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diff --git a/old/allis10.txt b/old/allis10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d637981 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/allis10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1160 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Allis Family; or, Scenes of Western Life +by American Sunday School Union + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Allis Family; or, Scenes of Western Life + +Author: American Sunday School Union + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8083] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 13, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ALLIS FAMILY *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Erik Bent, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + THE ALLIS FAMILY; + + OR, + + SCENES OF WESTERN LIFE + + + * * * * * + + +_Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858 by the +AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, in the Clerk's Office of the District +Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania._ + + + * * * * * + + +_No books are published by the_ AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION _without the +sanction of the Committee of Publication, consisting of fourteen members, +from the following denominations of Christians, viz.: Baptist, Methodist, +Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and, Reformed Dutch. +Not more than three of the members can be of the same denomination, and no +book can be published to which any member of the Committee shall object._ + + + * * * * * + + + +THE ALLIS FAMILY. + + +Mr. and Mrs. Allis lived away out West, on a broad prairie, where Mr. Allis +was busily engaged in "making a farm." Perhaps some of my young readers, +who have always been accustomed to see farms already "made," will not +understand what I mean by "_making_ a farm;" and I will try to tell them. + +First of all, let them try to fancy a large meadow, either perfectly flat +or a little uneven, as large, perhaps, as can be measured with the eye, and +sometimes without a single tree, or scarcely a clump of bushes. There will +be no fences in sight, and sometimes no streams of water, but the surface +of the ground is covered with high, coarse grass. This is what Western +people call a "prairie." + +In order to "make a farm," this ground must be ploughed, or, as Western +people say, "broken up." Some of the children would smile, I think, if they +were to see a regular "breaking team" before a "breaking plough." This +plough is quite unlike that which is used in the older States, and it takes +five, six, and sometimes as many as eight yoke of oxen to draw it. This +ploughing is usually done in June. After ploughing, the ground must be +enclosed, and then it is ready for the seed. + +Some people make curious mistakes when they undertake to make a new farm. +Mr. Allis was one of these persons. He arrived at the little town of B----, +with his family, late in the fall, and immediately set about looking for a +location. Several miles from B---- he found a place that seemed to suit +him. The soil was rich, and apparently inexhaustible; but it was poorly +watered, and destitute of any timber suitable for building or fencing, and +there was very little which was fit for fuel. The great thing he thought of +was a large farm. + +After a while he found out his mistake, but it was too late for him to help +it, for his money was nearly all expended for land. But Mr. Allis was a +resolute man, and he immediately set himself to work to do the best he +could. It was a long walk to the grove where he went every day to cut down +trees for his cabin, and to split rails for his fence, and a whole day's +work to go twice with his oxen to draw the logs and rails to his farm. But +he rose early, and was ready to begin his work with the dawn. On rainy and +stormy days, when he could not be out, he was at work in a shop near his +house, making doors and window-frames, and cupboards, and other things for +his new house. + +Early in the spring the cabin was reared, and soon all was in readiness for +the removal of the family, which consisted of Mrs. Allis, Mary, a distant +relative whose home was with her, and two little twin-daughters, Annie and +Susie, who were about five years old at this time. These little girls loved +each other very much, and usually played very pleasantly together. But it +was sometimes the case that, like other children, they had their little +troubles, and were selfish, and of course unhappy. + +One day Mrs. Allis was very sick, and she called the little girls to her, +and told them they might go up-stairs and play, but they must try to be +very