Lily Munsell Ritchie

“ But Ernest was a man in many ways if he had but little need of a razor. Seeing other boys so seldom and being thrown so much with men had made him rather old for his years and more than ordinarily capable and self-reliant. He loved horses and was clever in managing them, breaking in many a colt that had tried the patience and courage of his elders. But his day dream for the past twelve months had been college. He had confided all his hopes and fears to Chicken Little. ”

“ Funny how little of us is us, and how much is somebody else, isn’t it? Tell Ernest the first ten pages of Geometry would have floored me completely if I hadn’t remembered how patiently he used to saw round all those curves and curlicues in that scroll-work. Every time I flung the old book down and said ‘I can’t,’ I seemed to see Ernest bent over that old scroll saw cutting Geometry out of wood. I could not let a fourteen year old boy beat me. Now the figures are getting as tame as kittens which reminds me of Jane’s kitten. ”

“ Katy replied, staring curiously down at the snake. She had never seen such a big one outside of a circus. “But I think they must have always looked wicked, anyhow. How did you ever dare, Chicken Little, to tackle it? I was expecting it to wind right round you like that picture of Laocoon in our mythology.”
“I shouldn’t have dared if I hadn’t seen so many of them before. I guess being brave is mostly being used to things. But I hate snakes worse than anything in the world–I don’t feel a bit sorry about killing them!” ”

“ Another source of excitement was the Sunday School cantata to be given Christmas eve, in which Jane and Gertie were both to have the parts of fairies and Sherm a small role. The little girls trotted obediently back and forth to rehearsals, proud to be in it, but Sherm was in open rebellion, the said rehearsals taking away most of his time with the boys. Katy scoffed openly at the fairies, not having been asked to be one herself.
“Pooh, you won’t look like fairies if you do have a lot of spangled tarlatan. Fairies are just as tiny and they have weenty mites of feet!” ”

“ Gertie’s discouraged expression was so funny that Chicken Little laughed and Gertie, the patient, flared. She hated to be funny.
“Stop it–I am not going to help you feed those horrid pigs another time, Chicken Little Jane Morton. I’ve just been doing it to help you out. And I don’t think it’s a suitable occupation for girls–or company!” Gertie climbed down from her perch on the log pen and departed with dignity.
“Humph, I guess I never asked you to help me. Besides, you expected to get as much money as I did. You can just go off and sulk if you want to.” ”

“ Katy assured her.
“My, I could stay out all day—I love it so,” Chicken Little protested.
“We’ll stay as long as you’ll let us, Mumsey.”
Mrs. Halford smiled.
Shoes and stockings came off in a jiffy and the children ran out jumping up and down gleefully. They splashed about in the little puddles in the old brick walk, and dabbled their bare toes in the wet grass. They danced and squealed, catching the splashing drops in their hands and flinging them in each other’s faces until the water was dripping in streams from noses and chins. ”

“ Katy had finished her freshman year in the High School and spun great tales of their doings. Carol had graduated the week before.
“He is awfully handsome, Chicken Little. All the girls are mashed on him.”
“Are what, Katy?” demanded Alice who had been listening to Dick and Dr. Morton with one ear open for the girl’s confidences. She felt rather responsible to Mrs. Halford for Katy and Gertie.
Katy colored. “I don’t care, Alice, that’s what all the girls say, and I can’t be goody-goody and proper all the time.” ”

“ Chicken Little shook her head.
“Am I hot or cold?”
“Hot! My, you’re just burning!”
Gertie, who had followed, stared up into the branches overhead, but Ernest, gazing after, caught no glimpse of Katy’s pink gingham or mischievous face.
“Bet you can’t find her,” jeered Jane; “boys aren’t smart as girls if they are so stuck on themselves.”
“Bet Alice hid her.”
“Bet she didn’t.”
At this moment a whistle at the side gate interrupted them. Ernest trilled in answer and a moment later Carol Brown and Sherman Dart, Ernest’s two sworn cronies, came round the corner with a whoop. ”

“ But the braver the boy was, the more Chicken Little burned to comfort him. She 219stood for a moment staring at him helplessly, the tears welling up into her own eyes. Then on a sudden impulse she dropped down beside him, and before he could protest, began to stroke his hair. Sherm tolerated the caressing fingers for a few minutes, but his pride would not let him accept even this comforting. He dabbed his eyes fiercely. “Don’t, Chicken Little, don’t! You’re a trump to stand by a fellow this way. I am all right–I just got to thinking about Father–and Sue’s going.” ”

