HE LITTLE RED 
 SHOP
 
 l-'rontU. run 
 
 IKV
 
 THE LITTLE RED SHOP 
 
 BY 
 
 MARGARET SIDNEY 
 
 Author of 
 
 Five Little Peppers and How they Grew 
 The Pettibone Name 
 Hester 
 
 What the Seven Did 
 St. George and the Dragon 
 Dilly and the Captain 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 BOSTON 
 LOTHROP COMPANY 
 
 WASHINGTON STREET OPPOSITE BROMFIRLD
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1889, 
 
 BY 
 D. LOTHROP COMPANY.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. 
 
 
 PASI. 
 
 I. 
 
 
 7 
 
 II. 
 
 HOW SHE BECAME "COMPANY" 
 
 15 
 
 III. 
 
 IS IT RIGHT ? . 
 
 22 
 
 IV. 
 
 A NEW FORCE .... 
 
 29 
 
 V. 
 
 A NEW TURN OF AFFAIRS 
 
 88 
 
 . VI. 
 
 A LIFT INTO SUCCESS 
 
 47 
 
 VII. 
 
 FAIRLY UNDER WAY 
 
 66 
 
 VIII. 
 
 AN ENCOURAGING ASPECT 
 
 68 
 
 IX. 
 
 TIME FOR ACTION 
 
 70 
 
 X. 
 
 A GOOD DAY .... 
 
 79 
 
 XI. 
 
 NEW DEVELOPMENTS 
 
 87 
 
 XII. 
 
 A SUCCESS .... 
 
 98 
 
 XIII. 
 
 A FAMILY PARTY 
 
 108 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A NEW PLAN .... 
 
 119 
 
 XV. 
 
 " OUR ENTERPRISE" 
 
 133 
 
 XVI. 
 
 LOSING SELF-CONTROL 
 
 145 
 
 XVII. 
 
 CALLED AS HELPERS 
 
 150 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 
 164 
 
 XIX. 
 
 A MIXTURE .... 
 
 172 
 
 XX. 
 
 AN ALARM .... 
 
 182 
 
 XXI. 
 
 LIGHT-HEARTED AGAIN 
 
 189 
 
 XXII. 
 
 STANCH FRIENDS INDEED 
 
 197 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 THE SECRET .... 
 
 204 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 THE SECRET is OUT . 
 
 210
 
 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PLANNING. 
 
 rriHE old house on Cherryfield high road, 
 "" back of the row of stiff poplars, with its 
 queer little gnarled apple-trees at the back, 
 looked for all the world just as it did one hun- 
 dred years ago. It had no more paint on it 
 now than when the children's grandfather took 
 home his young bride who thought it the most 
 beautiful place in all the world to begin house- 
 keeping in. Then it was a dingy yellow, with 
 faded green blinds ; and now the same forlorn 
 attempt at coloring greeted all passers-by. To 
 be sure it had been painted many times in the 
 interim, but always the same hue was chosen, 
 so that to the oldest inhabitant it was the best 
 known landmark for miles around. 
 
 The "Brimmer Place" was known too, for 
 something else than its antiquity. It was the 
 7
 
 8 THE LITTLE RED SUOP. 
 
 cheeriest, horae-iest old house that ever stood on 
 any road, overflowing with good-will to every- 
 body, especially to sick people and to little chil- 
 dren. If anybody were in trouble and could 
 reach her, Mrs. Brimmer always found just the 
 right word of cheer to speak, while she tried to 
 help in many other ways and what she didn't 
 do, why, there were Jack, and Cornelius, and 
 Rosalie, to say nothing of Primrose, the baby 
 four little comforters who made everybody just 
 happy to look at them. And yet every one who 
 lived in the big, hundred-year-old house was poor. 
 
 " It's most dreadful to be poor," said Rosalie 
 one morning, in a burst of confidence to the 
 boys, out in the woodshed. Cornelius stopped 
 hacking at an old log to flash her a convincing 
 " no " out of his black eyes. 
 
 "And it's so very unagreeable," continued 
 Rosalie, smoothing down her apron while she 
 seated herself on one end of the bench. 
 
 " .Disagreeable, you mean," corrected Jack, 
 picking up sticks over in the corner. " There, 
 Corny, you let that old fellow alone; I'll tackle 
 him soon. He's too tough for you." 
 
 Corny, resenting the implication, let the hatchet 
 fly on the back of the old log to show how strong
 
 PLANNING. 9 
 
 he was, in such a masterful style that the chips 
 flew in every direction, and Rosalie shook them 
 from her apron, before she said, " No ; I'm sure 
 it is unagreeable I saw it in the dictionary." 
 
 " Well, then, you didn't see right," said Jack. 
 " It's d-i-s ; awful big letters too. Means hate- 
 ful, and not nice." 
 
 " Well, it's not nice to be poor," said Rosalie 
 wisely waiving all further discussion as to the 
 word ; " that you must say anyway, Jack." 
 
 But Jack's lips were tight. Presently he 
 straightened himself up, and gave his head a 
 shake. "Well, what shall we do about it?" 
 
 "Do?" said Rosalie, in surprise, "why, I 
 don't know what you mean, Jack ? " 
 
 " When things are not nice, there is no use in 
 talking about them if you don't do something to 
 make them better," said Jack philosophically. 
 " Now I want to know what we are going to do 
 to make ourselves rich." 
 
 " To make ourselves rich O Jack ! " cried 
 Rosalie and Cornelius together. 
 
 " If we can earn some money, I suppose we 
 shall be rich sometime," observed Jack ; " every- 
 body was poor once, but they worked and got 
 money. Now, how can we ? "
 
 10 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 The children were so possessed with the idea 
 of their ever being rich, that no words came to 
 their aid ; and Jack went on without interrup- 
 tion. 
 
 "I've been thinking over something that, if 
 we can do it, will be perfectly splendid, and help 
 mammy take care of baby. Poor, dear Mam- 
 sier 
 
 He turned away for a moment, and then 
 showed his face again, the same old Jack with 
 the laughing eyes, and pleasant, honest mouth. 
 
 "Tell on," said Cornelius, who had dropped 
 his hatchet, and drawn near. "Be quick and 
 tell us," he added breathlessly. 
 
 "Well, there is the tool-house," said Jack. 
 "Funny old hole, but just the thing for us. 
 Now what's to hinder our setting up a shop in 
 it, and selling things?" 
 
 "Real true-as-you-live things," cried Rosalie, 
 " with counters, string, and brown paper bags?" 
 
 "And five cent pieces, and cents and quar- 
 ters?" screamed Cornelius on his highest key. 
 " Whickets ! why didn't we think of it before ? 
 But where'd we get the things to sell, with? 
 Phoh ! your news isn't anything, after all ; only 
 just an old dried-up joke." He was so disgusted,
 
 PLANNING. 11 
 
 that he went back, picked up his hatchet, and fell 
 to slowly hacking again. Jack flung himself up 
 to Rosalie's side on the bench. 
 
 " Now sec here, both of you. The thing can 
 be done, if we will all club together, and work 
 hard; It's not to be a success in a day, mind 
 you, but we've got to pull hard, and at it all the 
 time. Are you willing to do it for Mamsie's 
 sake?" 
 
 "Can't we have any time for play?" asked 
 Rosalie with a long face. 
 
 " Perhaps ; but there won't be much," said 
 Jack, " if we make a good thing of this." 
 
 " Well, I s'pose you and I are the men of this 
 family," said Cornelius, over his log, "and so if 
 you'll just say how the money's coming to begin 
 with, why, I'll give you my word, I'll keep at it." 
 
 "We want Rosalie," said Jack, kindly; "we 
 can't do anything without her." 
 
 " Why, she's nothing but a girl," said Corne- 
 lius, still pummeling; "it takes men to keep 
 store and make money." 
 
 "But there are ever so many things that a 
 girl can do to help us," said Jack, " so we must 
 take her into partnership." 
 
 " O Jack ! how very line and exquisite," cried
 
 12 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 Rosalie, grasping his arm with excited little fin- 
 gers. " I'll wait on customers, and make change 
 all alone, and help fix up things and look nice." 
 
 " She uses such terribly big words," said Cor- 
 nelius, in disfavor at the scheme, " and puts on 
 airs, just like all the other girls. Jack, we can't 
 let her in ; it's no use to try." 
 
 "Now, Corny," cried Rosalie, slipping from 
 her bench and standing quite tall. " I'm very 
 big nearly ten ; and I know a great many 
 things, and Jack says I may so there." 
 
 " Yes, she really ought," said Jack, with a nod 
 over at the smaller boy, "because you see it's a 
 family concern. We must make it Brimmer 
 Brothers and Company." 
 
 " Am I Company ? " asked Rosalie, in subdued 
 excitement. 
 
 "Yes," said Jack. " Well, now I'll tell you 
 how we can make the money to buy the things 
 that we are to sell. To begin with, Rosalie ? " 
 
 "I?" cried the Company, with widened eyes. 
 
 "Yes," Jack nodded at her very decidedly. 
 " You can take care of Mrs. Prouty's baby." 
 
 "O Jack!" It was a tone of horror that came 
 from the girl of the family, " you don't ever 
 mean that?"
 
 PLANNING. 13 
 
 " If we are really going to earn money to help 
 Mamsie with, we must expect to do some disa- 
 greeable work," said Jack gravely. 
 
 Rosalie hid her ashamed little face a moment, 
 then said, "Very well, I'll do it. But how do 
 you know she wants me?" 
 
 " I heard her tell the cook when I carried the 
 lettuce there this morning that she'd give fifty 
 cents to any girl who would take care of the 
 baby a week just come in every day. Her 
 cousin is going there to-morrow to visit, and she 
 wants her time to herself. Just think, Rosalie, 
 fifty bright new cents ! " 
 
 The Company fairly clapped her hands. " Per- 
 haps she'll let me bring the baby over home, 
 then I sha'n't be away from Primrose." 
 
 " She'd be only too glad to get him out of 
 the way, I'll be bound," said Jack ; " I sh'd be, 
 if I owned that baby." 
 
 " And Primrose is so sweet that any other 
 baby would smile and be good, even if it was a 
 great fat, big, crying red-faced one like Mrs. 
 Prouty's," said Rosalie, seeing some alleviation 
 to her task of earning fifty cents. " Now what 
 is Corny going to do ? " she demanded, trying 
 not to hope that his work was disagreeable also.
 
 14 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 " Corny and I have to work together," said 
 Jack, with a little grimace he couldn't help. 
 " It's to clean up Widow Brown's pig-pen." 
 
 " I sha'n't clean up that old woman's pig-pen, 
 nor anybody's pig-pen," shouted Corny, with a 
 vicious hack at the log ; " no, sir!" 
 
 "Very well, sir," cried Jack back again, 
 then I'll do it alone." 
 
 He didn't say, " I would if I were you," or 
 anything of the persuasive sort, knowing that by 
 no such ways could he manage Cornelius. He 
 simply let him alone, as he always did, to begin 
 his own duty. The consequence was, the chubby 
 youug wood-chopper presently turned around, 
 and said complacently, " When I get this log 
 chipped up for Mamsie, I'll join you." 
 
 " If you don't come till that log is done, I'll 
 have Widow Brown's pig-pen in apple pie 
 order," cried Jack, in high good-humor
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 HOW SHE BECAME "COMPANY. 
 
 , Baby, be good, do," begged Rosalie 
 in a tone of despair, essaying to smooth 
 the small tow head with a kind, motherly hand. 
 
 "I 'ON'T!" declared Baby Prouty, lifting both 
 feet to bring the heels smartly to the floor, and 
 turning a vicious little face to her nurse. 
 
 O dear ! " sighed Rosalie, a tired little flush 
 mounting to the brown waves of hair, " you are 
 the oh ! what am I saying. You are a baby 
 and ought to be cuddled and made to be good," 
 and she tried to gather her up in her warm little 
 arms. 
 
 " I 'on't I 'on't " screamed Baby Prouty, 
 kicking and struggling to be free. In the fuss, 
 Rosalie was bitten quite sharply on the thumb, 
 when what little patience she possessed, took to 
 itself wings, leaving an ugly little temper to fly 
 into its place. 
 
 15
 
 16 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " If anybody could be good to you, it would 
 be an angel with ever and ever so many wings," 
 she cried, nursing her aching thumb hi her 
 mouth, and glaring over it at the baby, who, 
 now that she had succeeded in stirring up an 
 unpleasant state of things, crowed sweetly and 
 showed all her teeth in an expansive smile. 
 "You're a bad, bad child," she exclaimed de- 
 cidedly, " if ever there was one." 
 
 " I guess I don't want you to take care of my 
 baby," declared Mrs. Prouty, hurrying in. "I'd 
 rather never visit with my cousin who has come 
 way from Illinois a-purpose to see me, and we 
 hain't seen each other in ten years, and was lot- 
 tin' on this chance; but I ain't going to have 
 Arabella told to her face that she's a bad child. 
 So you needn't come again, Rosalie Brimmer," 
 and she gathered her cherub up into her ample 
 lap, and began petting her violently. 
 
 " She bit my thumb," said Rosalie, displaying 
 it, the warm color not going down in her cheek, 
 and the flash in the brown eyes yet remaining. 
 
 Mrs. Prouty got up, tucked Arabella under 
 one arm, and, bending over the injured member, 
 examined it carefully. 
 
 " It was an awful little bite," she said, going
 
 SHE BECAME "COMPANY." 17 
 
 back again, and sitting down. " There, there, 
 Arry dear, mamma's got you again, so she has." 
 
 "It hurt," said Rosalie; "she took just the 
 very teeny end in her mouth, and her teeth are 
 sharp." 
 
 " Well, it isn't anything to make such a fuss 
 over," observed Mrs. Prouty, " I'm sure. You 
 needn't come again, anyway; then she won't 
 bite your thumbs." 
 
 Rosalie stood quite still. Why had she thrown 
 away the only chance she could possibly have 
 possessed of earning some money to put into 
 the new business. The boys were working away 
 at their hateful task, brave as lions in fighting 
 their prejudices, and persistent as beavers in 
 good, honest toil. She wasn't worthy to be the 
 " Company," deserting at the first show of the 
 disagreeable, and running off with but a thought 
 of her own selfish comfort. Every bit of color 
 deserted her face, and she turned quite pale as she 
 came up to Mrs. Prouty's chair, saying : " Please 
 try me again ; I was naughty to be vexed." 
 
 Mrs. Prouty looked up, her fat face gathering 
 a surprised expression along its lines and curves, 1 
 to mingle with the annoyance that had taken 
 first possession of the broad expanse.
 
 18 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 "You are sure you won't fight her?" she said, 
 looking the sorry little face over keenly. 
 
 " Yes," said Rosalie. "Do try me once more, 
 Mrs. Prouty." 
 
 " Well, then, I will," said Arabella's mother, 
 with a sigh of relief, "for 'twas pretty tough 
 for me to have my cousin find me all tied up, and 
 she coming way from Illinois, and we hain't 
 seen each other in ten years. Now, then, Arry, 
 you play pretty, and I'll run back to the kitchen 
 and bake that plum cake Belinda was so fond 
 of," and she set the baby down in a heap in the 
 middle of the floor, twitched her dress straight, 
 and was off. 
 
 How thankful was Rosalie to be " Company " 
 once more, with a chance to earn honorable 
 money, and step into the firm with a happy 
 pride. Somehow the thumb stopped aching, and 
 she actually found herself laughing at Baby, and 
 forgetting that she was homely and cross, 
 and the sun seemed to shine brighter than ever, 
 and outside a little bird twittered and called, and 
 Arabella capped the climax by putting up her 
 chubby face to be kissed, and said " Stay," and 
 held her gown when it was time for the small 
 nurse to go home.
 
 HOW SUE BECAME " COMPANY." 19 
 
 "Mamsie," cried Rosalie, rushing into the old 
 house and tossing her bonnet into a corner, " I've 
 had a mixed day, but it was better at the top. 
 Has Primrose got home ? " 
 
 " No ; aunt Jane begged to keep her until 
 four o'clock, and I hadn't the heart to refuse." 
 
 "Then she'll have to go to bed in an hour. 
 O Mamsie ! " cried Rosalie in dismay. 
 
 " I know it's been hard for you to be without 
 her all day," said Mother Brimmer, with a glance 
 at the tired little face, "but only think of poor 
 aunt Jane." 
 
 " 1 know it," said Rosalie, swallowing bravely 
 the lump in her throat, "and that old yellow cat 
 all her company. I ought to be glad to give 
 Primrose to her for one day. Where are the 
 boys ? " she asked suddenly. 
 
 " They came in from their work," said Mother 
 Brimmer, " about half an hour ago ; Jack went 
 to the store for molasses, and Cornelius is " 
 
 "Here," said that individual, sauntering in. 
 " Ha, Rosy ! " He gave his sister a comprehen- 
 sive glance that informed him of her mental and 
 moral tone, " Come out in the woodshed, will 
 you?" 
 
 Rosalie ran after him, and Mother Brimmer
 
 20 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 looked up from her sewing to send a smile with 
 them, by way of cheerful accompaniment to 
 whatever of fun might be in store. 
 
 Cornelius carefully closed the door leading 
 into the kitchen, and drew a long breath when 
 they found themselves safe on its other side. 
 
 "I tell you what, Rosalie," he said deliber- 
 ately, "making pig-pens is bad enough; but 
 making a pig-pen for Widow Brown is the mean- 
 est piece of work there is on this earth. There ! " 
 
 "Did you bring me out here away from Mam- 
 sie, just to tell me that?" cried Rosalie indig- 
 nantly, and getting down from her tiptoes to 
 which she had raised herself eagerly, the better 
 to compass her brother's wonderful news. "Oh, 
 oh! I thought you had something perfectly 
 splendid to tell me." 
 
 " I didn't say I had," said Cornelius. 
 
 " But you looked so," cried Rosalie, in a dud- 
 geon, "just as plain as could be. Your face 
 said, ' I know something that I'll tell you if you'll 
 come.' So, there now, Cornelius Brimmer." 
 
 "You needn't have come," declared Cornelius 
 coolly. " I didn't say so," he repeated. 
 
 "You are just as mean as anything," cried 
 Rosalie ; " as mean as your pig-pen is, every bit,
 
 HOW SHE BECAME "COMPANY." 21 
 
 and I sha'n't stay here to talk with you, because 
 you haven't anything really to tell me," and she 
 began to move with dignity to the door. 
 
 " Stay, Rosalie," cried Cornelius, his manner 
 changing suddenly. " I was going to say that 
 although pig-pens are hateful things to clean 
 and set up, and Widow Brown's is the meanest 
 pig-pen of the whole lot, still there are some 
 things that make it pleasant to work amongst 
 them. Do you want to hear what I found this 
 afternoon in the middle of a dirt-pile as large as 
 your head ? A five dollar gold piece ! "
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IS IT EIGHT? 
 
 "OUT, Corny," cried Rosalie, with bated 
 *r* breath, "it is not your very own five dol- 
 lars." Still she could not keep her eyes off 
 from the bright bit in the centre of the brown 
 palm held out before her. 
 
 " Hoh ! hoh ! just like a girl ; knows nothing 
 of business. If a man picks up a thing in the 
 road, and don't know who dropped it, what's he 
 to do, pray tell ? Don't be a goose, Rosy," he 
 cried, affectionately, and clapping his fingers 
 tight over his treasure. "I tell you, this will 
 set us up in trade, though ! " 
 
 " But you didn't pick it up in the road," per- 
 sisted Rosalie, " and " 
 
 " Perhaps the pigs dropped it," cried Cornelius, 
 bursting into a loud laugh ; "let's ask them." 
 
 "Does Jack know?" asked Rosalie, not heed- 
 ing the laugh.
 
 IS IT RIGHT f 23 
 
 "I hadn't the shadow of a chance to tell him," 
 declared Cornelius, and spinning around first on 
 one set of toes, then on the other. "He left 
 the Widow Brown's early, to try to get that job 
 at Miss Gimp's. I tell you, Jack is a master 
 hand at drumming up work." 
 
 At any other time Rosalie would have been 
 led into a laudable curiosity as to the little 
 dressmaker's contemplated improvements of 
 house or barn, but to-night Cornelius's well-di- 
 rected efforts in that line failed utterly. 
 
 "Jack ought to know," she exclaimed, decid- 
 edly, "every single bit about that five dollars, 
 now, Cornelius Brimmer." 
 
 "Jack won't know," cried Cornelius, flatly; 
 "he'd be such a silly as to say 'Take it right 
 back and put it where you found it,' for aught 
 I know. I believe he'd rather the pigs swal- 
 lowed it. I asked the "Widow Brown, and she 
 said she never knew what it was to have a five 
 dollar gold piece to lose, so now I'm going to be 
 let alone to enjoy it in peace;" and he crammed 
 it into his jacket pocket and began to walk up 
 and down the woodshed with the manners of a 
 millionnaire. 
 
 Down the stairs it pealed quite
 
 24 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 distinctly. There was no use to evade it. 
 Mother Brimmer wanted something of her "lit- 
 tle right-hand man," as she called her ten-year- 
 old daughter, and the girl, generally glad to go 
 at her bidding, walked slowly backward to the 
 door, still keeping her eyes on the man of affairs. 
 
 "You ought to give it back," she said with 
 slow distinctness. 
 
 " But I don't know whose it is," cried Corny, 
 turning at the end of his walk to face her obsti- 
 nately. "There, mother's calling you. You 
 ought to hurry up. You are slower than stock 
 still." 
 
 The moment that he heard the door close at 
 the head of the steps, what did Corny do but 
 throw his cap on his head, rush out of the wood- 
 shed and off at a tearing pace to the parsonage, 
 a good quarter of a mile distant. 
 
 " It's one of them Brimmer boys," said Han- 
 nah, throwing wide the study door. 
 
 "Let him come in," said the parson, taking 
 his gaze off from the cheerful pages of the com- 
 mentary, and pushing his spectacles above his 
 tired eyes. 
 
 Corny was close behind Hannah's ample fig- 
 ure, and now disclosed his round countenance,
 
 IS IT EIGHT ? 25 
 
 over which a shade of perplexity quite foreign 
 to him was rapidly settling. 
 
 "Well, my boy," began Parson Higginson, 
 keeping his thumb in the book to mark the 
 place, and bringing his spectacles to bear upon 
 his caller, " what is it? " 
 
 "If you had found a five dollar gold piece in 
 a pig-pen," cried Corny, breathlessly, "what 
 would you do with it ? " 
 
 "Found a jive dollar gold piece in a pig-pen ?" 
 repeated the parson, in astonishment. "Why, 
 I should return it," he declared morally. 
 
 "To the pigs?" asked Corny, with the de- 
 lightful freedom of one perfectly conversant 
 with the ways of the parsonage. 
 
 "To the owner of the pig-pen, Cornelius," 
 said- Parson Higginson. "I should at once 
 carry it to him. He probably dropped it when 
 performing his duties in caring for his animals." 
 
 "It isn't him, it's her. It's the Widow 
 Brown," said Corny, " and she hasn't performed 
 any duties caring for her animals, for it's as dirty 
 there as the pigs," he brought up, adding, "and 
 besides, she says she never had a five dollar gold 
 piece to lose. Now what would you do?" 
 
 The minister leaned back in his well-worn
 
 26 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 study chair and pondered a bit, Corny watching 
 every line of his face with intense anxiety. At 
 last Parson Higginson broke out, "Why didn't 
 you go to your mother with this difficulty?" 
 
 "I couldn't," said the boy, "because I should 
 have let out why I want to keep it, and she's 
 not to know a word about the little red shop 
 till we're sure it can be started." 
 
 " Tell me," said the parson with great interest, 
 and bringing down his gaze to the round face, 
 " all about this little red shop matter." 
 
 So Corny launched forth on the brilliant 
 scheme that Jack, who was always a royal fellow 
 at a plan, besides being the man of the house in 
 everything else, had hit upon, by which the 
 children of the family were to earn money to 
 take care of Mother Brimmer and the baby. 
 
 "Rosy's coming into the plan too," said 
 Corny, winding up ; " she's only a girl," in a 
 shamefaced way, "and of course don't know 
 anything about business, but Jack said, 'Let 
 her in,' so she's got to come." 
 
 "Of course," said Parson Higginson, "and 
 very proper it is, too, that she should be ad- 
 mitted into the partnership. You might make 
 her the Company."
 
 75 IT EIGHT? 27 
 
 "Why, that's just what we have done," ex- 
 claimed Corny in delight, that the minister had 
 guessed so quickly, and beginning to think that 
 if the parson approved of the girl of the family 
 entering the business, it must be the correct 
 thing. " Jack would have her be the Company." 
 
 "Now, you say that your mother has given 
 you that old red tool-house on your place for 
 your own especial use ? I want to understand 
 it thoroughly, before I give any advice in this 
 matter." The minister folded his hands and 
 listened with as much respectful attention as if 
 his deacons were conferring with him on some 
 important church matters. Corny was im- 
 mensely set up by his manner, but he tried not 
 to show it. 
 
 " Yes, sir ! " he declared emphatically ; " she's 
 told us many a time we might do anything with 
 it we chose pull down the old thing if we 
 wanted to." 
 
 " That's good." Parson Higginson nodded 
 his satisfaction. " Now, then, I advise that you 
 fix your new quarters to your liking, stock up, 
 and get your trade just as soon as possible." 
 
 Corny's sturdy brown hand twitched at his 
 pocket. "That's what this would have done,"
 
 28 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 and he pulled out the five dollar gold piece and 
 laid it suddenly between the parson's long, 
 folded fingers. 
 
 The minister let the shining coin lay just 
 where the boy had dropped it, and went on. 
 
 " Now I have a little money by me that I am 
 not going to use. I would like to put it into a 
 new firm called Brimmer & Company, who shall 
 invest it in a stock that they shall sell, and when 
 the profits are counted up, they shall pay me 
 back what I put in. I shall be a sort of a silent 
 partner, you know ; at least till the business 
 gets fairly started and in good paying condition. 
 Do you see, my boy ? " 
 
 Corny did see, and his breath came quickly, 
 and the color mounted his round cheek. 
 
 " And the first thing that the new firm is to 
 do in the little red shop," continued the parson, 
 "will be to put up a notice in one of the win- 
 dows FOUND. A five dollar gold piece. In- 
 quire within, of Brimmer & Co."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A NEW FORCE. 
 
 rriHE little old tool-house on the Brimmer 
 grounds was the scene of the liveliest in- 
 terest about these times, and Jack and Cornelius 
 had all they could do to answer questions, while 
 even Rosalie was not allowed to accomplish an 
 errand without many interruptions. Finally it 
 got to be so bad that she sat down on the back 
 doorsteps, one day, in despair. 
 
 "I'm so tired of saying 'You will all know 
 what we are doing with our tool-house at the 
 proper time.' It's excessive-ous-ly unpleasant to 
 be asked it all the while, over and over." 
 
 Corny dropped his saw and threw himself to 
 the ground, where he rolled, laughing convul- 
 sively, "O dear, Rosy! you will kill me ex- 
 cess " then he went off again. 
 
 " I wouldn't, Rosy," said Jack, " use big words 
 when smaller ones would do."
 
 30 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 "Girls always do," said Corny, as he rolled, 
 "and she's worse than any of them, excess 
 Odear!" 
 
 "Girls always talk much nicer than boys," 
 said Rosalie, drawing herself up with so much 
 dignity that she nearly tumbled backwards off 
 the steps. "Miss Smith said that very word 
 last Sunday, and I'm sure she's perfectly elegant." 
 
 "Miss Smith would be pleased to hear the 
 new rendering of her fine word," observed Corny 
 faintly. 
 
 " Well, I wouldn't, Rosy," said Jack kindly, 
 and hurrying on with his work, "say a single 
 word that was bigger than was necessary. Now, 
 old fellow, stop grinning like a Cheshire cat and 
 shake yourself. You'd look better handling 
 that saw." He gave Corny a poke with his foot 
 by no means gentle. " Can't you see she feels 
 badly?" he managed to say in a whisper as he 
 passed him, pretending it was all on account of 
 his work. 
 
 " She's so ridiculous," whispered Corny back 
 again, "and that's the way she will talk in the 
 new shop. Something must be done to stop her." 
 
 But Jack was off, measuring the boards for 
 the new shelves, so he didn't hear, and Rosalie,
 
 A NEW FORCE. 31 
 
 feeling that her dignity called for the sacrifice, 
 got up from her step and took herself and her 
 injured feelings into the house. 
 
 " I'm in a pretty mess," declared Corny, find- 
 ing his feet, and gazing at the vacant steps, " it 
 makes a fellow feel mean as dirt to be where I 
 am. This old saw won't cut a stroke till I make 
 my peace with her." He turned off with a 
 grimace from the work-bench, and hopping over 
 the steps overtook Rosalie in a corner of the 
 back hall. 
 
 "See here, Rosy, you know I didn't mean 
 that." He gave her arm a loving pinch of the 
 brotherly sort, and turned her squarely around 
 so that he could see her face. 
 
 Rosy twisted off again. It wasn't best to 
 accept too sudden overtures ; and Corny peni- 
 tent and suing for favor, was a very different 
 person from the every-day brother, so she only 
 said carefully, " It's very hard not to be appre- 
 ciated when one wants to talk nicely." 
 
 "I know it," said Cornelius, swallowing his 
 dislike of the long word, " and I'll try awfully 
 hard not to act like such a donkey again. Make 
 up, Rosy, and let's be friends, do." 
 
