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Mamma smiled and thanked her, and thought if her dear little girl were to give flowers to every one who loved _her_ she would need a very large garden with a great many blossoms in it. Mr. Porter knew that Frankie had been in the water, but he had not heard how the accident came about, nor of its after consequences; an...
Fred described the boy and girl, as nearly as he could, and Mr. Porter gave another long dismayed whistle. "Yes, I thought so," he said, "there's no one here about but those two who would have been up to such an ugly trick as that. So, they're back again. I hoped we were rid of them for good and all." "Who are they?" a...
"Can nothing be done for them?" asked Mr. Bradford. "No, sir; as I say, it is not worth while to try to help them. All that the father can lay his hands on he spends in drink. My wife was distressed about the children, especially the girl, to think she should be growing up in such wickedness and misery; and last winter...
"I should think they ought to be ashamed," said Maggie, indignantly. "I never heard of such ungratefulness, and Mrs. Porter ought to serve Dolly right, and never do another thing for her; she don't deserve it." "Ah! my little girl, if we were all served right, and had nothing but what we deserve, where would we be?" sa...
"And must these poor children just be left to go to ruin?" asked Mrs. Bradford, sadly. "There's no one can reach them to teach them better, I am afraid," said Mr. Porter. "You'll just get hard words and worse for your pains if you try it. Why, there was the clergyman from down in the village, came up to see them, and h...
"I wish we could do something to make them a little better," said Bessie. "The Lord love you for the wish," said Mr. Porter, looking kindly around at her, "but you could never do anything, you little lamb. Why, they'd tease you out of your senses if you went to speak to them, and they're not fit for the like of you to ...
As the carriage approached, they darted away into the woods, but soon after a shower of gravel and sand flying into the carriage, as it slowly toiled up a hill between two walls of rock, made it known in a very disagreeable manner that they had returned to annoy our party by further mischief. They kept out of sight beh...
A picture it was indeed, and one which mamma thought so pretty that she had to call the rest of the family to enjoy it. Beneath a great spreading pear-tree sat the motherly old lady, the last golden rays of the setting sun falling over her ample figure, in her neat black gown, white apron, and snowy kerchief folded ove...
"Ah! my poor Coxcomb," said Mrs. Porter, "don't you think he is pretty?" "Yes," said Maggie, "he is very pretty but he is not a bit good. He is not at all 'handsome is that handsome does--' pecking that dear little yellow chicken! I'd rather be that brown guinea hen who is so nice and good, even if she is not so very p...
The old man was seated outside the kitchen door, enjoying the lovely summer twilight, and waiting, he said, to see if the children would not come to claim his promise. He took Bessie upon his knee, and bade Fanny bring a stool for Maggie, while Harry and poor limping Fred, who came slowly after the others, sat upon the...
"Well, so Ted was doing very well, being obedient and industrious, when one day about Christmas time my son Bill went down to the steamboat landing to bring up a load of stores which had been brought from the city. There was a deep snow on the ground, with a prospect of more to come that day, and I did not feel just so...
"As he was leaving, Seth Owen came out with his jug of whiskey and begged to be taken up the mountain. Now I had many times warned Ted against Owen, for I knew he was just the one to lead the poor fellow wrong if it was only to spite me; but he told Ted I had sent orders he was to take him home, and the lad was persuad...
"We were putting him on the sledge when I saw Sol, who had trotted back to the place where we found Owen, pawing away once more at the snow, snorting and sniffing as if he were displeased. I went to see what he was about, thinking here was some other fellow buried in the snow; but as I came up to him, he uncovered the ...
"Not while he was with me," said Mr. Porter, "and I hope he never will again. When he was told of his narrow escape and of what old Sol had done, he said, 'Nice old horse, nice old horse, he knew better than Ted. He teach Ted never touch whiskey stuff again.' His mother moved out west this spring, and he went with her;...
[Illustration] V. _THE GARDENS._ BESSIE thought a great deal of those two poor, wicked, neglected children, who had no one to care for them; and when she went up to bed and had knelt at her mother's side, and said her evening prayers, she paused a moment before she rose and said,--
"Please, dear Jesus, send some one to teach Lem and Dolly about you, and how you loved little children, and let me help them a little if there is any way I could do it, 'cause I am so sorry for them. Amen." Mamma laid her hand very tenderly on her darling's head, though she said nothing, for she did not see how it was ...
