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"Oh, I don't want your crying baby, nor any of your toys," said Maggie. "I only want you to promise that you won't pinch my Bessie again. Why, Mamie, you ought to be more ashamed of yourself than any girl that ever lived; her arm is all black and blue yet." "I didn't mean to hurt her so much," said Mamie, "and I was so...
"I'll just take Bessie away, and leave you to your own 'flections." "I don't know what that means," said Mamie. "I don't, either," said Maggie; "but I heard papa say it, so I said it. I like to say words that big people say. Bessie won't say a word if she don't know what it means; but I'd just as lief. I guess it means...
"I talked to him about it, but he knew before. Why, everybody knew, Mamie, because your mamma made such an awful fuss about those little slaps." Now Maggie made a mistake in saying this; she did not mean it to vex Mamie, but it did. "They were not little slaps," she said, "they were hard slaps, and they hurt; and you s...
"I'll never be cross with Maggie again," she said to herself. When Tom began to teach the second verse she whispered, "Maggie, will you kiss me and make up?" "Yes, by and by, when some of the other children are gone," said Maggie. "Why won't you do it, now?"
"I don't like to do it before them; I'm afraid they'll think I want them to see." When Tom thought the children all knew the hymn pretty well, they sang it over two or three times, and then he told them a story. After they had sung once more, he dismissed the school; for he did not want to keep them too long, lest the ...
VI. _THE POST-OFFICE_ On Monday Mr. Bradford went up to New York to attend to some business. He was to come back on Wednesday afternoon; and on the morning of that day, grandmamma sent over to know if Mrs. Bradford would like to have her carriage, and drive to the railway station to meet him. Mamma said yes; and told M...
There was a little stream which ran along by the side of the road, and at last bent itself right across it, so that the carriage had to go over a small bridge. Just beyond the bridge the stream widened into quite a large pool. James drove his horses into it, and stopped to let them take a drink. It was a lovely, shady ...
"Oh, yes! let us make haste then," said Bessie; "we mustn't make him disappointed for a million waters." But mamma said there was time enough; so they staid a few moments longer, and then drove on. At last they passed from the beautiful green wood into a space where there was no shade. There were bushes and very small ...
"Why, we don't do that in New York," said Maggie. "No, it would be too troublesome to speak to every one whom we met in the streets of a great city; and people there would think it very strange and impertinent if you bowed to them when you did not know them." "Mamma," said Maggie, "I don't like the kind of country ther...
By the time she had finished her long story they reached the Station and found that they had a few moments to wait, for it was not yet quite time for the train. There was a locomotive standing on the track, and when the horses saw it they began to prick up their ears and to dance a little; so James turned their heads a...
"Post, O double F." "O-F, of," said mamma again. "O-F, of, F-I-C-E; oh, it's the post-office. I wonder if there is a letter there for us from Grandpapa Duncan." "Perhaps there may be," said Mrs. Bradford. "I told Mr. Jones we would inquire for the letters. James, will it do for you to leave the horses?"
"I think not, ma'am," said James. "They are a little onasy yet, and if she squales they'll run." "And I cannot go because of baby," said mamma; "we must wait till papa comes." "I wish we could get our letter if it is there," said Maggie; "we could read it while we are waiting for papa." "There's a nice civil man there,...
"Oh, James," said Maggie; "I couldn't do it, not for anything. I couldn't indeed, mamma." "Well, dear, you need not, if you are afraid." "But I would like to have our letter so much, mamma." "So would I," said Bessie. "And when dear papa comes we will want to talk to him and not to yead our letter."
"Maybe it is not there," said Maggie. "But we would like to know," said Bessie. "Could I go, mamma?" "You are almost too little I think, dear." "Well," said Maggie, slowly, "I guess I'll go. Mamma, will you look at me all the time?"
"Yes, dear, and there is nothing to hurt you. Just walk in at that door, and you will see a man there. Ask him if there are any letters to go to Mr. Jones's house." "Yes, mamma, and be very sure you watch all the time." James came down from his seat and lifted Maggie from the carriage. She walked very slowly across the...
"Oh, mamma, there is a hole there, and a man put his face in it; please put me in the carriage, James." "Oh, foolish little Maggie," said mamma; "that man was the post-master, and he came to the hole as you call it, to see what you wanted. If you had waited and told him, he would have looked to see if there were any le...
"Then you may try," said her mother; "take her out, James." So Bessie was lifted out of the carriage, and went across the road as Maggie had done. She walked into the post-office and saw the hole Maggie had spoken of, but no one was looking out of it. It was a square opening cut in a wooden partition which divided the ...
