 Section 4 of the Junior Classics, Volume 6, Old-Fashioned Tales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Brooke Favorite, www.alongsidemom.com. The Junior Classics, Volume 6, Old-Fashioned Tales, Section 4. The Private Theatricals by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney Saturday was a day of hammering, basting, draping, dressing, rehearsing, running from room to room. Upstairs in Mrs. Greens Garrett, Leslie Goldthwaite and Dachie Thane, with a third party never before introduced upon the stage, had a private practicing, and at tea-time, when the Great Hall was cleared, they got up there with Sin Saxon and Frank Sherman, locked the doors, and in costume, with regular accompaniment of Bell and Curtain, the performance was repeated. Dachie Thane was stage manager and curtain-polar. Sin Saxon and Frank Sherman represented audience, with clapping and stamping and laughter that suspended both, making as nearly the noise of two hundred as two could. This being an essential part of the rehearsal, in respect to the untried nerves of the deputant, which might easily be a little uncertain. He stands fire like a Yankee veteran. It's inimitable, said Sin Saxon, wiping the moist merriment from her eyes, and your cap, Leslie, and that bonnet, and this unutterable old oddity of a gown, who did contrive it all, and where did they come from? You'll carry off the glory of the evening. It ought to be the last. No indeed, said Leslie, Barbara Freitchie must be last, of course, but I'm so glad you think it will do. I hope they'll be amused. Amused if you could only see your own face. I see Sir Charles's, and that makes mine. The new performer you perceive was an actor with a title. That night's coach, driving up while the dress rehearsal of the other tableau was going on at the hall, brought Cousin Delight to the Green Cottage, and Leslie met her at the door. Sunday morning was a pause and rest and hush of beauty and joy. They sat, Delight and Leslie, by their open window, where the smell of the lately harvested hay came over from the wide, sun-shiny entrance of the Great Barn, and away beyond stretch the pine woods, and the hills swelled near in dusky evergreen and indigo shadows, and lessened far down toward Winnipeciogi, to where faint and tender and blue the outline of Little Ossopy peeped in between great shoulders so modestly, seen only through the clearest air on days like this. Leslie's little table, with fresh white cover, held evasive ferns and white convolveless, and beside this Cousin Delight's two books that came out always from the top of her trunk, her Bible, and her little daily food. Today the verses from old and new Testaments were these. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time. They had to talk about the first, the steps, the little details, not merely the general trend and final issue, if indeed these could be directed without the other. You always make me see things, Cousin Delight, Leslie said. It is very plain, Delight answered, if people only would read the Bible as they read even a careless letter from a friend, counting each word of value, and searching for more meaning and fresh inference to draw out the most. One word often answers great doubts and askings that have troubled the world. Afterward they walked round by a still wood-path under the ledge to the North Village, where there was a service. It was a plain little church with unpainted pews, but the windows looked forth upon a green mountainside and whispers of oaks and pines and river music crept in, and the breath of sweet water lilies heaped in a great bowl upon the communion table of common-stained cherry wood loaded up and filled the place. The minister, a quiet, grey-haired man, stayed his foot an instant at that simple altar before he went up the few steps to the desk. He had a sermon in his pocket from the text, the hairs of your head are all numbered. He changed it at the moment in his mind, and when presently he rose to preach, gave forth in a tone touched through the fresh presence of that reminding beauty, with the very spontaneousness of the master's own saying, consider the lilies, and then he told them of God's momently thought and care. There were scattered strangers from various houses among the simple rural congregation, walking home through the pines again, Delight and Leslie and Dachie Thane found themselves preceded and followed along the narrow way. Sin Saxon and Frank Sherman came up and joined them when the wider openings permitted. Two persons just in front were commenting upon the sermon. Very fair for a country parson, said a tall, elegant-looking man, whose broad intellectual brow was touched by dark hair slightly frosted, and whose lip had the curve that betokens self-reliance and strong decision. Very fair, all the better for not flying too high. Narrow, of course, he seems to think the Almighty has nothing grander to do than to finger every little cog of the tremendous machinery of the universe, that he measures out the ocean of his purposes as we drop a liquid from a file. To me it seems belittling the infinite. I don't know whether it is littleness or greatness, Robert, that must escape minutiae, said his companion, apparently his wife. If we could reach to the particles, perhaps we might move the mountains. We never agree upon this, Margie. We won't begin again. To my mind the grand plan of things was settled ages ago. The impulses generated that must needs work on. For knowledge and intention doubtless, in that sense the hairs were numbered, but that there is a special direction and interference today for you and me. Well, we won't argue, as I said, but I never can conceive it so, and I think a wider look at the world brings a question to all such primitive faith. The speakers turned down a sideway with this, leaving the ledge path and their subject to our friends, only to their thoughts at first, but presently cousin Delight said in a quiet tone to Leslie. That doesn't account for the steps, does it? I'm glad it can't, said Leslie. Dachy Thane turned a look toward Leslie, as if he would gladly know of what she spoke. A look in which a kind of gentle reverence was strangely mingled with the open friendliness. I cannot easily indicate to you the sort of feeling with which the boy had come to regard this young girl. But above him in years and thought and in the attitude which true womanhood, young or old, takes toward man. He had no sisters, he had been intimately associated with no girl-companions, he had lived with his brother and an uncle and a young aunt Rose. Leslie Goldwaite's kindness had drawn him into the sphere of a new and powerful influence, something different in thought and purpose, from the apparent unthought about her. And this lifted her up in his regard and enshrined her with a sort of pure sanctity. He was sometimes really timid before her, in the midst of his frank chivalry. I wish you'd tell me, he said suddenly, falling back with her as the path narrowed again. What are the steps? It was at first we found this morning, cousin Delight and I, Leslie answered, and as she spoke the color came up full in her cheeks and her voice was a little shy and tremulous. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, that one word seemed to make one certain. Steps, not path nor the end of it, but all the way. Somehow she was quite out of breath as she finished. Meantime, Sin Saxon and Frank had got with Miss Goldwaite and were talking too. Said spinning, they heard Sin Saxon say, and then let go. That was his idea. Well, only it seems to me there's been a special pains taken to show us it can't be done. Or else why don't they find out perpetual motion? Everything stops after a while. Unless—I can't talk theologically, but I mean all right—you hit it again. You've a way of your own of putting things, as an ath, said Frank Sherman, with a glance that beamed kindly and admiringly upon her and her way. But you've put that clear to me as nobody else ever did, a proof set in the very laws themselves, momentum that must lessen and lose itself with the square of the distance the machinery, Cavill, won't do. Wheels, but a living spirit within the wheels, said cousin Delight. Every instant a fresh impulse, to think of it so, makes it real, Miss Goldwaite, and grand and awful, the young man spoke with a strength in the clear voice that could be so light and gay. And tender, too, thou laest thine hand upon me, said Delight Goldwaite. Sin Saxon was quiet, her own thought coming back upon her with a reflective force, and a thrill at her heart at Frank Sherman's words. Had these two only planned Tableau and danced Germans together before? Dackey Thane walked on by Leslie Goldwaite's side. In his happy content touched with something higher and brighter through that instant's approach and confidence. If I were to write down his thought as he walked, it would be with phrase and distinction peculiar to himself and to the boy mind. It's the real thing with her. It don't make a fellow squirm like a pin put out at a caterpillar. She's good, but she isn't pious. This was the Sunday that lay between the busy Saturday and Monday. It is always so wherever cousin Delight is, Leslie Goldwaite said to herself, comparing it with other Sundays that had gone. Yet she, too, for weeks before, by the truth that had come into her own life and gone out from it, had been helping to make these moments possible. She had been shown upon, and had put forth, henceforth, she should scarcely know when the fruit was ripening or sowing itself anew, or the good and gladness of it were at human lips. She was in Mrs. Linsford's room on Monday morning, putting high velvet-covered corks to the heels of her slippers, when sin Saxon came over hurriedly and tapped at the door. Could you be two old women? she asked the instant Leslie opened. Geneva Rathorsby has given out. She says it's her cold, that she doesn't feel equal to it, but the amount of it is—she got her chill with the Shannon's going away so suddenly, and the Amy Robsert and Queen Elizabeth picture being dropped. There was nothing else to put her in, and so she won't be Barbara. Won't be Barbara Friedshe! cried Leslie with an astonishment as if it had been Angelhood refused. No, Barbara Friedshe is only an old woman in a cap and kerchief, and she just puts her head out of a window. The flag is the whole of it, Geneva Rathorsby says. May I do it? Do you think I can be different enough in the two? Will there be time? Leslie questioned eagerly. We'll change the programme and put taking the oath between. The caps can be different, and you can powder your hair for one, and would it do to ask Miss Cradoch for a front for the other? Sin Saxon had grown delicate in her feeling for the dear old friend whose hair had once been golden. I'll tell her about it and ask her to help me contrive. She'll be sure to think of anything that can be thought of. Only there's the dance afterward, and you had so much more costume for the other, Sin Saxon said demeringly. Never mind, I shall be Barbara, and Barbara wouldn't dance, I suppose. Mother Hubbard would marvelously. Never mind, Leslie answered again, laying down the little slipper finished. She don't care what she is so that she helps along, Sin Saxon said of her, rejoining the others in the hall. I'm ashamed of myself and all the rest of you beside her. Now make yourselves as fine as you please. We must pass over the hours as only stories and dreams do, and put ourselves, at ten o'clock that night, behind the green curtain and the footlights, in the blaze of the three rows of bright lamps, that one above the other poured their illumination from the left upon the stage, behind the wide picture frame. Susan Jocelyn and Frank Sherman were just posed for consolation. They had given Susan this part, after all, because they wanted Martha for taking the oath afterward. Leslie Goldwaite was giving a hasty touch to the tent drapery and the gray blanket. Leonard Brookhouse and Dachie Thane manned the halyards for raising the curtain. There was the usual scuttling about the stage for hasty clearance, and Sin Saxon's hand was on the bell, when Graham Lowe sprang hastily in through the dressing-room upon the scene. Hold on a minute, he said to Brookhouse. Miss Saxon, General Ingleside, and Party are over at Greens. Been there since nine o'clock. Oughtn't we to send compliments of something before we finish up? Then there was a pressing forward and an excitement. The wounded soldier sprang from his couch. The nun came nearer, with a quick light in her eye. Leslie Goldwaite in her mob cap, quilted petticoat, big-flowered calico-train, and high-heeled shoes, two or three super-numeraries, in rebel gray with bayonets, coming on in Barbara Fritchie, and Sir Charles bouncing out from somewhere behind, to the great hazard of the frame