good girls, and very quiet, for she could not bear the noise of their +voices. The little girls loved their mother very dearly, and were very +sorry that she was so sick. So they promised to be good children, and then +away they skipped up-stairs on tip-toe, that they might not disturb their +mother. + +At first there was the patter of light feet and a subdued murmur of voices, +but after a while scarcely a sound could be heard. Thus passed two hours, +or more, and at last Mrs. Allis sent Mary to see what they were about. Mary +reported that they were playing very pleasantly together, and seemed very +happy. + +"But what can they be doing, Mary?" + +"Oh, they have a whole regiment of ragbabies, besides the kittens, for +scholars. Susie says they are playing school." + +At last it was tea-time, and, when the girls had eaten their supper, their +mother called them to her. + +"Oh, mother! mother! we have had such a nice time." + +"Softly, softly, children," said Mr. Allis; "be careful, or you will make +your mother sick again." + +"Are you better now, mother?" said little Susie, going softly towards her +bed. + +"Yes, my dear child, I am much better, and you two little girls have helped +to make me so." + +"We, mother?" said Susie, while her black eyes sparkled at the thought. "I +wonder how _we_ could make you better, when we have been all the while at +play up-stairs." + +"I can guess how," said Annie. "Mother means we didn't make any noise: +don't you, mother?" + +"Not just that, or rather a good deal more than that; but first tell me +_what_ you played up-stairs." + +"Oh, it was so pleasant: wasn't it? Why, mother, don't you think, we played +school; and first I let Susie be teacher, and then she let me; and we +played I was a little girl come to school, and by-and-by, when we got tired +of that, we got out the dolls, Bessie and Jessie, and the pussy, and then +we made three more little girls out of our sun-bonnets and Susie's pink +apron, and then we both played teacher, like Miss Jackson and Miss Williams +in the academy where we used to live, you know." + +"Oh, yes, mother," interrupted Susie; "and, don't you think, sometimes +Annie would pull pussy's tail and make her say 'Mew,' and we made believe +that one of the little girls cried to go to her mother." + +"Yes," said Annie, "and after a while we made believe she was naughty, and +sent her home." + +"Very well, my dear; I see you have had a very pleasant time,--much more +pleasant than if you had been cross and unkind to each other, or had made a +noise to disturb me. I see you have loved one another, and this is what has +made you so happy this afternoon. Tell me, now, which you had rather be, +teacher or scholar, when you play school." + +"Oh! a teacher, a great deal, mother," said Annie. + +"Then why did you not be teacher all the time, and let Susie be the +scholar?" + +"That wouldn't be right. Susie likes to be teacher as well as I," replied +Annie, timidly. + +"But don't you think you would have been happier to have been teacher all +the time, Annie?" + +"I did want to be at first, but then I thought Susie would like it too; +and, after all, it was just as pleasant." + +"I presume it was, my dear, and much more pleasant; no person can be happy +who is selfish. Do you know what it is to be selfish, my little Susie?" + +"Yes, mother; you told Annie and I one day that it was selfish to want +every thing just to please ourselves." + +"Do you love to run about the room, and laugh and play?" + +"Oh, yes; you know we do, mother." + +"Would you not rather have stayed down-stairs to play to-day?" + +"Oh, yes," said Annie; "only----" + +"Only what, my dear?" + +"Annie means that you were sick, and didn't want us to make a noise; and, +really, we did try to play just as still as we possibly could." + +"Why did you take so much pains to be quiet?" + +"You told us to be still, didn't you, mother?" + +"I did; but were you afraid I would punish you if you made a noise, Susie?" + +"Oh, no, indeed; but we did not want to make you sick," said Susie, +clinging to her mother, and looking into her face with her loving eyes. + +"Then you love your mother, do you, girls?" + +"Indeed we do," said the children, in one breath. + +"Well, supposing your mother had been well, and some poor sick woman, whom +you had never seen before, lay here sick in my bed: would it have been more +pleasant _then_ for you to be very still, so as not to disturb her?" + +The girls hesitated a moment, and then Annie said,-- + +"I think it would, mother; for it would be very cruel to make anybody +suffer, I have heard you say." + +"Then you could love a poor stranger enough to deny yourself some of your +own pleasures for her sake; and you think it would make you happier to