+
+"O, yes indeed! He came day before yesterday; he is a splendid-looking
+fellow, and smart; they say he is the finest student Yale has had
+for years. He graduated with the very highest honors, and now he is
+studying medicine. I heard Dr. Hobart say that he would be an honor to
+the profession. You ought to hear him play; I thought he would be a
+musician, he is so fond of music, and really he plays exquisitely on
+the organ. Last spring when he was home he played in church all day,
+and I heard ever so many people say they had never heard anything finer
+in any church."
+
+"I don't remember him. Was he in our set?"
+
+"O no! he wasn't in any set when you were here. Why, Irene Lewis, you
+must remember the Deckers! They weren't in any set."
+
+"Oh! I remember them, of course; don't you know what fun we used to
+make of Nettie? Didn't we call her Nan? I remember she always wore an
+old blue and white gingham to Sunday-school."
+
+"That was years ago; she dresses beautifully now, and in exquisite
+taste. She must make a lovely bride. I should like to get a glimpse of
+her."
+
+"The McClintocks are very rich, I have been told."
+
+"Oh! immensely so; and they say General McClintock just idolizes
+Nettie. I don't wonder at that; she is a perfectly lovely girl."
+
+"Seems to me, Lorena, my dear, about the time I left this part of the
+world you did not think so much of her as you do now. I remember you
+used to make all sorts of fun of her, and real hateful speeches, as
+schoolgirls will, you know. I have a distinct recollection of a flower
+party where she was, and my conscience, I remember, troubled me at the
+time for saying so many disagreeable things about her that afternoon;
+but I recollect I comforted myself with the thought that you were much
+worse than I. You used to lead off, in those days, you know."
+
+"Oh! I remember; I was a perfect little idiot in those days. Yes, I was
+disagreeable enough to Nettie Decker; if she hadn't been a real sweet
+girl she would never have forgotten it; but I don't believe she ever
+thinks of it, and really she is so utterly changed, and all the family
+are, that I hardly ever remember her as the same girl."
+
+"What became of that little Irish boy she used to be so fond
+of--Jerry, his name was?"
+
+"Now, Irene Lewis! you don't mean to tell me you have never heard about
+him! Well, you have been out of the world, sure enough."
+
+"I have never heard a word of him from the time I went with Uncle
+Lawrence out West. Father moved in the spring, you know, so instead of
+my coming back early in the spring as I expected, I never came until
+now? What about Jerry? Did he distinguish himself in any way? I always
+thought him a fine-looking boy."
+
+"That is too funny that you shouldn't know! Why, the Irish boy, Jerry,
+as you call him, is the Gerald McClintock whom Nettie Decker is to
+marry at twelve o'clock to-day."
+
+"Gerald McClintock! How can that be? That boy's name was Jerry Mack."
+
+"Indeed it wasn't. We were all deceived in that boy. It does seem so
+strange that you have never heard the story! Why, you see, he was
+General McClintock's son all the time."
+
+"Why did he pretend he was somebody else?"
+
+"He didn't pretend; or at least I heard he said he didn't begin it.
+It seems that Mrs. Smith, the car-man's wife, you know, used to live
+in General McClintock's family before his wife died; and Job Smith
+lived there as coachman. When they married, General McClintock broke
+up housekeeping, and went South with his family. Then Mrs. McClintock
+died, and the General and this one boy boarded in New York, and Gerald
+attended school. In the spring the General was called to California
+on some important law business--you know he is a celebrated lawyer,
+and they say his son is going to be even more brilliant than his
+father--well, the father had to go, and the boy made him promise that
+he might spend the summer vacation with Mrs. Smith out here. The
+McClintocks had been very fond of her and her husband and trusted them
+both; so the General agreed to it, thinking he would be back long
+before the vacation closed.
+
+"But he was delayed by one thing and another, and the boy coaxed to
+stay on, and study in the public school here; he was a pupil in Whately
+Institute at home. Imagine him taking up with our common schools! so he
+stayed until the first of December, and then his father came.
+
+"Such a time as that was! You see we all knew of General McClintock, of
+course, and when it was found we could get him to lecture, the people
+nearly went wild over it. We couldn't understand why we should have
+such good fortune, when we knew ever so many places--large cities--had
+been refused; but it was all explained after he came.
