Amy Ella Blanchard

“ William Penn didn’t fight. Why, don’t you know, he was a Quaker? You remember how he loved peace, and made the treaty with the Indians.”
“Oh, yes; I do remember now,” replied Mabel. “I’m awfully stupid about history. I never remember who did things. Oh, Harold! see that old woman limping along there; she looks like a Quaker; but she is so wild and queer looking. I believe she is crazy; I am afraid of her.”
“Sho! There’s nothing the matter with her; she is just looking for someone. Hear her call: ‘Bobby, Bobby.’ Don’t you hear her?” ”

“ Mabel was deeply grateful for this offer. “I think it’s lovely for you to say that, but I don’t believe I shall want to do that. I’ll just wait till I’ve got the book, and then I’ll save up and send my money to the orphans. Mamma will do it for me. She can send it straight to the ladies who take care of the money and see that the orphans get some of it.”
Harold looked at her admiringly. “That’s fine,” he said; “I don’t believe I’d be as modest as that. I’d like to show off before those girls, and just flourish around at the lawn party, if I had money to spend.” ”

“ At the mention of the old books, Mabel became too excited to help herself to the tempting food before her, and began [65] breathlessly: “Those books, I wonder if you would let us see them before you do the junk man. It is a very old book that we have been hunting for, and you know, it might happen to be among those you have.”
“Of course, I’ll let thee see them, and welcome,” returned Mrs. Knight; “it isn’t quite dark yet, and the garret is a light one for it faces the west and gets the last rays of the sun. Eat thy bun, and then I’ll let thee look at whatever I have.” ”

“ Poor little fellow. I hope he will sleep soundly. His father was all in all to him.”
“Don’t say was,” said Mrs. Ford, “for I do not quite believe the report.”
Mr. Ford shook his head. “I wouldn’t be too sanguine,” he returned. “You say Harold told you his father generally called him Harry?”
“Yes, that is the part which makes it seem as if there were no mistake.”
“And can’t Harold stay here always?” Mabel asked, as her father lifted her to his knee.
“That will be as his aunt says. We have no right to decide upon that. ”

“ Mabel was repaid for all her work when Harold, upon being ushered into the room, exclaimed: “Why this doesn’t look like a girl’s room. See those foils and those boxing gloves. It looks like some of the officer’s rooms. This is great!”
“And where is Don going to sleep?” asked Alice.
Harold’s countenance fell. “He always sleeps at the foot of my bed,” he replied, fondling his dog, who looked up wistfully, not understanding all these changes.
Mrs. Ford looked a little dubious.
“He’s very good and quiet,” said Harold, eagerly. “He never makes any noise or gives a bit of trouble. ”

“ After they had eaten all the ice-cream and cake of which they were capable, and had bought more candy and had had more lemonade than was good for them, they found a little corner on one of the piazzas, and here they decided to settle down, for awhile, and watch the people, who were now beginning to gather rapidly.
“I’m awfully tired,” said Mabel. “I just feel as if my feet didn’t belong to me. Harold, I was just thinking that your papa will perhaps know some of the Cuban orphans, if any of his friends get killed.” ”

“ I will try to be as much like a boy as I can, and as mamma will let me. I’ll play anything you like to have me. I’ll climb trees and all; and I’ll even try not to be afraid of cows.”
Mrs. Ford could but smile; but she added more comforting words till Harold at last lifted his head and said: “Where is Don? I want Don.” And Mabel, delighted to be able to do something, flew to bring the dear dog, and with Don [94] hugged up close to him Harold, after a while, fell asleep. ”

“ Harold’s face took on a serious look as it always did when his father was mentioned. “I wish I knew about [87] father,” he said, after a pause, “I haven’t heard for two weeks, and neither has Drake.”
“Oh,” Mabel wished that she had not said anything about Captain Evans’ friends and their orphans.
“You see,” Harold went on, “the last time we did hear he was still at camp, but he expected to be ordered to Cuba at any time, and I suppose he may be on his way there. Of course, I want him to be as brave as the others, but I get scared sometimes, for fear he will be killed.” ”

