Amy Ella Blanchard

“ Todd laughed. “That’s worth remembering, and one should be sorry for those who have nothing but money. With only that one cannot buy an appreciation of beauty, nor character, nor truth; in fact, few of the really worth-while things can be bought with money, and they are the rich who can enjoy the heaven-sent gifts instead of grubbing for what earth can supply.”
“But it is mighty nice to have riches,” sighed Ellen. ”

“ You are the only truly grateful young person I know, Ellen.”
“I? You don’t know me. I feel mighty sassy sometimes, and express my opinions accordingly, though I try never to forget what Cousin Rindy has done for me. If she were a really, truly parent, I might feel different, but as it is I consider that I would be a disgraceful ingrate if I lost sight of my benefits.”
“Lots of girls wouldn’t be so particular. It isn’t the modern fashion to show respect to your elders. I know girls who call down their parents as if they were the children and the girls were the parents. ”

“ She helped her cousin with the dishes, and then they sat down together in the parlor. The light from the big kerosene lamp picked out the gleam of the two or three ornately bound books on the marble-topped table, discovered the gilt frames of “A Yard of Roses” and the big chromo where woodeny waves threatened to engulf a tin-like ship.
“Now we’ll talk,” announced Miss Rindy, settling herself in a heavy haircloth-covered rocking-chair. “You will have to be provided with some work to do, Ellen. You can’t sit all the evening just holding your hands in that useless way. ”

“ I suppose I’m consumed with selfishness, but I do hate to give up the darling violin. One part of me is thankful and willing to do anything for Cousin Rindy, and the other part rebels like fury.”
“Perfectly human and natural,” declared Mr. Todd. “Your first impulse was strong enough not to make you hesitate a minute to make the sacrifice, so I don’t see that you need flagellate your soul so severely. You will always have music, always have the great gift of appreciation, and that means everything. No matter what discords there are without, one can always find harmony within.”
Ellen nodded. ”

“ I can return it.”
“I should think you would have the opportunity of making any kind of friend you wished,” said Ellen thoughtfully.
“You don’t know how difficult it is. I scarcely ever meet any one who thinks my thoughts or likes my likes. If I do meet any one promising, he or she is whisked away before I have a chance for a better acquaintance. Of course I do know some perfectly dear people that I love dearly, but they can’t enter into my interests and ambitions. My dear grandmother thinks I am queer to want a career. She can’t see why I shouldn’t be satisfied with a butterfly existence. ”

“ A good man has said: ‘It is not by change of circumstances, but by fitting our spirits to the circumstances in which God has placed us, that we can be reconciled to life and duty.’ And another says that trouble ‘brings for us, if we will accept it, the boon of fortitude, patience, self-control, wisdom, sympathy, faith.’ Those are big things to gain, Ellen,—big things. ”

“ A flyaway sort of somebody she is, sweet as honey and kind as can be, but no housekeeper. Everything goes by sixes and sevens in that house, meals at any time, feast one day, famine the next. I don’t see how Barry stands it, or Lucilena either, but they all get along as comfortably as a basket of puppies. It’s none of my business, though my fingers do itch sometimes to get at those rooms and put them in order. You’ll like Marietta Hale, you can’t help it, and I don’t know but I’d rather than not that she played the part of a fearful example to you.”
Ellen laughed. ”

“ I don’t quite agree with Gran when she says: ‘Young people think old people are fools; old people know young ones are;’ that always makes me mad, chiefly, I suppose, because it is said at a time when I want my own way.”
“I do suppose we should allow some value to experience,” replied Ellen thoughtfully. “How will you have your eggs, Mabel?”
“Oh, you dear thing, are you attending to my breakfast? You have made fresh coffee and toast, too. Where is Beulah?”
“She is attending to things up-stairs. You know I don’t mind doing such things for you, Mabel.” ”

“ Do you like them, Ellen?”
“Why, yes, I think so. I’ve never known very many. Living in a studio as we did, there wasn’t much chance of meeting them. Father and Mother entertained only the grown-up artists and musicians, and they were always such fun that I didn’t miss younger company. If I had gone to an art school I suppose I might have met dozens.”
“Think of you living in a studio. How wonderful!” Caro looked at her companion as if she were a being from another world, which in a certain sense she was. ”

“ Mrs. Shirley looked across with a satisfied smile at Mrs. Barton, who lifted her hands and let them fall helplessly into her lap, intimating that there was nothing further to be said. Miss Orinda alone looked at Ellen, who sat with downcast eyes, clenched hands, and a heaving breast.
It was but for a moment that Miss Orinda regarded the girl; then she sprang to her feet. “Rosanne’s child shall not go to an institution!” she cried. “Take off your things, Ellen. You are going to live with me, and pray Heaven you will make a capable, useful woman.” ”