of lights, huddled together upon the stage and consulted. Dachie Thane had dropped his cord and almost made a rush off at the first announcement, but he stood now with a repressed eagerness that trembled through every fiber, and waited. Would he come? Isn't it too late? Would it be any compliment? Would it be rude not to? All the patriotic pieces are just coming. Will the audience like to wait? Make a speech and tell him, you Brookhouse. Oh, he must come! Barbara Fritchie and the flag, just think! Isn't it grand? Oh, I'm so frightened! These were the hurried sentences that made the buzz behind the scenes, while in front all the world wondered. Meanwhile, lamps trembled, the curtain vibrated, the very framework swayed. What is it? Fire? queried a nervous voice from near the footlights. This won't do, said Frank Sherman. Speak to them, Brookhouse. Dachie Thane run over to Greens and say, the ladies compliments to General Ingleside and friends and beg the honour of their presence at the concluding tableau. Dachie was off with a glowing face, something like an odd knowing smile twinkling out from the glow also, as he looked up at Sherman and took his orders. All this while he had said nothing. Leonard Brookhouse made his little speech, received with applause and a cheer. Then they quieted down behind the scenes, and a rustle and buzz began in front. Kept up for five minutes or so in gentle fashion, till two gentlemen in plain clothes walked quietly in at the open door, at sight of whom, with instinctive certainty, the whole assembly rose. Leslie Goldthwaite, peeping through the folds of the curtain, saw a tall, grand-looking man in what may be called the Youth of Middle Age. Every inch a soldier, bowing as he was ushered forward to a seat vacated for him, and followed by one younger, who modestly ignored the notice intended for his chief. Dachie Thane was making his way, with eyes alight and excited, down a side passage to his post. Then the two actors hurried once more into position. The stage was cleared by a whispered preemptory order. The bell rung once, the tent trembling with someone whisking further out of sight behind it. Twice, and the curtain rose upon, consolation. Lovely as the picture is, it was lovelier in the living tableau. There was something deep and intense in the pale calm of Susan Joslin's face, which they had not counted on even when they discovered that hers was the very face for the sister. Something made you thrill at the thought of what those eyes would show if the downcast, quiet lids were raised. The earnest gaze of the dying soldier met more perhaps in its uplifting. For Frank Sherman had a look in this instant of enacting that he had never got before in all his practicings. The picture was too real for applause. Almost it suddenly seemed for representation. Don't I know that face, Noel? General Ingleside asked in a low tone of his companion. Instead of answering at once, the younger man bent further forward toward the stage and his own very plain, broad, honest face full over against the downcast one of the sister of mercy took upon itself that force of magnetic expression which makes a look felt even across a crowd of other glances as if there were but one straight line of vision and that between such two. The curtain was going slowly down, the veiling lids trembled, and the paleness replaced itself with a slow mounting flush of colour over the features still held motionless. They let the cords run more quickly then. She was getting tired, they said. The curtain had been up too long. Be that as it might, nothing could persuade Susan Jocelyn to sit again and consolation could not be repeated. So then came Mother Hubbard and her dog, the slow old lady and the knowing beast that was always getting one step ahead of her. The possibility had occurred to Leslie Goldthwaite as she and Dachie Thane amused themselves one day with Captain Green's sagacious Sir Charles Grandesson, handsome black spaniel, whose trained accomplishment was to hold himself patiently in any posture in which he might be placed until the word of release was given. You might stand him on his hind legs with paws folded on his breast, you might extend him on his back with helpless legs in air, you might put him in any attitude possible to be maintained and maintain it he would faithfully until the signal was made. From this prompting came the illustration of Mother Hubbard. Also Leslie Goldthwaite had seized the hidden suggestion of application and hinted it in certain touches of costume and order of performance. Nobody would think, perhaps, at first, that the striped scarlet and white petticoat under the tucked-up train or the common print apron of dark blue figured with innumerable little white stars meant anything beyond the ordinary adjuncts of a traditional old woman's dress. But when in the second scene the bonnet went on, an ancient marvel of exasperated front and crown pitched over the forehead like an enormous helmet and decorated upon the side next to the audience with black and white eagle plumes spreading straight up from the fastening of an American shield. Above all, when the dog himself appeared dressed in his clothes, a cane, an all-round white collar and a natty little tie, a pair of three-dollar tasseled kid gloves dangling from his left paw and a small monitor hat and a red eagle stuck above the brim, the remaining details of costume being of no consequence. When he stood, reading the news from a huge bulletin, latest by Cable from Europe, nobody could mistake the personification of old and young America. It had cost much pains and many dainty morsels to drill Sir Charles with all the aid of his excellent fundamental education, and the great fear had been that he might fail them at the last, ever rapid in consideration of canine infirmity. If the cupboard was empty, Mother Hubbard's basket behind was not. He got his morsels duly and the audience was requested to refrain from applause until the end. Refrain from laughter they could not as the idea dawned upon them and developed. But Sir Charles was used to that in the execution of his ordinary tricks. He could hardly have done without it better than any other old actor. A dog knows when he is having his day to say nothing of doing his duty and these things are as sustaining to him as to anybody. This state of his mind, manifest in his air, helped also to complete the young America expression. Mother Hubbard's mingled consternation and pride at each successive achievement of her astonishing puppy were inimitable. Each separate illustration made its point. Patriotism, especially, came in when the undertaker, bearing the paw with red-lettered border, rebellion, finds the dog with upturned knowing eye and parted jaws. Suggestive as much of a good grip as a laughter, half risen upon four paws, as far from dead as ever, mounting guard over the old bone constitution. The curtain fell at last amid peals of applause and calls for the actors. Dachy Thane had accompanied with the reading of the ballad, slightly transposed and adapted. As Leslie led Sir Charles before the curtain, in response to the continued demand he added the concluding stanza. The dame made a courtesy, the dog made a bow. The dame said your servant, the dog said bow wow. Which with a suppressed speak sir from Frank Sherman was brought properly to pass. Done with cleverness and quickness from beginning to end and taking the audience utterly by surprise, Leslie's little combination of wit and sagacity had been throughout a signal success. The actors crowded round her. With it, capital, a great hit, they exclaimed. Mother Hubbard is the star of the evening, said Leonard Brookhouse. No indeed returned Leslie, patting Sir Charles' head. This is the dog-star. Rather a serious reflection upon the rest of us rejoined Brookhouse, shrugging his shoulders as he walked off to take his place in the oath and Leslie disappeared to make ready for Barbara Freitchie. Several persons before and behind the curtain were making up their minds just now to a fresh opinion. There was nothing so very slow or tame after all about Leslie Goldthwaite. Several others had known that long ago. Taking the oath was peckent and spirited. The touch of restive scorn that could come out on Martha Joslin's face just suited her part and Leonard Brookhouse was very cool and courteous and handsome and gentlemanly triumphant as the Union officer. Barbara Freitchie was grand. Graham Lowe played Stonewall Jackson. They had improvised a pretty bit of scenery at the back with a few sticks, some paint, brown carpet paper and a couple of mosquito-bars, a Dutch gable with a lattice window, vines trained up over it and bushes below. It was a moving tableau enacted to the reading of Whittier's glorious ballad. Only an old woman in a cap and kerchief putting her head out at a garret window. That was all, but the fire was in the young eyes under the painted wrinkles and the snowy hair. The arm stretched itself out quick and bravely at the very instant of the pistol shot that startled timid ears. One skillful movement detached and seized the staff in its apparent fall and the liberty-colors flashed full in rebel faces as the broken lower fragment went clattering to the stage. All depended on the one instant action and expression. These were perfect. The very spirit of Barbara stirred her representative. The curtain began to descend slowly and the applause broke forth before the reading ended. But a hand, held up, hushed it till the concluding lines were given in thrilling tones as the tableau was covered from sight. Barbara Fritchie's work is o'er and the rebel rides on his raids no more. Honor to her and let a tear fall for her sake on Stonewall's beer. Over Barbara Fritchie's grave flag of freedom and union wave peace and order and beauty draw round thy symbol of light and law. And ever the stars above look down on thy stars below in Fredericktown. Then one great cheer broke forth and was prolonged to three. Not be Barbara Fritchie Leslie would have missed that thrill for the finest beauty part of all for the applause. That was for the flag, of course, as Geneva Thorsby said. The benches were slid out at a window upon a lower roof. The curtain was looped up and the footlights carried away. The music came up and took possession of the stage, and the audience hall resolved itself into a ballroom. Under the chandelier, in the middle, a tableau not set forth in the program was rehearsed and added a few minutes after. Mrs. Thorsby, of course, had been introduced to the general. Mrs. Thorsby, with her bright, full grey curls and her handsome figure, stood holding him in conversation between introductions, graciously waving her privilege as newcomers claimed their modest word. Mrs. Thorsby took possession had praised the tableau as quite creditable, really, considering the resources we had and was following a slight lead into a long talk of information and advice on her part about Dixville Notch. The general thought he should go there after a day or two at Outledge. Just here came up Dackey Thane. The actors in costume were gradually mingling among the audience and Barbara Frachy in white hair, from which there was not time to remove the powder, plain cap and kerchief and brown woollen gown with her silken flag yet in her hand came with him. This boy, who was always everywhere, made no hesitation, but walked straight up to the central group, taking Leslie by the hand. Close to the general, he waited courteously for a long sentence of Mrs. Thorsby's to be ended, and then said simply, Uncle James, this is my friend Miss Leslie Goldthwaite. My brother, Dr. Ingleside. Why, where's Noel? Dr. Oliver Ingleside had stepped out of the circle in the last half of the long sentence. The sister of Mercy, no longer in costume, however, had come down the little flight of steps that led from the stage to the floor. At their foot the young army surgeon was shaking hands with Susan Jocelyn. These two had had the chest practice together and other practice down there among the southern hospitals. Mrs. Thorsby's face was very like some fabric subjected to chemical experiment and one color and aspect had been suddenly and utterly discharged to make room for something different and new. Between the first and last there waits a blank. With this blank full upon her she stood there for one brief, unprecedented instant in her life, a figure without presence or effect. I have seen a daguerreotype in which were cap, hair, and collar quite correct. What should have been a face rubbed out? Mrs. Thorsby rubbed herself out and so performed her involuntary tableau. Of course I might have guessed I wonder it never occurred to me Mrs. Linsford was replying presently to her vacuous inquiry. The name seemed familiar too only he called himself Dackey. I remember perfectly now old Jacob