RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. Page 26. 
 

 
 DOTTY DIMPLE STORIES. 
 
 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 BY SOPHIE MAY, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " LITTLE PRUDY STORIES." 
 
 BOSTON: 
 LEES <A^NT> SHEF-A.RD. 
 
 1870. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 
 
 LEE AND SHEPAKD, 
 In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 ELEOTKOTTPED AT THE 
 BOSTON STEBEOTYTE FOUNBET, 
 
 19 .Spring Lane. 
 
7 C 
 
 TO THE 
 
 LITTLE 
 
DOTTY DIMPLE STORIES. 
 
 To be completed in six vols. Handsomely Illustrated. 
 Each vol., 75 cts. 
 
 1. DOTTY DIMPLE AT HER GRANDMOTHER S. 
 
 2. DOTTY DIMPLE AT HOME. 
 
 3. DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST. 
 
 4. DOTTY DIMPLE AT PLAY. 
 
 5. DOTTY DIMPLE AT SCHOOL. 
 
 6. DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 i 
 BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 LITTLE PRUDY STORIES. 
 
 Now complete. Six vols. 24mo. Handsomely Illustrated. 
 In a neat box. Per vol., 75 cts. Comprising 
 
 LITTLE PRUDY. 
 
 LITTLE PRUDY S SISTER SUSIE. 
 LITTLE PRUDY S CAPTAIN HORACE. 
 LITTLE PRUDY S COUSIN GRACE. 
 LITTLE PRUDY S STORY BOOK. 
 LITTLE PRUDY S DOTTY DIMPLE. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. BEGINNING TO REMEMBER. ... 7 
 
 II. RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. ... 20 
 
 III. RUNNING AWAY TO HEAVEN. ... 37 
 
 IV. A RAILROAD SAVAGE. . . . . .51 
 
 V. EAST AGAIN. 67 
 
 VI. THE RAG-BAG 84 
 
 VII. THE WICKED GIRL 102 
 
 VIII. " WHEELBARROWING." . . . .117 
 
 IX. TIN-TYPES 138 
 
 X. WAKING 154 
 
 XI. AUNT POLLY S STORY 170 
 
 XII. PULL NIPPERKIN. 189 
 
DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 BEGINNING TO REMEMBER. 
 
 KATIE CLIFFORD was a very bright child. 
 She almost knew enough to keep out of 
 fire and water, but not quite. She looked 
 like other little girls, only so wise, O, 
 so very wise ! that you couldn t tell her 
 any news about the earth, or the sun, 
 moon, and stars, for she knew all about 
 it "byfore." 
 
 Her hair was sr>ft and flying like corn- 
 silk, and when the wind took it you would 
 think it meant to blow it off like a dan 
 delion top. She was so light and breezy, 
 
 (7) 
 
8 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 and so little for her age, that her father 
 said " they must put a cent in her pocket 
 to keep her from flying away;" so, after 
 that, the family began to call her Flya 
 way. She thought it was her name, and 
 that when people said "Katie," it was a 
 gentle way they had of scolding. 
 
 Everybody petted her. Her brother 
 Horace put his heart right under her feet, 
 and she danced over it. Her "uncle Ed- 
 dard " said " she drove round the world 
 in a little chariot, and all her friends were 
 harnessed to it, only they didn t know it." 
 
 Her shoulders were very little, but they 
 bore a crushing weight of care. From 
 the time she began to talk, she took upon 
 herself the burden of the whole family. 
 When Mrs. Clifford had a headache, Fly 
 away was so full of pity that nothing 
 could keep her from climbing upon the 
 
BEGINNING TO REMEMBER. 9 
 
 sufferer, stroking her face, and saying, 
 " O, my dee mamma," or perhaps break 
 ing the camphor bottle over her nose. 
 
 She sat at table in a high chair beside 
 her father, and might have learned good 
 manners if it had not been for the care 
 she felt of Horace. She could scarcely 
 attend to her own little knife and fork, 
 because she was so busy watching her 
 brother. She wished to see for herself 
 that he was sitting straight, and not lean 
 ing his elbows on the table. If he made 
 any mistake she cried, t? Hollis ! " in a 
 tone as sweet as a wind-harp, though she 
 meant it to be terribly severe, adding to 
 the effect by shaking the corn-silk on her 
 head in high displeasure. If she could 
 correct him she thought she had done as 
 much good in the family as if she had 
 behaved well herself. He received all re- 
 
10 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 bukes very meekly, with a Thank you, 
 little Topknot. What would be done here 
 without you to preserve order ? " 
 
 V 
 
 Flyaway could remember as far back as 
 the beginning of the world, that is to 
 say, she could remember when her world 
 began. 
 
 It is strange to think of, but the first 
 thing she really knew for a certainty, she 
 was standing in a yellow chair, in her 
 grandmother Parlin s kitchen ! It was as 
 if she had always been asleep till that 
 minute. People did say she had once 
 been a baby, but she could not recollect 
 that, "it was so MANY years ago." 
 
 Her mind, you see, had always been 
 as soft as a bag of feathers ; and nothing 
 that she did, or that any one else did, 
 made much impression. But now some 
 thing remarkable was taking place, and 
 she would never forget it. 
 
BEGINNING TO REMEMBER. 11 
 
 It was this : she was grinding coffee. 
 How prettily it pattered down on the floor ! 
 What did it look like? O, like snuff, that 
 people sneezed with. This was house 
 work. Next thing they would ask her to 
 wash dishes and set the table. She would 
 grow larger and larger, and Gracie would 
 grow littler and littler; and O, how nice 
 it would be when she could do all the 
 work, and Gracie had to sit in mamma s 
 lap and be rocked ! 
 
 "Flywer ll do some help," said she. 
 "Flywer ll take are of g amma s things." 
 
 While she stood musing thus, with a 
 dreamy smile, and turning the handle of 
 the mill as fast as it would go round, 
 somebody sprang at her very unexpect 
 edly. It was Euth, the kitchen-girl. She 
 seized Katie by the shoulders, carried her 
 through the air, and set her on her feet 
 in the sink. 
 
12 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "There, little Mischief," said she, "you ll 
 stay there one while ! We ll see if we 
 can t put a stop to this coffee-grinding ! 
 Why, you re enough to wear out the pa 
 tience of Job ! " 
 
 Katie had often heard about Job ; she 
 supposed it was something dreadful, like a 
 lion, or a whale. She looked up at Buth, 
 and saw her black eyes flashing and the 
 rosy color trembling in her cheeks. Cruel 
 Euth ! She did not know Katie was her 
 best friend, working and helping get din 
 ner as fast as she could. "Buthie," 
 sobbed she, "you didn t ask please." 
 
 "Well, well, child, I m in a hurry; and 
 when you set things to flying, you re 
 enough to wear out the patience of Job." 
 
 Job again. 
 
 " You ve said so two times, Euthie ! 
 Now I don t like you tall, tenny rate." 
 
BEGINNING TO REMEMBER. 13 
 
 This was as, harsh language as Katie 
 dared use ; but she frowned fearfully, and 
 a tuft of hair, rising from her head like 
 a waterspout, made her look so fierce 
 that Euth seemed to be frightened, and 
 ran away with her apron up to her face. 
 
 The sink was so high that Katie could 
 not get out of it alone, "course indeed 
 she couldn t." 
 
 "It most makes me fraid," said she to 
 herself: "Euthie s a big woman, I s a little 
 woman. When I s the biggest I ll put 
 Euthie in my sink." 
 
 Very much comforted by this resolve, 
 she dried her eyes and began to look 
 about her for more housework. "Let s 
 me see ; I ll pump a bushel o water." 
 
 There was a pail in the sink; so, what 
 should she do but jump into that, and 
 then jerk the pump-handle up and down, 
 
14 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 till a fine stream poured out and sprin 
 kled her all over ! 
 
 " Sing a song, O sink-spout," sang she, 
 catching her breath : but presently she 
 began to feel cold. 
 
 " O, how it makes me shivvle! r said 
 she. 
 
 " Katie ! " called out a voice. 
 
 " Here me are ! " gurgled the little one, 
 her mouth under the pump-nose. 
 
 When Horace came in she was standing 
 in water up to the tops of her long white 
 stockings. He took her out, wrung her 
 a little, and set her on a shelf in the 
 pantry to dry. 
 
 " Oho ! " said she, shaking her wet plu 
 mage, like a duckling ; " what for you 
 look that way to me? I didn t do nuf- 
 fin, not the leastest nuffin ! The water 
 kep a comin and a comin ." 
 
BEGINNING TO REMEMBER. 15 
 
 "Yes, you little naughty girl, and you 
 kept pumping and pumping." 
 
 " I m isn t little naughty goorl," thought 
 Katie, indignantly; "but Euthie s naughty 
 goorl, and Hollis velly naughty goorl." 
 
 "O, here you are, you little Hop-o -my- 
 thumb," said Mrs. Clifford, coming into 
 the pantry ; " a baby with a cough in her 
 throat and pills in her pocket musn t get 
 wet." 
 
 Flyaway thrust her hand into her wet 
 pocket to make sure the wee vial of white 
 dots was still there. 
 
 "I fished her out of a pail of water," 
 said Horace ; " to-morrow I shall find her 
 in a bird s nest." 
 
 Mrs. Clifford sent for some fresh stock 
 ings and shoes. Her baby-daughter was 
 so often falling into mischief that she 
 thought very little about it. She did not 
 
16 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 know this was a remarkable occasion, and 
 the baby had to-day begun to remember. 
 She did not know that if Flyaway should 
 live to be an old lady, she would some 
 times say to her grandchildren, 
 
 " The very first thing I have any recol 
 lection of, dears, is grinding coffee in your 
 great-grandmamma s kitchen at Willow- 
 brook. The girl, Euth Dillon, took me 
 up by the shoulders, carried me through 
 the air, and set me in the sink, and then 
 I pumped water over myself." 
 
 This is about the way little Flyaway 
 would be likely to talk, sixty years from 
 now, adding, as she polished her specta 
 cles, 
 
 " And after that, children, things went 
 into a mist, and I don t remember any 
 thing else that happened for some time." 
 
 Why was it that things " went into a 
 
BEGINNING TO REMEMBER. 17 
 
 mist " ? Why didn t she keep on remem 
 bering every day? I don t know. 
 
 But the next thing that really did hap 
 pen to Miss Thistleblow Flyaway, though 
 she went right off and forgot it, was this : 
 She persuaded her mother to write a letter 
 for her to " Dotty Dimpwill." As it was 
 her first letter, I will copy it. 
 
 w Mr DEAR DOTTY DIMPWILL first, then MY 
 PRUDY : 
 
 "I m going to say that I dink milk, 
 and that girl lost my pills. 
 
 " I see a hop-toad. He hopped. Jen 
 nie took her up in his dress. 
 
 " And bout we put hop-toad in wash- 
 dish. He put his foots out, stwetched, 
 honest ! He was a slippy fellow. First 
 thing we knowed it, he hopped on to her 
 dress. Isn t that funny? 
 2 
 
18 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " Now bout the chickens ; they are trot- 
 tin round on the grass : they didn t be 
 dead. We haven t got any only bnt dead 
 ones ; but Mis Gray has. r 
 
 " I like Dr. Gray ever so much ! 
 
 " Mis Gray gave me the kitty to play 
 with. I bundled it all up in my dress, 
 cause I didn t want the cat to get it. 
 When I went home I gave it to the cat. 
 [You got that ^vrotenf~\ 
 
 ? There wasn t any dead little kittens. 
 She gave me a cookie, and I eated it, and 
 I told her to give me another to bring 
 home, cause I liked her cookies ; they was 
 curly cookies. [Got it wroted, mamma?] 
 
 " Now bout I pumped full a pail full 
 Q* water. 
 
 :? [She knows we ve got a house ? ] 
 
 " Now say good by, and I kiss her a 
 pretty little kiss. O, no ; I want her to 
 
BEGINNING TO REMEMBER. 19 
 
 come and see me, her and Prudy, two 
 of em! I s here yet. [ Haps she knows 
 it!] 
 
 "That s all-^I feel sleepy. 
 (Signed) " From 
 
 " DOTTY DIMPWILL TO FLYWER." 
 
 This letter "went into a mist," and so 
 did the next performance, which you will 
 read in the following chapter. 
 
20 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. 
 
 THE little Parlins came the next week. 
 One Sunday morning Dotty Dimple stood 
 before the glass, putting on her hat for 
 church. Katie came and peeped in with 
 her, opening her small mouth and drawing 
 her lips over her teeth, as her grandfather 
 did when he shaved. 
 
 "See, Flyaway, you haven t any dimples 
 
 at all ! " said Dotty, primping a little. 
 
 Your hair isn t smooth and curly like 
 
 mine ; it sticks up all over your head, 
 
 like a little fan." 
 
 " Q, my shole ! " sighed Flyaway, scowl- 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. 21 
 
 ing at herself. She did not know how 
 lovely she was, nor how 
 
 " The light of the heaven she came from 
 Still lingered and gleamed in her hair." 
 
 "I wisht twouldn t get out," said she. 
 
 What do you mean by out ? " 
 
 " O, unwetted, and un-comb-bid, and un- 
 parted." 
 
 :? That s because you fly about like such 
 a little witch." 
 
 " I doesn t do the leastest nuffin, Dotty 
 Dimpwill ! Folks ought to let me to go 
 to churches." 
 
 "I should laugh, Fly Clifford, to see you 
 going to churches ! All the ministers would 
 come down out of the pulpits and ask 
 what little mischief that was, and make 
 aunt Ria carry you home ! " 
 
 " No, he wouldn t, too ! I d sit stiller n 
 
22 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 two, free, five hundred mouses," pleaded 
 Flyaway, climbing up the back of a chair 
 to show how quiet she could be. 
 
 "O, it s no use to talk about it, darling. 
 Give me one kiss, and I ll go get my sun 
 shade." 
 
 " Can t, Dotty Dimpwill ! My mamma s 
 kiss I ll keep; it s ahind my mouf; she s 
 gone to Dusty. 
 
 "Well, keep it ahind your mouf, then; 
 and here s another to put with it. What 
 do you s pose makes me love to kiss you 
 so?" 
 
 "O, cause I so sweet," replied Flya 
 way, promptly; but she was not thinking 
 of her own sweetness, just then; she was 
 wondering if she could manage to run 
 away to church. 
 
 "I se a-goin there myse f! Sit still s a 
 --a " She looked around for a com- 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. 23 
 
 parison, and saw a grasshopper on the 
 window-sill : " still s a gas-papa. Man 
 won t say nuffin to me, see ? f he does ! " 
 
 Strange such an innocent-looking child 
 could be so sly ! She ran down the path 
 with Horace, kissing her little hand to 
 everybody for good by, all the while 
 thinking how she could steal off to church 
 without being seen. 
 
 f You may go up stairs and lie down 
 with me on my bed," said grandma, who 
 was not very well. So Katie climbed upon 
 the bed. 
 
 " My dee gamma, I so solly you s sick ! " 
 said she, stroking Mrs. Parlin s face, and 
 picking open her eyelids. But after pat 
 ting and " pooring " the dear lady for some 
 time, she thought she had made her "all 
 well," and then was anxious to get away. 
 Mrs. Parlin wished to keep her up stairs 
 
24 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 as long as possible, because Euth had a 
 toothache. 
 
 "Shan t I tell you a story, dear?" said 
 she. 
 
 Yes, um; tell bout a long baby no, 
 a long story bout a short baby." 
 
 Well, once there was a king, and he 
 had a daughter " 
 
 "O, no, gamma, not that! Tell me 
 bout baby that didn t be on the bul- 
 yushes ; I don t want to hear bout Mosey! " 
 Grandma smiled, and wondered if peo 
 ple, in the good old Bible days, were in 
 the habit of using pet names, and if Pha 
 raoh s daughter ever called the Hebrew 
 boy "Mosey." She was about to begin 
 another story, when Flyaway said, " Guess 
 I ll go out, now," and slid off the bed. 
 There was an orange on the table. She 
 took it, held it behind her, and walked 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. 25 
 
 quickly to the door. Looking back, she 
 
 saw that her grandmother was watching 
 
 
 her. 
 
 "What you looking at, gamma? Cause 
 I m are goin to bring the ollinge right 
 back." 
 
 And so she did, but not because it was 
 wrong to keep it. Flyaway had no con 
 science, or, if she had any, it was very 
 small, folded up out of sight, like a leaf- 
 bud on a tree in the spring. 
 
 " Ask Euthie to wash your face and 
 hands, and then come right back to grand 
 ma and hear the story." 
 
 "Yes urn." 
 
 Down stairs she pattered. The mo 
 ment Euth had kissed her, and turned 
 away to make a poultice, she crept into 
 the nursery, and put on Horace s straw hat. 
 Then she took from a corner an old cane 
 
26 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 of her grandfather s, and from -the paper- 
 rack a daily newspaper, and started out 
 in great glee. The " Journal " she hugged 
 to her heart, and her short dress she held 
 up to her waist, ? Cause I s pect I mus 
 keep it out o the mud," said she, as anx 
 iously as any lady with a train. 
 
 She had no trouble in finding the church, 
 for the road was straight, but the cane 
 kept tripping her up. 
 
 "Naughty fing ! Wisht I hadn t took 
 you, to-day, you act so bad ! " said she, 
 picking herself up for the fifth time, and 
 slinging the " naughty fing " across her 
 shoulder like a gun. When she came to 
 the meeting-house there was not a soul to 
 be seen. " Guess they s eatin dinner in 
 here," decided Flyaway, after looking about 
 for a few seconds. " Guess I ll go up 
 chamer, see where the folks is." 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. 27 
 
 Up stairs she clattered, hitting the bal 
 usters with her cane. Good Mr. Lee was 
 preaching from the text, " Remember the 
 Sabbath day, to keep it holy," and people 
 could .not imagine who was naughty enough 
 to make such a noise outside thump, 
 thump, thump. 
 
 "Who s that a-talkin ?" thought Flya 
 way, startled by Mr. Lee s voice. " O, ho ! 
 that s the prayer-man a-talkin . He makes 
 me kind o fraid ! " 
 
 But just at that minute she had reached 
 the top of the stairs, and was standing in 
 the doorway. 
 
 " O, my shole ! so many folks ! " 
 
 She trembled, and was about to run 
 away with her newspaper and cane ; but 
 her eyes, in roving wildly about, fell upon 
 grandpa Parlin and all the rest of them, 
 in a pew very near the pulpit. Then she 
 
28 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 thought it must be all right, and, taking 
 courage, she marched slowly up the aisle, 
 swinging the cane right and left. 
 
 Everybody looked up in surprise as the 
 droll little figure crept by. Grandpa 
 frowned through his spectacles, and aunt 
 Louise shook her head ; but Horace hid 
 his face in a hymn-book and Dotty Dim 
 ple actually smiled. 
 
 "They didn t know / was a-comin ," 
 thought Flyaway, "but I earned!" 
 
 And with that she fluttered into the 
 pew. 
 
 "Naughty, naughty girl," said aunt Lou 
 ise, in an awful whisper. 
 
 She longed to take up the morsel of 
 naughtiness, called Katie, in her thumb and 
 finger, shake it, and carry it out. But 
 there was a twinkle in the little one s eye 
 that might mean mischief ; she did not 
 dare touch her. 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. 29 
 
 " O, what a child ! " said aunt Louise, 
 taking off the big hat and setting Flya 
 way down on the seat as hard as she 
 could. 
 
