_NEW PLANS._
THINGS went very smoothly and pleasantly after this for several weeks.
Maggie finished the whole number of towels, and she had taken so much
pains, and they were so well done for a little girl of seven, that
mamma said she thought she must give her six cents apiece instead
of five. Bessie's small patient fingers were learning to do nicely,
too, and Mrs. Bradford said she should soon have two neat young
seamstresses. There were now more than four dollars in the box. They
had each had one new pair of gloves bought for them, and it was not
likely, if these were not lost, that more would be wanted before New
Year. Maggie had improved surprisingly in the matter of boot-laces,
and now did not wear them out much faster than Bessie, who did not put
on her own shoes. Growing daily more careful in this one thing, she
became so in others. Fewer buttons and strings were dragged from her
clothes, her aprons and dresses were not so soon soiled, and her hat,
instead of being tossed down in any spot where she happened to be when
she took it off, was always carried to the nursery and given to Jane,
that she might put it away.
Quite often the children had small presents of money. Grandmamma Duncan
or Uncle John, papa or grandpapa, would give them a new five or ten
cent piece,--once Uncle John had given them each twenty-five,--but
they never spent it for their own pleasure. As soon as they received
any such little gift, away they ran for the library-box, and popped
the money in. One day Maggie found ten cents in the street, and came
rushing in to her mother's room with it.
"See here, mamma," she said, "what I have found! It was lying right
down by our stoop, and there was no one near it, and I don't know whose
it is."
"Well, if you do not find the owner, we may think you have a right to
it, I suppose," said Mrs. Bradford.
"But, mamma, ought we not to put it in the paper first, and see if any
one comes for it?"
"No, dear, that would not be worth while for such a small sum."
"But, mamma, when papa found that pocket-book with money in it, he put
a piece in the paper, so the person who lost it would know where it
was."
"There were more than a hundred dollars in that pocket-book, Maggie. It
was only right that papa should let the owner know where it was to be
found. But ten cents is a very small sum, and if he put half a dozen
advertisements in the paper, it is not at all likely that any person
would come for it."
"And no one came for the money in the pocket-book," said Maggie,
"though papa kept it a great while. But, mamma, he said it did not
belong to him; and since he could find no owner, he should think it
belonged to the Lord. So he gave it to the Sunday-school. Well now, if
I do not know who lost this ten cents, do you not think it belongs to
the Lord, and I ought to return it to him?"
"Perhaps you ought, my darling," said Mrs. Bradford, well pleased to
find her little girl so strictly honest, and so unwilling to keep that
which she could not quite surely feel was her own. "Suppose you put it
with your library money?"
"Would that be quite fair, mamma? Would it be giving to the Lord that
which belonged to him to put it with that money which we are to earn?"
"Quite fair and right, I think, dearest. That money you have certainly
devoted to the Lord's work; and you may put this with it with a clear
conscience."
So the ten cents were added to the sum in the box, which, in one way
and another, was fast growing to the desired amount.
Each Sunday Maggie and Bessie went over to the hotel to Mrs. Rush's
class. Not one had they missed, for they counted so much upon it that
their mother could not bear to keep them at home, even in bad weather.
Two or three Sabbaths had been very rainy, but papa had wrapped Bessie
in mamma's water-proof cloak, and carried her over to the hotel, while
Maggie, in her own cloak and high india-rubber boots, trotted along by
his side holding the large parasol, which made a capital umbrella for
the small figure beneath it. Two bright little faces they were which
peeped forth from the hoods of these water-proofs when they appeared
in Mrs. Rush's parlor, and dearly did she and the colonel love to
see them. Then the wrappings were pulled off, and there were the two
darlings as warm and dry as if they had never stirred from their own
nursery fire.
Mrs. Rush still did all the teaching herself, but since that first
Sunday, she had quite given up the office of story-teller to her
husband. She never could invent such stories as he did, she said, and
since he had begun with it, he had better go on! So each Sunday he
had one ready for them, and when the lessons were over, teacher and
scholars were alike eager to listen. He had to repeat "Benito" more
than once, so fond were they all of it, and the children, especially
Bessie, would stop him if he told it in any way different from that
in which they had first heard it, and tell him he was wrong. They
remembered it, he said, better than he did.
