Casabianca. But when two mothers are talking about patterns and
Christmas trees, who ever knew them to notice every little outside
noise? Elbert's shout ended in a big sob. A man going to lose his entire
fortune couldn't feel worse than this little fellow did, with that
dreadful "tardy" mark hanging over his head.
Then a happy thought flashed into his mind. Running to the cradle, he
caught up the baby, scattering pillows and blankets right and left,
bundled an old shawl over her, and snatching her half-filled milk
bottle, dashed out of the house, and ran off in the direction of that
clanging bell as fast as his stout young legs could carry him. The baby
was a light little mite, only two and a half months old, and Elbert was
nearly six years, and large for his age.
He met two women whom he knew, and who commenced making weak remarks,
like, "Why, Elbert!" and "What on earth!" but he bounded past them, with
no answer but his panting breath, and reached the school-house in such
good time that the bell gave its last two clangs just as he handed over
his funny burden to his astonished teacher.
"I couldn't leave her, and I _couldn't_ be late," he said, as soon as he
could get breath enough to speak. "And she'll go to sleep, and be real
good," he continued, as the teacher began to unwind the shawl.
And then the whole room saw a surprised, half-smothered-looking little
baby, still in her night-gown, one bare foot sticking out, and her
little fists tightly clinched, as if defying anybody to send her home.
The teacher was a good-natured young lady, and she laughed so that she
almost dropped the baby on the floor, and then the whole room laughed,
and finally Elbert joined in; for he was glad he had escaped the tardy
mark, and the baby certainly did look funny in school.
Of course there could be no order. Nearly all the scholars had babies at
home, or were well acquainted with those of their neighbors; but they
acted as if they had never seen one before, and every movement of the
little pink hands and every turn of the small bald head made them scream
with laughter, until the principal of the school came into the room to
see what the disturbance was, and after trying to look severe for five
seconds, he laughed too.
And while all this fun was going on, Elbert's mother was running wildly
through the four rooms of her little house, calling her boy's name, and
feeling sure that the children were either killed and thrown into the
cistern, or else carried off like Charley Ross, and lost forever. The
scattered pillows and upset rocking-chair, indeed, made the kitchen
appear as if there had been a struggle, and the wide-open door and the
gate creaking to and fro had a dreadful look to Elbert's mother. Just
then the women whom Elbert had met stopped at the gate, and said to the
mother, who was coming hurriedly out, "Is anything the matter, Mrs.
Collins?"
"Oh, I don't know where my children are! I left them while I ran into
Mrs. Brown's a minute, and the kitchen's all upset, and I'm afraid--"
"Why, we just now met Elbert with the baby, kiting along like the wind,
over there by Webster & Green's. Leastways we supposed it was the baby,
from the way he carried it. And he never--"
"Merciful man! he's taken her to school!"
About ten minutes later, a flustered little woman rapped at the door of
the First Primary Room, and inquired for a baby. It was handed to her,
along with an empty milk bottle, and wrapping them both in a red cloak
which she carried, she thanked the smiling teacher, and walked quickly
home.
At first she had felt very angry toward Elbert; but when she looked at
the clock, and remembered his horror of being late, she softened toward
him considerably, and by the time she had got the baby home, and found
her none the worse for her little run away, she had her laugh also; and
being a fair-minded woman, she told Elbert when he came home to dinner
that it was very thoughtless in her to have staid so long at Mrs.
Brown's. And Elbert gave her a hug, and said he was "glad he didn't
_leave_ the baby, 'cause she might have been burned up, you know!"
[Begun in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 58, December 7.]
MILDRED'S BARGAIN.
A Story for Girls.
BY MRS. JOHN LILLIE.
CHAPTER VII.
