Anonymous

“ I would rather be the ugliest person in the world and be loved." She was silent for a moment, while conscience brought before her all the kind acts Nannie was always doing for somebody. How ready she was to give up her own pleasure, and do anything for others. Then she went off into a pleasant day-dream, in which she was very good, always did just right, and everybody loved her. All the old women in the village thought no one could do anything for them like Belle Merry; her mother thought she never could spare Belle, and Charlie was never satisfied when Belle was away. ”

“ The next afternoon, while grandmother was holding her in her lap, she opened her eyes, and seeing the tears in grandmother's eyes, she said, 'What make you feel sorry? I love you!' and that was the last thing she said."
"Did she die, then?" said Nannie.
"Yes; mother said she only breathed a few minutes after it. I saw the grave when I was at grandmother's. There's a little stone, and her name written on it. 'Nellie Bliss, aged four years.'"
"Just as old as Charlie," said Nannie. "How old would she be now?"
"Almost as old as mother," said Belle. ”

“ Belle stood looking on with pretended indifference, for she did not want the girls should know how much she cared about it.
"All that vote for Belle hold up a bunch of berries; and all that vote for Nannie hold up an oak leaf."
The girls laughed, and held up their hands. There were six oak leaves, and only two bunches of berries.
"I'd rather Belle would be queen," said Nannie, though it cost a little effort to say it; for she was as much pleased with the honour as any one.
"But we had rather not," the girls said. "You cannot help yourself; so sit down while we make your crown." ”

“ The little upturned face was well kissed before sister Mary said, "Well, Jack, call Nannie and Belle, and we'll have a story."
Jack ran off in high glee, for sister Mary's stories were always welcomed by the children.
Nannie and Belle came as fast as their feet would bring them, and were soon sitting in readiness on the porch steps.
"Now, sister Mary," said Nannie, "a good story, please."
"What do you mean by a good one, Nannie?"
"One that will teach us to be good," said Nannie in a low voice. ”

“ Dr. Merry laid down his paper, and coming over to her couch, he read: "I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord!"—"Well what of that?" he said, looking up, though the tears stood in his eyes, as he watched the little face turned so wistfully toward him.
"I want to go to church so much, father," she said, as she saw he understood her.
"But, Nannie, I don't think David went to church when he couldn't walk." ”

“ I can't mend it, and I can't make a new one."
"Let us go back, then, and get another."
"Go back! why, Nannie, it's all you can do to walk now; you're limping away like crazy Sam."
"Don't make me laugh," said Nannie, laughing all the time through her tears; "my foot hurts me so, I can hardly walk."
Jack's fun was all gone in a minute, as he shouldered his big basket, and lifted Nannie on his little hand-barrow.
"O Jack! you can't carry the basket and drag me too!" ”

“ Jack made the hat to crown him, while Belle shaped his coat and marked out the buttons. Soon Charlie, who was more interested in theirs than his own, cried out, "Oh, he's putting his hat on!"
Belle and Jack gave three cheers, and introduced Nannie and Charlie to Mr. James Snow.
Mr. James Snow was a very remarkable-looking old man, with a long white beard, who looked as if he had much better been leaning on a staff, than raising the gun with which Jack had armed him.
"You had better come with us," said Belle; "you can't make one by yourselves."
"Yes, we can," said Nannie. "Can't we, Charlie?" ”

“ But Belle said they did nothing but sing hymns there, and she didn't see what there was so very pleasant in that."
"Belle ought not to talk so. But what did you say to her?"
"I said," Nannie answered, holding down her head, "I thought the reason she didn't like it was because she was not good; because all good people liked to hear about heaven."
"That's the reason, I think," said sister Mary, as she gathered up her weeds for Nannie to take away. Nannie carried them off, thinking all the time, "Oh dear, I wish I were as good as sister Mary!" ”

