Various

“ Molly was doing her best, but the sound of the black horse’s hoofs grew louder. The road was not straight or Hadley might have looked back and seen the colonel bearing down upon him. But the officer could doubtless follow his prey by the sound of Molly’s feet, quite as accurately as Hadley could estimate his speed. At this thought, and hoping to put his pursuer at a disadvantage for the moment, the boy pulled the mare out upon the level sward beside the road. There Black Molly pattered along silently: but the boy could hear the thunder of pursuit growing louder and louder. ”

“ It will soon be too dark for them to see us—that’s a blessing.”
The little mare needed no spur or urging. She clattered along the darkening road with head down and neck outstretched, Hadley riding with a loose rein and letting her pick her own way over the track. He could trust to her instinct more safely than to his own sight. The oaks cast thick shadows across his path, and now the whole sky was turning a deep indigo, dotted here and there with star points. There was no moon until later, and he believed the darkness was more favorable to him than to his pursuers. ”

“ Hadley Morris was a brawny youth for his age, which was seventeen. He was by no means handsome, and few boys would be attractive-looking in the clothing of a stable boy. Yet there was that in his carriage, in the keenness of his eye, in the firm lines of his chin and lip, which would have attracted a second glance from any thoughtful observer. Hadley had been now more than a year at the Three Oaks Inn, ever since it had become too unpleasant for him to longer remain with his uncle, Ephraim Morris, a Tory farmer of the neighborhood. ”

“ Looking back before descending the bank, Hadley saw several horsemen streaming through the orchard behind him, and, more to be feared than these, was the party leaving the inn yard and taking to the very road out upon which he had come. At the head of this second cavalcade rode Colonel Knowles himself on his great charger, and Hadley’s heart sank. Black Molly was famed throughout the countryside for her speed; but that great beast of the colonel’s—evidently brought from across the sea, and a thoroughbred hunter—would be more than a match for the little mare in a long chase. ”

“ And when somebody said what a good child he was, Miss Hetty Pomeroy, she said, ‘Wait till you see Eleanor!’ So anybody can tell what she must have been,” concluded poor little Polly, with a gasping breath.
“And so, of course,” said Mrs. Manser, fixing a forlorn gaze on the little figure in stiffly starched pink gingham, “if you run wild out-doors, picking flowers and chasing round after the live stock and wasting time with the birds the way you’ve been allowed to do here, you’ll lose your chance, that’s all. ”

“ To Tom it was a monotonous view—the yellow earth: that everlasting Giant Cactus; and occasionally the tall, bleached form of a dead tree, reaching its arms despairingly upward from the dearth of life below.
With some little impatience he urged the pony into a gallop. In an hour he must be at the fork of the Salt to receive Custer’s dispatches. Everybody had wondered why Tom Ray, the only one in the party who had never heard an Indian war-whoop, should have been chosen for the work. ”

“ It was the year when human liberty seemed trembling in the balance, when all nations—even France—stood aloof, waiting to see whether the star of the American Colonies was setting or on the ascendant. The British army, under Howe and Clinton, occupied New York. Washington and his little force lay near Philadelphia, then the capital of the newly-formed confederation. New Jersey—all the traveled ways between the two armies—was disputed territory, disturbed continually by a sort of guerilla warfare most hard for the peacefully-inclined farmers and tradespeople to bear. ”

“ He kept a public house, and, for the sake of being at peace with everybody, his Tory neighbors included, he treated all guests who came to the Three Oaks with unfailing cordiality. But the presence of Colonel Knowles at this time was bound to cause trouble.
The inn was on the road usually traversed by those in haste to reach Philadelphia, where, while Washington’s army was posted nearby, Congress held its session. Many a time in the dead of night there was the rattle of hoofs on the road, as a breathless rider dashed up to the door, and with a loud “Halloa” aroused the stable boy. ”