It would not be the first time, as the mother knew, that the seed innocently dropped by that baby hand had taken root, and brought forth fruit rich and flourishing in the garden of the Lord. "Maggie," said Bessie, the next morning as they sat together upon the piazza step, waiting for Mr. Porter to take them to the gar...
"Well, I s'pose it is," said Maggie; "and it is rather naughty, I do believe, Bessie; but I do not mean I would do it, only I would like to do it. I think I'll be about as naughty as that." "Don't you think you can forgive them, Maggie?" "No, not quite," said Maggie. "I'll forgive them a little, but I can't give them t...
"Oh," said Maggie, "we could never do a kind thing to them even if we wanted to. You see they just come and do something bad, and then run away, 'cause their guilty conscience knows they ought to be punished. And besides, Bessie, they're not fit 'ciety for us. The copy book says, 'Shun evil company,' and mamma said tha...
The little girls ran in, and there, oh, delight! there stood mamma with a tiny spade, rake and hoe in each hand. It was quite impossible to mistake who they were meant for. They were just of the right size for our two small gardeners; and mamma's look and smile as she held them out told that they were for their use. Ma...
The children readily promised, and ran off to show their treasures to their brothers and Mr. Porter. Mr. Porter soon measured off such a square of ground as he had promised for each of them, adding one for Hafed, who was much pleased to do as the others, and fell to with a good will at digging and planting. Mr. Porter ...
For some days after this, the four boys, Harry, Fred, Hafed and Bob, seemed to have an immense amount of whittling to do. At all odd times they were found with their knives and small strips of wood in their hands, and these bits of wood were all fashioned into one size and shape. But to what use they were to be put was...
Meanwhile nothing more had been seen or heard of Lem and Dolly. Mr. Porter had found out that Owen had not returned with them, and that the two children were alone in their miserable shanty. One day when Maggie and Bessie were out walking with some of their older friends, they came upon this wretched home, if home it c...
A perfect silence lay upon all around; not a sound was heard; not a leaf seemed to stir in the summer air; not a bird was heard to utter a note; and a hush fell upon the party as they turned into the lovely little wood-path which led them homeward. Bessie lingered a little, with her eyes fixed far away, and her head on...
Her father smiled, and led her on till they had joined the rest. They were quite near home when the Colonel, who had fallen a little behind with his wife, called to Maggie and Bessie. "To-morrow is Sunday," he said. "Have you found a place where you can have your Sunday-school class?" No, Maggie and Bessie said, they h...
"I have found a better place than that for you," said Colonel Rush; "that is, on a pleasant Sunday. When it rains, we must find cover within doors. See, here, what do you think of this for a Sunday-school room?" And he guided them a little to one side, where a sloping path and four or five natural steps led down into a...
The bench certainly did very well for Maggie, but Bessie's feet would not touch the ground. However, the Colonel made that all right by rolling over a flat stone which answered for a footstool, and Maggie and Bessie thought there was nothing more to be desired. "Harry and Fred want to come," said Bessie, "do you think ...
[Illustration] [Illustration] VI. _THE SUNDAY SCHOOL._
WHEN Sunday afternoon came they all met as had been arranged, in the lovely nook the Colonel had chosen for them. The little girls were there with Harry, Fred and Hafed. Bob Porter had asked that he might come too. Mrs. Rush was quite willing, but she feared that such great boys would not care for the simple lessons sh...
At the side of the house, and just beyond the end of the piazza stood the old well, which supplied them with fresh, cool water. There was a high stone curb around it through which ran a wooden spout, which carried off any waste water which might be poured from the bucket. This spout was partly outside, partly inside th...
"Yes'm. Dat's a pollywod, I dess," said Frankie, with his eyes on the water. "That's a great Bible verse," said Fred, beginning a giggle, in which the other boys could not help joining. "Hush, Fred," said Mrs. Rush. "What was that nice verse I heard mamma teaching you this morning, Frankie?" "Suffer 'ittle chillens--da...
"And who said that, Frankie?" "Jesus," answered Frankie, bringing his eyes back from the lake to the face of his teacher, and becoming interested. "Jesus said it, and it means me." "Yes, it means you, Frankie." "And Maddie and Bessie," said Frankie.
"And all other little children," said Mrs. Rush. "Not Bob," said Frankie, with a defiant shake of his head at the big boy, who had to put his hand over his face to hide the smile which would have way. "Yes, and Bob, too. Jesus meant all children whoever they may be, or wherever they are." "But Bob is naughty," said Fra...
