_THE PURCHASE OF THE LIBRARY_
ON the Sunday morning following Christmas, Mrs. Rush asked her little
scholars if they all had their money ready for the library. Each one
answered "Yes," and she told them she would allow them to choose what
books they would send; and that on the next day she would take them all
down town to a large store, where they would find a great number of
pretty and suitable children's books. Accordingly, on Monday morning,
she drove up to Mr. Bradford's door at the appointed hour. Maggie and
Bessie, ready for the ride, were watching for her, and did not keep
her a moment waiting. Then they stopped at Mr. Howard's door to take
up Gracie, and next at Mr. Norris' for Lily. Each little girl, as she
entered the carriage, would offer Mrs. Rush her share of the money; but
she told them they had better keep it until they had bought the books,
and then pay for them with their own hands.
"Please don't say 'the books,'" said Maggie.
"And why not?" asked Mrs. Rush. "Are you not going to buy books?"
"Yes'm," said Maggie; "but then it is a great deal more satisfaction to
say 'library.'"
"Oh! that is it," said Mrs. Rush, laughing. "Well, hereafter, I shall
be careful to say your 'library.'"
"Not ours; the log-cabin children's library," said Gracie.
"Very well," said Mrs. Rush. "You will have me all right by and by. I
see I must be on my guard with such very particular young ladies."
"Don't you like to be coryected, Mrs. Yush?" asked Bessie.
"Certainly; when I am wrong, I always wish to be put right; and I shall
speak of your log-cabin library in any way you please; for you have
surely earned the right to say how it shall be."
"Tom says Maggie and Bessie deserve more credit than Gracie and I,"
said Lily, "because they really earned the money, and Gracie and I had
it without taking any trouble about it."
"But you have denied yourselves in order to give it," said Mrs. Rush,
"and I think you ought not to be without your share of credit."
"What does 'credit' mean?" asked Bessie.
"Oh!" said Maggie, before any one else could speak, "it means to think
yourself very great, and to have a fuss made about you. I am sure we
did not do it for that; did we, Bessie?"
"I know Tom did not mean that," said Lily. "He thinks you're very nice."
"And I think Maggie makes a mistake, and does not quite understand the
meaning of the word 'credit,'" said Mrs. Rush. "To give a person credit
for any action, dear Maggie, is only to give him the praise that is due
to him. There is no need to think that people are making a fuss about
you because they do this."
"I can't help it, Mrs. Rush," said Maggie. "I always do feel great when
people praise me, and nurse says it is not good for me."
"What do you mean by feeling great?" asked Mrs. Rush. "Do you mean you
feel vain and self-glorious?"
"No," said Maggie, "not quite that, but I feel pleased, and as if I
liked it; and I know sometimes I do things because I hope people will
praise me; but I am quite sure I did not do this for that, but because
I felt sorry for those log-cabin children, and wanted to help them."
"I have not a doubt of it, my dear little girl," said Mrs. Rush, "and I
do not think you could have been so earnest and persevering if you had
not had a better motive than the desire for praise. I believe you have
all done it from a sincere wish to help others who are not as well off
as yourselves; and it is not wrong to like praise, Maggie, if we do not
allow it to make us vain, or to cause us to cease from well-doing. We
all enjoy it, old and young; and if it is sincere, and we feel that we
deserve it, it is quite right to be pleased with the approval of our
friends."
"But Maggie is a great deal nicer than she thinks herself," said
Bessie. "I don't think anybody knows how very nice she is, 'cept me."
Mrs. Rush smiled at the affectionate little sister, who never missed a
chance of saying a kind or loving word for Maggie.
So they chatted away until they reached the bookstore, where Mrs. Rush
went in with the whole of her small flock. This was a very large store,
and from the floor to the ceiling the walls were covered with shelves,
on which lay piles on piles of books. The gentleman whom Mrs. Rush
wished to see was engaged, and she sat down to wait until he should be
at liberty to attend to her; while the children gathered about her,
noticing all around them, and prattling away as fast as their tongues
could go.