Thane, the Chicago millionaire he married pretty little Mrs. Ingleside the Illinois representative's widow that first winter I was in Washington why Dackey must be a dollar prince. He was just Dackey Thane though for all that he and Leslie and Cousin Delight the Joslins and the Inglesides dear Miss Cradoch, hurrying up to congratulate Marmaduke Warren looking on without a shade of cynicism in the gladness of his face and sin Saxon and Frank Sherman flitting up in the pauses of dance and promenade well after all these were the central group that night the pivot of the little solar system was changed but the chief planets made but slight account of that they just felt that it had grown old chicken little, Mrs. Linsford cried to Leslie Goldwaite giving her a small shake with her good night kiss at her door how did you know this guy was going to fall and how have you let us all this chase to cheat fox-locks at last but that wasn't the way chicken little looked at it she didn't care much for the bit of dramatic danyumon that had come about by accident like a story Eleanor said or the touch of poetic justice that tickled Mrs. Linsford's world-instructed sense of fun. Dackey Thane wasn't a sum that needed proving it was very nice that this famous general should be his uncle but not at all strange they were just the sort of people he must belong to and it was nicest of all that Dr. Ingleside and Susan Jocelyn should have known each other in the glory of their lives she phrased it to herself with a little flash of girl enthusiasm and a vague suggestion of romance why didn't you tell us Mrs. Linsford said to Dackey Thane next morning everybody would have she stopped she could not tell this boy to his frank face that everybody would have thought more and made more of him because his uncle had got brave stars on his shoulders and his father had died leaving two million or so of dollars I know they would have said Dackey Thane that was just it what is the use of telling things I'll wait till I've done something that tells itself there was a pretty general break-up at Outledge during the week following the tableaus were the finale of this particular little episode at least which grew out of the association together of these personages of our story there might come a later set and later doings but this last week of August since the mere summer birds fluttering Madame Ruth must be back in New York to prepare for the reopening of her school Mrs. Linsford had letters from her husband proposing to meet her by the first in and so the Hattons would be off the Thorsbees had stayed as long as they cared to in any one place where there seemed no special inducement General Ingleside was going through the mountains to Dixville Notch Rose Ingleside, bright and charming as her name just a fit flower to put beside our ladies delight finding out at once as all girls and women did her sweetness and leaning more and more to the rare and delicate sphere of her quiet attraction Oliver and Dackey Thane these were his family party but there came to be question about Leslie and Delight would not they make six and since Mrs. Linsford and her sisters must go it seemed so exactly the thing for them to fall into otherwise Miss Goldwaite's journey hither would hardly seem to have been worthwhile early September was so lovely among the hills opportunities for a party to Dixville Notch would not come every day in short Dackey had set his heart upon it Rose begged the general was as pressing as true politeness would allow and it was settled only since Saxon said suddenly on being told I should like if you would tell me General Ingleside the precise military expression synonymous with taking the wind out of one's sails because that's just what you've done for me my dear Miss Saxon in what way invited my party some of them and taken my road that's all I spoke first though I didn't speak out loud see here and she produced a letter from her mother received that morning observe the date if you please August 24 your letter reached me yesterday and it had traveled round as usual two days in Papa's pocket beside I always allow for that I quite approve your plan provided as you say the party be properly matronized I hmm hmm that refers to little explanations of my own well all is I was going to do this very thing with enlargements why when with you and your enlargements we might make the most admirable combination at least the Dixville road is open to all very kind of you to say so the first part I mean if you could possibly have helped it but there are insurmountable obstacles on that Dixville road to us there's a lion in the way don't you see we should be like the little ragged boys running after the soldier company we couldn't think of putting ourselves in that bony light especially before the eyes of Mrs. Grundy this last as Mrs. Thorsby swept impressively along the piazza in full dinner costume unless you go first and we run after you suggested the general all the same you talked Dixville to her the very first evening you know no nobody can have an original Dixville idea anymore and I've been asking them the Jawslands and Mr. Wornanall and was just coming to the Goldweights and now I've got them on my hands and I don't know where in the world to take them that comes of keeping an inspiration to ripen well it's a lesson of wisdom only as Effie says about her housekeeping the two dearest things in living are butter and experience amidst laughter and banter and repartee they came to it of course the most delightful combination and joint arrangement two wagons, the generals and Dr. Ingleside's two saddle horses Frank Sherman's little mountain mare that climbed like a cat who were footed as a chemois these with a side saddle for the use of a lady sometimes upon the last make up the general equipment of the expedition all Mrs. Grundy knew was that they were wonderfully merry and excited together until this plan came out as the upshot the Jawslands had not quite consented at once though their faces were bright with a most thankful appreciation of the kindness that offered them such a pleasure nay that entreated their companionship as a thing so genuinely coveted to make its own pleasure complete somehow when the whole plan developed there was a little sudden shrinking on Sue's part perhaps on similar grounds to sin Saxon's perception of insurmountable obstacles but she was shyer than sin of putting forth her objections and the general zeal and delight and Martha's longing look unconscious of cause why not carried the day there had never been a blither setting off from the giant's cairn all the remaining guests were gathered to see them go there was not a moat in the blue air between Outledge and the crest of Washington all the subtle strength of the hills oars and sweet waters and resinous perfumes and breath of healing leaf and root distilled to absolute purity in the clear ether that only sweeps from such bare, thunder-scoured summits made up the exhilarant draft in which they drank the mountain joy and received afar off its baptism of delight it was beautiful to see the Jawslands so girlish and gay it was lovely to look at old Miss Craydock with her little tremors of pleasure and the sudden glistenings in her eyes sin Saxon's pretty face was clear and noble with its pure impulse of kindness and her fun was like a sparkle upon deep waters Daggy Fane rushed about in a sort of general satisfaction which would not let him be quiet anywhere outsiders looked with a kind of new half-jealous respect on these privileged few who had so suddenly become the general's party sin Saxon whispered to Leslie Goldthwaite it's neither his nor mine, honey-suckle it's yours, henny-penny and all the rest of it, as Mrs. Linsford said Leslie was glad with the crowning gladness of her bright summer that girl has played her cards well Mrs. Thoresby said of her a little below her voice as she saw the general himself making her especially comfortable with cousin delight in a backseat particularly my dear madam said Marmaduke Warren coming close and speaking with clear emphasis as she could not possibly have known that she had a trump in her hand to tell of all that week's journeying and of Dixville Notch the adventure, the brightness the beauty and the glory the sympathy of abounding enjoyment the waking of new life that it was to some of them the interchange of thought the cementing of friendships would be to begin another story possibly a yet longer one Leslie's summer, according to the calendar is already ended much in this world must pause unfinished or come to abrupt conclusion people die suddenly at last after the most tedious illnesses married and lived happy ever after is the inclusive summary that winds up many an old tale whose time of action only runs through hours if in this summertime with Leslie Goldwaite your thoughts have broadened somewhat with hers some questions for you have been partly answered if it has appeared to you how a life enriches itself by drawing toward and going forth into the life of others through seeing how this began with her it is no unfinished tale that I leave with you a little picture I will give you farther on a hint of something farther yet and say goodbye some of them came back to Outledge and stayed far into the still-rich September Delight and Leslie sat before the green cottage one morning in the heart of a golden haze and a gorgeous bloom all around the feet of the great hills lay the garlands of early ripened autumn you see nothing like it in the lowlands nothing like the fire of the maples the carbuncle splendor of the oaks the flash of scarlet sumacs and creepers the illumination of every kind of little leaf in its own way upon which the frost touch comes down from those tremendous heights that stand rhymy in each morning sun trying on white caps that by and by shall pull down heavily over their brows till they cloak all their shoulders also in the like-sculptured folds to stand and wait blind all full crystallides through the long winter of their death and silence Delight and Leslie had got letters from the Jawslands and Dachythane there was news in them such as thrills always the half-comprehending sympathies of girlhood Leslie's vague suggestion of romance had become fulfillment Dachythane was wild with rejoicing that the love of noel was to marry Sue she had always made him think of noel and his ways and likings ever since the day of the game of chess that by his means came to grief it was awful slang but he could not help it it was just the very jolliest go Susan Jawslands quiet letter said, that kindness which kept us on and made it beautiful for us strangers at Outledge has brought to me by God's providence this great happiness of my life after a long pause of trying to take it in Leslie looked up what a summer this has been so full so much has happened I feel as if I had been living such a great deal you have been living in others lives you've had a great deal to do with what has happened oh cousin Delight I have only been among it I could not do except such a very little there is a working from us beyond our own but if our working runs with that you have done more than you will ever know little one Delight Goldwaite spoke very tenderly her own life somehow had been closely touched through that which had grown and gathered about Leslie it depends on that abiding in me and I in you so shall ye bear much fruit she stopped she would not say more Leslie thought her talking rather wide of the first suggestion but this child would never know what a center in her simple loving way she had been for the working of a purpose beyond her thought since Axon came across the lawn crowned with gold and scarlet trailing creepers twined about her shoulders and flames of beauty in her full hands Miss Cradox says she praised God with every leaf she took I'm afraid I forgot to for the little ones but I was so greedy and so busy getting them all for her come Miss Cradox we've got no end to save half of them she can't do enough for her O cousin Delight the leaves are glorified after all Azanath never was so charming and she is more beautiful than ever Delight's glance took in also another face than Azanath's grown into something in these months that no training or taking thought could have done for it yes she said in the same still way in which she had spoken before that comes too all things shall be added my hint is of a western home just outside the leaping growth and ceaseless stir of a great western city a large low cozy mansion with a certain old world mellowness and rest in its aspect looking forth even as it does on one side upon the illimitable sunset ward sweep of the magnificent promise of the new on the other it catches a glimpse beyond and beside the town calm blue of a freshwater ocean the place is Ingleside the general will call it by no other