[BRARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CAL [FORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES

 
 1 1,1 ft 
 JESSIE TALKING TO ROVER. Front.
 
 GLEH MORRIS STORIES. 
 
 THE STORY OF 
 
 AGIRL WHO FOUGHT WITH LITTLE IMPULSE, THE 
 WIZARD, AND CONQUERED HIM, 
 
 By FRANCIS FORRESTER, Esq. 
 (DANIEL WISE, D.D.,) 
 
 AUTHOR OP " BOY TRIVKLERS IN ARABIA," "YOUNG KNIGHTS OF THE CHOM," "SOME 
 
 REMARKABLE WOMEN," " MEN OF RENOWN," "OUR MISSIONARY HEROES AND 
 
 HEROINE'," " LINDENDALB STORIBS," " SKKTCHES AMI ANECDOTES op AUKB- 
 
 ICAN METHODISTS," " HEROIC METHODISTS or TH OI.DKN Tia," 
 
 " I'oc.NO MAN'S COUNSELOR, " " YOUNG LADIE" CouxstLon," 
 
 "PATH or LIFE," " PLEASANT PATHWAYS," "S^uiM 
 
 or WALTON HALL," *ic., ate. 
 
 NEW YORK: PHILLIPS & HUNT. 
 CRAXSTOSdt STOWS. 
 
 1888.
 
 Copyright, 1860. by 
 HOWE & FERRY, NEW YORK. 
 
 Copyright, 1888, by 
 DANIEL WISE, NEW YORK.
 
 NOTE 
 
 TO PARENTS, GUARDIANS, AND TEACHERS. 
 
 THE purpose of the " GLEN MORRIS STORIES*' is to 
 sow the seed of pure, noble, manly character in the 
 mind of our great nation's childhood. They exhibit 
 the virtues and vices of childhood, not in prosy, uu 
 
 readable precepts, but in a scries of characters which 
 
 i 
 move before the imagination as living beings do before 
 
 the senses. Thus access to the heart is won by way of 
 the imagination. While the story charms, the truth 
 sows itself in the conscience and in the affections. The 
 child is thereby led to abhor the false and the vile, aaid 
 to sympathize with the right, the beautiful, and the 
 true. To every parent, teacher, and guardian, who has 
 affinity with these high purposes, the "Glon Morris 
 Stories" are most respectfully inscribed by their fellow- 
 laborer in the field of childhood. 
 
 FRANCIS FORRESTER.
 
 ORDER OF TUB GLEN MORRIS STORIES. 
 
 I. Guy Carlton, the Story of a Boy who belonged to 
 
 the " Try Company" 
 II. Dick Duncan, the Story of a Soy who loved Mischief. 
 
 III. Jessie Carlton, the Story of a Girl who fought with 
 
 little Impulse, the Wizard, and conquered him. 
 
 IV. Walter Sherwood, the Story of an easy, good-natured 
 
 Boy. 
 V. KaU Oarlton, the Story of a vain Girl.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEB PAI 
 
 I. JESSIE AND THE WIZARD 11 
 
 II. JESSIE'S TWO COUSINS 27 
 
 III A NUTTING-PARTY 43 
 
 IV. JESSIE'S GREAT SORROW 61 
 
 V. THE BROKEN MIRROR 78 
 
 VI. THE FIRST SLIDE OF THE SEASON 94 
 
 VII. JF-SSIK'S FIRST GREAT VICTORY 112 
 
 VIII. FAREWELL TO THE COUSINS 126 
 
 IX. THE WIZARD IN THE FIELD AGAIN- 140 
 
 X. MADGE CLIFTON 157 
 
 XI. MADGE CLIFTON'S MOTHER 172 
 
 XII. LITTLE IMPULSE BEATEN AGAIN 186 
 
 XIII. THE SKATING-PARTT 200 
 
 XIV. THE WATCH-POCKET FINISHED 815 
 
 XV. THANKSGIVING DAT... , 981
 
 ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 JP.RSIE TALCING TC ROVER Fftmtitpiect. 
 ILLUSTRATED TITLE-PAOE. 
 
 JESSIE AND EMILY SAILING BOATS IN THE QUARRY PAGE 51 
 
 JESSIE AND CARUIE ENJOYING A SLIDE " 105 
 
 MRS. MONEYPENNT READING JACK'S LETTER *' 158 
 
 GUY COASTING WITH JESSIE " 227 
 
 PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY. 
 
 JESSIE OARLTOX, only daughter of a New Yi -k merchant re.iding at 
 Glen Morris Cottage, Duncan ville, a village near New York. 
 
 EMILY and CHARLIB MORRIS, Jessie's two cousins, visiting at Olem 
 Morris Cottage. 
 
 MADGE CLIFTOX, Jessie's proligl. 
 
 CARRIE SHERWOOD, one of Jessie's companion*. 
 
 MBS. MOHETFENIIY, a poor widow, and ner ion JACB
 
 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 JESSIE AND IMPULSE THK WIZARD. 
 
 ON a bright afternoon of a warm day in 
 October, JESSIE CARLTON sat in the parlor of 
 Glen Morris Cottage. Her elbows rested on 
 the table, her face was held between her two 
 plump little hands, and her eyes were feasting 
 on some charming pictures which were spread 
 out before her. A pretty little work-basket 
 stood on a chair at her side. It contained sev- 
 eral yards of rumpled patchwork, two pieces of 
 broadcloth with figures partially worked on 
 them as if they were intended for a pair of slip- 
 pers, a watch-pocket half finished, and a small 
 piece of silk composed of very little squares.
 
 12 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 On the table close to her left elbow was a catii 
 brie handkerchief with some embroidery ju?( 
 begun in one of its corners. A needle care- 
 lessly stuck into it showed that Jessie had been 
 working on it when her eyes were attracted by 
 the pictures she was now studying with such 
 close attention. 
 
 After a few minutes the little girl moved her 
 right arm for the purpose of looking at another 
 picture, when her thimble dropped from her 
 finger to the table with a loud ringing sound. 
 She started to pick it up, and in so doing 
 pushed her scissors to the floor. The noise 
 they made in falling led Jessie to glance towards 
 the sofa, and to say in a very soft whisper 
 
 "Oh dear! I'm afraid those naughty scissors 
 have waked Uncle Morris out of his nap !" 
 
 Jessie was right. The noise had started Uncle 
 Morris from a cozy little nap into which he had 
 fallen after dinner. It was not often that the 
 active old gentleman indulged himself in this 
 way ; but a long walk in the morning had made 
 him weary, and he had quietly roamed into 
 dream-land as he sat reading. He now opened
 
 JESSIE AND IMPULSE THE WIZARD. 13 
 
 his eyes, looked round the room, and seeing his 
 niece looking askance at him, said 
 
 " What's the matter, Jessie ? I heard some- 
 thing fall with a great crash, what was it ?" 
 
 Jessie laughed outright. It was not very 
 polite, but she could not very well keep the fun 
 out of her face. It seemed so queer that her 
 uncle should call the noise made by the fall of 
 a pair of scissors a great crash. At last she 
 said 
 
 " There was no great crash, Uncle. Only 
 my scissors fell from the table." 
 
 " Was that all ? Why it sounded to me just 
 like the crash of a tray full of crockery ware. 
 That was because I was half asleep, I suppose. 
 Well, never mind, I'm not the first old gentle- 
 man who has magnified a little noise into a 
 great one in his sleep but what are you so 
 busy about this afternoon, little puss !" 
 
 As Uncle Morris put this question he arose, 
 walked up to the table and began to look at 
 Jessie's work, for by this time she had begun 
 stitching on the cambric handkerchief again. 
 Blushing deeply, she said
 
 14 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 "I am embroidering a pocket-handkerchief, 
 Uncle." 
 
 "Indeed! how fond you little ladies are of 
 finery !" said Uncle Morris, smiling and patting 
 Jessie's head. 
 
 "I'm not doing it for myself, Uncle." replied 
 the child. 
 
 " Not for yourself, eh ? Is it for papa, then ?" 
 
 "No, Sir." 
 
 " For your brother Guy, perhaps ?" 
 
 " No, Sir. Not for Guy," and looking slyly 
 at her uncle, she added. " I guess that you are 
 not Yankee enough to guess whom it is for." 
 
 " For your brother Hugh, maybe ?" 
 
 " You must guess again, Uncle." 
 
 " Well, maybe it is for your hero. Richard 
 Duncan." 
 
 " O Uncle! Do you think I would embroider 
 a handkerchief for a young gentleman F' and 
 Jessie pursed up her lips as though she was go- 
 ing to be very angry. 
 
 u Don't be angry with your old uncle, my 
 little puss," said Mr. Morris with an air of 
 mock penitence, " I had an idea that young
 
 JESSIE AND IMPULSE THE WIZAKD. 
 
 ladies did such things for young gentlemen 
 sometimes. But who is it for ? I give it 
 up." 
 
 " You give it up ! Why, I thought you be- 
 longed to the 'never give up company.' Oh, 
 fy ! Uncle Morris, I'll get you turned out of tho 
 try company if you don't mind. So you had 
 better guess again," and Jessie held up her fat 
 finger and looked so funnily at Mr. Morris that 
 the old gentleman's heart warmed towards her, 
 and giving her a kiss of fond affection, he 
 said 
 
 " Then I guess it is for your poor old uncle." 
 
 " Beans are hot !" cried Jessie, clapping her 
 hands. "You've guessed it at last. But see 
 my work, Uncle ! Isn't it beautiful ?" 
 
 " Yery pretty, indeed, my dear," replied the 
 old man, who now put on a comical look, and 
 added, " but I'm afraid I shall not live until it 
 is finished." 
 
 "Not live !" Jessie was going to be 
 
 alarmed, but her uncle's laughing eyes checked 
 her alarm, and catching his meaning from hia 
 expression, she pouted and was silent.
 
 16 .IFSSIE CARLTON. 
 
 " Don't put on that frightful pout, my little 
 puss, for, really, I should have to live as long 
 a life as an ancient patriarch if I do not die be- 
 fore you are likely to finish the handkerchief. 
 There are the quilt, the slippers, the watch- 
 pocket, the chair-cushion, and the handkerchief 
 all begun for me, but nothing finished. That 
 little wizard his name is IMPULSE, you know 
 which led you to drop the quilt that you might 
 begin the slippers, and the slippers that you 
 might begin the chair-cushion, will soon tempt 
 you to drop the handkerchief for something 
 else. I wish I could catch the jolly little imp. 
 I'd cane him smartly, and then I would lead 
 him to Parson Resolution's church, and marry 
 him to that sweet little fairy, Miss PERSEVER- 
 ANCE, who is breaking her. heart for the love of 
 him Were he once thus married, I think his 
 bride would teach him to help you finish all 
 the little gifts you have begun for me, and 
 there would be some hope that I should live 
 long enough to sleep under your quilt, sit on 
 your cushion, walk in your slippers, put my 
 watch in your pocket at night, and blow my
 
 JESSIE AND IMPULSE TIIE WIZARD. 17 
 
 venerable nose in your embroidered pocket 
 handkerchief." 
 
 The reproof so pleasantly given in these quaint 
 words found its way to Jessie's heart. Her 
 face became sober, she bit her lips, a stray tear 
 or two hung, like dew-drops in the web of a 
 gossamer, on her long eyelashes, she sighed 
 and after a few moments of silent thought rose, 
 planted her right foot firmly on the floor, and 
 said 
 
 " Uncle Morris, I will conquer that little 
 wizard ! I WILL finish your quilt right away, 
 and then all the other things in their turn see 
 if I don't." 
 
 Jessie had made just such a promise at least 
 ten times, since Glen Morris Cottage had be- 
 come her home. She had tried to keep it too, 
 but, somehow, her habit of yielding to every 
 new impulse which came over her, had hitherto 
 led her to break it as often as it had been 
 made. The little wizard, as Uncle Morris face- 
 tiously called her changeful impulses, was her 
 tyrant. The jolly little rogue did, indeed, sadly 
 stand in need of matrimony with the forlorn
 
 18 JESSIE 
 
 Misa Perseverance. For poor Jessie's sake. 
 Uncle Morris was very anxious to see the wed- 
 ding come off speedily. Whether his wish was 
 met or not, will appear hereafter. 
 
 To prove her sincerity Jessie put the cambric 
 handkerchief in the bottom of her work-basket. 
 The other articles she placed, in the order in 
 which she had begun them, above it, and then 
 sat resolutely down to her patchwork quilt. 
 As her bright little needle began to fly with the 
 swiftness of a weaver's shuttle, she said to her- 
 self 
 
 " Now I will finish Uncle Morris's quilt right 
 off." 
 
 Uncle Morris had left the parlor, and Jessie 
 had sewed steadily for at least fifteen minutes, 
 when her brother Hugh bounded into the mom, 
 holding two letters in his hand, and said 
 
 "Letters for Jessie Carlton and her mother, 
 Postage one dollar, to be paid to the bearer on 
 delivery. G-ive me your half-dollar, Miss Carl- 
 ton, and I will give you your letter !" 
 
 " A letter for me !" cried Jessie, dropping 
 her work and running to her brother, capsizing
 
 JESSIE ANt> TMFtTLSE THE WIZARD. 19 
 
 her work-basket as she ran. " Give it to me I 
 Give it to me." 
 
 " Pay me the postage first," said Hugh, hold 
 ing the letter over her head. 
 
 " There is no postage, you know there isn't, 
 you naughty Hugh ! Give me my letter,*' and 
 Jessie pulled Hugh's arm in the vain attempt 
 to bring the letter within her reach. 
 
 "No postage, indeed! Do you think Uncle 
 Sam can afford to carry letters for all the Yan- 
 kee girls who may choose to write to each 
 other, without pay ? Not he. Uncle Sam 
 knows how to care for number one too well for 
 that. So hand over your half-dollar, Misa 
 Jessie, and I will give you your letter." 
 
 Jessie coaxed and scolded at her brother for 
 nearly ten minutes, in vain. Hugh loved to 
 tease her, and so he kept on, now offering the 
 letter, and then holding it beyond her reach, 
 until the poor child's patience being all gone, 
 (she sat down and cried with vexation. This 
 was certainly carrying his fun too far. A little 
 pleasant bantering at first, though not amiable^ 
 might havo been pardonable ; but now th&t hex
 
 20 JK8SIE CARLTON. 
 
 feelings were hurt lie was very unkind to carry 
 his nonsense any further. But this was one ot 
 Hugh's faults. He was a. great tease. Seeing 
 his sister in tears, he said, in a whining 
 tone 
 
 "Pretty little cry-baby ! . How beautiful you 
 are, all melted into tears !" Then dropping the 
 whine from his tone, he added, " Here, Jessie, 
 take your letter !" 
 
 Jessie stretched out her arm to take the of- 
 fered letter. Hugh drew it back again and 
 Baid 
 
 " Bah ! Don't you wish you may get it !" 
 
 " You unamiable boy ! is that the affection 
 which is due from a brother to his sister ? 
 Hugh ! Hugh ! I wish you had more love and 
 less selfishness in that idle soul of yours." 
 
 This just rebuke from the lips of Uncle Mor- 
 ns, who had been standing unperceived for tho 
 last few minutes behind the half-open door, put 
 an enc. to all Master Hugh's idle, not to say 
 wicked, teasing. He dropped the letters into 
 Jessie's lap, and with an angry scowl on his 
 face left the room.
 
 JESSIE AND IMPULSE THE WIZARD. 21 
 
 The sunshine came back into Jessie's face in 
 a moment. She looked her thanks to Uncle 
 Morris, while she nervously opened the en 
 velope of her letter. Having unfolded it, she 
 read as follows : 
 
 MORRISTOWS, New Jersey, October 10th. 18 
 DEAU COUSIN JESSIE, 
 
 Pa and Ma have just given their 
 consent to have me and my brother Charlie 
 visit you at Glen Morris Cottage. I am so 
 glad I can hardly hold my pen to write you 
 about it. Charlie is jumping about the room, 
 and shouting hurrah, for joy. We are to start 
 Thursday, in the afternoon train, and shall get 
 to your house to tea. With ten thousand 
 kisses for you, I remain, 
 
 Your affectionate cousin, 
 
 EMILY MORRIS. 
 
 Miss JESSIE CAIUTON. 
 
 " Oh, won't it be nice, Uncle Morris !" cried 
 Jessie, after reading this note. "What good 
 times I shall have with my cousins! I'm sc 
 glad I don't know what tc do with myself.''
 
 22 JESSIK CABLTON. 
 
 " You are a happy little puss generally, and 
 I am glad to see you made happier than usual 
 l>y thij pleasant letter from your cousin. Hut 
 are you sure, my dear Jessie, that you will 
 enjoy your cousins' visit ?" 
 
 " Why, Uncle !" cried Jessie, with an air of 
 surprise. " How can you ask me such a ques- 
 tion ? I am sure I shall love my cousins very 
 much, and we shall enjoy ourselves very finely 
 together." 
 
 " Well ! Well ! I hope it may be so," said 
 Uncle Morris, with a sigh which made Jessie 
 think that the good old man's hope was not a 
 very strong one. She said nothing, however, 
 and Uncle Morris asked 
 
 " When are your cousins coming ?" 
 
 Jessie looked at her letter and read, ;c ' Wo 
 are to start Thursday,' " pausing, and looking 
 fip, she exclaimed 
 
 " Why, that's this very day ! I declare they 
 will be here this afternoon. Won't it be nice !" 
 
 " Yes, to-day is Thursday. Your letter has 
 been delayed. Perhaps you had better take 
 your mamma's letter to her room. She may re-
 
 JKSfclK XX L> l.M.i'ri.'iK THE WIZAltD. 2$ 
 
 quire time to make preparations for her young 
 guests. They will be here lot me see (looking 
 at his watch), in two hours. Bun Jessie and 
 I ell your mother!" 
 
 Jessie hurried to her mother's apartment 
 with the unopened letter and the news. Mrs. 
 Carlton's letter was from Emily's mother and 
 contained the same information. 
 
 Jessie was in ecstasies during the next two 
 hours. To be sure, there was that question 
 and that sigh of Uncle Morris to cast a slight 
 shadow on her joy. But shadows never tarried 
 long on Jessie's spirit, which was so bright and 
 joyous that it seemed as if it was made of sun- 
 shine. Happy little Jessie Carlton I 
 
 Emily's letter had put all thought of her 
 work out of Jessie's head. Her patchwork lay 
 on the floor beside the overturned work-basket, 
 until her mother going to prepare the parlor 
 for company, picked both up and put them 
 uway In fact, Jessie's little wizard had her in 
 his chains again. She was once more the sim 
 pie-hearted child of impulse. 
 
 Having fixed her hair and changed her dress,
 
 24 JKSSIK CARLTON. 
 
 Jessie ran out on to the piazza to watch for the 
 eominjr of her cousins. First she seated herself 
 
 *_ 
 
 on tlie settee, which stood there, and made tho 
 air ring again with her joyous song. A fter a 
 few minutes, she sprang from her seat and seiz- 
 ing old "Rover by the head, began to tell him 
 that her cousins were coming, and, therefore, he 
 must be the very best behaved dog in the 
 world.* Then seating herself lightly on old 
 Rover's back, she patted his neck, and said 
 
 " Noble old Rover, won't you give your mis- 
 tress a ride ?" 
 
 Eover was a grand old dog, large and strong 
 enough to carry a much heavier miss than Jessie. 
 lie was good-natured too. Still he had no no- 
 tion of being used for a pony. So, after stand- 
 ing quite still for a moment or two, he suddenly 
 started and sent Jessie sprawling on the piazza, 
 while he trotted down the steps and made a 
 bed for himself in the greensward, on the lawn, 
 as quietly as if nothing had happened. A 
 knowing old dog was Eover. 
 
 See Frontispiece.
 
 AND IMPl'LSK THE WIZARD. 25 
 
 Jessie picked herself up and began singing 
 again. Scarcely had she trilled out two lines 
 before she saw Guy coming towards the house. 
 With the light spring of a fairy she bounded 
 across the lawn, and meeting him at the gato 
 exclaimed 
 
 u O Guy, cousin Emily and cousin Charlie 
 are coming here to-night. Aren't you glad ?" 
 
 " To be sure I am. I'm glad of any thing 
 that pleases my sister." 
 
 Jessie kissed him, and taking his hand, 
 walked with him back to the piazza, where she 
 resumed her watching, beguiling the time by 
 humming her songs and by an occasional frolic 
 \\ ith old Rover. 
 
 At last, the sound of wheels told her that the 
 carriage was coming up from the railroad sta- 
 tion. A few minutes later it rolled along the 
 load which ran through the lawn and in front 
 )f the piazza. Four bright eyes peeped over 
 the door, which the coachman speedily opened. 
 Mr. Carlton stepped out h'rst and then came 
 Emily and Charlie. Never did cousins meet 
 with warmer greetings than they received from
 
 26 JESSIK 
 
 Jessie and Guy, and Mrs. Carlton. and Uncle 
 Morris. Never was little girl happier than 
 Jessie, when, a few minutes later, she had 
 Emily all to herself, in her own sweet little 
 chamber, showing her the contents of drawer and 
 trunk and doll-house, and whatever else might 
 be included in the term " playthings." When 
 Emily and Charlie went to bed that night, they 
 were in ecstasies over the pleasant things they 
 had seen and felt on the first evening of their 
 visit to Glen Morris Cottage.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 JESSIE'S TWO COUSINS. 
 
 THE first few days of her cousins' visit were 
 like a pleasant dream to Jessie. She had so 
 much to say, and so many things to show to her 
 visitors, that they could scarcely help sharing 
 the joy which welled up within her like a crys- 
 tal stream from a mountain spring. Seeing 
 them so cheerful and happy, Jessie wondered 
 more and more at the question her uncle had 
 asked her ahout enjoying their visit. 
 
 " I don't see what Uncle Morris meant," said 
 she to herself one afternoon, while her cousins 
 were on the lawn laughing and playing with 
 Guy, and she was washing her hands by way 
 of preparation for tea " He looked and sigh- 
 ed," she went on to say, "as if he thought I 
 should be disappointed in them. But I am 
 not. They are the kindest, merriest cousins in
 
 28 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 the world. I declare I'll ask Uncle Morris 
 what he meant, the next time I see him alone." 
 
 That next time came very soon, for as Jessie 
 skipped down stairs, with laughter twinkling i.i 
 her eyes, and a song tripping from her tongue, 
 she met her uncle in the hall. Running right 
 to him, she seized his arm, peered curiously into 
 his face, and said 
 
 "Uncle Morris?" 
 
 " Well, little puss, what now ?" replied tho 
 old gentleman, as he kissed her rosy cheeks. 
 
 " I want you to tell me what you sighed and 
 shook your head for, last week, when I told you 
 what good times I was going to have with my 
 cousins ?" said Jessie, closely watching the ex- 
 pression of the old gentleman's face. 
 
 There was a merry twinkle in Uncle Morris's 
 eyes, as he replied, " You have a good memory 
 fur a laughing little puss. Well, I'm glad yon 
 have not yet found out why I sighed. I hope 
 you won't make the discovery, though I fear 
 you will before another week passes. There is 
 a proverb which says, IPs only the shoe that 
 knows whether the stocking has holes in it or
 
 JESSIE'S TWO COUSINS. 29 
 
 not. Now, Jessie, if you can find out the mean- 
 ing of this proverb, you will know why 1 sighed. 
 If you dor't find it out in a week, I'll explain 
 it t : you/' 
 
 " How funny !" exclaimed the little girl ; and 
 then, putting on a thoughtful air, she repeated 
 the proverb slowly, in an undertone ; after 
 which, she added aloud, " I don't see what 
 shoes and stockings have to do with my cousins 
 and mo. What a funny man you are, Uncle 
 Morris !" 
 
 Uncle Morris had, by this time, reached the 
 door leading to the back piazza. He heard this 
 exclamation, however, and turning round, with 
 the door-knob in his hand, he peeped through 
 the opening, shook his forefinger at her, and 
 said 
 
 " When Jessie knows her cousins as the shoe 
 knows the stocking, she will be able to tell 
 why I sighed. Ha ! ha ! ha ! Uncle Morris is a 
 funny man, is he ?" 
 
 Just then a loud voice was heard ringing 
 through the hall, and saying 
 
 " Cousin Jessie ! Cousin Jessie ! come here
 
 30 JESSIE CAftLTON. 
 
 quick ! Your ugly old dog is killing my sis- 
 ter!" 
 
 "Not quite so bad as that, 1 guess," said 
 Jessie, when she reached the front door, where 
 she saw Emily sitting on the green sward, rub- 
 bing the back of her head. Old Rover was 
 standing on the piazza, uttering a low growl at 
 Charlie, by way of warning him not to throw 
 any more stones at his dogship. 
 
 " He's an ugly monster, that he is," said the 
 boy, hurling another stone at Rover, as he 
 moved toward his mistress, and began to rub 
 his nose against her hands. 
 
 " Down, Rover !" said Jessie, patting tho 
 dog's head, and thus quieting his temper, which 
 was somewhat ruffled by the last stone, which 
 Charlie had sent right against his ribs. 
 
 " I will stone him, if I want to," growled 
 Charlie, pouting his lips, puffing out his cheeks, 
 and stamping his foot, as Guy laid his hand oil 
 his right arm. 
 
 "No, no, Charlie, you must not stone old 
 Rover. It is not kind to hurt a poor, harmless 
 dog, nor is it quite safe, either, for, you see,
 
 j: ssiE r s two COUSINS. 31 
 
 Rover has big teeth, and he may bite you if 
 you hurt him," said Guy, still holding the angry 
 boy. 
 
 " I don't care ! He hurt my sister. I'll kick 
 you if you don't let me stone him as much ns I 
 like. Let me go, you ugly fellow !" and with 
 these words, Charlie kicked and struggled with 
 such violence, that Guy could scarcely hold 
 him. 
 
 Meanwhile, Jessie, having sent old Rover to 
 his kennel, was trying to comfort Emily. The 
 whole difficulty had grown out of her attempt 
 to mount the dog's back, in defiance of Guy'8 
 advice. He told her that Rover did not like to 
 do service as a pony, and that he would certain- 
 ly throw her off if she tried to ride him. But, 
 urged on by Charlie, she had seated herself on 
 the dog, and had been thrown down just as 
 Jcs?io had been, a few days before. She was 
 not much hurt, a slight bruise on the back of 
 her head being the only damage she had sus- 
 tained. Jessie would have laughed over such a 
 trifle. But Emily was not like Jessie. She 
 had been pleasant thus far, since her co ring to
 
 32 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 Glen Morris. But now, her good-nature being 
 played out, she began to show the selfish and 
 ugly side of her character. 
 
 "Never mind that little hurt, dear Emily." 
 said Jessie, as she passed her hand lightly over 
 the bruise. " If you will go into the house with 
 me, I'll get mother to rub a little arnica upon 
 it, and that will make it well very soon." 
 
 " I won't go in ; and if your father don't have 
 that ugly dog killed, I'll go home to-morrow, 
 that- 1 will!" 
 
 "What! have Rover killed? Oh, no! Pa 
 won't do that, I'm sure," said Jessie, a little 
 startled at the idea of dear old Rover's death. 
 
 " I'll kill him !" screamed Charlie, who was 
 still a sulky prisoner in Guy's hands. 
 
 " You are a Httle fellow to play the part of a 
 butcher !" said Mr. Morris, who had now como 
 to the front of the house, and had been quietly 
 surveying the scene, for a few moments past, 
 from behind a large evergreen, unperceived by 
 all but Gny. 
 
 "I'm glad you are come, Uncle," said Guy, 
 " for I did not know what to do with this little
 
 JESSIE'S TWO COUSINS. 38 
 
 lump of spunk. I guess that Jessie is glad, too, 
 for she seem? puzzled to know what to do with 
 Emily, who is as sulky as Charlie here is 
 ipimkj." 
 
 The presence of Uncle Morris quieted Char- 
 lie, and made Emily rise from the grass. But 
 nothing that he could say, after hearing the 
 whole story, could restore them to good humor. 
 Charlie bit his thumb, and scowled ; while Emi 
 ly, pushing Jessie from her side, kept rolling 
 her pocket-handkerchief into a ball, pouted, and 
 refused to say a word, either to her uncle or 
 cousin. 
 
 In this wretched mood they went in to tea, 
 sitting at the table like two dark shadows fall- 
 ing across a room full of sunshine. Everybody 
 #as kind to them. Jessie did her utmost to 
 estore them to good humor. Uncle Morris 
 aid funny things, hoping to make them smile. 
 But it was no use. Smile they would not ; and 
 when tea was over, they both slunk away to a 
 distant part of the room, and kept up their 
 Bulks until bedtime. Even then, when Jessie 
 tried to kiss Emily, she was rudely pushed aside.
 
 34 JKSSIK CAIil.TON. 
 
 "I don't want to kiss anybody in this house," 
 muttered the ugly child ; and poor Jessie, 
 shrinking from her, went to her uncle, laid he* 
 head upon his shoulder, and wept. 
 
 "The shoe ha? begun to find holes in the 
 stocking," said Uncle Morris, passing his hand 
 over Jessie's head, with great tenderness ; " but 
 never mind, my little puss cheer up. Your 
 cousins will leave their bad tempers in the land 
 of dreams, I hope, and their good-nature will 
 return with the sun to-morrow morning. Dry 
 your eyes, my sweet Jessie, and be thankful to 
 the Father above, that your cousins cannot rob 
 you of your own sunny temper." 
 
 Jessie did dry her eyes, and looking into her 
 uncle's face, said, with a nod of her pretty 
 head, " Now I know why you sighed ; and I 
 know, too, what your proverb meant." 
 
 " "What did I sigh for, puss ?" 
 
 " Because you knew my cousins had ugly 
 tempers." 
 
 " That's so ! But the proverb V 
 
 " Meant that when I became better acquainted 
 with mv cousins, I should find out their faults.''
 
 JESSIE'S TWO COUSINS. 35 
 
 "Well done, my little puzzle-cracker. You 
 arc good at guessing. But, Jessie, what are 
 you going to do ? How will you treat your 
 aousins to-morrow ?" 
 
 Jessie held down her head awhile, as if she 
 was thinking her way through a difficult idea. 
 At last she looked up, with eyes full of tender- 
 ness, and with a voice made musical by deep 
 feeling, said : 
 
 " I will be just as kind to them as I possibly 
 can !" 
 
 " That's right, my Jessie," said her uncle, 
 folding her to his bosom and kissing her fore- 
 head, " that's right. There is nothing like 
 kindness for curing ugly children. It's the best 
 medicine in the world to give them. Give 
 it to them, Jessie, in big doses. Maybe they 
 will like it so well that they will get eared 
 of their ugliness ; for, as the proverb says,- 
 Flies are caught with syrup not with vine- 
 gar." 
 
 " Wouldn't it be nice, Uncle Morris, if we 
 could make my cousins good-natured while 
 they are here? Wouldn't Uncle Albert and
 
 30 JESSIE CARLTOV 
 
 Aunt Hannah be glad if we could send them 
 home kind, and gentle, and good ? Oh, I wish 
 I could get them to be good, as our Guy did 
 Richard Duncan. Wouldn't it be nice?" 
 
