Sophie May

“ Little Miss Somebody thinks she must follow, of course."
"Yes, that's the way it is," said Susy. "Some folks are always round, you know."
"Now, Susy," said Prudy, forcing back her tears as well as she could, "I guess you don't love your little sister, or you wouldn't talk that way to me."
They gathered strawberries for a while in silence, Prudy picking more leaves than berries, and sometimes, in her haste to keep up with the others, pulling up grass by the roots. ”

“ Then run along, and I'll follow after."
"O, I'm so glad I'm alive!" cried little Prudy, hoping on one foot; "I do hope I shall never die!"
"I just mean to be careful, and not get a speck of dirt on my clean apron," whispered Susy to Grace. "Aunt Madge ironed it this morning."
They had such a pleasant walk through the streets of the beautiful village, in the "sunshine, calm and sweet!" Grace thought the trees met overhead just as if they were clasping hands, and playing a game of "King's Cruise" for every body to "march through." ”

“ Just then her father came into the house. "Prudy's in the hogshead," said Mrs. Parlin. [11] "Won't you please lift her out, father? I've got baby in my arms."
Mr. Parlin peeped into the hogshead. "How in this world did you ever get in here, child?" said he. "I think I'll have to take you out with a pair of tongs."
Prudy laughed.
"Give me your hands," said papa. "Up she comes! Now, come sit on my knee," added he, when they had gone into the parlor, "and tell me how you climbed into that hogshead." ”

“ Grace didn't shake Prudy, only because she didn't dare to. In a few minutes all the little girls had come, and the whole party went into the front yard to play. Aunt Madge made believe she was a little girl, and played "Ring Round Rosy," "Catch," and "Button," as hard as any body. When they had played till they were all out of breath, aunt Louise sent them to the summer-house in the garden to rest, while she and aunt Madge set the table in the front yard. O, the apple puffs, and lemon tarts, and little seed cakes, and frosted cake, and candy, looked so good to poor little Abby Grant! ”

“ I know a little girl that thinks pretty well of herself. Ah, here comes Dedy Roberts; does my little love know Dedy?"
"Yes'm, I went to see her once; she lives in a dreadful ragged house!"
"Well, you two little lammies can sit right down here and pick flowers, and if you find a strawberry I'll give you a cent." [144]
"As if we was babies," thought the little girls, for they were wise enough to know that strawberries were gone long ago.
"I don't like her," said Prudy to Dedy, when Ruth had turned away; "she calls me names all the whole time. I guess she don't know my name is Prudy." ”

“ Allen truly say so, auntie? Of course he wouldn't have girls go. If we caught a fish, how they would scream; wouldn't they, though?"
Horace darted off to find Mr. Allen, and so he was out of the girls' way.
"Now," said aunt Madge, smiling, "tell me what girls you want to ask, Grace." [41]
So they gave several names—Grace and Susy—which Prudy repeated after them.
"But where is Abby Grant?" said aunt Madge. "Don't you want her?"
Grace and Susy looked at each other without speaking. Prudy looked at them.
"I don't go with such poor girls when I'm home," said Grace. ”

“ You didn't know that, did you?"
"You'd better go and talk to your aunt Madge," said grandma, "I'm busy."
"O," said Prudy, "I guess you ain't glad I got up. I tried to keep asleep, grandma, but the flies waked me."
Prudy was going out of the room, but turned and came back.
"Grandma," said she, "if you love me, why don't you hug me?"
"O, I can't stop, dear," said grandma, laughing; "we can't hug little girls all the time." ”

“ I mean to do every single thing grandma wants me to."
"I wish you could go with us, aunt Madge," said Grace, almost pouting; "we don't have half so good times with aunt Louise." [114]
"No, we don't," cried Prudy; "she wants us to 'take care' all the time. She don't love little girls when she has 'the nervous.'"
Almost while they were talking, their aunt Louise came into the room, looking prettier than ever in her new pink dress. She was a very young lady, hardly fifteen years old.
"Come, Prudy," said she, smiling, "please run up stairs and get my parasol—there's a darling." ”

“ Lonnie ought to have come forward now, like a little gentleman, and told the whole story; but he had run away.
"O, auntie," said Grace, "she wasn't to blame. It——"
"Don't say a word," said aunt Louise, briskly. "If she was my little girl I'd have her sent to bed. That dress and apron ought to be soaking this very minute."
Bridget listened at the foot of the stairs in a very angry mood, muttering,—
"It's not much like the child's mother she is. A mother can pass it by when the childers does such capers, and wait till they get more sinse." ”