 Rosalie, thinking this the best concession she
 
 32 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 could get, turned back, and allowed another 
 brotherly pinch, which was the nearest to a 
 caress that Cornelius ever indulged in. After 
 this, the make-up was perfect ; and the two ran 
 out to the fascinating scene of their labors, 
 where Corny picked up his saw, and Rosalie 
 seated herself once more on her step in high 
 satisfaction at being again in the midst of things, 
 with dignity that no one could question. 
 
 "I shall make some of those cunning little 
 draw curtains, that slide back and forth so 
 nicely," she cried. " Mother Brimmer said she 
 would give me some of that red calico in her 
 bag. Then you can keep lots and lots of things 
 just as clean on the shelves. Oh! you can't 
 think, Corny." 
 
 "That will be fine," said Jack, nodding ap- 
 proval at the Company, as he merrily drove his 
 nails. 
 
 "And I tell you another thing, too, you might 
 do," said Corny, " something that will help ever 
 so much. You might line some boxes with clean 
 white paper. Don't you know that lot that 
 Parson Higginson gave me ? Well, you can 
 make some paste, and the boxes are in the wood- 
 shed. You can do that splendidly."
 
 A NEW FORCE. 33 
 
 " I shall go right to work and do them now," 
 cried Rosy in great excitement, and flying from 
 her steps. "Mother Brimmer will let me make 
 the paste, I know." 
 
 "And you'll find the paper in my drawer," 
 shouted Corny after her, much to Jack's and 
 her own amazement. When had he ever allowed 
 her unattended, to see the interior of the drawer 
 holding his treasures? Jack looked quickly 
 over and gave him a flash of approval from his 
 dark eyes. Corny fell to work again, and pre- 
 tended not to see it, but he felt it to the tips 
 of his toes, and through every fibre of his being. 
 
 When Rosalie came back, she was dragging 
 after her several boxes of different sizes, and 
 hugging tightly with one arm a cup of paste in 
 which was sticking up the brush like a pennon- 
 less flag-staff. The roll of paper was in one of 
 the boxes. 
 
 "There, I've got all the things," she an- 
 nounced, " and I'll have a splendid table on this 
 upper step," and she set the paste-cup down 
 carefully. " O Jack ! you can't think who's in 
 the house," she cried, as she lifted the boxes up 
 to their place and flung herself down beside 
 them.
 
 34 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 "Who?" asked Jack carelessly; "there, this 
 is the last shelf, Corny; it's well it is, for our 
 lumber has given out." 
 
 "Miss Peaseley," said Rosy, dabbing her 
 brush up and down in the cup. " O dear ! Pin 
 afraid this is too thin." 
 
 " Miss Peaseley ! " repeated Jack in astonish- 
 ment, while Corny gave a low whistle. " What- 
 ever has she come for?" added Jack. 
 
 " I didn't wait to see," said Rosalie ; " I just 
 ran. I left a splendid box too, back of the tub 
 in the woodshed, but I thought I'd better go be- 
 fore she wanted me." 
 
 "Wise girl," said Corny, coming out of his 
 whistle. " Hem there she comes ! " 
 
 None too soon was the warning given. Steps 
 along the gravel walk running around from the 
 front door, gave notice that some heavy body 
 was nearly in sight ; and presently around a clump 
 of lilacs came, with head erect, and tall square 
 figure bearing down upon them like a man-of- 
 war, Miss Clorinda Peaseley. 
 
 " Well, Jack, I should say," she began, taking 
 them all in with a comprehensive glance, " that 
 I really should have thought you'd have told 
 me before you began such a business as this.
 
 A NEW FORCE. 35 
 
 To think of taking a tool-house one hundred 
 and fifty years old, that's been on this place 
 ever since any one can remember, and turning 
 it into a shop ! What in the world are you go- 
 ing to sell in it, pray tell ? " she finally brought 
 up in a direct question. 
 
 Rosy bent her head over a box, and very care- 
 fully began to paste the paper on one side, pat- 
 ting out the wrinkles in an absorbed way as if 
 life had no other attraction for her eyes and 
 ears. Corny sawed fast and hard. Jack said 
 concisely, " Potatoes, beans, apples, and a few 
 other . things at first. When we get fairly 
 started, we hope to keep what people will be 
 likely to call for." 
 
 "The idea! " cried Miss Peaseley, lifting her 
 black gloves in impressive disapproval, and leav- 
 ing them mid-air ; " potatoes, beans and apples. 
 Well, I should not think your mother would 
 allow such carryings on. But since you are 
 fairly in it How soon do you calculate to 
 get your business under way, and open your 
 shop? " she demanded, breaking off suddenly. 
 
 "I don't know," said Jack. "It takes longer 
 to finish a job than one would think. There are 
 these shelves to make and put in, and *
 
 36 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 ." You ought to have the old thing painted all 
 over," cried Miss Peaseley, interrupting; "it's 
 as dingy as the dogs, and looks like Kedar." 
 
 "Who is Kedar? "asked Rosalie, unable to 
 keep still, and stopping her work suddenly. 
 
 " Never mind, child," said Miss Peaseley has- 
 tily. "Well, I don't approve of this new 
 scheme of yours. Remember, I don't approve 
 at all; but since you are in, why, I want you to 
 have things ship-shape. Now, I'll tell you what 
 I'll do, Jack and when I say Jack, I mean all 
 the firm, Company included. I'll make you, 
 every week, four pounds of my very best butter," 
 here Miss Peaseley's neck unconsciously stiff- 
 ened itself worse than ever, " and half a dozen 
 doughnuts ; none of your little snipper-snapper 
 things the two-bites-of-a-cherry kind but 
 sensible ones that make you feel that you are 
 eating something ; and you won't have any diffi- 
 culty in trading them off, I think," she finished 
 complacently. 
 
 " Oh ! we couldn't ever pay you for them," 
 cried Jack in consternation ; " don't you see we 
 haven't any money scarcely to begin on, and we 
 must commence very carefully." 
 
 " Do you suppose I imagine you are million-
 
 A NEW FORCE. 37 
 
 naires?" cried Miss Peaseley with a snort. " I'm 
 going to make terms easy for you; in fact, I 
 want you to take these things off my hands, 
 and I shall consider that I get my pay if you 
 look after that mother of yours and that baby." 
 And as quickly as she had come, she disap- 
 peared behind the lilac bushes.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A NEW TURN OF AFFAIBS. 
 
 JACK dropped his hammer and stared at the 
 other members of the firm. "Whew!" 
 cried Corny. 
 
 "O Jack!" exclaimed Rosalie, flying away 
 from her paste-pot and brush to his work-bench, 
 " what shall we do ? Now she'll want to be the 
 silent partner." 
 
 " If she'd be that, no one would care," cried 
 Cornelius, "but she'll own us, little red shop 
 and all, and keep us going her way, and mind- 
 ing her tongue, just because she gives us butter 
 and doughnuts." 
 
 Jack's brown face flushed. "We shall not 
 accept them," he said gravely. " No one shall 
 give us things the Brimmers aren't beggars," 
 he added proudly. 
 
 " The butter is prime," said Cornelius slowly. 
 "You know how good it tastes when we go 
 38
 
 A NEW TURN OF AFFAIRS. 39 
 
 there to supper, and the doughnuts" He 
 smacked his lips, unable to find words. " Well, 
 they'd sell," he added decidedly. 
 
 " They won't sell from our shop," cried the 
 senior member, in decision to match, "not if 
 they've got to be given to us first. We don't 
 want any one to be saying he or she has made 
 our fortune. There isn't the man in Cherryfield 
 I'd take favors from like that." Jack brought 
 his hand down so suddenly on the bench that 
 Rosy skipped away a step or two; his brown 
 eyes flashed as they had never seen them, and 
 altogether the rest of the firm found him a new 
 picture to look upon. 
 
 "Oh! well, give 'em up, of course," said 
 Corny, after another study of him ; " who wants 
 the old things, anyway ? " he exclaimed, veering 
 round. 
 
 " I didn't say we ought to give them up," said 
 Jack, cooling down; "why can't we trade just 
 as other" men, he was going to say, then 
 looked at Rosy " business houses do ; pay her 
 so much for her butter and doughnuts, and then 
 sell for what we can get, or she pay us so much 
 a pound for selling all we can handle." 
 
 "O, Jack! I shouldn't wish to touch it; Mamsie
 
 40 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 will lend us spoons and knives," cried Rosy, 
 quite horrified, "I know she will." 
 
 " You didn't suppose I meant touch the butter 
 with our fingers, did you?" exclaimed Jack, 
 with as great horror. " It's a business term, 
 Rosy, you don't understand." 
 
 " I told you she wouldn't understand things," 
 broke in Cornelius, not able to keep from looking 
 in disfavor at the girl of the family. Then he 
 remembered his promise, and stopped short. 
 " We might make a dictionary of business talk 
 and hang it up in the shop ; then Rosy would 
 know what we meant," he suggested. 
 
 "I think we shall find it necessary," said 
 Jack shortly. He couldn't quite get over the 
 thought that any one could suppose him capable 
 of any but the nicest manners. 
 
 "You said handle," observed Rosalie, to clear 
 herself from all unpleasant imputation, " and if 
 you had meant anything else you should have 
 said so," she added convincingly. 
 
 "I suppose I should," said Jack. "Well, 
 never mind, I'll begin again. Now, come to 
 think it alt over, I believe the best way is to sell 
 Miss Peaseley's butter and doughnuts for her, 
 and charge her so much a pound and so much
 
 A NEW TURN OF AFFAIRS. 41 
 
 a dozen for the selling. Then, you see, there 
 won't be any trouble, and we will be commission 
 merchants as far as she is concerned, and we 
 can keep our accounts all straight." 
 
 "Commission merchants does sound so very 
 nice," observed Rosy, clasping her hands in 
 satisfaction. "O, Jack! I should fix it that 
 way." 
 
 "All right," said Corny; "I'm glad we can 
 have the things, and not be under her thumb. 
 They'll sell splendidly, Jack," he declared. 
 
 "Of course they will," said Jack, delighted 
 that he could open trade in a way to suit all 
 parties. "Now let's all go down to Miss Pease- 
 ley's and arrange it with her." 
 
 So Cornelius threw down his saw and joined 
 Jack. Rosy ran in and washed her sticky fin- 
 gers, racing after the boys, who had gotten 
 quite a little distance down the road, screaming, 
 "Wa-it! I'm Company oh! wo-ft." 
 
 The other two members turned around : "We 
 are waiting, don't you see ? Don't fluster so." 
 
 "You were awfully slow," said Corny, falling 
 into step with her. "There, push back your 
 hair, or Miss Peaseley will read you a lecture as 
 long as your arm."
 
 42 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " She reads me one anyway, every time I see 
 her," panted Rosy, getting the hair that the 
 wind had played a prank with in her race, out 
 of her eyes ; " the last one was on turning my 
 toes in when I walked. She says it isn't elegant, 
 at all." 
 
 "Well, you want so badly to be elegant," 
 cried Corny, bursting into a loud laugh, " I 
 should think you'd be obliged to her for calling 
 your attention to such little details as the bad 
 management of your toes." 
 
 " I am obliged to her," said Rosy, " and I do 
 try ever since to turn them out." 
 
 " That's what makes you walk lately just like a 
 crab," observed Cornelius pleasantly; "I thought 
 you were going on your nose only yesterday 
 when Mamsie sent you on that errand. You 
 don't know how you looked, Rose." 
 
 "Well, I don't think we are any of us as 
 thankful as we ought to be to Miss Peaseley," 
 Jack broke in, as he stalked on by Cornelius' 
 other side. " She's given us a great lift in our 
 business, and we ought to show her that we ap- 
 preciate it." 
 
 " I think so too," agreed Rosy, who liked the 
 long word.
 
 A NEW TURN OF AFFAIRS. 43 
 
 "Go ahead, Jack, and do the fine thing, and 
 I'll say * yes ' at the right time. Rosy, you bet- 
 ter keep still, for you might make a mistake," 
 advised Corny. 
 
 "No; I'm going to thank her for telling me 
 about that hateful habit with my toes," declared 
 Rosalie perversely. " I am glad she told me of 
 it, and I shall tell her that I'm turning them out 
 every time since so." 
 
 "You may, Rosy; I would if I were you," 
 said Jack quickly, with a pinch on Cornelius' 
 fat arm. " Well, here we are," as the Peaseley 
 homestead came into view ; and the " Brimmer 
 Company " walked up the box-bordered path to 
 the side door with quite a business air, and all 
 three stood on the flat stone that served as a step, 
 anxiously awaiting the opening of the door. 
 
 "The idea!" ejaculated Miss Clorinda, raising 
 her hands at sight of them, " if you haven't re- 
 turned my call in season. I've just given orders 
 to Hannah about your butter and doughnuts. 
 
 " Miss Peaseley," began Jack. 
 
 " O, Miss Peaseley ! " broke in Rosy- impul- 
 sively, " I think it was very good in you to tell 
 me about turning in my toes, and I've turned 
 'em out ever since."
 
 44 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 "Well, now that is a good child," declared 
 Miss Peaseley, startled into approval; "walk 
 right in," and she flung wide the green door. 
 "There, come in here," and she hurried them 
 into the "keeping-room." "I'll see if I can't 
 find some doughnuts they won't be very 
 good," she added, diving into the ancient side- 
 board in the corner; "they've been cooked so 
 long, but maybe you can eat them. Yes, here's 
 a plateful." With that, she advanced on the 
 children with a huge blue plate filled with crisp 
 toothsome doughnuts of the generous pattern 
 that was certainly not of the " two-bites-of-a- 
 cherry-kind." 
 
 " They're awful good," exclaimed Cornelius. 
 
 " I didn't have as good luck as common with 
 these," observed Miss Clorinda, " and beside, 
 they're not fresh ; but my doughnuts are gener- 
 ally pretty fair, if I do say it, who ought not to." 
 
 Rosy was eating in quiet delight, so there 
 was no fear of interruption from that source, 
 and Jack held his doughnut while he began 
 again, -*- " Miss Peaseley, we've all come to tell 
 you that we thank you so much for your kind 
 offer to help us in our business, but it wouldn't 
 be right to accept it, for "
 
 A NEW TURN OF AFFAIRS. 45 
 
 " Why not, pray tell ? " cried Miss Clorinda, 
 interrupting with a snort, "if I choose to do it 
 say?" 
 
 " Because we never have let anybody help us 
 in that way," said Jack proudly, " and " 
 
 "You've never set up in business before either, 
 have you ?" demanded Miss Peaseley. "Now I 
 don't approve of this red shop affair, and all the 
 rest, as I told you at your house, but if you've 
 commenced, and are determined to go on, why, 
 I'm going to see you through, that's all. So I'll 
 send the butter and the doughnuts every week," 
 she brought up decidedly. 
 
 "But we cannot take them as gifts," said Jack 
 firmly, thinking it best to be brief if he got a 
 chance to speak at all ; " that's what we came 
 over to say. We will sell them for you." 
 
 " Sett them for me!" almost screamed Miss 
 Peaseley, " why, land alive, Jack, I don't go 
 around the country selling my things ! " 
 
 "I know it," said Jack, and the other mem- 
 bers stopped eating in amazement, to listen to 
 him, " but we thought if you really wanted to 
 help us, you would put some butter in our store 
 for us to sell, and pay us so much a pound for 
 selling it for you, and we could manage the
 
 46 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 doughnuts in the same way. That would be 
 trade, you know. The other way would be " 
 
 "What?" demanded Miss Clorinda. 
 
 "Just the same as if we were lazy beggars." 
 
 Miss Peaseley turned off abruptly with a sniff 
 to the window, and stood looking out a minute, 
 and as quickly turned back again. It was im- 
 possible to discover by her manner whether or 
 no she was displeased at the new turn the affairs 
 had taken. She only said, " All right ; we will 
 settle it so if you like. I will pay you five cents 
 for every pound of butter you sell for me, and 
 the same for each dozen of doughnuts." 
 
 " O, Miss Peaseley! thank you ever so much," 
 cried Jack ; " we shall move into the Red Shop 
 next Tuesday, and will then be all ready to 
 open accounts." 
 
 Now that it was all over, his hand trembled 
 so that he could scarcely hold his doughnut. 
 
 Rosy, seeing everything moving nicely, went 
 back to hers in serene content.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A LIFT INTO SUCCESS. 
 
 TTWERYTHING is now " bully," he 
 -""^ wanted to say, but stopped in time, sub- 
 stituting "just royal! You're as splendid as 
 you can be, Miss Peaseley." This was Cornelius' 
 tribute. "And we'll do the right thing by 
 you," he added, afraid he had been too meekly 
 thankful. 
 
 " Run along with you," cried Miss Clorinda, 
 with a short laugh, as they filed to the door. 
 " Here, you might as well put these doughnuts 
 in your pockets ; I don't want them, they're 
 too old. And, Rosy, don't you forget to keep 
 your toes turned out, that's a good child." 
 
 " I won't," promised Rosy, as they sped off. 
 
 And just as soon as those Brimmer children 
 
 were fairly out of sight, Miss Peaseley went 
 
 back to her best chamber, drew out from the 
 
 big bureau drawer the Sunday shawl she had 
 
 47
 
 48 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 scarcely put away, and took down her bonnet 
 once more from the peg in the closet. 
 
 " I might as well do it up now. If it waits, 
 it will lag like everything else that is put off." 
 
 So she pinned herself into her shawl, tied on 
 her bonnet, and went down the box-bordered 
 path, taking, when she reached the gate, a dif- 
 ferent road from the one over which the chil- 
 dren were now scampering to Brimmer Place. 
 
 When Miss Clorinda Peaseley reached home, 
 she was too tired to do anything but take off 
 her things, and call Betty to make a cup of tea. 
 
 "I declare, I never was so beat out; but I'm 
 glad enough that I've got their promises down 
 in black and white." She waved, as she spoke, 
 a bit of paper, across whose front r-an some ten 
 or a dozen names. " There, Betty," she cried 
 to that individual, just entering the door with 
 the tea, " we are going to have a new establish- 
 ment in Cherryfield, quite up to the times, 
 too, it will be kept, or I miss my guess." 
 
 " Establishment ! " repeated Betty helplessly, 
 " whatever is that, Miss Peaseley ? " 
 
 " Shop," cried Miss Clorinda, seizing the tea, 
 and drawing off a comfortable swallow. " That's 
 good," taking another, " and begins to stop the
 
 A LIFT INTO SUCCESS. 49 
 
 ache in my bones. How stupid you are, Betty, 
 not to know your English tongue any better 
 than that. However," as the fragrant decoction 
 began to thrill her with new life, she added 
 more politely, " establishment is not a very com- 
 mon word, and it is not strange that you did not 
 know its meaning." 
 
 "It is not, indeed," said Betty. "I never 
 heard the word before, and when folks means 
 shop, it passes me why they don't say shop." 
 
 With this thrust, she was quite pleased, and 
 waited patiently to hear the rest of the news 
 that her woman's curiosity longed for. 
 
 " Well, well, say no more," commanded Miss 
 Peaseley, not disposed to give the good woman's 
 tongue too great liberties; "we are to have a 
 new business firm right here in our midst, 
 wide-awake, and sharp as steel, too, they are." 
 
 "My!" ejaculated Betty. "Who be they, 
 for the land's sakes tell, Miss Peaseley." 
 
 "Brimmer Brothers and Company," said Miss 
 Clorinda quietly. 
 
 "Brimmer Brothers who why, they ain't 
 any relation to Mis' Brimmer, be they ? " 
 
 "They are," said Miss Peaseley as quietly. 
 " Quite closely related."
 
 50 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " You don't say," exclaimed Betty. " Cousin 
 to Mis' Brimmer's husband, most likely. They 
 can't be his brothers, because they all died before 
 he left her a relict. What's brought 'em to 
 Cherryfield?" 
 
 " Nothing," said Miss Clorinda in the crispest 
 of syllables. " They have always lived here." 
 
 At that, Betty forgot her curiosity, and ran 
 to her mistress to peer anxiously into her face. 
 
 " Oh ! I am not crazy," said Miss Clorinda 
 composedly. Then she laughed. "I might as 
 well end the mystery and relieve you at once, 
 Betty ; it's Jack and Cornelius and Rosalie 
 Brimmer, who are going to open a shop in their 
 old red tool-house next Tuesday. There! " 
 
 "Mercy/" screamed Betty shrilly, stepping 
 back so suddenly that she nearly fell backward. 
 "If I ever did! Them children!' 1 '' It was im- 
 possible to give all the scorn she felt in one ren- 
 dering, so she repeated it " Them children ! " 
 
 " They are young," said Miss Peaseley, " but 
 as I don't know anything against them but their 
 want of age, I shall patronize them all I can." 
 
 " What are they going to sell, for the land's 
 sakes, tell," cried Betty in amazement. " Rib- 
 bins, I s'pose."
 
 A LIFT INTO SUCCESS. 51 
 
 "O, no! it is not that sort of a shop; at least 
 to begin with. Why, apples, potatoes, family 
 provisions, and butter, and doughnuts, Betty." 
 
 " And you're going to uphold such a piece of 
 foolishness as to buy of 'em," exclaimed Betty ; 
 "like enough to get took in with decayed apples 
 and measly potatoes. I sh'd think at your time 
 of life you'd have more sense, Miss Peaseley." 
 
 "I'm not the youngest that ever was," con- 
 fessed Miss Clorinda, not a whit disturbed at 
 the unusual frankness of speech, "yet I don't 
 know as it's anything to be ashamed of. All 
 the more reason, maybe, why I should give 
 young people a chance. Yes; I shall trade 
 there as much as I can. I've been around and 
 got all these names " (with that she waved the 
 paper once more before Betty's eyes) " of people 
 who promise to trade there too, and give Brim- 
 mer Brothers and Company a lift into success." 
 
 " What in the world do you want to buy 
 doughnuts for?" demanded Betty, so overcome 
 by the general announcement, that she took 
 refuge in details, " when you've got me to make 
 all you want say?" 
 
 " Oh ! I don't expect to buy any," said Miss 
 Peaseley airily. " As you say, I don't need to.
 
 52 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 I am going to put some there to sell, and butter 
 too." It was all out now, and she had to cough 
 to keep herself from laughing outright at her 
 domestic's face. 
 
 "Sell?" gasped Betty. " Oh for the 
 land's sakes!" and she sat down on the near- 
 est chair and stared at her mistress. 
 
 "Now, Betty," said Miss Clorinda briskly, 
 and setting down her empty tea-cup, " I know 
 just what is on your mind to say, if you weren't 
 so shaken by surprise as to be unable to get it 
 out ; that a Peaseley never has been known to 
 sell a fip's worth, and that you should think I 
 wouldn't be the first one to demean myself and 
 the name. I know it all, Betty, that this is 
 what you'd like to say." 
 
 "It is," said Betty, staring from her chair, 
 "but I hain't got breath to speak it." 
 
 " Well, it's understood that you have said it," 
 observed Miss Peaseley coolly, "so we needn't 
 waste any more time in comments. It's all set- 
 tled ; I'm to trade at that new shop, and place 
 butter and doughnuts there to sell. Now you 
 can go to your work and I'll go to mine." 
 
 Mother Brimmer had been the most consider- 
 ate of women all through this exciting week :
 
 A LIFT INTO SUCCESS. 53 
 
 never asking questions, nor apparently observing 
 anything unusual in the goings-on around her. 
 
 "She's the most lovely Moramie in the world," 
 declared Rosy in the confidential shelter of the 
 wood-pile. " I do appreciate it so, her never 
 asking us things when we are determined on 
 giving her a great surprise. It's exceedingly 
 polite in her." 
 
 " She's of course the best woman in all the 
 world," cried Jack stoutly, "and we three must 
 work like beavers to show her we feel it." 
 
 " She's the only one," said Cornelius posi- 
 tively; "the others are just bonnets and clothes, 
 and they scold and fret, or else they're silly. 
 She's worth working for." 
 
 " And the baby," supplied Rosalie, "we mustn't 
 forget that Roly-Poly-Pinky Woo has got to 
 have some money earned for her." 
 
 "We'll never forget the baby," cried the boys 
 together. "Come on, Primrose," as a small 
 round head appeared over the wood-pile. 
 
 " Two budders," said Primrose gravely, point- 
 ing a small forefinger at the boys, "and one 
 owny tony sissy-bud." After finishing taking 
 the census of the family she dropped her little 
 hand quite satisfied.
 
 54 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " Sissy-bud is coming," called Rosalie. " She 
 wants me to make a cap for her rag-doll. I 
 promised it, and only ran out to tell you before 
 you went to Deacon Jones for the potatoes and 
 apples that I've wound all the string into a 
 ball." The last was uttered under some diffi- 
 culty, as she was keeping pace with the quick 
 time that Primrose's little fat feet were making 
 into the house. 
 
 " You're a good, royal Company ! " shouted 
 Jack after her. 
 
 Company waved him thanks from the back 
 door-step. 
 
 "Now, Cornelius, every moment is precious of 
 this last getting-ready day. We must be off 
 with our wheelbarrow as soon as you can say 
 'Jack Robinson,' for those potatoes and apples, 
 and we mustn't forget to call on the way back 
 at the Beechers for the bag of turnip's."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FAIRLY UNDER WAY. 
 
 IT was very bright and gay at the "Brim- 
 mer Place " on the eventful morrow. Any 
 one approaching it from Cherryfield high road 
 could almost detect the prevailing spirit of the 
 occasion, in the very atmosphere, and the flavor 
 of good-will in a chance passer-by. 
 
 " Going to see the Red Shop, and the new 
 firm hey?" would be asked by the pedestrian, 
 or sung out from wagon or buggy as the occu- 
 pant paused to discuss this new element of 
 town-life. "Well, you better. I tell you, 
 Cherryfield's going to wake up now. I'd advise 
 you to drop in and pay your respects." 
 
 And nearly all Cherryfield did send that day 
 one or more members of each family to " pay its 
 respects " to Brimmer Brothers and Company. 
 
 The interior of the little Red Shop, not for- 
 getting the responsibilities it had assumed on its 
 55
 
 66 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 entrance into the great world of business, as a 
 centre of trade, still allowed a little thread of 
 decoration to be woven in by the Company who 
 would have been delighted to array the whole 
 apartment in gala attire. But this the Brothers 
 would not allow. 
 
 " It looks foolish," said Jack, while Cornelius 
 gave "a disapproving sniff when it was proposed 
 "to spend much time or strength in putting 
 pretty things up, and don't seem consistent with 
 the hard work we've all got to do to show peo- 
 ple we really mean to make this thing a success. 
 You may do a little, though, Rosy," he added, 
 with a kindly look at her disappointed little 
 face, " if you want to." 
 
 " Don't, Jack," put in Cornelius in alarm ; 
 "she'll stick up all sorts' of stuff all over the 
 walls. Girls always do if you tell them they 
 can do anything; they're so silly, and don't know 
 where to stop." 
 
 "I do want flowers," said Rosalie, with a 
 sorrowful little quiver in her voice, " growing ; 
 you know in those cracked saucers Mamsie gave 
 me, with moss and red-cups. Can't I have 
 those?" 
 
 " I don't see why not," Jack had said with a
 
 FAIRLY UNDER WAY. 57 
 
 hearty ring in his voice, and pinching Cornelius 
 to keep him still. " And Holy Poly would like 
 to help you get them in the woods." 
 
 "Flowers!" ejaculated Corny, turning off in 
 disdain to kick his well-worn shoes into the peb- 
 bles and sticks out of the path. 
 
 And Holy Poly, when the matter was pro- 
 posed to her, signified grave assent to the plan, 
 and immediately tied on her pink sunbonnet, 
 begged an old knife of Mamsie to dig out the 
 roots with, and besieged Rosalie every ten min- 
 utes afterward to set out for Bragget Woods, 
 the scene of their future operations. 
 
 All this had been done a week ago, and now 
 the little " wood-gardens," as Rosalie and Roly 
 Poly called them, held their little lichens and 
 " red-cups," ferns, mosses, and partridge berries, 
 each with frond and spear and cup bravely 
 erect, and with company manners on as if to 
 say, " See us ! we'll do our best to help you." 
 And even Jack said they looked very well 
 " For a girl," added Cornelius. And now here 
 they were in the shop on small brackets of the 
 boys' making, firmly fastened to the walls. 
 
 All around the sides of the shop ran the bins, 
 each holding its portion of potatoes, beans, on-
 
 58 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 ions, turnips, cabbages, and anything else that 
 it appeared to the Brimmer Boys that they could 
 sell well, and that they could manage to secure 
 for this first day's inspection. And up in one 
 corner was the department for the small fruits, 
 tucked into the protecting angle of the walls. 
 Raspberries from their own vines, blueberries 
 picked by Holy Poly's patient little fingers, and 
 by Rosy's older ones. Currants, gooseberries, 
 and whatever came in their way, were invitingly 
 placed before their would-be purchasers. 
 
 Down one side of the shop, in front of its row 
 of bins, ran the counter, where all parcels were 
 to be done up, orders were to be taken, and all 
 the bookkeeping was to be done. For this pur- 
 pose Jack had made a strong book by tying in 
 fresh leaves to an old leather account-book that 
 had been his father's; to this he had tied a 
 freshly-sharpened pencil. As this was to be a 
 cash store, there was no need for great exertions 
 in the way of bookkeeping; and each one of the 
 firm, Company included, could make the entries 
 of their sales with their own hands. 
 
 Cornelius was dreadfully disappointed when 
 he found that there were to be no bills to be 
 made out and sent. For him, the glory of the
 
 FAIRLY UNDER WAY. 59 
 
 Red Shop, and the whole business, was sadly 
 dimmed ; and it took much patient reasoning 
 on the part of the elder member of the firm, 
 and a deal of sturdy persistence as well, to make 
 him see the wisdom of such a course. 
 