 "Try to do it, my dear. We will all help 
 you, and so will the Great Father above," said 
 Mrs. Carlton, beckoning Jessie to her side and 
 giving her a kiss so full of a mother's holy love 
 that it sent a thrill of bliss through the happy 
 heart of her child. Thus like a sunbeam did 
 Jessie brighten the life of her parents and her 
 uncle. As she left the room to go to bed, 
 Uncle Morris followed her with his eyes, and 
 when her light form had glided up-stairs, he 
 turned to his sister and said : 
 
 " That child of yours is a treasure, my sister. 
 I can't tell you how much her loving little 
 heart gladdens mine. Why, I have grown at 
 least fifteen years younger in my feelings since 
 she came to Glen Morris. Like a glorious 
 little sun, .she shines into the depths of my 
 heart, melting all the ice of age and chasing 
 away the gloom of my past sorrows." 
 
 " Yes, Jessie is a lovely child," replied Mrs.
 
 JESSIE'S TWO COUSINS. 37 
 
 Carlton. A big tear which dropped upon her 
 needle-work at that moment showed that the 
 \vords of her brother had stirred the deep loan 
 tains of love which were within her heart. 
 
 But the two ugly cousins what were they * 
 "Were they not like two black clouds freighted 
 with storms, and come to darken the light and 
 disturb the pleasure of that happy household ? 
 No wonder their sleep was troubled that night, 
 No wonder Emily awoke in a fright, caused 
 by the terrible nightmare. But Jessie's sleep 
 was sweet and sound, and when her mother 
 stood over her bed, as she always did before 
 retiring for the night, Jessie smiled so sweetly 
 in her slumber that her mother said : 
 
 " Bless her ! the smile of a seraph is on her 
 lips." 
 
 As Uncle Morris foretold, Emily and Charlio 
 left their sulks in dreamland. It would havo 
 been well if they had left the selfishness, from 
 which their conduct of the evening before 
 sprung, in the same place. But that still clung 
 to them like the leprosy, and though they wore 
 bright faces, they still carried fireworks in theb
 
 38 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 bosom, ready to explode whenever a spark 
 might happen to touch them. 
 
 Jessie greeted her cousins with gei.tle words 
 and loving kisses, just as if she had never seen 
 them in a fit of bad temper. Indeed, she made 
 no allusion whatever to the affair of the day 
 before. This silence puzzled the cousins, who 
 expected, at least, a lecture from Uncle Morris 
 and a little coldness from Jessie. I think it 
 also made them feel ashamed, for they could 
 not help saying to themselves, 
 
 u It was rather mean in us to make such 
 a fuss as we did yesterday." 
 
 Just after breakfast, while Jessie was show- 
 ing Emily her six dolls, neither of which had a 
 perfect drc?-3, for Jessie \\ever finished &ny thing, 
 and Charlie was playing with Guy's india-rub- 
 ber ball in the hall, Hugh plunged in at the 
 front door, and, rushing into the sitting-room, 
 eaid : 
 
 " Jessie, what will you give me if I tell you 
 a secret ?" 
 
 "A kiss," replied Jessie, gathering her lips 
 into the form of a rose-bud.
 
 JESSIK'S TWO cousixa. 39 
 
 " Pooh ! what's a kiss. I wouldn't give you 
 a red cent for a thousand kisses. Won't you 
 olFer me something better for my secret ?" said 
 Hugh, turning up his nose as if in scorn of 
 the proffered kiss. 
 
 " I don't believe you have any secret that we 
 care about knowing," said Jessie. Then hold- 
 ing up her best wax doll, she said to Emily, 
 " Isn't this a beauty ?" 
 
 " Yes, but why don't you coax Hugh to tell 
 us his wonderful secret ?" said Emily, who felt 
 quite curious to know what Hugh had to tell. 
 
 " Oh, he is ouly teasing us. You don't know 
 what a tease he is," replied Jessie, with an air 
 of indifference. 
 
 " No, honor bright, I'm not teasing. I have 
 u secret that would make you girls pitch your 
 dolls into next week, if you knew it," retorted 
 Hugh. 
 
 " Well, what is it ? Do tell us," said Jessie, 
 beginning to believe that he had something to 
 tell worth knowing. 
 
 " What will you give me ?" asked Hugh, still 
 bent on tantalizing the girls.
 
 40 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 "INe got nothing to give tliat you want," 
 said Jessie, and then in a coaxing tone she 
 added, " come, Hugh, do tell us, there's a good, 
 dear Hugh." 
 
 "No, you don't come it over me with soft 
 soap like that," replied the boy ; " I'm not a fly 
 to be caught with maple molasses." 
 
 "If you was my brother I'd make you tell 
 me," said Emily, her eyes sparkling with rising 
 passion as she spoke. 
 
 " You are a spunky little lady, I declare," 
 said Hugh, laughing; "but here, Jessie, sup- 
 pose you try to guess my secret. It is some- 
 thing you would give ever so much to know." 
 
 " Really, Hugh, have you a secret, truly f" 
 
 " Yes, truly. Honor bright, I tell you. It ia 
 a glorious secret. It will make you ever so 
 happy to know it." 
 
 " What is it about ? Is somebody coming 
 here ? Do tell me, Hugh." 
 
 " Catch a weasel asleep and you'll catch mo 
 answering questions. But I see you won't buy, 
 and you can't guess my secret, so I'll be off," 
 and in spite of all the entreaties of Jessie and
 
 .TESSIK'S TWO COUSINS. 41 
 
 the biting speeches which Emily made, master 
 Hugh left the room, carrying his secret with 
 him. 
 
 Jessie, sighed, and turning to her dolls, said. 
 " Hugh is a great tease, isn't he Emily?" 
 
 " He's a great ugly monster!" retorted Emily, 
 who was in the habit of using strong words, 
 without much regard to their meaning. " If he 
 was my brother he shouldn't tease me so." 
 
 " Oh, Hugh only does it for fun. He is a 
 dear good brother, after all, only," and here 
 Jessie lowered her voice almost to a whisper, 
 " only I wish he was as good as Guy." 
 
 " " For fun, eh ? I'd fan him. I'd pull his 
 hair, and hide away his books, and steal his 
 playthings, and call that fun, if he was my 
 brother," cried Emily. 
 
 " Oh, fy ! cousin Emily. That would bo 
 wicked fun, and would make both you and 
 your brother unhappy," said Guy, who had just 
 entered the room. 
 
 The girls looked on the speaker, who, before 
 Emily had time to reply, went on to say, 
 
 " Girls, Carrie Sherwood invites you to go
 
 2 JKSSIK CARLTON. 
 
 nutting with her this afternoon. Richard Dun 
 3an, Norman Butler, Adolphus Harding, Wal- 
 ter Hugh, Charlie, you two young ladies, Car- 
 i ie, and a young lady or two of her acquaintance, 
 Are t< make up the party. Carriages will sail 
 for you at one o'clock. You must get ma to 
 give you an early dinner, and be ready in time." 
 
 " That is what Hugh meant by his secret. 
 Oh, Tin so glad," said Jessie, clapping her 
 hands. " Won't it be nice, Emily ?" 
 
 Emily thought it would. The girls thanked 
 Guy for his good news, and, springing from the 
 sofa, started to inform Charlie and Mrs. Carlton 
 of the proposed party. Charlie was delighted. 
 Mrs. Carlton knew all about it, because the 
 whole matter had been quietly arranged a day 
 or two before by her and Mrs. Sherwood. Car- 
 ried away by the idea of this delightful ex- 
 cursicn, Jessie left her six dolls, with their 
 incompleted dresses, on the sofa, on the chairs, 
 and on the floor. IMPULSE, the merry little 
 wizard, had seized her, and she thought of 
 nothing but the nutting-party the remainder 
 uf the morning.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 A NUTTING-PARTY. 
 
 A FEW minutes before one o'clock, a long, 
 spring market -wagon, drawn by two noble 
 horses, stopped before the gate of Glen Morris 
 Cottage. It contained Carrie Sherwood and 
 her party, all but the Carl tons and their vis- 
 itors. Mr. Sherwood sat on the driver's seat. 
 He went with the young folks to drive, and, as 
 he quaintly said, " to see that the hawks did not 
 pounce on his chickens ;" by which figure of 
 speech, I suppose, he meant that he went to 
 keep the young folks out of danger. 
 
 Jessie and her guests, together with Hugh 
 and Guy, were all waiting when the carriage 
 drove up. Shouts of welcome greeted them 
 from the wagon. They gave back cheer for 
 cheer as they sprang to their places, all but 
 Charlie, who stood near the front wheel pout
 
 4r4 .TESSIK CARI/TON. 
 
 ing, and looking very sulky. Mr. Sherwood. 
 
 who had turned half round to watch the seating 
 
 & 
 
 of his guests, did not notice the boy, but sup- 
 posing the party to be now complete, faced hi' 
 team, drew the reins tight, flourished his whij. 
 and shouted 
 
 " All aboard 1" 
 
 " Charlie is not aboard yet," cried Emily. 
 
 " Come, Charlie ! Jump up here !" shouted 
 half a dozen voices. 
 
 " I don't want to," said Charlie, in a drawl 
 ing tone. 
 
 "Don't you wish to go, my little fellow?" 
 asked Mr. Sherwood. 
 
 " I want to sit on the coachman's seat," sim- 
 pered the boy, as he stuffed his finger into his 
 mouth. 
 
 The driver's seat was not meant for two 
 persons, and Mr. Sherwood was in doubl 
 whether to crowd Charlie into it or not. But 
 seeing from the boy's manner that he would 
 spoil the pleasure of the party if he did not, 
 and being a very indulgent man, he at last 
 consented. So. pulling him up to the foot-
 
 A NUTTINU-PARTY. 
 
 board, he stowed him away by his side, and 
 cracking his long whip, drove off amidst a vol- 
 ley of cheers from the boys, the laughter of the 
 girls, and the waving of handkerchiefs by Mrs. 
 Carlton and Uncle Morris, from the piazza. 
 
 " I want to drive !" muttered Charlie, as soon 
 is they were fairly started. 
 
 "You must eat a little more beefsteak, and 
 grow a little taller, my boy, before you under- 
 take to drive such a span as this," replied Mr, 
 Sherwood, smiling at the boy's presumption. 
 
 " I will drive !" growled Charlie, grasping 
 the reins, and giving them a jerk, which 
 startled tlifc spirited creatures into an uneasy 
 gallop. 
 
 "Whoa there, steady Kate, steady!" said 
 Mr. Sherwood, removing the boy's hands and 
 reining up his team. 
 
 After soothing his horses, and bringing them 
 to a g-entle trot again, Mr. Sherwood took his 
 reins in his right hand, and, grasping Charlie 
 with his left, suddenly jerked him over the 
 driver's seat, into the bed of the wagon, saying, 
 
 " Boys! take care of this little coachman 1"
 
 40 JEbs[E CARLTON. 
 
 TLis was not so easily done. Charlie's 
 temper was up. He tried to scramble back tc 
 Mr. Sherwood's side, but the larger boys held 
 him firmly in spite of kicks and blows which he 
 dispensed without ceremony, until, fairly tiled 
 out, he sat down on the floor of the wagon, 
 biting his thumbs and looking like a lump of ill- 
 nature. This display of ugliness spoiled the 
 pleasure of the drive. It was worse than a 
 shower of rain, for it threw a black cloud over 
 the spirits of the party, and made them all 
 unhappy. 
 
 They had not fully recovered their cheerful- 
 ness, when they came to Duncan's pond, and in 
 sight of old Joe Bunker's flagstaff, from the top 
 of which the stars and stripes proudly floated 
 in the fine breeze of that October afternoon. 
 
 "There's the bunting you gave old Mr, 
 Bunker !" observed Guy to his frier.d lliehaid. 
 
 "Yes, there it is, sure enough, and old Tim- 
 bertoe is as proud of it as a little boy is of his 
 first pair of pantaloons," said Richard, laugh- 
 ing at the oddity of his own comparison. 
 
 " Or, as Richard Duncan was, of that famous
 
 A MJTfLNG-l'AKTY. 47 
 
 ehot from Ids pea- shooter, which hit Professor 
 Nailer's long nose," said Norman Butler, 
 chuckling and rubbing his hands, at the recol- 
 lection of that exciting scene at the Academy, 
 a few months hefore. 
 
 " Or, as my sister Jessie is of her Uncle 
 Morris," said Guy. 
 
 Mr. Sherwood's loud whoa! whoa! and the 
 stopping of the horses in front of Joe Bunker's 
 barn, put an end to this series of comparisons. 
 This was the place where they wore to leave 
 the horses; for butternut -trees were quite 
 numerous in some extensive pastures which 
 were situated round the shores of Duncan's 
 pond. " Old Joe" welcomed the party, and 
 put up the horses, while the boys pulled out 
 the baskets from beneath the wagon-seats, and 
 made ready for the nutting. 
 
 But Master Charlie was not yet rid of his 
 Bulks, and would not stir from the wagon. lie 
 wanted to go home, he said ; he didn't care for 
 nuts, and would not go with his companions. 
 In vain did his sister entreat, Mr. Sherwood 
 command, and Jessie try her c< axing powera
 
 18 JES8IK CARLTON. 
 
 LITTLE WILL, the celebrated child conqueror. 
 was playing the tyrant over him : and the 
 unhappy boy gave himself up, hand and foot, to 
 his enemy. He would not quit the wagon. 
 
 " Never mind ! leave him where he is, until 
 his good-nature comes back, if he has any," 
 said Mr. Sherwood. 
 
 " I am afraid he will get into mischief after 
 we are gone, if we do that," said Guy. " Per- 
 haps I had better stay here and mind him." 
 
 " You shall do no such thing with my con- 
 sent, Guy. Go with the rest, and I'll put this 
 cross urchin in charge of Mr. Bunker," replied 
 Mr. Sherwood. Then turning to the old sailor, 
 he added ; 
 
 " Look here, Mr. Bunker ! We have a little 
 bear in our wagon, that don't seem to like nuts. 
 Will you keep your eye on him while we go 
 into the pastures ?" 
 
 "Ay, ay, Sir," said Old Joe, giving his 
 waistband a hitch. " I'll keep a bright lookout 
 for him." 
 
 Leaving Charlie under the old sailor's care, 
 the party now ^set out in search of nuts.
 
 * NUTTING-PARTY. 4:9 
 
 uaugnter and pleasant words beguiled both 
 time and distance, and for the next two hours 
 they wandered over the pastures, and picked 
 up an abundance of butternuts, which several 
 pretty hard frosts, followed by strong breezes, 
 had scattered plentifully on the ground, or pre- 
 pared to fall quite readily from the trees. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon, the party 
 separated into little groups, and when it was 
 nearly time to return to the wagon, it happened 
 that Jessie and her cousin, lured by the sight of 
 a large butternut-tree in the distance, found 
 themselves apart from all the rest. Near the 
 tree was an old stone-quarry, with numerous 
 lakelets in the hollows from which the stone 
 had been removed. Emily stepped into the 
 quarry, and looked all around. The lakelets, 
 swept by the light breeze, charmed her eye, 
 and turning to her cousin, she cried : 
 
 " Jessie, come here ! Here are some tiny 
 ponds. Come look at them !" 
 
 Jessie joined Emily, and together the little 
 girls stepped over the uneven rocks until they 
 
 reached one of the lakelets. There they launch- 
 4
 
 50 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 ed small pieces of wood, called them ships, and 
 etood watching their mimic fleet in great glee. 
 
 After spending some time in- this way, they 
 heard the voice of Guy calling : 
 
 "Halloo! Halloo! Jessie! Emily! Hal- 
 loo! Halloo!" 
 
 "We must go," said Jessie, "I guess they 
 are going back to the wagon." 
 
 "No, don't go," replied Emily. "Let us 
 frighten them a little just a little, by making 
 them think we are lost." 
 
 ""Wouldn't it be funny!" said Jessie, clap- 
 ping her hands, and feeling charmed with the 
 idea of getting up an excitement among her 
 companions. IMPULSE, the little wizard, had 
 followed her, even into that old quarry ! 
 
 " It will be first-rate fun," said Emily. 
 "How they will search for us! It will be a 
 {rood as a game of hide and seek." 
 
 "Halloo! Halloo! Jessie! Emily! It's 
 time to go home! Halloo-o!" shouted Guy 
 again from the pasture. The wind being fair, 
 his words were heard quite distinctly by the 
 two girls.
 
 JESSIE AND EMILY SAILING BOATS IN TIIK QUARRY. Page 51.
 
 A NUTTING-PARTY. 53 
 
 "There is a little cave just big enough to hide 
 in," said Emily pointing to an excavation in the 
 highest wall of the quarry. " Let us go into .it !" 
 
 Still yielding to the voice of the little wizard, 
 and thinking only of the excitement which was 
 to follow the supposition she was lost, Jessie 
 followed her cousin into what she called " a 
 cave." There was water at the bottom, but 
 a flat piece of rock rising above the water 
 enabled them to get to the back part of their 
 " cave," where they were pretty well concealed 
 From view. 
 
 Again the voice of Guy shouted Jessie's name. 
 This was now followed by a chorus of voices, 
 all calling 
 
 " Halloo ! halloo ! halloo-oo-oo !" 
 
 The voices drew nearer and nearer, until the 
 callers stood on the edge of the quarry. 
 
 "Where can they be! I'm afraid they are 
 lost! Oh, dear, what will mother say, if we 
 have to go h )ine without them !" said Guy, 
 distinctly enough for Jessie to hear. 
 
 " Perhaps they have fallen into some old 
 well," suggested Norman.
 
 54 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 " 1 think not," said Mr. Sherwood. " 1 doubt 
 if there is an old well in all these pastures. 
 They have most likely wandered back towards 
 the pond/' 
 
 " I don't see how that can be," rejoined 
 
 " for I saw them running in this direct^! half 
 an hour ago. Besides, we found their basket 
 under that tree, and they would not have gone 
 to the pond without telling some of us to bring 
 their basket." 
 
 "There's no telling what silly things girls 
 will do. I guess they are gone to the pond. 
 Suppose we go and see." 
 
 This was Hugh's voice, and as no one pro- 
 posed any thing else, the party left the quarry, 
 and, hallooing as they went, directed their steps 
 towards the pond. 
 
 " Let us run after them !" said Jessie, who 
 n >w began to feel as if she had carried the joke 
 far enough. 
 
 'Hush! you little coward," said Emily, pla- 
 cing her hand over Jessie's mouth. " They 
 aren't half frightened enough about us yet." 
 
 Jessie tried to get her mouth away from, hei
 
 A NUTTING-PAKTY. 55 
 
 cousin's hand. In doing so she stepped back- 
 wards, and, losing her balance, fell with a splash 
 into the water. 
 
 " Oh !" cried she, in a great fright. 13 nt the 
 water was not deep, and the side of the " cave " 
 kept her from falling entirely down. Hence, a 
 thorough fright and wet feet and dress were the 
 only evil results of her misstep. 
 
 " Pooh ! what a silly little goose you are," 
 said Emily, in a taunting tone of voice. "If 
 you had done as I told you, you wouldn't have 
 got that wetting." 
 
 " I'm afraid I have done too much as you told 
 me already," replied Jessie, crying, " and now 
 I'm going right after our party, as fast as I can." 
 
 With these words Jessie stepped out of the 
 cave, tripped across the quarry, and ran out 
 into the open pasture ; Emily, not liking to 
 play "lost child" all alone, followed her. 13ut 
 their party was no longer either in sight or 
 within hearing, for an elevation in the ground 
 rose between them and the two girls. 
 
 " Guy ! Hugh ! Richard ! here we are !" 
 Bcreamed Jessie, at the top of her voice.
 
 56 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 Yainly did she scream, however. The wind 
 blew the sounds back upon herself, and she 
 began to run in the direction of the pond. 
 
 "Don't be in such a hurry," said Emily, 
 hanging back. 
 
 " We must hurry," replied Jessie, " or we 
 shall be really lost. See, it's almost sundown ! 
 And it is so damp and chilly that I am shiver- 
 ing with cold. Come, Emily, do make haste, 
 there's a dear, good cousin." 
 
 " If I am your dear, good cousin, you won't 
 drive off and leave me," retorted Emily, still 
 lingering and moving only at a snail's pace. 
 
 " Oh dear ! what shall I do !" exclaimed 
 Jessie, looking very wretched, and she cer- 
 tainly felt as unhappy as she looked. 
 
 "Wait for me!" said Emily, "that's what 
 you ought to do !" 
 
 Thus urging her stubborn cousin, Jessie 
 pressed forward as fast as she could get her 
 companion along. 
 
 Meanwhile the rest of the party had hastened 
 towards Joe Banker's stand. On their arrival 
 they found the old sailor at tea in his little
 
 A NUTTING-PARTY. 57 
 
 cottage. Rushing somewhat wildly into the 
 room, Guy said, 
 
 " Mr. Bunker, have you seen my sister since 
 we left?" 
 
 "Your sister, skipper?" said the old salt 
 " Shiver my topsails if I've seen any thing in 
 the shape of a gal, except this old craft of mine 
 here, since you all left your wagon early this 
 afternoon." 
 
 " Then she and her cousin are lost" said 
 Guy, driving his hands deep down into his 
 pockets, casting his eyes to the ground, knitting 
 his brows, and walking out into the open air 
 again. 
 
 " Are they there ?" " Has the old cove seen 
 them?" "What does old Timbertoe say?" 
 with half a dozen other questions, greeted Guy 
 as he crossed the threshold. 
 
 " Hasn't seen their shadow. They must bo 
 I jst," replied Guy, doggedly. 
 
 " Is that spunky little Canada thistle you call 
 Charlie in the house ?" inquired Mr. Sherwood. 
 
 " I didn't see him. Isn't he in the wagon?" 
 
 " No sign of him that I can see," replied Mr.
 
 5* JESSIK CARLTON. 
 
 Sherwood ; " but here's Mr. Bunker Mr. Bun- 
 ker, where is the little boy we left in your 
 care ?" 
 
 " I left him making sand-cakes down on the 
 !>each a few minutes ago," said old Joe. 
 
 All eyes were now turned to the beach, but 
 no Charlie was to be seen. Old Joe looked 
 uneasy as his eye swept the shore. Very soon 
 he gave his waistband an unusual hitch, brought 
 down his wooden leg with great force, and 
 said : 
 
 " As sure as my name's Joe Bunker, the 
 little fellow is gone on a cruise in the Little 
 Susan !" 
 
 "Gone on a cruise? What, alone?" asked 
 Mr. Sherwood, looking a little pale. 
 
 " Yes, alone, or I'm no sailor." 
 
 Down to the shore of the pond they hurried. 
 Sure enough, the Little Susan was gone. Char- 
 lie, m opposition to Mr. Bunker's command, 
 had gone aboard and, sitting amidships, had 
 rocked her to and fro until her painter had got 
 loose, and the wind, which blew off shore, had 
 drifted the boat out on to the pond, where she
 
 A NUTTING-PARTY. 5S 
 
 was now visible, with Charlie's head just above 
 the bulwarks, steadily setting down towards a 
 a point about a mile distant. 
 
 u To the Point ! Make for ' Long Point !' ' 
 shouted old Joe. 
 
 Away ran the boys, with old Joe hobbling 
 after them, Guy only remaining behind with the 
 girls and Mr. Sherwood. Charlie's danger had 
 for the moment driven all thought of Jessie and 
 Emily from their minds. \ Now, however, they 
 began to consider what was to be done to 
 recover the lost cousins. 
 
 " I see them !" shouted Guy, pointing to the 
 bill-top in the distance, and starting to meet 
 them. They were just visible in the distance. 
 He soon reached them, very much to Jessie's 
 relief. Tenderly kissing her he said 
 
 " Where have you been, Jessie ?" 
 
 " We missed our way, and got lost in the 
 woods behind that horrid quarry !" said Emily. 
 " It's a wonder we ever found the way back 
 again.' 1 
 
 " Oh, fy " cried Jessie. She would hava 
 eaid more, and have contradicted this wretched
 
 60 JESSIK CARLTON. 
 
 lie, but Emily put her hand before her moutli 
 while she poured a long story of pretended ad- 
 ventures into Guy's ears. Jessie was shocked 
 She thought of her uncle's sigh, and of his 
 quaint proverb, and was silent. 
 
 It was fairly dark when the Little Susan, 
 steered by Joe Bunker, with Charlie and the 
 other boys on board, touched her dock. The 
 horses being by this time harnessed to the 
 wagon, the party with their freight of nuts, 
 were soon rolling homewards. Yery little was 
 said, after Emily, interrupted by frequent 
 " ohs !" from Jessie, had repeated her lie about 
 losing their way. All felt that the pleasure of 
 the occasion had been greatly marred by Char- 
 lie's conduct ; and in spite of Emily's lie and 
 Jessie's silence, they also felt that if Jessie 
 should speak she would make it appear that 
 Emily's story was not exactly true. But the 
 reader knows that all the shadows which fell 
 upon that excursion came from the selfishness 
 of the two visitors from Morristown.
 
 CIIAPTEK IV. 
 
 JESSIE'S GRKAT SORROW. 
 
 AT the tea-table Emily told a long story about 
 herself and Jessie wandering away into the 
 woods, and getting sadly frightened. She was 
 very animated, and, but for Jessie's sad face, 
 and her occasional look of surprise, might have 
 made herself believed. But that grave face, so 
 unusual to his darling Jessie, told Uncle Morris 
 that Emily was palming off a falsehood upon 
 them. Guy also was sure she was telling a lie. 
 When she had finished her story, he said, 
 
 " But did you not hear us shout and halloo ?" 
 
 "No, indeed. If we had, we could havo 
 easily answered back," said the lying child. 
 
 " O Emily !" groaned Jessie. 
 
 " "We shouted like one o'clock !" said Hugh. 
 
 " Pray tell us, Master Hugh, what shouting 
 like one o'clock means?" asked Uncle Morris,
 
 j'A JKSSIE CAELTON. 
 
 who had a very great dislike to unmeaning 
 phrases. 
 
 "Well, very loud, then," replied Hugh, 
 blushing. 
 
 " But you didn't shout loud enough for us to 
 hear," said Emily, secretly pinching Jessie, by 
 way of imposing silence upon her. 
 
 " It's very strange," said Guy. " It was certain- 
 ly not more than ten minutes from the time we 
 left the quarry, before we saw you coming over 
 the top of the hill in the pasture, so that you 
 could not have been very far in the woods 
 when we were shouting like like " 
 
 " Like boys in search of two young ladies sup- 
 posed to be lost or hidden" said Uncle Morris, 
 helping Guy to a comparison, and at the same 
 time hinting his suspicions of the truth in the 
 case. 
 
 Jessie blushed deeply and was about to 
 speak, when Emily, growing fiery red with 
 anger, said : 
 
 " Well, if you don't choose to believe me, you 
 needn't, but I don't think it's very polite to talk 
 to me as if you thought I was telling you a lie."
 
 JESSIE'S GREAT SORROW. 6? 
 
 Seeing that her young guest was fast losing 
 her temper, and that Master Charlie was nod- 
 ding over his empty plate and tea-cup, Mrs. 
 Carlton rose from the tea-table, and addressing 
 the two girls, said : 
 
 "' Perhaps, as you are wearied with your 
 excursion, my dears, you had better retire now, 
 and finish your talk about it to-morrow, when 
 you are rested. Come, Charlie, open your eyes 
 and go to bed !" 
 
 " Let me alone !" growled the drowsy boy, 
 as his aunt took his hand to lift him from his 
 chair, and lead him from the room. 
 
 Jessie sighed, and looked as if she too had a 
 story to tell when she kissed her Uncle Morris 
 good-night. The old gentleman returned her 
 kiss very affectionately, and whispered, 
 
 '' Jessie, you make me think of the proverb 
 which says, The day that the little chicken h 
 pleased, is the very day that the hawk takes hold 
 of him. Good night, dear!" 
 
 Jessie was puzzled, and all the way up-staira 
 kept saying to herself, "What can Uncle 
 Morris mean ? what can Uncle Morris mean ?"
 
 64 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 And while undressing she said still to herself, 
 "I can't be the chicken, because I'm not 
 pleased but stop Yes, I was pleased this 
 raorning. Perhaps, then, Fm the chicken. 
 And the hawk must be well it must be 
 Emily ! Ah ! I see now. He thinks Emily 
 has made me do some wrong to-day. And 
 he is right too. It was wrong to hide 
 away in the quarry. It was worse to pre- 
 tend not to hear when the boys called us. 
 That was acting a lie. And it was wrong for 
 me to keep still when Emily made up that 
 wicked story about our getting lost. Oh dear ! 
 Oh dear ! How sorry I am ! I wish I hadn't 
 hid away in the quarry !" 
 
 " "What makes you look so glum, Miss 
 Solemn Face?" asked Emily, who, without 
 kneeling down to say her evening prayer, was 
 getting ready for bed as fast as her nimble 
 fingers could move. 
 
 "I am thinking that I did wrong to-day, 
 replied Jessie, sighing deeply and standing 
 motionless in the middle of the chamber. 
 
 " Fig's end ! I never knew such a girl as you
 
 JESSIE'S GRKAT SORROW. 65 
 
 arc. Wrong indeed! Just as if it was -wrong 
 to have a little fun," replied Emily, sneering. 
 
 " Fun is not wrong ; but it was wrong to 
 alarm Mr. Sherwood and the boys, about our 
 safety. I know they felt very bad when they 
 thought we were lost. It was wrong, too, for us 
 to pretend not to hear when they called us. 
 That was acting a lie. And oh, Emily ! how 
 you make up that wicked story, about 
 
 our getting lost in the woods !" 
 
 Jessie spoke with such deep and solemn 
 feeling, that Emily's conscience was touched. 
 A slight shudder passed over her as she buried 
 her head in the pillow, and drew the bed-cover 
 close to her face. Her voice was a little husky, 
 too, when she replied : 
 
 "You are too fussy, by half, Jessie. Good- 
 night!" 
 
 "Good-night!" said Jessie; and then drop- 
 ping to her knees, beside the big arm-chair, the 
 well -taught child began to think over the events 
 of the afternoon. The longer she thought, the 
 more guilty she felt. She could not say her 
 prayers, because her sin rose before her mind
 
 6 ft JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 like a great, black cloud. At last, she began tc 
 weep and sob, saying in half-audible whispers: 
 
 * I'm so sorry ! I'm so sorry ! I wish 1 
 hadn't made believe I didn't hear! Oh dear! 
 oh dear ! what shall I do ?" 
 
 Emiiy got up a mock snore, by way of say- 
 ing, " I'm asleep, and don't know but that you 
 are asleep too." But she was not asleep, nor 
 did she feel like sleeping in the least. In fact, 
 she kept peeping over her pillow at Jessie, and 
 wondering why she felt so bad, until a voice 
 within her, whispered : 
 
 " If Jessie feels bad for yielding to your 
 wishes, how ought you to feel, who led her 
 astray, and who told such a shocking lie to 
 hide your fault ? Emily Morris ! Emily Mor- 
 ris ! You are a wicked girl !" 
 
