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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57310 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: "Promise that I may make the flowers you wear on your
+wedding-day," whispered Lizzie, kissing the kind hand held out to help
+her rise--PAGE 85.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN OMNIBUS.--_Page_ 187.]
+
+
+
+
+  AUNT JO's SCRAP-BAG.
+
+  MY GIRLS, ETC.
+
+
+[Illustration: Scrap Bag Vol. IV]
+
+
+  BY LOUISA M. ALCOTT,
+
+  AUTHOR OF "LITTLE WOMEN," "AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL," "LITTLE MEN,"
+  "HOSPITAL SKETCHES," "EIGHT COUSINS," ETC.
+
+
+
+  BOSTON:
+  ROBERTS BROTHERS.
+  1878.
+
+
+
+
+  _Copyright,_
+  BY LOUISA M. ALCOTT.
+  1877.
+
+
+
+  _Cambridge:
+  Press of John Wilson & Son._
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS.
+
+  I. My Girls
+  II. Lost in a London Fog
+  III. The Boys' Joke, and who got the best of it
+  IV. Roses and Forget-me-nots
+  V. Old Major
+  VI. What the Girls did
+  VII. Little Neighbors
+  VIII. Marjorie's Three Gifts
+  IX. Patty's Place
+  X. The Autobiography of an Omnibus
+  XI. Red Tulips
+  XII. A Happy Birthday
+
+
+
+
+AUNT JO'S SCRAP-BAG.
+
+
+
+I.
+
+MY GIRLS.
+
+Once upon a time I wrote a little account of some of the agreeable boys
+I had known, whereupon the damsels reproached me with partiality, and
+begged me to write about them.  I owned the soft impeachment, and
+promised that I would not forget them if I could find any thing worth
+recording.
+
+That was six years ago, and since then I have been studying girls
+whenever I had an opportunity, and have been both pleased and surprised
+to see how much they are doing for themselves now that their day has
+come.
+
+Poor girls always had my sympathy and respect, for necessity soon makes
+brave women of them if they have any strength or talent in them; but
+the well-to-do girls usually seemed to me like pretty butterflies,
+leading easy, aimless lives when the world was full of work which ought
+to be done.
+
+Making a call in New York, I got a little lesson, which caused me to
+change my opinion, and further investigation proved that the rising
+generation was wide awake, and bound to use the new freedom well.
+Several young girls, handsomely dressed, were in the room, and I
+thought, of course, that they belonged to the butterfly species; but on
+asking one of them what she was about now school was over, I was much
+amazed to hear her reply, "I am reading law with my uncle."  Another
+said, "I am studying medicine;" a third, "I devote myself to music,"
+and the fourth was giving time, money, and heart to some of the best
+charities of the great city.
+
+So my pretty butterflies proved to be industrious bees, making real
+honey, and I shook hands with sincere respect, though they did wear
+jaunty hats; my good opinion being much increased by the fact that not
+one was silly enough to ask for an autograph.
+
+Since then I have talked with many girls, finding nearly all intent on
+some noble end, and as some of them have already won the battle, it may
+be cheering to those still in the thick of the fight, or just putting
+on their armor, to hear how these sisters prospered in their different
+ways.
+
+Several of them are girls no longer; but as they are still unmarried, I
+like to call them by their old name, because they are so young at
+heart, and have so beautifully fulfilled the promise of their youth,
+not only by doing, but being excellent and admirable women.
+
+A is one in whom I take especial pride.  Well-born, pretty, and bright,
+she, after a year or two of society, felt the need of something more
+satisfactory, and, following her taste, decided to study medicine.
+Fortunately she had a father who did not think marriage the only thing
+a woman was created for, but was ready to help his daughter in the work
+she had chosen, merely desiring her to study as faithfully and
+thoroughly as a man, if she undertook the profession that she might be
+an honor to it.  A was in earnest, and studied four years, visiting the
+hospitals of London, Paris, and Prussia; being able to command private
+lessons when the doors of public institutions were shut in her face
+because she was a woman.  More study and work at home, and then she had
+the right to accept the post of resident physician in a hospital for
+women.  Here she was so successful that her outside practice increased
+rapidly, and she left the hospital to devote herself to patients of all
+sorts, beloved and valued for the womanly sympathy and cheerfulness
+that went hand in hand with the physician's skill and courage.
+
+When I see this woman, young still, yet so independent, successful, and
+contented, I am very proud of her; not only because she has her own
+house, with a little adopted daughter to make it home-like, her
+well-earned reputation, and a handsome income, but because she has so
+quietly and persistently carried out the plan of her life, undaunted by
+prejudice, hard work, or the solitary lot she chose.  She may well be
+satisfied; for few women receive so much love and confidence, few
+mothers have so many children to care for, few physicians are more
+heartily welcomed and trusted, few men lead a freer, nobler life, than
+this happy woman, who lives for others and never thinks of any fame but
+that which is the best worth having, a place in the hearts of all who
+know her.
+
+B is another of my successful girls; but her task has been a harder one
+than A's, because she was as poor as she was ambitious.  B is an
+artist, loving beauty more than any thing else in the world; ready to
+go cold and hungry, shabby and lonely, if she can only see, study, and
+try to create the loveliness she worships.  It was so even as a child;
+for flowers and fairies grew on her slate when she should have been
+doing sums, painted birds and butterflies perched on her book-covers,
+Flaxman's designs, and familiar faces appeared on the walls of her
+little room, and clay gods and goddesses were set upon the rough altar
+of her moulding board, to be toiled over and adored till they were
+smashed in the "divine despair" all true artists feel.
+
+But winged things will fly sooner or later, and patient waiting,
+persistent effort, only give sweetness to the song and strength to the
+flight when the door of the cage opens at last.  So, after years of
+hard work with pencil and crayon, plaster and clay, oil and water
+colors, the happy hour came for B when the dream of her life was
+realized; for one fine spring day, with a thousand dollars in her
+pocket and a little trunk holding more art materials than clothes, she
+sailed away, alone, but brave and beaming, for a year in England.
+
+She knew now what she wanted and where to find it, and "a heavenly
+year" followed, though to many it would have seemed a very dull one.
+All day and every day but the seventh was spent in the National
+Gallery, copying Turner's pictures in oil and water colors.  So busy,
+so happy, so wrapt up in delightsome work, that food and sleep seemed
+impertinencies, friends were forgotten, pleasuring had no charms,
+society no claims, and life was one joyful progress from the blue
+Giudecca to the golden Sol de Venezia, or the red glow of the old
+Temeraire.  "Van Tromp entering the mouth of the Texel" was more
+interesting to her than any political event transpiring in the world
+without; ancient Rome eclipsed modern London, and the roar of a great
+city could not disturb the "Datur Hora Quieti" which softly grew into
+beauty under her happy brush.
+
+A spring-tide trip to Stratford, Warwick, and Kenilworth was the only
+holiday she allowed herself; and even this was turned to profit; for,
+lodging cheaply at the Shakespearian baker's, she roamed about,
+portfolio in hand, booking every lovely bit she saw, regardless of sun
+or rain, and bringing away a pictorial diary of that week's trip which
+charmed those who beheld it, and put money in her purse.
+
+When the year was out, home came the artist, with half her little
+fortune still unspent, and the one trunk nearly as empty as it went,
+but there were two great boxes of pictures, and a golden saint in a
+coffin five feet long, which caused much interest at the Custom House,
+but was passed duty-free after its owner had displayed it with
+enthusiastic explanations of its charms.
+
+"They are only attempts and studies, you know, and I dare say you'll
+all laugh at them; but I feel that I _can_ in time _do_ something, so
+my year has not been wasted," said the modest damsel, as she set forth
+her work, glorifying all the house with Venetian color, English
+verdure, and, what was better still, the sunshine of a happy heart.
+
+But to B's great surprise and delight, people did not laugh; they
+praised and bought, and ordered more, till, before she knew it, several
+thousand dollars were at her command, and the way clear to the
+artist-life she loved.
+
+To some who watched her, the sweetest picture she created was the free
+art-school which B opened in a very humble way; giving her books,
+copies, casts, time, and teaching to all who cared to come.  For with
+her, as with most who _earn_ their good things, the generous desire to
+share them with others is so strong it is sure to blossom out in some
+way, blessing as it has been blessed.  Slowly, but surely, success
+comes to the patient worker, and B, being again abroad for more
+lessons, paints one day a little still life study so well that her
+master says she "does him honor," and her mates advise her to send it
+to the Salon.  Never dreaming that it will be accepted, B, for the joke
+of it, puts her study in a plain frame, and sends it, with the eight
+thousand others, only two thousand of which are received.
+
+To her amazement the little picture is accepted, hung "on the line" and
+noticed in the report.  Nor is that all, the Committee asked leave to
+exhibit it at another place, and desired an autobiographical sketch of
+the artist.  A more deeply gratified young woman it would be hard to
+find than B, as she now plans the studio she is to open soon, and the
+happy independent life she hopes to lead in it, for she has earned her
+place, and, after years of earnest labor, is about to enter in and
+joyfully possess it.
+
+There was C,--alas, that I must write _was_! beautiful, gifted, young,
+and full of the lovely possibilities which give some girls such an
+indescribable charm.  Placed where it would have been natural for her
+to have made herself a young queen of society, she preferred something
+infinitely better, and so quietly devoted herself to the chosen work
+that very few guessed she had any.
+
+I had known her for some years before I found it out, and then only by
+accident; but I never shall forget the impression it made upon me.  I
+had called to get a book, and something led me to speak of the sad case
+of a poor girl lately made known to me, when C, with a sudden
+brightening of her whole face, said, warmly, "I wish I had known it, I
+could have helped her."
+
+"You? what can a happy creature like you know about such things?" I
+answered, surprised.
+
+"That is my work."  And in a few words which went to my heart, the
+beautiful girl, sitting in her own pretty room, told me how, for a long
+time, she and others had stepped out of their safe, sunshiny homes to
+help and save the most forlorn of our sister women.  So quietly, so
+tenderly, that only those saved knew who did it, and such loyal silence
+kept, that, even among the friends, the names of these unfortunates
+were not given, that the after life might be untroubled by even a look
+of reproach or recognition.
+
+"Do not speak of this," she said.  "Not that I am ashamed; but we are
+able to work better in a private way, and want no thanks for what we
+do."
+
+I kept silence till her share of the womanly labor of love, so
+delicately, dutifully done, was over.  But I never saw that sweet face
+afterward without thinking how like an angel's it must have seemed to
+those who sat in darkness till she came to lift them up.
+
+Always simply dressed, this young sister of charity went about her
+chosen task when others of her age and position were at play; happy in
+it, and unconsciously preaching a little sermon by her lovely life.
+Another girl, who spent her days reading novels and eating
+confectionery, said to me, in speaking of C,--
+
+"Why doesn't she dress more?  She is rich enough, and so handsome I
+should think she would."
+
+Taking up the reports of several charities which lay on my table, I
+pointed to C's name among the generous givers, saying,--
+
+"Perhaps _that_ is the reason;" and my visitor went away with a new
+idea of economy in her frivolous head, a sincere respect for the
+beautiful girl who wore the plain suit and loved her neighbor better
+than herself.
+
+A short life; but one so full of sweetness that all the bitter waters
+of the pitiless sea cannot wash its memory away, and I am sure that
+white soul won heaven sooner for the grateful prayers of those whom she
+had rescued from a blacker ocean.
+
+D was one of a large family all taught at home, and all of a dramatic
+turn; so, with a witty father to write the plays, an indulgent mother
+to yield up her house to destruction, five boys and seven girls for the
+_corps dramatique_, it is not to be wondered at that D set her heart on
+being an actress.
+
+Having had the honor to play the immortal Pillicoddy on that famous
+stage, I know whereof I write, and what glorious times that little
+company of brothers and sisters had safe at home.  But D burned for a
+larger field, and at length found a chance to appear on the real boards
+with several of her sisters.  Being very small and youthful in
+appearance they played children's parts, fairies in spectacles and
+soubrettes in farce or vaudeville.  Once D had a benefit, and it was a
+pretty sight to see the long list of familiar names on the bill; for
+the brothers and sisters all turned out and made a jolly play of
+"Parents and Guardians," as well as a memorable sensation in the
+"Imitations" which they gave.
+
+One would think that the innocent little girls might have come to harm
+singing in the chorus of operas, dancing as peasants, or playing "Nan
+the good-for-nothing."  But the small women were so dignified,
+well-mannered, and intent on their duties that no harm befell them.
+Father and brothers watched over them; there were few temptations for
+girls who made "Mother" their confidante, and a happy home was a safe
+refuge from the unavoidable annoyances to which all actresses are
+exposed.
+
+D tried the life, found it wanting, left it, and put her experiences
+into a clever little book, then turned to less pleasant but more
+profitable work.  The father, holding a public office, was allowed two
+clerks; but, finding that his clear-headed daughter could do the work
+of both easily and well, gave her the place, and she earned her
+thousand a year, going to her daily duty looking like a school girl;
+while her brain was busy with figures and statistics which would have
+puzzled many older heads.
+
+This she did for years, faithfully earning her salary, and meanwhile
+playing her part in the domestic drama; for real tragedy and comedy
+came into it as time went on; the sisters married or died, brothers won
+their way up, and more than one Infant Phenomenon appeared on the
+household stage.
+
+But through all changes my good D was still "leading lady," and now,
+when the mother is gone, the other birds all flown, she remains in the
+once overflowing nest, the stay and comfort of her father, unspoiled by
+either poverty or wealth, unsaddened by much sorrow, unsoured by
+spinsterhood.  A wise and witty little woman, and a happy one too,
+though the curly locks are turning gray; for the three Christian
+graces, faith, hope, and charity, abide with her to the end.
+
+Of E I know too little to do justice to her success; but as it has been
+an unusual one, I cannot resist giving her a place here, although I
+never saw her, and much regret that now I never can, since she has gone
+to plead her own cause before the wise Judge of all.
+
+Her story was told me by a friend, and made so strong an impression
+upon me that I wrote down the facts while they were fresh in my mind.
+A few words, added since her death, finish the too brief record of her
+brave life.
+
+At fourteen, E began to read law with a legal friend.  At eighteen she
+began to practise, and did so well that this friend offered her half
+his business, which was very large.  But she preferred to stand alone,
+and in two years had a hundred cases of all sorts in different courts,
+and never lost one.
+
+In a certain court-room, where she was the only woman present, her
+bearing was so full of dignity that every one treated her with respect.
+Her opponent, a shrewd old lawyer, made many sharp or impertinent
+remarks, hoping to anger her and make her damage her cause by some loss
+of self-control.  But she merely looked at him with such a wise, calm
+smile, and answered with such unexpected wit and wisdom, that the man
+was worsted and young Portia won her suit, to the great satisfaction of
+the spectators, men though they were.
+
+She used to say that her success was owing to hard work,--too hard, I
+fear, if she often studied eighteen hours a day.  She asked no help or
+patronage, only fair play, and one cannot but regret that it ever was
+denied a creature who so womanfully proved her claim to it.
+
+A friend says, "she was a royal girl, and did all her work in a royal
+way.  She broke down suddenly, just as she had passed the last hostile
+outpost; just as she had begun to taste the ineffable sweetness of
+peace and rest, following a relative life-time of battle and toil."
+
+But, short as her career has been, not one brave effort is wasted,
+since she has cleared the way for those who come after her, and proved
+that women have not only the right but the ability to sit upon the
+bench as well as stand at the bar of justice.
+
+Last, but by no means least, is F, because her success is the most
+wonderful of all, since every thing was against her from the first, as
+you will see when I tell her little story.
+
+Seven or eight years ago, a brave woman went down into Virginia with a
+friend, and built a school-house for the freed people, who were utterly
+forlorn; because, though the great gift of liberty was theirs, it was
+so new and strange they hardly understood how to use it.  These good
+women showed them, and among the first twenty children who began the
+school, which now has hundreds of pupils, white as well as black, came
+little F.
+
+Ignorant, ragged and wild, yet with such an earnest, resolute face that
+she attracted the attention of her teachers at once, and her eagerness
+to learn touched their hearts; for it was a hard fight with her to get
+an education, because she could only be spared now and then from
+corn-planting, pulling fodder, toting water, oyster-shucking or
+grubbing the new land.
+
+She must have made good use of those "odd days," for she was among the
+first dozen who earned a pictorial pocket-handkerchief for learning the
+multiplication table, and a proud child was F when she bore home the
+prize.  Rapidly the patient little fingers learned to write on the
+first slate she ever saw, and her whole heart went into the task of
+reading the books which opened a new world to her.
+
+The instinct of progression was as strong in her as the love of light
+in a plant, and when the stone was lifted away, she sprang up and grew
+vigorously.
+
+At last the chance to go North and earn something, which all freed
+people desire, came to F; and in spite of many obstacles she made the
+most of it.  At the very outset she had to fight for a place in the
+steamer, since the captain objected to her being admitted to the cabin
+on account of her color; though any lady could take her black maid in
+without any trouble.  But the friend with whom she travelled insisted
+on F's rights, and won them by declaring that if the child was
+condemned to pass the night on deck, she would pass it with her.
+
+F watched the contest with breathless interest, as well she might; for
+this was her first glimpse of the world outside the narrow circle where
+her fourteen years had been spent.  Poor little girl! there seemed to
+be no place for her anywhere; and I cannot help wondering what her
+thoughts were, as she sat alone in the night, shut out from among her
+kind for no fault but the color of her skin.
+
+What could she think of "white folks" religion, intelligence, and
+courtesy?  Fortunately she had one staunch friend beside her to keep
+her faith in human justice alive, and win a little place for her among
+her fellow beings.  The captain for very shame consented at last, and F
+felt that she was truly free when she stepped out of the lonely
+darkness of the night into the light and shelter of the cabin, a
+harmless little girl, asking only a place to lay her head.
+
+That was the first experience, and it made a deep impression on her;
+but those that followed were pleasanter, for nowhere in the free North
+was she refused her share of room in God's world.
+
+I saw her in New York, and even before I learned her story I was
+attracted to the quiet, tidy, door-girl by the fact that she was always
+studying as she sat in the noisy hall of a great boarding-house,
+keeping her books under her chair and poring over them at every leisure
+moment.  Kindly people, touched by her patient efforts, helped her
+along; and one of the prettiest sights I saw in the big city was a
+little white girl taking time from her own sports to sit on the stairs
+and hear F recite.  I think Bijou Heron will never play a sweeter part
+than that, nor have a more enthusiastic admirer than F was when we went
+together to see the child-actress play "The Little Treasure" for
+charity.
+
+To those who know F it seems as if a sort of miracle had been wrought,
+to change in so short a time a forlorn little Topsy into this
+intelligent, independent, ambitious girl, who not only supports and
+educates herself, but sends a part of her earnings home, and writes
+such good letters to her mates that they are read aloud in school.
+Here is a paragraph from one which was a part of the Christmas festival
+last year:--
+
+"I have now seen what a great advantage it is to have an education.  I
+begin to feel the good of the little I know, and I am trying hard every
+day to add more to it.  Most every child up here from ten to twelve
+years old can read and write, colored as well as white.  And if you
+were up here, I think you would be surprised to see such little bits of
+children going to school with their arms full of books.  I do hope you
+will all learn as much as you can; for an Education is a great thing."
+
+I wonder how many white girls of sixteen would do any better, if as
+well, as this resolute F, bravely making her way against fate and
+fortune, toward the useful, happy womanhood we all desire.  I know she
+will find friends, and I trust that if she ever knocks at the door of
+any college, asking her sisters to let her in, they will not disgrace
+themselves by turning their backs upon her; but prove themselves worthy
+of their blessings, by showing them Christian gentlewomen.
+
+Here are my six girls; doctor, artist, philanthropist, actress, lawyer,
+and freed woman; only a few among the hundreds who work and win, and
+receive their reward, seen of men or only known to God.  Perhaps some
+other girl reading of these may take heart again, and travel on cheered
+by their example; for the knowledge of what has been done often proves
+wonderfully inspiring to those who long to do.
+
+I felt this strongly when I went to a Woman's Congress not long ago;
+for on the stage was a noble array of successful women, making the
+noblest use of their talents in discussing all the questions which
+should interest and educate their sex.  I was particularly proud of the
+senators from Massachusetts, and, looking about the crowded house to
+see how the audience stirred and glowed under their inspiring words, I
+saw a good omen for the future.
+
+Down below were grown people, many women, and a few men; but up in the
+gallery, like a garland of flowers, a circle of girlish faces looked
+down eager-eyed; listening, with quick smiles and tears, to the wit or
+eloquence of those who spoke, dropping their school books to clap
+heartily when a good point was made, and learning better lessons in
+those three days than as many years of common teaching could give them.
+
+It was close and crowded down below, dusty and dark; but up in the
+gallery the fresh October air blew in, mellow sunshine touched the
+young heads, there was plenty of room to stir, and each day the garland
+seemed to blossom fuller and brighter, showing how the interest grew.
+There they were, the future Mary Livermores, Ednah Cheneys, Julia
+Howes, Maria Mitchells, Lucy Stones, unconsciously getting ready to
+play their parts on the wider stage which those pioneers have made
+ready for them, before gentler critics, a wiser public, and more
+enthusiastic friends.
+
+Looking from the fine gray heads which adorned the shadowy platform, to
+the bright faces up aloft, I wanted to call out,--
+
+"Look, listen, and learn, my girls; then, bringing your sunshine and
+fresh air, your youth and vigor, come down to fill nobly the places of
+these true women, and earn for yourselves the same success which will
+make their names long loved and honored in the land."
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+LOST IN A LONDON FOG.
+
+We had been to tea with some friends in Shaftesbury Terrace, and were
+so busy with our gossip that the evening slipped away unperceived till
+the clock struck half-past ten.  We were two lone ladies, and had meant
+to leave early, as we were strangers in London and had some way to
+drive; so our dismay on discovering the lateness of the hour may be
+imagined.
+
+We had not engaged a carriage to come for us, knowing that a cab-stand
+was near by, and that a cab would be much cheaper than the snug
+broughams ladies usually secure for evening use.
+
+Out flew the little maid to get us a cab, and we hurried on our wraps
+eager to be gone.  But we waited and waited, for Mary Ann did not come,
+and we were beginning to think something had happened to her, when she
+came hurrying back to say that all the cabs were gone from the
+neighboring stand, and she had run to another, where, after some delay,
+she had secured a hansom.
+
+Now it is not considered quite the thing for ladies to go about in
+hansom cabs, without a gentleman to accompany them, especially in the
+evening; but being independent Americans, and impatient to relieve our
+weary hostess of our presence, we said nothing, but bundled in, gave
+the address,--24 Colville Gardens, Bayswater,--and away we went.
+
+A dense fog had come on, and nothing was visible but a short bit of
+muddy street, and lamps looming dimly through the mist.  Our driver was
+as husky as if it had got into his throat, and the big, white horse
+looked absolutely ghostly as he went off at the breakneck pace which
+seems as natural to the London cab-horse as mud is to London streets.
+
+"Isn't it fun to go rattling round in this all-out-of-doors style,
+through a real London fog?" said my sister, who was now enjoying her
+first visit to this surprising city.
+
+"That remains to be seen.  For my part, I'd give a good deal to be shut
+up, dry and decent, in a four-wheeler, this is so very rowdy," I
+returned, feeling much secret anxiety as to the propriety of our
+proceeding.
+
+"You are sure you gave the man the right direction?" I asked, after we
+had driven through what seemed a wilderness of crescents, terraces,
+gardens, and squares.
+
+"Of course I did, and he answered, 'All right, mum.'  Shall I ask him
+if it is all right?" said M, who dearly liked to poke up the little
+door in the roof, which was our only means of communication with the
+burly, breezy cherub who sat up aloft to endanger the life of his fare.
+
+"You may, for we have ridden long enough to go to St. Paul's."
+
+Up went the little door, and M asked blandly,--
+
+"Are you sure you are going right, driver?"
+
+"No, mum, I ain't," was the cheering response breathed through the
+trap-door (as M called it) in a hoarse whisper.
+
+"I told you where to go, and it is time we were there."
+
+"I'm new come to London, mum, and ain't used to these parts
+yet,"--began the man.
+
+"Good gracious! so are we; and I'm sure I can't tell you any thing more
+than the name and number I have already given.  You'd better ask the
+first policeman we meet," cried I, with the foreboding fear heavier
+than before.
+
+"All right, mum," and down went the little door, and off rattled the
+cab.
+
+My irrepressible sister burst out laughing at the absurdity of our
+position.
+
+"Don't laugh, M, for mercy's sake!  It's no joke to be wandering about
+this great city at eleven o'clock at night in a thick fog, with a tipsy
+driver," I croaked, with a warning pinch.
+
+"He isn't tipsy, only stupid, as we are, not to have engaged a carriage
+to come for us."
+
+"He is tipsy; I smelt gin in his breath, and he is half asleep up
+there, I've no doubt, for we have passed one, if not two policemen, I'm
+sure."
+
+"Nonsense! you wouldn't know your own father in this mist.  Let Jarvey
+alone and he will bring us safely home."
+
+"We shall see," I answered, grimly, as a splash of mud lit upon my
+nose, and the cab gave a perilous lurch in cutting round a sharp corner.
+
+Did any one ever find a policeman when he was wanted?  I never did,
+though they are as thick as blackberries when they are not needed.
+
+On and on we went, but not a felt helmet appeared, and never did
+escaping fugitive look more eagerly for the North Star than I did for a
+gleaming badge on a blue coat.
+
+"There's a station!  I shall stop and ask, for I'm not going slamming
+and splashing about any longer.  Hi there, driver!" and I poked up the
+door with a vigor that would have startled the soundest sleeper.
+
+"Ay, ay, mum," came the wheezy whisper, more wheezy than ever.
+
+"Stop at this station-house and hail some one.  We _must_ get home, and
+you _must_ ask the way."
+
+"All right, mum," came back the hollow mockery conveyed in those
+exasperating words.
+
+We did stop, and a star did appear, when I, with all the dignity I
+could muster, stated the case and asked for aid.
+
+"Pleeseman X," gave it civilly; but I greatly fear he did not believe
+that the muddy-faced woman with a croaky voice, and the blonde damsel
+with curls, long earrings and light gloves, were really respectable
+members of the glorious American Republic.
+
+I felt this and I could not blame him; so, thanking him with a bow
+which would have done credit to the noblest of my Hancock and Quincy
+ancestors, we went on again.
+
+Alas, alas, it was all go on and no stop; for although our driver had
+responded briskly, "Ay, ay, sir," to the policeman's inquiry, "You know
+your way now, don't you?" he evidently did not know it, and the white
+horse went steadily up and down the long, wet streets, like a phantom
+steed in a horrid dream.
+
+Things really were becoming serious; midnight was approaching.  I had
+not the remotest idea where we were, and the passers-by became more and
+more infrequent, lights vanished from windows, few cabs were seen and
+the world was evidently going to bed.  The fog was rapidly
+extinguishing my voice, and anxiety quenching my courage.  M's curls
+hung limp and wild about her face, and even M's spirits began to fail.
+
+"I am afraid we _are_ lost," she whispered in my ear.
+
+"Not a doubt of it."
+
+"The man _must_ be tipsy, after all."
+
+"That is evident."
+
+"What _will_ people think of us?"
+
+"That we are tipsy also."
+
+"What _shall_ we do?"
+
+"Nothing but sit here and drift about till morning.  The man has
+probably tumbled off; this dreadful horse is evidently wound up and
+won't stop till he has run down; the fog is increasing, and nothing
+will bring us to a halt but a collision with some other shipwrecked
+Yankee, as lost and miserable as we are."
+
+"Oh, L, don't be sarcastic and grim now!  Do exert yourself and land
+somewhere.  Go to a hotel.  This horrid man must know where the Langham
+is."
+
+"I doubt if he knows any thing, and I am sure that eminently
+respectable house would refuse to admit such a pair of frights as we
+are, at this disreputable hour.  No, we must go on till something
+happens to save us.  We have discovered the secret of perpetual motion,
+and that is some comfort."
+
+M groaned, I laughed, the ghostly horse sneezed, and I think the driver
+snored.