"Bob is very good, and Frankie must not be angry with him," said Mrs. Rush. "Frankie was naughty himself, and so mamma had to tie his little feet so that he might remember he was not to run into mischief." "Jesus don't love naughty boys," said Frankie, with another reproving look at Bob. "Jesus loves all children, the ...
"Did you not know mamma did not want you to climb on the well?" said Mrs. Rush. "Yes'm; mamma said 'don't do by de well,' and I did do dere." "And Jesus says little boys must mind their mothers; so he was sorry when he saw Frankie disobey his kind mamma." "Is he sorry wis me now? I not do so any more," said Frankie.
"He is sorry if you are cross, and do not feel pleasant to Bob," answered Mrs. Rush. Frankie jumped down from his seat, and running over to Bob, put up his rosy lips for a kiss, which the other was quite ready to give. "Aunt May," said Maggie, "do you think Jesus _could_ love children like Lem and Dolly?" "He loved the...
"Perhaps they never heard about Jesus, and do not know that he loves them," said Bessie. "I don't believe they have any one to teach them." "I am afraid not," said Mrs. Rush. "Perhaps some time one of us may find a way to tell them." "They would not let us speak to them," said Maggie. "If we could persuade them that we...
"But I don't think I do feel kindly to them," said Maggie, "and even if I did, I do not see how we could find the chance to show it." "I do not say that you will, only that you _may_ find it," said Mrs. Rush; "but if you have a chance and do not take it, it will be a jewel by the way which you will not stoop to pick up...
Suddenly all were astonished by a loud sob and a half angry, half frightened "stop dat" from the little boy; and looking at him, they saw him with flushed cheeks, quivering lips, and eyes swimming in tears, gazing up at the bushes which overhung the rocks. "What is it, dear?" asked Mrs. Rush; and as she spoke Maggie an...
All looked up. No face was to be seen, for it had been drawn back; but at that instant down came a shower of sticks, stones and dried leaves, and the loud, taunting laugh they had heard before, rang out from above. This was too much for the patience of the boys; even cool-headed, steady-going Harry started to his feet ...
When the boys came back, the Colonel and Mrs. Rush tried to have the children all settle down quietly again; but the little ones were uneasy and disturbed, starting at every sound,--the twitter of a bird, the splash of a fish, or the dropping of a leaf,--and the Colonel, seeing this, hastened to bring his story to a cl...
"Yes, dear, I think they do," answered mamma, taking pains not to smile. "I am sure they do," said Maggie. "I do not know if any one could do it worse; for we never did a thing to them." "Then you know what you are to do for them," said mamma. "It was our Saviour himself who said these words, 'pray for them which despi...
"Yes, love, indeed it would be," said her mother, thinking as she spoke of Bessie's heartfelt prayer for the miserable children a few nights since, and sure that it would indeed prove a jewel bright and lovely in the eyes of Him to whom it was offered. Maggie's face looked as if her little head was full of grave though...
[Illustration] [Illustration] VII. _THE SILVER CUP._
DAY after day passed by at Chalecoo and each one seemed to bring some new happiness. A book could be filled in telling all the children did in this charming place, of the drives they took in the great rockaway, of their rows upon the lake, of their walks in the lovely woods and glens, and even of one or two wild clambe...
But Margaret Colonel Horace and her mamma both had reason to be glad that she was not left to her own will; for the next morning the "Fairy Bower" was found destroyed, the cups and dishes scattered, the table and seats rolled over the rocks, and the arbor itself rudely pulled to pieces. It was easy to guess who had don...
That gentleman used to come up quite often to look at the gardens, for he gave prizes, not only for the fine plants and vegetables, but also for the neatness and order in which the gardens were kept; and he always gave great praise to all five. Perhaps Maggie and Fred might not have kept their plots in such good order,...
There was a little brook which ran by the side of the house, and joined that which came from the glen, after which they went on together until they emptied into the lake. In this the children were sometimes allowed to play, since it was shallow, and they had great fun there, building little dams, sailing the tiny boats...
Frankie was much disturbed at the fate of his pollywog; but the children buried it with great ceremony, which consoled him a little. He wanted to keep it even after it was dead but mamma told him it would become disagreeable; and for some days after this, the family were much amused to see him constantly running to the...
Fred was delighted when he heard of the success of his joke, and that Mr. Porter had been completely puzzled. There was one place of which Maggie and Bessie never tired, and this was of the Ice Glen dairy. To go there each day with Fanny, and see her churn, or skim the rich cream from the milk, or roll the beautiful ye...
