blankets in the chest, and when she had given them to Mrs. Slack she
had to hurry to the station with her daughter, and the cars being on
the track they did not stop to get tickets, but were barely in time to
find seats when the train rolled off. The conductor came round in a
few minutes and Grandma put her hand in her pocket, suddenly turned
pale, opened her big satchel and turned out all its contents, stood up
and shook her dress, looked on the floor, and when Mrs. White said in
amazement, "What _is_ the matter, mother?" she answered curtly, "I've
lost my pocket-book."
"Was it in your pocket?" asked Maria.
"Yes; at least I s'pose so: I certainly took it out of my drawer, for
I noticed how heavy 'twas; that new cashier gave me gold for most of
it, you see."
"You'd have known then if you dropped it on the way, mother."
"I should think so: any way, I can't go to Boston without it! We may
as well stop at the next station and go back."
So back they went; asked at the ticket office if any such thing had
been picked up on the platform, and leaving a description of it, went
rather forlornly back to the house. Here a terrible upturning of
everything took place; drawers were emptied, cupboards ransacked,
trunks explored, even the camphor chest examined to its depths, and
everything in it shaken out.
"You don't suspect Mrs. Slack?" inquired Maria.
"Sally Slack! no, indeed. I've known her thirty year, Maria; she's
honest as the daylight."
Still Maria thought it best to send for Mrs. Slack and inquire if she
had seen it when she was at the house.
"Certain, certain!" answered the good woman. "I see Mis' Grant hev it
into her hand when she went up charmber; I hedn't took no notice of it
before, but she spoke up an' says, says she, 'I'll go right up now,
Mis' Slack, for I'm in some of a hurry, bein' that I'm a goin' in the
cars to Bosstown for to buy our folkses' Christmas things;' so then I
took notice 't she hed a pocket-book into her hand."
This was valuable testimony, and Mrs. Slack's face of honest concern
and sympathy showed her innocence in the matter. Next day there was an
advertisement put in the paper, for the family concluded Grandma must
have dropped her money in the street going to the station, but the
advertisement proved as fruitless as the search, and for once in her
life the dear old lady was downcast enough.
"The first time I never gave 'em a thing on Christmas! I do feel real
downhearted about it, Maria. There's Annie's three girls lotted so on
their gloves an' nicknacks for parties this winter, for I was goin' to
give them gold pieces so's they could get what they wanted sort of
fresh when they _did_ want it; and poor Gerty's new cloak!"
"Oh, never mind that, mother. I can sponge and turn and fix over the
old one; a plush collar and cuffs will make it all right."
"But there's the boys. Tom did want that set of tools and a bench for
'em; and I reckoned on seeing Harry's eyes shine over a real
Newfoundland dog. That makes me think; won't you write to that man in
New York? I've changed my mind about the dog. And Jack can't go to
Thomas's now for vacation; oh dear!"
"_Don't_ worry, mother," said Maria; but Grandma went on:
"Kate and Rosy too, they won't get their seal muffs and caps, and dear
little Hal! how he will long for the books I promised him. It's real
trying, Maria!" and Grandma wiped a tear from her eyes, a most unusual
symptom.
But it was her way to make the best of things, and she sat down at
once to tell Thomas of her loss, and then put it out of her mind as
well as she might.
It spoke well for all those ten grandchildren that they each felt far
more sorry for Grandmother Grant's disappointment than their own, and
all resolved to give her a present much nicer and more expensive than
ever before, pinching a little on their other gifts to the end; and
because they had to spare from their own presents for this laudable
purpose, it was natural enough that not one should tell another what
they meant to send her, lest it should seem too extravagant in
proportion to what the rest of the family received. Christmas morning
the arrival began. The stocking of Grandpa's which Gerty had insisted
on hanging to the knob of Grandma's door was full, and when she came
down to breakfast she brought it with her still unsearched, that the
family might enjoy her surprise.
At the top a square parcel tied with blue ribbon was marked "from
Gerty," and proved to be a little velvet porte-monnaie.
"Dear child! how thoughtful!" said Grandma, giving her a kiss, and not
observing that the doctor looked funnily at Mrs. White across the
table.
The next package bore John's name and disclosed a pocket-book of
Russia leather.
"So useful!" said Grandma, with a twinkle of gratitude in her kind old
eyes.
Harry emitted a long low whistle, and his eyes shone as the next paper
parcel with his name on it showed an honest black leather pocket-book
with a steel clasp.