+
+When things are pretty comfortable I am apt to croak, but when every
+thing is tottering on the verge of annihilation I usually feel rather
+jolly.  Such being the perversity of my fallen nature, I began to enjoy
+myself at this period, and nearly drove poor M out of her wits by awful
+or whimsical suggestions and pictures of our probable fate.
+
+It was so very absurd that I really could not help seeing the funny
+side of the predicament, and M was the best fun of all, she looked so
+like a dilapidated Ophelia with her damp locks, a blue rigolette all
+awry, her white gloves tragically clasped, and her pale countenance
+bespattered with the mud that lay thick on the wooden boot and flew
+freely from the wheels.
+
+I had my laugh out and then tried to mend matters.  What could we do?
+My first impulse was to stir up the sleeping wretch above, and this I
+did by energetically twitching the reins that hung loosely before our
+noses like the useless rudder of this lost ship.
+
+"Young man, if you don't wake up and take us to Colville Gardens as
+quickly as possible, I shall report you to-morrow.  I've got your
+number, and I shall get my friend, Mr. Peter Taylor, of Aubrey House,
+to attend to the matter.  He's an M.P., and will see that you are fined
+for attempting to drive a cab when you know nothing of London."
+
+I fear that most of this impressive harangue was lost, owing to the
+noise of the wheels and the feebleness of my nearly extinguished voice;
+but it had some effect, for though the man did not seem scared by the
+threatened wrath of an M.P., he did feel his weak point and try to
+excuse it, for he answered in a gruffy, apologetic tone,--
+
+"Who's a-goin' to know any thing in such a blessed fog as this?  Most
+cabbies wouldn't try to drive at no price, but I'll do my best, mum."
+
+"Very well.  Do you know where we are now?" I demanded.
+
+"Blest if I do!"
+
+He didn't say "blest"--quite the reverse;--but I forgave him, for he
+really did seem to be making an effort, having had his nap out.  An
+impressive pause followed, then M had an inspiration.
+
+"Look, there's a respectable man just going into his house from that
+four-wheeled cab.  Let us hail the whole concern, and get help of some
+sort."
+
+I gave the order, and, eager to be rid of us at any price, our man
+rattled us up to the door at which a gray-haired gentleman was settling
+with his driver.
+
+Bent on clutching this spar of salvation, I burst out of our cab and
+hastened up to the astonished pair.  What I said I don't know, but
+vaguely remember jumbling into my appeal all the names of all the
+celebrated and respectable persons whom I knew on both sides of the
+water, for I felt that my appearance was entirely against me, and
+really expected to be told to go about my business.
+
+John Bull, however, had pity upon me, and did his best for us, like a
+man and a brother.
+
+"Take this cab, madam; the driver knows what he is about, and will see
+you safely home.  I'll attend to the other fellow," said the worthy
+man, politely ignoring my muddy visage and agitated manners.
+
+Murmuring blessings on his head, we skipped into the respectable
+four-wheeler, and in a burst of confidence I offered Mr. Bull my purse
+to defray the expenses of our long drive.
+
+"Rash woman, you'll never see your money again!" cried M, hiding her
+Roman earrings and clutching her Etruscan locket, prepared for highway
+robbery if not murder.
+
+I did see my purse again and my money, also; for that dear old
+gentleman paid our miserable cabby out of his own pocket (as I found
+afterwards), and with a final gruff "All right!" the pale horse and his
+beery driver vanished in the mist.  It is, and always will be my firm
+belief that it was a phantom cab, and that it is still revolving
+ceaselessly about London streets, appearing and disappearing through
+the fog, to be hailed now and then by some fated passenger, who is
+whisked to and fro, bewildered and forlorn, till rescued, when ghostly
+steed and phantom cab vanish darkly.
+
+"Now you will be quite safe, ladies;" and the good old gentleman
+dismissed us with a paternal smile.
+
+With a feeling of relief I fell back, exhausted by our tribulations.
+
+"I know now how the wandering Jew felt," said M, after a period of
+repose.
+
+"I don't wish to croak, dear; but if this man does not stop soon, I
+shall begin to think we have gently stepped out of the frying-pan into
+the fire.  Unless we were several miles out of our way, we ought to
+arrive _somewhere_," I responded, flattening my nose against the pane,
+though I literally could not see one inch before that classical feature.
+
+"Well, I'm so tired, I shall go to sleep, whatever happens, and you can
+wake me up when it is time to scream or run," said M, settling herself
+for a doze.
+
+I groaned dismally, and registered a vow to spend all my substance in
+future on the most elegant and respectable broughams procurable for
+money, with a gray-haired driver pledged to temperance, and a stalwart
+footman armed with a lantern, pistol, directory, and map of London.
+
+All of a sudden the cab stopped; the driver, not being a fixture,
+descended, and coming to the window, said, civilly,--
+
+"The fog is so thick, mum, I'm not quite sure if I'm right, but this is
+Colville Square."
+
+"Don't know any such place.  Colville Gardens is what we want.  There's
+a church at the end, and trees in the middle, and "--
+
+"No use, mum, describin' it, for I can't see a thing.  But the Gardens
+can't be far off, so I'll try again."
+
+"We never shall find it, so we had better ask the man to take us at
+once to some station, work-house, or refuge till morning," remarked M,
+in such a tone of sleepy resignation that I shook her on the spot.
+
+Another jaunt up and down, fog getting thicker, night later, one woman
+sleepier and the other crosser every minute, but still no haven hove in
+sight.  Presently the cab stopped with a decided bump against the
+curb-stone, and the driver reappeared, saying, with respectful
+firmness,--
+
+"My horse is beat out, and it's past my time for turning in, so if this
+ain't the place I shall have to give it up, mum."
+
+"It is not the place," I answered, getting out with the calmness of
+despair.
+
+"There's a light in that house and a woman looking out.  Go and ask her
+where we are," suggested M, waking from her doze.
+
+Ready now for any desperate measure, I rushed up the steps, tried
+vainly to read the number, but could not, and rang the bell with the
+firm determination to stay in that house till morning at any cost.
+
+Steps came running down, the door flew open, and I was electrified at
+beholding the countenance of my own buxom landlady.
+
+"My dear soul, where 'ave you been?" she cried, as I stood staring at
+her, dumb with surprise and relief.
+
+"From the Crystal Palace to Greenwich, I believe.  Come in, M, and ask
+the man what the fare is," I answered, dropping into a hall chair, and
+feeling as I imagine Robinson Crusoe did when he got home.
+
+Of course that civil cabby cheated me abominably.  I knew it at the
+time, but never protested; for I was so glad and grateful at landing
+safely I should have paid a pound if he had asked it.
+
+Next day we were heroines, and at breakfast alternately thrilled and
+convulsed the other boarders by a recital of our adventures.  But the
+"strong-minded Americans" got so well laughed at that they took great
+care never to ride in hansom cabs again, or get lost in the fog.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+THE BOYS' JOKE, AND WHO GOT THE BEST OF IT.
+
+It was the day before Christmas, and grandpa's big house was swarming
+with friends and relations, all brimful of spirits and bent on having a
+particularly good time.  Dinner was over and a brief lull ensued,
+during which the old folks took naps, the younger ones sat chatting
+quietly, while the children enlivened the day by a quarrel.
+
+It had been brewing for some time, and during that half hour the storm
+broke.  You see, the boys felt injured because for a week at least the
+girls had been too busy to pay the slightest attention to them and
+their affairs,--and what's the good of having sisters and cousins if
+they don't make themselves useful and agreeable to a fellow?  What made
+it particularly hard to bear was the fact that there was a secret about
+it, and all they could discover was that _they_ were to have no part in
+the fun.  This added to their wrath, for they could have borne the
+temporary neglect, if the girls had been making something nice for
+them; but they were not, and the irate lads were coolly informed that
+they would never know the secret, or benefit by it in the least.
+
+Now this sort of thing was not to be borne, you know, and after
+affecting to scorn the whole concern, the boys were finally goaded to
+confess to one another that they were dying to learn what was going on,
+though no power on earth would make them own as much to the girls.  It
+certainly was very tantalizing to the poor fellows penned up in the
+breakfast-room (to keep the house quiet for an hour) to see the girls
+prance in and out of the library with the most aggravating air of
+importance and delight; to watch mysterious parcels borne along; to
+hear cries of rapture, admiration, or alarm from the next room, and to
+know that fun of some sort was going on, and they not in it.
+
+It snowed so they could not go out; all had played their parts manfully
+at dinner, and were just in the lazy mood when a man likes to be amused
+by the gentler half of the race (which they believe was created for
+that express purpose), and there, on the other side of the folding
+doors, were half-a-dozen sprightly damsels, laughing and chatting,
+without a thought or care for the brothers and cousins gaping and
+growling close by.
+
+The arrival of a sleigh-load of girlish neighbors added to the
+excitement, and made the boys feel that something must be done to
+redress their wrongs.
+
+"Let's burst in on them and take a look, no matter if they do scold,"
+proposed Tom, the scapegrace, ready for a raid.
+
+"No, that won't do; grandma said we were to let the girls alone, and we
+shall lose our presents if we don't behave.  You just lean up against
+the door, Joe, and if it flies open, why it is an accident, you know,"
+said Alf the wise.
+
+So Joe, the fat cousin, backed up to the door like a young elephant,
+and leaned hard; but it was locked, and nothing came of it but a creak
+from the door, and a groan from Joe.
+
+"I'll look through the keyhole, and tell what I see," cried little
+Neddy; and no one forbade him, though, at any other time, big brother
+Frank would have cuffed his ears for daring to suggest such a prank.
+
+"There's something bright, and the girls are fussing round it.  Kitty's
+got a lot of red and blue ribbons in her hand, and Grace is up in a
+chair, and Nell--oh, it's cake; a great dish full of the jolliest
+kinds, and bon-bons, and sugared fruit, just the sort I like.  I say,
+knock the door down, some of you big fellows, and let's have one grab!"
+cried Neddy, maddened by the sight of the forbidden sweeties.
+
+"Be quiet, and take another peep; it's rather interesting to hear
+what's going on," said Frank, reposing upon the sofa like the Great
+Mogul, as the boys called him.
+
+Poor little Tantalus obediently applied his eye to the keyhole, but
+fell back with a blank face, saying in a despairing tone:
+
+"They've plugged it up, and I can't see a thing!"
+
+"Serves you right; if you'd held your tongue they never would have
+known what you were about," was Frank's ungrateful answer.
+
+A stifled giggle from the other side of the door caused a dead silence
+to pervade the breakfast-room for several minutes, while Neddy wriggled
+out of sight under the sofa as if to escape from the finger of scorn.
+
+Suddenly Tom cried in a shrill whisper, "I've got it!" and pointed to a
+ventilator over the door.
+
+A simultaneous rush of boys and chairs took place; but Tom claimed the
+rights of a discoverer, and, softly mounting an improvised ladder of
+tables and stools, he peered eagerly through the glass, while impatient
+hands plucked at his legs, and the pressure of the mob caused his perch
+to totter perilously.
+
+The spectacle which he beheld would have touched the heart of any
+little girl, but to an unappreciative boy it possessed no charm, for it
+was only a doll's Christmas tree.  For weeks, the young mammas had been
+making pretty things for their wooden, wax, or porcelain darlings, and
+it was excellent practice, since many a pair of hands that scorned
+patchwork and towels, labored patiently over small gowns, trimmed gay
+hats, and wrought wonders in worsted, without a sigh.
+
+It really was a most delightful little tree, set in an Indian jar,
+snowed over with flour, garlanded with alternate festoons of
+cranberries and pop-corn, and every bough laden with such treasures
+that if dolls could stare any harder than they do, they certainly would
+have opened their painted eyes with amazement and joy.  Such "darling"
+hats, and caps; such "sweet" gowns and cloaks; such "cunning" muffs and
+tippets!  Dressing cases as perfect as grown-up ones, I assure you;
+mittens that must have been knit on darning-needles; shoes of colored
+kid fit for a doll's Cinderella, and sets of brass and bead jewelry
+that glittered splendidly.  Wee bottles of perfume for waxen noses;
+tiny horns of comfits; travelling bags, and shawl straps, evidently
+worked by the fairies; and underclothes which I modestly forbear to
+describe, merely saying that very few of the seams were puckered, and
+the trimmings "perfectly lovely."
+
+At the moment when Peeping Tom's profane eye beheld the innocent revel,
+the dolls were seated in a circle, their mammas standing behind them,
+while the happy little hostesses bestowed the gifts with appropriate
+remarks.  It is needless to say that the dolls behaved beautifully,
+their cheeks glowing with pleasure as they returned thanks in voices so
+like those of their mothers that one couldn't tell the difference.
+
+The tree was soon stripped, and then the chatter began again, for every
+thing must be tried on at once, and more than one doll who came in
+shabby clothes bloomed out in gorgeous array, or was made tidy for the
+winter.
+
+"I'm so glad to get a worked flannel petticoat for my Jemima.  Mamma
+was saying only yesterday that she didn't approve of show at the
+expense of comfort, and I knew she meant Jemmy, who hadn't a thing on
+but her pink silk dress and earrings," observed Mrs. Kitty, in a moral
+tone.
+
+"Clementina has been suffering for shoes, though her feet don't show
+with a train.  I meant to have saved enough to buy her some, but what
+with limes and candy, and pencils, and fines for saying 'awful,' I do
+believe the poor thing would have gone bare-footed all winter, if Nell
+hadn't given her these beauties," replied Mrs. Alice, proudly surveying
+her daughter's feet in red kid boots of a somewhat triangular shape.
+
+"I couldn't make them fit very well, because the cotton is all coming
+out of her toes, and it was hard to measure," explained Mrs. Nell,
+conscious that shoemaking was not her mission.
+
+"They are just the thing; for I'm afraid my poor Clem is going to have
+the gout, young as she is.  It is in our family, so it is well to be
+prepared," answered Mrs. Alice, with the beautiful forethought of a
+maternal heart.
+
+"These muffs are made out of our Tabby's skin.  I thought you'd like
+them as keepsakes, for we all loved her," said Grace, with a pensive
+sigh, as she smoothed the white fur of a dear departed cat, feeling
+that black and violet bows would have been more suitable than red and
+blue for the decoration of these touching memorials.
+
+"I wonder if there isn't a nice place somewhere for good cats when they
+die?  I hope so: for I'm sure they have souls, though they may be
+little bits of ones," observed Kitty, who felt as if her name was a tie
+between herself and the pets she most adored.
+
+"I wonder if they have ghosts," said Nell, as if she feared that
+Tabby's might appear.
+
+A faint "Meou" seemed to float down to the startled girls from some
+upper region, and for an instant they stood staring about them.  Then
+they laughed like a chime of bells, and accused little Lotty of
+pinching the kitten in her arms.
+
+"I didn't; it was Tom up dere," protested the child, pointing to the
+ventilator, from which a round red face was staring at them, like a
+full moon.
+
+Shrieks of indignation greeted the discovery, and a rain of small
+articles pelted the countenance of the foe, as it grinned derisively,
+while a jeering voice called out:
+
+"I don't think much of your old secret.  It wasn't worth the fuss you
+made about it, and I wouldn't have any if I couldn't do better than
+that."
+
+"I'd like to see you get up any thing half as nice.  You couldn't do
+it.  Boys never invent new games, but girls do.  Papa says so, and he
+knows," answered Nell.
+
+"Pooh!  We fellows could beat you as easy as not, if we cared to; so
+you needn't brag, miss.  Men invent every thing in the world,
+'specially ventilators, and you see how useful they are," returned Tom,
+glad that he had kept his place in spite of the maltreatment his
+extremities were undergoing.
+
+"Boys are more curious than girls, anyway.  We should never have done
+such a mean thing as to peek at you," cried Kitty, coming to the
+rescue, and hitting the enemy in his weakest spot.
+
+"Oh, we only did it for fun.  Give us a taste of your spread, and we'll
+never say a word about it," returned the barefaced boy, with a
+wheedlesome air, and a tender glance toward the dainty tea-table set
+forth so temptingly just under his nose.
+
+"Not a bit, unless you'll say our tree is lovely and own that we are
+the cleverest at getting up new and nice things," said Kitty, sternly.
+
+"Never!" roared Tom; "we can beat you any day if we choose."
+
+"Then do it, and we will own up; yes, and we will go halves in all the
+goodies we get off our big tree to-night," added Kitty, bound to stand
+by her sex and ready to wager a year's bon-bons in the defence of her
+position.
+
+"By George, I'll do it if the fellows will agree!  Honor bright now,
+and no dodging," said Tom, recklessly pledging himself and friends to
+any thing and every thing.
+
+"Honor bright," chorused the girls in high glee.
+
+"Only don't be a month about it; you boys are so slow," added Grace, in
+a superior tone, that ruffled the gentleman at the ventilator.
+
+"We'll do it to-morrow; see if we don't," he cried out, rashly heaping
+difficulties upon his party.
+
+"Then you'd better set about it at once, and leave us in peace," said
+Nell, tartly.
+
+"I shall go, ma'am, when I please, and not one minute sooner"--began
+Tom, with immense dignity; but he did not keep his word; for the sudden
+withdrawal of his head, followed by a crash and howls of mingled
+merriment, wrath, and pain, plainly proved that circumstances over
+which he had no control hastened his departure.
+
+The ladies sat down to their afternoon tea, which was much enlivened by
+guessing what those "stupid boys" would do.  The gentlemen, warned by
+Tom's downfall, contented themselves with racking their mighty minds to
+invent some new, striking, and appropriate entertainment which should
+cover their names with glory and demolish their opponents for ever more.
+
+Perhaps it was too soon after dinner; perhaps the brightest wits of the
+party had been shaken by the fall, or the cold affected the inventive
+powers; for, rack as they would, those mighty minds refused to work.
+
+"You ought to have given us more time; of course we can't get up any
+thing clever in one day and a half," grumbled Frank, much annoyed
+because all the rest looked to him and he had not an idea to offer.
+
+"I wasn't going to have a parcel of girls crow over me.  I'd blow
+myself up for a show before I'd let them do that," answered Tom,
+rubbing his bruised elbows with a grim and defiant glance toward the
+fatal ventilator, for he felt that he had got not only himself but his
+mates into a scrape.
+
+"Don't worry, old fellows; time enough; sleep on it, and something
+capital will pop into somebody's noddle, see if it doesn't," counselled
+Alf, with a sage nod, as he went to discover who was sobbing in the
+hall.
+
+Little Lotty sat on the fuzzy red mat, with a tortoise-shell kitten in
+her arms, her white pinafore full of candies, and her chubby face
+bedewed with tears.
+
+"What's the matter, Toddlekins?" asked Alf, in such a sympathetic tone
+that the afflicted infant poured forth her woes in one breath, with the
+brown eyes flashing through their tears and a dramatic gesture of the
+small hands that told the tale better than her broken words.
+
+"De naughty, naughty girls turned out my Torty 'cause she hopped on de
+table and drinked de tea, and I comed too, and we is doing to have a
+kitmouse tee all ourselfs up in de nursery, so now!"
+
+Alf laughed at her indignation, but dried her tears, and sent her away
+happy with a sprig of hemlock from the decorations of the hall.
+"Virtue is its own reward" proved true in this case; for as Alf went
+back to his mates he had an idea--such a superb one that it nearly took
+his breath away and caused him to break into a wild sort of jig, as he
+cried aloud--"I've found it, boys; I've found it!"
+
+"Where?  What?  How?" asked the others, clinging to him as if they were
+shipwrecked mariners, and he a rope thrown out to them.
+
+The idea was evidently a good one, for it was received with great
+applause, and everybody was interested at once in helping Alf elaborate
+his plan.
+
+"Won't it be heaping coals of fire on their heads after the shabby way
+they have treated us?" said Tom, chuckling at the thought of the girls'
+remorse when the touching surprise in store for them should be revealed.
+
+"But how the dickens shall we get enough m----?" began Frank, rather
+inclined to throw cold water on the affair because he was not the
+originator of it.
+
+"Hush!" shouted Alf; then added in a melodramatic whisper, "If the
+girls hear that word we are lost.  I've planned how to manage that, but
+it will take time, and we'd better begin at once, or there won't be
+enough you-know-whats to go round.  Come upstairs; we can talk safely
+there without a pack of girls listening at the keyhole, as I know they
+are this identical minute."
+
+Alf raised his voice at the last words, and the boys trooped off with
+derisive hoots; for a guilty rustle and a sudden outburst of
+conversation in the other room told them that their shot had hit
+somebody.
+
+"I wish we hadn't dared them to do it; for they will be sure to get up
+some dreadful surprise.  I shall be expecting it every minute, and that
+will make me so nervous I shall not enjoy myself a bit."
+
+"I'm not afraid; they won't invent any thing to-night, so we may as
+well clear up and be ready for our tree," answered Kitty to Nell as
+they packed the dolls on the sofa to sleep while their mammas enjoyed
+themselves.
+
+No need to tell about that evening, for every child knows what a
+Christmas tree is better than we can describe it, so we will skip into
+the next morning when the boys' joke came off.
+
+The young folks usually slept late after their unwonted revelry by
+night, but, strange to relate, the lads were early astir.  In fact,
+Mary, the cook, saw several small ghosts whisking up the back-stairs
+when she went down to kindle her fire, and curious sounds were heard in
+attic and cellar, store-room and closets.
+
+Something very exciting was going on, and the elders were evidently in
+it, for, though several mammas were heard to cry out when certain
+mysterious things were shown them, they never said a word, but looked
+up bits of gay ribbon without a murmur; while the papas enjoyed the fun
+and lent a hand in the most delightful manner.
+
+When the girls came down to the late breakfast they found notes under
+their napkins, inviting them to a surprise party in the drying room at
+eleven A.M.
+
+"I didn't think they'd be so quick.  Shall you dare to go?" whispered
+Nell to Kitty as they compared notes and tried to make out the device
+on the seal, which was evidently intended for an animal of some sort.
+
+"We must go, for we promised.  Of course it won't amount to any thing,
+and we can keep our sweeties," answered Kitty, lovingly eying the
+pretty box of French bon-bons which she had so rashly staked.
+
+"You'll be sorry if you don't, for it is the completest thing you ever
+saw, and no end of fun in it," began Tom, assuming an ecstatic
+expression and smacking his lips.
+
+"Hold your tongue and go to work, or we shall not be ready in time.
+We've got to trim all the _jigamarees_, hang the _thingummies_ while
+they are fresh, and see that the basket of _treasures_ arrives safely,"
+said Alf, with such mysterious nods and smiles that the girls were
+instantly consumed by an intense curiosity to know what "thingummies"
+and "jigamarees" were, while "treasures" had such a rich sound that
+they began to hope the boys were really going to atone for the past by
+some splendid piece of generosity.
+
+"Come punctually at eleven and bring your boxes with you; they will be
+a good deal lighter when you come down again;" with which cheering
+remark Frank led off his men, leaving the girls to watch the clock with
+anxious, yet eager eyes.
+
+Their wonder and suspense was much increased by the fact that Lotty was
+sent for and carried off by an escort of two.  Listening at the foot of
+the back-stairs they heard her little voice exclaim approvingly:
+
+"Oh how funny! how berry nice!" then the door closed, and the girls
+heard no more.
+
+As the clock struck, up marched seven young ladies, each with a bon-bon
+box under her arm and an eager sparkle in her eyes.  As they paused at
+the door Tom's voice was heard saying, "I wish they'd hurry up, for I'm
+tired of this business and have had scratching enough."
+
+"They are coming!  Now mind, no scrambling till I give the word.  Each
+fellow stand in his place, keep the bows right side up and hold tight,
+or there will be a dreadful piece of work," answered Alf, evidently
+giving last touches to the spectacle.
+
+"They have borrowed Fred's monkey and are going to scare us; I know
+they are by what Tom said: and I hear a queer noise--don't you?"
+whispered Nell, clutching Grace's skirts.
+
+"It cannot be any thing very bad or Lotty would cry.  Steady, girls;
+I'm going to knock," and Kitty gave a bold "rat-tat-tat," which caused
+a sensation within.
+
+The door opened, and Frank made his best bow as he said, with a
+flourish:
+
+"Enter, ladies, and join us in the interesting festival which we have
+prepared at your desire.  Take a look first, and then I will explain
+this charming scene if it is not clear to you."
+
+No need to tell the girls to take a look; they had done that already;
+but it was evident that an explanation would be necessary, for they
+were quite mystified by the "charming scene;" and well they might be,
+for it was a curious one.
+
+The middle of the room was adorned by a large tub, in which stood a
+small spruce tree hung with the oddest things that ever swung from a
+bough.  Mice by their tails, bits of cheese, milk in small bottles, gay
+balls, loops of string, squares of red and blue flannel like little
+blankets, bundles of herbs tied with bright ribbons, and near the top
+hung a cage with several small white animals dancing about in it.
+
+But funniest of all was the circle of boys around this remarkable tree,
+at the foot of which Lotty sat; for each held a cat or kitten in his
+arms decorated with a gorgeous bow; both boys and cats so absurdly
+solemn and ill at ease that after one look the girls burst into a gale
+of merriment.
+
+"Glad you like it, ladies; we have done our best, and I flatter myself
+it is a pretty neat thing," began showman Frank, with a gratified air,
+while the other boys with difficulty restrained their charges from
+escaping to their mistresses.
+
+"It's very funny, but what does it all mean?" asked Grace, wiping her
+eyes, and nodding to her own fat Jerry, whose yellow eyes appealed to
+her for aid.
+
+"It is a Kitmouse tree, the first one ever known, prepared at great
+expense for this occasion, to prove that _we_ can invent superior
+amusements, and entirely outdo other folks who shall be nameless."
+
+"It isn't half so pretty as our tree was," said Kitty, as Frank paused
+for breath.
+
+"But think how much more pleasure it will give; for cats can enjoy and
+dolls can't.  These presents are useful and instructive; for we have
+not only food and drink, but catnip and cataplasms for the poor
+darlings, if they have catarrh or any other catastrophe of that sort;
+but here is a little catechism for the kits, and string for cats'
+cradles when they have learned their lessons.  Cataracts of milk will
+flow from these bottles for their refreshment, and a catalogue of
+delicacies will be furnished free to any lady wishing to repeat this
+performance at a future time."
+
+"Hurry up, and give Jerry a bite of something, or he'll eat me," cried
+Tom, who had been silently struggling with his puss while Frank
+delivered the speech, which he considered a masterpiece of wit.
+
+"If the ladies will sit upon the window-seats I will give out the
+presents at once;" and Frank proceeded to do so, amid much merriment;
+for the kittens began at once to play with the balls, the cats to eat
+and drink, while the boys surveyed the scene with great satisfaction,
+and the girls applauded as the mice were handed round, one to each cat,
+as a delicate attention, though few were eaten.
+
+The pussies behaved remarkably well, for the lads had wisely selected
+the most amiable ones they could find, and the six belonging to the
+house received them hospitably.  Mother Bunch and her three kits did
+the honors, while Torty and Jerry tried to be polite, though
+aristocratic Torty arched her back at the half-starved little cat Neddy
+found in the street, and stout old Jerry growled to himself when Nell's
+pretty white Snowball took his mouse away.
+
+Such a frolic as they had, boys and girls, cats and kittens,
+altogether, one would have thought the house was coming down about
+their ears.  The elders took a peep at them, but a very little of that
+sort of fun satisfied them and they soon left the youngsters to
+themselves.
+
+"It's almost one, and we are going coasting before dinner, so own up
+girls, and hand over the goodies," said Alf at last, when a lull came
+and every one stopped for breath after a lively game of tag, which
+caused the cats to seek refuge in every available nook and corner.
+
+"I suppose we must; for it certainly was a bright idea, and we have had
+a capital time," confessed honest Nell, sitting down in the
+clothes-basket, where Mother Bunch had collected her family when the
+romp began, and beginning to divide her candies.
+
+"Stop a minute!" cried Kitty, with a twinkle in her black eyes; "was
+not the agreement that you should _invent_ something newer and nicer
+than our dolls' affair?"
+
+"Yes; and isn't this ever so much better fun in every way than all that
+fuss for rag babies that don't know or care any thing about it?" cried
+Alf, as proud as a peacock of his success.