+
+"It was a beautiful day when he came; all the schools were closed,
+and we formed a procession and marched to the depot, and the band was
+there, and great crowds. I remember as though it were yesterday how
+astonished we were to see Nettie Decker and that boy in a conspicuous
+place on the corner of the platform. Nettie had on her old brown
+merino, and looked so queer and seemed so out of place, that I went
+and spoke to father about it, and he advised them to go down and join
+the procession; but it seems the marshal knew what he was about, and
+objected to their moving. Then the train came, and there was a great
+excitement, and in the midst of it, the General almost took that boy
+Jerry in his arms, and kissed and kissed him! Then he kissed Nettie
+Decker, and while we stood wondering what on earth it all meant, they
+all three entered an elegant carriage drawn by four horses, and were
+carried to the Keppler House.
+
+"They had an elegant private dinner, they three; and in fact all the
+time the General was here, he kept Nettie Decker with them; he treated
+her more like a daughter than a stranger. I don't think there was ever
+such an excitement in this town about anything as we had at that time;
+the circumstances were so peculiar, you know."
+
+"But I don't understand it, yet. Why did he call himself Jerry Mack?
+What was his object in deceiving us all?"
+
+"He hadn't the slightest intention of doing so. I heard he said such
+a thought never entered his mind until we began it. It seems when
+he was a little bit of a fellow he tried to speak his name, Gerald
+McClintock, and the nearest he could approach to it, was, Jerry Mack.
+Of course they thought that was cunning, and it grew to be his pet
+name; so before they knew it, the servants and all his boy friends
+called him so, all the time. When he came here Mrs. Smith and her
+husband naturally used the old name; then somebody, I'm sure I don't
+know who, started the story that he was an Irish boy working at the
+Smiths for his board; and it seems he heard of it, and it amused
+him so much he decided to let people think so if they wanted to; he
+coaxed the Smiths not to tell who he was, or why he was here; and they
+so nearly worshipped him, that if he had asked them to say he was a
+North American Indian I believe they would have done it. It seems he
+liked Nettie Decker from the first, and was annoyed because she wasn't
+invited in our set. But I am sure I don't know how we were to blame;
+she had nothing to wear, and how were we to know that she was a very
+smart girl, and real sweet and good? The Deckers were very poor, and
+Mr. Decker drank, you know, and Norm was sort of a loafer, and we
+thought they were real low people."
+
+"I remember Ermina Farley was friendly with Nettie, and with the boy,
+too."
+
+"O yes, Ermina was always peculiar; she is yet. I have always thought
+that perhaps Ermina knew something about the McClintocks, but she says
+she didn't. I heard her say the other day that somebody told her he was
+an Irish boy, whose father had run away and left him; and the Smiths
+gave him a home out of pity; and she supposed of course it was so, and
+was sorry for him. Then she always thought he was handsome, and smart;
+well, so did I, I must say."
+
+"I wonder who started that absurd story about his father deserting him?"
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure; somebody imagined it was so, I suppose, and
+spoke of it; such things spread, you know, nobody seems to understand
+quite how."
+
+"Well, as I remember things, Jerry--I shall always call him that name,
+I don't believe I could remember to say Mr. McClintock if I should
+meet him now--as I remember him, he seemed to be as poor as Nettie; he
+dressed very well, but not as a gentleman's son, and he seemed to be
+contriving ways to earn little bits of money. Don't you remember that
+old hen and chickens he bought? And he used to go to the Farleys every
+morning with a fresh egg for Helen; sold it, you know, for I was there
+one morning when Mrs. Farley paid him."
+
+"I know it; he was always contriving ways to earn money; why, Irene,
+don't you remember his selling fish to Ermina Farley that day when we
+were talking down by the pond? I have always thought he heard more than
+we imagined he did, that day; I don't clearly remember what we said,
+but I know we were running on about Nettie Decker and about Jerry; I
+used to sort of dislike them both, because Ermina Farley was always
+trying to push them forward.
+
+"I would give something to know exactly what we did say that day. For
+awhile I did not like to meet any of the McClintocks; it always seemed
+to me as though they were thinking about that time. But they have been
+perfectly polite and cordial to me, always; and Nettie Decker is a
+perfect lady. But I know all about the poverty. It seems the boy Jerry
+had been very fond of giving away money, and books, and all sorts of
+things to people whom he thought needed them; and his father began to
+be afraid he would have no knowledge of the value of money, and would
+give carelessly, you know, just because he felt like it. So the General
+had a long talk with him, and made an arrangement that while he was
+gone West, Jerry should have nothing to give away but what he earned.
