Datasets:
Qilex
/
BabyLM_Small_Chunked

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
 Community
1
text
stringlengths
21
20.4k
"Are you or papa going to do it, mamma?" asked Bessie. "We shall see," said Mrs. Bradford, with a smile. "Perhaps we can help you a little," said Maggie, joyfully; and she told her mother of her uncle's proposal about the book. [Illustration: Title decoration, chap. 12]
XII. _MAGGIE'S BOOK._ Uncle Ruthven and Aunt Bessie went away the next morning, and were gone nearly a week, and very much did the children miss them, especially as the week proved one of storm and rain, and they were shut up in the house. During all this stormy weather Aunt Patty seemed very anxious to go out, watchin...
She stayed a long time, and when the boys ran home from school in the midst of a hard shower, they were surprised to meet her just getting out of a carriage which had drawn up around the corner. Aunt Patty did not seem at all pleased to see them, and in answer to their astonished inquiries, "Why, Aunt Patty! where have...
"We're very glad to see you, Uncle Er-er _R_uthven," said Bessie, bringing out the _R_ quite clearly. "Hallo!" said her uncle, "so you have come to it at last; have you? You have been learning to talk English while I was away. Pretty well for my princess! What reward shall I give you for that _R_uthven?" "I don't want ...
"To be sure," said Mr. Stanton, "a first-rate fellow, who promised to take it at once. He would like to know how much you want for it?" "I don't know," said Maggie; "how much can he afford?" "Ah! you answer my question by another. Well, he is pretty well off, that fellow, and I think he will give you sufficient to help...
"What is that?" asked Colonel Rush, who with his wife had come to welcome his sister. Mr. Stanton told the story of the book. "But how came it into your hands?" asked Mr. Bradford. "Oh, Maggie and I struck a bargain to-night," said Mr. Stanton, laughing, "and the book is mine to do as I please with."
"Oh, Ruthven, Ruthven!" said his sister, coming in as he spoke, and passing her hand affectionately through his thick, curly locks, "you have made two happy hearts to-night. Nor will the stream of joy you have set flowing stop with my little ones. That poor blind child and his parents--" "There, there, that will do," s...
"The colonel had a new leg, not a skin one, but a man made it, but you would not know it, it looks so real, and he can walk with it and need not take his crutches, and the souls of M. and B. Happy were very glad because this was a great rejoicing, and it is not a blessing to be lame, but to have two legs is, and when p...
"These are not all the acts of the Complete Family, but there will be another book with some more. Adieu. And if you don't know French, that means good-by. The end of the book!" "Pretty well for seven years old, I think," said Mr. Bradford. "Mamma, did you lend a helping hand?" "Only to correct the spelling," said Mrs....
"The sum Dr. Dawson asks for the cure of Willie Richards," answered Mrs. Bradford, "which sum this dear brother of mine is allowing to pass through the hands of these babies of mine, as their gift to the blind child." "Aunt Patty," said Bessie at the breakfast-table the next morning,--"Aunt Patty, did you hear what Unc...
"I do not think it at all proper that children should be allowed to have such large sums of money," said Mrs. Lawrence, speaking not to Bessie, but to Mrs. Bradford. "I thought your brother a more sensible man, Margaret. Such an ill-judged thing!" Mrs. Bradford was vexed, as she saw the bright face of her little daught...
"I am sure of it, my darling," said mamma, with a nod and smile which brought comfort to the disappointed little heart. Ah, the dear mamma! they were all sure of sympathy from her whether in joy or sorrow. Aunt Patty's want of it had been particularly hard on Bessie, for the dear child saw the old lady did not look hal...
And there sat Miss Rush, too, wondering and indignant, and only kept from replying to Aunt Patty by Mrs. Bradford's beseeching look. But at last Mr. Bradford's patience was at an end, and in a firm, decided manner, he requested the old lady to say nothing more on the subject, but to leave it to be settled by his wife a...