than the family name the sweet Scottish synonym for home corner and here while I have been writing and you reading these pages he has had them all with him Oliver and Susan on their bridal journey which waited for summertime to come again though they have been six months married Rose of course and Daki Thane home in vacation from a great school Daki is studying hard hoping for West Point by and by Leslie Goldthwaite who is Daki's inspiration still and our flower our pansy our delight golden-eyed lady of innumerable sweet names the sweetest and truest of all says the brave soldier and high-sold gentleman is that which he has persuaded her to wear for life delight Ingleside end of section four recording by Brooke favourite section number five of the junior classics volume six old-fashioned tales this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Sherry Forrest the junior classics volume six old-fashioned tales a case of coincidence by Rose Terry Cook she was a queer old lady was grandmother grant she was not a bit like other grandmothers she was short and fat and rosy as a winter apple with a great deal of snow white hair set up in a big poof on top of her head and eyes as black as huckleberries always puckered up with smiles or laughter she would never wear a cap I can't be bothered with them she said and when Amelia Rutledge who was determined her grandmother should as she said look halfway decent made her two beautiful little mob caps soft and fluffy and each with a big satin bow one lavender and one white put on to show where the front was grandma never put them on right the bow was over one year or behind or the cap itself was a rye and in the end she pulled them off and stuck them on a china jar in the parlor or a tin canister on the kitchen shelf and left them there till flies and dust ruined them Amelia's as obstinate as a pig said the old lady she would have me wear them and I wouldn't that was all but it was enough not a grandchild ever made her cap moreover grandmother Grant always dressed in one fashion she had a calico dress for morning and a black silk for the afternoon made with an old fashioned surplus waste and a thick plated rough about her throat she sometimes tied a large white apron on but only when she went into the kitchen and she wore a pocket as big as three of yours Matilda tied on underneath and reached it in her gown therein she kept her keys her smelling bottle her pocket book her handkerchief and her spectacles a bit of a flag root and some liquorice stick I mean when I say this that all these things belonged in her pocket and she meant to keep them there but it was one peculiarity of the dear old lady that she always lost her necessary conveniences and lost them every day Maria she would call out to her daughter in the next room have you seen my spectacles no mother when did you have them five minutes ago darning Harry's stockings but never mind there's another pair in the basket in half an hour when Gertie came into her room for something she needed grandmother would say Gertie do look on the floor and see if my specs lie anywhere around Gertie couldn't find them and then grandma would say probably they dropped out on the grass under the window you can see when you go down but give me my gold pair out of my upper drawer and when Mrs. Maria went to call her mother down to dinner she would find her hunting all about the room turning her cushions over peering into the wood basket shaking out the silk quilt what is it you want mother my specs dear I can't find one pair but there are three on your head now and grandma would sit down and laugh until she shook all over as if it were the best joke in the world to push your spectacles up over the short white curls on your forehead one pair after another and forget all about them she mislaid her handkerchief still Gertie would sometimes pick up six of these useful articles in one day where the old lady dropped them as she went about the house but the most troublesome of all her habits was a way she had of putting her pocketbook in some queer place every night or if ever she left home in the daytime and then utterly forgetting where she had secreted it from the burglars or thieves she had all her life expected the house she lived in was her own but Dr. White who had married her daughter Maria rented it of her and the rent paid her board she had a thousand dollars a year besides half of which she reserved for her dress and her charities keeping the other half for her Christmas gifts to her children and grandchildren there were ten of these last and the ten always needed something Gertie White the doctor's daughter was twelve years old she had three brothers Tom, John and Harry all older than she was Mrs. Rutledge who had been Annie Grant was a widow with three daughters Sylvia, Amelia and Anne these latter two now out in society and always glad of new dresses gloves, bonnets, ribbons, lace and the thousand small finaries girls never have full satisfaction there were Thomas Grant's two children of thirteen and fifteen Rosamond and Kate and his little boy Hal crippled in his babyhood so that he must always go on crutches but as bright and happy as Grandma herself and her prime favorite now it was Grandma's way to draw her money out of the bank two weeks before Christmas and go into Boston with Mrs. White to buy all the previously thought over for these ten and their parents and one winter she had made herself all ready to take the ten o'clock train and had just taken her pocket book out of the drawer when she was called downstairs to see a poor woman who had come begging for some clothes for her husband come right upstairs Mrs. Slack said Grandma I don't have many applications for men's things so I guess there's a coat of Mr. Grant's put away in the chest and maybe a vest or so you sit right down by the fire whilst I go up to the garret and look it took Grandma some time to find the clothes under all the shawls and blankets in the chest and when she had given them to Mrs. Slack she had to hurry to the station with her daughter and the cars being on the track they did not stop to get tickets but were barely in time to find seats when the train rolled off the conductor came around in a few minutes and Grandma put her hand in her pocket suddenly turned pale and opened her big satchel and turned out all of its contents stood up and shook her dress looked on the floor and when Mrs. White said in amazement what is the matter mother she answered curtly I've lost my pocket book was it in your pocket asked Maria yes at least I suppose so I certainly took it out of my drawer for I noticed how heavy it was that cashier gave me gold for most of it you see you'd have known if you dropped it on the way mother I should think so anyway I can't go to Boston without it we may as well stop at the next station and go back so back they went asked at the ticket office if any such thing had been picked up on the platform and leaving a description of it went rather forlornly back to the house here a terrible up turning of everything took place drawers were emptied cupboards ransacked trunks explored even the camphor chest examined to its depths and everything in it shaken out you don't suspect Mrs. Slack inquired Maria Sally Slack no indeed I've known her 30 year Maria she's honest as the daylight still Maria thought it best to send for Mrs. Slack and inquire if she had seen it when she was at the house certain certain answered the good woman I see Ms. Grant have it into her hand when she went up charmer I hadn't took no notice of it before but she spoke up and says she I'll go right up now Ms. Slack for I'm in some of a hurry being that I'm a going in the cars to downtown for to buy our folks is Christmas things so then I took no notice she had a pocketbook into her hand this was valuable testimony and Mrs. Slack's face of honest concern and sympathy showed her innocence in the matter next day there was an advertisement put in the paper for the family concluded grandma must have dropped her money in the street going to the station but the advertisement proved as fruitless as the search and for once in her life the dear old lady was downcast enough the first time I never gave him a thing on Christmas I do feel real downhearted about it Maria there's Annie's three girls lotted so on their gloves and knickknacks for parties this winter for I was going to give them gold pieces so they could get what they wanted sort of fresh when they did want it I was going to give them Mary's new cloak oh never mind that mother I can sponge and turn and fix over the old one a plush collar and cuffs will make it all right but there's the boys Tom did want that set of tools and a bench for him and I reckoned on seeing Harry's eyes shine over a real newfoundland dog that makes me think won't you write to that man in New York and Jack can't go to Thomas's now for vacation oh dear don't worry mother said Maria but Grandma went on Kate and Rosie too they won't get their seal muffs and caps and dear little Hal how he will long for the books I promised him it's real trying Maria and Grandma wiped a tear from her eyes the most unusual symptom but it was her way to make the best of things and she sat down at once to tell Thomas of her loss and then put it out of her mind as well as she might it spoke well for all those 10 grandchildren that they each felt far more sorry for Grandmother Grant's disappointment than their own and all resolved to give her a present much nicer and more expensive than ever before pinching a little on their other gifts to the end and because they had to spare this laudable purpose it was natural enough that not one should tell another what they meant to send her lest it should seem too extravagant in proportion to what the rest of the family received Christmas morning the arrival began the stocking of Grandpa's which Gertie had insisted on hanging to the knob of Grandma's door was full and when she came down to breakfast she brought it with her as a surprise at the top a square parcel tied with blue ribbon was marked from Gertie and proved to be a little velvet portemonnais dear child how thoughtful said Grandma giving her a kiss and not observing that the doctor looked funnily at Mrs. White across the table the next package bore John's name and disclosed a pocketbook of Russian leather with a twinkle of gratitude in her kind old eyes Harry emitted a long low whistle and his eyes shown as the next paper parcel with his name on it showed an honest black leather pocketbook with a steel clasp Grandma had to laugh Dr. White roared and Tom looked a little rueful as his bundle produced another wallet as liked to Harry's as two peas in a pod Dear boys said Grandma shaking like a liberal bowl of jello with the laughter she tried to suppress in vain but it was the boys' turn to shout as further explorations into the foot of the old blue stocking brought up a lovely seal skin wallet from their mother and a voluminous yellow leather one from the doctor six souls with but a single thought six hearts that beat as one misquoted Mrs. Maria and a chorus of laughter almost rattled the windows followed her they were still holding their sides and bursting out afresh with every other minute when little Sylvia Rutledge sailed into the dining room with a delicate basket in her hands Merry Christmas, she said but you seem to have it already the boys all rushed at once to explain wait a minute, she said till I have given Grandma her gifts and she produced successively from her basket four parcels Sylvia's held another velvet portmonnais Annie's contained a second of hand-painted kid Daisy's on a black ground and Amelia's was a third pocket book of gray canvas with Russian leather corners and straps while Mrs. Rutledge's tiny packet produced an old fashioned short purse with steel fringe and clasp which she had knit herself for her mother how can words tell the laughter which hailed this repetition the boys rolled off their chairs and roared till their very sides ached tears streamed down Mrs. White's fair face Grace gazed at the presents with a look half-roofal and half-funny while the doctors vigorous ha ha ha could have been heard half a mile had it not been happily the season of shut doors and windows while Sylvia herself perceiving the six pocket books which had preceded her basket appreciated the situation and laughed all the harder because she was not tired with a previous fit of mirth and grandma sat shaking and chuckling in her chair out of breath to be sure but her face rosy and her eyes shining more than ever suddenly a loud knock at the front door interrupted their laughter Tom ran to admit the intruder it was the expressman in the box from New York directed in Uncle Tom's hand to Mrs. J. G. Grant something better than pocket books this time mother said the doctor as Tom ran