“ But here now, help thyself and thee too, Mabel,” and she set a plate of toothsome bun and two glasses of milk before them. “Bobby’s all right,” she told them. “No one knows how I felt about him. When one doesn’t have anyone much but a cat to care for, it becomes a matter of deep concern if anything happens to him. Some persons set store by old furniture [64] and houses and books, but my cat is worth more to me than all such things.”
“Mabel’s father just loves old books,” Harold informed her, “and we’ve been hunting for a very special one for him, but we can’t find it ”

“ How can she, when she is lame?” Mabel asked.
Mrs. Ford smiled. “No, she has a man [106] and his wife who attend to the farm for her. They live in a little house on the place. Mrs. Knight has changed a good many of her plans in order to accommodate us, and I hope you children will give her no trouble.”
Of course the children protested that they would not; and, indeed, they were quite as reasonably good as one could expect, and if they did, once in a while, get into mischief, Mrs. Knight excused it because of the unfailing respect they showed to Bobby. ”

“ Knight received a second visit from the children, as she was busy making some of her famous cinnamon-bun, on Friday morning. Mabel explained their errand and met with a hearty response.
“Give you some flowers? To be sure, I will, gladly; and you can have every one in the garden, if you want them.”
“Oh, we couldn’t carry every one,” said Harold, in all seriousness. Mrs. Knight laughed. “Thee is literal enough for a Friend,” she said. “Then I will not give thee all my flowers, but how would thee [80] like a loaf of my bun? I’ll warrant they’ll not have any like it at thy friend’s party, Mabel. ”

“ It is too bad, I know,” he continued, seeing how disappointed Harold looked, “but you would have had to leave him anyhow, if you had gone to your aunt’s, for she would not have received the dog, I know.”
“Why can’t I take Don to the farm?” inquired Harold, still hoping for consent.
“Because Mrs. Knight doesn’t allow dogs on the place. She has a favorite cat, and, at first, was hardly willing to take a boy. For some reason she doesn’t approve of boys or dogs, but Mrs. Ford seems to have overcome her objections.”
“Mrs. Knight!” Mabel exclaimed. “Oh, mamma, is it our Mrs. Knight? ”

“ Mr. Lewis remarked: “The war won’t last long.”
Mabel nudged her companion, and they listened with all their ears.
“Too bad, though, the way our fellows have had to be sacrificed at camp,” returned Mr. Lewis’ friend. “Every day I hear of someone from here having succumbed to typhoid fever, and the warm weather will not improve the conditions, I am afraid. By the way, you knew Captain Evans. I learned at the club on my way uptown, that he was [89] gone. Poor fellow, as nice a man as I ever knew. Died of typhoid fever.”
Harold clutched Mabel’s arm and turned very pale. ”

“ Ford, “and if he behaves well there is no reason why he shouldn’t do as he has been in the habit [33] of doing.” And Harold’s heart was completely won.
Indeed, a few days after this, Don proved himself entirely worthy of the confidence placed in him; for Mrs. Ford, hearing Alice cry out: “Oh, mother, come quick!” ran to the nursery, where she found her eldest daughter sitting on the floor, one arm around little Louie, and the other around Don, while she alternately kissed Louie’s golden head and Don’s black one, murmuring in an agitated voice: “Oh, dear little sister! Oh, Don! oh, Don!” ”

“ Mabel slipped down from her chair and went close to her mother.
“Mamma, let him come here,” she whispered. “He hasn’t any mamma nor any sisters and brothers, nor anything. I’ll give up my room if Alice will let me sleep with her.”
“Mabel proposes that we invite Harold here,” said Mrs. Ford. “She will give up her room to him, Phillip.”
“Well, but how about you? It is something [29] of a charge to take a boy into the family where there are only girls.”
“I’ll take the charge willingly.”
Mr. Ford nodded with a satisfied air. “It’s settled then, Drake. We’ll take care of the lad. ”

