Sarah L. Barrow

“ Down from the roof, and into the kitchen, rushed Catherine, but too late; nothing save the iron hoops now remained of the bucket.
"What shall I do?" cried Silly Catharine. "Not an hour passes but some new misfortune occurs. Alas! I am no longer able to draw water for my soup! but stay, I think of a way!" So saying, she took the pot from the hook, tied a rope to the handle, let it down the well, with the cabbage still in it, and when it was filled carried it back to the house, and hung it over the fire.
Soon afterward the dairy maid went to draw some water for dinner. ”

“ You have shown us to-day what Young America can do; and as a testimonial of our high admiration, I present you the colors of your regiment!
"Take them, as the assurance that [101] our hearts are with you; bear them as the symbol of the Cause you have enlisted under; and should you fall beneath them on the field of battle, I bid you lay down your lives cheerfully for the flag of your country, and breathe with your last sigh the name of the Union! Colonel, take your colors!" ”

“ Bartlemy took his cap humbly off, saying, "Please, master, if you will employ me as a workman now, I think I can please you. Do try me; I will be industrious; indeed, I will."
"Oh," grumbled the master tailor, "sleeping out in the fields and going without supper and breakfast has done you good, has it? Well, take this coat and sit you down; but I warn you, beforehand, that if you are not more industrious than usual, I will lay my yardstick over your shoulder, and clear you out again." ”

“ Amid high glee, every one bestowed a part of his provisions on Freddy until a sufficiently motley meal was collected; half of which he immediately offered again to his companions, who, of course, were quite ready to feel hungry too, and they all munched together, like a company of gypsies.
"I say, Capting," said a tall Yankee in a fur hat, to Peter, "what may yew calculate dewing on Long Island?"
"Why, we're going into camp, to be sure."
"Lors-a-massy! them air boys all alone by theirselves!" ”

“ Oh, how Kitty and Luly did laugh and clap their hands! but their enjoyment and surprise were at full height when the kind young lady, whom they called Miss Ella, lifted Luly, and Mary held Wawa, on Buffo's shaggy back, and the good fellow carried them both safely to the house. Wawa crowed and laughed, and drummed with his heels against the side of his charger; but the brave dog never tried to shake him off, and just walked gravely along, looking as trustworthy as possible. ”

“ Gipsey had come scampering up to me in delighted recognition as we left the dining room, barking and wagging his tail, until I should think both his tail and his bark would have been quite out of joint.
"Oh, Neighbor Oldbird, I'm so glad you have come," began Nelly, eagerly; "we have been having such fun, and, now you are here, it will be nicer than ever."
"Do you and Jimmy go in bathing?" I asked.
"I guess we do!" cried Jimmy. "We rush into the water first of anybody, and go out real deep, when we have hold of the ropes. Some great big boys are as afraid as anything! ”

“ Please forgive us; we all like you so much, and we would feel as mean as anything to take your present without begging pardon. George, Peter, and I feel truly ashamed of ourselves every time we think of that abominable court martial."
"There, old fellow, don't say a word more about it!" was the hearty response; and Tom threw his arm affectionately about his companion. "It was my fault, Freddy, and all because I was mad at poor old Jerry; how silly! ”

“ I am the most unlucky woman in the world! Now Wise Peter will not leave a whole bone in my body! Alas, the turkeys would have sold for eight skillings apiece when they had grown fat and big! The only thing that consoles me is, that I shall have such a famous supper ready for him. When he tastes my fine cabbage soup, I am sure he must forget to be vexed! ”

“ L. Jourdain.
[59]
Freddy was delighted at this letter, with its mingled playfulness and sincere patriotism. With all his fun, he was uncommonly intelligent, and understood and appreciated many things which far older boys might have failed to comprehend; and now his splendid blue eyes were raised to his father's face, flashing with real enthusiasm; he felt and looked at that moment, like his noble French ancestors, a born soldier.
But the serious mood was soon displaced by a fresh access of glee.
"Oh, thank you, papa!" he cried, "how very kind of you! How surprised the boys will be! Hurrah! ”

“ My bedroom is the third floor, back room, always; and you know that piazza at the back of the house? Well, what did I do, but twitch off my bedcover—nice white one it was, too—tie it to the bedpost, and let the end hang out of the window. Then I scrambled out, and slid down the wall like a streak of lightning! You can't think what jolly fun it was!
There was lots of amusement in the yard; twelve cats on the fence to plague, and no end of snow to make balls and pelt the cook with; beside, the gingerbread was just baked, and I got a brown corner! So! there! ”

“ At one moment one saw him lying gazing at one with laughing eyes; the next, it seemed as though only the hoar dew rested there, and glittered in the moonlight.
"Bur-r-r!" growled the north wind, as he flew through the forest. "Hollo! Captain Jack; many thanks for the Ice King's message which thou broughtest me. Come, wilt thou ride on my back in return?" [31]
"Many thanks!" replied Captain Jack; "I prefer to travel on foot, and amuse myself by the way."
"Well, be that as thou wilt!" ”