Maggie and Bessie were very busy just now. Christmas was drawing near,
and they were each working a book-mark which were to be presented to
Colonel and Mrs. Rush. Bessie's was for "her soldier," and Maggie's
for his wife. Aunt Annie had promised to show them how they were to be
worked, and one afternoon took them out to buy the materials. They came
home each with a piece of cardboard, a skein of silk, and half a yard
of ribbon; and no lady who had spent hundreds of dollars that day took
half the pleasure in her shopping that our little girls did in theirs.
Aunt Annie had offered to give them what they needed from her stock of
pretty things. But no, they must buy all with their own money, or it
would not be quite their own presents. As soon as their walking dresses
were taken off, Aunt Annie was coaxed to show them at once how the
book-marks were to be made. She told them they must first decide what
mottoes they would work, and proposed several. Maggie chose, "Remember
me;" and Bessie, "I love you, Sir." Annie said it was not the fashion
to put "Sir" on a book-mark; but Bessie thought it would not be at all
the thing for little girls to give "unpolite presents."
"We ought to make our book-marks just as proper as our own speaking,"
she insisted.
Maggie was a little doubtful; but at last she said she would do as
Bessie did, since it was "better to be too polite than not polite
enough." So Aunt Annie let them have their way, and greatly to her
own amusement, cut the card long enough for "I love you, Sir," and
"Remember me, ma'am." They did not think it any the less their own work
that their aunt put the points of the needles into the holes where they
were to go. Did they not pull them through with their own fingers and
draw the silk to its proper place? Of course, it was their own work;
Aunt Annie would not have said it was hers on any account. After two
or three letters were made, Maggie learned to find the right hole for
herself with a good deal of direction.
Before bed-time that night, Maggie had worked "Remem," and Bessie, "I
lo;" and they looked at what they had done with great satisfaction.
Besides these book-marks, they were each to work one for papa or mamma,
so that they had enough to keep them busy until Christmas.
Meanwhile the picture which Aunt Helen was painting was nearly
finished. She had never allowed Maggie to see it, which the little girl
thought very strange; but she had kept the secret well. Sometimes they
went to Riverside, and sometimes Aunt Helen came to grandmamma's house,
when they would be sent for; and if mamma was not there, their aunt
would paint very industriously. Bessie wondered why she would not let
them see what she was painting, and why Maggie should always be so full
of glee at such times, and shake her head so very wisely. But after she
had been once told that it was a secret, she asked no more questions.
On the morning after the book-marks were commenced, Mrs. Bradford, who
was not very well, was lying on the sofa, while her little daughters
were playing quietly on the other side of the room, and she heard them
talking together.
"Bessie," said Maggie, "I am so glad that I have all my towels done, so
I can have leisure to make my Christmas presents."
"What does leisure mean?" asked Bessie.
"It means not to be busy."
"Oh, I am glad, too, Maggie! You was very industrious, and had a great
deal of per-se-were."
"Ance," said Maggie.
"Ance what, Maggie?"
"Per-se-ve-rance. That's what you must say," said Maggie.
"No. This morning Fred was mad 'cause he couldn't do his sum, and be
asked papa to help him, and papa said he must persewere, and he could
do it himself."
"Yes, I know it," said Maggie; "but it is persevere to do it, and
perseverance to have it."
Bessie did not quite understand, but she thought it must be right,
since Maggie said so.
"We'll ask mamma about it when she feels better," said Maggie. "Isn't
she good to us, Bessie, to help us so much to get our library?"
"Yes," said Bessie, "she's such a precious mamma. I do think every one
is so kind to us, Maggie."
"Yes," said Maggie, "when I think about my friends, I feel as if I
could not say 'God bless them' enough."
"Yes," said Bessie, thoughtfully; "and when everybody is so good to us,
and Our Father is so good to us, and we have such pleasant times, I
suppose we ought to be the best children that ever lived."
"But we're not," said Maggie; "least, I'm not. I think you are almost
as good as any one that ever lived, Bessie."
"No, I'm not, Maggie. Sometimes I feel very naughty, and just like
being in a passion, and I have to ask Jesus very much to help me."
"It's a great deal better to feel naughty, and not be naughty, than to
feel naughty, and be naughty, too, Bessie. Anyhow, you're just good
enough for me."