do +so, do you?" + +"Oh, yes, I am sure we should be happier," said little Susie. + +"Well, my dear children, I cannot talk any longer now, but I want you to +repeat this little verse after me until you can remember it:-- + + "Love is the golden chain that binds + The happy souls above; + And he's an heir of heaven that finds + His bosom glow with _love_." + + + * * * * * + + + +THE PRAIRIE FIRE. + + +It was a trying summer for the Allis family. The weather was hot and dry, +and Mr. Allis, unaccustomed to labour in the fields, often almost fainted +in the sun. His work seemed to him to progress very slowly. He had no one +to assist him in sowing and planting and gathering in his crops; for, in +the first place, there were few people to be hired, and, more than that, he +had no money to pay his workmen if he had been able to obtain them. Every +morning he had to go more than a mile with his oxen for water, which he +brought in a barrel for family use; and it was often nine o'clock before he +got to his work in the fields. + +At length November came and found his summer's work completed. He had no +barn in which to store his grain, and could only secure it by "stacking" it +until it could be threshed. + +The potatoes, squashes, pumpkins, beets, turnips and other vegetables which +the garden had produced for winter use were as securely housed as possible +and protected from the frost; and Mr. Allis began to hope that now he might +take that rest which he so much required. + +For a number of weeks the children had been excited by wonderful lights in +the sky, just above the horizon. Sometimes eight or ten of these could be +seen in different directions at once, and occasionally some one of them +would seem to shoot up suddenly, not unlike the flame of a distant volcano. +To the eager inquiries of the little ones, they were answered that these +singular lights were called prairie-fires. + +"What is a prairie-fire, father?" asked both the children at once. + +"It is the burning of the long coarse grass which covers the prairie in +summer. This becomes very dry, and then, if a spark of fire chances to fall +upon it, it is at once all in blaze." + +"Does it make a very big fire, father?" asked Susie. + +"That depends upon circumstances, my child. If the grass is very high and +thick, as it sometimes is in the sloughs and moist places, it makes a big +fire, as you call it." + +"Oh, how I wish I could see a prairie-fire close by us! Don't you, mother?" + +"I cannot say that I do, my child; they are sometimes rather mischievous +visitors, and I would much prefer that they should keep at a respectful +distance." + +"Mr. Jenkins told me that a man some ten miles from here had his stacks and +house and every thing he had, destroyed, a few days since, losing his whole +year's labour and all his clothing and furniture. The family barely escaped +with their lives. + +"Is there any danger that the fire will come here, husband?" said Mrs. +Allis. + +"There is danger, I suppose; but I hope we shall have no trouble of that +kind." + +"Is there nothing that can be done to protect your property?" + +"I shall try to _burn_ up what grows around the house and stack-yard in a +day or two, I think; but just now it does not seem possible for me to spare +the time." + +One day, not long after, a long line of fire appeared on the prairie, +several miles distant. It was, however, so distant that Mrs. Allis and the +children did not feel alarmed, as the evening was still; and they were +watching it with interest, as the flames assumed various fantastic shapes, +now darting upwards like tongues of fire, and now weltering and bubbling +like a sea of melted lava. Mr. Allis had not yet returned from town, where +he had been engaged all that day, entirely unsuspicious of any approaching +calamity; and Mrs. Allis was not aware how rapidly the flames were +approaching her home, until she was startled by seeing a horseman ride +rapidly to her door and hastily dismount, inquiring for Mr. Allis. + +"He is at ----. I expect him home in the course of an hour or so. But what +is the matter, Mr. Jenkins? Is anybody sick?" + +"Matter, woman! Don't you see that prairie-fire yonder? You'll be burnt out +if you don't stir round lively." + +"Burnt out, Mr. Jenkins! What do you mean? What shall we do?" + +"Do? Why, we must go to work right away and set a _back-fire_,--as quick as +we can, too. Call your girl there, and come out both of you as soon as +possible!" + +Not many minutes passed before Mr. Allis reached home. He had seen the fire +at a distance, and, understanding the danger far better than his wife, +hurried home as rapidly as possible. + +Poor Annie and Susie were sadly frightened. When they saw the smoke and +fire so near the