“ Are your specs on? No, they aren’t. You put them on, this minute!”
“Yes’m,” said Father Manser, meekly, and when his spectacles were astride his nose, he was allowed to put his feet on the treadles and start on his first seam.
“He likes to run the machine,” said Aunty Peebles to Polly. “Seems as if he thought he’d got his foot in the stirrups and was riding, bold and free.”
There were many such times for Father Manser during this dressmaking season, and he enjoyed them, though he knew how much he would miss Polly when she had gone. ”

“ There was at least one eaglet, and Tom knew then that it would be with no small danger to himself if he chose to investigate. Then there came to him the misty recollection of the tame eagle which Jack Warren, one of the cowboys, had brought into camp. With this bit of memory his hesitation vanished.
The tree was bare and barked. Its lower branches had long since rotted and now lay on the ground crumbling. Rough knots remained, however, here and there, and by grasping these Tom was able to make the ascent. The old birds whirled round the tree in giant spirals. ”

“ A few seconds later the canoe pushed off over the now darkening water, and its inmates made all speed toward that point from which the cry had been heard, but was heard no more. However, the steersman followed a perfectly direct course, and if he were still weak from his seizure, his movements showed no signs of it, so that Margot’s fear for him was lost in the interest of their present adventure. She rhymed her own stroke to her uncle’s, and when he rested, her paddle instantly stopped. ”

“ The dragoons were at the door then, beating upon it with the hilts of their sabres and pistol-butts, demanding entrance. Hadley had no weapon had he desired to defend the barn from attack. And that would be a foolish attempt, indeed. It would be an easy matter for the dragoons to break down the fences and surround the barn so that he could not escape, and then beat in the door and capture him—and with him the papers. He did not know how valuable those documents might be; but the man now lying senseless in the inn yard had saved them at the risk of his life ”

“ The wrapping of this seed softens, the seed enlarges as the embryo within it grows, the husk is pushed open, and slowly comes forth the baby tree, composed of two leaves and a stem. These two leaves, although very small, are perfect and even green in the unopened seed.
They are soft and fleshy; in fact, they are pantries, full of food, ready for the weak little plant to feed upon until it is strong enough to forage and digest for itself. Everyone knows that babies must be carefully fed on delicate food until they get their teeth. The baby plant also needs well-prepared food. ”

“ In the next instant he had swung into the saddle and wheeled the pony’s head toward the camp. The first glance ahead, however, revealed the supple body of an Indian half concealed by a cactus bush. There was no choice. Striking his spurs into the pony, Tom dashed forward. The Indian suddenly dropped his rifle and crouched beside a Giant Cactus. As Tom and the mustang flew past he made a panther-like leap, and throwing his arms about the boy, tried to drag him from the saddle. Turning upon him, Tom seized the lithe arms and with all his strength tried to throw the enemy from him. ”

“ Miss Lillian bit her lip in anger; then, as she looked down into the stable boy’s face her own countenance cleared and she laughed aloud. “I don’t think I’ll quarrel with you,” she said. “You are a rebel, I suppose, and I am an English girl. You don’t know what it means to be born across the water, and—”
“Oh, yes I do. I was born in England myself,” Hadley returned. “My mother brought me across when she came to keep house for Uncle Ephraim Morris—”
“Who?” interposed Lillian, turning towards him again, with astonishment in both voice and countenance. ”

“ The dragoons sent to cut off his escape had arrived too late; but they emptied their pistols at the black mare and her young rider.
“They won’t give up so easily,” Hadley muttered, not daring to look around while still in the orchard. “That Colonel Knowles would rather die than be outwitted by a boy. I’ll make right for the ferry, and perhaps I may meet Holdness somewhere on the road. I can give the papers up to him, and I know he’ll find some way of getting them to General Washington.” ”

“ You are never so happy as when you’re miserable. Come on; nothing must suffer if we can prevent. Take care of our guest Margot; but give him his nourishment slowly at intervals. I’ll get some tools, and join you at the shed, Angelique. ”