 Flyaway looked up, through her veil of 
 flossy hair, at her pretty auntie with the 
 roses round her face. 
 
 "Nobody didn t take are o me to my 
 house," said she, in a loud whisper, " and 
 that s what is it!" 
 
 "Hush!" said aunt Louise, giving Fly 
 away another shake, which frightened her 
 so that she dropped her head on her broth 
 er s shoulder, and sat perfectly still for 
 half a minute. 
 
 Aunt Louise was sadly mortified, and 
 so were Susy and Prudy. They dared 
 not look up, for they thought everybody 
 was gazing straight at the Parliii pew, and 
 laughing at their crazy little relative. Hor- 
 
30 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 ace and Dotty Dimple did not care in 
 the least; they thought it very funny. 
 
 "They shan t scold at my cunning little 
 Topknot," whispered Horace, consolingly. 
 "Sit still, darling, and when we get home 
 I ll give you a cent." 
 
 "Yes urn, I will," replied poor brow 
 beaten Flyaway, and held up her head 
 again with the best of them. Perhaps she 
 had been naughty ; perhaps folks were 
 going to snip her fingers ; but " Hollis " 
 was on her side now and forever. She 
 began to feel quite contented. She had 
 got inside the church at last, and was very 
 well pleased with it. It was even queerer 
 than she had expected. 
 
 " What was that high-up thing the pray 
 er-man was a-standin on?" 
 
 Flyaway merely asked this of her own 
 wise little brain. She concluded it must 
 be " a chimley." 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. 31 
 
 " Great red curtains ahincl him," added 
 she, still conversing with her own little 
 brain. "Lots o great big bubbles on the 
 walls all round. Big s a tea-kiddle ! Lamps, 
 I s pose. There s that table. Where s the 
 cups and saucers for the supper? And 
 the tea-pot ? 
 
 "All the bodies everywhere had their 
 bonnets on; why for? Didn t say a word, 
 and the prayer-man kep a-talkin all the 
 time; why for? Flywer didn t talk; no 
 indeed. Folks mus n t. If folks did, then 
 the man would come down out the chim- 
 ley and tell the other bodies to carry em 
 home. Cause it s the holy Sabber-day, 
 and that s what is it." 
 
 Flyaway s airy brain went dancing round 
 and round. She slid away from Horace s 
 shoulder, spread her little length upon the 
 seat, closed her wondering, tired eyes, and 
 
32 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 sailed off to Noddle s Island. A fly, buzz 
 ing in from out doors, had long been try 
 ing to settle on Flyaway s restless nose. 
 He never did settle : Horace kept guard 
 with a palm-leaf fan, and " all the other 
 bodies " in the pew sat as still as if they 
 had been nailed down; so anxious were 
 they to keep the little sleeper safely har 
 bored at Noddle s Island. 
 
 "Such a relief!" thought aunt Louise, 
 venturing to look up once more. 
 
 Flyaway did not waken till the last 
 prayer, when Horace held her fast, lest 
 she should make a sudden rush upon a 
 speckled dog, which came trotting up the 
 aisle. 
 
 On the steps they met Ruth, with wild 
 eyes and face tied up in a scarf, hunting 
 for Flyaway. Mrs. Parlin, she said, was 
 going up the hill, so frightened that it 
 would make her " down sick." 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. 33 
 
 When grandma got home, all out of 
 breath, she found Flyaway looking very 
 downcast. Her heart was heavy under so 
 many scoldings. "O, Katie," said grand 
 ma, "how could you run away?" 
 
 "I didn t yun away," replied Flyaway, 
 thrusting her finger into her mouth ; w I 
 walked away ! " 
 
 "There, if that isn t a cunning baby, 
 where ll you find one?" whispered brother 
 Horace to Prudy. " Grandmother can t pun 
 ish her after such a cute speech." 
 
 But grandmother could, and did. She 
 took her by the little soft hand, led her 
 to the china closet, and locked her in. 
 
 " Half an hour you must stay there," 
 said she, "and think what a naughty girl 
 you ve been ! " 
 
 :? Yes um," said Flyaway, meekly, and 
 wiped off a tear with the hem of her frock. 
 3 
 
34 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 But the moment she was left alone, hex 
 quick, observing eyes saw something which 
 gave her a thrill of delight. It was a jar 
 of quince jelly, which had been left by 
 accident on the lower shelf. 
 
 " Cause I spect I likes urn," said she, 
 serenely, after eating all she possibly could. 
 
 At the end of half an hour grandma 
 came and turned the key. 
 
 " Have you been thinking, dear, and 
 are you sorry and ready to come out?" 
 
 "Yes, um," replied the little culprit, 
 with her mouth full, and feeling very brav^ 
 as long as the door was shut between her 
 and her jailer. "Yes, um, I ve thought it 
 all up, defful solly. But you won t 
 never shut me up no more, gamma Par- 
 lin ! " 
 
 "Katie Clifford!" said grandma, sternly; 
 and then she opened the door, and faced 
 Flyaway. 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO CHURCH. 35 
 
 " Cause cause cause," cried the lit 
 tle one, in great alarm; "you won t shut 
 me up, cause I won t never walk away 
 no more, gamma Parlin ! : 
 
 Mrs. Parlin tried hard not to smile ; but 
 the mixture on Flyaway s little face of 
 naughtiness, jelly, and fright, was very 
 funny to see. 
 
 The child noticed that her grandmoth 
 er s brows knit as if in displeasure, and 
 then she remembered the jelly. 
 
 "I hasn t been a-touchin your serves, 
 gamma," said she. 
 
 Mrs. Parlin really did not know what 
 to do, Flyaway s conscience was so little 
 and folded away in so many thicknesses, 
 like a tiny pearl in a whole box of cotton 
 wool. How could anybody get at it? 
 
 "Gamma, I hasn t been a-touchin your 
 serves," repeated the little thief. 
 
36 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "Ah, don t tell me that," said grandma, 
 sadly ; " I see it in your eye ! " 
 
 : What, gamma, the serves in my eye ? " 
 said Flyaway, putting up her finger to find 
 out for herself. Cause I put em in my 
 mouf, I did." 
 
 Mrs. Parlin washed the little pilferer s 
 face and hands, took her in her lap, and 
 tried to feel her way through the cotton 
 wool to the tiny conscience. 
 
 The child looked up and listened to all 
 the good words, and when they had been 
 spoken over and over, this was what she 
 said : 
 
 " O, gamma, you s got such pitty little 
 wrinkles 1 " 
 
KUNNING AWAY TO HEAVEN. 37 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 
 
 RUNNING AWAY TO HEAVEN. 
 
 ABOUT ten o clock one morning, Flya 
 way was sitting in the little green cham 
 ber with Dotty Dimple and Jennie Vance, 
 bathing her doll s feet in a glass of water. 
 Dinah had a dreadful headache, and her 
 forehead was bandaged with a red ribbon. 
 
 " Does you feel any better ? " asked Fly 
 away, tenderly, from time to time ; but 
 Dinah had such a habit of never answering, 
 that it was of no use to ask her any 
 questions. 
 
 Dotty Dimple and Jennie were talking 
 very earnestly. 
 
38 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "I do wish I did know where Charlie 
 Gray is ! " said Dotty, looking through the 
 open window at a bird flying far aloft into 
 the blue sky. 
 
 t? You do know," answered Jennie, quick 
 ly; "he s in heaven." 
 
 Yes, of course; but so high up O, 
 so high up," sighed Dotty, "it makes you 
 dizzy to think." 
 
 " Can um see we ? " struck in little Fly 
 away, holding to Dinah s flat nose a bottle 
 of reviving soap suds. 
 
 "Prucly says it s beautiful to be dead," 
 added Dotty, without heeding the ques 
 tion ; " beautiful to be dead." 
 
 " Shtop ! " cried Flyaway ; " I s a-talkin . 
 Does um see ive 9 " 
 
 "O, I don know, Fly Clifford ; you ll 
 have to ask the minister." 
 
 Flyaway squeezed the water from Dinah s 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO HEAVEN. 39 
 
 ragged feet, and dropped her under the 
 table, headache and all. Then she tipped 
 over the goblet, and flew to the window. 
 
 " The Charlie boy likes canny seeds ; 
 I ll send him some," said she, pinning a 
 paper of sugared spices to the window cur 
 tain, and drawing it up by means of the 
 tassel. "O, dear, um don t go high enough. 
 Charlie won t get em." 
 
 "Why, what is that baby trying to do?" 
 said Dotty Dimple. 
 
 " Charlie s defful high up," murmured Fly 
 away, heaving a little sigh; "can t get the 
 canny seeds." 
 
 " O, what a Fly ! How big do you s pose 
 her mind is, Jennie Vance?" 
 
 "Big as a thimble, perhaps," replied 
 Jennie , doubtfully. 
 
 Why, I shouldn t think, now, twas 
 any larger than the head of a pin," said 
 
40 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 Dotty, with decision ; " s poses heaven is 
 top o this room! Why, Jennie Vance, I 
 persume it s ever so much further oft n 
 Mount Blue don t you ? " 
 
 " O, yes, indeed ! What queer ideas 
 such children do have ! Flyaway doesn t 
 understand but very little we say, Dotty 
 Dimple; not but very little." 
 
 Flyaway turned round with one of her 
 wise looks. She thought she did under 
 stand ; at any rate she was catching every 
 word, and stowing it away in her little bit 
 of a brain for safe keeping. Heaven was 
 on Mount Blue. She had learned so much. 
 
 "But I knowed it by-fore," said she to 
 herself, with a proud toss of the silky 
 plume on the crown of her head. 
 
 rc Shall we take her with us ? " asked 
 Jennie Vance. 
 
 Flyaway listened eagerly ; she thought 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO HEAVEN. 41 
 
 they were still talking of heaven, when 
 in truth Jennie only meant a concert which 
 was to be giveil that afternoon at the 
 vestry. 
 
 "Take that little snip of a child!" re 
 plied Dotty ; " O, no ; she isn t big enough ; 
 twouldn t be any use to pay money for 
 her!" 
 
 With which very cutting remark Dotty 
 swept out of the room, in her queenly 
 way, followed by Jennie. Flyaway threw 
 herself across a pillow, and moaned, 
 
 "O, dee, dee!" 
 
 Her little heart was ready to bleed ; 
 and this wasn t the first time, either. 
 Those great big girls were always running 
 away from her, and calling her " goosies " 
 and " snips ; " and now they meant to climb 
 to heaven, where Charlie was, and leave 
 her behind. 
 
42 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 :? But I won t stay down here in this 
 place ; I ll go to heaven too, now, cerdi- 
 ly! She sprang from the pillow and 
 stood on one foot, like a strong-minded 
 little robin that will not be trifled with 
 by a worm. "I ll go too, now, cerdily." 
 
 Having made up her mind, she hurried 
 as fast as she could, and tucked a stick 
 of candy in her pocket, also the bottle of 
 soap suds, and two thirds of a w curly 
 cookie " shaped like a leaf. " Charlie would 
 be so glad to see Fly-wer ! " She purred 
 like a contented kitten as she thought about 
 it. Haps they ve got a bossy-cat up 
 there, and a piggy, and a swing. O, my 
 sholc ! " 
 
 There was no time to be lost. Flya 
 way must overtake the girls, and, if possi 
 ble, get to heaven before they did. She 
 flew about like a distracted butterfly. 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO HEAVEN. 43 
 
 " I must have some skipt ; her said me s 
 too little to pay for money ; " and she curled 
 her pretty red lip ; "but I m isn t much 
 little; man 11 want some skipt." 
 
 For she fancied somebody standing at 
 the door of heaven holding out his hand 
 like the ticket-man at the depot. She 
 found her mother s purse in the writing- 
 desk, and scattered its contents into the 
 w~ash-bowl, then picked out the wettest 
 " skipt," a five-dollar bill, and tucked it 
 into her bosom. This would make it all 
 right at the door of heaven. 
 
 "Now my spetty-curls," she added, hunt 
 ing in the "uppest drawer" till she found 
 the eyeless spectacles used for playing " old 
 lady." With these on, Flyaway thought 
 she could see the way a great deal better. 
 Horace s boots would help her up hill ; 
 so she jumped into those, and clattered 
 
44 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 down the back stairs with Dinah under 
 her arm. 
 
 There was nobody in the kitchen, for 
 Euthie was down cellar sweeping. Flya 
 way caught her shaker off the " short nail," 
 and stole out without being seen. Sitting 
 in the sun on the piazza was the " blue " 
 kittie. " Finkin bout a mouse, I spect," 
 said little Flyaway, seizing her and blow 
 ing open her eyes like a couple of rose 
 buds. 
 
 "Does you know where I s a-goin ? Up 
 to heaven. We don t let tinty folks, like 
 cats, go to heaven." 
 
 Pussy winked sorrowfully at this, and 
 baby s tender heart was touched. 
 
 :? Yes, we does," said she ; "but you 
 musn t scwatch the Charlie boy ; " and she 
 tucked the "tinty folks" under her left 
 arm. Then all was ready, and the little 
 pilgrim started for heaven. 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO HEAVEN. 45 
 
 " Urn s on the toppest hill," said she, 
 looking at the far-off mountains, reaching 
 up against the blue sky. One mountain 
 was much higher than the others, and on 
 that she fixed her eye. It was Mount 
 Blue, and was really twenty miles away. 
 If Flyaway should ever reach that cloud- 
 capped peak, it was not her wee, wee feet 
 which would carry her there. But the baby 
 had no idea of distances. She went out 
 of the yard as fast as the big boots would 
 allow. She felt as brave as a little fly 
 trying to walk the whole length of the 
 Chinese Wall. 
 
 Where were Dotty Dimple and Jennie 
 Vance? O, they were halfway to heaven 
 by this time ; she must " hurry quick." 
 
 The fact was, they were "up in the 
 Pines," picking strawberries. Nobody saw 
 Flyaway but a caterpillar. 
 
46 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "O, my shole ! there s a catty-pillow 
 what he want, you fink?" 
 
 Kitty winked and Dinah sulked, but 
 there was 110 reply. 
 
 The next thing they met was a grass 
 hopper. " O, dee, a gas-papa I Where 
 you s pose urn goin ? " 
 
 Kitty winked again and Dinah sulked. 
 
 Flyaway answered her own question. 
 "Diny, dat worm gone see his mamma." 
 
 Dinah did not care anything about the 
 family feelings of the " worms ; " so she 
 kept her reel silk mouth shut ; but she 
 grew very heavy so heavy, indeed, that 
 once her little mother dropped her in the 
 sand, but picking her up, shook her and 
 trudged on. Presently she dropped some 
 thing else, and this time it was the kitty. 
 Flyaway turned about in dismay. 
 
 tc Shtop," cried she, scowling through her 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO HEAVEN. 47 
 
 " spetty-curls," as she saw three white paws 
 and one blue one go tripping over the 
 road. " Shtop ! " But the paws kept on. 
 
 "O, Diny," said Flyaway, as pussy s tail 
 disappeared round a corner, "O, Diny, 
 her don t want to go to heaven ! " 
 
 Then Flyaway sat down in the sand, 
 and pulled off one of the big boots. 
 
 " Urn won t walk," said she ; but, before 
 she had time to pull off the second one, 
 a dog came along and frightened her so 
 she tried to run, though she only hopped 
 on one foot, and dragged the other. She 
 did not know what the matter was till she 
 fell down and the boot came off of itself, 
 after which she could walk very well. 
 What cared she that both " Hollis s " new 
 boots were left in the road, ready to be 
 crushed by wagon wheels? 
 
 She kept on and kept on; but where 
 
48 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 was that blue hill going to? It moved 
 faster than she did. 
 
 " Makes me povokin / said she, giving 
 Dinah a shake. "Tim runs away and away, 
 and all off!" 
 
 Sometimes she remembered she was going 
 to heaven, and sometimes she forgot it. She 
 was on the way to the "Pines," and many 
 little flowers grew by the road-side. She 
 began to pick a few, but the thorns on the 
 raspberry bushes tore her tender hands, 
 and one of the naughty branches caught 
 Dinah by the frizzly hair, and carried her 
 under. What did Flyaway spy behind 
 the bushes ? Dotty Dimple and Jennie 
 Vance. They were eating wintergreen 
 leaves ; they did not see her. Flyaway 
 kept as still as if she were sitting for a 
 photograph, picked up Dinah, gave her a 
 hug, and crept on. 
 
RUNNING AWAY TO HEAVEN. 49 
 
 She went so quietly that nobody heard 
 her. When she was out of sight she purred 
 for joy. She had got ahead of the girls 
 on the way to heaven ! She took the stick 
 of candy out of her pocket and nibbled it 
 to celebrate the occasion. " A little hump 
 backed bumblebee " saw her do it. He 
 wanted some too, and followed Flyaway 
 as if she had been a moving honeysuckle. 
 For half a mile or more she " gaed " and 
 she "gaed," all the while nibbling the 
 candy; but now she was growing very 
 tired, and did it to comfort herself. Sud 
 denly she remembered it was Charlie s can 
 dy. She held it up to her tearful eyes. 
 
 "O dee, " said she, "it was big, but it 
 keeps a-gettin little ! " 
 
 The hungry bumblebee, who was just 
 behind her, thought this was his last chance : 
 so he pounced down upon Charlie s candy; 
 4 
 
50 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 and being cross, and not knowing Flyaway 
 from any other little girl, he stung her on 
 the thumb. Then how she cried, "Orny 
 ting me ! Orny ting me ! " for she had 
 been treated just so before by a hornet. 
 w O my dee mamma ! My dee mamma ! " 
 But her "dee" mamma could not hear 
 her; she was in the city of Augusta; and 
 as for the rest of the family, they supposed 
 Flyaway was playing " catch " with Dotty 
 Dimple in the barn. 
 
A RAILROAD SAVAGE. 51 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A RAILROAD SAVAGE." 
 
 IT now occurred to little Flyaway, with 
 a sudden pang, that she must have come 
 to the end of the world. Yes, cerdily!" 
 The world was full of folks and houses, 
 this place was nothing but trees. The 
 world had horses and wagons in it, this 
 place hadn t. O dee I " 
 
 Where was the hill gone, on the top of 
 which stood that big house they called heav 
 en, the house where Charlie lived and 
 played in the garden? Why, that hill had 
 just walked off, and the house too ! She part 
 ed the bushes and peeped through. Nothing 
 
52 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 to be seen but trees. Flyaway began to cry 
 from sheer fright, as well as pain. r Tis 
 a defful day ! I can t stay in this day ! " 
 
 More trouble had come to her than she 
 knew how to bear; but worst of all was 
 the cruel stab of the bumblebee. She 
 pitied her aching M fum," and kissed it 
 herself to make it feel better; but all in 
 vain ; " the pain kept on and on ; " the 
 "fum" grew big as fast as the candy had 
 grown little. 
 
 K Somebody don t take are o me," wailed 
 she ; " somebody gone off, lef me alone ! " 
 
 She was dreadfully hungry. t? When was 
 it be dinner time?" She would not have 
 been in the least surprised, but very much 
 pleased, if a bird had flown down with a 
 plate of roast lamb in his bill, and set it 
 on the ground before her. Simple little 
 Flyaway ! Or if her far-away mother had 
 
A RAILROAD SAVAGE. 53 
 
 sprung out from behind a tree with a bed 
 in her arms, the tired baby would have 
 jumped into the bed and asked no ques 
 tions. 
 
