Sophie May

“ Percy laughed.
"I found the pearl in an oyster stew, grandma. It is such a very funny place Out West"
"Yes, it is really a pearl," said Percy, "only spoiled by boiling. Look her, Toddlekins; oysters don't grow Out West; they grow here on the coast. You'd better study astronomy."
Dotty took refuge in silence again, like an oyster withdrawing into his shell.
"O, Dotty," said Susy, presently, "tell me what you saw Out West. I want to hear all about it."
"Well, I saw a pandrammer," replied Dotty, briefly.
"What in the world is that?" said Johnny. ”

“ Rosenberg was something of a doctress withal, and made "bitters" for her particular friends.
"Sit down here on the bed, Dotty Dimple, and look at my paper dolls," said Lina, producing from under a disjointed chair, an old cigar box full of paper heroes and heroines. Mandoline was an artist in he! way, and these figures were clad in the most brilliant costumes of silver and gold. Dotty was dazzled. Never before had it been her lot to see such magnificent dolls,—dolls which shone so in the sun; every one of them a king or a queen, and fit to wear a crown. ”

“ Until Dotty saw this, she had been happy; but the thought of standing up with a boy who held such a beautiful toy, while her own little hands would be empty—this was too much.
"Johnny Eastman," said she, with a trembling voice, "how do you think it will look to be holding flowers up to your nose when the minister's a-praying? I'd be so 'shamed, so 'shamed, Johnny Eastman!"
"You want the bouquet-holder yourself, you know you do," said Johnny; "you want everything you see; and if folks don't give right up to you, then there's a fuss." ”

“ Here some one came along and offered Miss Dimple a slice of wedding cake, which tasted just as delicious as if she could see it; then some one else put a glass of lemonade to her lips.
"Has my little girl a kiss for me?" said Mrs. Parlin, coming to the sofa as soon as she could break away from her guests.
The gentle "mother-touch" went to Dotty's heart. She threw her arms about
Mrs. Parlin's neck, wrinkling her collar and tumbling her veil. ”

“ But Dotty went on:—
"It makes you feel as if you'd never be naughty again. Now, if my mamma was always thumping me with a thimble, and scolding me so as to shake the house, I shouldn't care; but when she is just like an angel, and forgives me, I do care."
"I'm so glad, Dotty! I think, honestly, mother's the best woman that ever lived."
"Then why didn't she marry the best man?" asked Dotty, quickly.
"Who is that?"
"Why, Abraham Lincoln, of course." Prudy laughed.
"Yes; I suppose Mr. Lincoln was the best man that ever lived; but papa comes next."
"Yes," said Dotty; "I think he does. ”

“ And there they laughed right in my face!"
"But you know, dear, they don't think," said Prudy, who found it unsafe to sympathize too much with her angry sister; "they never do think; they don't mean any harm."
"I'll make 'em think!" cried Dotty, fiercely. "I'll scare 'em so they'll think! I'll take a pumpkin, and I'll take a watermelon, and I'll take—"
"Dear me, Dotty, that is a beautiful ring on your finger. I wish I had one just like it."
Dotty cast a suspicious glance at her sister.
"Don't you try to pacify ME, Prudy Parlin." ”

“ Rosenberg. "I almost wonder your mother let you come here to play with my poor little girl. Mandy's just as good as you are, though,—you can tell her so,—and she's got a sight prettier eyes."
Dotty's heart kept swelling and swelling, till presently it seemed as if there wasn't room enough in her whole body to hold it. She thought of the cheerful, orderly tea-table at home; she recalled her mother's gentle ways, her lovely face, and longed to kiss her cheek, and whisper, "Forgive me."
"Mamma'll be just as patient with me," thought Dotty; "she always is! ”

“ There lay Mandoline and Dotty side by side on the buffalo skins; and the Jewish mother stood in her short night-dress, with a tallow candle in her hand, and gazed at them tenderly. That horrible dream had stirred the fountain of love in her heart They made a beautiful picture, and there was no stain of evil in their young faces. It seems as if the angel of Sleep flies away with loads of naughtiness, for he always leaves sleeping children looking very innocent. ”

“ Didn't you ever read Rollo on the Atlantic?"
Dotty, who could only stammer over the First Reader at her mother's knee, was obliged to confess that she had never made Rollo's acquaintance.
"We have books read to us," said Emily. "In the work-hour we go into the sitting-room, and there we sit with the bead-boxes in our laps, making baskets, and then our teacher reads to us out of a book, or tells us a story."
"That is very nice," said Dotty; "people don't read to me much."
"No, of course not, because you can see. People are kinder to blind children—didn't you know it? ”