Grandma had to laugh. Doctor White roared, and Tom looked a little
rueful as his bundle produced another wallet as like to Harry's as two
peas in a pod:
"Dear boys!" said Grandma, shaking like a liberal bowl of jelly with
the laughter she tried to suppress in vain; but it was the boys' turn
to shout as further explorations into the foot of the old blue
stocking brought up a lovely seal-skin wallet from their mother, and
a voluminous yellow leather one from the doctor.
"Six souls with but a single thought;
Six hearts that beat as one;"
misquoted Mrs. Maria, and a chorus of laughter that almost rattled the
windows followed her. They were still holding their sides and bursting
out afresh every other minute, when little Sylvia Rutledge sailed into
the dining-room with a delicate basket in her hand.
"Merry Christmas!" said she, "but you seem to have it already."
The boys all rushed at once to explain.
"Wait a minute," said she, "till I have given Grandma her gifts," and
she produced successively from her basket four parcels.
Sylvia's held another velvet porte-monnaie; Annie's contained a second
of hand-painted kid, daisies on a black ground; and Amelia's was a
third pocket-book of gray canvas with Russia leather corners and
straps; while Mrs. Rutledge's tiny packet produced an old-fashioned
short purse, with steel fringe and clasp, which she had knit herself
for her mother.
How can words tell the laughter which hailed this repetition?
The boys rolled off their chairs and roared till their very sides
ached; tears streamed down Mrs. White's fair face; Grace gazed at the
presents with a look half rueful and half funny, while the doctor's
vigorous "haw! haw! haw!" could have been heard half a mile had it not
been happily the season of shut doors and windows, while Sylvia
herself perceiving the six pocket-books which had preceded her
basketful, appreciated the situation and laughed all the harder
because she was not tired with a previous fit of mirth, and Grandma
sat shaking and chuckling in her chair, out of breath to be sure, but
her face rosy and her eyes shining more than ever.
Suddenly a loud knock at the front door interrupted their laughter.
Tom ran to admit the intruder; it was the expressman with a box from
New York directed in uncle Tom's hand to Mrs. J. G. Grant.
"Something better than pocket-books this time, mother!" said the
doctor, as Tom ran for the screwdriver; but alas! the very first
bundle that rolled out and fell heavily to the floor, proved when
picked up to be indeed another pocket-book, cornered and clasped with
silver, and Grandma's initials on the clasp; beautiful as the gift was
it was thrust aside with a certain impatience, for the next package,
labelled "from Rosamond," but opened only to display the very
counterpart of Amelia's gift; and a paper box with Kate's script
outside held the recurrent pocket-book again in black velvet and gilt
corners, while a little carved white-wood box, the work of Hal's
patient fingers, showed within its lid a purse of silvered links which
had cost all his year's savings.
This was the last touch. Hitherto their curiosity as one thing was
displayed after another had kept them in a sort of bubbling quiet, but
this final development was too much; they laughed so loud and so long
that old Hannah, hurrying from the kitchen and opening the door to see
what was the matter, looked thunderstruck as she beheld the whole
family shaking, choking, rolling about or holding on to each other in
roars of sidesplitting laughter, while fourteen purses and pocket-books
made the breakfast table look like a fancy fair.
"I thought I heard a crackling of thorns, as scripter says," she
growled. "Be you a-going to set up a fancy store, Mis' White?"
"Bring in breakfast, Hannah," said the doctor, recovering himself.
"It's a melancholy truth that we can't eat pocket-books!"
For the satisfaction of the curious I must explain that the next May,
when a certain old clock on the landing of the garret stairs was taken
down to be put in order and made into a household god after the modern
rage for such things, right under it lay Grandma's pocket-book intact.
"Well, now I remember!" said the astonished old lady, who never did
remember where she had hidden anything till somebody else found it.
"I was goin' up to the chest to get out those things of husband's for
Sally Slack, and I thought I wouldn't leave my pocket-book in my room,
'twould be putting temptation in her way, which isn't really right if
a person is ever so honest; we're all frail as you may say when our
time comes, and I didn't have my cloak on to put it in the pocket, and
my under pocket was full, so I just slipped it under the clock case as
I went up, feeling certain sure I should remember it because I never
put it there before."
