FROM GRAY SKIES TO BLUE.
They were pretty poor, to be sure,--poor as in the hardest of times.
There were the chickens, and Granny could make a bit of broth for Hal;
but Kit and Charlie raced like deers, and had appetites. After Granny
bought them clothes and shoes, the funds were rather low. Hal guessed
at it all, but Granny never made any complaints.
He had begun a tidy in red-and-white diamond-shaped blocks; but it
seemed to grow upon his hands; and one day when Dot called it a
beautiful _bedcrilt_, for her tongue still had a few kinks in it, a new
idea crept into his brain.
"Do you think it would make a pretty spread?" he asked Mrs. Howard
rather timidly, during a call.
"Why, it would, to be sure, and so serviceable! It is a bright idea,
Hal."
"Do you suppose I could sell it?"
"If you want to--yes."
"I can't do any thing else," said Hal with a sigh; "and if I have to
stay here all winter."
For Hal's back was so weak that he could only be bolstered up in the
bed, and he had not walked a step yet.
Mrs. Howard thought a moment, then said,--
"Finish it Hal, and I will see that it is sold."
So Hal went on hopefully. Granny bewailed the fact that she had done
nothing all the fall to help along. They missed their allowance from
Joe; but they had heard from him in his usual glowing and exuberant
fashion.
Mrs. Howard took a trip around Madison one morning, and held sundry
mysterious conferences with some of her neighbors, returning home quite
well pleased.
"I am so glad I thought of it!" she said to her husband; and he
answered, "So am I, my dear."
One afternoon early in December she went over to Mrs. Kenneth's. Dot
had been clearing up under Hal's instructions, and they looked neat
as a pin. After she found that her visitor intended to remain, Granny
put on a fresh calico dress and a clean cap; and they had a nice
old-fashioned time talking, which Hal enjoyed exceedingly.
Mrs. Howard had brought a basket full of various luxuries,--some nice
cold tongue, and part of a turkey, besides jellies and cake. Quite a
little feast, indeed.
Hal begged them to have tea in the best room, where he lay; and he
enjoyed it almost as much as if he could have sat up to the table. Kit
and Charlie were delighted with the feast.
Then they settled every thing again, and Granny stirred the fire. The
wind whistled without, but within it was bright and cheerful. Hal felt
very happy indeed. It seemed as if God's strong arms were about him,
helping him to bear the weariness, as he had been strengthened to bear
pain.
Presently there was a tramping up the path, and a confusion of voices.
"Some one is coming;" and Hal raised himself. "I am almost sorry--we
were having such a nice, quiet time."
A knock at the door, which Granny opened. Kit, in the glowing
chimney-corner, rubbed his eyes; and it would have been hard to tell
which was the sleepiest, he or the old gray cat.
"O-o-h!" exclaimed Charlie; and then she darted to Hal. "A whole crowd
of 'em!"
A crowd, sure enough. It was something of a mystery to know how they
were going to get in that small place. There was Dr. and Mrs. Meade,
Mr. Howard, Mr. and Mrs. Morris, and the boys, all the Terrys,--indeed,
half Madison, Hal thought.
Mrs. Howard laughed a little at Hal's puzzled face.
"Oh!--I guess"--
Granny in the other room was quite overcome. Parcels and bags and
boxes, shaking of hands, and clattering of tongues.
"It isn't exactly Christmas, Hal," began Mr. Morris; "but Santa Claus
does sometimes lose his reckoning. So we thought we'd all drop in."
"And give me a surprise-party," said Hal.
"Exactly. Why, you look quite bright, my boy!"
Hal was bright enough then, with cheeks like roses, and lustrous eyes.
Dr. Meade sat him up in the bed. One and another came to shake hands,
and say a pleasant word; and in a few moments the whole group were
laughing and talking. There was skating already over on the pond, the
boys told him; they were going to have a Christmas exhibition; Jim
Terry had received a letter from Joe; and all the small gossip that
sounds so pleasant when one is shut within doors.
Then Mrs. Howard brought out the bedspread. None of the boys laughed at
Hal, you may be sure; and the older people thought it quite wonderful.
Mrs. Morris declared that she'd really like to have it.
"It is for sale," said Hal with a little flush.
"Let's take shares!" exclaimed Sam. "Now's your chance, mother: how
much will you give?"
"A right good plan," returned Mrs. Meade.
After a little discussion they adopted it. There were twenty-six people
who subscribed a dollar; and then the slips of paper were arranged for
drawing. The younger portion were considerably excited; and Hal's face
was in a glow of interest.
