Sophie May

“ And should I have gone barefoot if it hadn't been for you?"
"Well, there, Dotty Dimple, you're a smart little girl, I must say! I don't mean to ask you to my party, if my mother lets me have one; and I've a great mind not to speak to you again as long as I live."
"I shouldn't think you'd dare to quarrel, Jennie Vance, when you may die the next minute. Let's get under this tree."
"Lightning strikes trees, you goosie!"
"O, Jennie Vance! isn't there a barn anywhere in this great pasture?"
"Men don't keep barns in their pastures, Dot Dimple; and lightning strikes barns too, quicker'n a flash!" ”

“ It seemed so unearthly and horrible to be awake at night; to see a lamp burning, and Katie looking so very white. It was the strawberries which had made her ill, as Miss Polly confessed. When that good but ignorant woman had gone down stairs, Dotty had much ado to keep from screaming outright.
"I thought somebody would die," said she to herself; "but I didn't s'pose it would be Katie. O, Katie, Katie Clifford! you're the cunningist child. We can't have you die!"
"Somebody leave me alone," moaned [157] Katie; "and 'twas you'n the Polly woman. I don't love anybody in this world!" ”

“ There, Prudy, think of their velvet heads and beads of eyes, waddling about this yard."
"People sometimes take ducks' eggs and put them in a hen's nest," said Prudy, reflectively.
"O, there now," whispered Dotty, "shouldn't you think Mrs. Gray might give me three or four eggs for carrying the milk every single night?"
"Why, yes, I should; and perhaps she will."
"I gueth my mamma wants me at home," said Charlie, yawning. ”

“ Mayn't somebody go with me?"
"Ask me will I go?" said Katie, "for I love to shake my head!"
"And, grandma," added Dotty, "Mrs. Gray's eyes are so sharp, why, they're so sharp they almost prick! And it's no use for Katie to go with me, she's so little." [28]
"O, I'm isn't much little," cried Katie. "I's growing big."
"I should think Prudy might go," said Dotty Dimple, with her finger in her mouth; "you don't make Prudy do a single thing!"
"Prudy goes for the ice every morning," replied Mrs. Parlin. "I wish you to do as I ask you, Alice, and make no more remarks about Mrs. Gray." ”

“ The brisk Ruth had come back again as energetic as ever. It proved that her mother had not been so very ill, after all.
"Bless that Prudy's little white heart," said she, kissing her on both cheeks; "she never forgets anybody but herself."
Ruthie did not praise children as a general thing; but she loved Prudy in spite of herself.
Aunt Maria had brought Dotty a beautiful doll. "Because," said she, "I knew you would try to take good care of my little Katie." [174]
"O, thank you ever so much, Aunt 'Ria," cried Dotty, handing the dolly at once to Prudy to be admired. ”

“ I shall say, 'What a pity it is that a nice husband and wife, like the sun and moon, can't ever live together, but have to keep following each other round the sky and never get near enough to shake hands!' I'll pretend that it makes the moon look very sober indeed, but the sun isn't so tender-hearted; so he can bear it better. O, Dotty, don't you let me forget to put that into poetry! ”

“ Another silence, broken only by the pitter patter of the rain; for the thunder was growing less and less frequent.
"But we must go home some time," cried Jennie with energy. "If it kills us to death we must go home. Just you put your foot out, Dotty dear, and see if it sinks way down, down. ”

“ Gordon's pasture. And Johnny came here for the cow every night of his life. And, as true as the world, there was the Gordon cow now, the red and white one, standing by the fence, lowing for Johnny.
"A great deal of bottomless pond this is, and so I should think!" said Dotty to herself with a smile. "Where a cow can go I guess I can go with my little feet. Soft? why, it isn't any softer than anybody's field is after it rains." ”

“ Dotty felt very good and wise, and as she had finished giving her benighted friend a lesson, she thought she would speak now of every day matters.
"Look at those little puddles in the road," said she; "don't they make you think of pudding-sauce—molasses and cream, I mean—for hasty-pudding?"
"No," said Jennie, tossing her head, "I never saw any pudding-sauce that looked a speck like that dirty stuff! Besides, we don't use molasses at our house; rich folks never do; nobody but poor folks." ”

“ He can't get in any more than a camel can get into a needle; and you know a camel can't."
"But the needle can go into a camel," said Jennie, thoughtfully; "perhaps that's what it means."
"O, no," whispered Dotty. "I know better'n that. I'm very sorry your papa is rich."
"But he isn't so very rich," said Jennie, looking sober.
"You always said he was," said Dotty, with a little triumph.
"Well, he isn't rich enough for that [65] ! He's only rich a little mite,—just a little teenty tonty mite," added Jennie, as she looked at Dotty's earnest face, and saw the rare tear gathering on her eyelashes. ”

“ Dotty knew what she meant now. She meant that Charlie was really going to heaven. [186]
"O, Mrs. Gray," said she, "how Prudy and I will feel!" She would have said more, but was afraid she should make another mistake.
She kissed the unconscious little sufferer good by, though still it all seemed like a dream. Was this the same boy who had tried to wash the piggy? The same who had meal-bags tied to his feet?
"A long kiss is a heart-kiss," she repeated to herself; and somehow she wondered if Charlie couldn't take it to heaven with him. Then she walked home all alone with her thoughts. ”

“ Dotty with the bowl at her lips, and a sticky stream tickling down her apron.
"Starch?" cried Dotty, in disgust; "and you never told me, Ruthie! How did I know it wasn't arrow-root?"
"You see, Polly," said Ruth in a discouraged tone, "just what we are to expect from these children to-day. Next thing we know, that morsel of a Katie will be running away. They are enough to try the patience of Job when they both of them set out to see what they can do. And if Jennie Vance comes, the house will be turned upside down in five minutes." ”

