Essie

“ Esther is leaning against her husband, her bright face full of content and happiness; once or twice her eyes have gone skywards, and the light in them has deepened. Essie is in her arms, saucy and dimpled: she knows she is the undisputed queen of that gathering, and is taking advantage of her power by giving all manner of sweet little commands. ”

“ Essie was too innocent to have any fears in committing herself to the unknown world of Paris. With true American guilelessness, she considered it perfectly natural that a girl of twenty should hire a room for herself, au cinquième, in the Boulevard St. Michel, and should present herself as a student at Valentin's studio. ”

“ Essie looked in his face, and knew he was playing with her. But her own self-respect wouldn't allow her to say so to him. She only gave a glance of those innocent eyes, and asked him, earnestly: "Stanislas, you must tell me! What had you just now on the stairs in that basket?"
He gazed at her once more with a tender yet mocking smile.
"My little one," he said, "it was thus that Eve fell: you have too much curiosity. Eggs, eggs, my dear Essie; and I was afraid of breaking them. See, here is the proof: I've been making an omelette for Lorikoff's supper." ”

“ We got news regular from little Essie White, that Miss Lisbet's outworn dresses used to go to. She used to read an hour a day, did Miss Lisbet, to Essie's mother, who went blind, and she stocked Essie with flannels and such, as she grew. I trained her in as kitchen maid when I was at The Cedars, and when help turned out so poor and scarce in the West—all ignorant Paddies, as we called them then—she sent to me and I sped Essie out to her, and a good job, too, for she was in no state to be worrying out her precious health over dust and dirt and victuals! ”

“ The twins watched as long as they could see her. Then Essie began to cry. “I wanted to keep him,” she said, “I—I loved him so.”
“So did I,” said Ally, with her arms round Essie. “But I guess, Essie, we’ll have to get along with Bobbo. I wonder how Pincher knew his name was Bruin. Some day we’ll go into the woods, and call ‘Bruin, Bruin,’ and perhaps he will remember us. His mother loved him, you know, Essie. I suppose she was so sorry when she found him gone. Mothers must have their babies, you know, Essie; why, they belong to them!” ”

“ Essie shook her head. “I don’t believe he would like to be carried that way. What if we put him in our basket? He’d like lying on the leaves.”
“Why, yes,” said Ally. “He’s always lying on leaves and grass. Let’s do it. We oughtn’t [19] to let him stay out here in the woods all night, all alone.”
“Of course not,” said Essie. “What a bad mother he must have had to go and leave him here!”
“Perhaps some hunter shot her,” said Ally.
Pitiful, the twins stroked him again and put their dear little faces close to his; and the little bear cuddled and snuggled and uttered a soft sound of pleasure. ”

“ And they’ll grow again, you know.”
“Isn’t it good we’re both saved?” said Ally [40] cosily. “Oh, Essie, keep your feet right on the hot soap-stone! Only, please don’t touch the back of my legs! They do smart a little. What you going to dream about? Are you awake? I’m going to dream I went into the garden and there—atop of a—big rose—I saw”—And Ally slipped away into dreamland, where Essie had gone before her. ”

“ Laminski answered, with a curious puckering of the corners of his mouth. "Though I hardly expect it."
"Will you take some tea?" Essie asked, just to relieve the tension. For the first time in her life she was dimly aware of that barrier of sex which she had never felt with the young men in Vermont. But these European men are so strange and so different! They always make you remember, somehow, that they are men and that you are a woman. ”

“ I am not, and you are not, and nobody is; but if we are sorry when we're wrong, and ask God to forgive us, and help us, He will, you may be sure. Why, Essie, He loves you, little foolish girl as you are, more than you can possibly tell. He loves you, and he would not let you perish for anything."
"Are you sure of that?" she said, eagerly.
"Perfectly sure," I answered.
"Madame ordered," said Félicie, "that Miss Esther should be kept perfectly quiet. She's talking too much, and exciting herself. It would be better to have the room darkened, and let her go to sleep." ”

