Mrs. Baker

“ Once again he visited the churchyard of Treby, accompanied by the orphan. She was loath to quit the spot—she could with difficulty consent to leave mamma. But Mrs. Baker had made free use of a grown-up person's much abused privilege of deceit, and told her lies in abundance; sometimes promising that she should soon return; sometimes assuring her that she would find her mother alive and well at the grand place whither she was going: yet, despite the fallacious hopes, she cried and sobbed bitterly during her last visits to her parents' graves. ”

“ Baker I feel assured that she will prove a kind and pleasant employer, making you feel yourself just one of the family—not a stranger about whom they care nothing. Also I think the knowledge that you can come back to your home here at any time if you will, sure of a welcome from your kind uncle—and I dare say all the family—will make it all the easier for you to be happy in your new surroundings.”
“Yes, ma’am, my uncles are very, very kind to me, to my brother and sisters too; and Harry and the girls can come to Mrs. Baker’s sometimes to see me ”

“ Don't Vilola Brown always come once a year and spend six months with her father, and then go back to Jefferson and spend six months with her mother? Ain't she done that ever since her father and mother separated when she was a baby? I should think you might know that as well as I do, Elmira Baker."
"Oh, of course I do," said Mrs. Baker; "I was only talking at random. I was only wondering what he was having that room papered for if it was done only a year ago."
"Well, I can tell you," said Mrs. Wells, with asperity. "Some folks have money to throw away for nothing, or think they do. ”

“ Her grandmother, however (Mrs. Baker always insisted upon her rights of relationship, and would be called grandmamma, however much shy Honor endeavoured to escape the duty) , her grandmother strove as best she might to steady Mrs. John’s nerves on the occasion.
“You will find my son’s wife one of the best and unpretending of women; but that, my dear, has nothing to do with the question. If she were the least good-natured and the worst of human beings, our duty would remain the same, and that duty would be to have no secrets from Mrs. Norcott. ”

“ This dusky potentate had promised Baker every assistance that he could give, but having decided to make an attack on two neighbouring tribes he asked the Englishman to accompany his force and fight for him. This Baker refused to do, and, in revenge, the king sent secret orders to Baker's followers to desert him, and leave him and his wife to starve. In a desolate spot, unable to obtain provisions, Mr. and Mrs. Baker existed for two months, growing weaker daily from fever and want of proper food. ”

“ Dr. T. T. Mann, and late widow of James M. Goodhue, in 1853. Mrs. Baker died in 1875. Maj. Newson, in his "Pen Portraits," says of her: "She was an affectionate wife and a devoted mother, and amid all the trials and vicissitudes incident to the ups and downs of an old settler's career, she never murmured, never complained, never fretted, never chided; always cheerful, always hopeful, casting sunshine into the home and weaving about all those she loved golden chains of unbroken affection."
B. F. Hoyt.—Rev. ”

“ Baker, again; “you all owe each other what you owed before.”
“You are deceived, my dear, by the rapid, unbroken race this little sum has made; to me it is as clear as daylight,” replied Mrs. Baker.
“If it is all nonsense, how could the note which you gave Mrs. Baker, if nothing to me or to you, be divided between us two?” asked Grace.
Mr. Baker did not seem to see it very clearly, but the others did, and they often relate this little history for the amusement of their friends.
[Pg 158]
THE RATIONALISTIC CHICKEN.
(Inspecting its shell.)
BY J. S. STONE.
Most strange! ”

“ We are pretty well posted down there in all that concerns Laurel Run, and I think" (with a slight bow) , "we've known all about you and John Baker. My only business here is to take your place to-night in receiving the 'Omnibus Way Bag,' that you know arrives here at 9.30, doesn't it?"
"Yes, sir," said Mrs. Baker, hurriedly; "but it never has anything for us, except——" (she caught herself up quickly, with a stammer, as she remembered the sighing Green's occasional offerings) , "except a notification from Hickory Hill Post-office. ”