But the family voted that no harm had been done after all, for next
Christmas the Rutledge girls each had a lovely silk party dress from
the double fund; Gracie's cloak was mated by the prettiest hat and
muff; Tom had his wild desire for a bicycle fulfilled; Harry owned a
real gold watch which was far better than a dog; and Jack's ten gold
eagles took him in the spring to Niagara and down the St. Lawrence, a
journey never to be forgotten. Kate and Rosamond had their sealskin
caps with muffs, gloves and velvet skirts to correspond with and
supplement their last year's jackets; and Hal not only had his
precious books, but a bookcase for them, and the pocket-books were
redistributed among their givers; so that in the end good and not evil
came of Grandma's losing her Christmas pocket-book!
THE FLIGHT OF THE DOLLS
By Lucretia P. Hale
How could the heart of doll wish for anything more in such a
baby-house! It was fitted up in the most complete style; there were
coal-hods for all the grates, and gas-fixtures in the drawing-rooms,
and a register (which would not _rege_., however!), carpets on all the
floors, books on the centre-table; everything to make a sensible doll
comfortable. But they were not happy, these dolls, seven of them, not
counting the paper dolls. They were very discontented. They had always
been happy till the Spanish Doll had come among them, dressed in a
gypsy dress, yellow and black lace. But she had talked to them so much
about the world that all were anxious to go abroad and see it,
all,--from the large one that could open and shut her eyes, to the
littlest China that could not sit down.
So they set out, one clear night. The Spanish Doll had put a chip in
the play-room window that made it easier to open; and the Large Doll
had slept outside the baby-house, so she opened the doors and let out
the others. All stepped safely upon the piazza. Where should they go
first?
The first plan was for the lamb-pen, and they made for it directly.
The Spanish Doll walked through its slats; the Large Doll pushed in
the little ones, but when she came to go in herself, horrible to
say--she _stuck_! The Spanish Doll pulled, and the little dolls ran
out and pushed. No use!
If Angelica Maria could have seen her Large Doll now! But no, Angelica
Maria's head was asleep on its pillow; she little knew of the escape
of her dolls!
At last said the Large Doll, "Wake up the Lamb and tell him!" Which
they did, and he came and butted, till he butted the Large Doll out.
"It is no use," said the Large Doll, "we must try something else," and
the rest all came out of the pen. They went to the dovecote. The
Spanish Doll quickly climbed the ladder; so could the Large Doll. But
when she turned to help the little ones, her head was too heavy, and
she was not stiff enough to stoop. "We must try something else," said
she, and the Spanish Doll had to come down, scolding Spanish all the
way. Then they walked down the garden walk, all in a procession, the
Large Doll leading the way; they reached the arbor at the foot of the
garden. "Let us all sit in a row here," said the Large Doll. So they
got upon the seat, facing the door, running up a board that was laid
against the seat. Here they sat till the morning began to dawn.
Angelica Maria could have seen them now, but she was still fast asleep
on her pillow.
"This will never do," exclaimed the Large Doll, as soon as light came,
"for they can see us from the play room, our eyes all in a row." They
must hide during the day time, and start on their journey when night
should come again. But where should they go? They walked up and down
the green alleys. The scarlet poppies nodded to them sleepily, and the
roses put out a thorn or two, to get them to stop. The little China
would have been very tired, but a broad-backed Toad kindly offered to
carry her. If Angelica Maria could have seen them now!
"Let us speak to some of the animals," said the Large Doll, "and ask
where we shall hide."
"Not the Cat," said a middle-sized Doll, "for she makes up faces."
"Suppose we ask the birds," said the Large Doll, for they were just
waking up. The Spanish Doll soon made acquaintance with an Oriole, who
agreed to take her up to his nest for the day. It was just fitted up,
and Mrs. had not moved in. Fortunately the Spanish Doll was quite
slender, so the Oriole could lift her, and her dress matched his
feathers. The squirrels kindly took some of the others into their
nests under the beech-tree, and the Large Doll tucked the littlest
China into a fox-glove. "Where shall I go myself?" thought she. "There
is one comfort; if I want to go to sleep, I can shut my eyes, which
none of the rest can do wherever they are." So she walked round till
she came to a water-melon, with a three-cornered piece cut out. She
climbed up on a Rabbit's back, and looked in. A cat had eaten out the
inside. "This will do very well for me," said she, "and I feel like
having a nap by this time, if only somebody would pull my wire!" The
Rabbit knew of a dragon-fly who was strong in his feelers; but the
Large Doll had an objection to dragon-flies, so she flung herself in
with a jounce, and that closed her eyes. The Rabbit tucked in her
skirts, and there she was.