“ I always wished I had a brother. I don’t like the thought of finding that cross Phil at home; it will half spoil my holidays. But we must write to each other, Kriss; and you shall have Essie when you grow up; and then we shall live together all our lives.”
So they parted; for after the examination there was to be a month’s holidays; and Johnny had as much as he could do to shake hands and bid good-by to the crowd of noisy, merry boys, every one of whom loved him. ”

“ Elizabeth glanced quickly at Elsie, with a little trouble in her face, but the girl laughed, and replied—
"Oh yes, he will; Bessie is his ideal—he will never think of poor little me."
"Family affection is so sweet!" added Mrs. Harrington. Elsie made a grimace, and hastened to change the conversation, for there was nothing she dreaded so much as the widow's attempt at romance and sentiment. ”

“ There was nothing in her appearance now to betray agitation; her pallor seemed only the reflection of her mauvé draperies, and her lips forced themselves into a smile.
"There is Bessie," cried Elsie, coming up the lawn, clinging to her brother's arm with both hands, and shaking her long curls in the sunshine, till the sight of her loveliness and grace might have softened for the time even that heart filled with fear of her sisterly influence, and jealous of the love which she received with such caressing warmth. ”

“ When I looked round the German was in full flight from the car, pursued by the waiter with the bill for his lunch.
Edith was certainly right about Bessie. German tourists are not the only enemies of the human race. I know editors who return manuscripts much better and in every way more suitable for publication than those which they print. A literary man with a wife like Bessie would, I think, have his revenge every time. ”

“ Mrs. Rush looked out of the window by which she sat, and seemed to be watching the sea; and Bessie stood, softly patting the colonel's knee with her hand, while for a moment or two no one spoke. Suddenly Bessie looked up in the colonel's face.
"Colonel Yush," she said, "don't you have a great deal of faith?"
"In some people, Bessie," he answered. "I have a great deal of faith in my little wife, and a great deal in my pet Bessie, and some few others." ”

“ Bradford whispered softly as he drew her closer to him, "No, my darling. Our eyes may never behold the beauty of heaven till our Father takes us to himself. This is the work of his hand, and lovely it is; but it is as nothing to the glory of the great white throne whereon he sits."
And so ended this happy Christmas which our Maggie and Bessie will both remember as long as they shall live. ”

“ All looked colder and darker in that visionary hollow than in reality: and the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear moving where all else was still, had the effect of a real spirit: I thought it like one of the tiny phantoms, half fairy, half imp, Bessie’s evening stories represented as coming out of lone, ferny dells in moors, and appearing before the eyes of belated travellers. ”

“ Porter.
"Then they oughtn't to say it about the poor Indian," said Bessie, indignantly. "If he didn't do it, they ought not to make it up about him."
"And likely enough the man himself never lived," said Mr. Porter.
"Then they oughtn't to say he did," persisted Bessie; "And to make him so wicked too. There's enough of bad people without making up any more."
"Well, what was the end of it?" asked Fred.
"Just as the poor lost one went over the edge, a scream rang out on the night air, and [Pg 24] the Indian knew it was the voice of his beloved wife whom he had thus sent to her death. ”

“ But Mamma says some day we will go to your house in that place where you live and I will be so glad and my Maggie too. They are indians in Nigra Falls and they have pretty things and we bort some for all our peple and a baskit for Ant May and a rattel for May Bessie and something for you that is a secret. Plese dont tell them so they will be surprised and Nigra Falls is so fast you cant think. ”

“ Away to the right lay a wilder, but hardly a grander, scene. Here were great, rugged rocks, among and over which dashed and foamed the waves, whose course they barred. Some were hidden beneath the surface of the water, and the feathery foam which boiled and bubbled over their jagged faces, alone told where they lay. Beyond, and far away, stretched the boundless ocean, the sea Bessie so loved; the white crests of its waves flashing and sparkling in the glorious sunshine of that bright morning ”

“ The children thought not; and the rest and unexpected little lunch made them both feel refreshed and bright again.
"Bessie," said Maggie, as they sat contentedly eating it, "do you not think foreigner boys are a great deal nicer than home-made boys?"
"What does foreigner mean?" asked Bessie.
"It means to come out of another country. Hafed is a foreigner, and that little French boy [Pg 261] who was so polite to us on board the steamboat was a foreigner, and so is Carl."
Carl was Uncle Ruthven's Swedish servant.
"Are not Harry and Fred home-made boys, Maggie?" ”

