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diff --git a/old/54685-0.txt b/old/54685-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 08a77b8..0000000 --- a/old/54685-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2686 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Half-A-Dozen Housekeepers, by Kate Douglas Wiggin - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Half-A-Dozen Housekeepers - A Story for Girls in Half-A-Dozen Chapters - -Author: Kate Douglas Wiggin - -Illustrator: Mills Thompson - -Release Date: May 8, 2017 [EBook #54685] -Last Updated: March 10, 2018 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALF-A-DOZEN HOUSEKEEPERS *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - - - - -HALF-A-DOZEN HOUSEKEEPERS - -A Story For Girls In Half-A-Dozen Chapters - -By Kate Douglas Wiggin - -Illustrated by Mills Thompson - -Philadelphia Henry Altemus Company - -1903 - -[Illustration: 0001] - -[Illustration: 0006] - -[Illustration: 0007] - - - - -HALF-A-DOZEN HOUSEKEEPERS - - - - -CHAPTER I--BELL WINSHIP's EXPERIMENT - -|MARCH had come in like a lion, and showed no sign of going out like a -lamb. The pussy willows knew that it was, or ought to be, spring, but -although it takes a deal to discourage a New England pussy willow, -they shivered in their brown skins and despaired of making their annual -appearance even by April Fool's Hay. The swallows still lingered in the -South, having received private advices from the snow-birds that State -o' Maine weather, in the present season, was only fitted for Arctic -explorers. The air was keen and nipping and the wind blew steadily from -the north and howled about the chimneys until one hardly knew whether -to hug the warmth of the open fire or to go out and battle with the -elements. - -Little did the rosy girls of the Wareham Female Seminary (girls were -still “young females” when all this happened)--little did they care -about snow and sleet and ice. Studies went on all the better with the -afternoon skating and sliding to look forward to. What joy to perch in -the window-seat with your volume of Virgil, and translate “_Hoc opus -hic labor est_” with half an eye on the gleaming ice of the pond, or -the glittering crust of the hillsides! What fun to slip on your rubber -boots, muffle yourself in your warm coat (made out of mother's old -mink cape), and run across the way to the Academy for recitations in -mathematics or philosophy! - -These joys, however, with their attendant responsibilities, duties, and -cares, were to be suspended for a while at the Wareham Seminary, and -the “young females” who graced that institution of learning were not -inconsolable. - -Bell Winship, an uncommonly nice girl herself and a born leader of other -nice girls, had sent out five mysteriously worded notes that morning, -five little notes to as many little maids, requesting the honor of their -presence at ten a. m. precisely, in Number 27, Second floor. - -Where Bell Winship wished girls to be, there they always were, and on -the minute, too, lest they should miss something; so there is nothing -remarkable in this statement of the fact, that at ten o'clock in the -morning, Number 27, Second floor, of the Wareham Female Seminary seemed -to be overflowing with girls, although in reality there were but six, -all told. - -The wildest curiosity prevailed, and it was very imperfectly controlled, -but, at length, the hostess, mounting a shoebox, spoke with great -dignity in these words: - -“Fellow-countrywomen: Whereas, our recitation-hall has been burned to -the ground, thereby giving us a well-earned vacation of two weeks, I -wish to impart to you a plan by which we can better resign ourselves -to the afflicting and mysterious dispensation. You are aware,” she -continued, still impressively, “that my highly respected parents are -both away for the winter, thus leaving our humble cottage closed, and -it occurred to me as a brilliant, if somewhat daring, idea, that we six -girls should go over and keep house in it for a fortnight, alone and -untrammeled.” Here the tidal wave of her eloquence was impeded by the -overmastering enthusiasm of the audience. Cheers and applause greeted -her. Everybody pounded with whatever she chanced to have in her hand, on -any article of furniture that chanced to be near. - -“Oh, Bell, Bell! what a lovely plan!” cried Lilia Porter; “a more -than usually lovely plan; but will your mother ever allow it, do you -suppose?” - -“That's the point,” answered Bell, gleefully. “Here is the letter I have -just received from my father; he is a good parent, wholly worthy of his -daughter:” - - Baltimore, March 6th, 18--. - - My dear Child:--We do not like to refuse you anything while - we are away enjoying ourselves, so, as the house is well - insured, you may go over and try your scheme. Your mother - says that you must not entirely demolish her jelly and - preserves. My only wish is that you will be careful of the - fires and lights. - - I hope you won't feel injured if I suggest your asking - advice and suggestion of Miss Miranda and Miss Jane, who are - your nearest neighbors. They will take you in charge anyway, - and you might as well put yourself nominally under their - care. Your uncle will, of course, have an eye to you, - perhaps two eyes, and I dare say he could use more than the - allotted number, but Grandmamma will lend him hers, no - doubt. - - Write me a line every day, saying that the household timbers - are still standing. - - Your weakly indulgent but affectionate - - Father. - -“Isn't he a perfect darling!” cried the enraptured quintette. - -“I think,” said demure Patty Weld, “that before we permit ourselves to -feel too happy, we had better consult _our_ 'powers that be,' and see if -we can accept Bell's invitation.” - -“I refuse to hear 'No' from one of you,” Bell answered, firmly. “I have -thought it all over; spent the night upon it, in fact. You, Alice, and -Josie Fenton, are too far from home to go there anyway, so I shall lead -you off as helpless captives. Your mother is in town, Lilia, so that you -can ask her immediately, and hear the worst; you and Edith, Patty, are -only a half-day's journey away, and can find out easily. I know you -can get permission, for it's going to be perfectly proper and safe. -Grandmamma lives nearby, the Sawyer spinsters are the village duennas, -and Uncle Harry can protect us from any rampaging burglars and midnight -marauders that may happen in to pay their respects.” - -So the “Jolly Six,” as they were called by their schoolmates, separated, -to build many castles in the air. Bell, it was decided, was to go on -to her country home in advance, and, with the help of a neighboring -farmer's daughter, prepare and provision the house for an unusual siege. - -The girls had determined to have no servant, and their many ingenious -plans for managing and dividing the work were the source of great -amusement to the teachers, some of whom had been admitted to their -confidence. Josie Fenton and Bell were to do the cooking, Jo claiming -the sternly practical department best suited to her--meat, vegetables, -and bread--while Bell was to concoct puddings, cakes, and the various -little indigestible dainties toward which schoolgirl hearts are so -tender. Alice Forsaith, the oldest of the party and the beauty of the -school, with Edith Lambert, as an aid, was to manage the making of the -beds, tidying of rooms, and setting of tables, while Lilia Porter and -Patty Weld, with noble heroism and selfsacrifice, offered to shoulder -that cross of an old-fashioned girl's life--the washing and wiping of -dishes. - -On a Wednesday morning the two maiden ladies living nearly opposite the -Winship cottage were transfixed with wonder by the appearance of Bell, -who asked for the house-key left in safe keeping with them. - -“Du tell, Isabel!--I didn't expect to see you this mornin',--air your -folks comin' home or hev you been turned out o' school?” asked Miss -Miranda. - -“Oh, no,” laughed Bell; “I'm going to housekeeping myself!” - -“Good land! You haven't run off and got married, have you?” cried Miss -Jane. - -“Not quite so bad as that; but I'm going to bring five of my schoolmates -over to-morrow, and we intend to stay here two weeks all alone, as -housekeepers and householders.” - -“Land o' mercy,” moaned the nervous Miss Miranda. “That Pa o' yourn -would let you tread on him and not notice it. How any sensible man -could do sech a crazy thing as to let a pack of girls tear his house -to pieces, I don't see. You'll burn us all up before a week's out; I -declare I sha'n't sleep a wink for worrying the whole time.” - -“You needn't be afraid, Miss Sawyer,” said Bell, with some spirit. “If -six girls, none of them younger than fourteen, can't take care of a few -stoves and fireplaces, I should think it was a pity. Everybody seems -to think nowadays that young people have no common sense. The world's -growing wiser all the time, and I don't see why we shouldn't be as -bright as those detestable pattern-girls of fifty years ago.” - -“Well, well, don't get huffy, Isabel; you mean well, but all girls are -unstiddy at your age. Anyhow, I'll try to keep an eye on ye. Here's your -key, and we can spare you a quart of milk a day and risin's for your -bread, if you're going to try riz bread, though I don't s'pose one of ye -knows anything about flour food.” - -“Thank you; that'll be very nice, and now I'm going over to begin work, -for I have heaps to do. Emma Jane Perkins has come to help me, and -Grandma's Betty will come down every afternoon. By the way, can I have -Topsycat while I am here?” - -“Yes, I s'pose so,” said Miss Jane, “though it's been an awful sight of -work gettin' her used to our ways, and I'd never have done it if Mis' -Winship hadn't set such store by her. She pretty near pined away the -first week, and I've baked ginger cake for her and buttered her fritters -every mornin'.” - -“I won't borrow her if you think she will be more troublesome -afterward,” Bell answered, “but you know it's almost impossible to keep -house without a cat and a dog. Bobs came over from Uncle Harry's the -moment I arrived, and is waiting at the gate now.” - -“I don't agree with you,” said Miss Miranda. “'Blessed be nothin', I -say, when it comes to live stock. We disposed of our horse, the pig went -next, and the cow's turn's comin'. Even a cat is dreadful confinin'. -If you have a cat and two hens you're as much tied down as if you had a -barn full of critters.” - -The day was very cold, and both Bell and Emma Jane shivered as they -unlocked one frost-bitten door after another. - -“We shall freeze as stiff as pokers,” said Bell, with chattering teeth; -“but we can't help it; let's build a fire in every stove in the honse -and thaw things out.” This was done, and in an hour they were moderately -comfortable. The weather being so cold, Bell decided upon using -only three rooms, all on the first floor--the large, handsome family -sitting-room, the kitchen, and Mrs. Win-ship's chamber. This being very -capacious, she moved a couple of bedsteads from other rooms, and placing -the three side by side, filled up the intervening spaces with bolsters, -thus making one immensely wide bed. - -“There, Emma Jane, isn't that a bright idea! We can all sleep in a -row, and then there'll be no quarreling about bedfellows or rooms. I -certainly am a good contriver,” cried Bell, with a triumphant little -laugh. - -“It looks awful like a hospital, and the bolsters will keep fallin' -down in between and it'll be dreadful hard mak-in' 'em up of a mornin',” - rejoined Emma Jane, who was no flatterer, being New England born and -bred. - -The sitting-room coal stove had accommodations, on top and back, for -cooking, so Bell thought that their suppers, with perhaps an occasional -breakfast, might be prepared there. The large bay-window, with its -bright drugget, would serve as a sort of tiny diningroom, so the -mahogany extension-table, with its carved legs, pretty red cover, and -silver service, was carried there. This accomplished, and every room -made graceful and attractive by Bell (who was a born homemaker, and -placed photographs, lamps, sofa-pillows, fir-boughs, and bowls of red -apples just where they were needed in the picture), she went over to her -Grandmother's, where four loaves of bread were baking and pies being -filled, in order that the young housekeepers might begin with a full -pantry. - -“Oh, Grandma,” she exclaimed breathlessly, tearing off her cloud and -bringing down with it a sunshiny mass of bronze hair, “it does look -lovely, if I do say it; and as for setting that house on fire, there's -no danger, for it will take a week to thaw it into a state in which it -would burn. I have made up my mind that I sha'n't be the one to build -the fires every morning, even if I am hostess. I don't want to freeze -myself daily for the cause of politeness. Has the provision man come -yet!” - -“Yes,” said Uncle Harry, “and brought eatables enough for an army--more -than you girls can devour in a month.” - -“You'll see,” said Bell, laughingly. - -“You don't know the capacity of the 'Jolly Six' yet. Now, Betty, please -take the eggs and potatoes and fish and put them in our store room. I've -just time to make my cake and custard before I drive to the station -for the girls. Do you know, Uncle Harry, I am going to do the most -astounding thing! I've borrowed Farmer Allen's one-seated old pung,--the -one he takes to town filled with vegetables,--and I am going to keep it -for our sleigh-rides. It will hold all six of us, and what do we care -for public opinion!” said she, with a disdainful gesture. - - - - -CHAPTER II--IN THE FIRELIGHT - -|TWO hours later you might have seen the old pung drawn by Mr. Allen's -Jerry, with Bell and Alice Forsaith on the seat, and four laughing, -rosy-cheeked girls warmly tucked in buffalo robes on the bottom. Even -the sober old sun, who had been under a cloud that day, poked his head -out to see the fun, and became so interested that, in spite of himself, -he forgot his determination not to shine, and did his duty all the -afternoon. - -When the girls opened the door and