Dotty

“ 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." ”

“ Dotty hesitated; her nerves quivered at sight of the sharp blade.
"But that cruel little chègre is drinking your blood, my daughter. The more he drinks, the larger he will grow, and the harder it will be to cut him out."
"That's so," said Horace. "I could preach, with jigger for a text. Ahem! He is like sin—the more you let him stay, the more you'll wish you hadn't. Come, Dotty, be brave, and out with him!" ”

“ And Miss Polly began to hum one of her sorrowful tunes, beating time with the two streams of milk which dripped mournfully into the pail.
"She is afraid this is the end of the world," thought Dotty, with a throbbing heart, and a stifling sensation at the throat; "she don't believe the sun is ever going to rise any more."
The music suddenly ceased.
"These are very poor cows," said Polly, in a reflective tone; "or else they don't give down their milk. I understood you to say, Dotty, that Ruth milked very early." ”

“ If it was to me, it would be Mr."
"Master, you mean," corrected Grace.
"No, Horace, you are not Mr. yet!" said Dotty, confidently; "you've never been married."
The next thing in order was the reading of the letter. Dotty tore it open with a trembling hand. I should like to see another letter that would make a child so happy as that one did! It was written by three different people, and all to the same little girl. Not a line to Uncle Henry or Aunt Maria, or Horace or Grace. All to Dotty's self, as if she were a personage of the first importance.
Mamma began it. ”

“ Her skin was dark; her eyes were black, and remarkably bright. When I saw her, she was thirteen years old; and you may know, Dotty, that by that time her face could not well be very pleasant: temper always leaves its marks."
Dotty looked at her little plump hands, as if she expected to see black spots on them.
"Sometimes Harriet beat her head against the wall so violently that there seemed to be danger of her dashing her brains out."
Dotty looked up quite bravely. This dreadful little girl was worse than she had ever been! O, yes!
"Wasn't she crazy, mamma?" [28]
Mrs. Parlin shook her head. ”

“ No doubt Flyaway had taken it. Dotty mourned over her own carelessness in leaving her treasure where the roguish little one could reach it. Instead of finding gold, she had lost something she supposed was more precious than gold. But she bore up as bravely as possible, and said to Mrs. Clifford,—
"You needn't punish the baby, Aunt 'Ria; she didn't know she was stealing."
Dotty had never seen an eel. Like a coal mine, a pearl, a Guinea pig, a drunken man, and a chègre, she supposed an eel was peculiar to the climate, and could be found nowhere but out West. ”

“ At Portsmouth, Captain Lally and son left the cars, much to Dotty's relief, though they did carry away the beautiful Spanish rabbit; and it seemed to the child as if a piece of her heart went with it.
"Is my little girl tired?" said Mr. Parlin, putting an arm around Dotty.
"No, papa, only I'm thinking. The north pole is top of the world—isn' it? As much as five hundred miles off?" ”

“ Clifford and Katinka carried him into the stable, and laid him upon a bed of sweet hay.
"I'm glad not to be a Hoojer," said Dotty, with a severe look at her Cousin Horace. "You don't ever see such bad men in the State of Maine. The whiskey is locked up; and I don't know as there is any whiskey."
"Down East is a great place, Dotty! Don't I wish I was a Yankee—I mean a 'Publican?"
"But you can't be, Horace," returned little Dotty, looking up at him with deep pity in her bright eyes; "you weren't born there. You're a Hoojer, and you'll have to stay a Hoojer." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ To think such a glorious thing as this could happen to Dotty! and she not the best girl in the world either! A visit from her bosom friend! "Aunt 'Ria, do you understand? Aunt Louise? Gracie? This is Tate Penny!"
"Who asked her to come? How did she happen to be with mamma, the same day, in the same cars?"
Well, grandma Parlin invited her to come. "When one lives in an India-rubber house," she said, "a few people more or less make no difference at all. She wished Dotty's 'nipperkin' of happiness to be full for once." ”

“ No man ever looked like that. No man ever had such a mouth. It was as deep as a cave, and all ablaze. Somebody had gone and swallowed a stove; somebody had come to do—do—O, what had he come to do? [164]
"It's a yellow ghost!" thought Dotty. "I didn't know they had such a kind. Angeline never said so. But its eyes are just like her ghosts' eyes—going to burn you up!"
These thoughts darted through Dotty's mind like lightning-flashes. At the same time she gave one loud, terrified scream, and fell forward upon the floor. She did not rise, she did not speak, she seemed scarcely to breathe. ”

“ Prudy said nothing.
"I didn't see him shake his feet," said Dotty, changing the subject; "and the dust wouldn't come off if he did shake 'em." [22]
"Have you any more Christmas money left, Dotty," said Jennie, twirling her gold ring on her finger.
"O, yes, ever so much at home. And I shall soon have more," added Dotty, with a great effort to be cheerful; "for people are always dropping pins."
"I've got any quantity of scrip," pursued Jennie; "and I don't have to work for it, either."
"O, dear," thought Dotty, "what's the use to be good? ”

“ How often had she heard Prudy say, “It’s a quarter of,” and seen her skip out of the house, kissing her hand for good by! As the door closed after her, Dotty had always felt as if it shut herself out of something beautiful—something every way desirable.
And now it was coming,—the day and the hour. She was about to be a school-girl at last. No longer a little child, who stays at home and plays with paper dolls, [12] but a little woman, who goes out to learn the ways of the world. ”

“ Dotty was not allowed to attend Sabbath school again that year; but it was a long time before she forgot some of the things she had heard Miss Carlisle say. Many of the strange words rang in her ears for weeks after wards, though she said nothing about them.
One day she rushed into the nursery out of breath. Prudy was kneeling before her little trunk, putting in order the paper dolls, which Dotty had scattered over the floor. They were a sad sight. Some of them had lost their heads, and some had lost their fine clothes, which are worth as much as heads any day—to dolls. ”