 "We don't know enough," said Jack, "to 
 keep accounts straight, to begin with. Besides, 
 it's safer all around to start on a cash basis, 
 and it's the only way that I shall consent to," 
 he was obliged to add. 
 
 This was the first time that Jack had asserted 
 himself as the most important member of the 
 firm, and Cornelius, quite awed, went so far as 
 to beg his pardon for insisting on the new and 
 ambitious plan. 
 
 All the children wanted Mother Brimmer to 
 bring out her knitting, and sit in the rocking- 
 chair which the boys begged to bring over from 
 the house, and receive the people who might be 
 drawn to the shop. But she shook her head. 
 
 "That wouldn't be good for the business, 
 children," she declared sagely, "to see an idle 
 woman sitting up ready for company." 
 
 " But you wouldn't be idle," said all three to- 
 gether ; " you'll be knitting on our winter stock- 
 ings, Mamsie."
 
 60 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " I shall be idle, if I let my housework go," 
 said Mother Brimmer decidedly, " and take my 
 knitting as an excuse for seeing the folks. No, 
 no, dears, I'll run in once and awhile, and see 
 you all, but if anybody wants to see me to talk 
 and visit, they'll find me where I ought to be, 
 doing my work. We'll all begin right, and 
 then 'twon't be hard to keep on at business." 
 
 On a conspicuous spot on the door-post, was 
 tacked the notice, written out in Jack's best 
 hand, as Parson Higginson had advised, and 
 Cornelius felt a thrill of gladness at the escape 
 he had experienced from becoming the mean 
 boy he now knew he should have been, had he 
 kept the five dollar gold piece, without making 
 an effort to find the owner. 
 
 The first customer who came to look, admire, 
 and buy, was Mrs. Prouty, who hurried in, drag- 
 ging Arabella, whining and pulling back every 
 step, trying to handle, and peer into everything 
 that struck her fancy. 
 
 "Well, I declare!" exclaimed Mrs. Prouty, 
 bringing up at the counter and gazing expan- 
 sively around, " if this don't beat all ! Why, it 
 really does look something like a shop." 
 
 " That's what we are going to make it," said
 
 FAIRLY UNDER WAY. 61 
 
 Jack, drawing himself up, while Cornelius 
 swelled as much as he dared, and even Rosy 
 looked important. 
 
 " Folks said you were fixing up the old red 
 tool-house into a shop," said Mrs. Prouty, pick- 
 ing up one corner of her apron to fan her heated 
 face, thereby giving Arabella a delightful chance 
 of escape. "But la! I thought 'twas only to 
 amuse yourselves with. Arry ! stop picking at 
 those berries." 
 
 "Amuse ourselves," cried Jack and Cornelius 
 together, while Rosy, knowing too well the 
 powers of the Prouty baby, ran to rescue the 
 blueberries from the grasp of the exploring in- 
 fant. "Why, we must work to take care of 
 Mamsie and Primrose." 
 
 "Yes, yes, I know," assented Mrs. Prouty, 
 who didn't realize at all. " Well, I want a cake 
 of soap. I'll buy something for good luck to 
 you, and I might as well take soap as anything," 
 she concluded. 
 
 " We haven't any soap," said Jack, from be- 
 hind the counter, and wondering if it was bad 
 luck to fail to supply one's first customer. 
 
 "We don't keep it," announced Cornelius, 
 back of Jack, with the air of a merchant prince,
 
 62 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 and as if soap were wholly beneath the trade 
 they meant to work up. 
 
 "Not keep soap?" repeated Mrs. Prouty in 
 astonishment. "Who ever heard of a shop 
 without soap in it, pray tell ? Arabella ! "
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AN ENCOURAGING ASPECT. 
 
 \ RABELLA still kept on investigating the 
 depths of the apple-bin, to the imminent 
 danger of falling in bodily. Her mother deserted 
 for a moment the soap question, and rushed 
 across the small shop to unceremoniously pick 
 her off from its edge, where she dangled, vo- 
 ciferating lustily. 
 
 " If ever I see your like ! " cried Mrs. Prouty 
 in a vexed way, and pulling the child's pinafore 
 straight. "There, behave yourself, do, or I 
 won't bring you again well, as I was saying " 
 and she ambled back again to the little counter, 
 "you haven't any call to being shop-keepers if 
 you don't keep soap. Why, it's the first thing 
 any one thinks of." 
 
 Jack instinctively looked across at Arabella's 
 face, who as soon as her mother's back was 
 turned, had gone in a direct line for the apple- 
 63
 
 64 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 bin, while he took up the slate, and said, " Thank 
 you, Mrs. Prouty, for the idea. I'll add that to 
 our stock." 
 
 Cornelias, who had been vaguely wondering 
 if Mrs. Prouty had brought any money with her 
 that indicated a desire on her part to be suited 
 so far as to drive a trade, now broke in, " We've 
 got lots of other things." 
 
 " Corny," said Jack, in a whisper that com- 
 manded instant attention, "you know the rule 
 we agreed to, that we would never urge our 
 wares, but let people see for themselves what 
 we've got ? now stick to it." 
 
 "But she's different; she isn't people," said 
 Corny back again, in a low tone, dreadfully dis- 
 comfited that he had been the first to break one 
 of the new rules. 
 
 " Oh ! I s'pose so," said Mrs. Prouty, rolling 
 her large eyes placidly in all directions, " but, 
 you see, I don't want anything but some bar 
 soap, and being that you have opened shop, I 
 thought that I'd trade with you for the sake of 
 friendship. Well, I'll go in and set with your 
 ma a spell, I guess. Arabella ! " 
 
 She made a dart at the offending infant, who, 
 having secured a fine red apple, had consumed
 
 AN ENCOURAGING ASPECT. 65 
 
 two thirds of it, and picking her up as one would 
 a sack of meal, she waddled out of the shop, 
 apple and all, with a pleasant good-morning. 
 
 Corny was going to scream out to her to come 
 back and pay for the apple, but Jack wouldn't 
 let him. 
 
 "Now, if that isn't mean," cried Rosy, her 
 cheeks flushing, and aching to add her voice to 
 have the debt paid. " Everybody will eat up 
 our things that way, Jack, and suppose we are 
 only giving a party. Do let us lock the doors," 
 she cried, anxiety getting the better of her. 
 
 " You small goosie ! " cried Jack, laughing. 
 " What would be the use of our trying to keep 
 shop at all, if we must lock our doors ? Nobody 
 would come at all, then. No, we must trust 
 people, and once in a while get an apple eaten 
 up, and call it loss." 
 
 " I'm going to charge it to her," cried Corny, 
 suddenly. "Then I'll have a chance to make 
 out one bill ; so, there, Jack." 
 
 " It would look nice on paper, wouldn't it ? " 
 said Jack scornfully; "Arabella Prouty to Brim- 
 mer Brothers and Company, one apple, eaten, 
 1 cent. I sh'd like to know who would be the 
 mean one, then ! "
 
 66 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " And 'twouldn't do any good, either, to send 
 it," said Corny, pretending not to see Jack's 
 face, " for Mrs. Prouty wouldn't pay it." 
 
 " I'm so glad she didn't see the doughnuts," 
 breathed Rosalie gratefully. "Oh! how nice 
 that Mamsie covered 'em with that clean nap- 
 kin." 
 
 "It's a wonder she didn't smell them," said 
 Jack. "Well, we are lucky. Instead of be- 
 moaning ourselves, we ought to thank our stars 
 we got off so good. Here comes a customer." 
 
 " Good-morning," cried little Mrs. Higginson, 
 the parson's wife, stepping over the low sill, and 
 giving a bonny smile to each of the firm, " I 
 want to tell you that the Little Red Shop is 
 already a great comfort to me." 
 
 How bright she was, and what an inspiration 
 to the depressed firm ; and how business bright- 
 ened up and began to take on an encouraging 
 aspect at once! Each one bustled out from 
 behind the counter, anxious to help her, and 
 considering themselves well paid in advance by 
 her own sweet presence among them. 
 
 " I have company coming unexpectedly to tea 
 to-night," she was saying, " and I cannot stop to 
 make any cake. I am so thankful that I can
 
 AN ENCOURAGING AHPECT. 67 
 
 buy some of Miss Peaseley's. Oh! how good 
 they are," she exclaimed, as Rosy ran and lifted 
 the clean napkin. 
 
 "Aren't they?" cried Company, with luminous 
 eyes, while Jack hurried off for the paper and 
 string, and Cornelius hung around and wished 
 that there was something that he could do. 
 
 "Don't trouble yourself to get any paper or 
 string, Jack," said the parson's wife. "I brought 
 a basket. Here, dear, I shall want all you have 
 stay you ought to show these to customers 
 so that they may know that you are to keep them 
 regularly. These may remain here till four 
 o'clock; then if one of you boys could bring 
 them over " She looked at the other mem- 
 bers of the firm. 
 
 "Oh! let me," cried Corny. "I haven't 
 done anything yet. I'll bring them over." 
 
 "I should be glad to have you," said Mrs. 
 Higginson, laughing. "And you may fill my 
 basket with apples, for I see you have some very 
 fine ones there." 
 
 Both boys seized the basket she held out, and 
 vying with each other to find the best specimens, 
 soon filled it to the brim, and snapped on the 
 cover.
 
 68 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " Now, how much am I to pay you ? " asked 
 the parson's wife, smiling at the three business- 
 like faces, and taking out her pocket-book. 
 
 "There were just a dozen apples" said Jack. 
 " They are a cent apiece, but ten cents a dozen ; 
 and the cakes are twelve cents a dozen." 
 
 "And that is just twenty-two cents," said Mrs. 
 Higginson, laying down a bright new quarter on 
 the counter. 
 
 " We haven't any change yet," said Jack, " but 
 I'll run into the house and see if mother has 
 some, if you can please wait." 
 
 The parson's wife bit her lips so that the 
 " Never mind, I do not want any change," that 
 she longed to say, did not escape them. She 
 would not lower the self-respect of these young 
 people by such mistaken kindness, but helping 
 them by right methods, would restrain her zeal 
 in that direction, and make it the servant of 
 wisdom. So she chatted pleasantly with the 
 other two, gave a few bits of advice about arti- 
 cles to keep for sale, until Jack came back with 
 a beaming face, and laid three pennies in her 
 hand. 
 
 " We are very much obliged to you," he said, 
 all his heart in his eyes.
 
 AN ENCOURAGING ASPECT. 69 
 
 " And we thank you for coming," said Rosalie, 
 blushing like a wild rose. 
 
 " And I wish you'd come every day," declared 
 Cornelius. " I don't mean to buy," he added 
 abruptly, horror-struck at the idea that his mo- 
 tive might have been mistaken. 
 
 "Of course you don't, and I shall come often," 
 said the parson's wife, laughing gayly, "for I 
 find that the Little Red Shop is a pleasant place 
 to visit. Here are a crowd of boys, Jack," she 
 added, looking down the street, "perhaps they 
 are to be customers. Good-by, and good luck ! " 
 
 Two boys pushed by her somewhat rudely 
 and hurried within the door. " Oh, hulloa ! " 
 said one. It was Ragged Joe who lived down 
 by the mill, and he wasn't a pleasant boy to be 
 intimate with, nor very choice as to his associ- 
 ates. The other boy was not known by Jack or 
 Cornelius. 
 
 "Well, now," said Joesy, swaggering around 
 the shop, and making a mental inventory of its 
 contents, " we're fixed up fine here, we is. That's 
 good ; well, now, to business. I'll take my five 
 dollars, if you please, what I lost, you know." 
 He turned up suddenly to Jack, and looked him 
 squarely in the face.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TIME FOR ACTION. 
 
 rpHE biggest boy was "Ragged Joe," but 
 the four or five others now pushing into 
 the shop were nearly as big, and only one 
 degree better in morals. They all lived down 
 at the " Four Corners," in a lot of tumble-down 
 shanties that the selectmen of Cherryfield threat- 
 ened every year to tear down. 
 
 As this crew came rushing into the neat little 
 shop, Rosy gave a small cry of terror and fled 
 behind the counter. Jack turned at her cry, 
 while Cornelius advanced sturdily to meet them. 
 
 " I should like my money," said Ragged Joe, 
 winking to the rest of the boys and impudently 
 viewing Cornelius. "I thought I'd just call 
 around here and get it." He pointed with his 
 dirty thumb to the posted slip on the door-cas- 
 ing. "Lost it, ye know, out o' me trousers 
 pocket." 
 
 TO
 
 TIME FOR ACTION. 71 
 
 With that one of the boys snickered ; Ragged 
 Joe turned and shook his fist at him. 
 
 "Where did you lose it?" asked Corny boldly, 
 his black eyes flashing. 
 
 " What difference does it make to ye where I 
 lost it, you young whelp, you!" cried Joey 
 defiantly. "I lost it; that's enough. Hand it 
 over, or I'll break every bone in your body. 
 Here, you fellows, you run through this ere 
 shop and see if there's anything to your mind, 
 while I attend to this chap who's got my money 
 and won't give it up." 
 
 In a second a boy started, as if by a precon- 
 certed signal, rushed to the door, locked it, and 
 put the key in his pocket, coming back with a 
 grin. Ragged Joe anointed his hands with 
 Nature's provision from his dirty mouth, and 
 squared up to Cornelius, who not flinching, was 
 preparing to defend himself as best he might. 
 
 There was a quick leap over the counter, a 
 dash between the two boys, one well-aimed blow 
 into the centre of things, and the bully was 
 picking himself up from the floor, sputtering 
 with rage. " You won't do that again, I'll tell 
 you. Give it to 'em, boys ; pitch in ! " 
 
 And then all the occupants of the shop were
 
 72 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 in one wild scuffle; all but Company. She, 
 with white face and clasped hands, was doing 
 her best not to scream, remembering her 
 mother's words " In any danger, control your 
 fear, and see what you can do to help yourself 
 or others." 
 
 A little click, so faint that none but strained, 
 watching ears could hear it, arrested her atten- 
 tion. Ah ! now Company steals out softly from 
 behind the counter, back of the combatants, who 
 would scarcely have noticed the approach of an 
 army. 
 
 Soft, now, little Rosy, you have your oppor- 
 tunity to make Company a valiant member of 
 the firm. Ah ! you have it ; your fingers have 
 seized the precious key lying where it dropped 
 from the ragged pocket of the boy now tussling 
 with the others ; but be very careful, or all will 
 yet be lost. 
 
 But Rosy has been a faithful little learner of 
 Mother Brimmer's precepts, and the fingers do 
 not tremble that fit the key into the lock and 
 turn it rapidly. None too soon ; for Jack, de- 
 spite his strength and wit, is no match for the 
 tiger fighting of the "Four Corner boys," and 
 between his defence of Cornelius and himself, is
 
 TIME FOR ACTION. 73 
 
 nearly spent, as the door flies open. The assail- 
 ants turn with a wild yell, and they all rush to 
 the spot, and with Rosy are almost precipitated 
 into the arms of Parson Higginson, standing on 
 the flat door-stone. 
 
 "I came just in time, I see," observed the 
 parson, surveying the group. " No ; you needn't 
 take the trouble to look for a window to jump 
 out of, my boy." This to Ragged Joe, who 
 slunk off to the back part of the shop ; " I know 
 you, you see, so it would do no good to run. I 
 came just in time," he repeated. 
 
 " You did indeed, sir," said Jack, wiping the 
 blood from his face. 
 
 " I do so wish we could have whipped them," 
 burst forth from Cornelius, who by reason of 
 Jack's constant vigilance, had had the time to 
 send blows that hurt no one, to right and left 
 blindly. "May we try it again? Oh! do let 
 us, sir." 
 
 "By no means," said the parson. "Now, my 
 fine boys, stand out here where I can get a good 
 look at you." 
 
 It was impossible not to obey him. He was 
 no more like the amiable man who stood up in 
 the pulpit and preached every Sunday with a
 
 74 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 gentle voice, the duty of bearing love and mercy 
 to one's neighbor, than a hurricane is like a 
 south breeze. His command rang through the 
 small shop, with ringing force, bringing the mis- 
 erable offenders to the line his imperious finger 
 indicated they should stand on. 
 
 " A goodly crowd ! " he remarked ; " I know 
 every one of you well. Now, what are you in 
 this shop for, assaulting the proprietors, may I 
 be permitted to inquire ? " 
 
 The crew all looked helplessly at Ragged Joe. 
 He regarded the crack in the floor that his bare 
 toes touched, with a stolid gaze ; but unable to 
 bear the piercing gaze he felt, rather than saw, 
 was on him, he shifted uneasily, finally looked 
 up and blurted out with an attempt at bragga- 
 docio, "I came to get my money." 
 
 "Your money?" repeated Parson Higginson;- 
 "I was not aware that you ever had any. How 
 much was it ; and how did Jack and Cornelius 
 Brimmer get it ? " 
 
 Driven into a corner, Joesy cried in despera- 
 tion, "I lost that ere five dollar gold piece 
 that Cornelius Brimmer's found. It's mine, and 
 I come after it, an' he wouldn't give it up, so I 
 had to fight a bit." With that, he tried to
 
 TIME FOB ACTION. 75 
 
 slip out between the minister's arm and the 
 door. 
 
 " Not so fast, not so fast, Joe," said the par- 
 son, gently pushing him back into the line again, 
 " you may go by and by, but with proper escort. 
 Cornelius, will you do an errand for me?" 
 
 The boy dashed out to the flagstone step, 
 saying, "Where, sir?" 
 
 " To Constable Plumtree's," said Parson Hig- 
 ginson, " and tell him that there are seven boys 
 whom he must take care of, waiting for him 
 here. Hurry, my lad ! " 
 
 " I suppose they will be shut up?" said Cor- 
 nelius, hesitating a bit. 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; still, we will leave all that to 
 him, as it is not our matter " 
 
 "I'd much rather fight it out," said Corny, 
 turning a bright eye up to the minister to see if 
 there were any chance of the proposition meet- 
 ing favor. 
 
 " No, no," said the parson, laughing ; " fight- 
 ing is not in our line. The constable is the one 
 to attend to these young fellows. Go along as 
 you are bid, Cornelius." 
 
 "I hope they will not be shut up long, sir," 
 ventured Company, clasping her hands. To
 
 76 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 Rosalie nothing seemed so very dreadful as the 
 loss of the sunshine and freedom. "Perhaps 
 they never will do it again," she added, with a 
 pitiful glance at the seven. 
 
 " I do not intend that they shall in this town, 
 at least," said the minister. ' Now, while Cor- 
 nelius is away, I will tell you all that the owner 
 of the five dollar gold piece is found. I came 
 over to give you this information. Lucky it 
 was that I started at once as soon as I heard 
 it." 
 
 "Oh! who? "cried Jack and Rosy together. 
 " Who lost the gold piece ? What a pity that 
 Corny could not have heard first," added Com- 
 pany. 
 
 "If Cornelius had staid to hear, Jack must 
 have gone," said the parson, looking down at 
 her with a kind smile ; " and Jack, your brave 
 defender, is hardly in a condition for further 
 effort just now." 
 
 Thereupon Rosy began to be anxious at once 
 about Jack's hurts, forgetting all about the gold 
 piece. 
 
 " Tell us who it was that lost it, please, sir," 
 begged Jack. 
 
 " You never could guess," exclaimed the par-
 
 TIME FOR ACTION. 77 
 
 son abruptly. "So I will tell you at otice. It 
 is Miss Clorinda Peaseley ! " 
 
 "Miss Peaseley!" almost screamed the two 
 Brimmers. "Why didn't she tell us?" de- 
 manded Jack. 
 
 " You forget ; she didn't know you had found 
 a gold piece till some one told her that it was 
 posted up here on your shop-door," said Mr. 
 Iligginson ; " then she came over to me, and 
 told me the whole story, and what she wanted 
 done with the five dollars. It seems that a day 
 in last March," the parson leaned against the 
 door-post comfortably, and one eye on his pris- 
 oners, went on rapidly, "Miss Peaseley felt 
 anxious about the Widow Brown, and fearful 
 that she needed some money, put a gold piece 
 with some other comforts into a little basket, 
 and went over there. * I put the gold piece in 
 the bottom of the basket,' she said, 'that the 
 widow might find it as a surprise ; for it isn't 
 pleasant to have money given to you as if you 
 were a pauper.' Miss Peaseley says it was all 
 snow and slush where the widow's little path 
 ran, and so she went across the end of the pig- 
 yard. 
 
 "When she went into the house, she found
 
 78 THE LITTLE EED SHOP. 
 
 Mrs. Brown sick in bed, so the giver had to un- 
 pack her basket herself. To her dismay, when 
 the bottom was reached, there was no gold 
 piece. Instead there was a treacherous hole. 
 All searching every step of the way she had 
 come, did no good. The pigs had rooted over 
 their quarters, burying the five dollar gold 
 piece, as it is now proved, too deep for keen 
 eyes to trace it. 
 
 " Miss Peaseley always supposed she had lost 
 it in the brook that runs over the Peter lot; 
 that, you know, would be worse than the hay- 
 mow where the needle was lost. Now here is 
 the best of the story. She has given the five 
 dollars as a present to Cornelius, with her best 
 respects. Here he comes J "
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A GOOD DAY. 
 
 /CONSTABLE PLUMTREE arrived in state 
 ^-^ under Cornelius' guidance, and escorted 
 with much pomposity, his several prisoners off 
 to durance vile, Rosy following quite a little 
 distance to beg that he would not really and 
 truly lock them up. 
 
 "Don't fear, Miss," said the constable, nod- 
 ding back to her, " that they'll get more'n their 
 deserts. They're wanted for something beside 
 this 'ere case; leastways them two," pointing 
 with his thumb at Patsy and Ragged Joe. "Do 
 you know anythin' where Mis' Bagley's six silver 
 spoons went to ? She hain't set an eye on 'em 
 since you stopped there one day; I don't suppose 
 you've seen 'em now ? " Mr. Plumtree rolled 
 his blue eyes over the two in a most innocent 
 way. 
 
 "We've never seen 'em, neither of us," 
 79
 
 Go THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 declared Patsy, preparing to say something 
 stronger. Ragged Joe hung his head in silence. 
 
 "S'pose not, s'pose not," said the constable 
 coolly. " Well, come along ; you'll have plenty 
 of chances to say so before a big company. 
 Good-by ! " and he disappeared with his charge. 
 
 And then the presentation took place. Cor- 
 nelius was the happy possessor of the five dollar 
 gold piece sent to him by its owner under the 
 most flattering circumstances. 
 
 But there was no time for making a holiday 
 orer it. Mother Brimmer, who had been emp- 
 tying a pair of pillows into new casings, in the 
 garret, had heard nothing of all this commotion, 
 and the children now hurried in and ran to the 
 foot of the stairs to tell her the fine news. Mr. 
 Higginson staid behind to keep shop. When 
 they ran out again, the shop was nearly full of 
 customers, who had met on the way, and now 
 made things quite lively. 
 
 "As I am a silent partner," said the parson, 
 " I don't see but that I better take a turn at do- 
 ing up bundles;" so back of the counter he went, 
 tying up things as briskly as if he had never 
 any leaning toward the ministry, but had been a 
 clerk all his life.
 
 A GOOD DAY. 81 
 
 " I'll take the doughnuts, Jack, when I return 
 home," he said, " as I shall go directly back. 
 Miss Peaseley's doughnuts are a prize that any 
 one would be willing to carry," he remarked 
 carelessly to the company, who were using their 
 eyes to the utmost in becoming acquainted with 
 the shop's capacity for becoming a centre of 
 trade. 
 
 " Miss Peaseley's doughnuts ! " exclaimed a 
 stout man, reflectively chewing a straw, while 
 he made mental comments, " did you say Miss 
 Peaseley's?" he asked, with the air of a man 
 who expected to be informed he had made a 
 mistake. 
 
 " Miss Clorinda Peaseley made those dough- 
 nuts and placed them here to be sold for her," 
 said the parson, pointing to the fragrant cakes 
 in the basket under the clean napkins, " and 
 just as fast as the firm sell them, I doubt not 
 she will put more here." Then he fell to ac- 
 complishing a neat knot, thus saving himself 
 from the disgrace of a laugh at the expressions 
 on the faces before him. 
 
 The thing took immensely. Not to buy cakes 
 made by Miss Peaseley, the rich woman of 
 Cherryfield, and exposed for sale by her, was
 
 82 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 to make no social claims whatever, and Cor- 
 nelius was made happy by being obliged to re- 
 cord a string of names of people who would 
 experience dreadful disappointment if denied 
 the purchase of a portion of the next instalment. 
 
 "I think I will see that Miss Peaseley will 
 make those cakes," said the parson, buttoning 
 up the list in his coat pocket. " Now do up the 
 doughnuts, Rosy, and I will hurry to put them in 
 Mrs. Higglnson's hands." 
 
 Clothes-lines, clothes-pins, soap, stove black- 
 ing, common pins, needles, Ironing holders (those 
 Rosalie was to make), pencils, thread, baking 
 powder, starch, shoe-blacking and brushes, floor 
 brushes, pails. These were some of the things 
 that people inquired for, and Jack made a note 
 of them, in order when possible to add them to 
 the stock in trade. 
 
 It was a good day. Seven dollars and twenty- 
 one cents had been brought into the business ; 
 and now that the minister had set his approval 
 on the whole thing in such a conspicuous man- 
 ner, the Little Red Shop had the finest of all 
 outlooks for the future. 
 
 But it was hard work; there is no denying 
 that. And many a day Jack longed so for re-
 
 A GOOD DAT. 83 
 
 lease from the steady grind of the thing, that 
 nothing but the thought of mother and the baby 
 kept him constant to the demands made upon 
 him ; while Cornelius grew restive to such a 
 degree under the tread-mill life to which he 
 found himself now bound, that nothing but the 
 disgrace of backing out of an honorable bargain, 
 kept him from rushing off on occasional holi- 
 days with the other boys. Rosy alone, of all 
 the firm, seemed perfectly happy and contented, 
 singing at her work, keeping every bit of the 
 shop's interior as neat as wax, tending her 
 flowers, and when there were no customers to 
 wait on, sewing on her ironing holders, for which 
 she had now stirred up quite a market. 
 
 " But she's a girl," said Corny scornfully, one 
 night to himself, aching in each separate and 
 distinct joint, and feeling like an old man from 
 close confinement and lack of play, "and you 
 can't please one better than to let her mope and 
 potter around. Oh ! if Jack and I could have 
 one day." 
 
 At last, on the third week, Mother Brimmer 
 came to the rescue. "Boys, why don't you 
 take a day off from the shop each week? 
 You'd work better to pay for it."
 
 84 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 Jack and Cornelius stared at her. 
 
 " Why, Mamsie," cried Rosalie, dropping her 
 holder in astonishment. 
 
 " It's just this," said Mother Brimmer in her 
 most practical fashion, "you are hoys." Both 
 straightened up at that. "I know, dears, you 
 are men in ambition, bless you, and you realize 
 your ambitions, too; but you and I must not 
 forget that you are growing boys. Now if we 
 forestall Nature and try to make men of you 
 before your time, what results?" 
 
 No answer. 
 
 "You know," said Mother Brimmer, answer- 
 ing her own question, "feeble, broken-down 
 men whose work in life is all done early. Do 
 you want to give up all that life promises 
 you, for thoughtlessness and want of care 
 now?" 
 
 "No indeed, mother," declared Jack posi- 
 tively. 
 
 " Faugh ! I'm not going to be a broken-down 
 man," cried Cornelius in great disdain. " I am 
 as strong as an ox. Why, look at my arm, 
 mother." He held up that sturdy member and 
 shook his brown crop of hair, repeating, u Tm 
 not going to be a broken-down man."
 
 A GOOD DAT. 86 
 
 _ " You don't know, Corny," said Mother Brim- 
 mer earnestly, " health is one of the best gifts 
 that the dear Father bestows. It is our duty 
 to care for it, and to improve it. Now you can 
 do that by leaving the business one day each 
 week, and completely forgetting it, have a royal 
 play spell with the other boys." 
 
 " 'Tisn't any fun playing without Jack," said 
 Cornelius, discontentedly dragging the toe of 
 his shoe back and forth on the floor. 
 
 " That brings me to what I was about to pro- 
 pose," said Mother Brimmer, "that you and 
 Jack take your holiday together." 
 
 " Mother ! " they all exclaimed at once ; Rosy 
 opening wide eyes at the thought that she was 
 to be left alone in the shop. 
 
 " The day that you are both away, I will stay 
 here," said Mrs. Brimmer, looking around the 
 small centre of trade for that district. " It will 
 be good for me to turn around my work too ; 
 and after you select your day, I will make my 
 plans, and everything will move along beauti- 
 fully." 
 
 She leaned back in the chair and looked at 
 them all. 
 
 "Mother," exclaimed Jack, flying across the
 
 86 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 shop, and throwing his arms around her, " are 
 you sure this won't make things harder for you?" 
 
 " We wanted to make it easier for you," said 
 Cornelius, and wishing that he didn't want so 
 very much to play with the boys, " and to take 
 care of you." 
 
 " And the baby," added Rosalie, not willing 
 that Primrose should be left out. 
 
 " Of course, and the baby," said Jack, holding 
 the mother close. 
 
 "I shall find it much easier to 'keep shop* 
 one day in the week, than to see these cheeks 
 growing white," said Mother Brimmer, pinching 
 Jack's cheek and trying to do the same thing 
 by Cornelius. " No, no, boys," she added more 
 soberly, "there is no way to get rid of the 
 truth that it ought to be done, because it is 
 right." 
 