“ Katy had a bright idea. “Say, Jane, get your dishes and I’ll ask Mother if I can bring over our little table and we’ll have a sure enough tea party.”
“Oh, shucks, we don’t want any doll parties!” said Ernest.
“’Twon’t be a doll party—it’ll be a people’s party,” protested Jane.
“Maybe Mother’d give me some spice cakes. She’s making some,” suggested Gertie tactfully.
Carol, who was a bit of a glutton, pricked up his ears.
“Let the kids have their duds if they want them. It won’t spoil the goodies.” ”

“ War and all unnecessary suffering inflicted by human beings upon each other, are hideous. But have you ever thought how much more of such suffering there would be if parents didn’t inflict suffering upon their children to make them control their ugly passions? If our courts didn’t punish people for being cruel to other people? And when it isn’t a child or one or two grown men or women who try to be cruel or unjust, but a whole nation, what then? Surely other nations should come to the rescue of the right, even if it means war. ”

“ Chicken Little and Ernest mourned Alice’s departure loudly. Ernest turned up his nose promptly at the new girl—a willing soul with scant intelligence.
“Have we got to have that thing round, Mother?” he demanded in deep disgust. He had just deluged his hot cakes with cream which Olga had put in the syrup jug by mistake.
“I’m afraid so, my son, until we can find someone better. Girls are hard to get in this town. Alice has certainly spoiled us.” ”

“ Sherm also noticed the Captain’s hesitation.
“We’ve all sort of set our hearts on having you, Sir. Chicken Little and Ernest have talked so much about you we feel acquainted, and Dr. Morton says you’re a dead shot. I’ve never hunted anything but squirrels myself.”
Captain Clarke stared at Sherm as if in a dream for a minute. The boy was embarrassed by his silence and smiled his little crooked smile to cover it. Their host passed his hand over his eyes and sighed. Then he smiled.
“It’s no disgrace to surrender to a superior force. ”

“ Sherm and Gertie found a tempting persimmon tree and there were some wry-looking faces till Alice showed them how to find the fruit the frost had sweetened. After that the persimmons became immensely popular, and dresses and jackets alike were liberally stained with the mushy orange pulp to which samples of the picnic dinner were added later. They spread their feast out in the sunshine, using the sacks of nuts for seats, and waging war on intrusive ants and whole colonies of welcoming flies. ”

“ Allerton knew what he was about when he sent you to a farm to get well.”
“Yes, I can’t be thankful enough, Father Morton, and I don’t forget how kind it was of you all to come out so far with us.”
“Mother is the only one who deserves any thanks–the rest of us were crazy to come. We were tickled to death to have an excuse, eh, Chicken Little?” He tweaked her ear for emphasis.
“Oh, I love the farm, Father, only I wish Ernest could go away to school. He’s awfully worried for fear you won’t feel able to send him to college this fall. He studies every minute when he isn’t too tired.” ”

“ If the trio had been clever enough to act on this suggestion and treat, the feud might have come to a speedy end, but the lads were not at a tactful age. Instead Sherm hurled the most insulting defiance he could think of.
“Go get some yourselves, you red-headed Irish beggars!”
This taunt roused the wrath of the attacking party to a white heat, and an instant later the kitchen window came crashing in and a giant snow ball burst into masses of wet snow on the floor. ”

“ Father and Mother, and both pups, were taking a siesta. She went over to the cottage; a profound silence reigned there also. She rambled around restlessly for a few moments, then, taking “Ivanhoe” and a pocketful of cookies, went out into the orchard. It was hot even there. The air seemed heavy and the birds contented themselves with lazy chirpings. She swung herself up into her favorite tree and began to munch and read. ”

“ Fully a dozen young heads seethed with romance. They imagined they were abused by unfeeling sisters or stern parents. They looked for unhappy lovers around every corner. They even tried to lie awake nights nursing broken hearts, but ten o’clock was the latest hour anyone reached, though Grace Dart said she knew she heard it strike one. Katy, indeed, walked in her sleep one night to her mother’s horror. Mrs. Halford promptly gave her a liberal dose of castor oil and she was never able to repeat the wonderful feat. ”