The post-master looked up. "Well, you're a big one to send after a letter," he said. "Who is it for?" "For Maggie and me, and it is from Grandpapa Duncan; has it come?" "Where are you from?" asked the post-master, laughing. "From Mr. Jones's house. Oh, I forgot, mamma said I was to ask if any letters had come for Mr. J...
"Then I suppose you are Mr. Bradford's daughter?" "Yes, I am," said Bessie. "And are you the little girl who came in here just now, and ran right out again?" "Oh, no, sir; that was Maggie. Poor Maggie is shy, and she said you looked out of a hole at her."
"And you looked in a hole at me, but I did not run away. If I was to run away you could not get your letter." "Is it here, sir?" asked Bessie. "Well, I reckon it may be," said the post-master; "what's your name?" "My name is Bessie, and my sister's is Maggie."
"Here is one apiece then," said the post-master, taking up some letters. "Here is one for Miss Bessie Bradford; that's you, is it? and one for Miss Maggie Bradford, that's your sister, I reckon." "What! one for myself, and one for Maggie's self," said Bessie. "Are they from Grandpapa Duncan?" "I don't know," said the p...
"Stop, stop," cried the post-master, as Bessie jumped down from the chair, and was running off with her prizes. "Here are some more papers and letters for your folks." But Bessie did not hear him; she was already out of the door, running over to the carriage with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes, holding up a letter i...
"In a moment," said Mrs. Bradford; and then she turned to speak to the post-master, who had followed Bessie to the carriage with the papers and letters which she had been in too great a hurry to wait for. She thanked him, and he went back and stood at the door watching the eager little girls while their mother read to ...
"I went this morning to see your friend Jemmy, for I thought you would like to hear something about him. He was out in the little garden, on the shady side of the house, sitting in his chair with his books beside him, and a happier or more contented boy I never saw. He was alone, except for his dog and rabbits, for his...
Just as mama was finishing this letter, the train came in sight, and she said she must leave Bessie's letter till they were at home. In a few minutes they saw their dear father coming towards them, and a man following with his bag and a great basket. Then papa was in the carriage, and such a hugging and kissing as he t...
Maggie and Bessie looked at each other, and Maggie shook her head very knowingly; but they waited to hear what papa would say next. "I told him I thought I knew of two such young damsels, and what do you think he did then?" "What?" asked both the little girls at once. "He handed me these two parcels and told me if I co...
As Mr. Bradford spoke, he produced two parcels. Like the letters, they were directed one to Miss Maggie Bradford, and the other to Miss Bessie Bradford. They were quickly opened, and inside were two purple leather writing cases, very small, but as Bessie said, "perfaly pretty." They had steel corners and locks, and a p...
"Mamma," said Bessie, when they had looked again and again at their beautiful presents, "I do think God has made all my people the very best people that ever lived. I don't think any little girls have such people as mine." "I suppose every other little girl thinks the same thing, Bessie." "Mamma, how can they? they don...
"MY DEAR LITTLE BESSIE,-- "Maggie will tell you how much I was pleased with the letter you both sent me, but I must thank you for your share in it. Your old grandpapa is very happy to know that his little pets think about him, and care for him when they are away. I am glad to hear that you are better, and hope you will...
"Your loving grandpapa, "CHARLES DUNCAN." VII. _A NEW FRIEND._
One morning Bessie was sitting on a large rock on the beach, looking at the waves as they rolled up, one after another, and listening to the pleasant sound they made. The other children and Jane were playing a little way off. Presently a lady and gentleman came walking slowly along the beach. The gentleman used crutche...
"Thank you, dear," said the lady; and the gentleman said, "Well, you are a polite little girl." Bessie liked his looks, but it made her sorry to see that he had only one foot. She sat opposite to him looking at him very gravely; and he looked back at her, but with a smile. Now that Bessie had given up her seat to the s...
"The one that is cut off." "How can it be pretty well if it is cut off?" he said; "you see it is not here to feel pretty well." "I mean the place where it was cut off," said Bessie. "It pains me a good deal," he said. "I am a soldier, and my foot was hurt in battle and had to be cut off, but I hope it will feel better ...
"Oh, then you'll feel better, soon," said Bessie. "I used to feel very _misable_, but now I am most well." "Why, is your foot cut off, too?" asked the gentleman. "Oh, no; don't you see I have both my two?" "So you have," said the gentleman, laughing as she held up two little feet; "but there is not half as much in thos...