+
+"Of course it is," admitted sly Kitty.
+
+"Wasn't it clever of us to get it up, and haven't we pleased you by
+treating your cats well?"
+
+"I'm sure you have, and it was dear of you to do it."
+
+"Well, then, what's the trouble?"
+
+"Only that you did _not_ invent the thing all yourselves," coolly
+answered Kitty.
+
+"I should like to know who did!" cried the boys with one breath.
+
+"Lotty.  She put the idea into your heads with her funny word
+'kitmouse.'  You never would have thought of it but for that.  A girl
+helped you; and a very little one too; you had to call her in to make
+the cats mind, I'm sure, so you have lost your wager and we will keep
+our bon-bons, thank you."
+
+Kitty made a low courtesy and stood crunching a delicious strawberry
+drop as she triumphantly surveyed the astounded boys, who looked as
+much taken aback as Antonio and his friends when Portia outwits Shylock
+in the famous court scene.
+
+"She's got us there," murmured Frank, with an approving nod to his
+clever young sister.
+
+"Oh, come; that's not fair; we had a right to take just a word that
+meant nothing till we made it.  I don't care for the sweet stuff, but
+I'm not going to own that we are beaten!" cried Alf, in high dudgeon;
+for he had taken much credit to himself for this bright idea.
+
+"You _must_ own that a girl helped you.  Do that fairly and I'll go
+halves, as we promised; for you _have_ made a good joke out of Lotty's
+word," said Kitty, who was generous as well as just, and felt that the
+poor lads deserved some reward for their labor.
+
+"All right, if the other fellows agree," returned Tom, helping himself
+to a handful of candy as he spoke; which cool performance had such a
+good effect upon the other boys that they all cried out, "We do! we
+do!" while Alf, swinging Lotty to his shoulder, marched away, singing
+at the top of his voice,
+
+  "Now cheer, boys, cheer,
+  With three times three,
+  Our little Lot,
+  And her kitmouse tree!"
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+ROSES AND FORGET-ME-NOTS.
+
+
+
+I.
+
+ROSES.
+
+It was a cold November storm, and every thing looked forlorn.  Even the
+pert sparrows were draggle-tailed and too much out of spirits to fight
+for crumbs with the fat pigeons who tripped through the mud with their
+little red boots as if in haste to get back to their cosy home in the
+dove-cot.
+
+But the most forlorn creature out that day was a small errand girl,
+with a bonnet-box on each arm, and both hands struggling to hold a big
+broken umbrella.  A pair of worn-out boots let in the wet upon her
+tired feet; a thin cotton dress and an old shawl poorly protected her
+from the storm; and a faded hood covered her head.
+
+The face that looked out from this hood was too pale and anxious for
+one so young; and when a sudden gust turned the old umbrella inside out
+with a crash, despair fell upon poor Lizzie, and she was so miserable
+she could have sat down in the rain and cried.
+
+But there was no time for tears; so, dragging the dilapidated umbrella
+along, she spread her shawl over the bonnet-boxes and hurried down the
+broad street, eager to hide her misfortunes from a pretty young girl
+who stood at a window laughing at her.
+
+She could not find the number of the house where one of the fine hats
+was to be left; and after hunting all down one side of the street, she
+crossed over, and came at last to the very house where the pretty girl
+lived.  She was no longer to be seen; and, with a sigh of relief,
+Lizzie rang the bell, and was told to wait in the hall while Miss Belle
+tried the hat on.
+
+Glad to rest, she warmed her feet, righted her umbrella, and then sat
+looking about her with eyes quick to see the beauty and the comfort
+that made the place so homelike and delightful.  A small waiting-room
+opened from the hall, and in it stood many blooming plants, whose
+fragrance attracted Lizzie as irresistibly as if she had been a
+butterfly or bee.
+
+Slipping in, she stood enjoying the lovely colors, sweet odors, and
+delicate shapes of these household spirits; for Lizzie loved flowers
+passionately; and just then they possessed a peculiar charm for her.
+
+One particularly captivating little rose won her heart, and made her
+long for it with a longing that became a temptation too strong to
+resist.  It was so perfect; so like a rosy face smiling out from the
+green leaves, that Lizzie could not keep her hands off it, and having
+smelt, touched, and kissed it, she suddenly broke the stem and hid it
+in her pocket.  Then, frightened at what she had done, she crept back
+to her place in the hall, and sat there, burdened with remorse.
+
+A servant came just then to lead her upstairs; for Miss Belle wished
+the hat altered, and must give directions.  With her heart in a
+flutter, and pinker roses in her cheeks than the one in her pocket,
+Lizzie followed to a handsome room, where a pretty girl stood before a
+long mirror with the hat in her hand.
+
+"Tell Madame Tifany that I don't like it at all, for she hasn't put in
+the blue plume mamma ordered; and I won't have rose-buds, they are so
+common," said the young lady, in a dissatisfied tone, as she twirled
+the hat about.
+
+"Yes, miss," was all Lizzie could say; for _she_ considered that hat
+the loveliest thing a girl could possibly own.
+
+"You had better ask your mamma about it, Miss Belle, before you give
+any orders.  She will be up in a few moments, and the girl can wait,"
+put in a maid, who was sewing in the anteroom.
+
+"I suppose I must; but I _won't_ have roses," answered Belle, crossly.
+Then she glanced at Lizzie, and said more gently, "You look very cold;
+come and sit by the fire while you wait."
+
+"I'm afraid I'll wet the pretty rug, miss; my feet are sopping," said
+Lizzie, gratefully, but timidly.
+
+"So they are!  Why didn't you wear rubber boots?"
+
+"I haven't got any."
+
+"I'll give you mine, then, for I hate them; and as I never go out in
+wet weather, they are of no earthly use to me.  Marie, bring them here;
+I shall be glad to get rid of them, and I'm sure they'll be useful to
+you."
+
+"Oh, thank you, miss!  I'd like 'em ever so much, for I'm out in the
+rain half the time, and get bad colds because my boots are old," said
+Lizzie, smiling brightly at the thought of the welcome gift.
+
+"I should think your mother would get you warmer things," began Belle,
+who found something rather interesting in the shabby girl, with shy
+bright eyes, and curly hair bursting out of the old hood.
+
+"I haven't got any mother," said Lizzie, with a pathetic glance at her
+poor clothes.
+
+"I'm so sorry!  Have you brothers and sisters?" asked Belle, hoping to
+find something pleasant to talk about; for she was a kind little soul.
+
+"No, miss; I've got no folks at all."
+
+"Oh, dear; how sad!  Why, who takes care of you?" cried Belle, looking
+quite distressed.
+
+"No one; I take care of myself.  I work for Madame, and she pays me a
+dollar a week.  I stay with Mrs. Brown, and chore round to pay for my
+keep.  My dollar don't get many clothes, so I can't be as neat as I'd
+like."  And the forlorn look came back to poor Lizzie's face.
+
+Belle said nothing, but sat among the sofa cushions, where she had
+thrown herself, looking soberly at this other girl, no older than she
+was, who took care of herself and was all alone in the world.  It was a
+new idea to Belle, who was loved and petted as an only child is apt to
+be.  She often saw beggars and pitied them, but knew very little about
+their wants and lives; so it was like turning a new page in her happy
+life to be brought so near to poverty as this chance meeting with the
+milliner's girl.
+
+"Aren't you afraid and lonely and unhappy?" she said, slowly, trying to
+understand and put herself in Lizzie's place.
+
+"Yes; but it's no use.  I can't help it, and may be things will get
+better by and by, and I'll have my wish," answered Lizzie, more
+hopefully, because Belle's pity warmed her heart and made her troubles
+seem lighter.
+
+"What is your wish?" asked Belle, hoping mamma wouldn't come just yet,
+for she was getting interested in the stranger.
+
+"To have a nice little room, and make flowers, like a French girl I
+know.  It's such pretty work, and she gets lots of money, for every one
+likes her flowers.  She shows me how, sometimes, and I can do leaves
+first-rate; but"--
+
+There Lizzie stopped suddenly, and the color rushed up to her forehead;
+for she remembered the little rose in her pocket and it weighed upon
+her conscience like a stone.
+
+Before Belle could ask what was the matter, Marie came in with a tray
+of cake and fruit, saying:
+
+"Here's your lunch, Miss Belle."
+
+"Put it down, please; I'm not ready for it yet."  And Belle shook her
+head as she glanced at Lizzie, who was staring hard at the fire with
+such a troubled face that Belle could not bear to see it.
+
+Jumping out of her nest of cushions, she heaped a plate with good
+things, and going to Lizzie, offered it, saying, with a gentle courtesy
+that made the act doubly sweet:
+
+"Please have some; you must be tired of waiting."
+
+But Lizzie could not take it; she could only cover her face and cry;
+for this kindness rent her heart and made the stolen flower a burden
+too heavy to be borne.
+
+"Oh, don't cry so!  Are you sick?  Have I been rude?  Tell me all about
+it; and if I can't do any thing, mamma can," said Belle, surprised and
+troubled.
+
+"No; I'm not sick; I'm bad, and I can't bear it when you are so good to
+me," sobbed Lizzie, quite overcome with penitence; and taking out the
+crumpled rose, she confessed her fault with many tears.
+
+"Don't feel so much about such a little thing as that," began Belle,
+warmly; then checked herself, and added, more soberly, "It _was_ wrong
+to take it without leave; but it's all right now, and I'll give you as
+many roses as you want, for I know you are a good girl."
+
+"Thank you.  I didn't want it only because it was pretty, but I wanted
+to copy it.  I can't get any for myself, and so I can't do my
+make-believe ones well.  Madame won't even lend me the old ones in the
+store, and Estelle has none to spare for me, because I can't pay her
+for teaching me.  She gives me bits of muslin and wire and things, and
+shows me now and then.  But I know if I had a real flower I could copy
+it; so she'd see I did know something, for I try real hard.  I'm so
+tired of slopping round the streets, I'd do any thing to earn my living
+some other way."
+
+Lizzie had poured out her trouble rapidly; and the little story was
+quite affecting when one saw the tears on her cheeks, the poor clothes,
+and the thin hands that held the stolen rose.  Belle was much touched,
+and, in her impetuous way, set about mending matters as fast as
+possible.
+
+"Put on those boots and that pair of dry stockings right away.  Then
+tuck as much cake and fruit into your pocket as it will hold.  I'm
+going to get you some flowers, and see if mamma is too busy to attend
+to me."
+
+With a nod and a smile, Belle flew about the room a minute; then
+vanished, leaving Lizzie to her comfortable task, feeling as if fairies
+still haunted the world as in the good old times.
+
+When Belle came back with a handful of roses, she found Lizzie absorbed
+in admiring contemplation of her new boots, as she ate sponge-cake in a
+blissful sort of waking-dream.
+
+"Mamma can't come; but I don't care about the hat.  It will do very
+well, and isn't worth fussing about.  There, will those be of any use
+to you?"  And she offered the nosegay with a much happier face than the
+one Lizzie first saw.
+
+"Oh, miss, they're just lovely!  I'll copy that pink rose as soon as
+ever I can, and when I've learned how to do 'em tip-top, I'd like to
+bring you some, if you don't mind," answered Lizzie, smiling all over
+her face as she buried her nose luxuriously in the fragrant mass.
+
+"I'd like it very much, for I should think you'd have to be very clever
+to make such pretty things.  I really quite fancy those rose-buds in my
+hat, now I know that you're going to learn how to make them.  Put an
+orange in your pocket, and the flowers in water as soon as you can, so
+they'll be fresh when you want them.  Good by.  Bring home our hats
+every time and tell me how you get on."
+
+With kind words like these, Belle dismissed Lizzie, who ran downstairs,
+feeling as rich as if she had found a fortune.  Away to the next place
+she hurried, anxious to get her errands done and the precious posy
+safely into fresh water.  But Mrs. Turretville was not at home, and the
+bonnet could not be left till paid for.  So Lizzie turned to go down
+the high steps, glad that she need not wait.  She stopped one instant
+to take a delicious sniff at her flowers, and that was the last happy
+moment that poor Lizzie knew for many weary months.
+
+The new boots were large for her, the steps slippery with sleet, and
+down went the little errand girl, from top to bottom, till she landed
+in the gutter directly upon Mrs. Turretville's costly bonnet.
+
+"I've saved my posies, anyway," sighed Lizzie, as she picked herself
+up, bruised, wet, and faint with pain; "but, oh, my heart! won't Madame
+scold when she sees that band-box smashed flat," groaned the poor
+child, sitting on the curbstone to get her breath and view the disaster.
+
+The rain poured, the wind blew, the sparrows on the park railing
+chirped derisively, and no one came along to help Lizzie out of her
+troubles.  Slowly she gathered up her burdens; painfully she limped
+away in the big boots; and the last the naughty sparrows saw of her was
+a shabby little figure going round the corner, with a pale, tearful
+face held lovingly over the bright bouquet that was her one treasure
+and her only comfort in the moment which brought to her the great
+misfortune of her life.
+
+
+
+II.
+
+FORGET-ME-NOTS.
+
+"Oh, mamma, I am so relieved that the box has come at last!  If it had
+not, I do believe I should have died of disappointment," cried pretty
+Belle, five years later, on the morning before her eighteenth birthday.
+
+"It would have been a serious disappointment, darling; for I had set my
+heart on your wearing my gift to-morrow night, and when the steamers
+kept coming in without my trunk from Paris, I was very anxious.  I hope
+you will like it."
+
+"Dear mamma, I know I shall like it; your taste is so good and you know
+what suits me so well.  Make haste, Marie; I'm dying to see it," said
+Belle, dancing about the great trunk, as the maid carefully unfolded
+tissue papers and muslin wrappers.
+
+A young girl's first ball-dress is a grand affair,--in her eyes, at
+least; and Belle soon stopped dancing, to stand with clasped hands,
+eager eyes and parted lips before the snowy pile of illusion that was
+at last daintily lifted out upon the bed.  Then, as Marie displayed its
+loveliness, little cries of delight were heard, and when the whole
+delicate dress was arranged to the best effect she threw herself upon
+her mother's neck and actually cried with pleasure.
+
+"Mamma, it is too lovely! and you are very kind to do so much for me.
+How shall I ever thank you?"
+
+"By putting it right on to see if it fits; and when you wear it look
+your happiest, that I may be proud of my pretty daughter."
+
+Mamma got no further, for Marie uttered a French shriek, wrung her
+hands, and then began to burrow wildly in the trunk and among the
+papers, crying distractedly:
+
+"Great heavens, madame! the wreath has been forgotten!  What an
+affliction!  Mademoiselle's enchanting toilette is destroyed without
+the wreath, and nowhere do I find it."
+
+In vain they searched; in vain Marie wailed and Belle declared it must
+be somewhere; no wreath appeared.  It was duly set down in the bill,
+and a fine sum charged for a head-dress to match the dainty
+forget-me-nots that looped the fleecy skirts and ornamented the bosom
+of the dress.  It had evidently been forgotten; and mamma despatched
+Marie at once to try and match the flowers, for Belle would not hear of
+any other decoration for her beautiful blonde hair.
+
+The dress fitted to a charm, and was pronounced by all beholders the
+loveliest thing ever seen.  Nothing was wanted but the wreath to make
+it quite perfect, and when Marie returned, after a long search, with no
+forget-me-nots, Belle was in despair.
+
+"Wear natural ones," suggested a sympathizing friend.
+
+But another hunt among greenhouses was as fruitless as that among the
+milliners' rooms.  No forget-me-nots could be found, and Marie fell
+exhausted into a chair, desolated at what she felt to be an awful
+calamity.
+
+"Let me have the carriage, and I'll ransack the city till I find some,"
+cried Belle, growing more resolute with each failure.
+
+Mamma was deep in preparations for the ball, and could not help her
+afflicted daughter, though she was much disappointed at the mishap.  So
+Belle drove off, resolved to have her flowers whether there were any or
+not.
+
+Any one who has ever tried to match a ribbon, find a certain fabric, or
+get any thing done in a hurry, knows what a wearisome task it sometimes
+is, and can imagine Belle's state of mind after repeated
+disappointments.  She was about to give up in despair, when some one
+suggested that perhaps the Frenchwoman, Estelle Valnor, might make the
+desired wreath, if there was time.
+
+Away drove Belle, and, on entering the room, gave a sigh of
+satisfaction, for a whole boxful of the loveliest forget-me-nots stood
+upon the table.  As fast as possible, she told her tale and demanded
+the flowers, no matter what the price might be.  Imagine her feelings
+when the Frenchwoman, with a shrug, announced that it was impossible to
+give mademoiselle a single spray.  All were engaged to trim a
+bridesmaid's dress, and must be sent away at once.
+
+It really was too bad! and Belle lost her temper entirely, for no
+persuasion or bribes would win a spray from Estelle.  The provoking
+part of it was that the wedding would not come off for several days,
+and there was time enough to make more flowers for that dress, since
+Belle only wanted a few for her hair.  Neither would Estelle make her
+any, as her hands were full, and so small an order was not worth
+deranging one's self for; but observing Belle's sorrowful face, she
+said, affably:
+
+"Mademoiselle may, perhaps, find the flowers she desires at Miss
+Berton's.  She has been helping me with these garlands, and may have
+some left.  Here is her address."
+
+Belle took the card with thanks, and hurried away with a last hope
+faintly stirring in her girlish heart, for Belle had an unusually
+ardent wish to look her best at this party, since Somebody was to be
+there, and Somebody considered forget-me-nots the sweetest flowers in
+the world.  Mamma knew this, and the kiss Belle gave her when the dress
+came had a more tender meaning than gratified vanity or daughterly love.
+
+Up many stairs she climbed, and came at last to a little room, very
+poor but very neat, where, at the one window, sat a young girl, with
+crutches by her side and her lap full of flower-leaves and petals.  She
+rose slowly as Belle came in, and then stood looking at her, with such
+a wistful expression in her shy, bright eyes, that Belle's anxious face
+cleared involuntarily, and her voice lost its impatient tone.
+
+As she spoke, she glanced about the room, hoping to see some blue
+blossoms awaiting her.  But none appeared; and she was about to despond
+again, when the girl said, gently:
+
+"I have none by me now, but I may be able to find you some."
+
+"Thank you very much; but I have been everywhere in vain.  Still, if
+you do get any, please send them to me as soon as possible.  Here is my
+card."
+
+Miss Berton glanced at it, then cast a quick look at the sweet, anxious
+face before her, and smiled so brightly that Belle smiled also, and
+asked, wonderingly:
+
+"What is it?  What do you see?"
+
+"I see the dear young lady who was so kind to me long ago.  You don't
+remember me, and never knew my name; but I never have forgotten you all
+these years.  I always hoped I could do something to show how grateful
+I was, and now I can, for you shall have your flowers if I sit up all
+night to make them."
+
+But Belle still shook her head and watched the smiling face before her
+with wondering eyes, till the girl added, with sudden color in her
+cheeks:
+
+"Ah, you've done so many kind things in your life, you don't remember
+the little errand girl from Madame Tifany's who stole a rose in your
+hall, and how you gave her rubber boots and cake and flowers, and were
+so good to her she couldn't forget it if she lived to be a hundred."
+
+"But you are so changed," began Belle, who did faintly recollect that
+little incident in her happy life.
+
+"Yes, I had a fall and hurt myself so that I shall always be lame."
+
+And Lizzie went on to tell how Madame had dismissed her in a rage; how
+she lay ill till Mrs. Brown sent her to the hospital; and how for a
+year she had suffered much alone, in that great house of pain, before
+one of the kind visitors had befriended her.
+
+While hearing the story of the five years, that had been so full of
+pleasure, ease and love for herself, Belle forgot her errand, and,
+sitting beside Lizzie, listened with pitying eyes to all she told of
+her endeavors to support herself by the delicate handiwork she loved.
+
+"I'm very happy now," ended Lizzie, looking about the little bare room
+with a face full of the sweetest content.  "I get nearly work enough to
+pay my way, and Estelle sends me some when she has more than she can
+do.  I've learned to do it nicely, and it is so pleasant to sit here
+and make flowers instead of trudging about in the wet with other
+people's hats.  Though I do sometimes wish I was able to trudge, one
+gets on so slowly with crutches."
+
+A little sigh followed the words, and Belle put her own plump hand on
+the delicate one that held the crutch, saying, in her cordial young
+voice:
+
+"I'll come and take you to drive sometimes, for you are too pale, and
+you'll get ill sitting here at work day after day.  Please let me; I'd
+love to; for I feel so idle and wicked when I see busy people like you
+that I reproach myself for neglecting my duty and having more than my
+share of happiness."
+
+Lizzie thanked her with a look, and then said, in a tone of interest
+that was delightful to hear:
+
+"Tell about the wreath you want; I should so love to do it for you, if
+I can."
+
+Belle had forgotten all about it in listening to this sad little story
+of a girl's life.  Now she felt half ashamed to talk of so frivolous a
+matter till she remembered that it would help Lizzie; and, resolving to
+pay for it as never garland was paid for before, she entered upon the
+subject with renewed interest.
+
+"You shall have the flowers in time for your ball to-morrow night.  I
+will engage to make a wreath that will please you, only it may take
+longer than I think.  Don't be troubled if I don't send it till
+evening; it will surely come in time.  I can work fast, and this will
+be the happiest job I ever did," said Lizzie, beginning to lay out
+mysterious little tools and bend delicate wires.
+
+"You are altogether too grateful for the little I have done.  It makes
+me feel ashamed to think I did not find you out before and do something
+better worth thanks."
+
+"Ah, it wasn't the boots or the cake or the roses, dear Miss Belle.  It
+was the kind looks, the gentle words, the way it was done, that went
+right to my heart, and did me more good than a million of money.  I
+never stole a pin after that day, for the little rose wouldn't let me
+forget how you forgave me so sweetly.  I sometimes think it kept me
+from greater temptations, for I was a poor, forlorn child, with no one
+to keep me good."
+
+Pretty Belle looked prettier than ever as she listened, and a bright
+tear stood in either eye like a drop of dew on a blue flower.  It
+touched her very much to learn that her little act of childish charity
+had been so sweet and helpful to this lonely girl, and now lived so
+freshly in her grateful memory.  It showed her, suddenly, how precious
+little deeds of love and sympathy are; how strong to bless, how easy to
+perform, how comfortable to recall.  Her heart was very full, and
+tender just then, and the lesson sunk deep into it never to be
+forgotten.
+
+She sat a long time watching flowers bud and blossom under Lizzie's
+skilful lingers, and then hurried home to tell all her glad news to
+mamma.
+
+If the next day had not been full of most delightfully exciting events,
+Belle might have felt some anxiety about her wreath, for hour after
+hour went by and nothing arrived from Lizzie.
+
+Evening came, and all was ready.  Belle was dressed, and looked so
+lovely that mamma declared she needed nothing more.  But Marie insisted
+that the grand effect would be ruined without the garland among the
+sunshiny hair.  Belle had time now to be anxious, and waited with
+growing impatience for the finishing touch to her charming toilette.
+
+"I must be downstairs to receive, and can't wait another moment; so put
+in the blue pompon and let me go," she said at last, with a sigh of
+disappointment; for the desire to look beautiful that night in
+Somebody's eyes had increased four-fold.
+
+With a tragic gesture, Marie was about to adjust the pompon when the
+quick tap of a crutch came down the hall, and Lizzie hurried in,
+flushed and breathless, but smiling happily as she uncovered the box
+she carried with a look of proud satisfaction.
+
+A general "Ah!" of admiration arose as Belle, mamma, and Marie surveyed
+the lovely wreath that lay before them; and when it was carefully
+arranged on the bright head that was to wear it, Belle blushed with
+pleasure.  Mamma said: "It is more beautiful than any Paris could have
+sent us;" and Marie clasped her hands theatrically, sighing, with her
+head on one side:
+
+"Truly, yes; mademoiselle is now adorable!"
+
+"I am so glad you like it.  I did my very best and worked all night,
+but I had to beg one spray from Estelle, or, with all my haste, I could
+not have finished in time," said Lizzie, refreshing her weary eyes with
+a long, affectionate gaze at the pretty figure before her.
+
+A fold of the airy skirt was caught on one of the blue clusters, and
+Lizzie knelt down to arrange it as she spoke.  Belle leaned toward her
+and said softly: "Money alone can't pay you for this kindness; so tell
+me how I can best serve you.  This is the happiest night of my life,
+and I want to make every one feel glad also."
+
+"Then don't talk of paying me, but promise that I may make the flowers
+you wear on your wedding-day," whispered Lizzie, kissing the kind hand
+held out to help her rise, for on it she saw a brilliant ring, and in
+the blooming, blushing face bent over her she read the tender little
+story that Somebody had told Belle that day.
+
+"So you shall! and I'll keep this wreath all my life for your sake,
+dear," answered Belle, as her full heart bubbled over with pitying
+affection for the poor girl who would never make a bridal garland for
+herself.
+
+Belle kept her word, even when she was in a happy home of her own; for
+out of the dead roses bloomed a friendship that brightened Lizzie's
+life; and long after the blue garland was faded Belle remembered the
+helpful little lesson that taught her to read the faces poverty touches
+with a pathetic eloquence, which says to those who look,
+"Forget-me-not."
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+OLD MAJOR.
+
+"O, mamma, don't let them kill him!  He isn't doing any harm, and he's
+old and weak, and hasn't any one to be good to him but Posy and me!"
+cried little Ned, bursting into his mother's room, red and breathless
+with anxiety and haste.
+
+"Kill whom, dear?  Sit down and tell me all about it."
+
+"I _can't_ sit down, and I _must_ be quick, for they may do it while
+I'm gone.  I left Posy to watch him, and she is going to scream with
+all her might the minute she sees them coming back!" cried Ned,
+hovering restlessly about the doorway, as if expecting the call that
+was to summon him to the rescue.
+
+"Mercy on us! what is it, child?"
+
+"A dear old horse, mamma, who has been hobbling round the road for a
+week.  I've seen him driven away from all the neighbors, so Posy and I
+give him clover and pat him; and to-day we found him at our bars,
+looking over at us playing in the field.  I wanted him to come in, but
+Mr. White came along and drove him off, and said he was to be killed
+because he had no master, and was a nuisance.  Don't let him do it!"
+
+"But, Neddy, I cannot take him in, as I did the lame chicken, and the
+cat without a tail.  He is too big, and eats too much, and we have no
+barn.  Mr. White can find his master, perhaps, or use him for light
+work."
+
+Mamma got no further, for Ned said again,--
+
+"No, he can't.  He says the poor old thing is of no use but to boil up.
+And his master won't be found, because he has gone away, and left Major
+to take care of himself.  Mr. White knew the man, and says he had Major
+more than eighteen years, and he was a good horse, and now he's left to
+die all alone.  Wouldn't I like to pound that man?"
+
+"It _was_ cruel, Neddy, and we must see what we can do."
+
+So mamma put down her work and followed her boy, who raced before her
+to tell Posy it would be "all right" now.
+
+Mrs. West found her small daughter perched on a stone wall, patting the
+head of an old white horse, who looked more like a skeleton than a
+living animal.  Ned gave a whoop as he came, and the poor beast hastily
+hobbled across the road, pressing himself into a nook full of
+blackberry vines and thorny barberry bushes, as if trying to get out of
+sight and escape tormentors.
+
+"That's the way he does when any one comes, because the boys plague
+him, and people drive him about till he doesn't know what to do.  Isn't
+it a pity to see him so, mamma?" said tender-hearted Ned, as he pulled
+a big handful of clover from his father's field close by.
+
+Indeed, it was sad, for the poor thing had evidently been a fine horse
+once; one could see that by his intelligent eye, the way he pricked up
+his ears, and the sorrowful sort of dignity with which he looked about
+him, as if asking a little compassion in memory of his long
+faithfulness.
+
+"See his poor legs all swelled up, and the bones in his back, and the
+burrs the bad boys put in his mane, and the dusty grass he has to eat.
+Look! he knows me, and isn't afraid, because I'm good to him," said
+Ned, patting old Major, who gratefully ate fresh clover from the
+friendly little hand.
