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[Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF THE INDIAN BOY. Page 201.]
HOPE AND HAVE;
OR,
FANNY GRANT AMONG THE INDIANS.
A Story for Young People.
BY
OLIVER OPTIC,
AUTHOR OF "RICH AND HUMBLE," "IN SCHOOL AND OUT," "WATCH AND
WAIT," "WORK AND WIN," "THE RIVERDALE STORY BOOKS,"
"THE ARMY AND NAVY STORIES," "THE BOAT CLUB,"
"ALL ABOARD," "NOW OR NEVER," ETC.
"For we are saved by hope."--ST. PAUL.
BOSTON:
LEE AND SHEPARD,
(SUCCESSORS TO PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO.)
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
WILLIAM T. ADAMS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court
of the District of Massachusetts.
ELECTROTYPED AT THE
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
4 _Spring Lane_.
TO
MY YOUNG FRIEND,
RACHEL E. BAKER,
This Book
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
THE WOODVILLE STORIES.
IN SIX VOLUMES.
A LIBRARY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
BY OLIVER OPTIC.
1. RICH AND HUMBLE.
2. IN SCHOOL AND OUT.
3. WATCH AND WAIT.
4. WORK AND WIN.
5. HOPE AND HAVE.
6. HASTE AND WASTE.
PREFACE.
The fifth volume of the Woodville stories contains the experience of
Fanny Grant, who from a very naughty girl became a very good one, by
the influence of a pure and beautiful example, exhibited to the erring
child in the hour of her greatest wandering from the path of rectitude.
The story is not an illustration of the "pleasures of hope;" but an
attempt to show the young reader that what we most desire, in moral and
spiritual, as well as worldly things, we labor the hardest to obtain--a
truism adopted by the heroine in the form of the principal title of the
volume, Hope and Have.
The terrible Indian massacre which occurred in Minnesota, in 1862, is
the foundation of the latter half of the story; and the incidents, so
far as they have been used, were drawn from authentic sources. Fanny
Grant's experience is tame compared with that of hundreds who suffered
by this deplorable event; and her adventures, in company with Ethan
French, are far less romantic than many which are sufficiently attested
by the principal actors in them.
Once more, and with increased pleasure, the author tenders to his
juvenile friends his thanks for their continued kindness to him and his
books; and he hopes his present offering will both please and benefit
them.
WILLIAM T. ADAMS.
HARRISON SQUARE, MASS.,
July 16, 1866.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAP. I. The Naughty Girl. 11
CHAP. II. Thou shalt not steal. 25
CHAP. III. Letting the Cat out. 39
CHAP. IV. Fanny the Skipper. 52
CHAP. V. Down the River. 66
CHAP. VI. Kate's Defection. 79
CHAP. VII. The Soldier's Family. 93
CHAP. VIII. The Sick Girl. 107
CHAP. IX. Hope and Have. 120
CHAP. X. Good out of Evil. 135
CHAP. XI. Penitence and Pardon. 148
CHAP. XII. The New Home. 162
CHAP. XIII. The Indian Massacre. 176
CHAP. XIV. The Indian Boy. 190
CHAP. XV. The Conference. 204
CHAP. XVI. The Young Exiles. 218
CHAP. XVII. The Night Attack. 231
CHAP. XVIII. The Visitor at the Island. 244
CHAP. XIX. The Indian Ambush. 257
CHAP. XX. Conclusion. 270
HOPE AND HAVE;
OR,
FANNY GRANT AMONG THE INDIANS.
CHAPTER I.
THE NAUGHTY GIRL.
"Now you will be a good girl, Fanny Jane, while I am gone--won't you?"
said Fanny Grant, who has several times before appeared in these
stories, to Fanny Jane Grant, her namesake, who has not before been
presented to our readers.
"O, yes, Miss Fanny; I will be ever so good; I won't even look wrong,"
replied Fanny Jane, whose snapping black eyes even then beamed with
mischief.
"I am afraid you don't mean what you say," added Miss Fanny,
suspiciously.
"Yes, I do; I mean every word of it, and more too."
"You make large promises; and I find when you promise most, you perform
least."
"But, certain true as I live, I won't do a single thing this time,"
protested Fanny Jane. "Won't you believe me?"
"You have deceived me so often that I do not know when to trust you."
"I have turned over a new leaf, and I mean to be just as good as ever I
can be."
"If you are not good, Fanny Jane, I shall feel very bad when I return.
I have done a great deal for you, and I hope you will think of it if
you are tempted to do wrong during my absence. This time, in
particular, I wish you to behave very well, and not do any mischief.
You know what father says about you?"
"He don't like me," pouted Fanny Jane.
"When you are good he likes you."
"He scolds me all the time."
"He never scolds you; he reproves you when you do wrong, and I am sorry
to say that is very often indeed. He says, if you do not behave better,
he shall send you back to your uncle at the west."
"I don't want to go there."