"Are you tired of being shut up in the house so long, dear Midget?" asked Aunt Bessie, putting her arm about Maggie, and drawing her to her side. "Yes, pretty tired, Aunt Bessie; but that is not the reason why Bessie and I wish so very much to have it clear. Papa told us, if the weather was pleasant, he would take us t...
"That will be as their father thinks best," answered Mrs. Bradford, quietly. "He will not take them unless the weather is suitable; and the policeman's house is neat and comfortable, and in a decent neighborhood. The children will come to no harm there." "And it is certainly going to clear," said Harry. "See there, mam...
Bessie only replied with a smile, and a very feeble smile at that; and her mother saw by the crimson spot in each cheek, and the little hand pressed tightly upon her lips, how hard the dear child was struggling with herself. It was so. Bessie was hurt at what she thought Aunt Patty's unkindness in trying to deprive her...
"I sha'n't try to bear Aunt Patty's burden this day, I know," said Maggie. "She is _too_ mean not to want blind Willie cured, and it is not any of hers to talk about, either. Her corners are awful to-day! Just trying to make mamma say Bessie couldn't go to the policeman's house!" Bessie said nothing, but her mamma saw ...
"Harry, my boy," said Mrs. Bradford, "this is all so, but how do you happen to know so much about it?" "Why, she talked to me several times about it, mamma. She was quite chipper with Fred and me now and then, when no grown people were around, and used to tell us stories of things which happened at the old homestead by...
"My dear boy," gasped his mother, "if you could leave my head on, it would be a greater convenience than fighting on my account with Aunt Patty. And your mother must be very much on her guard, Fred, if a thing is to be judged right by you because she does it. But, dearest children, did we not all determine not to allow...
And now how was she to undo what she had done, so that Maggie and Bessie might still keep this matter in their own hands? For Aunt Patty, hearing the little ones talk so much of the blind boy and his parents, had become quite interested in the policeman's family. She did not know them, it was true, had never seen one o...
Poor old lady! Perhaps it was not to be wondered at that, as she moved about the room, making ready to go out, she should again feel irritable and out of humor. She was in much pain. The plans which had cost her so much, and which she had thought would give such satisfaction, were all disarranged. She was vexed at bein...
Mrs. Lawrence heard the old woman's improper speech, but did not hear Mrs. Bradford's gently spoken reproof, and we may be sure the first did not help to restore her good-humor. [Illustration: decoration, end of chap. 12] [Illustration: Title decoration, chap. 13] XIII.
_DISAPPOINTMENT._ Bessie's high spirits had all flown away. The scene with Aunt Patty, and the fear that the weather would not allow Maggie and herself to carry Uncle Ruthven's gift to blind Willie, on which pleasure, in spite of her father's warning, she had quite set her mind, were enough to sadden that sensitive lit...
Bessie watched for a few moments, and then ran to find Maggie, who had gone up-stairs with mamma for a new story-book which Aunt Bessie had promised to read for them. "Maggie, Maggie!" she called from the foot of the stairs, "come and see how the blue sky is coming out and how the sun is shining;" and as she spoke, Mag...
Bessie felt a great choking in her throat, and Maggie said, impatiently, "It is _never_ going to clear up; I know it. It just rains this way to provoke poor children who want to go out." "Maggie, darling, who sends the rain?" came in Aunt Bessie's gentle tone through the open parlor-door, and at the same moment a stern...
"No," she said, severely, as poor frightened Maggie shrank before the glance of her eye, "you will not go out to-day, nor do you deserve it." Then Bessie's anger broke forth. "You are bad, you're cruel!" she said, stamping her foot, and with her face crimson with passion. "You want poor Willie to be blind all his life....
"Please forgive me, Aunt Patty. I didn't try hard enough that time; but I'll try not to do so again. The wicked passion came so quick;" and then she hid her face once more against Miss Rush. Yes, the passion had come quickly, but it had been quickly conquered, and as Aunt Patty looked at her, these words came to her mi...
"I think it did come, darling," said Aunt Bessie. "If it had not, you could not have conquered yourself as you did the moment you remembered you were displeasing your heavenly Father. If you forgot for a moment, and your temper overcame you, I think he knew how you had struggled with it this morning, and so pitied and ...
