Sophie May Farman

“ Is it strange that so generous a girl would have stolen, if she could? Why, children, I have seen many a man 055do mean, wrong, dishonest deeds, in order to be thought generous, and a “royal good fellow,” by his own particular friends; and Roxy would a thousand times rather have “stolen” than to have faced her mates empty-handed this morning. She walked on in sorrowful meditation. She thought once of going back, to see if there were eggs at the barn—she might take them down to the store, and get candy. ”

“ Mrs. Willard was not fond of little girls, and Mrs. Gray would not take Flaxie; she must stay at home with her sister Ninny.
Now Ninny—or Julia—was almost ten years old, a dear, good, patient little girl, who bore with Flaxie’s naughtiness, and hardly ever complained. But this afternoon, at four o’clock, her best friend, Eva Snow, was coming, and Ninny did hope that by that time her mamma would be at home again! ”

“ Here Lill opened the book she had been reading, and showed Effie a picture of the stalactites.
“It was so curious and so pretty that I should have remained longer,” said Lill, “only I remembered the observatory and Santa Claus.
“When I went outside I heard his voice calling out, ‘Lilian! Lilian!’ It sounded a great way off, and yet somehow it seemed to fill the air just as the wind does. I only had to look for a moment, for very near by was a high tower. I wonder I did not see it before; but in these queer countries you are sure to see something new every time you look about. ”

“ Jones said:
“You’re a cunning baby!”
“Well,” replied Flaxie, quickly, “what makes you have turn-about feet?”
This wasn’t a proper thing to say, and it made Mr. Jones look sober, for he was sorry to have such feet. Mr. Pratt was afraid Flaxie would talk more about them; so he frowned at her and said:
“Good little girls don’t run away bare-headed, Miss Frizzle! Is your mamma at home?”
“Guess I’ll go now,” said Flaxie; “some more folks will want to see my kitty.”
Mr. Pratt’s boy ran after her with a stick of candy, but could not catch her. ”

“ It must be she is running away,” said the bridge-man’s wife, as Flaxie left her door. “I ought to have stopped her; but somebody will, of course.”
But nobody did. People only laughed at her kitty, and then passed on.
Soon the sun set, and the new moon shone white against the blue sky. Flaxie had often seen the moon, but it looked larger and rounder than this. What ailed it now?
“Oh, I know,” said she, “God has doubled it up.”
She had changed her mind, and did not want to go to her grandmother’s.
“Mr. Pratt fought I was bare-headed, and grandma’ll fink I’m bare-headed. ”

“ Every day since they “made sugar,” Roxy had had the felicity of carrying a great, brown, irregular, tempting chunk of maple sugar to school. She had always divided with the girls generously. Her father did not often give her pennies to buy cinnamon, candy, raisins, and cloves with; so she used to “treat” with maple sugar in the summer, and with “but’nut meats” in the winter, in return for the “store goodies” other girls had. ”

“ Just here Effie couldn’t help saying “O!” for she had a weakness for sashes. Lill looked stern, and put a warning hand over her mouth, and went on.
“There was everything that the most fashionable doll could want, growing in the greatest profusion. Some of the clothes had fallen, and there were funny-looking girls picking them up, and packing them in trunks and boxes. ‘These are all ripe,’ said Santa Claus, stopping to shake a tree, and the clothes came tumbling down so fast that the workers were busier than ever. The grove was on a hill, so that we had a beautiful view of the country. ”

“ You’ve fed these girls ever since the sugar was made. Off with you! What do you suppose your father’d say?”
Roxy wouldn’t have dared tell her father. He was a stirring, hard-working man, that gave his family all the luxuries and comforts that could be “raised” on the farm; but bought few, and growled over what he did buy, and made no “store debts.” It was high time, in fact, that Roxy’s indulgent mother should begin to husband the sugar.
Roxy saw there would be no chance to “take” the sugar ”

“ He glanced at the bundles as she threw them, with a letter, down on the counter, and whisked out through the door. He called after her, “Here, here, Roxy; here, my dear! Come back. I have some figs for you!”
But no Roxy came back. He heard her little heels clattering down the sidewalk fast as they could go. So he got up and read the letter, for it was directed to himself.
Here are the four notes Roxy wrote:—
“Dear Father: I Will paye you every Cent if I Live. I shall always be a Good Girl, and never hanker after Only what I have Got. ”

