FLORA AT HOME.
Mrs. Graham's life had been a quiet, unobtrusive, but truly Christian
one. She had neglected no opportunity to implant in her young niece a
love and reverence for holy things; and now that she was about to die,
she felt that she had nothing to regret, that she had left no duty
unfulfilled, so far as Flora's training was concerned. It was with a
heart full of peace that she commended her charge to the "One above all
others" and took her leave of earth.
Flora was almost inconsolable. She had no one to comfort her, for Aunt
Sarah was as distant as ever, being entirely too much occupied with
plans for the future to care about Flora. Her mother came to the
funeral, but neither was overjoyed to see the other after their long
separation. It could scarcely be otherwise. Natural affection had never
been conspicuous in the Hazeley home, and the influence of these years
apart had not helped matters at all. Indeed, they were little more to
each other than strangers.
After they returned from the cemetery, however, Aunt Sarah informed
Flora she was to return with her mother to her former, and as she deemed
it, rightful home. The feelings with which the girl received this
intelligence were by no means pleasant ones. But there was no use in
crying or fretting about it, for when Aunt Sarah said a thing, she meant
it, and could not be induced to alter her decision, even if Flora had
felt inclined to ask her to do so. This she had no thought of doing, for
she was not at all anxious to make her home with her cold, distant aunt.
"It is too bad!" she exclaimed, as she thought of all the bright helpful
plans she and Aunt Bertha had made together, and which they had hoped to
be able to carry out. "It is too bad!" she sobbed, as she bent over her
trunk in her pretty little bedroom, the tears falling on the tasteful
dresses, and the many loving tokens that had been given her by the dear
hands now at rest beneath the unfeeling earth in the churchyard.
Mrs. Martin was surprised that Flora's mother made no objection to
taking her daughter home. The truth was Mrs. Hazeley had been wanting
this very thing for some time. It was not, however, because of any
particularly affectionate or motherly feeling toward her child; but she
had been thinking that Flora, of whose ability she had heard much, would
be a very great help to her in caring for the house. Thus it was that
Flora returned to the home she had left eleven years before.
Just as the train was preparing to leave the station, Lottie Piper, one
of Flora's friends and admirers, came running to the car, and tossed
something through the open window into Flora's lap, saying hurriedly and
pantingly, as she pressed the hand held out to her:
"There, Flora, take that. Don't laugh. I raised it all myself, and I
want you to have it; but don't eat it! Keep it to remember me by.
Good-bye," she called, as the train moved off.
Flora waved her handkerchief out of the window to Lottie, until her arm
was tired. As she looked about the cars her attention was attracted by a
titter from the opposite side. At first she could not understand why the
girl who sat there should look at her and smile. As her neighbor gazed
at her lap, Flora's eyes followed, and there she saw the cause of the
merriment in Lottie's parting gift--a yellow sweet potato.
At first she felt inclined to be provoked with Lottie for bringing such
a thing and causing her to be laughed at. However, the remembrance of
her parting words, "I raised it all myself; but don't eat it!" made her
smile in spite of herself. This encouraged the girl opposite to slip
over to the seat beside Flora, as Mrs. Hazeley was occupying the one in
front, and the two girls, although entire strangers to each other,
chatted away busily, until the train stopped at one of the stations,
where the girl and her father, who sat farther back, left the car. Soon
after, Flora found herself at home, Bartonville and Brinton being but a
short distance apart.
This brings us to the opening of our story.
It was Lottie's potato that lay upon the table, and Flora had been
wondering what to do with it. The memories it awakened were of Brinton
and the many pleasant strolls and romps she had enjoyed with Lottie in
her father's fields, which joined Mrs. Graham's, of Aunt Bertha herself,
and much more.
"But what am I to do with the potato?" she questioned. "I am not to eat
it. I don't care to, either. Oh! I know, I will plant it in a jar of
water and let it grow. That would please Lottie, I guess."
She soon found a jar such as she wanted, and after washing it clean and
bright, filled it full of clear water, and carefully placed the potato,
end up, in it, and then looked about for a suitable place for it.
"That window has a good broad seat," she said to herself; "and it is
sunny, but the glass is so grimy! However, it will do. Better yet, I
will open the window."
This was more easily said than done, for, although the weather was still
warm--it being September--the window did not appear to have been opened
for some time.
Flora struggled and pushed, and at length succeeded in opening it,
making noise enough as she did so, to attract the attention of a young
girl who was passing. She stopped, looking up, inquiringly.
Flora was heated with her exertions and the thought of having attracted
attention, so that before she realized what she was doing, she was
smiling and saying:
"This old window was very hard to raise, but I was determined to do it."
"No," said the girl, looking as if she was not quite sure that it was
the right thing to say.
"What is that in the jar?" she asked, as she came closer, and looked at
the potato curiously, and then at Flora in a friendly way that pleased
her.
"This," said Flora, patting the vegetable; "it is a potato."
"But what have you put it in there for?" persisted the girl.