“ I did not think the first lesson taught here this morning would be one of politeness, to be learned by myself."
"O Miss Ashton," said Bessie, "I would not be so saucy as to say you were not polite! I only thought perhaps you forgot."
"And so I did, dear; but true politeness should teach us to remember all those little things which may make others comfortable, or put them at their ease; and I am afraid we grown people often forget that children need such attentions as well as those who are older." ”

“ So this matter being settled to the satisfaction of all, and Maggie feeling like her own self once more, she and Bessie were free to enjoy all the new pleasures about them.
They were a merry, happy party, those four little girls, Maggie, Bessie, Belle, and Lily; always pleasant and good-natured with one another; never fretting or quarrelling in their play. ”

“ Here, too, they often bathed, instead of driving over to the larger and more frequented beach; and here they might be found at almost every hour of the day. Here Bessie would sit, forgetting her play, as she watched the blue billows with their crests of white foam, rolling up one after the other on the smooth sands, and listening to the chiming sound of [336] the waves, the grand music of old ocean sounding ceaselessly, and speaking to all hearts, that will hear, of the power and goodness of the Almighty hand which holds it in its place. ”

“ Jesus is God, aint he?"
"Yes," said Bessie, coming closer to the poor girl, and drawing Maggie with her. "He is God's Son, and he came away from his heaven to die for us, so we could go there, and live with him, if we would only love him and do what he tells us. And heaven is such a beautiful place! Dolly, the angels are there; and every one will be so happy; and no one will be hungry or sick or tired there; and Jesus will take care of us always, always. Wouldn't you like to go there, Dolly?" ”

“ You would not be unfair to Gracie even for your favourite Maggie, would you?"
"Yes'm," said Belle decidedly; "I would. Maggie is the best."
"But it is who has the best composition, not who is the best child," said Miss Ashton. "And we are not the judges of that; all must have the same chance."
"I wish I were the judges," said Belle, regardless of grammar; "and I would give prizes for everything, and all to Maggie and Bessie; but only one for Miss Ashton," and she patted affectionately the hand about her waist. "Anyhow, Gracie can't get that now. When it rains, it will be all spoiled." ”

“ It would have done Grandpapa Duncan good to have seen his pets' pleasure. Maggie fairly screamed with delight. "Oh, such paper, such lovely stamped paper."
"And such embelopes," said Bessie, "with our own name letters on them."
"I am going to write to every one I know in the world," cried Maggie.
"Mamma," said Bessie, when they had looked again and again at their beautiful presents, "I do think God has made all my people the very best people that ever lived. I don't think any little girls have such people as mine."
"I suppose every other little girl thinks the same thing, Bessie." ”

“ Poor Maggie! This was more than she had bargained to "bear," the one drop too much in her full cup. She could no longer choke back her tears, but fell into a passion of sobbing and crying which her mother found it impossible for some minutes to quiet. It was only the recollection that her mamma was not to be worried, which at last helped the child to conquer it. And it was Bessie who put her in mind of this; for her sobs had roused her little sister, who, waking and slipping down from the sofa, came running to know what could be the matter with her usually merry, cheerful Maggie. ”

“ UNCLE RUTHVEN.
hristmas brought no Uncle Ruthven, but Christmas week brought Miss Elizabeth Rush, the sweet "Aunt Bessie" whom all the children loved so dearly. And it was no wonder they were fond of her, for she was almost as gentle and patient with them as mamma herself; and, like her brother, the colonel, had a most wonderful gift of story-telling, which she was always ready to put in use for them. Maggie and Bessie were more than ever sure that there were never such delightful people as their own, or two such happy children as themselves. ”

“ Miss Rush was sitting by, and she called Maggie to her. "Maggie, dear," she said, "you must not be impatient with Hafed. I am sure he tries his best; but you must remember it is hard work for that little foreign tongue of his to twist itself to our English words. He will learn to pronounce them in time."
"But, Aunt Bessie," said Maggie, "mamma said it was always best to learn to do a thing well at first, and then one will not have to break one's self of bad habits." ”