+He might earn as much as he liked, or could, and give it all away if he
+chose; but not a penny besides, and he was not to appeal to his father
+to help anybody in any way whatever. Of course the father was to pay
+all his bills for necessary things--they say he paid a splendid price
+to the Smiths for taking care of him. Poor Mrs. Smith cried when he
+went away, as though he had been her own child. Well, of course that
+crippled him, in his pocket money, but they say his father was very
+much pleased to find how many schemes he had started for earning money.
+That plan about the business was his from beginning to end, and just
+see what it has grown to!"
+
+"What? I don't know; remember, I only came night before last, and
+haven't heard anything about the town since the day I left it."
+
+"Why, the Norman House, the most elegant hotel in town, is the
+outgrowth of that enterprise begun in the Decker's front room! Mr.
+Decker owns the whole thing, now, and manages it splendidly. His
+wife is a perfect genius, they say, about managing. She oversees the
+housekeeping herself, and the cooking is perfect they say. General
+McClintock was so pleased with the beginning, that he bought that
+long low building on Smith street that first time he was here, and
+fitted it up for Norman and Nettie to run. He carried his son away
+with him, of course, but they stayed long enough to see that matter
+fairly under way. The Norman House is managed on the same general
+principles; strictly temperance, of course. The General is as great
+a fanatic about that as the Deckers are, and the prices are very
+low--lower than other first-class houses, while the table is better,
+and the rooms are beautifully furnished. They say it is because Mrs.
+Decker is such an excellent manager that they can afford things at
+such low prices. Then, besides, there is a lunch room for young men,
+where they can get excellent things for just what they cost; that is
+a sort of benevolence. General McClintock devotes a certain amount to
+it each year; and there is a splendid young man in charge of the room;
+you saw him once, Rick Walker, his name is. He used to be considered a
+sort of hard boy, but there isn't a more respected young man in town
+than he. He is book-keeper at the Norman House, and has the oversight
+of this Home Dining Room. You ought to go in there; it is very nicely
+furnished, and they have flowers, plants, you know, and birds, and a
+fountain, and pictures on the walls, and for fifteen cents you can get
+an excellent dinner. Everybody likes Rick Walker; they say he has
+a great influence over the boys in town, almost as great as Norman
+Decker; _he_ used to be in charge of it all, before he went to college."
+
+"Still, I shouldn't think the McClintocks would have liked Nettie
+Decker to be in quite so public a place," interrupted her listener.
+"Oh! she wasn't public; why, she went to New York to a private school
+the very next winter after the General came home. She boarded with
+them; the General's sister came East with him, and was the lady of the
+house; then he sent her to Wellesley, you know. Didn't you know that?
+She graduated at Wellesley a year ago. Yes, the McClintocks educated
+her, or began it; her father has done so well that I suppose he hasn't
+needed their help lately. He is a master builder, you know, and keeps
+at his business, and owns and manages this hotel, besides. Oh! they are
+well off; you ought to see Mrs. Decker. She is a very pretty woman,
+and a real lady; they say Nettie and Norman are so proud of her! What
+was I telling you? Oh! about the room; they have a library connected
+with it, and a reading room, and everything complete; it is such a
+nice thing for our young men. A great many wealthy gentlemen contribute
+to the library. There is a little alcove at the further end of the
+reading room, where they keep cake and lemonade, and nuts and little
+things of all sorts. They are very cheap, but the boys can't get any
+cigars there; I'm so glad of that. The Norman House is in very great
+favor--quite the fashion, and it makes such a difference with the boys
+who are just beginning to imagine themselves young men, and who want
+to be manly, to have an elegant place like that frown on all such
+things. My brother Dick, you remember him? He was a little fellow when
+you lived here--he went into the Norman House one day and called for a
+cigar; he was just beginning to smoke, and I suppose he did it because
+he thought it would sound manly. It was in the spring when Norman was
+at home on vacation, and it seems he expressed so much astonishment
+that Dick was quite ashamed; I don't think he has smoked a cigar since."
+
+"The Deckers seem to be quite a centre of interest in town."
+
+"Well, they are. They are a sort of exceptional family someway;
+their experience has been so romantic. Mr. Decker has become such
+a nice man; Deacon Decker, he is, a prominent man in the church,
+and everywhere. Oh! do you remember those two cunning little girls?