“ It was now so dark that she hardly dared look out of doors; but even in the brightest daylight she could not have found her way home.
"You've got to stay all night," said Mandoline. "Isn't that splendid?"
Mandoline did not mean to be cruel. She had observed that her mother urged her own guests to stay, and sometimes kept them almost by force. This she supposed was true politeness. More than that, she was anxious, for private reasons, to hold Dotty, so she might not have to knit so much. She knew, too, that her mother was proud to have such a well-bred little girl in the house. ”

“ But it is always easier to fall into a trap than to get out of it. Mandoline would not produce the missing hat, and it was no light matter for Dotty to go down stairs, among the noisy, quarrelsome children, and beg the severe Mrs. Rosenberg to take her part. If she did so, perhaps the woman would pelt her with the steel thimble. Perhaps, too, she would say Mandoline might keep the hat. ”

“ Dotty appeared at table with smooth hair and a fresh ruffle which Prudy had basted in the neck of her dress. She looked very neat and prim, and, as Percy had predicted, carried her head higher than ever.
"I suppose," said aunt Eastman, "you will have a great many wonderful things to tell us, Dotty, for I am sure you travelled with your eyes open."
"Yes'm; I hardly ever went to sleep in the cars. But when you said 'eyes,' auntie, it made me think of the blind children. We went to the 'Sylum to see them."
"How do they look?" asked Johnny.
"They don't look at all; they are blind." ”

“ Parlin; certainly, sir," replied the Jewess, smiling very sweetly, and trying to pat Dotty's head, which was in such violent motion that she only succeeded in touching the end of her nose. No one who had looked at Mrs. Rosenberg at that moment would have suspected her of being a vixen. She was sure Mr. Parlin would pay her handsomely if she kept his daughter there for a day or two; and the prospect of a little money always made the poor woman very amiable. ”

“ CHAPTER IV. A SPOILED DINNER. Next morning, Dotty Dimple and her father started for Maine. Flyaway did not like this at all. Her cousin had been so pleasant and so entertaining that she wished to keep her always.
"What for you can't stay, Dotty Dimpwil?"
"O," said Dotty, tearing herself away from the little clinging arms, "I must go home and get ready for Christmas."
"No, you musser," persisted Katie; "we've got a Santa Claw in our chimley; you musser go home."
"It isn't for Santa Claus at all, darling it is for my papa and mamma's wedding. To stand up, so they can be married over again. ”

“ Dotty understood from this remark why Lina had asked her to go home with her. It was not because she wished to hear any of Dotty's brilliant stories, for she had not asked a single question about Out West; it was because she hoped for a reprieve from the dreaded knitting.
"She's a real naughty little girl," thought Miss Dimple; "and if she hadn't hided my hat, I'd go right home."
There was a heavy tread on the stairs. Mrs. Rosenberg was coming up, partly to see if her daughter was knitting, and partly to hang a paper bag on the long pole overhead. ”

“ I am a little absent-minded, thinking of old mother Knowles."
"Grandma, please wait a minute," said Prudy, after she had picked up the stitch. "If you are going to tell a story, I want to get my work and bring it in here. I'm in a hurry about that scarf for mamma."
"It is nothing very remarkable," said Mrs. Read, as the children seated themselves, one on each side of her, Prudy with her crocheting of violet and white worsted, and Dotty with nothing at all to do but play with the tongs.
"Mrs. Knowles was a very large, fleshy woman, who lived near my father's house when I was a little girl. ”

“ I knew you lived on bean porridge, but I s'posed you had something to eat Christmas!"
"O, sometimes I had a little saucer-pie, sweetened with molasses, and the crust made of raised dough."
"Poor, dear grandma!"
"I remember my father used to put a great backlog on the fire Christmas morning, as large as the fireplace would hold; and that was all the celebration we ever had."
"Didn't you have Christmas presents?"
"No, Alice; not so much as a brass thimble."
"Poor grandma! I shouldn't think you would have wanted to live! ”

