LITTLE PRUDY'S SISTER SUSY
by
SOPHIE MAY
New York
Hurst & Company
Publishers
[Illustration]
TO MY LITTLE NIECE Katie Clarke
THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU, KATIE, WITH THE LOVE OF YOUR AUNTIE.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. KEEPING SECRETS
II. BEFORE DAYLIGHT
III. SUSY'S CHRISTMAS
IV. SUSY'S WINGS
V. PRUDY'S TROUBLE
VI. ROSY FRANCES EASTMAN MARY
VII. LITTLE TROUBLES
VIII. ANNIE LOVEJOY
IX. MORAL COURAGE
X. RUTHIE TURNER
XI. SUSY'S BIRTHDAY
XII. FAREWELL
PREFACE.
Here is a story about the oldest of the three little Parlin girls,
"sister Susy;" though so many things are always happening to Prudy that
it is not possible to keep her out of the book.
I hope my dear little friends will see how kind it was in God to send
the "slow winter" and the long nights of pain to little Prudy.
If trouble should come to us, let us grow gentle, and patient, and
lovely.
Little friends, be sure of one thing--our dear Father in heaven sends us
something hard to bear only because he loves us.
SISTER SUSY.
CHAPTER I.
KEEPING SECRETS.
We might begin this story of Susy Parlin on a New Year's day, only it is
so hard to skip over Christmas. There is such a charm about Christmas!
It makes you think at once of a fir tree shining with little candles and
sparkling with toys, or of a droll Santa Claus with a pack full of
presents, or of a waxen angel called the Christ-child.
And it is just as well to date from the twenty-fifth of December,
because, as "Christ was born on Christmas day," that is really the
"Happy New Year."
For a long while the three little Parlin girls had been thinking and
dreaming of presents. Susy's wise head was like a beehive, full of
little plans and little fancies, which were flying about like bees, and
buzzing in everybody's ears.
But it may be as well to give you a short description of the Parlin
family.
Susy's eyes were of an "evening blue," the very color of the sky in a
summer night; good eyes, for they were as clear as a well which has the
"truth" lying at the bottom of it. She was almost as nimble as a
squirrel, and could face a northern snow storm like an engineer. Her
hair was dark brown, and as smooth and straight as pine-needles; while
Prudy's fair hair rippled like a brook running over pebbles. Prudy's
face was sunny, and her mouth not much larger than a button-hole.
The youngest sister was named Alice, but the family usually called her
Dotty, or Dotty Dimple, for she was about as round as a period, and had
a cunning little dimple in each cheek. She had bright eyes, long curls,
and a very short tongue; that is, she did not talk much. She was two
years and a half old before she could be prevailed upon to say anything
at all. Her father declared that Dotty thought there were people enough
in the world to do the talking, and she would keep still; or perhaps
she was tired of hearing Prudy say so much.
However, she had a way of nodding her curly head, and shaking her plump
little forefinger; so everybody knew very well what she meant. She had
learned the use of signs from a little deaf and dumb boy of whom we
shall hear more by and by; but all at once, when she was ready she began
to talk with all her might, and soon made up for lost time.
The other members of the family were only grown people: Mr. and Mrs.
Parlin, the children's excellent parents; Mrs. Read, their kind Quaker
grandmother; and the Irish servant girl, Norah.
Just now Mrs. Margaret Parlin, their "aunt Madge," was visiting them,
and the little girls felt quite easy about Christmas, for they gave it
all up to her; and when they wanted to know how to spend their small
stock of money, or how much this or that pretty toy would cost, Prudy
always settled it by saying, "Let's go ask auntie: _she'll_ know, for
she's been through the Rithmetic."
Prudy spoke these words with awe. She thought "going through the
Rithmetic" was next thing to going round the world.
"O Auntie, I'm so glad you came," said Susy, "for I didn't see how I was
ever going to finish my Christmas presents: I go to school, you know,
and it takes me all the rest of the time to slide!"
The children were busy making wonderful things "all secret;" or they
would have been secret if Prudy hadn't told.
For one thing, she wondered very much what Susy could be doing with four
pins stuck in a spool. She watched the nimble fingers as they passed the
worsted thread over the pin-heads, making stitches as fast as Susy could
wink.
"It looks like a tiny snake all sticked through the hole in the spool,"
said Prudy, eager with curiosity. "If you ain't a-goin' to speak, I
don't know what I _shall_ do, Susy Parlin!"
When poor Susy could not pretend any longer not to hear, she answered
Prudy, half vexed, half laughing, "O, dear, I s'pose you'll tease and
tease till you find out. Won't you never say a word to anybody,
_never_?"
"Never in my world," replied the little one, with a solemn shake of her
head.
"Well, it's a lamp-mat for auntie. It's going to be blue, and red, and
all colors; and when it's done, mother'll sew it into a round, and put
fringe on: won't it be splendid? But remember, you promised not to
tell!"
Now, the very next time Prudy sat in her auntie's lap she whispered in
her ear,--
"You don't know what _we're_ making for you, _all secret_, out of
worsted, and _I_ shan't tell!"
"Mittens?" said aunt Madge, kissing Prudy's lips, which were pressed
together over her sweet little secret like a pair of sugar-tongs
clinching a lump of sugar.
"Mittens? No, indeed! Better'n that! There'll be fringe all over it;
it's in a round; it's to put something on,--to put the _lamp_ on!"
"Not a lamp-mat, of course?"
"Why, yes it is! O, there, now you've been and guessed all in a minute!
Susy's gone an' told! I didn't s'pose she'd tell. I wouldn't for nothin'
in my world!"
Was it strange that Susy felt vexed when she found that her nice little
surprise was all spoiled?
"Try to be patient," said Mrs. Parlin, gently. "Remember how young and
thoughtless your sister is. She never means any harm."
"O, but, mamma," replied Susy, "she _keeps_ me being patient all the
whole time, and it's hard work."
So Susy, in her vexation, said to Prudy, rather sternly, "You little
naughty thing, to go and tell when you promised not to! You're almost as
bad as Dotty. What makes you act so?"
"Why, Susy," said the child, looking up through her tears, "have I
_acted_? I didn't know I'd acted! If you loved me, you wouldn't look
that way to me. You wrinkle up your face just like Nanny when she says
she'll shake the naughty out of me, Miss Prudy."
Then what could Susy do but forgive the sweet sister, who kissed her so
coaxingly, and looked as innocent as a poor little kitty that has been
stealing cream without knowing it is a sin?
It was plain that it would not do to trust Prudy with secrets. Her brain
could not hold them, any more than a sieve can hold water. So Mrs.
Parlin took pity upon Susy, and allowed her and her cousin Florence
Eastman to lock themselves into her chamber at certain hours, and work
at their presents without interruption.
While the little girls sat together busily employed with book-marks and
pin-cushions, the time flew very swiftly, and they were as happy as bees
in a honeysuckle.
Mrs. Parlin said she believed nothing less than Christmas presents would
ever make Susy willing to use a needle and thread; for she disliked
sewing, and declared she wished the man who made the needles had to
swallow them all.
The family were to celebrate Christmas evening; for Mr. Parlin was away,
and might not reach home in season for Christmas eve.
For a wonder they were not to have a Tree, but a Santa Claus, "just for
a change."
"Not a truly Santa Claus, that comes puffin' down the chimney,"
explained Prudy, who knew very well it would be only cousin Percy under
a mask and white wig.