house and stacks of grain, they cried as if their little +hearts would break; but there was no one to hear them, for their mother +could not be spared a moment until the danger was past. Poor children! They +soon had enough of prairie-fires, and they thought they would be very +thankful if ever they could see their father and mother and Mary alive +again. Sometimes they were almost suffocated by the smoke which the rising +wind drove into the house, and then they thought they should surely be +burned to death. Still, lonely and frightened as they were, they did not +attempt to go out. They remembered that their mother had told them not on +_any account_ to leave the house, and, like obedient children, they did as +she had told them. + +It was two hours--but it seemed much longer to the poor little girls-- +before their mother came in; and then they scarcely knew her, for her face +was blackened with smoke and dust, her hands were burned sadly, and the +skirt of her dress torn and burned in many places. Although they were +excited and curious, yet these good children undressed and went to bed, +helping themselves all they could, that their mother might rest, and trying +to wait until morning for all they wished to know. + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Allis busied herself, weary as she was, in providing +a comfortable supper for her husband, who had eaten nothing since +dinner-time. It was past midnight when Mr. Allis and Mary came to the +house, and they too were tired enough, as we may suppose. + +But, above all, they were grateful to that kind heavenly Father who had so +mercifully preserved and protected them from harm amid such dangers. Little +did any of them sleep that night; and it was not strange that the morning, +which came on wet and showery, found them but little refreshed after the +unusual fatigue of the preceding night. But the children were awake with +the first light, and eagerly asking questions about the fire. + +"But what is a _back-fire?_" said Annie, when her father had finished +telling them about the matter. "How do you set a back-fire?" + +"Well, Annie, we light _another fire_, nearer the house or fence which +we are trying to save, and then, with a brush or broom, or sometimes a +little stick, _whip it out_, so that it cannot burn very fast. When the +grass is burnt off in this way there is nothing left for what we call the +'prairie-fire' to burn, you see. If we can do this in season, the house +or stacks are generally safe." + + + * * * * * + + + +THE BABY. + + +How tired every one was all day after the prairie-fire! Well would it have +been if the matter had terminated in fatigue. Early in the day the feeble +mother had to betake herself to her bed; and on the following morning Mr. +Allis, to his great surprise, found himself rudely shaken by the ague. Not +many days passed ere Mrs. Allis and Mary found themselves at the mercy of +the same annoying visitor. Sometimes the three shook in concert; and then +you may imagine that the little girls had enough to do to carry water to +satisfy their thirst. Occasionally the chills would seem to be broken up +for a few days, and then they would most unexpectedly return. Several times +Mr. Allis thought himself perfectly well, and once or twice he went to the +grove a number of miles distant, with his team, for a load of wood, and on +the way there or back would be attacked with a chill, and it was only by a +great effort that he reached home. The little girls were quite well; but +they did not find their prairie home as pleasant in the cold winter as it +was in the glad summer-time. Oh, how they longed for spring! And when it +came how they rejoiced over the little lambs and calves in their father's +yard, and how delighted were they when the first sweet violets peeped +forth! Still their joy was to be increased: a sweeter prairie-flower than +any of these bloomed in their humble cabin, opening a fount of untold +gladness in the hearts of all. One bright morning a sweet little sister was +presented to the delighted children. + +It was long before they could be made to realize that it was their own dear +babe, and always to be theirs and to stay with them. At last they +recovered themselves sufficiently to ask its name. + +"It has no name, Annie," said her father. + +"Oh, mother! mother!" cried the enthusiastic Susie, "let us call it +_Love!