“ Ruth might have known better than to complain to Polly, who always had something in her own experience which was worse than anybody else had known.
"We all have our trials," sighed that sorrowful woman; "if it isn't children, it's [133] aches and pains. Now, for my part, I've been troubled for ten years with—"
Here followed a list of diseases. Ruth shut her lips together, resolved to say nothing more about her own trials.
"They don't either of them like me," thought Dotty. "I'm going off in the barn, and perhaps they'll think I'm dead. ”

“ She had been in the habit of twirling it about her finger, and telling the little girls it was made of real "carrot gold." [66] But just at this moment she didn't care so much about it; and it even seemed to her that Dotty's little hand looked very nice and white without any rings. Perhaps people had not admired the glitter of her forefinger so very much, after all. How did she know but they had said, "Look at Judge Vance's little daughter. Isn't she ashamed to wear that ring when it's a sign her father is rich, and can't go to heaven?" ”

“ Even Miss Polly smiled at the dripping little figure with hair clinging close to its head; but Flyaway looked very solemn.
"It makes me povokin'," said she, knitting her brows, "to have you laugh at me!"
"It would look well in you, Dotty," said Miss Polly, "to pay more attention to this baby, and let your teeth alone."
Dotty twisted a lock of her front hair, [145] and said nothing; but she remembered her grandmother's last words,—"Alice, I depend upon you to amuse your little cousin, as your Aunt Maria told you. You know you can make her very happy when you please." ”

“ Dotty wondered if it might not be the same man Miss Preston had mentioned, only he was in another suit of clothes. [14] She and Jennie were swinging, with Katie between them, and Susy and Prudy were playing croquet. They all ran to see what the man wanted. He was not ragged, and if it had not been for the green shade over his eyes and the crooked walking-stick in his hand, the children would not have thought of his being a beggar. He was a very fleshy man, and the walk seemed to have taken away his breath. ”

“ Wasn't it bad enough to have to wear Prudy's old clothes, when Jennie had new ones and no big sister? She's always telling hints about people's being poor! Why, my papa isn't much poor, only he don't buy me gold rings and silk dresses, and my mamma wouldn't let me wear 'em if he did; so there!"
By the time they reached the school-house, Dotty was almost too angry to speak. They took their seats with Katie between them (when she was not under their feet or in their laps) , and looked over in the Testament. ”

“ There was a struggle going on in Dotty's mind. She wished very much to run away, and at the same time that "voice" which speaks in everybody's heart was saying,—
"Now, Dotty, be a good girl, a noble girl. Tell about drinking the milk under the acorn tree."
"But I needn't," thought Dotty, clicking [54] the door-latch! "it won't be a fib if I just keep still." ”

“ Mrs. Parlin thanked Miss Polly very politely; but for her part she thought privately it would be a long while before they would, any of them, be willing to trust such a nervous person with the care of the children a second time. [172]
"Good by, all," said Polly, going off with her double-covered basket on her arm; "remember me to Margaret when you write."
"What a funny thing to say!" remarked Prudy; "how can we remember people to anybody, or forget them to anybody either?"
"O, it was awful," said Dotty, linking arms with Prudy and walking her off to the seat in the trees. ”

“ She poured it freely over the strawberries and into her own tea, which it made so delicious that she drank three cups. Then after supper she seemed to feel quite cheery for her, and, taking Katie in her arms, rocked her to sleep to the tune of "China," which is not very lively music, it must be confessed. [152]
"Aunt 'Ria puts her to bed awake," said Dotty. "She's going to sleep in my bed to-night."
"Very well," said Polly, "but you will sleep with me."
"Why, Miss Polly! what if Katie should wake up?" ”

“ I don't believe it."
"Well," replied Prudy, "I can't see any sense in it myself. O, stop a minute! Now I know; I didn't tell it right. This is the way; 'Why is an elephant like a traveller? Because he carries a trunk!' Isn't that funny?"
"I don't care anything about your elephants," said Dotty; "if you don't try to [98] please me, Prudy Parlin, you'll have to wake up grandma, and call her in here, or I shall cry myself sick!" ”

“ Next day they told her Charlie was dead. Dotty sat on the sofa for a long time without saying a word; then she went into the nursery, and staid by herself for an hour or two. When she returned she had her new doll in her arms, dressed in black. She wore a strip [187] of black crape about her own neck, and had caught Flyaway long enough to put one upon her arm, as well as upon the knobs of the nursery doors.
"Prudy," said she, "it is polite to do so when we lose people we love. Charlie was my friend and Katie's friend, and we shall treat him with the respect of a friend." ”

“ The children did not always understand her, however; and you shall see hereafter how Dotty's queer little brain grew befogged. The last clause of one of her verses to-day was this:—
"The Lord loveth a cheerful giver."
"Suppose," said Miss Preston, "there were two little girls living in a beautiful house, with everything nice to eat and wear, and there should come a poor man in rags, and beg for charity. One of the little girls is so sorry for him that she runs to her mamma and asks, as a favor, to be allowed to give him some of her Christmas money. ”

“ But there was a stubborn look in Dotty's eyes, and she marched off to her money-box as fast as she could go. When she returned with the pieces of scrip, which amounted in [19] all to fifteen cents, the children were grouped about the beggar, who sat upon the door-step, the plate of sandwiches before him.
"Here's some money, sir, for your sick children," cried Dotty, with an air of importance.
"Blessings on your pretty face," replied the man, eagerly. ”