+
+"Yes, and he lets me stroke his nose, mamma.  It's as soft as velvet,
+and his big eyes don't frighten me a bit, they are so gentle.  Oh, if
+we could only put him in our field, and keep him till he dies, I should
+be so happy!" said Posy, with such a wheedlesome arm about mamma's
+neck, that it was very hard to deny her any thing.
+
+"If you will let me have Major, I won't ask for any other birthday
+present," cried Ned, with a sudden burst of generosity, inspired,
+perhaps, by the confiding way in which the poor beast rubbed his gray
+head against the boy's shoulder.
+
+"Why, Neddy, do you really mean that?  I was going to give you
+something you want very much.  Shall I take you at your word, and give
+you a worn-out old horse instead?" asked mamma, surprised, yet pleased
+at the offer.
+
+Ned looked at her, then at old Major, and wavered; for he guessed that
+the other gift was the little wheelbarrow he had begged for so
+long,--the dear green one, with the delicious creak and rumble to it.
+He had seen it at the store, and tried it, and longed for it, and
+planned to trundle every thing in it, from Posy to a load of hay.  Yes,
+it must be his, and Major must be left to his fate.
+
+Just as he decided this, however, Posy gave a cry that told him Mr.
+White was coming.  Major pressed further into the prickly hedge, with a
+patient sort of sigh, and a look that went to Ned's heart, for it
+seemed to say,--
+
+"Good by, little friend.  Don't give up any thing for me.  I'm not
+worth it, for I can only love you in return."
+
+Mr. White was very near, but Major was safe; for, with a sudden red in
+his freckled cheeks, Ned put his arm on the poor beast's drooping neck,
+and said, manfully,--
+
+"I choose _him_, mamma; and now he's mine, I'd like to see anybody
+touch him!"
+
+It was a pretty sight,--the generous little lad befriending the old
+horse, and loving him for pure pity's sake, in the sweet childish way
+we so soon forget.
+
+Posy clapped her hands, mamma smiled, with a bright look at her boy,
+while Mr. White threw over his arm the halter, with which he was about
+to lead Major to his doom, and hastened to say,--
+
+"I don't want to hurt the poor critter, ma'am, but he's no mortal use,
+and folks complain of his being in the way; so I thought the kindest
+thing was to put him out of his misery."
+
+"Does he suffer, do you think? for if so, it would be no kindness to
+keep him alive," said mamma.
+
+"Well, no, I don't suppose he suffers except for food and a little
+care; but if he can't have 'em, it will go hard with him," answered Mr.
+White, wondering if the old fellow had any work in him still.
+
+"He never should have been left in this forlorn way.  Those who had had
+his youth and strength should have cared for him in his age;" and Mrs.
+West looked indignant.
+
+"So they should, ma'am; but Miller was a mean man, and when he moved,
+he just left the old horse to live or die, though he told me, himself,
+that Major had served him well, for nigh on to twenty years.  What do
+you calculate to do about it, ma'am?" asked Mr. White, in a hurry to be
+off.
+
+"I'll show you, sir.  Ned, let down the bars, and lead old Major in.
+That shall be his home while he lives, for so faithful a servant has
+earned his rest, and he shall have it."
+
+Something in the ring of mamma's voice and the gesture of her hand made
+Ned's eyes kindle, and Mr. White walk away, saying, affably,--
+
+"All right, ma'am; I haven't a word to say against it."
+
+But somehow Mr. White's big barn did not look as handsome to him as
+usual when he remembered that his neighbor, who had no barn at all, had
+taken in the friendless horse.
+
+It was difficult to make Major enter the field; for he had been turned
+out of so many, driven away from so many lawns, and even begrudged the
+scanty pickings of the roadside, that he could not understand the
+invitation given him to enter and take possession of a great, green
+field, with apple trees for shade, and a brook babbling through the
+middle of it.
+
+When at last he ventured over the bars, it was both sad and funny to
+see how hard he tried to enjoy himself and express his delight.
+
+First, he sniffed the air, then he nibbled the sweet grass, took a long
+look about him, and astonished the children by lying down with a groan,
+and trying to roll.  He could not do it, however, so lay still with his
+head stretched out, gently flapping his tail as if to say,--
+
+"It's all right, my dears.  I'm not very strong, and joy upsets me; but
+I'm quite comfortable, bless you!"
+
+"Isn't it nice to see him, all safe and happy, mamma?" sighed Posy,
+folding her hands in childish satisfaction, while Ned sat down beside
+his horse, and began to take the burrs out of his mane.
+
+"Very nice, only don't kill him with kindness, and be careful not to
+get hurt," answered mamma, as she went back to her work, feeling as if
+she had bought an elephant, and didn't know what to do with him.
+
+Later in the day a sudden shower came up, and mamma looked about to be
+sure her little people were under cover, for they played out all day
+long, if possible.  No chickens could the maternal hen find to gather
+under her wings, and so went clucking anxiously about till Sally, the
+cook, said, with a laugh,--
+
+"Ned's down in the pastur', mum, holding an umberella over that old
+horse, and he's got a waterproof on him, too.  Calvin see it, and 'most
+died a-laughing."
+
+Mamma laughed too, but asked if Ned had on his rubber boots and coat.
+
+"Yes, mum, I see him start all in his wet-weather rig, but I never
+mistrusted what the dear was up to till Calvin told me.  Posy wanted to
+go, but I wouldn't let her, so she went to the upper window, where she
+can see the critter under his umberella."
+
+Mamma went up to find her little girl surveying the droll prospect with
+solemn satisfaction; for there in the field, under the apple tree,
+stood Major, blanketed with the old waterproof, while his new master
+held an umbrella over his aged head with a patient devotion that would
+have endeared him to the heart of good Mr. Bergh.
+
+Fortunately the shower was soon over, and Ned came in to dry himself,
+quite unconscious of any thing funny in his proceedings.  Mamma kept
+perfectly sober while she proposed to build a rough shed for Major out
+of some boards on the place.  Ned was full of interest at once; and
+with some help from Calvin, the corner under the apple tree was so
+sheltered that there would be no need of the umbrella hereafter.
+
+So Major lived in clover, and was a happy horse; for Cockletop, the
+lame chicken, and Bobtail, the cat, welcomed him to their refuge, and
+soon became fast friends.  Cockle chased grasshoppers or pecked about
+him with meditative clucks as he fed; while Bob rubbed against his
+legs, slept in his shed, and nibbled catnip socially as often as his
+constitution needed it.
+
+But Major loved the children best, and they took good care of him,
+though some of their kind attentions might have proved fatal if the
+wise old beast had not been more prudent than they.  It was pleasant to
+see him watch for them, with ears cocked at the first sound of the
+little voices, his dim eyes brightening at sight of the round faces
+peeping over the wall, and feeble limbs stirred into sudden activity by
+the beckoning of a childish hand.
+
+The neighbors laughed at Ned, yet liked him all the better for the
+lesson in kindness he had taught them; and a time came when even Mr.
+White showed his respect for old Major.
+
+All that summer Neddy's horse took his rest in the green meadow, but it
+was evident that he was failing fast, and that his "good time" came too
+late.  Mamma prepared the children for the end as well as she could,
+and would have spared them the sorrow of parting by having Major killed
+quietly, if Ned had not begged so hard to let his horse die naturally;
+for age was the only disease, and Major seemed to suffer little pain,
+though he daily grew more weak, and lame, and blind.
+
+One morning when the children went to carry him a soft, warm mash for
+breakfast, they found him dead; not in the shed, where they had left
+him warmly covered, but at the low place in the wall where they always
+got over to visit him.
+
+There he lay, with head outstretched, as if his last desire had been to
+get as near them as possible, his last breath spent in thanking them.
+They liked to think that he crept there to say good by, and took great
+comfort in the memory of all they had done for him.
+
+They cried over him tenderly, even while they agreed that it was better
+for him to die; and then they covered him with green boughs, after Ned
+had smoothed his coat for the last time, and Posy cut a lock from his
+mane to make mourning rings of.
+
+Calvin said he would attend to the funeral, and went off to dig the
+grave in a lonely place behind the sand-bank.  Ned declared that he
+could not have his horse dragged away and tumbled into a hole, but must
+see him buried in a proper manner; and mamma, with the utmost kindness,
+said she would provide all that was needed.
+
+The hour was set at four in the afternoon, and the two little mourners,
+provided with large handkerchiefs, Ned, with a black bow on his arm,
+and Posy in a crape veil, went to drop a last tear over their departed
+friend.
+
+At the appointed time Calvin appeared, followed by Mr. White, with a
+drag drawn by black Bill.  This delicate attention touched Neddy; for
+it might have been bay Kitty, and that would have marred the solemnity
+of the scene.
+
+As the funeral train passed the house on its way down the lane, mamma,
+with another crape veil on, came out and joined the procession, so full
+of sympathy that the children felt deeply grateful.
+
+The October woods were gay with red and yellow leaves, that rustled
+softly as they went through the wood; and when they came to the grave,
+Ned thanked Calvin for choosing such a pretty place.  A pine sighed
+overhead, late asters waved beside it, and poor Major's last bed was
+made soft with hemlock boughs.
+
+When he was laid in it, mamma bade them leave the old waterproof that
+had served for a pall still about him, and then they showered in bright
+leaves till nothing was visible but a glimpse of the dear white tail.
+
+The earth was thrown in, green sods heaped over it, and then the men
+departed, feeling that the mourners would like to linger a little while.
+
+As he left, Mr. White said, with the same gravity which he had
+preserved all through the scene,--
+
+"You are welcome to the use of the team and my time, ma'am.  I don't
+wish any pay for 'em; in fact, I should feel more comfortable to do
+this job for old Major quite free and hearty."
+
+Mamma thanked him, and when he was gone, Ned proposed that they should
+sing a hymn, and Posy added, "They always sing, 'Sister, thou art mild
+and lovely' at funerals, you know."
+
+Mamma with difficulty kept sober at this idea but suggested the song
+about "Good old Charlie," as more appropriate.  So it was sung with
+great feeling, and then Posy said, as she "wiped her weeping eyes,"--
+
+"Now, Ned, show mamma our eppytap."
+
+"She means eppytarf," explained Ned, with a superior air, as he
+produced a board, on which he had printed with India ink the following
+words,--
+
+
+"Here lies dear old Major.  He was a good horse when he was young.  But
+people were not kind to him when he was old.  We made him as happy as
+we could.  He loved us, and we mourn for him.  Amen."
+
+
+Ned's knowledge of epitaphs was very slight, so he asked mamma if this
+one would do; and she answered warmly,--
+
+"It is a very good one; for it has what many lack,--the merit of being
+true.  Put it up, dear, and I'll make a wreath to hang on the
+gravestone."
+
+Much gratified, Ned planted the board at the head of the grave, Posy
+gathered the brightest leaves, and mamma made a lovely garland in which
+to frame the "eppytap."
+
+Then they left old Major to his rest, feeling sure that somewhere there
+must be a lower heaven for the souls of brave and faithful animals when
+their unrewarded work is done.
+
+Many children went to see that lonely grave, but not one of them
+disturbed a leaf, or laughed at the little epitaph that preached them a
+sermon from the text,--
+
+"Blessed are the merciful."
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+WHAT THE GIRLS DID.
+
+"I'm so disappointed that I can't go; but papa says he can't afford it
+this summer.  You know we lost a good deal by the great fire, so we
+must all give up something;" and Nelly gave a sigh, as if her sacrifice
+was not an easy one.
+
+"I'm sorry, too, for I depend on hearing all about your adventures
+every summer.  It is almost as good as going myself.  What a pity
+Newport is such an expensive place," answered Kitty Fisher, Nelly's
+bosom friend.
+
+"I dare say papa could manage to let me go for a week or so; but my
+outfit would cost so much I dare not ask him.  One must dress there,
+you know, and I haven't had a new thing this summer," said Nelly.
+
+"I'm sure your old things as you call them, are nice enough for any
+place.  I should think I was made, if I had such a lovely wardrobe;"
+and Kitty's eye roved round the pretty room where several gowns and
+hats were strewn as if for a survey.
+
+"Ah, my dear, you don't know how quickly fashionable women spy out
+make-shifts, and despise you for them.  All the girls I should meet at
+Newport would remember those clothes and I shouldn't enjoy myself a
+bit.  No, I must stay at home, or slip away to Aunt Becky's, up in New
+Hampshire, where no one minds your clothes, and the plainer they are
+the better.  It is as dull as tombs up there, and I long for the sea,
+so it seems as if I _couldn't_ give up my trip."
+
+"Why not go to a cheaper place?" asked Kitty, adding, with sudden
+excitement, "Now look here!  This is just the thing, and I can go too,
+so you won't be lonely.
+
+"Mary Nelson wrote me the other day, begging I'd come down to Oceana,
+and stay with her.  It's a nice, quiet place, with a beach all to
+ourselves, lighthouse, rocks, fishing, boats, and all sorts of
+agreeable things.  Not a bit fashionable, and every one wears old
+clothes and enjoys him or her self in a sensible way."
+
+"What's board there?"
+
+"Ten a week, with bath-house, boats, and an old carriage thrown in."
+
+"Who is there?"
+
+"Several teachers resting, a family or two of children, and a lot of
+boys camping out on the Point."
+
+"And old clothes really will do?"
+
+"Mary says she lives in her boating-dress, and went to an evening party
+in a white morning-gown.  I'd quite decided to go and have a nice free
+time, after you were off; but now you come with me, and for once see
+what fun we poor folks can have without any fuss or feathers."
+
+"I will.  Papa wants me to go somewhere, and will not think my expenses
+down there are extravagant.  I'll pack to-day, and to-morrow we will be
+off."
+
+Next day they _were_ off, to be heartily welcomed by Mary, and speedily
+made at home by Marm Wolsey, as the old lady who kept the house was
+called.  It was a delightfully quiet, pleasant place, with big rooms
+plainly furnished, but clean and full of fresh sea breezes day and
+night.  Being founded on a rock, the boats were moored almost at the
+door, the bath-house was close by, on a smooth beach, and the
+lighthouse twinkled Cheerfully, through fog or moonlight, just over the
+Point.
+
+Such pleasant times as the girls had; taking early dips in the sea,
+lying in hammocks on the airy piazza through the hot hours, rowing,
+fishing, scrambling over the rocks, or sitting in shady nooks, working
+and reading.
+
+No one thought of clothes; and when Nelly timidly put on a delicate
+silk one day, she was told finery was not allowed, and a merry
+resolution was passed that no one should "dress up" under penalty of a
+fine.  So flannel boating suits were all the fashion: and Miss Phelps
+would have rejoiced at the sight of half-a-dozen rosy-faced girls
+skipping about the rocks in a costume as simple and sensible as the one
+she recommends.
+
+Of course the campers on the Point soon discovered the mermaids in the
+Cove, and, by a series of those remarkable accidents which usually
+occur at such times, got acquainted without much ceremony.
+
+Then the fun increased amazingly, and the old house saw gay doings; for
+the lads had bonfires, concerts by moonlight on the rocks, and picnics
+in every available cove, grove, and sea-weedy nook the place could
+boast.
+
+The mothers of the flocks of riotous children were matrons to the
+girls; and the shy teachers came out amazingly when they found that the
+three friends were not fashionable city ladies, but lively girls, bent
+on having an agreeable and sociable time.
+
+Nelly particularly enjoyed all this, and daily wondered why she felt so
+much better than at Newport, forgetting that there her time was spent
+in dressing by day, and dancing in hot rooms half the night, with no
+exercise but a drive or a genteel sail, with some one to do the rowing
+for her.
+
+"It is the air and the quiet, I fancy," she said one day, when a month
+had nearly gone.  "I'm getting so brown papa won't know me, and so fat
+I have to let out all my things.  I do believe I've grown several
+inches across the shoulders with all this rowing and tramping about in
+a loose suit."
+
+"Just so much health laid up for next winter.  I wish I could afford to
+bring down a dozen pale girls every season, and let them do what you
+have been doing for a month or two.  Poor girls, I mean, who lose their
+health by hard work, not by harmful play," said Mary, who knew
+something about the dark side of life, having been a governess for
+years, with little brothers and sisters to care for, and an invalid
+mother.
+
+"It is so cheap here I should think most any one could afford to come,"
+said Nelly, feeling a virtuous satisfaction in the thought of the money
+she had saved by this economical trip.
+
+"Ah, what seems cheap to you would be far beyond the means of many a
+poor girl who only makes three or four dollars a week.  I've often
+wondered why rich people don't do little things of that sort more.  It
+must be so pleasant to give health and happiness at such small cost to
+themselves."
+
+"If papa were as well off as he was before the fire, I _could_ do
+something of that sort, and I'd like to; but now I can do nothing," and
+Nelly felt rather uncomfortable at the memory of the seventeen easy
+years she had passed without ever thinking of such things.
+
+"Girls, I've got an idea, and you must give me your advice at once,"
+cried Kitty, bouncing in with her hat half off and her eyes full of fun.
+
+"Tell on.  What is it?" asked Nelly, ready for any thing.
+
+"Well, you know the boys have been very polite to us in many ways; they
+break camp in two days, and we ought to give them a farewell of some
+sort, to show that we are grateful for their civility.  Don't you think
+so?"
+
+"Of course!  What shall we do?"
+
+"We have had picnics and water parties, and sings and dances in our
+parlor, so we _must_ get up something new."
+
+"Have a masquerade; it's such fun to fix up dresses," said Nelly, who
+rather longed to show some of her neglected splendor.
+
+"We might borrow the old barn, to have a grand time.  There's no hay in
+it, so we could light it up splendidly," added Kitty, seizing upon the
+idea with delight.
+
+"How about supper?" asked prudent Mary, remembering the appetites of a
+dozen hearty lads sharpened by sea air and exercise.
+
+"I'll pay for the supper.  I've saved so much by my cheap trip, I can
+spare twenty dollars as well as not," cried Nelly, bound to have the
+thing done handsomely if at all.
+
+"Bless you, child, it needn't cost half that!  Don't go and be
+extravagant, for we can have cake of Marm Wolsey, and make lemonade
+ourselves; it won't cost much, and the boys will be just as well off as
+if we had a grand spread."
+
+"You let me manage that part of the affair.  I have ordered suppers at
+home, and I know what is proper.  I will go up to town by the first
+boat to-morrow, and be back in time to help about dresses, and trimming
+up the barn.  Marm will lend us sheets, and with green boughs, flowers,
+and candles, we can make a lovely room for our little party.  I'll
+bring down some colored candles, and get some old-fashioned dresses at
+home, and do any errands for you."
+
+Here Nelly stopped for breath, and the others fell to discussing what
+they would "go as."  Their fellow-boarders were taken into the secret,
+and in an hour Marm Wolsey's whole establishment was in a ferment.
+Notes of invitation were dispatched; and replies on birch-bark came
+pouring in with most agreeable promptitude.
+
+The campers accepted to a man, and were soon seen ravaging the little
+town for red flannel and fisherman's toggery, or shouting with laughter
+in their tents as they fabricated horse-hair beards, Indian wampum and
+Roman armor.
+
+Next morning Nelly departed, charged with sundry very important
+commissions, and the rest fell to work decorating the barn and
+overhauling their wardrobes, while good-natured Marm "het the big oven"
+and made cake till the air smelt as if a gale from the Spice Islands
+had blown over the Point.
+
+At four, the boat came in; but no one saw Nelly arrive, for the whole
+flock had gone over the rocks to get hemlock boughs in the grove.
+
+When Mary and Kitty returned, they ran to the big room where they held
+their confabulations, and there found Nelly looking over a bundle of
+old brocades.  Something odd in her face and manner made them both say
+at once,--
+
+"What's the matter?  Has any thing gone wrong?"
+
+"I'm afraid you will think so, when I tell you that I have ordered no
+supper, got no pretty candles or flowers, and only spent two dollars of
+my money," said Nelly, looking both amused and anxious.
+
+"Lost your purse?" cried Kitty.
+
+"No."
+
+"Thought better of it, like a wise child," said Mary.
+
+"I brought something down that you didn't ask for, and may be sorry to
+have; but I couldn't help it.  Look out there and see if that isn't
+better than bon-bons or finery."
+
+Nelly pointed to a rock not far from the window, and both her friends
+stared in surprise; for all they saw was a strange girl sitting there,
+gazing out over the sea with an expression of wordless delight in her
+tired, white face and hungry eyes.
+
+"Who is it?" whispered Mary.
+
+"My little seamstress," answered Nelly.  "I went to get her to fix my
+dress, and found her looking so pale and used up my heart ached.  All
+the while she was fitting me, and I was telling her about our fun down
+here, she kept saying with a little gasp as if for fresh air,--
+
+"'How beautiful it must be, Miss Nelly!  I'm so glad you are enjoying
+so much and look so well.'
+
+"Then what you once said, Mary, came into my head, and my money burnt
+in my pocket till I broke out all of a sudden, saying,--
+
+"'Wouldn't you like to go down with me for a week and get rested and
+freshened up a little, Jane?'
+
+"Girls, if I had asked her to go straight to heaven, or do any lovely
+thing, she could not have looked more amazed, delighted, and touched.
+
+"'O, Miss Nelly, you are too good.  I'm afraid I ought not to leave
+work.  It seems almost too splendid to believe.'
+
+"I wouldn't hear a word, for my heart was set on doing it when I saw
+how she longed to go.  So I said she could help us with our dresses,
+and I must have her come on that account if no other.
+
+"Then she said she had nothing fit to wear, and I was so glad to be
+able to tell her that none of us wore nice clothes, and hers were quite
+fit.  I just made her put on her bonnet, brought her away in the
+twinkling of an eye, and there she is enjoying rest, fresh air,
+sunshine and her first view of the sea."
+
+"Nelly, you are an angel!" and Kitty hugged her on the spot, while Mary
+beamed at her with tears in her eyes, as she said, quietly,--
+
+"I did not think my little sermon would be so soon and beautifully
+taken to heart.  The sight of that poor child, sitting there so happy,
+is better than the most splendid supper you could have ordered.  I
+shall always love and honor you for this, dear."
+
+Nelly's face was a pretty mixture of smiles and tears, as her friends
+kissed and praised her.  Then she said, brightly,--
+
+"Now we will have nothing but our cake and lemonade, and make up in
+good spirits for the supper we have lost.  Flowers will do for favors,
+and tallow candles will help the moon light up our 'hall.'  See my
+Bo-Peep dress; and here are lots of things for you.  To-morrow Jane
+will help us, and we will be splendiferous."
+
+Three happy faces bent over the old brocades, three busy tongues
+chattered gaily of trains and flounces, and three pairs of friendly
+eyes peeped often at the quiet figure on the rocks, finding greater
+satisfaction in that sweet little tableau than in any they could plan.
+
+Merry times they had next day, for Jane's skilful fingers worked
+wonders, and gratitude inspired her with all manner of brilliant ideas.
+She was introduced as a friend; any deficiencies in her wardrobe were
+quietly supplied by Nelly, and she proved herself an invaluable ally,
+enjoying every minute of the precious time.
+
+Nothing could have been prettier in its way than the old barn, draped
+with sails and sheets, with flags and pennons from the boats, great
+peonies and green boughs for decorations.  Candles and lanterns
+twinkled their best, and the great doors at both ends stood wide open,
+letting in floods of moonlight, fresh air and lovely glimpses of the
+sea.
+
+The neighbors all came to "peek," and the hearty laughter of the big
+brown fishermen clustered round the door was good to hear, as the
+comical, quaint, or charming figures entered the room.  Tow-headed
+children roosted on the beams, women in calico gowns sat staring in the
+stalls, while babies slept placidly in the hay-racks, and one meek cow
+surveyed the scene with astonished eyes.
+
+Powhattan, St. George, Brother Jonathan, Capt. Cuttle, Garibaldi and
+other noble beings came from the camp, to find Bo-Peep in a ravishing
+little costume, with a Quakeress, Sairey Gamp, Dolly Varden and a host
+of other delightful ladies ready to receive them.
+
+What happy hours followed, with the promenades, and plays, and homely
+yet delightful surroundings.  The barn was so cool, so spacious, and
+every thing was so free and simple, that every one "went in and enjoyed
+himself like a man," as Capt. Kyd gracefully remarked to Mary Nelson,
+who was capitally and cheaply got up as the Press, dressed in
+newspapers, with a little telegraph, posts, wires and all, on her head.
+
+Fruit, cake and lemonade was all the feast, spread on the big rock in
+front of the barn, and no one complained; for moonlight, youth and
+happy hearts lent their magic to the scene.
+
+"Never had such a good time in my life," was the general verdict when
+the party broke up at eleven, and the gallant guests departed, to
+return the compliment by a charming serenade an hour later.
+
+"Now that just puts the last touch to it.  So romantic and delicious!"
+sighed Nelly, listening luxuriously to the melodious strains of that
+college favorite, "Juanita."
+
+"It's all like a beautiful dream to me," sighed Jane, who was peeping
+through the blinds with the other pretty white ghosts, and enjoying the
+whole thing to her heart's core.
+
+Kitty threw out some flowers, and when each youth had stuck a relic in
+his button-hole, the sailor hats disappeared, leaving only the musical
+assurance that "Her bright smile haunts me still," to echo over the
+rocks and die away in the lapping of the tide upon the shore.
+
+A quiet week followed, and the girls spent it teaching Jane to row and
+swim, taking her to drive in the old wagon, and making her "have a good
+time."
+
+She was so blissfully happy and improved so much that Nelly had serious
+thoughts of applying to her father for more money, so that Jane might
+stay longer.  But though she said not a word about her little charity,
+the truth crept out, and several of the ladies quietly made up a
+handsome sum for Jane.
+
+They gave it to Nelly, asking her to use it and say nothing of them,
+lest it should annoy the little seamstress.  So Nelly, when her own
+time was up had the pleasure of telling Jane she was to stay some weeks
+longer, and of slipping into her hand the means so kindly provided for
+her.
+
+She had no words in which to thank these friends, but her happy face
+did it as she bade them good-by, when they left her smiling, with wet
+eyes, among the roses in the lane.
+
+"Our visit has been a success, though it wasn't Newport, hey, Nelly?"
+said Kitty, as they rumbled away in the big omnibus.
+
+"Oh, yes!  I've had a lovely time, and mean to come next summer and
+bring another Jane, to go halves with me; it gives such a relish to
+one's fun somehow," answered Nelly, contentedly tying on her last
+year's hat.
+
+"Old clothes, wholesome pleasures and a charitable deed are all the
+magic that has made your month so happy and so helpful," said Mary,
+putting an affectionate arm about the shoulders in the now faded jacket.
+
+"And good friends; don't forget to add that," answered Nelly, with a
+grateful kiss.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+LITTLE NEIGHBORS.
+
+
+
+TWITTER THE FIRST.
+
+"Mamma, I do wish I had a nice, new play.  Can't you make me one?" said
+Bertie, pensively surveying the soles of his shoes, as he lay flat on
+his back with his heels in the air.
+
+"No, dear, I couldn't possibly stop now, for I must write my letters,
+or they won't be in time, and papa will be disappointed."
+
+"Then I wish I had somebody to play with me!  A jolly little chap who
+would amuse me and make me laugh," continued Bertie, and, dropping his
+legs, he lay for a moment, looking as if he really did need a playmate
+very much.
+
+"Tweet! tweet!" said a little voice, in such a brisk tone that the boy
+stared about him eager to see who spoke.
+
+One pane of the long window that opened on the balcony was fixed like a
+door, so that the room might be ventilated.  This pane stood open, and
+perched upon its threshold was a sparrow peering in with an inquisitive
+air, and a bold "Tweet! tweet!" as if he said,--
+
+"Here's a little friend all ready to play with you."
+
+"Oh, mamma, see the cunning bird! He wants to come in!  Don't stir, and
+may be he'll hop down and eat the crumbs of my luncheon on the table.
+It's Cocky Twitters; I know him by his tail, with only two feathers in
+it, and his twinkling eye, and his little fat body," cried Bertie,
+lying as still as a statue, and looking with delight at the new-comer.
+
+You see Bertie lived near a square where many English sparrows had
+their homes, and all winter the kind child fed his little neighbors.