 But nothing of the sort came to pass. 
 Here she was, without any heaven or any 
 mother; and the great yellow sun was 
 creeping fast down the sky. 
 
 "I m tired out and sleepy out," wailed 
 the young traveller, the tears rolling over 
 the rims of her " spetty-curls," " all sleepy 
 out; and I can t get rested thout my 
 muwer ! " 
 
 She sat down and hid her head in her 
 black dolly s bosom. 
 
 "Diny, you got some ears? We wasn t 
 here by-fore ! " 
 
 This was all the way she had of saying 
 she was lost. 
 
 The sky suddenly grew dark; a shower 
 was coming up. 
 
54 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 Where has the bwight sun gone ? " said 
 Flyaway, with a shudder. 
 
 She was answered by a peal of thunder, 
 wagon- wheels, she supposed. 
 
 "Here I is!" shouted she. 
 
 Some one had come for her. Perhaps 
 it was Charlie, and they meant to give her 
 a ride up to heaven. A flash of light, and 
 then another crash. Flyaway understood 
 it then. It was logs. People were rolling 
 logs up in the sky, on the blue floor. She 
 had seen logs in a mill. Such a noise ! 
 
 Then she dropped fast asleep, and some 
 body came right down out of the clouds 
 and gave her a peach turnover as big as 
 a dinner basket, or so she thought. Just 
 as she was about to eat it, she was awa 
 kened by the rain dripping into her eyes. 
 She started up, exclaiming, " If you pees 
 urn, I want some cheese um." 
 
A RAILROAD SAVAGE. 55 
 
 But the turnover had gone ! Then the 
 feeling of desolation swept over her again. 
 She had come to the end of the world, 
 and dinner, and mother, and heaven had 
 all gone off and left her. 
 
 " O, Diny," sobbed she, turning to her 
 unfeeling dolly for sympathy. " I s free 
 years old, and you s one years old. Don t 
 you want to go to heaven, Diny, and sit 
 in God s lap? What a great big lap he 
 must have ! " 
 
 A gust of wind lifted the frizzles on 
 Dinah s forehead, but that was all. 
 
 "O dee, dee, dee! you don t hear nuffin 
 t all, Diny," said Flyaway the only sen 
 sible remark she had made that day. It 
 was of no use talking to Dinah ; so she 
 began to talk to herself. 
 
 "What you matter, Flywer Clifford?" 
 
56 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 said she, scowling to keep her courage up. 
 "What you matter?" 
 
 And after she had said that, she cried 
 harder than ever, and crept under the 
 bushes, moaning like a wounded lamb. 
 
 " I m defful wetter, but I m colder n I s 
 wetter ; makes me shivvle ! " 
 
 After a while the clouds had poured out 
 all the rain there was in them, and left 
 the sky as clear as it was before ; but by 
 that time the sun had gone to bed, and 
 the little birds too, sending out their good 
 nights from tree to tree. Then the new 
 moon came, and peeped over the shoulder 
 of a hill at Flyaway. She sprang out from 
 the bushes like a rabbit. 
 
 "O, my shole ! " cried she, clapping her 
 hands, "the sun s earned again! A little 
 bit o ? sun. I sawed it ! " 
 
 Inspired with new courage, she and 
 
A RAILROAD SAVAGE. 57 
 
 Dinah concluded to start for home ; that 
 is to say, they turned round three or 
 four times, and then struck off into the 
 woods. 
 
 Now you may be sure all this could not 
 happen without causing great alarm at 
 grandpa Parlin s. When the dinner bell 
 rang, everybody asked, twice over, "Why, 
 where is little Fly?" and Dotty Dimple 
 answered, as innocently as if it were none 
 of her affairs, 
 
 "Why, isn t she in the house? We 
 s posed she was. Jennie Vance and I have 
 just been out in the garden, under your 
 little crying willow, making a wreath. 
 Thought she was in the barn, or some 
 where." 
 
 "But you haven t been in the garden all 
 the while?" 
 
58 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " No m ; once we went up in the Pines, 
 grandma, you said we might, but we 
 haven t seen Fly, why, we haven t seen 
 her for the longest while ! " 
 
 Grace had dropped her knife and fork 
 and was looking pale. 
 
 "It was Susy and I that had the care 
 of her, grandma ; when you went out to 
 see the sick lady, you charged us, and 
 we forgot all about it." 
 
 "Pretty works, I should think!" cried 
 Horace, springing out of his chair ; "I 
 wouldn t sell that baby for her weight in 
 gold; but I reckon you would, Grace Clif 
 ford, and be glad of it, too." 
 
 Grandma held up a warning finger. "I 
 declare," said aunt Louise, very much agi 
 tated, "I never shall consent to have Maria 
 go out of town again, and leave Katie with 
 us. If she will try to swim in the watering- 
 
A RAILROAD SAVAGE. 59 
 
 trough, she is just as likely to take a walk 
 on the ridgepole of the house." 
 
 Horace darted out of the room with a 
 ghastly face, but came back looking re 
 lieved. He had been up in the attic, and 
 climbed through the scuttle, without find 
 ing any human Fly on the roof, or on the 
 dizzy tops of the chimneys, either. 
 
 But where was the child? Had Euth 
 seen her ? Had Abiier ? 
 
 No ; the last that could be remembered, 
 she had been playing by herself in the 
 green chamber, soaking Dinah s feet in a 
 glass of water. The ff blue kitty," the only 
 creature who had anything to tell, sat 
 washing her face on the kitchen hearth, 
 and yawning sleepily. Fly s shaker was 
 gone from the "short nail," and aunt Lou 
 ise discovered some bank-bills in a wash 
 bowl, "Fly s work, of course." But this 
 was all thev knew. 
 
60 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 Grandpa searched the barn, Abner the 
 fields, Euth the cellar ; aunt Louise and 
 Horace ran down to the river. In half 
 an hour several of the neighbors had joined 
 in the search. 
 
 "I always thought there would be a last 
 time," said poor Mrs. Dr. Gray, putting 
 on her black bonnet, and joining Grace 
 and Susy. :? That child seems to me like 
 a little spirit, or a fairy, and I never thought 
 she would live long. She and Charlie 
 were too lovely for this world." 
 
 O, don t, Mrs. Gray," said Grace. "If 
 you knew how often she d been lost, you 
 would not say so ! We always find her, 
 after a while, somewhere." 
 
 Horace, who had gone on in advance, 
 now came running back, swinging his boots 
 in the air. 
 
 " A trail ! " cried he. " I ve found a trail ! 
 
A RAILROAD SAVAGE. 61 
 
 Who planted these boots in the road, if 
 it wasn t Fly Clifford?" 
 
 " Perhaps she has gone to aunt Mar 
 tha s," said Mrs. Parlin, w or tried to. 
 Strange we did not think of that!" 
 
 But aunt Martha had not seen her, nor 
 had any one else. Horace and Abner went 
 up to the Pines, but the forest beyond they 
 never thought of exploring ; it did not 
 seem probable that such a small child 
 could have strolled to such a distance as 
 that. 
 
 Supper time came and went. There was 
 a short thunder-shower. The Parlins shud 
 dered at every flash of lightning, and shiv 
 ered at every drop of rain ; for where was 
 delicate, lost little Fly? 
 
 Abner and Horace were out during the 
 shower. Horace would have braved hur- 
 
62 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 ricanes and avalanches in the cause of his 
 dear little Topknot. 
 
 There s one thing we haven t thought 
 of," said Abner, shaking the drops from 
 his hat and looking up at the sky, which 
 had cleared again ; " we haven t thought of 
 the railroad surveyors ! They are round 
 the town everywhere with their compasses 
 and spy-glasses." 
 
 It was not a bad idea of Abner s. He 
 and Horace went to the hotel where the 
 railroad men boarded. The engineer s face 
 lighted at once. 
 
 "I wish I had known before there was 
 a child missing," he said. " I saw the 
 figure of a little girl, through my glass, 
 not an hour ago. It was a long way be 
 yond the Pines, and I wondered how such 
 a baby happened up there ; but I had so 
 
A RAILROAD SAVAGE. 63 
 
 much else to think of that it passed out 
 of my mind." 
 
 About eight o clock, Flyaway was found 
 in the woods, sound asleep, under a hem 
 lock tree, her faithful Dinah hugged close 
 to her heart. 
 
 There was a shout from a dozen mouths. 
 Horace s eyes overflowed. He caught his 
 beloved pet in his arms. 
 
 "O, little Topknot!" he cried. "Who s 
 got you ? Look up, look up, little Brown- 
 brimmer." 
 
 All Flyaway could do was to sob gently, 
 and then curl her head down on her broth 
 er s shoulder, saying, sleepily, w Cold, ou 
 doors stayin ." 
 
 Why did our darling run away ? " 
 
 "Didn t yun away ; I s goin up to 
 heaven see Charlie," replied Flyaway, sud 
 denly remembering the object of her jour- 
 
64 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 ney, and gazing around at Abner, Dr. 
 Gray, and the other people, with eyes full 
 of wonder. :? Where s the tpppest hill? I s 
 goin up, carry Charlie some canny." 
 
 The people formed a line, and, as Prudy 
 said, " processed " behind Katie all the way 
 to the village. 
 
 "Is we goin to heaven?" said the child, 
 still bewildered. "It yunned away and 
 away, and all off!" 
 
 " No, you blessed baby, you are not 
 going to heaven just yet, if we can help 
 it," answered Dr. Gray, leaning over Hor 
 ace s shoulder to kiss the child. 
 
 Flyaway was too tired to ask any more 
 questions. She let first one person carry 
 her, and then another, sometimes holding 
 up her swollen thumb, and murmuring, 
 " Orny ting me tell my mamma." And 
 after that she was asleep again. 
 
A RAILROAD SAVAGE. 65 
 
 Dotty Dimple, Susy, and Prudy were 
 pacing the piazza when the party arrived, 
 but poor grandma was on the sofa in the 
 parlor, quite overcome with anxiety and 
 fatigue, and Miss Polly Whiting was mourn 
 fully fanning her with a black feather fan. 
 The sound of voices roused Mrs. Parlin. 
 " Safe ! safe ! " was the cry. Dotty Dim 
 ple rushed in, shouting, " A railroad sav 
 age found her ! a railroad savage found 
 her ! " 
 
 In another moment the runaway was in 
 her grandmother s lap. All she could say 
 was, " Orny ting me on my fum ! Orny 
 ting me on my fum ! " For this one 
 little bite of a bee seemed greater to Fly 
 away Clifford than all the dangers she had 
 passed. If grandma would only kiss her 
 "fum," it was no matter about going to 
 heaven, or even being undressed. 
 5 
 
66 DOTTY DIMPLE S FYLAWAY. 
 
 But after she had had a bowl of bread 
 and milk, and been nicely bathed, she for 
 got her sufferings, and laughed in her 
 sleep. She was dreaming how Charlie 
 came to the door of heaven and helped 
 her up the steps. 
 
EAST AGAIN. 67 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EAST AGAIN. 
 
 A WHOLE year passed. Dotty Dimple 
 became a school-girl, with a "bosom friend" 
 and a pearl ring. Prudy, who called her 
 self " the middle-aged sister," grew tall and 
 slender. Katie was four years old, and 
 just a little heavier, so she no longer 
 needed a cent in her pocket to keep her 
 from blowing away. 
 
 The Parlins had been at Willowbrook a 
 week before the Cliffords arrived. There 
 was a great sensation over Katie. She was 
 delighted to hear that she had grown more 
 than any of the others. 
 
68 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " I m gettin old all over ! " said she, 
 gayly. " Four goin to be five ! Wish 
 I was most six. Dotty Dimpul, don t you 
 wish y ou s most a hunderd ?" 
 
 " O, you cunning little cousin ! " said 
 Dotty, embracing her rapturously ; " I wish 
 you loved me half as well as I love you; 
 that s what I wish. I told Tate Penny 
 you were prettier than Tid ; and so you 
 are. Such red cheeks ! But what makes 
 one cheek redder than the other ? " 
 
 "O, I eat my bread 11 milk that side o 
 my mouf," replied Flyaway; "and that s 
 why." . 
 
 " What an idea ! And your hair is just 
 as fine as ever it was ; the color of my 
 ring isn t it, Prudy?" 
 
 Flyaway put her little hand to her head, 
 and felt the floss flying about as usual. 
 
 "My hair comes all to pieces," explained 
 
EAST AGAIN. 69 
 
 she ; " or nelse I have a ribbon to tie it 
 up with." 
 
 " Are you glad to come back to Willow- 
 brook, you precious little dear?" asked 
 two or three voices. 
 
 Yes m," said Flyaway, doubtfully ; 
 Y es urn," 
 
 " She doesn t remember anything about 
 it, I guess," said Prudy, kneeling before 
 the little one, and kissing the sweet place 
 in her neck. 
 
 : Yes, I do," said Flyaway, winking 
 hard and breathing quick in the effort to 
 recall the very dim and very distant past ; 
 "yes, I member." 
 
 Well, what do you member?" 
 
 " O, once I was grindin coffee out there 
 in a yellow chair, and somebody she came 
 and put me in the sink." 
 
 " She does know doesn t she ? " said 
 
70 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 Dotty. " That was Euthie ; come out in 
 the kitchen and see her/ 
 
 But when Flyaway first looked into Euth s 
 smiling face, with its black eyes and sharp 
 nose, she could not remember that she had 
 ever seen it before. Abner, too, was 
 strange to her. 
 
 "Come here," said he, "and I can tell 
 in a minute if you are a good little girl." 
 
 Flyaway cast down her soft eyes, and 
 sidled along to Abner. 
 
 "Here, touch this watch," said he, "and 
 if you are a good little girl it will fly open ; 
 if you are naughty it will stay shut." 
 
 Flyaway looked askance at Abner, her 
 finger in her mouth, but dared not touch 
 the watch. 
 
 "Who d a thought it, now?" said Ab 
 ner, pretending to be shocked. " Looks 
 to be a nice child ; but of course she isn t, 
 
EAST AGAIN. 71 
 
 or she d come right up and open the 
 watch." 
 
 Flyaway thrust another finger in her 
 mouth, and pressed her eyelids slowly to 
 gether. Abner did not understand this, 
 but it meant that he had not treated her 
 with proper respect. 
 
 "Here, Ruth," said he, in a low tone, 
 " hand me one of your plum tarts ; that ll 
 fetch her. Come here, my pretty one, 
 and see what s inside of this little pie." 
 
 Flyaway was very hungry. She took a 
 step forward, and held her hand out, though 
 rather timidly. 
 
 "But she mustn t eat it without asking 
 her mamma," said Ruth. 
 
 Yes ; O, yes," cried Miss Flyaway, 
 opening her little mouth for the first time, 
 and shutting it again over a big bite of 
 tart ; " I want to eat it and s prise my 
 
 mamma." 
 
72 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 Abner laughed in his hearty fashion. 
 " Some of the old mischief left there yet," 
 said he, catching Flyaway and tossing her 
 to the ceiling. " Have you come here this 
 summer to keep the whole house in com 
 motion ? Remember the Charlie boy 
 don t you that had the meal-bags tied 
 to his feet ?" 
 
 "Did he? What for?" 
 
 Flyaway had not the least recollection 
 of Charlie ; but Horace had talked to her 
 about him, and she said, after a moment s 
 thought, 
 
 r Yes, he washed the pig. Me and 
 Charlie, we played all everything what we 
 thinked about." 
 
 " So you did, surely," said a woman 
 who had just come in at the back door, 
 and begun to drop kisses, as sad as tears, 
 on Flyaway s forehead. " Do you know 
 
EAST AGAIN, 
 
 73 
 
 who this is ? " Flyaway looked up with a 
 sweet smile, but her mind had lost all im 
 pression of her melancholy friend, Miss 
 Whiting. "Look again," said the sad- 
 eyed stranger, who did not like to have 
 even a little child forget her; "you used 
 to call me the Polly woman." 
 
 Katie looked again, and this time very 
 closely. 
 
 "There s a great deal o yellowness in 
 your face," exclaimed she, after a careful 
 survey ; " but you was made so ! " 
 
 Miss Polly laughed drearily. " So you 
 don t remember how I took you out of 
 the watering-trough, you sweet lamb! Ts 
 try in to swim, you said ; ? and that s what 
 is it. Here s a summer-sweeting for you, 
 dear; do you like them?" 
 
 Yes m, thank you," said Flyaway, " but 
 I like summer-so urings the best." 
 
74 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 At the same time she allowed herself to 
 be taken in Miss Polly s lap, and won that 
 tender-hearted woman s love by putting her 
 arms round her neck, and saying, " Let 
 me kiss you so you ll feel all better. What 
 makes you have tears in your eyes? tell 
 
 me." 
 
 c We re good friends I knew we 
 should be," said Miss Polly, quite cheerily. 
 " Look out of the window, and see that 
 swing. How many times I ve pushed you 
 and Dotty in that swing when it seemed 
 
 as if it would break my back ! " 
 
 i 
 Flyaway looked out. There stood the 
 
 two trees, and between them hung the old 
 swing; but the charm was forgotten. In 
 the field beyond, her eye fell on an object 
 more interesting to her. 
 
 "O, O," said she, " I don t see how God 
 could make a man so homebly as that ! " 
 
EAST AGAIN. 75 
 
 "So homely as what?" 
 
 :? Why," laughed Dotty, " she means that 
 
 scarecrow." 
 
 The corn was up long ago, but one dire 
 ful image had still been left to flaunt in 
 the sunlight and soak in the rain. 
 
 " That isn t a man," said Prudy ; " it s 
 only a great monstrous rag baby, with a 
 coat on." 
 
 " Put there to frighten away the crows," 
 added Miss Polly. ? When Abner dropped 
 corn in the ground, the great black crows 
 wanted to come and pick it out, and eat 
 it up." 
 
 Flyaway frowned in token of strong dis 
 like to the crows. " I wouldn t eat gam- 
 pa s corn for anything in this world," said 
 she, " thout it s popped ! Cause I don t 
 like it." 
 
 Miss Polly laughed quite merrily. 
 
76 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "There," said she, "I ve dropped a stitch 
 in my side ; it never agrees with me to 
 laugh. I must be going right home, too; 
 but there is one thing more I want to ask 
 you, Katie ; do you remember how you 
 ran away, one day, and frightened the whole 
 house, trying to climb up to heaven?" 
 
 Katie s face was blank; she had forgot 
 ten the journey. 
 
 You passed Jennie Vance and me in 
 the Pines," said Dotty, c? and went deep 
 into the woods, and a bee stung you." 
 
 "O, now I member," said Katie, sudden 
 ly. " I member the bee as plain as tever 
 twas ! " And she curled her lip with con 
 tempt for that small Flyaway, of long ago 
 that silly baby who had thought heaven 
 was on a hill. 
 
 " /went up on a ladder when I was three 
 years old," said Prudy. 
 
EAST AGAIN. 77 
 
 "Did you?" said Flyaway. This was 
 a consolation. " Well, I was three years 
 old, too ; I didn t know bout angels 
 didn t know they had to have wings on." 
 
 Here Flyaway curled her lip again and 
 smiled. 
 
 " You are wiser now," sighed Miss Polly. 
 "You and I won t try to go to heaven till 
 our time comes will we, dear?" 
 
 Katie took Miss Polly s large, thin hand, 
 and measured it beside her own tiny one. 
 