 Jessie now rose from her knees, bathed in 
 (cars. Wrapping herself in a dressing-gown, 
 she took the lamp in her hand, left the room, 
 and went, with slow and heavy steps, down 
 stairs. Leaving her lamp on the hall-table, sho 
 went into the parlor. Every eye was lifted 
 towards her, with inquiring glances. She went
 
 JESSIE'S GREAT SOKKOW. 67 
 
 directly to that sweetest of all earthly nestling- 
 places for a child in sorrow, her mother's arms, 
 and whispered : 
 
 "O mother! I've been a naughty girl to 
 day!" 
 
 Mrs. Carlton drew her closer to her heart, 
 kissed her with great tenderness, and said : 
 
 " "What has my child done ?" 
 
 Jessie wept violently, and was silent, for her 
 heart was too full of emotion, to coin its 
 thoughts into words. Mrs. Carlton, like a 
 sensible mother, said nothing until the floods of 
 Jessie's grief passed away. Then smoothing 
 her head with her hand, she spoke in tones, so 
 soft and lute-like, that they sounded like sweet 
 music in Jessie's ears, and said : 
 
 "Tell me, my dear, what troubles you so 
 much ?" 
 
 Thus soothed, Jessie raised her head, and 
 said : 
 
 " I want Pa and Uncle Morris to hear, too." 
 
 Mr. Carlion laid aside his book, smiled, and 
 said: 
 
 "I'm all attention, Jessie." 
 5
 
 68 JESSIE CAEI/rON. 
 
 Uncle Morris drew his chair close to Jessie, 
 patted her head, and said : 
 
 "That's right, my little puss, make a clean 
 breast of it. Confession is the pipe through 
 which the great Father conducts the guilt of 
 his little ones, when, for his Son's sake, he 
 buries it in the fountain of forgetfulness." 
 
 Thus encouraged, Jessie gave a full account 
 of how she came to hide in the -little cave with 
 Emily. When she had finished her story, Uncle 
 Morris said 
 
 " Ah, I see, the little wizard has been busy 
 again. I'm sure it was he who helped Emily 
 to tempt my little puss. An impulse acted 
 upon you, Jessie, and, without thinking, you 
 hid in the cave, which was not a very grave 
 fa .lit in itself; but, as most little faults will do, 
 it led you to commit a really serious evil; aa 
 you say, by pretending not to hear yourself 
 called, you acted a lie, which was a sin against 
 God. You also filled your party with alarjn 
 about you, which gave them great pain of 
 mind. That was an offence against them, be- 
 cause it was your duty to do all in your power
 
 JESSIE'S GREAT SORROW. 69 
 
 to afford them pleasure. The hawk did, in- 
 deed, catch my chicken on the day that she 
 was pleased. Do you understand my proverb, 
 no\v, Jessie?" 
 
 "Yes, Uncle, but what shall I do?" 
 u Do, my child ? There is only one way by 
 which any of us can escape from the chains oi 
 evil. Confess your sin to God, ask his forgive- 
 ness for the Great Shepherd's sake, and ap- 
 pologize to your friends for giving them 
 pain." 
 
 Jessie said she would do both of these things. 
 Then her heart turned to her cousin, and she 
 said 
 
 " But what shall I say to Emily ?" 
 " Just tell her your own thoughts and feel- 
 ings about the matter, my child. Maybe, ehe 
 will be led to see the wrong of her own con- 
 duct, and you may yet be to her what your 
 bi other Guy has been to Richard Duncan." 
 
 After making this remark Uncle Morris took 
 the old Family Bible and read a psalm of peni- 
 tence. Then he and the family kneeled down 
 to pray. The dear old man seemed to speak
 
 70 JESSIE CAULTON. 
 
 right to the Good Father in behalf of his sorrow- 
 
 c5 
 
 fill little niece. And while he pleaded the love 
 of the great Shepherd for his precious lambs, 
 .Jesiiie felt as if a heavy burden rolled away 
 from her heart, the big black cloud passed from 
 before her eyes, and the sweet springs of joy 
 and gladness once more poured their streama 
 over her happy spirit. 
 
 With a light step, Jessie tripped back to her 
 chamber. Emily was still awake. Thoughts 
 such as she had never cherished before were 
 rushing through her brain and burning in her 
 heart. She was strongly inclined to speak to 
 Jessie. But pride set a seal upon her lips, and 
 she kept her eyes closed in simulated sleep. 
 As for Jessie, after whispering a prayer for 
 Emily and a song of praise for herself, she laid 
 down beside her cousin and slept as sweetly as 
 a fairy in a blue-bell, or as a weary angel might 
 slumber in one of the brio-ht bowers of Para- 
 
 O 
 
 dise. You may be sure her dreamland was 
 filled with images of love and beauty. 
 
 The next morning Jessie awoke wondering 
 how Emily would feel about the events of the
 
 JESSIE'S GREAT SORROW. 7) 
 
 day before. Finding her cousin was also 
 awake, she said 
 
 " Emily !" 
 
 "Good morning, Jessie," replied Emily, sit 
 ting up in the bed and looking full in Jessie's 
 face. " I hope you feel more cheery than you 
 did last night.''* 
 
 " I am very happy this morning," replied 
 Jessie, her eyes sparkling with delight as she 
 spoke. "Shall I tell you how I came to be 
 
 BO?" 
 
 "As you please!" said Emily, shrinking 
 from Jessie's proposal as if she feared her story 
 might bring back the guilty feeling of the night 
 previous. 
 
 Jessie told her cousin just what she had felt, 
 
 her sorrow had been rolled away. She did this 
 so simply, so sweetly, and so kindly, that Emily 
 blushed, and the, big tears stood like dew-drops 
 on her eyelashes. Jessie had found the way to 
 her cousin's heart. 
 
 But when she urged her to confess her faults 
 and to join her in a note of apology to the Sher-
 
 T2 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 woods, tlie pride of Emily's heart rose within 
 her, and dashing away her tears, she said 
 " Apologize, indeed ! I won't do it !" 
 J list then the ringing of the first breakfast-bell 
 warned them that it was time to rise. The}' 
 did so ; and Jessie, seeing that her cousin did not 
 wish to talk any more, dressed herself in silence. 
 After breakfast Jessie went to her writing- 
 desk, and wrote notes to the members of the 
 nutting-party. These notes were all alike ex- 
 cept in their different addresses. Here is a 
 copy of the one for Mr. Sherman. 
 
 GLEN- Mouius COTTAGE, October 25, 18 
 
 DEAK SIR 
 
 When you thought I was lost 
 
 yesterday, I was hiding with my cousin in a 
 little cave in the stone quarry. I only did is 
 for fun. If I had thought my hiding thero 
 would make you feel bad and spoil the pleasure 
 of our nutting-party, I would not have done it. 
 I am sorry I did it. Will you, and Walter, and 
 Carrie, please excuse my fault ? 
 
 Truly Yours, 
 
 JESSIE CABLTON. 
 
 Ma. WALTEB SHEEWOOD, SEN.
 
 JESSIE'S GREAT SORROW. 73 
 
 When Jessie read one of her notes to Uncle 
 Morris, the good old man patted her head, and 
 
 " Nobly and sweetly written, my little puss 
 Never forget that next to avoiding a fault, the 
 noblest and most honorable thing you can do, 
 is to confess it and apologize for it. Still, I hope 
 you may never have need to write such a note 
 again." 
 
 Having finished and sealed her notes, Jessie 
 placed them carefully in the bottom of her 
 work-basket, intending to ask Hugh to deliver 
 them for her on his way to school in the after- 
 noon. 
 
 It was Mrs. Carlton's wish that during her 
 cousin's visit, her daughter should spend part 
 of every morning, sewing and reading. Hence, 
 after the notes were nicely put away, Jessie 
 .took out her famous piece of patchwork, and 
 began sewing. She laughed heartily as she did 
 so this morning, because she found pieces oi 
 paper pinned to the articles intended for Uncle 
 Morris with these words written on them in 
 large letters
 
 74 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 "Beware of the devices of the little wiz- 
 ard!" 
 
 "Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed she. "Won't J 
 beware ? I'll sew, let me see ; well, I'll sew a 
 
 
 
 strip long enough to go once around my quilt 
 before I stir, let the little wizard say what he 
 will." 
 
 Stitch, stitch, stitch, went Jessie's bright, 
 swift, little needle for the next half-hour. Then 
 her two cousins bounced into the room, shout- 
 ing 
 
 "O Jessie, come and see! There is one of 
 the funniest little men out here you ever did 
 see. He's got no neck, and he wears tho 
 queerest sort of a hat! He's playing on tho 
 bagpipe. Come, just a minute." 
 
 "Beware of the devices of the little wiz- 
 ard!" said the writing on the patchwork. It 
 caught Jessie's eye just as she was going 
 to drop her work and run out to see the 
 funny little man. She felt as if something 
 was twinging her heart, but remembering 
 her purpose, she brought her work to her side, 
 and said
 
 JESSIE'S GREAT SOKBOW. 75 
 
 " I tliank yon, cousins, but you must excuse 
 me until I've finished my sewing." 
 
 "What a cross thing she is!" said Charlie, 
 bouncing out of the room. 
 
 "Do come, just for a minute, that's all, 
 cons!: Jessie," said Emily in her most coaxing 
 tones. 
 
 Charlie's words wounded Jessie more than 
 Emily's soothed her. Unwilling to be thought 
 cross, she dropped her work "just for a min- 
 ute," and went out. The queer little man ex- 
 cited her mirth greatly, and she soon forgot all 
 about her patchwork. When the little pipe- 
 player moved off, Emily said 
 
 " Let us follow him up to Carrie Sherwood's. 
 Won't she be tickled to see him ?" 
 
 " Yes, do," said Charlie, "and I won't call 
 you cross, Jessie, any more." 
 
 " We mustn't stay long, then," replied Jessiu 
 reluctantly, for a thought of her sewing flashed 
 across her brain. 
 
 " Of course, we won't," said Emily, aa 
 she took her cousin by the hand and led 
 her away. " We will only stay long enough
 
 T6 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 to see Carrie laugh at the queer little 
 man." 
 
 They went to Carrie Sherwood's, and there 
 they stayed until Walter's return from school 
 warned Jessie that it was nearly dinner-time. 
 As she re-entered the parlor she saw Undo 
 Morris point to her work lying as she left it on 
 the floor, and heard him say 
 
 " The little wizard has been here again, I see. 
 this morning. How fond he is of Glen Morris 
 Cottage." 
 
 Jessie blushed, ran to her Uncle's side, hid 
 her face in his bosom, and whispered 
 
 " O Uncle, I never shall conquer that little 
 wizard. He is too strong for me." 
 
 " Never despair ! my little puss. Try and 
 try again. Make a new resolve, and I'll war- 
 rant you that the wizard will find Glen Morris 
 Cottage too hot to hold him one of these days, 
 and then he'll be off to the North Pole to keep 
 cool, -and perhaps to marry Miss Persever- 
 ance I" 
 
 Jessie laughed at this conceit of her uncle's, 
 and said
 
 JESSIE'S GREAT SORROW. 77 
 
 " Uncle, I will try again, and I'll try real 
 hard next time." 
 
 "Nobly spoken, my little lady," rejoined Mr, 
 Moms. "Perseverance conquers all things. 
 It has won victories for warriors; freedom for 
 oppressed nations ; and self-conquest for mil- 
 lions of men, women, and children. Hold on 
 to your purpose then, my Jessie, and you will 
 yet be crowned as the conqueror of yom 
 troublesome little enemy !" 
 
 Jessie sighed, and looked as if she wished the 
 last battle had been fought, and the crown 
 already placed on her brow. 
 
 Poor Jessie ! she is not the first miss who has 
 found it hard work to overcome Little Impulse, 
 the wizard.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BROKEN MIRROR. 
 
 WHEN Jessie saw Hugh getting ready to go 
 to school, after dinner, she thought of her notes 
 which were still lying very snugly in her work- 
 basket. There were four of them : one for 
 Mr. Sherwood, one for Richard Duncan, one 
 for Adolphus Harding, and one for Norman 
 Butler. Taking them from beneath her work- 
 ing materials, she held them up, and turn- 
 ing to Hugh, who was on his way to the door, 
 said 
 
 " Hugh, I want you to do me a little favor !" 
 
 " I dare say. You girls are always asking 
 favors. But what now ?" 
 
 " Not much, Hugh, I only want you to tako 
 these notes for me." 
 
 "Notes, eh?" saij Hugh, taking the neatlj 
 folded letters in his hand, and reading the ad
 
 THE. BROKEN MIRROR. 79 
 
 dresses. After reading them all aloud, he 
 placed them in a pack and added. " Pretty 
 business, I think, for a young lady like you to 
 bo writing to the boys ? Oh, for shame, Jessie 
 Carl ton ! 1 thought you were too nodest to do 
 that !" 
 
 " There's nothing improper in my notes, mas- 
 ter Hugh ! Uncle Morris read one of them, and 
 he says they are very sweet and proper. Will 
 you please take them for me ?" 
 
 " Yes, if you will pay me the postage on 
 them. You know that Uncle Sam gets his pay 
 beforehand, and I must have mine. So hand 
 me over twelve cents, and I'll carry your notes. 
 Come, be quick ! Hand over your money ! It 
 is time I was gone." 
 
 " O Hugh, don't tease so," said Jessie. 
 
 " Do you call it teasing to ask for your pay 
 when you are going to work for an} body !" 
 asked Hugh, with a very tantalizing air. 
 
 Just then Guy passed through the parlor, 
 and seeing that Jessie was getting tired with 
 her vexatious brother, he asked what was the 
 matter. She told him. He took the notes
 
 SO JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 from Hugh, who was only too glad to give 
 them up, and said 
 
 " I'll take them for you, Jessie." 
 
 " You are a dear, good brother, and I love 
 you ever so much," said Jessie, holding up her 
 lips for a kiss. 
 
 Guy kissed his sister and hurried away to 
 school, happy in the thought that he was con- 
 tributing to her pleasure, while Hugh went out 
 with a cold, uneasy heart, and murmuring to 
 himself 
 
 " I don't see why I should wait all the time 
 on Miss Jessie ; she's big enough to carry her 
 own letters." 
 
 Could Hugh have exchanged feelings with 
 Guy, he would have learned that little acts of 
 love and kindness bring rich returns into the 
 hearts of those who perform them ; and then, 
 perhaps, he would have seen at least one reason 
 why he should "wait all the time on Miss 
 Jessie." 
 
 It happened that afternoon to blow up cold 
 and rainy, so that Jessie and her young guests 
 could not play out of doors. The bright fire in
 
 THE BROKEN MIRROR. 83 
 
 the grate tempted them into the parlor, where 
 they amused themselves in various ways. At 
 last wearied with quiet games, master Charlie 
 said 
 
 "Let us play blind-man's-buff?" 
 
 " Oh yes, do, Jessie ! It's such good fuu," 
 said Emily. 
 
 " I like it first rate," said Jessie. " Who will 
 be blind-man first ?" 
 
 " I will," said Emily, in a very positive tone 
 of voice. 
 
 " No, you won't, either, I shall be blind-man 
 first," said Charlie. 
 
 " "Well, I say you sharft. There now !" cried 
 Emily, stamping the floor with her little foot. 
 
 "But I tell you I will /" retorted Charlie 
 with anger. 
 
 "Hush ! Charlie dear," said Jessie, in sooth- 
 ing tones. " Let Emily be blind-man first, for, 
 you know, polite boys always give w r ay to 
 young ladies." 
 
 " Well, I won't, I don't want to be polite, I 
 want to be blind-man first, and I WILL," re- 
 joined Charlie, as the fire flashed from his eyes.
 
 H2 JESSIE CARLTOX. 
 
 "Then 1 won't play at all," said Emily, go- 
 ing to an ottoman and seating herself in a very 
 sulky mood. 
 
 Tims did these unamiable cousins spoil theii 
 own p'easure, and give pain to Jessie by their 
 eelfidi quarrel. In vain did she try to soothe 
 and coax them into good-nature for some time. 
 At last, tired of the attempt, she rose up, and 
 Baid 
 
 "Well, if you won't play, I'll go into the 
 library and have a good talk with my Uncle 
 Morris." 
 
 This movement made Emily feel slightly 
 ashamed of herself. She was unwilling, too, to 
 be left alone with her brother. So she jumped 
 up, and with a forced smile, said 
 
 " Don't go, Jessie, I'll let Charlie be blind- 
 man." 
 
 "I've a great mind not to play with you a\ 
 all now," growled Charlie. 
 
 '' Oh yes, do, there's a dear, good Charlie," 
 said Jessie, as she approached him, " See ! here 
 is the handkerchief, kt me tie it over your eyes 
 BO that you won't be able to see the least bit of
 
 THE BROKEN MIRROR. 83 
 
 a mite ! I don't think you will be able to catch 
 ine before tea-time." 
 
 This challenge did more to dri^e the sulks out 
 of Charlie than the coaxing. Charles held his 
 head forward to be bound, while he replied 
 
 " Can't I catch you ! I'll bet a dollar I catch 
 you in less than five minutes !" 
 
 " Young ladies don't bet, and Uncle Morris 
 says that boys shouldn't, because it's wicked,'' 
 said Jessie, while she busied herself tying the 
 handkerchief. When the knot was fast, she 
 said 
 
 " Now let us see how skilful my cousin 
 Charlie can be!" 
 
 Up jumped Charlie, spreading out his arms, 
 a^d darting now this way and then that, as the 
 steps and voices of the girls led him round the 
 room. Merrily rang out the laugh of Jessie, 
 and the ohs and ahs of her cousin, as they 
 bounded past Charlie, run round him, or darted 
 out of the reach of his nimble fingers. So spry 
 were they, that ten minutes elapsed and the 
 blinded boy had not caught either of them. 
 At last, he followed them close to one end ol 
 6
 
 84 JESSIE CARLrON. 
 
 the parlor until lie found himself clasping the 
 large mirror which reached almost to the floor. 
 Stepping back he tripped over a low ottoman, 
 fell backwards, and bumped his head. Half i .. 
 vexation, and half in sport he threw up hia 
 heels, and just as Jessie cried, " Mind the glasn, 
 Charlie !" brought down his legs with a crash 
 on the surface of the mirror. 
 
 " Oh dear ! He has broken the big mirror !" 
 cried Jessie, in great distress. " What will my 
 father say !" 
 
 " Keep still, you stupid, mischievous boy !" 
 said Emily as she tried to pull the bandage 
 from Charlie's eyes. 
 
 "I couldn't help it!" said he, as rising to his 
 feet, and rubbing his eyes, he stood staring on 
 the ruin his feet had wrought on the lower half 
 rf the mirror. 
 
 " My pa paid a good deal of money for that 
 mirror," said Jessie, " and he will be very 
 angry with us, when he comes home to-night. 
 I'm so sorry." 
 
 "That's just like you, you stupid littlo 
 monkey," said Emily, shaking Charlie some-
 
 THE BROKFN MTRKOR. 85 
 
 what rudely by the shoulder. " You are 
 always doing some outrageous thing or anoth- 
 er!" 
 
 "I couldn't help it! Let me alone!" mut- 
 k-red Charlie, shaking his sister's hand from his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " You could help it," replied Emily. 
 
 " There, take that !" said Charlie, striking his 
 sister a heavy blow on the shoulder with his 
 fist 
 
 Emily was about to strike back, but Jessie 
 stepped between them, and separating them, 
 said : 
 
 " O Emily ! don't strike your brother ! It's 
 to wicked, you know, for brothers and sisters to 
 fight." Then turning to Charlie, she added, 
 " Don't you know how mean it is for a boy to 
 strike a girl ? Boys should protect girls, and 
 not beat them. If you hit Emily again, I shall 
 ,, not be able to love you any more." 
 
 Charlie turned away, and seating himself in 
 a chair, began to suck his thumb, while he 
 gazed on the broken glass which was spread 
 over the carpet. Just then, old Rover, finding
 
 36 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 the parlor door ajar, pushed it open, and walk- 
 ed up to his young mistress, wagging his tail, 
 and rubbing her hand with his nose, which was 
 his way of saying, U I hope you are glad to see 
 me, this afternoon." 
 
 Jessie patted his head, and sat down wear- 
 ing a very grave face. Rover thought some- 
 thing was amiss, but not knowing how to 
 inquire into the matter, after a few more rubs 
 of his nose upon his little lady's hand, laid 
 down, and looked wistfully into her eyes. 
 
 Rover's presence put a new idea into the evil 
 mind of Emily. She turned it over silently a 
 few moments, and then said : 
 
 "Jessie! I have just thought of a capital 
 way of getting out of this scrape about the 
 mirror." 
 
 " Have you ?" replied her cousin. " I don't 
 see how you can do that, unless you can get 
 some fairy to mend it for us, and I guess there 
 are no gyod fairies, to do such things for 
 unlucky girls and boys, now-a-days." 
 
 "Fairies indeed!" retorted Emily with a 
 tineer. "I don't believe 'm fairies. My plan is
 
 THE BKOkfcN M1KKOR. 87 
 
 to tell your mother, that while Rover was play- 
 ing with us, he bounced against the mirror, 
 and broke it to smash." 
 
 " O Emily ! I would not tell such a wicked 
 Btory to save my life ?" rejoined Jessie. 
 
 "Well, I would; I've got out of many a bad 
 scrape, by fixing up some such story as that. 
 And it is so natural, you see, for a big dog to 
 bounce against a glass which is so near the floor 
 as this one, that your folks will easily believe 
 it." 
 
 " O Emily ! Emily ! flow can you talk so ? J> 
 said Jessie, gazing at her cousin with an expres- 
 sion of pity and surprise. 
 
 "She talKs just right," said Charlie. " It's a 
 first-rate story, and will get us out of the scrape 
 nicely. Bravo, Emily ! I won't hit you again 
 for ever so long." 
 
 Jessie was horror-struck to hear her cousins 
 talk in this cool and hardened manner. To her 
 mind a lie was of all things the most mean and 
 wicked. She had just shown her hatred of it, 
 by her penitence for merely acting a lie in fun 
 But this proposal to tell a downright lie, for the
 
 88 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 purpose of escaping the consequences of an 
 unlucky accident, looked like asking her to 
 commit a very shocking crime. She felt a 
 shudder creep over her, and shrinking from her 
 cousins, as if they had been deadly serpents, 
 she pushed her chair back a yard or two, and 
 said : 
 
 "Emily, I would die before I would tell such 
 a lie. I hope you won't think of doing it. It's 
 so wicked, Emily. If you could deceive my pa 
 and ma, you couldn't deceive (rod, who saw 
 Charlie break the mirror. Don't do it, Emily, 
 please don't?" 
 
 " We will do it too, and if you feach on us, 
 we'll say it was your fault that Rover did it. 
 How will you like that, Miss Jessie!" said 
 Charlie. 
 
 " I will tell my father the exact truth about 
 it." said Jessie, rising to her feet. 
 
 " Very well, Miss Tell Tale," retorted Emily. 
 " We'll fix you then. Charlie and I will say 
 that you threw the ottoman against the mirror, 
 and broke it yourself, won't we, Charlie?" 
 
 " Yes, and they will believe both of as.
 
 THE BROKKN MIKRoR. 89 
 
 because they will think you are lying to escape 
 being whipped for your fault. Ah ! ah ! Miss 
 Jessie, we'll fix you, see if we don't!" and 
 Charlie held up his linger, and grinned in liia 
 cousin's face. 
 
 " My father knows I wouldn't tell a lie," 
 replied Jessie firmly; "and I do hope you 
 won't, for oh ! it is so wicked, and so mean. 
 Nobody loves, trusts, or believes a liar. Please 
 Charlie, please Emily, let me tell pa just how it 
 happened. He won't be very angry. I know 
 he won't. But if he is, I will tell him to whip 
 me. instead of scolding Charlie." 
 
 Charlie winced under this noble speech of 
 Jessie's, and for a moment was inclined to 
 yield. But his sister's temper was roused, and 
 she urged him to stick to her, and to say that 
 Jessie threw the ottoman, "and now," said she. 
 " I will go and tell my aunt directly." 
 
 Jessie turned pale ; not with fear for herself, 
 but because she shrank from a conflict with her 
 cousins, in her mother's presence. Fortunate- 
 ly, a happy thought came into her mind, and 
 rising, she whispered to herself, " Yes, I will go
 
 90 JKSSIE CARLTON. 
 
 and ask Uncle Morris to come in." And Jeo 
 sic glided into the library. 
 
 Her uncle was not there. He had left '.t an 
 hour before, and feeling slightly dozy had gone 
 into the back parlor to catch a little nap on the 
 sofa. This parlor was separated from the one 
 in which the children had been playing only 
 by folding-doors. Their noise at blind-man's- 
 buff, had roused him from his nap, and he har 1 
 heard all that afterwards passed between them. 
 When, therefore, Emily went to tell Mrs. Carl- 
 ton her great lie, he thought it was time for 
 him to interfere. So he passed round by the 
 hall into the front parlor, just as Jessie with 
 her sad face was returning from the library. 
 
 " Oh, I'm so glad you are here, Uncle Mor- 
 ris!" exclaimed Jessie, her face brightening and 
 growing much shorter. " Please come into the 
 parlor." 
 
 The good old man kissed his niece with even 
 unusual tenderness, and led her into the par- 
 lor. 
 
 " Hoity toity !" cried he, as he looked on the 
 fragments of the broken mirror. " Somebody's
 
 THK BROKKN MIRROR. VI 
 
 been playing the mischief here. What's been 
 the matter?" 
 
 " Jessie did it !" said Charlie, with a dogged air. 
 
 " Yes, sir ! Jessie threw an ottoman at me, 
 and it struck the mirror. Didn't she, Charlie 2" 
 said Emily, coming up. to Uncle Morris, with 
 Mis. Carlton behind her. 
 
 "Yes, Jessie did it, and no mistake!" said 
 Charlie, boldly. 
 
 " O Jessie ! how could you be so careless ! 
 That mirror cost a hundred dollars, a few 
 months ago. Your father will feel very an- 
 gry," said Mrs. Carlton with a grieved look. 
 
 " I did not break it, Ma !" said Jessie calmly. 
 
 "She did!" "She did!" said Charlie and 
 his sister in the same moment. 
 
 " Ma, I did not break the mirror," rejoined 
 Jessie, calmly. "If I had done it, I would 
 confess it. You know I wouldn't lie, Mother, 
 don't you 2" 
 
 "I certainly have great faith in your truth- 
 fulness, my child," replied Mrs. Carlton; "but 
 why are your cousins so positive in charging 
 you with it?"
 
 92 JESSIE CA.RLTON. 
 
 Jessie stated the facts just as they had taken 
 place. Her cousins repeated their story. Mrs. 
 Caiiton was perplexed. Turning to Uncle 
 Morris, she said : 
 
 "Brother, what do you think? On which 
 Bile is the truth?" 
 
 " On Jessie's, of course, sister. Could you 
 question the truth of that puse face! It would 
 break my heart if Jessie could tell such a lie as 
 these wicked ones here have told ! But she 
 couldn't do it. It's not in her nature to do it. 
 Heaven bless her !" 
 
 He then stated what he had overheard from 
 the sofa in the back parlor, and closed by 
 saying, "These children had better go home 
 to-morrow. They are wicked enough to cor- 
 rupt an angel, almost. The proverb says, eggs 
 ought not to dance with stones, and I cannot 
 endure to see Jessie in their society any 
 longer." 
 
 "1 agree with you, brother, and will send 
 them home to-morrow," replied Mrs. Carlton. 
 
 Charlie and Emily were dumb with confusion 
 and shame. I think a little sorrow gushed up
 
 THE BROKEN MIEEOE. 93 
 
 in Emily's heart, when through her fingers she 
 saw Jessie look with appealing and tearful eyes 
 into Uncle Morris's face, and heard her say in 
 pleading tones: 
 
 "O Uncle! O Mamma! please let them stay 
 another week ; please do, for my sake ! Please 
 let them stay ! They will be good after this, ] 
 know they will." 
 
 This plea Avon both Mi's. Carlton's and the 
 old man's consent, and Jessie kissing her 
 cousins, said : 
 
 " There, you can stay. Aren't you glad?"
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE FIRST SLIDE OF THE SEASON. 
 
 AFTER Uncle Morris and Mrs. Carlton bad 
 consented to permit the self-willed cousins to 
 remain a week longer at Glen Morris, the 
 
 O 9 
 
 good old man led Emily into the library and 
 talked with her for over half an hour, about the 
 meanness and wickedness of lying. I cannot 
 tell you exactly what he said to her, because I 
 don't know. That his words were weighty and 
 solemn, I have no doubt ; for when Emily left 
 the library her eyes were red with weeping, and 
 she went directly to her room and staid there 
 alone until the bell called her to tea. 
 
 Before Emily slept that night, she did what 
 she had not done before during her stay at Glen 
 Morris. She kneeled at the bedside to say hei 
 prayers. When she arose, Jessie threw an arm 
 around her waist and kissed her. This was
 
 THE FIRST SLIDE OF THE SEASON. 96 
 
 done with so much tenderness, that Emily fell 
 it tc be a sign of her cousin's sympathy with 
 the new feelings and thoughts which were 
 springing up within her heart. Returning the 
 kiss, she said : 
 
 " I'm sorry I told that lie ahout you to-day 
 Jessie." 
 
 " So am I," replied the simple-hearted girl ; 
 "it is always best to tell the truth, and I hope 
 3'ou will never tell another story as long as you 
 live." 
 
 *' I won't, I'm resolved I won't ; I told Uncle 
 Morris so this afternoon, and (here she lowered 
 her voice to a whisper) I've been asking God to 
 help me keep my promise." 
 
 " That's the way ! That's the way !" replied 
 Jessie. " Uncle Morris says if we mean to be 
 good we must go to school to the Great Teacher 
 ulio will both teach us, and help us do the 
 lesson." 
 
 With such words as these did Jessie encour- 
 age her cousin to enter that beautiful path in 
 which all the pure, noble, and good children in 
 the world are found.
 
 96 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 The next day Emily was very quiet. She 
 Bpent the morning helping Jessie work on her 
 famous quilt. Charlie was as rude and as ugly 
 us ever ; having teased his sister for a long time 
 in vain, to play out of doors with him, the 
 spoiled boy hissed at her, and said, "You are 
 an ugly old cat !" Then slamming the door 
 after him, lie went into the barn-yard, where 
 the screaming of the pigs, the gabble of the 
 geese, and the chicking of the hens, soon pro- 
 claimed that he was venting his ill-temper on 
 the dumb creatures who had their home there. 
 Poor Charlie 1 the indulgence of his mother, 
 and the almost constant absence of his father 
 from home, had made him a very unhappy, 
 mischievous boy, if, indeed, it had not wholly 
 spoiled him. If Charlie had known wliac was 
 best for him he would have said to his friends, 
 
 " Please don't let me have my own way." 
 
 Emily needed to make the same request, foi 
 ehe too, had long done pretty much as she 
 pleased ; and, as we have seen, she was pleased 
 to do some very bad things. 
 