 After that the little shop was very still.
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 NEW DEVELOPMENTS. 
 
 rriHE weekly holiday was now an established 
 -* thing, and much dear Mother Brimmer 
 rejoiced thereat. It was good to see Jack's 
 ruddy cheek, and Cornelius' length of limb that 
 proclaimed itself below the well-worn knicker- 
 bockers and jacket sleeves. Rosy hummed de- 
 lightedly at her task when thinking of it, until 
 one day she was sent off unceremoniously to 
 play with the neighbors' girls. 
 
 The "next neighbor" living a good half-mile 
 distant, it required a run on brisk little feet to ac- 
 complish the visit and get home again to supper. 
 
 " Oh ! I don't want to go, mother," begged 
 Company in dismay, and looking up from her 
 holder of red flannel with cheeks as bright, 
 "I was going to make Miss Tisbett's holder 
 next." 
 
 "And then Grandma Bacon's, I suppose," said 
 87
 
 NEW DEVELOPMENTS. 89 
 
 "Come and get my sunbonnet and take me 
 to play with Neddy Bruce," repeated the baby 
 in gleeful tones. 
 
 " Go, Rosalie," said her mother. 
 
 Rosy threw down her holder and jumped to 
 her feet; the weight of years seemed to drop 
 from her, making her a child once more. 
 
 " Come," commanded Roly Poly, seizing her 
 hand. 
 
 Rosy danced along, just about as old as the 
 baby who clung to her, shouting with delight, 
 and Mother Brimmer saw them no more. 
 
 And before any one quite knew it, the quar- 
 ter-day came when the Little Red Shop could 
 fairly be said to be established on a firm basis. 
 
 "Jack," said Mr. Corbin, president of the 
 Cherryfield Savings Bank, as the senior partner 
 of Brimmer Brothers and Company was coming 
 out after making a deposit, " you are really go- 
 ing to be a moneyed man some day, aren't you?" 
 
 " I don't know, sir," said Jack, quite awed at 
 being addressed by the president himself, " I'm 
 afraid not. But we are going to take care of 
 mother and the baby." 
 
 "Come in here." President Corbin motioned 
 to his private office, and as in a dream Jack soon
 
 90 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 found himself sitting on the extreme edge of a 
 big luxurious chair, the door shutting out all in- 
 truding visitors, while the keen, searching eyes 
 of the great man were reading him through and 
 through. 
 
 At last the president withdrew his gaze. 
 
 "It is much easier to make money than to 
 save it, Jack," at last he said slowly. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said the boy, thinking of the coal 
 bill, and the baby's shoes, and the flour barrel 
 to keep filled. 
 
 " It is something to get the pennies together 
 hey, Jack?" queried the great man sharply. 
 
 " Yes, sir," again replied Jack, not daring to 
 emerge from the shelter of the monosyllable. 
 
 "Do you mind telling me how you do it?" 
 was the president's next question. 
 
 Jack said "No, sir," promptly, then hesitated, 
 stammered a bit, and finally stopped. 
 
 "Don't be afraid," said Mr. Corbin encour- 
 agingly, "just begin again." 
 
 "It is such a small business," said Jack, blush- 
 ing up to his brown ears, " that you won't think 
 it's much." 
 
 " I was once a boy like you, Jack," said the 
 president with a smile; then his face grew
 
 NEW DEVELOPMENTS. 91 
 
 grave, he put down his foot which had care- 
 lessly crossed the other, to the floor, leaned 
 slightly forward in his revolving chair and bent 
 a searching glance upon the lad. "My father 
 died when I was a dozen years old. I was the 
 oldest of five children." 
 
 " Five children ! " repeated Jack, feeling one 
 degree less like a grandfather. " Why, there 
 are only four of us." 
 
 "Four others looked to me," repeated Mr. 
 Corbin distinctly, "as the man of the house. 
 There were not many play-days that came in 
 my way after I was twelve years old, I can tell 
 you, Jack." 
 
 " What did you do?" asked the boy, suddenly 
 forgetting the bank president in his eagerness 
 to get at the facts. 
 
 U I sold tin, collected rags and old papers," 
 said the president, as proudly as though describ- 
 ing a day " on change." " And I made money, 
 too, Jack. I had to, for there was my mother 
 and the four little ones back of me, waiting for 
 bread/' 
 
 Jack's eyes glistened. 
 
 " And nothing but faith in my mother made 
 me hold on."
 
 92 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 The boy held his breath, hang-on every 
 word. 
 
 " As for play," continued the bank president, 
 " I didn't know what it was, after I started in 
 business." 
 
 "Did you ever want to?" Jack threw out 
 the question breathlessly, then blushed at his 
 temerity. 
 
 "Want to?" Mr. Corbin leaned back in his 
 chair and viewed his questioner. "Well, my 
 boy, I have seen the time when I thought I 
 should be obliged to tie myself up to keep from 
 running away from my work. Think of the 
 foot-ball games, and the fishing and coasting ! " 
 
 Now the president's eyes glistened. He was 
 astonished to feel himself thrill as he could not 
 remember for forty odd years just by talk- 
 ing over his old experiences with this country 
 lad. 
 
 " I am so glad ! " Jack never knew how he 
 came to say it ; it was out in a burst before he 
 was aware of it himself, and then he immedi- 
 ately lost all fear, and confessed that he hi ad 
 carried in his heart just such longings for many 
 weeks till he had felt disgraced, and his mother 
 had come to the rescue and insisted on the
 
 NEW DEVELOPMENTS. 93 
 
 weekly holiday. But the feeling of disgrace 
 had staid with him because he had wanted to 
 desert his work for play. 
 
 The bank president glanced up at the marble 
 clock on the office mantel. In an hour a meet- 
 ing of directors would be held in the room ; the 
 time intervening he had intended to spend in 
 trying a new pair of horses purchased the day 
 before. But looking into the boy's eyes, he 
 concluded that the dashing turnout might stay 
 in the stable, while " Who knows but Itielp to 
 make a future bank president," he said to him- 
 self. 
 
 The directors coming in at eleven met on the 
 threshold a tall, ruddy-cheeked boy, who made 
 way respectfully for them to pass in, and whose 
 keen dark eyes haunted the memory of more 
 than one of them. 
 
 Jack dashed along the thoroughfare, a new 
 boy. He even pinched himself to make sure that 
 it was really Jack Brimmer who had been talk- 
 ing for an hour with President Corbin, straighten- 
 ing up as he reached The Little Red Shop, at 
 the remembrance of the last words, "Come to 
 me whenever you find it hard to hold on ! " 
 
 Mother looked up with a smile, opened her
 
 94 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 mouth to speak, but thought better of it, and 
 folded her lips tightly together. 
 
 " I'm sorry to have been gone so long," cried 
 Jack, with a bright flash of his eyes on her, and 
 rushing through the kitchen. " Corny is in the 
 shop, I suppose ? " 
 
 " No ; he went over to Deacon Hubbard's 
 after the potatoes." 
 
 Jack, half-way to the shop, turned back and 
 nodded " All right," and, hurrying in, plunged 
 into tKe labors that his hour at the bank had 
 delayed. 
 
 " Corny went ever so long ago," observed 
 Rosy placidly, patting the green leaves of her 
 plate-gardens with a wet cloth to make them 
 shine. " He said he'd be back in half an hour." 
 
 " He's been hindered at the Deacon's, I ex- 
 pect," said Jack, moving the sugar barrel to 
 make more room, into another corner. 
 
 "Mrs. Hine was in here just after you had 
 gone away," said Rosy, bestowing a loving dab 
 on an ivy leaf, "and she asked for macca 
 something, and cloves; yes, I am sure it was 
 cloves, because she said she wanted to put them 
 into mince pies." 
 
 "People don't put cloves into mince pies,
 
 NEW DEVELOPMENTS. 05 
 
 Rosy," corrected Jack in the midst of the racket 
 he was making with the barrel. 
 
 " I suppose she was going to pound them up," 
 said Rosalie ; " there, see how they shine, Jack ! " 
 She turned a glowing face around from her 
 vines and buds. "I am going to sell them, 
 Jack." Notwithstanding the joy with which 
 she made this announcement it was easy to see 
 that her lip quivered, and she touched the tips 
 of the leaves with a loving little finger, as if she 
 would hold to them always. 
 
 " Sell them ! " cried Jack, turning away from 
 the barrel, "why, who wants to buy flowers? 
 They can get plenty in the woods." 
 
 " But these are growing," -said Rosy, nodding 
 to them. " And Mrs. Hammond wants to buy 
 two of them, and she says, Jack, that she will 
 get a flower-man in the city to take the rest, 
 and if I will start some more, she does not be- 
 lieve but he will take them all." 
 
 Jack stood watching her. Like a flash it came 
 to him, the flowers had waked up a new industry. 
 
 " Rosy," he said gravely, " you will beat us 
 boys completely," for he knew enough to reckon 
 that fancy prices for flowers to suit the whim of 
 long purses, would be a greater income than the
 
 96 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 few pennies eked out in the dull routine of a 
 general trade such as they could carry on in The 
 Little Red Shop. 
 
 But Rosy didn't think so ; and opening her 
 eyes wide at the thought of even equaling the 
 boys, much less surpassing them, she clambered 
 down from the old chair where she had been 
 standing to tend her gardens, and ran bac'c of 
 the counter to consult a memorandum she had 
 made in the senior partner's absence. 
 
 " Yes, it is macca; that first part is right," she 
 declared, spelling out the syllables, " but I don't 
 know what the rest is, although I asked her over 
 twice. What can it be, Jack?" 
 
 Jack didn't know, so Rosy ran in to ask 
 mother, because if it was anything that the shop 
 should contain, Jack could send for it on the 
 morrow. Every Wednesday, nowadays, the 
 expressman, Jacob Pilger, got things for which 
 there was a demand in the city, for the firm. 
 And Company, running along under the apple- 
 trees between The Little Red Shop and the 
 house, reproachfully mourned over her stupidity 
 that had made her neglect asking Mrs. Ham- 
 mond to write the desired name of the article 
 down for Jack to see.
 
 NEW DEVELOPMENTS. 97 
 
 " H\A-loa ! " A man out in a wagon pulled 
 up suddenly to the poplars outside the gate. 
 "Where's your biggest brother?" he called 
 gruffly. 
 
 " Don't be frightened, Rosy." Cornelius' face, 
 white as a sheet, despite its numerous freckles, 
 loomed up above the side of the wagon, where 
 Rosy could see he had been lying down. " Come 
 here!" 
 
 Company ran out to the gate, her small heart 
 palpitating with fear, and clasping her hands as 
 she ran. 
 
 " I've been pitched into," said Corny, with an 
 effort, holding his head up enough to look at her. 
 
 "An* mauled," said the farmer, afraid some- 
 thing would be left out ; " I found him down by 
 Deacon Hubbard's woods." 
 
 "The Corner boys," said Corny, feeling faint, 
 and lying down again. " Run and bring Jack, 
 Rosy, but don't you tell mother I"
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A SUCCESS. 
 
 . BRIGHAM looked Corny all over. 
 "You haven't a single hurt, my man, 
 only this ankle sprain." 
 
 " That's where I fell over Deacon Hubbard's 
 stone wall, running away from the Cornerites," 
 said Corny, "but it isn't as bad as the old eggs 
 they pelted me with," he added with a wry face. 
 
 " They're a bad lot," said the doctor. " Not 
 the eggs, but the boys, and somebody is going 
 to walk down there and attend to things at the 
 Corners, or I'll do it myself." 
 
 "Mr. Plumtree's doing it," said Rosy, and 
 then the story all came out about Patsy Denny 
 and Ragged Joe, and the assault in the little 
 shop. 
 
 " You're a brave couple of boys to hold out 
 against such a crew," said the doctor, " it would 
 take a good deal of pluck " 
 98
 
 A SUCCESS. 99 
 
 " Oh ! we couldn't have done it if it hadn't 
 been for Company," cried Cornelius, popping 
 up his head from the old hair cloth sofa. 
 
 " Easy there, my boy," said the doctor, " till 
 this leg of yours is fixed." 
 
 Corny made a grimace and sank back again, 
 while giving out the rest of the story. " Com- 
 pany got the key when it fell out of Jim Coan's 
 pocket, and went and unlocked the door. If it 
 hadn't been for that, we should all have been 
 whipped." 
 
 Dr. Brigham turned around from his bandage 
 and liniments, to bestow a smile on Company, 
 whose round little face flushed all over. 
 
 " I don't see but you're a pretty strong busi- 
 ness firm," he said, going back to his work 
 again. 
 
 "I didn't like her to be in the firm at first," 
 confessed Corny, " because she is a girl, but she 
 did most as good as a boy, so I like it now." 
 
 Dr. Brigham laughed heartily, Jack and 
 Mother Brimmer, who had stepped out of the 
 room for a momet, now popped in their heads 
 in astonishment at the sounds of hilarity. 
 
 "I am finding my patient very amusing," 
 said the doctor, tucking his bottles and ban-
 
 100 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 dages away in his case. " He won't lie here 
 many days, I can assure you, Mrs. Brimmer." 
 
 "I hope not, sir," said Mother Brimmer, try- 
 ing to be cheerful. 
 
 "Indeed I won't," exclaimed Corny, kicking 
 the well leg up in the air. 
 
 "If you keep still, you'll get up all the sooner," 
 warned the doctor, snapping the case to, and 
 bestowing his most professional air on the 
 patient. " Remember, now." 
 
 " When I am a man, I'm going to be a doctor," 
 observed Corny irrelevantly, and giving a final 
 wave to his leg, "it must be such fun to ride 
 around and dose folks, and make 'em mind." 
 
 "You can't always have the last-named pleas- 
 ure, you'll find," said the doctor, laughing. 
 " Well, good day, I'll look in to-morrow." 
 
 And now, Corny, who had privately and pub- 
 licly sniffed at a girl's love for flowers, became 
 absorbed in the new industry waked up in con- 
 nection with the Little Red Shop. Tied a pris- 
 oner to the old sofa, there was nothing to do but 
 lie and count the hours until he would be well 
 once more, and able "to pitch into business 
 again," to use his own words. So, one day, hear- 
 ing Rosy chattering over her little wood gardens,
 
 A SUCCESS. 101 
 
 he begged her to bring one to him, and in the 
 talk that followed, was quite surprised to find 
 that there was lots of fun in the enterprise. 
 Before he knew it, he was interested in lichens, 
 and partridge berries, ferns, and cup moss, and 
 then it all came to him, that once when down in 
 the meadow digging for flagroot, he had run 
 across a queer plant with a pretty leaf, and 
 when he got well he would go and get some for 
 Rosy to add to her gardens. And both children 
 were now chattering and planning as merry as 
 magpies, and Corny's face held the first con- 
 tented expression since the accident. 
 
 Mother Brimmer, mending stockings over in 
 the corner, pricked up her ears at the word 
 " flagroot." 
 
 "Jack can get Teddy Haskins to help him 
 dig a lot, and I will dry and candy it," she said 
 suddenly ; " strange we never thought of it 
 before." 
 
 "And do it up in little paper bores," cried 
 Rosy, dropping a bit of cup moss. " O Mamsie ! " 
 
 " We sha'n't have boxes to do it up in for a 
 good spell, probably," said Mrs. Brimmer cau- 
 tiously, "but we'll make it look nice and eatable 
 someway."
 
 102 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 "I'm going to tell Jack," cried Rosy flying 
 off, dreadfully excited. 
 
 " Don't go," begged Cornelius. 
 
 " Here be is," said Mother Brimmer, looking 
 out of the window, as Jack sprang over the flat 
 door-stone. 
 
 " Good news," he cried, hurrying in. 
 
 " It isn't half as nice as our news, you better 
 believe," shouted back Cornelius from the sofa. 
 
 " Tell yours first, Jack," said Mother Brimmer, 
 " you spoke first." 
 
 " Mr. Hine is going to put his agency in our 
 shop," cried Jack in intense excitement. " Now, 
 mother, what do you think of that ! " 
 
 Mr. Hine was an old tight-fisted farmer, very 
 rich and very disagreeable, living over beyond 
 Orange Hill, who had held back from the move- 
 ment in which most of the prominent farmers 
 and village people united, to help forward the 
 interests of the Brimmer household, either by 
 selling produce to the new firm, or by trading 
 at the Little Red Shop. He had poohed and 
 sniffed at the whole thing, openly ridiculing it 
 on every occasion that presented the least chance 
 of a listener. 
 
 "Think o' them boys," he cried once to
 
 A SUCCESS. 103 
 
 Farmer Bisbee's wife, " a settin' up to go into 
 business. What can they do, I sh'd like to 
 know." 
 
 "Nothin'," said Mrs. Bisbee, "if everybody 
 does as you do. What makes you act so like 
 Kedar, Mr. Hine, I don't see " 
 
 " I never hearn anythin' like it," said the old 
 man, quite worked up. "They'll bust in a 
 month." 
 
 "Now, see here, Mr. Hine," declared Mrs. 
 Bisbee, who was never afraid to use her tongue, 
 "I ain't a-goin' to stand here and hear things 
 against them boys. I'll help 'em up and on, 
 and lots of other folks will too. Land! it's 
 enough to go to anybody's heart, if they've got 
 such a thing in their bodies, to see 'em work. 
 We'll be proud of 'em yet in Cherryfield, I can 
 tell you. 'Tain't in natur that such a woman as 
 their mother is, shouldn't have good boys." 
 
 "The boys are well enough," said Farmer 
 Hine carefully, "it's the puttin' notions into 
 their heads, and makin' 'em think they're smart, 
 that I don't like." 
 
 "Well, then, if you hain't anythin' against 
 the boys, only their age," cried Mrs. Bisbee im- 
 patiently, " why in the land can't you keep
 
 104 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 from puttin' stones in their way, and hanging of 
 millstones around their necks say ? " 
 
 " I ain't a-hangin' millstones on their necks," 
 said the farmer, quite astonished at the storm 
 he had raised. 
 
 "Yes you are, too," contradicted Mrs. Bisbee 
 flatly. "You're a-lettin' that tongue of yours 
 work day and night against them poor children 
 whose father is dead, and whose mother has 
 nothing but her pluck to keep her head above 
 water. You've worked more mischief than you 
 can undo in one spell. I don't see how you can 
 do such things, Mr. Hine, and you a perfessor. 
 It beats me." 
 
 Mr. Hine having never met people with the 
 courage of their convictions in regard to the 
 matter, was surprised to find a twinge of re- 
 morse in the region where he always located his 
 conscience, now attacking him. And without 
 another word he slapped the old horse with the 
 end of the reins, and started off in the direction 
 of town. When he reached there, he drove 
 silently to the post-office, got his mail, and after 
 finishing his few errands, drove off down a side 
 road to the Brimmer place, and made his call 
 on Jack.
 
 A SUCCESS. 105 
 
 "He wants to have us take orders for him, 
 for all his things," said Jack, " even berries, and 
 Mrs. Hine's butter. A regular agency. I've 
 talked with him most an hour, and we've settled 
 it all up. He's a splendid man." 
 
 Cornelius gave three cheers from his prison. 
 
 "We're going to be rich, sure as fate," he 
 cried shrilly, " and then we'll keep a big store 
 down in the village." 
 
 " It will be many a long year," said Mother 
 Brimmer in her most cautious fashion, " before 
 we shall be rich, and I hope never, if it is going 
 to turn our heads. No, boys, it's hard work 
 and long work, and work altogether, that is 
 ahead of us, in order to make a success of The 
 Little Red Shop." 
 
 "Now tell your news," said Jack, when the 
 talk ran low over his recital. 
 
 "We're going to beat up a flagroot trade. 
 Mother thought of it," said Cornelius. "It 
 don't seem much to tell of beside your news, 
 but I guess it will work." 
 
 Jack hailed the plan with joy, his keen judg- 
 ment foreseeing the possibilities it held, and go- 
 ing up to his mother's chair, he bent over it to 
 put a kiss on her cheek. It was unlike Jack to
 
 106 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 be so demonstrative, and Mother Brimmer in- 
 voluntarily laid down the stocking and put her 
 finger on the spot her boy's lips had pressed, as 
 if she would hold the kiss there forever. 
 
 Just then the door opened, and Miss Clorinda 
 Peaseley came in. 
 
 " A new stock of doughnuts," she said in her 
 brisk way, with a nod apiece for each of the 
 group. 
 
 "O, Miss Peaseley," cried Rosy, rushing to 
 relieve her of the basket, " you're our fairy god- 
 mother." 
 
 " Fairy nonsense ! " exclaimed Miss Peaseley ; 
 nevertheless she was much pleased, and untied 
 her bonnet strings for a comfortable call. 
 
 "I'm astonished at you, Jack," she began, 
 "to find The Little Red Shop locked. I came 
 around that way and couldn't get in." 
 
 "I'm afraid my good luck has turned my 
 head a bit," said Jack. " I ran in to tell Mam- 
 si e and the others the news. Business now ! " 
 and he was off like a shot. 
 
 "Business now and all times," said Mother 
 Brimmer, "seeing we have set out to succeed." 
 
 " And you will succeed," declared Miss Clo- 
 rinda, and her eyes shone, "because you've
 
 A SUCCESS. 107 
 
 started right. It's only to do your duty over 
 and over, every day, Mrs. Brimmer, and before 
 you know it, The Little Red Shop will be"- 
 
 A success," shouted Corny, eager for the 
 last word.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A FAMILY PARTY. 
 
 nnHE air was clear and fresh ; a slight fall of 
 snow just conveniently stopping at the 
 point of becoming higher than the overshoes 
 of the pedestrians, lay on the ground. It was 
 an early fall, as the old farmers say when there 
 is snow at Thanksgiving, and every sign gave 
 promise of winter shutting in rapidly. 
 
 The old gray house set back from Cherryfield 
 high road, had its chimney smoking by break of 
 day, for Mother Brimmer tied on her baking 
 apron as soon as she had told Rosalie how to 
 prepare the simple breakfast " to hurry forward 
 those pies," as she said. 
 
 " All that can be done to-day, Rosy," she ob- 
 served, in the midst of the bustle that now en- 
 sued, " is clear gain toward to-morrow. Always 
 remember that, child ; don't leave a lot of odds 
 and ends to do when you're going to have com- 
 108
 
 A FAMILY PARTY. 109 
 
 pany, thinking you'll have time. You never do ; 
 and the last minute catches you before you know 
 it." 
 
 "It's such fun," hummed the one girl of the 
 family, stirring the cornmeal mush in the kettle 
 vigorously, " to have company. I don't ever 
 remember having any before." 
 
 "You forget the parson coming to tea," said 
 Mrs. Brimmer, bringing out her pie-plates from 
 the pantry. " Let me see ; I shall make four 
 mince ones." 
 
 " He isn't company ! " cried Rosy. " Mr. 
 Iligginson isn't ; I am not a bit afraid of him." 
 
 "No more you should be," exclaimed Mrs. 
 Brimmer, setting down her pie-plates; "and 
 then again, child, there isn't any call to be afraid 
 of any one, so long as you haven't been doing 
 anything wrong." 
 
 " But it scares me to think something don't 
 look nice, or I don't know how to do things," 
 said Rosy. 
 
 " Well, that's very silly," observed Mrs. 
 Brirnmer, going for her pastry-board ; " do the 
 best you can, Rosy, and then let it go." 
 
 Rosy turned her little anxious face toward 
 her mother, and smiled. " Anyway, this com-
 
 110 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 pany is to be nice, and the things will be nice, 
 too, I guess, ma." 
 
 "We'll try to make 'em so," declared her 
 mother, energetically stirring up her mince-meat 
 in the stone jar. 
 
 "What will Miss Clorinda say to see the 
 goose that I'm going to roast all myself ? " cried 
 Rosy, deserting her mush-kettle, to go over with 
 this important question to the baking-table. 
 "Say, ma?" 
 
 I'm sure I don't know ! " cried Mrs. Brim- 
 mer, with pride. " She'll say, * Was there ever 
 such a goose ! ' like as not, though, Rosy." 
 
 " Do you suppose she really will ! " cried the 
 girl in delight, the color coming into her cheeks. 
 When she looked like this, Jack and Cornelius, 
 and everybody else, always called her " Wild 
 Rose," and it was their secret delight to sum- 
 mon the lovely bloom in as many startling ways 
 as they could. 
 
 "But you'd better fly back to that mush," 
 said Mother Brimmer presently, " and get break- 
 fast as you'd ought to, and not look ahead to 
 to-morrow. That'll take care of itself." 
 
 " So it will ! " cried Rosy merrily. 
 
 Jack and Cornelius, now hurrying in to break-
 
 A FAMILY PARTY. Ill 
 
 fast, the small maid-of-all-work had to desert 
 her delightful anticipations of to-morrow's good 
 times and fly to the work in hand. It was pres- 
 ently on the table the steaming dish of mush, 
 the baked potatoes, and the large pitcher of 
 milk, and Mother Brimmer being summoned 
 from her work, wiped her hands, took off her 
 apron, and joined the others at their simple 
 meal. 
 
 For the good woman, although her children 
 were "in business and doing for themselves," as 
 she proudly expressed it, observed the same fru- 
 gality as when times were hard and the future 
 looked dark. "We won't give up our plain 
 breakfasts; they've always done us good, and 
 we don't need any other food," she would say 
 when the boys urged her to have a "bit of meat 
 for herself, at least." 
 
 " No, no ; I don't want it," she said, " mother's 
 tough and hearty. As long as I've such perfect 
 health, you needn't worry, children." 
 
 So the money that would have gone into the 
 butcher's till for the beefsteak or mutton chop, 
 went instead into the bank to Brimmer Brothers 
 and Company's credit. 
 
 And the economy observed in the matter of
 
 112 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 breakfasts went into all the other details of 
 daily life. The only thing in which the family 
 indulged themselves was in the matter of books 
 and magazines ; and occasionally Mrs. Brimmer 
 would send the young people off of an evening 
 to a good lecture or concert in the Town Hall, 
 or she would go with some of them, one always 
 being obliged to remain with Roly Poly, who 
 was called "the baby," although rejoicing in 
 the dignity of five years. 
 
 The business of Brimmer Brothers and Com- 
 pany, conducted in the little Red Shop, formerly 
 an old tool-house, had prospered steadily from a 
 small beginning in trading a few vegetables sup- 
 plied by neighboring farmers ; cakes from Miss 
 Peasley's generous oven, and a sprinkling of 
 other commodities, till now it was an estab- 
 lished grocery store : small, but eminently re- 
 spectable in trade. 
 
 It was started because the little money left 
 by Father Brimmer when he died had, de- 
 spite all the watchful care of it, dwindled till 
 now there was only a pittance left. The old 
 weather-beaten house would last them their 
 lifetime, and the ground was theirs, but the 
 growing family would need more each year
 
 A FAMILY PARTY. 113 
 
 to support them, and make them able to take 
 their proper place in the world. And the chil- 
 dren, who had silently worried over the problem, 
 how to help the mother they had seen working 
 for them early and late ever since they could 
 remember, were at last one day helped out by 
 the little old red tool-house. 
 
 "Here I am," it seemed to say. "Your 
 mother has given me to you for a play-house ; 
 now use me to help her." 
 
 It was an inspiration in the first of it, to be 
 followed by hard and grinding work, much 
 of it in the face of half-laughing opposition 
 and downright sneers of friends and townsfolk. 
 But Brimmer Brothers and Company having 
 begun to face the world never once thought of 
 shirking any of the duties which they met there, 
 but just the same as if everybody believed that 
 they could make a success of the business, they 
 determined in their own minds to do so, and be- 
 haved accordingly. And Rosy, the most timid 
 little thing before strangers, forgot all her fears 
 now, and as Company of the new concern de- 
 veloped a resoluteness and self-possession that 
 amazed the boys. 
 
 All this was two years before this Thanks-
 
 114 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 giving ; and now Mother Brimmer and the suc- 
 cessful business firm and Roly Poly, were to 
 have a party ! 
 
 After the breakfast dishes were cleared away, 
 the boys hurrying off to the shop, as they an- 
 ticipated a rushing trade for the day, the old 
 kitchen began to assume the aspect of getting 
 ready for some great festivity, while it smelt 
 of spices and boiling sweets clear out beyond 
 the lilacs and down to the front gate. Every 
 passer-by must have known that it was Thanks- 
 giving, and suspected pies and such other ac- 
 companiments of the national holiday at once. 
 
 The stoning of raisins and buttering of cake- 
 pans fell to Rosy to do, who was excused from 
 shop duty for the morning to help the mother 
 in her unwonted tasks ; and patiently the little 
 girl performed it all, secretly planning, as she 
 waited on the busy housewife, taking the thou- 
 sand and one necessary steps in and out the 
 buttery and pantry, if one of her little wood- 
 gardens remained unsold in the shop, to take it 
 to dress the dinner-table on the morrow. 
 
 " They can't all be sold," thought Rosy, almost 
 wishing for the moment that there was not quite 
 such a demand for them. " If the red partridge-
 
 A FAMILY PARTY. 115 
 
 berries could only stay at home, what a party 
 we would have ! " 
 
 But when Cornelius ran in to dinner, Jack 
 staying behind to mind the shop, he shouted out 
 gleefully, " Rosy, every single one of your gar- 
 dens is gone, and we could have sold two more 
 if we'd had 'em i " Rosy gave a great sigh, 
 and then reproached herself for even wishing it 
 otherwise. 
 
 " Rosy'll make more money than any of us," 
 declared Cornelius, " you see if she doesn't," 
 between his mouthfuls. " How I wish I'd 
 thought about fixing up roots and ferns and 
 such things in old cracked saucers." 
 
 " But you help me," cried Rosy. "I couldn't 
 even dig the roots without you, Corny." 
 