Flossy had been lying with his nose on his paws, sleepily watching his little mistresses at their play; but soon he suddenly started up with an angry bark, and was about to rush out of the dairy as if he were going to give chase to something, when Maggie caught him up. "No, no, Flossy," she said, "you are not going aft...
At last Flossy was persuaded to be quiet, with the exception of a low grumbling "woof" now and then, as if he still thought his wrongs too great to be borne; and the children returned to their butter. "Oh, Fannie," said Bessie, "you forgot to give us anything to put our butter rolls in when they are made." "So I did," ...
Maggie brought the pan and the dipper, and then went for the silver cup, but it was not where she expected to find it. "Why Fanny," she said, "where's Bessie's cup? I thought you put it right here." "So I did," said Fanny. "I stood it just there by the window." "It's not there now," said Maggie, standing on tip-toe tha...
"It must be, child; no one has been here to touch it," said Fanny, leaving her cream cheese and coming to see for herself. "Why, where can it be? I certainly put it just here, opposite the window, but not so near that it need have fallen out. But we'll go round and look." And out all three went, going round to the back...
Fanny took little notice of the former, though he was the nearer of the two; but shading her eyes with her hand, gazed up the mountain side after the boy. "It's Lem Owen," she exclaimed in an excited tone. "I might have known it. He has taken it. There's nobody else hereabouts who would do such a thing." Distressed at ...
Maggie threw her arms about her, and she, too, burst into tears. "Come, we'll send some one after him," said Fanny, springing down from the rocks and forgetting her open dairy; leaving butter, cream cheese, all, just as it stood, she seized a hand of each frightened child, and they ran towards the house as fast as Bess...
[Illustration] VIII. _A KIND WORD FOR LEM._ The path up the mountain could be plainly seen from below for nearly half its length; then it was often hidden by many a sharp turn and corner, or the trees and bushes which bordered it on either side. As John Porter and the two gentlemen stood at its foot and gazed upward, t...
They had mounted so quietly that not even his quick ear had heard them till they were close upon him, and he caught sight of John Porter turning a corner of the rock. Then he sprang to his feet, and, with a guilty but fierce look, darted around so as to bring the pine-trees between him and his pursuers. But there was n...
"My own Osborn apples!" exclaimed John, quite forgetting the cup at this sight. "I'd know them anywhere. The rascal must have stripped the tree, and it is the first year it has borne. I set so much store by them! I'll fix you for this," and John gave his prisoner two or three hard cuffs. "Stop, John," said Mr. Bradford...
When they reached the house, Mrs. Bradford came out, and begged her husband and brother not to be too hasty in making up their minds that Lem had stolen the cup. For, when they had started to go after the boy, it was supposed that Fanny had seen him take it, but it appeared she had not. Fanny, though kind and good-natu...
Next it came out there was another person who might have made his way to the back of the dairy and stolen the cup, and this was the man with the pack on his back, whom they had all three seen going down the lake road. This proved to have been a pedler, who had been up to the house, and whom Mrs. Porter, who never suffe...
"I wasn't scared, neither," said Lem, sullenly; "takin' a few apples aint no great; but I knowed for sure they was after me for some harm. Nobody ever comes after Dol and me for no good." Though this was said in a sulky, defiant way, there was something in the speech which went straight to Bessie's tender little heart....
"Yes," said Maggie, "and it made me very sorry for him, and that thing came into my throat that comes when you want to cry, and you're afraid some one will ask what you are crying about." "I wonder if we could not do something to show him we would like to be kind to him," said Bessie. "But he is shut up," said Maggie. ...
"Yes," said Maggie, "Mr. Porter said he would do any thing for me for my birthday that I asked him, if it was reasonable; and I s'pose he wouldn't mind doing it a little before, and I think this is pretty reasonable, don't you, Bessie?" "Yes, and that's a very nice idea of you, Maggie," said Bessie; and this being agre...
"We want to speak to you, Lem." "None of your speaking. Be off with you, will you?" said the boy, looking around for something he might throw at the window. But there was nothing on which he could lay his hands. Mr. Porter had taken care to carry off every thing which could possibly be turned to mischief. "But we are g...
"I want none of your favors; let me alone now," answered Lem. "But we are going to do it to you whether you think you want it or not," said Bessie; "'cause you _will_ be glad of it. We are going to ask Mr. Porter to let you out. Will you promise not to steal any more, Lem?" "I didn't touch your cup," said Lem. "Well, m...