 Two days before the time set for the cousins
 
 THE KIRST SLroE OF THE SKASON. \)t 
 
 to return -home, they went to spend the day 
 with Carrie Sherwood. Jessie, who was to join 
 them after her morning's sewing was done, sat 
 down to her work in high spirits. The quilt 
 Lad grown large within a few days, and as she 
 took it np this morning, she said : 
 
 " The little Wizard hasn't been able to catch 
 me for ever so many days. I guess he won't 
 trouble me much more now. See my qnilt ! 
 (here she stood up, and drawing the quilt from 
 the basket, spread it out.) Two more rows of 
 patchwork will finish it. Ha ! ha ! only two 
 more ; I'm so glad. And won't Uncle Morris 
 be pleased when he sees it spread over his bed 
 some night ! ha ! ha !" 
 
 Here Jessie sat down and began to make her 
 bright little needle fly almost as swiftly as if 
 it had been in a sewing-machine. While she 
 ecwcd she hummed the following words, which, 
 as Uncle Morris said, had more truth in them 
 than poetry : 
 
 " I love to do right, 
 
 And I love the truth, 
 And I'll always love them, 
 lo in my youth.
 
 fi8 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 " And when I grow old, 
 
 And when I grow gray, 
 I will love them still, 
 Do wrong who may." 
 
 Having finished her song, Jessie rested LOT 
 hands on her lap a moment, and said : 
 
 " I love those words, I do. When I grow 
 gray! ha! ha! Jessie Carlton a little old 
 woman with gray hair ! "Won't .it be funny ? 
 I wonder if everybody will love me then as 
 everybody loves Uncle Morris now. Why 
 not? Everybody? no, not everybody, for 
 Charlie don't love him, and our Hugh don't 
 love him much. That's because they are naugh- 
 ty, though. Well, every good person loves 
 Uncle Morris, because he is so good and kind ; 
 and so, if I am good and kind, when I am a 
 little, gray old woman, everybody will love me. 
 I [a! ha! Won't it be nice to be called Aunt 
 Jessie, and to be loved, oh, so well ! but I 
 must go on with my sewing." 
 
 Tap, tap, tap, said somebody's knuckles on 
 the door. 
 
 " Come in," cried Jessie.
 
 THK FIRST SLIDE OF THK SEASON. 99 
 
 The door opened. Carrie Sherwood's little, 
 rod, round, laughing face peeped in. 
 
 " O Carrie ! is that you ? Cume in." 
 
 Carrie tripped in, and while her eyes flashed 
 with excitement, she said : 
 
 " O Jessie, we have found a nice slide out on 
 the rdge of the brook. It is the first time the 
 ice bas frozen hard enough to bear this fall, and 
 \vo are having such a nice time. Come and seo 
 '*:, just for a moment." 
 
 "A slide 1" exclaimed Jessie, who dearly loved 
 sliding. " Oh, I'm so glad. I'll go with you just 
 to look at it. I can't stay, you know, because I 
 must come back and sew until twelve o'clock." 
 
 Dropping her sewing, Jessie ran to a closet, 
 equipped herself in cloak and hood and, taking 
 Carrie's hand, trotted otit to see this first slide 
 of the season. 
 
 A short distance from Glen Morris Cottage a 
 broad, shallow brook crossed the public high- 
 way. A bridge led over the brook. Along the 
 sides ot the buttresses of fhis bridge, the water 
 had flowed back for several yards over the 
 bottom of a ditch or hollow, and being only an
 
 100 JK88IK CARLTON. 
 
 inch or two in depth, the sharp frosts of the 
 early days of November had frozen it solid, 
 though the brook itself was still babbling as if 
 in proud defiance of the frost-king. 
 
 To this ditch Carrie led Jessie. Emily and 
 Charlie were already there enjoying themselves 
 finely. 
 
 " Isn't it nice ?" said Carrie when they had 
 fairly reached the spot. 
 
 " You shan't come on to my slide," growled 
 selfish Charlie. 
 
 "Nor on to mine," cried his sister. 
 
 v You will let us slide after you, won't you, 
 Emily ?" asked Jessie. 
 
 " No, I want this slide all to myself,"' replied 
 Emily. 
 
 " You can go down the brook and find slides 
 for yourselves. You shan't use ours," cried 
 Charlie, as shaking his fist at the two girls, ho 
 added, 4 ' I'll lick you both if you don't keep oil'/' 
 
 " Well, I never saw any thing so selfish as 
 that before, I declare," said Carrie Sheiwood, 
 6triking the ground with her foot, and looking 
 very angry as she spoke. " The nxt time I in
 
 THE FIRST SLIDK OF THE SEASON. 101 
 
 vite them to spend the day at my house they 
 shall certainly know it." 
 
 " Oh, never mind, never mind," said Jessie. 
 " We can look at them, and that will be almost 
 as good as sliding ourselves. Perhaps they 
 will get tired presently, and then we can elide 
 while they rest." 
 
 " No, we shan't get tired either, Miss Jessie," 
 retorted Charlie. " We mean to slide until 
 dinner-time." 
 
 " And then you expect to eat dinner at my 
 house, I suppose. Really, you are a very gen- 
 erous boy !" replied Carrie, in a bitter tone of 
 voice. 
 
 " 'Tain tyour house. It's your father's. He!" 
 said the ugly boy, grinning at his young hostess. 
 
 ""Well, if you were not Jessie's cousins, you 
 should never step inside of my house again 
 but here comes my brother. He'll make you 
 let me slide." 
 
 Walter Sherwood now came up to the spot 
 where his sister and Jessie stood. Carrie told 
 him the story of the selfishness of the two 
 cousins, and ended by saying :
 
 102 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 " Won't you compel them to let us slide too, 
 Walter?" 
 
 ' If lie touches me, I'll throw this big stone 
 at him," growled Charlie, looking very ugly 
 and holding up a large stone, which he had just 
 taken up from the side of the ditch. Wasn't ho 
 a selfish little fellow? 
 
 " Please don't touch him," entreated Jessie 
 " I don't care much about sliding, and Carrie 
 
 O ' 
 
 won't mind waiting until to-morrow. Will 
 you, Carrie dear. The weather is so cold, there 
 will soon be plenty of ice. Please don't hurt 
 Charlie, Walter." 
 
 " Don't be alarmed, my sweet Jessie," replied 
 Walter, laughing. " I don't want to touch 
 your sting-nettle of a cousin. I'd about as lief 
 grapple a hedgehog. Let him and his selfish 
 sister have their slides all to themselves. You 
 come with me. I know where there is far 
 better sliding than this, and I came on purpose 
 to tell you so. Come, let us go, and leave them 
 to enjoy their slides, if such selfish creatures 
 can enjoy any thing." 
 
 "Please W alter, let my cousins go with us,"
 
 THE FIRST SLIDE OP THE SEASON. 103 
 
 whispered Jessie in Walter's ear, as he took her 
 hand. 
 
 *' No, no, Jessie, I can't consent to that. 
 They won't be a whit happier there than hero, 
 and it' we do take them with us, they will only 
 spoil our fun. I never saw two such thorns in 
 my life. You can't go near them, but they 
 scratch you right off." 
 
 "They are going home, the day after to-mor- 
 row, and I'm glad of it," cried Carrie, as she 
 stepped up the bank after her brother and Jessie. 
 
 "So am I," said Walter, "and I'm thinking 
 there will be plenty of dry eyes at Glen Morris 
 Cottage, when they go away. What do you 
 eay to that, Jessie ?" 
 
 " I'm sorry my cousins are so selfish," replied 
 Jessie, "but Charlie is the worst. I think if 
 Emily was here without him, she would soon 
 be a good girl." 
 
 " Perhaps so. Yet I'm inclined to think 
 you'll see apples growing on that old hickory 
 yonder, before she becomes good, as yov. call it. 
 But let us hurry into the pasture. Here, 
 Jessie, mount these bars ?"
 
 lOi JESSIE PARLTON. 
 
 At he spoke, "Walter leaped over the rail- 
 fence of a pasture, and giving his hand to 
 Jessie, she mounted the top bar. 
 
 ' "Now jump!" cried Walter. 
 
 Jessie did as she was told. Carrie -followed. 
 Then Walter led them along the pasture, until 
 they struck a bend in the brook where the 
 water. having flowed over a flat basin, was very 
 shallow. Along the edge of this basin the 
 water was frozen hard. 
 
 "Isn't this nice?" shouted Jessie, as she slid 
 over the glass-like surface. 
 
 "It's perfectly beautiful," replied Carrie, 
 gliding along in an opposite direction. 
 
 Walter made a slide for himself, just in front 
 of the girls, and being all brim-full of good- 
 nature, they enjoyed themselves finely. But 
 there were two shadows that flashed on Jessie's 
 joy now and then. The first was the image of 
 the quilt she had left on the parlor-floor ; the 
 second was her regret that her cousins were so 
 ugly. When the former image flitted before 
 her, a little voice in her breast whispered, 
 
 " la the chains of the little wizard again, eh ?"
 
 JESSIE AND OARBIK ENJOYINO A SLIDE. Page 105.
 
 T1IE FIRS'l SLIDE CF THE SEASON. 107 
 
 Then Jessie would sigh, look very sober, and 
 pause, saying to herself, "I really must gc 
 home and sew." 
 
 Before her purpose was fairly formed, how- 
 ever, Walter or Carrie would cry out, " What, 
 getting tired already ! You are not half a 
 slider." 
 
 "Just once more, and then I'll go," Jessie 
 would say to herself. But before that one more 
 slide was through, she would purpose to add yet 
 another. Thus time fled until the morning was 
 almost gone, and the quilt, the little wizard, 
 Uncle Morris, and even the ugly cousins, were 
 nearly forgotten, in the excitement of this 
 pleasant sport. 
 
 This delight was, however, brought to an end 
 by a loud scream, followed by a shrill voice 
 crying, "Charlie! Charlie! CHARLIE! You'll 
 be drowned? Oh dear! Oh dear!" 
 
 This was followed by another scream. Wal- 
 ter guessed what was the matter at once. He 
 knew that near where the cousins were sliding, 
 the trunk of a tree formed a sort of bridge 
 over the brook, and enabled the cow-boys to
 
 108 JESSIE CART.TON. 
 
 pass dry-shod in summer. WLen the brook 
 was low, it was a safe enough bridge, but when 
 it was full as it was then, it was what the boys 
 culled " u pokerish place to cross." He surmis- 
 ed at once, that Charlie was frightening hia 
 sister, by attempting to walk across the brook 
 on this rough and narrow r bridge. So he told 
 the girls, and then they all ran towards the spot 
 from whence the cry came. 
 
 A few minutes' run brought them in sight of 
 Master Charlie standing erect on the tree, right 
 over the middle of the brook. Emily was 
 standing at the water's edge, screaming, and 
 begging him to come back. 
 
 " Stop your screaming, } T OU coward, or I'll 
 lick you till you are dumb," shouted the wilful 
 boy, shaking his fist at his sister, as Walter and 
 the two girls came up, on the other side of tho 
 brook. 
 
 Emily seeing them approach, called out to 
 Walter, and said : 
 
 "Do make him come off that dicaaful log, 
 will you?" 
 
 " I'd like to see anybody make me come off,"
 
 THK FIRST SLIDE OF THE SEASON. 1 09 
 
 fiaid Charlie. As he spoke, he turned round to 
 see who had conic. In doing this his foot 
 slipped, and losing his balance, he fell back- 
 .yards into the brook. 
 
 The girls both screamed, for they were in great 
 terror. Walter, however, laughed heartily, and 
 said : 
 
 " Don't be frightened ! The water isn't deep 
 enough to drown the little fury. I hope it's 
 cold enough to cool his courage, though." 
 
 As he spoke, Walter rolled up his pants, and 
 then kicking off his boots, he waded into the 
 brook and led Charlie ashore. The little fellow 
 spluttered and shivered, but said nothing. The 
 water had cooled his courage, and for the 
 present, his ugliness had all subsided. They 
 led him back to Glen Morris as quickly as 
 possible, to get a change of clothes. 
 
 This mishap broke up their plan of dining 
 and spending the afternoon with Carrie Sher- 
 wood. Thus the selfishness of the two cousins, 
 again robbed both themselves and their friends 
 of a promised pleasure. As for poor little 
 Jessie, she drew down her face and looked very
 
 110 JKSSIK CARL! ON. 
 
 sad, as she put her quilt into the basket, when 
 the bell rung for dinner. Sighing deeply she 
 eaid half-aloud, 
 
 "Conquered again. It is no use. The littlo 
 wizard is my master, and I won't try to resist 
 him any more. "What's the use of trying ?" 
 
 "Tut, tut. tut! No use in trying, eh ? Who 
 says so ?" 
 
 Jessie looked up, and her eyes met the pleas 
 ant smile of Uncle Morris, who had entered the 
 room, in his usual quiet way, unobserved by 
 the dispirited girl. She gave him back no 
 answering smile, but drooping her head, stood 
 silently before him. Seeing her sadness and 
 knowing the cause, Uncle Morris said: 
 
 "Jessie, will -you please be a school-ma'am 
 for a moment, and let me recite my lesson to 
 you?" 
 
 Jessie smiled a faint smile, but said nothing. 
 
 " "Well, silence gives consent, I suppose. So 
 I will recite my lesson. It is a fable and runs 
 thus: 
 
 " Two robin redbreasts built their nests 
 Within a hollow tree ;
 
 THE FIRST SLIDE OF THK SKASON. Ill 
 
 The hen sat quietly at home. 
 
 The male sang merrily ; 
 And all the little robins said, 
 
 4 Wee, wee, wee, wee, wee, wee.' 
 
 One day the sun was warm and bright, 
 
 And shining in the sKy 
 Cock Robin said, ' My little dears, 
 
 'Tis time you learn to fly ;' 
 And all the little young ones said, 
 
 'I'll try, I'll try, I'll try.' 
 
 ' I know a child, and who she is 
 
 I'll tell you liy and by, 
 When mamma says, ' Do this" or ' that,' 
 
 She says. ' What for ?' and ' Why ?' 
 She'd be a better child by far, 
 
 If she would say, ' I'LL TRY.' " 
 
 Q Uncle Morris paused, tears stood in 
 Jessie's eyes, and a bright smile played round 
 her lips. Putting her hand into his, she said : 
 
 "And I'll try, too, Uncle. I'll try till I con- 
 quer."
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 JESSIE'S FIRST GREAT VICTORY. 
 
 AFTER dinner Jessie went to her room td sat 
 awhile, on a cricket with her head leaning on a 
 chair. She was thinking. I cannot tell you 
 exactly what passed in her mind, while she was 
 in that brown stud} 7 , because she never told me. 
 You can guess, however, when I tell you that 
 after thinking some five minutes, she rose up, 
 and going to her table, took a pencil and wrote 
 these words in big letters, on a sheet of note 
 paper : 
 
 "I will not go out to play again until T have 
 finished my quilt. This is my strong resolution, 
 and 1 mean to keep it, in spite of the little 
 wizard that tempts me so. He has beaten mo 
 a great many times, but he shan't do it again, as 
 true as my name is Jessie Carlton." 
 
 Taking the paper from the table, Jessie held
 
 JESSIE'S FLRST GREAT VICTORY. 113 
 
 it between her finger and thumb, read it, and 
 then left the room, saying to herself 
 
 " There, that's a good resolution. I'll keep it 
 in sight all the time ; and if the little wizard 
 comes near me, I'll spear him with it jnst as 
 Uncle Morris says the fairies pierce the gnats 
 with their bodkins. Let me see. How long 
 will it take to finish my quilt. Only two more 
 rows of squares to sew on. Well, I can sew 
 one row this afternoon and the other to-morrow 
 morning. Oh good ! I'll ask ma to get it into 
 the quilting-frame to-morrow afternoon, and 
 have it finished while I work the slippers. 
 Won't it be nice if the qnilt and slippers are 
 borh ready by Christmas ! Perhaps I can get 
 the watch-pocket done too. Well, I'll try, see 
 if I don't. I can conquer little Impulse if I try, 
 and. I will. Yon shall see if I don't, you dear, 
 gocil Uncle Morris, you." 
 
 All this was said as Jessie walked down-stairs. 
 She looked very pleasantly, and trod the carpet 
 with a very firm step, as she went to her cosy 
 little chair in front of the bright fire which 
 glowed in the grate that November afternoon
 
 114 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 She was slightly chilled through sitting {& 
 her chamber, but without stopping to get 
 warm, she took up her work, and began to plj 
 her needle in good earnest. 
 
 Half an hour passed and Jessie was still busy 
 as a bee over her quilt. Then her uncle entered 
 the room with his outside coat nicely buttoned 
 up to his chin, and his hat in his hand. Ho 
 was equipped for a walk. 
 
 " Jessie, will you take a walk with your poor 
 old uncle this fine afternoon ?" said he. 
 
 This was offering one of the strongest of 
 possible temptations to Jessie. A walk with 
 Uncle Morris was to her a very great pleasure. 
 Impulse whispered " Let the quilt go, and ac- 
 cept your uncle's offer !" Jessie's arms were 
 even put forth in the act of dropping her work, 
 when her eye rested on her written resolution, 
 which she had pinned on the top edge of the 
 work-basket. " I will finish my quill," said she 
 down in her heart. Then putting her work 
 back into her lap, and looking up at her uncle, 
 who was a little puzzletl by her unusual man* 
 uer, she said
 
 JESSIE'S FIRST GKEAT VICTORY. lift 
 
 "I thank you, Uncle, but I can't go this af- 
 ternoon." 
 
 " Not go ! What does my little puss mean ?" 
 exclaimed Uncle Morris, greatly surprised that 
 his niece should decline his invitation. 
 
 Jessie took the paper from the basket, gave iv 
 to him, and, while a loving smile played round 
 her lips, said 
 
 " Please, Uncle, read this." 
 
 The old gentleman put on his spectacles, 
 glanced at the paper, and, as he gave it back to 
 her, smiled, and said 
 
 " Ha, ha, I see ! going to run the little wizard 
 through the heart with the spear of Resolution ! 
 Very good. I would rather see you conquer 
 your enemy, my dear Jessie, than to have your 
 company, much as I love it. So good-by, and 
 may the Great Teacher help you to keep your 
 resolution !" 
 
 " Good-by, Uncle !" 
 
 I can't tell you how happy Jessie felt at hav- 
 ing resisted this strong temptation. A warm 
 current of joy flowed through her heart, and 
 bore away all regret which thinking on the loss
 
 116 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 of a pleasant walk might have otherwise caused 
 her to feel. Her eyes sparkled with delight. 
 Her fingers almost flew, and the quilt gained 
 in size very fast. 
 
 But fifteen minutes more had not passed, 
 when Emily and Charlie bounced into the room. 
 
 " We want you to play with us," said Emily. 
 "We are tired of playing together without 
 company, and want you." 
 
 " I want you tc play horses I've got some 
 twine for a pair of reins, and you two girls will 
 make a capital span. Come, hurry up, Jessie!" 
 said Charlie, who had got over his ducking in 
 the brook, and was as rude and ready for mis- 
 chief as ever. 
 
 " I'm very sorry," replied Jessie, " but I can't 
 go with you. I must sew on my quilt till tea- 
 time." 
 
 "Must, eh! Who says you must?" replied 
 Emily with a sneer. 
 
 "I have made a resolution to punish myself 
 for going out this morning when I ought to have 
 stayed in," said Jessie, firmly. 
 
 ''Pooh," said Charlie, "that's all nonsense.
 
 JESSIE'S FIRST GREAT VICTORY. 117 
 
 She is too proud to play with us. She is a 
 regular Miss Stucknp, and I won't own her for 
 my cousin any more ;" and with this hard 
 speech the boy left the parlor, walking back 
 wards, and making mouths as he went. 
 
 "I do think you ought to play with us, Jes 
 sie," said Emily. " You know we have only 
 one day more to spend with you, and it's very 
 unkind of you to stay in here and leave me to 
 amuse myself as best I can. As to your resolu 
 tion, I s'pose you made it on purpose, because 
 you didn't want to play with us." 
 
 This unkind speech made Jessie feel very 
 badly. She doubted for a moment whether she 
 had not erred in making her resolution before 
 her cousins went home. She felt inclined to drop 
 her work, and go out with her very ungracious 
 cousins. But her second thoughts assured her 
 
 o 
 
 that it was her first duty to conquer the habit 
 which had caused her so much trouble. So 
 looking with moistening eyes at her cousin, she 
 replied 
 
 "I'm sorry, Emily, that I cannot go out with 
 you, but I really can't do it. You know my
 
 118 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 ma requires me to spend my mornings in sew 
 ing or reading. I went out this morning with 
 out thinking, and without asking her consent 
 To make up for that, I must sew this afterncon 
 This evening and to-morrow afternoon, I will 
 play with you as much as you please." 
 
 " I say you are a very ugly creature, and 1 
 don't like you one bit," retorted Emily, as with 
 pouting lips and flashing eyes she bounced from 
 the room, slamming the door with a loud noise 
 as she went out. 
 
 Poor Jessie felt wounded, and the big tears 
 would flow from her eyes in spite of her efforts 
 to restrain them. Smarting under the cruel 
 words of her cousin, she felt an impulse to fol 
 low her, but again her eyes fell on the paper, 
 and she resumed her work, saying to herself 
 
 " Jessie Carlton, you must not mind the haul 
 speeches of your cousins. Tour resolution is 
 right and good. Uncle Morris said so. Stic,k 
 to it then, and by the time the quilt and a few 
 other things are done, as Uncle Morris said, the 
 little wizard will find Glen Morris Cottage too 
 hot to hold him. I'll keep my resolution."
 
 .TKSSIE'S FIRST GREAT VICTORY. 11J 
 
 Just then, smash went some glass somewhen 
 in the rear of the house. The crash was fol 
 lowed by a voice, which Jessie knew to be ho 
 cousin's, saying 
 
 " O Charlie, Charlie ! what have you done !' 
 
 "I don't care! It's only the kitchen win 
 dow," was the reply. 
 
 Again did Jessie's impulse move her to put 
 down her work and run out to see what was 
 the matter. But her purpose came to her aid 
 again, and she kept plying her needle and 
 saying : 
 
 " No, I won't go out. It's only that naughty 
 Charlie throwing stones in at the kitchen 
 window. What a bad boy he is. I'm glad ho 
 is going home soon." 
 
 Another quarter of an hour passed without 
 interruption, when the door opened and the 
 bright face of Carrie Sherwood peeped in. 
 
 " Why, Carrie Sherwood !" exclaimed Jessie. 
 
 " Jessie Carlton !" 
 
 " Come in and sit down," said Jessie. 
 
 Carrie stepped in but did not sit down 
 " I've come," she said, "to invite you and vour
 
 120 JESSIE OARLTON. 
 
 cousins to spend the afternoon, and to take lea 
 at our house. Ma says that since no harm came 
 ti Charlie from his ducking, she would like to 
 have you come as you meant to do before ho 
 fell into the brook." 
 
 " I can't go with you till nearly tea-time," re- 
 plied Jessie. 
 
 " Why not ?" 
 
 " Because I can't" 
 
 " But why can't you ?" 
 
 " Because I've resolved to sew on this quilt 
 until tea-time," said Jessie ; and pointing to the 
 paper she added, "see ! there is my resolution." 
 
 Carrie read the paper and laughed. " Well, 
 you are a queer girl, Jessie Carlton. You tie 
 yourself up with a resolution nobody asks you 
 to make, and then say you can't move." 
 
 "But I made the resolution because I thought 
 it was right" said Jessie, solemnly. 
 
 " Oh ! did you ? Well, that alters the case, 1 
 suppose. But please break it for once ,' only 
 this once, just to please me, you know. Come, 
 there's a dear, good Jessie ; do come over to my 
 house this afternoon."
 
 JESSIE'S FIRST GREAT VICTORY. 121 
 
 Oh ! how Jessie did long to drop her sewing, 
 and go with her friend. There was a mightj 
 struggle in her heart for a few moments; bul 
 her purpose triumphed at last, and iu a calm, 
 firm voice, she replied : 
 
 " No, dear Carrie, not until nearly dark. I 
 must finish my quilt to-morrow morning. You 
 go and get my cousins and take them with you. 
 I will come over just as soon as it is too dark to 
 see to, sew without a light ; and that won't be a 
 great while, you know, this short afternoon." 
 
 Carrie saw that her friend's mind was made 
 up. So turning to leave the room she said : 
 
 "Well, I suppose you arc right; but mind 
 you come as early as you can." 
 
 "That I will," rejoined Jessie. 
 
 Carrie left the room. The next moment slio 
 pushed the door open again, and peeping in, 
 said, 
 
 " Jessie ?" 
 
 " Well, dear, what is it ?" 
 
 "Ask your ma to let you stay till half-past 
 nine, will you ?" 
 
 "Yes."
 
 122 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 " Good-by." 
 
 " Good-by till dark," replied Jessie, laugh 
 ing at tlie idea of her friend bidding her good 
 by just for an hour. 
 
 Jessie now felt very strong in her purpose 
 fohe had resisted no less than four temptations 
 to yield to her impulses in about an hour and a 
 half. This was doing nobly, and Jessie felt 
 more self-respect than she had ever felt before. 
 She was certainly doing battle in real earnest 
 with her old enemy, the little wizard, as Uncle 
 Morris facetiously called him. And she had 
 her reward for all her self-denial in the glad 
 feelings which bubbled up in her heart like 
 springs of water in some cosy mountain nook. 
 
 Nothing else came to tempt Jessie the re- 
 mainder of that afternoon. She sewed until it 
 was too dark to see in front of the fire ; then 
 she took her seat close to the window, and it 
 was not until she could no longer see to take a 
 Blitch neatly that she began to put up her work. 
 " One more morning will finish it," said she, 
 after taking a glance at her work. " Oh ! how 
 glad I shall be when I have taken the last
 
 JESSIE'S FIRST GREAT VICTORY. 123 
 
 stitch. And won't I be glad when it comes out 
 of the quilting-frame, and is spread upon Uncle 
 Morris's bed. It's been a long time doing 
 Oh ! ever so long thanks to the little wizard. 
 Hut little wizard, little wizard, go away ! go 
 away ! We don't want yon any longer in Glen 
 Morris Cottage." 
 
 In this cheerful mood Jessie tied on her hood 
 and cloak, and tripped over to Carrie Sher- 
 wood's, where she spent one of the pleasantest 
 evenings she had enjoyed since the coming of 
 her cousins to Duncan ville. For some reasons 
 unknown to me, it pleased that selfish brother 
 and sister to put on their best and most ap- 
 proved behavior. Perhaps they caught a ray 
 or two of the joy which beamed, like sunshine, 
 from Jessie's heart. 
 
 The next morning after breakfast, filled with 
 the idea of finishing the quilt before dinner, 
 Jessie found a parcel in her work-basket direct- 
 ed to Miss Jessie Carlton. 
 
 " What can it be ?" said she, as she hastily 
 untied the string, and unfolded the wrapping 
 paper.
 
 !- .) ESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 'A pair <>f ladies' elates ! Oh, how glad I am ! 
 I wonder who sent them. Oh ! here is a piece of 
 paper. What does it say ?" 
 
 Holding the paper to the light she read as 
 follows : 
 
 " From a fond father to his beloved dangn 
 tor." 
 
 " From pa ! Oh, how good of him ! It's too 
 bad he didn't stop to let me thank him. But 
 I'll thank him to-night. I've been wishing all 
 this fall for a pair of skates, because all the girls 
 are going to have them. Suppose I just step 
 out and try them a little while." 
 
 Thus did Jessie talk out her thoughts to her- 
 fielf. Thus did the impulse come over her to 
 leave her morning's duty and repeat the fault 
 of the day before. It was fortunate, perhaps, 
 that her cousins, knowing she meant to sew, 
 had rushed off to find a slide before she dis- 
 covered her new skates. Their persuasions 
 joined to her own impulse, might have over 
 come her and brought her into bondage to the 
 little wizard again. Without their presence, I 
 confess, the temptation f o try the skates was a
 
 JESSIES FIRST GRKAT VICTORY'. 125 
 
 very strong one. Jessie was getting ready to go 
 out when her eye fell on the paper which waa 
 etil' pinned to the basket's edge. She paused, 
 ."(lushed, put down the ekates, and said aloud : 
 
 " No, no, little wizard, I won't obey you. 
 The quilt shall be finished, and the skates shall 
 wait until the afternoon." 
 
 "Three cheers for my little conqueror!" 
 shouted Uncle Morris, who, coming in at that 
 moment, overheard this last remark. 
 
 " O uncle ! I was almost conquered myself," 
 Baid Jessie. 
 
 " Never mind that, for now you aire quite a 
 conqueror," rejoined her uncle, smiling and pat- 
 ting her head. 
 
 Need I say that the quilt was finished that 
 morning? It was; and before Jessie sat down 
 to dinner, she had the pleasure of seeing it put 
 into the quilting-frame by Maria, the seamstress 
 of the household. And thus did our sweet 
 little Jessie win her first really decisive victory 
 over the little wizard which had hitherto been 
 to her like the fisherman's wife, Alice, in the 
 lairy tale the plague of her life.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FAREWELL TO THE COUSINS. 
 
 SCARCELY had Jessie feasted her eyes on her 
 quilt, snugly fixed between the bars of the 
 quilting-frame, before the dinner-bell rang out 
 its pleasant call. The happy girl skipped down- 
 stairs with a light and merry step. In the hall 
 she met her brothers. 
 
 " O Guy !" she exclaimed, " I have finished 
 my quilt! Aren't you glad !" 
 
 "To be sure I am," said Guy, kissing her 
 rosy cheek, " and I expect you will be so well- 
 pleased with my old friend, Never-give-up, who 
 helped you finish it, that you will never givo 
 him the mitten again." 
 
 " Pshaw !" cried Hugh with a sneer, " I'll 
 bet my new knife, that she gives him the mit- 
 ten before the week is out. Jessie isn't made 
 of the right stuff for your famous Try Company,
 
 FAKEWELL TO THE COUSINS. 127 
 
 any more than I am. She hasn't got the perse- 
 verance of a kitten." 
 
 "And yet she has more of it, than Master 
 Hugh Carlton, for he has never finished any 
 thing but his dinner, and she has finished her 
 quilt" said Uncle Morris, who as he was cross- 
 ing the hall to the dining-room, heard Hugh's 
 unkind remark. 
 
 " There, Hugh, you are fairly hit now," said 
 Guy, laughing. 
 
 " They who live in glass-houses shouldn't throw 
 stones, should they, my little puss?" said Uncle 
 Morris, leading Jessie into the dining-room. 
 
 " Hugh is always teasing me," replied Jessie, 
 " I wish he was more like Guy." 
 
 Dinner was waiting, and taking their seats at 
 the table, they all sat in silence, while Uncle 
 Morris reverently craved a blessing. He had 
 hardly finished, before Charlie and Emily 
 rushed into the room, leaving traces of their 
 feet on the carpet, at every step. 
 
 " My dears, where have you been to wet 
 your feet so?" asked Mrs. Carlton, seeing that 
 their boots were soaked with water
 
 128 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 " Oli ! it's been thawing, Aunt, and we got our 
 feet wet, sliding," said Emily, as she took Lcr 
 scat at the table, panting and pushing the ring- 
 lets back from her face. 
 
 '' You. had better put on dry socks and boote. 
 before you cat," observed Mrs. Carlton. She 
 then touched the bell. The servant entered. 
 
 " Mary," said the lady, " take these children 
 to their rooms, and change their socks and 
 boots!" 
 