for the screwdriver but alas the very first bundle that rolled out and fell heavily to the floor proved when picked up to be indeed another pocket book cornered in clasp with silver and grandma's initials on the clasp beautiful as the gift was it was thrust aside with a certain impatience for the next package labeled from Rosamund but opened only to display the very counterpart of Amelia's gift and a paper box with Kate's script outside held the recurrent pocket book again in black velvet and gilt corners while a little carved whitewood box the work of hauls in patient fingers showed within its lid a purse of silvered links which had cost all his years savings this was the last touch hitherto their curiosity as one thing was displayed after another had kept them in a sort of bubbling quiet but this final development was too much they laughed so loud and so long that old Hannah hurrying from the kitchen and opening the door to see what was the matter looked thunderstruck as she beheld the whole family shaking, joking, rolling about or holding on to each other in roars of side-splitting laughter while fourteen purses and pocket books made the breakfast table look like a fancy fare I thought I heard a crackling of thorns as Scripture says she growled but you are going to set up a fancy storm as white bring in breakfast Hannah said the doctor recovering himself it's a melancholy truth that we can't eat pocket books for the satisfaction of the curious I must explain that the next May when a certain old clock on the landing of the garret stairs was taken down to be put in order and made into a household god after the modern rage for such things right under it lay grandma's pocket book intact well now I remember the astonished old lady who never did remember where she had hidden anything till somebody else found it I was going up to the chest to get out those things of husbands for Sally Slack and I thought I would leave my pocket book in my room to be putting temptation in her way which isn't really right if a person is ever so honest we're all frail as you may say when our time comes and I didn't have my cloak on to put it in the pocket and my under pocket was full so I just slipped it under the clock case as I went up feeling certain sure I should remember it because I never put it there before but the family voted that no harm had been done after all for next Christmas the Rutledge girls each had a lovely silk party dress from the double fund Gracie's cloak was matted by the prettiest hat and muff Tom had his wild desire to be fulfilled Harry owned a real gold watch which was far better than a dog and Jack's ten gold eagles took him in the spring to Niagara and down the St. Lawrence a journey never to be forgotten Kate and Rosamond had their seal skin caps with muffs, gloves and velvet skirts to correspond with and supplement their last year's jackets and Hal not only had his precious books but a bookcase for them and the pocketbooks were redistributed among their givers so that in the end good and not evil came of grandma's losing her Christmas pocketbook End of Section 5 Section 6 of the Junior Classics Volume 6 Old Fashioned Tales This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Betsy Walker Santa Fe, New Mexico The Junior Classics Volume 6 Old Fashioned Tales The Flight of the Dolls by Lucretia P. Hale How could the heart of a doll wish for anything more in such a baby house? It was fitted up in the most complete style There were coal hods for all the grates and gas fixtures in the drawing rooms and a register which would not reg, however carpets on all the floors books on the center table everything to make a sensible doll comfortable But they were not happy these dolls seven of them not counting the paper dolls They were very discontented They had always been happy until the Spanish doll had come among them dressed in a gypsy dress yellow and black lace They had become so much about the world that all were anxious to go abroad and see it all from the large one that could open and shut her eyes to the littlest china that could not sit down So they set out one clear night The Spanish doll had put a chip in the playroom window that made it easier to open and the large doll had slept outside the baby house so she opened the doors and let out the others safely upon the piazza Where should they go first? The first plan was for the lamb pen and they made for it directly The Spanish doll walked through its slats, the large doll pushed in the little ones but when she came to go in herself horrible to say, she stuck The Spanish doll pulled the little dolls ran out and pushed, no use If Angelica Maria could have seen her large doll now but no Angelica Maria's head was asleep on its pillow, she little knew of the escape of her dolls At last said the large doll Wake up the lamb and tell him which they did and he came and butted till he butted the large doll out It's no use said the large doll we must try something else and the rest all came out of the pen They went to the dove coat and the large doll quickly climbed the ladder so could the large doll but when she turned to help the little ones her head was too heavy and she was not stiff enough to stoop We must try something else said she and the Spanish doll had to come down scolding Spanish all the way Then they walked down the garden walk all in a procession the large doll leading the way They reached the arbor at the front of the garden Let us all sit in a row said the large doll So they got upon the seat facing the door running up a board that was laid against the seat Here they sat till morning began to dawn Angelica Maria could have seen them now but she was still fast to sleep on her pillow This will never do, explained the large doll as soon as light came for they can see us from the playroom our eyes all in a row They must hide during the daytime and start their journey when the night should come again But where should they go? They walked up and down the green alleys the scarlet poppies nodded to them sleepily and the roses put out a thorn or two to get them to stock The little china would have been very tired but a broad-backed toad kindly offered to carry her if Angelica Maria could have seen them now Let us speak to some of the animals said the large doll and ask where we should hide Not the cat said a middle-sized doll for she makes up faces Suppose we asked the birds said the large doll for they were just waking up The Spanish doll soon made acquaintance with an Oriole who agreed to take her up to his nest for the day It was just fitted up and Mrs. had not moved in Fortunately the Spanish doll was quite slender so the Oriole could lift her and her dress matched his feathers The squirrels kindly took some of the others into their nests under the beech tree and the large doll tucked the littlest china into a fox glove Where shall I go myself thought she There is one comfort If I want to go to sleep I can shut my eyes which none of the rest can do wherever they are So she walked round till she came to a watermelon with a three-corner piece cut out She climbed up on a rabbit's back and looked in A cat had eaten out the inside This will do very well for me said she and I feel like having a nap by this time if only somebody would pull my wire The rabbit knew of a dragonfly who was strong in his feelers but the large doll had an objection to dragonflies so she flung herself in with a jounce and that closed her eyes The rabbit tucked in her skirts and there she was Could Angelica Maria have seen them now some hidden among the low branches of the spruces where the robins had invited them some still chatting in the bushes with the jays the Spanish doll swinging in the Orioles nest way up in the elm that was life but Angelica Maria was calmly eating her breakfast a friend had invited her to a picnic for the day so instead of thinking of her dolls she was planning what she should carry one thought she did give to her large doll she wished to take her to the picnic but of course she could not be found if the large doll had only known how she would have regretted that she had run away for she was fond of picnics and now she was sleeping in this damp melon but she knew nothing of it till the Spanish doll came to wake her and tell her that all the family had gone away for the day far up in the Orioles nest in the elm tree the Spanish doll had seen them go now if ever was the time for fun so the large doll came out of her melon jumped open her eyes assembled the rest and asked what they should do a large door bug who was going that way advised them to try the strawberry bed oh yes all exclaimed the strawberry bed the procession was formed but two were missing in passing the fox gloves where the little china had been hidden many had shut up never to open again and she could not be found a middling sized doll with boots was missing also in vain they called there was no answer the Spanish doll ran up a nasturtium vine to see that all was safe she sat on a scarlet nasturtium at the very top of the post and declared all was quiet in the strawberry bed and came down what a jolly time they had among the strawberries a large doll sat under a vine and the strawberries dropped into her mouth and the stiffer dolls stood up and helped themselves such fun as they had they got strawberries all over their faces and their hands and their light dresses this they liked so much for they usually had to be careful how they chatted and one told how the squirrels lived another about the robins and the Spanish doll told how delightful it was she had half a mind to hire it for the summer all this was much more charming than their doll baby house though the large doll declared she had been used all her life to better society than she had yet found in a melon but all this festivity was put an end to by a sudden shower the Spanish doll afraid for her black lace made for a hencoupe where she had a battle with a Poland in her summer house as soon as the rain ceased however all came out from their hiding places there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky and as the dolls walked down the alley they were out in the wide world they crossed the broad road into the fields into the meadows they stumbled through a potato patch and ran in and out of corn stalks in their hurry they had to stop to breathe now and then all but one doll whose mouth was always open they reached a little stream and ran along its border and never stopped till they came to a shady place among some trees by mossy rocks here they might be safe and here they stopped to think hunger was their first sensation one of the dolls drew from her pocket a pewter gridiron which she had snatched from the kitchen fire when they fled the night before there were three fish on it one red, one yellow these they shared and were satisfied for a little while how lovely was the spot they began to say how charming it would be to set up housekeeping among the rushes it was even suggested that from time to time one of them might return to the deserted baby house and bring from it comfortable furniture a dish here, a flat iron there but in the midst of their cheerful talk a terrible accident the Spanish doll was thirsty and leaning over the edge of a brook she lost her balance and fell into the water the exhausted dolls all rushed to the rescue all their efforts were vain but a large bullfrog kindly came to help and lifted the Spanish doll's head from the stream and propped it up against the reeds but what a state she was in the bright color washed from her cheeks her raven hair all dimmed her hair of her eyes all gone a fashionable doll in vain attempted consolation suggesting the greater charms of light hair and rats in vain did the large doll speak of the romance of the adventure and call the bullfrog their Don Quixote a heavy gloom hung over all it was the Spanish doll that had led them on that had kept up their spirits now hers had failed and with her feet still in the water she leaned her head weirdly against the reeds suddenly voices were heard steps approached each doll rushed to a hiding place it was the voice of Angelica Maria herself some of the picnic party had decided to walk down the stream on their way home and Angelica Maria was among them the Spanish doll had drawn a reed across her face to hide it but the large doll had not been able to fly quickly enough in full view leaning against the mullin a blush suffused her cheek what was Angelica Maria's surprise who can have brought my large doll here she exclaimed it must have been the boys meaning her brothers how wicked of them to leave her out in that shower and here are the twins Euphroceny and Calliope all hidden among the bushes and dear little Eunice they look as if they had been in the wars how could Tom have known we were coming this way how naughty of him perhaps