"Then wish only that she were a little more amiable, or did not speak quite so sharply," said Miss Rush, smiling at Maggie's earnestness. "Oh, pooh! that's no good," said Maggie. "She never will learn to behave herself. I'll tell you, I just wish she was a Lot's wife." "Lot's wife?" said Miss Rush. "I mean Lot's wife a...
There was never any telling where Maggie's ideas would carry her, and at the thought of the droll fate she had imagined for Aunt Patty, Miss Rush fairly laughed outright, and even Bessie smiled, after which she said she would go up-stairs and talk a little to her mother, which always did her good when she was in troubl...
"Bradford," said Mr. Stanton, as he stood in his brother-in-law's office that morning, "those dear little girls of yours have put me to shame with their lively, earnest desire to do good to others. Here have I been leading this lazy, useless life ever since I came home, looking only to my own comfort and happiness; and...
"And how much is that?" asked Mr. Stanton. Mr. Bradford named the sum, and after hearing all the circumstances, Mr. Stanton drew a check for the amount needed to pay the rest of the debt to Dr. Schwitz, and gave it to his brother-in-law, asking him to hand it to the policeman with his own gift. "You had better come wit...
When they were ready to go, those three precious notes, the price of Willie's sight, were brought by Maggie to her father, with many prayers that he would take the best of care of them. She was not satisfied till she had seen them in his pocket-book, where she herself squeezed them into the smallest possible corner, ne...
"Willingly," said Mr. Bradford. "We were on our way to your house, but our errand will keep;" and he led the way back to the parlor, followed by the whole party. Mrs. Bradford and Miss Rush were there also, just ready to go out; while Aunt Patty sat in the library, where every word that passed in the front room must re...
"I cannot say, sir. Some unknown friend has done it all; but who, I know no more than yourself, perhaps not so much;" and the policeman looked searchingly into Mr. Bradford's face. "And I know absolutely nothing," said the gentleman, smiling. "I see, Richards, you thought I had some hand in it, and expected to find me ...
"Why, sir, she who either has done this or has been sent by some one else. If I don't keep you too long, I should just like to tell you what I know." "Not at all," said Mr. Bradford. "Let us have the story." "Yesterday morning," said the policeman, "Mrs. Granby was sitting by the window, when she saw an old lady going ...
"None, sir. I might track her easy, I suppose, but since she didn't seem to wish it to be known who she was or where she came from, I wouldn't feel it was showing my gratitude for the obligations she's laid me under, and you see by the printing she don't wish to be tracked even by her handwriting. Nor was this all. Ear...
"Well, may God bless and prosper him, whoever he is," said the policeman. "I only wish he knew what a load is lifted from my heart. And thank you too, sir, for your advice and for all your interest in me." While the policeman had been telling his story, Maggie and Bessie had stood listening eagerly to him. At first the...
"It's too bad," said Maggie, without waiting for her father to finish his sentence; "it's as mean, as mean as--Oh! I never heard of anything so mean; the horrid old thing! something ought to be done to her. I know she just did it to make a disappointment to Bessie and me. Oh, dear! It's too bad!" She finished with a bu...
"Now the Lord love you for your thought of my boy," said the policeman, "and I'm sure I wish, for your sake, that the old lady had stopped short of Dr. Dawson's door, keeping her money for some other folks that had need of it, and leaving it to you two dear little ones to do this kind turn for my child. But Willie will...
[Illustration: Title decoration, chap. 14] XIV. _AUNT PATTY._ But Maggie and Bessie, especially the former, were quite determined not to be consoled. They thought such a terrible disappointment deserved to be sorrowed over for some time to come, and sat with tearful faces and a very mournful manner, quite unable to do ...
"I hope I shall have strength to bear it, but I don't know," said Maggie, with her pocket-handkerchief to her eyes. Mamma told her that the way to bear a trial was not to sit fretting over it and thinking how bad it was, but to look at its bright side, and see what good we or others might gain from it. "But _this_ has ...