“ But she thought the room needed some further decoration, and she returned to the garret. After fumbling around, she discovered a pair of old boxing gloves, and a pair of foils, and at last found leaning against the wall, a dust-covered picture representing a hunting scene.
“There!” she exclaimed, “that is exactly what I want. I wonder if papa will let me have these.”
Down stairs she trudged again, and reported to her sister, who good-naturedly went to the library, since Mabel was forbidden there, and came back with her father’s consent to use the things for decoration. ”

“ You see, my [50] father is a soldier, and I have to be brave.”
“Oh!” this explained the situation fully to Mabel, and they returned to the subject of the auction.
“Next time,” said Harold, “I’ll do all the bidding, and you need not come into the room, if you don’t want to.”
“Oh, but I do want to; it’s sort of exciting, although I do get tired of hearing the auctioneer; but as long as it is the only way of getting the book, why, of course, we must go to every auction we hear of.” ”

“ At recess, Marie Lewis and Ethel Morris called her. “Oh, Mabel, we’ve the loveliest idea, and you will just love it. Come over here and let’s talk about it.” So, with lunch-baskets in hand, they settled themselves in a quiet corner.
“We want to give a lawn party for the benefit of the Cuban orphans,” began Marie, “and we’ll have some little things to sell, and oh, Mabel, you told me the [38] other day, that you had two dollars; you’ll give that towards it, won’t you?”
Mabel flushed up to the roots of her hair. “I don’t know,” she faltered. ”

“ Thee is very good to turn aside for an old woman,” was the answer Mabel received.
Up and down the two children trudged; the afternoon grew shorter and shorter, and at last, up in a tree Mabel caught sight of pussy, and back they went to where the old woman still sat on her steps waiting for them.
“We’ve found him!” cried Harold. “He’s up a tree. Mabel saw him first. Now, what shall we do to get him down?”
“Thee has brought good news, and I’m very thankful,” said the old woman. “He’s all I’ve got, and we’ve kept house together for fifteen years. He’s old, for [56] a cat, but is still spry ”

“ Marie broke in, “and I’m awfully ashamed of myself, really I am, Mabel, and I think it was sweet of you to come this afternoon, after the way we behaved. Don’t you, Ethel?”
“Yes, I do,” replied Ethel, a little awkwardly. It was harder for her to yield than for Marie. “But why didn’t you say, in the first place, that you were going to give such a lot?” she asked, turning to Mabel. “You didn’t say you’d save up and give more than any of us.”
Mabel looked down. She couldn’t explain.
But Harold was equal to the occasion. “Because she thought she had a debt to [85] pay ”

“ Would you go to the lawn party if you were I, mamma? I don’t think you know how [77] hateful they were,” and then she told her story.
“They were very unjust, I admit,” her mother told her, “but I think they will be very much ashamed of themselves when they see you willing to help them so generously. Yes, I think you and Alice and Harold should all go, even if the girls have been unkind. It will not be a social affair, remember, and if the cause is good the rest does not matter.”
“But about the money, mamma ”

“ She was so absorbed in this employment that she did not hear the gate open, nor see who had entered, till she heard someone close beside her, say: “That’s a [99] pretty good shot for a little girl,” and looking up, she saw a gentleman whose face looked rather familiar. ”

“ Mabel answered, shyly.
Mrs. Ford put her arm around the child. “I think you have already sacrificed enough, dear,” she said. “No one doubts that you have the right feeling. Never mind what the girls think, but go and enjoy yourself. I promised Mrs. Lewis that I would send a contribution of biscuits and salad, and several of the neighbors have promised me something. So I shall probably send you and Harold off foraging to-morrow; at least, I’ll let you collect some of the articles for me.”
“Mamma, Mrs. Knight has such beautiful flowers ”

“ Then Mabel poured forth her tale, beginning with her resolve to make good, [74] if possible, the mischief she had done. “For you know, papa,” she concluded by saying, “you always have told me that one ought never to be in debt, and so— Are you pleased, papa? ”