ANNALS
THE ROUND TABLE
AND
OTHER STORIES.
BY
JENNIE M. BINGHAM.
NEW YORK:
PHILLIPS &> HUNT.
CINCINNA TI:
CRANSTON &= STOWE.
Copyright, 1886, by
PHILLIPS & HUNT,
NEW YORK.
For now I see the old times are not dead,
"When every morning brought a noble chance,
And every chance brought out a noble knight.
"But now the whole Round Table is dissolved."
A. TENNYSON.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. How THEY ORGANIZED 7
II. A LONGFELLOW NIGHT 15
III. A WHITTIER NIGHT 29
IV. A DAY IN LONDON 43
V. SALLY'S TROUBADOUR 63
VI. THEIR BANQUET 73
VII. RECEIVING NEW-YEAR'S CALLS 89
VIII. A NIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. 99
IX. HELPING 116
X. THEIR HISTORY-BAG ; 134
XI. A GINGHAM-APRON EVENING 148
XII. GRADUATION 163
XIII. LATER 172
OTHER STORIES :
MORNING GLORIES AND SHOES 179
A HOSPITAL SKETCH 189
A GRADUATION SKETCH 199
A SKETCH ON WHEELS 203
PRISCILLA GRIMES'S CHRISTMAS 210
ECCLESIASTES XI, 1 219
ONE BEAM 235
A GRAIN OP MUSTARD-SEED 246
" MUCH REQUIRED." 263
ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE,
CHAPTEK I.
HOW THEY ORGANIZED.
RAT-TAT-TAT ! sounded the gavel sharply, while
the president urged, " Now, girls, I propose that
we come to order. The first thing is to choose a
name and then have a constitution."
" Let's have a pretty one," said Prue, thoughtfully.
" ' What's in a name ? ' : ' demanded Delia, with a
tragic gesture.
"I have a good ons to propose," said Margaret,
who was next in the group. " It's old, but all the
better for that, because it has a history. It's ' The
Eound Table.' "
" We aren't knights, and never can be," said the
next girl, laughing ; a round-faced, happy-hearted girl
she was, whose features slipped into a smile at the
slightest provocation.
" Fact, ma'am," consented the last girl, who com-
pleted the circle, a sober lass, with fierce, gray eyes,
and hair and dress arranged with careless abandon.
" 1 propose ' The Three-legged Stool.' Come, why
not?"
8 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
Even the president, clothed upon with dignity as
she was, could not keep her gravity, while the others
laughed uproariously. She, however, recollected her-
self, and brought down her gavel quite decidedly.
" Sally, Sally ! " warned Prue, gently, " remember
that I went surety for your good behavior."
" Ought to have known better," answered Sally,
looking cross, and running her fingers through her
hair.
" Why not name it after some old Grecian, or some
muse, for instance ?" suggested Delia, who decorated
her room with Japanese fans, and was striving after
an ideal.
" This is not a society for a-mwse-ment," said Sally,
turning on her sternly. " I second the motion that
it be ' The Round Table,' any way, though you'll have
to sit around one that has eight corners when you
meet at our house," she added, by way of making
amends.
This settled it, " The Round Table " it was from
that day down to the present, though now it exists
only as a pleasant memory with the half-dozen young
women who are scattered over a continent.
" I just scribbled out a constitution, Miss President,
which, with your permission, I will read," suggested
Margaret, reaching for her bag.
" O yes," said Delia, " then we can amend it. I
think amendments give a constitution such an ancient
air."
How THEY ORGANIZED. 9
Margaret unfolded her paper and began reading :
" ' Article I. This society shall be called The Hound
Table.
" ' Article II. Its object shall be the mutual im-
provement of its members.' "
" I rise to a point of asking permission,"- inter-
rupted Sally, rising to face the president. " I think
it ought to mean more. I think it ought to mean
helping each other out of scrapes, and standing by
each other through thick and thin, and giving
each other curtain lectures, and all that sort of
thing."
" So do I," said Prue. " Why not say, ' Its object
shall be for mutual help,' and let it mean a great
deal?"
" And not say a word about being literary ? "
queried Delia.
" "What's the use ? " demanded Addie. " Our coat
of arms can be an Unabridged and an ink-blotter.
Speak louder than words. Sally said so."
" If there are no further remarks we will proceed,"
came gravely from the chair.
" ' Article III. Its officers shall be a president and
secretary, elected every three months.
" ' Article IY. The president shall preside at all
meetings of The Round Table, and shall have the
appointing power.' This, girls, I confess, sounds as
though taken bodily from the Constitution of the
United States, but I promise you it's original.
10 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" l Article Y. The secretary shall keep a correct ac-
count of the doings of said society ' "
" I like that," interrupted Delia. " Said society '
sounds legal."