_" + +What a blessing that little unconscious one was to all beneath that lowly +roof! Annie and Susie would sit beside its little cradle and watch it for +hours; and if permitted to hold the tiny creature for a few moments they +were never weary of caressing her. Daily and almost hourly they discovered +some new beauty or perfection in the dear object of their most tender +regard, and the day of her birth was made an era in the house; for almost +every thing that was spoken of was said to have taken place either so long +before or so long after the _Baby came_. + +At length a school was opened about a mile distant, and the parents thought +best that the little girls should have the advantage of attending it +through the summer. At first they were quite reluctant to go; for they were +strangers still to the children around them, and the young lady who taught +them they had never seen until they met her among her pupils. After a few +days they became very fond of their school and their young playmates, and +the only drawback to their happiness was leaving the little darling Mary +for so many long hours every day. But it was soon evident that they learned +some _evil_ things as well as _good_ things. They grew less willing to +submit to the gentle control of their parents, and were quite inclined to +think the rules under whose influence they had been educated were +altogether _too strict_, fortifying their occasional remonstrances with +"Mary Jones says so," or "Fanny Adams thinks so." This gave their +affectionate parents much solicitude and pain. + +One evening the little girls came home with a petition that they might "go +to school barefooted," and, as usual for the last few weeks, Susie said, +"All the girls go without shoes." + +"That, my child, is no reason why _you_ should do so if we prefer you +should wear your shoes." + +"But, mother, it is so warm!" said Annie. + +"What would you have thought, Annie, if I had told you to go to school +barefooted while we lived in Massachusetts?" + +"All the girls wore shoes and stockings there, mother." + +"But was it not quite as warm there as here, my child?" + +"I suppose so; but, mother, all the girls and boys laugh at us so. They say +we are 'proud,' because we wear shoes and stockings." + +"You must not mind being laughed at when you are doing right." + +"But I can't see what wrong there is in going barefooted," said Annie. + +"You are not now required to see the harm in it. All you have to do in this +case is to obey." + +"But won't you tell us _why_, mother?" persisted Susie. + +"No, children, I shall not now tell you _why_. I have my reasons; and you +must _trust_ me now, and wait for an explanation until some future time." + + + * * * * * + + + +ANNIE'S TEMPTATION. + + +A few days after, Susie was not very well, and her mother thought best to +keep her at home. Annie, however, was sent to school, as usual. As she was +preparing to set out, she thought to herself,-- + +"Now I am going all alone, and mother will never know it; I will not wear +my shoes to-day." So, when she was just starting, she stole softly round to +the back-side of the house, and hid her shoes behind the rain-barrel. On +she skipped, but not so light-hearted and happy as usual. It was her first +act of wilful disobedience. As she went on she at last repented that she +had ventured to disobey her kind mother; but something seemed to whisper in +her heart, "It will do you no harm: your mother will never find it out." + +Do any of my little readers know whose voice that was in Annie's heart? It +was the voice of _him_ who spoke the _first lie_ ever uttered in this +beautiful world; who in the garden of Eden said to our first mother, "_Ye +shall not surely die_." + +As she approached the school-room, she stopped near a huge pile of rocks at +the road-side to gather some flowers for her teacher. She found a great +many, and, among others, some which she had never seen before. As she +stooped forward hastily to pluck them, she heard a sound close by her. +Looking quickly about her, she spied a large snake just below her naked +feet, among the loose stones. Uttering a loud scream, she sprang terrified +from the spot; nor did she slacken her speed until she reached the +schoolhouse, her delicate feet cut and bleeding in several places, and a +large thorn in the side of one foot, which pained her sadly. The girls +laughed at her fright, and one rude boy ran out, shouting, at the top of +his voice,-- + +"Hallo, boys! hallo! Annie Allis has come to school barefooted." + +Poor, foolish child! what would she have given if she had only obeyed her +mother! + +The little white feet swelled and ached all the day long. Annie had hardly +ever felt so much pain in all her life, and there was nobody to pity her. +But the pain in her feet was nothing to the pain in her heart. How could +she meet her dear mother, after having so wickedly disobeyed her? At length +school was out. Slowly and painfully she walked homeward. As she approached +the house she shook with pain and dread. Down in the little grove at her +right hand she saw Susie and