"But you must, if you do not do better. He would have sent you before
if I had not interceded for you."
"Hadn't what?"
"If I hadn't begged him not to do so."
"I won't be sent back to my uncle's, any how," replied Fanny Jane,
sharply; for the intimations of what might be, roused a spirit of
resentment, rather than of penitence, in her mind.
"We will not talk about that now, Fanny Jane. We are going to Hudson to
spend a week. The strongest objection to our visit was, that you would
not behave well while we were gone."
"O, I will behave well!"
"We intend to trust you once more. If you disappoint me this time, I
shall not be able to say another word in your favor; and I am quite
sure father will send you off to Minnesota just as soon as we get
back."
The carriage was waiting at the door; Bertha was already seated, and
Fanny, having done all she could to insure the good behavior of the
troublesome young miss who had become her peculiar charge, hastened to
join her sister, and they were driven away towards the railroad
station.
In the two tall and elegant ladies, seated in the Woodville family
carriage, our readers would hardly recognize Bertha and Fanny Grant,
for eight years have elapsed since they were introduced, as children,
to our young friends. Bertha maintains her pure and beautiful
character, and is still a blessing to the family, and to the
neighborhood in which she resides. Fanny is taller and prettier than
her sister; and, having put away her childish follies, she is quite a
dignified personage.
Mighty events had transpired since they were children, and the country
was entering upon the second year of the great civil war, which
desolated the sunny South, and carried mourning to almost every
household of the free North. Richard Grant had already distinguished
himself as a captain in a popular New York regiment, of which the Rev.
Ogden Newman, whilom Noddy, was the chaplain.
Mr. Grant had retired from active business, and had been succeeded by
Mr. Sherwood, his clerk, who, having a high appreciation of the
excellent character of Bertha, was about to enter into more intimate
relations with his employer and predecessor in business. Bertha was to
become Mrs. Sherwood in June, and, as Mr. Grant had reluctantly
accepted a financial mission from the government, which compelled him
to visit Europe, it had been arranged that the bridal tour should be a
trip across the Atlantic, in which Fanny was to accompany them. If the
general conduct of Miss Fanny Jane Grant had been sufficiently
meritorious to warrant the extending of the privilege to her, doubtless
she also would have been one of the party, for she had been for two
years a member of the family.
Fanny Jane was a distant relative of the Grants of Woodville. Mr.
Grant had two cousins, John and Edward, the latter of whom--the father
of the wayward girl--had died three years previous to her introduction
to the reader. At the time of his decease, he was in the employ of the
wealthy broker, as a travelling agent. Just before his death, which
occurred in a western city, while conscious that his end was near, he
had written a letter to Mr. Grant, begging him to see that his only
child was properly cared for when he could no longer watch over her.
Edward Grant's wife had been dead several years. At her decease Fanny
Jane had been committed to the care of her father's brother, then
residing in Illinois. Mr. Grant, impressed by the solemn duty intrusted
to him by his deceased cousin, promptly wrote to the child's uncle, who
was dependent upon his own exertions for his daily bread, offering any
assistance which the orphan might need; but no demand was made upon
him.
A year after the father's death, Mr. Grant's business affairs required
him to visit the west, and he improved the opportunity to satisfy
himself that the charge committed to him by the dying father was well
cared for. On his arrival he was not pleased with the relations
subsisting between Fanny Jane and her aunt. Mrs. Grant declared that
the child was stubborn, wilful, and disobedient, needing frequent and
severe punishment. On the other hand, Fanny said that her aunt abused
her; worked her "almost to death;" did not give her good things to eat,
and whipped her when she "did not do anything."
Mr. Grant was a prudent and judicious man. He conversed with each party
alone, and, being then in doubt, he consulted the uncle. John Grant's
testimony, in the main, confirmed that of his wife, though he was
willing to confess that the aunt "might have been a little hard on the
child." Mr. Grant was far from satisfied; he thought it more than
probable that Fanny was wilful, but he could not endure to think of her
being abused. The sacred duty imposed upon him could not be trifled
with, and, as the only method by which he could meet the demands of his
conscience, he decided to take the orphan to Woodville with him.
The uncle and the aunt, who had no children of their own, objected to
this procedure, both because they did not wish to part with the child,
and because her withdrawal from their care implied a condemnation of
their former treatment of the orphan. Mr. Grant, however, succeeded in
overcoming both of these objections, and they consented that Fanny
should remain at Woodville for two years; Mrs. Grant assuring the
benevolent broker that he would be glad to get rid of her in less than
six months.
Fanny had behaved so well during the stay of Mr. Grant at her uncle's
house, that he was completely deceived in regard to her real character.
The presence of so important a person as the wealthy broker, who had
been represented to her as a person hardly less dignified than the
President of the United States, had overawed her, and put her on her
best behavior. Her kind friend, therefore, was unable to realize that
the orphan girl was half so bad as she was described to be by her aunt.