+I always thought they were sweet. Susie is a perfect lady; she is
+going with Nettie and her husband to Washington; but little Sate is
+a beauty. They say she is going to be a poet and an artist, and she
+looks almost like an angel. General McClintock admires her very much;
+he says she shall have the finest art teachers in Europe. I never saw
+a family come up as they did, from nothing, you may say. But then it
+was all owing to that fortunate accident of being friends with Gerald
+McClintock, and having the Farleys interested in them. Did I tell you
+Norman was engaged to Ermina Farley? O yes! they will marry as soon
+as he graduates from the medical college, and then he will take her
+abroad and take a post graduate course in medicine there. I suppose
+they will take Sate with them then. They say that is the plan. No, I
+certainly never saw anything like their success in life. Mrs. Smith
+doesn't believe in luck, you know, nor much in money, though since her
+Job has a position in the Norman House that pays better than carting,
+they have built an addition to their house, and, Sarah Ann says, "live
+like folks." She is housekeeper at the Norman House--Mrs. Decker's
+right-hand woman. Mrs. Smith says the Lord had a great deal to do with
+the Decker family; that Nettie came home resolved to be faithful to
+Him, and to trust Him to save her father and brother, and so He did
+it, of course. It seems she and Jerry promised each other to work for
+Norman and the father in every possible way until they were converted;
+and they did. I must say I think they are real wonderful Christians,
+all of them. I like to hear Mr. Decker pray better than almost any
+other man in our meeting; and as for Norman, he leads a meeting
+beautifully. They say Mr. Sherrill thought at first that he ought to
+preach; but now he says he is reconciled; there is greater need for
+Christian physicians than for ministers. Mr. Sherrill has always been
+great friends with all the Deckers; you remember he was, from the
+first. Norman studied with him all the time he was managing that first
+little bit of a restaurant in the square room of the old Decker house.
+They tore down that house last month, to make room for a carriage drive
+around the back of their new house, and they say Nettie cried when the
+square room was torn up.
+
+"She has some of the quaintest furniture! Sofas, she calls them, made
+out of boxes; and a queer old-fashioned hour-glass stand, and a barrel
+chair, which have been sent on with all her elegant things, to New
+York; she is going to furnish a room for Gerald and her with them; he
+made them, it seems, when they began that queer scheme. Who would have
+supposed it could grow as it did? It really seems as though the Lord
+must have had a good deal to do with it, doesn't it? I tell you, Irene,
+it is wonderful how many young men they have helped save, those two.
+It seems a pity sometimes that they could not have told us girls what
+they were about and let us help; but then, I don't know as we would
+have helped if we had understood; I used to be such a perfect little
+idiot then! Well, it was Nettie Decker got hold of me at last. Norman
+signed the pledge that night when General McClintock lectured here, and
+during the winter he was converted; but it was two years after that
+before I made up my mind. I was miserable all that time, too; because I
+knew I was doing wrong. And I didn't treat Nettie wonderfully well any
+of the time; but when she came to me with her eyes shining with tears,
+and said she had been praying for me ever since that day of the flower
+party, I just broke down.
+
+"O Irene, there's the carriage with the bride and groom and Norman and
+Ermina. Doesn't the bride look lovely! I wish they had had a public
+wedding and let us all see her! But they say General McClintock thinks
+weddings ought to be very private. Never mind, we will see her at the
+reception next week; but then, she won't be Nettie Decker; we shall
+have to say good-by to her."
+
+And Miss Lorena Barstow stood still in the street, and shaded her eyes
+from the sunlight to watch the bridal party as the carriage wound
+around the square, looking her last with tender, loving eyes, upon
+Nettie Decker.
+
+
+
+
+CHOICE BOOKS
+
+FOR READERS OF ALL AGES
+
+
+
+
+Pansy Books.
+
+
+=The Pansy= for 1888. With colored frontispiece. Edited by Pansy.
+
+More than 400 pages of reading and pictures for children of eight to
+fifteen years in various lines of interest. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+
+=Pansy Sunday Book= for 1889. With colored frontispiece. Edited by
+Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+Just the thing for children on Sunday afternoon, when the whole family
+are gathered in the home to exchange helpful thought and gain new
+courage for future work and study which the tone and excellence of
+these tales impart.
+
+
+=Pansy's Story Book.= By Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+Made up largely of Pansy's charming stories with an occasional sketch
+or poem by some other well-known children's author to give variety.
+
+
+=Mother's Boys and Girls.= By Pansy. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+A book full of stories for boys and girls, most of them short, so all
+the more of them. Easy words and plenty of pictures.
+
+
+=Pansy Token= (A); or An Hour with Miss Streator. For Sunday School
+teachers. 24mo, paper, 15 cts.
+
+
+=Young Folks Stories of American History and Home Life.= Edited by
+Pansy. Quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.
+
+Sketches, tales and pictures on New-World subjects.
+
+
+=Young Folks Stories of Foreign Lands.= Edited by Pansy. First Series,
+quarto, cover in colors, 75 cts.