 " Miss Polly," said she, with one of her 
 extremely wise looks, "when you go up 
 to God you ll be a very little girl ! " 
 
 " Ah, indeed ! " said Miss Polly, weaving 
 the third pin into her shawl ; " how do 
 you make that out ? " 
 
 "Your body ll all be cut off," replied 
 Katie, making the motion of a pair of scis 
 sors with her fingers; "all be cut right 
 
78 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 straight off; there won t be nuffin left but 
 just your little spirit ! " 
 
 "Since you know so much, dear, how 
 large is rny spirit?" 
 
 Katie put her hand on the left side of 
 the belt of her apron. 
 
 "Don t you call that small, right under 
 my hand a-beatin ?" said she. " Bout s 
 big as a bird, Miss Polly. Little round 
 ball for a head, little mites o eyes ; but 
 you won t care you can see just as well." 
 
 " It does beat all where children get such 
 queer ideas doesn t it, Ruth?" said Miss 
 Whiting. 
 
 "Didn t you know it?" cried Katie, find 
 ing she had startled Miss Polly. "Didn t 
 you know you s goin to be little, and fly 
 in the air just so?" throwing up her arms. 
 "I want to go dreffully, for there s a gold 
 harp o music up there, and I ll play on it : 
 it ll be mineY- 
 
EAST AGAIN. 79 
 
 *You don t feel in a hurry to die, I 
 hope," said Miss Polly, anxiously. 
 
 Katie s eager face clouded. "No," said 
 she, sorrowfully ; "I want to, but I hate 
 to go up to God and leave my pink dress. 
 I can t go into it then, I ll be so little." 
 
 "You ll be just big enough to go into 
 the pocket," laughed Dotty. 
 
 " Hush ! " said Miss Polly, gravely ; " you 
 shouldn t joke upon such serious subjects. 
 Good by, children. Your house is full of 
 company, and I didn t come to stay. Here s 
 a bag of thoroughwort I ve been picking 
 for your grandmother; you may give it to 
 her with my love, and tell her my side is 
 worse. I shall be in to-morrow." 
 
 So saying, Miss Polly went away, seem 
 ing to be wafted out of the room on a 
 sigh. 
 
 The high-chair was brought down from 
 
80 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 the attic for Flyaway, who sat in it that 
 evening at the tea-table, and smiled round 
 upon her friends in the most benevolent 
 manner. 
 
 "I s growing so big now, mamma," said 
 she, coaxingly, " don t you spect I must 
 have some tea?" 
 
 Grandmother pleaded for the youngest, 
 too. " Let me give her some just this 
 once, Maria." 
 
 ! Well, white tea, then," returned Mrs. 
 Clifford, smiling ; " and will Flyaway re 
 member not to ask for it again? Mamma 
 thinks little girls should drink milk." 
 
 "Yes m, I won t never. She gives it 
 to me this night, cause I s her little grand- 
 girl. Mayn t Hollis have it too, cause he s 
 her little grand-Joy 9" 
 
 "Cunning as ever, you see," whispered 
 the admiring Horace to cousin Susy, who 
 replied, rather indifferently, 
 
EAST AGAIN. 81 
 
 " No cunninger than our Prudy used to 
 be." 
 
 Flyaway made quick work of drinking 
 her white tea, and when she came to the 
 last few drops she swung her cup round 
 and round, saying, 
 
 "Didn t you know, Hollis, that s the way 
 gampa does, when he gets most froo, to 
 make it sweet ? " 
 
 No, Horace had not noticed; it was 
 "Fly, with her little eye," who saw every 
 thing, and made remarks about it. 
 
 "O, O," cried Grace, dropping her knife 
 and fork, and patting her hands softly 
 under the table, " isn t it so nice to be at 
 Willowbrook again, taking supper togeth 
 er? Doesn t it remind you of pleasant 
 things, Susy, to eat grandma s cream toast?" 
 
 "Reminds me," said Susy, after reflect 
 ing, " of jumping on the hay." 
 6 
 
82 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " Minds me of of " remarked Flya 
 way; and there she fell into a brown 
 study, with her head swaying from side 
 to side. 
 
 "I don t know why it is," said Prudy, 
 "but since you spoke, this cream toast 
 makes me think of the rag-bag. Excuse 
 me for being impolite, grandma, but where 
 is the rag-bag? " 
 
 " In the back room, dear, where it always 
 is ; and you may wheel it off to-morrow." 
 
 It had been Mrs. Parlin s custom, once 
 or twice every summer, to allow the chil 
 dren to take the large, heavy rag-bag to 
 the store, and sell its contents for little 
 articles, which they divided among them 
 selves. Sometimes the price of the rags 
 amounted to half or three quarters of a 
 dollar, and there was a regular carnival of 
 figs, candy, and firecrackers. 
 
EAST AGAIN. 83 
 
 Horace was so much older now, that 
 he did not fancy the idea of being seen in 
 the street, trundling a wheel-barrow ; but 
 he went on with his cream toast and made 
 no remark. 
 
84 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 THE RAG-BAG. 
 
 NEXT morning there was a loud call from 
 the three Paiiins for the rag-bag, in which 
 Flyaway joined, though she hardly knew 
 the difference between a rag-bag and a paper 
 of pins. 
 
 "I wish you to understand, girls," said 
 Horace, flourishing his hat, "that I m not 
 going to cart round any such trash for you 
 this summer." 
 
 Now, Horace ! ? 
 
 "You know, Gracie, you belong to a 
 Girls Rights Society. Do you suppose I 
 want to interfere with your privileges?" 
 
THE RAG-BAG. 85 
 
 " Why, Horace Clifford, you wouldn t see 
 your own sister trundling a wheelbarrow ? " 
 
 "O, no; I shan t be there," said Horace, 
 coolly ; " I shan t see you. I promised to 
 weed the verbena bed for your aunt Lou 
 ise. Good by, girls. Success to the rag- 
 bag!" 
 
 " Let s catch him ! " cried Susy, darting 
 after her ungallant cousin ; but he ran so 
 fast, and flourished his garden hoe so reck 
 lessly, that she gave up the chase. 
 
 "Let him go," said Grace, with a fine- 
 lady air : " who cares about rag-bags ? 
 We ve outgrown that sort of thing, you 
 and I, Susy; let the little girls have our 
 share." 
 
 Yes, to be sure," replied Susy, faintly, 
 though not without a pang, for she still 
 
 retained a childish fondness for jujube paste, 
 
 
 
 and was not allowed a great abundance of 
 
86 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 pocket-money. Yes, to be sure, let the 
 little girls have our share." 
 
 "Then may we three youngest have the 
 whole rag-bag?" said Prudy, brightly. 
 "Dotty, you and I will trundle the wheel 
 barrow, and Fly shall go behind." 
 
 " What an idea ! " exclaimed Grace. " I ve 
 seen little beggar children drawing a dog 
 cart. Grandma ll never allow such a thing." 
 
 * Indeed I will," said grandma, tying on 
 her checked apron. " Dog-carts or wheel 
 barrows, so they only take care not to be 
 rude. In a city it is different." 
 
 "Yes, grandma," said Dotty, twisting her 
 front hair joyfully ; " but here in the coun 
 try they want little girls to have good 
 times don t they? Why don t every 
 body move into the country, do you s pose ? 
 Lots of bare spots round here, nothing 
 on em but cows." 
 
THE RAG-BAG. 87 
 
 Yes, nuffin but gampa s cows," chimed 
 in Flyaway, twisting her front hair. 
 
 "Louisa," said Mrs. Parlin, "you may 
 help me about this loaf of Maine plum 
 cake, and while you are beating the butter 
 and sugar I will look over the rag-bag. 
 Dotty, please run for my spectacles." 
 
 When Dotty returned with the specta 
 cles, Jennie Vance came with her, pouting 
 a little at the cool reception she had met, 
 and thinking Miss Dimple hardly polite 
 because she was too much interested in 
 an old rag-bag to pay proper attention to 
 visitors. 
 
 " Grandma, what makes you pick over 
 these rags ? . We can take them just as they 
 
 are." 
 
 "I always do so, my dear, :nd for sev 
 eral reasons. One is, that woollen pieces 
 may have crept in by mistake. As we 
 
88 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 profess to sell cotton rags, it would be 
 dishonest to mix them with woollen." 
 
 Yes m, I understand," said Jennie, who 
 often spoke when it was quite as well to 
 keep silent ; " it s always best to be honest 
 isn t it, Mrs. Parlin?" 
 
 The rags were spread out upon the ta;ble, 
 giving Flyaway a fine opportunity to scat 
 ter them right and left. 
 
 " O, here s a splendid piece of blue rib 
 bon to make my doll a bonnet," said Dotty. 
 
 ? That s another reason why she picks 
 em over," remarked Jennie ; " so she won t 
 waste things. Only, Dotty, that has got 
 an awful grease-spot." 
 
 "There, children," said Mrs. Parlin, pres 
 ently, "I have taken out a card of hooks 
 and eyes, a flannel bandage, and a shoe 
 string. You may have everything else." 
 
 Dotty caught her grandmother s arm. 
 
THE RAG-BAG. 89 
 
 "Please, grandma, don t sweep em into 
 the bag; let us look some more. I ve just 
 found a big Lisle glove ; if I can find anoth 
 er, then Abner can go blackberrying ; he 
 says his hands are ever so tender." 
 
 "And you thought he was in earnest," 
 said Prudy. f While you are looking, 
 I ll go into the nursery and finish that 
 holder." 
 
 Flyaway, having climbed upon the table, 
 had rolled herself into some mosquito net 
 ting, like a caterpillar in a cocoon. They 
 were all so much interested, that grandma, 
 in the kindness of her heart, did not like 
 to disturb them. 
 
 You are welcome to all the treasures 
 you can find, but as soon as the cake is 
 made I shall want the table ; so be quick," 
 said she, looking out from the pantry, where 
 she was beating eggs. 
 
90 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 Yes, indeed, grandma, we ll hurry; and 
 may we have every single thing we like 
 the looks of? now, honest." 
 
 "Yes, Dotty." 
 
 Then Mrs. Parlin and Miss Louise talked 
 about currants, and citron, and quite forgot 
 such trifles as rag-bags. 
 
 " Here s another big glove," said Dotty, 
 " not the same color, but no matter ; and 
 here are some saddle-bags, Jennie. I m 
 going to be a doctor." 
 
 "Saddle-bags, Dotty! those are pockets." 
 Jennie took them from Miss Dimple s hands. 
 They were held together by a narrow strip 
 of brown linen, and had once belonged to 
 a pair of pantaloons. 
 
 "I m going to see if there isn t some 
 thing inside," said Jennie. * Why, yes, 
 here s a raisin, true s you live. And here, 
 in the other one, 0, Dotty ! " 
 
THE RAG-BAG. 91 
 
 But Dotty had run into the nursery to 
 show Prudy a muslin cap. 
 
 "A wad of" 
 
 Jennie was determined to see what ; so 
 she unrolled it. 
 
 " Scrip," cried she, holding up some 
 greenbacks. 
 
 " Skipt," echoed Flyaway, who had come 
 out of the cocoon and gone into the form 
 of a mop, her head adorned with cotton 
 fringe. 
 
 Yes ; a two dollar bill and a one dollar 
 bill, as green as lettuce leaves. This was 
 a great marvel. Columbus was not half 
 so much surprised when he discovered 
 America. 
 
 "Mrs. Parlin, do you hear?" 
 
 But Mrs. Parlin heard nothing, for the 
 din of the egg-beating drowned both the 
 shrill little voices. 
 
92 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 A sudden idea carne to Jennie. Whose 
 money was this? Mrs. Parlin s? No ; hadn t 
 Mrs. Parlin looked over the rags once, 
 and said the children might have what was 
 
 left ? " ? You are welcome to all the treas- 
 
 < 
 
 ures you can find ; that was what she 
 said," repeated Jennie to herself. " I m the 
 one that found this treasure, not Dotty, 
 not Flyaway. This is honest, and I do not 
 lie when I say it." 
 
 Jennie began to tremble, and a hot color 
 flew into her cheeks, and added ne*w lustre 
 to her black eyes. "If I could only make 
 Flyaway forget it," thought she, with a 
 whirling sensation of anger towards the in 
 nocent child, who knew no better than to 
 proclaim aloud every piece of news she 
 heard. "I ll make her forget it." Jenny 
 hastily concealed the money in the neck of 
 her dress. 
 
THE RAG-BAG. 93 
 
 "Where s that skipt? that skipt?" said 
 Flyaway. 
 
 " Fly Clifford," said Jennie, severely, 
 "you ve climbed on the table! Just think 
 of it! Your grandmother doesn t allow 
 you on her table. What made you get up 
 here." 
 
 " Cause," replied Flyaway, seizing the 
 kitty by the tail, and thrusting her into a 
 cabbage-net, " cause I fought best." 
 
 "But you must get right down, this 
 minute." 
 
 "No," said Flyaway, shaking her head 
 dress of white fringe with great solemnity; 
 "I isn t goin to get down." 
 
 "Ah, but you must." 
 
 Flyaway opened and shut her eyes slow 
 ly, in token of deep displeasure. " I don t 
 never low little girls to scold to me," said 
 she. " Youd better call grandma; haps 
 she can make me get down." 
 
94 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 But it was not Jennie s purpose to wait 
 for that; she seized the little one roughly 
 by the arms, pulled her from the table, 
 and hurried her into the parlor. 
 
 Flyaway was indignant. "Does you 
 feel happy?" said she, with a reproachful 
 glance at Jennie. 
 
 "There, look out of the window, Fly 
 away, darling, and watch to see if Horace 
 isn t coming in from the garden." 
 
 " Can t Hollis come, thout me watching 
 him?" returned Flyaway, winking slowly 
 again, for her sweet little soul was stirred 
 with wrath. The memory of the "skipt" 
 had indeed been driven away, and she coulcl 
 only think, 
 
 " Isn t Jennie so easy fretted ! I wasn t 
 cloin nuffin ; and then she jumped me right 
 down. Unpolite gell ! that s one thing." 
 
 And Jennie was thinking, "She nev- 
 
THE RAG-BAG. 95 
 
 er ll remember the money now, or, if she 
 does, I don t believe Mrs. Parlin will pay 
 any attention to what she says." Jennie 
 was still very much excited, and wondered 
 why she trembled so. 
 
 " I don t mean to keep it unless it s per 
 fectly proper," thought she ; " I guess I 
 know the eighth commandment fast enough. 
 I shan t keep it unless Dotty thinks best. 
 I ll tell her, and see what she says." 
 
 Jennie had often pilfered little things 
 from her mother s cupboard, such as cake 
 and raisins ; but a piece of money of the 
 most trifling value she had never thought 
 of taking before. 
 
 Leaving Flyaway busy with block houses, 
 she ran to the nursery door, and motioned 
 with her finger for Dotty to come out. 
 
 "What is it?" said Dotty, when they 
 were both shut into the china closet ; 
 
96 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 ft don t you want my sister Prudy to 
 know?" 
 
 Jennie replied, in a great flutter, "No, 
 no, no. You musn t tell a single soul, 
 Dotty Dimple, as long as you live, and 
 I ll give you half. 
 
 "Half what?" 
 
 Jennie produced the money from her 
 bosom, feeling, I am glad to say, very 
 guilty. "Out o those saddle-bag pockets 
 out there," added she, breathlessly ; "true s 
 the world." 
 
 "Why, Jennie Vance!" 
 
 "One had a raisin in and a button, and 
 nobody but me would have thought of look 
 ing. You wouldn t now would you ? My 
 father says I ve got such sharp eyes ! " 
 
 " H m ! " said Dotty, who considered her 
 own eyes as bright as any diamonds ; " you 
 took the saddle-bag right out of my hand. 
 
THE RAG-BAG. 97 
 
 How do you know I shouldn t have peeked 
 in?" 
 
 Jennie did not reply, but smoothed out 
 the wrinkled notes with many a loving pat. 
 
 * What did grandma say?" asked Dotty; 
 " wasn t she pleased ? " 
 
 Your grandmother doesn t know any 
 thing about it, Dotty Dimple ; what busi 
 ness is it to her ? " 
 
 Jennie s tone was defiant. She assumed 
 a courage she was far from feeling. 
 
 Dotty was speechless with surprise, but 
 her eyes grew as round as soap-bubbles. 
 
 " The pockets don t belong to her, Dotty, 
 and never did. They never came out of 
 any of her dresses now did they ? " 
 
 Dotty s eyes swelled like a couple of bub 
 bles ready to burst. 
 
 " Jennie Vance, I didn t know you s a 
 thief." 
 
 7 
 
98 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "You stop talking so, Dotty. She was 
 going to sweep everything into the rag 
 bag now wasn t she ? And this money 
 would have gone in too, if it hadn t been 
 for my sharp eyes now wouldn t it ? " 
 
 "But it isn t yours, Jennie Vance be 
 cause it don t belong to you." 
 
 " Now, Dotty " 
 
 " You go right off, Jennie Vance, and 
 carry it to my grandma this minute." 
 
 The tone of command irritated Jennie. 
 She had not felt at all decided about keep 
 ing the money, but opposition gave her 
 courage. Her temper and Dotty s were 
 always meeting and striking fire. 
 
 "It isn t your grandma s pockets, Miss 
 Parlin. If it was the last word I was to 
 speak, it isn t your grandmother s pockets ! " 
 
 " Jane Sidney Vance ! " 
 
 " You needn t call me by my middle 
 
THE RAG-BAG. 99 
 
 name, and stare so at me. Dotty Dimple. 
 I was going to give you half ! " 
 
 What do I want of half, when it isn t 
 yonrs to give ? " said Dotty, gazing regret 
 fully at the money, nevertheless. Three 
 dollars ! Why, it was a small fortune ! 
 If it only did really belong to Jenny! 
 
 Your grandmother said everything we 
 liked the looks of, Dotty. Don t you like 
 the looks of this?" 
 
 " But you know, Jennie " 
 
 " O, you needn t preach to me. You 
 wasn t the one that found it. If I d truly 
 been a thief, or if I hadn t been a thief, 
 it would have been right for me to keep 
 it, and perfectly proper, and not said a 
 word to you, either; so there." 
 
 " Jennie Vance, I m going right out of 
 this closet, and tell my grandma what you ve 
 said." 
 
100 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " Wait, Dotty Dimple ; let me get through 
 talking. I meant to buy things for your 
 grandmother with it. O, yes, I did a 
 silk dress, and cap, and shoes." 
 
 Dotty twirled her hair, and looked 
 thoughtful. 
 
 * Of course I did. Wouldn t it surprise 
 her, when she wasn t expecting it? And 
 Flyaway, too, something for her. We 
 wouldn t keep anything for ourselves, only 
 just enough to buy clothes and such things 
 as we really need." 
 
 Before Dotty had time to reply there 
 was a loud scream from the parlor. 
 
 "Fly is killed she is killed!" cried 
 Dotty; but Jennie had presence of mind 
 enough to tuck the bills into the neck of 
 her dress. 
 
 "Don t you tell anybody a word about 
 
THE RAG-BA&. ; 101 
 
 it, Dotty. If you tell"- 111 w <fo 
 awful to you. Do you hear?" 
 
 Dotty heard, but did not answer. The 
 fate of her cousin Flyaway seemed more 
 important to her just then than all the 
 bank-bills in the world. 
 
102 prt*$Y DIMPLE S FLYAWAY, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE WICKED GIRL. 
 