“ She didn't know that every time she had looked out upon the snow, and felt thankful to God for the bright fire within that kept her warm, she had offered the sacrifice of thanksgiving. She didn't know that when she thought of Jesus, and her little heart seemed so full of love to him, because he had died for her, she had offered indeed an acceptable sacrifice of thanksgiving. She didn't know it; but Jesus knew it, and accepted the sacrifice, with the same love as when royal David sang the words to his golden harp.
"Nannie," called sister Mary, "Jack is waiting for you." ”

“ Sometimes—very often—a little girl comes down the path to the brown house, and sitting down close by grannie, on that cricket that you see there now, takes the good book and reads the blessed words to her, till the tears trickle down grannie's wrinkled face, and laying her trembling hand on the little girl's head, she says, "God bless thee, my child." ”

“ Even now, when we think how good he is to us, and how he loves us, it seems as if we must praise him; but then we shall see him always, and never forget what he has done for us. Do you think we can help praising him, or that it will be hard work to join with the angels in singing, 'Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty'—'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain'? Do you think you understand now, Nannie, and will like to hear about heaven as much as Grannie Burt does? ”

“ I never knew any good people that weren't either sick or ugly."
"Why, Jack, there's sister Mary, and papa and mamma, and Miss Taylor, and—"
"Oh, I mean children. All the children I read about are good, and get ill, and die. I rather think Lizzie would have died if sister Mary had gone on with her story."
"It is so in books," said Belle; "they always die."
"People would not want to write about them if they lived," said Nannie. ”

“ Grannie Burt was in heaven.
Twice have the trees blossomed, and twice the autumn leaves fallen, since first we met our little friend Nannie. We have given but a few pages in the life of those few years; there have been many others—some, perhaps, in which the little girl forgot to ask for help in her trying, and therefore failed.
It may seem hard to be trying on and on, never yielding to discouragement; but if you should see Nannie's bright eyes and happy face, you would not think so ”

“ We may perhaps hear of Nannie again, and of the success which always follows faithful effort. But whether we do or not, I can let you into the secret of her future life. Here it is in these words:—
"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." ”

“ It seemed as though the earth, in its pure robe of snow, and the trees, in their sparkling armour of ice, every twig jewelled and gleaming in the sun, had clothed themselves in beauty, and with joyful thoughts were giving thanks to their Creator. ”

“ On the ground, springing up everywhere, were the dark leaves and bright red berries of the cranberry and bilberry; while down by the brook the greenest of all mosses covered the stones, and converted any old log that came in their way into the softest of seats. Then, what a wild and roaring little brook that Stony Brook was! You could follow it all the way through the woods by only stepping from stone to stone, and every little while you might see a great hole scooped out in the rock, where the water lay dark and silent, or a little precipice over which it dashed and foamed. ”

“ You can come to it by the street, if you choose, and you may come in under the great elm-tree, by the gate; but then the street is so dusty, and you miss seeing the little garden with its bright flowers; and the blossoms in the lane smell so sweetly, that it is quite worth while going that way. But here we are, before the door, on which we read, in bright letters, "Dr. Merry;" for Nannie's name is Nannie Merry, and Nannie's father is a doctor. He is doctor in a pleasant little town that is situated on the banks of a narrow river. ”

“ I'm going into the woods."
"Oh, pshaw!" said Charlie; "I like so much better when you're at home."
"It does not make any difference to Charlie whether I'm at home or not," Belle said to herself.
When they started there was such a strife who should walk with Nannie, that Belle was very nearly left to walk alone. Their walk led through the pretty lane bordered with lime-trees, at the back of Dr. Merry's house, then on past Grannie Burt's house, when it turned off into a little path, across the field that was worn quite smooth by the boys going nutting. This path brought you at last to a stile. ”

“ But the people that live in the house are quite as pleasant as the house itself, or even as the people that live in the large brick house. After Dr. Merry comes Mrs. Merry, or Nannie's mother, who is, like most mothers, very kind and good; then sister Mary, who is grown up, and Nannie thinks the best sister ever was; then Belle, who is very pretty, and about twelve years old; John and Charlie, who are, like most boys, great teasers, and Nannie sometimes thinks a good deal worse than most boys—but then, Charlie is only four years old, so there is some excuse for him. ”