How long she was unconscious, Milly never knew. She awoke to find
herself in a beautiful white bed, in a room she had never seen. All
signs of the storm seemed shut out; there was a bright fire on the
hearth; the room seemed full of pleasant shadows and flickering beams of
light. Milly was only half conscious that some one spoke to her, and
gave her something pleasant to drink. Then she drifted off again, with a
pleasant confusion of fancies in her mind. When she next awoke, it
seemed again to be evening, but she was conscious of a certain change in
her surroundings. A little table was drawn near her; half-used medicine
bottles were upon it; Deborah was sitting over by the fire, and Miss
Jenner was standing in the window.
"Debby," she said, surprised to find her voice so weak; and then she
lifted up her hand, and saw it was very thin.
"My blessed lamb!" cried the old woman, hastening to her side, followed
quickly by Alice. "So you're better!"
Mildred found she had to keep still a long time before she could say any
more. She nearly fell asleep again.
"Debby," she said presently, "is it long since I fainted? What time is
it?"
"Oh, my lovey," said the old nurse, "you've lain in that blessed bed two
weeks. You've been very ill, but, thank the Lord, you're better."
This was all Mildred knew for days. She had had a fever; and finding out
the condition of things at the cottage, Miss Jenner had taken Mrs. Lee's
affairs into her own hands. She had kept Milly, as a matter of course,
had sent a good servant to care for Mrs. Lee, filled the store closet
with every delicacy, and allowed Debby to watch and care for her
"child," as she always called Mildred. Sometimes, as she lay still in
her comfortable bed, Milly tried to recall the dreadful scene at Mr.
Hardman's; and one evening, when she was sitting up for the first time
before the fire, and after she had finished a dainty little supper; she
ventured to ask Miss Jenner a few questions.
[Illustration: MILDRED CONFESSES ALL TO MISS JENNER.]
"Miss Jenner," she said, softly, "do you know all about it?"
"Yes," said Miss Jenner, smiling.
"And are they going to take me to court?"
"_No_," answered the elder lady, emphatically.
"But why not?" Milly persisted. "They said I stole that money."
"And _I_ said you _didn't_," retorted Miss Jenner. "You let it all out
in your fever, my dear. I think I understand it all."
"And you know--" faltered Mildred.
Miss Jenner smiled.
"Just see if I don't know," she said. "One evening a precious old humbug
calling herself Widow Robbins came here to find you, and try and get out
of you what you owed her--you _did_ owe it, Milly--and my boy Roger was
standing behind one of the trees, and heard the conversation; so he knew
you were very badly off for twenty-two dollars, and as soon as he could
scrape it together, what does he do but send it to you in a private
note, saying you can pay it back to _him_ when you like."
"Yes," said Mildred, eagerly, "I found that note one afternoon on my
return home; but _in it_ he bound me over not to speak of where I got
the money until he came back. I felt dreadfully about it; but as soon as
mother got well I intended telling her the whole story, and devising
some way of paying Roger right back; and I will yet, Miss Jenner."
There was a moment's pause before Mildred said, "But how about the
store--the robbery?"
"My dear," said Miss Jenner, "I am of the opinion that that was all
arranged between Tom Hardman and Mrs. Robbins. I've seen her, and she
admits she told him the whole story. He was angry because you seemed to
snub him; and you made him feel his vulgarity, and so he devised this
trick out of revenge. If there _was_ any robbery, _he_ was the thief!"
"And have you seen him?" inquired Milly, tears of gratitude and
thankfulness pouring down her cheeks.
"Yes," said Miss Jenner, "and he and his father say the thing 'may blow
over'; but that won't do for me. The first day you're well enough, you
must drive down there in my carriage, and have them tell you they
withdraw the accusation, and apologize for having made it. Now you must
not talk any more." And Miss Jenner kissed her young friend, and moved
away, taking up a book in a distant part of the room.