So they began. One after another took his or her chance; and, when it
was through, they all opened their slips of paper, looking eagerly at
each other.
Clara Terry blushed scarlet; and Sam's quick eyes caught the unusual
brilliancy. For the cream of the affair was, that Clara expected to be
married in a few weeks.
Dr. Meade guessed also, and then they had a good laugh. Hal was
delighted.
"It went to the right one," said Mr. Morris. "So much towards
housekeeping, Clara."
"I shall always think of Joe as well as you," she said in a soft
whisper to Hal, holding the thin fingers a moment.
After that they had a pleasant time singing. Hal was very fond of vocal
music. It seemed to him about the happiest night of his life. Then the
crowd began to disperse.
"I have thought of something new, Hal," said Dr. Meade. "I sent to New
York this morning for a small galvanic battery, to try if electricity
will not help you. We shall have you around yet: do not be discouraged."
"Everybody is so kind"--and Hal's voice quivered. "This has been a
lovely surprise party."
After they were gone Charlie began to count up the spoils; and every
exclamation grew longer and louder. There was a large ham, a fine
turkey, tea and coffee and butter, flour, rice, farina, cake and
biscuit, a bag of apples, and some cans of fruit.
"We shall live like kings," said Granny, with a little sound in her
voice that might have been a sob or a laugh. "And only this morning I
was a wondering how we _should_ get along."
"And twenty-six dollars. Why, it is almost as good as being a minister,
and having a donation-party."
"God doesn't forget us, you see," said Hal with great thankfulness.
He finished the spread a few days afterward, and sent it to Miss Clara;
and then Mrs. Meade brought him the materials to make her one.
The fracture had united; but there seemed such a terrible weakness
of the muscles in Hal's back, that Dr. Meade had become rather
apprehensive. But, after using electricity a few weeks, there _was_ an
improvement. And one day Hal balanced himself upon two crutches.
"That's red hot!" ejaculated Charlie.
"O Charlie! worthy follower of Joe, what will you do when you get to be
a young lady?"
"Oh, dear! I wish I didn't have to be one;" and Charlie began to cry.
"I'll wear a big stone on top of my head."
"I am afraid it is too late. You are as tall as Granny now."
Hal gained slowly. All this time he was thinking what he should do?
for he had a presentiment that he might never be very strong again.
No more working around on farms; and, though there were some sedentary
trades in cities, he would meet with no chance to attain to them. So he
must have the green-house.
By spring he was able to go about pretty well. But he looked white as a
ghost, quite unlike the round rosy Hal of other days.
"Kit," said he, "you'll have to be my right-hand man this summer. Maybe
by another Christmas we might have the violin."
"O Hal! I'd work from morning till night," and the eager eyes were
luminous.
"Well, we'll see."
Charlie was seized with a helpful fit also. After the garden was
ploughed, they all planted and hoed and weeded; and, as it was an early
season, they had some quite forward vegetables.
One day Hal went over to Salem, and invested a few dollars in
tuberoses, besides purchasing some choice flower-seeds. Then he stopped
into a small place where he had noticed cut-flowers, and began to
inquire whether they ever bought any.
"All I can get," said the man. "Flowers are coming to be the rage.
People think they can't have weddings or funerals without them."
"But you want white ones mostly?"
"White ones for funerals and brides. There are other occasions, though,
when colored ones are worth twice as much, and as much needed."
"You raise some?" said Hal.
"All I can. I have a small green-house. Come in and see it. Did you
think of starting in the business?"
Hal colored, and cleared his voice of a little tremble.
"I believe I shall some time," he said.
The green-house was not very large, to be sure, now quite empty, as the
flowers were out of doors.
"I wonder how much such a place would cost?" Hal asked with some
hesitation.
"About a thousand dollars," replied the man, eying it rather
critically. "Have you had any experience with flowers?"
"Not much;" and Hal sighed. A thousand dollars! No, he could never do
any thing like that.
"The best way would be to study a year or two with a florist."
"I suppose so."
Hal was quite discouraged, for that appeared out of his power as well.
"There is not so great a demand for flowers in summer, you know; but
in winter they are scarce, and bring good prices. Still, some of the
choicer kinds sell almost any time; fine rosebuds, heliotrope, and such
things."
After a little further talk, Hal thanked the man, and said good-by with
a feeling of disappointment. A hot-house was quite beyond his reach.
However, he did mean to have some early vegetable beds for another
spring--if nothing happened, he said to himself, remembering his last
summer's plans.