" * Notify members of their appointment to any of-
fice or for any service of the society, and preside in
the absence of the president.
" ' Article VI. In order to furnish the meetings
with entertainment the members will be called upon
frequently to take part. By the solemn and binding
act of signing the constitution they promise obedience
to the powers that be.' "
" Make it stronger,-' said Sally.
" Shall I interlude ' unvarying ' or ' willing ' ? "
asked Margaret, poising her pencil.
" A six syllabler would be better. I only thought
that when orders came for an essay on ancient Egypt
or the mummies I wanted a constitution to brace me
up for it."
" O," sighed Addie, "all the syllables in the dic-
tionary couldn't make me equal to the mummies, so
don't, please," she warned, shaking her finger at the
president.
"The house will come to order for the reading
of the constitution," said the chair, a little se-
verely.
" ' Article VII. Any member who shall depart this
single life and enter the matrimonial state, shall there-
after be considered an honorary member, having the
How THEY ORGANIZED. 11
privilege of attending the meetings, but can neither
vote nor hold office.' "
The attention was breathless during the reading of
this article, until Sally broke out with, " Bless me !
Aren't we all to be old maids ? " while they all
laughed, but not one proposed that it be omitted.
" ' Article VIII. Any girl wishing to join this so-
ciety must be proposed by one of the members at a
regular meeting, and, if she is unanimously voted in,
can attend next meeting of society, but before any
exercises, in the presence of the other members, she
must sign the constitution, thus vowing to uphold the
same.
" ' Article IX. This society shall meet Friday even-
ing of each week, at which meeting such literary
exercises shall be held as the society deems best.' "
" Do let's provide for a quorum," said Delia, bring-
ing both elbows down decidedly on the table.
" And for your sake, Delia, we'll put it ' Section 1,'
under Article IX. That will be still more like
grown-up folks. ' Two thirds of the members shall
constitute a quorum having full power.'
" 'Article X. This constitution maybe amended at
any regular meeting of The Round Table.
" ' In witness whereof we hereunto subscribe our
names this 1st day of November, 187 ' "
"That's lovely," sighed Delia.
" It is a good one, if I do say it," approved the
president, " and the motion to adopt is in order."
12 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
And then the silence of the room was broken only
by the scratching of the official pen as each girl in
turn sat in the president's chair and solemnly signed
her name :
"AMELIA FOSTER, President, PETJE STEVENS,
" MARGARET FOSTER, Secretary, ADDIE STEVENS,
"DELLA NICHOLS, SALLY SMITH."
" I'm glad it has a Smith on it," said the president,
casting her eye approvingly down the list.
"No constitution should be without one," declared
Sally, with such a grimace that Addie lost her last
vestige of gravity. " Soberly, girls," she continued ;
" isn't it too bad that such a doom hangs over my
otherwise brilliant career. I could tear out my
hair over it if it would do any good."
" Girls ! " shouted Addie, explosively, " we haven't
a motto ! and what shall our color be ? "
Each bright young face became studious over this
proposition.
" Let it be French or Latin, is my request," said
Delia.
" I don't know any thing but ' Try, try again ! ' "
said Addie.
"I don't think we ought to be ashamed of our
Anglo-Saxon," said the president. "I have just
thought of such a good one that father wrote in my
journal last New Year's. It's more beautiful in the
English than Latin, but you who like can use the
Latin, < Memor et Fidelis 'Mindful and Faithful."
How THEY ORGANIZED. 13
" Beau-tif ul ! " said Prue, so far forgetting her
proper little self that she clapped her hands loudly, in
which they all signified decided approval by joining.
" And, then, how fitting that blue shall be the color.
It means true, you know," said Addie.
The " appointing power," after a little conference,
announced that during her reign each member must
respond to her name at roll-call with a quotation, giv-
ing the author, if known. She next requested each
member to write on a slip of paper the name of her
favorite poet, and the secretary announced the fol-
lowing result :
" Longfellow, three ; one each for Whittier, Phoebe
Gary, and Mother Goose."
" This was my object," announced the chair, gra-
ciously. " I thought it would be nice to have a night
devoted to our favorite poets. Supposing, then, we
have a Longfellow night next Friday. And, girls, I
don't want to be fussy, but I do wish you would ad-
dress the chair, and put your wishes in the form of a
motion, and have it properly seconded."
" Miss President," said Addie, rising, " I move that
we do it ! "
" Miss President, so do I ! " continued Sally,
promptly.
" O deary me ! " moaned the chair. " After to-
night we must be more parliamentary. All who are
in favor say 'Ay.' It seems to be carried and is
carried, and the programme will be announced later."