Mildred never forgot the two weeks that followed. With Miss Jenner she
had long talks, in which she realized not only the folly of her
extravagance, but the actual sin of her running into debt. A great many
things which she had never thought of as serious now appeared to her in
the light of _principles_, without which, as Miss Jenner told her, she
could not live a perfect or even an upright life. When the day came on
which she was declared well enough to drive with Miss Jenner to Mr.
Hardman's, Mildred felt too humbled to rejoice in being received with
any honor.
The girls looked at her, as she followed Miss Jenner into Mr. Hardman's
office, nudging each other, and casting half-envious glances toward
their former companion. Mary Hardman was nowhere to be seen, but Mr. Tom
was with his father, and received Miss Jenner and Mildred with a stiff
sort of pompousness. Miss Jenner had very little to say, and it was only
later that Milly fully recalled the scene--Mr. Hardman's apologies, and
Mr. Tom's surly assent. When they came back to the store, Milly paused
to say a few words here and there, and as she walked away, it was some
relief to hear a voice saying,
"Well, I'm glad it's all right; I never _could_ believe it of Milly
Lee."
* * * * *
When I knew Mildred Lee she was a woman of nearly thirty, and at the
head of her own house; but the lesson of her girlhood had done her a
lasting service. No one ever had it to say of her that she bought or
used any article for which she could not at the _moment_ pay, and her
advice to young people was invaluable. When I knew her, her home was in
the Brick House. Mrs. Lee did not long survive the serious illness of
that winter, and Miss Jenner cared tenderly for the orphans her old
friend's widow left.
Mildred speaks now with tears of gratitude of all the past, even of its
miseries; and the gray silk dress, worn but once, and still brown with
stains, is treasured as a memorial of the _bargain_ by which Mildred
purchased her high sense of honor.
THE END.
FAITHLESS SALLY BROWN.
AN OLD BALLAD.
Young Ben he was a nice young man,
A carpenter by trade;
And he fell in love with Sally Brown,
That was a lady's-maid.
[Illustration]
But as they fetched a walk one day,
They met a press-gang crew;
And Sally she did faint away,
Whilst Ben he was brought to.
The boatswain swore with wicked words,
Enough to shock a saint,
That though she did seem in a fit,
'Twas nothing but a feint.
"Come, girl," said he, "hold up your head--
He'll be as good as me;
For when your swain is in our boat
A boatswain he will be."
So when they'd made their game of her,
And taken off her elf,
She roused, and found she only was
A-coming to herself.
"And is he gone, and is he gone?"
She cried, and wept outright;
"Then I will to the water-side,
And see him out of sight."
[Illustration]
A waterman came up to her;
"Now, young woman," said he,
"If you weep on so, you will make
Eye water in the sea."
"Alas! they've taken my beau, Ben,
To sail with old Benbow";
And her woe began to run afresh,
As if she'd said, Gee woe!
Says he, "They've only taken him
To the tender ship, you see."
"The tender ship," cried Sally Brown--
"What a hardship that must be!
"Oh! would I were a mermaid now,
For then I'd follow him;
But, oh! I'm not a fish woman,
And so I can not swim.
"Alas! I was not born beneath
The Virgin and the Scales,
So I must curse my cruel stars,
And walk about in Wales."
Now Ben had sailed to many a place
That's underneath the world;
But in two years the ship came home,
And all her sails were furled.
But when he called on Sally Brown,
To see how she got on,
He found she'd got another Ben,
Whose Christian name was John.
[Illustration]
"O Sally Brown, O Sally Brown,
How could you serve me so?
I've met with many a breeze before.
But never such a blow!"
[Illustration]
Then reading on his 'bacco box,
He heaved a heavy sigh
And then began to eye his pipe,
And then to pipe his eye.
[Illustration]
And then he tried to sing "All's Well!"
But could not, though he tried;
His head was turned--and so he chewed
His pigtail till he died.
His death, which happened in his berth,
At forty-odd befell;
They went and told the sexton, and
The sexton tolled the bell.
THOMAS HOOD.