 FLYAWAY had only been climbing the 
 outside of the staircase, and would have 
 done very well, if some one had not rung 
 the door-bell, and startled her so that she 
 fell from the very top stair to the floor. 
 It was feared, at first, that several bones 
 were broken and her intellect injured for 
 life ; but after crying fifteen minutes, she 
 seemed to feel nearly as well as before. 
 
 " If ever a child was made of thistle-down 
 it is Flyaway Clifford," said aunt Louise. 
 
 Still it was not thought best for her to 
 fatigue herself that day by selling rags, 
 
THE WICKED GIRL. 103 
 
 and the wheelbarrow enterprise was put off 
 until the next morning. 
 
 The person who rang the door-bell was 
 Mrs. Vance s girl Susan, who called for 
 Jennie to go home and try on a frock. 
 Jennie did not return, and Dotty had a 
 sense of uneasiness all day. The guilty 
 secret of the three dollars weighed upon 
 her mind. Should she, or should she not, 
 tell her grandmother? 
 
 "I" don t know but Jennie would do 
 something to my things if I told," thought 
 she ; " but then I never promised a word. 
 Here it is four o clock. Who knows but 
 she s gone and spent that money, and my 
 grandmother never ll know what s come of 
 it?" 
 
 This possibility was very alarming. " Jen 
 nie Vance doesn t seem to have any little 
 whisper inside of her heart, that ticks like 
 
104 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 a watch ; but /have. My conscience pricks ; 
 so I know that perhaps it s my duty to go 
 and tell." 
 
 Dotty drew herself up virtuously and 
 looked in the glass. There she seemed to 
 see an angelic little girl, whose only wish 
 was to do just right a little girl as much 
 purer than Jennie Vance, as a lily is purer 
 than a very ugly toadstool. 
 
 Well, Miss Dotty, there is some truth 
 in the picture. Jennie is not a good child ; 
 but neither are you an angel. There is 
 more wickedness in your proud little heart 
 than you will ever begin to find out. And 
 wait a minute. Who teaches you all you 
 know of right and wrong? Is it your 
 mother? Suppose she had died, as did 
 Jennie s mamma, when you were a toddling 
 baby? 
 
 There, that s all : you do not hear a word 
 
THE WICKED GIRL. 105 
 
 I say ; and if you did, you would not heed, 
 O, self-righteous Dotty Dimple ! 
 
 Dotty ran up stairs to find her grand 
 mother. 
 
 " Grandma," whispered she, though there 
 was no one else in the room ; " something 
 dreadful has happened. You ve lost three 
 dollars ! " 
 
 "What, dear?" 
 
 "O, you needn t look in your pocket. 
 Jennie found em in the rag-bag, and tried 
 to make me take half; but of course I 
 never ; and now she s run off with em ! " 
 
 " Found three dollars in the rag-bag ? 
 I guess not." 
 
 Yes, grandma; for I saw her just as 
 she was going to find em , in a pair of 
 pockets. I should have seen em myself 
 if she hadn t looked first." 
 
 "Indeed! Is this really so? But she 
 
106 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 ought to have come and given them to 
 me." 
 
 "That was just what I told her, over 
 and over, grandma, and over again. But 
 she s a dreadful naughty girl, Jennie Vance 
 is. If there s anything bad she can do, 
 she goes right off and does it." 
 
 "Hush, my child." 
 
 "Yes m, I won t say any more, only I 
 don t think my mother would like to have 
 me play with little girls that take money 
 out of rag-bags." 
 
 Dotty drew herself up again in a very 
 stately way. 
 
 "Jennie said she was going to buy you 
 a silk dress and so forth ; but she does 
 truly lie so, one to another, that you can t 
 believe her for certain, not half she says." 
 
 Grandma looked over her spectacles and 
 through the window, as if trying to see 
 what ought to be done. 
 
THE WICKED GIRL. 107 
 
 You did right to tell me this, my 
 child," said she ; " but I wish you to say 
 nothing about it to any one else : will you 
 remember ? " 
 
 " Yes ? m," replied Dotty, trying to read 
 her grandmother s face, and feeling a little 
 alarmed by its solemnity. "What you 
 going to do, grandma ? Not put Jennie 
 in the lockup are you ? Cause if you 
 do O, don t you ! She said twas her 
 sharp eyes, and she didn t mean to steal, 
 and t wasn t your pockets, and she prom 
 ised she d give me half yes, she truly 
 did, grandma." 
 
 w Go, dear, and bring me my bonnet 
 from the band-box in my bed-room closet." 
 
 Then Mrs. Parlin folded the sheet she 
 was making, put on her best shawl and 
 bonnet, and kid gloves, and taking her 
 sun umbrella, set out for a walk. There 
 
108 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 was a look in her face which made her 
 little granddaughter think it would not be 
 proper to ask any questions. 
 
 Mrs. Parlin met Jennie Vance coining 
 
 o 
 
 in at the gate. 
 
 "0, dear," thought Dotty, "I don t want 
 to see her. Grandma says I ve done right, 
 but Jennie ll call me a tell-tale. Ill go 
 out in the barn and hide." 
 
 The guilty secret had lain heavy at Jen 
 nie s heart all day. As soon as her dress 
 maker could spare her, and a troublesome 
 little cousin had left, she asked permission 
 to go to Mrs. Parlin s. 
 
 "Dotty thinks I meant to keep it," she 
 thought. "I never did see such a girl. 
 You can t say the least little thing but 
 she takes it sober earnest, and says she ll 
 tell her grandmother." 
 
 Jennie stole round by the back door, 
 and timidly asked for Miss Dimple. 
 
THE WICKED GIRL. 109 
 
 " I m sure I don t know where she is," 
 answered Buthie, with a pleasant smile; 
 "nor Flyaway either. I have been living 
 in peace for half an hour." 
 
 Kuthie made you think of lemon candy; 
 she was sweet and tart too. 
 
 While Jennie, with the kind assistance 
 of Prudy, was hunting for Dotty, Mrs. 
 Parlin was in Judge Vance s parlor, talking 
 with Jennie s step-mother. Mrs. Vance 
 was shocked to hear of her daughter s con 
 duct, for she loved her and wished her to 
 do right. 
 
 "My poor Jennie," said she ;" from her 
 little babyhood until she was six years old, 
 there was no one to take care of her but 
 a hired nurse, who neglected her sadly." 
 
 " I know just what sort of training Jen 
 nie has had from Serena Pond," said Mrs. 
 Parlin ; " it was most unfortunate. But 
 
110 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 you are so faithful with her, my dear Mrs. 
 Vance, that I do believe she will outgrow 
 all those early influences." 
 
 "I keep hoping so," said Mrs. Vance, 
 repressing a sigh; "I take it very kindly 
 of you, Mrs. Parlin, that you should come 
 to me with this affair. I shall not allow 
 Jennie to go to your house very often. 
 You do not like to wound my feelings, 
 but I am sure you cannot wish to have 
 your little granddaughter very intimate 
 with a child who is sly and untruthful." 
 
 "My dear lady," said grandma Parlin, 
 taking Mrs. Vance s hand, and pressing it 
 warmly; "since we are talking so freely 
 together, and I know you are too generous 
 to be offended, I will confess to you that 
 if Jennie persists in concealing this money, 
 I would prefer not to have Dotty play with 
 her very much ; at least while her mother 
 
THE WICKED GIRL, 111 
 
 Is not here to have the care of her." It 
 was hard for Mrs. Parlin to say this, and 
 she added presently, 
 
 "Please let Jennie spend the night at 
 our house. She may wish to talk with me ; 
 we will give her the opportunity." 
 
 Mrs. Vance gladly consented. She had 
 observed that Jennie seemed unhappy, and 
 was very anxious to see Dotty again. She 
 hoped she had gone to return the money 
 of her own free will. 
 
 When Mrs. Parlin opened the nursery 
 door at home, she found Jennie building 
 block houses, to Flyaway s great delight, 
 while at the other end of the room sat 
 Dotty Dimple, resolutely sewing patch 
 work. 
 
 "O, grandma," spoke up Flyaway, "Jen 
 nie came to see me ; she didn t come to 
 see Dotty, cause Dotty don t want to talk. 
 
112 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 There, now, Jennie, make a rat to put in 
 the cupboard. R goes first to rat." 
 
 Innocent little Flyaway ! She had long 
 ago forgotten her pique against Jennie for 
 being "so easy fretted," and jumping her 
 down from the table. 
 
 Wretched little Jennie ! The new blue 
 and white frock, just finished by her dress 
 maker, covered a heart filled with mortifi 
 cation. Dotty Dimple would not talk to 
 her. It seemed as if Dotty had climbed 
 to the top of a high mountain, and was 
 looking down, down upon her. 
 
 Dotty did feel very exalted to-day; but 
 there was another reason why she would 
 not talk with Jennie : she might have to 
 confess that grandma knew about the 
 money ; and then what a scene there would 
 be ! So Dotty set her lips together, and 
 sewed as if she was afraid somebody would 
 
THE WICKED GIRL. 113 
 
 freeze to death before she could finish her 
 patchwork quilt. 
 
 Mrs. Clifford, who did not understand 
 the cause of Dotty s lofty mood, took pity 
 on Jennie,. and tried to amuse her. After 
 a while, Dotty came softly along, and sat 
 down close to her aunt Maria, ready to 
 listen to the story of the tf Pappoose," 
 though she had heard it fifty times before. 
 
 She did not see Jennie alone for one 
 moment. Grandma Parlin did. "Jennie," 
 said she, taking her into the parlor to show 
 her a new shell, "are you going with our 
 little girls, to-morrow, to sell rags?" 
 
 "I don t know, ma am, I m sure," replied 
 Jennie, looking hard at the sofa. She 
 longed to make an open confession, and 
 get rid of the troublesome money, but had 
 not the courage to do it without some help 
 from Dotty. 
 
 8 
 
114 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "O, dear," thought she, "I feel just as 
 wicked with that money in my bosom ! 
 Seems as if she could hear it crumple. If 
 Dotty would only let me talk to her first ! " 
 
 But Dotty continued as unapproachable 
 as the Pope of Eome. Eight o clock came, 
 and the two unhappy little girls went 
 slowly up stairs to bed. Dotty, in her 
 lofty pride, tried to make her little friend 
 feel herself a sinner; while Jennie, ready 
 to hide herself in the potato-bin for 
 shame, was, at the same time, very angry 
 with the self-satisfied Miss Dimple. She 
 was awed by her superior goodness, but 
 did not love her any the better for it. 
 Why should she? Dotty s goodness lacked 
 
 " Humility, that low, sweet root, 
 2?rom which all heavenly virtues shoot." 
 
 "Here, Miss Parlin," said Jennie, angri- 
 
THE WICKED GIRL. 115 
 
 ly, as she took off her dress ; " here it is, 
 right in my neck. I should have gone and 
 given it to your grandmother, ever so long 
 ago, if you hadn t acted so ! " 
 
 Dotty pulled off her stocjdngs. 
 
 "I spose you thought I was going to 
 keep it. Here, take your old money!" 
 
 "You did mean to keep it, Jane Sidney 
 Vance," retorted Dotty, as fierce as a this 
 tle ; and finished undressing at the top of 
 her speed. 
 
 The money lay on the floor, and neither 
 of the proud girls would pick it up. Jennie, 
 who always prayed at her mother s knee, 
 forgot her prayer to-night, and climbed 
 into bed without it. But Dotty, feeling 
 more than ever how much better she was 
 than her little friend, knelt beside a chair, 
 and prayed in a loud voice. First, she 
 repeated the "Lord s Prayer," then "Gen- 
 
116 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 tie Jesus, meek and mild," and "Now I 
 lay me down to sleep." She was not talk 
 ing to her heavenly Father, but to Jennie, 
 and ended her petitions thus : 
 
 "O God, forgive me if I have done 
 anything naughty to-day ; and please for 
 give Jennie Vance , the wickedest girl in 
 this town" 
 
 Then the little Pharisee got into bed. 
 
WHEELBARRO WING. 117 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WHEELS ARROWING." 
 
 " THE wickedest girl in this town ! " Jen 
 nie s eyes flashed in the dark like a couple 
 of fireflies. At first she was too angry 
 to speak; and when words did come, they 
 were too weak. She wanted words that 
 were so strong, and bitter, and fierce, that 
 they would make Dotty quail. But all 
 she could say was, 
 
 " O, dreadful good you are, Miss Parlin ! 
 Good s the minister ! Ah ! guess I ll get 
 out and sleep on the floor ! " 
 
 Dotty made no reply, but rolled over 
 to the front of the bed, and Jennie pushed 
 
118 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 herself to the back of it. 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. 
 
 c? 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. 
 / 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. A 
 smile crept round the corners of her mouth, 
 as she saw the little girls sleeping so 
 widely apart, their faces turned away from 
 each other. 
 
WHEELB ARROWING . 119 
 
 "How is this?" said she, as the two 
 bills caught her eye. "Of all the foolish 
 children ! Dropping money about the room 
 like waste paper ! " 
 
 The light awoke Jennie, who had only 
 just fallen asleep. "Now is the time," 
 said she to herself; and without waiting 
 for a second thought, which would have 
 been a worse one, she sprang out of bed, 
 and caught Mrs. Parlin by the skirts. 
 
 " That money is yours, Mrs. Parlin," 
 said she, bravely. " Yours ; I found it 
 in the rag-bag. Something naughty came 
 into me this morning, and made me want to 
 keep it ; but I m ever so sorry, and never 11 
 do it again. Will you forgive me ? " 
 
 Then grandma Parlin seated herself in 
 a rocking-chair, took Jennie right into her 
 lap, and talked to her a long while in the 
 sweetest way. Jennie curled her head into 
 
120 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 the good woman s neck, and sobbed out 
 all her wretchedness. 
 
 " She knew she was real bad, and people 
 didn t like to have her play with their 
 little girls, and Dotty Dimple thought she 
 was awful; but was she the wickedest girl 
 in this town?" 
 
 "No; O, no!" 
 
 "Wasn t Dotty some bad, too?" 
 
 "Yes, Dotty often did wrong." 
 
 Then Jenny wept afresh. 
 
 " She knew she was worse than Dotty, 
 though. She wished, O, dear, as true 
 as she lived, she wished she was dead 
 and buried, and drowned in the Eed Sea, 
 and the grass over her grave, and shut 
 up in jail, and everything else." 
 
 Then Mrs. Parlin soothed her with kind 
 words, but told the truth with every one. 
 
 "No m," Jennie said; "it wasn t right 
 
WHEELS ARROWING . 121 
 
 to take fruit-cake without leave, or tell 
 wrong stories either ; she wouldn t any 
 more. Yes m, she would try to be good 
 she never had tried much. Yes m, 
 she would ask God to help her. Should 
 you suppose He would do it? 
 
 "Yes m, she would ask Him not to 
 let her have much temptation. She did 
 believe she would rather be a good girl 
 a real good girl, like Prudy, not like Dot 
 ty! than to have a velvet dress with 
 spangles all over it." 
 
 All this while Dotty did not waken. In 
 the morning she was surprised to see her 
 little bedfellow looking so cheerful. 
 
 "I ve told your grandmother all about 
 it," said Jennie with a smile. "I knew I 
 did wrong, but I don t believe I should 
 have meant to if you hadn t acted so your 
 own self now that s a fact." 
 
122 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "You haven t seen my grandmother, " 
 returned Dotty, not noticing the last clause 
 of her friend s remark. T You dreamed it." 
 
 "No, she came in here and forgave me. 
 She s the best woman in this world. What 
 do you think she said about you, Dotty 
 Dimple? She said there were other little 
 girls full as good as you are. There ! " 
 
 " O ! " 
 
 "Said you often did wrong, that s just 
 what," added Jennie, correcting herself, 
 and making sure of the "white truth." 
 
 Step by step Dotty came down from the 
 mountain-top, and, before breakfast was 
 ready, had led her visitor through the 
 morning dew to the playhouse under the 
 trees, chatting all the way as if nothing 
 had happened. 
 
 It proved that the money belonged to 
 Abner. He had missed it several weeks 
 
WHEELB ARROWING. 123 
 
 before, and ever since that had been sus 
 pecting old Daniel McQuilken, a day la 
 borer, of stealing it. 
 
 " I m ashamed of it now," said Abner to 
 Ruth, "though I didn t tell anybody but 
 you. I wish you d mix a pitcher of sweet- 
 "ened water, and let me take it out to the 
 field to old Daniel. I feel as if I wanted 
 to make it up to him some way." 
 
 Ruth laughed; and when Abner came 
 into the house at ten o clock, she had a 
 pitcher of molasses and water ready for 
 him, also a plate of cherry turnovers. 
 Flyaway insisted upon toddling over the 
 ground with one of the turnovers in her 
 apron. 
 
 "Man," said she, when they reached the 
 field, and she saw the Irishman with his 
 funny red and white hair, what s your 
 name, man?" 
 
124 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 He wiped his face with his checked 
 shirt-sleeve, and took a turnover from her 
 hand, bowing very low as he did so. 
 
 "Thank ee, my little lady; sense you re 
 plazed to ask me, my name s Dannul." 
 
 "O, are you?" said Flyaway, looking 
 up in surprise at the large and oddly- 
 dressed stranger. "Are you Daniel? My 
 mamma s just been reading about you. 
 You was in the lions den wasn t you, 
 Daniel?" 
 
 Mr. McQuilken smiled at bareheaded, 
 flossy-haired little Katie, and replied, with 
 a wink at Abner, 
 
 "Fath, little lady, and I suppose I m 
 that same Dannul; but twas so long ago 
 I ve clane forgot aboot it entirely." 
 
 "O, did you? Well, you was in the 
 lions den, Daniel, but they didn t bite 
 you, you know, cause you prayed so long 
 
WHEELS ARROWING. 125 
 
 and so loud, with your winners up ; and 
 then God wouldn t let em bite." 
 
 Old Daniel laid both his huge hands 
 on Katie s head. 
 
 " Swate little chirrub," said he, " don t 
 she look saintish?" 
 
 Katie moved away; she did not like to 
 have her hair pulled, and Daniel was un 
 consciously drawing it through the big 
 cracks in his fingers, as if he was waxing 
 silk. 
 
 "I guess I ll go home now," said she, 
 
 with a timid glance at the man whom the 
 
 % 
 
 lions did not bite ; " they ll be spectin 
 
 me." 
 
 Abner and Daniel both watched the tiny 
 figure across the fields till Ruth came out 
 to meet it, and it fluttered into the east 
 door of the house. 
 
 "There, she s safe," said Abner; "she 
 
126 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 needs as much looking after as a young 
 turkey." 
 
 " She runs like a little sperrit, bliss her 
 swate eyes," said Daniel. "I had one as 
 pooty as her, but she s at Mary s fate, 
 Hivven rist her sowl ! " 
 
 The moment Flyaway reached the house, 
 she rushed into the parlor to tell her 
 mother the news. 
 
 :? The man you readed about in the 
 book, mamma, he s out there ! Daniel, 
 that the lions didn t bite, mamma, cause 
 he prayed so long and so loud with his 
 winners up ; he s out there got a hat on." 
 
 "0, no, my child; it is thousands of 
 years since Daniel was in the lions den; 
 he died long and long ago." 
 
 "But he said be did, mamma; he told 
 me so. I fought he was dead, mamma, 
 but he said he wasn t." 
 
WHEELS ARROWING . 127 
 
 Mrs. Clifford shook her head. f? I dare 
 say his name is Daniel, but he was never 
 in a lion s den." 
 
