Josephine Franklin

“ Nelly glanced at Bessie and longed to burst into a laugh, but Bessie signified to her by a movement of her eye-brows and lips that she must not. It was plain enough by this time that the little thief was a squirrel. Bessie was quite bewildered at the thought that it had been able to get in the house without her or her mother's knowledge. She did not know that the race to which the animal belonged is proverbial for its cunning, and that often it steals a [141] way into the habitations of men for no other purpose than to find seeds and grains on which to live. ”

“ Why, the field back of our house is full of 'em! They have great, thick, green leaves, and they look as healthy as possible."
"Do they?" said the farmer, smiling at her kindly; "well, then I can just tell you your folks are fortunate. They ought to sell 'em and make money out of them."
"I wish we could," said Bessie, clasping her hands at the thought, "how glad mother would be if we could! Mother is sick, sir, and cannot do all the work she used, to earn money." ”

“ They began a thorough hunt, lifting up every light article in the out-garret, where they were, and dragging the more ponderous furniture from their places. It was a sort of store-away place for things not in every-day use, and therefore it took some time to examine every thing. An occasional pile of nibbled nut-shells was all that was brought to light.
"Well," said Nelly, laughing, as she looked under the last article, a little broken chair belonging to Bessie. "Well, I don't see but that Madame Squirrel has escaped us. I can't meet with a trace of her, for my part, beyond these nut-shells." ”

“ This morning one of the men threw a handful of hay accidentally in a lamb's face, and when it tried to push it off but couldn't, what does old aunty do but walk up and eat it away, every whisp. I thought that was quite bright of her, and kind too. On the whole I think they are a happy family."
"Does Nelly like 'em?" asked Bessie, as she patted the head of the one Martin called the "aunty."
"Yes," said Martin, "she thinks they are the handsomest animals on the place. They grow fonder of her every day." ”

“ There is no end to the soothing effect of those 'kind words that never die!'"
"He was cross enough with me about [151] it," said Bessie, reflectively. "I think a few kind words would not hurt him to say."
"We have nothing to do with Nathan as to that," said her mother. "If he chooses to be ill-tempered, it is his own business, while it is ours to bear it from him patiently. It is only by such means that we can teach him how wrong he is."
"I think that is pretty hard to do," said Bessie, shaking her head, "don't you, Nelly? I always want to answer right straight back." ”

“ Bessie was not a promising scholar; she liked to do any thing in the world but study. She would look longingly out of the window a dozen times in the course of a single lesson, and when her mother reproved her by rapping her rather smartly on the head with her thimble, Bessie would only laugh, and say she guessed her skull must be thick, for the lesson would not get through, and the thimble did not hurt a bit! ”

“ Here is the squirrel's nest, and two of her little babies!"
The girls peered eagerly through the hole at these newly discovered treasures.
"The darlings!" cried Bessie, "we can surely tame these little creatures, mother, they are so young. It will be no trouble at all."
"We must not take them from the nest," replied her mother. "If we can tame them by kindness, and by gradually [155] accustoming them to our harmless visits, I am very willing to make pets of them."
"Oh, how pleasant that will be," exclaimed Bessie, in an ecstasy. "Do look, Nelly, at their pretty eyes. ”

“ He looked pleased to find Dolly with the little girls.
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"That's right," he said, "I'm glad to have my Dolly tramping about like other folks' children. It will do her good. But don't stay late: the damp of the evening is very unwholesome for the nager."
"Oh, we are coming back long before night, sir," said Bessie, cheerfully, "'cause I've got all my cresses to pick for to-morrow. Mother and I are so much obliged to you, I can't really tell how much!"
"Quite welcome, quite welcome," said Mr. Dart; "I'll be on the look-out for another basket to-morrow then." ”

“ Dart. "I haven't taken a load to market for the last month without Dolly's basket of watercresses. She gathers them herself, down in our meadow, where the ground is wet and soft, and where they thrive like every thing. They seem to be getting poor now, and I don't believe Doll will be able to pick many more this year. Why, the money that girl has made off them cresses is wonderful. I always hand it right over to her, and she puts it by to save against [30] a time of need. Cresses sell just like wildfire in our market-place,—I mean, of course, fine ones like my Dolly's are in their prime." ”

“ Many an honest man might be imprisoned as a thief if people should take mere conjecture for proof of guilt, while at the same time, many a thief would pass for an honest man. In law, all persons are supposed innocent, until they are proved guilty. You did not see Nathan take any thing belonging to you, nor do you know any one who [119] did. It would be the height of cruelty then, to accuse him without absolute proof."
"Yes," said Bessie, "but suppose he did take the nut after all."
"Then," said her mother, "we can only leave the case to that Judge who doeth all things well. ”

“ It is better for us to suppose him innocent even while he may be guilty, than to suppose him guilty when he is innocent."
"I wish I knew," said Bessie, as she took up her shears and basket to go out to get the cresses for the next day's market.
"The cold weather will soon put a stop to the cresses, I am afraid," remarked her mother, after a pause.
"Yes," said Bessie, "Mr. Dart says [120] they are getting poor now; they do not grow fast after cutting, any more, on account of the frost." ”