"But we ought to be good enough for Jesus," said Bessie. "I wish I was
as good as that boy named Nathan Something, that Harry yead to us about
on Sunday."
"Oh, yes," said Maggie, "it's all very well to read about these
wonderful children, but when one comes to do it, it's a different
thing. I don't believe that any one could be so good as never to do or
to think a wrong thing. But, Bessie, you know, I will be quite sorry
when mamma don't give us glove-money any more. I think this plan has
been of service to me in my carelessness. Don't you think I'm pretty
tol-able now?"
"Not pretty," said Bessie; "I think you are very tol'able now. Why,
Maggie, don't you know papa said he could trust you to take a message
or do an errand now as soon as any of his children?"
"Yes, and it was very nice to hear him say that, Bessie. I didn't mind
for all the trouble I took to be careful, when he said it. When we have
our glove-money, it will make more than six dollars in our box, if
mamma don't have to spend any of it for us. We only want five for the
library, so what shall we do with the rest of it, Bessie. Mamma said we
must only spend that money in doing good."
"Perhaps mamma will tell us something," said Bessie.
"But I'd like to think of something ourselves, and I did think of a
nice thing, Bessie, if you would like to do it."
"I guess I would. Tell me, Maggie."
"Yesterday, when Mary Bent came here, she had on only a thin little
cape, that did not keep her warm at all, and she looked so cold, nurse
asked her if that was the warmest thing she had, and she said yes. So
nurse brought an old piece of flannel, and basted it all inside the
cape to make it warmer; but she said the child ought to have a thick
cloak or shawl, and if mamma was home, she knew she would do something
for her. Mary said her mother had a warm shawl, but when the weather
was cold, they had to keep it to put over Jemmy, 'cause he shivered so
if he was not covered up warm. I felt so sorry for her, and last night,
I thought maybe we could take the rest of our money and buy her a warm
thing to wear. Would you like that, dear Bessie?"
"'Deed, I would," said Bessie. "You do make such nice plans, Maggie. If
we can do it, I shall just tell Mary you made it up. I don't believe
anybody has such a smart Maggie as I have."
Maggie kissed her sister, for dearly as she loved praise, none was
sweeter to her than that which Bessie was always so ready to give.
"I'm afraid we wont have enough to buy anything _very_ warm," she said,
"'cause that would cost a good deal, and we have not time to earn any,
we are so very busy."
"Yes," said Bessie, "we have our hands full; but we will ask mamma."
Later in the day they did ask her, and she said that, if they pleased,
they might use what they did not need for the library for this purpose.
"But you will not have enough to buy a warm sack for Mary, such as she
should have, my darlings," she said. "Nurse told me how poorly Mary
was clothed for this cold weather, and I had intended, the next time
I should go out, to buy some gray flannel, and let Jane make a sack
thickly lined and quilted. This will cost more than you can spare."
"Well, mamma," said Bessie, "if you will wait till after Christmas,
perhaps we might earn enough to buy a sack for Mary, and we would like
to do it ourselves."
"But in the mean while, the poor child would be suffering with the
cold," said Mrs Bradford. "Suppose I give Mary the cloak, and you buy
for Jemmy a comfortable, so that he will not need his mother's shawl."
The children agreed, though they did not look very well satisfied,
for they had set their hearts on giving the warm garment to Mary
themselves. Suddenly Maggie looked up at her mother as if a bright
thought had come into her mind, and said, eagerly,--
"Mamma, Mary said she used to wear her mother's shawl when Jemmy did
not need it. Suppose you were to buy the comfortable, and then the
shawl will be at liberty for Mary, and by and by, when we have enough,
_we_ can buy the sack."
Mamma said this would do very well, and so it was arranged. Then she
told them that if they wished, she would continue to give them the
glove-money each month, and what they saved from it they might still
spend for others who were in need; for Mrs. Bradford agreed with Maggie
that this plan had been of service to her little girl, and thought
it would be well to keep on with it, since it was teaching her to be
thoughtful and careful herself, in order that she might be of use to
others; and good habits once formed are not easy to lose.
That evening, when papa came home, he brought some glossy, crisp, new
bank-notes, which he offered to Maggie and Bessie in exchange for some
of the smaller money in their box. They were quite ready to take them,
they were so clean and pretty; and taking out two dollars in change,
Mr. Bradford put in two one dollar notes.
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