"But, mamma," said Maggie, with her eyes still covered, "Uncle Ruthven was going to pay the debt himself; papa told us so. So it would have been just as good for the policeman." "I declare," said Mr. Stanton, "I had quite forgotten that I was disappointed too! Well, well;" and he leaned his head on his hand, and put on...
"I don't know," said Maggie, half unwilling to be so soon comforted, and yet too much pleased at the thought of this unexpected treat to be able to refuse it. "Perhaps I might. I think maybe it would do me good to see the animals." But she still sat with the air of a little martyr, hoping that Uncle Ruthven would press...
Aunt Patty saw them go, and was glad to be left to herself, although her own thoughts were not very pleasant company. She had done a kind and generous action in an ungracious way, causing those whom she had benefited to feel that they would rather have received the favor from another hand, bringing a real trial upon th...
After reaching home, they were passing through the upper hall on their way down to the parlor, where they had left papa and Uncle Ruthven, when Aunt Patty's door opened, and she called them. They stood still and hesitated. "Come in," said Mrs. Lawrence again, in a gentle tone; "Aunt Patty wants to speak to you." Maggie...
In a moment Bessie's rosebud of a mouth was put up for the desired kiss, but Maggie still held back. It was not that she was unforgiving, but this meekness from Aunt Patty was something so new, and so contrary to all the ideas she had formed of her, that she did not know how to believe in it, or to understand it. "Kiss...
"Oh, it is in our dear little 'Chapel Gems,'" said the child. "Is it not pretty, Aunt Patty? Mamma found it, and I asked her to teach it to us, 'cause it was so sweet to say when any of us had been naughty. When we sing it, I think it's just like a little prayer in music." "Can you find the book for me?" asked the old ...
Both children turned toward the door, but before they reached it, Bessie lingered, also detaining Maggie, who held her hand. "Aunt Patty," she said, sweetly, "I think it is of consequence if you want it. And--and--I know 'Our Father all holy.' If you would like, I can say it to you." "Come, then, darling," answered the...
"Pity me now, for, my Father, no sorrow Ever can be like the pain that I know; When I remember that all through to-morrow, Missing the light of thy love, I may go. "For thy forgiveness, the gift I am seeking, Nothing, oh, nothing, I offer to thee! Thou to my sinful and sad spirit speaking, Giving forgiveness, giv'st al...
"'I had not sinned, had I felt thou wert nigh,'" she said again, after she was through with the last line. "I wish we could always remember our Father is nigh; don't you, Aunt Patty? We know it, but sometimes we forget it a little, and then the naughtiness comes, and so we grieve him. But is not that a sweet hymn to sa...
"Who is for a summer among the mountains?" asked Mr. Bradford as the family sat around the table after dinner. "I am, and I, and I!" came from a chorus of young voices, for from papa's look it was plainly to be seen that the question was addressed to the children, and that the grown people had had their say before. Eve...
"No, dear," said her father, smiling, "but among the mountains to which we think of going, there is a very beautiful lake, on the border of which stands the house in which we shall stay." "I am very fond of the sea, papa," answered Bessie, "and I think I would prefer to go to Quam Beach again,--I mean if the others lik...
"Yes. I remember even in former days it was an airy, comfortable old place, and with the improvements which I hear Porter has made, I think it will just suit our party. What do you say, Bessie? Would you not like to go there with all the dear friends, rather than to Quam without them?" "Oh, yes," said Bessie; "I like m...
"I have a little private business with Maggie and Bessie," said papa, as they rose from the table. "Young ladies, may I request the honor of your company in my room for a few moments?" Wondering what could be coming now, but sure from papa's face that it was something very pleasant, the little girls went skipping and d...
This was said with a very grave, businesslike air, which sat rather drolly upon our merry, careless Maggie, and her father smiled. "I shall tell you," he said, "and then you may have the next two days, till Uncle Ruthven and I come back, to consider it. Dr. Dawson thinks it necessary for Willie Richards to have change ...
"Maggie, have you forgiven that old woman yet?" asked Fred, when his father and little sisters had joined the rest of the family in the other room. "Oh, yes!" said Maggie. "I think she is lovely! She has made things a great deal better for us, though she did not know it, and blind Willie is to go to the country. But yo...