"Much you'd care who took it, if you once got it back," said the boy, sulkily. "But I would care, and so would Maggie," said Bessie. "I'd rather--yes--I think I would--I'd rather be sure you hadn't taken it and never find it, than to find it and know you did steal it. Yes, I would, Lem, and I do love my cup very much."...
"You aint a goin' to make me say I took your old cup," persisted Lem, with some very bad words; and, too much shocked to talk to him any more, the little girls slipped down from the logs and ran away. But shocked and frightened though they were, they did not forget their kind purpose; and a couple of hours later, Mr. P...
So, although he had agreed to his father's wish that he should see the boy safely over the most dangerous part of his way home, he did it with no good-will, and trudged along in silence, turning over in his mind whether or no he could resolve to let Lem go without giving him a good thrashing. But he had been in the kit...
"Dunno, and don't care," answered Lem. "Off on some new mischief, I'll be bound," said John. "Well, good-night to you, if you can pass a good night here," and he walked away, in haste to be home before the storm should break. Dol was, alas! in some new mischief,--mischief such as John did not dream of; or, although the...
[Illustration] IX. _DOL'S REVENGE._ LEM had told John Porter he did not know and did not care where Dol was on that dark night; but he had not told the truth when he said he did not care. He _did_ care, for she was the only thing he loved in all the wide world, and had he known where to look, he would certainly have go...
The storm raged all night: the rain poured down in a driving flood; the lightning flashed; the thunder pealed without rest, echoing from one to another of the mountain-peaks in a long, heavy roll; and the wind blew in furious gusts, shaking even Mr. Porter's comfortable, well-built house, and seeming as if it would lay...
"No," said Lem, "he le'me out; and Dol, I say, it was all along of those two little gals. They said they'd beg me off, and the old man said they did, and I aint goin' to trick 'em no more. Where was you last night?" "In the Ice Glen," answered Dolly. Lem gave a long, astonished whistle. "You aint goin' to say you slept...
"I didn't do no sleepin', but I was there all night, after I come away from Porter's. But I fixed 'em down there fust," she added with a malicious grin. "But how came you into the Ice Glen; didn't you know better?" asked Lem. In answer, she told him how she had been hanging about Mr. Porter's grounds till long after da...
The reply to this question, instead of being received with praise and exclamations of triumph as she had expected, was met by a curse; and poor Dol shrank down in fear of a blow; for, though Lem was not often angry with her, when he was, she was used to feeling the weight of his hand. But he did not strike her now, but...
"No: 'twant fair after they begged me off." "They got you shut up first, sayin' you took the cup when you didn't." "How do you know I didn't?" "'Cause I know who did."
"Did you?" "No, but I know who did; and what's more, I know where it is now," she answered. "Tell me then." But Dolly turned sulky in her turn, and refused to say a word more; and Lem, knowing it was useless to try to make her speak when she did not choose, strolled into the woods to see if he could find any berries fo...
But it is time to tell what was the new piece of mischief by which Dolly had thus brought punishment upon herself. Two little pairs of feet danced through the hall, and out upon the piazza of the Lake House that morning. "Oh, what a nice, pleasant day after the rain!" said Bessie. "The birdies are singing so to tell us...
"There is another lying by the well," said Bessie, "and those large bushes are all leaning over. Did the rain do that, papa?" "The wind did it," said papa. "The storm was very severe last night, and I fear it may have done some harm to the farm and garden." "Not to our gardens, I hope," said Maggie. "They looked so nic...
"And my geranium," said Maggie. "We would be too disappointed if any thing happened to those two. Papa, do you know when Cousin Ernest was here the other day, he said not one of the children had such a fine heliotrope or geranium, and he thought they were sure to take prizes? and besides, he said our gardens were so ne...
"Not much I hope," said Mrs. Bradford. "Well, not so much from the storm," said Mr. Porter. "The corn is beaten down a little, but it will rise again in a day or two, and some branches here and there stripped off; but there's been worse than the wind and rain abroad last night. Mr. Bradford, I'll speak with you a minut...
Mr. Bradford was very much troubled, for he knew how greatly the children would be distressed; and, as the breakfast-bell rang just then, he said he should not tell them till the meal was over, or no breakfast would be eaten by Maggie or Bessie. He could scarcely eat his own as he watched the bright faces of his two li...
The boys' gardens had suffered some, but not so much as those of the little girls; whether it was that Dolly fancied Maggie and Bessie had been the most to blame for Lem's imprisonment, and so chose first to revenge herself on them; whether it was that their gardens lay nearer to her hand and she had been interrupted i...