Mary with the dear little baby, and they +beckoned her to come to them; but she could not. Oh, how could the guilty +child look into the clear, sweet eyes of that innocent one, with such a +load of sin and disobedience on her heart? + +Softly--just like a _thief_--she stole round the house, as she thought, +unobserved. She sat down on the little green mound beside the rain-barrel, +and reached behind it. Suddenly she started back as if a serpent had stung +her. Again she reached quite around the barrel, as far as she could stretch +her little arms; but nothing was there. Then she peered carefully into the +place; but no shoes were to be found. It is plain now,--quite plain. What +shall be done? Some one has taken the shoes away! Overpowered entirely, she +bursts into a passionate fit of crying. Who is it that approaches the +erring child and so kindly and tenderly inquires,-- + +"What is the matter, Annie?" + +It is the mother, weary as she can be, and made still more weary and +sorrowful by her little daughter's disobedience. She takes the child into +the house and lays her upon the bed. The aching feet are bathed in water, +the dirt is washed from the scratches and wounds, while poor Annie weeps +and sobs as if her little heart would break. But the ugly thorn would not +come out: it must ache on until father comes. Silently and sadly the mother +bends over her suffering child, bathing her aching head. At length Annie +said,-- + +"Dear, dear mother, forgive me; and I will never, _never_ want to disobey +you again!" + +I suppose every child knows just what this good Christian mother said to +her little unhappy daughter,--how she told her that she had offended God as +well as her mother, and broken his good law. She told her, too, how sinful +it was to try to deceive, and then comforted her with her full and free +pardon, and said that her heavenly Father would pardon her even more freely +than her mother did, if she truly repented of her fault and asked his +forgiveness with her whole heart. Then she taught Annie to pray, "Lead me +not into temptation, but deliver me from evil;" and, although the little +one had said that prayer many times, never, never had she understood its +meaning so perfectly before: _now_ she felt her dependence on God. + +Soon Susie and Mary came in with the baby; and, while they were pitying +poor Annie and asking questions, they placed the child on the bed beside +her. There it laughed and crowed merrily and stretched out its little +dimpled hands, while Annie, unable to smile in return, wondered how it +could be so happy when she was so wretched. + +It was late when Mr. Allis came in; and upon examining the foot he said the +thorn would have to be cut out in the morning. In vain a soothing poultice +was applied to the wound. Annie scarcely closed her eyes all night. Worse +than that: she kept her mother awake, although she tried hard to be patient +and bear the pain as well as she could. In the morning her father sharpened +his penknife and cut out the thorn. Of course he was very careful, but it +did hurt sadly. It was many days before the poor foot got well; and I think +Annie Allis will remember her mother's "_reasons_" for refusing to go +without her shoes _for many a day_. + + + * * * * * + + + +SUSIE'S TEMPTATION. + + +No sooner had Annie and Susie made acquaintance with some of the children +in the neighbourhood than they began to make frequent visits at Mr. Allis's +house. Both father and mother thought it desirable that the little girls +should associate with other children; but they dreaded the effect of so +much society and so many new influences on the hearts of the little girls. +More than this: there were some among those that visited them frequently, +who seemed to be almost any thing but desirable companions for the +children. Once or twice Mrs. Allis had observed something in the manners +and conversation of Jane Smith which led her to suspect that she was a bad +girl. Accordingly, she told Annie and Susie that she wished they would, as +much as possible, avoid her society. Notwithstanding all she could say, +however, Jane was often at the house; and the children became very fond of +her. She could tell so many interesting stories and say so many witty +things, and had so much to communicate that was new to them, that they +seemed almost fascinated by her. + +One Saturday afternoon Mrs. Allis was unusually busy, and Jane came to pay +another visit. In spite of her cares, she, however, contrived to find +amusement for the girls in her own presence. After tea, Jane took her +bonnet to go home, and Susie begged permission to walk a short distance +with her, to gather prairie-flowers. Mrs. Allis hesitated, but at length +gave her consent, specifying