saw Bell's preparations,--the cozy -sitting-room, with dining-table in the bay-window, three sofas in a row, -so that on snowy days they might extend their lazy lengths thereon, -and finally a fir-covered barrel of Nodhead and Baldwin apples in one -corner,--there arose bursts of happy laughter and ecstatic cheers loud -enough to shock the neighbors, who seldom laughed and never cheered. - -“I know it's an original idea to have an apple-barrel in your parlor -corner,” said Bell; “but the common-sense of it will be seen by every -thoughtful mind. Our forces will consume a peck a day, and life is -too short to spend it in galloping up and down cellar constantly for -apples.” - -“Bell Winship, you are an inhospitable creature,” exclaimed Lilia -Porter. “Here I am, calmly seated on a coal-hod with my hat on, while you -are talking so fast that you can't get time to show us our apartments. -Shelter before food, say I!” - -“Apartments!” sniffed Bell, in mock dudgeon. “You are very grand in your -ideas! Behold your camp, your wigwam, your tent, your quarters!” and -she threw open the door of the large chamber and waved the party -dramatically in that direction. - -“Bell, you will yet be Presidentess of these United States,” cried Edith -Lambert. “Any girl who can devise two such happy combinations as an -apple-barrel in a parlor corner and three beds in a row, ought to be -given a chair of state.” - -“Might a poor worm inquire, Bell,” asked Patty, “why those croquet -mallets and balls are laid out in file round the beds?” - -“Why, those are for protection, you goose, supposing anybody should come -in the piazza window at night, and we had nothing to kill him with!” - -“Yes, and supposing he should take one of the mallets and pound us all -to a jelly to begin with?” Patty retorted, being of a practical mind. - -“That _would_ be rather embarrassing,” answered Bell, with a reflective -shudder; “I hadn't thought of it.” - -“What could one poor man do against five girls banging him with croquet -mallets, while the sixth was running to alarm the neighbors?” asked -Alice, “and to put an end to the discussion I suggest that the cooks -start supper;” whereupon she threw herself into an arm-chair, and put up -a pair of small, stout boots on the fender. - -The unfortunate couple referred to exchanged looks of unmitigated -discouragement. - -“I have my opinion of a girl who will mention supper before she has been -in the house an hour,” said the head cook. - -“Josie, I foresee that they are going to make galley-slaves of us if -they can. However,” turning again to Alice, “it isn't to be supper, but -dinner. The meals at this house are to be thus and so: Breakfast at 9 -a.m., luncheon at 12 m., dinner at 5 p.m., refreshments at various times -betwixt and between, and all affairs pertaining to eatables are to be -completely under the control of the chefs, Mesdemoiselles Winship -and Fenton. We cannot have you 'suggesting' dinner at all hours, Miss -Forsaith. If time hangs heavy on your hands, occupy it in your own -branches of housework.” - -“If we are to be ruled over in this way, life will not be worth living,” - cried Patty Weld, in comical despair. “I dare say we shall be half -starved as the days go on, but do give us something good to begin on, -Bluebell!” - -Judging from the scene at the table an hour later, it would not have -made much difference whether the repast was sumptuous or not, so -formidable were the appetites, and such the merriment. - -“Oh, dear,” sighed Bell, dismally, to the assistant cook, “I will -throw off all disguise and say that this family is a surprise and a -disappointment to me. When a person cooks twenty-seven potatoes, with -the reasonable expectation of having half left to fry, and sees a -solitary one left in the dish, with all its lovely companions both faded -and gone, she is naturally disheartened. Any way, we have finished for -to-night, so the Dish Brigade can marshal its forces. We will take our -one potato into the kitchen, Jo, and see if we can make it enough for -breakfast. Look in the corner bookcase; bring Mrs. Whitney's 'Just How,' -Marion Harland's 'Cook Book,' 'The Young Housekeeper's Friend,' and 'The -Bride's Manual.'” - -At nine o'clock that evening Uncle Harry passed through the garden, and -noticing a pair of open shutters, peeped in at the back window of the -sitting-room, thinking he had never seen a more charming or attractive -picture. Pretty Edith Lambert was curled up in an armchair near the -astral lamp, her face resting on her two rosy palms, and her eyes bent -over “Little Women.” Bluebell, her bright hair bobbed in a funny sort -of twist, from which two or three venturesome and rebellious curls were -straying out, and her high-necked blue apron still on over her dark -dress, was humming soft little songs at the piano. Roguish Jo was -sitting flat on the hearth, her bright cheeks flushed rosier under the -warm occupation of corn popping, and her dark hair falling loosely round -her face, while Patty Weld with her shy, demure face, was beside her -on a hassock, knitting a “fascinator” out of white wool. These two, so -thoroughly unlike, were never to be seen apart; indeed, they were so -inseparable as to be dubbed the “Scissors” or “Tongs” by their friends. -Alice and Lilia were quarreling briskly over a game of cribbage, Lilia's -animated expression and ringing laugh contrasting forcibly with the -calm face of her antagonist. Alice was never known to be excited over -anything. It was she who carried off all the dignity and took the part -of presiding goddess of the party. The girls all adored her for her -beauty and superior age; for she had attained the enviable pinnacle of -“sweet sixteen.” - -“Come,” said Jo, breaking the silence, “let us have refreshments, then a -good quiet talk together, then muster the Hair-Brushing Brigade, and go -to bed. I think I have corn enough; I've popped and popped and popped as -no one ever popped before, and till popping has ceased to be fun.” - -“Pop on, pop ever; the more you give us, Jo, the more popular you'll -be,” laughed Bell. - -“She is a veritable 'pop-in-J,' isn't she?” cried Lilia. - -“Now Lilia,” said Edith, “let us get the apples and nuts, and we'll sit -in a ring on the floor, and eat. I shan't crack the almonds; the girl -that hath her teeth, I say, is no girl, if with her teeth she cannot -crack an almond. Lilia, you're not a bit of assistance; you've tied up -the end of the nut-bag in a hard knot, upset the apple-dish, put -the tablecloth on crooked, and--oh, dear--now you've stepped in the -pop-corn,” as Lilia, trying desperately to cross the room without -knocking something over, as usual, had hit the corn-pan in her airy -flight. “You have such a genius for stepping into half-a-dozen things at -once, I think you must be web-footed.” - -“Well, that's possible,” retorted the unfortunate Lilia; “I've often -been told I was a duck of a girl, and this proves it.” - -“Do you realize, girls,” said Edith, after a while, “that we shall all -be visited by ghosts and visions to-night, if we don't terminate this -repast? I'll put away the dishes, Bell, if you'll move the sofas up to -the fire, so that we can have our good-night chat.” - -So, speedily, six warm dressing-sacques were slipped on, and then, the -lamps being turned out, in the ruddy glow of the firelight, the brown, -the yellow, and the dark hair was taken down, and the housekeepers, -braiding it up for the night, talked and dreamed and built their castles -in the air, as all young things are wont to do. - -“Girls, dear old girls,” said Alice, softly, breaking an unusual silence -of two minutes; “isn't this cosy and sweet and friendly beyond anything? -How thankful we ought to be for the happy lives God gives us! We have -been put into this beautiful world and taken care of so wisely and -kindly every day; yet we don't often speak, or even think, about it.” - -“It is trouble, sometimes, more than happiness, that leads us into -thinking about God's care and goodness,” said Edith, “although it's very -strange that it should. Before my mother's death I was just a little -baby playing with letter-blocks, and all at once, after that, I began to -make the letters into words and spell out things for myself.” - -“What a perfect heathen I am,” burst out Jo. “I can't feel any of these -things any more than if I were a Chinaman. Or, perhaps, it is as Edith -says, I am still playing with blocks, although I cannot even see the -letters on them. I wonder if I shall ever be wide awake enough for -that!” - -“Look out of the window, Jo,” said - -Bell, who was leaning on the sill. “Don't you think if God can make -out of all that snow and ice, in three short months, a lovely, tender, -green, springing world, He can make something out of us! Isn't it a -wonderful thing that He can wake up the life that's asleep under the -frozen earth?” - -“Well,” rejoined Jo, dismally, “there's something to begin on out there, -but I don't think I have much of a soul; any way, I have never seen any -signs of it. You always say things so prettily, Bell, that I like to -hear you sermonize. You'd make a good minister's wife.” - -“I think you have plenty of 'soul material,' Jo,” said Lilia, confusedly -struggling to make a figure of speech express her meaning. “There's lots -of it there, only it wants to be blown up, somehow.” - -“Thanks for your encouragement,” said Jo, amid the laughter that -followed Lilia's peculiar metaphor. “I think if you'll try to handle the -spiritual bellows, you'll find it's harder work than you imagine. Now -don't laugh, girls, because I really do feel solemn about it, only I -talk in my usual frivolous way.” - -“You always make yourself appear wicked, Jo,” said her loving champion, -Patty, “but I happen to know a few facts on the opposite side. Who was -it who gave every cent of her month's allowance to Mrs. Hart, the poor -washerwoman who scorched her white skirt; and who stayed away from the -church sociable to take care of that horrid room mate of hers who had a -headache?” - -“Patty, if you don't desist,” cried Jo, with a flaming face, and -brandishing a hair-brush fiercely, “I'll throw this at your dear, -charitable little head. Now, Bell, you know we all agreed to tell a -story of adventure each night before going to bed, and I think you, as -hostess, ought to begin. If the entertainment is delayed much longer it -will find me asleep with fatigue and over-feeding in the front row of -the orchestra.” - -“Dear me, I can't begin!” cried Bell, “Nothing ever happened to me -except going to California and having a double wedding in the family. -That's the sum total of my adventures.” - -“Make up something then, or tell us a true story about California. Oh, -you do have such a good time, and funny things are always happening to -you,” sighed Lilia. “You never seem to have any trials.” - -“Trials!” rejoined Bell, sarcastically. “I should think I hadn't. -Perhaps I haven't a little scamp of a brother and an awfully fussy old -aunty! Perhaps I'm not such an idiot that I can't multiply eight and -nine, or seven and six, without a lead-pencil; perhaps I wasn't left -at school while my parents toured in the South! Don't you call those -afflictions?” - -“Yes, I do,” answered Lilia, joining in the general laugh; “and I'll -never allude to your good fortune again. Now tell us a California -story,--that's a dear,--for I'm getting sleepy as well as Jo.” - -“Oh, well,” said Bell, walking about the room absent-mindedly, until her -eyes rested on the cabinet, “I'll tell you the story of these;” and she -took up a string of dusty pearls which were seamed and cracked as if by -fire. “Now open your eyes and lend me your ears, for I shall make it as -'bookish' and romantic as possible. - -“Last summer Mother and I were living in a beautiful valley a hundred -miles from San Francisco. It was near the mining districts, where Father -was attending to some business. Of course, a great many Mexicans and -Indians, as well as Chinamen, worked in these mines, and we used to see -them very often. Mother and I were sitting under the peach-trees in -the garden one afternoon. It was so beautiful sewing or reading in that -California garden, for the fruit was ripe and hanging in bushels on -the trees, as lovely to look at as it was luscious to eat; some of the -peaches were a rich yellow inside and others snow-white, except where -the crimson stones had tinged their sockets with rosy little spots.” - -“Don't,” cried Jo; “you'll make us discontented with our New England -apples!” - -“We were chatting and eating peaches,” continued Bell, “when the gate -opened, and an Indian girl with an old squaw came in and approached us, -The girl could speak English, and told me her name was Eskaluna. I -had heard about her, and knew that she was the beauty and belle of the -tribe, and was going to marry the chief's son when the next moon came; -for our Indian cook was as gossipy as a Yankee, and was forever telling -us tales. She was the most beautiful creature I ever saw: lovely black -hair, not so coarse as is usual with them, brilliant dark eyes, good -features, and the prettiest slim hands and graceful arms. She was -dressed gaily and handsomely in the fashion of her tribe, and on her -lovely, bare, brown neck was this long string of Mexican pearls, which -we noticed at once as being very valuable. She stayed there all the -afternoon under the fruit-trees, and really grew quite confidential. -Mother, meanwhile, had gone into ecstacies over her beautiful pearls, -and had taken them from her neck to examine them. At sunset, when she -went home to her wigwam, she slipped the necklace into mother's lap, -saying, with her sweet trick of speech, 'I eatie your peachie, you -takie my beads.' Of course, mother could not accept them, and Eskaluna -departed in quite a disappointed mood. I remember being sorry that the -pretty young thing was going to marry the disagreeable, ugly chief. He -was just as jealous and ferocious as he could be--wouldn't let her -talk to one of the warriors of the tribe, and had shot one man already -because he fancied Eskaluna admired him.” - -A chorus of “Oh's” and “Ah's” interrupted Bell, and Alice's eyes grew -round with interest, for she was sixteen and had been called a “cruel -coquette” by a young student at Wareham. - -“In a few days our Indian cook came home at night from the mines, saying -that he wanted a holiday the next morning to go to a funeral. We had -heard that in some tribes they burn the bodies of the dead, and wondered -whether his were one of them, so we asked him the particulars, of -course, and were terribly shocked when we heard that it was the funeral -of poor Eskaluna, who had visited us so lately, in all her dusky beauty. -Nakawa told us the whole story in his broken English, and a sad one it -was. Her lover, the chief, as I have said, was always jealous of her, -and on the afternoon she came to our house, he had heard from some -crafty villain or other (an enemy of Eskaluna's, of course), that she -was false, and, instead of intending to marry him, loved a handsome -young Indian of another tribe, and was planning to run away with him. - -“This fired his hot blood, and he rushed off on the village road -determined to kill her. He climbed a large sycamore tree on a lonely -part of the way, and there waited until the shadows fell over the -mountain sides, and the sun, dropping behind their peaks, left the San -Jacinto valley in fast-growing darkness. At last he saw the gleam of her -scarlet dress in the distance, and soon he heard her voice as she came -singing along, little thinking of her dreadful fate. He took sure aim -at the heart that was beating happily and carelessly under its cape of -birds' feathers; shot, and so swift and unerring was his arrow that -she fell in an instant, dead, upon the path. Then, leaving her with the -helpless old squaw, he escaped into a canon near by. - -[Illustration: 0053] - -“The next day we went over to the Indian encampment, and reached the -place just after poor Eskaluna had been burned on the funeral pile. We -went close to the spot and could hardly help crying when we thought of -her beauty and sweetness, and her sad and undeserved death. Up near the -head of the pile where that lovely brown neck of hers had rested,--the -prettiest neck in the world,--lay this charred string of pearls she had -worn in our garden. Mother asked for it as a remembrance, and the old -squaw gave it to her. Eskaluna's brother is on the war-path after her -murderer, I believe, to this day, if he hasn't killed him yet; for he -was determined to avenge her. Now, isn't that romantic, and tragic at -the same time, girls? Poor Eskaluna! I don't know that her fate would -have been much easier if she had married the chief; but it is hard to -think of her being so heartlessly murdered when she was so innocent and -true; and that's the end of my story. Who comes next?” - -“Not I, at this hour,” yawned Jo, “but it was a good tale!” - -“Nor I, after that thrilling experience of yours!” said Alice, -admiringly. - -“I can think of no story half so delightful as the dreams we shall have -if we go to bed,” murmured Edith from her cozy corner. “Come, it is -after ten, and the wide bed calls loudly for occupants.” - -In a half-hour all six were asleep, and the bright-faced moon, looking -in at the piazza window, smiled as she saw the half-dozen heads in a -row, and the bed surrounded by croquet mallets and balls. - - - - -CHAPTER III--AN EMERGENCY CASE - -|THE next morning broke clear, bright, and sparkling, but bitterly cold. -I cannot attempt to tell you all the doings of that indefatigable and -ingenious bevy of girls during the day. Miss Miranda, their opposite -neighbor, had kept to her post of observation, the window, very closely, -and had seen much to awaken scorn and surprise. - -“Wa'al, Jane!” said she, excitedly, in the afternoon, “there they go -ag'in! That's the fourth time the hoss has been harnessed into Allen's -pung to-day; and now they've got their uncle. Whatever they find to -laugh so over, and where they go to, is more'n I can see. They haven't -done up their dinner dishes, I know, for I've been watching of 'em and -they hain't had time to do 'em so quick as this, though Bell Winship -is as spry as a skeeter when she gets a-goin'.” - -Miss Miranda's organs of vision were better than magnifying glasses, -for, aided by a lively imagination, they could dart around corners and -through doors with great ease. Bell avowed confidentially to Patty that -morning, when she met her neighbor's eyes fixed on the pantry window, -that she believed Miss Miranda could see a fly-speck on top of a -liberty-pole. - -The girls had made the day a very long and lively one, and in the -evening, their spirits still high and their inventive powers still -unimpaired, they gave an impromptu concert. The audience was small -but appreciative. Grandmother was in a private box--the high-backed -arm-chair in the cosiest corner; Uncle Harry sat on a hastily-erected -throne made by perching a stool on the dining-table, and being given a -large pair of goggles, was requested to serve as dramatic and musical -critic for the morning newspapers. Two or three of the boarders -from Mrs. Carter's famous Winter Farmhouse on the hill, the young -schoolmaster (a Bowdoin student earning his college course by odd terms -of teaching), and Hugh Pennell, his chum and classmate, home on a brief -holiday, made quite a brave show when seated in three rows, while the -unaffected laughter, the open mouths, and the staring eyes of “the -help,” Emma Jane Perkins, Betty Bean, and 'Bijah Flagg, who were -grouped at the hall door, helped in the general merriment. - -Bell had a keen sense of the ridiculous and a voice like a meadow-lark. -Jo was capital, too, as a mimic, so together, they gave some absurdly -funny scenes from famous operas. Bell had thrown on an evening dress of -her cousin's, which happened to be left in the house, and this, with its -short sleeves, showing her round, girlish arms, and its long train, made -her such a distracting little prima donna of fifteen, that Hugh Pennell -quite laid his boyish heart at her feet. She sang “The Last Rose of -Summer” with all the smiles, head-tossings, arch looks, casting down -of eyelids, and kissing of finger-tips at the close, which generally -accompany it when sung by the stage soprano, and she was naturally -greeted with rapturous applause. Then Jo, as the tenor, in dressing-gown -and smoking-cap for male attire, sang a fervent duet with Alice -Forsaith, rendering it with original Italian words and embraces at the -end of every measure. - -[Illustration: 0063] - -Tableaux showing scenes from well-known novels, and thrilling historical -events depicted in pantomime, came next, and the company was invited -to name them as they followed one another in quick succession,--Eliza -crossing the river by leaping from ice block to ice block, the -bloodhounds in hot pursuit; Pochahontas saving the life of her noble -Captain John; Rochester, holding Jane Eyre spellbound by the steely -glitter of his eye; and the Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers, landing on a -stern and rock-bound coast, ably represented by the dining-room table. -As Uncle Harry sat on the table he was obliged to be the center of this -thrilling scene, which was variously surmised by the audience to be -the capture of a slave-ship by pirates, the rescue of a babe from a -tenement-house fire, the killing of Julius Cæsar in the Roman Senate, or -an impassioned attempt to drag Casabianca from the burning deck. - -After bidding their visitors goodnight, Bell and Jo went into the -kitchen to put buckwheat cakes to raise for breakfast. - -“I believe I'll chop the meat hash for a half-hour while the kitchen is -warm,” said Jo. “Emma Jane is right about the knife; it is dull beyond -words!” - -“If it is any duller than Emma Jane herself, I am sorry for it,” - rejoined Bell. - -“It's a poor workman who complains of his tools, Jo,” said Patty, -looking in at the door, with a superior air; “Columbus discovered -America in an open boat.” - -“He would never have discovered America with this chopping-knife,” quoth -Jo, bringing it down with vicious emphasis on the unoffending meat. - -“Did you notice Emma Jane's expression as she stood in the doorway to -night?” - -“I did,” replied Bell, as she bustled about her last tasks at closet, -cupboard, and sink. “Not a penny of my money shall go to the heathen in -other lands until I have done some missionary work with her. In ten days -I propose to make her stand straight, hold her head up, keep her mouth -closed when not occupied in conversation or eating, stop straining her -hair out by the roots, tie the ends of her braids with ribbon instead of -twine, give up her magenta hood, and a few other little details.” - -“I don't see how you dare advise her at her advanced age,” responded -Jo. “I suppose she is thirteen, but she appears about thirty. Look, -Bell, can this hash be safely trusted now to the pearly teeth of -our parlor boarders, or are the pieces too large for their 'delicate -sensibilities'?” - -“I think that it may escape criticism,” laughed Bell. “Cover it with a -clean towel and a platter, and one of us will give it a last castigation -before it goes in the frying-pan.” - -“I never had such a good time in my life, never, never!” sighed Lilia, -as she blew out the lamp, and tucked herself on the front side of the -bed, a little later. “I have only two things to trouble me. First: my -wisdom tooth feels as if it were going to ache again. Second: it is my -turn to build the kitchen fire in the morning.” - -“Console yourself with one thought, my dear,” murmured Bell, drowsily, -yet sagely. “Both these misfortunes can't happen to you, for if your -tooth chances to ache, we shall not have the heart to make you build the -fire.” - -“Don't tell her that,” urged Jo, with a prodigious yawn, “or she will be -feigning toothache constantly.” - -Lilia's fears had good foundation, however, for in the middle of the -night, Jo, who slept next the front side, wakened suddenly to find her -slipping quietly out of bed. - -“What's the matter, Lilia!” she whispered. - -“Nothing; don't wake the others, but that miserable tooth grumbles just -enough to keep me awake, and my temple aches and my cheek, too. Where is -the lotion I use for bathing my face, do you know?” - -“Yes, where you put it this morning, on the back of the wash-stand; -sha'n't I light the lamp and help you?” - -“No, no, hush!” said Lilia. “I can put my hand on it in the dark. Here -it is! I'll bathe my face a few minutes, and then try to go to sleep.” - -So, she anointed herself freely, put the bottle and sponge under the -head of the bed lest she should need them again, and, finally, the pain -growing less, fell asleep. - -In the morning, Bell, who wakened first, rubbed her eyes drowsily, -glanced at Lilia, who was breathing quietly, and uttered a piercing -shriek. This in turn aroused the other girls, who joined in the shriek -on general principles, and then, blinking in the half-light, looked -where Bell pointed. One side of Lilia's face was swollen, and of a -dark, purple color, presenting a truly frightful appearance. At length, -hearing the confusion, Lilia awoke with a start, and her eyes being -open, and rolling about in surprise, she looked still more alarming. - -“What on earth is the matter, girls?” she asked, sitting up in bed, -smoothing back her hair and rubbing her heavy lids. - -Thereupon Edith and Alice began to tremble and nobody answered her. - -“K-k-keep c-c-calm,” said Bell. “Lilia, dear, your face is badly swollen -and inflamed, and we're afraid you are going to be ill, but we'll send -for the doctor straight away. Does it pain you very much?” - -Lilia jumped up hastily, and, looking in the mirror, uttered a cry of -terror, and sank back into the rocking-chair. - -“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What can it be! Oh, take me home to my father! It -must be a malignant pustule--or spotted fever--or something dreadful! -What shall I do? Bell, you are a doctor's daughter; do find out -what's the matter with me! I am disfigured for life, and I wasn't very -good-looking before.” - -“Girls,” said Bell, “let us dress this very instant, for we can't be too -quick about a thing of this kind. You, Jo, build the kitchen fire, and, -Alice, make a blaze on the hearth in here; then, after we've made her -comfortable, Edith can run and tell Uncle Harry to come.” - -“Put on the kettle,” added Patty, “and heat blankets; they always do -that in emergencies.” - -“Don't frighten me to death,” wailed Lilia, “calling me 'a thing of this -kind' and an 'emergency.' I don't feel a hit worse than I did in the -night.” - -“She had neuralgia in her face,” explained Jo; “that must have had -something to do with it. She put on some of her liniment, and then -dropped off to sleep. Come, darling, let us tuck you in bed again; try -to keep up your courage!” - -Then there was a hasty consultation in the kitchen 'midst many groans -and tears. Bell was an authority on sickness, and she said, with an -awestruck face, that it must be a dreadful attack of erysipelas in the -very last stages. - -“But,” cried Alice, perplexed, “it is all very strange, for why does she -have so little pain, and how could her face have turned so black from -mortification in one night?” - -“Blood-poisoning is very quick and very deadly,” said Patty, who had -heard about such a case in her own family. - -“Goodness knows what it is,” exclaimed Bell, wringing her hands in -nervous terror. “What to do with her I don't know; whether to put bricks -to her head and ice to her feet, or keep her head cold and heat her -'extremities,' as father calls them--whether to give her a sweat or keep -her dry, or wrap her in blankets, or get the linen sheets. Jo is with -her now. If you'll go and wake Uncle Harry, Edith, it is the best thing -we can do. Run along with her, too, Patty, and you won't be afraid -together.” - -Alice and Bell went back presently to Lilia, who looked even worse, now -that the room was bright with the glow of the open fire and the pale -light of the student lamp. - -“You patient old darling!” cried Bell, falling on her knees beside the -bed. “We have sent for Uncle Harry and the Doctor, and now you are sure -to be all right, for we've taken the thing in good time. Good gracious!! -what bottle have I tipped over under this bed!” - -“It's my neuralgia liniment,” murmured Lilia, faintly. “I bathed my face -in it last night, and put it under there afterward. Don't spill it, for -I can't get any more here.” - -“Your neuralgia lotion!” shrieked Bell, first with a look of blank -astonishment, and then one of excitement and glee mixed in equal -parts. “Look at it, girls! Look, Alice and Jo! Oh, Lilia, you precious, -blundering goose!” and thereupon she dragged out from beneath the bed -valance a pint bottle of violet ink, and then relapsed into a paroxysm -of voiceless mirth. Just then the hack door opened, and in hurried Uncle -Harry, Edith, and Patty, much terrified, for they had heard the shouts -and gasps and excited voices from outside, and supposed that Lilia must -at least have fallen into convulsions. - -“Let me see the poor child immediately,” cried Mr. Winship. “What is the -trouble with you, Bell? are you demented? and where is Lilia?” looking -at the apparently empty bed, for Lilia had wound herself in the sheets -and blankets, disappeared from view, and was endeavoring to force -a pillow into her mouth in order to render her shame-faced laughter -inaudible. “Are you trying to play a joke on me?” continued he, with as -much dignity as was consistent with an attire made up of an undershirt, -a pair of trousers, overshoes, a tall hat, and a gold-headed cane -which he had quite unconsciously caught up in his hasty flight from his -chamber. - -“The fact is,” answered Bell, between her gasps, and trying desperately -hard to regain her sobriety,--“the fact is--Uncle Harry--we made--a -mistake, and so did--Lilia. There were two bottles just alike on the -wash-stand, and in the night she bathed her face for five minutes in the -purple ink! Oh, oh, oh!!” - -Uncle Harry's face relaxed into a broad smile as he realized the joke. - -“Oh, Mr. Winship, you should have seen her!” sighed Jo, lifting her head -from the sofa-pillow, with streaming eyes. “All her face, except part -of her forehead and one cheek, was covered with enormous dark purple -blotches. She looked like a clown, or a Fourth of July fantastic, or -anything else frightful!” - -“Well,” said Edith, slyly, “Bell said mortification had taken place. I -don't think Lilia has ever been more mortified than she is now; do you? - -“Puns are out of place, Edith,” said Bell, severely. “Don't hurry, Uncle -Harry. Don't let any thought of your rather peculiar attire cause you -embarrassment.” - -But before Bell's teasing voice had ceased, the last thud, thud of his -rubbers, and click, click of his gold-headed cane were heard in the -hall, and he thought, as he tried to finish his early morning nap, that -it would be a long time before he allowed those madcap girls to rout him -out of bed again at five o'clock on a winter's day. - -As for the girls themselves, they did not even make a trial of slumber, -but first scrubbed Lilia energetically with hard soap and pumice, and -then made molasses candy, determined that the roaring kitchen fire -should be used to some purpose. - -Having gained so much time by the unusual way in which they had started -the day, they were enabled to look back at nightfall on an unprecedented -number of activities, some of them rather unique and original. There was -a call upon Emma Jane's mother, another upon Mrs. Carter at the Winter -Farm, a sleigh-ride with Geoffrey Strong, the vehicle being a truck for -hauling wood, an hour's coasting down Brigadier hill, and a trip to the -doctor's for courtplaster and arnica and peppermint and cough lozenges. -Then directly after luncheon Bell and Jo made a private and confidential -call upon Grandma Win-ship's pig, leaving with him as evidences of -regard several samples of their own cookery. This call they hoped was -unnoticed, but an hour afterwards the other four girls were espied -coming from the Winships', all clad in black garments of one sort or -another. When questioned as to the meaning of this mysterious piece of -foolishness they merely remarked that they, too, had called upon the -Winships pig, but that it was a visit of condolence and sympathy. - - - - -CHAPTER IV--A WINTER PICNIC - -|YOU may think that Lilia's “mortification” was quite an excitement -in this enterprising young household; yet I assure you that never -twenty-four hours passed but a ridiculous adventure of some kind -overtook the girls. The daily bulletin which they carried over to Mrs. -Carter at the Winter Farm kept the worthy inmates in constant wonderment -as to what would happen next. Sometimes there was a regular programme -for the next day, prepared the night before, but oftener, things -happened of themselves, and when they do that, you know, pleasure seems -a deal more satisfying and delightful, because it is unexpected. Uncle -Harry was in great demand, and very often made one of the gay party of -young folks off for a frolic. They defied King Winter openly, and went -on all sorts of excursions, even on a bona-fide picnic, notwithstanding -the two feet of snow on the ground. The way of it was this: On Friday, -the boys--Hugh Pennell, Bell's cousin, Jack Brayton, and the young -schoolmaster--turned the great bare hall in the top of the old Winship -family house into a woodland bower. - -By the way, I have not told you much about Geoffrey Strong yet, because -the girls of the story have had everything their own way, but Geoffrey -Strong was well worth knowing. He was only eighteen years old, but had -finished his sophomore year at Bowdoin College, and was teaching the -district school that he might partly earn the money necessary to take -him through the remainder of the course. He was as sturdy and strong -as his name, or as one of the stout pine-trees of his native State, as -gentle and chivalrous as a boy knight of the olden time; as true and -manly a lad, and withal as good and earnest a teacher, notwithstanding -his youth, as any little country urchin could wish. Mr. Win-ship was his -guardian, and thus he had become quite one of the Winship family. - -The boys were making the picnic grounds when I interrupted my story with -this long parenthesis. They took a large pair of old drop curtains used -at some time or other in church tableaux, and made a dark green carpet -by stretching them across the floor smoothly and tacking them down; they -wreathed the pillars and trimmed the doors and windows with evergreens, -and then planted young spruce and cedar and hemlock trees in the corners -or scattered them about the room firmly rooted in painted nail-kegs. - -“It looks rather jolly, boys, doesn't it?” cried Jack, rubbing his cold -fingers, “but I'm afraid we've gone as far as we can; we can't make -birds and flowers and brooks!” - -“What's the special difficulty?” asked Geoffrey. “We'll borrow -Grandmother Winship's two cages of canaries and Mrs. Adams' two; then -we'll bring over Mrs. Carter's pet parrot, and altogether we'll be -musical enough, considering the fact that the thermometer is below -zero.” - -This suggestion of Geoff's they accordingly adopted, and their mimic -forest became tuneful. - -The next stroke of genius came from Hugh Pennell. He found bunches of -white and yellow everlastings at home with which he mixed some cleverly -constructed bright tissue-paper flowers, of mysterious botanical -structure. He planted these in pots, and tied them to shrubs, and -behold, their forest bloomed! - -“But we have finished now, boys,” said Hugh, dejectedly, as he put his -last bed of whiteweed and buttercups under a shady tree. (They -were made of paper, and were growing artistically in a moss-covered -chopping-tray.) “We can't get up a brook, and a brook is a handy thing -at a picnic, too. Good for the small children to fall into, good for -drinking, good for dish-washing, good for its cool and musical tinkle.” - -“I have an idea,” suggested Jack, who was mounted on a step-ladder -busily engaged in tying a stuffed owl and a blue jay to a tree-top. “I -have an idea. We can fill the ice-water tank, put it on a shelf, let the -water run into a tub, then station a boy in the corner to keep filling -the tank from the tub. There's your stagnant pool and your running -streamlet. There's your drinking-water, your dish-washer, your musical -tinkle, and possibly your small child's watery grave. What could be more -romantic?” - -“Out with him!” shouted Geoff. “He ought to be drowned for proposing -such an apology for a brook.” - -“I fail to see the point,” said Jack; “the sound would be sylvan and -suggestive, and I've no doubt the girls would be charmed.” - -“We'll brook no further argument on the subject,” retorted Hugh; “the -afternoon is running away with us. We might bring up the bath-tub, or -the watering-trough, sink it in an evergreen bank and surround it with -house plants, but I don't think it would satisfy us exactly. I'll tell -you, let us give up the brook and build a sort of what-do-you-call'em -for a retreat, in one corner.” After some explanations from Hugh about -his plan, the boys finally succeeded in manufacturing something romantic -and ingenious. Two blooming oleanders in boxes were brought from Uncle -Harry's parlor, there was a hemlock tree with a rustic seat under it, -there was an evergreen arch above, there was a little rockery built with -a dozen stones from the old wall behind the barn, and there were Miss -Jane Sawyer's potted scarlet geraniums set in among them, all surmounted -by two banging baskets and a bird-cage. With nothing save an airtight -stove to warm it into life (the ugliness of the stove quite hidden by -screens of green boughs), the cold, bare hall was magically changed -into a green forest, vocal with singing birds and radiant with blooming -flowers. - -The boys swung their hats in irrepressible glee. - -“Won't this be a surprise to the people, though! Won't they think of the -desert blooming as the rose!” cried Hugh. - -“I fancy it won't astonish Uncle Harry and Grandmother much,” answered -Jack, dryly, “inasmuch as we've nearly borrowed them out of house and -home during the operation. Old Mrs. Winship said when I took her hammer, -hatchet, chopping-tray, house plants, and screw-driver, that perhaps she -had better go over to Mrs. Carter's and board. The girls will be fairly -stunned, though. Just imagine Bell's eyes! I told them we'd see to -sweeping and heating the hall, but they don't expect any decorations. -Well, I'm off. Lock the door, Geoff, and guard it like a dragon; we meet -at eleven to-morrow morning, do we? Be on hand, sharp, and let us all go -in and view the scene together. I wouldn't for worlds miss hearing and -seeing the girls.” - -Jack and Hugh started for home, and Geoff went downstairs to run a -gauntlet of questioning from Jo Fenton, who was present in Grandmother -Winship's kitchen on one of the borrowing tours of the day, and -extremely anxious to find out why so much mysterious hammering was going -on. - -While these preparations were in progress, the six juvenile housekeepers -were undergoing abject suffering in their cookery for the picnic. It had -been a day of disasters from beginning to end--the first really mournful -one in their experience. - -It commenced bright and early, too; in fact, was all ready for them -before they awoke in the morning, and the coal fire began it, for it -went out in the night. Everybody knows what it is to build a fire in a -large coal stove; it was Jo's turn as stoker and tirewoman, and I regret -to say that this circumstance made her a little cross, in fact, audibly -so. - -After much searching for kindling-wood, however, much chattering of -teeth, for the thermometer was below zero, much vicious banging of stove -doors, and clattering of hods and shovels, that trouble was overcome. -But, dear me! it was only the first drop of a pouring rain of accidents, -and at last the girls accepted it as a fatal shower which must fall -before the weather would clear, and thus resigned themselves to the -inevitable. - -The breakfast was as bad as a breakfast knew how to be. The girls were -all cooks to-day in the exciting preparation for the picnic, for they -wanted to take especially tempting dainties in order that they might -astonish more experienced providers. Patty scorched the milk toast; -Edith, that most precise and careful of all little women under the -sun, broke a platter and burned her fingers; Lilia browned a delicious -omelet, and waved the spider triumphantly in the air, astonished at her -own success, when, alas, the smooth little circlet slipped illnaturedly -into the coal hod. Lilia stood still in horror and dismay, while Bell -fished it hastily out, looking very crumpled, sooty, shrunken, and -generally penitent, if an omelet can assume that expression. She slapped -it on the table severely, and said, with a little choke and tear in her -voice: - -“The last of the eggs went into that omelet, and it is going to he -rinsed, and fried over, and eaten. There isn't another thing in the -house for breakfast. There is no bread; Alice put cream-of-tartar into -the buckwheats, instead of saleratus, and measured it with a tablespoon -besides; Miss Miranda's cat upset the milk can; the potatoes are frozen; -and I am ashamed to borrow anything more of Grandmother.” - -“Never,” cried Alice, with much determination. “Sooner eat omelet and -coal hod, too! Never mind the breakfast! there are always apples. What -shall we take to the picnic? We can suggest luncheon at high noon, and -no one will suspect we haven't breakfasted.” - -“Let's make mince pies,” cried Jo, animatedly, from her seat on the -wood-box. - -“Goose,” answered Bell, with a sarcastic smile. “There's plenty of time -to make mince-meat, of course!” - -“At any rate, we must have jelly-cake,” said Lilia, with decision, while -dishing up the injured omelet for the second time. “We had better carry -the delicacies, for Mrs. Pennell and the boys will be sure to bring -bread and meat and common things.” - -“Oh, tarts, tarts!” exclaimed Edith, in an ecstacy of