“ We could go up in the Pines now if it wasn't for Prudy, and they are real thick up there."
"Yes," said Grace, "but grandma knew we couldn't without she would be sure to follow. Do you think Mr. Judkins would be likely to scold, Susy?"
"No, indeed," said Susy, eating a dry strawberry. "He keeps sheep, and goes round talking to himself. I ain't a bit afraid of him. What could we little girls do to his grass, I'd like to know? It isn't as if we were great, rude boys, is it, Grace?" ”

“ You are a darling little girl not to tease for things you ought not to have."
"I believe," she went on, looking at patient little Prudy, as she drained the bowl, "I should like to give such a good child a pretty present."
"O, dear me suz!" screamed Prudy, [70] "I'm glad I didn't go to heaven yet.—Will it be a little wee doll that can live in a thimble?—made out of sugar?"
"Well," said grandma, "I don't know, You may be thinking all day what you would like best. Not to eat, dear, but to keep, remember. Now I must go down stairs—but here come Grace and Susy, so you won't be lonesome." ”

“ O Susy, you ought [160] to have seen how Harry used to jump when he'd hear Horace open the door; he always expected a frolic!"
"Didn't we have times!" cried Horace, dropping his eyes, which were full of tears.
"O Susy," said Grace, "do you suppose any one that's sick all summer ever gets well?"
"I don't know," sighed Susy; "mother says if God is willing they'll get well, and if he isn't they'll die. God knows what is best."
"Yes," chimed in little Prudy, "God knows a great deal more'n I do!" ”

“ So the girls made the best of it, and helped little "Mother Bunch" up the long, steep hill. Prudy had one hearty cry before the long walk was over. "Her nose fell on a rock," she said; but as it was only grazed a little, she soon forgot about it.
"This is something worth while, now," said Grace, after they had at last reached the field, and were seated in the tall grass. "The strawberries are as thick as spatter."
"Yes," said Susy, "and grandma and aunt Madge will be so glad to see our baskets full they'll certainly be glad we didn't stay in the meadow. Big as your thumb, ain't they?" ”

“ Then the raspberries, like red coral, and the white currants, like round pearls! Then the flowers, fresh from the garden! [44]
The children sat on the double steps of the long piazza to eat their supper. They had plenty of room, and it was nice fun to peep round the great white pillars at their neighbors' plates, and whisper to one another, "I'm having a grand time, ain't you?" "What splendid cake!" "Don't you wish you lived here?"
And the two aunties smiled, and said to each other,—
"It is worth all our trouble to see these children so happy." ”

“ Who'll buy my fine, fresh ink?'"
"Please give it to me," cried Grace; "it isn't yours."
"'Fresh ink, red as a lobster!'"
"This minute!" cried Grace. [121]
"'As green as a pea! Who'll bid? Going! Going!'"
"Now, do give it to me, Lonnie," said Susy, climbing into a chair, and reaching after it; "you ain't fair a bit."
"'Do you say you bid a bit? That's a ninepence, ma'am. It's yours; going, gone for a ninepence. Knocked off to Miss Parlin.'"
Somehow, in "knocking it off," out came the stopper, and over went the ink on Susy's fair white apron. Lonnie was dreadfully frightened. ”

“ We all cried like we should kill ourselves, and put our fingers in our ears; for we heard the man when he fired the gun,—I mean we heard the gun when the man fired it,—and then it was of no use; but we stopped our ears, and Miss All'n hid her face, and cried—and cried—and cried! ”

“ But she did not say much, and when aunt Madge asked her what made her so quiet, she said she was "a-thinkin'." And the most of her small thoughts were about her present.
"Now," said Mr. Allen, "I'm going to hold you up so you can peep over into the pig-pen. There, do you see that little mite of a white piggy?"
"O, dear, dear, dear!" cried Prudy, clapping her hands, "what a cunning little piggy-wiggy! He looks nice enough to eat right up! I never did see such a darling! O, he winks his eyes—see him! He ain't dead, is he? Not a mite?" ”

“ O, mayn't I go up to the jispy Pines to-morrow and thank him?"
"We'll see; but now it's time you went to sleep."
"Well, I will," said Prudy, "I'll go in a minute; but, auntie, he's good, ain't he? He ain't black all through?"
"He's quite a good man," answered aunt Madge, trying not to smile, "and has had a great deal of trouble. I can't stop to tell you, and you wouldn't understand; but I dare say he has cried ever so much, Prudy, and felt worse than you can think, all because he is black; and some people don't like black men." ”