“ What I have admired in some dear women is their capacity for quarrelling and for reconciliation. As I saw Lady Baker hanging round her son’s neck, and fondling his scanty ringlets, I remembered the awful stories with which in former days she used to entertain us regarding this reprobate. Her heart was pincushioned with his filial crimes. Under her chesnut front her ladyship’s real head of hair was grey, in consequence of his iniquities. ”

“ Had I gone, I should have disobeyed Aunt Rebecca, and—Harry.”
“Why disobeyed Aunt Rebecca?” said the captain, quietly dropping the other party.
“Because they,” said Becky, not relishing the dropping game, “forbade my going until the expiration of the school term.”
“How? She forbid you! It’s a good idea; a nice way of earning money; and you want to go still?”
“O, indeed I do, if only it was right.”
“Right? Of course it’s right,” said the captain, roused at a chance for opposition. “She’s no right to prevent you, and I should like to see her do it. You want to go to Boston. You shall go.” ”

“ But ’tis time you learned a young woman’s duties. You are quick, intelligent, apt to learn. Will you let me give you a few lessons, Becky?”
“O, Aunt Rebecca, if you don’t hate me, if you will try and make something of me, I’ll never go out doors again as long as I live!” ”

“ Mary, I wish I had not come here. There’s a power in the old house that makes my heart ache, it awakens such memories! And mother, dear soul, how sadly her bright hopes of her boy have been shattered! Though I have dashed into the city, and been swept along by its hurry and whirl, I have often thought of this quiet house, and ached, fairly ached, to feel mother’s arms around my neck, and her goodnight kiss upon my brow. O, Mary, be tender, very tender with her. Don’t let her hear a word against me. Sometimes I think that fierce temptation will overwhelm me, ruin me, body and soul ”

“ Abigail Ambrose Baker was distinguished for numerous excellences. She possessed a strong intellect, a sympathizing heart, and a placid spirit. Her presence, like the gentle dew and cheerful light, was felt by all around her. ”

“ Becky knew that well enough. Why should she be told what she knew so well? It was nobody’s business, any way. Why didn’t people attend to their own affairs? She failed to recognize the voice, and, being in an ugly state of misery, snatched the soft hand from its resting-place, and flung it rudely from her, with her eyes defiantly closed.
Mrs. Thompson did not replace the hand, did not repeat the words. She stood looking at the girl a moment, then passed across the room, and took a seat by the window. This movement set Becky to thinking. ”

“ That is what I mean,” whispered Dorothy, eagerly.
“You want to buy me, Miss?' said Baker, calmly.
“Not that, quite, Baker, but just—”
“You will not think badly of me if I cannot listen to your offer, Miss? I am to serve you here, and I want you to like me, but I cannot do what you would ask. Pardon me if I speak plainly, but I cannot be bought.” There was no mistaking the honest expression in the maid's eyes. “Lady Saxondale is my mistress, and I love her. If she asks me to take you to your friends, I will obey.” ”

“ Yes, old Miss Baker braced Em up wonderful; brought a lot of dried catnip out west with her for the baby; taught Em how to make salt-rising bread; told her all about stewing things and broiling things and roasting things; showed her how to tell the real Yankee codfish from the counterfeit—oh, she just did Em lots of good, did old Miss Baker!
The rewards of virtue may be slow in coming, but they are sure to come. Em's three boys—the three bouncing boys that came to Em and Lute—those three boys waxed fat and grew up boisterous, blatant appreciators of their mother's cooking. ”

“ She sold her jewels to build a home for the aged sick, but she did not do it, princess and grown woman as she was, until she had asked the consent of her mother and her brother the king. What have you done, my child? What have you been thinking of? You must explain yourself fully. I have a right to demand it!"
Alma again left the room, to return with the little yellow house in her hands. "Here is my savings-box, papa," she said; "Nono made it for me."
A flush of pleasure came over the face of the colonel. "So exactly like Karin's cottage!" he exclaimed. "What a clever little boy! ”