 " Yes mem," said Mary, looking daggers at 
 the two cousins. 
 
 " Can't I wait till after dinner, aunt ?" asked 
 Emily. 
 
 " No, my dear. You must go at once, lest 
 you get cold by sitting still so long with wet 
 feet." 
 
 Emily pouted, but knowing her aunt would 
 firmly enforce her command, she rose, and 
 taking her brother by the wrist, said : 
 
 " Come, Charlie, let us go up-stairs !" 
 
 "I don't want to," growled Charlie, pulling 
 away his arm, and putting it round his plate. 
 
 " Charlie !" exclaimed Mrs. Carlton.
 
 FAKE WELL TO THE COT3SIN8. 129 
 
 " I want my dinner !" was his surly reply. 
 
 Mary had now drawn near the ugly little 
 t'cilow. Placing her heavy hand on his should- 
 er, she seized him with a grip, which made him 
 feel like a pigmy, in the grasp of a giant. 
 Having had a taste of Mary's anger, once or 
 twice before, and catching a glance from the 
 kindling eye of Uncle Morris, he yielded, and 
 was led out of the room. 
 
 " The worst child of his age I ever knew," 
 observed the old gentleman with a sigh, as he 
 proceeded to carve the chickens, which were 
 smoking on the hospitable table before him. 
 
 Jessie's face had clouded a little during this 
 scene. The thaw of which Emily had spoken, 
 cut off her hope of trying her new skates. 
 Leaning towards Guy, who sat next to her at 
 the table, she whispered : 
 
 " Is the ice all gone, Guy ?" 
 
 " I expect it is pretty much used up by the 
 fog we've had all day." 
 
 "Oh dear, I'm so sorry!" said Jessie with a 
 sigh. 
 
 Judging of her thoughts by her looks, Uncle
 
 130 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 Morris said, "Never mind, Jessie. There will 
 be plenty of ice to skate on, in a week or two," 
 
 " Skate ! How can she skate f She hasn't 
 got any skates !" said Hugh. 
 
 " Yes, I have," replied Jessie smiling. " Pa 
 gent me a beautiful pair this morning." 
 
 This statement led to various remarks about 
 skating, and winter weather in the country. 
 Meanwhile, the cousins came back to the table. 
 Jessie soon grew cheerful again, and the dinner 
 passed without any other occurrence worthy of 
 notice. 
 
 After dinner, the fog having grown into a 
 fine, drizzling rain, the children found it impos- 
 sible to go out of doors in search of amusement. 
 It was therefore agreed t> invite Miss Carrie 
 Sherwood to tea. Guy promised to go after 
 her. To add to the pleasure of the occasion, 
 Jessie had her mother's permission to use a 
 sweet little tea-set of her own, and to have tea 
 with her cousins and Carrie by themselves in 
 the parlor. 
 
 Carrie arrived in due time, snugly wrapped 
 in hood and shawl. Her feet were protected b^
 
 FAREWELL TO THE COUSINS. 131 
 
 rubbers. She declared that Guy was a capita] 
 'beau. Guy laughed at her compliment, and re- 
 paid it by saying that she was a nice little belle, 
 nnd then he ran off to school. 
 
 The afternoon passed rapidly, because, on tha 
 whole, it was pleasantly spent. Emily, know- 
 ing it was the last day of her visit, seemed 
 anxious to do away with the bad impression she 
 had previously made upon the mind of her 
 cousin and her friend. Charlie, too, was in his 
 best mood most of the time. Once, indeed, he 
 came very near breaking up the harmony of 
 the party. Seeing a strap of Jessie's new 
 skates peeping from beneath the what-not where 
 she had hidden them, he seized it, pulled out 
 the skates, and began to put them on. 
 
 " Please, Charlie, don't do that," said Jessie, 
 "Ton can't skate on the carpet, you know ; 
 please give them to me ?" 
 
 " I won't !" retorted the wilful boy. 
 
 i> 
 
 "Please do give them to me?" implored 
 Jessie. 
 
 " I want to skate on the carpet, first," said 
 Charlie, still trying to buckle on the skates.
 
 132 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 " Do ask him to give them to me ?" said 
 Jessie, addressing Emily. 
 
 " There, take your old skates !" cried the boy, 
 throwing them violently across the room. 
 
 The fact was, he did not understand the m}'S- 
 tery of straps and buckles in which the skates 
 were involved. Hence his desire to try the 
 skates was borne away upon the current of his 
 impatience, and thereby the little party escaped 
 a scene for the time being. 
 
 But it was only for a time. Charlie had been 
 so used to have his own way and to oppose 
 the wishes of others, that lie seemed to find 
 his pleasure in spoiling the delights of others. 
 Hence, when the hour for tea arrived, and 
 Jessie's sweet little china tea-set, with its orna- 
 ments of gold and flowers, was spread out upon 
 R little round table, he drew near to it and 
 taking Jessie's seat, said : 
 
 " I'm going to play lady and pour out the tea." 
 
 "Nonsense, Charlie!" said his sister. "Take 
 'lie next seat and let Jessie have hera." 
 
 " I won't," muttered Charlie. 
 
 " Come, Charlie, do get out of your cousin'?
 
 FAREWELL TO THK COUSINS. 133 
 
 chair ! Young gentlemen don't pour out tea 
 for ladies, you know," said Carrie in her most 
 coaxing tones. 
 
 " I don't care ! I'm going to play lady and 
 I'uiir out the tea," replied the boy in his most 
 dcggccl manner. 
 
 " I never did see such a boy in all my life," 
 whispered Jessie to her friend. 
 
 " Nor I," rejoined Carrie j " my father saya 
 he's a young hornet." 
 
 " Oh dear ! what sltall I do ?" sighed Jessie. 
 
 " Why don't you sit down?" said Charlie, as 
 ne began to handle the little teapot. 
 
 " Charlie, get up !" exclaimed his sister, as 
 she snatched the teapot from his hand. 
 
 " Don't touch him. I'll call my uncle ; he'll 
 make him move," said Jessie, moving towards 
 the door. 
 
 She was too late; Emily's act had roused the 
 fiery temper of the boy. Placing his hands on 
 each side of his chair, he leaned back, and lift- 
 ing up his feet to the edge of the table, kicked 
 it over and sent the tea-set crashing to the 
 floor.
 
 134 JESSIE CARI.TCN. 
 
 " Oh dear ! Oh dear ! He has broken my 
 nice tea-set all to pieces !" cried Jessie, 
 pausing, gazing on the wreck, and bursting 
 into tears. 
 
 The crash of the falling tea-things was heard 
 by Uncle Morris. He entered the room with a 
 grave face. Charlie still sat on the chair, look- 
 ing surly and wicked at the ruin he had 
 wrought. 
 
 " See what Charlie has done, Uncle !" ex- 
 claimed Jessie, sobbing. " I wouldn't care if it 
 wasn't poor Aunt Lucy's present that he has. 
 broken." 
 
 Aunt Lucy was dead. She had given this 
 charming little tea-set to Jessie only a fe\v 
 weeks before her death. 
 
 " How did he do it ?" asked Mr. Morris. 
 
 " He kicked the table over, Sir, because we 
 wanted him to let Jessie sit in her place, and 
 pour out the tea," said Carrie. 
 
 Just then Mrs. Carlton, and Mary the waiting- 
 maid, both of whom had heard the noi&e, en- 
 tered the parlor. Turning to the latter, Mr. 
 Morris said :
 
 FAEEWKLL TO THE COUSINS. 135 
 
 "Mary, put that ugly boy 'to bed !" 
 
 Charlie, frightened at Mr. Morris's manner, 
 viclded to this command without a word, arid 
 was led out of the room. 
 
 " I didn't know that so much ugliness could 
 be got into so small ^a parcel before that boy 
 came here. He goes home to-morrow morning, 
 however, and we shall all witness his departure, 
 I guess, with very dry eyes," said Mr. Morris. 
 
 "He needs somebody to weep over him, 
 though, brother," interposed Mrs. Carlton, " for 
 otherwise he will grow up into a very wicked 
 and dangerous manhood." 
 
 " Yery true, sister. He is a spoiled child. I 
 must write to sister Hannah about him. If 
 rigid training, and the rod of correction, be not 
 soon applied to him, he will become a spoiled 
 man." 
 
 After telling Mrs. Carlton the cause of this 
 disaster, the girls with her aid began to repair 
 the ruin wrought by ugly Charlie. Having 
 replaced the table, they picked up the pieces, 
 and were relieved to find that, with the excep- 
 tion of the knob of the teapot* lid, and the
 
 136 JESSIK CAKLTON. 
 
 handles of two cups, which were off, nothing 
 was broken. Uncle Morris said he had a 
 cement with which he could fasten on the kno"b 
 and the handles. This relieved Jessie very 
 much. She smiled, and said : 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad ! I want to keep that tea- 
 set, for dear Aunt Lucy's sake." 
 
 Of course the tea was all spilled, and the 
 food scattered over the carpet. These, how- 
 ever, were soon replaced from the well-supplied 
 closets of the kitchen and dining-room. In 
 half an hour, the table was reset, and the three 
 girls were seated, quietly eating their supper. 
 
 Did they enjoy their feast? A little, per- 
 haps, but the upsetting of the table could not 
 be forgotten. It chilled their spirits, and 
 checked the flow of their joy. Thus, as always, 
 did the evil conduct of one wrong-doer, act, 
 like a cloud in the path of the sun, on the joy 
 of others. 
 
 Carrie Sherwood left early in the evening, 
 and Jessie went to her chamber with Emily to 
 assist her in packing her trunk, so that she 
 might be ready for an early start in the morn-
 
 FAREWELL TO THE COUSINS. 137 
 
 irg. When the last stray article was nicely 
 packed, Emily threw herself Lack in the big 
 arm-chair, and with a long-drawn sigh, ex 
 claimed : 
 
 "Oh dear!" 
 
 "What's the matter?" inquired Jessie. 
 
 "Oh! nothing. Only I'm glad I'm going 
 home." 
 
 " So am I," was the thought that leaped to 
 Jessie's lips. She was, however, too polite to 
 utter it, and too sincere to say she was sorry, so 
 she sat still and said nothing. 
 
 Several minutes were passed in silence, a 
 very unusual thing, I believe, where the com- 
 pany is composed of young ladies. But Jessie 
 did not know what to say, and Emily was 
 thinking, and did not wish to say any thing. 
 At last she looked up and said : 
 
 "Jessie, I'm afraid I haven't behaved well 
 since I came to Glen Morris." 
 
 Jessie again thought with Emily, and again 
 her politeness and sincerity kept her silent. 
 Emily went on. 
 
 "You have been verv kind to me and
 
 138 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 Charlie I'm sorry we haven't made ourselves 
 more agreeable to you." 
 
 " Oh ! never mind that," said Jessie. " I hope 
 you will come and see me again, one of these 
 days.*' 
 
 Emily then went on to tell Jessie about hei 
 thoughts and feelings. She had not forgotten 
 the advice of Uncle Morris, nor had Jessie's 
 example been without its influence over her. 
 True, her old habits of self-will and falsehood, 
 had acted the part of tyrants over her. Yet 
 she had been secretly wishing to be like Jessie. 
 These wishes, frail as they had proved them- 
 selves to be, showed that good seed from 
 Jessie's example had been sown in her heart. 
 Now that she was about to return home, all her 
 better feelings were awake, and she begged 
 forgiveness of her cousin, promising to do her 
 best, hereafter, to be a good, truthful, affection- 
 ate girl. 
 
 All this and much more, she said to Jessie, 
 before they slept that night. These confessions 
 and purposes did Emily good. They also 
 cheered Jessie, by causing her to hope that
 
 FAREWELL TO THE COUSINS. 139 
 
 after all, she might be to her cousin, what Guy 
 had been to Richard Duncan. 
 
 The next morning, directly after breakfast, 
 the hack drove up to the door, and the cousins 
 were borne away to the depot in care of Mr. 
 Carlton. As the carriage left the lawn, Uncle 
 Morris patted his niece on the head, and said : 
 
 "As vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the 
 eyes, so are self-willed guests to those who en- 
 tertain them." 
 
 " O Uncle Morris !" exclaimed Jessie, with 
 an air of mock gravity, which showed that, 
 harsh as her uncle's remark sounded, she felt 
 its justice. In fact, the departure of the un- 
 gracious cousins was to the inmates of Glen 
 Momis, like the flight of the angry storm-cloud 
 to a company of mariners, after weaiy weeks of 
 squalls and tempests.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE WIZARD IN THE FIELD AGAIN. 
 
 "IV glad they arc gone, and yet I'm sorry. 
 Em seemed sorry to go, and she cried when I 
 kissed her good-by. I really think Em loves 
 me after all; and if it wasn't for that ugly 
 Charlie, she would be a nice girl. But that 
 Charlie ! Oh dear ! I don't think there is an- 
 other such boy anywhere. I don't wonder my 
 uncle compares him to a burr, a sting-nettle, 
 and a hedgehog. I'm sure he's been nothing 
 but a plague to everybody, ever since he camo 
 here. I'm glad he's gone, anyhow. And yet, 
 pool fellow, I pity him. He must be miserable 
 him&elf, or he wouldn't torment everybody else 
 so but I must go to work, I s'pose." 
 
 Thus did Jessie talk to herself, after seeing 
 her cousins off. She had returned to the par- 
 lor, and seated herself in her small rocking-chair.
 
 THK WIZARD IN TFIE FIELD AGAIN. 141 
 
 She now drew the two pieces of cloth for her 
 uncle's slippers, from her work-basket, and af- 
 ter handling them awhile with a languid air, 
 put them in her lap, sighed, and said 
 
 " Oh dear ! I do wish these slippers were done. 
 This is a hard pattern, and it will take me ever 
 so many days to finish it. Heigho! I 'most 
 wish I hadn't begun them. Let me see if I 
 have worsted enough to finish them." 
 
 Here Jessie leaned over and began to explore 
 the tangled depths of her work-basket. It waa 
 a complete olio. Old letters, pieces of silk, vel- 
 vet, linen, and woollen, scraps of paper, leaves 
 of books, old cords and rusty tassels, spools of 
 cotton, skeins of thread and knots, in short, 
 almost every thing that could by any sort of 
 chance, or mischance, get into a young lady's 
 work-basket, was there in rare confusion. 
 Jessie's love of order was not very large. Her 
 temper was often sorely tried by the trouble 
 which her careless habit caused her when seek- 
 ing a pair of scissors, or a spool of cotton. It 
 was so to-day. She plunged her hand deep into 
 the basket, in search of the colored worsteds
 
 142 JWSSIK CARLTON. 
 
 req aired for her uncle's slippers. After feel- 
 ing round awhile, she drew forth a tangled 
 mess, which she placed on her lap. 
 
 " Oh dear!" she said, in a complaining tone; 
 " how these worsteds are tangled !" 
 
 Nimbly her fingers wrought, however, and 
 very soon the skeins were all laid out on her 
 knee. 
 
 'Let me see," said she, looking at her pat- 
 tern ; " there are one, two, three, four five 
 six colors, and I have only one, two, three, four, 
 five. Which is missing ? Ah, I see : there 
 is no brown. Must I hunt that basket again ? 
 It's a regular jungle no, not a jungle a jun- 
 gle is a forest, mostly covered with reeds and 
 bashes. This is a, a & jumble. Uncle, would 
 call it a basket of confusion. Ha ! ha !" 
 
 Vainly did Jessie explore her " basket of con- 
 Aision." In vain did she upset its contents up- 
 on the floor, and replace them by handfuls. 
 Die missing skein of brown worsted could not 
 be found. At last, with wearied neck, and 
 aching head, she threw herself back in her cha ir, 
 and said
 
 THE WIZARD IX THE FIELD AGAIN. 143 
 
 " It's no use, there is no brown worsted there. 
 But what's that?" 
 
 In leaning back, Jessie's eyes were airested 
 by a new book which was on the mantle. 
 Starting from her chair, she took down tho 
 book. It was a story-book that Guy had bor- 
 rowed of his friend Richard Duncan. The pic- 
 tures were beautiful, and Jessie, charmed by 
 the promise of its opening pages, gave herself 
 up to the leadings of her excited curiosity, and 
 soon forgot all about worsted, slippers, cousins, 
 and uncle. Little Impulse the wizard had bait- 
 ed his trap with a choice book, and Jessie was 
 in his power again. 
 
 " Why, Guy ! what brought you home so 
 early ?" asked Jessie, more than two hours 
 later, when her brother's entrance broke her at- 
 tention from the book. 
 
 " Early !" exclaimed Guy, looking at his 
 watch ; " do you call fifteen minutes past twelve 
 early ?" 
 
 " Fifteen minutes past twelve !" cried Jessie, 
 in great surprise ; " it can't be so late : your 
 watch must be wrong, Guy."
 
 144 JE86IK CARLTON. 
 
 "Then the vilkge clock is wrong, for I timed 
 iny watch by it as I came past," said Guy. " I 
 guess you have been asleep. Sis, and didn't 
 notic e how time passed." 
 
 " Asleep, indeed ! do you think I go to sleep 
 in the morning? not I. But I've been reading 
 your book, and was just finishing it when you 
 came in. It's real interesting," said Jessie. 
 
 " Yes, it's a nice book," replied Guy, as he 
 left the room in response to a call from Hugh, 
 who was in the hall. 
 
 Jessie replaced the book, and sighed as she 
 picked up the worsteds from the floor, to think 
 that she had done nothing to the slippers that 
 morning. However, as there was yet over half 
 an hour tc spare before dinner, and as she could 
 go on with her work for the present, without 
 the brown worsted, she began plying her needle 
 with right good will. 
 
 Presently Uncle Morris came in. He had 
 been out all the morning. Seeing his niece so 
 busy, he smiled, and said : 
 
 " Busy as the bee, eh, Jessie ? Well, it's tho 
 working bee that makes the honey. Guess the
 
 THE WIZARD IN THE FIELD AG&.IN. 14:5 
 
 little wizard has lost heart now he has found out 
 that my little puss has a strong will to do right, 
 and a strong Friend to help her." 
 
 Jessie blushed and sighed, She was in what 
 young Duncan would call a " tight place." She 
 knew that her uncle was mistaken ; that she did 
 not deserve his praise, that by being silent she 
 should, of her own accord, confirm his mis- 
 take and thereby deceive him. And yet, it was 
 hard to confess her faiilt, under the circum- 
 stances. What could Jessie do ? 
 
 At first she was silent. Her uncle perceiving 
 by her manner that something puzzled and 
 pained her, turned to his chair, and without 
 saying another word took up the morning's 
 newspaper and began reading. 
 
 The longer Jessie kept up his false impres- 
 bion, the worse she felt. Yery soon, however, 
 the voice of the Good Spirit within her gained 
 the victory, and throwing the slipper into the 
 basket, she rose, saying to herself, " I will tell 
 him all about it." 
 
 Going to her uncle's side, she threw an arm 
 round his neck, gently drew his head towards
 
 146 JESSIE CARLTON. . 
 
 her and kissed him. Then she smiled through a 
 mist of tears, and said : 
 
 " Uncle, the little wizard hasn't left Gieii 
 Morris, yet." 
 
 "Hasn't he?" replied her uncle. "Wliy, 1 
 thought you pricked him so sorely with your 
 quilt needle that he had run off to Greenland, 
 or to some other distant land to escape your 
 little ladyship's anger, or to woo Miss Persever- 
 ance to be his bride." 
 
 " I wish he had," sighed Jessie ; " but I fear 
 lie never will go. I wish he didn't like Glen 
 Morris so well." 
 
 Then the little girl told her uncle how Guy's 
 book had lured her into the wizard's power. 
 
 " Never mind, my child," said Uncle Morris, 
 patting her head as he spoke, " never mind. 
 Never give up. Attack him again with youi 
 tiny spear. Resolve that you will yet conquer 
 him, as little David did big Goliah, in the 
 name of the Lord. A little girl can be what 
 she wills to be, if she only wills in the name of 
 Him who is the teacher and the friend of 
 children."
 
 THE WIZARD IN THE FIKLD AGAIN. 147 
 
 "I'll try, Uncle," said Jessie, with the fire of 
 tcsolution kindling in her eyes. 
 
 " Heaven bless you, my child !" said the old 
 man solemnly, as he placed his hands softly 
 upon her head. " May you always be as frank 
 and truthful as you have now been in confess- 
 ing a fault to me which you must have been 
 very strongly tempted to conceal. May Heaven 
 bless you !" 
 
 Didn't Jessie feel glad then ! She was glad 
 she had resisted the temptation to receive praise 
 she did not merit ; glad she had done right ; 
 glad her uncle was pleased with her. Happy 
 Jessie ! Had she by silence deceived her uncle, 
 she would have felt guilty and ashamed. Now 
 she was as peaceful and hopeful as love and 
 duty could make her. 
 
 After dinner, seeing Guy take his cap as if in 
 great haste, Jessie followed him to the door and 
 said: "What makes you in such a Lurry, 
 every day, Guy? You have not staged to talk 
 to me for ever so long." 
 
 " You have had company, you know, Jessie, 
 and havn't wanted me,'' replied Guy. evasively
 
 14 ^ JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 " But I have no company to-day," said Jessie. 
 ' Come, don't go yet, there's a dear, good Guy. 
 Come into the parlor and tell me a story." 
 
 " Not now," replied Guy> opening the door. 
 Tli en after a moment or two of silent thought, 
 he shut the door and said, "If you will put on 
 your cloak and hood I'll take you with me." 
 
 " Oh, good, good !" exclaimed the little girl ; 
 and after running to her mother for consent, sho 
 soon returned fitly equipped for a walk on that 
 breezy November afternoon. 
 
 It being Wednesday and no school, Guy had 
 the afternoon before him. He led his sister 
 towards the village, telling her he was going to 
 take her to 'see a good old lady of whom, he 
 said, he was very fond. 
 
 " Who is she ? How did you find her out ? 
 Does Uncle Morris know her ?" were among the 
 many questions which Jessie put to her brother. 
 He did not see fit to satisfy her, however, except 
 to say, " Her name is Mrs. MONEYPENNY " 
 
 " Mrs. Moneypenny ! What a funny name ?" 
 exclaimed Jessie, laughing and repeating the 
 aaiue.
 
 THE WIZARD IN THE FIELD AGAIN. 149 
 
 "Yes, it is odd ; but the lady who bears it, is 
 a noble woman." 
 
 "Is she rich?" 
 
 " No, she is very poor, very poor indeed." 
 
 "Yery poor, eh? But how came you to 
 know her?" 
 
 "That's my secret." 
 
 " A secret ! Please tell me about it, Guy ?" 
 
 "Can't do it, Jessie. You know girls can't 
 keep secrets," replied Guy, laughing and look- 
 ing archly at his sister. 
 
 "I can, Guy. Do tell me. I won't tell 
 Hugh, nor Carrie Sherwood, no, nor even 
 Uncle Morris, though I can't see why you 
 should keep a secret from him." 
 
 Just then Guy and his sister were passing 
 Boine open lots in the village street. Several 
 rough boys were standing round a small bonfire 
 which they had made out of the dead branches 
 and leaves of trees, which the fall winds had 
 scattered over the streets and open lots. As 
 soon as they saw Guy, one of them cried iii a 
 jeering tone : 
 
 " There goes Mrs. Moneypenny's cow-boy !" 
 
 10
 
 150 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 ' "Wonder how much lie gets a week," shout- 
 ed another boy. 
 
 "Perhaps he's gwine to be the old ladj'a 
 heir," said the first. 
 
 " Guess he 'spects young Jack Moneypenny's 
 gwine to die, down in the Brooklyn hospital, 
 and he wants the old ooman to adopt him. 
 He ! he !" said a third speaker. 
 
 Loud peals of derisive laughter followed these 
 remarks. Guy made no reply, but grasping his 
 sister's hand more tightly, he hurried past at a 
 rapid walk, and was soon out of hearing. 
 
 " Oh ! I am so glad we are past those wicked 
 boys," said Jessie, slightly shivering with fear. 
 , "But what did they call you a cow-boy for, 
 Guy?" 
 
 "I suppose I must tell you my secret now, ?/ 
 eaid Guy. " Those boys have partly let my cat 
 out of the bag." 
 
 Guy then told his sister, that Mrs. Money- 
 penny was a poor widow, with a son named 
 Jack. She rented a cottage and a little piece 
 of land. A cow, a few hens, and Jack's labor, 
 were all she had to depend upon. Jack, being
 
 THE WIZARD IN THE FIELD AGAIN. 151 
 
 a steady boy, earned enough to keep them com- 
 fortable in their simple way of living. But a 
 great misfortune had overtaken them. Jack, 
 while in Brooklyn, with a lot of eggs ami 
 chickens, which he had taken in to sell, had 
 been knocked clown and ran over by a horse 
 and wagon. His leg was broken, and he was 
 carried to the hospital. 
 
 This sad news was quickly sent to Jack's 
 mother. Poor old lady ! It seemed as if her 
 only stay was broken by this disaster. Being 
 lame, she could not go to her son, neither could 
 she take care of her cow at home. She was in 
 deep distress, and wept many tears over poor 
 Jack's sufferings, and her own hard fate. 
 
 Guy happened to hear her case talked over 
 at the post-office, the very day the news of 
 Jack's misfortune arrived. He heard a gentle- 
 man say, that she must be sent to the alms- 
 aouse. though, being a woman of spirit, he 
 feared she would break her heart and die, if she 
 was. Full of pity for the old lady, Guy went 
 to her, and offered to take care of her cow and 
 hens, as long as Jack might be sick.
 
 152 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 " It would have melted jour heart " said 
 Guy, as he finished his story, "had ycu seen 
 the old lady cry for joy at my ofter. She 
 looked so thankful, and seemed so much reliev- 
 ed, that I felt as happy as an angel, to think 
 that by doing such a little thing as milking and 
 feeding a cow for a few weeks, I could shed so 
 much light in the dwelling of a poor, but noble 
 woman." 
 
 Jessie's eyes swam with tears. She pressed 
 Guy's hand, but spoke not. He understood the 
 meaning of that pressure. He knew that in 
 her heart she was saying, " My brother did 
 right, and those boys were very wicked for 
 calling after him. I love my dear brother 
 better than ever." 
 
 While such thoughts as these were passing in 
 Jessie's mind, and Guy was feeling the gladness 
 which welled up within him like living water, 
 they reached the cottage. Mrs. Moneypenny 
 received them with smiles of welcome. She 
 kissed Jessie, and said : 
 
 " You look as if yon had a heart as kind aa 
 your brother's. May Heaven tiless you both !"
 
 MBS. MONEIPBNUY READINQ JACK'S I^TTBB, Page IS3.
 
 THE WIZARD IN THE VIKLD AGAIN. 155 
 
 Then the old lady began to talk about her 
 " dear Jack." After telling them lie was " get- 
 ting along nicely," she read a letter which lie 
 made out to write in pencil, as he lay bolstered 
 up in his bed. Having finished it. the good 
 mother sighed, and said : 
 
 "Dear Jack! How I do wish he could be 
 brought home, so that I could take care of him 
 myself! There is no nurse like a mother. The 
 poor fellow says he wants some more shirts sent 
 him, but I havn't another to send him, nor any 
 thing to make him one with. Ah, my children, 
 poverty is not a pleasant heritage ; but never 
 mind ; life is short, and I and my poor Jack 
 will have mansions, robes, and riches in the 
 better land. May you, my children, be blessed 
 with such treasures both here and hereafter!" 
 
 After Guy had " looked to the cow," in the 
 hovel which answered for a barn, he and hia 
 sister took their leave of the widow. 
 
 Jessie walked quietly home, looking very 
 grave, and scarcely speaking a word by the 
 way. Once she turned to Guy and asked : 
 
 " How large a boy is Jack ?"
 
 156 JESSIE CARL'ION. 
 
 " About my size," replied Guy. 
 
 Jessie had a big thought in her head 1 
 mean a big thought for a little girl. If you 
 wish to know what it was, you must consult the 
 next chapter.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MADGE CLIFTON. 
 
 WHEN Jessie reached home she threw her 
 hood and cloak carelessly on to the floor. The 
 cloak-stand was pretty well filled up, and she 
 was in too much haste, to take the pains needed 
 to find a place on the hooks for her garments. 
 This was one of her faults. A new impulse 
 had seized her, and she thought of nothing else. 
 Bounding into her mother's room, she said : 
 
 " Mother, will you let me make two shirts for 
 poor Jack Moneypenny ?" 
 
 Mrs. Carlton looked up from her work, and 
 after a moment's glance at the eager face of her 
 daughter, asked : 
 
 "\Vho is Jack Moneypenny, my dear?" 
 
 Jessie, in her eagerness to carry her point, 
 had forgotten to ask if her mother knew any 
 thing of the widow, or her son, Jack. This
 
 158 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 question checked her ardor a little, and she told 
 the story of the widow's misfortune. Just as 
 she was finishing her tale, however, she thought 
 of Guy's wish to keep his part in the affair a 
 secret. So blushing deeply, she added: 
 
 "Oh dear! what will Guy say? I promised 
 to keep it all secret, and now I have told all 
 about it. He said girls couldn't keep a secret, 
 and I believe he is right. What shall I do, 
 Mother?" 
 
 " Why tell him that you have told me, to be 
 sure. Guy has no secrets with his mother, and 
 I am sure he does not wish his sister to have 
 any." 
 
 " Has Guy told you about it, then ?" 
 
 " Yes, he told me all his plans from the first. 
 Guy never conceals any thing from his moth- 
 er." 
 
 " What made you ask me who Jack Money- 
 penny was, then, Ma, if you knew before ?" 
 
 " Only to teach my Jessie, that she ought to 
 be less abrupt in her manners. You should 
 have stated your case first, and then have asked 
 me your question "
 
 MADOK CLTFrON 159 
 
 " So I should, Ma," said Jessie, m using a few 
 moments, and gazing on her foot, as she traced 
 the outline of the carpet-pattern with it. TlieL 
 smiling, she looked up, and added, "but you 
 knew, Mamma, it is my way, to speak first, and 
 think afterwards." 
 
 " Not a very wise way, either," said Mrs. 
 Carlton ; " but about those shirts, why do you 
 wish to make them ?" 
 
 Jessie told her mother about Jack's letter, 
 and what the widow had said. 
 
 " Well," replied Mrs. Carlton ; " I will give 
 you the cloth, and cut out the shirts, if you 
 really wish to make them." 
 
 " I do, Mother, very much wish to do it. 
 Only think how glad the widow will be, and 
 how comfortable the shirts will make the poor 
 dick boy, in that horrid hospital." 
 
 "Very true, my dear, but how about your 
 uncle's slippers, and cushion, and watch-pock- 
 et?" 
 
 A blush tinged Jessie's cheek asrain. The 
 
 O O 
 
 little wizard had once more hurried her into a 
 new plan before her old ones had been worked
 
 160 JESSIE CAfiLTON. 
 
 out. Plainly she could not help poor Jack 
 and keep her former resolution, not to be 
 turned aside from finishing her gifts for Uncle 
 Morris. She was fairly puzzled. It -was 
 right to make shirts for a poor boy. It waa 
 right to keep her purposes too. Yet she could 
 not do both. But did not the boy need the 
 shirts, more than Uncle Morris did his slippers? 
 Would not her uncle be willing to wait? No 
 doubt he would, but then her promise to finish 
 the slippers before beginning any thing else, 
 was part of a plan for conquering a bad habit. 
 Would it be right to depart from that plan ? 
 
