BELLA'S mother was quite ill; and the doctor said she must go for awhile
to the sweet, sunny South--far away from the cold March winds.
Poor little Bella did not want her mother to go. When she heard of it,
she began to cry, and climbed up into her mother's lap, and kissing her
cheek said: "Stay with Bella, mamma, do please; Bella will take care of
you, and make you well."
"But the doctor says I must go, my darling," answered her mother. "If
you cry, it will make me worse, because I shall feel so miserable to see
you crying; but you mean to be good, don't you? and when I get to
Charleston, I will write you ever so many little letters one after the
other, and you must tell papa what to say, and he will write the
answers. Won't that be nice? The postman will bring you your letters,
and then you must pay him two cents apiece for every one of them, think
of that! Dear me! how much money it will take! do you think you will
have money enough?"
"My _pasense_," exclaimed Bella; "what a heap of letters! Oh, how glad I
am! I'll buy every one, mamma! I'll go and count my money now!"
So she ran to her drawer, and took out a little velvet purse. It looked
very fat and heavy. Then she sat down on the carpet and opened it, and
out tumbled ever so many bright pennies into her lap--quite enough to
astonish the postman, and make him wish he could sell her six letters
at once. Bella clapped her hands and laughed, and thumped her heels
merrily up and down, and made the pennies jingle in her lap so
pleasantly, that it seemed as if they were singing a little song.
The thought of the letters was such a comfort to Bella, that she saw her
mother's trunks packed without crying a bit, though a poor little sigh
would come out once in a while; but she told Edith, her elder sister,
that she meant to behave in the "_goodest manner_," and almost to seem
glad that her dear mamma was going away, because that would help to make
her well.
It would have delighted you to see little Bella "helping." She ran all
round the room, to find something to put in the trunks. She tucked a
little cake of soap into one corner, and half a dozen hair pins in
another; and then hunting in her funny little pocket, she found two gum
drops, which her Cousin George had given to her--these she did up in a
scrap of paper, and very carefully stowed away under the fold of a pair
of stockings.
Well, at last the time came to say "good-bye," and poor little Bella
clung to her mother, and the great sobs _would_ come, and no one could
blame her, for her mamma was crying too--and her little Bella's face was
covered with tears as well as kisses. But this dear mamma had to go--and
the steamship went swiftly away with her, and in a little while she
could no longer see the great city of New York, where her darling lived.
Bella cried a long time, and did not want to go back into her mamma's
room. At last she thought she would go. On the bed was a large paper
parcel. Something was written on the paper, and she called her sister to
"read the reading" to her.
"Why! what's this?" exclaimed Edith. "'For my little Bella.' How very
strange."
"Dear me," cried Bella, giving a jump; "it must be for me--'spose I
look? I want to look so much."
"Certainly," said Edith. Then the paper was taken off by the little
girl's dimpled fingers, and there was displayed a most beautiful
bedstead, with a lovely baby tucked up in it, fast asleep!
I only wish you could have seen the dimples on Bella's face then! and
the sparkles in her eyes! She softly lifted the baby up--and pop! her
blue eyes opened as wide as possible--and she never cried a bit, but
just looked at Bella, not the least afraid of being among strangers.
Then Bella laid her gently down, and the good little thing shut her eyes
and went fast asleep again.
"My pasense!" said Bella, "I'm _apprised_! What a dear baby! Is it for
me?"
"It must be," said Edith; "but wait, here is a little letter pinned fast
to her sleeve. Let's see what it says."
"A letter," cried Bella; "must I pay two cents for it?" and she ran to
get her little velvet purse.
"You will not have to pay for this one, because the baby brought it--it
is only the postman that wants two cents."
So Edith opened the letter, and Bella jumped up and down all the time
her sister was reading these loving words:--