“ Eastman, "when it was first proposed that you and Dotty should stand up together, and I did not approve of the plan. What is the reason you two children must always be quarrelling?"
"She is the one that begins it," replied Johnny. "If I could have stood up with Prudy, there wouldn't have been any fuss."
"With Prudy, indeed! I dare say you would be glad to do so now, you naughty boy. Your kind aunt Mary suggested it, but I told her, No. Since you have hurt Dotty so terribly, you cannot be groomsman." ”

“ Then, as she stood there, she breathed a little prayer without any words,—not for herself—for she did not suppose God would hear that,—but for her children that she "banged about" every day of their lives.
She was not really a Jewess, for she had no religion of any sort, and never went to church; but I am sure of one thing: little overworked Mandoline would have loved her mother better if she had known she ever prayed for her at all.
In the morning, Mrs. Rosenberg was just as hard and sharp as ever; she could not stop to be pleasant. Dotty longed to get away ”

“ Mr. Parlin and Horace were waiting in the hall, and the latter was impatiently watching the tall clock. They had been in the greenhouse, looking at the flowers, and in the shop, where the blind boys learn to make brooms and brushes.
"Well, ladies, are you ready to go?" asked Mr. Parlin, taking Flyaway by the hand.
"Yes, we ladies is ready," replied she. So this was the end of their visit at the Institute.
After they had gone away, the little blind girls said to one another,—
"What nice children those are! Which is the prettiest, Alice or Katie?" ”

“ PRUDY'S LECTURE. "We must keep good company, Dotty, or not any at all. This is a fact.
"Even an apple is known by the company it keeps. Grandpa Parlin says if you put apples in a potato bin, they won't taste like apples—they'll taste like potatoes.
"Sometimes I think, Dotty, you'd be as good and nice as a summer-sweeting, if you wouldn't play with naughty children, like Lina Rosenberg; but if you do, you'll be like a potato, as true as you live. ”

“ Clifford, in a low voice.
"So they are. Sometimes I think they are better than children who have eyes; perhaps because they cannot see to get into so much mischief," added Miss Percival, pinching Emily's cheek.
"Aunt 'Ria," said Dotty, in raptures, "don't they have good times here?"
"Yelly good times," said little Flyaway, clutching at her mother's dress.
"Mamma, I wish I was blind-eyed, too."
"You, my darling baby! Mother hopes that will never be. But if you cannot be blind-eyed yourself, perhaps you may make some of these little ones happy. Is there anything you would like to give away?" ”

“ She is unable to perform her part, and you must give up yours. Percy will take your place."
In spite of his manliness, Johnny dropped a few tears, which he brushed away with the back of his hand; but his mother, for once in her life, was firm.
I will not say that Johnny's disappointment was not some consolation to Dotty, who lay on the sofa in the parlor with her eyes bandaged, while the wedding ceremony was performed. If Johnny had been one of the group, while her own poor little self was left out, necklace, slippers, and all, she would have thought it unjust. ”

“ Susy and Flossy stood before the mirror, and Johnny and Dotty in the middle of the room, confronting each other with angry brows.
[Illustration: DOTTY WANTS THE BOUQUET-HOLDER.]
"Hush, children!" said Susy, in an absentminded way, and went on brushing her hair, which was one of the greatest trials in the whole world, because it would not curl. She had frizzed it with curling-tongs, rolled it on papers, and drenched it with soap suds till there was danger of its fading entirely away; still it was as straight, after all, as an Indian's. ”

“ Does it make my mouth cold to be good, d'ye s'pose?"
"La, me, I don't know," replied the girl, washing a potato vigorously.
"I might wash those potatoes," said Dotty, plucking Norah's sleeve; "do you put soap on them?"
"Not much soap—no."
"Well, then, Norah, you shouldn't put any soap on them; that's why I asked; for my mother just washes and rinses 'em; that's the proper way."
"For pity's sake," said Norah, giving the little busybody a good-natured push. "What's going on in the parlor, Miss Dotty? You'd better run and see. ”

“ By and by aunt Eastman presented the bride with a bridal rose, which looked as nearly as possible like the one she had given her at the first wedding, and which grew from a slip of the same plant. Dotty could not see the rose, but she heard her aunt say she hoped to attend Mrs. Parlin's Golden Wedding.
"I shall be ever so old by that time," thought the little girl. "Fifteen from fifty leaves—leaves—I don't know what it leaves; but I shall be a blind old lady, and wear a cap. Perhaps God wants to make a very good woman of me, same as Emily, and that's why he let Johnny put my eyes out." ”