“ Kathie’s face got very red over that. It was well enough to be “Dumpling,”—everybody loves a dumpling; but “Mother Bunch!” So she bounced and shuffled a little longer, and then she said she was going home.
But Miss Lu wasn’t ready. She greatly liked the new fun, the hopping and whirling to Winnie’s steady “One, two, three! One, two, three!” There was a grown-up, affected smirk on her delicate little face, at which Mrs. Tennyson laughed every time she looked out. I think Lu would have hopped and minced up and down the walk until night, if Winnie’s mother hadn’t told them it was time to go. ”

“ In extreme cases, the baby could be called “Victoria Adelaide.”
In this instance baby’s mother was a plain, quiet 049woman; and she thought baby’s grandmother’s name was quite fine enough for baby; and so baby was called “Roxy,” and, when she was ten years old, you would have thought little Roxy fully as old-fashioned as her name.
I think it is her clothes that makes her image look so funny as she rises up before me. She herself had brown hair and eyes, and a good country complexion of milk and roses—such a nice complexion, girls! You see she had plenty of bread and milk to eat ”

“ This was the last Flaxie remembered. When the postmaster found her, she was sitting up, fast asleep, with her little tow head against the door, and the kitty in her arms. The kitty was still alive.
Eva Snow had come and let Ninny out of the closet long ago; and lots of people had been hunting ever since for Flaxie Frizzle. ”

“ But if you think it don’t quite account for such plump, rosy cheeks, why, then, she had to chase ever so many ways for the strawberries. Not a strawberry 050was raised in common folks’ gardens in those days. They grew mostly in farmers’ meadows; and very angry those farmers used to be at such girls as Roxy in “strawberry time”—“strawberry time” comes before “mowing,” you know—for how they did wallow and trample the grass! ”

“ Now, in Connaut, little girls don’t dance—not nice little girls, nor nice big girls either, for that matter.
The dimpled mouths opened in astonishment. “That is wicked, Winnie Ten’son, don’t you know?”027
“O, but ’tisn’t,” said Winnie. “My aunties dance, and their mamma, my grandmamma, was at the party once.”
“We shall tell our mothers,” said Lu. “I’ll bet you’ve come home a proud, wicked girl, and you want us to be as bad as you are.” ”

“ Roxy’s mother would have been awfully shocked at the wavy, flowing hair of you Wide Awake girls, I assure you!
And Roxy’s dress. You never saw a “tow and linen” dress, I dare say. Roxy’s dresses were all 051“home-made”—not merely cut and sewed at home; but Roxy’s father raised the flax in the field north of the house, and Roxy’s mother spun the flax and tow into thread upon funny little wheels. ”

“ It was absolutely impossible for her to refuse a piece of stick cinnamon or a peppermint drop. 054Yesterday she had told the girls she should certainly bring maple sugar to-day. She meant to, too, even if she “took” it. But there her mother had stood at the broad shelf all the morning, making pies and ginger snaps, and the sugar-tub set under the broad shelf. There was no chance. She finally had asked her mother.
“No, Roxy; the sugar will be gone in less than a month. You children eat more sugar every year than I use in cooking. It’s a wonder you have any stomachs left.” ”

“ Here I found other funny little people, busily at work with picks and shovels, taking out wooden dishes from the bottom of the cave, and china and glass from the top and sides, for the dishes hung down just like stalactites in Mammoth Cave. ”

“ Gray was so very glad that she laughed and cried. Still she thought Flaxie ought to be punished.
“O mamma,” said Miss Frizzle next morning, very much surprised to find herself tied by the clothes-line to a knob in the bay-window. “The men laughed to me, they did! Mr. Lame Jones, he said I was very cunning!”
But for all that, her mamma did not untie her till afternoon; and then Flaxie promised “honestly,” not to run away again.
Would you trust her?
048
FIVE POUNDS OF CINNAMON. hey don’t name girls “Roxy,” and “Polly,” and “Patty,” and “Sally,” nowadays ”