“ Ellen told herself. “I really think I ought to give up my visit and go to Caro’s instead; she wants awfully to have me at Christmas, but, oh, dear! I think I shall pine away if I have to stay here when I am just crazy to get back with that dear old crowd; and yet—and yet—— If I had only promised Caro in the first place, I couldn’t get out of it, and Cousin Rindy could have her visit and a hat, too. Sometimes it is mighty hard to be unselfish. Cousin Rindy never thinks of herself, but I am not so good as she is, and I never shall be.” ”

“ She said not a word to Caro of the conversation between Florence and Suzanne, but she did pour out her heart to her good old friend, Jeremy Todd. “They are so different, so very different from the people my mother and father knew. Nobody cared who was rich or who was poor. If they were good and talented and kind, it was all that mattered, and no one could have better times than artists and their friends.”
Mr. Todd nodded in assent. “I know that full well. ‘The life is more than meat, and the body than raiment.’”
“I never understood that so well before,” replied Ellen reflectively. ”

“ I’ve heard my father say that, too,” responded Ellen. “I think it was splendid for you to go over and help, Cousin Rindy.”
“Why shouldn’t I have gone? There was nothing to prevent. Nobody suffered by my going. It was a great experience, and I did help a little, whatever Sophia may think of it. The trouble with her is that she looms up so large in her foreground that others can be seen only around the edges of her personality; that never gets any one very far. Get down, Wipers; you’re in the way.” ”

“ I must write to Caro or she will feel neglected. I wish the dear child wouldn’t be so jealous of you.”
“Jealousy is a mean trait, on a par with ingratitude. One is caused by an inflated ego, the other by a thoughtless one.”
“Where did you learn so much?”
“Read it in a book.”
“Book spoke the truth. To be jealous one must consider one’s self worthy of first place, of satisfying every side of the other’s nature, and possessing so many excellent traits that nobody else could stand the same chance in another’s affections.”
“Spoken like a very oracle. Wise little noddle, yours is, Ellen. ”

“ Austin.
“It’s fun, and I like it,” Ellen assured her.
The dishes were scarcely out of the way before visitors from the neighboring studios dropped in, and the familiar art patter began. One or more brought sketches which were set up and commented upon with much gesture of thumbs and heated discussion. Ellen listened to it all with glowing appreciation, and when the talk became an exchange of witticisms, she withdrew herself farther and farther away from the dull little town she had left. This was the life. Nobody had such good times as these care-free artists. ”

“ Nobody has ever done anything for Rindy, but all her life she has done for others. She never had any youth, for she had to bear all the burdens, had to see her brother strut off dressed up in handsome clothes while she sat at home and drudged for him and her invalid mother, scarcely knowing what it was to have a decent new dress.”
“How horrid! How mean!” cried Ellen, starting up. ”

“ Ellen responded. “That horrid woman said you’d probably want all the kinds there are. If you didn’t need them all, you could return whichever package you didn’t want. She is the most inquisitive person I ever saw, and I just loathe her.”
“Whewee! What a pepper-jig you’re in. When you’ve known Maria Perry as long as I have you’ll find it isn’t worth while to get mad with her. She can ask questions, I’ll admit, but she doesn’t mean any harm by it. She’s the chief purveyor of news in the town, and everybody looks to her for it, just as if she were a headline on a newspaper.” ”

“ Miss Rindy gave her attention to counting stitches on the knitting she had in hand, then she answered: “You have given us a wonderful time, my dear, but in my experience it isn’t best to expect to repeat one’s good times. Things are seldom twice the same. Something is sure to happen that will alter conditions. In this world the only thing you can count on is change.”
“Well, one thing can be counted upon, and that is my desire to repeat this summer’s experiences.” ”

“ Ellen laughed. “I think there spoke your grandmother. Don’t you like being informal? I thought you did. Caro is a dear, a sort of primrose-on-the-river’s-brim person, but overflowing with good-will. The whole family are my best friends, excepting dear Jeremy Todd, of course, and because of that you are their friend, too. The boys are just nice, everyday boys. Frank tries to be grown up sometimes, but the others are nothing but playfellows, and we all have mighty good times together.” ”