he meant a little surprise suggested her uncle but Angelica Maria picked up her dolls and fondled them and were not they glad of the rest after that weary march all but the Spanish doll why had she not spoken and would Angelica Maria have known her Spanish doll if she had when the trees were left all silent and died away perhaps the Spanish doll was sorry she had hidden her face that she had not lifted up her arms but she was very proud how could she have born to be recognized for she felt that one of her feet was washed off by the flowing stream and her gay yellow and black dress soiled and torn the bullfrog at last succeeded in lifting her to the shore a kindly muskrat begged her to be his housekeeper hoping she went into his soft lined house and was grateful even for this humble abode often she thought of the past and cheered the simple fireside with tales of adventure with the grandeur of life in the baby house and how she might have had been the bride of an Oreo but was she not missed in the baby house Angelica Maria wept her loss but her uncle consoled her by telling her the Spanish doll must have retired from the castles in Spain this cheered Angelica Maria and she busied herself in fitting new dresses for the poor travel-stained dolls she had left so this was the end of the flight of the dolls you can imagine whether they ever tried it again or rested satisfied with their comfortable home a few days after Angelica Maria saw a little head peeping out of a withered fox glove it was that of the littlest china she was much emaciated having had nothing to eat but a few drops of honey brought her by a benevolent bee even these had cloyed years after when the spout of the woodhouse was cleared out the boots of a middling sized doll were seen they belonged to the middling sized doll with boots who had clambered up to the dove coat and had lost her balance in the gutter she had passed a miserable existence in the winter bewailing her fate and looking at her boots end of section 6 section 7 of the junior classics volume 6 old-fashioned tales this is a lever box recording all lever box recordings are on the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit leverbox.org recording by Larry Johnson City, Tennessee the junior classics volume 6 old-fashioned tales Solomon John goes for apples by Lucretia P. Hale Solomon John agreed to ride to Farmer Jones's for a basket of apples and he decided to go on horseback the horse was brought round to the door now he had not ridden for a great while and though the little boys were there to help him he had great trouble in getting on the horse he tried a great many times but always found himself facing the wrong way looking at the horse's tail they turned the horse's head first up the street then down the street it made no difference he always made some mistake and found himself sitting the wrong way well he said at last oh as I care if the horse has his head in the right direction that's the main thing sometimes I ride this way in the cars because I like it better I can turn my head easily enough to see where we are going so off he went and the little boys said he looked like a circus rider and they were much pleased he rode along out of the village under the elms very quietly pretty soon he came to a bridge where the road he went across a little stream there a road at the side leading down to the stream because sometimes wagon ears watered their horses there Solomon John's horse turned off too to drink of the water very well said Solomon John I don't blame him for wanting to wet his feet to make a drink this hot day when they reached the middle of the stream the horse bit over his head how far his neck comes into his back exclaimed Solomon John and at that very moment he found he had slid down over the horse's head and was sitting on a stone looking into the horse's face there were two frogs one on each side of him sitting just as he was which pleased Solomon John so he began to laugh instead of to cry but the two frogs jumped into the water it is time for me to go on said Solomon John so he gave a jump as he had seen the frogs do and this time he came all right on the horse's back facing the way he was going it is a little pleasantery said the horse wanted to nibble a little of the grass by the side of the way but Solomon John remembered what a long neck he had and he would not let him stop at last he reached Farmer Jones who gave him his basket of apples next he was to go on to a cedar mill up a little lane by Farmer Jones's house to get a jug of cider but as soon as the horse was turned into the lane he began to walk very slowly so slowly that Solomon John thought he would not get there before night he whistled and shouted and thrust his knees into the horse but still he would not go perhaps the apples were too heavy for him said he so he began by throwing one of the apples out of the basket it hit the fence by the side of the road and that started up the horse and he went on merrily that was the trouble said Solomon John that apple was too heavy for him but very soon the horse began to go slower and slower so Solomon John thought he would try another apple this hit a large rock and bounded back under the horse's feet and sent him off at a great pace but very soon he fell again into a slow walk Solomon John had to try another apple this time it fell into a pool of water and made a great splash and set the horse out again for a little while he soon returned to a slow walk so slow that Solomon John thought it would be tomorrow morning before he got to the cider mill it is rather a waste of apples thought he but I can pick them up as I come back because the horse will be going home at a quick pace so he flung out another apple that fell among a party of ducks and they began to make such a quacking and a waddling that it frightened the horse into a quick trot so the only way Solomon John could make his horse go was by flinging his apples now on one side now on the other one time he frightened a cow that ran along by the side of the road while the horse raced with her another time he started up a brood of turkeys that gobbled and strutted enough to startle 20 horses in another place he came near hitting a boy who gave such a scream that it sent the horse off at a furious rate and Solomon John got quite excited himself and did not stop until he had thrown away all his apples and had reached the corner of the cider mill very well he said if the horse is so lazy I will find my stopping to pick up the apples on the way home and I am not sure but I shall prefer walking a little to riding the beast the man came out to meet him from the cider mill and reached him the jug he was just going to take it when he turned his horses head round and delighted at the idea of going home the horse set off at a full run without waiting for the jug to the rains and his knees held fast to the horse he called out whoa whoa but the horse would not stop he went galloping on past the boy who stopped and flung an apple at him past the turkeys that came and gobbled at him by the cow that turned and ran back in a race with them until her breath gave out by the ducks that came and quacked at him by the old donkey that braided over the wall at him by some hens that ran into the road under the horse's feet and clucked at him by a great rooster that stood up on a fence and crowed at him by Farmer Jones who looked out to see what had become of him down the village street and he never stopped till he had reached the door of the house out came Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin Aghanemnam and the little boys Solomon got off his horse all out of breath where is the jug of cider asked Mrs. Peterkin it is at the cedar mill said Solomon John at the mill exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin yes said Solomon John the little boys had better walk out for it they will enjoy it they had better take a basket for on the way they will find plenty of apples scattered all along either side of the lane and the hens and the ducks and the turkeys and a donkey the little boys looked at each other and went but they stopped first and put on their Indian rubber boots End of Section 7 Section 8 Wild Robin by Sophie May in the green valley of the Yaro near the castle deep of Norham dwelt an honest, sansi little family whose only grief was an unhappy son named Robin Janet with jimp form, bonny eyes and cherry cheeks was the best of daughters the boys Sandy and Davy were swift-footed brave, kind and open-minded but Robin, the youngest had a stormy temper and when his will was crossed he became as reckless as a reeling hurricane once in a passion he drove two of his father's cattle down a steep hill to their death he seemed not to care for home or kindred and often pierced the tender heart of his mother with sharp words when she came at night and happed the bed clothes carefully around his form and then stooped to kiss his nut-round cheeks he turned away with a frown it was a sad case with Wild Robin who seemed to have neither love nor conscience my heart is sore, sighed his mother with greeting over such a son he hates our old cottage and our muckle-work, said the poor father I will I could amazed wish the fairies had him for a season to teach him better manners this the good man said heedlessly little knowing there was any danger of Robbins being carried away to Elfland whether the fairies were at that instant listening under the eaves will never be known but it chanced one day that Wild Robin was sent across the moors to fetch the kai now run away, thought the boy his heart, indeed, if Elk-a-day a great lad like me must mine the kai I'll gayf, and they'll think me dead so he gade and he gade over the round-swelling hills over the battlefields past the ruthless ruins of the house whose walls were crowned with tall climbing grasses till he came to a crystal sheet of water called St. Mary's Lock here he paused to take a breath but at his feet were yellow flowers which shone on that grey day like freaks of sunshine he threw himself weirdly upon the grass not heeding that he had chosen his couch within a little, mossy circle known as a fairies' ring Wild Robin knew that the country little people would say the phase had pressed that green circle with their little feet he had heard all the Scottish lore of brownies, elves, willow the wisps and the strange water kelpies who shriek with eldritch laughter he had been told that the queen of the fairies had coveted him from his birth and would have stolen him away only that, just as she was about to seize him from the cradle, he had sneezed and from that instant the fairy spell was over and she had no more control over yet in spite of all these stories the boy was not afraid and if he had been informed that any of the uncanny people were even now haunting his footsteps he would not have believed it he would have kept over his eyes and dropping asleep I believe I'll even take a nap myself and see what comes of it in two minutes he had forgotten St. Mary's lock the hills, the moors, the yellow flowers he heard or fancied he heard his sister Janet calling him home and what have you for supper he muttered between his teeth Parich and milk answered the delasi gently Parich and milk whist say name, mare, lang, lang may ye wait for Wild Robin Parich next to sad voice fell on his ear Mithers and she mourns me dead he thought but it was only the far off village bell which sounded like the echo of music he had heard langzine but might never hear again do you think I'm not alive, told the bell I sit all day in my little wooden temple brooding over the sins of the parish a brazen lie cried Robin nay the truth as I'm a living soul way worth ye, Robin Telfer hardly used say, have your brothers softer beds than yours azurean fathers served with larger potatoes or creamier buttermilk whose mithers say kind is yours, ungrateful child gay to Elfland, Wild Robin and duel and way follow ye duel and way follow ye the round yellow sun had dropped behind the hills the evening breezes began to blow and now could be heard the faint trampling of small hooves and the tinkling of tiny bridal bells the fairies were trooping over the ground first of all rode the queen her skirt was of grass-green silk her mantle of velvet fine at Elfga tress of her horse's mane hung fifty silver bells and nine but Wild Robin's closed eyes saw nothing his sleep-sealed ears heard nothing the queen of the fairies dismounted stole up to him and later saw fingers on his cheeks here's a little man after my own heart said she, I like his knitted brow and the downward curve of his lips lift him gently set him on a red-rown steed and waft him away to Fairyland Wild Robin was lifted as gently as a brown leaf borne by the wind he rode as softly as if the red-rown steed had been saddled with satin and shot