“ Grannie Burt's daughter, Susan, now came to the door, and made all sorts of exclamations over Nannie, whose ankle pained her so much, she couldn't walk, and Jack had to carry her into the house. While Jack told the story of the pie, Susan had taken off Nannie's shoe and stocking, and was bathing her ankle, while grannie kept saying, "Does it feel better, dear?"
"Never mind the pie," said grannie, as Jack went on with his story; "it's just as good as ever, though it is broken." ”

“ Every little while, however, one wouldn't mind, and would jump over the edge and run down. But she kept on saying, "Be patient, be patient;" and at last the tears got tired of coming, and troubled her no more. She had pulled up an ugly weed called "Impatience" that morning.
Soon after, Jack came in with his empty basket.
"Well, Nannie, I wish I were in your place—not obliged to go to church, and not sick enough to lose your dinner. I always go to church, for fear, if I'm sick, father'll say, 'Turkey isn't good for headache.' I never thought of such a convenient excuse as spraining my ankle. ”

“ CHAPTER I. IN WHICH NANNIE IS INTRODUCED.
little brown house, with an old elm-tree before it, a frame of lattice-work around the door, with a broad stone for a step—this is where old Grannie Burt lives. And there she is sitting in the doorway with her Bible in her lap. She can't read it, for she is blind; but she likes to have it by her; she likes the "feeling of it," she says. "When my Bible is away," Grannie Burt says, "I am sometimes troubled and worried; but if I can only touch it, my troubles are all gone; for what harm can any trouble do us when we are going to heaven at last?" ”

“ She sat watching it, till the last rays of the sun died away, and it began to grow dark. Then the look of sadness came back to her face, and drawing her old shawl closer round her, she sat leaning her head on her hand. By-and-by there was a sound of footsteps, and the door opened, and a man entered with a slow and heavy step. ”

“ I think she is expecting her now; for, see the cricket is all ready, and on the little table is a pitcher of cool water from the old well that you see just behind the house; and here is the little girl herself.
"Good-morning, grannie; are you waiting for me? I couldn't come any sooner, because mamma wanted me to play with Charlie; and here are some peaches mamma sent you,—she thought you would like them;" and Nannie, quite out of breath with her walk and her talk, stops a minute, which gives Grannie Burt a chance to answer her questions and to thank her for her peaches. ”

“ Then stooping down and kissing Nannie, he said, "I know one good girl that isn't sick."
The sun was just setting, leaving about half its great face to light the world.
In Jack's heart the sun was just rising.
Nannie's words kept sounding in his ears,—"Perhaps, perhaps they have received in this life their good things;" and those other words, "Therefore he is comforted, and thou art tormented."
CHAPTER VII. "THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT THEREOF."
annie, Nannie,—where's Nannie?" ”

“ What should I do without you?' and his arms grasped her closer, as if even the thought were painful.
"'O father, you would be glad that God had taken me where I couldn't suffer any more, and where I should be straight and pretty like other children.'
"'You are pretty now, Lizzie. I never see any face that looks so beautiful to me.'
"'But it isn't like other children's, father. When Mrs. Smith came in to-day, she had a pretty little girl with her, with such bright golden hair, and such rosy cheeks, and so tall and straight, she must look like the angels, I think. ”

“ If wishes would make any one good, Nannie would have been very good long before this time. "At anyrate," said Nannie, as she emptied the weeds into the ash-heap, "I will try. Father says there are weeds in our hearts, and we can pull them up. I mean to try."
We shall see in the next chapter how Nannie succeeds in pulling up the weeds.
CHAPTER II. "IF THY BROTHER SIN AGAINST THEE,
FORGIVE HIM."
ne bright sunshiny day, just when the snow had commenced melting, the children started in high glee to take advantage of its softened state to make a snow-man. ”