 Such were the questions which floated like 
 unpleasant dreams through Jessie's mind as she 
 sat with her hands on the back of a chair-seat, 
 knocking her heels against the floor. Her 
 mother, though she allowed her to think awhile 
 in silence, read her thoughts in the workings of 
 her face. When Jessie seemed to be lost in the 
 fog of her own thoughts, Mrs. Carl ton came to 
 her aid, and said : 
 
 " Jessie." 
 
 "Yes, Ma."
 
 MADGE CLIFTON. 101 
 
 " I have been thinking that poor Jack needs 
 those shirts directly, and that you could not 
 make him a pair in less than two, perhaps in 
 not less than three weeks. So I don't see how 
 you can help him out of his present trouble." 
 
 Jessie sighed, and said, " I didn't think of that/' 
 
 " Well, I have a plan to propose. I will 
 send him two of Guy's shirts to-morrow, and 
 you shall make two new ones for Guy, at your 
 leisure." 
 
 " What a dear, good, nice mother you are," 
 cried Jessie, running to Mrs. Carlton, and giv- 
 ing her more kisses than I am able to count. 
 
 Thus did a mother's love find a key with 
 which to unlock Jessie's puzzle, and to enable 
 her to help poor Jack, without breaking her 
 purpose to finish Uncle Morris's things, and 
 thereby drive that plague of her life, the little 
 wizard, away from Glen Morris. 
 
 ' k l will work ever so hard, see if I don't, 
 Ma," said she, as she patted her mother's cheek. 
 "I will finish the slippers, and get the shirta 
 done, too, before Christmas. Don't you think 
 I can ?"
 
 162 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 "You can, I have no doubt, if you try my 
 dear." 
 
 " Well, I'll try then. I'll join Guy's famous 
 Try Company, and will try and try, and try 
 again, until I fairly succeed." 
 
 Mrs. Carlton kissed her daughter affection- 
 ately ; after which the now light-hearted girl 
 bounded out of the room, singing 
 
 " If you find your case is hard, 
 
 Try, try, try again. 
 Time will bring you your reward, 
 
 Try, try, try again. 
 All that other people do, 
 Why with patience should not you T 
 Only keep this rule in view, 
 
 Try, try, try again." 
 
 "That's it! That's it, my little puss," said 
 Uncle Morris, who was in the parlor which 
 Jessie entered singing her joyous roundelay 
 " Corporal Try is a little fellow, but he had 
 helped do all the great tilings that have ever 
 been done. There is nothing good or great 
 which he cannot do. He will help a little girl 
 learn to darn her own stocking, or make a quilt 
 for her old uncle: ard he will help men build
 
 MADGE CLIF10N. 163 
 
 big steamships, construct railroads over the 
 desert, or lay a telegraph wire under the waters 
 of the ocean. Oh, a great little man is Corporal 
 Try !" 
 
 " I know it," replied Jessie, " and I've joined 
 his company ; so if you meet little Impulse the 
 wizard, please tell him not to come here again 
 unless he wishes to be beaten with a big club 
 called good resolution." 
 
 " Bravely spoken, Lady Jessie ! May you 
 never desert the Corporal's colors I Above all, 
 may you always obtain grace from above where- 
 by to conquer yourself, which is the grandest 
 deed you can possibly perform." 
 
 Jessie sat down to her work-basket, and took 
 up one of the pieces of cloth for her uncle's 
 slippers. But as it was now late in the after- 
 noon of a dull November day, she could not 
 soe to embroider very well. So she thought she 
 would go out again and buy the brown worsted 
 which was needed in working out the figuro on 
 the slippers. Going to the window first, she 
 noticed that the sky looked cold and bleak. 
 The wind, too, was whistling mournfully
 
 164 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 among the branches of the trees, and round 
 the corners of the house. It was evidently 
 going to be a cold night. Turning from tho 
 window again, she said to her brother Hugh, 
 who was sitting very cosily in a large arm-chair 
 before the glowing fire in the grate : 
 
 "Please, Hugh, will you run down to the 
 village with me ? I want to get some worsted 
 at Mrs. Horton's." 
 
 "Why didn't you get it this afternoon?" 
 asked Hugh in his usual grumpy way when 
 asked to do any tiling. 
 
 "I didn't think of it" 
 
 " Didn't think of it, eh ? Well, I don't think 
 I shall be your lackey this cold afternoon. I'd 
 rather sit here and keep my toes warm." 
 
 " Do go, dear Hugh, please do !" said Jessie 
 in her mellowest tones. "I shall want the 
 worsted to-morrow morning." 
 
 " Oh, go to Greenwich ! You are always 
 wanting something. Girls want a mighty sight 
 of waiting on. I won't go." 
 
 Jessie turned away from her ungracious 
 brother wishing, as she had so often done, that
 
 MADGE CLIFTON. 165 
 
 he " was more like Guy." Had it been a little 
 earlier in the afternoon, she would have gone 
 alone ; but as it was nearly dark she preferred 
 company. 
 
 " Oh dear !" sighed she, " what shall I do ? J 
 wish Guy was in." 
 
 "Perhaps you would accept an old man's 
 company," said her uncle, rising and buttoning 
 up his coat. 
 
 "I should be very, very glad to have it, but 
 I don't want to trouble you, Uncle," she replied. 
 
 " It's no trouble to go out with my little puss. 
 Besides, by going, I can give this drone-like 
 brother of yours a practical lesson in that love 
 and politeness which he so much despises. I 
 shall certainly be happier going with you, than 
 he will be in the indulgence of his selfishness 
 before the fire." 
 
 Hugh said something in a grumbling tono 
 which neither his uncle nor sister understood. 
 
 In a few minutes the good old man, having 
 firm hold of Jessie's hand, was breasting the 
 cold wind as they walked smartly along the 
 frozen road leading to the ^illage.
 
 166 JESSITC CARLTON* 
 
 "You will have a chance to try your new 
 skates to-morrow if it is as cold as this all 
 night," said Mr. Morris, as they crossed the 
 bridge over the brook. 
 
 "Won't that be nice?" replied Jessie; "Car- 
 rie Sherwood has a pair too, and we will both 
 try together. I guess I shall get some bumps 
 though before I learn to skate well. I wish wo 
 had some one to teach us how to use them." 
 
 " What will you give me, if I consent to be 
 your teacher ?" 
 
 " Oh, Uncle Morris ! You don't mean it, do 
 you?" 
 
 " To be sure I do. When I was young they 
 called me the best skater in town. I could go 
 through all kinds of movements, and even cut 
 my name on the ice with my skates. I guess I 
 haven't quite forgotten how I used to do it. 
 ]>ut what will you give me if I consent to teach 
 you?" 
 
 " I will love you ever so much, and so will 
 Carrie." 
 
 " But I thought you loved me ever so much 
 already "
 
 MADGE CLIFTON. 167 
 
 " "Well, so I do, Uncle. I love you better than 
 I love anybody in the world, except ma and pa. 
 Dut I will love you better and better." 
 
 "That's pay enough," said Mr. Morris, 
 warmly pressing the hand of his niece. " The 
 pure fresh love of a child's heart is worth more 
 to an old man like me than much gold. It 
 makes my heart grow young again but what 
 have we here ?" 
 
 They had now reached a stone wall which 
 fronted the estate of Esquire Duncan. An 
 ngle in the fence had made a corner, in which 
 was seated a girl of about Jessie's age and size. 
 She was clothed in rags ; her feet were bare. 
 She had no covering on her head save her 
 tangled hair. Her face and arms were brown 
 and dirty. She shivered in the piercing wind, 
 and traces of recent tears were visible in the 
 dirt which covered her woe-worn face. 
 
 "Poor little girl! I wonder where she lives?" 
 exclaimed Jessie. 
 
 " Where do you live, iny dear ?" asked Mr 
 Morris, addressing the child. 
 
 York," replied the outcast curtly. 
 II
 
 168 JESSIE GARLTON. 
 
 " How came you here?" 
 
 " Mother left me down yonder," said the girl, 
 pointing to the four cross-roads just beyond. 
 
 " Where is your mother now ?" 
 
 "Don't know." 
 
 ""What did she say when she left you?" 
 
 "She told me to sit on the trough of the 
 pump while she went to buy some bread. But 
 she didn't come back, and I came over here 
 out of the wind." 
 
 " How long since she left you ?" 
 
 " Ever so long." 
 
 "Poor little girl! I'm afraid your mother 
 brought you out here to cast you off, and so get 
 rid of you," said Uncle Morris. 
 
 " Guess not ! Guess she got drunk some- 
 where," said the girl, in a manner so cold and 
 dogged that Mr. Morris shuddered. 
 
 Here, Jessie, whose eyos were swimming 
 \vith teais, pulled her uncle's hand. Taking 
 him a little aside, she said 
 
 " Please, Uncle, take her home, and let mp 
 give her something to eat." 
 
 "Better take her to the alms-house, Pm
 
 MADGE CMFTOTf. 169 
 
 thinking,'' replied her uncle. " She may be a 
 wicked girl." 
 
 "Then we can teach her to be gcod," said 
 Jessie. 
 
 This was a home thrust that went right to 
 the good old man's heart. " The alms-house," 
 lie thought, " is not a very likely place to grow 
 goodness in. It is too chilly and heartless. 
 There will be little sympathy there with the 
 struggles and sorrows of a child like this ; Jes- 
 sie shall hare her way this time. She shall 
 go with us." 
 
 After forming this purpose, he looked at his 
 niece, and said 
 
 "Perhaps you are right, Jessie. The poor 
 creature shall go home with us, at least, for to- 
 night." 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad, I'm so glad," cried Jessie, 
 clapping her hands, then running to the shiver- 
 ing child, who had been watching them during 
 this conversation with a puzzled air, she said 
 
 " Come, little girl, you are to go home with 
 me. Uncle says so." 
 
 " I don't want to. I'll wait here for motile: ,"
 
 170 JESSIE CABLTON. 
 
 replied the girl, shrinking back into her ccrner, 
 against the rough stone wall. 
 
 " My child," said Mr. Morris, " I fear your 
 jiolherhas left you here on purpose, and that 
 die will never come back. If she is in the place, 
 you shall go to her as soon as we can find her. 
 If you stay here you will freeze. Come with us 
 and we will give you a supper, and let you 
 warm yourself before a rousing fire, while we 
 search for your mother." 
 
 The idea of supper and a rousing fire took 
 hold of the little outcast's feelings. Gathering 
 her rags close to her chilled body she stepped 
 forward, and said 
 
 "I'll go with you." 
 
 " "What is your name ?" inquired Jessie. 
 
 " Madge !" said the child, curtly. 
 
 " Madge what ?" asked Uncle Morris. 
 
 Madge Clifton !" said the child. 
 
 " "Which means, I suppose, Ma'rgaret Clifton, r ' 
 Baid the old gentleman. " A pretty name 
 enough, and I wish its owner was in a prettier 
 condition. But come, let us hasten out of this 
 biting wind."
 
 MADGE CLIFFON. 171 
 
 Poor little, shivering Madge ! Waiting so 
 /ong for her mother, alone and in a strange 
 ulace, had made her heart heavy and sad. 
 Her limbs were so stiff with cold she could 
 scarcely walk, at first. But the kind looks of 
 the good old gentleman, and the loving words 
 of Jessie, cheered her on ; and in a few minutea 
 they entered the back door of Glen Morris Cot- 
 tage.
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 "WnAT have you here, my brother?" asked 
 Mrs. Carlton, as, in response to a message from 
 Mr. Morris, she entered the kitchen, where 
 poor Madge sat on a cricket before the range, 
 iOokins:, as Jessie afterwards said, "like a cat 
 in a strange garret." 
 
 " She's a heap o' rags and dirt, mem," inter- 
 posed the servant, who did not fancy the intro- 
 duction of such an unsightly object into her 
 prim-looking dominions. 
 
 " She is a poor, starving, and half-frozen girl, 
 without any kind mother to take care of her 
 and love her," said Jessie, who feared, from 
 her mother's looks, that poor Madge was as 
 unwelcome a guest to her, as she was to the 
 kitchen-maid. 
 
 "She is a poor, little human waif, which has
 
 GLIFFON'S MOTHER. 173 
 
 floated to our door on a sea of trouble and 
 misfortune, sister," observed Mr. Morris. " II 
 opportunity is tlie gate of duty, then we owe it 
 ro this little girl, and to the Great Father who 
 sent her to our doors, to relieve her wants, and 
 if needs be. provide for her in future." 
 
 This view of her relation to poor little Madge, 
 somewhat softened Mrs. Carlton's feelings. 
 She was a very kind woman in fact, she was 
 nearly all heart but she was fastidiously neat. 
 Madge's dirt and rags had repelled her at first 
 sight ; had shut out from her thoughts, for the 
 moment, the recollection, that within that cov- 
 ering of filthy rags, there sat a human creature, 
 which, had it been loved, and taught, and 
 trained as her own child had been, might have 
 been as loving, and as attractive as she. Her 
 brother's remark brought this view of Madge's 
 pase before her, but did not wholly divest her 
 }f her first feelings. Jessie's instincts led her to 
 6ce that her mother was not quite prepared to 
 take the outcast girl to her affections, and trem- 
 bling for the result, she followed up her uncle's 
 plea, by saying :
 
 174 JK88IK CARLTON. 
 
 "We found her cold and hungry, sitting 
 under a stone wall, waiting for her mother, 
 who has run away from her. If we had not 
 brought her home, she would have frozen to 
 death before morning. Wouldn't that have 
 been terrible, Ma?" 
 
 " Poor thing !" exclaimed Mrs. Carlton, her 
 sympathy being now fully aroused, "but, 
 Brother, why did you not take her to the alms- 
 house, where they have the means of cleansing 
 and clothing such unhappy outcasts ?" 
 
 " Perhaps it would have been more prudent, 
 my sister, to have done so ; but I took counsel 
 of your child's heart, and not of my own pru- 
 dence. This is Jessie's protege. When she 
 pleaded in her behalf, I thought I would do for 
 Madge, what I and you would wish another to 
 do for Jessie, should she ever, by any sad 
 icvcrse of fortune, become an outcast child." 
 
 "Halloo, what little dolly mop have you gol 
 here?" cried Hugh, -who, at this juncture, 
 bounded into the kitchen to see what was go- 
 ing on. 
 
 " Poor little creature ! She has had a hard
 
 MADGE CLIFTON'S MI THKK. 175 
 
 road to travel, thus far, I guess," said Guy, 
 who accompanied his brother. Hugh looked 
 at the child's appearance only. Guy, like his 
 jncle and Jessie, viewed her as a human being 
 in distress. 
 
 All this time, the object of these comments, 
 stared strangely about, looking, now at the 
 things around her, and then into the faces of 
 the different persons in the group. At first, 
 she seemed indifferent to their remarks. But 
 when Hugh called her a little dollymop, her 
 large, black eyes flashed angrily upon him. 
 Guy's kind words and tones disarmed her, 
 however, and a pearl-like tear rolled down her 
 cheeks. 
 
 "Well," said Mrs. Carlton, with a sigh of 
 resignation to circumstances, "the poor thing is 
 here, and must be cared for." Then turning to 
 the servant, she added, "Take the poor child 
 into the bath-room. Give her a thorough 
 cleansing and combing, while I look out some 
 of Jessie's clothes for her. Take those rags she 
 has on, and throw them on the dirt heap !" 
 
 The party in the kitchen now broke up.
 
 176 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 Uncle Morris, the boys, and Jessie, w^nt into 
 the parlor, where they found Mr. Carlton who 
 had just returned from the city. ' lie approved 
 of what Uncle Morris had done, but thought it 
 best to inquire, at once, for Madge's mother at 
 tlio village tavern. As there was yet an hour 
 to spare before tea, he took Guy, and started in 
 pursuit of the heartless mother. 
 
 Where was she? After leaving Madge at 
 the pump, she had gone to the tavern, and 
 purchased some gin. After drinking a large 
 glass of the fiery liquor, she put down the glass 
 and the money, looking so ravenously at the 
 sparkling decanter, that the landlord feared she 
 was going crazy. Reaching her skinny fingers 
 out towards the bottle, she said, in a screeching 
 voice : " Give me another glass !" 
 
 Hardly knowing what he was about, tlio 
 andlord filled her glass a second time. She 
 swallowed its contents at a single gulp, and de- 
 manded more. Alarmed at her manner the man 
 refused. Then her anger awoke. She poured 
 forth a volley of strange and fearful words. 
 The passers-by came in to see what was the
 
 MADGE CLIFTON'S MOTHER. 177 
 
 matter. To be rid of her tongue and to save 
 the reputation of his house, as he said, the land- 
 lord called in his stable-boys, and they hurled 
 her into the street. 
 
 There she drew upon herself the attention oi 
 Jem Townsend and the crew of idle boys which 
 usually accompanied him. They gathered 
 round the unhappy woman, as she sat on the 
 edge of the curb-stone cursing the tavern-keeper, 
 and began to tease her. 
 
 " Fuddled, eh ?" said Jem Townsend, laugh- 
 ing. Then he added, "What do you do here, 
 Lady Ginswiller ? Rather a cold seat this for 
 a lady, ch? Better walk into old Bottlenose's 
 best parlor, hadn't ye ?" 
 
 Upon this the poor maudlin creature cursed 
 louder than ever. The wicked urchins laughed 
 and hooted in turn, until she rose in a fit of 
 passion and pursued them. 
 
 The boys ran down the village street, pausing 
 now and then to quicken her rage by some 
 biting words. And thus they led her at last to 
 the vicinity of a low grocery. Drawn by the 
 scent of rum, like the vulture to its quarry, she
 
 178 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 staggered into the grocery, laid down her last 
 sixpence on the bar, and muttered. "Give me a 
 drink of rum." 
 
 It was given her. She drank the wretched 
 stuff, and reeling to the door-step, fell down in- 
 sensibly drunk. What a spectacle of pity ! 
 And yet that poor, pitiable creature had once 
 been a fair and lovely girl, as full of life and 
 .hope as she w y as of health and beauty. But 
 now, alas, IIOAV fallen ! What had done it ? 
 The wine cup, used in circles of fashion, began 
 the work of ruin. Rum and gin were doing 
 their best to finish it. 
 
 Finding they could not rouse her, the boys 
 ran off to Mr. Tipstaff, the constable, and told 
 him about her. That worthy repaired to the 
 spot. Aided by one or two others he dragged 
 her to a magistrate's office ; and he sent her to 
 jail as a common vagrant. 
 
 These facts were all told to Mr. Carlton and 
 Guy by the landlord of the hotel, who painted 
 the poor w r oman in very dark colors. After 
 calling on the magistrate and requesting that 
 the prisoner might be detained the next day
 
 MADGE CLIFTON'S MOTHER. 179 
 
 antil it was ascertained certainly that she was 
 Madge's mother, he and Guy returned home 
 with sad hearts. They talked the matter over 
 as they walked. Among other questions, Guy 
 asked : 
 
 " Do many women become drunkards, Pa ?" 
 
 " Yes, a great many ; though drunken women 
 are not so common as drunken men, by far." 
 
 " It always makes me feel bad to see a tipsy 
 man ; but when I once saw a tipsy woman in 
 New York, it made me shudder. How do 
 women learn to drink, Pa ? They don't go to 
 the tavern like men, do they ?" 
 
 " Not at first, Guy. Usually they begin at 
 home, or at parties, or when stopping at the 
 great hotels, where wine is drunk at the dinner- 
 table. In many families, also, wine is used at 
 the table, and fathers and mothers teach their 
 daughters to drink it as a daily beverage. But 
 generally, I believe, ladies begin their habit of 
 drinking wine at parties, taking it, at first, not 
 from choice, but because they don't like to be 
 thought singular." 
 
 " But I don't see how drinking a little wine
 
 180 JESSIE CAItLTON. 
 
 at a party can teach a lady to be a drunkard, 
 Pa," remarked Guy. 
 
 "It does not do so, my son, in every case. 
 But too often a lady will acquire an appetite for 
 wine, which gradually grows stronger and 
 stronger until she cannot control it. This ap- 
 petite is not awakened in all who drink, but it 
 may be. Hence, it is better for all, boys, girls, 
 men, and women, not to touch the drink that is 
 in the drunkard's bowl." 
 
 " So I think, Pa," said Guy, " and therefore, I 
 mean to be a tee-totaler as long as I live." 
 
 " That's right, my son. It is always best to 
 keep as far from a dangerous place as possible." 
 
 When Mr. Carlton and Guy reached home, 
 tea was ready, and they went at once to the 
 cheerful table. Jessie could scarcely wait while 
 the blessing was asked, so impatient was she to 
 know if Madge's mother had been found. A a 
 soon, therefore, as Uncle Morris ceased speak- 
 ing, she broke forth and said : 
 
 " O Pa ! you don't know how nice Madge 
 will look when she is washed and dressed. 
 Please tell me if you have seen her mother ?"
 
 MADGE CLIFTON'S MOTHKR. 18"* 
 
 "No, 1 have not seen her," replied her father, 
 smiling. 
 
 Jessie's face brightened. She had been fear- 
 ing that Madge would have to go away if her 
 mother was found. Looking archly at her fa- 
 ther, she said 
 
 "I'm .90 glad. Now poor Madge can stay 
 here!" 
 
 " Why, Jessie, you surprise me," said Mrs. 
 Carlton. "Is it any thing to be glad about, 
 that a little girl has lost her mother ?" 
 
 With a blush mantling her cheek : the little 
 girl exclaimed 
 
 'Her mother is a wicked woman, Ma, and 
 don't make her happy, nor teach her to be 
 good. If Madge has lost her, and you let her 
 live with us and be a mother to her, she will be 
 a good deal better off, and much happier than 
 she could be with her own mother." 
 
 " Spoken like a philosopher !" exclaimed 
 Uncle Morris. " The loss of a drunken mother 
 is not, indeed, a thing to mourn over, especially 
 if that loss brings with it the gain of a home in 
 which Love ia the perpetual Preside t-r-hut ]
 
 182 JESSIE CARLTOST. 
 
 suspect from your pa's looks that Madge's 
 mother is not wholly lost, yet." 
 
 " W/iy ! didn't pa say he couldn't find her ?' 
 said Jessie, looking with a puzzled air at her 
 father. 
 
 " Not exactly, my dear," replied Mr. Carlton. 
 " I said I had not seen her, which is true ; but I 
 have heard of her, as I suppose ; for a strange 
 woman did go to the tavern about the time 
 Madge was left, and is now in jail as a drunken 
 vagrant." 
 
 " Oh, how shocking !" exclaimed Jessie. 
 
 Mr. Carlton now told all he had heard about 
 the supposed Mrs. Clifton, and it was agreed 
 that Uncle Morris should see her in the morn- 
 ing and learn if she was, indeed, the poor 
 child's mother. 
 
 After tea, Jessie hurried to the kitchen to 
 look after her protege* She found her so 
 changed by her washing and new dress, that 
 notwithstanding her high expectations, she 
 could hardly believe her to be the same Madge 
 she had seen sitting there an hour before. But 
 Madge it was, as bright and good-looking a girl
 
 MADUE CLIFION'S MOTHER. 183 
 
 M 
 
 as could be found anywhere, in or out of Dun- 
 canville. 
 
 "Have you had enough to eat, Madge?" in- 
 quired Jessie, scarcely knowing how to act the 
 part of an agreeable hostess. 
 
 " Indade, miss, but she has eaten more like 
 a hungry pig than a gal," said Mary, before 
 Madge had time to reply. 
 
 Jessie could not keep from laughing at 
 Mary's not very complimentary comparison. 
 Hence, she turned her head so as not to hurt 
 the little girl's feelings. As soon as she could 
 make her face straight and sober again, she sat 
 down beside Madge, and taking her hand, 
 said 
 
 " Would you like to see my doll ?" 
 
 But Madge had other and higher thoughts 
 than of dolls or playthings. She was in a sort 
 of wonder- world. She could not satisfy herself 
 with regard to the meaning of the change 
 brought about in her during: the last hour or 
 
 O t/ 
 
 two. That pleasant kitchen, the neat dress she 
 wore, the bath by which she had been cleansed 
 
 from the filth of poverty, the pleasant faces she 
 12
 
 184 JESSIE OA.RLTON. 
 
 bad seen, and the kind voices she had heard, 
 all seemed to her like a gay dream, and she was 
 expecting, ay, and fearing too, that the next 
 minute she should awake and find herself sitting 
 and sjiivering in the cold wind, under the stone 
 wall, waiting for her ungentle mother. But 
 when Jessie touched her hand and spoke so 
 kindly to her, every thing seemed real, and her 
 heart sent up gushes of gratitude to the little 
 friend who, like some good fairy, had conjured 
 away her rags, and pain, and cold, and hunger. 
 After gazing silently into Jessie's eyes a few 
 moments, as if she was trying to look into her 
 soul, she said 
 
 " Little girl, will you let me love you?" 
 "To be sure I will, and I will love you too," 
 replied Jessie, in tones that seemed like angel's 
 music to the little outcast, whose ears had long 
 been unfamiliar with loving words. 
 
 Then Jessie threw an arm round Madge and 
 pressing her to her bosom, gave her a kiss. 
 Oh, how warmlv did the outcast girl return it ! 
 
 ' v O 
 
 She clung to Jessie as the wild vine does to the 
 supporting branch, and embraced her with an
 
 MADGE CLIFTON'S MOTHER. 1 80 
 
 ardor which told more eloquently than w^rds 
 could utter it, how grateful she was for the !ovo 
 which Jessie had offered her. 
 
 When Madge withdrew her arms from Jessie, 
 she sat back in her chair and gazed at her long 
 and silently. After a time the tears filled her 
 eyes, and in broken accents she asked 
 
 " Docs any one know where my mother is ?" 
 
 Jessie told her she was probably in the- vil- 
 lage, and that she would, most likely, sc her 
 in the morning. Madge begged haixl to be 
 taken to her that night, but was finally per- 
 suaded to wait until the morrow. 
 
 " That child has a great deal of heart" said 
 Uncle Morris, after hearing Jessie's account of 
 her interview with Madge. "We must do 
 what we can to rescue her from the influence of 
 her drunken mother."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LITTLE IMPULSE BEATEN AGAIN. 
 
 AFPER breakfast the next morning. Jessie sat 
 down to her work with a resolute will. Her 
 impulse, was to spend the hours playing with 
 Madge. But her purpose to act by rule was 
 strong, and it conquered. Guy went out for 
 the brown worsted, which her meeting with 
 Madge, kept her from buying the previous 
 evening. So giving her protege a seat on a 
 cricket by her side, she worked merrily, and 
 with nimble fingers, on her uncle's slippers. 
 The tongues of the two girls, you may be sure, 
 were as nimble as Jessie's fingers. 
 
 While they were thus happily employed, 
 Uncle Morris was out, looking after the young 
 outcast's mother. 
 
 Jessie had not been seated more than an 
 hour before her brother Hugh, with his friend.
 
 LITTLE IMPULSE BEATEN AGAIN. 17 
 
 Walter Sherwood and his sister Carrie, came in 
 eacli armed with a pair of skates, and well wrap- 
 ped up, as was fitting they should be, on a cold 
 day in November. Carrie bounded into the room 
 like a fawn, and kissing her friend, exclaimed: 
 
 "O Jessie! this is a capital morning for 
 skating! Walter has found a nice safe place, 
 and we have come to take you with us." 
 
 This was a strong temptation. Perhaps a 
 stronger could not have been offered, to incline 
 her to break her purpose, and drop her work. 
 There had been no day since her skates had 
 been given her, in which there had been ice 
 enough to try them. It was a new amusement, 
 too, and her heart was set upon it. Hence, an 
 impulse came over her, to pitch the slipper into 
 the basket, seize her skates, and hurry away tc 
 the desired spot. In fact, she half rose from 
 the chair, and words of consent were rising to 
 her lips, when she thought of the little wizard, 
 and reseating herself, replied : 
 
 "I would like to go ever so much, Carrie, 
 but I must stay in until dinner-time } -and work 
 on uncle's slippers.
 
 188 JK88IE CAKLTON. 
 
 "Bother the slippers! Who cares about 
 them ! Uncle don't need them, and why 
 should you be fussing over them," said Hugh. 
 
 " It's very pleasant to work for your good 
 old uncle, I dare say, Miss Jessie, but you cau 
 do that in the afternoon. We very much wish 
 you to join our party this morning," observed 
 Walter. 
 
 " I know i could" replied Jessie ; " but 
 mother wishes me to sew or study every morn- 
 ing until dinner-time, and I have resolved to do 
 it. I have broken my purpose a great many 
 times, but I must keep it now, much as I want 
 to go out skating. Can't you put off your 
 party until the afternoon ?" 
 
 "Not a bit of it!" said Hugh. "Come 
 Walt, come Carrie, let us be off." 
 
 " I think I will stay with Jessie this morn- 
 ing," replied Carrie; "and I invite you, young 
 gentlemen, to beau us to the skating-ground, 
 this afternoon !" 
 
 " If you won't go now, you may beau your- 
 Belves for all we," retorted Hugh in his usual 
 ungracious way, when treating with his sister.
 
 LITTLE IMPCLSK BKATEN AGAIN 189 
 
 "Don't say so, Hugh," responded Walter. 
 " It's hardly polite. 'Spose you and I go 
 without the girls this morning, and with them 
 this afternoon ? EhF 
 
 "As you please!" growled Hugh, swinging 
 his skates ; " only let us be off quick." 
 
 The boys now left, promising to go with tho 
 girls at half-past two in the .afternoon. Carrie 
 laid aside her hood and cloak, which Jessie 
 took, and laid in a heap upon the table. 
 
 "My dear!" observed Mrs. Carlton, who 
 looked into the room j ust at that moment ; " is 
 that the place for Carrie's things ?" 
 
 A blush tinged Jessie's cheek. As I have 
 said before, a want of regard for order, was a 
 fault which grew out of her impulsive nature. 
 She did most things in a hurry, and usually with 
 some other object before her mind at the same 
 time. While her uncle had been trying to cure 
 her of the habit of yielding to her impulses, her 
 mother had also been endeavoring to stimulate 
 her to cultivate a love of order. No wonder, 
 then, that she blushed as she went to hang her 
 friend's hood and cloak on the stand in the hall.
 
 190 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 All this time, poor Madge had sat almost 
 unnoticed. So taken up were they all with 
 their skating party, that they had overlooked 
 the quiet maiden, sitting so demurely on her 
 cricket. But now the hoys were gone, and the 
 two friends took their seats, Jessie's thoughts 
 came hack to the young outcast, and turning to 
 Carrie, she said : 
 
 " Carrie, let me introduce you to Madge 
 Clifton." 
 
 " How do you do, miss ?" said Carrie, howing. 
 
 Poor Madge did not know much ahout intro- 
 ductions, and was unused to company. So she 
 only blushed, hung down her head, and replied : 
 
 " Pretty well, thank ye." 
 