 " And me, too! " cried Roly Poly, breaking in 
 with the greatest eagerness. " I always go with 
 you, Rosy, you know," and she laid down the 
 little bone she was slowly picking to regard her 
 sister gravely. 
 
 " So you do ! " cried Rosy and Cornelius to- 
 gether. " I'm sure we couldn't ever get along 
 without you, Pet ; " whereat the baby of the 
 family felt happy, and smilingly resumed her 
 bone once more.
 
 116 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 But that night a rap sounded on the outer 
 door, sharp and decided. 
 
 " Run and see who it is, Jack," said Mother 
 Brimmer, looking up from her stocking-mending. 
 
 Jack came hurrying back, a large parcel with 
 white paper loosely folded over it, in his hand. 
 
 " It's for Rosy," he said, setting it down. 
 
 "For me?" cried Rosy, too astonished to 
 open it ; but Cornelius helped her. 
 
 " It's your old red wood-garden ! " exclaimed 
 Corny, dreadfully disappointed, at least expect- 
 ing a big cake. 
 
 " Oh ! " Rosy clasped her hands, and took an 
 ecstatic little spin in the middle of the floor. 
 " Nbw it isn't wicked to want it ! " she cried, 
 dreadfully excited. 
 
 " If I'd known you wanted to keep one," said 
 Jack slowly, " so bad, I never'd sold it." 
 
 " Who bought it?" asked his mother. 
 
 " Mrs. Higginson." 
 
 " I wonder what other people do who haven't 
 got such a minister, and his wife," observed 
 Mrs. Brimmer, wiping her eyes, as Rosy fell to 
 oh-ing over her treasure, and fondling each leaf. 
 " Folks ought to be good who sit under their 
 preaching," she added.
 
 A FAMILY PARTY. 117 
 
 " We'll be good to-morrow, anyway," declared 
 Cornelius. " My ! don't it seem funny to go to 
 church in the middle of the week!" 
 
 But on the morrow, wasn't that a festive 
 scene ? The table was laid in the keeping-room, 
 whose door opened into the kitchen ; knives and 
 forks were laid for seven guests : Mr. and Mrs. 
 Higginson, the minister and his good wife ; Miss 
 Clorinda Peaseley, of course as their best friend; 
 old Widow Tucker and her spinster daughter 
 who went out tailoring, and lived down in the 
 Hollow ; not because they would be such pleasant 
 additions to the party, as that Mother Brimmer 
 felt sure that no other invitations would be sent 
 to them, bidding them to a Thanksgiving dinner; 
 and lame Joey Clark and his sister, for the same 
 reason, and because the children had begged to 
 ask them. 
 
 Rosy's wood-garden had the place of honor 
 in the centre of the table, and it did seem as if 
 there never was such a number of bright little 
 berries to cast a glow over the neat cloth, done 
 up in Mother Brimmer's best style. How they 
 shone among their green leaves ! 
 
 And the goose! The cheeks of the little 
 maid who cooked it, rivalled her partridge berries
 
 118 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 in coloring, at all the compliments that were 
 showered upon her ; while the chicken pie, and 
 spare-rib, and plum pudding, and pies, were de- 
 clared the best ever eaten ; and the hickory nuts 
 and butter nuts, cracked by the boys, received 
 most honorable mention. 
 
 And old Widow Tucker's thin face began to 
 lose some of its worn lines, and she forgot to 
 make any uncharitable remarks about other peo- 
 ple, to which she was a little prone, and her 
 daughter, Miss Mary Jane, seeing her ma so 
 happy, came out from behind her spectacles and 
 began to be pleasant, too. 
 
 And the minister told the most delightful 
 stories ; and when he got tired, then there was 
 Miss Clorinda to set the ball of conversation to 
 rolling again. Everybody laughed, even lame 
 Joey Clark, and, altogether, there was no family 
 party in all Cherryfield so merry and festive. 
 
 And as they at last arose from the table, 
 everybody protesting that they could not eat a 
 bit more, Rosy pulled her mother's gown and 
 whispered, "I want to send a basketful of good- 
 ies down to the Four Corners boys ; may I, ma? "
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A NEW PLAN. 
 
 ES, dear." 
 
 Mother Brimmer smiled and nodded, 
 and Rosy ran off for a basket. 
 
 "What are you going to do?" cried Cor- 
 nelius, seeing her turn over the turkey drum- 
 sticks in the platter, when the basket, lined 
 neatly with brown paper, was all ready and 
 waiting on a chair. So Mother Brimmer began 
 to explain. 
 
 "Oh! now, I say that's too bad," cried Cor- 
 nelius, "to give away a lot of things to those 
 fellows who pitched into us in our shop, and 
 egged me most to death, besides making me 
 sprain my ankle. Don't let her do it, ma," he 
 begged. 
 
 " But Mr. Plumtree made them sorry about 
 fighting in the shop," said Rosy, continuing her 
 selection of pieces, "and they had to work 
 119
 
 120 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 awfully hard at the farmer's where he bound 
 them out ; and now they're all so poor, I don't 
 suppose they've had the least bit of a Thanks- 
 giving dinner." 
 
 " They don't deserve any," said Cornelius 
 stoutly. Even Jack looked as if he thought 
 Company's sentiment wasted. 
 
 " I told her she might," said Mrs. Brimmer 
 quietly, the guests looking on with no words to 
 offer. 
 
 "Look at her, she's putting in an awful 
 lot," shouted Cornelius, hanging over the turkey 
 platter. " Rosy, don't give 'em that. 11 
 
 "That" was half of an apple tart, rich and 
 red, and juicy. 
 
 " Probably the first they've ever tasted," said 
 the minister softly. 
 
 Jack rubbed the toe of his boot back and 
 forth over the polished wooden floor, Miss Clo- 
 rinda gave a mild sniff of disapproval of the way 
 things were going on, but by pinching herself, 
 she managed to keep still ; Corny alone, keep- 
 ing up the other side of the argument. 
 
 " It's a perfect shame, when it's the first time 
 we've ever had a Thanksgiving," he cried, with 
 a red face and indignant eyes, " to pack off all
 
 A NEW PLAN. 121 
 
 those nice things to a lot of dirty, mean old Cor- 
 ner boys." 
 
 Mother Brimmer still kept silent. 
 
 " Jack thinks so." Corny whirled around and 
 pointed to the senior partner triumphantly. " He 
 knows ; and you ought to do as he says, Rosy." 
 
 Company's little right hand dropped to the 
 side of the basket, while her round face took on 
 a pained expression as she looked at Jack. 
 
 The big boy flushed up to his dark hair, and 
 he dropped his eyes to the floor to follow the 
 working of his uneasy boot. He longed to say 
 " I think it's ridiculous, when we are all work- 
 ing so hard, to give away such things to those 
 idle, good-for-nothing Corner boys," but a verse 
 from the Bible came ringing through his ears. 
 For a moment, he thought the parson must be 
 repeating it, and he glanced up quickly. No ; 
 there he sat in the high-backed chair looking at 
 him silently. Then Jack remembered it was 
 in church that very morning that he had heard 
 the words "Do good to them that hate you." 
 
 Here was the direct command from the Mas- 
 ter. Jack in the past year of work and respon- 
 sibility, had drawn very near to his Heavenly 
 Father ; at the last, glad to enroll himself as a
 
 122 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 member of the Church of Christ. And, yet, on 
 this blessed day of thankfulness for the wealth 
 of mercies that had been showered upon him, he 
 was avariciously shutting his heart to the good 
 impulse that would help some of God's poor, 
 needy ones, up into the range of human sym- 
 pathy and love. They might be wicked ; all 
 the more reason that he should do what he could 
 to bring them to love the good. Mean, con- 
 temptible fellow that he was to even look his 
 disapproval to what Rosy was doing ! 
 
 Jack threw back his head, and Cornelius gave 
 a long breath of delight. 
 
 " Go on, Rose," said the big boy of the family, 
 "and I'll help you," Thereupon Jack sprang 
 forward, and seized an orange and laid it in the 
 basket, and followed with two or three handfuls 
 of butternuts. 
 
 " O w ow ! " cried Corny in despair. 
 
 "Come on, Corny," cried Jack, his color 
 deepening into a bloom to match that in Wild 
 Rose's cheeks, and his dark eyes dancing with 
 delight, " if you want any hand in this basket ; 
 see, it's almost full." 
 
 And the next thing that Corny knew, he was 
 tucking in the drumsticks of the chickens, that
 
 A NEW PLAN. 123 
 
 he had fondly hoped to pick clean on the mor- 
 row; and Jack had saved himself from being 
 the one to pull down the sweet impulses of his 
 younger brother and his little sister, into the 
 mire where all was of evil growth. 
 
 "I suppose," said the parson, when all the 
 packing was done, even to the tying of the string 
 across the cover, " that you don't want my com- 
 pany on your walk over to the Corners eh, 
 Jack?" 
 
 " Don't we, though," cried the boy, never the 
 least bit afraid of the minister; now, warmed 
 up to self-forgetfulness, in a mood light-hearted 
 enough for anything. 
 
 " Yes, sir, we do ! " echoed Corny, whipping 
 out his knife to cut off the string-end. " That'll 
 be just gay, if you'll come." 
 
 " Suppose we all accompany the basket party," 
 proposed Miss Peaseley slowly, and taking her 
 feet away from the cheerful blaze of the snap- 
 ping hickory ; " that is, those who care to," she 
 added, with a thought in time for the widow 
 and her daughter, and lame Joey Clark. 
 
 Joey looked wistfully across at his sister; 
 but she shook her head, and he sat back obedi- 
 ently in the depths of his chair.
 
 124 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 "Want to go, Joey?" asked Mr. Higginson. 
 
 " Yes, sir," Joey's thin cheek glowed at once, 
 and his eyes sparkled. 
 
 "Now, I feel just like a ride on this cold 
 afternoon," declared Parson Higginson, jumping 
 up, and swinging his arms. " I'm going over 
 cross lots to ask Farmer Hooker to lend me his 
 green wagon and Betty the mare. Want to go, 
 Jack and Corny, and help harness ? " Both boys 
 signified without any hesitancy, that they did. 
 
 "Joey, you have the first invitation," said the 
 parson, nodding over at the lame boy ; " get all 
 bundled up in fine style, and all you others," 
 waving his ministerial hands merrily toward the 
 group ; " follow suit, and we'll pick you up in 
 about ten minutes oh! here's my coat; thank 
 you, Jack, and Rosy, for my hat. Come on, 
 boys ! " 
 
 And so, what was supposed to be rather a 
 hard and unwelcome duty of trudging down to 
 the Corners with a heavy basket containing some 
 of the Thanksgiving goodies, turned out to be, 
 under the minister's management, the most 
 royal frolic of the season, and one well suited to 
 wind up a Thanksgiving party with. 
 
 And then came Christmas.
 
 A NEW PLAN. 125 
 
 There was no party at the old Brimmer place, 
 of course. Mother Brimmer would have held 
 up her hands in amazement at such an idea. 
 One festive occasion was quite enough to in- 
 dulge in for a year, and the memory of it would 
 follow each day of the twelvemonth, with inspir- 
 ation to heartier work than ever. 
 
 " It's Thanksgiving all the year," said Corny 
 one day, well along in December. " Didn't we 
 have a good time? I haven't got the taste of 
 those pies out of my mouth yet," and he 
 smacked his lips. 
 
 " Those were the most economical pies I ever 
 made," said Mrs. Brimmer, laughing, " they last 
 so long." 
 
 " I'm going to pretend," said Corny, nailing 
 away vigorously on his mother's washboard, 
 which a rainy day had allowed him to mend, 
 " that we're going to have some more on Christ- 
 mas." 
 
 "Better not," said Mother Brimmer wisely, 
 "for you're not going to, and when the time 
 comes you'll be disappointed." 
 
 "No, I sha'n't, Mamsie," said Cornelius de- 
 cidedly, "'cause I know you aren't going to 
 make any. But I remember just how they
 
 126 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 tasted, and when I'm pretending we can have 
 'em all over again, it's 'most as good as eating 
 any." 
 
 " It's a very cheap way of getting a nice dish," 
 said Mrs. Brimmer, cutting up her meat for the 
 stew, "but I don't think sham pies are as good 
 as the plain boiled dinner we're going to have 
 Christmas." 
 
 Cornelius pounded away a few moments in 
 silence ; then he said, " I suppose we ought to 
 do something for Christmas; that don't take 
 money, I mean," with a glance at his mother. 
 
 "Well, now, children," said Mrs. Brimmer, 
 neatly dividing an obdurate joint, " there, that's 
 done. I've been thinking about Christmas, and 
 a plan has come to me." 
 
 "Don't tell till Jack comes," cried Rosalie, 
 over in the corner busy with her ironing holders. 
 " O, Mamsie, do wait ! " she begged in alarm. 
 
 "Jack knows about it," said Mrs. Brimmer; 
 "he and I talked it all over the night you two 
 went to singing-school. And he wanted me to 
 tell you both as soon as I could get a good 
 chance. Now's the time, I think, seeing Roly 
 Poly is having her nap, and we three are all 
 quiet together."
 
 A NEW PLAN. 127 
 
 " O, Mamsie ! what is it ? " cried Rosy breath- 
 lessly; and, dropping her sewing, she ran up to 
 her mother's side, Cornelius also deserting his 
 washboard. 
 
 " Go right straight back," said Mother Brim- 
 mer, clapping the potatoes into the kettle, " and 
 pick up your work dear me ! can't you hear 
 just as well when your fingers are busy, pray 
 tell?" 
 
 Thus reproved, they hurried back again. 
 "Now tell, do, Mamsie," they begged, once 
 more in their places. 
 
 "Well," said Mrs. Brimmer slowly, "it's 
 just this ; Roly Poly must hang up her stocking 
 the same as usual, of course." 
 
 "But do let it be a better one this year," 
 cried Corny, "old turnip dolls, and such make- 
 believe stuff, as it was last Christmas ! " he added 
 contemptuously. 
 
 " Roly Poly had a beautiful time," said Rosy, 
 " she's been talking of it most every day since. 
 Don't you remember what fun it was seeing her 
 pull out the things?" 
 
 "And the doll, I'm sure, was a wonderful 
 affair," said Mother Brimmer, " and lasted much 
 better than a store one would have done."
 
 128 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 "And when it wrinkled it looked just like an 
 old woman," said Corny, with a shout at the re- 
 membrance; "and how funny it was to hear 
 Roly Poly call it her baby." 
 
 " And wasn't the molasses candy with the 
 butternuts meats good," observed Rosalie re- 
 flectively, "and the furniture you and Jack 
 made for the dolly oh! I think that was so 
 pretty." 
 
 " And the mittens Mamsie knit her ; I forgot 
 them," said Corny. " Yes ; it was pretty good, 
 after all. But we're richer now, and we ought 
 to give her a better stocking this Christmas," 
 he added decidedly, with quite an air. 
 
 "I don't know about being richer," said 
 Mother Brimmer cautiously, and giving a final 
 stir to the several ingredients in the kettle, she 
 put on the cover, took down her pans and set 
 about moulding her bread ; " our expenses in- 
 crease every year as you children grow older; 
 and it isn't right to plan taking anything that 
 isn't actually necessary, out of the nest-egg. 
 Roly Poly will need every bit we can give her 
 toward her education by and by." 
 
 " We aren't being educated," said Corny de- 
 liberately.
 
 A NEW PLAN. 129 
 
 Mother Brimmer turned away from her bread- 
 board, looked at him keenly, then sent a swift 
 glance over to her one girl. 
 
 "And that's just what I want to talk about 
 this morning. You're going to have a chance 
 at it, if you both agree to the plan." 
 
 It was impossible for the children to work 
 now ; and the needle and the hammer dropped, 
 while Mother Brimmer went on. 
 
 "Mr. Thomas will come here for an hour, two 
 evenings a week, for a dollar, and teach Jack 
 and both of you ; and I'm to have the chance 
 of listening and asking questions, so you might 
 as well call me a scholar, too." 
 
 Neither of her auditors said a word, but 
 stared at the mouth that was issuing such won- 
 derful words. 
 
 " There will have to be hard work on your 
 part to make every minute tell," said Mother 
 Brimmer, " as you've got to keep your books 
 by you and study when you get a chance. But 
 the most important of all, is to keep saying the 
 things you learn, over and over to yourself, so 
 that you can't forget them ; I wouldn't give a 
 cent that any child of mine should get anything 
 into his or her head, that can't stay by them,"
 
 130 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 she added, with a scorn to match that of Cor- 
 nelius' own. 
 
 "We never'll forget what we once learn," 
 cried both Corny and Rosalie in one breath. 
 " But how are we going to pay for it, Mamsie? " 
 
 " Well, now to pay for the lessons, we shall 
 all have to sacrifice something," said Mrs. Brim- 
 mer, drawing herself up to her full height, and 
 looking resolutely at them. 
 
 "We can give up our play afternoons," 
 said Corny slowly, his black eye steadily on her. 
 
 " Never ! " exclaimed Mrs. Brimmer, bringing 
 her hand down on the table with emphasis, 
 " those mustn't be touched, whatever we do ; 
 that's decided." 
 
 " What can we give up ? " cried Rosy, in 
 astonishment. 
 
 " We're saving everything as close as can be, 
 now," said Cornelius, with a decided nod. 
 " Jack turns every penny twice over before he'll 
 begin to think of spending it, and then he claps 
 it into the bank. What in the world can we 
 save more, ma ? " 
 
 " I said * sacrifice,' " replied Mrs. Brimmer, 
 very distinctly. "We shall have to draw out 
 some of the nest-egg. This will come hard, be-
 
 A NEW PLAN. 131 
 
 cause all of us have been working diligently 
 to put the little fund there, and every cent 
 taken away from it reduces the interest." 
 
 Cornelius began to look grave at once. Rail 
 as he might at Jack's regard for every penny, 
 the accumulation of the deposit in the bank was 
 as dear to the heart of the younger boy, who 
 had no delight so great as an errand that took 
 him past the large, red building, over whose 
 door was the magical word Bank. To stand 
 here a moment and reflect that nearly one hun- 
 dred dollars was recorded on the books to the 
 credit of Brimmer Brothers and Company, re- 
 paid for many hours of toil and self-denial. 
 Now, if they had a teacher, some of that slowly- 
 accumulated money must be used. 
 
 It was to be a sacrifice, as the mother had 
 said. 
 
 "But," Mrs. Brimmer's tone changed to a 
 ringing one of hopefulness and courage, "the 
 money thus taken out and used, will be the best 
 investment possible ; better than a ten per cent 
 interest for all of us. Think of it, children ; an 
 education for you and for me ! " and for one little 
 moment, the barriers of a pent-up longing, that 
 had possessed her heart for years, were dropped.
 
 132 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 "Mother," they cried, "let us have Mr. 
 Thomas come just as soon as he can ! " 
 
 "He can't come till Christmas Eve," said 
 Mrs. Brimmer. " But he'll begin then, and be 
 glad to, for he's too poor to go home for a va- 
 cation. So he told me yesterday, when I stopped 
 into the District school." 
 
 " Is that where you went, Mamsie, in the 
 afternoon, when you put on your Sunday shawl 
 and bonnet ? " asked Rosy, who hadn't recov- 
 ered from the astonishment produced by seeing 
 such preparations made for a visit about which 
 there was no attending conversation. 
 
 "Yes, child; I asked Jack about it, first; 
 and then he wanted, if Mr. Thomas could do it, 
 to have me tell you and see if you would like to 
 fall into the plan. If Mr. Thomag couldn't do 
 it, why, then, you two wouldn't have any dis- 
 appointment to bear. But he can. O, what a 
 Christmas we will have ! "
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 "OUR ENTERPRISE." 
 
 - THOMAS, a tall, thin, keen-eyed 
 young man, came in bringing a green 
 flannel bag. 
 
 "Good-evening!" said Mother Brimmer as 
 cordially as she ever welcomed any visitor in 
 her life. She put out her hard-working hand, 
 which the young man took respectfully, say- 
 ing, "I'm glad to be here, I assure you, Mrs. 
 Brimmer. Good-evening, Rosy, and Jack and 
 Cornelius ! " 
 
 " Good-evening, sir ! " The young voices held 
 a glad ring ; the eyes, blue, and brown, and 
 black, sparkled joyously. The best chair was 
 set by the red-covered table under the bright 
 lamp, the schoolmaster led to it, and then, sur- 
 rounded by the eager faces, the bag was opened, 
 the well-worn school books drawn out, and the 
 work may be said to be fairly begun.
 
 134 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 Mother Brimmer laid aside her sewing, and 
 sat there with swelling .heart, and eyes and ears 
 as intent as were those of her children. That 
 any opportunity should come to her house 
 without being improved to the utmost, was a 
 thing undreamed of. And she drank in all the 
 instruction in such an absorbed way that the 
 schoolmaster, looking up occasionally, caught 
 many a glimpse into a depth of the longing, 
 self-sacrificing patience of years, that the good 
 woman supposed hidden in her own uncom- 
 plaining heart. 
 
 " Take a book, Mrs. Brimmer, do," said Mr. 
 Thomas, after one of these revelations. And 
 he smiled as he pushed an English history 
 across the red table cover. 
 
 Mother Brimmer hesitated. 
 
 " That wasn't in the bargain, sir. I was only 
 to hear, and ask questions sometimes." 
 
 "An old bargain is good enough till you 
 make another," said the schoolmaster carelessly. 
 " I fancy the young people will get along much 
 faster if you go with them." He looked at 
 them quickly. 
 
 " Do, mother," begged Rosy, leaving her 
 small forefinger on its paragraph, and cuddling
 
 "OUR ENTERPRISE." 135 
 
 up to the comfortable figure ; and, " Yes do, 
 mother," echoed the boys ; so Mrs. Brimmer 
 took her book. 
 
 " I sha'n't forget this, sir," she said gratefully. 
 And there she was, a pupil in the evening 
 school in the old Brimmer Place ! 
 
 This had all been going on some two months. 
 The English history was now exchanged for an 
 American one ; the class was well along in 
 arithmetic, while grammar and geography 
 flourished as by magic. The talk in the shop 
 between whiles, in those idle moments when 
 customers were not keeping the fingers and 
 brains of the firm busy, and there was no work 
 to be done to help along the business, were now 
 devoted to saying over to each other the many 
 bits of knowledge gained out of Mr. Thomas' 
 green flannel bag. And it was quite surpris- 
 ing, even to the young people themselves, how 
 much better, for this course, they learned their 
 lessons, and how the memory grew strong and 
 active, till it became a good and reliable ser- 
 vant, incapable of playing them foolish tricks. 
 
 Inside the old Brimmer house toil was rob- 
 bed of half its grim aspect by the companion- 
 ship of the good friends admitted to Mrs.
 
 136 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 Brimmer's acquaintance. How she thought and 
 studied as she baked and swept, cooked and 
 washed, ironed and sewed ! A new world was 
 hers, as she, with hope and courage for any- 
 thing that life might have in store for her, was 
 acquiring the golden means that were to bring 
 the richest possibilities to herself and to her 
 family. It really seemed as if the Old Brimmer 
 Place must look diffeoent to a passer-by, yet 
 outwardly it was the same dear old home as 
 before. 
 
 One morning, well along in March, Jack 
 Brimmer walked to the door of the president's 
 office in the bank building and knocked. 
 
 " Come in ! " 
 
 It was Mr. Corbin's voice, and Jack felt re- 
 assured at once as he stepped in, cap in hand. 
 
 "Ah, Brimmer, my boy," said the president 
 cordially, and extending his hand. " Glad to 
 see you. Sit down while I finish these papers. 
 I'll soon be through." 
 
 "I can come another time," said Jack re- 
 spectfully. 
 
 " No, no ! You don't interrupt. I'll soon be 
 through. Sit down." So Jack gladly sat down.
 
 "OUR ENTERPRISE." 137 
 
 "What is it?'\asked Mr. Corbin, the last 
 paper disposed of and locked in his desk. He 
 whirled around in his office chair, and, dismiss- 
 ing his business expression, the hard lines of 
 his face relaxed into encouraging friendliness. 
 " Can I do anything to help you, Jack ? " 
 
 " You told me to come to you," said the boy, 
 twirling his cap a bit awkwardly, "whenever " 
 and there he stopped. 
 
 " So I did," responded the president heartily, 
 " and I meant it. Now, what can I do for you ? " 
 
 " You said, ' Whenever you find it hard to 
 hold on.' I remember the very words, sir, they 
 helped me so." 
 
 Mr. Corbin leaned forward in his chair and 
 looked at the boy. Almost as eager a face was 
 it as the one he helped to make joyful. How 
 it brought back the hard perilous times in his 
 own young life, when a word even of kindly 
 encouragement would have been a godsend. 
 Help this brave young fellow ? Wouldn't he? 
 
 "Tell it all out, Jack," he said decidedly. 
 "Don't be afraid. Speak as you would to 
 your mother. Now, what is it?" 
 
 "Perhaps I ought not to have come," said 
 Jack hesitatingly, and twirling the cap again,
 
 138 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 "as you said 'whenever you find it hard to 
 hold on, sir,' but I thought I would just tell 
 you how it was. It isn't hard for me to 
 get along now, sir ; business is first-rate," and 
 Jack straightened up, and let the cap be quiet ; 
 "but it's bard for other boys, and I thought 
 maybe you didn't know it, and I'd tell you 
 what some of them want." 
 
 The bank president sank back in his chair 
 and gazed at the boy. " Go on," he said. 
 
 "Now, my mother has managed it so that 
 Mr. Thomas, who is teacher at the Centre 
 schoolhouse, you know, sir, comes to our house 
 two evenings every week for a dollar a week, 
 and teaches us Cornelius and Rosy and me ; 
 and he lets mother be a scholar, too, without 
 extra charge. Well, sir," the boy drew a long 
 breath, but proceeded quietly, " money wouldn't 
 make men of us, nor a woman of Rosy, even if 
 we could build up a good trade, without educa- 
 tion. Now, when the Baxters, who live a 
 mile from us there are three boys there, and 
 two girls heard of it, how we were being 
 taught evenings, they just teased their father to 
 let them have Mr. Thomas, too." 
 
 "Do not any of the Baxters attend school?"
 
 "OUR ENTERPRISE." 139 
 
 "No, sir; Ted and John work on the farm, 
 and Jimmy is a cripple, and has to stay in the 
 house ; and the girls do the housework. They 
 haven't any mother, sir." 
 
 "Ah?" Mr. Corbin was being enlightened 
 on village history. " Go on, my boy." 
 
 "Mr. Baxter couldn't afford it, and at last 
 they had to give up asking," said Jack. " I 
 wish you could see how badly they felt, sir," 
 and Jack stopped again*. 
 
 "Are there any other boys and girls who can 
 not go to school, and who desire to study in 
 this way?" asked the president abruptly. 
 
 "Yes, sir." Jack spoke up promptly, with 
 the air of one who had thoroughly mastered 
 his subject before presenting its claims. " In 
 all I know of fifteen boys and girls who can't 
 get any education unless some one helps them 
 out." The boy's breath came quick and hard, 
 and his eyes glowed. 
 
 " Fifteen boys and girls ! " interrupted Mr. 
 Corbin. "Is it possible? And I fancied that 
 Cherryfield was superior in its educational ad- 
 vantages to other towns." 
 
 " The school is first-rate," said Jack. " Mr. 
 Thomas is a splendid teacher, but the boys
 
 140 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 and girls can't be spared to go, you see, sir. 
 And it's hard to get money out of farming." 
 
 " What do you propose to have done for 
 these boys and girls, Jack?" asked the presi- 
 dent. " For I see that you have got a plan in 
 your head already," he added, smiling. " I 
 want to hear it." 
 
 "I thought, sir," said Jack, "that maybe 
 you'd ask the selectmen to let Mr. Thomas 
 teach us in the schoolhouse two or three even- 
 ings every week, so as to give those who cannot 
 go to school days, a fair chance. Couldn't it be 
 done, sir, don't you think ? " Jack got up and 
 took an anxious step or two forward, and the 
 president also rose. 
 
 " Jack," he said, and he took the boy's brown 
 palm, " I tell you what I will do. I promise 
 you that Mr. Thomas shall be hired, if he's 
 willing to do it; if not, some other good 
 teacher to hold a school two or three evenings 
 a week in the schoolhouse, or some other con- 
 venient place, without charge ; that is, if the 
 scholars are not able to pay. Does that suit, 
 my boy?" 
 
 " Capitally, sir," cried Jack, as heartily as if a 
 hundred dollar note had been put in his hand.
 
 "OUR ENTERPRISE." 141 
 
 "Now, start the good news among all your 
 friends as soon as you like." The president 
 still held the brown palm, thinking meanwhile : 
 " This is the hand of a future public-spirited 
 citizen of Cherry field ; a man who will work for 
 the good of his fellows while he does not 
 neglect his own." Aloud he continued : " Thank 
 you for coming to me, Jack. Whatever else 
 you think of that will benefit the boys and 
 girls, let me know." 
 
 He pressed the hand cordially, then dropped 
 it. "Now I must to business again. I will 
 let you know about teacher and place very 
 soon. Do you see that you collect the scholars. 
 Good-by, Jack, and success to our enterprise." 
 
 " Our enterprise ! " Really, the head of any 
 other boy in Cherryfield would have been 
 turned by the mere thought of association in 
 any scheme with the great man of the town. 
 As for Jack, he was so intent on the absorbing 
 delight that now his friends would have the 
 chance that he was enjoying, that, beside ex- 
 ulting in the conviction of Mr. Corbin's good- 
 ness, he had time for no other reflections, but 
 gave himself up ' at once, in the intervals of 
 work and study, to his part of the " enterprise."
 
