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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/45536-0.txt b/45536-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee40c00 --- /dev/null +++ b/45536-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9609 @@ +*** 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 *** diff --git a/45536-h/45536-h.htm b/45536-h/45536-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d4df4c --- /dev/null +++ b/45536-h/45536-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13589 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Little Fishers: and Their Nets, by Pansy (Isabella Alden). + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; 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+ margin: 0; + font-size: 100%; + } +} + + </style> + </head> +<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"> </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—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—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?</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—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—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"—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?</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—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"—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—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"—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<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—" 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—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—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—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—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—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<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—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—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—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—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—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—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—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—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"—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—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—two whole dollars—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—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,<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—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"— 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—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—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!"</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—</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—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—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 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—if you have +one—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—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—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—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<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—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—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"—</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—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—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"—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.</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"—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—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<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—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—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—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—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—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.</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—large cities—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—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."</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—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—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—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."</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—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. . . . We commend +it as the best and most comprehensive book on the Indian for general +reading known to us."—<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—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.</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—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> diff --git a/45536-h/images/cover.jpg b/45536-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..65c516e --- /dev/null +++ b/45536-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/45536-h/images/facing078.jpg b/45536-h/images/facing078.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..459d62b --- /dev/null +++ b/45536-h/images/facing078.jpg diff --git a/45536-h/images/facing148.jpg b/45536-h/images/facing148.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..12555e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/45536-h/images/facing148.jpg diff --git a/45536-h/images/facing308.jpg b/45536-h/images/facing308.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f608da --- /dev/null +++ b/45536-h/images/facing308.jpg diff --git a/45536-h/images/facing358.jpg b/45536-h/images/facing358.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..36780e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/45536-h/images/facing358.jpg diff --git a/45536-h/images/facing418.jpg b/45536-h/images/facing418.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f70ea47 --- /dev/null +++ b/45536-h/images/facing418.jpg diff --git a/45536-h/images/frontis.jpg b/45536-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..adff939 --- /dev/null +++ b/45536-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +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. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04b93da --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #45536 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45536) diff --git a/old/45536-8.txt b/old/45536-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16df978 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/45536-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9997 @@ +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: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/5/3/45536/ + +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) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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"> </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—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—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?</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—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—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"—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?</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—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"—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—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"—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<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—" 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—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—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—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—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—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<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—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—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—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—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—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—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—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—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"—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—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—two whole dollars—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—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,<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—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"— 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—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—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!"</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—</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—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—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 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—if you have +one—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—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—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—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<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—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—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"—</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—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—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"—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.</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"—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—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<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—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—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—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—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—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.</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—large cities—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—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."</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—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—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—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."</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—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. . . . We commend +it as the best and most comprehensive book on the Indian for general +reading known to us."—<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—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.</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—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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE FISHERS: AND THEIR NETS *** + +***** This file should be named 45536-h.htm or 45536-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/5/3/45536/ + +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) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE FISHERS: AND THEIR NETS *** + +***** This file should be named 45536.txt or 45536.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/5/3/45536/ + +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) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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