14 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
" Let us always break up with a song," said Marga-
ret, who was always having happy thoughts. " Come,
Prue, preside at the piano, and lead us in Holland's
song, * Heaven is not reached by a single bound.' ' :
And so Prue, in a sweet voice, led them while they
sang what they were all learning in this every-day
world :
" l But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies ;
And we mount to its summit, round by round.' "
And thus ended the first meeting of " The Kound
Table," and four happy girls tripped away from the
parsonage to their homes, for they had met with their
president and her sister Margaret, who were the
daughters of the village minister. Soon Delia turned
in before a house with pleasant grounds and an im-
posing front, for she was the only child of their Con-
gressman, who wore an honorable before his name.
Prue and Addie strolled down farther to one less
pretentious, but somehow wonderfully inviting, where
two brothers filled out the family circle. Sally
trotted on until she came to the first village block.
In the windows of the second story some flowers
were blooming. Near one of them a sweet-faced
woman was sewing. In these four cheery little
rooms lived a soldier's widow and his fatherless
daughter.
A LONGFELLOW NIGHT. 15
CHAPTER II.
A LONGFELLOW NIGHT.
Tjl ARLY in the week the secretary of " The Round
_L!j Table" handed to each member a little slip
labeled " Programme," over which some groaned and
others looked rebellious, but, as the president re-
marked, when it was over, " To your praise be it said,
not one has bolted." During that week six earnest
girls turned their faces toward Cambridge, and re-
solved that henceforth it should be their Mecca, and
in the glorious days to come, when they, a body of
rich and independent females, could travel where
they chose, the first trip should be a Longfellow pil-
grimage.
They met at Delia's, and a wild stormy night it
was.
" I was so afraid you wouldn't come," said Delia,
leading the way to the library, where a round table
awaited them, and a bright fire welcomed them.
" Did you think ' we are such stuff as dreams are
made on ? ' " demanded Margaret, holding her manu-
script to dry.
" S" 1 tough, that's a fact, but we're equal to it," put
in Sally, with a wild look in her eye.
" It ought to be in the constitution that puns are
16 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
not allowed," said Addie, dropping into a chair quite
spent with laughing.
"Punish 'em, punish 'em! " began Sally, severely,
bringing her fist down for emphasis ; but the presi-
dent interrupted, briskly :
" Now, girls, let us come to order around the table,
and then we can have our chat and confidential talk
by the fire later."
" I'm glad you are going to have one," said Sally,
soberly, " for I've got something to tell you all."
As girls are the same the world over, and " The
Round Table " may be suggestive to some of the act-
ive ones who would like to read and study and write
under a little organization, it may not be tiresome to
go into the particulars of their first night.
In answer to their names they responded, charac-
teristically :
" ' As unto the bow the cord is,
So unto the man is woman ;
Though she bends him, she obeys him,
Though she draws him, yet she follows,
Useless each without the other ! '
Longfellow's < Hiawatha,' " answered* the president.
" ' That's what I always say ; if you wish a thing to
be well done, you must do it yourself, you must not
leave it to others ; ' Longfellow's ' Courtship of Miles
Standish,' " said Margaret.
' O
1 ' Stick to facts, sir ! In this life we want noth-
ing but facts, sir I ' Charles Dickens," from Sally.
A LONGFELLOW NIGHT. 17
" ' How far that little candle throws its beams !
So shines a good deed in a naughty world ; '
Shakespeare," from Addie.
" ' Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary; ' m
Longfellow," responded Delia.
" ' A good name is rather to be chosen than great
riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold ; '
Bible," said Prue, in her low, sweet voice.
" The first number on the programme is l Life of
Longfellow, in ten sentences of not more than ten
words each. Delia Nichols.' ' :
" Miss President and ladies : You haven't any idea
how hard it is to be scrimped down to a handful of
words. Just try it and see. You can't go into ec-
stasies once, and as for raptures, you might just as
well be a foreigner and not know your own lan-
guage."
" Lessons in economy are good for us, you know,"
said the president, wisely. " We are apt to waste
whatever we have in abundance."
" Well, here it is, and I couldn't say a word about
his being married twice."
" Never mind," advised Sally. " We didn't expect
you to bring in the trifles."
" ' 1. Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, in
180T.
" ' 2. His mother was a descendant of John Alden,
from Mayflower.
18 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
" ' 3. When fourteen years old he entered Bow-
doin College.
" ' 4:. Was graduated with Nathaniel Hawthorne in
1825.
" < 5. Began literary career at twenty-two by writ-
ing for magazines.
" ' 6. Was called to chair of modern languages in
Bowdoin College.
" ' 7. Accepted, and spent three years in Europe
preparing.