 Jessie now took Carrie aside, and in whispers 
 told her poor Madge's story, after which, they 
 resumed their seats. Carrie's warm heart soon 
 incited away the poor outcast's fears; and while 
 the two young ladies were merrily prattling 
 away, Madge listened with wonder if not with 
 delight. In fact, her life since last evening 
 seemed more like a dream than a reality to her. 
 She was still in fairy-land.
 
 LITTLE IMPULSE BEATEN AGAIN. 191 
 
 Presently the postman came to the house 
 bringing a letter addressed to " Miss Jessie 
 Carlton." The servant took it to Jessie on a 
 email salver. 
 
 * Is it for me ?" cried Jessie, taking it up and 
 examining the address. 
 
 " Whom can it be from ?" asked Carrie, lean- 
 ing over to her friend's side to see the hand- 
 writing. 
 
 " Oh, I know !" exclaimed Jessie. " It's from 
 cousin Emily." 
 
 The letter was opened, and Jessie read aloud 
 as follows : 
 
 MORRISTOWN, N. J., November 18, 18 . 
 
 MY DEAR JESSIE: 
 
 I got home nicely from your 
 house. Ma was very glad to see us, and so was 
 pa. Charlie said he was glad to get home. I 
 was some glad and some sorry. It was pleasant 
 to sec pa and ma again, but I missed you, oh ! 
 ever so much ! When I went up to my room 
 that night, I sat down and cried. I thought 
 ovei all the naughty things I had said and done
 
 192 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 to you while 'I was at Glen Morris, until it 
 seemed to me I was the most wicked girl in the 
 world. I thought of you and of dear Uncle 
 Morris and his good advice, until my heail 
 seemed broken. Then I kneeled down and 
 asked (rod to make me a good girl like you. I 
 begin to believe he will, for I have been trying 
 hard to be good ever since. Mother says I am 
 a very good girl already ; but she don't know 
 what passes in my thoughts, nor how hard I 
 have to -strive to keep down my ugly, wicked 
 temper. Charlie is not quite so wicked as he 
 was, either, and I am trying to make him a 
 good boy. I wish you would come to Morris- 
 town and make me a good long visit. With 
 much love to yourself, and your good Ma, Pa, 
 and Uncle Morris, I am 
 
 Your affectionate cousin, 
 
 EMILY MOREIB. 
 
 To Miss JESSIE CAELTON. 
 
 "What a beautiful letter !" said Carrie. 
 Jessie was silent. She was thinking. She 
 was secretly rejoicing, too. Such a joy was ID
 
 LITTLE IMPULSE BEATEN AGAIN. 193 
 
 her young heart as had never welled up in it 
 before. She had done Emily good. As Guy 
 had led Richard Duncan into right paths, so sho 
 had led Emily. Happy, happy Jessie ! 
 
 J ust then she heard Uncle Morris's night-key 
 lifting the latch of the hall door. Away she 
 bounded from her seat, almost overturning poor 
 Madge in her hurry. Rushing to her uncle as 
 lie was closing the door, she seized his arm with 
 one hand while she held up Emily's letter in the 
 other, and in a loud, earnest whisper, said : 
 
 " O Uncle ! Cousin Emily is trying to be 
 good. She says so in her letter." 
 
 Uncle Morris stooped to imprint a kiss on the 
 upturned lips of the eager child. Then patting 
 her head gently, he said : 
 
 " It is not every sower of good seed that finds 
 his harvest sheaf so quickly as you have done. 
 Perhaps the Great Husbandman has given my 
 Jessie hers to encourage her to sow, and sow, 
 and sow again but Jessie, I have found your 
 Madge's mother." 
 
 " Have you, truly ?" asked Jessie, feeling her 
 interest suddenly revived in her protege.
 
 194: JESSIK CARLTON. 
 
 "Yes. Come with me to your mother's room 
 and I will tell you all about it." 
 
 This "mother's room" was up-stairs, and up 
 they went. Finding Mrs. Carlton there with 
 her seamstress, they sat down, and Uncle Morris 
 told his story. Said he : 
 
 " I have seen Mrs. Clifton. She is sober this 
 morning, and is quite a well-bred, intelligent 
 woman. She has been respectable; was well 
 married to a reputable man-. But foolishly for- 
 saking their quiet country home, they went to 
 the city in the hope of acquiring property. 
 There her husband, failing to get work, took to 
 drinking and died. Mrs. Clifton buried him, 
 and, dreading to go back to her old home be- 
 cause of poverty, tried to support herself by 
 needlework. In an evil hour she took to drink 
 ing ; first as a stimulant to labor, and then as a 
 cordial to soothe her griefs. Of course she soon 
 sank very low, and made poor Madge go out t( 
 beg. At last, stung with remorse, she resolved 
 to quit the city, and, seeking work in the 
 country, become a sober woman again. Filled 
 with tlm purpose she travelled as far as Dim-
 
 LITTLE IMPULSE BEATEN AGAIN. 195 
 
 canville with her child, when her appetite for 
 drink came upon her. Leaving Madge at the 
 Four Corners she sought the tavern. The rest 
 you know. We found the child, and she spent 
 the night in the lock-up.'* 
 
 " Poor thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Carlton. 
 
 " Poor little Madge !" cried Jessie, who very 
 naturally felt more for the unfortunate child, 
 than for the unhappy, bnt guilty mother. 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Morris, " but pity alone 
 won't do them much good. The question is, 
 what shall be done with them?" 
 
 "True," rejoined Mrs. Carlton, " but are you 
 sure the woman's story is true ?" 
 
 "It agrees with the account Madge gave of 
 herself, so far as the affair of last evening is 
 concerned. Being true in one thing, I hope it 
 is in all. She has, however, given me refer- 
 ences to her old friends in the country, and 
 professes to be very anxious to live a reformed 
 life. I will write to her friends, but, mean- 
 while, what shall we do with her?" 
 
 '* Let her come here, and stay with Madge 2" 
 suggested Jessie.
 
 196 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 Mrs. Carlton looked at her brother, and read 
 in his eyes an approval of her daughter's 
 buggestion. 
 
 u Be it so," said she, u if you think best. 1 
 can keep her busy with her needle, until we 
 hear from her friends, and something offers 
 Perhaps a few days spent in our quiet home, 
 will confirm her in her feeble purposes to re- 
 enter the way of sobriety." 
 
 " Spoken just like yourself!" said Mr. Morris, 
 with an expression which showed how greatly 
 he loved and admired his sister. " I will go 
 after the poor creature directly." 
 
 " Oh, I'm so glad Madge's mother is coming 
 here to live !" cried Jessie, clapping her hands, 
 and running down-stairs to tell the good newa 
 1o her protege. 
 
 The outcast child looked a gratitude she did 
 mt know how to express, after hearing what 
 Jessie had to say. She fixed her large, jlack 
 eyes, swimming in tears, upon her friendly 
 hostess, and silently watched her every mo- 
 tion. 
 
 " I think it's very kind of your mother, to
 
 LITTLE IMPULSE J'.EATEN AGAIN. 197 
 
 tike a stranger into her house so," whispered 
 Carrie. 
 
 *'So it is," replied Jessie, who was now busy 
 v .th her embroidery on the slipper. "So it is, 
 [.nt my Uncle Morris says that it is godlike to 
 >e kind, and that if we are kind and loving to 
 poor people, the great God will honor us, and 
 care for us." 
 
 Carrie looked at the sweet face of- Jessie with 
 admiration for some time, without saying a 
 word. At last, to break the silence, she said : 
 
 " Won't we have a good time, skating this 
 afternoon ?" 
 
 " I hope so," said Jessie ; " and we will take 
 Madge with us, shall we ?" 
 
 " Can you skate, Madge ?" asked Carrie. 
 
 Madge shook her head. The child was 
 nervous and uneasy about the coming of her 
 mother. She was afraid she might come to the 
 house tipsy, and so offend the friends who 
 loved her so well. 
 
 "Can you slide on the ice?" asked Jessie. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," replied Madge, evidently get- 
 ting to be more and more absent-minded.
 
 L98 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 "She is thinking about her mother,'* whis 
 pered Carrie. 
 
 "Yes, don't let us trouble her," replied 
 Jessie. 
 
 Quickly sped the bright needle, with its 
 beautiful worsteds, along the slipper, and quick- 
 ly grew into shape the flowers which were to 
 form the pattern. A happy heart and a resolute 
 will, make her fingers both nimble and skilful. 
 
 By and by, Uncle Morris's night-key was 
 heard opening the door-latch again. Jessie 
 started, listened a moment, then dropped her 
 work, and taking Madge's hand, said: 
 
 " Your mother is come !" 
 
 "Where is she?" asked the child, looking 
 anxiously toward the door. 
 
 " Come with me, I'll show you," said Jessie, 
 hiking her by the hand. 
 
 They went into the hall. Uncle Morris waa 
 there, and so was Mrs. Clifton. She was a 
 short, slender, well-formed woman, with large, 
 dark bloodshot eyes. Her face was pale, her 
 cheeks hollow, and her hair uncombed. She 
 was poorly dressed, and yet there was some
 
 LITTLE IMPULSE BEATKN AOAIX. ^ 
 
 tiling about her, which told of better things 
 As soon us she saw Madge, she ran to hei\ 
 folded her nervously to her bosom, and ex- 
 claimed : 
 
 " Oh ! my child ! pity your poor, wretched 
 mother!" 
 
 Madge, finding her mother to be sober, grew 
 cheerful. Her mother, after being taken to the 
 bath-room, and furnished with some changes of 
 raiment, was installed in the room with the 
 seamstress, and then, as waters close up, and 
 flow on smoothly again, after a little disturb- 
 ance, so did affairs at Glen Morris move on 
 once more, in their wonted quiet course. 
 13
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE SKATING PARTY. 
 
 " Now you can go skating with me, can't 
 you ?" inquired Carrie Sherwood, as she pushed 
 her little round face in at the door after 
 dinner. 
 
 "Yes, now I can go," replied Jessie. "I did 
 ever so much on my slipper this morning, and 
 shall get it done by the last of the week." 
 
 " If you stick to it, hut I know you won't" 
 said Hugh, interrupting his sister. 
 
 Jessie felt a little anger stir in her heart on 
 hearing this fling at a hahit she was trying so 
 so hard to overcome. But saying to herself, 
 " never mind, I deserve it," she merely gave 
 Hugh a glance of reproof, and was silent. 
 
 "I say, that's ungenerous, Mister Hugh," ob- 
 served Guy, taking up his sister's case. "Yon 
 know Jessie is learning to stick to her pur-
 
 THE SKATING PARTY. 201 
 
 poses, and that is more than anybody can say 
 of yon." 
 
 " Don't be too hard upon a fellow just for a 
 joke," replied Hugh, wincing under his broth- 
 er's hit. 
 
 " "Well, don't you throw stones at Jessie ; dt 
 least, not so long as you live in a glass house 
 yourself," said Guy. Then turning to the girls, 
 he added : " Come girls, get ready, and I'll go 
 with you to help Jessie try her new skates." 
 
 " Oh, thank yon, you dear good Guy !" re- 
 plied Jessie, running to her brother and giving 
 him a sweet sisterly kiss. 
 
 " I think I'll go, too, if you'll let me," said 
 Hugh. 
 
 " You may if you'll promise not to poke fun 
 at us if we fall down," replied Jessie. 
 
 " If you do poke fun, master Hugh," said 
 Carrie, shaking her head at him, " wo will 
 never consent to let you join our party again !" 
 
 "That will be terrible!" exclaimed Hugh, 
 with mock gravity. " Why I'd rather be drum- 
 med out of our Archery club than be turned ofl 
 by the ladies."
 
 '202 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 ""Well, you may go this time, if you will 
 carry my skates," said Jessie. 
 
 " Of course I will ; and is there any thing 
 else, in the small way, that your most humble 
 servant can do for you?" asked Hugh, bow- 
 ing almost to the ground. 
 
 A laugh greeted this act of mock humil- 
 ity, and then all parties prepared to face the 
 keen breeze in search of recreation on the 
 ice. 
 
 " Where is Madge ? is she ready ?" shouted 
 Jessie, as she stood at the foot of the stairs, 
 warmly muffled for her walk. 
 
 "Yes, Miss, here she is," replied Madge's 
 mother, as she came to the top of the stairs, 
 leading her daughter by the hand. 
 
 Madge was dressed in an old plaid cloak, 
 which had become too small for Jessie, and in a 
 scarlet hood which had been laid aside for the 
 Game reason. 
 
 " A regular little red riding-hood, isn't she?" 
 whispered Hugh, to his brother, after taking a 
 survey of the prim, little black-eyed miss before 
 him. Then looking sour and angry, he added
 
 THE SKATING PARTY. 203 
 
 "But why does Jessie take the beggar's brat 
 out with her ?" 
 
 "Hugh! Hugh! Don't talk in that way," 
 replied Guy, putting his hand playfully over 
 his brother's mouth. 
 
 " Get out !" cried Hugh, pushing his bu til- 
 er's hand away and walking off in high dud- 
 geon, in search of Walter, who, for some reason, 
 had not come with his sister. His foolish pride 
 had kindled anger in his breast. 
 
 Madge, with the usual quickness of girls of 
 her age, had caught enough of Hugh's words, 
 and of the meaning of his act, to perceive that 
 he was disposed to treat her with scorn. A 
 cloud flitted across her brow, and her eyes 
 flashed. It was clear that the proud, thought- 
 less boy had wounded her feelings. 
 
 " Hugh ! Hugh ! Don't carry off my skates !" 
 ehouted Jessie, as her brother turned into tho 
 main road, from the lawn. 
 
 Whirling the skates over the fence, he kept 
 on without a word. The skates, fortunately, 
 fell on a heap of dry leaves and were picked up 
 uninjured by Guy, who, with the three girls,
 
 204 JKSSIE CARLTON. 
 
 soon found the way to some hollows, in the pas 
 ture, near the brook. These hollows, filled 
 with shallow pools of water, now solidly frozen, 
 were excellent places for young misses to slide 
 and skate in. 
 
 Madge was not cheerful this afternoon. 
 Hugh had wounded her pride, and stirred her 
 sleeping passions. It was very ungenerous con- 
 duct, in a lad of his age, to treat an unfortunate 
 child with scorn. Madge ought not to have 
 allowed her temper to he ruffled. But, alas, 
 poor child ! she had not been taught to keep 
 her evil temper under control. So she brooded 
 over Hugh's conduct. The more she thought 
 of it, the more chafed and angry she felt. 
 
 Guy helped Carrie and his sister put on their 
 skates. Jessie had never had a skate upon her 
 "oot before. Carrie had learned to use them a 
 little the previous winter. Hence, she glided 
 ofl something like a swan, while Jessie hobbled 
 and slipped, and tumbled fora long time in vain 
 attempts to keep upright on the ice. 
 
 Carrie was so taken up watching the laugha 
 ble attempts of her friend, that she took 110
 
 THK SKATING PAR IT. 205 
 
 notice of poor Madge. Guy and Jessie were so 
 busy, the former teaching, and the latter learn- 
 ing, that they too forgot her. Poor child ' this 
 neglect stung the wound which Hugh's act hail 
 caused, and so, with many a frown and pout, 
 ehe quietly stole from the hollow to a deepei 
 one in which, by seating herself on a low stump, 
 she could remain unseen. 
 
 "They is all proud," mused Madge, half 
 aloud. " I heard that You, or Hugh, whatever 
 they call him, say ' beggar's brat.' I know he 
 meant me, and I know he went off cause I was 
 with 'em. And there's them gals ; they don't 
 care for me a bit. Drat 'em ! I wish mother 
 would go away from here." 
 
 This was very foolish talk for Madge. Had 
 she looked on the kind side of her new-found 
 friends, and thought of their gifts to her, and of 
 the pleasant home they had given her and her 
 mother for the time-being, and of their gentle 
 words, she would have seen so much to be grate- 
 ful for, that there would have been no room in 
 her heart for unhappy feelings. But Madge 
 forgot all these things. She saw nothing but
 
 206 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 Hugh's scorn and Jessie's neglect. With these 
 she tortured herself. It was just as foolish as il 
 she had taken some sharp thorns and scratched 
 her arms and cheeks with them. 
 
 "While Madge was thus making herself miser- 
 able, Jessie was making rare progress with her 
 skating. After a few awkward falls and a few 
 bumps and bruises, she learned " the how" as 
 Guy called it ; and then, though still awkward, 
 oh ! how joyously she sped across the little 
 pond chasing after Guy and Carrie, and shout- 
 ing until the welkin rang again. 
 
 "Capital fun, isn't it?" said she, gliding 
 ashore, and sitting down on a stone almost out 
 of breath. 
 
 " I call it nice sport for girls," replied Carrie, 
 pausing on the edge of the bank ; " but you 
 aren't tired yet, are you ?" 
 
 " Yes, a little. Besides, too m nch of a good 
 thing, as my uncle says, destroys your relish for 
 it. I guess I've skated enough for once," said 
 Jessie, stooping and unbuckling the straps of 
 her skates. 
 
 " Pooh ! Jessie's not half a skater !" rejoined
 
 THE SKATING PAKTY. 207 
 
 Carrie ; " but wliat has become of your friend 
 Madge." 
 
 ''Sure enough! Where is she? I had for 
 gotten all about her." 
 
 But Madge had wandered still farther off, 
 and was nursing her bad feelings in a small 
 grove which skirted the pasture. She was not 
 visible from where the girls and Guy were. 
 
 " O Guy ! Madge is gone. Won't you please 
 come and help me find her ?" said Jessie, put- 
 ting on a very long and sorrowful face. 
 
 "I'll call her. She's not far off, I'll bet," re- 
 plied Guy. 
 
 Then placing his hands to his lips as a sort of 
 speaking trumpet, he shouted 
 
 "Madge! Ma-adge! Ma-a-adge!" 
 
 " Adge ! Adge ! Adge !" said an echo from 
 the distant grove. 
 
 " Where can she be !" cried Jessie, now re- 
 lieved of hei skates and standing on a hillock, 
 peering eagerly all over the pasture. 
 
 " I guess she is only gone home. Never 
 mind her," said Carrie. "She ain't worth 
 worrying about." '.
 
 208 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 "Yes, she is," replied Jessie. "She is a poo: 
 unhappy girl, and I want to make her good and 
 happy. Uncle Morris says everybody that 
 (iud made is worth caring about, and I do caro 
 tor Madge. Oh dear, I wish I knew where to 
 find her." 
 
 " See there ?" cried Guy, pointing to a group 
 of boys near the distant grove. "I think I 
 see Madge among those fellows. I'll lose my 
 guess if that isn't Idle Jem and his crew. 
 There's a girl among them for certain, but how 
 could Madge stroll all up there and none of us 
 see or think of her ?" 
 
 " Let us go and see," said Jessie. 
 
 Quickly as their nimble fingers could loose 
 the straps, Carrie and Guy removed their 
 skates. In a minute or two more, the three 
 were hurrying across the pasture toward the 
 hoys and girl, whom they saw 
 
 Madge was, indeed, one of that group. Idle 
 Jem and his crew, while wandering across the 
 pasture in search of the hickory-nuts which 
 were hidden under the dead leaves, had found 
 her in the grove. They began to jibe at her at
 
 THK SKATING 1'AKTY. 20'J 
 
 / 
 
 once. The girl long used to the rough news 
 and beggar boys of the city, and out of temper, 
 withal, jibed back at them with interest. They 
 goaded her with harsh words ; and when Guy 
 and the girls came within hearing, she was using 
 language such as the pure-minded Jessie had 
 never heard before. 
 
 "Hush, Madge !" said Guy, putting his hand 
 on Madge's shoulder. " Don't swear ! It's wick 
 ed to talk so. You go home with Jessie and 
 Carrie, I'll take care of these boys." 
 
 That last phrase was an unlucky one for 
 Guy. The wicked boys took it up as a defi- 
 ance. 
 
 "Take care of us, eh? That's the talk is it? 
 How will you do it, old fellow?" said Jein, 
 sneering and chucking Guy's chin. 
 
 "Keep your hands off me, if you please," said 
 Guy ; " I want nothing of you only to let that 
 poor girl alone." 
 
 " It's none of your business what we say to 
 that gal," said Noll Crawford. 
 
 " Yes, it is my business to see that you 
 let her entirely alone," replied Guy firmly.
 
 '210 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 " So stand off , and let us take her quietly 
 away." 
 
 " Shan't do nothin' of the kind," said Petci 
 Mink, running toward Madge, whose eyes 
 flashed fire. 
 
 Guy grasped him by the collar and hurled 
 him back from Madge, amidst the tears and 
 cries of Carrie and Jessie who were both very 
 much frightened. 
 
 "Oh! oh! a fight is it you want? Come 
 I'll fight with ye !" said Idle Jem, slipping 
 up to Guy, and raising his fists as if for a 
 battle. 
 
 " I never fight !" replied Guy. " Besides, 
 we have nothing to fight about. I only wish 
 you to let my little friend, Madge, alone." 
 
 "She!" retorted Jem, "that swearing cat 
 your friend, Master Guy Carl ton Pooh! You 
 don't have swearing gals among your friends, I 
 know. That gal is some beggar's brat, and we 
 only want to have some fun with her." 
 
 Jem's tone was much lowered toward the lat- 
 ter part of his speech. His hands, too, fell as 
 if by instinct to his pockets. Peter Mink and
 
 THE SKATING PARTY. 211 
 
 
 
 Noll Crawford drew back, the -latter saying as 
 he did so 
 
 " Come, Jem, let's leave the spunky little 
 gentleman and his friend, Madge, to them- 
 selves. I'd rather pick up hickory nuts than 
 listen to his gab." 
 
 " Discretion always is the better part of val- 
 or, as Uncle Morris says," thought Guy, as he 
 walked away with his sisters, patting the head 
 of old Rover. 
 
 It was the coming up of old Rover which had 
 cooled off Idle Jem and his crew. The dog 
 had been strolling about the pasture while 
 Jessie was skating. Having missed his young 
 master and mistress on returning to the pond, 
 the faithful fellow had followed them. He 
 came up just at the right moment. His rowa 
 of big white teeth, and his low growl, taught 
 the idlers the discretion which Guy praised and 
 which led them to cease their angry jibes. 
 With Guy alone they might have contended. 
 But Rover was an enemy they had not courage 
 to face. 
 
 To the wounded pride and the ill temper of
 
 212 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 Madge, shame was now added. The kind and 
 gentle Jessie had heard her swear, had seen her 
 face flushed with passion, had had a glimpse 
 into the dark corner of her evil nature. Poor 
 Madge! She sullenly refused to speak or to 
 permit either of the party to take her hand ; 
 but lagging behind the rest, she silently fol- 
 lowed them home. 
 
 Jessie bade her friend, Carrie, good-by in 
 front of Mr. Sherwood's cottage. As they 
 kissed each other, Carrie put her month to 
 Jessie's ear and whispered 
 
 " Jessie, shall I tell you what I think about 
 Madge?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " I wouldn't trouble my head about her any 
 more, if I were you. She is a terribly wbked 
 creature!" 
 
 Jessie sighed, but said nothing. On reach' 
 ing home finding no one at liberty to talk with 
 her, she went tc her chamber and getting her 
 writing materials and her portfolio, went down 
 into the parlor and wrote the following auswei 
 to her cousin Emily's letter:
 
 THE SKATING I'ARTV. 213 
 
 GLEN Mounts COTTAGK, DUNOANVILLE, Nov. --, 18 
 
 DEAR COUSIN: 
 
 I was glad to receive your letter 
 and to learn that you were all well at Morris* 
 town. I cannot tell you how happy it made 
 me to hear that you are trying to be good. 1 
 yish I was good all the time, but, as Uncle 
 Morris says, it is so much easier to do wrong 
 than it is to do right. I can't tell you how 
 much I love our dear uncle, for he is always 
 helping me to be good. He says a good heart 
 is God's gift, and that we must ask him to give 
 it to us for the sake of his dear Son. "Well, ] 
 ask for a good heart three times every day, and 
 if you do so too, God will hear you and bless 
 you. 
 
 What do you think? Yesterday I found a 
 poor girl named Madge in the road near 
 the pump at the four corners. You know the 
 place. "Woll, I asked Uncle Morris to take her 
 home and he did. Her mother is here too. I 
 thought Madge was so nice, and would learn to 
 be good so easy, that I began to love her dearly. 
 But to-day, she swore dreadfully and wouldn't
 
 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 speak to me. Isn't it fearful ? Fin afraid 1 
 shan't be able to love her as I want to any 
 more. Oh dear! I'm so sorry. Well, yon and I 
 must try to be good. Give my love to uncle 
 and aunt, and to Charlie, and believe me to be 
 Your affectionate Cousin, 
 
 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 P. S. I've almost finished Uncle Morris's 
 slippers. J. C.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE WATCH-POCKET FINISHED. 
 
 " WELL, Jessie, how do you like your black- 
 eyed protege f" asked Uncle Morris, a few days 
 after the events recorded in the last chapter. 
 
 " Pretty well but but" 
 
 "But what?" said Uncle Morris, with an 
 arch glance, for he saw that Jessie was loth to 
 speak the thought that lingered in her mind. 
 
 "Well, I like Madge, Uncle, but as ma says, 
 ehc is not quite an angel" and Jessie laughed 
 as if there was something funny in her mother's 
 6,'iying. 
 
 " I suppose she is not. Did my puss ever 
 hear of angels being found, as we found Madge, 
 dressed in rags, and shivering under a stone wall ?' 1 
 
 "No, uncle, but, but" 
 
 "There you are lut-'mg again," said Mr. 
 
 Morris. " Why not out with it at once, and 
 14
 
 216 JESSIE CAKLTON. 
 
 say that you did not expect to find so many 
 faults in poor Madge, as you have found ?" 
 
 "Because I don't like to speak evil of her, 
 and yet I do wish she wouldn't have those ugl_y 
 spells come over her. Sometimes she is bo 
 gentle and grateful, that I begin to love her 
 dearly. Then all at once, she will be so cross 
 and ugly, that I begin to repent having asked 
 you to bring her home with us." 
 
 Mr. Morris looked at his perplexed niece in 
 silence for nearly a minute. lie was thinking 
 how to impress her mind with the moral taught 
 by her disappointment respecting Madge. At 
 last he very gravely said : 
 
 " Jessie !" 
 
 ""What is it, Uncle?" asked Jessie, surprised 
 at her uncle's manner. 
 
 " Shall I tell you plainly, why yon feel so 
 much disappointed in poor Madge?" 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 " Well, it is because your kindness 10 her 
 was mixed with a good deal of selfishness" 
 
 "0 Uncle Morris !" exclaimed Jessie ; "how 
 <jan you say so ?"
 
 THE WATCH-POCKET FINISUKD. 217 
 
 "Because I really think so;" repliea Mr 
 Morris. 
 
 " Well, you are a funny man, if you think so, 
 Uncle ! How could I be selfish, in wishing you 
 to bring that poor child home? I'm sure I 
 didn't expect to gain any thing by it." Here 
 Jessie pouted a little, for she was really piqued 
 by what her uncle had said. Seeing this, Mr. 
 Morris replied : 
 
 "I hope my little puss is not going to be 
 angry with her poor old uncle, because he 
 seeks to tell her the truth." 
 
 " Well, no ; but really, I don't see how you 
 can think me selfish, just for wishing you to 
 bring a poor, freezing child, to our house," and 
 with this remark, Jessie forced back the smile 
 which usually played round her lips, while she 
 looked earnestly into her uncle's eyes. 
 
 "Will my little puss answer me a question 
 or two ?" 
 
 " Yes, Sir." 
 
 "Tell me then, my dear child, did you not 
 expect to derive a great deal of pleasure from 
 Madge's gratitude, and love, and obedience to
 
 218 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 yonrselN Did you not look upon yourself as 
 her benefactor, her teacher, her superior, and 
 as having a right to claim such conduct from 
 her, as would, in some degree, pay you for your 
 trouble and kindness? You expected her, poor 
 thing, to behave like an angel, for your sake. 
 Instead of that, she has, at times, let her evil 
 nature and her bad habits break out, in a way 
 to give you trouble and pain, and to cause you 
 to feel disappointment. Are not these things 
 so, my sweet little puss ?" 
 
 "Yes, Sir. But but ought not poor people 
 to be grateful and obedient to those who help 
 them?" asked Jessie, who, though she began to 
 perceive that a regard for her own pleasure had 
 been mixed with the kindness to Madge, was 
 not quite ready to pl'ead guilty to her good 
 uncle's charge. 
 
 "They ought certainly, and when they do, it 
 is very right for those who help them, to take 
 pleasure in their gratitude. But that is a very 
 different thing, from doing good for the sake of 
 the pleasure or profit we expect to derive from 
 the conduct of those we benefit."
 
 THR WATCH-POCKET FINISHED. 
 
 Uncle Morris then went on to show Jossie, 
 that really good people were kind to the poor 
 and wretched, because it is their duty to be so; 
 that they seldom found their reward, either in 
 the gratitude of those they helped, or in tho 
 smiles of men ; that instead of finding such 
 rewards, they were often blamed and treated 
 harshly by the public, and ungratefully by 
 their proteycs ; but that they had a rich reward, 
 nevertheless. They felt, he said, a very sweet 
 satisfaction in themselves; they were smiled 
 upon by the Father and Saviour of men ; and 
 they would, in the better land, be more than 
 rewarded with mansions, robes, crowns, and 
 honors, which selfish people would forever envy 
 but never enjoy. 
 
 This talk with her uncle did Jessie good. 
 She afterwards bore Madge's outbreaks of tem- 
 per with more patience, and tried to set her 
 Rich an example as would make her feel her 
 own faults far more than by scolding or fret- 
 ting. 
 
 Madge, who was very quick-witted, saw and 
 t'elt the change in Jessie, and she, too, tried to
 
 220 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 overcome herself, that she might not grieve a 
 friend, who loved her so truly and so well. 
 
 One morning Jessie awoke, and was surpris- 
 ed to see the lawn, the trees, and the fences all 
 white with snow. It was a beautiful sight. 
 She had never seen snow in the country before. 
 Having dressed herself, she ran down-stairs, and 
 going to the piazza, clapped her hands, and cried : 
 
 " Oh, how pretty those evergreens look ! 
 That pine-tree is perfectly beautiful !" 
 
 " Ah, Jessie, is that you ?" said Guy, as he 
 came round the winding path, plunging through 
 the soft snow with his thick boots, and dragging 
 his sled after him. 
 
 " Yes, I'm here," replied Jessie. "But where 
 have you been with your sled before break- 
 fast?" 
 
 "Been coasting, to be sure. There's a cap- 
 ital plar-e in the lane that runs past Carrie 
 Sherwood's cottage. We couldn't do much 
 this morning but tread down the snow; but 
 after breakfast, it will be tine. Will you go 
 ' with me then, Jessie ?" 
 
 "I should like to, ever so much, but "
 
 THK WATCH-POCKET FINISHED. 221 
 
 <; But what?" 
 
 " Well, I must work all the morning. That's 
 my rule, yon know. I'll go with you in the 
 afternoon, Guy." 
 