+
+Sketches, tales and pictures on Old-World subjects.
+
+
+=Stories and Pictures from the Life of Jesus.= By Pansy. 12mo, boards,
+50 cts.
+
+The life of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels simplified and
+unified for children.
+
+
+=A Christmas Time.= By Pansy, 12mo, boards, 15 cts.
+
+A Christmas story full of Christmas trees and sleigh-rides. Its lesson
+is the joy to be got in helping others.
+
+
+
+
+Travel and History for Young Folks.
+
+
+=Story of the American Indian (The).= By Elbridge S. Brooks. 8vo,
+cloth, 2.50.
+
+"A thorough compendium of the archaeology, history, present standing
+and outlook of our nation's wards.... We commend it as the best and
+most comprehensive book on the Indian for general reading known to
+us."--_Literary World._
+
+
+=Story of the American Sailor (The).= By Elbridge S. Brooks. Octavo,
+cloth, 2.50.
+
+The first consecutive narrative yet attempted, sketching the rise
+and development of the American seaman on board merchant vessel and
+man-of-war.
+
+
+=Ned Harwood's Visit to Jerusalem.= By Mrs. S. G. Knight. Quarto, 1.25.
+
+Travel in the Holy Land. The manuscript was approved by Rev. Selah
+Merrill, for many years U. S. Consul at Jerusalem. The strictest
+accuracy has thus been secured without impairing the interest of the
+story.
+
+
+=Out and About.= By Kate Tannatt Woods. Quarto, boards, 1.25.
+
+Cape Cod to the Golden Gate with a lot of young folks along, and plenty
+of yarns by the way.
+
+
+=Sights Worth Seeing.= By those who saw them. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
+
+Eleven descriptive articles by such writers as Margaret Sidney, Amanda
+B. Harris, Annie Sawyer Downs, Frank T. Merrill and Rose Kingsley.
+Copiously and beautifully illustrated.
+
+
+=Adventures of the Early Discoverers.= By Frances A. Humphrey. 4to,
+cloth, 1.00.
+
+Real history written and pictured for readers both sides of ten years
+old. It begins with the mythology of discovery and comes down to the
+sixteenth and seventeenth century.
+
+
+=The Golden West=: as Seen by the Ridgway Club. By Margaret Sidney.
+Quarto, boards, 1.75.
+
+Description of a trip through Southern California taken by Mr. and
+Mrs. Ridgway and their children. The careful observations and the fine
+illustrations make it a treasure for boys and girls.
+
+
+=Days and Nights in the Tropics.= By Felix L. Oswald. Quarto, boards,
+1.25.
+
+The collector of curiosities for the Brazilian museum goes on his quest
+with his eyes open. A book of adventures and hunters' yarns.
+
+
+
+
+Illustrated Stories for Young Folks.
+
+
+=Young Folks' Cyclopedia of Stories.= Quarto, cloth, 3.00.
+
+Contains in one large book the following stories with many
+illustrations: Five Little Peppers, Two Young Homesteaders, Royal
+Lowrie's Last Year at St. Olaves, The Dogberry Bunch, Young Rick, Nan
+the New-Fashioned Girl, Good-for-Nothing Polly and The Cooking Club of
+Tu-Whit Hollow.
+
+
+=What the Seven Did=; or, the Doings of the Wordsworth Club. By
+Margaret Sidney. Quarto, boards, 1.75.
+
+The Seven are little girl neighbors who meet once a week at their
+several homes. They helped others and improved themselves.
+
+
+=Me and My Dolls.= By L. T. Meade. Quarto, 50 cts.
+
+A family history. Some of the dolls have had queer adventures. Twelve
+full-page illustrations by Margaret Johnson.
+
+
+=Little Wanderers in Bo-Peep's World.= Quarto, boards, double
+lithograph covers, 50 cts.
+
+
+=Polly and the Children.= By Margaret Sidney. Boards, quarto, 50 cts.
+
+The story of a funny parrot and two charming children. The parrot has
+surprising adventures at the children's party and wears a medal after
+the fire.
+
+
+=Five Little Peppers.= By Margaret Sidney. 12mo, 1.50.
+
+Story of five little children of a fond, faithful and capable "mamsie."
+Full of young life and family talk.
+
+
+=Seal Series.= 10 vols., boards, double lithographed covers, quarto.
+
+Rocky Fork, Old Caravan Days, The Dogberry Bunch, by Mary H.