the distance which she might go. + +Scarcely had they started on their walk, when Jane remarked,-- + +"I declare! it's mean in your mother to keep you so dreadful close, just as +though you didn't know enough to take care of yourself!" + +"Mother isn't mean; and you must not say so, Jane, or I shall go right +home." + +"What! You're mad, are you? Well, I'm sure I don't care, if _you_ don't; +but I'm glad my mother don't do so, anyway!" + +Susie now turned the conversation, and told Jane that Miss Wilson was +making new bonnets for her and Annie. After some questions as to what kind +of bonnets they were, and how they were trimmed, Jane asked,-- + +"When are they going to be done?" + +"I suppose they are done to-day; but we shall not get them until some time +next week, for it is too late for father to go to-night, and he is very +tired besides." + +"Why don't you go and get them yourself? I would." + +"Oh, it's too far to go." + +"Nonsense! It's only two miles." + +"But mother did not send me: she would have sent me if she had wished me to +go." + +"Pooh! she thought you would be afraid to go! I'll warrant she would be +glad enough to see the bonnets home. Come along, now! I'll go with you. You +know you can't go to meeting tomorrow if you don't get your bonnet." + +"Oh, yes: we can wear our clean sun-bonnets." + +"Wear your sun-bonnet to meeting! I'd stay at home first!" + +"I wouldn't stay at home first! But I _would_ like a new bonnet, too. I +_would_ go and get it if I thought mother would like it." + +"Like it! why, to-be-sure she will! Come along." + +With hesitating steps Susie went on. Just before her was the point which +her mother had made the limit of her walk. She felt no desire to disobey +her mother; but the thought of surprising her by bringing home the new +bonnets unexpectedly was quite a temptation. Then it would be so pleasant +to have them, too; she wanted to see how they looked very much indeed. Why +could she not walk very fast and get back soon? She looked at the sun, to +see how much time there would be. It was almost setting; and she +exclaimed,-- + +"Jane! I can't go! See; it is almost sundown!" + +"It will be light for two hours. There is time enough; we can run, and get +back before dark." + +"What if I shouldn't get the bonnets after all? What would mother say?" + +"You'll get them fast enough; and, even if you don't, you needn't tell her. +She'll never know it! Come along!" + +Jane had said _one word too many now_. The frightened child had done the +best thing she could have done. The idea of deceiving her mother had put +the matter in an entirely new light, and she ran homeward, without one word +of reply, as fast as her little feet could carry her. As soon as she +reached the house she told the story to Annie and Mary, through whom it +soon reached the mother's ears. She had no more occasion to caution her +little girls to avoid Jane Smith. + +"How much our mother knows! Don't she, Susie?" said Annie; "she told us +long ago that Jane was a naughty girl; but we didn't see how it could be!" + + + * * * * * + + + +THE COLD DAY + + +Both Susie and Annie Allis had learned a good lesson, and both of them +profited by it. They found, each for herself, how much safer and better it +was to trust their parents and obey their commands, whether they understood +all about them or not. These kind parents often reminded their little ones +that their good Father in heaven knew just what kind of parents he had +given the children, and that he required them to yield a willing and +cheerful obedience to all their parents' will, unless their commands +involved the breaking of his holy law. That this would be the case the +little girls did not fear, and, taught, as we believe, by the good Spirit +from above, they tried very hard to _please God_ by _honouring their +parents_. + +The winter was quite mild and pleasant, and Mrs. Allis thought best that +Annie and Susie should continue to attend school as long as the weather +would permit. It was a long walk for little girls not quite seven years +old; but when the sky was bright and the path good they did not mind the +cold air, for they were warmly clad and full of health and animation; they +ran gayly along, scarcely heeding the distance they had to go. + +One morning Mr. and Mrs. Allis had occasion to go to a neighbouring town on +business, and Mary was left at home alone with the baby. The children rode +to school with their parents, and, when they got out of the wagon at the +door of the log school-house, Annie said,-- + +"Will you get back before night, father?" + +"Probably not. If we do we will call and take you home." + +The morning was somewhat dark and cloudy, and a dense fog settled in the +hollows and ravines. Towards