' ' 8. In 1835 was called to Harvard chair of mod-
ern languages.
" ' 9. Resides in Cambridge, very near Boston.
" ' 10. Lives in house used by Washington as head-
quarters in 1775.' "
It was noisily received by the entire assembly, who
regarded it as a triumph of brevity, and a rare and
interesting biography. Sally at once declared that if
only her eyes were a little more microscopic she could
perform the feat of carrying the entire thing on her
linger nails.
"The second number, ladies," announced the chair,
" is, ' The recitation of her favorite short poem
from Longfellow. Addie Stevens.' '
" Miss President : I suppose it's dreadful to own it,
but I don't like poetry unless it has got a story to it.
All those about the day being ' cold and dark and
dreary ' make me yawn, so it didn't take me long to
choose ' Sandalphon,' and Harry heard me rehearse."
A LONGFELLOW NIGHT. 19
And then she recited to her select audience the
beautiful legend, beginning
" Have you read in the Talmud of old."
" Why, Addie, you're a regular elocutionist," cried
Delia, enthusiastically. " Likely as not you'll take
the stage some day, and wont we be proud ! "
" Yes, we Round Tablers will sit in a proper row
on the front seat and pelt flowers at you," declared
Sally.
" Next on the programme is, ' Name his principal
works, and tell any incidents of his writing. Mar-
garet Foster.' "
The girls showed that they had been looking
up the subject by suggesting, whenever she hesi-
tated.
" The only incident I could find was about the
' Skeleton in Armor,' " continued Margaret. " It
tells how he and Julia Ward IIo\ve took a horseback
ride to see the old skeleton in armor at the museum
at Fall River, and how, on their ride home, Longfel-
low challenged her to write a poem about the grim
bones. She did not accept the challenge, and a year
afterward he wrote the poem himself as we have it.
It was not considered worthy of his pen by those to
whom he read it in manuscript, but Mrs. Howe's
brother liked it, and took it to New York and sold
it to the 'Knickerbocker Magazine' for fifty dollars.
This pleased Longfellow very much, as he had not ex-
20 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
pected to realize any thing from it. You remember
the last scene is laid
'"In that tower,
Which to this very hour,
Is lookiug seaward.' "
" It's an interesting incident, but the poem O ! "
shivered Prue.
" Don't you like it ? " demanded Sally. " Why, it's
the best thing he ever wrote, by all odds. I would
shake hands with him on that alone. All about
'fleshless palms' and 'frozen lairs,'" she continued,
in a ghostly voice. " O, I can do that splendidly."
"I remember to have read," began the president,
" how he came to write ' Excelsior.' The word caught
liis eye from a torn scrap of paper, and at once he be-
gan to scribble down the verses on the back of a letter
lie had that day received from Charles Sumner. And
then, ' The Wreck of the Hesperus ' came sailing into
his mind one morning after a fearful storm on the
sea. Just think how nice to have a beautiful genius
that will come at one's bidding."
" I should say so," groaned Addie ; " mine's the ob-
stinate kind. Likely as not, positively refuses to ap-
pear when I smile my most ravishing at her."
" The next number, ladies, is, ' The story of Evange-
line by Sally Smith.'"
" I rise to a point of correction," responded Sally.
"I am Sir Sally Smith, if you please. If we're
going to be ' The Round Table,' let us Ic The Hound
A LONGFELLOW NIGHT. 21
Table. " "What say yon, fellow-citizens ? " and she
turned upon her convulsed hearers a perfectly sober
face.
" Will Sir Sally come to order, then, and read her
paper?" asked the chair, recovering herself.
" ' Once upon a time, many, many years ago, Acadie
was the forest primeval,' " began Sally, in a sonorous
voice, following with the sad story of Evangeline,
bringing in what she stopped to explain was the best
part the incident of the statue of Justice u ' a great
deal more sensible than forlorn lovers and loveresses
straying around the world after each other.' '
" But how beautiful it is at the closing," said Prue,
gently, " when she was taking care of the sick and
dying in the hospital, and found her Basil after so
many years, and she was so true to him all the while.
I wonder," she mused, with a far-away look in her
blue eyes, " if it doesn't mean that our best happiness
will come to us when we are just doing our duty."
" How nice ! It's just like you, Prue dear, to
make a good lesson for us," said Margaret, patting
her hand affectionately.