+Catherwood; The Story of Honor Bright and Royal Lowrie's Last Year at
+St. Olaves, by Charles R. Talbot; Their Club and Ours, by John Preston
+True; From the Hudson to the Neva, by David Ker; The Silver City, by
+Fred A. Ober; Two Young Homesteaders, by Theodora Jenness; The Cooking
+Club of Tu-Whit Hollow, by Ella Farman.
+
+
+=Cats' Arabian Nights.= By Abby Morton Diaz. Quarto, cloth, 1.75;
+boards, 1.25.
+
+The wonderful cat story of cat stories told by Pussyanita that saved
+the lives of all the cats.
+
+
+
+
+Natural History.
+
+
+=Stories and Pictures of Wild Animals.= By Anna F. Burnham. Quarto,
+boards, 75 cts.
+
+Big letters, big pictures and easy stories of elephants, lions, tigers,
+lynxes, jaguars, bears and many others.
+
+
+=Life and Habits of Wild Animals.= Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
+
+The very best book young folks can have if they are at all interested
+in Natural History. If they are not yet interested it will make them
+so. Illustrated from designs by Joseph Wolf.
+
+
+=Children's Out-Door Neighbors.= By Mrs. A. E. Andersen-Maskell. 3
+volumes, 12mo, cloth, each 1.00.
+
+Three instructive and interesting books: Children with Animals,
+Children with Birds, Children with Fishes. The author has the happy
+faculty of interesting boys and girls in the wonderful neighbors around
+them and that without introducing anything which is not borne out by
+the knowledge of learned men.
+
+
+=Some Animal Pets.= By Mrs. Oliver Howard. Quarto, boards, 35 cts.
+
+The experiences of a Colorado family with young, wild and tame animals.
+It is one of the pleasantest animal books we have met in many a day.
+Well thought, well written, well pictured, the book itself, apart from
+its contents, is attractive. Full page pictures.
+
+
+=Tiny Folk In Red and Black.= Quarto, boards, 35 cts.
+
+The tiny folk are ants and they make as interesting a study as human
+folk--perhaps more interesting in the opinion of some. The book gives a
+full and graphic description of their many wise and curious ways--how
+they work, how they harvest their grain, how they milk their cows, etc.
+It will teach the children to keep eyes and ears open.
+
+
+=My Land and Water Friends.= By Mary E. Bamford. Seventy illustrations
+by Bridgman. Quarto, cloth, 1.50.
+
+The frog opens the book with a "talk" about himself, in the course
+of which he tells us all about the changes through which he passes
+before he arrives at perfect froghood. Then the grasshopper talks
+and is followed by others, each giving his view of life from his own
+individual standpoint.
+
+
+
+
+Young Folks' Illustrated Quartos.
+
+
+=Wide Awake Volume Z.= Quarto, boards, 1.75.
+
+Good literature and art have been put into this volume. Henry Bacon's
+paper about Rosa Bonheur, the great painter of horses and lions, and
+Steffeck's painting of Queen Louise with Kaiser William would do credit
+to any Art publication.
+
+
+=Chit Chat for Boys and Girls.= Quarto, boards, 75 cts.
+
+A volume of selected pieces upon every conceivable subject. As a
+distinctive feature it devotes considerable space to Home Life and
+Sports and Pastimes.
+
+
+=Good Cheer for Boys and Girls.=
+
+Short stories, sketches, poems, bits of history, biography and natural
+history.
+
+
+=Our Little Men and Women for 1888.= Quarto, boards, 1.50.
+
+No boys and girls who have this book can be ignorant beyond their years
+of history, natural history, foreign sights or the good times of other
+boys and girls.
+
+
+=Babyland for 1888.= Quarto, boards, 75 cts.
+
+Finger-plays, cricket stories, Tales told by a Cat and scores of
+jingles and pictures. Large print and easy words. Colored frontispiece.
+
+
+=Kings and Queens at Home.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto, boards, 50
+cts.
+
+Short-story accounts of living royal personages.
+
+
+=Queen Victoria at Home.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto, boards, 50
+cts.
+
+Pen picture of a noble woman. It will aid in educating the heart by
+presenting the domestic side of the queen's character.
+
+
+=Stories about Favorite Authors.= By Frances A. Humphrey. Quarto
+boards, 50 cts.
+
+Little literature lessons for little boys and girls.
+
+
+=Child Lore.= Edited by Clara Doty Bates. Quarto, cloth, tinted edges,
+2.25; boards, 1.50.
+
+More than 50,000 copies sold. The most successful quarto for children.
+
+
+
+
+Helpful Books for Young Folks.