 142 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 Cherryfield Main Street began to have a new 
 sensation the next day when it was known that 
 President Corbin had bought John Shaw's 
 grocery store ; not for the purpose of turning 
 John out, for he was a good fellow, and had his 
 regular list of customers. But the president 
 openly declared that, while he should let John 
 remain, he had his eye on the second story of 
 the building, which was a long, unfinished room. 
 When questioned, he answered that when prop- 
 erly prepared, it would be an excellent place 
 for the young idea to shoot, and that every one 
 would know all about it a the proper time. 
 And now the village carpenter put in an appear- 
 ance, and the president, stopping in his carriage 
 on his way to the bank of a morning, would 
 give him his instructions for the day. And 
 before people's surmises had been well aired, it 
 seemed as if the thing were done, and, at the 
 same time, a crowd of grateful young folks 
 from Cherryfield's four corners, let loose the 
 secret. That evening there was a sort of jubilee 
 meeting in the grocery store.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LOSING 8ELF-CONTEOL. 
 
 "TACK BRIMMER, racing over the stairs 
 ^ two at a time, leading to the "Thomas 
 School," as the boys dubbed the long hall over 
 the grocery store, saw Cornelius with an air of 
 great concern upon his countenance, waiting 
 for him at the top. 
 
 " Hulloo ! why didn't you stay all night ? " 
 
 "Didn't want to," said Jack, with another 
 jump that brought him to Corny's side. 
 
 " Well, you might as well," said that in- 
 dividual ; " your history class has got all 
 through." 
 
 "O, dear!" cried Jack regretfully, and 
 wincing. 
 
 " You can't expect to be as late as this, and 
 find everything waiting," said Cornelius briskly ; 
 " well, never mind now, you're late, and that's 
 all there is about it ; what did he say ? " he
 
 144 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 asked, and then began to answer his own ques- 
 tion : " wouldn't let 'em come, of course. So 
 you got your labor for your pains." 
 
 " He can't let 'em come," said Jack slowly, 
 and with a look of pain. 
 
 " Nonsense ! he's tight as the bark on a tree, 
 and twice as " 
 
 "It's no such thing," declared Jack. "He 
 told me all about it, Corny," added Jack in an 
 awful whisper, bending down to his brother's 
 ear ; " there's a mortgage on Mr. JBrowri's 
 house ! " 
 
 Cornelius started back. They were poor in the 
 old Brimmer Place, to be sure, and had been 
 much poorer, but what little they had they 
 could claim before all the world as theirs alone. 
 
 " Oh, oh ! " Then seeing Jack's face, he added 
 indifferently, " Never mind ; when Mat gets 
 bigger he'll pay it off/' 
 
 " How is he going to without any school- 
 ing?" demanded Jack gloomily ; " and that can't 
 be had without money nothing is good for 
 much in this world, but money, I believe," he 
 said bitterly under his breath. He was tired 
 and discouraged in his efforts to accomplish his 
 friend's great desire, and distressed because he
 
 LOSING SELF-CONTROL. 145 
 
 had lost his own recitation, a thing that had 
 not happened since the evening school was 
 opened. 
 
 " Oh ! yes, there is," said Cornelius in alarm 
 at Jack's strange manner and words, " ever so 
 many things beside money. Don't you know 
 mother don't care for it, and she would, if it 
 was the best thing in the world." 
 
 " Think how she's had to work," Jack went 
 on. It seemed as if his better self had taken 
 this very moment to prove faithless, and, desert- 
 ing him, let all his weakness get the best of him. 
 " I don't suppose ever a mother had to slave 
 so on all this earth, as ours has, Corny." And 
 he brought his two brown palms together in a 
 savage clap. 
 
 " I know it," said Corny. A moment in 
 which it seemed as if dark despair were to 
 envelop both of the boys, to the shutting out of 
 sweet, reverent faith, and youthful enthusiasm; 
 but Cornelius came up out of the gulf most 
 suddenly. 
 
 " And she's taken comfort every single day in 
 her life," he declared in a ringing tone ; " look 
 at her face, dear old Marnsie, nnd hear her laugh 
 when she talks it over so 1 "
 
 146 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 He struck his hands together quite as smartly 
 as his brother's had met, and faced him. 
 
 " Well, let's go in," said Jack, only half out 
 of his depression ; " if lessons are over, we 
 might as well show ourselves." 
 
 Before Corny could beg him to present a 
 pleasanter countenance, he had gained the 
 schoolroom door, opened it and stalked down 
 to his seat. 
 
 The younger brother from his corner could 
 see him, his head on his hand, busily engaged 
 in a book, but the droop of his figure, very un- 
 like his usual sturdy outline, so distressed the 
 watcher that he tumbled hastily out of his seat, 
 and almost ran up to Mr. Thomas' desk. 
 
 " Please, sir, may I speak to Jack a mo- 
 ment ? " 
 
 " Certainly." Mr. Thomas was giving a nice 
 point to his pencil, and scarcely looked up. 
 Corny hurried off. 
 
 " Jack," he whispered, laying his hand on the 
 elder's shoulder, " don't feel so ; it makes me 
 sick to see you." 
 
 Jack started. Corny could feel the thrill that 
 passed through him, and the brown eyes looked 
 a moment into his.
 
 LOSING SELF-CONTROL. 147 
 
 " Go back to your seat," he commanded 
 sharply, " and let me alone." 
 
 Corny's hand fell limply to his side ; with one 
 more look into the face just a little below him, 
 he turned and went unevenly down the aisle, 
 dazed and cruelly hurt, to his corner. 
 
 Jack buried his head deep in both hands and 
 plunged into work, but the words danced like 
 so many demons before him, every one having 
 its quota of stinging reproaches to hurl at him. 
 
 Many curious eyes glanced from one to the 
 other of the brothers, for Cornelius, less skilled 
 in the art of self-control, was having a hard 
 time over in his corner. To tell the truth, for 
 the first and only time in his life, the boy was 
 crying. 
 
 Silently but surely the tears were dropping 
 behind the pages of a book he was making a 
 pretence of studying, while having forgotten 
 his handkerchief which he had left behind at 
 home, he was vainly attempting to stem the 
 flood with the backs of his chubby hands. But 
 as a river is swollen by the debris floating down 
 to it in a spring freshet, so Corny, as the remem- 
 brance of all Jack's bitter words, ending in his 
 astounding unkindness, came rushing through
 
 148 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 his mind, found it impossible at last to do any- 
 thing but lay his brown stubby head flat on his 
 desk and allow the tears to stream down his fat 
 cheeks unmolested. 
 
 The boys began to nudge each other at that. 
 
 " I guess he's got a fit," whispered one. " We 
 ought to tell the teacher." 
 
 " No, no ! let him be," said another, with a 
 more practiced eye surveying the boy. " He'll 
 come to." 
 
 " I sha'n't ; I shall tell," said the first one in 
 a louder whisper, being balked. 
 
 " Sh " warned the other. 
 
 "Boys!" said Mr. Thomas, with a careless 
 glance in their direction, " no more whispering." 
 
 " There, now, Jim Bent," said the last boy, 
 dodging behind his book and dropping his voice, 
 "you almost did for Corny. Let him alone, 
 can't you, till he gets over it ? If you don't, I'll 
 lick you when we get out." 
 
 He doubled up his fist and shook it at Jim, 
 while the side of his face toward the teacher 
 was sweetness itself. 
 
 Jim accepted the promise and subsided, but 
 the other boys had now taken it up, and it was 
 too late to shield Corny from further notice.
 
 LOSING SELF-CONTROL. 149 
 
 And in a moment, Mr. Thomas himself walked 
 up. " What is the matter ? " he asked in kindly 
 astonishment, feeling hurt himself that anything 
 could harm the Brimmer boys. 
 
 "He's crying," volunteered a boy, pointing 
 cheerfully to Corny, " and he's been crying ever 
 so long." 
 
 The boy who wanted to tell, now almost 
 wished he had risked the licking, for the pure 
 gratification of being the first to hand in the 
 news. 
 
 "Why, Cornelius," exclaimed Mr. Thomas, 
 bending over the boy, and laying his hand 
 gently on the stubby head, " can you not tell 
 me what the trouble is ? " 
 
 " N-n-nothing," Corny managed to mumble 
 out. 
 
 " Are you sick?" asked the teacher anxiously. 
 
 " N-no, sir," said Corny. But he still sobbed 
 on silently as if his heart would break. 
 
 Mr. Thomas, at his wits' end, went down 
 the length of the room, and paused at the desk 
 where the tall boy still sat, his head buried in 
 his hands, absorbed in his book. 
 
 " Jack," said the teacher very gravely, " I 
 think your brother must be sick."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CALLED AS HELPERS. 
 
 "TACK sprang to his feet. A dark flush 
 ^ spread over his face ; he threw down the 
 book he had been vainly endeavoring to study, 
 and dashed down the schoolroom aisle. 
 
 " Stand back, fellows, can't you ? " he cried, 
 parting them to right and left as they crowded 
 around his brother's desk. The boys fell back 
 summarily. 
 
 " Corny," whispered Jack hoarsely, and lay- 
 ing his hand on the sturdy shoulder now bowed 
 with the first sorrow that had been able to 
 bring tears to the brave eyes, "I didn't mean 
 you know it to be cross to you. Why 
 should I ? " lamented the elder brother, regard- 
 less who might hear, " when you are the best 
 friend I have, after mother. I'm a brute mean 
 and cruel Corny, but I didn't mean to be. Do 
 look up, old fellow, and say it's all right ! " 
 150
 
 CALLED AS HELPERS. 151 
 
 Jack shook the shoulder, not ungently, but 
 Corny, once started in tears, could not stop the 
 flood. The matter of self-control was now 
 wholly out of his hands. The flush deepened 
 on the big boy's cheek ; he drew his breath 
 hard v and set his teeth, and the next moment 
 he had lifted his brother by main force from his 
 seat, and staggered out from the gaping crowd 
 with his burden, into the hall. 
 
 Mr. Thomas, knowing better than to follow 
 him, called the school to order, and very soon 
 the exciting episode gave way to the usual 
 evening routine. Outside, Jack was saying 
 brokenly, " Corny, you'll despise me, but I was 
 all at sea, and in doubt as to its being much use 
 for any of us boys to try to be a man." 
 
 At that, Corny came up out of his flood, to 
 stare, with round drops waiting to fall from his 
 wet eyelashes, at his brother. Slowly his amaze- 
 ment gathered to itself a scorn that Jack felt, 
 rather than saw. 
 
 " I know it. You can't help but despise me, 
 but I must tell you, then you'll see it wasn't 
 because I was out of sorts with you, but with 
 myself. O Corny! I wish I could cry but 
 somehow my eyes are dry. Do help me." Jack
 
 162 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 threw himself down on the bench, and buried 
 his face in his hands. 
 
 Nothing more was needed to bring Cornelius 
 up to his old self. Help Jack ? And Jack dis- 
 oouraged! Corny got up from his recumbent 
 position, the tears quite dried on his r^ound 
 cheeks, and raised himself to his greatest pos- 
 sible height. 
 
 " I suppose God is the same ? " he said at last. 
 " You said once you believed in Him." 
 
 Jack sprang to his feet as if stung. " I do 
 now ; may He forgive me for thinking that He 
 had forgotten all about how hard the boys are 
 struggling in His world. Thank you, Corny." 
 He grasped the fat palm hanging by the younger 
 boy's side. " Come in once more ; I don't believe 
 we'll disgrace ourselves and Mamsie again." 
 
 Jack strode in like a man, and Cornelius' 
 boot-heels rang sturdily over the schoolroom 
 floor. All eyes greeted them ; no one making 
 the least disguise of the interest the affair 
 had aroused. Jack threw back his head, and 
 smiled at the boys, while Corny's broad face 
 was wreathed with the most benign expression, 
 that made it look like a laughing moon. 
 
 The scholars smiled back, and each drew a
 
 CALLED AS HELPERS. 153 
 
 relieved sigh, now the temperature of the 
 schoolroom was right once more, since the 
 Brimmer boys were themselves again; and 
 scarcely realizing that there had been any break 
 in the sunshiny intimacy between the two 
 brothers, the classes settled back to work, and 
 straightway forgot the whole thing. 
 
 But Mr. Thomas thought it all over, and de- 
 cided on a certain plan. After school was over, 
 and the brothers were rushing off, arm-in-arm, as 
 was their custom, the teacher sang out, " Here, 
 Jack, wait a bit," and motioned to a seat back 
 of the desk. 
 
 Jack stopped, whirled "about, and came back 
 rather unwillingly. 
 
 " You don't mind telling me," began Mr. 
 Thomas, " I'm sure, if there's anything I can 
 help you about?" 
 
 Jack shook his head sturdily with a smile. 
 
 "You and I are too good friends," Mr. 
 Thomas proceeded, " to have any silence between 
 us. If there is anything troubling you, maybe 
 I can find a way to help you out of it." 
 
 Jack stood quite still, evidently battling with 
 himself. If he only might confide in this good 
 friend ! Truly there would be " a way out " of
 
 154 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 the trouble. "But it's Mr. Brown's secret," 
 thought the boy, " and I'm not quite so mean 
 as to tell it ; that would be dreadful. Better 
 let Reuben and Mat go without the schooling 
 than that." 
 
 So he still shook his head. 
 
 " Very well," said Mr. Thomas, very much dis- 
 appointed, and rising, " if I cannot do anything 
 to show my affection for you, Jack, now when 
 you seem to be in trouble, I am very sorry. If, 
 at any time, you think better of my offer to 
 help, come to me, my boy. You will always 
 find me ready to do everything in my power." 
 
 " Thank you," cried Jack, all his heart in his 
 eyes ; and grasping Corny's fat arm the tighter, 
 he hurried his brother off. 
 
 All the way home the two tongues ran glibly 
 enough. Jack told to the absorbed listener all 
 that Mr. Brown had said on the fruitless visit, 
 when young Brimmer had, according to the 
 promise given to the Brown boys, interceded 
 with the father, begging that his sons might go 
 to the evening school over John Shaw's grocery 
 store, at a cost to each, of one dollar a week 
 Corny interrupting occasionally with outbursts 
 of astonishment at finding Mr. Brown a poor
 
 CALLED AS HELPERS. 156 
 
 man with a dreadful mortgage hanging over his 
 house, or exclaiming indignantly at the trials 
 imposed by Providence upon their two ac- 
 quaintances. 
 
 " What ever will you do, Jack?" he asked, 
 at length, as they neared the big old gray house 
 that loomed up on the Brimmer grounds. " Oh ! 
 isn't it just splendid to see Mamsie's light in 
 the window? I know just how she looks be- 
 hind the curtain, with her mending-basket, and 
 Rosy sitting by with her book. Isn't it prime 
 to see it all before we get in ? " 
 
 Cornelius gave a loud smack of delight, and 
 turning in the gateway, ran along the box- 
 bordered path, speedily executed a jump over 
 the steps, and leaving Jack and his question un- 
 answered, burst into the cheery keeping-room. 
 
 " Goodness, Corny ! " exclaimed Mother Brim- 
 mer, as a gust of wind followed the boy's sudden 
 entrance, " you most blew out the light ; where's 
 Jack?" 
 
 "Just back," said Corny, with a nod of his 
 head toward the gate, and giving his mother a 
 kiss. " Whew ! it's cold to-night, though ! " 
 
 " What did Mr. Thomas say when you told 
 him why Rosy didn't go to school to-night?"
 
 166 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 asked Mrs. Brimmer, looking up from her work 
 a minute. 
 
 " He didn't say anything," said Corny in sud- 
 den and complete dismay. 
 
 " Didn't say anything?" cried Mrs. Brimmer 
 and Rosy together. " Well, that's very strange," 
 added the mother, while Rosy's round face 
 grew very grave. 
 
 " I forgot to tell him oh ! I forgot," con- 
 fessed Cornelius wildly, feeling as if the even- 
 ing and everything connected with it were 
 certainly bewitched. Just then Jack walked 
 in. 
 
 "What's the matter?" he cried, catching 
 sight first of all, the displeasure on his mother's 
 face. Then his glance went around to Rosy, 
 who appeared very near to tears, and finally 
 he looked full at Corny. " What M the mat- 
 ter?" he repeated. 
 
 " For the first time in his life,'" began Mother 
 Brimmer very gravely, "Corny has not paid 
 enough attention to what his mother said, to 
 remember the message she sent to Mr. Thomas." 
 
 "Tell her, Jack," implored Cornelius, be- 
 sieging the elder brother. Tell her quick, do, 
 what made me forget."
 
 CALLED AS HELPERS. 157 
 
 His hands worked nervously, and he seemed 
 in danger of being submerged by another flood 
 of tears. But he kept them back bravely, 
 looking to the big boy for relief. 
 
 " Mother," said Jack, " I'm the bad boy. I've 
 made a mess of the whole evening every- 
 thing's happened. I'll begin at the beginning 
 and tell you all about it." So he threw him- 
 self into a chair close to the mother, Corny, 
 with immense relief to his own overcharged 
 feelings, dragged another noisily into place, and 
 the tale began : 
 
 " You know I went to Mr. Brown's at six 
 o'clock, so as to have plenty of time before 
 school ? " 
 
 Mother Brimmer nodded, and fell to working 
 again. Even in an absorbing recital like this, 
 her fingers could not afford to be idle. " Go 
 on with your work, Rosy, child," she said to 
 Company. " You can hear as well if your needle 
 is going." 
 
 " Well, first thing when I got to Mr. Brown's 
 they were at supper." 
 
 " At supper ! " exclaimed Mother Brimmer, 
 " why, I thought they always ate at five 
 o'clock."
 
 158 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " Well, they had to have it to-night at six," 
 explained Jack. " Mr. Brown went over to the 
 Hollow to help Mr. Jenkins kill his pigs, and 
 didn't get back till late ; and there he sat eat- 
 ing till I thought he'd never get through." 
 
 " You shouldn't criticise other people's ways," 
 said Mrs. Brimmer gravely. " "Tisn't nice." 
 
 Jack flushed. " I know it, Mamsie." 
 
 " Do go on, Jack," begged Rosalie, in great 
 excitement, setting uneven stitches. 
 
 " Well, they wanted me to sit up at the 
 table, but I told them I'd been to supper, so I 
 waited in the keeping-room, and studied over 
 my lessons. And finally Mr. Brown came in, 
 smelling of ham, and says, ' Well, Sonny, what 
 can I do for you ? ' " 
 
 " Sonny ! " cried Cornelius, in a dudgeon. 
 Was not Jack in business for himself ? " Why 
 didn't you knock him down?" 
 
 " O Corny ! " exclaimed Rosy, in horror, drop- 
 ping her work. 
 
 "Well, I thought I wouldn't just then," said 
 Jack with a laugh. " I'd take out my revenge 
 in making him let his boys go to evening school. 
 So I began to tell what I'd come for. I hadn't 
 said ten words before Mr. Brown brought down
 
 Wllll M.l K VVOUK," SIIK S.VIJJ To <iMl'V.NV. 157
 
 CALLED AS HELPERS. 159 
 
 his big hand on the table like this" illus- 
 trating with a blow that set the work-basket in 
 a tremor, while Rosy's spool of cotton hopped 
 off the table edge and ran away to hide. 
 
 " Goodness me, Jack ! " cried Mother Brim- 
 mer, with a jump, "you might have told us 
 without taking him off." 
 
 " Excuse me, Mamsie," said Jack, " I didn't 
 mean to hit so hard," and he dodged to recover 
 the cotton spool. 
 
 "I'll find it; I'll find it," cried Cornelius, 
 forestalling him. " You go on, Jack." 
 
 " Well, after he had got through pounding 
 the table, he burst out, * Do you s'pose that I 
 don't send my boys to school, Jack Brimmer, 
 because I don't want to ?' Oh ! he fairly roared 
 it at me, mother." 
 
 " What did you say?" demanded Mrs. Brim- 
 mer, holding him with her sharp black eyes. 
 
 " I had to tell the truth," said Jack slowly, 
 and returning the look with one that spoke 
 volumes, "so I said 'Yes, sir.' 'Well, wi-11, 
 well,' says he, just as sharp, three times, 'did I 
 ever!' then all of a sudden he sat down and 
 leaned both of his arms on the table. I thought 
 at first may be he was going to knock me down."
 
 160 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 At this Corny involuntarily drew his breath, and 
 clenched his right hand. "'Jack,' says he, I 
 want to tell you a story : When I was married, 
 about the time your father was, I had as pretty 
 a farm as there was in all Cherryfield ' " 
 
 "Yes, he did," cried Mother Brimmer, for- 
 getting her work now. " How everybody talked 
 and said in ten years he'd be the richest man in 
 the place. Go on, do, Jack." 
 
 " c And I owned it all clear, and had five 
 hundred dollars in the bank, too ; so you see I 
 could hold up my head high, and look any man 
 in the face. But it wasn't five years, and I was 
 poor as Job's turkey.' " 
 
 " Where has the money gone to ? " queried 
 Mrs. Brimmer. " Did he tell you ? " 
 
 " Yes, and, oh ! mother, you don't know how 
 ashamed and mean I felt ; there I'd been think- 
 ing him close, and unkind to Reuben and Mat, 
 and all this while he'd but I'll tell it just as he 
 told me : 
 
 < There was a man, Jack no need for me 
 to tell his name he isn't in this town, who had 
 helped my father once, and one day he came to 
 me in a great stress, and says he, " Lend me for 
 a few days, Brown, five hundred dollars only
 
 CALLED A 8 HELPERS. 161 
 
 \ 
 
 a few days and I'll pay you back." I didn't 
 know as much then as I do in these days, so I 
 never asked him for his note, but trusted him 
 same's if 'twas my own brother. Well, days 
 and days went by, and this man never said a 
 word about paying, and finally I up and spoke 
 to him about it, for I wanted to use the money, 
 and besides I heard he was going to move out 
 West, and out West in those days, Jack, was 
 'most as bad as going out of the world. Well, 
 when I asked him about paying, he says, as 
 imperdent as you please, too : " I d'no what 
 you're talking of, Brown. I don't owe you no 
 money." 
 
 " * Well, you may b'lieve I was struck all of 
 a heap, my boy. The long and short of it is, 
 he never did pay me ; he moved out West, and 
 I never saw a cent of the money I hadn't 
 anything to prove that I'd given him ; and then 
 I s'pose worryin' over it made me sick, for all 
 of a sudden I had a dreadful cough take me, 
 and the babies began to come, and although my 
 wife's as good as gold, and as brave as a lion, 
 she couldn't do everything, and the first thing 
 I knew, I'd begun to go down hill,' and, oh I 
 mother, don't cry," cried Jack all aghast.
 
 162 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 " I ain't crying," said Mrs. Brimmer, for the 
 first time in her life careless of the exact truth. 
 "Go on, and never mind me." 
 
 " Well, Sarah and I buckled to, and fought 
 like tigers to make both ends meet ; then she 
 broke her hip, you know, when she fell down- 
 stairs, and after that things looked pretty dark. 
 But that woman lay there on her bed, and used 
 to talk to me and hearten me up, and together 
 we agreed not to say a word about the awful 
 pinch we were under, to any of the children. 
 When the mortgage had to be clapped on to 
 the house, we couldn't talk about that hardly 
 to ourselves. But now I think it's time to 
 speak if folks think I'm keeping my boys from 
 getting the education I might' " 
 
 " Mortgage ? " Mrs. Brimmer only ejaculated 
 one word, then looked around on her children. 
 
 " Mother," cried Jack, springing to his feet, 
 " I just rushed out of that house ; if I'd have 
 staid longer it would have choked me. Oh ! I 
 must tell you ; it seemed awful that God let 
 such things be. Why does He?" 
 
 Back he flung to her the question that had 
 attacked his young faith, and made misery for 
 two hours of his life.
 
 CALLED AS HELPERS. 163 
 
 " He doesn't," said Mrs. Brimmer, wiping her 
 eyes, now that there was something for her to 
 do. All her boy's future might depend on her 
 answer. " Never believe that, Jacky. Don't 
 you see can't you see?" she cried cheerfully, 
 " that instead of willingly allowing it, He led 
 you to find it all out. That looks, Jack, as if 
 He meant you and I to help set things straight."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE LETTER. 
 
 you see, Jack," cried Rosalie with 
 bated breath, her color coming and go- 
 ing, " it's just as Mamsie says, ' God has cared, 
 'cause He made you find out that they are 
 poor.' " 
 
 Jack turned and stared at her. Was it possi- 
 ble that the baby of the family should set him 
 his lesson in faith? It was bad enough in 
 Cornelius to turn teacher. But this opened his 
 eyes to the fact as nothing else had done, that 
 he had much yet to learn in the first principles 
 of Christian living. 
 
 " What a comfort," broke in Mother Brimmer 
 cheerily as she wiped her eyes, "that you do 
 know, and that you can help them. O Jacky ! 
 what can't we do for them?" 
 
 What, mother? Tell me how we can help 
 them ? " asked Jack eagerly. 
 164
 
 THE LETTER. 165 
 
 "Well, for one thing," said Mrs. Brimmer, 
 glad to see her boy's hope come back, and the 
 earnest eyes sparkle once more, " it's now time 
 to draw out a little of your bank-money." 
 
 " Mother ! " broke in impulsively the two 
 boys together. Rosy said " Oh ! " and stopped 
 short. 
 
 " I didn't know as you'd ever let us touch 
 that except for our lessons and sickness," said 
 Cornelius; "that's what you said." 
 
 " Because I thought lessons and sickness repre- 
 sented our greatest needs," said their mother, 
 " and only for the greatest needs was the money 
 to be drawn out. I never thought in this town 
 were two other boys just as hungry for an 
 education as my children are, and just as ready 
 to do good work if they are only fitted for it. 
 Mat and Reuben are good boys, we must never 
 forget that, and God has blessed us, and we 
 can't do any better work for Him than to use 
 some of this money in helping out the Browns 
 now. I'm not afraid if you draw any money 
 out for this you'll learn extravagance, and touch 
 a bit for any other purpose." 
 
 It was a long speech for Mother Brimmer to 
 make, and she leaned back in her chair, her
 
 166 THE LITTLE BED SH01\ 
 
 honest dark eyes on her group, while she beamed 
 on them all. 
 
 "Mother," said Jack brokenly, "God has 
 taught me what I never will forget ; that He 
 does care. It's we who are blind and deaf not 
 to find it out." 
 
 Mother Brimmer leaned over the table-edge 
 and grasped his hand sympathizingly. 
 
 "But the money the money!" cried Cor- 
 nelius excitedly, " how much are you going to 
 draw out?" 
 
 "One dollar a week," said Mrs. Brimmer 
 slowly and decidedly. " We must none of us 
 lisp a word to Mr. Thomas, for that would be 
 the same as asking him to give the teaching for 
 half-pay, or for nothing ; and that would be 
 the last thing he ought to do. No, this shall be 
 our own affair. We will keep the Browns' 
 secret, and help them as we ought to." 
 . " True enough, mother," declared Jack like 
 a man. " Remember, Corny, now not a whisper 
 to a soul ; Rosy, I know, won't tell. I'll draw 
 out dollar No. 1 to-morrow." 
 
 " And I'll go with you," said Corny eagerly, 
 "and then we'll go and take it to the Browns'. 
 Hooray ! I wish we could do it all to-night."
 
 THE LETTER. 167 
 
 He executed a jump that carried him well 
 into the middle of the room, whirled around a 
 few times as only Corny could whirl, and came 
 back to the table. 
 
 " I wouldn't take it," said Rosy, with nice 
 instinct all alive, " I'd send it in a letter. That's 
 nicer." 
 
 " So 'tis, Jack," said Mother Brimmer, with a 
 wise nod at Rosy. But Cornelius howled with 
 disappointment. 
 
 "If we give all that pile of money, I sh'd 
 think we might get some fun out of it," he 
 grumbled on. 
 
 " We aren't doing this for fun," said Rosy in 
 a disapproving little voice. " And the Browns 
 will like it ever so much better to have it come 
 in alone in a letter, than to have any one look- 
 ing on." 
 
 " And you shall write that letter, Corny," 
 said Jack, trying to think he didn't care to write 
 it himself. " That will be fun." 
 
 " Oh ! don't, Jack," began Rosy, but a glance 
 from Mother Brimmer stopped her. 
 
 " I'm going to do it now," cried Cornelius, 
 dreadfully excited, and, running over to the 
 corner secretary, he speedily brought out a
 
 168 TEE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 sheet of paper, on which he traced in sprawling 
 characters, 
 
 " Dear Mat and Reuben " 
 
 "Now what next?" he demanded, his pen 
 poised in mid -air. " You tell, Jack." 
 
 " How would you say it, mother ? " 
 
 " I should say it in the fewest words that 
 would make the boys understand. Yes, you 
 write it if Corny wants you to, Jack." 
 
 So Jack went over to the old secretary, and 
 Corny relinquished the pen to the older fingers, 
 a speedy manipulating of the instrument ensued, 
 and presently the younger boy shouted out that 
 it was done. 
 
 " Read it, Jack, do," cried Mother Brimmer 
 as eagerly as Rosy. 
 
 So Jack read : 
 
 " Dear Mat and Rueben: 
 
 You've both always been so good to us, that 
 it's no more than fair now that we should begin 
 to pay up. Please find enclosed ten dollars, for 
 ten weeks school-money. Do be there to-morrow 
 evening "
 
 THE LETTER. 169 
 
 " You see, mother," cried Jack, interrupting 
 himself, " I thought after I'd begun to write 
 that the boys would rather have it all at once, 
 than to feel obliged to us every week." 
 