" Next on the programme is, ' Relate any incidents
of his life. Prue Stevens.' "
" ' There's a little story about him that I think is
better than any thing he ever wrote. It just makes
me love him. A friend was one day going into Long-
fellow's house, and at the gate he met a little girl,
who asked if she could go into the yard, so that she
22 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
might see Mr. Longfellow through the library-win-
dow. He told her she might, and, going into the
house, found Mr. Longfellow in a part of the room
not visible from the window. He told Mr. Long-
fellow about the little girl outside, to which the poet
answered, ' A little girl who wants to see me ? ' and
then he opened the door (O girls! don't you wish it
had been you ? ) and called her in, and talked beauti-
fully to her, and showed her the room where Martha
Washington held her receptions a hundred years ago,
and the ' old clock on the stair,' and the chair that
the school-children gave him, and all his treasures. I
think it's as beautiful as a fairy-story," said Prue,
earnestly, forgetting her timid little self in her
interest.
" The last number is, ' Write the story of the Court-
ship of Miles Standish.' And this I have tried to do,
bringing in much of the text, and, girls, remember
that as he was a descendant of John Alden, it was a
part of his family history." She fairly caught the
rhythm of that measure which reminds one of the roll
of old ocean itself, and spoke of " Plymouth Rock,"
the corner-stone of the nation, and brought ont
" Why don't you speak for yourself, John ? " in its
most startling light.
Programme ended, they passed about their col-
lected pictures ; for one had his photograph, another
a picture of his house and an interior view of his
library, and an engraving of Evangeline, which Sally
A LONGFELLOW NIGHT. 23
declared she would have identified on the sands of
Sahara ; and closed with Longfellow's contribution to
college songs,
" The shades of night were falling fast,"
while Addie beat time with the tongs.
"Now, Sally, do tell us the news," said Addie,
exchanging her tongs for Sally's arm, and taking a
seat near her. "We're consuming with curiosity
over it ? "
"It's time for Part 'Second now, isn't it? "asked
Margaret, turning the chairs toward the fire.
" Well," began Sally, taking a place on the hassock
and leaning an elbow in Prue's lap, " you know how
the knights of the real Round Table went through
the world helping every body. O, wouldn't it be
glorious if we could call out some gallant steed and
gird on our mail, and start off setting things to rights
in this world. But we can't ! " stopping to sigh.
"All the charger I've got is a saw-horse; but I've
happened on what I call a chance for us, all the same.
You know Sailor Jake and his Betty. Well she
poor thing ! can't ever walk any more."
" O ! " said the chorus, while Delia glanced down at
her own shapely, well-clad feet. "No; and I've
been wondering why we couldn't have her for our
protegee, as it were. Get little treats for her and
make her corner brighter. And then, there's an-
other thing sailor Jake does drink sometimes.
He doesn't mean to, and Betty whispered to mo
24 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
the day the doctor said she couldn't walk any
more, that the hardest thing to bear was that she
couldn't go down to meet her father and get him by
the saloon, for you see, if once he gets by, when he
comes from work, he's all right for that day. I
couldn't comfort her as you wouldj Prudy, if you
had been there (you know I always say the wrong
thing) ; but I told her not to worry, and I would do
my level best, and, girls, he hasn't been in but
once the last week. Last night he had his hand on
the latch before I saw him, and I just groaned and
thought it was ' all day ' with him ; but I ran down
the walk, and says, { O, Mr. Burns, how's Betty ? '
(I had just come from there. Was it wicked,
Prudy ?) ' And here's some soup I haven't time to
carry up now.' He just let go of the latch, and said,
' Thank ye, thank ye,' and trotted straight up stairs.
Wasn't I glad ? I could have sung the doxology that
minute, though I never can get the tune. The end
of my story is, that I wish you would all speak to
him. Ask him about Betty, and all that sort of thing.
Seeing as how we are nothing but girls, we can't go
to Congress and annihilate whisky; but perhaps we can
help keep him right, for it does delight him so to ask
about Betty, and that's all."
To every body's surprise, Prue jumped up, threw
both arms around Sally's neck, and kissed her loudly,
saying never a word.
"How perfectly splendid!" cried Delia; "I've
A LONGFELLOW NIGHT. 25
learned how to make a lovely pudding for sick folks.
Let us all go and see her."
" And, girls," continued Sally, " you mns ? n't turn
up your noses, for it's a stuffy little room, and smells
horribly of tobacco smoke. Her old aunt is a regu-
lar chimney, not to mention snuff."
" O, dear, isn't it dreadful ! " sighed Delia, waving
back an invisible cloud.
" But Betty is just as nice as she can be, Sally says,
and so pale," put in Prue, gently.
" Let us adopt her," proposed Addie.
" Margaret, do you remember our verse this morn-
ing \ " asked Amelia, glancing up at their motto,
which Delia had executed in ferns, above the
mantel.
" I was just thinking of ' Bear ye one another's
burdens,' but I hadn't thought of going outside ' The
Round Table' with it. Sally is right, though. I
didn't know she could talk so good. It is just what
we need to keep us from getting selfish. Girls, let
us do it."