[Illustration: OUR POST-OFFICE BOX]
SIERRA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.
I live 'way up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, five thousand feet
above the sea. The snow here is four feet deep. My brother and I
have lots of fun sliding down hill on snow-shoes. Our snow-shoes
are made out of strips of wood about six feet long and four inches
wide, with leather straps in the middle to put our toes in. The
shoes that grown people use are from eight to fourteen feet long.
I am ten years old. My father takes HARPER'S WEEKLY, and we like
to look at the pictures. He subscribed for YOUNG PEOPLE for us at
the beginning of the second volume.
MAY C. T.
* * * * *
DERBY, CONNECTICUT.
I am twelve years old. I like YOUNG PEOPLE very much, and all the
scholars in my school like it. I get a copy every week because I am
a good girl, and I wish every little girl would do the same.
E. L. M.
* * * * *
WEST PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.
We have taken HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE ever since it was published,
and we think it grows better all the time. I enjoyed reading the
letter from one of the party who visited Harper's Building, and I
hope some time to see it all myself. I guess, if I am a girl, I
should not be afraid, and "run away" from any of the machinery;
anyhow, not from the folding-machines, for some of them are made
right here in our own shop.
After we have read our YOUNG PEOPLE all through, we send the
numbers to the Children's Hospital, so that the poor little ones
there may have the pleasure of reading such a nice little paper.
ISABEL C.
* * * * *
BOZEMAN, MONTANA TERRITORY.
I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and I like it very much. I was so sorry when
the story of "Paul Grayson" was finished.
I am boarding in town and going to school this winter, but my home
is about five miles away, in the country. I go out there every
Friday night.
Yesterday I went out hunting. I have a double-barrelled shot-gun,
which pa gave me for helping pick up potatoes. I have a horse and
a saddle and bridle of my own, and in the summer I have to ride
lots. Sometimes I ride thirty miles at a time.
I get up the cows, and take them out every day. In the summer we
have school within half a mile of our house.
BERTIE R.
* * * * *
NEWPORT, KENTUCKY.
This is the first letter I ever wrote to the Post-office Box. Now I
thought I would tell about the freezing of the Ohio River. Just
below here it is frozen solid, and crowds of people skate on it
every day. It is not frozen in front of Newport, because a steam
ferry runs between here and Cincinnati, and the boats keep the ice
broken. They do not allow it to get thick enough to hold people,
because if it was, everybody would walk over without having to pay
the ferry.
The Licking River, a very small tributary of the Ohio, is frozen
over too, and I went skating on it yesterday.
HENRY R.
* * * * *
ATLANTA, GEORGIA.
We want to know who "Jimmy Brown" is. When papa read "Our Baby,"
mamma, my aunts, uncles, and cousins laughed until the tears ran
down their cheeks.
I made me some arrows with pins stuck in them.
The Christmas number of YOUNG PEOPLE was the best of all.
STEWART H.
* * * * *
DETROIT, MICHIGAN.
I am a little boy eight years old. I commenced to take YOUNG PEOPLE
last November, and I like it very much. I enjoy reading the little
letters in the Post-office Box, and I like all of the stories. I
think "Toby Tyler" is splendid.
I hope all the little folks who read YOUNG PEOPLE had a Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year.
FRED R.
* * * * *
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
I was nine years old on the 7th of January. Papa has taken YOUNG
PEOPLE for me ever since it began. He sent for a cover, and is
having the first volume bound. I like it very much indeed.
I have had lots of sport coasting, and I will be very sorry when
the snow is gone.
CRAIG C.
* * * * *
EAST RUPERT, VERMONT.
My home is in Factory Point, but I am up to my grandpa's now. He
has got a big farm. He has fourteen cows and two calves. My papa is
a doctor, and I have lots of rides with him. I am nine years old.
CHARLEY C.
* * * * *
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.