 " You're right, Jacky," said Mother Brimmer 
 approvingly. " And the interest saved wouldn't 
 be much by drawing a little at a time. Well, 
 you've done that splendidly." 
 
 " Hasn't he, Mamsie ! " cried Rosy, with spark- 
 ling eyes, while Cornelius wondered if he would 
 ever be big enough to write like that. 
 
 " Well, now you must sign it," he said, coming 
 out of his reverie. 
 
 " We must all sign it," said Jack ; " it's a gift 
 from us all." 
 
 " Your name must go first, Jack," said Mrs. 
 Brimmer. 
 
 " Oh ! I never can write," cried Rosy in horror. 
 " Let Jack sign it, do, Mamsie." 
 
 " What is the good of your taking writing 
 lessons, Rosy," said her mother gravely, " if you 
 are not to use your knowledge ? " 
 
 " But I write so perfectly horrid," mourned 
 Rosy. 
 
 "Do as well as you can, child," said Mrs. 
 Brimmer ; " no one can do more."
 
 170 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 " I'm going to write big," cried Cornelius ; 
 and as Jack's signature was now down, he set 
 underneath it letters as large as his promise. 
 " Now, Rosy ! " 
 
 At last Company's crooked little name was 
 complete, which she surveyed with blushing 
 cheeks, and an immense determination to im- 
 prove every future writing lesson to its utmost. 
 
 The next morning as Jack was hurrying out 
 of the bank, his ten dollars within his bank- 
 book, he ran suddenly against President Corbin 
 going into his private office. 
 
 " Been depositing, my boy ? " said the Presi- 
 dent cordially. 
 
 " No, sir," said Jack. Somehow it suddenly 
 struck him that he preferred not to tell Mr. 
 Corbin about it, as long as his tongue was tied 
 as to the details. 
 
 "Ah!" said the President, "been drawing 
 on your funds?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Jack, wishing he could tell 
 his kind friend all about it. 
 
 "Do you care if I ask you how much?" the 
 President asked gravely. " Excuse me, but you 
 know I hold no idle curiosity in regard to you."
 
 THE LETTER. 171 
 
 " Ten dollars," said Jack, in an agony lest he 
 should break his promise and tell, after all. 
 
 He was about to add, on seeing the President's 
 face, " Mother knows all about it, sir," when a 
 gentleman touched Mr. Corbin's arm : " I must 
 speak to you this moment, sir." And Jack's 
 chance of being heard was gone.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A MIXTUBB. 
 
 T," said Reuben huskily, "I don't 
 mind saying that I'm clear beat out, 
 and there's nobody to care ; that's the worst 
 of it." 
 
 Both boys were up in the attic chamber. 
 It was a dull gray day, with the rain just 
 beginning to fall in a thin drizzle. Outside 
 there was nothing more enlivening to watch 
 than a long line of bedraggled fowls huddling 
 in under the shed, and Bose the watch-dog, 
 who, having a treasure of a bone, was careless 
 of the wetting his shaggy coat was receiving, 
 but down in the middle of the cart-path was 
 gnawing it with evident relish. 
 
 The rain now pattered softly on the roof, as 
 a sad echo to Reuben's words. 
 
 " I can't stand it," cried Mat suddenly. " And 
 I'm going to cut and run." ^ 
 
 172
 
 A MIXTURE. 173 
 
 " Where ? " Reuben's voice had a sneer in 
 it, and incredulity spread all over his round, 
 freckled countenance. 
 
 " Just where other boys have gone to sea, 
 of course," said Mat. "I don't blame them, 
 either." 
 
 " Hoh-hoh ! " Reuben couldn't help it, despite 
 his melancholy. It seemed so droll to hear Mat 
 planning the inevitable sea-trip that all discon- 
 solate boys take. 
 
 "Say somewhere else, Mat," he advised, "just 
 for a change." 
 
 " What will become of us," cried his brother, 
 facing him suddenly, "if we stay here in this 
 old hole; say? we'll be just like that dog, and 
 those old hens," pointing out the window, 
 " only knowing enough to go in when it rains." 
 
 Reuben, once having laughed, felt better, so 
 he now said facetiously, " Bose don't even know 
 enough for that ; look at him catching it." 
 
 " Well, we're like him ; don't know enough 
 to get away and better ourselves." 
 
 " Mat," said Reuben, the laugh dropping out 
 from face and voice, "this is our home, and 
 we've no right to sneak off even if father won't 
 let us have a chance at the school."
 
 174 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 Mat made answer : " He might if he wanted 
 to. Says he can't afford it ; but those boys who 
 can't pay, can get in for nothing. There's no 
 excuse for him." 
 
 " Well, I don't know as I want to go that 
 way," confessed Reuben slowly ; " I ain't quite 
 ready to chum it with those Baxter boys and 
 that crowd, but because we can't get what we 
 want, I s'pose is no reason why we shouldn't 
 stay here and work for father and mother." 
 
 "Who said first he was all beat out, and 
 that nobody cared ? " demanded Mat, flushing. 
 "Say?" 
 
 "I did," confessed Reuben, "and I say it 
 again. But I don't want to run. I'd rather 
 drop in my tracks." 
 
 " I hadn't," said Mat defiantly, " I'm sick of 
 the old place, and I can't stay here. I feel all 
 stiffening up and no more life to me than a last 
 year's almanac. Look at the other boys, Reub ; 
 I go out of the way not to meet them days. 
 And just think of the schooling they're getting." 
 He drew a long breath and gazed at his brother. 
 
 Reuben flushed, and began uneasily, "I know 
 it ; even the Brimmer boys " 
 
 " Yes, even the Brimmer boys, they're flush
 
 A MIXTURE. 175 
 
 with money, cramming it into the bank, and 
 getting an education and making men of them- 
 selves. Well, if you can stand it all, you do 
 more than I can." Mat whistled now and 
 thrust his hands deep in his pockets. 
 
 " And Jack and Corny don't seem to care," 
 cried Reuben. "We don't expect the other 
 boys to ; but I did think they might show a 
 little feeling, and they don't come here now, 
 nor " 
 
 "That's because they're getting an educa- 
 tion," said Mat bitterly. "You couldn't expect 
 such fellows to notice us farm boys. Like 
 enough they'll go to college." 
 
 At that Reuben whirled around and honored 
 him with a broad stare of amazement. 
 
 " Eo-oys ! " It was the feeble voice of their 
 mother from her sofa where she spent the days 
 since the accident. 
 
 " We're wanted," cried Mat, springing for the 
 stairs. 
 
 "I hope mother isn't worse," said Reuben, 
 with a twinge of remorse at the wood-sawing 
 left so long, and following quickly. 
 
 Mat being first at the sofa side, had an en- 
 velope put into his hand.
 
 176 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 " Your father got this out of the post-office ; 
 he went down to the doctor's after my medi- 
 cine. It's for you two boys." Then she turned 
 over and wearily closed her eyes. 
 
 " For us ? " cried Mat, staring at the super- 
 scription. 
 
 " Yes, yes," cried Reuben, over his shoulder. 
 " Don't you see * Mat and Reuben Brown.' 
 Do open it ; hurry ! " 
 
 Mat whipped out his jack-knife, his eyes still 
 very big, and in a trice the story was told. 
 
 The two brothers turned and looked deep in 
 each other's eyes. 
 
 " Well ? " breathed Mat, coming to himself the 
 first, then looking down at the ten dollar bill. 
 And "Well?" echoed Reuben, who added 
 with a gasp, " But we ought not to take it, for 
 we've believed such things of them." 
 
 " All the more reason why we should take 
 it," said Mat. " Don't you" 
 
 " Look at mother oh ! look at mother," ex- 
 claimed Reuben, interrupting hastily, and he 
 sprang to the sofa. 
 
 Mat sprang, too; their mother had fainted. 
 In the confusion following, all thoughts of the 
 school-money were put one side, and it was not
 
 A MIXTURE. 177 
 
 until she had regained consciousness, and was 
 comfortably sitting up among her pillows, that 
 either boy dared to speak of it. Then it was 
 Mrs. Brown who began it. 
 
 "I saw a ten dollar bill in your hand, Mat," 
 she said slowly, and fixing her dark eyes on him. 
 " How came you by the money ? I was going 
 to ask, and my strength gave out, for I am 
 more weak than usual this morning." 
 
 " Mother," said Mat. Then he just laid his 
 head in her lap, and, big boy that he was, burst 
 out crying. Reuben's lips twitched and he had 
 great difficulty not to follow his example, but 
 his mother's distressed face made him hasten to 
 say, " Jack and Corny and Rosy have made us 
 a present of it for school-money." 
 
 " Thank God ! " said Mrs. Brown, folding her 
 hands, " I knew some help would come ; I've 
 longed and prayed for it so for you two boys." 
 
 " Why, mother, did you care ? " they both 
 cried, Mat lifting his head suddenly to look at 
 her. 
 
 "Care?" repeated their mother hoarsely. 
 " O, boys ! if you only knew how I've lain 
 awake nights the pain was nothing to my 
 worry because you were having no education.
 
 178 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 Care?" and she put her feeble arms around 
 them. 
 
 "Did father care?" cried Reuben. Nothing 
 would have surprised them now, only it smote 
 them most keenly with regret for the bitter 
 thoughts they had cherished just one hour ago, 
 to hear the recital how the hard-worked, de- 
 sponding father had tried to conceal from his 
 sick wife his distress at having no money to 
 pay for schooling for his two boys. 
 
 "But he talked it over sometimes in his 
 sleep," said Mrs. Brown. " And it was a thou- 
 sand times worse for me to hear at that time 
 than if he'd spoken freely to me. All day he 
 was silent as the grave, though I often tried 
 to get him to talk about it. He'd always 
 smile in that patient way he has, and change 
 the subject." 
 
 " And I had made up my mind to run off to 
 sea," said Mat brokenly. 
 
 His mother sat erect and looked at him. " If 
 you had," she said, "you'd have killed your 
 father and me." 
 
 " Where is father?" asked Reuben, " oughtn't 
 we to tell him as quick as we can " 
 
 " Do you suppose I'd have kept you here a
 
 A MIXTURE. 179 
 
 minute if he were home?" said Mrs. Brown. 
 " He only stopped with my medicine, then he 
 went off to the Squire's ; said he'd be sure to 
 find him home such a stormy day. Now, boys, 
 to-night you can begin school ! Run up and 
 get your other pants, Mat, and then bring my 
 work-basket ; the knee needs mending." 
 
 " Mother, you're too sick ; don't try to do it,," 
 begged Mat. 
 
 "Do as I tell you," said Mrs. Brown, her 
 thin cheeks flushing. " Oh ! I am plenty well 
 enough. Oh ! you can't think how much better 
 I am." 
 
 While the Brown household was thus occu- 
 pied, Jack Brimmer was being interviewed by 
 President Corbin. Seated on the edge of one 
 of the stiff chairs in the private office, the boy 
 was undergoing all the agonies of a face-to-face 
 conversation where the other party exhibited 
 none of his former friendliness. 
 
 "I have taken a great interest in you, Jack." 
 Mr. Corbin played with the paper-weight, ran 
 his fingers lightly through a pile of letters, but 
 his eyes were cold, and they froze the boy so 
 that he bent his own to the carpet. 
 
 " Let me see," the measured tones were pro-
 
 180 TEE LITTLE EED SHOP. 
 
 ceeding, " it's now some nine months, I think, 
 since I've begun to watch you." Jack raised 
 his head involuntarily, about to correct him. 
 Didn't he know, when every day since the great 
 man had first addressed him, had been so much 
 the richer? But he did not dare open his mouth 
 to say, " It is eleven months and a quarter, sir." 
 
 " And I ahem hoped " yes, there was an 
 emphasis on the verb " that you would make 
 quite a man, Jack. I did, really." The great 
 man was getting awkward now as the veriest 
 boy, and his fingers wandering amid the desk 
 debris, turned over a heap of loose papers that 
 fluttered to the floor. Jack sprang and pjcked 
 them all up, and restored them tidily to their 
 places. 
 
 "Ah! thank you," said Mr. Corbin. "Sit 
 down again," he added abruptly, noticing a 
 hesitancy on Jack's part which he attributed to 
 unwillingaess for further questioning. " Yes, 
 as I was saying, I had made some plans for you 
 in my own mind, as regarded your future. 
 Jack, are you fond of your books?" He was 
 astonished at himself for skimming away from 
 the central point of conversation, when he had 
 fully determined to make the plunge.
 
 A MIXTURE. 181 
 
 " Yes, sir." The boy's tongue seemed to ad- 
 here to the roof of his mouth, so clumsy was it 
 to do his bidding. And there was no sparkle 
 in the eye to go with the words and light them 
 up a bit. Jack was puzzled at himself, but more 
 at the gentleman before him. 
 
 An awkward pause followed. The President 
 was just about breaking it with a direct " What 
 did you draw out ten dollars of your money 
 for?" when the door opened, and a director 
 entered ; Excuse me, but I want to see you if 
 I can." 
 
 The president gave a cool nod to the boy, 
 who sprang out of his chair and was gone.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 AN ALARM. 
 
 "TACK set his teeth hard, and clenched his 
 ^ brown hand, as he hurried off down the 
 road. 
 
 "Why did I have to do it?" he cried to 
 himself : " draw out that money, and make 
 Mr. Corbin despise me " his cheek flushed 
 " and not be able to tell a syllable of the 
 reason ? I almost wish I'd let the Browns alone 
 with their obstinate father, whose pride is greater 
 than his sense." 
 
 He leaned over the railing of the brook now, 
 and watched the minnows play in the stream, 
 just as he used to do when he was a little fellow. 
 A footstep sounded on the road ahead of him, 
 and the boy, looking up, saw Mr. Thomas advanc- 
 ing. He slackened his pace as if he were about 
 to stop and enter into conversation, but think- 
 ing better of it, bowed, and saying, " Having a 
 182
 
 AN ALARM. 183 
 
 pleasant rest, Jack ? " passed on and was soon 
 out of sight. 
 
 The tall boy looked after him darkly. " Pleas- 
 ant rest ? " he repeated ; " yes, very ; to be dis- 
 trusted by those who ought to be my best friends. 
 Well, I must bear it," and he tore himself away 
 from the bridge, and set his face homewards. 
 
 At the door his mother met him, and the 
 instant she looked into his face she knew that 
 a bitter moment had been her boy's, and that 
 the ill news she had to communicate should be 
 withheld till a more opportune time came for 
 its revelation. So she bustled around at her 
 work, never appearing to notice her boy, helped 
 him with many a bright suggestion as to new 
 articles he intended to send into the city for on 
 the morrow, and hid her aching heart as best 
 she might under a smiling exterior. And Jack 
 ran out and worked savagely in the shop, re- 
 arranging many things that had been put off for 
 several days because there was so much to do, 
 and hurrying up Rosy who was there in attend- 
 ance on customers to greater diligence, even 
 forgetting once in a while the necessary accom- 
 paniment of good temper. 
 
 The little girl looked up into his face with
 
 184 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 perplexity, but Jack's grim face told no tales, 
 and he only worked harder than ever. When 
 supper time came lie sent word into the house 
 that he did not care for any, which presently 
 brought his mother out to The Little Red Shop 
 to see for herself how matters were progress- 
 ing there. 
 
 " Jack, my boy," she observed, seating herself 
 on a sack of potatoes in the corner, " that's not 
 exactly right, I think, to go without your meals. 
 It don't take long for a break-down following 
 such a course. Come into the house, dear, do, 
 and eat your supper." 
 
 "Mother," cried Jack, throwing down the 
 hammer with which he was nailing up a new 
 shelf, and facing her, " don't make me go, please 
 don't." 
 
 "I don't make you, Jacky," said Mother 
 Brimmer with a laugh, " I haven't since you 
 were that size," putting out her hand to mark 
 off the height of a three-year-old ; " I only said 
 do, dear." 
 
 " That's as near making me as if you'd ordered 
 me in," said Jack moodily; "I can't disobey 
 your ' do, dears' and you know it, mother." 
 
 "Yes, I believe I do," acknowledged Mrs.
 
 AN ALARM. 185 
 
 Brimmer, smoothing her apron. "Well, now, 
 why can't you come in, Jack ? " she looked at 
 him keenly and held her breath. 
 
 " Because I shall break down, I'm afraid, and 
 act like a heathen before Corny and Rosy," cried 
 the boy, confessing it all in a gasp. "Now you 
 know, mother ; don't ask me any more." 
 
 " I'll play it's better to have tea out here, for 
 once," said his mother, reflecting a bit, "and 
 you shall have a bowl of hot mush here quicker'n 
 you can say * Jack Robinson.' " She sprang 
 from her low seat, and before the boy could 
 urge her not to give herself that trouble, she 
 was off and in the house. 
 
 It was about fifteen minutes after ; Jack's 
 mush and milk having disappeared from the 
 big bowl that had been set on the counter by 
 his mother's hand, felt one degree better enabled 
 to look life in the face, and to confront his trouble, 
 and he even began presently to whistle, partly 
 to keep his small stock of newly acquired spirits 
 up, and partly to delude the other partners in 
 the firm into the belief that the senior member 
 was really light-hearted. 
 
 About an hour after supper Mrs. Brimmer 
 came out to the shop. " Corny and Rosy," she
 
 186 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 said, " will you both go into the house a little 
 while ? I want to talk with Jack." And sitting 
 down, she drew out her inevitable knitting that 
 there might be no idle hands. 
 
 The two junior members withdrew. It was 
 quite a matter of course that the mother and 
 Jack should confer together, and no suspicion 
 of jealous feeling tormented them. Instead they 
 ran gaily along the old board walk from the 
 shop to the back porch, with the firm conviction 
 that everything was just right in the universe, 
 and especially in the corner of it that was called 
 " The Old Brimmer Place." 
 
 Mother Brimmer was just saying in her charac- 
 teristic way, " I know you've been seeing trouble, 
 Jack, and that it's too soon for you to tell me 
 what it is ; but I can't wait with what I ought 
 to say to you, so you must gather all the courage 
 together you possibly can, and, the Lord helping 
 us, we'll bear it, and maybe see a way out." 
 
 Jack stood quite still, every bit of color desert- 
 ing his cheek. 
 
 "What is it, mother?" he asked. "Don't 
 mince it a bit, but give it to me quick." 
 
 " I sha'n't mince it a mite, you may be sure," 
 said Mrs. Brimmer steadily ; "you're a man now,
 
 AN ALARM. 187 
 
 and you'll bear it like a man. Jack, there's a 
 new store to be set up down here in the old 
 Myers' place ; Connors and his boys are to be 
 the proprietors." 
 
 Pale as death now was Jack, and he clutched 
 the counter edge to steady himself. This was 
 trouble indeed ! Connors was a man well-to-do, 
 shrewd, unprincipled and active in whatever he 
 undertook to the ruin of whoever or whatever 
 stood in his way. He owned and ran a mill two 
 miles away, but was constantly on the lookout 
 to get his three boys, aged fourteen, fifteen and 
 seventeen years, advanced by any means that 
 might offer itself. Here now was his opportu- 
 nity. He had watched with lynx-eyed vigilance 
 the business set up by the Brimmer boys, laughed 
 and derided it loudly when The Little Red Shop 
 was first opened to customers ; changed his 
 amusement to interest, and finally a short time 
 before this evening had slapped his thigh with 
 his coarse red hand and made up his mind as 
 he expressed it that his three boys " should go 
 in and bust up them fellows, and we'll have a 
 shop down there ourselves." 
 
 Having thus concluded that there was money 
 in it, Mr. Connors, keeping his own counsel,
 
 188 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 immediately bought an old barn and one corner 
 of the Myers' estate on which it stood, mended, 
 altered and set the building in order, giving va- 
 rious reasons to the curious Cherryfieldites who 
 with charming frankness aired their questions 
 as to the why and wherefore of the purchase, 
 and so completely hoodwinked them all, that no 
 one suspected the real plan until now Mother 
 Brimmer brought it to Jack. 
 
 " How did you find it out ? " demanded the 
 boy hoarsely. 
 
 "This afternoon, I went over to Mrs. Connors; 
 she's been sick lately, and I wanted to see how she 
 was. She was dreadfully excited, and couldn't 
 keep it to herself, but told me the whole thing. 
 The stock is bought, and they're going to open 
 the shop next week." 
 
 "They sha'n't!" cried Jack in a loud, excited 
 tone, and springing to the middle of the floor.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 LIGHT-HEARTED AGAIN. 
 
 TTOW are you going to help it?" asked 
 Mother Brimmer in her most practical 
 way, although her heart was beating fast for 
 her boy's suffering, and she had great difficulty 
 in keeping her indignation at the disaster 
 that threatened, from coming to the surface. 
 " There isn't any law against a new store being 
 set up." 
 
 "There ought to be," cried Jack most pas- 
 sionately, flushing and paling ; "it's robbery 
 worse than highway robbery to steal our 
 trade and get away all our customers, as those 
 Connors will do. You know them, mother." 
 
 Mrs. Brimmer did ; but she bit her lips and 
 kept from feeding the fire that it was now her 
 purpose to see go out. " There's no use, Jacky," 
 she said, with a brave effort at cheerfulness, " in 
 trying to meet an obstacle unless you've the 
 189
 
 190 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 right spirit. That's half the battle, my boy, 
 and gives you grit to see the thing through." 
 
 Jack's flush died down, and he looked at his 
 mother resolutely, drawing his breath hard. 
 " You're right, Mamsie," he cried ; " now let's 
 think and plan." 
 
 " In the first place, I can't see any way out," 
 began Mrs. Brimmer, feeling her way along 
 carefully and noting every change in her boy's 
 face, " than to have one of the Connorses as a 
 partner." 
 
 " I wouldn't do that," declared Jack, bring- 
 ing his two brown palms together with a clap, 
 " not if it saved us from failing the next day. 
 Mother ! you can't ever want us to be intimate 
 with those Connors." Jack looked at her with 
 wide-eyed astonishment. 
 
 " I can't say I should relish it myself," said 
 his mother coolly, " but it's the only way out 
 that appears to me. You can't tie the Con- 
 norses up very well, nor put an injunction, as 
 I see, on 'em." 
 
 "No," said Jack, setting his teeth. 
 
 " There is one thing I should do," said Mrs. 
 Brimmer thoughtfully, "and that is, ask Mr. 
 Corbin's advice. He'll"
 
 LIGHT-HEARTED AGAIN. 191 
 
 " O, mother ! " the boy's tone carried so 
 much horror that instinctively Mother Brim- 
 mer jumped. "What's the matter?" she cried, 
 with startled eyes. 
 
 " Mother, that's the trouble that's near about 
 killed me," said Jack impetuously. " I didn't 
 want to tell you ; you've got enough to worry 
 you, and I thought I ought to weather it, and 
 live it down. Mr. Corbin don't believe in me." 
 
 " Mr. Corbin don't believe in you ! " repeated 
 Mrs. Brimmer in amaze. " Not believe in my 
 boy!" she added proudly, "my boy, who's as 
 good as a bank president, any day." There 
 was no stopping her, as she sat on her bag of 
 potatoes like a very queen, and flashing her 
 black eyes at all imaginary detractors of her 
 son's good name. 
 
 " I don't know what it is," said Jack, his old 
 troubled look coming back, " unless he thinks 
 I'm drawing out money pretty fast. But I 
 couldn't tell him about Mat and Reuben." 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Mrs. Brimmer, as if a pin 
 had been thrust into her, and she started off 
 from her bag, and began to walk up and down 
 the little shop. " To think of my being such a 
 dunce ! Of course he lays that up against you.
 
 192 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 Well, he won't long, for I'll get down to his 
 house without letting the grass grow under my 
 feet, I can tell you ! " 
 
 "Mother," exclaimed Jack hastily, "you 
 surely aren't going to explain it ; that will look 
 so queer ; and how can you tell about Mat and 
 Reuben ; I should be so ashamed." 
 
 " When it comes to having my boys misun- 
 derstood," said Mrs. Brimmer with her crispest 
 accents, "it's no time to mince matters, and 
 make things worse for a little sentiment. I 
 know what's right, and if I hadn't been a goose 
 I sh'd have seen it before. Now I'm going to 
 see Mr." 
 
 A loud rap sounded on the door. Mother 
 Brimmer whirled around and looked at Jack, 
 as customers never announced themselves with 
 such ceremony ; the boy flung the door wide, 
 expecting a tramp's call. 
 
 It was the bank president ! " Well, well, 
 Jack," he exclaimed, extending a cordial hand, 
 and stepping in by the dazed boy ; " this is Mrs. 
 Brimmer, I presume. I'm glad to meet you, 
 for Jack is such a friend of mine." 
 
 As Mother Brimmer did nothing but rub her 
 eyes, trying to reconcile Jack's words, with the
 
 LIGHT-HEARTED AGAIN. 193 
 
 sincere belief in her boy that showed in every 
 gesture and word of the great man, Mr. Corbin 
 found a seat for himself, choosing the very bag 
 of potatoes that she had deserted. 
 
 " Oh ! don't sit there, sir," cried Jack, recov- 
 ering himself to start forward ; "I'll run in the 
 house and get you a chair. 
 
 " No, no," remonstrated the president, sitting 
 down, " it isn't the first time I've sat on a bag 
 of potatoes, and been glad I had as good a seat. 
 This is quite fine. Well, Jack," and he cast a 
 glance around, " you really have quite a shop 
 here. I've often wanted to walk out here and 
 see how you were getting on, and this evening 
 I have made it out." 
 
 Was it possible that this was the man who 
 with cold averted face, and distant manner, had 
 bowed Jack out of his private office that very 
 day? 
 
 Jack stared at him as if in a dream, while 
 Mr. Corbin went on: "I've found out all 
 about you, my boy, and let me tell you that 
 I never was so glad in my life at having my 
 confidence renewed." Mr. Corbin put out his 
 hand again, and Jack's palm being put within 
 it, the boy's received a hearty grasp, while the
 
 194 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 president's eyes sparkled with delight. " Mat 
 and Reuben told me all about it." 
 
 " Mat and Reuben told you ! " repeated 
 Jack in astonishment, at which Mrs. Brimmer 
 ejaculated, 
 
 " Bless the Lord ! " from the depths of her 
 heart. 
 
 " It came about in this way," said Mr. Cor- 
 bin ; " I met the boys at the post-office, just a 
 little while ago, and as Mr. Thomas told me 
 that they went to evening school (you know 
 their father refused to let them attend without 
 paying), I supposed that the old man had con- 
 quered his foolish pride, and so I stopped to 
 congratulate the lads. And then it all came 
 out, Jack." 
 
 Mrs. Brimmer clasped her hands and faced 
 the president. 
 
 " O, sir ! " she cried, " O, sir ! you have 
 been the best and kindest friend a boy ever 
 had. And now you've made him twice over, 
 for after this he'll have heart to bear his other 
 trouble." 
 
 Mr. Corbin's eyes glistened. 
 
 "What's the other trouble, Jack?" he asked 
 quickly.
 
 LIGHT-HEARTED AGAIN. 195 
 
 So all the news as to Connors' projected store 
 was laid before the president. 
 
 " Well, well," he said, after it was all out, 
 " that's the chief trouble of a successful busi- 
 ness man ; and you may count .it a proof that 
 you have made a success of the thing, to have 
 these fellows want to walk into your profits. 
 But I know John Connors, and I think I also 
 know how to stop his little game. How many 
 families trade here pretty regularly, my boy ? " 
 added the president. 
 
 Jack sprang for his list in an old box nailed 
 up over the counter. 
 
 "Thirty-two, sir," he said, counting as he 
 came back. 
 
 " Well, I declare, that's a good trade. Now 
 you shall have every one of these loyal to you, 
 if it's in my power to make them so," cried Mr. 
 Corbin. " Give the list to me, and don't worry, 
 Mrs. Brimmer," folding the paper and slipping 
 it into a great red note-book ; " your boy isn't 
 going to have the trade he's worked up, taken 
 right out of his hands in this way, mark my 
 words." 
 
 "It will be all right if you see to it, sir," 
 said Mother Brimmer thankfully; "but what
 
 196 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 we should have done without you, I can not 
 tell." 
 
 "I shall also enlist the parson and Miss 
 Peaseley in the good work," said the president, 
 getting off from his potato-bag. " Now, good- 
 night! I'm going to look out for the interests 
 of The Little Red Shop."
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 STANCH FEIENDS INDEED. 
 
 TTTITH President Corbin, Parson Higgin- 
 * son and Miss Peaseley arrayed in battle 
 order for the success of The Little Red Shop, 
 it was clearly ordained that Connors' new store 
 could not thrive. Moreover, when friends and 
 neighbors knew that the thirty-two families who 
 were regular customers of Brimmer Brothers 
 and Company had all stanchly pledged their 
 future support, everybody else became possessed 
 with a desire to trade there, too. So that for 
 the week following there was a perfect rush to 
 the shop, and Mother Brimmer had to hurry 
 through her housework, and run out to help tie 
 bundles and take orders. Then it was that the 
 two Brown boys were engaged as clerks, making 
 their poor sick mother to rejoice greatly, and 
 declare she should soon be well, since there was 
 a chance of help coining to the father, who 
 >97
 
 198 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 was working with might and main to lift the 
 dreadful mortgage. 
 
 And Miss Clorinda sent over three or four 
 times a day for things she did not want, beside 
 getting another woman to help Betty make 
 double the amount of doughnuts, for they were 
 going off literally like "hot cakes," while, as 
 for the butter, the firm could not begin to 
 supply the demand. 
 