" Ay ! ay ! " answered a hearty chorus, at which
Sally arose and gave each member a stately hand-
shake.
" I have something on my mind, too," began Delia,
looking off into the fire at what seemed to be a per-
plexing vision. " You know how kind Fred has
always been to me. Well, since he was expelled
from school he has been growing wild dreadfully
26 ANNALS or THE BOUND TABLE.
fast. Last Saturday, when we rode out, he owned
that lie had been to a champagne party the night
before. And, O, girls ! isn't it dreadful ? And what
shall we do 3 "
" Cut him, once and forever," said Amelia, severe-
ly. " Let us resolve not to speak to any young man
of bad habits."
" But he has the kindest heart," began Delia, a lit-
tle tartly, taking up the gauntlet in his defense, " and
it's easy for you who have brothers and sisters to say
it ; and I've known him for years and years."
" He hasn't any mother, you know," suggested
Prue, sadly.
" And we none of us thought he ought to be ex-
pelled. It was just a bit of a frolic," added Mar-
garet.
" O, Sally, can't you think of something to do ?"
implored Delia.
" Margaret, why wouldn't your father speak to the
professor. He's used to waving an olive-branch.
You know exactly how it happened, and that he
wasn't half to blame. Getting him back into school
is his salvation," answered Sally, in a prompt way,
that decided things. " And then I will run a race
with him in geometry ; and, Delia, I am sure you
will have a chance to let him know how we feel ' on
these great moral questions,' as the lecturer says.
Talk against the boys of his wild set, and say that all
the nice girls (isn't that proper modest for you ?) are
A LONGFELLOW XIGHT. 27
going to cut them. Fred is a good fellow, and we
wont give him up to the bad yet awhile, if we know
ourselves," shaking her fist defiantly.
" What an old dear you are to think of every
thing ! " cried Delia, sinking back in her chair ;
" I was afraid you would set up some Mede-and-
Persian law about it, and advise me to do things
I wouldn't want to, but I might have known bet-
ter."
" The brave Round Tablers used to have titles in
the old days. Let us give her a B.B. at the end of
her name burden-bearer," said Amelia, by way of
giving tacit approval.
" Spare me ! O spare me ! " cried Sally, wildly.
"Those who know me best w r ill understand it to
mean bad, bad. Do I deserve such a punishment ?
I throw myself on your mercy."
" As to Fred," said Margaret, when the merriment
had subsided, " I will do my part. I know the profess-
or liked him. He's peppery, but he cools off quick ;
and, girls, let us keep quiet about it. Boys don't like
to owe any thing to girls, and I think it's splendid of
them. Let him think it came about of itself."
"TVont it be fun," laughed Addie, "to see Fred
and Sally trying to beat each other on theorems?
I know Sally will have the most. She can make
them out of any thing. She never sees two sticks
set up but that it means a new demonstration of
a theorem."
28 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" Bless me ! " frowned Sally, " I ouglit to have
something to make up for a stupid head in French,
and all my scrapes. If old Euclid went back on me
I would be a dismal bankrupt. Come, meet with me
at the palace of the Caesars next week," she added,
as they rose to go.
A "WHITTIEK NIGHT. 29
CHAPTER III.
A WHITTIER NIGHT.
WHEN next Delia accepted the invitation to ride
behind Fred's gray pony she lapsed into silence
that caused him to say,
" Is it being literary that makes you so glum ? and
what sort of a table is it ? and aren't you ever going
to invite the boys to surround it with you ? Hope
you will have something good to eat on it."
" We certainly shall not have any thing ' good to
drink,' as you boys say," answered Delia, seizing the
opportunity ; " and, among other things, we have re-
solved to cut the boys who are growing so wild. It
will be the only way we can show our disapproval of
sprees and all the other dreadful things that ruin
young men and drive their friends to distraction."
" Bless the innocents ! " and Fred threw back his
head and laughed loudly.
" I didn't think you could be bad enough to laugh
at us," said Delia, feeling a strong inclination to cry.
" Forgive me ; but it seemed so comical to think
of six girls starting out to reform the world. No
objections, of course. I suppose you'll begin with
this sinner," hesitating a lit.tle, and stealing a look at
Delia's flushed cheeks.
30 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" No, Fred, we wont own that you belong there."
" On trial, eh ? That's the fair tiling. Come," he
added, breaking in on another silence ; " what's the
use of being squeamish ? College is nix now. By
and by, I suppose, I shall get into business. Mean-
time I'm going to have a little fun."
" O no ! " protested Delia, " college isn't nix. My
father says you mus'n't give it up ; and Sally says she
would like to beat you in geometry. She rather
thinks she can."