"I had yather have two little ones than one big one," said Bessie. "So would I, but you see I cannot choose, and all the sea air in the world will not bring me back my other foot." "Don't you like the sea, sir?" asked Bessie, "I do." "Why do you like it so much?"
"Because I like to see the waves, and I think it sounds as if it was saying something all the time." "What does it seem to say?" "I don't know, sir. I listen to it a great deal, and I can't find out, but I like to hear it for all. I think it must be telling us to yemember our Father in heaven who made it." "What a stra...
"I do not know, but she is lovely;" said the lady; "I should like to take her picture as she sits there." "What is your name, fairy?" asked the gentleman. "Bessie," said the little girl. "Bessie what?"
"Bessie Bradford." "Bessie Bradford! and what is your father's name?" "His name is Bradford, too." "But what is his first name?"
"Mr." said Bessie, gravely. The gentleman laughed. "Has he no other names?" "Oh, yes;" said Bessie, "all his names are Mr. Henry, Lane, Bradford." "I thought so," said the gentleman, "she is the very image of Helen Duncan. And where is your father, Bessie?"
"Up in the house, yeading to mamma," said Bessie, looking away from him to the lady. She was very pretty and had a sweet smile. Bessie liked her face very much and sat gazing at her as earnestly as she had before done at the gentleman who presently said, "Well, what do you think of this lady?" "I think she is very pret...
"Then what do you think about me?" "I think you are pretty 'quisitive," said the little girl, at which both the lady and gentleman laughed heartily; but Bessie looked very sober. "Will you give me a kiss, little one?" asked the stranger. "No," said Bessie, "I had yather not."
"Why, you are not afraid of me?" "Oh, no!" said Bessie, "I am not afraid of soldiers; I like them." "Then why won't you kiss me?" "I don't kiss strangers, if they're gentlemen," said Bessie.
"And that is very prudent, too," said the soldier, who seemed very much amused; "but then you see I am not quite a stranger." "Oh, what a--I mean I think you are mistaken, sir," said Bessie. "Don't tease her, dear," said the lady. "But, little Bessie," said the gentleman, "do you call people strangers who know a great ...
"No," said Bessie; "but you don't know anything about me." "Yes, I do; in the first place I know that you are a very kind and polite little girl who is ready to give up her place to a lame soldier. Next, I know that your father's name is Mr. Henry, Lane, Bradford, and that yours is Bessie Rush Bradford, and that you lo...
While the gentleman was saying all this, Bessie had slipped off her stone and come up to him, and now she was standing, with one little hand on his knee, looking up eagerly into his face. "Why, do you know the lady whom I call my Aunt Bessie?" she said. "Indeed I do; and now if you are so sorry for Aunt Bessie's brothe...
"Yes, you can," said the colonel, "you can give me a kiss, and that would help me a great deal." "Why," said Bessie, again, "do you mean that you are Colonel Yush, dear Aunt Bessie's brother?" "To be sure I am," said the colonel; "and now are you going to give me the kiss for her sake?" "Yes, sir, and for your own sake...
"Capital, we are coming on famously, and shall soon be good friends at this rate," said the colonel as he stooped and kissed the rosy little mouth which Bessie held up to him. "Will you tell me about it?" she said. "About what?" "About how you was in that country, called India, which papa says is far away over the sea,...
"Sepoys?" said the colonel. "Yes, Sepoys: how the Sepoys, who you thought were your friends, made a great fight, and killed the soldiers and put the ladies and dear little babies down a well. And how brave you was and how you was fighting and fighting not to let the Sepoys hurt some poor sick soldiers in the hospital; ...
Bessie said all this just as fast as her little tongue would go, and the colonel sat watching her with a very amused look on his face. "Upon my word, you are well posted, little one. I do not know that I could tell the story better myself; how did you learn so much?" "Oh, Aunt Bessie put it in the letters she yote to m...
"I should think so," said the colonel, laughing heartily. "Will you tell me the story?" asked Bessie. "I think I had better tell you another, since you know that so well," said Colonel Rush; "I will tell you one about a drummer boy." But just as he began the story Bessie saw her father coming towards them, and in anoth...
"Isn't she _perfaly_ lovely, papa?" asked Bessie, as Mr. Bradford took off his hat and shook hands with the lady, and she saw a pretty pink color come into her cheeks which made her look sweeter than ever. Papa looked as if he quite agreed with his little daughter, but he only smiled and said, "My Bessie speaks her min...