[Illustration: decoration, end of chap. 14] [Illustration: Title decoration, chap. 15] XV. _WILLIE'S VISIT._
"There," said Mrs. Granby, holding Willie Richards at arm's length from her, and gazing at him with pride and admiration,--"there, I'd like to see the fellow, be he man, woman, or child, that will dare to say my boy is not fit to stand beside any gentleman's son in the land." Certainly Mrs. Granby had no need to be ash...
"I don't care," said Jennie, when Mrs. Granby pretended to be very angry at the rebellious hair,--"I don't care if it won't be smoothed; it is just like father's, mother says so; and anything like him is good enough for me." "Well, I won't say no to that," said Mrs. Granby, putting down the brush and throwing Jennie's ...
"And good reason, too," chimed in Mrs. Richards. "He's as true and noble a gentleman as ever walked, and a good friend to us." "That's so," answered Mrs. Granby, "I'll not gainsay you there neither. And that's come all along of your man just speaking a kind word or two to that stray lamb of his. And if I'd a mind to co...
Here Tommy began very eagerly with his confused jargon which no one pretended to understand but Jennie. "What does he say, Jennie?" asked the father. "He says, 'Nice little girl, come some more. Bring her doggie,'" said Jennie; then turning to her mother, she asked, "Mother, do you b'lieve you can understand Tommy till...
Mrs. Granby followed them to the door, and even to the gate, where she stood and watched them till they were out of sight, for, as she told Mrs. Richards, "it did her a heap of good to see the poor things goin' off for a bit of a holiday." The policeman and his children kept steadily on till they reached the park near ...
"And then I shall see; sha'n't I, father? I hear the birds. Are they hopping about like they used to, over the trees, so tame and nice?" "Yes," answered his father, "and here we are by the water, where's a whole heap of 'em come down for a drink." In his new hope, Willie took a fresh interest in all about him. "Oh, I h...
Willie promised, for it seemed to him that he could have patience and courage for anything now. "Oh!" said Jennie, as they reached Mr. Bradford's house, and went up the steps, "don't I wish I lived in a house like this!" "Don't be wishing that," said her father. "You'll see a good many things here such as you never saw...
"It's not best even to wish for what's beyond our reach," said her father, "lest we should get to covet our neighbors' goods, or to be discontented with our own lot; and certainly we have no call to do that." Richards asked for Mrs. Bradford, and she presently came down, bringing Maggie and Bessie with her. Jennie felt...
Maggie and Bessie had just taken him and his sister into the nursery to visit the baby, the canary bird, and other wonders there, when there came sweet sounds from below. Willie instantly turned to the door and stood listening. "Who's making that music?" he asked presently in a whisper, as if he were afraid to lose a n...
Willie said "Yes," very eagerly, but Jennie did not care to go where the grown ladies were, and said she would rather stay up-stairs if Maggie did not mind. Maggie consented, and Bessie went off, leading the blind boy by the hand. It was both amusing and touching to see the watch she kept over this child who was twice ...
However, they both reached the lower hall in safety, where Bessie led her charge to the parlor-door. "Mamma," she said, "Willie likes music very much. I suppose you would just as lief he would listen to you and Aunt Bessie." "Certainly," said mamma. "Bring him in." But before they went in, Willie paused and turned to B...
"Oh! that was only Aunt Patty," answered the little girl. "You need not be afraid of her. She don't mean to be so cross as she is; but she is old, and had a great deal of trouble, and not very wise people to teach her better when she was little. So she can't help it sometimes." "No," said Willie, slowly, as if he were ...
"So you are very fond of music; are you, Willie?" said Mrs. Bradford, when at length they paused. "Yes, ma'am, very," said he, modestly; "but I never heard music like that before. It seems 'most as if it was alive." "So it does," said Bessie, while the ladies smiled at the boy's innocent admiration. "I think there's a ...