Edward Grant, while in the employ of the broker, had often visited
Woodville, and being especially pleased with the person and the manners
of Miss Fanny, had named his own daughter after her. On the arrival of
the orphan at her new home, it was deemed fitting that Miss Fanny
should have the especial care of her namesake, then only ten years of
age. Fanny Jane, amid the novelties of the great house, and the
beautiful grounds, was so much occupied for a few weeks that she
behaved very well; but when she grew weary of horses and boats, house
and grounds, she astonished her young mistress by conduct so outrageous
that Miss Fanny wept in despair over the miserable failure she made in
governing her charge.
Miss Bertha was called in to assist in taming the refractory subject;
but it was soon found that Fanny Jane had none of the chivalrous
reverence which had rendered the wild Noddy Newman tolerably tractable,
and her failure was as complete and ignominious as that of her sister.
Mr. Grant was finally appealed to; and the sternness and severity to
which he was compelled to resort were, for a time, effectual. But even
these measures began to be impotent, and the broker realized that the
uncle and aunt had understood the case better than himself.
As a last resort, he threatened to send the wayward girl back to her
uncle, who had now removed to Minnesota; for it would be better for
such a child to put her down to hard work, and to keep her constantly
under the eye of her guardians. This threat was more efficient than all
the other means which had been used to keep the child within the bounds
of common decency; but even this had grown stale upon her.
Miss Fanny, finding that her failure involved no disgrace, renewed her
exertions to reform her pupil and charge. With the utmost diligence she
instructed her in her moral and religious duties, and endeavored by
love and gentleness to win her from the error of her ways. Sometimes
she felt that there was much to encourage her, at other times she
despaired of ever making any impression upon her pupil. Her father
induced her to persevere, for he had hope. He remembered what Edward
Grant, her father, had been when a child; that he was accounted the
worst and most hopeless boy in the town where he resided; but in spite
of this unpromising beginning, he had become a very worthy and
respectable man. Such a change might in due time come over the
daughter, and Mr. Grant frequently impressed upon Fanny the necessity
of perseverance, and of remitting no effort to reach her pupil's moral
and spiritual nature.
If Miss Fanny did not improve her pupil, she did improve herself, for
the more of love and truth we impart to others, the more we have for
ourselves; making the very pretty moral paradox, that the more of love
and truth we subtract from our store, the more we have left in our own
heart.
Fanny Jane was undoubtedly a very naughty girl. We do not mean to say
that she was merely rude and unlady-like in her manners; that she was
occasionally angry without a just cause; that she had a few bad habits,
and a few venial faults: she was impudent to her benefactors; she was
untruthful, and even dishonest. Not only to Fanny and Bertha, but also
to Mr. Grant, she was openly defiant. She used bad language, told
falsehoods by wholesale, and had several times been detected in
stealing valuable articles from the house.
Yet with all her faults and failings, there were some good traits in
Fanny Jane, though they seemed like the two grains of wheat in the
bushel of chaff. What these redeeming features of her character were,
we shall let our story disclose. One meeting the wayward girl on the
lawn for a moment, or spending a few hours in the house with her, would
have been deceived, as Mr. Grant had been, for her black eyes were full
of animation; her manner was spirited, and her answers were quick and
sharp. She was light and rather graceful in form; she did not appear to
walk; she flashed about like a meteor. She was bold and daring in her
flights, and as strong as most boys of her years. She would not run
away from a rude boy; she laughed in the thunder storm, and did not
fear to go through the glen at midnight.
Bertha and Fanny had gone up to Hudson to spend a few days with the
family of Mr. Sherwood's father, previous to their departure for
Europe. This visit had been talked about for a fortnight, and the
wayward girl knew that it was to take place. Contrary to her usual
custom, she made the fairest of promises to her kind mistress, who,
from this very readiness, suspected her sincerity; and her fears were
more than realized.
Fanny Jane stood at the open door gazing at the carriage until it
disappeared beyond the hill. Her black eyes snapped under the stimulus
of certain exciting thoughts which agitated her mind. When the carriage
could no longer be seen, she slammed the front door, and bounded like a
gazelle across the entry to the library of Mr. Grant, which she
entered, closing the door behind her.
"O, yes! I'll be good!" laughed she; "I'm always good! Send me to my
uncle's? I should like to see them do it! I won't go! There are not men
and women enough at Woodville to make me go!"
Then she bounded to the windows in the library, one after another, and
looked out at each. She closed the inner blinds of one, before which
the gardener was at work on the lawn.
"I can do as Miss Berty did, if worse comes to worst," said she,
throwing herself into a great armchair. "She went to live out, and had
her own way, and I can do the same; but I won't be as poor as she was.
Ha, ha, ha! I know their secrets," she continued, as she crawled under
the desk, in the middle of the room, and pushing the middle drawer out,
took from a nail behind it a key. "They needn't think to cheat me."
She sprang to her feet again with the key in her hand, laughing with
delight at her own cunning.