I thought I would write to the Post-office about the big spring in
Indiana. It is called Harrison Spring, because it was owned by
General Harrison when he was Governor of the Northwestern
Territory. It looks like a very large pond, and is fifty-five feet
deep in the centre. There are two streams flowing from it, which
form an island, as they unite and form one stream at a little
distance from the spring. About a mile farther on, this stream runs
a saw-mill and a flour-mill. This spring is near the great
Wyandotte Cave.
GILBERT C. S.
* * * * *
I have increased my collection of stamps from seventy-five to
fifteen hundred by exchange. I think this is the grandest of all
the departments of YOUNG PEOPLE. I would now like to exchange
twenty-five foreign stamps for five birds' eggs. Correspondents
will please label the eggs.
ROBERT H. DAVIDSON,
Care of the Postmaster,
Tullahoma, Coffee County, Tenn.
* * * * *
I would like to exchange Texas postmarks for minerals or postmarks.
Or I will exchange an ounce of the soil of Texas for that of any
other State.
H. C. YANCEY,
P. O. Box 224, Houston, Texas.
* * * * *
I wish to inform those correspondents who desire to exchange
minerals, shells, and curiosities with me, that I have changed my
residence. My new address is,
CHARLES LEADBETTER,
305 Fourth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio.
* * * * *
I am a girl fourteen years old, but I am lame, and can not go out.
I have a few crochet lace patterns which I would like to exchange
for others. I would also like to exchange patterns of patchwork. If
any little girl would like to know how to crochet a pair of doll's
drawers, a jacket, or a petticoat, and will send me her address and
a postage stamp, I will gladly answer her.
ANNIE SLACK,
170 Fourteenth Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
* * * * *
I have a list of every Indian tribe in the United States which I
will give a copy of in exchange for Indian relics, foreign stamps,
or postal cards.
JOHN E. WILLIAMS,
4 Harrison Street, New York City.
* * * * *
I have some genuine Indian bows and arrows, some fine silver and
copper specimens, and a great number of Lake Superior agates, which
I should like to exchange for shells and ocean curiosities.
HORACE H. MITCHELL, Duluth, Minn.
* * * * *
The following exchanges are also offered by correspondents:
A fifty-cent and a twenty-five cent stamp, for two Cape of Good
Hope stamps.
WILLIAM R. CARMER,
Mount Vernon, Westchester County, N. Y.
* * * * *
Fine samples of gold ore, showing the stages of concentration or
separation of quartz from the precious metal, for rare postage
stamps. In answering, correspondents will please specify stamps.
DWIGHT MARFIELD,
Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio.
* * * * *
Postmarks.
MARY B. REED,
Norwich, Chenango County, N. Y.
* * * * *
A piece of the first Atlantic cable for an American copper cent of
1799, or the half-cent of 1836, 1843, or 1852; or one Spanish and
one English coin and two French coins for the American twenty-cent
piece of 1877 or 1878.
WILLIE B. SHOBER,
Cumberland, Md.
* * * * *
Lead or iron ore, and specimens of different varieties of quartz,
for foreign postage stamps, skulls of small animals, ocean
curiosities, petrifactions, and minerals of all kinds; or a piece
of silver ore for a collection of the different varieties of stamps
now in use in Canada.
GEORGE C. BAKER,
Comstocks, Washington County, N. Y.
* * * * *
Foreign postage stamps for stones from the different States.
ARTHUR D. PRINCE,
Lowell, Mass.
We do not consider the above address sufficient. Correspondents who
reside in large cities should always give their street and number, or
the number of their post-office box.
* * * * *
Postmarks and stamps for stamps.
WILLIE H. HASKIN,
Fort Preble, Portland, Maine.
* * * * *
Rare postmarks for any variety of South American postage stamps or
United States department stamps.
FRANK SWETT,
1419 Taylor Street, San Francisco, California.
* * * * *
Stamps and postmarks in use in 1852, also some of 1869, for foreign
postage stamps or curiosities of any kind.