reminiscence. “I -haven't had tarts for a perfect age! Do you think we could manage them?” - -“They must be easy enough,” answered Patty, with calm authority. “Cut a -hole out of the middle of each round thing, then till it up with jelly -and bake it; that's simple.” - -[Illustration: 0093] - -“Glad you think so,” responded Edith, with an air of deep melancholy and -cynicism, as she prepared to wash the cooking dishes and found an empty -dish-water pot. “I should think the jelly would grow hard and crusty -before the tarts baked, but I suppose it's all right. Everything we -touch to-day is sure to fail.” - -“Oh, how much better if you said, 'I'll try, I'll try, I'll try,'” sang -Bell, in a spasm of gayety. - -“Oh, how much sadder you will feel when you've tried, by and by,” - retorted Edith. “Is there anything difficult about pastry, I wonder? -Look in the cookbook. Does it have to be soaked over night like ham, or -hung for two weeks like game, or put away in a stone jar like -fruit-cake, or 'braised' or 'trussed' or 'larded' or anything?” - -“No,” said Patty, looking up from the 'Bride's Manual,' “but it has to -be pounded on a marble slab with a glass rolling-pin.” - -“Stuff and nonsense,” said Bell, “Tarts are nothing but pie-crust. This -village is situated in the very middle of what is called the New England -Pie Belt, and the glass rolling-pin and the marble slab have never been -seen by the oldest or youngest inhabitant. I know that bride. When she -makes pastry you can see her diamond engagement ring flash as she -dips her turquoise scoop into her ruby flour-barrel. Look up soft -gingerbread, Patty.” - -“Four cups best New Orleans molasses--” - -“The molasses is out,” said Jo; “find jelly-cake.” - -“Jelly all gone,” said Bell; “where, I can't think, for there were -seventeen tumblers.” - -“The boys are awfully fond of it with bread,” said Alice, reminiscently. -“How about doughnuts?” - -“All right,” Bell answered, “of course you'll go to the store for more -eggs and a pail of lard. We're out of molasses, eggs, lard, ginger, -jelly, patience, and luck.” - -Over an hour was spent in futile excursions through the cookery books, -vain rummagings of the pantry and larder, frequent trips to the country -store, and nothing was a triumphant success. Things that should have -been thin were fat and puffy; those that should have risen high and -light as air were flat and soggy; pots, pans, bowls, were heaped on one -another in the sink until at one o'clock Alice Forsaith went to bed -with a headache, leaving the kitchen in a state of general confusion -and uproar. I cannot bear to tell you all the sorry incidents of that -dreadful day, but Bell had shared in the blunders with the rest. She had -gone to the store-room for citron, and had stumbled on a jar of -frozen “something” very like mince-meat. This, indeed, was a precious -discovery! She flew back to the kitchen, crying: - -“Hurrah! We'll have the pies after all, girls! Mother has left a pot -of mince-meat in the pantry. It's frozen, but it will be all right. You -trust to me. I've made pies before, and these shall not be a failure.” - -The spider was heated, and enough meat for three pies put in to thaw. It -thawed, naturally, the fire being extremely hot, and it presently became -very thin and curious in its appearance. - -“It looks like thick soup with pieces of chopped apple in it,” said -Lilia to Bell, who was patting down a very tough, substantial bottom -crust on a pie plate. - -“We-l-l, it does!” owned the head cook, frankly; “but I suppose it will -boil down or thicken up in baking. I don't like to taste it, somehow.” - -“Very natural,” said Lilia, dryly. “It doesn't look 'tasty;' and, to -tell the truth, it does not look at all as I've been brought up to -imagine mince-meat ought to look.” - -“I can't be responsible for your 'bringing up,' Lill. Please pour it in, -and I'll hold the plate.” - -The mixture trickled in; Bell put a very lumpy, spotted covering of -dough over it, slashed a bold original design in the middle for a -ventilator, and deposited the first pie in the oven with a sigh of -relief. - -Just at this happy moment, Betty Bean, Mrs. Winship's maid-of-all-work, -walked in with a can of kerosene. - -“Don't you think that's funny looking mince-meat, Betty?” asked Patty, -pointing to the frying-pan. - -Betty the wise looked at it one moment, and then said, with youthful -certainty and disdain: “'Tain't no more mince-meat than a cat's foot.” - -This was decisive, and the utterance fell like a thunder-bolt upon the -kitchen-maids. - -“Gracious,” cried Bell, dropping her good English and her rolling-pin -at the same time. “What do you mean? It looked exactly like it before it -melted. What is it, then?” - -“Suet,” answered cruel Betty Bean. “Your ma chopped it and done it up -in molasses for her suet plum puddins this winter. It's thick when it's -cold; and when it was froze, maybe it did look like pie-meat with a good -deal of apple in it; but it ain't no such thing.” - -This was too much. If I am to relate truly the adventures of this -half-dozen suffering little maidens, I must tell you that Bell entirely -lost her sunny temper for a moment; caught up the unoffending spider -filled with molasses and floating bits of suet; carried it steadily and -swiftly to the back-door, hurled it into a snow-bank; slammed the door, -and sat down on a flour-firkin, burying her face in the very dingy -roller-towel. The girls stopped laughing. - -“Never mind, Bluebell,” cooed Patty, sympathetically, smoothing her -hostess's curly hair with a very doughnutty hand, and trying to wipe her -flushed cheeks with an apron redolent of hot fat. “You can use the -rest of the pie-crust for tarts, and my doughnuts are swelling up -be-yoo-ti-ful-ly!” - -Bell withdrew the towel from her merry, tearful eyes, and said with -savage emphasis: - -“If any of you dare tell this at the picnic to-morrow, or let Uncle -Harry or the boys know about it, I'll--I don't know what I'll do,” - finished she, weakly. - -“That's a fearful threat,” laughed Jo,--“'The King of France and fifty -thousand men plucked forth their swords! and put them up again.'” - -And so this cloud passed over, and another and yet another with -comforting gleams of sunshine between, till at length it was seven -o'clock in the evening before the dishes were washed and the kitchen -tidied; then six as tired young housewives stretched themselves before -the parlor fire as a bright blaze often shines upon. Bell, pale and -pretty, was curled upon the sofa, with her eyes closed. The other girls -were lounging in different attitudes of dejection, all with from one to -three burned fingers enveloped in cloths. The results of the day's labor -were painfully meager,--a colander full of doughnuts, some currant buns, -molasses ginger-bread, and a loaf of tolerably light fruit cake. Out in -the kitchen closet lay a melancholy pile of failure,--Alice's pop-overs, -which had refused to pop; Patty's tarts, rocky and tough; and a bride's -cake that would have made any newly married couple feel as if they were -at the funeral of their own stomachs. The girls had flown too high in -their journey through the cook book. Bell and Jo could really make plain -things very nicely, and were considered remarkable caterers by their -admiring family of school-mates; but the dainties they had attempted -were entirely beyond their powers; hence the pile of wasted goodies in -the closet. - -“Oh, dear,” sighed Lilia. “Nobody has spoken a word for an age, and I -don't wonder, if everybody is as tired as I. Shall we ever be rested -enough to go to-morrow?” - -“I was thinking,” said Edith, dreamily, “that we have only seven more -days to stay. If they were all to be as horrible as this, I shouldn't -care very much; but we have had such fun, I dread to break up -housekeeping. The chief trouble with to-day was that we did no planning -yesterday. We never looked into the store-room nor bought anything in -advance nor settled what we should cook.” - -“Well,” said Bell, waking up a little, “we will crowd everything -possible into the last week and make it a real carnival time. To-morrow -is Saturday and the picnic; on Monday or Tuesday we'll have some sort -of a 'pow-wow,' as Uncle Harry says, for the boys, in return for their -invitation, and then we'll think of something perfectly grand and -stupendous for Friday, our last day of fun. It will take from that -until Monday to get the house into something like order for my mother's -return. (This with a remorseful recollection of the terrible back -bed-room, where everything imaginable had been 'dumped' for a week -past.) - -“I haven't finished trimming our shade hats,” called Alice, faintly, -from the distance. “I will do it in the morning while you are packing -the luncheon. Whatever we do let us unpack our baskets privately and try -to mix in our food with Mrs. Carter's or Mrs. Winship's, so that nobody -will know which is which.” - -The girls had tried to devise something jaunty, picturesque, and summery -for a picnic costume; but the weather being too cold for a change of -dress, they had only bought broad straw hats at the country store,--hats -that farmers wore in haying time, with high crowns and wide brims. They -had turned up one side of them coquettishly, and adorned it with -funny silhouettes made of black paper, descriptive of their various -adventures. Lilia's, for instance, had a huge ink bottle and sponge; -Bell's a mammoth pie and frying-pan. Around the crowns they had tied -colored scarfs of ribbon or gauze, interwoven with bunches of dried -grasses, oats, and everlastings. - -Half-past eight found them all sleep-in as soundly as dormice; and the -next morning with the recuperative power that youth brings, they awoke -entirely refreshed and ready for the fray. - -The picnic was a glorious success. It was a clear, bright day, and not -very cold; so that with a good fire they were able to have a couple of -windows open, and to feel more as if they were out in the fresh air. The -surprise and delight of the girls knew no bounds when they were ushered -into their novel picnic ground, and even the older people avowed that -they had never seen such a miracle of ingenuity. The scene was as pretty -a one as can be imagined, though the young people little knew how -lovely a picture they helped to make in the midst of their pastoral -surroundings. Six charming faces they were, happy with girlish joy, -sweet and bright from loving hearts, and pure, innocent, earnest living. -Bell was radiant, issuing orders for the spread of the feast, flying -here and there, laughing over a stuffed snake under a bush (Geoff's -device), and talking merry nonsense with Hugh, her arch eyes shining -with mischief under her great straw hat. - -Marcus Aurelius, the parrot, talked, and the canaries sang as if this -were the last opportunity any of them ever expected to have; while -the embroidered butterflies and stuffed birds fluttered and swayed and -danced on the quivering tree-twigs beneath them almost as if they were -alive. - -The table-cloth was spread on the floor, in real picnic fashion, for -the boys would allow neither tables nor chairs, and the lunch was -simply delectable. Mrs. Win-ship, Mrs. Brayton, and Mrs. Pennell, with -affectionate forethought, had brought everything that schoolgirls and -boys particularly affect--jelly-cake, tarts, and hosts of other goodies. -How the girls remembered their closetful of “attempts” at home; how they -roguishly exchanged glances, yet never disclosed their failures; how -they discoursed learnedly on baking-powder versus saleratus, raw potato -versus boiled potato yeast; and with what dignity and assurance -they discussed questions of household economy, and interlarded their -conversation with quotations from the “Young Housekeeper's Friend,” and -the “Bride's Manual.” - -In the afternoon they played all sorts of games,--some quiet, more not -at all so,--until at five o'clock, nearly dark in these short days, -they left their make-believe forest and trudged home through the snow, -baskets under their arms, declaring it a mistaken idea that picnics -should be confined to summer. - -“What a gl-orious time we've had!” exclaimed Jo, as they busied -themselves about the home dining-room. “Yesterday seems like a horrible -nightmare, or, at least, it would if it hadn't happened in the daytime, -and if we hadn't the pantry to remind us of the truth. The things we -carried were not so v-e-r-y bad, after all! I was really proud of the -buns, and Patty's doughnuts were as 'swelled up' as Mrs. Drayton's.” - -“And a great deal yellower and spotted-er,” quoth Edith, in a sly aside. - -“Well,” admitted Patty, ruefully, “there certainly was quite enough -saleratus in them; but I think it very unbecoming in the maker of the -bride's-cake to say anything about other people's mistakes! Bride's -cake, indeed!” she finished with a scornful smile. - -“True!” said Edith, much crushed by this heartless allusion to what had -been the most thorough and expensive failure of the day; “I can't deny -it. Proceed with your sarcasm.” - -“This house 'looks as if it was going to ride out'! as Miss Miranda -says,” exclaimed Alice. “Do let us try to straighten it before Sunday! -The closets are all in snarls, the kitchen's in a mess, and the less -said about the back bedroom the better.” - -Accordingly, inspired by Alice's enthusiasm, they began to work and to -improve the hours like a whole hiveful of busy bees. They put on big -aprons and washed pans and pots that had been evaded for two days, made -fish-balls for breakfast, dusted, scrubbed, washed, mended, darned, and -otherwise reduced the house to that especial and delicious kind of -order which is likened unto apple-pie. And thus one week of the joys and -trials of this merry half-a-dozen housekeepers was over and gone. - - - - -CHAPTER V--OLD MAIDS AND YOUNG - -|MONDAY morning broke. Such a cold, dismal, drizzly morning! The wind -whistled and blew about the cottage, until Lilia suggested tying -the clothes-line round the chimneys and fastening it to the strong -pine-trees in front, for greater safety. It snowed at six