 "I don't want to tempt you to neglect a 
 duty," replied Guy, knocking the snow off his 
 boots, against the step of the piazza, as he 
 spoke, " but really, I'm afraid the coasting 
 won't be worth the heel of an old shoe, by the 
 afternoon. You see, the sun is very bright, 
 and the snow isn't apt to stay long, so early in 
 the season." 
 
 " I'm sorry," said Jessie, looking very down- 
 cast, " but I must give it up, I guess. You see, 
 I've finished uncle's slippers, and have almost 
 done his watch-pocket. I want to finish it ever 
 BO much before Thanksgiving, which is to-mor- 
 
 , you know." 
 "That's right, stick to it, Sister Jessie! I 
 won't train in the little wizard's company, so I 
 advise you to lose this coasting treat, if the 
 snow does go, and thereby gain a victory for 
 which Corporal Try would promote you if he 
 knew it."
 
 222 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 With these words, Guy kissed his sister 
 placed his sled in the back-hall, and went to 
 the breakfast-room, to which he was shortly 
 f'nllowed by Jessie. 
 
 At breakfast, the boys discussed the question 
 of the weather, and the snow very earnestly. 
 They wanted the snow to last, first, that they 
 might enjoy the sport of coasting, and then, 
 that they might have a sleigh ride. 
 
 " How I should like a sleigh-ride," exclaimed 
 Jessie, with brightening eyes. 
 
 "Guess you. won't have it just yet," said 
 Hugh. "The sun will melt the snow from the 
 roads before noon, I guess, and its too light and 
 loose for good sleighing this morning." 
 
 "I'm sorry, for I do want to coast, and to 
 ride in a sleigh, so much ever so much," said 
 Jessie, sighing, and looking very sober foi 
 her. 
 
 "Can't you coast this morning, with tho 
 boys?" inquired Mr. Carlton. 
 
 "We don't want her," said Hugh, snappishly. 
 " Girls are always in the way when coasting is 
 going on."
 
 THE WATCH-I'OCKKT FINISH Ml. 223 
 
 "Ill-natured as ever, I see, Master llngh," 
 observed Uncle Morris. 
 
 ' I want her," said Gny, " and will tako bcr 
 liiis afternoon, if the snow don't melt." 
 
 Jessie looked at her brother with eyes that 
 seemed to say, " What a dear, good brother you 
 are !" Mr. Carl ton asked : 
 
 "Bat why not take her this morning, Guy, 
 before the snow melts?" 
 
 " Because she thinks it is not best to go, Sir," 
 replied Guy. 
 
 "Ah! ah! Not best to go, eh? What's 
 going on at home this morning, Jessie?" asked 
 Mr. Carlton, looking at his daughter, whose 
 face was now red with blushes. 
 
 " Because Corporal Try won't let her," re 
 plied Guy, laughing and coming to her help, 
 "lie has given her a task which he wishes 
 
 o 
 
 done before Thanksgiving, and she means to do 
 it, too, in spite of the little wizard, who sits 
 perched on my sled, in yonder hall, and saying, 
 ' Come, let's have a good time together, this 
 iiorning.' ' 
 
 "Bravo! If this was the proper place, I
 
 224 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 would propose three cheers for Jessie Carlton, 
 and her friend the Corporal," said Uncle Morris 
 Then turning to Mrs. Carlton, lie added, i% By 
 the way, sister, do you know that I expect to 
 Jieai of a wedding before long?" 
 
 " Indeed ! Who are going to be married 
 now ?'' 
 
 "]S r o less a personage than that pesky little 
 dwarf, who has given my little puss so much 
 trouble. I learn that he has popped the ques- 
 tion to Miss Perseverance, and if nothing hap- 
 pens, they will suon be joined in wedlock, by 
 Parson Good-Resolution." 
 
 Of course this quaint way of praising Jessie 
 for her self-denial and self-conquest caused a 
 good hearty laugh all round the table. Jessie's 
 checks bloomed like roses, and her heart went 
 pit-a-pu> with joy-beats. A happier breakfast 
 party could scarcely have been found that 
 morning in or out of Duncan ville. 
 
 To increase the flow of Jessie's delight, 
 shortly after she had taken her seat in her own 
 pretty little chair, her uncle entered the parlor 
 with merriment in his eyes, and said:
 
 THK WATCH-POCKET FINISHED. 225 
 
 %< Sew away, my little puss. The north wind 
 is on your side, and in spite of the bright sun 
 will keep the snow from melting, so that you 
 'may coast after dinner with Guy and your 
 friend Carrie, and take a sleigh-ride, too, at 
 three o'clock with a funny old gentleman named 
 Morris. What do you say to that my puss, eh ?" 
 
 " I'm so glad, I don't know what to .say, 
 Uncle. But, see here ! (and Jessie held up a 
 purple velvet watch-bag, ornamented with steel 
 beads.) I shall have it all done by twelve 
 o'clock !" 
 
 "If the little wizard don't hinder," suggested 
 ner uncle, laughing and looking roguishly at her. 
 
 "Well, he won't," said Jessie, shaking her 
 head. " He is too busy courting Miss Persever- 
 ance to trouble his head about me. Ha! ha!" 
 
 Mr. Morris laughed heartily at Jessie's ready 
 iibo of his quaint fancy about the little wizard. 
 11 o had no doubt about her firmness. But 
 shaking his finger at her he said, " Take care ! 
 the little wizard is a cunning fellow, and knowa 
 how to ensnare little misses who have tasks to 
 perform," and left the room.
 
 226 JESSIE CAELTON. 
 
 Strong in purpose, and cheered by the hope 
 of the afternoon's pleasure, Jessie worked with 
 such vigor on her watch-pocket, that she had 
 put on the last bead, sewed the last stitch, and 
 trimmed off the last loose thread before the 
 clock struck twelve. Then she felt happier far 
 than any child ever did in the enjoyment of 
 pleasures gained by the neglect of duty. She 
 had conquered a difficulty, had won a victory, 
 had done a duty had she not a right to be 
 happy ? 
 
 I could almost wish myself a child again foi 
 the sake of tasting that fresh, perfect, unmixed 
 delight which welled up from Jessie's heart on 
 the afternoon of that clear December day. 
 First came the play of coasting. Taking her 
 on his sled "The Never-say-die" Guy drew 
 her to the lane near Mr. Sherwood's cottngc 
 and amused her until the merry sleigh-bells 
 caused her to turn round. Then she saw a 
 splendid sleigh drawn by two noble horses, and 
 driven by a man who, from the way he han- 
 dled the whip and reins, seemed born to be a 
 coachman. Her mother and Uncle Morris
 
 Guv COASTING WITH JESSIE. Page ii'27.
 
 THE WATCH-POCKET FINISHED. 229 
 
 were in the sleigh. She stepped in. Carrie and 
 Guy followed. Having wrapped themselves 
 up well in the buffalo robes, word was given to 
 the driver, and away they dashed down the 
 road. 
 
 Merrily jingled the dancing bells, swiftly 
 trotted the lively horses, smoothly glided the 
 riteel-shod sleigh over the snowy pathway, pass- 
 ing houses, barns, and fields, as Guy said, with 
 the speed almost of a steam-engine. On they 
 went, mile after mile, drinking in health and 
 spirits from the pure winter air and tasting that 
 real enjoyment which is found in innocent 
 pleasures only. No wicked amusement ever did 
 or ever can yield such delight as Jessie and her 
 friends tasted on that sleigh ride. 
 
 It was quite dark when they reached home 
 again. They were a little chilled with their 
 rule, but the glowing fire which burned so 
 cheei fully in the parlor grate, soon restored 
 them to warmth and comfort. The tea-table 
 was made cheerful by Jessie's account of the 
 sports and pleasures of the afternoon. 
 
 After tea Jessie took Guy into the kitchen.
 
 230 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 and taking the watch-pocket from beneath her 
 apron, said 
 
 " Guy, I want you to go with me into Undo 
 Morris's chamber, and help me fix a hook .r 
 hang this watch-pocket on. I want to givo 
 uncle a surprise." 
 
 Guy gave his consent. Going to the nail-box 
 he selected a small brass hook, with a screw at 
 the end, and a gimlet. Then taking a light, he 
 went up-stairs with his sister. Jessie pointed 
 to the spot, over his bed, which she thought the 
 best place for the hook. Guy bored the hole, 
 screwed in the hook, and hung the pocket by ita 
 loop of braid upon it. Jessie clapped her 
 hands, and said 
 
 " Isn't it pretty ! Won't Uncle Morns oe 
 pleased ! My quilt covers his bed. The slippery 
 I made him are under his chair, and now my 
 watch-pocket hangs over his bedstead. I'll get 
 his chair-cushion done next, and the I gv-^sa 
 he will allow that I'm lit to be cu Ue,\ in 
 your Try Coirpany. Ha ! Ha ! H;v * "
 
 CHAPTEft XV. 
 THANKSGIVING DAY. 
 
 THE next morning was mild and cleat A 
 bright sun shone gloriously forth, and aided by 
 light airs from the south, softened the snow and 
 made every thing, but the walking, as pleasant 
 as nature ever is on a December day. It was 
 thanksgiving day, too thanksgiving was ap- 
 pointed in December that year and all the in 
 mates of Glen Morris arose in high spirits, ex- 
 peodng to spend that festal day in calm and 
 quiet enjoyment. 
 
 At the breakfast-tabie, Uncle Morris excited 
 Borne surprise, by putting on a very grave 
 countenance, and saying 
 
 " Some persons must have entered my room, 
 last night !" 
 
 "Entered yonr room!" exclaimed Mrs. Carl 
 ton, turning a little pale, and forgetting
 
 232 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 she was about, so far as to overflow the cup she 
 was filling with coffee. 
 
 "Did they steal any thing, Uncle?" asked 
 Hugh, in a voice made husky by the alarm hr 
 felt at the idea of burglars having been in the 
 nouse. 
 
 "Mind, my dear, you are flooding the tea- 
 tray with coffee," said Mr. Carlton, pointing to 
 the overflow of coffee in front of his lady. 
 
 " Did you see them ?" inquired Jessie, aUo 
 pale with alarm. 
 
 These questions were put so rapidly one after 
 the other, that Uncle Morris had no chance to 
 explain himself for a few moments. Silence, 
 however, followed Jessie's question. Then the 
 old gentleman relaxed his muscles, smiled, and 
 said 
 
 " I neither saw nor heard the intruders ; yet, 
 l found unquestionable marks of their having 
 oecn in my room. They even made a hole in 
 one of the walls ! Yet, strange as it may 
 appear, they not only took nothing away, but, 
 on the contrary, they left one of tne sweetest 
 little chamber ornaments behind them I evei
 
 THANKSGIVING DAT. 233 
 
 saw. Such burglars are welcome to enter my 
 room every night !" 
 
 " O Uncle Morris ! I know what you mean, 5 ' 
 said Jessie, laughing, and shaking her fore- 
 finger at him. 
 
 Mr. Morris's last words and his changed man- 
 lier, had, of course, relieved all parties of their 
 alarm, though none but Guy and his sister 
 knew precisely what he meant. 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder if you did. Even the 
 bird knows where it finds food, much more 
 should intruders know where they intruded," 
 replied Uncle Morris. 
 
 Jessie then looked at her mother, and said 
 
 "Ma, Uncle means me and Guy, by his 
 intruders. We went into his room last night to 
 hang his watch-pocket over his bedstead." 
 
 " But what about the hole in the wall, Jessie? 
 Did you and Guy dig that ?" asked Hugh. 
 
 "Ha, ha, ha! That's only Uncle Morris's 
 fun. Guy bored a little hole with his gimblet, 
 to screw in the hook which was meant to hang 
 the pocket on ; that's all," replied Jessie. 
 
 "No, that wasn't all, either," said Mr. Mor- 
 15
 
 234 JESSIE GARLTON. 
 
 ris, "for my little puss left the cutest little 
 velvet watch-pocket I ever saw, hanging on the 
 hook. There was some witchery in it, too, for 
 it kept me awake over an hour. It seemed to 
 hop down on to my pillow, and buzz in my ear, 
 saying, ' I am a love-gift. The little girl who made 
 me, made your quilt, made your slippers, and 
 is going to make you a cushion. A pesky little 
 creature tried hard to hinder her from doing it, 
 bat her love for you was so strong, she drove 
 him away. I don't think there is any other old 
 gentleman in Duncanville, loved by either 
 niece or daughter, half so well as you are loved 
 by the little miss whose nimble fingers mado 
 me!' Talking thus, the pocket kept me from 
 fc'^ing to sleep, until I began to fancy that my 
 Jessie must have put a fairy into it." 
 
 " O Uncle Morris !" cried Jessie, with 
 glowing ' face and a heart dancing to joy- 
 beats, as it perceived the affection for her, 
 which Uncle Morris only partly concealed 
 under his quaint and fanciful way of speaking. 
 She craved no higher reward, than, these ex- 
 pressions of his love for her.
 
 THA3TK8(3IVINX5 RAT. 
 
 After breakfast and family prayers were 
 over, Mr. Morris turned to his niece, and said : 
 
 " Jessie I" 
 
 " Yes, Uncle." 
 
 " I am going to take a little walk, before J 
 go to hear our minister's Thanksgiving sermon. 
 Will you go ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, yes, Uncle, I should like it ever so 
 much." 
 
 During this conversation, Mrs. Carlton had 
 been looking out at the window. The snow 
 was dripping from the eaves, and from the 
 trees. It looked soft and soggy in the path, 
 and she feared the walking would be too sloppy 
 for her daughter. So she said : 
 
 " It is hardly fit for Jessie to go out walking, 
 Brother. The slosh will be over her sandals, 
 and she will get wet feet." 
 
 "Do you think so, Ma? Well, I'm sorry. 
 But if I only had a pair of rubber-boots, like 
 Carrie Sherwood's, I could go in spite of the 
 slosh. Never m.ind," here Jessie's sigh showed 
 how disappointed she felt,, "never miad, uncle 
 will hnve to take his walk
 
 236 .IKSSIK CARLTON. 
 
 Some misses would have fretted over sncli a 
 disappointment as this. But Jessie seldom 
 fretted. She had too much good sense, and too 
 much good nature to fret. Perhaps this was 
 cue reason why she was loved so well. 
 
 "When Mrs. Carlton had expressed her view 
 of the bad walking, Uncle Morris left the room, 
 so that he did not hear all that Jessie said in 
 reply. He now returned, bearing in his hands 
 a good-sized parcel, neatly tied and addressed 
 in his own handwriting, te " Miss Jessie Carl- 
 ton." Giving it to his niece, he said : 
 
 " Open Sesame ! Perhaps you may find a tal- 
 isman within this parcel, which will incline your 
 mamma to change her opinion about the fitness 
 of your walking out with me this morning." 
 
 Jessie untied the string, and on opening her 
 oarcel, looked up with eyes full of pleasure, and 
 reclaimed : 
 
 " A pair of rubber-boots !" 
 
 Then dropping the parcel, she ran to her 
 uncle, and gave him, I don't know how many 
 warm kisses. After this, she took vrp the, boots, 
 ind looking at them admiringly, said : .
 
 THANKSGIVING DAY. 23', 
 
 " Oli, how nice ! Now I can go out h 
 sloppy weather, can't I, Ma! "VYhat a dear 
 good uncle you are ! What made you thiuk ol 
 buying me these boots?" 
 
 " What made my little puss think of making 
 me a watch-pocket, eh?" replied Mr. Morris: 
 " but come, try on your boots, and let us be 
 going !" 
 
 Mrs. Carlton having no fears about the slosh 
 now that Jessie's feet were " looted" instead of 
 being " sandalled" gave her consent, and a 
 few minutes later, Jessie was trotting along at 
 the side of her uncle, in the road which led 
 toward the village. A hired man followed 
 them at a little distance, bearing a large basket 
 well filled with mince-pies, and other Thanks- 
 giving luxuries for the table. Mr. Morris was 
 going to distribute them among certain poor 
 families, to whom he had sent turkeys the day 
 before. It was part of his religion to do what 
 he could to enable the virtuous poor to share 
 in the pleasures proper to Thanksgiving 
 day. 
 
 The first cottage at which they called, was a
 
 238 JESSIE GAKLTON. 
 
 very small one, occupied by Mrs. Clifton and 
 her daughter Madge. Having received proofs 
 in letters from her early friends that her story 
 was true, Uncle Morris had hired this cottage 
 for her, and aided by Mr. Carlton, and a few 
 other kind-hearted men and women in Duncan- 
 ville, had furnished it, and put her in posses- 
 sion. Mrs. Carlton had interested the village 
 ladies in her case, and they had agreed to keep 
 her supplied with sewing. The poor woman, 
 .cheered by voices of kindness, and by the 
 warm sympathies of her generous patrons, had 
 pledged herself to abstain from the drinks 
 which had well nigh ruined her. She had been 
 in her new home for over a week, and was 
 getting along quite cheerily. 
 
 When Jessie and her uncle entered, Madge 
 shrunk behind her mother. Ever since the day 
 or which Jessie heard her swear, she had acted 
 as though conscious that there was something be- 
 tween herself and Jessie which kept them apart. 
 I suppose that something was shame on her own 
 part, and a dread of being made wicked by being 
 too intimate with her, on Jessie's part. But
 
 THANK8eiVIN0 DAT. 239 
 
 whatever it was, Madge had felt uneasy in 
 Jessie's presence from that time to the pres- 
 ent. 
 
 "Well, Mrs. Clifton, how are you getting 
 on ?" asked Mr. Morris, after giving her a por- 
 tion of the contents of the basket, carried by 
 the hired man. 
 
 " Pretty well, Sir, I thank you : indeed, Sir, I 
 owe every thing to you, Sir." 
 
 " No, not to me, my good woman, but to God 
 and this child," said Mr. Morris, pointing to 
 Jessie ; " but for her, your Madge would have 
 gone to the alms-house, and you, perhaps, 
 would have been kept in prison. It was to 
 please my niece, here, that I took Madge to our 
 house." 
 
 " A thousand blessings upon the dear child, 
 and upon yourself, too, Sir," replied the woman 
 with tears in her eyes. 
 
 Jessie's heart sent up gushes of sweet feeling 
 at the sight of Mrs. Clifton's gratitude. With 
 some trouble she coaxed poor Madge to kiss 
 her; after which she and her uncle left the 
 house.
 
 240 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 " It is more blessed to give than to receive?' 
 said Uncle Morris, as they walked through the 
 soft snow to the next cottage. 
 
 Jessie dw r elt upon that remark, saying to her- 
 self, as she silently trudged by her uncle's 
 side 
 
 "That is so, I really do believe. I always 
 did like to receive, to have those I love give me 
 something. But I really think I felt happier in 
 giving Uncle Morris his watch-pocket, and in 
 taking poor Madge home, than I did in receiv- 
 ing my skates, or rubber boots, or any thing 
 else I ever had given to me. It's queer it 
 should be so, but so it is. Yes, it is more 
 blessed to give than to receive. I'll remember 
 that as long as I live." 
 
 These musings were broken by their arriva* 
 at Mrs. Moneypenny's. Here they found poor 
 Jack, Guy's prqtcge. He had arrived from the 
 hospital the day before. His leg, though still 
 sore and stiff, was healed. Long confinement 
 had made his face thin and pale. But he waa 
 very glad to find himself at home again, and 
 was very busy helping his mother get the tur
 
 THANKSGIVING DAY. 241 
 
 key, sent the day before by Uncle Morris, 
 ready for the oven. 
 
 Here again Jessie found grateful hearts. Af- 
 ter some other remarks, the old lady said 
 
 " That nephew of yours is a wonderful boy, 
 Sir. There ain't an )ther snch boy in all Dun- 
 can ville. Only think, Sir, how he, a gentleman's 
 eon, has milked and fed my cow, twice a day, 
 ever since my Jack, there, was hurt ! Why, Sir, 
 we should all have been in the alms-house if it 
 hadn't been for him. May the dear lad never 
 know what trouble means !" 
 
 "I'd die for Guy Carlton, any day!" said 
 Jack, his eyes glistening with grateful tears as 
 he spoke. 
 
 "Bather strong language that, my lad!" 
 observed Mr. Morris. 
 
 " Well_ I would, Sir. He's been so good to 
 my poor mother, I'd do any thing for hiiu. I 
 never krcw such a boy as Guy Carlton," re- 
 joined Jack, with a warmth that defied contra- 
 diction, if it did not carry conviction. 
 
 Having agai. i drawn on the contents of the 
 basket for the supply of Mrs. Moneypenny's
 
 242 JESSIE GARLTON. 
 
 table, they withdrew followed by a cloud oi 
 good wishes from the hearts and lips of Jack 
 and his mother. 
 
 Thus from cottage to cottage they passed, like 
 angels of mercy, making glad the hearts of the 
 poor. 
 
 Returning from these visits to Glen Morris, 
 they prepared for church, where they heard a 
 most excellent sermon, on the duty of gratitude 
 to God. Divine service over, they returned 
 home, sat down at the plentiful table, and 
 feasted on the good things which usually make 
 up a thanksgiving dinner, in homes of wealth 
 and comfort. 
 
 "When the dessert was brought on, a little 
 paper box was placed, by the servant, beside 
 Guy's plate. His name was written upon it 
 In the well-known handwriting of his uncle. 
 
 "What have you there, Guy?" inquired 
 Hugh, who sat next to his brother. 
 
 "Perhaps it's a jack in the box!" suggested 
 Mr. Carlton. 
 
 " A watch ! A gold hunting-watch ! Oh, 
 what a beauty ! Just what I've been wanting,"
 
 THANKSGIVING DAY. 243 
 
 exclaimed Guy, opening the box ; " but what's 
 this writing?" 
 
 On the inside of the case was this inscription : 
 " Presented to Guy Carlton in token of my ad- 
 miration for his kindness to a poor widow in the 
 time of her distress. Mr. Morris." 
 
 Guy blushed deeply as his brother read this 
 inscription. He was not aware that his uncle 
 knew about his kindness to the widow. But 
 the old gentleman had heard all about it from 
 the grateful woman's own lips. He now told 
 the story to the family. Mr. Carlton was de- 
 lighted, and spoke words of approbation that 
 sank deep into Guy's heart, where they were 
 treasured up with more care than he would 
 have kept ingots of gold. 
 
 But there was a frown on Hugh's face. lie 
 had no watch, and Guy now had two. Hence, 
 lie felt envious. But before he had time to ex- 
 press himself, as he was about to do, Guy took 
 his old watch from his pocket and placing it in 
 Hugh's hand, said : 
 
 "There Hugh, I'll give you my old watch, 
 It's a capital time-keeper !"
 
 244 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 "Thank you," replied Hugh, repressing hia 
 frown, and trying to look pleased. 
 
 " He don't deserve it," said Uncle Morris. 
 
 During this last act of Guy's, the servant 
 placed a letter and another box a very small one 
 beside Jessie's plate. Opening the letter, she 
 read thus : 
 
 CITY OF SELF CONQUEST, December, 18 
 
 DEAR Miss CARLTON : 
 
 Permit me to inform you 
 
 that I have this day been wedded to Miss Per- 
 severance by the Rev. Mr. Good-Resolution. 
 With your permission, I and my bride will take 
 up our abode with you at Glen Morris. 1 have 
 taken a new name in part, and with my bride's 
 help, I hope to help you more than I formerly 
 hindered yon, to keep the rules of the Try Com- 
 pany. The box contains a gift from a mutual 
 friend, who wishes you to admit me, in my new 
 estate, to your friendship and confidence. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 RIGHT IMPULSE. 
 
 " Ah, Uncle Morris, you wrote that, I know
 
 THANKSGIVING DAT. 245 
 
 you did !" said Jessie, laughing, and looking 
 very archly at her uncle. 
 
 "Well, maybe it is an old man's folly that 
 tlul it. But Jessie, I trust you have now so far 
 conquered yourself that henceforth your im- 
 pulses will no longer be like little wizards tempt- 
 ing you astray, but that they will be guided by 
 right resolutions, and carried out with persever- 
 ance. You will thus become a true member of 
 the Try Company, and live both a good and a 
 useful life." 
 
 Jessie now opened her box. Taking a bright 
 little object from its velvet lining, she placed it 
 on her finger, and holding it up, exclaimed : 
 
 " What a dear little thimble ! Oh ! isn't it 
 pretty ?" 
 
 It was a golden thimble with her name in- 
 Fcribed upon it. It came from her uncle, as a 
 token of his approval of her many efforts to 
 bring her impulses under the control of the law 
 of duty. 
 
 " I hope," he said to her after receiving her 
 caresses, " that your hardest struggles with your 
 old enemy are over. But no doubt the little
 
 24:6 JESSIE 
 
 fellow will sometimes try to separate himself 
 from his good resolutions and from his brido 
 Perseverance. When he doos so, you will be in 
 danger again. But be brave! Be thoughtful 1 
 Be prayerful ! Trust in the Great Teacher ! 
 Try, and try again, and Uncle Morris will never 
 have need to blush for his niece, Jessie Carl- 
 ton. '' 
 
 After dinner our young folks got up a grand 
 romp in the parlor. Their father and uncle 
 joined them, and the jocund hours passed so 
 swiftly, that the dusk stole upon them una- 
 wares. 
 
 "Dear me! How early it is dark to-night," 
 said Jessie, as panting with excitement, she sat 
 down in her own little chair. 
 
 " Hours fly on eagle's wings, when people aro 
 pleased and busy, as we have been this after- 
 noon," observed Uncle Morris in reply ; " but 
 hark ! our door-bell rings ! Somebody is com- 
 ing in. Boys, put the chairs to rights !" 
 
 Before the disordered room could be made fit 
 for a reception, the servant opened the door, 
 and said :
 
 THANKSGIVING BAT. 247 
 
 "Mr. Carlton, will you please step to the 
 door?" 
 
 Going to the door, Mr. Carlton found a man 
 standing on the door-step with a letter in hip 
 hand. A carriage stood in front of the piazza 
 Bowing to Mr. Carlton, the man handed hin 
 the letter, and said : 
 
 "I have brought Miss Kate Carlton frons 
 New York, to stay with you, Sir. She is in 
 the carriage. This letter will explain the 
 reasons of her coining." 
 
 Though greatly surprised at the sudden 
 appearance of his niece, Mr. Carlton did not 
 stop, either to read the letter or ask questions, 
 but "\yent at once to the carriage, and offering 
 his hand to his niece, said : 
 
 "I am happy to see you, my dear, at Glen 
 Morris. Come into the house. John will see 
 to your baggage." 
 
 Kate put her fingers into her uncle's hand, 
 and with a mincing step, walked into the hall. 
 Mr. Carlton asked the man who accompanied 
 her, if he would remain all night. 
 
 " No, S.ir. I thank you. I must return, by
 
 248 JESSIE CARLTON. 
 
 the last train, which will be here, as soon as 1 
 can get to the station. Good night, Sir!" 
 
 " Good night," replied Mr. Carlton. 
 
 When Kate was conducted to the parlor, she 
 was of course, greeted with looks and expres- 
 sions of great surprise. Jessie sprang to her 
 cousin, embracing her, and exclaiming : 
 
 " Why Kate Carlton, is that you ?" 
 
 Guy took her hand kindly, and said, " I am 
 glad to see you, Kate." 
 
 Hugh also gave her his hand, but his words 
 were not gracious. He said : 
 
 " What, you come here again, Kate Carl- 
 ton!" 
 
 Uncle Morris kissed her, and spoke very 
 kindly to her. Somehow, his instincts told him 
 that her sudden coining to Glen Morris, was 
 caused by some unexpected evil. 
 
 Kate returned these greetings very stiffly 
 She had a cold nature, which did not readilj 
 respond to the emotions of others. She waa 
 tired, she said, and would like to be shown to 
 her room as soon as possible. Jessie according- 
 ly conducted her to Mrs. Carlton's room, whc
 
 THANKSGIVING DAT. 249 
 
 Was as much surprised to see her, as the othera 
 had been. 
 
 As soon as she left the parlor, Mr. Carl ton, 
 who had been reading the letter which came 
 with her, placed his hand upon nis forehead, 
 looked very gravely at Mr. Morris, and said : 
 
 "Bad news! Bad news! My brother is a 
 
 defaulter in the Bank, of which he was 
 
 president. He left the city last night, for parts 
 unknown. His wife is half distracted, and has 
 gone home to her father. She has sent Kate 
 here." 
 
 " A sad case 1" remarked Mr. Morris, sooth 
 ingly. " But are you sure it is true." 
 
 " Too true, I doubt not. This letter is from 
 my friend, Mr. Estal, a leading director in the 
 bank. There can be no mistake. It is terrible. 
 Had my brother lost all his property by honor- 
 able misfortune, or had he died as a good man 
 dies, it would have been nothing to this. Now 
 he is ruined and disgraced. Terrible! Terri- 
 ble !" 
 
 Mr. Carlton groaned as he uttered these 
 
 words. His anguish was painful, to witness 
 16
 
 250 JESSIE CAitLTON. 
 
 His brother's crime pierced his heart. Happily 
 ho was able to weep, and thus relieve tho 
 violence of his feelings. 
 
 " It is terrible indeed," replied Uncle Morris. 
 " But while we deplore his fall, let us be thank- 
 ful that our honor is unstained by his crime. 
 Let us also strive not to give way to useless 
 grief, but let us spend our energies in efforts to 
 break the fall of his unfortunate wife and child 
 whom he has dragged down with himself to 
 poverty, if not to shame. If you will give Kate 
 a home, I will see to her education, and will 
 provide her with clothing." 
 
 "Spoken like your noble self!" rejoined Mr. 
 Carlton. " Of course, she shall have a home, so 
 long as I have one." 
 
 A free conversation, between all present, 
 followed this remark, during which Mr. Carl 
 ton tried to make his sons feel, that the most 
 absolute poverty if combined with integrity, is 
 preferable to wealth allied with dishonesty, and 
 that it is better to die a pauper's death, than to 
 be guilty of a dishonorable act. 
 
 As for Jessie, her heart was spelling with
 
 THANKSGIVING DAT. 251 
 
 generous impulses, towards poor Kate. " I will 
 t>e a sister to her," said she, in reply to a refer- 
 ence made by Guy, to Kate's bad behavior 
 juring her visit, the previous summer, "and 
 will do my best to make her both happy and 
 good!" 
 
 "Take care, Jessie!" said Guy, laughing. 
 " Perhaps she will tempt the wizard to forsako 
 his bride, and to take to his old pranks again. 
 What will you do then ?" 
 
 " I will try to keep on such good terms with 
 Perseverance, his wife, as to prevent that," re- 
 plied Jessie. " See if I don't ?" 
 
 " Good ! I'll request Corporal Try to place 
 your name in his roll of honor," said Guy; 
 u but the tea-bell rings, let us go to tea 1" 
 
 CONCLUDING NOTE. 
 
 TESSIE CARLTON will appear again in future volumes of the 
 Q.jn Morris Stories, in which it will be seen whether hei 
 victory over the little wizard was temporary or lasting ; and 
 whether she fulfilled her purpose, to do her best to mak 
 Kate Carlton both happy and good. 

 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 J6Ll!Mf 
 
 Form L9-lCOm-9,'52(A3105)444
 
 PZ7 vvise - 
 
 ift fSarlton 
 
 tin 
 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 481 851 4 
 
 PZ7
 
 m 
 
 H