“ Ellen took the letter, glanced at the typewritten address, and slipped it into the pocket of the coat she wore. Then, with Reed, she seated herself. “Now tell me your news,” she said.
Reed was silent for a moment, then he drew from his pocket a letter which he spread out upon his knee. “This is from Uncle Pete’s lawyer,” he said.
“Don Pedro’s lawyer? What’s he writing to you about? Have you been doing anything reprehensible?” Ellen asked flippantly.
“No. One doesn’t always receive letters from lawyers because of misdemeanors; there are such things as wills, you know.” ”

“ She is the pluckiest thing ever, and scorns being an invalid. Come in and I will call her.”
“Such a dear, quaint little old house as it is; I just love little houses,” said Mabel enthusiastically as she entered the hall; but she laughed when Ellen tragically indicated the ornaments on the mantel and the pictures on the walls.
“You can steep your soul in the beauties of our art treasures while I go to hunt up Cousin Rindy,” she remarked with a twist of a smile as she left the room, wondering meanwhile just what had brought Mabel to Marshville, and why she was in such a hurry to see Miss Rindy. ”

“ I’m not going to consent to you selling it.”
“You can’t help yourself; the deed is done. Now listen to me, Cousin Rindy, and don’t work yourself up into a pepper-jig. You know perfectly well that the violin is a useless possession so far as I am concerned, and one who is always discoursing upon usefulness and scorning sentimentality should encourage me in getting rid of it.” ”

“ I know one or two are journalists and others are contributors to the magazines,” was the answer.
“How wonderful!” sighed Sally. “I expect we seem very commonplace to you. That Christmas Eve party must have been such fun, and wasn’t it romantic to talk all evening to the boy who blacked up, and never find out what he looked like?”
“I’ll bet he looked like an ape,” broke in Frank Ives gruffly. Frank, by the way, had brought Ellen an ornate box of candy, large in size and delectable as to contents. ”

“ The day was still young when Ellen discovered that she had not been forewarned in the case of Miss Sophia Garrett, who came in before the morning work was quite done. She was a lady of uncertain years but of no uncertain opinions. She prided herself upon being blunt and outspoken, avowing that she would speak the truth at any cost.
“Well, Rindy,” she began as she entered, “where’s the girl? I hear you have taken on a new responsibility. I hope you haven’t done anything rash, committed yourself so to speak. It is a serious undertaking to assume the care of a giddy young girl. ”

“ A crowd of merry young people were in the habit of gathering every evening at Dr. Rowe’s, and, leaving her cousin to hobnob with some of her cronies, Ellen would slip out and run down to Caro, who always met her with open arms. Knowing that Miss Rindy had not the slightest objection to this acquaintance, Ellen felt free to visit Caro whenever she wished. Frank would bring his guitar, and Clyde Fawcett his mandolin. ”

“ What’s wrong?” cried Tom and Reed in unison, as they climbed over to where Alvin was striving in vain to right matters.
“Let’s look at her,” said Tom, gazing down into the depths where the engine was. He and Alvin consulted, experimented, did their best, but the boat still lopped helplessly around, drifting with the outgoing tide. “I’m blest if I know what’s wrong,” said Tom, lifting his head at last. “Nothing seems to be out of order so far as I can see.” ”

“ He smiled, then chuckled. “Rindy certainly does like to suggest, and isn’t over pleased when you don’t take her suggestions, but then she isn’t the only one who is built that way,” and Ellen knew he was thinking of his own wife, especially when he went on: “There are worse things than being bossed, and one can be thinking one’s own thought during the process of bossing. That is one thing that saves us, Ellen; nobody can control our thoughts.” And Ellen nodded understandingly. After all her lot was an easier one by far than was Jeremy Todd’s.
The long summer days sped all too rapidly. ”

“ However, she said nothing, but speeded her on her way, and then returned to Mabel, who had not risen for so early a breakfast as was necessary for Miss Rindy.
“What a lazybones I am,” said Mabel as she came down to find Miss Rindy gone and Ellen finished with her breakfast. “Gran always indulged me, so that if I wanted to linger in bed she never said a word. I am afraid I am not sufficiently grateful to Gran, but I don’t know that girls usually possess that virtue. We take what is done for us as a matter of course, expect it as our right. ”

“ You and she talk the organ matter over, and if it doesn’t interfere with her school or her duties at home I have no objection. What do you say, Ellen? Would you like to learn to play the organ?”
“I’d just love it!” cried the girl excitedly. “I love the violin, too, but if I can’t have both, which of course I can’t, I’d adore to play the organ, to learn all those lovely things from the old masters, Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and all the rest.”
“Then consider yourself my pupil.” Mr. Todd’s face was wreathed with smiles. “We’ll have the first lesson—— Let me see—when can you spare her, Rindy?” ”