“ I've got a bad cold, but Susy hasn't. My head is all snuffed up.
When are you goin' to come home?
I haven't seen Grace and Horace for so long! They went home after the baby died. God has got the baby up in heaven, but the tired part of him is in the garden.
My father is 'most crazy to see me. He is, truly; and when I say truly, I can't lie. He said he wanted to see me so he was 'most crazy, and he's comin' to-night.
I s'pose he'll bring me something, for I've been good. When I act cross, it's 'cause I don't feel well.
Aunt Madge says to me I've wrote enough, and I'm tired. ”

“ It was so pleasant in aunt Martha's shaded parlor, and the children took such delight in looking at the books and pictures, that they were all sorry when aunt [119] Louise "got nervous," and thought it was time they went off somewhere to play.
"Very well," said dear aunt Martha; "they may go all over the house and grounds, if they like, with Lonnie."
So all over the house and grounds they went in a very few minutes, and at last came to a stand-still in Bridget's chamber over the kitchen, tired enough to sit down a while—all but Prudy, who "didn't have any kind of tiredness about her." ”

“ Here Susy turned away her head and looked out of the window, though she saw nothing there but grandpa coming in from the garden with a watering-pot.
"Whenever father looked at me, I felt just as if he was thinking, 'Margaret doesn't tell the truth;' and when mother spoke my name quick, I was afraid she was going to say something about the hatchet."
"I got well, only I limped a little. Then it was almost time to think of making presents for the Christmas tree. I didn't like to have Christmas come while I was feeling so. People are so good that day, I thought. ”

“ I wish we had some," said Susy; "how can we get it?"
"I'll tell you what we'll do," said Grace; "we'll send Prudy down stairs to Bridget, to ask for some milk to drink."
"I like milk and water the best," said Prudy, "with sugar in." [123]
"Well, get that," said Grace, "it's just as good; and come right back with it, and don't tell about the ink."
Aunt Martha and Bridget were taking up the dinner when Prudy went down into the kitchen, calling out,—
"O, Bridget, may I have some white tea?"
"White tay!" said Bridget; "and what may that be now?" ”

“ Ruth held Prudy's little hand in a firm grasp, and wished she had held it so all the afternoon; "for," as she said, to herself, "she's a very slippery child."
This had been a trying day for Prudy, and when aunt Madge put her to bed, her sweet blue eyes wouldn't stay shut.
"Where do they grow, auntie?" said [150] she, "them black folks. Be they the jispies?"
"O, they grow any where," replied aunt Madge, laughing; "just like any body. They are not gypsies, but negroes." ”

“ After a while Grace, and Horace, and Susy came down stairs, and then there was a great time. As soon as breakfast was [39] over, kind aunt Madge promised to make out a list of the little folks to be invited.
"First of all," said she, "are you going to have boys and girls, or only girls?"
"O, we don't want any boys," said cousin Grace, tossing her head; "they race round, and act so."
"Of course we don't want 'em," said Susy. "I'd laugh if we'd got to have a lot of noisy boys."
"Poh! we don't want boys," echoed Prudy. "They are pickin' fusses all the time." ”

“ You see if something awful doesn't happen before we get back."
"O, I hope not," replied sister Madge, laughing. "I think there is nothing so very wicked about our little nieces."
"Here is your parasol, auntie," said Prudy, coming back. "I know who I love best of any body in this house, and it ain't the one that's got her bonnet on—it's a-r-n-t, aunt, M-i-g, Madge."
"Well, you ought to love your aunt Mig, all of you," said aunt Louise, laughing, "for I do believe she thinks you children are as lovely as little white rose-buds. [116] —Come, are you all ready? ”

“ I'm all the time making some kind of trouble. Sometimes I wish there wasn't any such girl as me!"
Tears came into aunt Madge's kind gray eyes, and she made up her mind that the [127] poor child should be comforted. So she quietly put away the silk dress she was so anxious to finish, and after dinner took the fresh, tidy, happy little Susy across the fields to aunt Martha's again, where the unlucky day was finished very happily after all.
"The truth is, Louise," said aunt Madge that night, after their return, "Lonnie spilled that ink, and Susy was not at all to blame. ”