 Flyaway opened and closed her eyes in 
 the slowest and most impressive manner. 
 "Mamma," said she, solemnly, "does 
 folks _ tell lies?" 
 
 It was an entirely new idea to the in 
 nocent child : it stamped itself upon her 
 mind like a motto on warm sealing-wax, 
 " Folks does tell - - lies." 
 
 Mrs. Clifford was sorry to see the look 
 of distrust on the young face. 
 
 "Listen to me, little Flyaway. I think 
 the man was in sport ; he was only playing 
 with you, as Horace does sometimes, when 
 he calls himself your horse." 
 
 Flyaway said no more, but she pressed 
 her eyelids together again, and felt that 
 she had been trifled with. Half an hour 
 
128 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 afterwards Prudy heard her repeating, 
 slowly, to herself, " Folks does tell 
 lies." 
 
 Why, here she is," called Dotty from 
 the piazza ; " come, Fly ; we re going wheel- 
 barrowing." 
 
 "Wait a minute, cousin Dotty," said 
 Mrs. Clifford; "Flyaway must put on a 
 clean frock; she is not coming home with 
 you, but you are to leave her at aunt 
 Martha s. I shall meet her there at din 
 ner time." 
 
 "O, mamma, may I? I love you a hun 
 dred rooms full. Let me go bring my 
 buttoner bootner quick s a minute." 
 
 Flyaway was not long in getting ready. 
 She was never long about anything. 
 
 You said we might have all the money, 
 we three didn t you, grandma?" asked 
 Dotty again, at the last moment, thinking 
 
WHEELBARROWING. 129 
 
 how glad she was Jennie had gone home, 
 and would not claim a share. 
 
 :? Yes," replied patient grandma for the 
 fifth time ; " you may do anything you like 
 with it, except to buy colored candy." 
 
 As they were trundling the wheelbarrow 
 
 out of the yard, Horace came up from the 
 
 " 
 
 garden. 
 
 "Prudy," said he, with rather a shame 
 faced glance at his favorite cousin, "you 
 girls will cut a pretty figure, parading 
 through the streets like a gang of pedlers. 
 Come, let me be the driver." 
 
 "O, we thought you couldn t leave your 
 flower-beds, sir," replied Prudy, sweeping 
 a courtesy. 
 
 Well, the weeds are pretty tough, 
 ma am ; roots way down in China, and the 
 Emperor objects to parting with em ; 
 but " 
 
 9 
 
130 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "Poh! we don t need any boys," cried 
 the self-sustained Miss Dimple ; " if your 
 hands are too soft, Prudy, you mustn t 
 push. Wait and see what Dotty Dimple 
 can do." 
 
 " O, then, if you spurn me and my offer, 
 good by. I suppose my little Topknot 
 goes for surplusage" said Horace, who 
 liked now and then to puzzle Dotty with 
 a new word. He meant that Flyaway was 
 of no use, but rather in the way. 
 
 "No, she needn t do any such thing," 
 returned Dotty. "Jump in, Fly, and sit 
 on the bag." And off moved the gay little 
 party, " the middle-aged sister " laughing 
 so she could hardly push, Flyaway dancing 
 up and clown on the rag-bag, like a hum 
 ming-bird balancing itself on a twig ; Grace 
 and Susy looking down from the " green 
 chamber " window, and saying to each 
 

WHEELBARROWING. 131 
 
 other, with wounded family pride, fr Should 
 you think grandma would allow it ? " Out 
 in the street the young rag-merchants were 
 greeted by a cow lowing dismally. Flya- 
 w^ay, in her rustic carriage, felt as secure 
 as the fabled " kid on the roof of a house ; " 
 so she called out, "Don t cry, old cow; I 
 shamed o you." 
 
 At this Prudy and Dotty laughed harder 
 than ever. 
 
 Sh right up, old cow," said Flyaway, 
 
 standing on her " tipsy-toes/ and making 
 
 a threatening gesture with her little arms ; 
 
 * Sh right up! O, why don t that cow 
 
 mind in a minute ? " 
 
 In her earnestness the little girl pushed 
 the bag to one side, and Prudy and Dotty, 
 shaking with laughter, tipped over the 
 wheelbarrow. No harm was done except 
 to give Flyaway a dust-bath in her nice 
 
132 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 clean frock. Just as they were struggling 
 with the bag, to get it in again, they were 
 overtaken by a droll-looking equipage. It 
 was a long house on wheels, and instantly 
 reminded Dotty of Noah s ark. 
 
 " O, a house a-ridin ! a house a-ridin ! " 
 exclaimed Flyaway, gazing after it with 
 the greatest astonishment. 
 
 Dotty thought the world was going topsy 
 turvy. She looked at the trees to see if 
 they stood fast in the ground. But Prudy 
 explained it as soon as she could stop 
 laughing. 
 
 ff Only a photograph saloon," said she. 
 " Didn t you ever see one before ? We 
 don t have them in the city going round 
 so, but things are different in the country. 
 Let s watch and see where it stops." 
 
 "O, dear me," said Dotty; "I shouldn t 
 want to live in a house that couldn t stand 
 
WHEELBARROWING. 133 
 
 still! Stove tipping over, and the ginger 
 bread falling out of the oven! There, I 
 declare ! " 
 
 The look of wonder on Dotty s face was 
 so amusing that Prudy was obliged to 
 hold on to her sides. 
 
 " There, look ! " said she ; "it has stopped 
 down by the corner. Now the man can 
 bake his gingerbread if he wants to, and 
 the stove won t tip over. Jump in, Flya 
 way, and finish your ride." 
 
 "No-o," said Flyaway, wavering between 
 her fear of the cow, some yards ahead, 
 and her fear of the rocking, unsteady 
 wheelbarrow. " Guess I won t get in no 
 more, Prudy; it wearies me." 
 
 "Wearies you?" 
 
 f Yes : don t you know what wearies 
 means, Prudy? It means it makes me a 
 a little scared ! " 
 
134 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 And in her " weariness " Flyaway nestled 
 between her two cousins, and kept fast 
 hold of their skirts till the cow was safely 
 passed and the red store reached. 
 
 " Bravo ! " exclaimed Mr. Bradley, the 
 merchant, as he came out and dragged the 
 rag-bag into the store ; " so you ve taken 
 the business into your own hands, my lit 
 tle women? Ah, this is a progressive 
 age! Walk in walk in." 
 
 Prudy blushed, Dotty smiled, and Fly 
 away took off her hat, as she usually did 
 when she did not know what else to do. 
 
 c Take some seats, young ladies," said 
 Mr. Bradley, placing three chairs in a i;ow, 
 and bowing as if to the most distinguished 
 visitors. Two or three men, who were 
 lounging about the counter, looked on with 
 a smile. Dotty was very well satisfied, 
 for she enjoyed attention; but Prudy, who 
 
WHEELBARROWING. 135 
 
 was older, and had a more delicate sense 
 of propriety, blushed and cast down her 
 eyes. She had thought nothing of driving 
 a wheelbarrow through the street, but now, 
 for the first time, a feeling of mortifica 
 tion came over her. If Mr. Bradley would 
 only keep quiet ! 
 
 " A fine morning, my young friends ! 
 Rather warm, to be sure. And so you 
 have brought rags to sell ? Would you 
 like the money for them, or do you think 
 we can make a trade with some articles 
 out of the store ? " 
 
 " Grandma said we could have the money 
 between us, we three," replied Dotty, with 
 refreshing frankness, w and buy anything we 
 please except red and yellow candy." 
 
 * I want a music," said Flyaway, in an 
 eager whisper; "a music, and a ollinge, 
 and a pig." 
 
136 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " Hush ! " said Prudy, for the man with 
 a piece of court-plaster on his cheek was 
 certainly laughing. 
 
 Mr. Bradley took the bag into another 
 room to weigh it. A boy was in there, 
 drawing molasses. "James," said Mr. Brad 
 ley, " run down cellar, and bring up some 
 beer for these young ladies." 
 
 There was a smile on James s face as he 
 drove the plug into the barrel. Prudy 
 saw it through the open door, and it went 
 to her heart. The cream beer was excel 
 lent, but Prudy did not relish it. She and 
 Dotty had been whispering together. 
 
 " We will take two thirds of the rags in 
 money, if you please," said Prudy, in such 
 a low tone that Mr. Bradley had to bend 
 his ear to hear. 
 
 "Because," added Dotty, who wished to 
 have everything clearly explained, w because 
 
WHEELB ARROWING . 137 
 
 we want to have our tin-types taken, sir. 
 We saw a saloon riding on wheels, and we 
 thought we d go there, and see if the man 
 wasn t ready to take pictures." 
 
 "And our little cousin may use her third, 
 and buy something out of the store, if you 
 please," said the blushing Prudy. 
 
138 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 TIN-TYPES. 
 
 MR. BRADLEY said he did not often allow 
 any one behind his counter, as all the boys 
 in the village could testify ; but these 
 young ladies were welcome in any part of 
 the store. 
 
 That little one is the spryest child I 
 ever saw," said the man with the court- 
 plaster, as Flyaway hovered about the can 
 dy-jars, like a butterfly over a flower-bed. 
 "She isn t a Yankee child is she?" 
 
 "No, sir," replied Dotty, quickly; "she 
 is a westerness" 
 
 She had heard Horace use the word, 
 and presumed it was correct. 
 
TIN-TYPES. 
 
 139 
 
 " I do -wish Dotty would be more afraid 
 of strangers," thought Prudy. "I never 
 will take her anywhere again with a 
 wheelbarrow." 
 
 Flyaway fluttered around for a minute, 
 and then alighted upon her favorite sweet 
 meats, "pepnits." She chose for her por 
 tion a large amount of these, an harmonica, 
 and a sugar pig, which Dotty assured her 
 was not " colored." " Nothing but pink dots, 
 and those you can pick off." 
 
 "The rao-s came to seventy-five cents, and 
 this young lady has now had her third; 
 here is the remainder," said Mr. Bradley, 
 smiling as he gave each of the little Par- 
 lins some money, and bowed them out of 
 the store. 
 
 "I ll put it in my porte-monnaie, sir; 
 my sister Prudy didn t bring hers." 
 " What makes you talk so much, Dotty 
 
 
 
140 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 Dimple ? " said Prudy, ; " that man has been 
 making sport of us all the time." 
 
 "Did he?" said Dotty, solemnly. "I m 
 stonished at grandma Parlin letting us sell 
 rags ! Wish this wheelbarrow was in the 
 Stiftic Ocean." 
 
 " But it isn t, little sister, and the worst 
 of it is, we ve got to take it to the pho 
 tograph saloon; it s so far home and back 
 again." 
 
 " Got to take the ole ivheelbarrel every 
 single where we go," pouted Flyaway, as 
 drearily as either of her cousins. 
 
 You needn t mind it, though," said 
 Dotty, giving the one-wheeled coach a hard 
 push; "a little girl that s going visiting, 
 and have succotash for dinner." 
 
 "I didn t know I was. O, I am so glad ! 
 What is it!" 
 
 w Corn and beans. Aunt Martha s girl is 
 
TIN-TYPES. 141 
 
 the best cook, makes cherry pudding. 
 Dear, dear, dear ! Wish I was in Port 
 land ; see f I wouldn t go to Tate Penny s, 
 and have some salmon and ice-cream ! " 
 
 Down the beautiful shaded street walked 
 the three little rag-pedlers ; and it did 
 seem as if they were met by all the people 
 in town, from the minister down to the 
 barefoot boys going fishing. At last they 
 arrived at the house on wheels. 
 
 "Now 111 tell you, Fly, what we re go 
 ing to do," said Prudy. "Dotty and I 
 want to have our tin-types taken, to give 
 to grandma, as a pleasant surprise. We ll 
 pay for yours too, if you ll sit for it." 
 
 " Tin-tybe 9 Of course, indeed I will. 
 Won t I have nuffin to do but just sit 
 still? But I d rather be gentle (generous), 
 and give it to my mamma." 
 
 "Well, to your mamma, then. What 
 
142 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 will be the harm, Dotty, in leaving this 
 wheelbarrow out here at the door ? " 
 
 "I don t know," said Dotty; "I hope 
 there won t any bugglers come along, 
 and steal it." 
 
 "I shall watch it," replied Prudy, with 
 a care-worn look ; and they all went up 
 the steps and entered the little picture- 
 gallery. 
 
 The windows were closed, and the odor of 
 chemicals was so stifling, that the children 
 almost gasped for breath. The artist seemed 
 glad to see them, made no remarks about 
 the wheelbarrow, though he must have no 
 ticed it, and said he would be ready in 
 a few minutes. While they waited, they 
 walked about the room, looking at the 
 pictures on the walls. 
 
 " See," said Dotty ; "there is Abby Grant, 
 with her hair frizzed. Prudy" (in a low 
 
TIN-TYPES. 143 
 
 whisper) , " you don t s pose he will carry 
 us O ff clo you? I forgot about the wheels, 
 or I wouldn t have come ! O, see that 
 little boy; hands as big as my father s! 
 Here comes Jennie Vance ; I m going to 
 call her in." 
 
 Dotty had forgotten her contempt for 
 her lively friend. Jennie came in, twirling 
 the rim of her hat, and looking quite grat 
 ified by this mark of friendship in Dotty. 
 
 " Going to have your picture taken, Dot 
 ty Dimple? Well, so I would if I was as 
 pretty as you are. O, dear" (with a sly 
 peep at the glass), "I wish I wasn t so 
 homely." 
 
 Now Jennie was a handsome child, and 
 knew it well ; but Dotty took her wail in 
 earnest. Why, Jennie," said she, with 
 ready sympathy, "I don t think you re so 
 very homely ; not half so homely, any 
 way, as some of the girls at Portland." 
 
144 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 Jennie frowned and bit her thumb. Pru 
 dy smiled " behind her mouth," but Dotty 
 was serenely unconscious that she had 
 given offence. By this time the artist was 
 ready, and thought it best to try Flyaway 
 first; for he had had enough experience 
 with children to see at a glance that this 
 one would be as difficult to " take " as a 
 bird on the wing. Prudy made sure the 
 wheelbarrow was safe, and then turned to 
 arrange her little cousin. 
 
 "Here, put your hands down in your 
 lap." 
 
 Up went the little hands to the flossy 
 hair. "It won t stay, Prudy, or nelse you 
 tie it." 
 
 "I shall brush it, the very last minute, 
 Flyaway. All you must do is sit still. 
 Mayn t she look at your watch, sir, just 
 to keep her eyes from moving?" 
 
TIN-TYPES. 145 
 
 "No matter what she looks at," replied 
 the artist ; " but she must keep that little 
 head of hers straight." 
 
 His tone was firm ; he hoped to awe 
 her into quietness. Flyaway was fright 
 ened, and clung to Prudy for protection. 
 " Don t the gemplum love little gee - urls ? " 
 said she, in a voice as low and sad as a 
 dying dove s. 
 
 Mr. Poindexter laughed, and stroked the 
 beautiful floss lovingly. 
 
 "Just turn your sweet little face this 
 way, dear child; that s all." 
 
 " O, my shole ! Must I turn my face to 
 my back ! " said Flyaway, bewildered. 
 
 "No, no; look at this picture on the 
 wall. See what it is, so you can tell your 
 mother." 
 
 "It s a bridge, and a man, and a fish," 
 said Flyaway, flashing a glance at it. 
 * 10 
 
146 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " There, smooth your forehead ; now you 
 will do." And so she did, for two seconds, 
 till she began to squint, to see whether it 
 was a fish or a dog; and that picture was 
 spoiled. 
 
 Next time she tried so very hard to sit 
 still that she swayed to and fro like a 
 slender-stemmed flower when the wind goes 
 over it. The picture was blurred. 
 
 "O, Fly, you must keep your shoulders 
 still," said Prudy, looking as anxious as 
 the old woman in the shoe. 
 
 ff I didn t never* want to come here," 
 said the child; "when I sit so still, Prudy , 
 it most gives me a pain." 
 
 "But you haven t sat still yet, not a 
 minute." 
 
 " I could, you know, Prudy, or nelse I 
 didn t have to breeve," groaned Flyaway, 
 lifting her eyebrows. 
 
TIN-TYPES. 147 
 
 "Another one spoiled," said the artist, 
 trying to smile. 
 
 " Yes," said Dotty, who felt none of the 
 care. " Once it was her head, and then it 
 was her shoulders ; and now her eyebrows 
 are all of a quirk." 
 
 Poor little Flyaway felt as much out of 
 place as a grape-vine would feel, if it had 
 to make believe it was a pine tree. 
 
 "Wisht I d said no, stead o yes, " 
 murmured she, puckering her mouth to the 
 size of a very small button-hole. 
 
 "This will never do," said the patient 
 artist, almost in despair. "Hold your lit 
 tle chin up, there s a lady. Don t put it 
 in your neck. Now ! Keady ! " 
 
 But at the critical moment there was a 
 jerk, and Flyaway cried out, 
 
 "I ve got a sneeze; but, O, dear, I can t 
 sneeze it." 
 
148 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 ? Why, where s that head of yours, lit 
 tle Tot? I declare, I believe it goes on 
 wires, like a jumping-jack." 
 
 "My head s wrong side up," said Flya 
 way, mournfully; "my mother said it was." 
 
 Mr. Poindexter laughed : it was impos 
 sible to be vexed with such a gentle child 
 as Flyaway. "Eeally, my young friends," 
 said he, rubbing his stained fingers through 
 his hair, "I believe I shall be obliged to 
 give it up for the present. Have the 
 child s mother come with her to-morrow, 
 and we ll do better, I am sure." 
 
 With the likenesses of the other girls he 
 succeeded very well ; and Prudy and Dotty 
 were glad to find, that after paying for 
 theirs, they each had ten cents left. 
 
 "Now, Fly, we will go to aunt Martha s." 
 
 But Fly was amusing herself by scraping 
 dirt out of the cracks of her boots with a 
 bit of glass. 
 
TIN-TYPES. 149 
 
 "Dotty won t be to aunt Marfie s. I 
 don t want to stay where Dotty isn t*" 
 
 "But your mamma will be there, you 
 know ; and I told you what they are going 
 to have for dinner." 
 
 Yes, secretary" said Flyaway, proud 
 of her memory. " She is a very nice cook 
 er, but you ll have hard work to get me 
 to go." 
 
 She drawled out the words languidly, and 
 seemed on the point of going to sleep. 
 
 "O, girls, girls, girls," cried Prudy, 
 opening the door and looking out, " our 
 wheelbarrow is gone it s gone ! " 
 
 "It s bugglers ; I told you so," said Dotty. 
 
 Mr. Poindexter was quite amused by his 
 little sitters. "I saw tfcat you came in a 
 coach," said he, "and without any horses." 
 
 " Our grandmother said we might," spoke 
 up Dotty, anxious to divert all blame from 
 
150 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 herself. "She said we might; but Prudy 
 ought to have gone straight home. I knew 
 it all the time." 
 
 "I dare say some one has driven off 
 your carriage in sport," said the kind- 
 hearted photographer ; " never fear." 
 
 "O, no, sir; it was new and red. Folks 
 wanted it to haul stones in, and that was 
 why they took it," said Dotty, wrathfully. 
 
 The children looked up street and down 
 street. No wheelbarrow in sight. " We 
 must go to aunt Martha s, and then come 
 back and hunt for it, if we have to go 
 without our dinners," they said. They 
 took Flyaway between them, and marched 
 her off. She was almost as passive as a 
 rag baby, ready to drop down anywhere, 
 and fall asleep. :e Cause I am so tired," 
 said she. 
 