+Day after day he strewed crumbs in the balcony, and day after day the
+birds came to peck them gratefully, or to fly away with the big bits to
+their nests.  So they learned to know and love and trust each other,
+and the passers-by often saw a pretty sight up in the sunny balcony
+where the delicate boy stood with his feathered friends about him; some
+at his feet, some on his shoulders, some boldly stealing crumbs from
+his basket, and the more timid hopping about on the wide balustrade,
+catching such stray mouthfuls as reached them.
+
+Bertie was fond of his birds, and had names for some of them, but his
+favorite was Cocky Twitters, a bold, saucy, droll fellow, who was
+always whisking about as if he had every thing in the bird-world to
+attend to.  He fought like a little game-cock if any other sparrow
+troubled him, but he was good to the weak and timid ones, and never
+failed to carry a nice crumb or two to his old papa, who had something
+the matter with his wing, and seldom went far from the little brown
+house stuck like a wasp's nest on one of the trees.
+
+Cocky had often thought about coming in to call, but never had found
+the courage to really do it, so Bertie was enchanted when, after a good
+deal of tweeting, much perking up of his smooth head, and many a
+sidelong twinkle of his little black eye, Cocky actually hopped down
+upon the table.
+
+Mamma sat motionless, smiling at her little guest, and Bertie hardly
+dared to wink as he watched his pet's pranks.
+
+Cocky had evidently made up his mind to have a right good time, and
+see, taste, examine, and enjoy all he found in this new world.  So he
+paraded about the table, ate a bit of cake, pecked at an apple, and
+drank prettily out of Bertie's silver mug; then he wiped his bill quite
+properly, took a look at the books, peeped into the inkstand, draggled
+his tail in the gum-pot, examined mamma's work-basket, and took a sniff
+at the flowers.  After that he strolled over the carpet with such a
+funny swagger of his thin legs, such an important roll of his fat,
+little body, and such an impudent cock of his head, that Bertie burst
+out laughing, which made Cocky flit away to the top of the clock, where
+he sat and twittered as if he was laughing too.
+
+"I wish I could keep him a few days, he is so jolly!  Couldn't I put
+him in Dickey's cage, and feed and be good to him, mamma?"
+
+"He would never trust you again if you did."
+
+"But I should 'splain it to him, and tell him it was only a visit."
+
+"He wouldn't like it, and I think you will enjoy him more when he makes
+visits of his own accord.  He would be the maddest little bird that
+ever flew if you shut him up; but leave him free, and every day it will
+be a pleasure to open the pane and see him come in confidingly.  He is
+tired of this warm room already, and trying to get out.  Show him the
+way, and let him go."
+
+"I'll have one good feel of him anyhow, but I won't hurt him," said
+Bertie, yielding the point, but bound to get a little fun out of his
+fat friend before he went.
+
+So he danced about after Cocky, who was so bewildered he could not find
+his own little door, and bounced against all the wrong panes till he
+was dizzy, and fell down in a corner.  Then Bertie softly grabbed him
+and though he pecked fiercely, Bertie got a "good feel" of the soft,
+warm mite.  Then he let him go, and Cocky sat on the balustrade and
+chirped till all his friends came to see what the fuss was about.
+
+"Oh, I do wish I could understand what they say.  He's telling them all
+about his visit, and they look so cunning, sitting round listening and
+asking questions.  You know French and German; don't you know bird-talk
+too, mamma?" asked Bertie, turning round, after he had stood with his
+nose against the glass till it was as cold as a little icicle.
+
+"No, dear, I am sorry to say I don't."
+
+"I thought mammas knew every thing," said Bertie, in a disappointed
+tone.
+
+"They ought to if they expect to answer all the questions their
+children ask them," answered mamma, with a sigh, for Bertie had an
+inquiring mind and often puzzled his parents sorely.
+
+"I suppose you haven't got time to learn it?" was the next remark.
+
+"Decidedly not.  But you have, so you'd better begin at once, and let
+me go on with my work."
+
+"I don't know how to begin."
+
+"You must ask some wiser person than I am about that," answered mamma,
+scratching away at a great rate.
+
+"I know what I'll do!" said Bertie, after meditating deeply for a few
+minutes; and, putting on his cap and coat, he went out upon the balcony.
+
+Mamma thought he had gone to consult Cocky, and forgot all about him
+for a time.  But Bertie had another plan in his head, and went
+resolutely up to one of the windows of the next house.  It opened on
+the same balcony, and only a low bar separated the houses, so Bertie
+often promenaded up and down the whole length, and more than once had
+peeped under the half-drawn curtain at the gray-headed gentleman who
+always seemed to be too busy with his books to see his little neighbor.
+
+Bertie had heard Professor Parpatharges Patterson called a very learned
+man, who could read seven languages, so he thought he would call and
+inquire if bird language was among the seven.  He peeped first, and
+there was Mr. P. reading away with his big spectacles on, and some
+dreadfully wise old book held close to his nose.  As he did not look
+up, Bertie tapped softly, but Mr. P. did not hear.  Then this resolute
+young person pushed up the window, walked coolly in, and stood close to
+the student's side.  But Mr. P. did not see him till the remarkable
+appearance of a small blue mitten right in the middle of Plato's
+Republic, caused the Professor to start and stare at it with such a
+funny expression of bewilderment that Bertie could not help laughing.
+
+The blithe sound seemed to wake the man out of a dream, for, falling
+back in his chair, he sat blinking at the child like a surprised owl.
+
+"Please, sir, I knocked, but you didn't hear, so I came in," said
+Bertie, with an engaging smile, as he respectfully pulled off his cap
+and looked up at the big spectacles with bright, confiding eyes.
+
+"What did you wish, boy?" asked the Professor, in a solemn, yet not
+ungentle, tone.
+
+"I wanted to know if you would tell me how I could learn bird-talk."
+
+"What?" and the man stared at the child harder than ever.
+
+"Perhaps I'd better sit down and 'splain all about it," remarked
+Bertie, feeling that the subject was too important to be hastily
+discussed.
+
+"Take a seat, boy;" and the Professor waved his hand vaguely, as if he
+did not know much about any chair but his own old one, with the
+stuffing bursting out, and ink spots everywhere.
+
+As all the chairs had books and papers piled up in them, Bertie, with
+great presence of mind, sat down upon an immense dictionary that lay
+near by, and with a hand on either knee, thus briefly explained himself:
+
+"My mamma said that you were very wise, and could read seven
+langwitches, so I thought you would please tell me what Cocky Twitters
+says."
+
+"Is Twitters a bird or a boy?" asked the Professor, as if bewildered by
+what seemed a very simple affair to innocent Bertie.
+
+At this question, the boy burst forth into an eager recital of his
+acquaintance with the sparrows, giving a little bounce on the fat
+dictionary now and then when he got excited, while his rosy face shone
+with an eagerness that was irresistible.
+
+The Professor listened as if to a language which he had almost
+forgotten, while the ghost of a smile began to flicker over his lips,
+and peer out from behind his glasses, as if somewhere about him there
+was a heart that tried to welcome the little guest, who came tapping at
+the long-closed door.
+
+When Bertie ended, out of breath, Mr. P. said, slowly, while he looked
+about as if to find something he had lost,--"I understand now, but I'm
+afraid I've forgotten all I ever knew about birds,--and boys too," he
+added, with an odd twinkle of the glasses.
+
+"Couldn't you _reccomember_ if you tried hard, sir?"
+
+"I don't think I could."
+
+Bertie gave a great sigh, and cast a reproachful glance upon the
+Professor, which said as plainly as words, "You must have been a _very_
+idle man to live among books till you are gray, and not know a simple
+thing like this."
+
+I think Mr. P. understood that look, and felt ashamed of his sad
+ignorance; for he rose up and went walking about the room, poking into
+corners and peering up at the books that lined the walls, till he found
+a large volume, and brought it to Bertie, who still sat despondently
+upon the dictionary.
+
+"Perhaps this will help us.  It tells much about birds, and the tales
+are all true."
+
+Bertie caught the book in his arms, laid it open on his knees, and with
+one delighted "Oh!" at the first peep, became entirely absorbed in the
+gay pictures.  With an air of relief, the Professor retired to his
+chair, and sat watching him very much as he had watched Cocky Twitters.
+A pretty little picture he made; for a ray of sunshine crept in to
+shine on his bright head like a playmate come to find him; his downy
+brows were knit, and his rosy mouth pursed up at times with the mingled
+exertions of mind and body, for the book was both beautiful and heavy.
+His eyes feasted on the pages; and now and then he laughed out with
+delight, as he found a bird he knew, or gave a satisfied nod, and
+trotted his foot to express his satisfaction at some unusually splendid
+one.  Once he tried to cross his tired legs, but they were too short,
+and the book went down with a bang that made him glance at his host in
+alarm.
+
+But while he studied Audubon's birds, the Professor had studied mamma's
+boy, and found he _could_ "reccomember" some of the traits belonging to
+_that_ species of wild-fowl.  As he looked, the smile had been playing
+hide-and-go-seek among his wrinkles, getting less ghostly every minute,
+and when the book fell, it came boldly out and sat upon his face so
+pleasantly, that Bertie ceased to be afraid.
+
+"Put it on the table, boy," said Mr. P., beckoning with an inky finger.
+
+Bertie lugged his treasure thither, and leaning both elbows on it,
+began to brood again.  It really did seem as if the Professor wanted to
+have a good "feel" of the boy as the boy did of Cocky, for presently
+the inky finger softly stroked the yellow head, then touched the round,
+red cheek, and put a little curl back behind the ear.  Then the
+spectacles took a long look all over the little figure, from the
+striped stockings to the fur collar on the small coat, and something
+about it, a certain chubbiness of outline and softness of exterior
+perhaps, seemed to be so attractive, that, all of a sudden, two large
+hands hovered over Bertie, gently clutched him, and set him on the
+Professor's knee.
+
+If Mr. P. felt any doubts as to how his guest would take this liberty,
+they were speedily set at rest, for Bertie only gave one wiggle to
+settle himself, and, turning a page, said affably,--
+
+"Now, tell me all about 'em."
+
+And Professor Parpatharges Patterson actually did tell him story after
+story out of that charming book, till the sound of a bell made the
+truant jump down in a great hurry, saying,--
+
+"Mamma wants me, and I must go, but I'll come again soon, and may be,
+if we study hard, we shall learn bird-talk after all."
+
+Mr. P. shook his head; but Bertie would not give up yet, and added
+encouragingly,--
+
+"Mamma says people are never too old to learn, and papa says Latin
+makes all the other langwitches easy; I see lots of Latin books, and
+you read 'em, so I'm sure, if you listen to my sparrows, when I feed
+'em, you _can_ understand some of their talk."
+
+"I'll try, and let you know how I get on," said Mr. P., laughing as if
+he didn't know how very well, but couldn't help making the attempt.
+
+"I'm very much obliged to you, sir, and I shall be glad to pay you for
+your trouble.  I've got two dollars in my tin bank, and I'll smash it,
+and get 'em out, if that will be enough," said Bertie, suddenly
+remembering to have heard that Mr. P. was not rich.
+
+"No, boy, I don't want your pennies, you shall pay in some other way,
+if I succeed," answered the Professor, with a touched sort of look
+about the spectacles.
+
+"I've had a very nice time.  Good day, sir," and Bertie held out his
+hand, as he made his best bow.
+
+"Good day, boy.  Come again."
+
+I think there must have been some magic about that blue mitten, or the
+warm little hand inside, for, as he held it quite buried up in his own
+big one, Mr. P. suddenly stooped down, and said, in a queer, bashful
+sort of tone,--
+
+"Suppose you pay with kisses, if you have any to spare."
+
+"I've got hundreds; I always keep 'em ready, because mamma needs so
+many," and Bertie held up his rosy mouth, as if this sort of coin best
+suited the treasury of a loving heart.
+
+Considering that the Professor had not kissed any one for twenty years
+at least, he did it very well, and, when Bertie was gone, stood looking
+down at the corpulent old dictionary, as if he still saw a bright-eyed
+little figure sitting on it, and considered that a great improvement
+upon the dust that usually lay there.
+
+
+
+TWITTER THE SECOND.
+
+Mamma was right; for Cocky, finding himself well treated at his first
+visit, called again, and being feasted on sugar, fruit, and cake, and
+allowed to go when he liked, was entirely won.  From that time he was
+the friend of the family, and called as regularly as the postman.  He
+knew his own little door, and if it was shut he tapped with his bill
+till some one opened it, when he came bustling in, chirping a gay "How
+are you?" and waggling his ragged tail in the most friendly manner.
+Weather made no difference to him; in fact rainy days were his favorite
+times for calling.  His little coat was waterproof, he needed no
+umbrella, and often came hopping in, with snow-flakes on his back, as
+jolly as you please.
+
+I don't know what Bertie would have done without this sociable little
+neighbor, for it was a stormy winter and he could not go out much;
+other children were at school; even mamma's inventive powers gave out
+sometimes, and toys grew tiresome.  But Cocky never did, and such games
+as the two had together it would have done your heart good to see, for
+the boy was so gentle that the bird soon grew very tame and learned to
+love and trust with the sweetest confidence.  A jollier sparrow never
+hopped; and after a good lunch with Bertie, both drinking out of one
+mug, both pecking at the same apple, and sharing the same cake, Cocky
+was ready for play.  He would hide somewhere and Bertie would hunt for
+him, guided now and then by a faint "Tweet" till the little gray bunch
+was found in some sly nook and came bouncing out with a whisk and a
+chirp.
+
+When Bertie sat at lessons, Cocky would roost on his shoulder, hop over
+the open page with his head on one side as if reading it, peer into the
+inkstand inquisitively, or settle himself among the flowers that stood
+in the middle of the table, like a little teacher ready to hear the
+lessons when they were learned.
+
+And sometimes when Bertie lay asleep, tired with books or play, Cocky
+would circle round him with soft flight, and perch on his pillow,
+waiting silently till his playmate woke, "like an angel guarding the
+dear in his sleep," as old nurse said, watching the pretty sight.
+
+Professor Parpatharges Patterson was right also; for he apparently did
+try to understand "bird-talk," and did succeed; for a few days after
+Bertie's call a letter came flying in at the open pane just at
+twilight, very much as if Cocky had brought it himself.  It was written
+on robin's-egg-colored paper, and bore the title, "Life and Adventures
+of Cocky Twitters, Esq."
+
+Mamma began to laugh as she glanced over it, and Bertie screamed with
+delight when a funny sketch appeared of an egg with a very small but
+brisk little bird hopping out of it without a feather on him.  It was
+very funny, and when mamma read Cocky's thoughts and feelings on first
+beholding the world, it was so droll, and Bertie was so tickled, that
+he rolled on the floor and kicked up his heels.
+
+Mr. P. must have tried very hard to "reccomember" the accomplishments
+and gayety of his youth, for the sketch was so good and the first
+chapter of this bird-book so merry that mamma put it in a little
+portfolio and showed it to all her friends, for no one ever dreamed
+that the studious old Professor had it in him to do such a clever thing.
+
+Bertie wanted to rush right in and thank him that very night, but mamma
+said he had better wait till morning and then play a little joke in
+return for the Professor's.  So next day, when Mr. P. pulled up the
+curtain of his study window, there hung a lovely posy of flowers and a
+little card with "Bertie Norton's compliments and thanks" on it.
+
+That pleased the old man; and all that day the roses filled his room
+with their sweet breath, mutely talking to him of a happy time when his
+little daughter used to put nosegays on his table, and dance about him
+like a blooming rose escaped from its stem.  For years no one had
+thought to scatter flowers among the wise books out of which the poor
+man tried to gather forgetfulness, if not happiness.  No one guessed
+that he had a lonely heart as well as a learned head, and no childish
+hand had clung to his till the blue mitten rested there, unconsciously
+leading him from his sad solitude to the sweet society of a little
+neighbor.
+
+Bertie soon called again, and this time Mr. P. heard, saw, and welcomed
+him at once.  A cushion lay on the fat dictionary, the bird-book was
+all ready, the eyes behind the big spectacles beamed with satisfaction
+as the boy climbed on his knee, and the inky hands held the chubby
+guest more eagerly and carefully than the most precious old book ever
+printed.
+
+After that second call the new friendship flourished wonderfully, and
+the boy became to the Professor what Cocky was to Bertie, a merry,
+innocent visitor, whose pretty plays and pranks cheered the dull days,
+whose love and confidence warmed his heart, whose presence grew more
+and more precious since its unconscious power made sunshine for the
+lonely man.
+
+Such good times as they had!  Such nice chats and stories, such laughs
+at very small jokes, such plans for summer, such fun feeding the
+sparrows, who soon learned to come to both windows fearlessly, and such
+splendid chapters as were added to "C. Twitter's Life and Adventures,"
+with designs that half killed mamma with laughing.
+
+The people in the house were much amused with the change in the
+Professor, and for a time could not understand what was going on up in
+that once quiet room.  For the sound of little feet trotting about was
+heard, also a cheery child's voice, and now and then a loud bang as if
+a pile of books had tumbled down, followed by shouts of merriment, for
+Mr. P. could laugh capitally, after a little practice.
+
+Stout Mrs. Bouncer, the landlady, went up one day to see what was going
+on, and was so surprised at the spectacle that met her eyes she could
+hardly believe her senses.
+
+In the middle of the room was a house built of the precious books which
+the maid had been forbidden to touch, and in the middle of this
+barricade sat Bertie, reading "Æsop's Fables" aloud.  The table which
+used to be filled with Greek and Hebrew volumes, learned treatises, and
+intricate problems was now bestrewn with gay pictures, and Mr. P., with
+his spectacles pushed back, his cuffs turned up, and a towel tied round
+him, was busily pasting these brilliant designs into a scrap-book bound
+in parchment and ornamented with brass clasps.
+
+The Professor evidently had made up his mind that the faded pages were
+much improved by the gay pictures, and sat smiling over his work as he
+saw a dead language blossom into flowers, and heard it sing from the
+throats of golden orioles and soaring larks.
+
+"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Bouncer to herself, and then added aloud,
+after a long stare, "Do you want any thing, sir?"
+
+"Nothing, thank you, ma'am, unless you happen to have a couple of
+apples in the house.  Good, big, red ones, if you please," answered Mr.
+P., so briskly that she couldn't help laughing, as she said,--
+
+"I'll send 'em right up, sir, and a fresh jumble or so for the little
+boy."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am, thank you.  We fellows have been hard at it for an
+hour, and we are as hungry as bears; hey, Bertie?"
+
+"I'm fond of jumbles," was the young student's suggestive reply, as he
+peeped over the walls with a nod and a smile.
+
+"Bless my heart, what has come to the Professor!" thought Mrs. Bouncer,
+as she hastened away, while Mr. P. waved his paste brush and Bertie
+kissed his hand to her.
+
+The neighbors said the same when they saw the two playmates walking out
+together, as they often did in fine weather.  Five old ladies, who sat
+all day at their different windows watching their neighbors, were so
+astonished at the sudden appearance of the Professor, hand-in-hand with
+a yellow-haired little laddie, that they could hardly believe their
+spectacles.  When they saw him drawing Bertie round the square on his
+sled Racer, they lifted their ten old hands in utter amazement, and
+when they beheld him actually snowballing, and being snowballed by,
+that mite of a boy, they really thought the sky must be going to fall.
+
+Mamma heartily enjoyed all this; for through her doctor she had learned
+much about Mr. P., and both admired and pitied him, and was very glad
+that Bertie had so wise and kind a playmate.  She saw that they did
+each other good, and in many delicate ways helped the boy to serve,
+amuse and repay the man who made him so happy.
+
+Cocky also approved of the new friend, and called occasionally to
+express his views on education.  He was very affable, but never allowed
+Mr. P. to take the same liberties that Bertie did, and after a general
+survey, would light upon the bald pate of a plaster Homer, whence he
+watched the boys at play, with deep interest.  Mr. P. was immensely
+flattered by Cocky's visits, and made his "Life" so interesting and
+droll, that Bertie really believed that the man and bird did it between
+them.
+
+"I owe a great deal to Mr. Twitters, and I hope I shall discover a way
+to show my gratitude," said the Professor more than once, and he did,
+as you will see.  It was a very happy winter, in spite of rain and
+snow, and as spring came on, the three friends had fine times in the
+park.  Bertie fed his birds there now; and they, remembering how he had
+kept them alive through the bitter weather, seemed to love him more
+than ever.  They flocked round him as soon as he appeared, chirping,
+fluttering, pecking, and hopping so fearlessly and gayly, that people
+often came to see the pretty sight, and "Bertie's birds" were one of
+the lions of the neighborhood.
+
+Cocky was very busy and important about this time.  His tail-feathers
+had grown again, he seemed to have put on a new drab waistcoat, and his
+head was so sleek that Bertie was sure he used pomade.  When he called
+at the balcony, he often brought another sparrow with him,--a plump,
+downy bird, with a bright eye, a Quakerish dress, and very gentle
+manners.
+
+"Mamma says Cocky is going to be married, and that pretty one is his
+little sweetheart.  Won't it be nice?  I wonder if he will ask us to
+the wedding, and where he will live!" said Bertie, standing still in
+the park, staring up at the nests stuck on the elm boughs, now green
+with tender leaves and noisy with happy birds.
+
+"I don't think he will ask us, and I very much fear that there won't be
+room in that brown nest for the old papa and the young folks also,"
+answered Mr. P., staring as hard as Bertie did.
+
+"Then we must ask the mayor to have a new house put up for Cocky.
+Don't you think he would if I wrote him a nice letter and showed him
+your book?  He'd see what a brave good bird my Twitters is, and give
+him a nice house, I'm sure," said Bertie earnestly, for he would
+believe that Cocky had really done all the fine and funny things
+recounted in that remarkable book.
+
+"Leave it to me, boy.  I will see what can be done about a mansion for
+Cocky to begin housekeeping in;" and Mr. P. gave a knowing nod, as if
+he had a new idea.
+
+So Bertie said no more, and, soon after this conversation, went to
+Plymouth, on a visit with mamma.  May-day was coming, and Bertie wanted
+to hang baskets on the doors of young and old neighbors; chief among
+the latter his dear Mr. P.
+
+Nowhere in New England do May-flowers grow so large and rosy, or bloom
+so early and so sweet as in Plymouth, and Bertie gathered a great
+hamper full of the best, made up in nosegays, garlands, and baskets.
+Then they came home, and all along the way people sniffed and peeped
+and smiled at the odorous load which the boy guarded so carefully and
+rejoiced over so much.
+
+Very early next morning, Bertie and mamma set out to hang the
+May-baskets on a dozen doors.  The five old ladies each had one, and
+were immensely pleased at being remembered; for Bertie had discovered
+that hearts can be young in spite of gray hair, and proposed doing this
+all himself.  Then there was a sick lady who used to look out at the
+child as he played, with a sad, white face and wistful eyes; two pretty
+little girls came next, and had raptures in their night-gowns, when the
+baskets were brought up to them in bed.
+
+Down in a back street was a lame boy who made hockey-sticks; a blind
+woman who knit the blue mittens, and several children who never had a
+flower except the dusty dandelions in the park.  One can easily imagine
+how happy these bits of spring made them, and how they welcomed the
+sweet things with their woody fragrance and rosy faces.
+
+When the last was given, mamma proposed a little walk over the bridge,
+for it was a lovely day, and she seemed in no haste about breakfast.
+
+Bertie was very hungry before they got back, and was quite ready to go
+in the back way, directly to the dining-room, where his bread and milk
+was waiting for him.  Right in the middle of breakfast, Mary, the girl,
+gave mamma a card, on which was written two words: "All ready!"
+
+Why mamma should laugh when she read it, and why Mary should say, in a
+whisper, "It's just lovely, ma'am," and then run out of the room
+giggling, Bertie could not understand.
+
+"Can't I know, mamma?" he asked, feeling sure that some joke or secret
+was afoot.
+
+"Yes, dear, all in good time.  Go now and see if Mr. Patterson has
+found the May-flowers you hung on his window."
+
+Away went Bertie to the balcony, found the posy gone, and the room
+empty; so he turned about and was going back, when all of a sudden he
+saw something that nearly took his breath away with surprise and
+delight.
+
+Now you must know that the house on the other side of Bertie's jutted
+out a little, and the niche thus made was covered with a woodbine that
+climbed up from the grass-plot below.  All summer this vine rustled its
+green leaves above that end of the balcony; in the autumn it hung
+crimson streamers there, and through the winter the sparrows loved to
+cuddle down among the twisted stems, sunning their backs in the
+sheltered corner, and pressing their downy breasts against the warm
+bricks.  Bertie used to hang great shells full of plants there, and
+called it his garden, but now something even more delightful and
+ornamental than ivy or flame-colored nasturtiums met his eye.
+
+Up among the budding sprays stood a charming little house, with a wide
+piazza all round it; a white house, with cunning windows and a tiny
+porch, where the door stood hospitably open, with the owner's name
+painted on it.
+
+When Bertie read "C. Twitters," he had to hold on to the railing, lest
+he should tumble over, so pleased was he with this delightful surprise.
+As if nothing was wanting to make it quite perfect, Cocky himself came
+flying up to say "Good morning;" and after a long survey of the new
+house went to examine it.  He walked all round the piazza, sat upon the
+chimney to see if that was all right, popped his head into the porch,
+appeared to read the name on the door, and to understand all about it,
+for with one shrill chirp, he walked in and took possession at once.
+
+Then Bertie danced for joy and called out, "Oh, mamma, come and see!
+He likes it; he's gone in, and I'm sure he means to live there!"
+
+Mamma came, and so did Mr. P., both pretending to be much amazed at
+Cocky's daring to build a house so near without asking leave.
+
+But Bertie was not deceived a bit, and hugged them both on the spot,
+with many thanks for this charming joke, while Cocky sat at his door
+and twittered, like a grateful, happy little bird, as he was.
+
+That was only the beginning of it; for the interesting things that
+happened after this May-day were too many to tell.  Cocky was married
+at once, and went to house-keeping in his new villa.  Mrs. Twitters
+evidently liked it extremely, and began to bring in her straw furniture
+and feather-beds, like a busy little house-wife.  Papa Twitters came
+too; though they had a hard job to get him there, he was so lame with
+rheumatism.  But the vine helped the poor old dear; for after he had
+got safely across the street, he hopped up the woodbine, little by
+little, till he got to the porch, and there sat down to rest.
+
+He did not stay long, however, for, like a wise bird, he felt that the
+young folks would do better alone, and after a nice visit, he returned
+to the brown nest in the park, where his children called every day and
+never forgot to take the old papa a crumb of comfort.
+
+Cocky made an excellent husband, and often brought his wife to call on
+Bertie, who, when the warm days came, sat much in the balcony, always
+ready for a chat, a game, or a song.  All the other birds were chirping
+gayly, so he joined the chorus; and his favorite was that merry ballad
+beginning,--
+
+  "A little cock-sparrow,
+    Sat up in a tree,
+  And whistled, and whistled,
+    And thus whistled he."
+
+
+While Bertie and Cocky sang, mamma smiled over her work within, and a
+gray head often popped out of Mr. P.'s window, as if he loved to listen
+and to learn still more of the sweet, new language his little neighbors
+taught him.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+MARJORIE'S THREE GIFTS.
+
+Marjorie sat on the door-step, shelling peas, quite unconscious what a
+pretty picture she made, with the roses peeping at her through the
+lattice work of the porch, the wind playing hide-and-seek in her curly
+hair, while the sunshine with its silent magic changed her faded
+gingham to a golden gown, and shimmered on the bright tin pan as if it
+were a silver shield.  Old Rover lay at her feet, the white kitten
+purred on her shoulder, and friendly robins hopped about her in the
+grass, chirping "A happy birthday, Marjorie!"
+
+But the little maid neither saw nor heard, for her eyes were fixed on
+the green pods, and her thoughts were far away.  She was recalling the
+fairy-tale granny told her last night, and wishing with all her heart
+that such things happened nowadays.  For in this story, as a poor girl
+like herself sat spinning before the door, a Brownie came by, and gave
+the child a good-luck penny; then a fairy passed, and left a talisman
+which would keep her always happy; and last of all, the prince rolled
+up in his chariot, and took her away to reign with him over a lovely
+kingdom, as a reward for her many kindnesses to others.