Could Angelica Maria have seen them now! Some hidden among the low
branches of the spruces, where the robins had invited them; some still
chatting in the bushes, with the jays; the Spanish Doll swinging in
the Oriole's nest, way up in the elm. That was life!
But Angelica Maria was calmly eating her breakfast. A friend had
invited her to a picnic for the day, so, instead of thinking of her
dolls she was planning what she should carry.
One thought she did give to her Large Doll. She wished to take her to
the picnic. But, of course, she could not be found! If the Large Doll
had only known, how she would have regretted that she had run away!
For she was fond of picnics, and now she was sleeping in this damp
melon!
But she knew nothing of it till the Spanish Doll came to wake her, and
tell her that all the family had gone away for the day. Far up in the
Oriole's nest in the elm tree, the Spanish Doll had seen them go. Now,
if ever, was the time for fun. So the Large Doll came out of her
melon, jumped open her eyes, assembled the rest, and asked what they
should do. A large Dor-bug who was going that way, advised them to try
the strawberry bed. "Oh, yes," all exclaimed, "the strawberry bed!"
The procession was formed but two were missing! In passing the
fox-gloves, where the little China had been hidden, many had shut up
never to open again, and she could not be found. A middling-sized
Doll, with boots, was missing also! In vain they called; there was no
answer.
The Spanish Doll ran up a nasturtium vine, to see that all was safe.
She sat on a scarlet nasturtium at the very top of the post, and
declared "all was quiet in the strawberry bed," and came down.
What a jolly time they had among the strawberries! The Large Doll sat
under a vine, and the strawberries dropped into her mouth, and the
stiffer dolls stood up and helped themselves. Such fun as they had!
They got strawberries all over their faces, and their hands, and their
light dresses! This they liked so much, for they usually had to be
careful. How they chatted, and one told how the squirrels lived, and
another about the robins. And the Spanish Doll told how delightful it
was up in the Oriole's nest. She had half a mind to hire it for the
summer. All this was much more charming than their dull baby-house;
though the Large Doll declared she had been used all her life to
better society than she had yet found in the melon.
But all this festivity was put an end to by a sudden shower. The
Spanish Doll, afraid for her black lace, made for a hen-coop, where
she had a battle with a Poland. The rest ran into the summer-house.
As soon as the rain ceased, however, all came out from their
hiding-places. There was a beautiful rainbow in the sky, and as the
dolls walked down the alley, they suddenly saw that the garden gate
was open. They ran eagerly toward it, and soon were out in the Wide
World! They crossed the broad road, into the fields, into the meadows.
They stumbled through a potato-patch, and ran in and out of
cornstalks. In their hurry they had to stop to breathe now and then,
all but one Doll whose mouth was always open. They reached a little
stream and ran along its border, and never stopped till they came to
a shady place among some trees, by mossy rocks. Here they might be
safe, and here they stopped to think.
Hunger was their first sensation. One of the dolls drew from her
pocket a pewter gridiron, which she had snatched from the kitchen fire
when they fled, the night before. There were three fish on it, one
red, one yellow, one blue. These they shared, and were satisfied for a
little while. How lovely was the spot, they began to say. How charming
it would be to set up housekeeping among the rushes. It was even
suggested that, from time to time, one of them might return to the
deserted baby-house, and bring from it comfortable furniture--a dish
here, a flat-iron there. But in the midst of their cheerful talk, a
terrible accident!
The Spanish Doll was thirsty, and leaning over the edge of a brook,
she lost her balance, and fell into the water! The exhausted dolls all
rushed to the rescue. All their efforts were vain; but a large
Bull-frog kindly came to help, and lifted the Spanish Doll's head from
the stream, and propped it up against the reeds. But what a state she
was in! The bright color washed from her cheeks, her raven hair all
dimmed, the lustre of her eyes all gone. A fashionable Doll in vain
attempted consolation, suggesting the greater charms of light hair and
rats; in vain did the Large Doll speak of the romance of the
adventure, and call the Bullfrog their Don Quixote; a heavy gloom hung
over all. It was the Spanish Doll that had led them on, that had kept
up their spirits; now hers had failed, and with her feet still in the
water, she leaned her head wearily against the reeds.