o'clock, it -hailed at seven, rained at eight, stopped at nine, and presently began -to go through the same varied programme. After breakfast, Bell went -to the window and stood dreamily flattening her nose against the pane, -while the others busied themselves about their several tasks. - -“Well, girls,” said she at length, “we've had four different kinds of -weather this morning, so it may clear off after all, though I confess it -doesn't look like it. It's too stormy to go anywhere, or for anybody to -come to us, so we shall have to try violently in every possible way to -amuse ourselves. I must run over to Miss Miranda's for the milk before -it rains harder. Perhaps I shall stumble into some excitement on the -way; who knows!” - -So saying, she ran out, and in a few minutes appeared in the yard -wrapped in a bright red water-proof, the hood pulled over her head, and -framing her roguish, rosy face. In ten minutes she returned breathless -from a race across the garden, and a vain attempt to keep her umbrella -right side out. She entered the room in her usual breezy way, leaving -the doors all open, and sank into a chair, with an expression of -mysterious mirth in her eyes. - -“Guess what's happened!” she asked, with sparkling eyes. “I have the -most enormous, improbable, unguessable surprise for you; you never -will think, and anyway I can't wait to tell, so here it is: We are all -invited to tea this afternoon with Miss Miranda and Miss Jane! Isn't -that 'ridikilis'?” - -“Do tell, Isabel,” squeaked Jo, with a comically irreverent imitation of -Miss Sawyer, “air you a-going to accept?” - -“Oh, yes, Bell, we'd better go,” said Edith Lambert. “I should like to -see the inside of that old house. I dare say we shall enjoy it, and it -saves cooking.” - -“We are remarkably favored,” laughed Bell. “I don't believe that anybody -has been invited there since the Sewing Circle met with them three years -ago. They live such a quiet, strange, lonely life! Their mother and -father died when they were very young, more than thirty years ago. They -were quite rich for the times, and left their daughters this big house -all furnished and quantities of lovely old-fashioned dishes and -pictures. All the rooms are locked, but I'll try and melt Miss Miranda's -heart, and get her to show us some of her relics. Scarcely anything has -been changed in all these years, except that they have bought a -cooking-stove. Miss Jane hates new-fangled things, and is really ashamed -of the stove, I think; as to having a sewing-machine, or an egg-beater, -or a carpet-sweeper,--why, she would as soon think of changing the -fashion of her bonnet! I believe there isn't such a curious house, nor -another pair of such dried-up, half-nice, half-disagreeable people in the -country. There's Emma Jane with the butter! I'll meet her at the back -door, get her to peel some potatoes and apples, make her sew a white -ruffle in her neck, and make some original remark.” - -Bell's criticism of the Misses Sawyer and their home was quite just. The -old brick house stood in a garden which, in the spring-time, was filled -with odorous lilacs, blossoming apple-trees, and long rows of currant -and gooseberry bushes. In the summer, too, there were actual groves of -asparagus, gaudy sunflowers, bright hollyhocks, gay marigolds, royal -flower-de-luce,--all respectable, old-fashioned posies, into whose -hearts the humming-birds loved to thrust their dainty beaks and -steal their sweetness. Then there were beds paved round with white -clam-shells, where were growing trembling little bride's-tears, -bachelor's-buttons, larkspur, and china pinks. No modern blossoms would -Miss Miranda allow within these sacred ancient places, no -begonias, gladioli, and “sech,” with their new-fangled, heathenish, -unpronounceable names. The old flowers were good enough for her; and, -certainly, they made a blooming spot about the dark house. - -Now, indeed, there was neither a leaf nor a bud to be seen; snow-birds -perched and twittered on the naked apple-boughs, and rifts of snow lay -over the sleeping seed-souls of the hollyhocks and marigolds, keeping -them just alive and no more, in a freezing, cold-blooded sort of way -common to snow. - -But if the garden outside looked like a relic of the olden time, -the rooms inside seemed even more so. The “keeping-room” had been -refurnished fifteen or twenty years before, but so well had it been -kept, that there still hovered about it a painful air of newness. Over -the stiff black hair-cloth sofa hung a funeral wreath in a shell frame, -surrounded by the Sawyer family photographs--husbands and wives always -taken in affectionate attitudes, that their relations might never be -misunderstood. In a corner stood the mahogany “what-not” with its bead -watch-cases, shells, and glass globes covering worsted-work flowers, -together with more family pictures, daguerreotypes in black cases on -the top shelf, and a marvelous blue china vase holding peacock feathers. -Then there was a gorgeous “drawn in” rug before the fireplace, -with impossible purple roses and pink leaves on its surface, and a -marble-topped table holding a magnificent lamp with a glass fringe -around it, and a large piece of red flannel floating in the kerosene. - -All these glories the girls were allowed to view as a great favor -granted at Bell's earnest request. They examined the parlor and the -curiosities in the diningroom cupboard with awe-struck faces, though -their sobriety was almost overcome at the sight of some of the works of -art which Miss Miranda held up for their reverential admiration. - -Upstairs there were rooms scarcely ever opened. The bedsteads were -four-posted, and so high with many feather beds that their sleepy -occupants must have ascended a step-ladder to get into them, or climbed -up the posts hand over hand and dropped down into the downy depths. The -counterpanes and comforters were quilted in wonderful patterns. There -was the “wild-goose chase,” the “log cabin,” the “rocky mountain,” the -“Irish plaid,” and a “charm quilt,” in twelve hundred pieces, no two -of which were alike. The windows in the best chamber had white cotton -curtains with elaborate fringes; the looking-glass was long and narrow -with a yellow-painted frame, and a picture, in the upper half, of -Napoleon crossing the Alps, the Alps in question being very pointed and -of a sky-blue color, while Napoleon, in full-dress uniform, with never -an outrider nor a guide, was galloping up and over the dizzy peaks on a -skittish-looking pony. - -These things nearly upset Jo's gravity, and she quite lost Miss Sawyer's -favor by coughing down an irrepressible giggle when she was shown a -painting of Burns and His Mary, done in oil by Miss Hannah, the oldest -sister of the family, and long since dead. Miss Sawyer had no doubt that -Hannah's genius was of the highest order, although the specimens of her -skill handed down would astonish a modern artist. Burns and His Mary -were seated on a bank belonging to a landscape certainly not Scottish; -His Mary, with a pink tarlatan dress on, tucked to the waist; while a -brook was seemingly purling over Burns' coat-tails spread out behind him -on the bank. It was this peculiar detail which aroused Jo's mirth, as -well it might, so that she could not trust herself to examine with the -others Miss Hannah's last and finest effort--“Maidens welcoming General -Washington in the streets of Alexandria.” The maidens, thirteen in -number, were precisely alike in form and feature, all very smooth as -to hair, long as to waist, short as to skirt, pointed as to toe, and -carrying bouquets of exactly the same size and structure, tied up with -green ribbon. - -The tour of inspection finished, the girls sat down to chat over their -tatting and crochet work, while the two ladies went out to prepare -supper. - -“My reputation is gone,” whispered Jo, solemnly. “To think that I should -have laughed when I had been behaving so beautifully all the afternoon; -but Robbie Burns was the last straw that broke the camel's back of -my politeness; I couldn't have helped it if Miss Miranda had eaten me -instead of frowning at me.” - -“What do you think?” cried Lilia, jumping up impulsively and knocking -down her chair in so doing, “I'm going to beard the lion in his den, and -see if they won't let me help them get supper. Don't you want to come, -Jo?” - -The two girls ran across the long, cold hall, opened the kitchen door -stealthily, and Jo asked in her sweetest tones, “Can't we set the table -or help in any way, Miss Miranda?” - -“No, I thank you, Josephine; there is nothing to do, or leastways you -wouldn't know where things are, and wouldn't be any good. The Porter -girl may come in if she wants to, but two of you would only clutter up -the kitchen.” - -So Lilia went in meekly, and poor Jo flew back to the parlor, smarting -under a bitter sense of disgrace. The sisters fortunately knew nothing -of Lilia's aptitude for blunders, else she never would have been -suffered to touch their precious household gods. As it was, by dint of -extreme care, she managed to get the plum sauce on the table, and to -set the chairs around it, without any serious disaster. To be sure, in -cutting the dried beef, she notched a memorandum of the pieces shaved on -each of her fingers, so that when she finished they were perfect little -calendars of suffering; however, this only concerned herself, and she -did not murmur, as most of her mistakes implicated other people. - -At half-past five they sat down to supper; and such a supper! Miss -Miranda was evidently anxious to impress the young people. The best pink -“chany” set had been unearthed, and there were besides other old dishes -of great magnificence. Quaint British lustre pitchers held the milk and -cream, a green dragon plate the cookies, and the “Sheltered Peasant” - saucers came in for general admiration. - -The china was not more notable than the food. There were light soda -biscuits, large in size and thick, and there was cold buttermilk bread; -a blue and white bowl held tomato preserves, while a glass one was full -of delicious applesauce cooked in maple-syrup; then there was a round, -creamy cottage-cheese, white as a snow-ball; a golden, dried-pumpkin -pie, baked in a deep yellow plate; the brownest and plummiest and -indigestible-est of all plummy cakes, with doughnuts and sugar -gingerbread besides. This array of good things being taken in with rapid -and rabid glances, the girls exchanged involuntary looks of delight, and -even emitted audible signs of happiness. To say that they did justice to -the repast would be a feeble expression, for in truth the meals of their -own preparation were irregular as to time, indifferent as to quality, -and sometimes, when they calculated carelessly and unwisely, even small -as to quantity. - -[Illustration: 0127] - -After tea was over, each of the girls was required to give, in answer to -a string of questions asked, her entire family history; for no tidbit of -information concerning other people's affairs was uninteresting to Miss -Jane or Miss Miranda. This cross-examination being finished, they -rose to go, unable to hear any longer the quiet, proper, suppressed -atmosphere that pervaded the house. While they had been admiring the -quaint, old-fashioned relics and busy devouring the appetizing New -England goodies, they were quite at ease, but an hour or two of -conversation had exhausted their adaptability. When they had taken their -leave, and the sound of their merry voices and ringing laughter floated -in from the country road, Miss Miranda sank into a chair, and waved a -fan excitedly to and fro, her mouse-colored complexion quite flushed and -pink from the unwonted dissipation. - -“Wall, Jane,” said she, “it's over now, and we've done our dooty by Mis' -Winship; she's a good neighbor, and I wanted to act right by Isabel when -her Ma was away, but of all the crazy, 'stivering' girls I ever see, -them do beat all; though they did behave tolerable well this afternoon.” - -“They seemed to enjoy their supper,” said Miss Jane; “I never saw girls -make a heartier meal.” - -“They did for certain,” continued Miranda, “too hearty most. I thought. -That light-haired girl with the blue ear-rings left her meat hash, -that'll sour before we can warm it over again, and et and et fruit cake -till I was afraid she'd have fits at the table. We ought to be very -thankful we hevn't any young ones or men-folks to cook for, Jane.” - -And with that expression of gratitude on her lips, she lighted a candle, -and after locking up the house securely, the two spinsters went to their -bedrooms to sleep the sleep of the calm and the virtuous. - -Their merry visitors, undisturbed by the pelting rain from above, and -the deep “slush” beneath, waded over into their own grounds with many a -hearty laugh and jest. - -“Oh, how delightful our own sitting-room looks!” exclaimed Patty, as -they opened the door and gathered about the cheerful fire on the hearth. -And, indeed, it did, after the stiff, prim arrangement of the rooms -they had left. The flickering blaze cast soft shadows on the walls, and -touched the marbles on the brackets with rosy tints; the canary-birds -were fast asleep with their heads hidden under their wings, and the dog -and cat were snoozing peacefully together on the hearth-rug. The young -people, as well as the room, belonged to another generation than Miss -Miranda's and Miss Jane's, a brighter, freer, fresher one, with a wider -outlook, and quite different problems and responsibilities. - -“We never can be jollier than this!” cried Lilia, in an irrepressible -burst of appreciation. “Oh, that it might last forever, and that -seminaries for young ladies might be turned into zoological gardens! -Then we could keep house here this week, the next week, and eternally, -taking tea with Miss Miranda whenever she asked us to come. What a good -supper that was, girls! Oh, Bell and Jo, you ought to be overcome with -remorse when you think what you might give us to eat, if you were only -skillful, energetic, and ingenious!” - -“You're the very essence of thanklessness!” answered