THE PUNISHMENT OF MILDRED
The last rice thrown and the bridal party gone! Molly and Judy all that
was left of the gay girls! The old crowd once more dispersed! I wonder
if they will ever come together again. It had been a perfect time, and
Molly, although dead tired, was very happy that she had been able to
gather them in under her roof. All that worried her now was the fact
that Mildred was to be punished. How, she was not certain.
Mrs. Brown, no longer in her apron but now the most honored of all, was
ensconced on the sofa with Dodo in her arms and Mildred snuggled up
close to her side. The child's eyes were big and sad. Her little cropped
head was drooping and her mouth trembling. Even Granny was not noticing
her naughtiness. Evidently nobody loved her!
Kent was seated on the floor, his head against his mother's knee, where,
without exerting himself, he could see Judy's animated face and bright
fluffy hair. Perhaps the time was soon coming when he would have to be
far away from these beloved women. He was sure of his commission now and
was ready for his country's call, but oh, it was hard to be uprooted
from the pleasant spot where love had planted him! Ah, well! The war
could not last forever and maybe there was a good time coming for all of
them. It was hard to leave Judy, but it would be harder to take her with
him if duty sent him to France. He did not criticize Andy McLean in the
least. He knew his own business and Nance wanted to go with him but he,
Kent Brown, had no idea of exposing his Judy to any more horrors of war.
The taste both of them had had of it was enough.
The little group around the fire was very quiet. Dormouse Dodo went
off into his usual soporific state. Judy was knitting rapidly, and the
click of her needles was all that broke the stillness. Judy always
declared she did not mind knitting if she could just make her needles
click. Molly was too tired to knit, too tired to do anything. If only
she had settled matters with her first born! Her conscience told her it
must be done and done soon. If only something would happen to keep her
from having to do it, whatever it was to be. She actually prayed for
strength to take the matter up and also that she would not have to take
it up.
Suddenly on the twilight calm of the library there arose a
broken-hearted wail! Mildred had broken out into an abandon of grief.
Her wails rent the air.
"Gee whilikins! I thought the Germans had come," exclaimed Kent, jumping
to his feet.
"My darling, what is it?" asked Mrs. Brown as Mildred clutched her
around the neck.
"Oh, Granny, Granny! My muvver hates me!"
"Oh, Molly! What have you done to this angel?" asked the grandmother
almost sternly.
"Nothing! I declare!"
"That's jes' it! She ain't done nuffin! That shows she hates me. Kizzie
done say, 'Who de Lord loveneth he chases,' an' I done did the wussest
thing I could do an' my muvver she ain't so much as said: 'Why,
Mildred!' I wants to git spanked! I wants to git spanked!"
"Why, darling, what have you done?" asked Mrs. Brown, trying to control
her risibles.
"I done shave-pated, number-eighted my little Haythen friend. Kizzie
called Cho-Cho:
"'Shave pate, number eight
Hit yo' haid aginst the gate.'
"It sho did hurt Cho-Cho's feelings. And Cho-Cho, she slish-slashed my
hair off so's I'd look cute. Nobody ain't told us we look cute--and
nobody ain't spanked us nor nothin'--and nobody don't love us." This
tirade came out between sobs.
Kent and Judy roared with laughter but Molly and her mother tried to
look sad and mournful.
"Molly, I'm astonished! Why don't you spank your kid? I never heard of
such an inhuman parent," teased Kent.
Molly was very happy indeed. The miracle had come! Her prayer was
answered. She did not have to punish Mildred. Mildred was punished.
"You wouldn't have treated yo' dear little children so mean, would you,
Granny?"
"You bet she wouldn't have," insisted Kent. "Why, if I had shave-pated,
number-eighted my little Haythen friends, your granny would have torn me
limb from limb and beaten me black and blue."
"Sho nuf?"
"Yes, indeed, and if my little Haythen friend had chopped off all my
pretty curls, I am sure her mother would have thrown her in the fire and
poked holes in her with a red hot poker."
"Jes' 'cause they loved you so much?"
"Yes, just because they loved us so much."
"Me'n' Cho-Cho wisht we could git throwed in the fire," sighed the
repentant Mildred. "But, Uncle Kent," and she got up and put her little
mouth close to his ear, "don't you think I made a mighty cunning little
Japanese dolly out'n my Haythen friend?"