Alice and Beatrice
[Illustration:
The Old Woman showing how Lace is made.—_Page 19._
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_ALICE_
_AND_
_BEATRICE._
BY GRANDMAMMA.
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN ABSOLOM._
[Illustration]
NEW YORK:
E. P. DUTTON AND Co.
GRIFFITH & FARRAN, ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD, LONDON.
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(_The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._)
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CONTENTS.
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PAGE
CHAPTER I.
VISIT TO GRANDMAMMA—WALKS TO THE 7
SEA-SHORE—BATHING IN THE SEA
CHAPTER II.
EVENING WALK—STEAMER—LACEMAKING 15
CHAPTER III.
A RAINY DAY—STORY OF PRETTY AND THE BEAR 21
CHAPTER IV.
RUSSIA AND THE FROZEN SEA 29
CHAPTER V.
CELLAR—WALK TO THE SEA-SHORE—RAINBOW, 35
ETC.
CHAPTER VI.
BEES SWARMING—FABLE OF THE ANT AND 46
GRASSHOPPER
CHAPTER VII.
SAIL TO BRANSCOMBE—HORSES CARRYING COALS 59
CHAPTER VIII.
WALK ON THE HILLSIDE—TAME AND WILD 73
RABBITS—RETURN HOME
CHAPTER IX.
THE CHILD BURNT—A NEGRO CHILD CURED BY 83
COTTON-WOOL
CHAPTER X.
A WINTER’S DRIVE IN RUSSIA 94
CHAPTER XI.
CIDER-MAKING 102
CHAPTER XII.
SQUIRRELS 113
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SHIPWRECK—THE PARROT 117
CHAPTER XIV.
THE KITTEN 133
CHAPTER XV.
INSTINCT OF ANIMALS 139
CHAPTER XVI.
LENGTH OF DAY IN RUSSIA AND FINLAND 147
CHAPTER XVII.
PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE MAKE ALL 156
THINGS EASY
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CHAPTER I.
VISIT TO GRANDMAMMA—WALKS TO THE SEA-SHORE—BATHING IN THE SEA.
ALICE and Beatrice were two little girls of about four and six years of
age. They were staying with their grandmamma. Alice and Beatrice were
very glad to be with their grandmamma, for she lived in the country and
near the sea. They liked to see the green fields, full of pretty
flowers, and to play in the nice large garden, and to walk up and down
the high hills that were on all sides of the house, and also they liked
to go to the sea-shore and look on the wide sea.
Grandmamma loved Alice and Beatrice very much, and she liked to have
them with her, and she tried to make them good and happy. Every morning
they said their prayers to her, and every evening before they went to
bed; and they never forgot to thank God, who had taken care of them
during the night, and to beg God to bless and take care of them, and all
those they loved, that day and always. Little Beatrice could not say her
prayers quite so well as Alice, but she said them better and better
every day.
After breakfast grandmamma had to order the dinner, and whilst she went
to the kitchen to speak to the cook, she let the two little girls run up
and down the long verandah which was in front of the house, and which
led to the pretty garden.
Alice read to her grandmamma, learned by heart and said some verses from
her hymnbook, and little Beatrice always learned one verse every day.
Then Alice did some sums, and after she had shown them, and grandmamma
had found them all right, Alice wrote her copy. As soon as Alice began
to write, Beatrice brought her letters and tried to learn to know them.
Grandmamma told her when she knew them all she would give her a book
with large letters and words.
After the lessons were over, the little girls went out for a walk with
Mary.
Mary was a kind person and very fond of the two children, and they liked
Mary very much. Mary went with Alice and Beatrice down the sloping
walks, till they came to a gate, which they opened; they then went
across a little wooden bridge, and down a very steep path and some steps
that led to the sea-shore.
Alice and Beatrice liked to go to the sea-shore very much. Mary sat on
the sand and worked, whilst Alice and Beatrice played about. They had
each of them a pretty wooden basket and a little wooden spade, and they
dug in the sand on the sea-shore, and filled their baskets with sand or
stones. Sometimes they dug large holes for the sea to come in, and they
liked to see the waves come higher and higher, till the large holes were
full of water. Sometimes Alice and Beatrice dug a long ditch down the
sloping shore to the edge of the waves, and the water ran down it into
the sea, and they called it their river. When they were tired of
digging, they asked Mary if they might look for pretty stones, and
shells, and sea-weed.