+
+
+=Danger Signals.= By Rev. F. E. Clark, President of the United Society
+of Christian Endeavor. 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.
+
+The enemies of youth from the business man's standpoint. The substance
+of a series of addresses delivered two or three years ago in one of the
+Boston churches.
+
+
+=Marion Harland's Cookery for Beginners.= 12mo, vellum cloth, 75 cts.
+
+The untrained housekeeper needs such directions as will not confuse
+and discourage her. Marion Harland makes her book simple and practical
+enough to meet this demand.
+
+
+=Bible Stories.= By Laurie Loring. 4to, boards, 35 cts.
+
+Very short stories with pictures. The Creation, Noah and the Dove,
+Samuel, Joseph, Elijah, the Christ Child, the Good Shepherd, Peter, etc.
+
+
+=The Magic Pear.= Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75 cts.
+
+Twelve outline drawing lessons with directions for the amusement of
+little folks. They are genuine pencil puzzles for untaught fingers. A
+pear gives shape to a dozen animal pictures.
+
+
+=What O'Clock Jingles.= By Margaret Johnson. Oblong, 8vo, boards, 75
+cts.
+
+Twelve little counting lessons. Pretty rhymes for small children.
+Twenty-seven artistic illustrations by the author.
+
+
+=Ways for Boys to Make and Do Things.= 60 cts.
+
+Eight papers by as many different authors, on subjects that interest
+boys. A book to delight active boys and to inspire lazy ones.
+
+
+=Our Young Folks at Home.= 4to, boards, 1.00.
+
+A collection of illustrated prose stories by American authors and
+artists. It is sure to make friends among children of all ages. Colored
+frontispiece.
+
+
+=Peep of Day Series.= 3 vols., 1.20 each.
+
+Peep of Day, Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept. Sermonettes for the
+children, so cleverly preached that the children will not grow sleepy.
+
+
+=Home Primer.= Boards, square, 8vo, 50 cts.
+
+A book for the little ones to learn to read in before they are old
+enough to be sent off to school. 100 illustrations.
+
+
+MONTEAGLE. By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price 75 cents. Both
+girls and boys will find this story of Pansy's pleasant and profitable
+reading. Dilly West is a character whom the first will find it an
+excellent thing to intimate, and boys will find in Hart Hammond a
+noble, manly, fellow who walks for a time dangerously near temptation,
+but escapes through providential influences, not the least of which
+is the steady devotion to duty of the young girl, who becomes an
+unconscious power of good.
+
+
+A DOZEN OF THEM. By Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price 60 cents.
+A Sunday-school story, written in Pansy's best vein, and having for its
+hero a twelve-year-old boy who has been thrown upon the world by the
+death of his parents, and who has no one left to look after him but a
+sister a little older, whose time is fully occupied in the milliner's
+shop where she is employed. Joe, for that is the boy's name, finds a
+place to work at a farmhouse where there is a small private school.
+His sister makes him promise to learn by heart a verse of Scripture
+every month. It is a task at first, but he is a boy of his word, and he
+fulfills his promise, with what results the reader of the story will
+find out. It is an excellent book for the Sunday-school.
+
+
+AT HOME AND ABROAD. Stories from _The Pansy_ Boston: D. Lothrop
+Company. Price, $1.00. A score of short stories which originally
+appeared in the delightful magazine, _The Pansy_, have been here
+brought together in collected form with the illustrations which
+originally accompanied them. They are from the pens of various authors,
+and are bright, instructive and entertaining.
+
+
+ABOUT GIANTS. By Isabel Smithson. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price
+60 cents. In this little volume Miss Smithson has gathered together
+many curious and interesting facts relating to real giants, or people
+who have grown to an extraordinary size. She does not believe that
+there was ever a race of giants, but that those who are so-called are
+exceptional cases, due to some freak of nature. Among those described
+are Cutter, the Irish giant, who was eight feet tall, Tony Payne, whose
+height exceeded seven feet, and Chang, the Chinese giant, who was on
+exhibition in this country a few years ago. The volume contains not
+only accounts of giants, but also of dwarfs, and is illustrated.
+
+
+AMERICAN AUTHORS. By Amanda B. Harris. Boston: D. Lothrop Company.
+Price $1.00. This is one of the books we can heartily commend to
+young readers, not only for its interest, but for the information
+it contains. All lovers of books have a natural curiosity to know
+something about their writers, and the better the books, the keener
+the curiosity. Miss Harris has written the various chapters of the
+volume with a full appreciation of this fact. She tells us about the
+earlier group of American writers, Irving, Cooper, Prescott, Emerson,
+and Hawthorne, all of whom are gone, and also of some of those who
+came later, among them the Cary sisters, Thoreau, Lowell, Helen Hunt,
+Donald G. Mitchell and others. Miss Harris has a happy way of imparting
+information, and the boys and girls into whose hands this little book
+may fall will find it pleasant reading.