“ You see it is hard to make a choice, dear. Escaloped oysters; pigeon pie postponed."
"I'll take some of that, papa," broke in Dotty.
"What, dear?"
"Some of the pigeon pie 'sponed," answered Dotty, in a low voice, determined to come to a decision of some sort. It was not likely to make much difference what she should choose, when everything was alike wonderful and strange.
"Pigeon pie postponed," said Mr. Parlin to the man at the back of Dotty's chair; "turkey with oysters for me."
The polite waiter smiled so broadly that he showed two long rows of white teeth. ”

“ Dotty spoke as if there could be no doubt about it.
"I like good little girls," said Major Lazelle, "such as can ride a whole day in the cars without growing cross."
This compliment gratified Dotty. She felt that she deserved it, for she had kept her temper admirably ever since she left home.
"I am sure you will grow up, one of these days, to be a very good woman," continued Major Lazelle, looking with an admiring smile at the graceful little girl seated on his knee. "You tell me you have never been at school. I hope you do not mean to frolic all your life? ”

“ Zip looked rather uneasy, but followed close by her side. Dotty walked on and on, till the track had faded quite away. This was not the road to aunt Martha's. Why didn't Abby come?
Dotty, too proud to cry, too angry to look back, wandered till she came to the edge of the Parlin woods. Here was a little creek, tumbling over some small gray rocks; the same "creek" where Horace had sometimes gone fishing.
"True as you live," said Dotty to herself, "here's a teenty-tonty river." ”

“ When Dotty had one of her especially good days, Prudy's cup of happiness was full. She ran down stairs singing,—
"Thank God for pleasant weather!
Shout it merrily, ye hills,
And clap your hands together,
Ye exulting little rills.
"Thank him, bird and birdling,
As ye grow and sing;
Mingle in thanksgiving,
Every living thing,
Every living thing,
Every living thing."
Dotty was so anxious to redeem her character in everybody's eyes, that she hardly knew what she was doing. Mrs. Parlin sent her into the kitchen with a message to Norah concerning the turkey ”

“ The faces were nearly all new to her.
"That woman in the next seat, how homely her little girl is, with freckles all over her face! Perhaps her mother wishes she was as white as I am. Why, who is that pretty little girl close to my father?"
Dotty was looking straight forward, and had accidentally caught a peep at her own face in the mirror.
"Why, it's me! How nice I look!" smiling and nodding at the pleasant picture.
"Sit up like a lady, Dotty, and you'll look very polite, and very style too." ”

“ Chègres in logs, pearls in oysters; and now somebody had fallen up stairs and broken her nose. In Maine who ever heard the like?
Dotty twirled her hair, in a state of wonder as to what would come next. It came before bedtime.
She and Grace had been marching about the dining-room, singing martial songs. They went into the darkened parlor, still promenading, Grace's arm about her little cousin's waist.
Suddenly Grace stopped, and whispered,—
"What's that?"
Dotty listened. It was a groan. It must proceed from a human throat; but there was no one in the room but their two selves. ”

“ All I know is this: everything happens just right in this world—when you can't help it."
With which sage remark Prudy stepped out of bed, and began to dress herself. Dotty planted her elbow in the pillow, and leaned her head on her hand.
"I don't believe it happens just right for Mrs. Rosenberg to keep that dog, or to thump so with a thimble; but, then, I don't know."
"I'm hurrying to get dressed," said Prudy. "The first bell has rung."
"Why, I never heard it," cried Dotty, springing up. "I wouldn't be late to-day for anything." ”

“ Dotty sighed heavily.
"That woman's gone to sleep. She'll dream it's night, and p'rhaps she won't wake up till we get to Boston. Hush-a-by, baby, your cradle is green! O, dear, my arms'll ache off."
A boy approached with a basket of pop-corn and other refreshments. Dotty remembered that she had in her pocket the means to purchase very many such luxuries. But how was she to find the way to her pocket? Baby required both hands, and undivided attention. Dotty looked at the boy imploringly. He snapped his fingers at her little charge, and passed on. She looked around for her father. ”

“ Dotty, brushing her hair, looked in the glass so intently that she did not observe her Aunt Maria, who had quietly entered the room. Mrs. Clifford was a wise woman, but she could not look into her niece's heart. She thought Dotty was admiring her own beauty in the mirror, whereas the child was not thinking of it at all.
What Mr. Beecher once said of little folks is very true:—
"Ah, well, there is a world of things in children's minds that grown-up people do not understand, though they too once were young." ”

“ The world, which had looked, an hour ago, so gay and light-hearted, was now rather gloomy. The waves, instead of sparkling, only foamed and bubbled; indeed they grew larger every moment, for the wind was blowing a gale. The white sea-gulls hovered over the bay, flapping their wings; and Dotty had never liked sea-gulls. She began to grow a very little uneasy.
"It was naughty for us to come," thought she, anxious to divide the sin with her companions; "we ought to have minded our mothers." ”

“ There the little creatures lay in silence, each on an edge of the bedstead, and a whole mattress between. Sleep did not come at once.
"She's left that money on the floor," thought Dotty; "what if a mouse should creep down the chimney, and gnaw it all up? But she must take care of it herself. I shan't!"
And Jennie thought, wrathfully, "Dotty says such long prayers she can't stop to pick up that scrip! If she expects me to get out of bed, she's made a mistake; I won't touch her old money."
About nine o'clock grandma Parlin came quietly into the room with a lamp. ”