Bell, in high -dudgeon. “It's nothing less than fiery martyrdom to cook for you girls, -when you are so ungrateful. Your special seminary will not be so far -removed from a zoological garden when _you_ return to it, that is -certain!” - -“My dear child, I am sorry already for my remark,” said Lilia, in -feigned repentance. “It was very thoughtless in me to arouse your -anger until after the next meal. Any impertinence of ours is sure to -be visited upon us in the form of oatmeal porridge, or salt fish and -crackers.” - -“Lilia Porter, if you want to be an angel by and by, it would be better -to draw your thoughts away from eatables for a time; you talk quite too -much about food,” said Edith Lambert, who had a very hearty appetite, -but never called attention to it. “When you have done with your -nonsense, I have something to propose for our final 'good time.' We have -only four days, 'tis true, and 'pity 'tis 'tis true; but we must -go away with flying colors, and so astonish the natives with our genius -that the village will talk of us for months to come.” - -“Si-lence in court!” cried Jo, impressively. “Let me offer you the coal -hod for a platform; it won't tip over; go on, you look as dignified as a -policeman.” - -“Stop your nonsense, Jo. You remember, Bell, the evening when we made a -comic pantomime of 'Young Lochinvar,' and acted it before the teachers -and seniors?” - -“Indeed I do,” laughed Bell, in recollection. “We girls took all the -characters. What fun it was!” - -“Why can't we do that again, changing and improving it, of course? The -boys are so clever and bright about anything of the kind that they would -be irresistibly funny. What do you think?” - -“I like the idea,” exclaimed Patty Weld. “Uncle Harry's large hall would -be just the place for it, and the stage is already there.” - -“So it is; how fortunate,” agreed Alice; “we couldn't think of anything -that would be greater fun. How shall we cast the characters! You must be -the bride, Bell, the 'fair Ellen!' you will do it better than anybody. -Jo will make up into the funniest old lady for a mother, and the rest -of us can be the bride-maidens. Hugh Pennell will be a glorious Young -Lochinvar, if he can be persuaded to run away with Bell--” this with a -sly glance at her hostess. - -“Yes,” said Edith, “and poor Jack will have to be the 'craven -bridegroom,' who loses his bride, and Geoff, the stern parent.” - -“Uncle Harry will read the poem for us, I know,” continued Bell; “he -does that sort of thing often at the church, and does it beautifully. -Phil Howard, Royal Lawrence, and Harry will be bridemen. We'll perform -the piece in such a tragic way that each separate hair in the audience -will stand erect.” - -“But, oh, the labor of it, girls!” sighed Patty--“wooden horses to be -made for the elopement scene, Scottish dresses, and all sorts of toggery -to be hunted up; can we ever do it in time, with our house-cleaning -before us?” - -“Nonsense, of course we can,” rejoined Bell, energetically. “We will -consult every book on private theatricals, Scottish history, manners, -and costumes in this house, and Uncle Harry's, too. Let us get up at -five to-morrow morning, have a simple breakfast of--” - -“Cornmeal mush or dry bread and milk,” finished Lilia, with grim -sarcasm. “If time must be saved, of course, it must come out of the -cooking! How are we to do this amount of work on a low diet, I should -like to know?” - -“How are the cooks to get time for anything outside the kitchen if they -humor your unnatural appetites! Out of kindness, we propose to lower you -gradually, meal by meal, into the pit of boarding-school fare.” - -“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' I don't care to be -starved beforehand by way of getting used to it,” retorted Lilia, as -she lighted the bedroom candles. “Come, dears, do cover the fire; it -was sleepy-time an hour ago, and if you want to see something beautiful, -look through the piazza window.” - -Beneath them lay the steep river bank, smooth with its white, glittering -crust, above which a few naked alders pushed their snow-weighted -finger-tips; one rugged old pine-tree stood in the garden, grand, dark, -and fearless; the quiet part of the river had been turned by King Winter -into an icy mirror; but over the dam a hundred yards below, the waters -tumbled too furiously to be frozen. The old bridge looked like a silver -string tying together the two little villages, and over all was the -dazzling winter moonlight. - -Six dreamy faces now at the cottage window. Six girlish figures, all -drawn closely together, with arms lovingly clasped. The white beauty, -and the solemn stillness of the picture hushed them into quietness. One -minute passed and then another, while the spell was working, till at -length Bell impulsively bent her brown head, and said softly: “If the -minister were here he would say, 'Let us pray.' It makes me want to -whisper, 'Dear Lord, make us pure and white within, as thy world is -without.'” - -“Amen,” murmured Edith and Patty, in the same breath. - -“Pull down the curtain,” sighed Jo; “it makes me feel wicked!” - -“Ah, don't, don't, not quite yet!” pleaded Edith, “it is too heavenly -and it can't do us any harm to feel wicked. It reminds me of Tennyson's -'St. Agnes' Eve,' of the white, white picture she looked out upon from -her convent window the night she was lifted to the golden doors of -heaven--the poem you recited for the medal, Alice,--say a verse of it.” - And Alice, half under her breath, repeated the lovely lines:= - -````“As these white robes are soil'd and - -`````dark - -````To yonder shining ground; - -```As this pale taper's earthly spark, - -````To yonder argent round; - -```So shines my soul before the Lamb, - -````My spirit before Thee; - -```So in mine earthly house I am - -````To that I hope to be!”= - - - - -CHAPTER VI--“THE END OF THE PLAY” - -|ON the next morning, and, indeed, on all of those left of their stay, -the six housekeepers were up at an alarmingly early hour, so that the -sun, accustomed to being the earliest of all risers, felt himself quite -behindhand and outshone. - -In vain he clambered up over the hillside in a desperate hurry; the -girls were always before him with lighted candles. As for the clock, it -held up its hands with astonishment, and struck five shrill exclamation -points of surprise to see six wide-awake young persons tumbling out of -their warm nests before the world was lighted or heated. - -The day's hours were hardly enough for the day's plans, for there were -farewell coasting, skating, and sleighing parties, besides active daily -preparations for the pantomime. The costumes of the hoys were gorgeous -to behold, and were fashioned entirely by the girls' clever fingers. -They consisted of scarlet or blue flannel shirts, short plaid kilts, -colored stockings striped with braid, sashes worn over shoulders, and -jaunty little caps with bobbing quills. - -On the last happy evening of their stay, the eventful evening of “Young -Lochinvar,” the guests gathered from all the surrounding country to see -the frolic. There were people from North Edgewood, South Edgewood, East -Edge-wood, and West Edgewood; from Edgewood Upper Corner, Edgewood Lower -Corner, and Edgewood Four Corners, and everybody had brought his uncles -and cousins. - -In the big dressing-room the young actors were assembled,--and -fortunately in a high state of exuberance and excitement, else they -would have been decidedly frightened at the ordeal before them. Jo, -mirror in hand, was trying to make herself look seventy; and, though she -had not succeeded, she had transformed herself into a very presentable -Scottish dame, with her short satin gown and apron, lace kerchief and -spectacles. Edith was giving a pair of pointed burnt-cork eyebrows to -Hugh, that he might wear a sufficiently dashing and defiant countenance -for Lochinvar, while Jack stood before the glass practicing his meek -expression for the jilted bridegroom. - -[Illustration: 0145] - -Bell had sunk into a chair, and folded her hands to “get up” her -courage. As to her dress, nobody knew whether it was the proper one -for a Scottish bride or not; but it was the only available thing, and -certainly she looked in it a very bewitching and sufficient excuse for -Lochinvar's rash folly. It was of some shining white material, and came -below the ankle, just showing a pair of jaunty high-heeled slippers; -the skirt was 'broidered and flounced to the belt, the waist simple and -full,' with short puffed sleeves; while a bridal veil and dainty crown -of flowers made her as winsome and bonny as a white Scottish rose. Emma -Jane Perkins stood in one corner paralyzed by her own good looks. Her -red hair was waved and hanging in her neck, and her dress was white. -She hoped she could be trusted to bring in this overpowering weight of -beauty at the right moment, but felt a little doubtful. - -Uncle Harry stumbled in at the low door. - -“Are you ready, young fry?” asked he. “It is half-past seven, and we -ought to begin.” - -“Put out the footlights, give the people back their money, and tell -them the prima donna is dangerously ill!” gasped Bell, faintly, fanning -herself with a box-cover. “I don't believe I can ever do it. Hugh, -are you perfectly sure our horse won't break down on the stage when we -elope?” - -“Calm yourself, 'fair Ellen,' and trust to my horsemanship. Doesn't the -poem say:= - -```Through all the wide Border his steed - -`````was the best?= - -“And doesn't this exactly embody Scott's idea?”--pointing to a wild and -cross-eyed wooden effigy mounted on a pair of trucks. - -***** - -You have all read Sir Walter Scott's poem of “Young Lochinvar,” and many -a time, I hope, for they are brave old verses:= - -```Oh, young Lochinvar is come out of the - -`````West, - -```Through all the wide Border his steed - -`````was the best, - -```And, save his good broadsword, he - -`````weapons had none; - -```He rode all unarmed, and he rode all - -`````alone. - -```So faithful in love, and so dauntless in - -`````war, - -```There never was knight like the young - -`````Lochinvar.= - -And then, you remember, the young knight rode fast and far, stayed not -for brakes, stopped not for stones, but all in vain; for ere he alighted -at Netherby Gate, the fair Ellen, overcome by parental authority, had -consented to be married to another:= - -```For a laggard in love and a dastard in - -`````war - -```Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave - -`````Lochinvar.= - -But he, nothing daunted, boldly entered the bridal hall among bridemen -and bridemaids and kinsmen, thereby raising so general a commotion -that the bride's father cried at once, the poor craven bridegroom being -struck quite dumb:= - -```“Oh, come ye in peace here, or coyne ye - -`````inivar, - -```Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord - -`````Lochinvar?" - -The lover answers with apparent indifference that though he has in past -times been exceedingly fond of the young person called Ellen, he has now -merely come to tread a measure and drink one cup of wine with her, for -although love swells like the tide, it ebbs like it also. So he drinks -her health, while she sighs and blushes, weeps and smiles, alternately; -then he takes her soft hand, her parents fretting and fuming the while, -and leads the dance with her,--he so stately, she so lovely, that they -are the subject of much envy, admiration, and sympathy. But while thus -treading the measure, he whispers in her ear something to which she -apparently consents without much unwillingness, and at the right moment -they dance out from the crowd of kinsmen to the door of the great hall, -where in the darkness the charger stands ready saddled. Quick as thought -the dauntless lover swings his fair Ellen lightly up, springs before her -on the saddle, and they dash furiously away:= - -```“She is won! We are gone, over ban, - -`````bush, and scaur; - -```They'll have fleet steeds that follow - -`````quoth young Lochinvar. - -As soon as their flight is discovered, there is wild excitement and -hasty mounting of all the Netherby Clan; there is racing and chasing -over the fields, but “the laggard in love and the dastard in war” never -recovers his lost Ellen.= - -```So daring in love, and so dauntless in - -`````war, - -```Have ye e'er heard of gallant like - -`````young Lochinvar?= - -Uncle Harry read the poem through in such a stirring way that the -audience was fairly warmed into interest; then, standing by the side of -the stage with the curtain rolled up, he read it again, line by line, or -verse by verse, to explain the action. - -During the first stanza, Lochinvar made his triumphal entrance, riding a -prancing hobby-horse with a sweeping tail of raveled rope, and a mane to -match, gorgeous trappings adorned with sleigh-bells and ornamental paper -designs, and bunches of cotton tacked on for flecks of foam. - -Lochinvar himself wore gray pasteboard armor, a pair of carpet slippers -with ferocious spurs, red mittens, and carried a huge carving-knife. -His costume alone was food for amusement, but the manner in which he -careered wildly about the stage, displaying his valorous horsemanship as -he rode to the wedding, was perfectly irresistible. - -The next scene opened in Netherby Hall, showing the bridal party all -assembled in gala dress. Into this family gathering presently strode the -determined lover, with his carving-knife sheathed for politeness' -sake. Then followed a comical pantomime between the angry parents, who -demanded his intentions, and the adroit Lochinvar, who declared them to -be peaceful. The father (Geoffrey Strong) at last gave him unwilling -permission to drink one cup of wine and tread one measure with the -bride. She kissed the goblet (a tin quart measure), he quaffed off the -spirit, and threw down the cup. Pair Ellen bridled with pleasure, and -promenaded about the room on his arm, while the bridegroom looked on -wretchedly, the parents quarreled, and the bride-maidens whispered:= - -`````“'Twere better by far - -```To have matched our fair cousin with - -````young Lochinvar."