“ A mortified blue sunbonnet, with all the canes out, was perched lop-sided on her head, and she wore a pair of bathing shoes, like brown poultices. The rest of us were just as bad, though; I was an ogre in green flannel, Tom and Jimmy monkeys in red, Mrs. Lawson tolerably lady-like in blue, with white tape trimmings, and Neighbor Nelly a ridiculous little old jumping Jenny in white, with gorgeous red facings; and [116] all in hats that defied our best friends to know us in. ”

“ My thumb aches so sometimes with writing, that I often wish I had half a dozen extra ones, so I could take the tired one off and screw another on, and even then I am afraid I could never exhaust my love for my darlings;" and she looked at the children and held out her hand with such an affectionate smile, that Helen came timidly up and gave her a little winning kiss immediately, while George, blushing all over his face, showed two great dimples in his cheeks, but had not the courage to leave his chair. ”

“ I can't hear you," said Freddy. "Nonsense, Tom, don't be poky, come back and drill."
"I won't! Let us alone, will you?"
"All we want is, let us alone!" chanted Peter. "There, Fred, let him be cross if he wants to, we can play without him;" and the boys ran back to their places in the ranks, Freddy [18] calling out, "Come fellows, let's try that old parade rest once more;" and on Jerry's giving the command, they really did do it this time, and were pronounced capable of passing to grander evolutions. ”

“ Silly Catharine dried her eyes upon her apron, and with a reproachful look exclaimed, "Still you have beaten me, Wise Peter, for what I could not help; for, if the turkeys had not been killed, I should never have stayed away so long; if the water had not flown up chimney, I should not have burnt the bucket; and if the well had not tasted of cabbages, I should not have thrown in the wine. And, above all, dear Peter, if that abominable man spoke ill of you, how could I, your wife, avoid showing him that he lied? Besides, the case is not so bad; we have lost nearly all, it is true ”

“ While we were occupied in this way, a little girl, poorly dressed, and lugging a large bundle of work in both arms, came along, and stopping beside us at the window of the most splendid toy shop, stood looking wistfully in.
Neighbor Nelly straightway twitched my hand, and whispered, "Oh look, Neighbor Oldbird! what a poor little girl! I don't suppose she ever saw a doll before in her life. How she must wish she had one!"
"Suppose we ask her?" I said.
"Will you ask?" she answered; "I don't like to."
"Nonsense! ask her yourself; she won't eat you, or Gipsey either;" ”

“ They are all hard rules except the fourth. I do not keep them well myself, my dear children. No one can, [13] without constant watchfulness and prayer for help from above; but you can try, will you?"
"I will, mamma," said Helen, in a low, earnest tone, her blue eyes filling with tears.
"And you, George, will you?"
"Yes, mamma, I will try. I can't be a very good boy, as you know. I get so tired of being good sometimes, that I feel like jumping over the house to get the badness out of me, instead of sitting down quietly and thinking about my duty, as papa says I must. ”

“ Besides the Montague family, there is a numerous colony of other dolls; but they, poor things, live in any corner where Lina chooses to put them; and all day Sunday are shut up in a dark closet, with nothing to do but count their fingers and toes, if they can contrive to see them; though they have nearly as fine a wardrobe—for Lina's great amusement, next to playing with the whole colony, is to make new dresses for them.
One Saturday afternoon, Lina was playing with her dolls in the baby house, with two of her little neighbors, Minnie and Maggie Elliott, to keep her company. ”

“ Louie, turning deadly pale with terror, while the Zouaves, for an instant, appeared perfectly paralyzed.
"Why run! run for your lives!" shouted George, who was the first to recover himself. "Peter, you lead the way; take us the shortest cut to the house, and—oh!" ”

“ I suppose they know that an old bachelor like Josiah Oldbird can do no harm by looking on at their evening amusements; so they do not pull the blinds down if they chance to see me, sitting lonely at my window, and willing to accept such crumbs of their society and happiness as I can glean over the way. ”

“ THE WONDERFUL LEGEND OF THE GOLD STONE.
In those far away times when the world was yet in its baby clothes, and people were not as wise as they are nowadays, there dwelt in the good town of London a poor tailor's apprentice named Bartlemy Bowbell. He might be called poor in a double sense; for not only was he such a lazy, idle fellow that he scarcely ever took a stitch, and so seldom had a copper of his own, but he was a miserable workman, and, like an organ-grinder's [76] monkey, or a blind man's dog, obtained more kicks than halfpence. ”

“ THE STORY OF THE SOCKS. BY AUNT FANNY.
"Oh dear! what shall I do?" cried George, fretfully, one rainy afternoon. "Mamma, do tell me what to do."
"And I'm so tired!" echoed Helen, who was lazily playing with a kitten in her lap. "I don't see why it should rain on a Friday afternoon, when we have no lessons to learn. We can't go out, and no one can come to see us. It's too bad, there!"
"Helen, do you know better than God?" asked her mother, speaking [8] very gravely. "You forget that He sends the rain." ”

“ Mr. Schermerhorn received his guests on the piazza, where all the chairs in the house, one would think, were placed for the company, as the [93] best view of the lawn was from this point. To the extreme right were the white tents of the camp, half hidden by the immense trunk of a magnificent elm, the only tree that broke the smooth expanse of the lawn. On the left a thick hawthorne hedge separated the ornamental grounds from the cultivated fields of the place, while in front the view was bounded by the blue and sparkling waters of the Sound. ”