+
+When Marjorie imagined this part of the story, it was impossible to
+help giving one little sigh, and for a minute she forgot her work, so
+busy was she thinking what beautiful presents she would give to all the
+poor children in her realm when _they_ had birthdays.  Five impatient
+young peas took this opportunity to escape from the half-open pod in
+her hand and skip down the steps, to be immediately gobbled up by an
+audacious robin, who gave thanks in such a shrill chirp that Marjorie
+woke up, laughed, and fell to work again.  She was just finishing, when
+a voice called out from the lane,--
+
+"Hi, there! come here a minute, child!" and looking up, she saw a
+little old man in a queer little carriage drawn by a fat little pony.
+
+Running down to the gate, Marjorie dropped a curtsy, saying
+pleasantly,--
+
+"What did you wish, sir?"
+
+"Just undo that check-rein for me.  I am lame, and Jack wants to drink
+at your brook," answered the old man, nodding at her till his
+spectacles danced on his nose.
+
+Marjorie was rather afraid of the fat pony, who tossed his head,
+whisked his tail, and stamped his feet as if he was of a peppery
+temper.  But she liked to be useful, and just then felt as if there
+were few things she could _not_ do if she tried, because it was her
+birthday.  So she proudly let down the rein, and when Jack went
+splashing into the brook, she stood on the bridge, waiting to check him
+up again after he had drunk his fill of the clear, cool water.
+
+The old gentleman sat in his place, looking up at the little girl, who
+was smiling to herself as she watched the blue dragon-flies dance among
+the ferns, a blackbird tilt on the alder-boughs, and listened to the
+babble of the brook.
+
+"How old are you, child?" asked the old man, as if he rather envied the
+rosy creature her youth and health.
+
+"Twelve to-day, sir;" and Marjorie stood up straight and tall, as if
+mindful of her years.
+
+"Had any presents?" asked the old man, peering up with an odd smile.
+
+"One, sir,--here it is;" and she pulled out of her pocket a tin
+savings-bank in the shape of a desirable family mansion, painted red,
+with a green door and black chimney.  Proudly displaying it on the rude
+railing of the bridge, she added, with a happy face,--
+
+"Granny gave it to me, and all the money in it is going to be mine."
+
+"How much have you got?" asked the old gentleman, who appeared to like
+to sit there in the middle of the brook, while Jack bathed his feet and
+leisurely gurgled and sneezed.
+
+"Not a penny yet, but I'm going to earn some," answered Marjorie,
+patting the little bank with an air of resolution pretty to see.
+
+"How will you do it?" continued the inquisitive old man.
+
+"Oh, I'm going to pick berries and dig dandelions, and weed, and drive
+cows, and do chores.  It is vacation, and I can work all the time, and
+earn ever so much."
+
+"But vacation is play-time,--how about that?"
+
+"Why, that sort of work _is_ play, and I get bits of fun all along.  I
+always have a good swing when I go for the cows, and pick flowers with
+the dandelions.  Weeding isn't so nice, but berrying is very pleasant,
+and we have good times all together."
+
+"What shall you do with your money when you get it?"
+
+"Oh, lots of things!  Buy books and clothes for school, and, if I get a
+great deal, give some to granny.  I'd love to do that, for she takes
+care of me, and I'd be so proud to help her!"
+
+"Good little lass!" said the old gentleman, as he put his hand in his
+pocket.  "Would you now?" he added, apparently addressing himself to a
+large frog who sat upon a stone, looking so wise and grandfatherly that
+it really did seem quite proper to consult him.  At all events, he gave
+his opinion in the most decided manner, for, with a loud croak, he
+turned an undignified somersault into the brook, splashing up the water
+at a great rate.  "Well, perhaps it wouldn't be best on the whole.
+Industry is a good teacher, and money cannot buy happiness, as I know
+to my sorrow."
+
+The old gentleman still seemed to be talking to the frog, and as he
+spoke he took his hand out of his pocket with less in it than he had at
+first intended.
+
+"What a very queer person!" thought Marjorie, for she had not heard a
+word, and wondered what he was thinking about down there.
+
+Jack walked out of the brook just then, and she ran to check him up;
+not an easy task for little hands, as he preferred to nibble the grass
+on the bank.  But she did it cleverly, smoothed the ruffled mane, and,
+dropping another curtsy, stood aside to let the little carriage pass.
+
+"Thank you, child--thank you.  Here is something for your bank, and
+good luck to it."
+
+As he spoke, the old man laid a bright gold dollar in her hand, patted
+the rosy cheek, and vanished in a cloud of dust, leaving Marjorie so
+astonished at the grandeur of the gift, that she stood looking at it as
+if it had been a fortune.  It was to her; and visions of pink calico
+gowns, new grammars, and fresh hat-ribbons danced through her head in
+delightful confusion, as her eyes rested on the shining coin in her
+palm.
+
+Then, with a solemn air, she invested her first money by popping it
+down the chimney of the scarlet mansion, and peeping in with one eye to
+see if it landed safely on the ground-floor.  This done, she took a
+long breath, and looked over the railing, to be sure it was not all a
+dream.  No; the wheel-marks were still there, the brown water was not
+yet clear, and, if a witness was needed, there sat the big frog again,
+looking so like the old gentleman, with his bottle-green coat, speckled
+trousers, and twinkling eyes, that Marjorie burst out laughing, and
+clapped her hands, saying aloud,--
+
+"I'll play he was the Brownie, and this is the good-luck penny he gave
+me.  Oh, what fun!" and away she skipped, rattling the dear new bank
+like a castanet.
+
+When she had told granny all about it, she got knife and basket, and
+went out to dig dandelions; for the desire to increase her fortune was
+so strong, she could not rest a minute.  Up and down she went, so
+busily peering and digging, that she never lifted up her eyes till
+something like a great white bird skimmed by so low she could not help
+seeing it.  A pleasant laugh sounded behind her as she started up, and,
+looking round, she nearly sat down again in sheer surprise, for there
+close by was a slender little lady, comfortably established under a big
+umbrella.
+
+"If there were any fairies, I'd be sure that was one," thought
+Marjorie, staring with all her might, for her mind was still full of
+the old story; and curious things do happen on birthdays, as every one
+knows.
+
+It really did seem rather elfish to look up suddenly and see a lovely
+lady all in white, with shining hair and a wand in her hand, sitting
+under what looked very like a large yellow mushroom in the middle of a
+meadow, where, till now, nothing but cows and grasshoppers had been
+seen.  Before Marjorie could decide the question, the pleasant laugh
+came again, and the stranger said, pointing to the white thing that was
+still fluttering over the grass like a little cloud,--
+
+"Would you kindly catch my hat for me, before it blows quite away?"
+
+Down went basket and knife, and away ran Marjorie, entirely satisfied
+now that there was no magic about the new-comer; for if she had been an
+elf, couldn't she have got her hat without any help from a mortal
+child?  Presently, however, it did begin to seem as if that hat was
+bewitched, for it led the nimble-footed Marjorie such a chase that the
+cows stopped feeding to look on in placid wonder; the grasshoppers
+vainly tried to keep up, and every ox-eye daisy did its best to catch
+the runaway, but failed entirely, for the wind liked a game of romps,
+and had it that day.  As she ran, Marjorie heard the lady singing, like
+the princess in the story of the Goose-Girl,--
+
+  "Blow, breezes, blow!
+  Let Curdkin's hat go!
+  Blow, breezes, blow!
+  Let him after it go!
+  O'er hills, dales and rocks,
+    Away be it whirled,
+  Till the silvery locks
+    Are all combed and curled."
+
+This made her laugh so that she tumbled into a clover-bed, and lay
+there a minute to get her breath.  Just then, as if the playful wind
+repented of its frolic, the long veil fastened to the hat caught in a
+blackberry-vine near by, and held the truant fast till Marjorie secured
+it.
+
+"Now come and see what I am doing," said the lady, when she had thanked
+the child.
+
+Marjorie drew near confidingly, and looked down at the wide-spread book
+before her.  She gave a start, and laughed out with surprise and
+delight; for there was a lovely picture of her own little home, and her
+own little self on the door-step, all so delicate, and beautiful, and
+true, it seemed as if done by magic.
+
+"Oh, how pretty!  There is Rover, and Kitty and the robins, and me!
+How could you ever do it, ma'am?" said Marjorie, with a wondering
+glance at the long paint-brush, which had wrought what seemed a miracle
+to her childish eyes.
+
+"I'll show you presently; but tell me, first, if it looks quite right
+and natural to you.  Children sometimes spy out faults that no one else
+can see," answered the lady, evidently pleased with the artless praise
+her work received.
+
+"It looks just like our house, only more beautiful.  Perhaps that is
+because I know how shabby it really is.  That moss looks lovely on the
+shingles, but the roof leaks.  The porch is broken, only the roses hide
+the place; and my gown is all faded, though it once was as bright as
+you have made it.  I wish the house and every thing would stay pretty
+forever as they will in the picture."
+
+While Marjorie spoke, the lady had been adding more color to the
+sketch, and when she looked up, something warmer and brighter than
+sunshine shone in her face, as she said, so cheerily, it was like a
+bird's song to hear her,--
+
+"It can't be summer always, dear, but we can make fair weather for
+ourselves if we try.  The moss, the roses, and soft shadows show the
+little house and the little girl at their best, and that is what we all
+should do; for it is amazing how lovely common things become, if one
+only knows how to look at them."
+
+"I wish _I_ did," said Marjorie, half to herself, remembering how often
+she was discontented, and how hard it was to get on, sometimes.
+
+"So do I," said the lady, in her happy voice.  "Just believe that there
+is a sunny side to every thing, and try to find it, and you will be
+surprised to see how bright the world will seem, and how cheerful you
+will be able to keep your little self."
+
+"I guess granny has found that out, for she never frets.  I do, but I'm
+going to stop it, because I'm twelve to-day, and that is too old for
+such things," said Marjorie, recollecting the good resolutions she had
+made that morning; when she woke.
+
+"I am twice twelve, and not entirely cured yet; but I try, and don't
+mean to wear blue spectacles if I can help it," answered the lady,
+laughing so blithely that Marjorie was sure she would not have to try
+much longer.  "Birthdays were made for presents, and I should like to
+give you one.  Would it please you to have this little picture?" she
+added, lifting it out of the book.
+
+"Truly my own?  Oh, yes, indeed!" cried Marjorie, coloring with
+pleasure, for she had never owned so beautiful a thing before.
+
+"Then you shall have it, dear.  Hang it where you can see it often, and
+when you look, remember that it is the sunny side of home, and help to
+keep it so."
+
+Marjorie had nothing but a kiss to offer by way of thanks, as the
+lovely sketch was put into her hand; but the giver seemed quite
+satisfied, for it was a very grateful little kiss.  Then the child took
+up her basket and went away, not dancing and singing now, but slowly
+and silently; for this gift made her thoughtful as well as glad.  As
+she climbed the wall, she looked back to nod good-by to the pretty
+lady; but the meadow was empty, and all she saw was the grass blowing
+in the wind.
+
+"Now, deary, run out and play, for birthdays come but once a year, and
+we must make them as merry as we can," said granny, as she settled
+herself for her afternoon nap, when the Saturday cleaning was all done,
+and the little house as neat as wax.
+
+So Marjorie put on a white apron in honor of the occasion, and, taking
+Kitty in her arms, went out to enjoy herself.  Three swings on the gate
+seemed to be a good way of beginning the festivities; but she only got
+two, for when the gate creaked back the second time, it stayed shut,
+and Marjorie hung over the pickets, arrested by the sound of music.
+
+"It's soldiers," she said, as the fife and drum drew nearer, and flags
+were seen waving over the barberry-bushes at the corner.
+
+"No; it's a picnic," she added in a moment; for she saw hats with
+wreaths about them bobbing up and down, as a gayly-trimmed hay-cart
+full of children came rumbling down the lane.
+
+"What a nice time they are going to have!" thought Marjorie, sadly
+contrasting that merry-making with the quiet party she was having all
+by herself.
+
+Suddenly her face shone, and Kitty was waved over her head like a
+banner, as she flew out of the gate, crying, rapturously,--
+
+"It's Billy! and I know he's come for me!"
+
+It certainly _was_ Billy, proudly driving the old horse, and beaming at
+his little friend from the bower of flags and chestnut-boughs, where he
+sat in state, with a crown of daisies on his sailor-hat and a spray of
+blooming sweetbrier in his hand.  Waving his rustic sceptre, he led off
+the shout of "Happy birthday, Marjorie!" which was set up as the wagon
+stopped at the gate, and the green boughs suddenly blossomed with
+familiar faces, all smiling on the little damsel, who stood in the lane
+quite overpowered with delight.
+
+"It's a s'prise party!" cried one small lad, tumbling out behind.
+
+"We are going up the mountain to have fun!" added a chorus of voices,
+as a dozen hands beckoned wildly.
+
+"We got it up on purpose for you, so tie your hat and come away," said
+a pretty girl, leaning down to kiss Marjorie, who had dropped Kitty,
+and stood ready for any splendid enterprise.
+
+A word to granny, and away went the happy child, sitting up beside
+Billy, under the flags that waved over a happier load than any royal
+chariot ever bore.
+
+It would be vain to try and tell all the plays and pleasures of happy
+children on a Saturday afternoon, but we may briefly say that Marjorie
+found a mossy stone all ready for her throne, and Billy crowned her
+with a garland like his own.  That a fine banquet was spread, and eaten
+with a relish many a Lord Mayor's feast has lacked.  Then how the whole
+court danced and played together afterward!  The lords climbed trees
+and turned somersaults, the ladies gathered flowers and told secrets
+under the sweetfern-bushes, the queen lost her shoe jumping over the
+waterfall, and the king paddled into the pool below and rescued it.  A
+happy little kingdom, full of summer sunshine, innocent delights, and
+loyal hearts; for love ruled, and the only war that disturbed the
+peaceful land was waged by the mosquitoes as night came on.
+
+Marjorie stood on her throne watching the sunset while her maids of
+honor packed up the remains of the banquet, and her knights prepared
+the chariot.  All the sky was gold and purple, all the world bathed in
+a soft, red light, and the little girl was very happy as she looked
+down at the subjects who had served her so faithfully that day.
+
+"Have you had a good time, Marjy?" asked King William; who stood below,
+with his royal nose on a level with her majesty's two dusty little
+shoes.
+
+"Oh, Billy, it has been just splendid!  But I don't see why you should
+all be so kind to me," answered Marjorie, with such a look of innocent
+wonder, that Billy laughed to see it.
+
+"Because you are so sweet and good, we can't help loving you,--that's
+why," he said, as if this simple fact was reason enough.
+
+"I'm going to be the best girl that ever was, and love everybody in the
+world," cried the child, stretching out her arms as if ready, in the
+fulness of her happy heart, to embrace all creation.
+
+"Don't turn into an angel and fly away just yet, but come home, or
+granny will never lend you to us any more."
+
+With that, Billy jumped her down, and away they ran, to ride gayly back
+through the twilight, singing like a flock of nightingales.
+
+As she went to bed that night, Marjorie looked at the red bank, the
+pretty picture, and the daisy crown, saying to herself,--
+
+"It has been a _very_ nice birthday, and I am something like the girl
+in the story, after all, for the old man gave me a good-luck penny, the
+kind lady told me how to keep happy, and Billy came for me like the
+prince.  The girl didn't go back to the poor house again, but I'm glad
+_I_ did, for my granny isn't a cross one, and my little home is the
+dearest in the world."
+
+Then she tied her night-cap, said her prayers, and fell asleep; but the
+moon, looking in to kiss the blooming face upon the pillow, knew that
+three good spirits had come to help little Marjorie from that day
+forth, and their names were Industry, Cheerfulness, and Love.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+PATTY'S PLACE.
+
+
+
+I.
+
+HOW SHE FOUND IT.
+
+Patty stood at one of the windows of the Asylum, looking thoughtfully
+down into the yard, where twenty girls were playing.
+
+All had cropped heads, all wore brown gowns and blue aprons, and all
+were orphans like herself.  Some were pretty and some plain, some rosy
+and gay, some pale and feeble, but all seemed happy and having a good
+time in spite of many drawbacks.
+
+More than once one of them nodded and beckoned to Patty, but she shook
+her head decidedly, and still stood, listlessly watching them, and
+thinking to herself with a child's impatient spirit,--
+
+"Oh, if some one would only come and take me away!  I'm so tired of
+living here I don't think I can bear it much longer."
+
+Poor Patty might well wish for a change; for she had been in the Asylum
+ever since she could remember; but though every one was kind to her,
+she was heartily tired of the place, and longed to find a home as many
+of the girls did.
+
+The children were nursed and taught until old enough to help
+themselves, then were adopted by people or went out to service.  Now
+and then some forlorn child was claimed by relatives who had discovered
+it, and once the relatives of a little girl proved to be rich and
+generous people, who came for Katy in a fine carriage, treated all the
+other girls in honor of the happy day, and from time to time let Katy
+visit them with hands full of gifts for her former playmates and
+friends.
+
+This event had made a great stir in the Asylum, and the children were
+never tired of talking it over and telling it to new comers as a modern
+sort of fairy tale.  For a time, each hoped to be claimed in the same
+way, and stories of what they would do when their turn came was one of
+the favorite amusements of the house.
+
+By and by Katy ceased to come, and gradually new girls took the place
+of those that left, and her good fortune was forgotten by all but
+Patty.  To her it always remained a splendid possibility, and she
+comforted her loneliness by visions of the day when her "folks" would
+come for her, and bear her away to a future of luxury and pleasure,
+rest and love.
+
+But no one came, and year after year Patty worked and waited, saw
+others chosen and herself left to the many duties and few pleasures of
+her dull life.  The reason why she was not taken was because of her
+pale face, her short figure, with one shoulder higher than the other,
+and her shy ways.  She was not ill now, but looked so, and was a sober,
+quiet little woman at thirteen.
+
+People who came for pets chose the pretty little ones; and those who
+wanted servants took the tall, strong, merry-faced girls, who spoke up
+brightly and promised to learn and do any thing required of them.
+
+The good matron often recommended Patty as a neat, capable, gentle
+little person, but no one seemed to want her, and after every failure
+her heart grew heavier and her face sadder, for the thought of spending
+her life there was unbearable.
+
+Nobody guessed what a world of hopes and thoughts and feelings was
+hidden under that blue pinafore, what dreams the solitary child
+enjoyed, or what a hungry, aspiring young soul lived in that crooked
+little body.
+
+But God knew; and when the time came He remembered Patty and sent her
+the help best fitted for her needs.  Sometimes, when we least expect
+it, a small cross proves a lovely crown, a seemingly unimportant event
+becomes a life-long experience, or a stranger changes into a friend.
+
+It happened so now; for as Patty said aloud with a great sigh, "I don't
+think I _can_ bear it any longer!" a hand touched her shoulder, and a
+voice said, gently,--
+
+"Bear what, my child?"
+
+The touch was so light and the voice so kind that Patty answered before
+she had time to feel shy.
+
+"Living here, ma'am, and never being chosen out like the other girls
+are."
+
+"Tell me all about it, dear.  I'm waiting for a friend, and I'd like to
+hear your troubles," sitting down in the window-seat and drawing Patty
+beside her.
+
+She was not young, nor pretty, nor finely dressed, only a gray-haired
+woman in plain black; but her face was so motherly, her eyes so
+cheerful, and her voice so soothing, that Patty felt at ease in a
+minute, and nestled up to her as she told her little woes in a few
+simple words.
+
+"You don't know any thing about your parents?" asked the lady.
+
+"No, ma'am; I was left here a baby without even a name pinned to me,
+and no one has come to find me.  But I shouldn't wonder if they did
+yet, so I keep ready all the time and learn as hard as I can, so they
+won't be ashamed of me, for I guess my folks is respectable," and Patty
+lifted her head with an air of pride that made the lady ask, with a
+smile,--
+
+"What makes you think so?"
+
+"Well, I heard the matron tell a lady who chose Nelly Brian that she
+always thought _I_ came of high folks because I was so different from
+the others, and my ways was nice, and my feet so small,--see if they
+ain't,"--and, slipping them out of the rough shoes she wore, Patty held
+up two slender little feet with the arched insteps that tell of good
+birth.
+
+Miss Murry laughed right out at the innocent vanity of the poor child,
+and said, heartily, "They are small, and so are your hands in spite of
+work, and your hair is fine, and your eyes are soft and clear, and you
+are a good child I'm sure, which is best of all."
+
+Pleased and touched by the praise that is so pleasant to us all, yet
+half ashamed of herself, Patty blushed and smiled, put on her shoes,
+and said, with unusual animation,--
+
+"I'm pretty good, I believe, and I know I'd be much better if I only
+could get out.  I do so long to see trees and grass, and sit in the sun
+and hear birds.  I'd work real hard and be happy if I could live in the
+country."
+
+"What can you do?" asked Miss Murry, stroking the smooth head and
+looking down into the wistful eyes fixed upon her.
+
+Modestly, but with a flutter of hope at her heart, Patty told over her
+domestic accomplishments, a good list for a thirteen-year-older, but
+Patty had been drilling so long she was unusually clever at all sorts
+of house-work as well as needle-work.
+
+As she ended, she asked, timidly,--
+
+"Did you come for a girl, ma'am?"
+
+"My sister did; but she has found one she likes, and is going to take
+her on trial," was the answer that made the light fade out of Patty's
+eyes and the hope die in her heart.
+
+"Who is it, please?"
+
+"Lizzie Brown, a tall, nice-looking girl of fourteen."
+
+"You won't like her I know, for Lizzie is a real ----;" there Patty
+stopped short, turned red, and looked down, as if ashamed to meet the
+keen, kind eyes fixed on her.
+
+"A real what?"
+
+"Please, ma'am, don't ask; it was mean of me to say that, and I mustn't
+go on.  Lizzie can't help being good with you, and I am glad she's got
+a chance to go away."
+
+Miss Murry asked no more questions; but she liked the little glimpse of
+character, and tried to brighten Patty's face again by talking of
+something she liked.
+
+"Suppose your 'folks,' as you say, never come for you, and you never
+find your fortune, as some girls do, can't you make friends and fortune
+for yourself?"
+
+"How can I?" questioned Patty, wonderingly.
+
+"By taking cheerfully whatever comes, by being helpful and affectionate
+to all, and wasting no time in dreaming about what may happen, but
+bravely making each day a comfort and a pleasure to yourself and
+others.  Can you do that?"
+
+"I can try, ma'am," answered Patty, meekly.
+
+"I wish you would; and when I come again you can tell me how you get
+on.  I think you will succeed; and when you do, you will have found a
+fine fortune, and be sure of friends.  Now I must go; cheer up, deary,
+your turn must come some day."
+
+With a kiss that won Patty's heart, Miss Murry went away, casting more
+than one look of pity at the little figure in the window-seat, sobbing,
+with a blue pinafore over its face.
+
+This disappointment was doubly hard to Patty; because Lizzie was not a
+good girl, and deserved nothing, and Patty had taken a great fancy to
+the lady who spoke so kindly to her.
+
+For a week after this she went about her work with a sad face, and all
+her day-dreams were of living with Miss Murry in the country.
+
+Monday afternoon, as she stood sprinkling clothes, one of the girls
+burst in, saying, all in a breath,--
+
+"Somebody's come for you, and you are to go right up to the parlor.
+It's Mrs. Murry, and she's brought Liz back, 'cause she told fibs, and
+was lazy, and Liz is as mad as hops, for it is a real nice place, with
+cows, and pigs, and children; and the work ain't hard and she wanted to
+stay.  Do hurry, and don't stand staring at me that way."
+
+"It can't be me--no one ever wants me--it's some mistake"--stammered
+Patty, so startled and excited, she did not know what to say or do.
+
+"No, it isn't.  Mrs. Murry won't have any one but _you_, and the matron
+says you are to come right up.  Go along; I'll finish here.  I'm _so_
+glad you have got a chance at last;" and with a good-natured hug, the
+girl pushed Patty out of the kitchen.
+
+In a few minutes Patty came flying back, all in a twitter of delight,
+to report that she was going at once, and must say good-by all round.
+Every one was pleased, and when the flurry was over, the carriage drove
+away with the happiest little girl ever seen inside, for at last some
+one _did_ want her, and Patty _had_ found a place.
+
+
+
+II.
+
+HOW SHE FILLED IT.
+
+For a year Patty lived with the Murrys, industrious, docile, and
+faithful, but not yet happy, because she had not found all she
+expected.  They were kind to her, as far as plenty of food and not too
+much work went.  They clothed her comfortably, let her go to church,
+and did not scold her very often.  But no one showed that they loved
+her, no one praised her efforts, no one seemed to think that she had
+any hope or wish beyond her daily work, and no one saw in the shy,
+quiet little maid-servant, a lonely, tender-hearted girl longing for a
+crumb of the love so freely given to the children of the house.
+
+The Murrys were busy people; the farm was large, and the master and his
+eldest son were hard at it all summer.  Mrs. Murry was a brisk, smart
+housewife, who "flew round" herself, and expected others to do
+likewise.  Pretty Ella, the daughter, was about Patty's age, and busy
+with her school, her little pleasures, and all the bright plans young
+girls love and live in.  Two or three small lads rioted about the
+house, making much work, and doing very little.
+
+One of these boys was lame, and this fact seemed to establish a sort of
+friendly understanding between him and Patty, for he was the only one
+who ever expressed any regard for her.  She was very good to him,
+always ready to help him, always patient with his fretfulness, and
+always quick to understand his sensitive nature.
+
+"She's only a servant, a charity girl who works for her board, and
+wears my old duds.  She's good enough in her place, but of course she
+can't expect to be like one of us," Ella said to a young friend once,
+and Patty heard her.
+
+"Only a servant"--that was the hard part, and it never occurred to any
+one to make it softer; so Patty plodded on, still hoping and dreaming
+about friends and fortune.
+
+If it had not been for Miss Murry I fear the child would not have got
+on at all.  But Aunt Jane never forgot her, though she lived twenty
+miles away, and seldom came to the farm.  She wrote once a month, and
+always put in a little note to Patty, which she expected to have
+answered.
+
+So Patty wrote a neat reply, very stiff and short at first; but after a
+time she quite poured out her heart to this one friend who sent her
+encouraging words, cheered her with praise now and then, and made her
+anxious to be all Miss Jane seemed to expect.  No one took much notice
+of this correspondence, for Aunt Jane was odd, and Patty used to post
+her replies herself, being kindly provided with stamps by her friend.
+
+This was Patty's anchor in her little sea of troubles, and she clung to
+it, hoping that some time, when she had earned such a beautiful reward,
+she would go and live with Miss Murry.
+
+Christmas was coming, and great fun was expected; for the family were
+to pass the day before at Aunt Jane's, and bring her home for the
+dinner and dance next day.  For a week beforehand, Mrs. Murry flew
+round with more than her accustomed speed, and Patty trotted from
+morning till night, lending a hand at all the least agreeable jobs.
+Ella did the light, pretty work, and spent much time over her new
+dress, and the gifts she was making for the boys.
+
+Every thing was done at last, and Mrs. Murry declared that she should
+drop if she had another thing to do but go to Jane's and rest.
+
+Patty had lived on the hope of going with them; but nothing was said
+about it, and they all trooped gayly away to the station, leaving her
+to take care of the house, and see that the cat did not touch one of
+the dozen pies stored away in the pantry.
+
+Patty kept up bravely till they were gone; then she sat down like
+Cinderella, and cried, and cried until she couldn't cry any more, for
+it did seem as if she never was to have any fun, and no fairy godmother
+came to help her.  The shower did her good, and she went about her work
+with a meek, patient face that would have touched a heart of stone.
+
+All the morning she finished up the odd jobs left her to do, and in the
+afternoon, as the only approach to a holiday she dared venture, she sat
+at the parlor window and watched other people go to and fro, intent on
+merry-makings in which she had no part.
+
+One pleasant little task she had, and that was arranging gifts for the
+small boys.  Miss Jane had given her a bit of money now and then, and
+out of her meagre store the affectionate child had made presents for
+the lads; poor ones, but full of good-will and the desire to win some
+in return.