“ Captain Clarke showed them how, and patiently helped them until each tiny craw was at least partly filled.
Marian and Alice watched him furtively.
“He is gentle as a woman,” Alice whispered, “and his face lights up wonderfully when he smiles, though it is stern usually.”
“Yes, I can see now why Jane is so fascinated. Do you know his smile is very much like Sherm’s? See–no, just wait a minute. Now–watch his upper lip–his mouth twists crooked exactly like Sherm’s. Chicken Little spoke of his baby’s picture having the same smile.” ”

“ Marian explained.
“I was just saying, Father, that she is getting too old to be associating with Tom, Dick, and Harry the way she is doing up at the schoolhouse.”
“There you go again, Mother. You don’t go about enough among the neighbors to know what good kindly people they are. Of course, they are plain, but the Tom, Dick, and Harry you complain of, are more wholesome than lots of more stylish youngsters I know. I wish you’d try to be a little more neighborly. I am constantly hearing little thrusts about our family being stuck up. Frank will bear me out in this.” ”

“ Morton looked puzzled.
“I gave him to Pat—when he came for the things.”
“Well, I declare,” ejaculated Mrs. Morton. “You certainly are the queerest child! Well, I suppose if you wanted to give your pet to a little Irish boy instead of to your best friends it’s all right.”
Katy looked reproachfully at Jane, but Mrs. Halford understood.
“I told you Chicken Little wouldn’t give you Pete when you teased him. I am glad you gave him to Pat, dear. He is a kind boy and the parrot will mean far more to him than to my little spoiled girls.” ”

“ Both Katy and Jane giggled when she got laboriously to her feet.
“There’s more boots than girl, Gertie,” laughed Jane.
“You don’t need to be afraid, Sis, you’ll scare anything, even a snake!” Katy remarked unfeelingly, though her words reassured Gertie wonderfully.
“I don’t feel so afraid in these,” she said.
Chicken Little was slowly making her way in to the slough. “Jim found the mother pig near here, Ernest said, but the little scamps may be most anywhere. Let’s listen and see if we can hear any squeals or grunts.” ”

“ Chicken Little thought she could. Dick Harding gave her as explicit directions as he dared as to what she should say and what she should not say.
“Remember,” he added, “not a word of this to anybody—especially to Alice.”
“I’ve probably got the youngster all mixed up with my fool directions, but I believe she might make an impression on the uncle, if she can only write as she talks. Bless her tender heart. Alice has one loyal friend if she is small,” he said to himself, unconsciously echoing Dr. Morton’s words. ”

“ Say, did you know a crowd of us are going out to his house to-night to an oyster supper?”
“No, who’s going?”
“Oh, a lot of the town boys and girls, and Grant Stowe and me. John Hardy asked him if a crowd of us couldn’t come out to-night and surprise your sister, and Frank said come along, he’d have some hot oysters for us. The boys have got a big bobsled from the livery stable. I bet we have a lovely time. Why don’t you and Sherm stay in and go out with us–I guess there’ll be room. Anyhow, you can always crowd more into a bobsled, it’s more fun when you’re packed in.” ”

“ Well, Chicken Little, are you going to have a birthday party this year?”
“Not a really party, but Mother said I could have Katy and Gertie and Grace Dart come to tea. There’s going to be a sure enough birthday cake with candles and my name and age in pink frosting—and we’re going to have chocolate creams—and all the dolls.” ”

“ Chicken Little felt immensely superior to Katy whose skates were two years old and not nearly so shiny.
It was a radiant afternoon, frosty and clear. The pond was covered with skaters of all ages. Some 166of the men were pulling women and children on sleds.
Frank strapped the little girls’ skates on firmly. Katy struck off boldly for herself, while Marian helped Gertie. Frank undertook to keep Chicken Little from measuring her length on the ice—no small task for the child was ambitious and daring. ”

“ Morton followed him, leaving her doughnuts rather reluctantly. Ranch life had proved full of hardships to her. The hardships had been intensified because it was almost impossible to secure competent servants, or, indeed, servants of any kind. The farmer’s daughters were proud–too proud to work in a neighbor’s kitchen even if they went shabby or, as often happened among the poorer ones, barefoot, for lack of the money they might easily have earned. Mrs. Morton was not a strong woman and the unaccustomed drudgery was telling on her health and spirits. ”