"Did you ever see such lots and lots of books?" said Gracie.
"I suppose the gentleman who owns this store must be about a million
years old," said Lily.
"Why, he couldn't be," said Maggie; "only the people that lived in the
Bible were so very old. I wish I had lived then, it's such fun to be
alive."
"If you had lived then, you would not be alive now," said Mrs. Rush,
with a smile; "and no one ever lived to be a million years old. The
world has not been created so long, and the oldest man, Methuselah, was
only nine hundred and sixty-nine when he died. But what made you think
Mr. ---- must have lived a million years, Lily?"
"Because he has written such lots of books," said Lily; "just see how
many!"
"But you do not think Mr. ---- has himself written all these books?"
"Why, yes'm," said Lily.
"It would indeed take a long life-time to write so many," said Mrs.
Rush, "but I do not believe Mr. ---- has written more than half a
dozen."
"Who did it, then?" asked Lily.
"A great many different persons. People write books and bring them
to Mr. ----, and he publishes them; that is, he has them printed and
bound, and then sells them."
"I am glad it took a great many people to do it," said Maggie, "because
if they take the trouble to write books for children, I suppose it's
because they like us; and it is pleasant to have a great many people to
love you."
"I wonder why 'most everybody loves children," said Gracie.
"If you thought about Christmas, you'd know that," said Bessie. "It's
'cause Jesus was once a little child; and besides, when he was a man,
he loved children his own self."
Just then the gentleman for whom Mrs. Rush was waiting came forward,
and said he was now at leisure to attend to her. She told him for what
she had come, and that she wished these little girls, who were going to
pay for the library, to choose their favorite books.
He shook hands with them all, and then, taking paper and pencil, told
them to tell him in turn what they would have.
Bessie, being the youngest, had the first choice, and she named the
books she liked best. The others did the same, but when the list was
made out, Mr. ---- said ten dollars would purchase several more, and
bringing some volumes which had just been published, said he could
recommend those for their purpose. The children were quite ready to
take them upon his word, and when the whole ten dollars' worth was laid
out, looked at the pile with great satisfaction. Mr. ---- offered to
send the books wherever they might choose but that would not answer at
all. The library must be taken with them in the carriage, and carried
home by Mrs. Rush, with whom it was to remain until those of the
children's friends who wished to see it had had the opportunity, when
it was to be sent to Miss Winslow, with a note from the four little
girls to the Western children. Maggie was asked by the others to "make
up" the note, and as Mrs. Rush took them all home to spend the rest of
the day with her and the colonel, it was done before they separated
that evening. This was the note which Colonel Rush wrote out and put up
with the books:--
"Dear log-cabin children, whose names we don't know, but we
like you all the same, please to take this library. Four
of us send it to you,--Maggie and Bessie and Gracie and
Lily; and I am Maggie, and the others are the rest. Our
dear teacher, Miss Winslow, who used to have us all except
Bessie, who was too little, in her Sunday-school class, is
going to teach you in your log-cabin, and Santa Claus put
a log-cabin in my stocking, but I knew it was Fred; and
she says you have very few books, and we would like you to
have some more; so we have bought this library for you, and
we hope you will read all the books and like them. Papa
and Colonel Rush are going to send you some picture cards
with hymns and verses like those in our Sunday-school, and
Miss Winslow is going to take you some Bibles, so you see
if you want to learn about Jesus you can, and if you are
good children, you will. Miss Winslow is very good, and you
will love her very much, and we are very sorry she is going
away; but now we have Sunday-school in Mrs. Rush's room,
and she is so sweet you can't think, and the colonel does
tell us such stories; so we can spare Miss Winslow, and you
must be very good to Miss Winslow, because she left her
comfortable home to be a missionary to you, and Mr. Long,
too, so you ought to mind all they say, and if you do not,
you ought to be served right, and never have any of the
library books to read. But we think you will be good, and
some day Miss Winslow is going to write to us about you,
and if you are naughty, you would be ashamed to have it put
in a letter. Dear log-cabin children, we all send you our
love, and we hope you had a Christmas-tree, and here are
our names:--
MAGGIE BRADFORD.