“ He is so glad to meet the fat baby [12] when he comes home at night, that I can see him in the parlor first kissing it almost black and blue, and then tossing it up in the air until I feel as though its head must come bump against the ceiling, but it doesn't—and at last, carrying it off perched on his shoulder, and looking very much perturbed in its spirits.
But the pleasantest neighbors of all live exactly opposite, at No. 9. They take tea every evening in the back parlor; and as the front window shades are up, and only the back room lighted, I can always see them at their cheerful meal. ”

“ Skihi can tell you that I went to the top of the house with him every night for a week, last winter, to look at a comet, in nothing but a night gown and an umbrella, and I never was better in my life! Other people might have felt cold, or caught cold; but I—I enjoyed the science of the thing! If you feel too warm, follow my plan; make up your [126] minds you won't feel so, and the thing's done!" and Dr. Van Noostile marched proudly along in the hottest part of the road, with his nose in the air, though the sun blistered the end most abominably! ”

“ We stayed down on the delightful beach until nearly half-past nine; and, dear me, what a heap of sand we got in our shoes! It was quite wonderful how it contrived to work its way in; but there it was, making us lift up our feet as heavily as though we had cannon balls tied to our ankles.
But it was getting late, and high [103] time for small people to be off to bed; so, with a shake of the hand from one of my little neighbors, and a "good kiss" from the other, I don't say which, Gipsey was waked up, and they all trotted off together. ”

“ These wonderful tents were furnished just like real soldiers' dwellings; with a good warm blanket for each of the three occupants, a bright tin basin and tooth mug, a cedar bucket to draw water, a square looking glass, like a sticking plaster, and a couple of wooden lockers (which, between ourselves, were made of claret boxes) in each one; beside camp stools in abundance for everybody.
"Here's the officers' quarters!" [88] cried George, as he flung open the door of the smoke house.
"No, that's the guard house, Chadwick," said Harry, "where we put the refracti-rac-tic-tactories." ”

“ Then they got into the carriages, and old Jerry grasped Freddy's hand with an affectionate "Good-by, my little Colonel, God bless ye! Old Jerry won't never forget your noble face as long as he lives." It would have seemed like insulting the old man to offer him money in return for his loving admiration, but the handsome gilt-edged Bible that found its way to him soon after the departure of the regiment, was inscribed with the irregular schoolboy signature of "Freddy Jourdain, with love to his old friend Jeremiah Pike." ”

“ In spite of himself, Wise Peter could not help bursting out laughing. "After all, Catharine," he exclaimed, "I see you did not intend doing me any harm; if you are a fool, that, certainly, is not your fault; therefore, in future let us never be separated. Come, you pretty goose, let us go and eat cabbage soup."
So saying, Wise Peter kissed his wife's blooming cheek, and led her into the house. They sat down with contented hearts to the nice, smoking soup, and after supper walked out among the spreading cabbages. ”

“ My little neighbor laughed and blushed comically when I said that, and then Jimmy said:
"He's a first rate fellow, I tell you. [98] He sent us a letter the other day, and what do you think? he's coming here!"
"Coming here!" I exclaimed; "my stars! I shall be quite thrown in the shade when such a nice friend makes his appearance. I think I shall have to go home again Monday, and I did mean to stay till Wednesday," and I made up a dismal face, and pretended to be quite heart-broken.
"No, indeed, Neighbor Oldbird! we shall always like you the best!" cried Nelly, catching both my hands in hers. ”

“ The long sunset shadows were rapidly stealing over the velvet sward as the company rose from table, adding a new charm to the beauty of the scene. Everywhere the grass was dotted with groups of elegant ladies and gentlemen, and merry children, in light summer dresses and quaintly pretty uniforms. ”

“ At these words, the regiment strung themselves in a long line, like so many kibobs on a straw, with their captains standing in front. "Now, [114] Captain Livingston, dismiss your company to quarters," and off marched the first company, four "men" strong, toward the tents; then the next four, and so on, until all had gone, and then came posting back again without the smallest delay.
Colonel Freddy was obediently following his own orders by dismissing himself, with a sublime disregard of rank, when Peter suddenly called out, "I say, Fred, there's one thing you've forgotten!" ”

“ Away with you to prison!" and, so saying, they laid hold of Wise Peter, dragged him out of the wagon, and bore him toward the magistrate. In vain the wretched man begged for some explanation, declared a hundred times over that he was no wizard, but an honest peasant; they only shouted, tauntingly, "A pretty story for a man who turns his well springs into the finest wine! ”

“ Meanwhile, I walked quietly along, with my market basket on my arm, a sober old bachelor. I expect the people who passed us in the street thought me a rather incongruous addition to such a frisky party; but then, you know, children [28] must caper about. Bless your heart! it would never do in the world to see children mincing solemnly along, like little old men and women; it would be as absurd as to have my Neighbor Nelly wearing her great-grandmother's coal-scuttle bonnet! ”