with velvet it even may be that the faint tinkling of the bridal bells lulled him into a deeper slumber for when he woke it was morning in Fairyland Robin sprang from his mossy couch and stared about him where was he? he rubbed his eyes again, dreaming no doubt but what meant all these nimble little beings bustled hither and thither in hot haste what meant these pearl-bedecked caves scarcely larger than Swallow's nests these green canopies overgrown with moss he pinched himself and gazed again countless flowers nodded to him and seemed, like himself, on tiptoe with curiosity he thought he beckoned one of the busy dwarfish little brownies toward him I can't, I'm talking in my sleep as well as this and how I chance to be in it the brownie miter might not have heard but at any rate he dained no reply and went on with his task which was pounding seeds in a stone mortar am I Robin Teffler of the Valley of Yarrow and yet can I shake off my silly dreams will my lad, quote the queen of the fairies giving him a smart tap with her wand stir yourself and be at work for nobody idols in Elfland bewildered Robin ventured a look at the little queen by daylight she seemed somewhat sleepy and tired and was with also tiny that he might almost have taken her between his thumb and finger and twirled her above his head as she poised herself before him on a mullan stalk and looked every inch a queen Robin found her gaze oppressive for her eyes were hard and cold and gray as if they had been little orbs of granite get you to work, wild Robin what to do meekly asked the boy hungrily glancing at a few kernels of fry which had rolled out of the brownie's mortars are you hungry my laddie touch a grain of rye if you dare shell these dry beans and if so be your starving eat as many as you can boil an acorn cup with these words she gave the boy a withered bean pod and summoning a meek little brownie bait him see that the lad did not overfill the acorn cup and that he did not so much as peck at a grain of rye then glancing sternly at a prisoner she withdrew sweeping after her long train of her green robe the dull days crept by and still there seemed no hope that wild Robin would ever escape from his beautiful but detested prison he had no wings poor laddie and he could neither become invisible nor draw himself through a keyhole bodily it is true he had mortal companions many chubby babies many bright-eyed boys and girls who distracted parents were still seeking them far and wide upon the earth it would almost seem that the wonders of fairyland might make the little prisoners happy there were countless treasures to be had for the taking and the very dust in little streets was precious with specks of gold but the poor children shivered for the want of a mother's love they all pined for the dear home people if a certain task seemed to them particularly irksome the heartless queen was sure to find it out and obliged them to perform it day after day if they disliked any article of food that and no other were they forced to eat or starve wild Robin loathing his withered beans and unsalted broths longed intensely for one little breath of fragrant steam from the toothsome perich on his father's table one glance at a roast of potato he was homesick for the gentle sister he had neglected the rough brothers whose cheeks he had pelted black and blue and yearned for the very chinks in the walls the very thatch on the homeroof gladly would he have given every fairy flower at the root of which clung a lump of gold ore if he might have his own coverlet happed about him once more by the gentle hands he had despised mither he whispered in his dreams my schooner worn and my feet bleed but I'll soon creep him if I can keep the perich warm for me Robin was as strong as a mountain goat and his strength was put to the task of threshing rye grinding oats and corn were drawing water from a brook every night troops of gay fairies and plotting brownies stole off on a visit to the upper world leaving Robin and his companions for Robin he was feigned to sing oh that my father had narrowed on me smiled oh that my mother had narrowed to me sung oh that my cradle had never been rocked but that I had died when I was young now there was one good natured brownie who pitied Robin when he took a journey to the earth was fellow brownies he often threshed rye for the laddie's father or churned butter in his good mother's dairy unseen and unsuspected if the little creature had been watched and paid for these good offices he would have left the farmhouse forever and soared his pleasure to the homesick Robin he brought news of the family who mourned him as dead he sold a silky tress of Janet's fair hair and wondered to see the boy weep over it for the brotherly affection is a sentiment which never yet penetrated the heart of the brownie the dull little sprite would gladly have helped the poor lad to his freedom but told him that only one night of the year was there the least hope and that was on halloween when the whole nation of fairies was in procession through the streets of earth so Robin was instructed to spin a dream which the kind brownie would hum in Janet's ear while she slept by this means the lassie would not only learn her brother is in the power of elves but would also learn how to release him accordingly the night before halloween the bunny Janet dreamed that the long lost Robin was living in Elfland and that he was to pass through the streets with a cavalcade of fairies but alas how should even a sister live in the dim starlight and among the passing troops of elvish and mortal riders the dream assured her that she might let the first company go by and the second but Robin would be one of the third first let pass the black Janet and sign let pass the brown but grip you to the milk white steed and pull the rider down for I ride on the milk white steed and I nearest the town because I was a christened lad that gave me that renown my right hand will be gloved Janet my left hand will be bare and these the tokens I give thee no doubt I will be there they'll shape me in your arms Janet a toad a snake and an eel but hold me fast nor let me gang as you do love me wheel they'll shape me in your arms Janet a dove a bat and a swan cast your green mantle over me I'll be myself again the good sister Janet far from remembering any of the old sins of her brother to know that he was yet among the living she told no one of her strange dream but hastened secretly to the miles cross saw the strange cavalcade pricking through the greenwood and pulled down the rider on the milk white steed holding him fast through all his changing shapes but when she had thrown her green mantle over him and clasped him in her arms as her own brother Robin the angry voice of the fairy queen was heard up then spake the queen of fairies out of a bush of rye you've taken away the bonious lad in all my company had I but had the wit yestrain that I have learned today I'd pin the sister to her bed ere he'd be one away however it was too late now wild Robin was safe and the elves had lost their power over him forever his forgiving parents and his leal-hearted brothers welcomed him home with more than the old love so grateful and happy was the poor laddie that he never more grumbled at his oatmeal porch or minded his chi with a scowling brow but to the end of his days when he heard mention of fairies and brownies his mind wandered off in a mis-maze he died in peace and was buried on the banks of the Yaro end of section 8 section 9 of the junior classics volume 6 old-fashioned pales this is a leperbox recording all leperbox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit leperbox.org the junior classics volume 6 old-fashioned pales Deacon Thomas Wales Will by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman in the name of God amen the 13th day of September 1758 I Thomas Wales of Braintree in the county of Suffolk and province of the Bays in New England Gent being in good health of body and of sound disposing mind and memory thanks be given to God calling to mind my mortality do therefore in my health make and ordain this my last will and testament and first I recommend my soul into the hand of God who gave it hoping through grace to obtain salvation through the merits and meditation of Jesus Christ my only Lord and dear redeemer and my body to be decently interred at the discretion of my executor believing at the general resurrection to receive the same again by the mighty power of God and such worldly estate as God in his goodness hath graciously given me after debts funeral expenses etc. are paid I give and disposed of the same as followeth imprimise I give to my beloved wife Sarah a good suit of morning apparel such as she may choose also if she acquit my estate of dower and third therein as we have agreed then that my executor return all of household movables she bought at our marriage and sense that are remaining also to pay to her or her heirs that note of 40 pound I gave to her when she acquitted my estate and I hers before division to be made as herein expressed also the southwest fire room in my house a right in my cellar also the privilege of water at the well and yard room and to bake in the oven what she hath need of to improve her lifetime by her after this followed a division of his property amongst his children five sons and two daughters the home place was given to his sons Ephraim and Atherton Ephraim had a good house of his own so he took his share of property and land and Atherton went to live in the old homestead and Atherton went to live in the old homestead his quarters had been poor enough he had not been so successful as his brothers and had been unable to live as well it had been a great cross to his wife Dorcas who was very high spirited she had compared bitterly the property of her household arrangements with the abundant comfort of her sisters in law now she seized eagerly at the opportunity of improving her style of living the old Wales house was quite a pretentious edifice for those times all the drawback to her delight was that grandma should have the southwest she wanted to set up her high posted bedstead with its enormous feather bed in that and have it for her four room properly it was the four room being right across the entry from the family sitting room there was a tall chest of drawers that would fit in so nicely between the windows too take it all together she was chagrined at having to give up the southwest room but there was no help for it there it was in Deacon Wales Will Mrs. Dorcas was the youngest of all sons, wives as her husband was the latest born she was quite a girl to some of them grandma had never more than half approved of her Dorcas was high strung and flighty she said she had her doubts about living happily with her but Atherton was anxious for this division of the property and he was her youngest darling so she gave in she felt lonely and out of her element when everything was arranged she established in the southwest fire room and Atherton's family keeping house in the others though things started pleasantly and peaceably enough it occurred to her that her son Samuel might have her own help a stout woman who had worked in her kitchen for many years and she take in exchange his little bound girl Anne Ginnins she had always taken a great fancy to the child there was a large closet out of the southwest room where she could sleep and she could be made very useful taking steps and running errands for her Mr. Samuel and his wife hesitated a little when this plan was proposed in spite of the trouble she gave them they were attached to Anne and did not like to part with her and Mrs. Pauly was just getting her learnt her own ways as she put it privately she feared grandma would undo all the good she had done in teaching Anne to be smart and capable finally they gave in with the understanding that it was not to be considered necessarily a permanent arrangement and Anne went to live with the old lady Mrs. Dorcas did not relish this any more than she did the communication of the southwest fire room she had never liked Anne very well besides she had two little girls of her own and she fancied Anne rivaled them in grandma's affection so soon after the girl was established in the house she began to show out in various little ways Thirsty her youngest child was a mere baby a round fat dumpling of a thing she was sweet and good natured and the pet of the whole family Anne was very fond of playing with her and tending her and Mrs. Dorcas began to take advantage of it the minute Anne was at liberty she was called upon to take care of Thirsty the constant carrying about such a heavy child soon began to make her shoulders stoop and ache then grandma took up the cudgels she was smart and high spirited but she was a very peaceable old lady on her own account and fully