Suddenly voices were heard! Steps approached! Each doll rushed to a
hiding place. It was the voice of Angelica Maria herself! Some of the
picnic party had decided to walk down the stream, on their way home,
and Angelica Maria was among them.
The Spanish Doll had drawn a reed across her face, to hide it, but the
Large Doll had not been able to fly quickly enough, and was left in
full view, leaning against a mullein. A blush suffused her cheek. What
was Angelica Maria's surprise!
"Who can have brought my Large Doll here?" she exclaimed. "It must
have been the boys,"--meaning her brothers; "how wicked of them to
leave her out in that shower. And here are the twins, Euphrosyne and
Calliope, all hidden among the bushes, and dear little Eunice! They
look as if they had been in the wars! How could Tom have known we were
coming this way? How naughty of him!"
"Perhaps he meant a little surprise," suggested her uncle. But
Angelica Maria picked up her dolls and fondled them, and were not they
glad of the rest, after that weary march?
All but the Spanish Doll! Why had she not spoken? And would Angelica
Maria have known her Spanish Doll if she had? When the trees were left
all silent again, and the voices had died away, perhaps the Spanish
Doll was sorry she had hidden her face,--that she had not lifted up
her arms. But she was very proud. How could she have borne to be
recognized? For she felt that one of her feet was washed off by the
flowing stream, and her gay yellow and black dress soiled and torn.
The Bull-frog at last succeeded in lifting her to the shore. A kindly
Musk-rat begged her to be his housekeeper; limping, she went into his
soft-lined house, and was grateful even for this humble abode. Often
she thought of the past, and cheered the simple fireside with tales of
adventure, with the grandeur of Life in a Baby-house, and how she
might have been the bride of an Oriole. But was she not missed in the
baby-house? Angelica Maria wept her loss, but her uncle consoled her
by telling her the Spanish Doll must have retired to one of her
castles in Spain. This cheered Angelica Maria, and she busied herself
in fitting new dresses for the poor travel-stained dolls she had left.
So this was the end of the Flight of the Dolls. You can imagine
whether they ever tried it again, or rested satisfied with their
comfortable home. A few days after, Angelica Maria saw a little head
peeping out of a withered fox-glove. It was that of the littlest
China. She was much emaciated, having had nothing to eat but a few
drops of honey brought her by a benevolent Bee. Even these had cloyed.
Years after, when the spout of the wood-house was cleared out, the
boots of a middling-sized Doll were seen. They belonged to the
middling-sized Doll with boots, who had clambered up to the dovecote,
and had lost her balance in the gutter. She had passed a miserable
existence, summer and winter, bewailing her fate, and looking at her
boots.
SOLOMON JOHN GOES FOR APPLES
By Lucretia P. Hale
Solomon John agreed to ride to Farmer Jones's for a basket of apples,
and he decided to go on horseback. The horse was brought round to the
door. Now he had not ridden for a great while; and, though the little
boys were there to help him, he had great trouble in getting on the
horse.
He tried a great many times, but always found himself facing the wrong
way, looking at the horse's tail. They turned the horse's head, first
up the street, then down the street; it made no difference; he always
made some mistake, and found himself sitting the wrong way.
"Well," said he, at last, "I don't know as I care. If the horse has
his head in the right direction, that is the main thing. Sometimes I
ride this way in the cars, because I like it better. I can turn my
head easily enough, to see where we are going." So off he went, and
the little boys said he looked like a circus-rider, and they were much
pleased.
He rode along out of the village, under the elms, very quietly. Pretty
soon he came to a bridge, where the road went across a little stream.
There a road at the side, leading down to the stream, because
sometimes waggoners watered their horses there. Solomon John's horse
turned off, too, to drink of the water.
"Very well," said Solomon John, "I don't blame him for wanting to wet
his feet, and to take a drink, this hot day."
When they reached the middle of the stream, the horse bent over his
head.
"How far his neck comes into his back!" exclaimed Solomon John; and at
that very moment he found he had slid down over the horse's head, and
was sitting on a stone, looking into the horse's face. There were two
frogs, one on each side of him, sitting just as he was, which pleased
Solomon John, so he began to laugh instead of to cry.
But the two frogs jumped into the water.
"It is time for me to go on," said Solomon John. So he gave a jump, as
he had seen the frogs do; and this time he came all right on the
horse's back, facing the way he was going.
"It is a little pleasanter," said he.