"If mamma will let me," said Bessie; "but I can't come _very_ often, 'cause I don't want to be away from Maggie." "Oh, Maggie must come, too," said the colonel. "Maggie is shy," said Bessie. "Well, you bring her to my room, and we will see if I have not something there that will cure her shyness."
But papa called Maggie to come and see Colonel and Mrs. Rush, and when she heard that this was the brave English soldier about whom she had made the famous play, her shyness was forgotten at once, and she was quite as ready to be friends as Bessie, though she had not much to say. "You know, Bessie," she said afterwards...
If the colonel could not come down to the shore, he was almost sure to send for Maggie and Bessie to come to his room, until it came to be quite a settled thing that they were to pass some time there every day when he did not go out, and many a pleasant hour did they spend there. He told them the most delightful and in...
_BESSIE'S LITTLE SERMON._ One afternoon when the children had gone over to the hotel to see grandmamma, a basket of fine fruit came, from Riverside. They had not been to the colonel's room for two or three days, for he had been suffering very much, and was not able to see any one. When the fruit came grandmamma put som...
"But I want to see you," said the colonel. "You can come in, darling," said Mrs. Rush; "he is better this afternoon, and would like to see you." "But I better mind grandma first; bettern't I?" said Bessie. "I'll yun and ask her, and if she'll let me, I can come back." Mrs. Rush smiled, and said, "Very well;" and the ob...
Grandmamma said, "Certainly, if the colonel wanted her." "Didn't he invite me?" said Maggie, with rather a long face. "No," said Bessie. "Would you yather I would not go? I'll stay with you, if you want me." "I guess you had better go, if he wants you," said Maggie; "but don't stay very long, Bessie; it's very sorrowfu...
"Poor Maggie," said Walter, who was standing by at the time; "it is very cruel in the colonel not to ask you. Never mind, you shall come and take care of me when I lose my foot." "Oh, no, it's me you ought to call cruel," said Maggie, in a very doleful voice; "you know I am such a fidget, Walter, and I can't help it. T...
"But what do you do without Bessie, when she goes?" said Walter; "I thought you two could not live apart." "We can't," said Maggie; "but then, you see, the colonel is a sick, lame soldier, with a foot cut off and a hole in his side; so, if he wants Bessie, I ought to make a sacrifice of myself and let her go." The boys...
The colonel laughed. "I am like the wolf in Red Riding-Hood; am I not, Bessie?" he said. "No," she answered, "not a bit; you are just like my own dear soldier, only I wish you did not look so white." "I think he will look better to-morrow, Bessie," said Mrs. Rush. "He has suffered terribly the last two days; but he is ...
At last she whispered, "If he dies, he'll go to heaven, 'cause he's so very brave and good; wont he?" Mrs. Rush did not speak, but Bessie did not need any answer. She was quite sure in her own mind; for she never imagined that this brave soldier did not love his Saviour. "He could not be so brave and good if he did not...
"Were you asleep, Horace?" she asked. "No," he said, rather crossly, and moving his head impatiently; "I wish you would take her away." Mrs. Rush was glad that Bessie did not hear him; she knew that this would have grieved her. She lifted the little darling in her arms, and carried her across the floor to her grandmamm...
Mrs. Stanton asked her to lay Bessie on the bed. She did so, and then bent over her for a moment, and when she raised her head, Mrs. Stanton saw how very pale and sad her sweet face was. "What is it, my child?" asked the kind old lady, taking her hand. Mrs. Rush burst into tears. "Is your husband worse? Do you think hi...
"My poor child! and is it so?" said grandmamma. "Yes, yes, and he will not hear a word on the subject; he has forbidden me to mention it to him. And if he would let me, I do not know how to teach him. I am only a beginner myself. These things are all so new to me; for it was not until I feared that I was to lose him th...
_FAITH._ "Nursey," said Bessie, the next morning, as nurse was putting on her shoes and stockings, after giving her her bath, "I can't think how it is." "How what is, dear?" "About the Trinity."
"Well!" said nurse. "The Trinity! and what put that into your head?" "It's not in my head," said Bessie; "I can't get it there. I try and try to think how it can be, and I can't. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons and one God," she repeated, slowly; "how can it be, nursey? I know the Father means our Father in ...
"What are you thinking about, Bessie?" asked the colonel that afternoon, when she was in his room. He was much better, and was sitting up in his easy-chair. "What is faith?" asked Bessie, answering his question by another, and turning her great serious, brown eyes on his face. The colonel looked surprised. "Faith?" he ...