Not that he was idle, either. He did a good deal in the lighter kinds
of gardening. The new houses required considerable in the way of
adornment; and Dr. Meade spoke a good word for him whenever opportunity
offered. He had so much taste, besides his extravagant love for
flowers; and then he had studied their habits, the soil they required,
the time of blossoming, parting, or resetting. And it seemed as if he
could make any thing grow. Slips of geranium, rose-cuttings, and indeed
almost every thing, flourished as soon as he took it in hand.
The new railroad brought them in direct and easy communication with
another city, Newbury. Hal took a journey thither one day, and found a
florist and nurseryman who conducted operations on quite an extensive
scale. But still it was expensive in the start. He had thought of
mortgaging the place; but the little money he could raise in that way
would hardly be sufficient; and then, if he was not prosperous, they
might lose their little home.
At midsummer they heard some wonderful news about Florence. Mrs.
Osgood wrote that she was going to marry very fortunately, a gentleman
of wealth and position. She sent love to them, but she was very much
engrossed; and Mrs. Osgood said they must excuse her not writing. She
enlarged considerably upon Florence's brilliant prospect, and appeared
to take great pleasure in thinking she had fitted her for the new
position.
"Oh!" said Granny with a sigh, "we've lost her now. She will be too
rich and grand ever to come back to us."
"I don't know," returned Hal. "She did owe Mrs. Osgood a good deal of
gratitude; and it was right for her to be happy and obedient when she
was having so much done for her. But now she may feel free"--
"She has forgotten us, Hal: at least, she doesn't want to remember;"
and Granny wiped her eyes.
"I can't quite believe it. She had a good heart, and she did love us.
But maybe it's best anyway. We have been unfortunate"--
Hal's voice trembled a little. Granny rocked to and fro, her old method
of composing her mind when any thing went wrong. And, though she could
not bear to blame Flossy, there was a soreness and pain in the old
heart,--a little sting of ingratitude, if she had dared to confess it.
"Hal," said Dr. Meade one day, "they are going to start a new school
over at the cross-roads. It's a small place, and probably there will
not be more than twenty or thirty scholars,--some of the mill-children.
If you would like to teach it, I am pretty sure that I could get it for
you."
"Oh, if I could!" and Hal's eyes were all alight.
"To be sure you can. The salary is very small"--and Dr. Meade made a
long pause.
"Even a little would help along," was Hal's reply, his heart beating
with a strange rapidity.
"There can't be any appropriation made for it, you
see, as there will be no election till spring. But four hundred dollars
have been subscribed, and the committee had a fancy that they might get
a lady for that."
"I'd take it," said Hal. Four hundred dollars looked like quite a
fortune to him.
"It may get up to four hundred and fifty, though I would not like to
promise. It _is_ a small sum."
"But there's always Saturday to yourself, and nights and mornings," was
Hal's hopeful reply.
"Well, I will propose you, then. I shall be on the examining committee."
"How kind you are!" and Hal's smile was most grateful.
Still Hal was in so much doubt about his good fortune that he didn't
say a word to Granny until the examination was over and he was sure of
the appointment.
"It's just royal, isn't it?" and his eyes danced with delight. "I
was wondering what we should do this winter, when there would be no
gardening, unless I went to work in one of the mills."
"And you'd like this better? O Hal! it does seem as if the good God
was watching over us, and always sent something along in the right
time."
"He does, Granny, I am sure."
"For, when we were nearly out last winter, there was that splendid
surprise-party. I never can get over it, Hal. And your _bew_tiful
quilt, that I don't believe another boy in the world could have done. O
Hal! you're such a comfort!"
And Granny wiped her poor old eyes.
The first pea-vines were pulled up; and then Hal began to prepare for
his spring bed. It was vacation; and Charlie and Kit went into the
experiment with a great deal of zeal. First Hal dug two trenches about
twelve feet long, and four feet apart. He laid in these the stones the
children brought in a wagon that he had manufactured for Dot a long
while before. He piled them up like a wall, sifted sand between them,
and then banked up the outside, making one edge considerably higher
than the other. Around it all, at the top, he put a row of planking
about twelve inches high, and fixed grooves for the sashes to slide
across. Then he lowered the ground inside, and enriched it with manure,
making quite a little garden-spot.
Charlie wanted to have something planted right away; and she did put in
surreptitiously some peas, morning-glories, and a few squash-seed.
"I don't know but we might make another," said Hal, surveying it with a
good deal of pride.
"Oh, do!" exclaimed Charlie. "It's such fun!"