+
+The evening was very long, for the family did not return as early as
+they expected to do, so Patty got out her treasure-box, and, sitting on
+the warm kitchen hearth, tried to amuse herself, while the wind howled
+outside and snow fell fast.
+
+There we must leave her for a little while, quite unconscious of the
+happy surprise that was being prepared for her.
+
+When Aunt Jane welcomed the family, her first word, as she emerged from
+a chaos of small boys' arms and legs, was "Why, where is Patty?"
+
+"At home, of course; where should she be?" answered Mrs. Murry.
+
+"Here with you.  I said '_all come_' in my letter; didn't you
+understand it?"
+
+"Goodness, Jane, you didn't mean bring her too, I hope."
+
+"Yes, I did, and I'm so disappointed I'd go and get her if I had time."
+
+Miss Jane knit her brows and looked vexed, as Ella laughed at the idea
+of a servant's going pleasuring with the family.
+
+"It can't be helped now, so we'll say no more, and make it up to Patty
+to-morrow, if we can."  And Aunt Jane smiled her own pleasant smile,
+and kissed the little lads all round, as if to sweeten her temper as
+soon as possible.
+
+They had a capital time, and no one observed that Aunty now and then
+led the talk to Patty, asked a question about her, caught up every
+little hint dropped by the boys concerning her patience and kindness,
+and when Mrs. Murry said, as she sat resting, with a cushion at her
+back, a stool at her feet, and a cup of tea steaming deliciously under
+her nose,--
+
+"Afraid to leave her there in charge?  Oh, dear no!  I've entire
+confidence in her, and she is equal to taking care of the house for a
+week if need be.  On the whole, Jane, I consider her a pretty promising
+girl.  She isn't very quick, but she is faithful, steady, and honest as
+daylight."
+
+"High praise from you, Maria; I hope she knows your good opinion of
+her."
+
+"No, indeed; it don't do to pamper up a girl's pride by praising her.
+I say, 'Very well, Patty,' when I'm satisfied, and that's enough."
+
+"Ah, but _you_ wouldn't be satisfied if George only said, 'Very well,
+Maria,' when you had done your very best to please him in some way."
+
+"That's a different thing," began Mrs. Murry, but Miss Jane shook her
+head, and Ella said, laughing,--
+
+"It's no use to try and convince Aunty on that point, she has taken a
+fancy to Pat, and won't see any fault in her.  She's a good child
+enough; but I can't get any thing out of her, she is so odd and shy."
+
+"I can; she's first rate, and takes care of me better than any one
+else," said Harry, the lame boy, with sudden warmth, for Patty had
+quite won his selfish little heart by many services.
+
+"She'll make mother a nice helper as she grows up, and I consider it a
+good speculation.  In four years she'll be eighteen, and if she goes on
+doing so well, I shan't begrudge her wages," added Mr. Murry, who sat
+near by, with a small son on each knee.
+
+"She'd be quite pretty if she was straight, and plump, and jolly.  But
+she is as sober as a deacon, and when her work is done, sits in a
+corner, watching us with her big eyes, as shy and mute as a mouse,"
+said Ned, the big brother, lounging on the sofa.
+
+"A dull, steady-going girl, just fitted for a servant, and no more,"
+concluded Mrs. Murry, setting down her cup as if the subject was ended.
+
+"You are quite mistaken, and I'll prove it!" and up jumped Aunt Jane so
+energetically, that the boys laughed and the elders looked annoyed.
+Pulling out a portfolio, Aunt Jane untied a little bundle of letters,
+saying impressively,--
+
+"Now listen, all of you, and see what has been going on under Patty's
+blue pinafore this year."
+
+Then Miss Jane read the little letters one by one, and it was curious
+to see how the faces of the listeners woke up, grew attentive first,
+then touched, then self-reproachful, and finally how full of interest,
+and respect, and something very like affection for little Patty.
+
+These letters were pathetic to read, as Aunty read them to listeners
+who could supply much that the writer generously left unsaid, and the
+involuntary comments of the hearers proved the truth of Patty's words.
+
+"_Does_ she envy me because I'm 'pretty and gay, and have a good time?'
+I never thought how hard it must be for her to see me have all the fun,
+and she all the work.  She's a girl like me, though she does grub; and
+I might have done more for her than give her my old clothes, and let
+her help dress me when I go to a party," said Ella, hastily, as Aunt
+Jane laid down one letter in which poor Patty told of many "good times
+and she not in 'em."
+
+"Sakes alive, if I'd known the child wanted me to kiss her now and
+then, as I do the rest, I'd have done it in a minute," said Mrs. Murry,
+with sudden softness in her sharp eyes, as Aunt Jane read this little
+bit,--
+
+"I _am_ grateful, but, oh!  I'm so lonely, and it's so hard not to have
+any mother like the children.  If Mrs. Murry would only kiss me
+good-night sometimes, it would do me more good than pretty clothes or
+nice victuals."
+
+"I've been thinking I'd let her go to school a spell, ever since I
+heard her showing Bob how to do his lessons.  But mother didn't think
+she could spare her," broke in Mr. Murry, apologetically.
+
+"If Ella would help a little, I guess I could.  Anyway, we might try a
+while, since she is so eager to learn," added his wife, anxious not to
+seem unjust to sister Jane.
+
+"Well, Joe laughed at her as well as me, when the boys hunched up their
+shoulders the way she does," cried conscience-stricken Bob, as he heard
+a sad little paragraph about her crooked figure, and learned that it
+came from lugging heavy babies at the Asylum.
+
+"I cuffed 'em both for it, and _I_ have always liked Patty," said
+Harry, in a moral tone, which moved Ned to say,--
+
+"You'd be a selfish little rascal if you didn't, when she slaves so for
+you and gets no thanks for it.  Now that I know how it tires her poor
+little back to carry wood and water, I shall do it of course.  If she'd
+only told me, I'd have done it all the time."
+
+And so it went on till the letters were done, and they knew Patty as
+she was, and each felt sorry that he or she had not found her out
+before.  Aunt Jane freed her mind upon the subject, and they talked it
+over till quite an enthusiastic state of feeling set in, and Patty was
+in danger of being killed with kindness.
+
+It is astonishing how generous and kind people are when once waked up
+to a duty, a charity, or a wrong.  Now, every one was eager to repair
+past neglect, and if Aunt Jane had not wisely restrained them, the
+young folks would have done something absurd.
+
+They laid many nice little plans to surprise Patty, and each privately
+resolved not only to give her a Christmas gift, but, what was better,
+to turn over a new leaf for the new year.
+
+All the way home they talked over their various projects, and the boys
+kept bouncing into Aunt Jane's seat, to ask advice about their funny
+ideas.
+
+"It must have been rather lonesome for the poor little soul all day.  I
+declare I wish we'd taken her along," said Mrs. Murry, as they
+approached the house, through the softly-falling snow.
+
+"She's got a jolly good fire all ready for us, and that's a mercy, for
+I'm half frozen," said Harry, hopping up the step.
+
+"Don't you think if I touch up my blue merino it would fit Patty, and
+make a nice dress for to-morrow, with one of my white aprons?"
+whispered Ella, as she helped Aunt Jane out of the sleigh.
+
+"Hope the child isn't sick or scared; it's two hours later than I
+expected to be at home," added Mr. Murry, stepping up to peep in at the
+kitchen window, for no one came to open the door, and no light but the
+blaze of the fire shone out.
+
+"Come softly and look in; it's a pretty little sight, if it is in a
+kitchen," he whispered, beckoning to the rest.
+
+Quietly creeping to the two low windows, they all looked in, and no one
+said a word, for the lonely little figure was both pretty and pathetic,
+when they remembered the letters lately read.  Flat on the old rug lay
+Patty fast asleep; one arm pillowed her head, and in the other lay Puss
+in a cosy bunch, as if she had crept there to be sociable, since there
+was no one else to share Patty's long vigil.  A row of slippers, large
+and small, stood warming on the hearth, two little nightgowns hung over
+a chair, the tea-pot stood in a warm nook, and through the open door
+they could see the lamp burning brightly in the sitting-room, the table
+ready, and all things in order.
+
+"Faithful little creature!  She's thought of every blessed thing, and
+I'll go right in and wake her up with a good kiss!" cried Mrs. Murry,
+making a dart at the door.
+
+But Aunt Jane drew her back, begging her not to frighten the child by
+any sudden demonstrations.  So they all went softly in, so softly that
+tired Patty did not wake, even though Puss pricked up her ears and
+opened her moony eyes with a lazy purr.
+
+"Look here," whispered Bob, pointing to the poor little gifts half
+tumbling out of Patty's apron.  She had been pinning names on them when
+she fell asleep, and so her secret was known too soon.
+
+No one laughed at the presents, and Ella covered them up with a look of
+tender pity at the few humble treasures in Patty's box, remembering as
+she laid back what she had once called "rubbish," how full her own
+boxes were of the pretty things girls love, and how easy it would have
+been to add to Patty's store.
+
+No one exactly knew how to wake up the sleeper, for she was something
+more than a servant in their eyes now.  Aunt Jane settled the matter by
+stooping down and taking Patty in her arms.  The big eyes opened at
+once and stared up at the face above them for a moment, then a smile so
+bright, so glad, shone all over the child's face that it was
+transfigured, as Patty clung to Aunt Jane, crying joyously,--
+
+"Is it really you?  I was so afraid you wouldn't come that I cried
+myself to sleep about it."
+
+Never had any of them seen such love and happiness in Patty's face
+before, heard such a glad, tender sound in her voice, or guessed what
+an ardent soul lay in her quiet body.
+
+She was herself again in a minute, and, jumping up, slipped away to see
+that every thing was ready, should any one want supper after the cold
+drive.
+
+They all went to bed so soon that there was no time to let out the
+secret, and though Patty _was_ surprised at the kind good-nights all
+said to her, she thought it was because Miss Jane brought a warmer
+atmosphere with her.
+
+Patty's surprises began early next day, for the first thing she saw on
+opening her eyes was a pair of new stockings hanging at the foot of her
+bed, crammed full of gifts, and several parcels lying on the table.
+
+Didn't she have a good time opening the delightful bundles?  Didn't she
+laugh and cry at the droll things the boys gave, the comfortable and
+pretty things the elders sent?  And wasn't she a happy child when she
+tried to say her prayers and couldn't find words beautiful enough to
+express her gratitude for so much kindness?
+
+A new Patty went down stairs that morning,--a bright-faced girl with
+smiles on the mouth that used to be so sad and silent, confidence in
+the timid eyes, and the magic of the heartiest good-will to make her
+step light, her hand skilful, her labor a joy, and service no burden.
+
+"They do care for me, after all, and I never will complain again," she
+thought, with a glad flutter at her heart, and sudden color in her
+cheeks, as every one welcomed her with a friendly "Merry Christmas,
+Patty!"
+
+It _was_ a merry Christmas, and when the bountiful dinner was spread
+and Patty stood ready to wait, you can imagine her feelings as Mr.
+Murry pointed to a seat near Miss Jane and said, in a fatherly tone
+that made his bluff voice sweet,--
+
+"Sit down and enjoy it with us, my girl; nobody has more right to it,
+and we are all one family to-day."
+
+Patty could not eat much, her heart was so full; but it was a splendid
+feast to her, and when healths were drank she was overwhelmed by the
+honor Harry did her, for he bounced up and exclaimed,--
+
+"Now we must drink 'Our Patty, long life and good luck to her!'"
+
+That really _was_ too much, and she fairly ran away to hide her blushes
+in the kitchen roller, and work off her excitement washing dishes.
+
+More surprises came that evening; when she went to put on her clean
+calico she found the pretty blue dress and white apron laid ready on
+her bed "with Ella's love."
+
+"It's like a fairy story, and keeps getting nicer and nicer since the
+godmother came," whispered Patty, as she shyly looked up at Aunt Jane,
+when passing ice-cream at the party several hours later.
+
+"Christmas is the time for all sorts of pleasant miracles, for the good
+fairies fly about just then, and give good-luck pennies to the faithful
+workers who have earned them," answered Miss Jane, smiling back at her
+little handmaid, who looked so neat and blithe in her new suit and
+happy face.
+
+Patty thought nothing farther in the way of bliss could happen to her
+that night, but it did when Ned, anxious to atone for his past neglect,
+pranced up to her, as a final contra-dance was forming, and said
+heartily,--
+
+"Come, Patty, every one is to dance this, even Harry and the cat," and
+before she could collect her wits enough to say "No," she was leading
+off and flying down the middle with the young master in great style.
+
+That was the crowning honor; for she was a girl with all a girl's
+innocent hopes, fears, desires and delights, and it _had_ been rather
+hard to stand by while all the young neighbors were frolicking together.
+
+When every one was gone, the tired children asleep, and the elders on
+their way up to bed, Mrs. Murry suddenly remembered she had not covered
+the kitchen fire.  Aunt Jane said she would do it, and went down so
+softly that she did not disturb faithful Patty, who had gone to see
+that all was safe.
+
+Aunt Jane stopped to watch the little figure standing on the hearth
+alone, looking into the embers with thoughtful eyes.  If Patty could
+have seen her future there, she would have found a long life spent in
+glad service to those she loved and who loved her.  Not a splendid
+future, but a useful, happy one; "only a servant," yet a good and
+faithful woman, blessed with the confidence, respect and affection of
+those who knew her genuine worth.
+
+As a smile broke over Patty's face, Miss Jane said, with an arm round
+the little blue-gowned figure,--
+
+"What are you dreaming and smiling about, deary?  The friends that are
+to come for you some day, with a fine fortune in their pockets?"
+
+"No, ma'am, I feel as if I'd found my folks, and I don't want any finer
+fortune than the love they've given me to-day.  I'm trying to think how
+I can deserve it, and smiling because it's so beautiful and I'm so
+happy," answered Patty, looking up at her first friend with full eyes
+and a glad, grateful glance that made her lovely.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN OMNIBUS.
+
+I was born in Springfield,--excuse me if I don't mention how many years
+ago, for my memory is a little treacherous on some points, and it does
+not matter in the least.  I was a gay young 'bus, with a long, red
+body, yellow wheels, and a picture of Washington on each side.
+Beautiful portraits, I assure you, with powdered hair, massive nose,
+and a cataract of shirt-frill inundating his buff vest.  His coat and
+eyes were wonderfully blue, and he stared at the world in general with
+superb dignity, no matter how much mud might temporarily obscure his
+noble countenance.
+
+Yes, I was an omnibus to be proud of; for my yellow wheels rumbled
+sonorously as they rolled; my cushions were soft, my springs elastic,
+and my varnish shone with a brilliancy which caused the human eye to
+wink as it regarded me.
+
+Joe Quimby first mounted my lofty perch, four fine gray horses drew me
+from obscurity, and Bill Buffum hung gayly on behind as conductor; for
+in my early days there were no straps to jerk, and passengers did not
+plunge in and out in the undignified way they do now.
+
+How well I remember my first trip, one bright spring day!  I was to run
+between Roxbury and Boston, and we set out in great style, and an
+admiring crowd to see us off.  That was the beginning of a long and
+varied career,--a useful one too, I hope; for never did an omnibus
+desire to do its duty more sincerely than I did.  My heart yearned over
+every one whom I saw plodding along in the dust; my door opened
+hospitably to rich and poor, and no hand beckoned to me in vain.  Can
+every one say as much?
+
+For years I trundled to and fro punctually at my appointed hours, and
+many curious things I saw--many interesting people I carried.  Of
+course, I had my favorites, and though I did my duty faithfully to all,
+there were certain persons whom I loved to carry, whom I watched for
+and received into my capacious bosom with delight.
+
+Several portly old gentlemen rode down to their business every day for
+years, and I felt myself honored by such eminently respectable
+passengers.  Nice, motherly women, with little baskets, daily went to
+market; for in earlier days housewives attended to these matters and
+were notable managers.  Gay young fellows would come swarming up beside
+Joe, and crack jokes all the way into town, amusing me immensely.
+
+But my especial pets were the young girls,--for we had girls
+then,--blithe, bonny creatures, with health on their cheeks, modesty in
+their bright eyes, and the indescribable charm of real maidenliness
+about them.  So simply dressed, so quiet in manner, so unconscious of
+display, and so full of innocent gayety, that the crustiest passenger
+could not help softening as they came in.  Bless their dear hearts!
+what would they say if they could see the little fashion-plates
+school-girls are now?  The seven-story hats with jet daggers, steel
+arrows, and gilt horse-shoes on the sides, peacocks' tails in front,
+and quantities of impossible flowers tumbling off behind.  The jewelry,
+the frills and bows, the frizzled hair and high-heeled boots, and,
+worst of all, the pale faces, tired eyes, and ungirlish manners.
+
+Well, well, I must not scold the poor dears, for they are only what the
+times make them,--fast and loud, frivolous and feeble.  All are not
+spoilt, thank heaven; for now and then, a fresh, modest face goes by,
+and then one sees how lovely girlhood may be.
+
+I saw many little romances, and some small tragedies, in my early days,
+and learned to take such interest in human beings, that I have never
+been able to become a mere machine.
+
+When one of my worthy old gentlemen dropped away, and I saw him no
+more, I mourned for him like a friend.  When one of my housewifely
+women came in with a black bonnet on, and no little lad or lass
+clinging to her hand, I creaked my sympathy for her loss, and tried not
+to jolt the poor mother whose heart was so heavy.  When one of my
+pretty girls entered, blushing and smiling, with a lover close behind,
+I was as pleased and proud as if she had been my own, and every black
+button that studded my red cushion twinkled with satisfaction.
+
+I had many warm friends among the boys who were allowed to "hang on
+behind," for I never gave a dangerous lurch when they were there, and
+never pinched their fingers in the door.  No, I gave a jolly rumble
+when the steps were full; and I kept the father of his country beaming
+so benignly at them that they learned to love his old face, to watch
+for it, and to cheer it as we went by.
+
+I was a patriotic 'bus; so you may imagine my feelings when, after
+years of faithful service on that route, I was taken off and sent to
+the paint-shop, where a simpering damsel, with lilies in her hair,
+replaced G. Washington's honored countenance.  I was re-christened "The
+Naiad Queen," which disgusted me extremely, and kept to carry picnic
+parties to a certain lake.
+
+Earlier in my life I should have enjoyed the fun; but I was now a
+middle-aged 'bus, and felt as if I wanted more serious work to do.
+However, I resigned myself and soon found that the change did me good;
+for in the city I was in danger of getting grimy with mud, battered
+with banging over stones, and used up with the late hours, noise and
+excitement of town life.
+
+Now I found great refreshment in carrying loads of gay young people
+into the country for a day of sunshine, green grass, and healthful
+pleasure.  What jolly parties they were, to be sure!  Such laughing and
+singing, feasting and frolicking; such baskets of flowers and fresh
+boughs as they carried home; and, better still, such blooming cheeks,
+happy eyes, and hearts bubbling over with the innocent gayety of youth!
+They soon seemed as fond of me as I was of them, for they welcomed me
+with shouts when I came, played games and had banquets inside of me
+when sun or rain made shelter pleasant, trimmed me up with wreaths as
+we went home in triumph, and gave three rousing cheers for the old 'bus
+when we parted.  That was a happy time, and it furnished many a
+pleasant memory for duller days.
+
+After several seasons of picnicking, I was taken to an asylum for the
+deaf, dumb, and blind, and daily took a dozen or so out for an airing.
+You can easily imagine this was a great contrast to my last place; for
+now, instead of rollicking parties of boys and girls, I took a sad load
+of affliction; and it grieved me much to know that while some of the
+poor little creatures could see nothing of the beauty round them, the
+others could hear none of the sweet summer sounds, and had no power to
+express their happiness in blithe laughter or the gay chatter one so
+loves to hear.
+
+But it did me good; for, seeing them so patient with their great
+troubles, I was ashamed to grumble about my small ones.  I was now
+getting to be an elderly 'bus, with twinges of rheumatism in my
+axletrees, many cracks like wrinkles on my once smooth paint, and an
+asthmatic creak to the hinges of the door that used to swing so smartly
+to and fro.  Yes, I was evidently getting old, for I began to think
+over my past, to recall the many passengers I had carried, the crusty
+or jolly coachmen I had known, the various horses who had tugged me
+over stony streets or dusty roads, and the narrow escapes I had had in
+the course of my career.
+
+Presently I found plenty of time for such reminiscences, for I was put
+away in an old stable and left there undisturbed a long, long time.  At
+first, I enjoyed the rest and quiet; but I was of a social turn, and
+soon longed for the stirring life I had left.  I had no friends but a
+few gray hens, who roosted on my pole, laid eggs in the musty straw on
+my floor, and came hopping gravely down my steps with important "cut,
+cut, ka da cuts!" when their duty was done.  I respected these worthy
+fowls, and had many a gossip with them; but their views were very
+limited, and I soon tired of their domestic chat.
+
+Chanticleer was coachman now, as in the days of Partlet and the nuts;
+but he never drove out, only flew up to my roof when he crowed, and sat
+there, in his black and yellow suit, like a diligence-driver sounding
+his horn.  Interesting broods of chickens were hatched inside, and took
+their first look at life from my dingy windows.  I felt a grandfatherly
+fondness for the downy things, and liked to have them chirping and
+scratching about me, taking small flights from my steps, and giving
+funny little crows in imitation of their splendid papa.
+
+Sundry cats called often, for rats and mice haunted the stable, and
+these gray-coated huntsmen had many an exciting chase among my
+moth-eaten cushions, over the lofts, and round the grain-bags.
+
+"Here I shall end my days," I thought, and resigned myself to
+obscurity.  But I was mistaken; for just as I was falling out of one
+long doze into another, a terrible commotion among the cats, hens, and
+mice woke me up, and I found myself trundling off to the paint-shop
+again.
+
+I emerged from that fragrant place in a new scarlet coat, trimmed with
+black and ornamented with a startling picture of a salmon-colored
+Mazeppa, airily dressed in chains and a blue sheet, hanging by one foot
+to the back of a coal-black steed with red nostrils and a tempestuous
+tail, who was wildly careering over a range of pea-green mountains on
+four impossible legs.  It was much admired; but I preferred George
+Washington, like the loyal 'bus that I am.
+
+I found I was to live in the suburbs and carry people to and from the
+station of a new railway, which, with the town, seemed to have sprung
+up like mushrooms.  Well, I bumped passengers about the half-finished
+streets; but I did not like it, for every thing had changed much during
+my retirement.  Everybody seemed in a tearing hurry now,--the men to be
+rich, the women to be fine; the boys and girls couldn't wait to grow
+up, but flirted before they were in their teens; and the very babies
+scrambled out of their cradles as if each was bent on toddling farther
+and faster than its neighbor.  My old head quite spun round at the
+whirl every thing was in, and my old wheels knew no rest, for the new
+coachman drove like Jehu.
+
+It is my private opinion that I should soon have fallen to pieces if a
+grand smash had not settled the matter for me.  A gay young fellow
+undertook to drive, one dark night, and upset his load in a ditch,
+fortunately breaking no bones but mine.  So I was sent to a carriage
+factory for repairs; but, apparently, my injuries were past cure, for I
+was left on a bit of waste land behind the factory, to go to ruin at
+leisure.
+
+"This is the end of all things," I said, with a sigh, as year after
+year went by and I stood there alone, covered with wintry snow or
+blistered by summer sunshine.  But how mistaken I was! for just when
+all seemed most sad and solitary, the happiest experience of my life
+came to me, and all the world was brightened for me by the coming of my
+dearest friends.
+
+One chilly spring night, when rain was falling, and the wind sighed
+dismally over the flats, I was waked from a nap by voices and the
+rustling of straw inside my still strong body.
+
+"Some tramp," I thought, with a yawn, for I had often taken lodgers for
+a night, rent free.  But the sounds I now heard were the voices of
+children, and I listened with interest to the little creatures chirping
+and nestling in there like the chickens I told you of.
+
+"It's as nice as a house, Hans, and so warm I'll soon be dry," said one
+of the homeless birds who had taken shelter in my bosom.
+
+"It's nicer than a house, Gretchen, because we can push it about if we
+like.  I wish we could stay here always; I'm so tired of the streets,"
+sighed another young voice.
+
+"And I'm so hungry; I do wish mother would come," cried a very tired
+baby voice, with a sob.
+
+"Hush, go to sleep, my Lina!  I'll wake you if mother brings us bread,
+and if not you will feel no disappointment, dear."
+
+Then the elder sister seemed to wrap the little one close, and out of
+my bosom came a soft lullaby, as one child gave the other all she
+had,--love and care.
+
+"In the shed yonder I saw a piece of carpet; I shall go and bring it to
+cover us, then you will not shiver so, dear Gretchen," said the boy;
+and out into the rainy darkness he went, whistling to keep his spirits
+up and hide his hunger.
+
+Soon he came hurrying back with the rude coverlet, and another voice
+was heard, saying, in the tone that only mothers use,--
+
+"Here is supper, dear children.  Eat all; I have no wish for any more.
+People were very good to me, and there is enough for every one."
+
+Then, with cries of joy, the hungry birds were fed, the motherly wings
+folded over them, and all seemed to sleep in the poor nest they had
+found.
+
+All night the rain pattered on my old roof, but not a drop went
+through; all night the chilly wind crept round my windows, and breathed
+in at every broken pane, but the old carpet kept the sleepers warm, and
+weariness was a sure lullaby.  How pleased and proud I felt that I
+could still be useful, and how eagerly I waited for day to see yet more
+of my new tenants!  I knew they would go soon and leave me to my
+loneliness, so I longed to see and hear all I could.
+
+The first words the mother said, as she sat upon the step in the warm
+April sun, pleased me immensely, for they were of me.
+
+"Yes, Hans, it will be well to stay here a day at least, if we may, for
+Lina is worn out and poor Gretchen so tired she can go no more.  You
+shall guard them while they sleep, and I will go again for food, and
+may get work.  It is better out here in the sun than in some poor place
+in the city, and I like it well, this friendly old carriage that
+sheltered us when most we needed it."
+
+So the poor woman trudged away, like a true mother-bird, to find food
+for the ever-hungry brood, and Hans, a stout lad of twelve, set about
+doing his part manfully.
+
+When he heard the workmen stirring in the great factory, he took
+courage, and, going in, told his sad tale of the little tired sisters
+sleeping in the old omnibus, the mother seeking work, the father lately
+dead, and he (the young lad) left to guard and help the family.  He
+asked for nothing but leave to use the bit of carpet, and for any
+little job whereby he might earn a penny.
+
+The good fellows had fatherly hearts under their rough jackets, and
+lent a helping hand with the readiness the poor so often show in
+lightening one another's burdens.  Each did what he could; and when the
+mother came back, she found the children fed and warmed, cheered by
+kind words and the promise of help.
+
+Ah! it was a happy day for me when the Schmidts came wandering by and
+found my door ajar!  A yet happier one for them, since the workmen and
+their master befriended the poor souls so well that in a week the
+houseless family had a home, and work whereby to earn their bread.
+
+They had taken a fancy to me, and I was their home; for they were a
+hardy set and loved the sun and air.  Clever Hans and his mother made
+me as neat and cosy as possible, stowing away their few possessions as
+if on shipboard.  The shed was given to mother Schmidt for a
+wash-house, and a gypsy fire built on the ground, with an old kettle
+slung over it, in which to boil the clothes she washed for such of the
+men as had no wives.  Hans and Gretchen soon found work selling chips
+and shavings from the factory, and bringing home the broken food they
+begged by the way.  Baby Lina was a universal pet, and many a sixpence
+found its way into her little hand from the pockets of the kindly men,
+who took it out in kisses, or the pretty songs she sang them.
+
+All that summer my family prospered, and I was a happy old 'bus.  A
+proud one, too; for the dear people loved me well, and, in return for
+the shelter I gave them, they beautified me by all the humble means in
+their power.  Some one gave Gretchen a few scarlet beans, and these she
+planted among the dandelions and green grass that had grown about my
+wheels.  The gay runners climbed fast, and when they reached the roof,
+Hans made a trellis of old barrel hoops, over which they spread their
+broad leaves and bright flowers till Lina had a green little bower up
+aloft, where she sat, as happy as a queen, with the poor toys which her
+baby fancy changed to playthings of the loveliest sort.