"When you first went in bathing," said the colonel, "did you not feel afraid?" "No, sir," answered Bessie. "Why not? Did you not fear that those great waves would wash you away and drown you?" "No, sir; before I went in, I thought I would be very 'fraid; but papa said he would carry me in his arms, and wouldn't let me ...
"And did you believe him?" "Why, yes," answered Bessie, opening her eyes very wide at this question; "my father don't tell stories." "And you were not afraid when he carried you in his arms?" "No, sir."
"That was faith,--faith in your father. You believed what he told you, and trusted in his care." Bessie still looked puzzled. "Well," said the colonel, "don't you understand yet?" "I don't know how it is about things," said the little girl.
"What things?" "Things that I don't know how they can be." "Do you mean, Bessie," said Mrs. Rush, "that you do not know how to have faith in what you do not understand?" "Yes, ma'am."
"See here, little old head on young shoulders," said the colonel, drawing Bessie closer to him, and seeming much amused, "when I told you that this box would make sweet music, did you believe me?" "Yes, sir." "Did you understand how it could?" "No, sir."
"Do you know what this paper-knife is made of?" "No, sir." "It is made of the shell of a fish; do you believe it?" "Why, yes," answered Bessie.
"But you did not see it made; how can you believe it?" "'Cause you tell me so." "Well, then, that is faith; you believe what I say, even when you cannot understand how it is, because you trust me, or have faith in me, for you know I never tell you anything that is not true. If I sometimes told you what is false, you co...
"Indeed, I would not, my pet," he said, smiling, and twisting one of her curls over his finger. She stood for a few minutes, as if thinking over what he had told her, and then, her whole face lighting up, she said, "Oh, yes, I know now! I believe what papa tells me when he says he'll take care of me, 'cause he always t...
"And what do you think about it, Bessie?" "Why," said Bessie, holding up her little finger, "don't you know I have a silver three cent piece? Well, there's three pennies in it--mamma said so,--but it's only one piece of money, and I suppose it's somehow that way about three Persons in one God,--Father, Son, and Holy Gh...
"Oh, nobody," said Bessie, innocently; "I just thinked it; maybe it is not yight. I couldn't ask mamma about it all day, 'cause she was busy, or some one came to see her; and I don't like to ask her things when somebody is there." Mrs. Rush looked out of the window by which she sat, and seemed to be watching the sea; a...
"Oh, I mean in our Father," she said. "I should think you'd have more faith than 'most anybody, 'cause he took such good care of you in the battles." "What?" said the colonel, "when my leg was shot off?" Bessie did not know whether he was in earnest or not, but she did not think it was a thing to joke about, and he did...
"I was very thankful when I heard my men coming, Bessie; but I was too weak to think much," said the colonel. "Come, let us wind the box and have some music; hand me that key." "But you think a great deal about it when you don't feel so bad; don't you?" persisted the child, as she gave him the key of the musical box. "...
The colonel stopped short, then taking up the paper-cutter, began tapping the table in a very impatient manner. "I am sick of the whole thing," he said; "there seems to be no end to it. Wife, sister, and friend, from the parson to the baby, every one has something to say on the same subject. I tell you I will have no m...
"Did I talk too much?" asked Bessie. "I did not mean to tease him." "See that steamship coming in, Bessie," said Mrs. Rush, in a voice that shook a little. "I think it must be the 'Africa,' which is to bring Gracie Howard's father. Will she not be glad to see him?" "Yes," said Bessie; but she did not look at the steame...
"Are you tired, dear?" asked Mrs. Rush. "No," said Bessie, "but I'm so uncomf'able. I think I had yather go to mamma in grandmamma's yoom." Mrs. Rush put her down, and was leading her away, but when they reached the door, Bessie drew her hand from hers and ran back to the colonel. "I am sorry I teased you," she said. "...
"You was not so very cross," she said, patting his cheek lovingly with her little hand. "Sick, lame people can't be patient all the time, and I do talk too much sometimes; mamma says I do. Next time I come, I'll be so quiet." Then she ran back to Mrs. Rush, who took her to her grandmamma's room and left her at the door...
"Yes," said Bessie; "I teased the colonel." "Oh!" said Maggie, "did you slam the door?" "No, I talked about what he didn't like," said Bessie, with a quivering lip; "I talked about that night, and it teased him. I didn't know he didn't like to hear about it, mamma. I s'pose it's because he suffered so much he don't lik...