" I'd like to see her. Beaten by a girl ! Come,
that's too much. But there's no use talking about
such nonsense now. I was going to burn old Euclid
yesterday with appropriate ceremonies, but "
" O, you didn't, I know."
"No, I was afraid I'd be haunted by his ghost, so
I kicked him into a chest."
" There, that's a good omen. "We know you will
be back in school again. Margaret says but I sup-
pose yon don't care what she says, since you laugh
at us."
" Ton my word I don't laugh at you. I never
was farther from such a thing in my life. Needn't
tell me unless you want to."
" But I do want to, because I don't forget how
kind you were to me when I needed a friend, and I do
so want you to go to college and walk off with all the
honors, and be a credit to your friends generally ; for
I just know you can."
A WlHTTIEK ^IGHT. 31
" Fiddle-sticky! Well, what did she say ? "
" O, Margaret ? Well, she said you were treated
unjustly, and if only you had been a trifle less hasty,
he wouldn't have come down on you so heavily,
and she is sure he misses you, and wants to get you
back."
" So you girls have been discussing me, have you ? "
" Why yes," owned Delia, wondering what pen-
ance ' The Round Table ' tribunal would inflict on
her for that disclosure."
" What a tremendous secret league it is ! And
they thought I had better eat humble-pie, I reckon."
" They didn't say any thing of the kind. But they
are sure if the professor meets you in a manly way,
you will do your part fair and square, as you always
have!"
" What a wheedler ! Just say to them, with my
compliments, that I can't come up to their standard.
O, it's easy enough for you girls to sit back in a rock-
ing-chair, and tell others to behave themselves."
And he cut some reckless curves on the new snow
with his whip, not owning even to himself that he
was growing stronger every minute, and down in his
secret soul had a half-formed purpose to be all that
" The Round Table," though they were only girls,
believed him capable of being.
"We don't sit back in rocking-chairs, and you
were never a girl, and don't know their trials; so
there. Sally is coming over to-night to show me a
32 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
new recipe for molasses candy," said Delia, as he
stopped before her door ; " come 'cross lots and help
us."
" I had an engagement," frowned Fred.
" I'm sure you can break it this once. Sally will
want to compare geometry notes with you. She's
got a new demonstration for theorem thirty-nine that
is perfectly new and perfectly lovely, she says. I'm
so stupid I can't even know when it comes out right ;
but Sally"
" She is a first-class girl, and a lion in geometry.
Well, I'll see."
Little lame Betty, in her third-story coop, might
have thought that the very clouds rained callers. The
day following the meeting every member of " The
Hound Table " found their way up the long flights of
stairs with all sorts of offerings. Delia, after work-
ing .heroically over a new and complicated pudding,
which was not altogether a success, handed it in at
the door to the old aunt, who opened it a matter of
an inch or so, and grunted a reply which might have
been thanks, but which Delia thought sounded like
disapproval. The hall was dark and dirty, suffering
always made her nervous, and well, she wondered if
keeping Fred straight wouldn't be her part. Of
course Sally ran up for a morning call, with a pet
cat under each arm, to explain that the girls were so
sorry for her, and would try to help her bear it.
The sisters from the parsonage took a story-book and
A WHITTIEK NIGHT. 33
some apples, but were much shocked to find that she
could not read. Somehow Amelia's exclamation,
" You don't read ! " made a long, long distance be-
tween the low cot and the visitors' stools. After that,
how could they get on, and the call was happily
shortened, over which Betty heard several breaths of
relief. Amelia declared to Margaret, as soon as they
were safely outside, that there was really no excuse
for such ignorance. At the foot of the stairs they
met Prue and Addie going up, and stopped to ex-
change notes.
"Sally deserves a great deal of credit," said
Amelia, with a new and convincing sense of what
real charity is.
"We ought not to expect gratitude, I suppose,
but one does like to have their things appreciated,"
said Margaret, looking down at her book, and snif-
fing at her muff to see how much smoky atmosphere
it had absorbed.
" Prue, let's leave ours at the door and run away,"
advised Addie ; " I've got a real pretty picture, and
was going to bring my pet motto, ' Eat, Drink, and
be Merry,' but Tom didn't think it was very appro-
priate, and told me I had better have ' prayer and
potatoes go together,' " laughing so contagiously that
they all joined.