“ Manser, with her head in her hands again, failed to notice it.
“It isn’t to be supposed you can take Eleanor’s place,” she groaned. “You’re willing to fetch and carry, and you’ve got a fair disposition, but you do hate to stay still. Your father was like that—one of these restless folks.”
Polly’s face was overcast with doubt and trouble, but she stood her ground. “I’ll be just as like Eleanor as ever I can,” she said, slowly. “If I could only ask Miss Pomeroy just what Eleanor would have done every day, I guess I could do the same. ”

“ The poor fellow is, doubtless, used to richer cordials, but it’s hot and strong and will do the work. You, Angelique, make us a pot of your best coffee, and swing round that dinner-pot. The man is almost starved, and I’m on the road to follow him. How about you, Margot? ”

“ By immemorial custom, on the Easter holiday, the grounds of the White House are thrown open to the sport of children, who come from far and near to roll their Easter eggs across its sloping lawns. It is a pleasant sight to see the home of the nation’s chief executive so completely in the hands of frolicking children. ”

“ The seeds of the maple are in pairs, which are called keys. They look more like little tan-colored moths than keys; the distinctly-veined, winged husk is very like the narrow and veined wings of many moths.
These seeds are winged in order that they may be blown abroad on the wind and plant new forests farther afield. If they all dropped close under the shade of the parent tree few would live beyond a year or two.
Where the wing-like husks come together there is a thickening of the base of each into an ear-like lobe, holding a seed. ”

“ He brought out from under his coat tails as he spoke a huge pistol such as was usually carried in saddle holsters at that day.
Hadley Morris, from the centre of the road, did not see the colonel’s weapon. He only observed the approaching horseman in the cloud of dust, and knew him to be a dispatch-bearer aiming to reach the ferry and Washington’s headquarters beyond. In a moment there loomed up behind him a group of pursuers riding neck and neck upon his trail. They were British dragoons and the space between them and their prey was scarce a hundred yards. ”

“ Manser, dismally. “She’d never been here in town since she was a baby, and the mother’s folks brought her and Bobby, the twin, one summer to Pomeroy Oaks. As I’ve told you, both parents died, leastways they were destroyed in an accident, when the twins were less than a year old.”
“And Bobby lives with his grandpa and grandma now,” said Polly, with the air of reciting an oft-repeated lesson, “and folks say that saw him when he was here last winter that he just sits and reads all the time; he doesn’t care for play or being out-doors much; and he never makes a speck of dirt or a mite of noise. ”

“ Well, he needn’t have made a body think so, he needn’t. There, Margot! you’ve messed him with the black stuff!”
Indignantly brushing the child aside, the woman seized the cup and deftly administered its entire contents. The stranger had not yet opened his eyes, but accepted the warm liquid mechanically, and his nurse hurried to fill a bowl with the broth of the stew in the kettle. This, in turn, was taken from her by Margot, who jealously exclaimed:
“He’s mine. I heard him first. I found him first; let me be the first he sees. Dish up the supper, please, and set my uncle’s place.” ”

“ Ramsdell, but she smiled at Polly as she went over to the rocking chair by Aunty Peebles. “We old folks have been taking things out of our trunks and putting ’em back again just to keep up heart till you came, except grandma there; she’s kept to her knitting, so’s not to disturb Ebenezer of his nap, I suppose.”
“Ebenezer’s a splendid cat, if he does like to sleep most of the time, and looks like Mrs. Manser’s old sack that the moths got into,” said Polly, with a laugh. “Oh, did any of you know there was a visitor downstairs?—that Miss Pomeroy with the sharp eyes. ”

“ Count upon your fingers all the juvenile periodicals which you know even by name. Compare this supply with the demand. We are certainly understating the figures when we say that there are twenty million young people in the United States. Even the most widely-circulated of these periodicals does not claim half a million subscribers. We believe it safe to say that of our whole great nation of young people, not one in ten is yet supplied with a monthly or weekly periodical. After all, is there not ample room for us at the American fireside? ”