 Aunt Martha cordially invited the two 
 
TIN-TYPES. 151 
 
 cousins to dine. They thanked her, but 
 no, they must find the wheelbarrow. ? We 
 shan t say, certain positive, that bugglers 
 took it, but we s pose so," said Dotty, 
 softening her judgment, as she remembered 
 her mistake about the "screw-up pencil." 
 They went home through the broiling sun, 
 but found no trace of the wheelbarrow. 
 
 "It s a dreadful thing," said Prudy, la 
 zily, "but I don t feel as bad as I should 
 if I was fairly awake." 
 
 "Me, too," yawned Dotty; "I wish we 
 could lie down under the trees, and go 
 to sleep." 
 
 They had been a long while in the close 
 saloon, inhaling ether, and this was the 
 cause of their languor. As they entered 
 the yard they met Horace. 
 
 "O, dear," said Dotty, trying to look 
 as sorry as she knew she ought to feel, 
 "that wheel--" 
 
152 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Prudy. 
 
 There, under a syringa tree in the gar 
 den, stood the wheelbarrow. The girls 
 rubbed their eyes, and wondered if they 
 were walking in their sleep. 
 
 t? That thing trundled itself in here about 
 
 half an hour ago," said Horace, gravely. 
 
 f You may know I was surprised to look 
 
 up, and see it coming without hands, just 
 
 rolling along like a velocipede." 
 
 Dotty eyed the runaway wheelbarrow stu 
 pidly. " I don t believe it," said she, flatly. 
 
 Horace laughed ; and then the fog cleared 
 away from Dotty s mind in a minute. 
 
 "Why, girls," said he, "how long did 
 you think I could wait to haul off my 
 weeds? You were gone two hours. I 
 watched you on your parade, and followed 
 at a respectful distance." 
 
 "There, Horace Clifford!" 
 
TIN-TYPES. 153 
 
 " In order not to disturb the procession. 
 Then, when I saw you going into the 
 saloon, I went up and claimed my wheel 
 barrow. Didn t want it any longer did 
 you?" 
 
 "No, and never want it again/ said 
 Prudy. 
 
 "By the way, here s a conundrum for 
 you, girls, Why s a wheelbarrow like a 
 potato ? " 
 
 "I shouldn t think it was like it at all," 
 answered Dotty. ? Where did you read 
 that?" 
 
 "Didn t read it anywhere. I ve given 
 up books since I undertook gardening. 
 Never was much of a bookworm. Make 
 a very respectable earth-worm ; ask aunt 
 Louise if I don t." 
 
 The little girls entered the house, too 
 tired and sleepy to make any reply. 
 
154 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 CHAPTEB X. 
 
 WAKING. 
 
 FLYAWAY w^as very much sleepier than 
 either of her cousins, and really did not 
 know where she was, or what she was 
 doing. Lonnie Adams, a boy of Horace s 
 age, tried to interest her. He made believe 
 the old cat was a sheep, killed her with an 
 iron spoon, and hung her up by the hind 
 legs for mutton, all which Pussy bore like 
 a lamb, for she had been killed a great 
 many times, and was used to it. But it 
 did not please Flyaway; neither did aunt 
 Martha s collection of shells and pictures 
 call forth a single smile. There was a 
 
WAKING. 155 
 
 beautiful clock in the parlor, and the pen 
 dulum was in the form of a little boy 
 swinging; but Flyaway would not have 
 cared if it had been a gallows, and the 
 boy hanging there dead. 
 
 Uncle John took her on his knee, asked 
 her what her name was, where she lived, 
 and whom she loved best; but she only 
 answered she "didn t know." She might 
 have been Daniel in the lions den, or Jo 
 seph in the pit, for all the difference to her. 
 
 " How very singular ! " said aunt Martha. 
 "I wish her mother would come. Do feel 
 her pulse, John, and see if it is fever." 
 
 "Nothing of the kind," said uncle John, 
 as the little one s head dropped on his 
 shoulder. " Overcome by the heat ; that s 
 all. I ll just lay her down on the sofa." 
 
 "When Mrs. Clifford came, she was sur 
 prised to find the child fast asleep. She 
 
156 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 would not have her wakened for dinner ; 
 so Flyaway missed her " secretary." But 
 when it was three o clock, and she still 
 slept, Mrs. Clifford feared something was 
 wrong, and decided to take her home. 
 Uncle John had "Lightning Dodger" har 
 nessed, and brought around to the door. 
 
 "Wake up, little daughter," said Mrs. 
 Clifford; "we are going home now." 
 
 Flyaway looked around vacantly, her eyes 
 
 
 as heavy as drenched violets. 
 
 :t You must come again, and stay longer," 
 said aunt Martha ; " it is hardly polite not 
 to let little girls have their dinners do 
 you think it is?" 
 
 "Yes m," replied Flyaway, faintly. She 
 did not understand a word any one said; 
 it all sounded as indistinct as the roaring 
 of a sea-shell. By the time she was lifted 
 into her mother s arms in the carriage, she 
 
WAKING. 157 
 
 was nodding again. When they reached 
 home she scarcely spoke, but, dropping 
 upon the sofa, went on with her dreams. 
 It was odd for Flyaway to take a nap in 
 the daytime, and such a long one as this ! 
 
 "It must be a very warm day," said 
 Mrs. Parlin, "for Prudy and Dotty have 
 been asleep too." 
 
 f Where did they go after they sold the 
 rags?" asked Mrs. Clifford; "they all 
 look pale." 
 
 "To a photograph saloon. Here are the 
 tin-types they brought home to me," re 
 plied grandma, producing them from her 
 pocket, with a gratified smile. 
 
 ? Very good, mother don t you think 
 so? I would be glad to have as truthful 
 a likeness of our little Katie ; but she must 
 be taken asleep. I wonder, by the way, 
 if there wasn t something in the air of the 
 
158 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 saloon which made the children all so lan 
 guid?" 
 
 Why, yes, Maria; very likely it was 
 the ether. Now you speak of it, I am con 
 fident it must have been the ether." 
 
 "I knew just such an instance before," 
 said Mrs. Clifford; "and that is why I 
 happened to think of it now." 
 
 About four o clock Flyaway came to her 
 senses. 
 
 Where s the wheelbarrel ? " said she, 
 rubbing her eyes. 
 
 "O, Horace came and took it," said 
 Dotty. " Hasn t this been the queerest 
 day!" 
 
 :? You said you s goin to take me to 
 aunt Marfie s ; why didn t you ? " 
 
 "O, we did; we took you, you know." 
 
 "Dotty Dimpul, I shouldn t think you d 
 make any believe." 
 
WAKING. 159 
 
 "I m not making any believe am I, 
 Prudy?" 
 
 "No, Fly, she isn t. We pulled you 
 along, don t you remember ? and you 
 hung back, and said, e l am so tired. 
 
 " I don t member," said Flyaway, slowly 
 and sadly. "I shouldn t think you d make 
 any believe, Prudy." 
 
 * We ll ask your mamma, then ; she tells 
 the truth. Aunt Blah, didn t we take 
 Flyaway to aunt Martha s this morning, 
 and didn t you go there too ? " 
 
 "Certainly," said Mrs. Clifford; "but it 
 wasn t much of a visit, was it, darling! 
 when you slept most of the time, and 
 didn t have a mouthful of dinner?" 
 
 Flyaway sighed heavily, and looked at 
 her mother. " O, mamma ! mamma ! " 
 
 "What is it, dear?" 
 
 "O, mamma," repeated she, sorrowfully, 
 "why did you say those words?" 
 
160 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "What words, darling?" 
 
 "Those naughty, naughty words, mam 
 ma." Flyaway s gentle eyes were afloat. 
 She crossed the room, and knelt by Mrs. 
 Clifford s chair, looking up at her with an 
 expression of anguish. 
 
 " That man, he Avasn t in the lions den, 
 that prayed so long and so loud, mamma." 
 
 " Well, dear. " 
 
 ".Setelled a wrong story to me, mamma." 
 
 "My darling baby," said Mrs. Clifford, 
 catching Flyaway in her arms, "do you 
 think your own dear mother is telling you 
 a wrong story this minute?" 
 
 "Cause, cause, mamma, I didn t go to 
 aunt Marfie s ! " 
 
 "Yes, you did, my precious daughter; 
 but you were asleep and dreaming. We 
 brought you home in the carriage, and 
 you didn t know it. Can t you believe it 
 because I say so?" 
 
WAKING. 161 
 
 Flyaway made no reply except to curl 
 her head under Mrs. Clifford s arm, like a 
 frightened chicken under its mother s wing. 
 Mrs. Clifford looked troubled. She was 
 afraid the little one could not be made to 
 understand it. Horace came to her aid. 
 
 "Hold up your head, little Topknot, 
 and hear brother talk. Once there were 
 three little girls, and they all travelled 
 round with a wheelbarrow. By and by 
 they came to a man s house on wheels." 
 
 "Yes," said Flyaway, starting up; "I 
 member." 
 
 "And the wee girl, with dove s eyes " 
 
 "O, O, that s me!" 
 
 " She couldn t keep still, and couldn t 
 get any picture." 
 
 " No, tin-tybe ; cause cause " 
 
 "And all the while there was something 
 in the man s house they kept breathing 
 11 
 
162 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 into their noses, and it made them grow 
 sleepy." 
 
 "Just so?" asked Flyaway, sniffing. 
 
 ? Yes ; and by and by the little one with 
 dove s eyes was as stupid as that woman 
 you saw lying down in the street with the 
 pig looking at her." 
 
 "Me? Was I a drunken?" said Flya 
 way, in a subdued tone." 
 
 "O, no," put in Dotty; "it wasn t whis 
 key, it was either; and I didn t know much 
 more than you did, Fly Clifford. That 
 was why I lost your money, Prudy; I 
 just about know it was." 
 
 Flyaway began to understand. The look 
 of fear and distrust went out of her eyes, 
 and she threw her arms round her mother s 
 neck, kissing her again and again. 
 
 " Haps I did go to aunt Marfie s, mamma ; 
 haps I was asleep ! " 
 
WAKING. 163 
 
 " That s right, Miss Topknot," cried Hor 
 ace ; " now your brother ll carry you pick 
 aback." 
 
 A little while afterward Mrs. Clifford 
 began a letter to her husband. 
 
 " I am going to tell papa about his little 
 girl that she is very well." 
 
 " O, no, you needn t, mamma," said 
 Flyaway, laughing ; " papa knows it. I 
 was well at home." 
 
 "What shall I tell him, then?" 
 
 Flyaway thought a moment. 
 
 Tell him all the folks doesn t tell lies," 
 said she, earnestly; "only but the naughty 
 folks tells lies." 
 
 So that was settled ; and Flyaway de 
 cided to write off the whole story, and send 
 to her father a mixture of little sharp 
 zigzags, curves, and dots. When Horace 
 asked her what these meant, she said "she 
 
164 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 couldn t member now ; but papa would 
 know." 
 
 There was another matter which troubled 
 grandma Parlin somewhat. Dotty had gone 
 to the store, after dinner, with two ten- 
 cent pieces in her porte-monnaie. She 
 had bought for herself some jujube paste, 
 but in returning had lost the other dime. 
 
 "Grandma, do you think that is fair?" 
 said Prudy. " She has lost my money, but 
 she doesn t care at all ; only laughs. I was 
 going to put it with some more I had, and 
 buy mother a collar." 
 
 " No, it is not right," replied grandma. 
 "I will talk with her, and try to make 
 her willing to give you some of hers in 
 return." 
 
 Ah, grandma Parlin, you little knew 
 what you were undertaking when you 
 called Dotty Dimple into the back parlor 
 
WAKING. 165 
 
 next morning, and began to talk about 
 that money ! Children s minds are strange 
 things. They are like bottles with very 
 small necks ; and when you pour in an 
 idea, you must pour very slowly, a drop 
 at a time, or it all runs over. Dotty did 
 not know much more about money than 
 Flyaway. 
 
 " My child," said her grandmother, w it 
 seems you have lost something which be 
 longed to Prudy." 
 
 Dotty looked up carelessly from the pic 
 ture of a rose she held in her hand, which 
 she meant to adorn with yellow paint. 
 
 "O, yes m; you mean that money." 
 
 " There are several things you don t 
 know, Dotty; and one is, that you have no 
 right to lose other people s things." 
 
 No >m." 
 
 "The money you dropped out of your 
 
166 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 porte-monnaie, yesterday, was Prudy s, not 
 yours ; and what are you going to do about 
 it?" 
 
 " Let me see ; my mother 11 come to 
 morrow; I ll ask her to give me some 
 
 more." 
 
 " But is that right ? Dotty lost the 
 money ; must not Dotty be the one to give 
 it back?" 
 
 " O, grandma, I can t find it ! The wind 
 blew it away, or a horse stepped on it. I 
 can t find it, certainly." 
 
 " No ; but you have money of your own. 
 You can give some of that to Prudy." 
 
 "Why-eel" moaned Dotty. "Prudy s 
 got ever so much. O, grandma, she has; 
 and my box is so empty it. can t but just 
 jingle." 
 
 "But, my dear, that has nothing to do 
 with the case. If Prudy has a great deal 
 
WAKING. 167 
 
 of money, you have no right to lose any 
 of it. Don t you think you ought to give 
 it back?" 
 
 " O, no, grandma I don t; because she 
 doesn t need it ! I wish she d give me ten 
 cents, for I do need it; I haven t but a 
 tinty, tonty mite." 
 
 Here Dotty threw herself on the sofa, 
 the picture of despair. Grandma was per 
 plexed. Had she been pouring ideas into 
 Dotty s mind too fast? What should she 
 say next? 
 
 "My dear little girl, suppose Prudy 
 should lose some of your money what 
 then?" 
 
 "I shouldn t like it at all, grandma. Don t 
 let her go to my box will you ? " 
 
 " Selfish little girl ! " said grandma, look 
 ing keenly at Dotty s troubled face. " You 
 
168 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 would expect Prudy to return every cent, 
 if she were in your place." 
 
 " Because because grandma " 
 
 Yes; and when I explain your duty to 
 you, you don t understand me. You would 
 understand if you were not so selfish ! " 
 
 Dotty winced. 
 
 "Don t come to me again, and complain 
 of Jennie Vance." 
 
 Dotty could not meet her grandmother s 
 searching gaze : it seemed to cut into her 
 heart like a sharp blade. 
 
 "Am I as bad as Jennie Vance? Yes, 
 just as bad; and grandma knows it. But 
 then," said she aloud, though very faintly, 
 "Prudy needn t have put it in my porte- 
 monnaie; she might have known I d lose 
 it." 
 
 "Dotty, I am not going to say any more 
 about it now. You may think it over to- 
 
WAKING. 169 
 
 day, and decide for yourself whether you 
 are following the Golden Rule. Or, if you 
 choose, you may wait and talk with your 
 mother." 
 
 5? Yes m." Dotty was glad to escape 
 into the kitchen. 
 
170 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 AUNT POLLY S STORY. 
 
 FLYAWAY sat on the kitchen floor, feed 
 ing Dinah with a roasted apple. As often 
 as Dinah refused a teaspoonful, she put 
 it into her own mouth, saying, with a wise 
 nod, " My child, she s sick ; hasn t any 
 appletite" 
 
 Out of doors it was raining heartily. It 
 seemed as if the " upper deep " was tipping 
 over, and pouring itself into the lap of the 
 earth. 
 
 "O, Ruthie," sighed Dotty Dimple, "my 
 mother won t come while it s such weather. 
 Do you s pose twill ever clear off?" 
 
m 
 
 I / / i iii 
 
 FLYAWAY AND DINAH. Puire 171. 
 
AUNT POLLY S STORY. 171 
 
 Yes, I do," replied Kuth, trimming a 
 pie briskly; "it only began last night at 
 five." 
 
 Why, Kuthie Dillon ! it began three 
 weeks ago, by the clock ! Don t you know 
 that day I couldn t go visiting ? Only 
 sometimes it $tops a while, and then begins 
 
 again." 
 
 " If you re going to have the blues, Miss 
 Dotty, I ll thank you kindly just to take 
 yourself out of this kitchen. Polly ^hit- 
 ing is here, and she is as much as a body 
 can endure in this dull weather." 
 
 "It s pitiful bout the rain, Dotty; but 
 you mustn t scold when God sended it," 
 said Flyaway, dropping the feeble Dinah, 
 and pursuing her cousin round the room 
 with a pin. In a minute they were both 
 laughing gayly, till Flyaway caught her 
 self on her little rocking-chair, and "got 
 
172 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 a torn in her apron." That ended the 
 sport. 
 
 "What shall I do to make myself hap 
 py ? " said Dotty, musingly ; for she wished 
 to put off all thought of Prudy s money. 
 "I should like to roll out some thimble- 
 cookies, but Euthie hasn t much patience 
 this morning. I never dare do things when 
 her lips are squeezed together so." 
 
 But Flyaway dared do things. She took 
 up the kitty, and played to her on the 
 "music," till Euth s ears were " on edge." 
 After this the harmonica fell into a dish 
 of soft soap, and in cleaning it with ashes 
 and a sponge, the holes became stopped. 
 
 "It won t muse no more," said Flyaway, 
 in sad surprise, blowing into the keys in 
 vain. Euth loved the little child too well 
 to say she was glad of it. 
 
 Flyaway s next dash was into the sink 
 
AUNT POLLY S STORY. 173 
 
 cupboard, where she found a wooden bowl 
 of sand. This she dragged out, and filling 
 her " nipperkin " with water, carried them 
 both to Euth, saying, in her sweet, plead 
 ing way, 
 
 "If you please, Euthie, will you tell 
 how God does when he takes the f little 
 drops of water and little grains of sand, 
 and makes f the mighty oshum with urn, 
 and the pleasant land ? " 
 
 Euthie had no answer but a kiss and a 
 smile. 
 
 " There, away with you into the nursery, 
 both of you. I know Polly Whiting is 
 lonesome without you." 
 
 Off went the children, Flyaway " with 
 a heart for any fate," but Dotty still op 
 pressed by the shadow of the ten-cent 
 piece. 
 
 If I don t give it to Prudy, will I be 
 
174 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 dishonest? Will I be as bad as Jennie 
 Vance?" 
 
 When they entered the nursery, Miss 
 Polly was standing before the mirror, ar 
 ranging her black cap, and weaving into 
 her collar a square black breast-pin, which 
 aunt Louise said looked like a gravestone. 
 Flyaway peeped in too, placing her smooth 
 pink cheek beside Miss Polly s wrinkled 
 one. 
 
 "I don t look alike, Miss Polly," said 
 she; "and you don t look alike too." 
 
 Certainly not; no more alike than a 
 blush-rose bud and a dried apple. 
 
 :? What makes the red go out of folks 
 checks when they grow old, and the wrin 
 kles crease in, like the pork in baked 
 beans?" queried Dotty. 
 
 "I couldn t tell you," replied the good 
 lady, giving a pat to her cap, and settling 
 
AUNT POLLY S STORY. 175 
 
 the bows carefully ; " but if you had asked 
 how I happened to grow old before my 
 time, I should say I d had such a hard 
 chance through life, and trouble always 
 leaves its mark." 
 
 "Does it? O, dear! I have trouble, 
 ever so much; will it quirk my face all 
 up, like yours?" 
 