"I do not think it was Lem's doing, dear," said Mr. Stanton; and then he told Maggie how John Porter had taken Lem home last night just before the storm began, and that it was scarcely possible that the boy could have made his way back in the darkness and worked all this mischief. "Well, it was Dolly, then," said Maggi...
Hafed would have taken up every flower from his own garden and transplanted it to those of his "Missy's," if the other boys had not made him understand that this would be useless, and most of them would only droop and die. The disordered beds were raked smoothly over; the little fence carefully cleaned from the mud whi...
"I don't know about that," said Fred, "Cousin Alexander came down here this morning; and, although he did not mention the word prize, he said he thought he ought to take into account all you had done, as well as what you might have done, and asked us if we did not agree with him. Of course we said yes; so we shall see ...
"To say our prayers, mamma," answered Bessie, rather surprised at the question. "What prayers, Maggie?" "Why, 'Now I lay me,' and 'Pray God bless,' and 'Our Father which art in Heaven,'" said Maggie. "And when we say 'Our Father,' what do we say about forgiveness?"
"'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,'" said Bessie. "I know what you mean, mamma." "And so do I," said Maggie; "but I _cannot_ do it, mamma, I cannot forgive Lem and Dolly as I want to be forgiven myself, so I think I had better leave out that part of 'Our Father,' to-night. I wouldn...
"Do you remember what I was reading to you the other night?" said mamma, "how Peter came to our Lord, and asked Him how often he should forgive his enemy. What answer did Jesus make?" "He said 'forgive him till seventy times seven,'" said Bessie. "O mamma!" said Maggie. "I never could do that. I think I could be like P...
"They did not harm you, mamma, did they?" asked Maggie. "Yes: they hurt my two little blossoms, Maggie and Bessie, and so grieved me very much. But I can hope my flowers will soon get the better of the harm they have received; not only of their sorrow, but also of their anger and hard feeling towards those poor, unhapp...
"I'll try too, mamma--but--but--I can't help thinking I'd be pretty glad if the chance never came." [Illustration] [Illustration] X.
_THE BANANAS._ "MADDIE," said Frankie, running up to his sister the next morning with a pair of worsted reins in his hands, "will oo fis my weins?" "Pretty soon, Frankie: I'm busy now," answered Maggie. "Oo're not: oo're doin' nossin' but sittin'," said the little boy. "Do it now."
"Yes; I am in a meditation, and you must not interrupt me," said Maggie, with a solemn, important face. Frankie walked round and round her on every side, looking curiously at her, and peering down at her; then said,-- "I don't see it, Maddie." "Don't see what?" asked Maggie.
"Dat sing oo are in," replied Frankie. "He means that meditation you said you were in," said Bessie. At this Maggie laughed merrily, and all her meditations were put to flight. "O foolish child!" she said. "I s'pose he thought a meditation meant a kind of a thing you could see."
"Maggie," said Bessie gravely, "if you laugh at Frankie, you'll have to laugh at me too, 'cause I don't know what a meditation means either." "It means," said Maggie, arranging Frankie's reins for him, "to be thinking about whether a thing is right or wrong, and to be trying to make up your resolution to do something t...
"Who would like to go and play in the woods?" asked Harry, coming out to them. "Mamma says we may all go if we choose." "I will." "And I." "I too," came from his two sisters and Frankie.
"Who is going to take care of us?" asked Bessie. "Jane and Starr," said Harry. "Fred and I could do it well enough; but mamma is afraid of those two ragamuffins, and the Colonel said they would not dare to trouble us if Starr was with us, and he could very well spare him." "Hurrah!" cried Fred, rushing out of the house...
Butter and salt were packed in a tin pail by Mrs. Porter and carried by Hafed, while Starr brought a basket with plates and knives. The corn was to be plucked from a cornfield which they would pass on their way. The spot chosen was at some distance from the house, up in the woods, where a pure, bright spring bubbled up...
But here quite a misfortune happened to Bessie. As she was coming towards the fireplace, with her hands full of dry branches, she tripped and fell her full length directly in the ashes of the old fires. Her father and other friends could not be thankful enough that the match had not yet been put to the sticks which lay...
Bessie thanked him, and said she would be very glad; and taking her up in his arms, so that they might get over the ground in short time, the good-natured soldier strode away with her. Mamma was a good deal surprised, and a little startled, to see her Bessie coming back so soon in Starr's arms; but it was presently exp...