Kit didn't mind, if Hal would only tell him a story now and then.
Mozart's childhood that he had read in a stray copy of an old magazine,
fragments of Mendelssohn, and all the floating incidents he could
recall of Ole Bull. When these were exhausted, Hal used to draw a
little upon his imagination. They had a wonderful hero named Hugo, who
was stolen by gypsies when he was a little boy, and wandered around
in the German forest for years, meeting with various adventures, and
always playing on a violin to solace himself when he was cold, or
tired, or hungry, or beaten.
And, though Hal often declared that he couldn't think of any thing
more, Kit pleaded so wistfully with his luminous blue eyes and soft
voice, that Hugo would be started upon his travels again.
When the frames were done, Hal went to see Mr. Sherman, the carpenter
at Madison, to find what the sashes would cost.
"There's an odd lot up in the loft," he said to the boy. "They are
old-fashioned; and nobody seems to want any thing of that kind, except
now and then for a kitchen. I'll sell 'em cheap, if you can make 'em
answer."
So they were sent down to the Kenneths. Hal worked over them a few
days, and found that he could make them serviceable, only there would
not be quite enough. He was very handy; and soon fitted them in their
places.
"Now, that's what I call smart," exclaimed Mr. Sherman. "Why, Hal!
you'd make a good carpenter. Tell you what I'll do. I'm in an awful
hurry; and, if you'll come over and work for me a spell, we will quit
square."
Hal was delighted, and accepted at once.
"How lucky it all comes round, Granny!" he said in a gratified tone.
"And I've been thinking"--
"I'll be bound it's a bright idea;" and Granny gave her little
chirruping laugh.
"I was considering about the loom-room, Granny. You'll never weave any
more carpets; it's too hard work: and then Mr. Higgins wants to set up
in the business. He asked me about our loom the other day."
"No, I sha'n't never weave no more;" and Granny sighed, not at the
confusion of negatives, but at the knowledge that old things were
passing away.
"And it would make such a beautiful flower-room, lying to the south and
west!"
Joe would have said, "What! the loom?" But dear, rollicking Joe was not
there to catch anybody tripping in absence of mind.
"So it would. Yes, you shall have it, Hal."
For Granny would have given him her two eyes, if it would have done him
any good, and been satisfied to be led about by a dog and a string all
the rest of her life.
They ran up stairs to survey. The afternoon sun was shining in at the
windows, covering half the floor.
"Oh, it _would_ be splendid! We can put up a little stove here; and I
can have it for a kind of study besides. And a room full of flowers!"
The tears fairly stood in Hal's eyes.
There was not much time to lose; for in ten days school would begin.
And now Hal considered what he must do.
The windows came almost down to the floor, the ceiling being low. But
it would not do to have all the flowers stand on a level, as the sun
would not reach them alike. And then a brilliant idea occurred to Hal.
He went over to Mr. Sherman's, and gathered some pieces of joist that
had been sawed off, and thrown by as nearly useless. He found eight
that he made of a length, about three feet high, and bespoke a number
of rough hemlock-boards. Out of these he made a sort of counter, with
the joists for support; and then, nailing a piece all round, he had
quite a garden-bed. This was to stand back from the windows, and have
slips and various seeds planted in it. Charlie and Kit helped bring up
the soil to fill it.
Then Hal bought, for a trifle, a lot of old butter-tubs and firkins
that Mr. Terry was not sorry to be rid of. He sawed them down just the
height he wanted; and they made very good flower-pots for some of the
larger plants. They were so beautiful, that it would be a shame to
leave them out to perish in the cold blasts.
"And somehow they seem just like children to me," he said, his brown
eyes suffused with tenderness.
On the last Saturday he cast up his accounts, and took a small
inventory.
"We shall have potatoes and vegetables for winter; and we have a barrel
of flour, and a hundred of meal, besides lots of corn for the chickens;
then my salary will be a little more than thirty-six dollars a month,
counting eleven months; and fifty dollars for our poultry."
"Why, we'll be as rich as kings!" was Granny's delighted reply. "You're
a wonderful boy, Hal!"
"And if I could sell some flowers! Anyhow, there will be the spring
things. It does look a little like prosperity, Granny."
"I'm so thankful!" and Granny twisted up her apron in pure gratitude.
"Charlie had better go to school again. I wish she could learn to be a
teacher; for she never will like to sew."
"No," replied Granny, with a solemn shake of the head.
"And she is getting to be such a large girl! Well, I suppose something
will come. It has to all of us."