 The trouble that Connors and his sons hoped 
 to make for The Little Red Shop, proved to be 
 the greatest blessing that ever fell upon a strug- 
 gling business, and cemented as nothing else 
 could have done, the friendship between the 
 Brimmers and their faithful helpers. And it 
 seemed to make a man at once of Jack, who, 
 made very humble by the want of faith he had 
 shown, was kept from pride now that every- 
 thing seemed to be on the pinnacle of success. 
 It did the hearts of all good just to look at the 
 boy, and realize that here indeed was one of 
 Cherryfield's rising citizens. 
 
 Corny had more difficulty to keep within 
 bounds, and his mother warned him that it 
 would be a great temptation for him not to be 
 puffed up at this sudden rise in fortune.
 
 STANCH FRIENDS INDEED. 199 
 
 " If you do put on airs, I shall be sorry you 
 haven't Connors' store thriving across the way," 
 she said decidedly ; " nothing can be worse 
 than to have one of my boys spoiled." 
 
 And Cornelius promised quickly that he 
 never, never would "talk big" in all the world, 
 and then the next thing he knew he was biting 
 his lip to keep back the words rushing out 
 when some of his friends dropped in to see 
 them. 
 
 It really began to look like a big business, 
 this begun so simply in The Little Red Shop, 
 and the bank account grew apace, and Mr. 
 Corbin's face was wreathed in smiles whenever 
 he looked at Jack, and Corny began to dream 
 wildly o' nights of Jack's being asked to be a 
 director in the bank, and all things went on 
 merrily from week's end to week's end. 
 
 And the tucks in Rosy's dresses had to be let 
 down, and Mother Brimmer sighed one day 
 and said she had lost her little girl, for Company 
 was braiding up her long hair, and begging to 
 pin it high on her head. 
 
 " I don't want to be big, Mamsie," said Rosy, 
 " only it's in the way." 
 
 " I suppose you may," said Mother Brimmer,
 
 20:) THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 with another long sigh, " but I'm sorry all the 
 same." 
 
 " Then it shall hang down my back forever," 
 cried Rosy merrily, and, her cheeks aflame, 
 " O, Mamsie ! I want to be your little girl 
 always," and she threw her arms around the 
 comfortable neck. 
 
 " And you always shall," declared Mrs. Brim- 
 mer, drawing her close, " and here's my baby," 
 as Primrose, watching the unwonted spectacle 
 out of grave eyes, deserted her doll, and rushed 
 for the comfortable lap ; " Mother never'll forget 
 to save room for her." 
 
 About this time, three persons were holding 
 a conclave in the minister's study. They were 
 Miss Clorinda Peaseley, Mr. Corbin and the 
 parson himself. 
 
 " It's high time," announced Miss Peaseley in 
 a high key, " that the work was begun. You 
 haven't set about it a moment too spon, Mr. 
 Corbin." 
 
 " No, indeed," said the president. 
 
 " Well, now, as I understand it," said Parson 
 Higginson, leaning back in his study chair, and 
 folding his hands ministerially, "you two," 
 bowing to the president and Miss Peaseley, his
 
 STANCH FRIENDS INDEED. 201 
 
 good parishioners, "are proposing to build this 
 shop, and give it rent free to the Brimmers 
 they to be allowed to buy it whenever they wish, 
 at the fair cost of the materials and labor?" 
 
 " That is our proposal," said Mr. Corbin. 
 
 " How I wish I had some filthy lucre," sighed 
 the parson, " that I might help on this under- 
 taking." 
 
 " Nonsense ! " exclaimed the president with 
 a laugh, who said pretty much what he wanted 
 to to his pastor. " You've done more than all 
 of us put together, by your example to those 
 good people." 
 
 " Example does very well," said the parson, 
 " but material help is not to be despised." 
 
 " Which is our part," cried Miss Clorinda 
 sharply. " Why, you'd put us out in the cold, 
 and leave us nothing to contribute," which raised 
 a great shout at the president's and her own 
 expense. But Miss Clorinda cared little for 
 that. 
 
 " I think we'd better give the work to 
 Crocker," said Mr. Corbin, when the laugh died 
 down. " He needs it very badly. And nothing 
 would please Jack more than to help up an- 
 other poor struggling soul."
 
 202 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 " You'll have that boy in the bank with yon, 
 first thing you know," said the parson suddenly, 
 with almost as wild dreams as Corny. 
 
 " No, I shall not," said the president quickly, 
 " unless my opinions are changed by Jack's 
 decided talent for banking. He has made a 
 business ; let him stick to it, is my creed." 
 
 " I'm very glad to hear you say so," remarked 
 Miss Peaseley, twisting in her chair to get a 
 better view of the president's face, " for I must 
 say I've been worried dreadfully for fear that 
 yon were going to make him dissatisfied with 
 the grocery business, and, as you say, he's made 
 it, so I did want to see him stick to it like a 
 Christian." 
 
 " And he shall ; you need not give another 
 thought toward me as a meddler," said Mr. 
 Corbin ; "look over at the parson, rather. He's 
 had his eye on him, I suspect, for the pulpit." 
 
 " I must confess to some leaning that way," 
 said Mr. Higginson. " What a capital preacher 
 he'd make!" 
 
 " He can preach back of that counter of 
 his," cried Miss Clorinda sharply again. " I'd 
 like to know if it don't take grace not to sift 
 sand into sugar and sell it at ten cents a pound,
 
 STANCH FRIENDS INDEED. 203 
 
 and to keep from watering the milk when you 
 know you lose money by it say ? " 
 
 " You are quite correct," said Parson Hig- 
 ginson, "it takes grace, indeed." 
 
 " Well, then, promise to keep hands off from 
 the boy, won't you?" cried Miss Clorinda 
 earnestly. " If Mr. Corbin won't influence him, 
 you ought to let him alone. I'm a great deal 
 more afraid of you," she added. 
 
 " I promise," said the parson, laughing, "only I 
 shall be glad to see the day when Jack will come 
 to me and say, ' I am going to be a minister.' '' 
 
 "Well, that day won't ever come," flatly 
 declared Miss Peaseley ; " for that boy is going 
 to show that a business can be made and carried 
 on in a Christian way. You see if he isn't." 
 
 And then they lapsed into a talk over the 
 plans for the new building, which were to be 
 very secret indeed.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE SECRET. 
 
 |_)RIMROSE rushed in flushed and panting. 
 -*- It was baking day, and there was a huge 
 fire roaring up the chimney. 
 
 "O, Mamsie!" it was all the child could 
 say, as she threw herself up against the hands 
 carrying a pie across the floor to the brick 
 oven. 
 
 " Take care, child ! This is too full of juice. 
 You almost threw that over ! " 
 
 " Are we to be very awful rich ? " cried Prim- 
 rose, with sparkling eyes. " Very, Mamsie ? " 
 
 " No," said Mrs. Brimmer ; " we never shall 
 be rich at all, Prim." Then she stooped down, 
 slipped her pie in, got up and wiped off the 
 few drops of juice trickling over her apron. 
 
 The child stopped short, her cheek paling. 
 "Why, Mamsie?" 
 
 "You see, we are working people," said 
 204
 
 THE SECRET. 205 
 
 Mother Brimmer cheerily, " and so we don't 
 expect to have fortunes left us. I sh'd rather 
 work for what I got," she added proudly. 
 
 Primrose slowly surveyed her with grave 
 eyes, her small face working ; realizing that the 
 disappointment into which she had been so 
 suddenly plunged, was fast gaining on her, she 
 turned an abrupt back on her mother, and at 
 last took refuge behind her pink gingham 
 apron. 
 
 "Who's been talking to you," asked Mrs. 
 Brimmer, her black eyes scanning keenly the 
 little face, " to put such ideas into your head, 
 I sh'd like to know?" 
 
 " Everybody," said Primrose, swallowing fast 
 to keep from an outbreak of woe. 
 
 " Everybody ? Well, now begin. In the 
 first place," Mrs. Brimmer sat down in the 
 nearest chair she could find, "come to mother,** 
 holding out her hand.' 
 
 Primrose turned and plunged across the 
 kitchen, hiding her face in the depths of the 
 comfortable lap. 
 
 " Mat and Reuben Brown told 
 me " she gasped. " Sha'n't we ever 
 be rich ? " And at last the tears came.
 
 206 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 "There, there," said Mrs. Brimmer, with 
 soothing pats on the yellow head. " I suppose 
 it seems to those poor boys as if the business 
 was going to make us rich folks. But it won't, 
 child ; only it will get you all your education, 
 and that will make the Old Brimmer Place 
 better than a castle." 
 
 "What is a castle?" asked Primrose, sud- 
 denly pausing in the midst of a^ob. 
 
 "Oh! a big stone building, where there are 
 plenty of princesses in it," said Mrs. Brimmer 
 " that is, it's big enough to hold 'em and 
 where they all eat off gold plates every day." 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! " screamed Primrose. Then she 
 asked with sudden awe, "Are they live folks 
 who live there ? Real live little girls like me ? " 
 
 " La, yes ! " said Mrs. Brimmer with a laugh. 
 " They're nothing but flesh and blood when all 
 is said, just like common folks. And they're not 
 half so happy as we are, Prim ; they fight and 
 quarrel most every day with somebody." 
 
 "What do they fight for?" demanded the 
 child, with wide-eyed astonishment, " if they've 
 got gold plates." 
 
 " Because they want diamond ones, I sup- 
 pose," said Mrs. Brimmer, " or something else
 
 THE SECRET. 207 
 
 that they don't happen to have. There, now, 
 go to play, child ; mother must fly to her bak- 
 ing." She glanced at the old clock in the cor- 
 ner, and bustled out of her chair. 
 
 Primrose slowly went out of the kitchen, and 
 sat down on the back steps to think it all out by 
 herself. 
 
 " Hulloo, Prim ! " sang out a boy. 
 
 And "Hulloo, Prim!" as another boy fol- 
 lowed around the corner of the house. 
 
 " I know all about prinscissors ! " cried the 
 child excitedly, and springing to her feet ; 
 " they live, oh ! in the biggest houses, and they 
 fight about gold plates, and I'd rather live in 
 the old Brimmer House." 
 
 " I should think you would," cried one of the 
 boys. " The Brimmer House is the jolliest old 
 place in all Cherryfield." 
 
 " What in the world do you mean by prin- 
 scissors?" cried the other. 
 
 " I know," cried Primrose, with her most im- 
 portant air, and shaking her yellow head, "I 
 know." 
 
 " Well, run in and tell Jack and Corny to 
 hurry out. We've got something to tell 'em. 
 Mr. Thomas sent us."
 
 208 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 "Jack and Corny aren't at home," said 
 Primrose, descending to her ordinary manner. 
 "They're over to the mill. I heard 'em tell 
 Mamsie they were going." 
 
 " Come on, then, if that's the case," said the 
 first boy ; " no use in waiting here," and they 
 dashed off. 
 
 Meanwhile an animated conversation was 
 going on in the parson's study. 
 
 "Whatever shall we do!" cried Miss Clor- 
 inda Peaseley, trembling with excitement. 
 " Here the foundation of our building is only 
 made, and the whole air of Cherryfield is full 
 of the secret that we three promised faithfully 
 to keep. However did it get out ?" 
 
 " As you say," replied Mr. Higginson, " the 
 air is full of it. I've always noticed when no 
 one tells a profound secret, that it is the quick- 
 est out. What shall we do now that it has 
 escaped us ? That is the question." He glanced 
 over at the president. 
 
 " John Peavey asked me point-blank this 
 very morning," said Mr. Corbin, " if I was not 
 putting up that building .for the Brimmer 
 boys." 
 
 " And Mrs. Tousey says she knows, absolutely
 
 THE SECRET. 209 
 
 knows, that I am doing it for them," cried Miss 
 Clorinda with a laugh. 
 
 " Nobody suspects me of such a thing," said 
 the parson, "but I have been questioned by at 
 least a dozen separate and distinct persons 
 within the last week if I am not aiding and 
 abetting you two in the work. As you say, 
 Miss Clorinda, the air is full of our secret." 
 
 "And if we don't look out the Brimmers 
 will hear it," exclaimed Miss Peaseley excitedly. 
 " Now, what's to be done ? That's what I'd 
 like to know."
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE SECRET IS OUT. 
 
 ~TV /TR. THOMAS walked rapidly up and 
 -^ -*- down the schoolroom in a great state 
 of excitement. Never since he could remem- 
 ber had he felt so stirred up in his mind. It 
 was with the greatest difficulty that he held 
 himself in check while thinking of the arrival 
 of the boys and girls, so soon to gather for 
 evening school. He folded his hands together 
 in front of him, and held them there, deco- 
 rously trying to observe the calm demeanor he 
 was far from feeling. But that being no suc- 
 cess > speak of, he twitched them apart, and 
 swung each one nervously by his side. This 
 not seeming to suit his ideas as to the dignity 
 a teacher should wear when confronted by a 
 pupil, he vainly essayed crossing them com- 
 posedly on his breast as he brought his pace 
 down to a meditative step. But the latter 
 
 210
 
 THE SECRET 18 OUT. 211 
 
 pose proving as utter a failure as before, he 
 fell back into his old swinging gait, and let 
 his arms go as they would. 
 
 Accordingly, he was just in the heat of the 
 ferment that possessed him, when the door 
 cautiously opened, and he was conscious that a 
 head was intruded into the apartment. 
 
 " Come in, boys," he called, struggling with 
 the confusion into which he was now thrown 
 at being thus discovered ; " you're a bit early, 
 aren't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am," answered Miss Clorinda Pease- 
 ley ; " and I did it a-purpose. Are you sure 
 everything is ready that your scholars won't 
 get at it before you are ready to march ? Steady 
 now, Mr. Thomas," she said, coming in and 
 going quite close to the teacher, whom she 
 scrutinized most exhaustively. " I'm afraid 
 you'll let it out yet," she concluded anxiously. 
 
 " I'm a bit shaken," said Mr. Thomas, " and 
 that's the truth. You see it's long since I've 
 been in any such secret, and I've worked pretty 
 hard, and it's got a little the best of me. But 
 I have fifteen minutes yet " he glanced at 
 the clock "before the pupils come, and I 
 think I'll come out of it all right."
 
 212 TUE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 " What are Greek roots good for," said Miss 
 Clorinda, a trifle contemptuously, " if they don't 
 help you to bear a strain like this one ? or all 
 your everlasting sums in arithmetic; if you 
 can't subtract from your nerves, and add to 
 your self-control, I should say there was some- 
 thing else to learn," she added quite plainly. 
 
 "True, true," assented the schoolteacher, 
 " yet if they do not help me when a big excite- 
 ment comes, like to-day, they're a deal of com- 
 fort every day." 
 
 "That may be," retorted the spinster, "but 
 if I'd stuck to a Greek root and my algebra 
 year in and year out, as you have, I wouldn't 
 let 'em leave me in the lurch in a pinch like 
 this one. Well, well, however, that's neither 
 here nor there. Time's getting on, and all 
 your young brood will whoop over the stairs 
 before any one can say ' Jack Robinson.' Here 
 they come now ! " she announced. " Don't 
 look as if you were going to have your picture 
 taken, as the photograph man says, but think 
 of something else, and smile real pleasant." 
 
 The schoolmaster, on that, executed a most 
 unhappy grin, and thereupon presented a coun- 
 tenance so unlike his own, that three or four
 
 THE SECRET IS OUT. 213 
 
 small boys " whooping in " immediately turned 
 and fastened their gaze upon him, as if they 
 would read him through and through. 
 
 "Go to your seats, Jones and Wilcox," he 
 said spasmodically, and motioning Miss Pease- 
 ley to a seat, he put himself back of his desk, 
 and with no further concern about his visitor, 
 he began to arrange his desk. 
 
 " Oh ! I can't stay," said Miss Clorinda airily, 
 and looking as inscrutably wise as it was pos- 
 sible for a woman lo look who was denied the 
 use of her tongue. " Betsey will be setting the 
 house on fire like as not, if I don't hurry home. 
 Well, you be there sharp, remember," and 
 flashing him another glance from her sharp 
 gray eyes, she bustled out of the room as a 
 small delegation of boys and girls rushed over 
 the stairs. 
 
 " I will," promised Mr. Thomas after her. 
 
 " Something's up," whispered Carter and 
 Jones, back of their spelling books ; " did you 
 ever see him look so ? My ! do you s'pose 
 he's going to marry her ? " breathed Jones in a 
 startled way. 
 
 Carter burst out laughing, which so irritated 
 Mr. Thomas, as the sound reached him, that he
 
 214 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 brought down his paper cutter sharply on the 
 desk, with a " Silence, boys ! " that effectually 
 stopped their amusement. But the other boys 
 had caught the infection of the excitement, and 
 were now studying closely Mr. Thomas and 
 his erratic movements to their hearts' content. 
 The result was that he was twice as nervous 
 as before, and felt that to hear lessons with 
 any sort of composure would be beyond him 
 altogether. 
 
 " Pupils," he said suddenly, and putting 
 down his book, "I am going to throw myself 
 on your mercy. Don't look questions at me ; 
 I'm not equal to lessons to-night. You may 
 study by yourselves ; I shall leave you on your 
 honor for an hour," and he took up his hat and 
 shot out of the room. 
 
 The scholars stared wildly at each other for 
 the space of a moment, and then the uproar 
 began. Chairs were pushed back from desks, 
 and books thrown down to lie where they drop- 
 ped. Every boy found his feet, and a high 
 hilarity reigned among them all. 
 
 " This isn't much like being on honor, now," 
 said one boy, pausing to take breath. 
 
 " It's the first shock of the surprise," said
 
 THE SECRET IS OUT. 215 
 
 another, the leader in all new enterprises ; 
 "come on a bit, then we'll sober down." 
 
 But the other boy would not " come on," and, 
 the girls setting the example, the fun slacken- 
 ing, the room soon quieted down, and a sem- 
 blance to study was begun, each scholar keeping 
 a steady eye on the clock. 
 
 Mr. Thomas, out in the open air, turned down 
 Main Street, walking rapidly, and with a sort 
 of exultant defiance in his singular action. 
 Swinging around the corner, he came suddenly 
 upon two gentlemen walking slowly in an oppo- 
 site direction, and conversing as they went. 
 
 " Beg pardon," he began awkwardly. 
 
 Hey ? O, Thomas, that you?" cried Presi- 
 dent Corbin, dropping the arm of his friend. 
 
 "What ! not in school?" exclaimed the min- 
 ister in amazement. 
 
 " I was so nervous," confessed Mr. Thomas, 
 "thinking of the whole thing, and afraid I 
 shouldn't do my part well, that I left the 
 scholars to study by themselves, and got out 
 into the open air." 
 
 Mr. Corbin and the parson burst into a laugh. 
 
 " We're not much better," they cried. " Blesa 
 me ! " added the president, " I haven't been so
 
 216 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 excited since I was a little shaver, and got my 
 first top." 
 
 " Well," said the schoolteacher, drawing a 
 long breath, "I'm thankful it's nearly over. 
 I've almost let it out at least a hundred times." 
 
 " Have the Brimmer boys and Rosy come 
 into school?" inquired the president. 
 
 " No ; but they're sure to be there," said Mr. 
 Thomas. " See ; it's only half-past seven now. 
 Oh ! they're sure to be there," he repeated. 
 
 " Still it's quite necessary to be certain 
 about it," said Mr. Higginson. " Wouldn't 
 you better run back and reconnoiter, and 
 bring us word?" 
 
 Mr. Thomas turned on his heel. " I suppose 
 so," he said. " I hope no one will catch me 
 making observations." 
 
 So while the others, like a couple of conspir- 
 ators, waited under cover of a tall building, he 
 retraced his steps, and mounting the back stairs, 
 took advantage of his intimate knowledge of 
 the premises, to step into a closet that held a 
 fcmall window opening into the main room, 
 Here he had the satisfaction of quickly perceiv- 
 ing the three Brimmers, studying away as vigi- 
 lantly as if the eye of their master was upon
 
 THE SECRET IS OUT. 217 
 
 them ; as indeed it was, though they did not 
 know it. Mr. Thomas therefore took himself 
 down from his post of observation, and soon 
 joined his two confreres where they were im- 
 patiently awaiting him. 
 
 " It isn't hard for us to make up our minds 
 where we will walk this evening," observed the 
 president facetiously, and linking his arm to 
 that of his pastor again. 
 
 " I declare, it's the sightliest place in all 
 Cherryfield," said Mr. Higginson enthusiasti- 
 cally, as all three paused in front of a sub- 
 stantial foundation of a building that in the 
 moonlight gave to a vivid imagination, promise 
 of a fine structure that should overtop the 
 loftiest ones yet in the town. 
 
 " Brimmer Brothers and Company will look 
 well on the central door, now won't it?" broke 
 out the schoolmaster excitedly. 
 
 " Hush ! hush ! even now it might creep out," 
 warned the president. 
 
 Mr. Thomas hugged himself with his long 
 arms, and shut his lips fast. 
 
 " It's eight o'clock," he said as a relief, and 
 pulling out his watch, " almost time to go back 
 and marshal the boys."
 
 218 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " And for us to gather our forces," said the 
 president. " Come, pastor," and he led him 
 away, " we'll be at the corner precisely at 
 eight-thirty." 
 
 " All right." Mr. Thomas skipped back like 
 a boy, ran up the stairs, and presented himself 
 among his pupils with such shining eyes that 
 all greeted him with a spontaneous " Hurrah ! " 
 
 " Oh ! you needn't cheer me," cried the mas- 
 ter hilariously, " you'll have enough cheering 
 to do before the evening's out hem ! I mean, 
 you may all put aside your books and look at 
 me." Which indeed they could not very well 
 help doing. 
 
 " Hem ! I want you all to take a little walk 
 with me. That is, we will march where? I 
 will tell you at the proper time. You are not 
 to ask me questions. You are not even to 
 imagine the surprise in store for you ; you are 
 simply to obey commands, and, at the signal, 
 to fall into step. It is now seventeen minutes 
 past eight." Mr. Thomas pulled out his long- 
 suffering watch once more. " At eight-thirty 
 precisely, you will lay aside your books, and 
 form a line, two and two. Brimmer," the mas- 
 ter nodded to the tall boy over in the corner,
 
 THE SECRET IS OUT. 219 
 
 " will you and Corny lead the procession ? The 
 rest can fall into line as you like." 
 
 Then the master, his face overflowing with a 
 secret excitement that would not let him con- 
 ceal his joy, busied himself about his own 
 affairs, and left the boys to get ready for the 
 great denouement as they best could. 
 
 And on the minute exactly, the " Thomas 
 School " deserted their classroom, turned their 
 backs on their studies, and set forth, winding 
 down the stairs in a bewildered state of mind, 
 but in an orderly procession. Mr. Thomas, as 
 was proper, led the way. 
 
 It was like a silent army going out to possess 
 a sleeping garrison. No one was there to watch 
 their march, because no one had been apprised 
 of their coming. As simply as if it were one 
 boy leaving the school, the long line moved 
 down the stairs and out of the building ; as 
 steadily and quickly as if a campaign were 
 planned, by a sure hand and clear head, the 
 silent procession went its way to the corner, 
 where, under cover of some tall buildings, stood 
 a group that soon announced their intention of 
 joining in the march. 
 
 "How do you do?" cried President Corbin,
 
 220 THE LITTLE RED SHOP. 
 
 bowing profusely to the ranks. " Thank you ! 
 I believe I will go, too," and he fell into step 
 just back of the master. 
 
 "No, no, sir," protested Mr. Thomas, exe- 
 cuting a skillful pas seul by which he achieved 
 a position in the rear of the moneyed man, 
 " your place is in front." 
 
 " At least I shall be supported by the clergy," 
 said Mr. Corbin, drawing Mr. Higginson for- 
 ward. 
 
 " And Miss Peaseley, too," said the parson, 
 offering her his arm ; " you can allow three 
 abreast, can't you, as leaders?" 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said Miss Clorinda, whose evi- 
 dent great satisfaction would not allow her to 
 be other than blunt-spoken, " you two go ahead ; 
 no woman ever led an army well, so far as I've 
 heard, except Joan of Arc, and goodness me ! " 
 with a short laugh, " I'm not much like her. 
 I'm going with you, Mrs. Brimmer." 
 
 And there, to be sure, was Mother Brimmer 
 advancing from the shadow of a tree-trunk 
 into the bright moonlight. Jack, Cornelius and 
 Rosalie now rubbed their eyes violently, but 
 there was no time to explain, hardly to wonder. 
 The president was fast giving out his orders.
 
 THE SECRET IS OUT. 221 
 
 " Attention ! " he said, in a low voice ; " we 
 don't want to attract a crowd, so we'll be as 
 quiet as possible. Now follow us." They 
 passed the word along, and with that, he and 
 the parson set off at marching pace, until 
 they brought the line up in true soldierly 
 fashion in the open lot on the corner, where 
 workmen had for some time been laying a 
 foundation for a building, to be used for what 
 purpose, no one in Cherryfield seemed to know. 
 
 The boys of the "Thomas School" had 
 fretted a bit at the land being now built upon. 
 It had been an excellent place for a ball ground 
 and a tennis court; and it was so near the 
 center of the town as to be a good meeting 
 place for all their number. Aside from that 
 regret, everybody was glad of the enterprise 
 that would set in motion a new improvement 
 in real estate. 
 
 But though all means such as are generally 
 employed had been used freely to find out who 
 were the men behind this building operation, 
 or why the work was to be done, no one had 
 actually found out the fact, or could say that 
 any of the numerous surmises was the truth. 
 
 Xow to-night, in the bright moonlight, drawn
 
 222 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 around the spot in a large circle, the " Thomas 
 School" were to be let into the secret by a 
 unique method. 
 
 " Girls and boys," said the parson, in obe- 
 dience to a whisper from the president, and 
 running his eye around the ring, " you all see 
 this foundation," pointing to it. 
 
 Who didn't? 
 
 "What's it for?" piped out Johnnie Carey, 
 in an awful spasm of uncontrollable curiosity. 
 
 " Ah ! that is the question. You might 
 guess one thing, and you might guess another, 
 and come far from the truth. Now you shall 
 know without delay. It is to be a building " 
 
 A groan of disappointment passed around 
 the entire circle as the parson paused, appar- 
 ently at the end of his narration. 
 
 " in which we hope to see illustrated, 
 Cherryfield's attempt to prove that good citi- 
 zenship pays. Good citizenship, I repeat," 
 said the parson, getting excited, and waving 
 his hand. " Honesty toward all men ; charity 
 toward all, and the heart set on God. This 
 makes a good citizen, girls and boys." 
 
 " Hear ! hear ! " cried the president, pounding 
 with his walking-stick on the ground.
 
 THE SECRET IS OUT. 223 
 
 " Now this building is to be erected as the 
 place where such good citizenship may be seen ; 
 where it may work before you all, through, we 
 will hope, long and happy lives. You may 
 cheer now, if you like, for the good citizens, 
 the future dwellers in this building that is to 
 be" 
 
 Parson Higginson stepped on a stone, and 
 swung his hat. "As we shall probably have 
 a crowd of sightseers upon us presently," he 
 said, on the conclusion of this performance, 
 which immensely relieved the pent-up condition 
 of the boys, " we will proceed briefly. Brimmer 
 and Company, as you have been cheered by 
 your comrades, will you have the goodness to 
 step out here and show yourselves?" He 
 nodded over at them and held out his hand to 
 Rosy. 
 
 " I do not understand," began Jack, standing 
 quite still. Corny, pretending great calmness, 
 felt his legs shake under him with some great 
 development, he could not tell what, impend- 
 ing. Rosy smiled innocently on the crowd, 
 and thought it a beautiful sight, but that it 
 had anything to do with them, never entered 
 her mind.
 
 224 THE LITTLE BED SHOP. 
 
 " Of course you don't understand," exclaimed 
 the parson and the president together, nodding 
 at the senior member. 
 
 " And maybe you won't till you see Brimmer 
 Brothers and Company on the middle door. 
 Then how will it look ? " cried Miss Peaseley. 
 "Say? Big letters, you know, and as bright 
 as the gilt can make 'em, you know. Say?" 
 
 " Hurry, Jack, and lead the others out. I 
 hear the rumblings of the earth that proclaim ' 
 the coming crowd. We want this all to our- 
 selves ; that's one reason why we chose to 
 bring you all here in the evening. Come," 
 and Jack found himself with Corny and Rosy 
 somehow in the centre of the circle, with the 
 three conspirators all talking together and say- 
 ing something to the circle, Mother Brimmer 
 over on the outer edge, and the schoolmaster 
 distributing himself generously in as many 
 places as he impartially could. 
 
 And out of the confusion the ear could 
 catch, " It's for you, Jack, and Corny, and 
 Rosalie." 
 
 " The Little Red Shop is to be the Brimmer 
 Store." 
 
 " You are to have it at twenty-five dollars
 
 THE SECRET IS OUT. 225 
 
 rent the first year, and as you make your 
 profits your rent will advance, until you are 
 treated like other business concerns." 
 
 "There is to be a library and reading-room 
 in the second story " 
 
 "And it will be ready to move into in six 
 months " 
 
 The noise of numberless feet, bringing spec- 
 tators rushing to the scene, anticipating a fire, 
 or an explosion, or an impromptu political 
 parade, or one of the thousand and one events 
 that thrill a town centre, brought this ringing 
 order : 
 
 " Hurry ! we want this celebration all to our- 
 selves. Now, another cheer from you all for 
 Brimmer Brothers and Company now!" 
 
 It came from bewildered and happy and ex- 
 cited throats, almost drowning its finale, 
 
 "The crowd are coming! Disband, and 
 scamper home ! "
 
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