 :t You have trouble, Dotty Parlin? Haven t 
 you found out. yet that the lines have fallen 
 to you in pleasant places ? " 
 
 "I don t know what you mean by lines," 
 said Dotty, thinking of fish-hooks ; "but 
 when it rains, and folks want me to do 
 things that are real hard, then why, I m 
 blue, now truly." 
 
 "Then we re blue, now truly," added 
 Flyaway by way of finish. 
 
 " What would you do, children, if you 
 were driven about, as I used to be, from 
 
176 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 post to pillar, with no mother to care for 
 you?" 
 
 " If I hadn t no mamma, I could go bare 
 foot, like a dog," said Flyaway, brightening 
 with the new idea ; " I could paddle in 
 the water too, and eat pepnits." 
 
 "O, child! But what if you had neither 
 father nor mother ? " 
 
 "Then," said Flyaway coolly, "I should 
 go to some house where there was a fa 
 ther n mother." 
 
 ? Why, you little heartless thing ! But 
 that is always the way with children ; their 
 parents set their lives by them, but not a 
 ? thank you do they get for their love ! 
 Try a pinch," continued she, offering her 
 snuff-box to the little folks, who both de 
 clined. This Polly thought was strange. 
 They must like snuff if they followed the 
 natural bent of their noses. 
 
AUNT POLLY S STORY. 177 
 
 "Yes, Katie, as I was saying, you little 
 know how your mother loves you." 
 
 " Yes um, I do. She loves me more n 
 the river, and the sky, and the bridge. 
 My papa loves me too, only but he don t 
 say nuffin bout it." 
 
 "Yes, yes; just so," said Miss Polly, 
 who talked to the simplest infants just as 
 she did to grown people. " One of these 
 days you will look back, and see how 
 happy you are now, and be sorry you 
 didn t prize your parents while you had 
 them." 
 
 Flyaway rested her rosy cheek on Polly s 
 knee, and watched the gray knitting-work 
 as it came out of the basket. She did not 
 understand the sad woman s words, but 
 was attracted by her loving nature, and 
 liked to sit near her, a minute at a time, 
 and have her hair stroked. 
 12 
 
178 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 :? There, now," said Dotty, you are 
 knitting, Miss Polly; and it s so lonesome 
 all round the house, with mother not com 
 ing till to-morrow, that I should think you 
 might tell well, tell an anecdote." 
 
 " I don t know where to begin, or what to 
 say," replied Polly, falling into deep thought. 
 
 "I just believe she does sigh at "the end 
 of every needle," mused Dotty; "I m going 
 to keep count. That s once." 
 
 "Please, Miss Polly, tell a nanny-goat" 
 said Flyaway, dancing around the room. 
 "Please, Miss Polly, and I ll kiss you a 
 pretty little kiss." 
 
 " Twice," whispered Dotty. 
 
 "Well, I ll tell you something that will 
 pass for an anecdote, on condition that 
 you call me aunt Polly ; that name warms 
 my heart a great deal better than Miss 
 Polly." 
 
AUNT POLLY S STORY. 179 
 
 " Three ! " said Dotty aloud. " We will, 
 honestly, if we can think of it, aunt Polly. 
 Four." 
 
 "Le me gwout for the sidders, first," 
 said busy Flyaway. 
 
 "There, aunt Polly, you forgot it that 
 time ! You sprang up quick to shut the 
 door, and forgot it." 
 
 " Forgot what ? " 
 
 f You didn t sigh at the end of your 
 needle." 
 
 :t Why, Dotty, how you do talk ! Any 
 one would suppose, by that, I was in the 
 habit of sighing ! I have a stitch in my 
 side, child, and it makes me draw a long 
 breath now and then; that s all." 
 
 Flyaway was back again, 
 
 "With step-step light, and tip- tap slight 
 Against the door." 
 
180 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " Come in," said Dotty, " and see if you 
 can keep still two whole minutes ; but I 
 know you can t." 
 
 Miss Polly let her work fall in her lap, 
 and drew up the left sleeve of her black 
 alpaca dress. "Do you see that scar, 
 children ? " 
 
 It was just below the elbow, an irreg 
 ular, purple mark, about the size of a new 
 cent. 
 
 "Why, Miss why, aunt Polly!" 
 
 " I ve got one on me too," said Flya 
 way, pulling at her apron sleeve ; " Hollis 
 did it with the tongs." 
 
 " It can t be ; not a scar like mine." 
 
 " Bigger n larger V yours ; only but I 
 can t find it," said Flyaway, carefully twist 
 ing around her dainty white arm, which 
 Polly kissed, and said was as sweet as a 
 peach. "Bigger n larger n yours. Where s 
 
AUNT POLLY S STORY. 181 
 
 it gone to? O, I feegot twas on my 
 sleeve, and I never put it on to-day." 
 
 "You re a droll child, not to know the 
 difference between scars and dirt ! When 
 I was almost as young and quite as inno 
 cent, that wicked little boy bit me, and 
 I shall carry the marks of his teeth to my 
 grave." With another lingering glance at 
 tfre purple mark, Polly drew down her 
 sleeve, sighed, and began to knit again. 
 
 !f Was it the woman s child that made 
 you dig, that you told about last summer? " 
 
 Yes ; I was a bound girl." 
 
 " Bound to what ? " Dotty was trying 
 to drown the remembrance of Prudy s ten 
 cents ; so she wished to keep Miss Polly 
 talking. 
 
 "Bound to Mrs. Potter till I was eighteen 
 years old. Her husband kept public house. 
 They made a perfect slave of me. When 
 
182 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 I was twelve years old I had to milk three 
 cows, besides spinning my day s work on 
 the flax-wheel. And very often all I had 
 for supper was brown bread and skim milk. 
 I didn t have any grandfather s house to 
 go to, with a seat in the trees, and a boat 
 on the water, and a swing, and a sum 
 mer house, and a crocky-set (croquet set). 
 Not I ! " 
 
 Flyaway was cutting paper dolls with all 
 speed, but her sweet little face was drawn 
 into curves of pity. 
 
 " Too bad ! Naughty folks to give you 
 skilmick" 
 
 "I had to scour all the knives too. I 
 did it by drawing them back and forth into 
 a sand-bank back of the house. This Isaac 
 I speak of was a lazy boy, and very unkind 
 to me ; but his mother wouldn t hear a 
 word against him. One day I brushed a 
 
AUNT POLLY S STOKY. 183 
 
 traveller s coat, and got a silver quarter for 
 my trouble. I thought everything of that 
 quarter. I had never had so much money 
 before in my life. I had half a mind to 
 put it in the Savings Bank ; ? and who 
 knows, thought I, but I can add more to 
 it, one of these days, and buy my time." 
 
 " Why, Miss Polly, I didn t know you 
 could buy time ! " 
 
 " But you knew you could throw it away, 
 I suppose," said Polly, with a sad smile. 
 " What I mean is this : I wanted to pay 
 Mrs. Potter some money, so I could go 
 free before I was eighteen." 
 
 " Then you would be unbound, aunt 
 Polly." 
 
 "Yes ; but one day Isaac found my 
 money, I kept it in an old tobacco-box, 
 and, just to hector me, he kept tossing 
 it up in the air, till all of a sudden it fell 
 
184 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "HERE HE IS!" 
 
AUNT POLLY S STOKY. 185 
 
 through a crack in the floor; and that was 
 the last I saw of it." 
 
 ? What a naughty, careless boy ! " 
 
 After Dotty had said this, she blushed. 
 
 "Naughty, careless boy!" echoed Flya 
 way. " Here he is ! " holding up a paper 
 doll shaped very much like a whale, with 
 the fin divided for legs, the ears of a cat, 
 and the arms of a windmill. " Here he is ! " 
 
 "He didn t look much like that," said 
 Polly, laughing. " He had plenty of money 
 of his own, and I tried to make him give 
 me back a quarter; but do you believe he 
 wouldn t, not even a irinepence? And 
 when I teased him, that was the time he 
 bit my arm." 
 
 " He oughtn t to bitted your arm, course, 
 indeed not ! " 
 
 " But, aunt Polly," faltered Dotty, whose 
 efforts to forget the ten-cent piece had 
 
186 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 proved worse than useless, "but it didn t 
 do Isaac any good to lose your money 
 down a crack." 
 
 "No, it was sheer mischief." 
 
 " And if it doesn t do folks any good to 
 lose things, you know, why, what s the 
 use to to go and get his own money 
 to pay it back with? Isaac I mean." 
 
 "What do you say, Dotty Parlin? You, 
 a child that goes to Sabbath school ! Don t 
 you know it is a sin to steal a pin? And 
 if we lose or injure other people s things, 
 and don t make it up to them, we re as 
 good as thieves." 
 
 "As good?" 
 
 "As bad, then." 
 
 "But s posin s posin folks lose things 
 when they don t toss em up in the air, 
 and don t mean to, the wind, you know, 
 or a kind of an accident, Miss Polly, " 
 
AUNT POLLY S STORY. 187 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "And s posin I didn t have any more 
 money n I wanted myself, and Prudy had 
 the most H m " 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " Then it isn t as bad as thieves ; now is 
 it? She s got the most. Prudy s older n 
 I am " 
 
 "Honesty is honesty," said Miss Polly, 
 firmly, "in young or old. If you ve lost 
 your sister s money, you must make it up 
 to her." 
 
 "O, must I, Miss Polly? Such a tinty- 
 tonty mite of money as I ve got, only 
 sixty-five cents." 
 
 "Honesty is honesty," repeated . Miss 
 Polly, " in rich or poor." 
 
 "Dear me ! will my mother say so, too?" 
 
 "Your mother is on the right side, Dot 
 ty, The Bible tells us to deal justly. 
 
188 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 There s nothing said there about excusing 
 poor folks." 
 
 "O, dear! do you s pose the Bible ex 
 pects me to pay Prudy Parlin ten cents, 
 when it just blew out of my hands, and 
 didn t do me a speck of good ? " 
 
 f Why, Dotty, you surprise m& ! Any 
 one would think you were brought up a 
 heathen ! If you were a small child I 
 could understand it." 
 
 " I knew I should have to do it," moaned 
 Dotty. 
 
 "I advise you to lose no time about it, 
 then; that is the cause of your blues, I 
 guess. We can t be happy out of the line 
 of our duty," sighed Miss Polly, who re 
 garded herself as a pattern of cheerfulness. 
 
 "I ll tell you what I m going to do," 
 said Dotty, resolutely; "I m going right 
 olT to pay that money to Prudy, and then 
 I ll be in the line of my duty." 
 
FULL NIPPERKIN. 189 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 FULL NIPPERKIN. 
 
 PRUDY scorned to take the ten cents. 
 " Did you think your middle-aged sister 
 would do such a thing, when she has more 
 money than you have, Dotty Dimple? If 
 you re only sorry, that s all I ask. I didn t 
 like to have you laugh, as if you didn t 
 
 care." 
 
 " But, Prudy, I want to be honest." 
 w JLnd so you have been, dear child," 
 said grandma Parlin, with an approving 
 smile. "If Prudy chooses now to give you 
 the money, receive it as a present, and 
 say, Thank you. " 
 
190 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 "O, thank you, Prudy Parlin, over and 
 over, and up to the moon," cried Dotty, 
 throwing her arms around her kind sister s 
 neck. "I ll never lose anything of yours 
 again ; no, never, never ! " 
 
 This lesson was laid away on a shelf in 
 Dotty s memory. Close beside it was an 
 other lesson, still more wholesome. 
 
 "Dotty Dimple isn t the best girl that 
 ever lived. She had to be talked to and 
 talked to, before she was willing to do 
 right. She isn t any better than Jennie 
 Vance, after all. Why did she pray that 
 naughty prayer, just to make Jennie feel 
 bad ? God must have thought it was very 
 strange ! " 
 
 Grandma saw that Dotty s "blues" were 
 dissolving like a morning mist; still she 
 knew the child was in need of patchwork, 
 and told her so. 
 
FULL NIPPERKINT. 191 
 
 " Let us all take our work," said she, 
 " and sit together in the nursery, so we 
 may forget the dull weather." 
 
 Grace brought her piqu apron down 
 stairs to make, Susy her tatting, Prudy a 
 handkerchief, Dotty a square of patchwork, 
 while Flyaway danced about for a needle 
 and thread. 
 
 "What a happy group ! " said Mrs. Clif 
 ford, looking up from her sewing. She 
 had forgotten Polly Whiting, who was 
 mournfully toeing off a sock "for Horace, 
 while he sat on the floor, at her feet, mend 
 ing her double-covered basket. 
 
 "Why, Katie, darling," said Grace, "what 
 are you doing with that beautiful ribbon?" 
 
 " Aunt Louise said I might make a bag, 
 Gracie " 
 
 "Seems to me aunt Louise lets you do 
 everything; I shouldn t want you to spoil 
 that ribbon." 
 
192 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 " They shan t bother my little Topknot," 
 said Horace, with a sweep of his thumb. 
 " She is going to have all my clothes to 
 make bags of, when she grows up." 
 
 Flyaway, who knew she had a good right 
 to the ribbon, pressed her eyelids together 
 slowly. 
 
 "If Ps Gracie," said she, severely, "I d 
 make aprons ; if I s mamma I d sew dresses ; 
 if I s Flywer, I d do just s I want to." 
 
 And then she went on sewing, without 
 any thimble. 
 
 " Girls, have you guessed yet why a 
 wheelbarrow is like a potato ? " 
 
 "No, Horace; why is it?" 
 
 " O, I was in hopes you could tell. / 
 don t know, I am sure. It is as much a: 
 I can do to make up a conundrum, with 
 out finding out the answer." 
 
 The children laughed at this, but none 
 
FULL NIPPERKIN. 193 
 
 of them so loud as Flyaway, who thought 
 her brother the wisest, wittiest, and noblest 
 specimen of boyhood that ever lived. 
 
 " How our needles do fly ! " said Dotty, 
 merrily. 
 
 She was a neat and swift little seam 
 stress, even superior to Prudy. 
 
 " See," said Flyaway to Horace ; " I work 
 faster n my mamma, cause she s got a big 
 dress to work on : of course she can t sew 
 so quick as I can on a little bag." 
 
 "Prudy can sew better and faster than 
 I can," said Dotty, with a sudden gush of 
 humility. 
 
 "Why, Dotty Dimple, I don t think so," 
 returned Prudy, quite surprised. 
 
 "Neither do I," said aunt Maria; "I 
 am afraid our little Dotty is hardly sin 
 
 cere." 
 
 Dotty s head drooped a little. " I know 
 13 
 
194 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 it, auntie ; I do sew the nicest ; but I 
 was afraid it wouldn t be polite if I told 
 it just as it was, and Prudy so good to 
 me, too." 
 
 "If she is good, is that any reason why 
 you should tell her a wrong story?" re 
 marked the plain-spoken Susy, giving a 
 twitch to her tatting-thread. 
 
 "Children," said Mrs. Clifford, laughing, 
 "do you remember those hideous green 
 goggles I wore a year ago ? " 
 
 "O, yes m," replied Grace; "they made 
 your eyes stick out so ! Why, you looked 
 like a frog, ma , more than anything else." 
 
 ? Well, a certain lady of my acquaint 
 ance was so polite as to tell me my gog 
 gles were very becoming." 
 
 "O, ma, who could it have been?" 
 
 " I prefer not to give you her name. I 
 appreciated her kind wish to please me, 
 but I could njot think her sincere." 
 
FULL NIPPERKIN. 195 
 
 "O, Susy," said Grace, "if you could 
 have seen those goggles ! A little basket 
 for each eye, made of green wire, like a 
 fly cover ! Ma, did you ever believe a 
 word that lady said afterwards?" 
 
 " Flatterers are not generally to be trust 
 ed," replied Mrs. Clifford. "Flyaway, that 
 is the fourth needle you have lost." 
 
 Here was another lesson for Dotty s 
 memory-shelf. * I must not say things that 
 are not true, just to be polite. It is flat 
 tering and wicked ; and besides that, people 
 always know better." 
 
 It was a quiet, busy, cheerful day. Dotty 
 forgot to complain of the weather. Just 
 before supper Flyaway jumped down -from 
 her grandpapa s knee, where she had been 
 talking to him through his " conversation- 
 tube," and ran to the window. 
 
 c Why, tisn t raining," cried she; "true s 
 I m walking on this floor tisn t raining!" 
 
196 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 Dotty clapped her hands, and watched 
 the sun coming out like pure gold, and 
 turning the dark clouds into silver. 
 
 We were patient and willing for it to 
 rain," said she ; " but of course that wasn t 
 why it cleared off." 
 
 And it wasn t why Flyaway lost her 
 thumb-nail, either. She lost that or half 
 of it in the crack of the door. The 
 poor little thumb was very painful, and 
 had to be put in a cot. 
 
 " It wearies me," said Flyaway ; " it makes 
 me afraid I shan t ever have a nail on 
 there again." 
 
 Her mother assured her she would. The 
 same God who calls up the little blades of 
 grass out of the ground could make a finger 
 nail grow. 
 
 " Will He ? " said Flyaway, smiling 
 through tears ; w but haps He ll forget how 
 
FULL NIPPERKIN. 197 
 
 it looks. Musn t I save a piece of my 
 nail, mamma, and lay it up on the shelf, 
 so He can see it, and make the other one 
 like it?" 
 
 Mrs. Clifford put the nail in her jewel- 
 box, and I dare say it may be there to 
 this day. 
 
 Just as Flyaway, in her nightie, was 
 having a frolic with Grace, there was a 
 sound of wheels. The stage, which Horace 
 called the " Oriole " because it had a yel 
 low breast, was rolling into the yard. 
 
 " It s my mother my mother," cried 
 the three Parlins together. 
 
 Yes, and who was that little girl getting 
 down just after her? Her hat covered her 
 eyes. "It isn t Tate Penny!" Why, to 
 be sure it was! There was her dimpled 
 chin ; and if that wasn t proof enough, 
 there was the wart on her thumb ! 
 
198 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY, 
 
 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 Kia, 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-rub 
 ber 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." 
 
 And it was : it ran over. There were 
 joyful days for the next fortnight. I could 
 never draw the picture of them with my 
 pen, even -if I had the paper left to put 
 it on. They kept house under the trees ; 
 
FULL NIPPERKIN. 199 
 
 they baked their food in a brick oven 
 Horace made ; they gave a party ; they had 
 boat rides ; they had swings ; they never 
 went into the house unless it rained; they 
 were never cross to one another, or rude 
 to Jennie Vance ; it was like living in 
 fairy-land. 
 
 It was a glorious summer. I almost 
 wish it had not come to an end ; though, 
 in that case, I suppose I should never 
 have stopped telling about it. By and by 
 vacation was over, and Tate went off in 
 the same stage with the Parlins. You 
 could never guess what she and Dotty each 
 put so carefully into their bosoms, to keep 
 "forever." It was a splinter of the dear 
 old barn where they had had such good 
 times jumping ! 
 
 Three weeks afterwards the " Oriole " 
 drove up to grandpapa Parlin s again, and 
 
200 DOTTY DIMPLE S FLYAWAY. 
 
 this time for the Cliffords. Flyaway danced 
 into it like a piece of thistle-down. Every 
 body threw good-by kisses, and the stage 
 rattled away. 
 
 And after that, clears, as Flyaway will 
 say to her grandchildren, "things went into 
 a mist." And this is all I have to tell 
 you about the Parlins, the Cliffords, and 
 the Willowbrook home. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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