= - -At the first opportunity, the guests walked leisurely out, and young -Lochinvar seized an imaginary chance to draw Ellen hastily back into the -supper room. He whispered the magic word into her ear, she started in -horror and drew back; he urged; she demurred; he pleaded; she showed -signs of surrender; he begged on his bended knees; she yielded at -length to the plan of the elopement, with all its delightful risks. Then -Lochinvar darted to the outside door and brought in his charger,--rather -an unique proceeding, perhaps, but necessary under the circumstances, -inasmuch as the audience could not be transported to the proper scene of -the mounting. As the flight was to be made on horseback, much ingenuity -and labor were needed to arrange it artistically. The horse's head was -the work of Geoff's hand, and for meekness of expression, jadedness, -utterly-cast-down-and-worn-out-ness, it stood absolutely unrivalled. A -pair of trucks were secreted beneath the horse-blankets, and the front -legs of the animal pranced gaily out in front, taking that startling and -decided curve only seen in pictures of mowing-machines and horseraces. -Lochinvar quieted his fiery beast, and swung Ellen into the saddle, -leaped up after her, waved his tall hat in triumph, and started off at a -snail's pace, the horse being dragged by a rope from behind the scenes. -When half way across the stage, Ellen clasped her lover's arm and seemed -to have forgotten something. Everybody in the room at once guessed -it must be some part of her trousseau. She explained earnestly in -pantomime; Lochinvar refused to return; she insisted; he remained firm; -she pouted and seemingly said that she wouldn't elope at all unless she -could have her own way. He relented, they went back to Netherby Hall, -and Ellen ran up a secret stairway and came down laden with maidenly -traps. Greatly to the merriment of the observers, she loaded them on -the docile horse in the very face of Lochinvar's displeasure--two small -looking-glasses, a bird-cage, and a French bonnet. She then leisurely -drew on a pair of huge India rubbers, unfurled a yellow linen umbrella, -and just as her lover's patience was ebbing, suffered herself to be -remounted. The second trip across the stage was accomplished in safety, -though with anything but the fleetness common to elopements either in -life or in poetry. - -Then came the pursuit--a most graphic and stirring scene, giving large -opportunities to the supernumerary characters. Four bridemen on dashing -hobbyhorses, jumping fences, leaping bars and ditches in hot excitement; -four bride-maids, with handkerchiefs tied over their heads, running -hither and thither in confusion; the old mother and father, limping in -and straining their eyes for a sight of their refractory daughter; and -last of all, poor Jack, the deserted bridegroom, on foot, with never a -horse left to him, puffing and panting in his angry chase. - -It was done! How people laughed till they cried, how they continued -to laugh for five minutes afterward, I cannot begin to tell you. The -performance had been the perfection of fun from first to last, and -seemed all the more inspiring because it was original with the bright -bevy of young folks who had enacted the poem. Uncle Harry had renewed -his youth, and received the plaudits of the crowd with unconcealed -pleasure. The hero and heroine, Lochinvar and fair Ellen, had so -generously provided dramatic opportunities for the minor actors that -all had enjoyed an equal chance in the favor of the audience. There was -neither envy, jealousy, nor heartburning; each of the girls gloried -in the achievements of the others, and confessed that the mechanical -ingenuity of the boys had made the triumph possible. - -At length the lights were all out, the finery bundled up, the many -farewells said, and as the girls, escorted by their faithful young -squires, trudged along the path through the orchard for the last time, -sad thoughts would come, although the party was much too youthful and -cheery to be gloomy. - -“Depart, fun and frolic!” sighed Lilia, in mournful tones. “Depart, -breakfasts at any hour and other delights of laziness! Enter, -boarding-school, books, bells, and other banes of existence!” - -“It is really too awful to think or to speak about,” sighed Jo. “Now -I know how Eve must have felt when she had to pack up and leave the -garden; only she went because she insisted upon eating of the tree of -knowledge, while I must go and eat, whether I will or not.” - -“Your appetite for that special fruit isn't so great that you'll ever -be troubled with indigestion,” dryly rejoined Patty, the student of the -“Jolly Six.” - -“Fancy starting off at half-past ten to-morrow morning; fancy reaching -school at one, and sitting down stupidly to a dinner of broth, fried -liver, and cracker-pudding! Ugh! it makes me shiver,” said Alice. - -“Think of us,” cried Geoff, “going back to college, and settling into -regular 'digs.'” - -“If 'digs' is a contraction of dignitaries,” said Edith, saucily, -“you'll never be those; if you mean you are to delve into the mines -of learning, that's doubtful, too; but if it's a corruption of Digger -Indian, I should say there might be some force in your remark. Oh, what -matchless war-whoops you gave in the pursuit to-night. Every separate -hair in Betty Bean's head stood on end, and the Misses Sawyer sat close -together and trembled visibly!” - -“It was a wonderful evening,” remarked Hugh. “There were persons there -who said that Bell was beautiful and I was clever.” - -“I don't want to annoy you,” laughed Jo, “but I heard exactly the -opposite.” - -“Which only goes to show that both of us are both,” retorted Bell. - -“And that sentence goes to show that a week's absence from the class in -parsing and analysis has had its effect,” said Patty. “Look at our angel -cottage, girls! Doesn't it look like a marble night-lamp with the hall -light shining through all its sweet little windows'?” - -“The fire isn't out, that's fortunate,” observed Alice, as she saw a -small cloud of smoke issuing from the chimney. - -“Good night and sweet dreams,” called the hoys, when Geoffrey had -unlocked the door of the cottage. - -“Sweet dreams, indeed!” the girls answered in chorus. “The kitchen -closet to put in order, also the shed, two trunks to pack, twenty-four -hours' dishes to wash, and a million 'odd jobs' more or less.” - -“Don't forget the borrowed articles to be returned,” reminded Hugh. -“We'll take the pung and do that for you, also attend to the cleaning -of the shed, which is more in our line than yours. Boys, let us give -one rousing cheer for Dr. and Mrs. Winship, the model parents of the -century!” - -The welkin rang with hurrahs, in which the girls joined with hearty -vigor. - -“Now another rousing one for the model daughter of the century,” cried -Bell, modestly; “the model daughter who had the bright idea and begged -the model parents to assent to it. Of what use would have been the model -parents, pray, unless they had had the model daughter with the bright -idea?” - -More cheers, lustier than ever, floated out into the orchard. - -“The model daughter would have had a dull house-party with nothing but -her bright idea to keep her company,” said Jo Fenton, suggestively. - -“Three cheers for the house party! Three cheers for the 'Jolly Six!' -Hip, hip, hurrah!” and at this moment Uncle Harry's window opened and -across the breadth of the orchard came the warning note of a conch -shell, an instrument of much power, with which Uncle Harry called his -men to dinner in haying time. Had it not been for this message of -correction it is possible the enthusiastic young people might have -cheered one another till midnight. - -***** - -It was afternoon of the next day. The six little housekeepers were gone, -and the dejected hoys went into the garden to take a last look at the -empty cottage. On the door was a long piece of fluttering white paper, -tied with black ribbon. It proved to be the parting words of the “Jolly -Six."= - -```How dear to our hearts are the scenes of - -`````vacation, - -```When fond recollection presents them - -`````to view! - -```The coasting, the sleigh-rides, and--chief - -`````recreation-- - -```That gayest of picnics with squires so - -`````true!= - -```And note, torn away from the loved situ- - -`````ation, - -```The hump of conceit will explosively - -`````swell, - -```As proudly we think, never since the - -`````creation, - -```Did any young housekeepers keep - -`````house so well!= - -```Think not our great genius too highly - -`````we've rated, - -```For all that belongs to the kitchen we - -`````know; - -```And feel that from infancy we have been - -`````fated - -```For scrubbing and cooking, far more - -`````than for show.= - -```The cook-stove and dish-pan to us are so - -`````charming, - -```So toothsome the compounds we often - -`````have mixed, - -```That though you would think the news - -`````somewhat alarming, - -```On housekeeping ever our minds are - -`````quite fixed.= - -```Good-by to all hope of a fame uni- - -`````versal! - -```Farewell, vain ambition,--that way - -`````madness lies! - -```The rest of our youth shall be one long - -`````rehearsal - -```For life in six cottages, all of this - -`````size!= - -B. W. - -J. F. - -P. W. - -A. F. - -E. L. - -L. P. - -X= - -``Their joint mark. - -``Witnessed by me this morning, - -``Jack Frost, Notary Public. - -``Sealed with a snow flake.= - - -The boys read this nonsense with hearty laughter, and latching the gate -behind them, they went off, leaving the place deserted. - -“They are awfully jolly girls,” said Jack. - -“Better than jolly,” added Geoffrey, thoughtfully. - -“You're right, Geoff; miles better and miles more than jolly,” agreed -Hugh. “None like'em in Brunswick.” - -“Or in Portland.” - -“Or in Bath.” - -“Or in Augusta.” - -And with this outburst of respectful admiration the lads passed out of -view. - -The setting sun shone rosily in at the piazza window that afternoon, -but fell blankly against a gray curtain, instead of smiling into six -laughing faces as before. - -A noisy crowd of sparrows settled on the bare branches over the -door-step, twittering as if they expected the supper of bread-crumbs -which girlish hands had been wont to throw them, and at last flew -away disappointed. In the old house opposite, Miss Miranda sat in her -high-backed chair, knitting as fiercely as ever, while Miss Jane was at -her post by the window, drearily watching the sun go down. - -She turned away with the glow of a new thought in her wrinkled face. -“Mi-randy!” called she, sharply. - -No answer but the sharp click of knitting-needles. - -“Mirandy Sawyer! What do you say to invitin' our niece, Hannah, down -here from the farm, and givin' her a couple of terms' schoolin'? Aurelia -has her hands full raisin' that great family of children. She'd be glad -one of 'em should have some advantages. We ain't seen Hannah since she -was ten, but she was a nice appearin', pretty behavin' girl.” - -Miranda glanced ont of the window without speaking. - -“It seems like a streak of sunshine had gone out o' the place with them -young creeters, and I think we've lived here alone about long enough!” - continued Miss Jane. “I should like to give one girl a chance of being -a brighter, livelier woman than I am. Yes, you may drop your knittin', -Mirandy, but you know it as well as I do!” - -No wonder that Miss Miranda looked very much as if she had been struck -by lightning; the more wonder that the quiet old house didn't shake to -its foundation, when this proposal was made. Indeed, old Tabby, on the -hearth-rug, did wake up, startled, no doubt by the consciousness that a -child's hand might pull her tail in days to come. - -“It does seem dreadful lonesome,” Miss Miranda agreed, after a long -pause. “Hear Topsy howling in the kitchen; she's missin' the young life -that's gone, and she'll have to git used to us all over again, jest as -I said. Hannah would be considerable expense to us, and make a sight o' -work, too. Of course, you've thought o' that?” - -“We take about so many steps, anyway,” argued Miss Jane, “and if the -child's spry and handy, she may save us a few now and then. Tabitha -ain't so much care, nor near so confinin', sence Topsy came to keep her -comp'ny--even two cats is better'n one.” - -“There goes Emma Jane Perkins,” exclaimed Miss Miranda, from her post -of observation. “She looks different somehow. I've always said I should -think her face would ache, it's so hombly, but I guess she's passed her -hombliest, and is going to improve. Mebbe Mis' Perkins has been givin' -her spring medicine.” - -“I guess the 'spring medicine' has been two weeks' good time with that -trainin' and careerin' houseful of girls,” rejoined Miss Jane, wisely. -“Everybody in the village sits up kind o' smart and looks as if they'd -taken a tonic. Maybe I'd better write to Aurelia on Sunday, Mirandy.” - -“Mebbe you had, Jane, and if she can't spare Hannah, say we'll take -Rebecca, though I always thought she was a self-willed child, too full -of her own fancies to be easy managed.” - -This is not the time for Rebecca's story; but, as a matter of -fact, Mrs. Aurelia Randall could not spare Hannah, who was docile, -industrious, and of much assistance with the house-work, and as a -matter of fact it was the somewhat dreaded Rebecca who did come from -the far-away farm to live in the dull old house with Miss Jane and Miss -Miranda. And all that befell this new family circle, formed almost by -accident, and all that Rebecca did, or became, as well as everything -that happened during the gradual beautifying of Emma Jane Perkins, was, -as you see, the indirect result of Bell Winship's madcap experiment in -housekeeping. - -THE END - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Half-A-Dozen Housekeepers, by Kate Douglas Wiggin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALF-A-DOZEN HOUSEKEEPERS *** - -***** This file should be named 54685-0.txt or 54685-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/6/8/54685/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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