"To grow, to be sure."
"Will it grow?"
"Of course it will," replied Flora, with an important air. "See! water
is in this jar, and soon this potato will sprout, send roots down and
leaves up, and then--and then--it will just keep on growing, you know."
And Flora felt sure that she had put quite an artistic finish to her
description of potato culture.
"Oh, yes," cried her new acquaintance, with an intelligent light in her
eyes; "I know very well what will happen then."
"What?" asked Flora, rather dubiously.
"Why, little sweet potatoes will grow on the roots, of course."
"I--I don't think they will," said Flora, hesitatingly, not being well
versed on the subject.
"Yes; but they must--they always do," returned the girl, positively.
"Well, but there would be no room in the jar for potatoes to grow," said
Flora.
"That's so." And the girl looked puzzled; then they both laughed, not
knowing what else to do.
"What is your name?" asked Flora, by way of changing the subject, for
she was a little fearful she might be asked to explain why little sweet
potatoes would not grow in her jar.
"My name is Ruth Rudd," was the answer. "What is yours?"
"Flora Hazeley."
"Is it? Well, I live just back of your house, on the next street.
Good-bye. I guess I will see you some other time." And she hurried away.
"She is a real nice girl," Flora thought, as she turned away from the
window; "I hope I can see her again."
She stood for an instant looking about the room. It was nicely
furnished, but it looked neglected and untidy, and Flora, having been so
long accustomed to the attractiveness and order of her aunt's house,
felt home-sick. Her loneliness came over her in a great wave of
feeling, and running through the kitchen, out of the door, went into
the yard, which was a good-sized one, but so filled with rubbish and
piles of boards, scarcely noticed through her tears, that she met with
many a stumble before she reached the farther end. She wanted some quiet
place in which to sit and think, as she used to do under the old peach
tree at Brinton. She was sure she "could think of nothing in that
house," and the best she could do was to seat herself on an old block at
the very back of the yard. She felt she could think better out in the
open air, under the sky, for she was a great lover of nature, and loved
to look at the blue sky. The sun was under a cloud, but the air was warm
and pleasant.
How different were her thoughts now from what they had been under the
old peach tree! Then she had reveled in rose-colored dreams; now she was
confronted by gray realities. Her thoughts went rapidly over her life
since Aunt Bertha's death.
She had been here not quite a week, and she found it such a different
place from the home she had so lately left, that she was almost
unwilling to call it "home." But while she considered her present home
not very desirable, she had given no thought to the inmates, whether or
not they had found in _her_ a very desirable addition to the circle.
She was young, and she soon wearied of her sombre thoughts, which could
avail her nothing, and she glanced at the houses on each side of her
own. There was a marked difference. It was not in the style of the
building, for hers was the most attractive. It was, however, in the
general appearance, and Flora felt she would like to begin at the
topmost shingle and pull her home down to the ground. But the thought
came to her that then she would have no home. She knew there was no room
for her with Aunt Sarah, who was, no doubt, at this very moment enjoying
her absence.
"No, indeed, I do not want to live with Aunt Sarah," she thought; and
then began to wonder vaguely if she had not better go to work and try to
make her present home a more congenial one.
The more she thought about it, the better the idea pleased her. Just as
she was endeavoring to decide upon something definite to do, she was
startled by seeing a board in the fence, just behind her, pushed aside.
Before she could move, a round, fat, little face was thrust through the
opening, and a pair of inquisitive brown eyes were fastened upon her.
For a moment they looked, and then the owner squeezed through, and stood
still, eyeing Flora complacently.
"Well, and who are you? and what do you mean by coming in here that
way?" asked Flora, amused at the odd-looking little creature.
"I'm Jem," answered the midget, coolly; "and I didn't mean nuffing."
"Jem? I thought you were a girl," said Flora, looking at the quaint,
short-waisted dress, that reached almost down to the copper toed shoes,
and the funny, little, short white apron, tied just under the fat arms,
which were squeezed into sleeves much too tight for them.
"So I am a girl," answered Jem, indignantly; "don't you see I've gut a
napron on wif pockets in?" And she thrust her chubby little fingers into
one of them.
"But you said your name was 'Jem,' and that's a boy's name," persisted
Flora, enjoying her odd companion.
"'Tain't none," was the sententious reply; "it's short for 'Jemima';
that's what my really name is."
"Well, Jemima, what do you want in here?"
"Nuffing."
"Nothing? Well, that isn't in here."
"There ain't anythin' else's I can see," retorted Jem, turning down the
corners of her mouth very far, and looking about disdainfully.
Flora laughed outright at this, but her visitor's countenance lost none
of its solemnity.
"You do not seem to admire my yard, Jem."
"Don't see anythin' to remire," retorted Jem. "You'd just ought to peep
in ours," and she moved over to the fence, and pulling away the board
with a triumphant air, motioned Flora to look. Flora looked, but the
first thing she saw was not the yard, but the young girl with whom she
had been talking not an hour since.