+
+
+TILTING AT WINDMILLS: A Story of the Blue Grass Country. By Emma M.
+Connelly. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. 12mo, $1.50.
+
+Not since the days of "A Fool's Errand" has so strong and so
+characteristic a "border novel" been brought to the attention of the
+public as is now presented by Miss Connelly in this book which she so
+aptly terms "Tilting at Windmills." Indeed, it is questionable whether
+Judge Tourgee's famous book touched so deftly and yet so practically
+the real phases of the reconstruction period and the interminable
+antagonisms of race and section.
+
+The self-sufficient Boston man, a capital fellow at heart, but tinged
+with the traditions and environments of his Puritan ancestry and
+conditions, coming into his strange heritage in Kentucky at the close
+of the civil war, seeks to change by instant manipulation all the
+equally strong and deep-rooted traditions and environments of Blue
+Grass society.
+
+His ruthless conscience will allow of no compromise, and the people
+whom he seeks to proselyte alike misunderstand his motives and spurn
+his proffered assistance.
+
+Presumed errors are materialized and partial evils are magnified.
+Allerton tilts at windmills and with the customary Quixotic results. He
+is, seemingly, unhorsed in every encounter.
+
+Miss Connelly's work in this, her first novel, will make readers
+anxious to hear from her again and it will certainly create, both in
+her own and other States, a strong desire to see her next forthcoming
+work announced by the same publishers in one of their new series--her
+"Story of the State of Kentucky."
+
+
+THE ART OF LIVING. From the Writings of Samuel Smiles. With
+Introduction by the venerable Dr. Peabody of Harvard University, and
+Biographical Sketch by the editor, Carrie Adelaide Cooke. Boston: D.
+Lothrop Company. Price $1.00.
+
+Samuel Smiles is the Benjamin Franklin of England. His sayings have a
+similar terseness, aptness and force; they are directed to practical
+ends, like Franklin's; they have the advantage of being nearer our time
+and therefore more directly related to subjects upon which practical
+wisdom is of practical use.
+
+Success in life is his subject all through, The Art of Living; and
+he confesses on the very first page that "happiness consists in the
+enjoyment of little pleasures scattered along the common path of life,
+which in the eager search for some great and exciting joy we are apt
+to overlook. It finds delight in the performance of common duties
+faithfully and honorably fulfilled."
+
+Let the reader go back to that quotation again and consider how
+contrary it is to the spirit that underlies the businesses that are
+nowadays tempting men to sudden fortune, torturing with disappointments
+nearly all who yield, and burdening the successful beyond their
+endurance, shortening lives and making them weary and most of them
+empty.
+
+Is it worth while to join the mad rush for the lottery; or to take the
+old road to slow success?
+
+This book of the chosen thoughts of a rare philosopher leads to
+contentment as well as wisdom; for, when we choose the less brilliant
+course because we are sure it is the best one, we have the most
+complete and lasting repose from anxiety.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Punctuation errors repaired.
+
+First book list page, "Eaoh" changed to "Each" (Each volume 16mo)
+
+Page 4, "208" changed to "226" to reflect actual first page of Chapter
+XII.
+
+Page 4, "230" changed to "304" to reflect actual first page of Chapter
+XVII.
+
+Page 4 and 5, each page number reference increased by two to match
+actual location of remaining chapters. (_i.e._ 318 is now 320 to
+reflect location of Chapter XVIII)
+
+Page 29, "botton" changed to "bottom" (for in the bottom of)
+
+Page 69, "nowdays" changed to "nowadays" (the pennies nowadays)
+
+Page 88, "keees" changed to "knees" (soon on her knees)
+
+Page 200, "think" changed to "thing" (thing that I should)
+
+Page 202, "interruped" changed to "interrupted" (of her had interrupted)
+
+Page 212, "sat" changed to "set" (he set the table)
+
+Page 269, "unsual" changed to "unusual" (unusual toilet having)
+
+Page 385, extra word "the" removed from text. Original read (have at
+the the windows)
+
+Page 407, "pealed" changed to "peeled" (turnips half-peeled)
+
+Page 437, "esson" changed to "lesson" (lesson is the joy)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Fishers: and their Nets, by Pansy
+
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+
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