Bessie could not remember all, but she told enough to let her mother see what had displeased the colonel. But Mrs. Bradford did not tell her little girl, for she knew it would distress her very much to know that the brave soldier of whom she was so fond did not like to be reminded, even by a little child, of his debts ...
_THE SICK BABY._ One night the dear little baby was very sick. Bessie woke many times, and as often as she did so, she found that nurse had not come to bed, and when she looked through the open door which led into her mother's room, she saw either her father or mother walking up and down with the baby, trying to hush h...
When they went back to the house, Jane left the little girls sitting on the door-step, while she took Franky in to give him his supper. It was a very quiet, lovely evening. The sun had gone down, but it was not dark yet. The sky was very blue, and a few soft gray clouds, with pink edges, were floating over it. Down on ...
"Maggie," whispered Bessie, "what does she mean?" "The bad, hateful thing!" answered Maggie, with a sudden burst of crying; "she means our baby is going to die. She wouldn't like any one to say that of her Susie, and I don't believe it a bit. Bessie, I can't bear her if she does make us cookies and turnovers. I like Mr...
"Perhaps he thinks our baby is the sweetest," said Bessie. "I know she is the sweetest," said Maggie, "but that's all the more reason we want her ourselves. She is so little and so cunning; I think she grows cunninger and cunninger every day. Day before yesterday she laughed out loud when I was playing with her, and pu...
"Oh! let us stay out here," answered Bessie, "there's such a beautiful sky up there. Perhaps Jesus is just there looking at us, and maybe he could hear us a little sooner out here. Nobody will see us." They knelt down together by the seat on the porch. "You say it, Bessie," said Maggie, who was still sobbing very hard....
"We don't know," said Maggie; "nobody came down this ever so long." "Go up and see, Midget." "Oh! I can't, Harry," said Maggie. "I don't want to see that strange look on baby's face." "Then you go, Bessie," said Harry; "my shoes make such a noise, and you move just like a little mouse. You wont disturb them."
Bessie went up stairs and peeped in at the door of her mother's room. There was no one there but papa and mamma and the baby. Papa was walking up and down the room with his arms folded, looking very sad and anxious, and mamma sat on a low chair with baby on her lap. The little thing lay quiet now, with its eyes shut an...
"Please don't cry, mamma," said the little girl; "I did not mean to make you cry. Shall I ask Jesus to take me, too, if he takes the baby?" "No, no, my darling, ask him to leave you, that you may be your mother's little comforter, and pray that he may spare your sister too." "And if he cannot, mamma?" "Then that he may...
"Yes," said Bessie, "and I suppose if he takes her, he will carry her in his arms just as he is carrying the lambs in the picture of the Good Shepherd in our nursery. We need not be afraid he wont take good care of her; need we, mamma?" "No, darling," said Mrs. Bradford, "we need not fear to give her to his care, and m...
"Yes, papa," said Bessie, thinking he meant the baby, "and Maggie and I will say another prayer about her to-night; and I keep thinking little prayers about her all the time, and that's just the same, papa; isn't it?" "Yes, my darling," said her father; and then he put her down and stood and watched her as she went dow...
[Footnote B: Almost the exact words of a very lovely child of a friend of the writer.] XI. _THE HAPPY CIRCUMSTANCE._ The next morning, when Bessie woke up, it was very quiet in the nursery. She lay still a moment, wondering what it was that had troubled her last night; and just as she remembered about the baby, she hea...
"Maggie," said Bessie, "has the baby gone to heaven?" "No," said Maggie, "and I don't believe she's going just yet. Our own doctor came in the night, and she's a great deal better; and now she's fast asleep." "And don't you feel glad then?" "Oh, yes! I am real glad of _that_," said Maggie.
"Then why don't you look glad? What is the matter?" "I can't find my clo'," said Maggie, in a fretful tone. "What clo'?" "Why, my sock."
"Why don't nurse or Jane find it for you?" asked Bessie. "I can't wait," said Maggie; "I want it now; nurse is holding baby because mamma has gone to sleep too, and Jane has taken Franky to Harry's room to dress him, because she was afraid he would make a noise; and she said if I put on my shoes and socks, and all the ...
"Why, it would not fit him!" said Bessie. "Well, I guess he has a bad little robber girl of his own that he has taken it to," said Maggie. "Anyhow, she'll be bare one foot, and I'm glad of it." Bessie sat up in the bed and looked around the room. "I see a pair of clean socks over there on your petticoats," she said. "S...