SPINNING.
So Patty had her dollar back; and now what to do with it was the
question. She thought of a great many things to buy, but always grew
tired of them before she had fairly made up her mind.
At last she went to her mother, and said, "Mamma, I'm only a little
girl, and don't know much; won't you please tell me what to get?"
"Do you really wish me to decide for you, my dear? And will you be
satisfied with my choice?"
"Yes, mamma, I truly will be satisfied. But--but--you don't want to
give my dollar to the heathens--do you? It's all clear silver, and I
s'pect _coppers_ just as good for those heathens, mamma."
"What makes you think copper is just as good, my child?"
"Because that's what people put into the box; and when they put any
silver in, it's in little bits of pieces. I don't s'pect the heathens
know the difference."
Mrs. Lyman smiled, though at the same time she was sorry to think how
selfish people are, and how little they are willing to give away.
"Let me ask you a question, dear. How would you like to have me carry
this dollar to Mrs. Chase and Mrs. Potter, and tell them my little girl
sent it for them to give to some poor child?"
Patty looked up in surprise.
"If you are going to give it to a poor child, mamma, can't you do it
'thout telling folks?"
"Yes, I could. I didn't know, though, but you'd like to have Mrs. Potter
and Mrs. Chase hear of it."
A pink blush crept over Patty's face, and away up to the top of her
forehead.
"O, mamma, I don't! I don't!"
"Well, I believe you, my dear. You have seen a little of the folly of
trying to show off. And that reminds me--Yes, I have a very good idea;
and when your papa goes to Augusta next week, I will send your dollar,
and have him buy you something you can always keep."
Patty liked the sound of that, and when her father came home from
Augusta with a little round trunk in his hands, she could hardly wait
for him to get into the house. He had brought her a little red Bible,
with clasp covers. It was the first whole Bible she had ever owned. She
was much pleased, and has kept the little book all these years, though
its beauty is quite gone by this time. It is very precious to her,
because these words are on one of the fly-leaves in her dear mother's
own writing: "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen
of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven."
Time passed on, and on, and on. Patty's wrists grew so strong that she
was trusted to milk a small red cow, though she must still have been
quite a little girl, for she could not remember which was the cow's
right side, and had to mark her bag with a piece of chalk. Very soon she
had two cows to milk, just as Mary and Moses had; and Moses, who was an
early bird, used to wake her from a sound sleep by calling out, "Come,
come, Patty! Dr. Chase's cows are out! Mary and I have milked! Up, up,
Patty! Why don't you start?"
Patty thought it was very hard to be called so early in the morning.
What did she care for Dr. Chase's cows? She was tired of hearing Moses
talk about them. Poor little creature! She always ran down stairs,
rubbing her eyes, and her mother comforted her by saying,--
"Never mind it. After you have milked your cows and turned them out, you
may go to bed again, my dear, and have another nap."
Patty always thought she would do it; but after the work was done, she
was no longer sleepy, and did not wish to go to bed.
When she was ten years old, she learned to spin cotton. Her mother
first carded it into rolls, and then Patty "roped" it, and spun it on a
wheel; but the spindle was so high up that she was obliged to have a
board to walk back and forth upon. She liked it as well as any other
work, for she had a "knack" at spinning; but the older she grew, the
less time she had for play. Her mother, though very kind to her
children, did not seem to think it made much difference whether they
played or not. She never praised Patty; but once the little girl
overheard her telling some ladies that her youngest daughter was a
"natural worker," and "the smartest child she had." Of course that
pleased Patty very much, and afterwards she was brisker than ever.
Her stint was three skeins of cotton a day; and sometimes, when she was
spinning it, Linda Chase would come up in the chamber and look on.
Linda could not draw a thread without pulling the cotton all to pieces,
and it amazed her to see Patty's spindle whirl so fast; for it went at a
wonderful rate, especially when any one was looking on.
"I'm spinning warp for my new gown," said Patty; "and Rachel is going to
weave it."
"What color will it be?"
"Blue and copperas, in little checks," replied Patty.
Linda knew what copperas color was,--it was a dull yellow.
"'Twill only be for me to go to school in," explained Patty. "I shall
have it for my _not-very-best_. By and by I'm going to learn how to spin
linen on that little flax-wheel, and Rachel will weave me some
table-cloths, and sheets, and pillow-cases, just as she does for
Dorcas. Guess why she weaves them for Dorcas."
"I'm sure I can't guess. Because she wants to, I suppose."
"Look here--it's a secret. Dorcas is going to be married by and by, and
that is the reason Mr. Starbird comes here on that white-faced horse. He
doesn't come to see the rest of us; he comes to see Dorcas."
Patty stopped her wheel in her eagerness.
"Yes; and you know, when I was a little speck of a girl, I spilled some
hot tallow over, and burnt his hand; and he says that is the reason he
is going to marry Dorcas."
"What! because you burnt his hand?"
"Yes. I don't see why that made him like Dorcas," said Patty,
reflectively; "but that's what he said. And then I shall have eight
brothers; won't it be nice?"
"Does Betsey Potter know?"
"Yes. I told her."
"Well, I should have thought you might have told me first," said Linda,
pouting. "I don't like it very well to have you tell me last."
"O, I told Betsey first because she came first. I never heard of it
myself till this morning," said Patty, innocently.
She was never known to keep a secret twenty-four hours.
The idea of a wedding in the family was perfectly delightful to the
little girl, and after this she used to watch for Mr. Starbird every
third week, just as regularly as Dorcas did, and was almost as much
pleased when she saw him coming on his white-faced horse.
It was so nice to think of having more brothers; for as yet poor Patty
had only seven!