noon, however, there was a change; a cold +north wind began to blow, as it blows nowhere except on the wide open +prairies, unless it be on the sea. The clouds soon disappeared and the +bright sun shone out clear and bright. Every hour the cold increased, until +it became intense. The school-mistress dismissed the children somewhat +earlier than usual and called them all around the huge fireplace to warm +themselves. Then, after she had carefully fastened their cloaks and tippets +and charged them to run home as fast as they could, they started out. + +Poor little Annie and Susie had to go alone. None of the children lived in +the direction of their home; and, worse than all, they had the cold, fierce +wind directly in their faces. But they thought of no danger while the sun +was shining so brightly; and so on they went, running backwards to keep the +wind out of their faces. Somewhat more than half-way home, a little aside +from the road, lived a family by the name of Staunton. When they were just +opposite to the house they found themselves very cold. + +"Oh, Annie! do let's go in and warm, ourselves," said Susie; "I am so +cold!" + +"I can't stop, Susie," said Annie; "don't you know mother said we mustn't +stop on the way home from school?" + +"Well, I don't think mother would care if we stopped now; I am so very +cold. Do you?" + +"I don't know; I guess we had better hurry home as fast as we can. It would +be hard work to start again, you know." + +At this juncture the wind tore away Annie's cloak, and the little girls +forgot their cold hands as they chased it away off towards the pile of +rocks where Annie saw the snake in the summer. Under the shelter of those +rocks they sat down a moment to put on the cloak. Of course, mittens must +be laid aside, and the little, stiff, benumbed fingers had hard work to +fasten the garment, which had lost one of its strings in the encounter with +the rude north wind. When at last it was made fast with a pin, Susie +said,-- + +"I am going to rub my hands with snow, Annie! You know Dick Matthews said +that he could warm his hands with snow when they were cold!" + +Both the little ones rubbed their hands with the snow, and again set out, +holding each other firmly by the hand. Several times they repeated the +experiment, baring the little delicate fingers to the biting wind. At last +they ceased to ache; but the feet were stiff and their limbs tired and +weary. + +"Do your hands ache now, Susie?" + +"No; but my feet do, and my face. Oh, I'm afraid we'll never get home! +a'n't you, Annie?" + +"It's hard work to walk, and I can hardly stir one step;" when I turn my +back it seems as if I should fall right down. I do wish Mary would come +down to the field and open the gate! don't you?" + +"Yes, I do; for my hands are just as stiff as they can be." + +"There come father and mother, Annie; let's wait and ride," said Susie. + +"We'd better go and open the gate. See! there comes Mary! A'n't you glad?" + +"I can't stay for any thing; I shall run right to the fire! My feet are +freezing, almost," said Susie. + +At that moment Mary came. She had been watching for the children, and as +soon as they came in sight she laid down the baby and ran to help them come +in the house. She set the gate wide open for the wagon, and then hurried +the girls in to the fire. Soon the parents came in. + +"How glad we are to see you, children! We were almost afraid you would be +frozen. We tried to get home in time to take you in the wagon. Are not your +hands very cold?" + +"Our feet are cold; our hands were, too, but they are not now." + +"Not now?" said Mary, hastily drawing off Annie's mittens. + +Alas! the little fingers were frozen! Susie's were in the same sad +condition. And now there was a brisk rubbing with snow, and the most +intense suffering as the slow-coming warmth returned to the purple hands. + +"Annie," said Mr. Allis, when the pain of the hands was somewhat relieved, +"why did you not stop at Mr. Staunton's and warm yourself?" + +"Because, father," said Annie, looking up meekly through her tears, "mother +has told us _never to stop on our way home from school, and I always try to +mind what she tells us now!"_ + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Allis Family; or, Scenes of +Western Life, by American Sunday School Union + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ALLIS FAMILY *** + +This file should be named allis10.txt or allis10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, allis11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, allis10a.txt + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Erik Bent, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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