+
+Mother Schmidt washed and ironed busily all day in her shed, cooked the
+soup over her gypsy fire, and when the daily work was done sat in the
+shadow of the old omnibus with her children round her, a grateful and
+contented woman.  If any one asked her what she would do when our
+bitter winter came, the smile on her placid face grew graver, but did
+not vanish, as she laid her worn hands together and answered, with
+simple faith,--
+
+"The good Gott who gave us this home and raised up these friends will
+not forget us, for He has such as we in His especial charge."
+
+She was right; for the master of the great factory was a kind man, and
+something in the honest, hard-working family interested him so much
+that he could not let them suffer, but took such friendly thought for
+them that he wrought one of the pleasant miracles which keep a rich
+man's memory green in grateful hearts, though the world may never know
+of it.
+
+When autumn came and the pretty bower began to fade, the old omnibus to
+be cold at night, and the shed too gusty even for the hardy German
+laundress, a great surprise was planned and gayly carried out.  On the
+master's birthday the men had a holiday, and bade the Schmidts be ready
+to take part in the festival, for all the factory people were to have a
+dinner in one of the long rooms.
+
+A jovial time they had; and when the last bone had been polished off,
+the last health drunk, and three rousing cheers for the master given
+with a will, the great joke took place.  First the Schmidts were told
+to go and see what had been left for them in the 'bus, and off they
+ran, little dreaming what was to come.  _I_ knew all about it, and was
+in a great twitter, for I bore a grand part in it.
+
+The dear unsuspecting family piled in, and were so busy having raptures
+over certain bundles of warm clothes found there that they did not mind
+what went on without.  A dozen of the stoutest men quietly harnessed
+themselves to the rope fastened to my pole, and at a signal trotted
+away with me at a great pace, while the rest, with their wives and
+children, came laughing and shouting after.
+
+Imagine the amazement of the good Schmidts at this sudden start, their
+emotions during that triumphal progress, and their unspeakable surprise
+and joy when their carriage stopped at the door of a tidy little house
+in a lane not far away, and they were handed out to find the master
+waiting to welcome them home.
+
+Dear heart, how beautiful it all was!  I cannot describe it, but I
+would not have missed it for the world, because it was one of the
+scenes that do everybody so much good and leave such a pleasant memory
+behind.
+
+That was my last trip, for the joyful agitation of that day was too
+much for me, and no sooner was I safely landed in the field behind the
+little house than one of my old wheels fell all to pieces, and I should
+have tumbled over, like a decrepit old creature, if the men had not
+propped me up.  But I did not care; my travelling days were past, and I
+was quite content to stand there under the apple-trees, watching my
+family safe and busy in their new home.
+
+I was not forgotten, I assure you; for Germans have much sentiment, and
+they still loved the old omnibus that sheltered them when most forlorn.
+Even when Hans was a worker in the factory he found time to mend me up
+and keep me tidy; pretty Gretchen, in spite of much help given to the
+hard-working mother, never forgot to plant some common flower to
+beautify and cheer her old friend; and little Lina, bless her heart!
+made me her baby-house.  She played there day after day, a tiny matron,
+with her dolls, her kitten and her bits of furniture, as happy a child
+as ever sang "Bye-low" to a dirty-faced rag-darling.  She is my
+greatest comfort and delight; and the proudest moment of my life was
+when Hans painted her little name on my door and gave me to her for her
+own.
+
+Here my story ends; for nothing now remains to me but to crumble slowly
+to ruin and go where the good 'busses go; very slowly, I am sure, for
+my little mistress takes great care of me, and I shall never suffer
+from rough usage any more.  I am quite happy and contented as I stand
+here under the trees that scatter their white petals on my rusty roof
+each spring; and well I may be, for after my busy life I am at rest;
+the sun shines kindly on me, the grass grows greenly round me, good
+friends cherish me in my old age, and a little child nestles in my
+heart, keeping it tender to the last.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+RED TULIPS.
+
+"Please ma'am, will you give me one of them red tulips?"
+
+The eager voice woke Helen from her reverie, and, looking up, she saw a
+little colored girl holding on to the iron railing with one hand, while
+the other pointed to a bed of splendid red and yellow tulips waving in
+the sunshine.
+
+"I can't give you one, child, for they don't belong to me," answered
+Helen, arrested by the wistful face, over which her words brought a
+shadow of disappointment.
+
+"I thought maybe you lived in this house, or knew the folks, and I do
+want one of them flowers dreadful bad," said the girl, regarding the
+gay tulips with a look of intense desire.
+
+"I wish I could give you one, but it would be stealing, you know.
+Perhaps if you go and ask, the owner may let you have one, there are so
+many."
+
+And having offered all the consolation in her power, Helen went on,
+busy with a certain disappointment of her own, which just then weighed
+very heavily on her girlish heart.
+
+Half an hour later, as she came down the street on the opposite side,
+she saw the same girl sitting on a door-step, still gazing at the
+tulips with hopeless admiration.
+
+The child looked up as she approached, and recognizing the pretty young
+lady who had spoken kindly to her, smiled and nodded so confidingly,
+that Helen could not resist stopping to say,--
+
+"Did you ask over there?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, but the girl said, 'No,' and told me to clear out; so I
+come over here to set and look at the pretties, since I can't have
+none," she answered, with a patient sigh.
+
+"You _shall_ have some!" cried Helen, remembering how easily she could
+gratify the innocent longing of the poor child, and feeling a curious
+sympathy with all disappointed people.  "Come with me, dear; there is a
+flower shop round the corner, and you shall have a posy of some sort."
+
+Such wonder, gratitude and delight shone in Betty's face, that Helen
+felt rejoiced for her small kindness.  As they walked, she questioned
+her about herself, and quite won her heart by the friendly interest
+expressed in Betty's mother, Betty's kitten, and Betty's affairs
+generally.
+
+When they came to the flower shop little Bet felt as if she had got
+into a fairy tale; and when Helen gave her a pot with a blue hyacinth
+and a rosy tulip blooming prettily together, she felt as if a lovely
+fairy had granted all her wishes in the good old way.
+
+"It's just splendid! and I don't know how to thank you, miss.  But
+mother takes in washing, and she'll love to do yours, and plait the
+ruffles elegant--'cause you done this for me!" cried Betty, embracing
+the flower-pot with one hand, and squeezing Miss Helen's with the other.
+
+Helen promised to come and see her new friend, and when they parted,
+kept turning round to watch the little figure trotting up the hill,
+often pausing to turn, and show her a beaming black face, all smiles
+and delight, as Betty threw her kisses and hugged the dear red tulip
+like a treasure of great price.
+
+When she vanished, Helen said to herself, with a smile and a sigh,--
+
+"There, I feel better for that little job; and it is a comfort to know
+that some one has got what she wants, though it is not I."
+
+Some weeks later, when Helen was preparing to go into the country for
+the summer, and wanted certain delicate muslins done up, she remembered
+what Betty had said about her mother, and had a fancy to see how the
+child and her flowers prospered.
+
+She found them in a small, poor room, hot and close, and full of
+wash-tubs and flat-irons.  The mother was busy at her work, and Betty
+sat by the one window, listlessly picking out ruffles.
+
+When she saw the face at the door, she jumped up and clapped her hands,
+crying, delightedly, "O mammy, it's my lady; my dear, pretty lady truly
+come at last!"
+
+Such a welcome made friends of the three at once, and Mrs. Simms gladly
+undertook the work Helen offered.
+
+"And how are the posies?" asked the young lady, as she rose to go.
+
+"Only leaves now, miss; but I take real good care of 'em, and mammy
+says they will blow again next spring," answered Betty, showing her
+poor little garden, which consisted of the hyacinth, tulip, and one
+stout dandelion, blooming bravely in an old teapot.
+
+"That will be a long time to wait, won't it?"
+
+"Yes'm; but I go and take peeks at them flowers in the shop, and once
+the man gave me a pink that hadn't no stem.  Maybe he will again, and
+so I'll get along," said Betty, softly touching her cheerful dandelion
+as if it were a friend.
+
+"I wish you would come and see my garden, little Betty.  You should
+pick as many flowers as you liked, and play there all day long.  I
+suppose your mother couldn't spare you for a visit, could she?"
+
+Betty's face shone at the blissful thought, then the smile faded, and
+she shook her head, saying, steadily, "No, miss, I guess she couldn't,
+for she gets so tired, I like to help her by carrying home the clothes.
+Some day, maybe, I can come."
+
+Something in the patient little face touched Helen, and made her feel
+as if she had been too busy thinking of her own burden to help others
+bear theirs.  She longed to do something, but did not know how till
+Mrs. Simms showed her the way, by saying, as she stroked the frizzly
+little head that leaned against her,--
+
+"Betty thinks a heap of flowers, and 'pears to git lots of comfort out
+of 'em.  She's a good child, and some day we are going to see the
+country, soon as ever we can afford it."
+
+"Meantime the country must come to you," said Helen, with a happy
+thought shining in her face.  "If you are willing, I will make a nice
+little plan with Betty, so she can have a posy all the time.  I shall
+come in town twice a week to take my German lessons, and if Betty will
+be at the corner of the Park, by the deer, every Wednesday and Saturday
+morning at ten o'clock, I'll have a nice nosegay for her."
+
+If she had proposed to present the child with all the sweeties in
+Copeland's delightful shop, it would not have given greater joy.  Betty
+could only dance a jig of rapture among the wash-tubs, and Mrs. Simms
+thank Helen with tears in her eyes.
+
+"Ain't she just like a good fairy, mammy?" said Betty, settling down in
+an empty clothes-basket to brood over the joyful prospects.
+
+"No, honey, she's an angel," answered mammy, folding her tired hands
+for a moment's rest, when her guest had gone.
+
+Helen heard both question and answer, and sighed to herself, "I wish
+somebody else thought so."
+
+When the first Wednesday came, Betty was at the trysting-place half an
+hour too soon, and had time to tell the mild-eyed deer all about it,
+before Miss Helen came.
+
+That meeting was a pretty sight, though only a fawn and an old
+apple-woman saw it.  Helen was half-hidden behind a great nosegay of
+June roses, lilies of the valley, sweet jonquils and narcissus, sprays
+of tender green, and white lilac plumes.  Betty gave one cry of
+rapture, as she clutched it in both hands, trembling with delight, for
+never had she dreamed of owning such a treasure as this.
+
+"All for me! all for me!" she said, as if it was hard to believe.  "Oh,
+what _will_ mammy say?"
+
+"Run home and see.  Never mind thanks.  Get your posy into water as
+soon as you can, and come again Saturday," said Helen, as she went on,
+with a nod and a smile, while Betty raced home to fill every cup and
+plate they owned, and make a garden of the poor little room, where
+mammy worked all day.
+
+All through the summer, rain or shine, these two friends kept tryst,
+and though Helen seemed no nearer getting her wish, this little
+flower-mission of hers helped her to wait.
+
+Strangers watched the pretty girl with her nosegays, and felt refreshed
+by the winsome sight.  Friends joked her about her black Flora, and
+would-be lovers pleaded in vain for one bud from her bouquets.
+
+She found real happiness in this small duty, and did it faithfully for
+its own sake, little dreaming that some one was tracking her by the
+flowers she left behind her in the byways of her life.
+
+For, seeing how much these fragrant messengers were to Betty and her
+mother, Helen fell into the way of taking flowers to others also, and
+never went to town without a handful to leave here and there, by some
+sick-bed, in a child's hand, on a needle-woman's table, or dropped in
+the gutter, for dear, dirty babies to find and crow over.
+
+And, all unconsciously, these glimpses of poverty, pain, neglect, and
+loneliness, taught her lessons she had never learned before,--a sweeter
+language than German, a nobler music than any Herr Pedalstrum could
+give her, and a more winning charm than either youth or beauty could
+confer,--for the gay girl was discovering that life was not all a
+summer day, and she was something better than a butterfly.
+
+When autumn came, and she returned to her city home, her young friends
+discovered that Helen's quiet season had improved her wonderfully, for
+behind the belle, they found a tender-hearted woman.
+
+She took up her old life where she laid it down, apparently; but to
+those who knew her best, there was a difference now, for, in many
+unsuspected ways, pretty Helen was unconsciously fitting herself for
+the happiness that was coming to her very soon.
+
+Betty helped to bring it, though she never guessed that her measles
+were a blessing to her dear lady.  When Dr. Strong, finding a hot-house
+bouquet beside her bed, very naturally asked where it came from, Betty
+told all about Miss Helen, from the time of the red tulips to the fine
+tea-roses in her hand.
+
+"She has lots of bunches like these sent to her, and she gives 'em to
+us poor folks.  This one was for her to take to a splendid ball, but
+she kept it all fresh, and came herself to fetch it to me.  Ain't she
+kind?"
+
+"Very, to you; but rather cruel to the gentlemen who hope to see her
+wear their gifts, for one evening at least," answered the doctor,
+examining the bouquet, with an odd smile.
+
+"Oh, she does keep some, when they are from folks she likes.  I was
+there one day when some violets come in with a book, and she wouldn't
+give me one.  But I didn't care a mite, for I had two great posies, all
+red geranium and pinks, instead."
+
+"She likes violets, then?" and the doctor gently patted Betty's head,
+as if he had grown suddenly fond of her.
+
+"I guess she does, for when I went the next week, that very bunch was
+in the vase on her table, all dead and yeller, and she wouldn't let me
+fling it away, when I wanted to put in a rose from the bush she gave
+me."
+
+"You are a grateful little girl, my dear, and a very observing child.
+Now keep warm and quiet, and we'll have you trotting off to Miss
+Helen's in a week or so."
+
+The doctor stole a sprig of rose geranium out of Betty's last bouquet,
+and went away, looking as if he had found something even sweeter than
+that in the dingy room where his patient lay.
+
+Next day Miss Helen had fresh violets in the vase on her table, and
+fresh roses blooming on her cheeks.  Dr. Strong advised her not to
+visit Betty, as there was fever in the neighborhood, but kindly called
+every day or two, to let Helen know how her little friend was getting
+on.
+
+After one of these calls, the doctor went away, saying to himself, with
+an air of tender pride and satisfaction,--
+
+"I was mistaken, and judged too hastily last year.  Helen is not what I
+thought her, a frivolous, fashionable beauty, but a sweet, sensible
+girl, who is tired of that empty life, and quietly tries to make it
+beautiful and useful in the best and truest way.  I hope I read the
+blue eyes right; and I think I may venture to say now what I dared not
+say last year."
+
+After that same visit, Helen sat thinking to herself, with a face full
+of happiness and humility,--"He finds me improved, so I have not waited
+in vain, and I believe that I shall not be disappointed after all."
+
+It is evident that the doctor did venture, and that Helen was not
+disappointed; for, on the first day of June, Betty and her mother, all
+in their best, went to a certain church, and were shown to the best
+seat in the gallery, where several other humble friends were gathered
+to see their dear Miss Helen married.
+
+Betty was in high feather, with a pink dress, blue sack, yellow ribbons
+in her hat, and lighted up the seat like an animated rainbow.  Full of
+delight and importance, was Miss Betty, for she had been in the midst
+of the festive preparations, and told glowing tales to her interested
+listeners, while they waited for the bride.
+
+When the music sounded, Betty held her breath, and rolled up her eyes
+in a pious rapture.  When a general stir announced the grand arrival,
+she leaned so far over the gallery, that she would have gone head first
+if her mother had not caught her striped legs, and when the misty,
+white figure passed up the aisle, Betty audibly remarked,--
+
+"If she had wings she'd look like an out-and-out angel, wouldn't she,
+mammy?"
+
+She sat like a little ebony statue all through the service; but she had
+something on her mind, and the moment the bridal couple turned to go
+out, Betty was off, scrambling down stairs, dodging under people's
+arms, hopping over ladies' skirts, and steadily making her way to the
+carriage waiting for the happy pair.
+
+The door had just closed, and Dr. Strong was about to draw down the
+curtain, when a little black face, with a yellow hat surrounding it
+like a glory, appeared at the window, an arm was thrust in offering a
+bunch of flowers, and a breathless voice cried, resolutely,--
+
+"Oh, please, do let me give 'em to my lady!  They bloomed a-purpose for
+her, and she _must_ have 'em."
+
+Those outside saw a sweet face bend to kiss the little black one, but
+they did not see what happened afterward, for Helen, remembering a year
+ago, said smiling,--
+
+"Patient waiters are no losers.  The poor child has red tulips all her
+own at last!"
+
+"And I have mine," answered the happy doctor, gently kissing his young
+wife, as the carriage rolled away, leaving Betty to retire in triumph.
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+A HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
+
+A certain fine old lady was seventy-three on the 8th of October.  The
+day was always celebrated with splendor by her children and
+grand-children; but on this occasion they felt that something unusually
+interesting and festive should be done, because grandma had lately been
+so very ill that no one thought she would ever see another birthday.
+It pleased God to spare her, however, and here she was, almost as well
+and gay as ever.
+
+Some families do not celebrate these days, and so miss a great deal of
+pleasure, I think.  But the people of whom I write always made a great
+deal of such occasions, and often got up very funny amusements, as you
+will see.
+
+As grandma was not very strong, some quiet fun must be devised this
+time, and the surprises sprinkled along through the day, lest they
+should be too much for her if they all burst upon her at once.
+
+The morning was fine and clear, and the first thing that happened was
+the appearance of two little ghosts, "all in white," who came prancing
+into the old lady's room, while she lay placidly watching the sun rise,
+and thinking of the many years she had seen.
+
+"A happy birthday, gramma!" cried the little ghosts, scrambling up to
+kiss the smiling old face in the ruffled night-cap.
+
+There was a great laughing, and cuddling, and nestling among the
+pillows, before the small arms and legs subsided, and two round, rosy
+faces appeared, listening attentively to the stories grandma told them
+till it was time to dress.
+
+Now you must know that there were only two grandchildren in this
+family, but they were equal to half a dozen, being lively, droll little
+chaps, full of all manner of pranks, and considered by their relatives
+the _most_ remarkable boys alive.
+
+These two fellows were quite bursting with the great secrets of the
+day, and had to rush out as soon as breakfast was done, in order to
+keep from "letting the cat out of the bag."
+
+A fine dinner was cooked, and grandma's favorite niece came to eat it
+with her, bringing a bag full of goodies, and a heart full of love and
+kind wishes, to the old lady.
+
+All the afternoon, friends and presents kept coming, and Madam, in her
+best gown and most imposing cap, sat in state to receive them.  A poet
+came with some lovely flowers; the doctor brought a fine picture; one
+neighbor sent her a basket of grapes; another took her a drive; and
+some poor children, whom grandma had clothed and helped, sent her some
+nuts they had picked all themselves, while their grateful mother
+brought a bottle of cream and a dozen eggs.
+
+It was very pleasant, and the bright autumn day was a little harvest
+time for the old lady, who had sowed love and charity broadcast with no
+thought of any reward.
+
+The tea-table was ornamented with a splendid cake, white as snow
+outside, but rich and plummy inside, with a gay posy stuck atop of the
+little Mont Blanc.  Mrs. Trot, the housekeeper, made and presented it,
+and it was so pretty all voted not to cut it till evening, for the
+table was full of other good things.
+
+Grandma's tea was extra strong, and tasted unusually nice with Mrs.
+Hosy's rich cream in it.  She felt that she needed this refreshment to
+prepare her for the grand surprise to come; for the family gifts were
+not yet given.
+
+The boys vanished directly after tea, and shouts of laughter were heard
+from Aunt Tribulation's room.  What larks as they had up there no one
+knew; but every one was sure they were preparing some fun in honor of
+the occasion.
+
+Grandma was not allowed to go into the study, and much tacking and
+rummaging went on for a time.  Then all the lamps were collected there,
+leaving grandma and grandpa to sit in the parlor, talking tenderly
+together by the soft glimmer of fire-light, as they used to do forty
+years ago.
+
+Presently something scarlet and gold, feathery and strange, flitted by
+the door and vanished in the study.  Queer little yells and the sound
+of dancing feet were heard.  Then there was a hunt for the cat; next,
+Mrs. Trot was called from the kitchen, and all but the boys came to
+escort grandma to the scene of glory.
+
+Leaning on grandpa's arm, she marched first; then came Mrs. Coobiddy,
+the mother of the boys, bearing Aunt Carmine's picture; for this auntie
+was over the water and could not come, so, at grandma's desire, her
+portrait was borne in the procession.
+
+Aunt Trib followed, escorted by Thomas Pib, the great cat, with his
+best red bow on.  Mrs. Trot and Belinda, the little maid, brought up
+the rear.  A music-box in the hall played the "Grand March" from
+"Norma;" and, with great dignity, all filed into the study to behold an
+imposing spectacle.
+
+A fire burned brightly on the hearth, making the old-fashioned andirons
+shine like gold.  All the lamps illuminated the room, which was trimmed
+with scarlet and yellow leaves.  An arch of red woodbine, evergreen and
+ferns from the White Mountains was made over the recess which held the
+journals, letters and books of the family; for their name was Penn, and
+they all wrote so much that blots were found everywhere about the
+house, and a flock of geese lived in the back yard, all ready to have
+their quills tweaked out at a minute's notice.
+
+Before this recess stood a great arm-chair, in which the father of
+grandma had been laid, a new-born baby, and nearly smothered by being
+sat upon by the fat nurse.  This thrilling fact gave it a peculiar
+interest to the boys; for, if great-grandpa had been smashed, where
+would they have been?
+
+In front of this ancient seat stood a round table loaded with gifts,
+and on each side stood an Indian chief in full costume, bearing lighted
+Chinese lanterns on the ends of their spears, and war-clubs on their
+shoulders.
+
+The arranging of these costumes had caused much labor and fun; for the
+splendid crowns, a foot high, were made of hen's feathers, carefully
+collected and sewed on to paper by Aunt Trib; the red shirts were
+fringed and bedecked with odd devices; leather leggings went above the
+warriors' knees, and all the family breast-pins were stuck about them.
+
+Daggers, hatchets, clubs, and spears were made by the lads themselves,
+and red army blankets hung gracefully from their shoulders.  They had
+planned to paint their faces blue and red, like the Feejee Islanders at
+Barnum's show; but Mrs. Coobiddy would not consent to have her handsome
+boys disfigure themselves; so the only paint they wore was nature's red
+in their cheeks, and heaven's blue in their eyes, as they stood by
+grandma's throne, smiling like a pair of very mild and happy little
+chiefs.
+
+It really was a fine sight, I assure you, and grandma was quite
+overcome by the spectacle.  So she was introduced to her gifts as
+quickly as possible, to divert her mind from the tender thought that
+all these fond and foolish adornments were to please her.
+
+Every gift had a poem attached, and as the presents were of every
+description, the verses possessed an agreeable variety.  Here are a few
+as a sample.  A small tea-kettle was one gift, and this pleasing verse
+seemed to be bubbling out of its spout:--
+
+  "A little kettle, fat and fair,
+    To sit on grandma's stove,
+  To simmer softly, and to sing
+    A song of Freddie's love."
+
+
+Another was this brief warning tucked into a match-box:--
+
+  "On this you scratch
+  Your little match.
+  When the spark flies
+  Look out for your eyes!
+  When the lucifer goes
+  Look out for your nose!
+  Little Jack gives you this
+  With a birthday kiss."
+
+
+A third was rather sentimental, from Mrs. Coobiddy:--
+
+      "Within doth lie
+      A silken tie,
+  Your dress to deck;
+      Soft and warm
+      As daughter's arm
+  Round mother's neck."
+
+
+Mr. Pib presented a mouse-trap all set; and in order to explain his
+poem, I must relate an incident in his varied career.
+
+Pib had long been one of the family, and was much respected and beloved
+by them all.  In fact, he was so petted and stuffed that he grew as fat
+and big as a small dog, and so clumsy that he could no longer catch the
+mice who dodged about among the dishes in the kitchen closets.
+
+In vain had Mrs. Trot shut him up there; in vain had Aunt Trib told him
+it was his duty to clear the cupboards of such small deer.  Poor fat
+Pib only bounced about, broke the china, rattled down the pans, to come
+out with empty paws, while the saucy mice squeaked scornfully, and
+pranced about under his very nose.
+
+One day Trib saw Pib catch a squirrel, and having eaten it he brought
+the tail to her as a trophy of his skill.  This displeased his
+mistress, and she gave him away, after a good scolding for killing
+squirrels and letting mice, his lawful prey, go free.
+
+Pib was so depressed that he went into the bag without a mew or a
+scratch, and was borne away to his new home in another part of the town.
+
+But he had no intention of staying; and after a day under the sofa,
+passed in deep thought, and without food or drink, he made up his mind
+to go home.  Slipping out, he travelled all night, and appeared next
+morning, joyfully waving his tail, and purring like a small organ.
+
+Aunt Trib was glad to see him, and when he had explained that he really
+did do his best about the mice, she forgave him, and got the trap for
+him to give grandma, that she might no longer be annoyed by having her
+private stores nibbled at.
+
+  "Dear madam, with respect
+    My offering I bring;
+  The hooks all baited well,
+    And ready for a spring.
+  No more the cunning mice
+    Your biscuits shall abuse,
+  Nor put their babes to sleep
+    Within your fur-lined shoes.
+  The trap my work must do;
+    Forgive your portly cat,
+  For he, like you, has grown
+    For lively work too fat.
+  All larger, fiercer game
+    I gallantly defy,
+  And squirrel, rat and mole
+    Beneath my paw shall die.
+  So, with this solemn vow,
+    T. Pib his gift presents,
+  And sprawling at your feet
+    Purrs forth his compliments."
+
+Which he actually did, and then sat bolt upright on the rug, surveying
+the scene with the dignity of a judge and the gravity of an owl.
+
+Such funny presents!  A wood-box and a water-carrier; a blue and gold
+gruel-bowl, and a black silk apron; a new diary, and a pound of
+remarkably choice tea; a pretty letter on birch bark, sealed with a
+tiny red leaf; and a bust of the wisest man in America, were some of
+them.
+
+How the dear old lady did enjoy it all, and how grateful she was for
+the smallest trifle!  An old friend sent her a lock of her mother's
+hair, and the sight of the little brown curl made her forget how white
+her own was, as she went back to the time when she last kissed that
+tender little mother fifty years ago.
+
+Fearing that tears would follow the smiles too soon, Aunt Trib
+announced that the famous Indian chiefs, Chingchangpopocattepattle and
+Pockeyhockeyclutteryar, would now give a war-dance and other striking
+performances to represent Indian customs.
+
+Then all sat round, and the warriors leaped into the middle of the room
+with a war-whoop that caused Mr. Pib to leave precipitately.  It was a
+most exciting spectacle; for after the dance came a fight, and one
+chief tomahawked, scalped, and buried the other in the space of two
+minutes.
+
+But the ladies mourned so for the blond little Pockeyhockeyclutteryar
+that he had to come alive and join in a hunting expedition, during
+which they shot all the chairs for buffaloes and deer, and came home to
+roast a sofa pillow over their fire, and feast thereupon with the
+relish of hungry hunters.
+
+These exploits were brought to an end by the arrival of more friends,
+with more gifts, and the introduction of the birthday cake.  This was
+cut by the queen of the _fête_, and the panting chiefs handed it round
+with much scuffling of big moccasins and tripping over disarranged
+blankets.
+
+Then all filled their glasses with water, and drank the toast,
+"Grandma, God bless her!"  After which the entire company took hands
+and danced about the big chair, singing in chorus:--
+
+  "Long may she wave, and may we all
+    Her dear face live to see,
+  As bright and well at seventy-four
+    As now at seventy-three."
+
+
+The clock struck ten, and every one went home, leaving the family to
+end the day as they began it, round grandma's bed, with good-night
+kisses and the sound of her last words in their ears:--
+
+"It has been a beautiful and happy day, my dears, and if I never see
+another you may always remember that I thought this one my best and
+brightest birthday."
+
+
+
+Cambridge: Press of John Wilson & Son.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Volume 4, by Louisa May Alcott
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57310 ***