resolved to put up with everything from Dorcas rather than have strife in the family she was not going to see this helpless little girl imposed on however the little gal ain't going to get bent all over tendon that heavy baby Dorcas she proclaimed you can just make up your mind to it she didn't come here to do such work Dorcas had to make up her mind to it but it wrinkled Anne's principal duties were scouring the brasses in grandma's room taking steps for her and spinning her stint every day grandma set smaller stints than Mrs. Polly as time went on she helped about the cooking she and grandma cook their own victuals and ate from a little separate table in the common kitchen it was a very large room to have accommodated several families if they could have agreed there was a big oven and a roomy fireplace Good Deacon Wales had probably seen no reason at all why his beloved wife should not have her right therein with the greatest peace and concord but it soon came to pass that Mrs. Dorcas's pots and kettles were all prepared to hang on the trammels when grandmas were an army of cakes and pies marshaled to go in the oven when grandma had proposed to do some baking grandma bore it patiently for a long time but Anne was with difficulty restrained from freeing her small mind and her black eyes snapped more dangerously at every new offense one morning grandma had two loaves of Riz bread and some election cakes rising and was intending to bake them in an hour when they should be sufficiently light what should Mrs. Dorcas do but mix up sour milk bread and some pies with the greatest speed and fill up the oven before grandma's cookery was ready grandma sent Anne out into the kitchen to put the loaves in the oven and lo and behold the oven was full Anne stood staring for a minute with a loaf of election cake in her hands that and the bread ruined if they were not baked immediately as they were raised enough Mrs. Dorcas had taken thirsty and stepped out somewhere and there was no one in the kitchen Anne set the election cake back on the table then with the aid of the tongs she reached into the brick oven and took out every one of Mrs. Dorcas's pies and loaves then she arranged them deliberately in a pitiful semi-circle on the hearth and put grandma's cookery in the oven she went back to the southwest room then and sat quietly down to her spinning grandma asked if she had put the things in and she said yes ma'am meekly there was a bright red spot on each of her dark cheeks when Mrs. Dorcas entered the kitchen carrying thirsty wrapped up in an old homespun blanket she nearly dropped as her gaze fell on the fireplace on the hearth there set her bread and pies in the most lamentable half-baked sticky, doughy condition imaginable she opened the oven and peered in there were grandma's loaves all a lovely brown out they came with a twitch luckily they were done her own went in but they were irretrievable failures of course the kitchen came from this Dorcas raised her shrill voice pretty high and grandma though she had been innocent of the whole transaction was so blamed that she gave Dorcas a piece of her mind at last and surveyed the nice brown loaves and listened to the talk in secret satisfaction but she had to suffer for it afterward grandma punished her for the first time and she discovered that kind old hand was pretty firm and strong no matter what you think or whether you err in the right aunt or not a little gal mustn't ever sass her elders said grandma but if Anne's interference was blameable it was productive of one good result the matter came to Mr. Atherton's ears and he had a stern sense of justice when roused and a great veneration father's will should be carried out to the letter he declared and it was grandma baked and boiled in peace outwardly at least after that Anne was a great comfort to her she was outgrowing her wild mischievous ways and she was so bright and quick she promised to be pretty too grandma compared her favorably with her own grandchildren especially Mrs. Dorcas's eldest daughter Martha who was nearly Anne's age Martha is a pretty little gal enough she used to say but she ain't got the snap to her that Anne has though I wouldn't tell Atherton's wife so for the world she promised Anne her gold beads when she should be done with them under strict injunctions not to say anything about it till the time came for the others might feel hard as she wasn't her own flesh and blood the gold beads were Anne's ideals of beauty and richness though she did not like to hear grandma talk about being done with them grandma always wore them around her fair plump old neck she had never seen her without her string of beads as before said Anne was now very seldom mischievous enough to make herself serious trouble but once in a while her natural propensities would crop out when they did Mrs. Dorcas was exceedingly bitter indeed her dislike of Anne was at all times smoldering and needed only a slight fanning to break out one stormy winter day Mrs. Dorcas had been working till dark making candle wicks when she came to get tea she tied the white fleecy rolls together a great bundle of them and hung them up in the cellar way over the stairs to be out of the way they were extra fine wicks being made of flax for the company candles I've got a good job done said Mrs. Dorcas surveying them complacently her husband had gone to Boston and was not coming home till the next day so she had had a nice chance to work at them without as much interruption as usual Anne going down the cellar stairs with a lighted candle after some butter for tea spied the beautiful rolls swinging overhead what possessed her too she could not herself have told she certainly had no wish to injure Mrs. Dorcas' wicks but she pinched up a little end of the fluffy flax and touched her candle to it she thought she would see how that little bit would burn off she soon found out the flame caught and ran like lightning through the whole bundle there was a great puff of fire and smoke and poor Mrs. Dorcas's fine candle wicks were gone Anne screamed and sprang downstairs she barely escaped the whole blaze coming in her face what's that? shrieked Mrs. Dorcas rushing to the cellar door the wicks cannot describe her feeling when she saw that her nice candle wicks the fruit of her day's toil were burnt up if ever there was a wretched culprit that night Anne was she had not meant to do wrong but that maybe made it worse for her in one way she had not even gratified malice to sustain her grandma blamed her almost as severely as Mrs. Dorcas she said she didn't know what would become of a little gal that was so careless and decreed that she must stay at home from school and work on candle wicks till Mrs. Dorcas's loss was made good to her and listened ruefully she was scared and sorry and that did not seem to help matters any she did not want any supper and she went to bed early and cried herself to sleep somewhere about midnight the strange sound woke her up she called out to grandma in alarm the same sound had awakened her get up and light a candle child said she I'm a feared the baby's sick Anne scarcely had the candle lighted before the door opened and Mrs. Dorcas appeared in her night dress she was very pale and trembling all over oh she gasped it's the baby he's got the group and Atherton's away and there ain't anybody to go for the doctor oh what shall I do what shall I do she fairly rung her hands have you tried the skunk's oil? asked grandma eagerly preparing to get up yes I have I have it's a good hour since she woke up and I've tried everything it hasn't done any good I'll call you if I could help it but she's worse only hear her and Atherton's away oh what shall I do what shall I do don't take on so Dorcas said grandma but cheeringly I'll come right along and why child what are you going to do Anne had finished dressing herself and now she was pinning her head over her head as if she were preparing to go outdoors I'm going after the doctor for Thirsty said Anne her black eyes flashing with determination oh will you will you? cried Mrs. Dorcas catching at this new help hush Dorcas said grandma sternly it's an awful storm out there just hear the wind blow it ain't fit for her to go her life's just as precious as Thirsty's Anne said nothing more but she went into her own little room with the same determined look in her eyes there was a door leading from this room into the kitchen Anne slipped through it hastily lit a lantern which was hanging beside the kitchen chimney and was outdoors in a minute the storm was one of sharp driving sleet which struck her face like so many needles the first blast as she stepped beside the door seemed to almost force her back but her heart did not fail her the snow was not so very deep but it was hard walking there was no pretense of a path the doctor lived half a mile away and there was not a house in the whole distance save the meeting house and school house it was very dark lucky it was that she had taken the lantern she could not have found her way without it Anne kept a little slender a wreck figure with the first determination in its heart through the snow and sleet holding the blanket close over its head and swinging the feeble lantern bravely when she reached the doctor's house he was gone he had started for the north precinct early in the evening his good wife said he was called down to captain Isaac Lovejoy's the house next to the north precinct meeting house she'd been sitting up waiting for him it was such an awful storm and such a lonely road she was worried but she didn't think he'd start for home that night she guessed he'd stay at captain Lovejoy's till morning the doctor's wife holding her door open as best she could in the violent wind had hardly given this information to the little snow bedraggled object standing out there in the inky darkness through which the lantern made a faint circle of light before she had disappeared she went like a spirit said the good woman staring out into the blackness in amazement she never dreamed of such a thing as Anne's going to the north precinct after the doctor but that was what the darling girl had determined to do she had listened to the doctor's wife in dismay but with never one doubt as to her own course of proceeding straight along the road to the north precinct she kept it would have been an awful journey that night for a strong man it seemed incredible that a little girl could have the strength or courage to accomplish it there were four miles to traverse in a black howling storm over a pathless road through forests with hardly a house by the way when she reached captain Isaac Lovejoy's house next to the meeting house in the north precinct a brain tree stumbling blindly into the warm lighted kitchen the captain and the doctor could hardly believe their senses she told the doctor about Thursy then she almost fainted from cold and exhaustion good wife Lovejoy laid her on the set tee and brewed her some hot herb tea she almost forgot her own sick little girl for a few minutes in trying to restore this brave childhood come from the south precinct in this dreadful storm to save little Thursy Wales life when Anne came to herself a little her first question was if the doctor are ready to go he's gone said Mrs. Lovejoy cheeringly Anne felt disappointed she had thought she was going back with him but that would have been impossible she could not have stood the journey for the second time that night even on horseback behind the doctor as she had planned she drank a second bowl full of herb tea and went to bed with a hot stone at her feet and a great many blankets and cover lids over her the next morning captain Lovejoy carried her home he had a rough wood sled and she rode on that on an old quilt it was easier than horseback and she was pretty lame and tired Mrs. Dorcas saw her coming and opened the door when Anne came up on the stoop she just threw her arms around her and kissed her you needn't make the candle wicks said she it's no matter about them at all Thursy's better this morning and I guess you saved her life grandma was fairly bursting with pride and delight in her little gal's brave feet now that she saw her safe she untied the gold beads on her neck passing them around Anne's there said she you may wear them to school today if you'll be careful that day with the gold beads by way of celebration began a new era in Anne's life there was no more secret animosity between her and Mrs. Dorcas the doctor had come that night in the very nick of time Thursy was almost dying her mother was fully convinced that Anne had saved her life and she never forgot it she was a woman of strong feelings who never did things by halves and she not only treated Anne with kindness but she seemed to smother her grudge against grandma for robbing her of the southwest fire room end of section 9