GRACIE HOWARD.
LILY NORRIS.
BESSIE BRADFORD."
The colonel wrote it all down just as Maggie dictated it to him, but
when Miss Winslow read the letter to the Western children, she did not
think it necessary to read the whole of the last part, but left out a
few words here and there. As Maggie did not know this, it did not make
any difference to her.
The books were covered and put up in a neat box which Mr. Bradford
provided, and then given into Miss Winslow's care. She was very much
pleased, and told the little girls she should not fail to tell the
Western children all about their kind young friends in the East.
Some weeks after she went away, there came a letter from her, directed,
"To my dear little scholars." It had come in another to Mrs. Rush, and
arrived on Saturday night; so when they came to her room on Sunday
morning, they found this pleasure awaiting them. Mrs. Rush read it
aloud to them.
"MY DEAR LITTLE GIRLS,--
"After a long and tedious journey, we arrived at this
place. We lost several articles of our baggage by the way,
but I am glad to tell you that your precious library was
not among them. That came quite safely, and it would do
good to your generous young hearts to see what delight
these poor children take in the books; and not only the
children, but the grown people, also, are very anxious to
have them.
"We are not living in a large city or village, but in a
small settlement of a dozen or so of houses, and very
different the houses are from those you are accustomed to.
They are all log-cabins, our own as well as the rest; but
we manage to make ourselves pretty comfortable and quite
contented. Then we have so much to do that there is no time
to think of little annoyances.
"On Sunday the people come from other settlements, miles
and miles away, to hear Mr. Long preach; and when our
simple services are over, the children beg for the books
you have sent for their use. Some of them are well thumbed
already, but, on the whole, they take good care of them,
partly for their own sakes, partly for that of their kind
little friends so far away.
"On week-days, Mr. Long rides from place to place to teach
and talk to the people. When I can borrow a pony or mule,
I go with him, and the cry is always for 'books, books.' I
take two or three from the library with me, and leave them
here and there. They pass from house to house, till all
who wish have read them, then they are returned to me, and
others asked for.
"There is an old colored woman who lives in one of the
houses near us; she has not left her bed for years; she
is lame and helpless. I went to see her when I first came
here, but she took little notice of me until I offered to
read to her. Then she turned her face to me, and asked if
I had books. I told her yes, and seeing she was ready to
listen, I opened my Bible and read several chapters to
her. To my surprise, she seemed to be quite familiar with
God's word, and asked for certain chapters, not by name
or number, but by repeating some verse they contained, or
by telling me the subject. Since then I have been to see
her every day; and thinking she might like to hear some of
the pretty stories in your library, I took one with me the
other morning. She seemed well pleased with the idea, and
before I began, I told her how I had procured the books.
She was much interested, and at last asked the names of
the children who had been so thoughtful. When I mentioned
Maggie and Bessie Bradford, her whole face lighted up,
and she asked me whose children they were. I told her, and
she at once said she had known Maggie's and Bessie's papa
when she was at home, 'to dear ole New York;' and told me
that her brother Jack, if he were still alive, often went
to see Mr. Bradford's family, who were very kind to him. So
when Maggie and Bessie see old Jack, they can tell him this
news of his sister. Poor old Dinah never tires of asking
about you, or of talking of the family, and when I go away,
always begs me to leave one of the library-books with her.
She cannot read a word, but she says she likes to look at
the picturs, and to hold the book in her hands, because it
does her good just to feel it and think it came from 'dear
Massa Henry's chillen.'
"So, my little darlings all, you see what joy your present
has brought to these poor people. That God may bless you
for your readiness to help in his work, and reward you
abundantly is the prayer of
"Your loving
"MARY LONG."
[Illustration: The End.]
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