"And mamma is the nicest of all," said Bessie. "You can't think how precious she is, Willie!" Mrs. Bradford laughed as she put back her little daughter's curls, and kissed her forehead. "I guess she must be, when she is your mother," said Willie. "You must all be very kind and good people here; and I wish, oh, I wish i...
"What is the matter, Willie?" asked Mrs. Bradford. "Nothing, ma'am;" answered the child, as a flush came into his pale cheeks, and rising from his chair, he stood with his head bent forward, listening intently, till the sound of Aunt Patty's voice ceased, and the opening and closing of the front-door showed that she ha...
"Heard what?" "That voice, ma'am; Miss Bessie said it was her aunt's." "But you couldn't have heard it, you know, Willie," said Bessie, "'cause you never came to this house before, and Aunt Patty never went to yours." These last words brought it all back to the blind boy. He knew now. "But she _did_," he said, eagerly,...
Mrs. Bradford and Miss Rush looked at one another with quick, surprised glances; but Bessie said, "Oh! you must be mistaken, Willie. It's quite _un_possible. Aunt Patty does not know you or your house, and she never went there. Besides, she does not"--"Does not like you to have the money," she was about to say, when sh...
But to have Jennie or Mrs. Granby see her was just what Mrs. Lawrence did not choose, and to avoid this, she had gone out, not being able to shut herself up in her own room, which was undergoing a sweeping and dusting. She had not been afraid of the sightless eyes of the little boy when she met him on the stairs, never...
"But she does talk just like the lady who came to our house," persisted Jennie. "You can see her if you have a mind to," said Maggie, "and then you'll know it is not her. Come and look over the balusters, but don't let her see you, or else she'll say, 'What are you staring at, child?'" They both ran to the head of the ...
"Let's go down and tell mamma, and see what she says," said Maggie, as the front-door closed after Aunt Patty. Away they both rushed to the parlor; but when Jennie saw the ladies, she was rather abashed and hung back a little, while Maggie broke forth with, "Mamma, I have the greatest piece of astonishment to tell you,...
"Not at all," said Mrs. Bradford, smiling at Maggie's reasoning. "The two cases are not at all alike. As you say, the dog would not let the hungry oxen eat the hay he could not use himself, but because Aunt Patty did not choose to buy the grove, we have no right to suppose she would not make, or has not made some other...
"No. If it was Aunt Patty who has been so kind, she has shown very plainly that she did not wish to be questioned, and I shall say nothing, nor must you. We will not talk about it any more now. We will wind up the musical box, and let Willie see if he likes it as well as the piano." Very soon after this, Mrs. Granby ca...
XVI. _WILLIE'S RECOVERY._ Willie seemed amazingly cheered up and amused by his visit, and told eagerly of all he had heard and noticed, with a gay ring in his voice which delighted his mother. It was not so with Jennie, although she had come home with her hands full of toys and picture-books, the gifts of the kind litt...
"Surely, you don't want to go knocking round here, playing and working in your best frock!" said Mrs. Granby. "What would it look like?" "The other one is torn," answered Jennie, pouting, and twisting herself out of Mrs. Granby's hold. "Didn't I mend it as nice as a new pin?" said Mrs. Granby, showing a patch nicely pu...
"That means you want to be dressed like little Miss Bradfords," answered Mrs. Granby. "And the reason why you ain't is because your folks can't afford it, my dearie. Don't you think your mother and me would like to see you rigged out like them, if we had the way to do it? To be sure we would. But you see we can't do mo...
Pretty soon Tommy came to Mrs. Granby with some long story told in the curious jargon of which she could not understand one word. "What does he say, Jennie?" she asked. "I don't know," answered Jennie, crossly. "I sha'n't be troubled to talk for him all the time. He is big enough to talk for himself, and he just may do...
Jennie began to cry. "Come here," said Mrs. Richards, thinking a little soothing would be better than fault-finding. "The baby is asleep; come and fix the cradle so I can put her in it." The cradle was Jennie's especial charge, and she never suffered any one else to arrange it; but now she pulled the clothes and pillow...