SADIE HAWLEY,
Fair Haven, Rutland County, Vt.
* * * * *
Texas flints, pretty stones, snail shells, postmarks, stamps,
specimens of different kinds of wood, petrified wood, cotton as it
comes from the field, cotton seeds, or seeds of the "Indian plume,"
for foreign postage stamps, or good specimens of minerals and ores
of all kinds.
SAMMIE RISIEN,
Groesbeck, Limestone County, Texas.
* * * * *
Soil and sand from Ohio for soil and sand from any other State or
Canada; or an Indian arrow-head two and a half inches long,
together with a specimen of Ohio soil, for twenty-five foreign
postage stamps.
EMMER EDWARDS,
Washington C. H., Fayette County, Ohio.
* * * * *
Foreign postage stamps for United States Navy or Justice stamps.
WALLACE GREEN,
Hackensack, Bergen County, N. J.
* * * * *
Soil from Missouri or Texas for soil from any other State; or a
stone from Missouri, Texas, Arkansas, or Georgia for one from any
other State.
HARVEY CLARK,
Lock Box 26, Butler, Bates County, Missouri.
* * * * *
Postage stamps and postmarks for winter skins of wild animals, or
for stuffed birds.
JOHN LAWRENCE,
40 Washington Square, New York City.
* * * * *
Birds' eggs.
GEORGE A. POST,
Florence House, corner of Fourth Avenue and
Eighteenth Street, New York City.
* * * * *
Minerals, fish eyes from China, or West India beans, for minerals
or any kind of curiosities.
CARL R. EABY,
22 North Shippen Street, Lancaster, Penn.
* * * * *
A carved shell, some seeds from the Sandwich Islands, or stones
from Lake Michigan, for any foreign postage stamps except English
and German. Chinese stamps especially desired.
WILLIAM C. MCCONNELL,
262 Calhoun Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
* * * * *
Postmarks and revenue stamps.
WILLIS ROSE,
939 Main Street, Buffalo, N. Y.
* * * * *
Stones from New Jersey for stones from any other State or Territory
except Colorado and Wyoming.
JOHN W. ROSENBAUM,
194-1/2 Morgan Street, Jersey City, N. J.
* * * * *
Two different War Department stamps and thirty postmarks for
sea-weed, or the same, together with some moss and pretty shells,
for a piece of stalagmite.
FLORIE DICKSON, Brenford, Kent County, Del.
* * * * *
J. W.--The earliest calendars, as the Jewish, the Egyptian, and the
Greek, did not begin the year where we do now; and the Jewish year,
which opened on the 25th of March, continued to have a legal position in
many Christian countries until a comparatively recent period. In
England, it was not until 1752 that the 1st of January became the initial
day of the legal, as it had long been of the popular, year. Several
other countries made this change earlier than England--France in 1564,
Scotland in 1600, Holland and Russia in 1700.
The Roman calendar, which made January the first month of the year, is
credited to the second King of Rome, Numa Pompilius, more than six
hundred years B.C. He added two months to the ten into which the year
had been previously divided, and called the first one Januarius, in
honor of Janus, the deity supposed to preside over doors.
Our Saxon ancestors originally called this the Wolf-month
(_Wolf-monat_), because wolves were more than usually ravenous and
daring in that season of the year.
* * * * *
A. T. G.--Snow crystals were first observed by the arctic explorer
Scoresby, and for a time they were supposed to be peculiar to the polar
regions. It was found, however, that these crystals were formed wherever
snow falls. An interesting account of these beautiful formations, with
engravings of many of them, was given in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 15.
* * * * *
F. T. B.--When metal pins were invented and brought into use, about the
beginning of the sixteenth century, they were a very acceptable
New-Year's gift to ladies, and money given for the purchase of them was
called "pin-money"--an expression which has come to mean the money set
apart for a wife's private expenses.
* * * * *