There were plenty of pretty stones and sea-weed, and even shells, to be
found. Some of the shells were pretty and white and smooth, and the
children took great care of them, and took them home to play with. They
often found sea-weeds of all colours, red and yellow, green and brown,
and some sea-weeds were small and fine, like hair or moss; and
grandmamma helped them to dry them, and put them on paper. There was
another kind of sea-weed that was very long and heavy, and looked like
large black rushes. Mary told them not to take those home, for they were
not nice, and they could not be dried.
One day Alice found a pretty stone, or pebble, as it is called: it was
very clear, not quite so clear as glass; but when she held it towards
the sun, she could see through it.
‘I will take the pretty stone home, Mary,’ said Alice, ‘and give it dear
mamma.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Mary, ‘your mamma will have it cut and polished for a
brooch.’
‘Yes, I am sure she will,’ cried Alice; ‘I am so glad that I have found
it!’ and Alice put it into her pocket.
‘I will try and find a pretty stone too for mamma,’ said Beatrice, and
she ran along the sand, close to the waves: and just when Mary called
her to come away, a large wave came higher up than the others had done
before, and wetted little Beatrice’s shoes and socks.
Beatrice ran back to Mary, and she was a little frightened, and she
said, ‘Mary, I did not hear you call me till that big wave came up to my
feet, and I could not run away quick enough, and my feet are so wet.’
‘We must go home directly, Miss Beatrice,’ said Mary, ‘and make haste
and change your shoes and socks;’ and they went home.
Another day they went to the beach again, and their grandmamma went with
them. As they went through the pretty garden, they stopped to look at
the rose-trees that were beginning to bloom; and grandmamma gave Alice a
white rose and Beatrice a dark-red one. She cut off the thorns from the
stalks, and Beatrice asked her, ‘Why do you cut off those things,
grandmamma?’
‘Those things are called thorns, my dear child; they would prick your
fingers, for they are very sharp.’
The children looked at the thorns, and put their fingers to them, and
said, ‘They prick like needles.’ They thanked her for the roses, and
smelt them, for they were very sweet.
They went on to the gate, and then grandmamma opened it, and gave
Beatrice her hand across the narrow bridge, and down the steep path, and
the many steps.
Alice ran on alone, jumping along, and pulling some wild flowers that
grew in the grass on each side the path, and she came first to the
beach, and then ran back to meet her grandmamma and little sister.
When they came to the sea-shore, they saw that Mary was there waiting
for them with a large basket. They knew that the basket was full of
their bathing dresses; for their grandmamma liked them to bathe in the
sea whenever the weather was warm and the sun shone.
There was a tent at the foot of the cliff, for a steep cliff rose very
high a little way from the sea-shore on each side of the narrow valley
through which they had to come. In this tent the two little girls went
to undress and get ready for bathing. Mary helped them; and when they
had put on their bathing dresses, Mary did the same, and went into the
sea with them.
Alice ran into the water alone, and jumped over the little waves that
came rolling gently on to the shore. Beatrice took hold of Mary’s hand,
but she was not afraid, and she dipped her face and hands into the
waves, and she tried to jump about like Alice.
Then Beatrice asked Mary to let her float; and Mary held Beatrice’s
head, and the little girl lay quite stiff and quiet on the water, and
her feet and body floated, which she liked very much.
‘Please, Mary,’ said Alice, ‘let me try and float too.’ And Mary let
Beatrice stand by her side and floated Alice backwards and forwards.
‘When I am a little older,’ said Alice, ‘grandmamma says that I must
learn to swim.’
‘And I, too,’ said Beatrice.
After the children had jumped about a short time in the waves, and were
quite warm, their grandmamma said—
‘Come out now, you have been in the water long enough;’ and the little
girls came out and ran into the tent, where they were soon dried and
dressed, for their grandmamma helped them too, and they made haste to go
home, up the many steps and steep path, and were glad to have their
dinner, because they were hungry after their bath.
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