“ Baker began to talk again. He was interested in the young companion by his side, this boy so filled with determination, so energetic and forceful and yet so abounding in loyalty and affection, as his grief over Jerry's death and his fondness for his horse testified; this boy who read books and yet had such a whole-souled contempt of affected learning as evidenced by his ill-concealed disdain of the Eastern "dude." "You've never been East," began the ranchman, "or to school?"
"No. I was born in Bismarck, North Dakota," was the answer. ”

“ It is not surprising that this degree of intelligence should fail to see the profound official difference between Baker Sisters and Baker novices. As the Mother Superior said, it did not seem to occur to people that there could be in connection with a religious body, such words as discipline and subordination, which were certainly made ridiculous for the time being, when she and Sister Ann Frances were asked to eat ices on the same terms as Miss Hilda Howe. ”

“ But I am Mercutio, who, upon my life,
Had nearly made that maid there be my wife
But for your coming. Now that you have come,
And I’m not wanted, I think I’ll go home.
Rom. Stay, vile Mercutio, I see what you’re about:
With this ’ere maid you tried to cut me out;
But you shall find that I can cut as well.
A game of turn him out, we’ll have, my swell.
You are a sneak, so be a little bolder:
Let’s see you knock that chip from off my shoulder.
(Mercutio blows chip off.)
A blow. We’ll try the manly art.
Mer. The manly art?—oh, no!
We can’t do that: it’s not for us, you know. ”

“ His jaws will open. His teeth will gleam. If any little girl cries, he will snap at her, and it will be good-bye girl. Now, if you are not a fraid-cat you'll say, 'Harvey Baker, whistle.'"
She wanted to run more than ever, but instead she repeated slowly:
"Harvey Baker, whistle."
The boy pursed up his lips, but he then made an impressive pause, and finally pointed his finger at Beth.
"Elizabeth Davenport, remember. If you give the least little bit of a cry, you die. But, if you keep perfectly still, and never tell what you see, I am your friend for life." ”

“ I went to the wars with my father when I was so young that I scarcely remember the love of a sister, and when the Lady Marguerite smiled at me the first night that I saw her, with a look of kindness that no one else ever had given me, I felt as if I could give up my life for her."
"She always is kind," said the jester; "she never is haughty, even to her servants. ”

“ Having emphatically launched this alarming threat, Becky applied herself to the task of raising the temperature of that truthful thermometer,—her nose,—which indicated a state of the weather but little above zero. This she did by a brisk application of her hand, with her eyes fastened upon her companions.
“Take care, Becky; you’ll rub it off. It’s very tender, and there’s but little of it,” said Harry, with a laugh. “Woolen mill, indeed! You can’t get up a blaze there; it’s brick.”
“Don’t think of such a thing, child. There’s no necessity for your earning money,” said Mrs. Thompson. ”

“ So you see I like to do a turn of work if I can, if it's only to show I'm thankful. Karin says she's used to a big family, and it seems lonesome since her oldest son went to America, and I must take his place. I don't live in the cottage. There are enough of 'em there without me. They've fixed me up a place alongside of Star—that's the cow."
"It's a dear little room," said the child, "and we all like to be there; but Uncle Pelle shuts the door sometimes, and won't let us in."
"Old folks must have their quiet spells," said the old man apologetically. ”

“ She had felt a glow of pleasure when she saw the flush on her mother’s cheek, the tears standing in her eyes, and a faint smile upon her lips. There was something very warming to her heart, when Aunt Hulda said, with a shake of the head,—
“What did I tell you? She’s a brave, good girl; and I knew she’d come out strong when she did come;” with a defiant glance at an invisible somebody, who might be inclined to doubt her.
Mrs. Thompson’s warm kiss of approval; Harry’s loud “Well done, pet! I’m proud of you!” ”

“ The room was neat and tidy; the “poor man” lay upon a sofa; two of the five children with which this couple were blessed were playing about the room; two were at church; the eldest, Silly, was in the next room, putting away her things, having just returned from Mrs. Thompson’s.
“Only think, father, here’s Becky and Teddy Sleeper come all the way alone to bring you something nice. Of all things! Why, Becky, I thought you didn’t care for anything but getting into scrapes and out again. You’ve got a good heart, any way—ain’t she father?” ”