“ When I am grown up I hope I'll be good, anyway."
"Oh Bessie," said her mother, seriously, "do not wait till then. While you are young is the time to break yourself of bad habits and slothful ways. If you wait until you become a woman, they will have fastened themselves upon you so that you cannot shake them off."
Just as Bessie's mother pronounced the last words, she heard a knock on one of the outer doors. Bessie heard it too, and ran down stairs to open it. [62] It was now nearly time to expect Mr. Dart, and her heart beat with delight at the anticipation of the news she was so soon to hear. ”

“ Dolly sat down on the stump of a tree and began to laugh.
"The idee," she said, "of going nutting and bringing home fish. Well, I'm willing, for one, if it's only to find out the path. I thought I knew all the ins and outs around here."
"And I'd like to go too," said Nelly.
"I should like to go well enough," added Bessie, "if it wasn't that I feel sure the extra walk will just bring me home too late for my cresses. Mother is sick, too, and she cannot be left alone [84] very long; and Dolly, you know your father said you must not stay out late." ”

“ If it had not been for the cresses, what would have become of us all the while you were so sick?"
"God always provides for the poor and needy," said her mother gravely, "and I am certain that He who knows even when sparrows fall would not let us suffer. If this help had not sprung [102] up for us through Mr. Dart, something else would have presented itself. Come, now, let us go to the garret and look for the money."
Bessie darted ahead of her mother as they went up the stairs, with a bound and a spring that brought her to the head of the flight when her mother was on the second step. ”

“ I don't know what does ail mother. She sort o' wastes away and grows thin and pale."
"Like enough it's the nager," said the farmer; "there is nothing like it for making a body thin and pale."
"That's Bessie's house," cried Nelly, as a sudden turn in the road revealed their two homes, at the foot of the hill, "that white one with the smoke curling out of the left hand chimney."
"And a nice little place it is too," said the farmer. "I pass right by it almost [32] every day, and sometimes in the middle of the night, when all little girls are in their beds and asleep." ”

“ I'm always too sick in nut season—have the shakes. But I do believe I should like to some time. Are you two little girls going soon again?"
"I don't know," said Bessie, "may be so. If we do, shan't we stop and see if you are able to go along? Your house isn't much [24] out of the way; we can stop just as well as not."
The pale girl looked quite gratified at these words of Bessie, but said that she didn't know whether the "shakes" would allow her.
"Well," said Bessie, "we will stop for you, anyway. My mother would say, I am sure, that the walk would do you good. Good-by. ”

“ Something or other tempted us to strike into another path when we came back, so that our bitter-sweets are on the top of the mountain yet."
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"No," said Bessie, "I don't think they are. Did they grow over a big rock, and were there plenty of sumach bushes between them and the path?"
"Yes," said Nelly, beginning to pull down the rich clusters of the bitter-sweets, and breaking them off, one by one.
"Well," said Bessie, making a deep, mock courtesy, "I have the pleasure of having those berries in my own bedroom at this blessed minute. ”

“ It was indeed as Bessie's mother said; there were the marks of teeth in the wood, and just where the beams joined was a hole quite large enough for a squirrel to pass through.
"It is the same one we saw in the woods, I know it is," said Nelly, "but what should bring it here?"
"Perhaps, in time, we can tame it; that is if we have not already frightened it away. May I try to tame it, mother?"
"Yes," said her mother. "I think Bunny will make a pretty pet. We can strew a few grains of corn, or a few nuts about its hole every day, until it learns to regard us as its friends ”

“ The farmer nodded smilingly, and continued, "Dobbin and I start at five o'clock in the morning, and we go rattling into market, just in time to have the things hurriedly sorted and in their places, before the buyers begin to throng about the stalls. I stop there a while, but I get home before noon, and Dolly always has my dinner ready to rest me, while Dobbin eats his to rest him."
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"I wish Dolly could go to our school," said Nelly, after a pause. "Miss Milly, our teacher, is so good to us all. She lives in this little house that we are passing." ”

“ Her mother listened in silence to all she had to utter on the subject. Bessie told her that Nathan was aware, and had been aware from the beginning, [117] where the Madeira nut was kept. She said he was present when she first put it in the drawer, which was indeed true, as the reader knows, and that often since, they had looked at it together.
"My dear," said her mother, when Bessie concluded, "I do not see that you have any thing more than conjecture on which to found your suspicions. It is very wrong to act on conjecture only." ”

“ The farmer looked round at the school-house, and Nelly thought she heard him sigh as he did so. "Dolly is a smart girl, and a nice girl," said he, gravely, "but I am afraid her mother and I can't give her much book larnin'. ”

“ Why, we owe this ride to her."
"Yes," said the farmer, "Dolly is a pretty good little girl. Never had much trouble with Dolly in all her life. She's always willin' to help round the house as much as she can, and now that her mother is down with the nager, I couldn't get along without her, anyway. In the summer time Dolly makes garden with the best of us. Many is the field she's sowed with grain, [29] after I've ploughed it up. Half of these ere cabbages Dolly cut and put in the wagon herself. You see that little basket back in the corner?" ”

“ I am beginning now to leave you to yourself, hoping that time will help you to see yourself as others see you. I have noticed often that your drawer remained in the same condition, but I did not speak of it."
"Oh, mother," cried Bessie, frightened, "don't leave me to myself, don't. I shall [145] never learn to be good at all, that way. ”