"I guess we think she is the nicest baby going," said Mrs. Richards, cheerfully; "and it's likely Mrs. Bradford thinks the same of hers." "I don't see why Mrs. Bradford's baby has to have a better cradle than ours," muttered Jennie. "Hers is all white muslin and pink, fixed up so pretty, and ours is old and shabby." "A...
"Jennie, Jennie," said her mother again, "I am sorry I let you go, if it was only to come home envious and jealous after the pretty things you've seen." "But haven't we just as good a right to have them as anybody else?" sobbed Jennie, with her head in her mother's lap. "Not since the Lord has not seen fit to give them...
"I don't think anything could have made you selfish or stingy, Janet Granby," said Mrs. Richards, looking gratefully at her friend. "It is a small share of this world's goods that has fallen to you, but your neighbors get the best of what does come to you." "Then there's some other reason why it wouldn't be good for me...
"For, after all, they're only the corners," said Maggie, "and maybe when she tried to bear the policeman's burden, and felt bad about the grove, that made her burden heavier, and so squeezed out her corners a little more, and they scratched her neighbors, who ought not to mind if that was the reason. But I do wish we c...
"I went to the spot where the old barn was burned down, Aunt Patty," he said. "No signs of the ruins are to be seen, as you know; but as I stood there, the whole scene came back to me as freshly as if it had happened yesterday;" and he extended his hand to Aunt Patty as he spoke. The old lady laid her own within his, a...
"I am not at all surprised," he said, "though I own that this did not occur to me, even when Richards described the old lady. It is just like Aunt Patty to do a thing in this way; and her very secrecy and her unwillingness to confess why she would not have the grove, or what she intended to do with the money, convinced...
But the poor little things were disappointed, they could scarcely tell why. If it had been mamma or Aunt Bessie who had received their presents, there would have been a great time when they were discovered. There would have been exclamations of admiration and delight and much wondering as to who could have placed them ...
"Oh!" said Mrs. Lawrence, changing her tone. "I did not understand. I am sure I thank you very much, my dears; and when you come to see me this summer, I shall show you how to do far better than this. I have a quantity of scraps and trimmings of all kinds, of which you can make very pretty things." This was intended to...
"But, mamma, do you think that was a nice way? You would not have said that to any one, and I felt as if I wanted to cry a little." Mamma had seen that her darlings were both hurt, and she felt very sorry for them, but she thought it best to make light of it, so said, cheerfully, "I am quite sure Aunt Patty was gratifi...
"Yes," said Maggie, with a long sigh, "and Aunt Patty ought to be excused. I suppose, since she was not brought up in the way she should go when she was young, she ought to be expected to depart from it when she is old. We must just make the best of it when she don't know any better, and take example of her." "Yes," sa...
Rather more than a week had gone by. Willie Richards lay on his bed in a darkened room, languid and weak, his eyes bandaged, his face paler than ever, but still cheerful and patient. It was five days since the operation had been performed, but Willie had not yet seen the light, nor was it certain that he would ever do ...
Willie drew a long, heavy breath, and was silent a moment, grasping his mother's fingers till the pressure almost pained her; then he said, low, and with a quiver in his voice, "I would try, mother; but it would be 'most too hard after all. If it could be just for a little while, just so I could see your dear face for ...
The latter, by the doctor's orders, opened the window so as to let in a little softened light, and after a few cheerful words the doctor unfastened the bandage, and uncovered the long sightless eyes. Willie was resting in his mother's arms with his head back against her shoulder, and she knew that he had turned it so t...
"Saw what, sonny?" asked his father, wishing to be sure that the child could really distinguish objects. "I saw mother's face, her dear, dear face; and I see you, too, father. Oh, God is so good! I will be such a good boy all my life. Oh, will I never have to fret to see mother's face again?" "Ahem!" said the doctor, t...
"Ho, ho!" said the doctor. "Are you going to lose your ears now you have found your eyes? I thought you knew all our voices, my fine fellow." "Oh, yes," said Willie, "I know now; it's the doctor. Doctor, was I just as patient as you wanted me to be?" "First-rate," answered the doctor; "but you must have a little more p...