"You may turnback if you choose, but I am going
in," said Prue, so decidedly, that Addie nodded good-
bye to the girls and clung to Prue. Imagine Addie's
3
34 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
surprise to see timid Prue march straight up to the
bed, throw both arms around Betty's neck, and kiss
her tenderly, and then offer her hand gravely to
sailor Jake, who took it awkwardly, with a " How
are ye, my pretty ? how are ye ? " Next she opened
her bundle, which proved to be a real doll, all in
pink and blue, with a dainty bonnet and a bundle of
extra clothes. Betty just clutched it wildly, and gave
such a pathetic little squeal of delight, that Addie,
who was in the background, sniffed audibly, for she
cried as easily as she laughed. Sailor Jake was sud-
denly transferred to the seventh heaven. In turn he
beamed on Betty and Prue, shouting hoarsely, " Haint
she trim? Haint she a beauty?" It was wonderful
how Prue developed sick-room talent in that half-
hour. She did not shrink from the soiled pillow-case,
but shook it up with comforting little pats, and
smoothed out the old blanket with deft gentle hands,
" to that degree it was just refreshing to see her,"
Addie declared. "Prue Stevens!" she shouted, be-
fore they were fairly off from the stairs, " don't you
know that you grew just like mother every minute
we were in there. You towered up like a giant,
and made me feel like a pigmy. What queer old
people they are, and aren't you afraid of scarlet fever
or diphtheria or something?"
" Not one bit, and I'm just as happy as I can be,"
answered Prue so blissfully that Addie felt a strong
desire to hug her, then and there.
A WHITTIEK NIGHT. 35
Through that week Sally, of course, did not go up,
as she had laid the matter on " The Round Table,"
and was struggling with a new theorem that quite
filled her attention. Delia was not brave enough to
attempt another pudding, and thought she had her
hands full with Fred and an essay on Whittier.
Amelia and Margaret were too busy, and reasoned
that, as Sally was so near and had championed the
case, she would let them know of any special need.
Addie well Ad die neglected it, as she did every
thing else, and had it not been for Prue and the pink-
and-blue dolly, which was really " a thing of beauty"
and "a joy forever," poor Betty might have languished
in silence in spite of six sworn knights.
On their Friday night (and, from this time on, they
quite believed that this night had been created and
slipped into the calendar of the week just for them)
Sally welcomed them, with a great flourish of trum-
pets, to the " palace of the Caesars," and a delightful
evening they spent in the little square rag-carpeted
parlor, talking about the dear old Quaker poet. Sally
convulsed them- with a much-gestured rendering of
" Barbara Frietchie," but grew truly eloquent telling
how Whittier wrote and suffered and lived for free-
dom and tuned his sweetest songs in behalf of de-
spised slaves.
" That's why I love him, big hat, thees, thous,
and all," shouted Sally, pounding loudly on the
table.
36 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
Amelia, who had carefully looked up the subject,
told them many interesting things connected with his
simple life: how he tried to teach school for a living,
but the rough boys of the district were too much for
him; and how he thought "Snow- Bound" a very
indifferent piece of verse, and was ashamed to own
"Maud Muller;" and when a publisher offered him
five hundred dollars for the copyright of his poems,
Whittier thought the man must be crazy.
Prue had picked up a little incident about his vis-
iting one of the Berkshire schools, when a little girl
couldn't think of the fourth province of Ireland.
When the teacher wasn't looking, Whittier patted his
Ulster significantly, and she burst out with " O, yes,
I know now ; 'tis Overcoat ! "
These and many more bits of information, that
make us grow to feel acquainted with the wise
men who have sung and wrote and talked for the
world, were given on this occasion.
Last on the programme, Addie read " Snow-
Bound/' Those who had read it before declared that
they had never known what a beautiful and perfect
picture it was.
" Why, we have only to shut our eyes and there it
is," mused Delia, drooping her lids: "the clean-swept
hearth and the red logs and the roaring of the north
wind, and ' the house-dog on his paws outspread,' and
the family basking in the chimney's ruddy glow. If
I were an artist I should paint it."
A WHITTIER XIGHT. ' 37
Before they left " Snow-Bound " they determined
to learn, and keep in the memory as a memento of
their Whittier night, that little extract, beginning :
" Alas for him who never sees
The stars shine through his cypress-trees !
Who, hopeless, lays his dead away,
Nor looks to see the breaking day
Across the mournful marbles play I
Who hath not learned in hours of faith
The truth to flesh and sense unknown,
That Life is ever lord of Death,
And Love can never lose its own 1 "
Then, they stored it away as a beautiful poetic
sentiment. Now, as they have shared the common
lot, and touched life's sadder experiences, they have
proven it to be a truth.
" We must go to Amesbury," said Delia, making a
note on the margin of her manuscript.
" Delia, Whittier wouldn't lift his hat to us," said
Addie, suddenly.
" Fact ! " answered Sally. " Then it is against our
principles to go."
" This brings me to what I wanted to say," began
Delia, reaching down for a formidable book, labeled
"Decorum." "It seems to me that, as young ladies in
good and regular standing, we ought to put this plank
into our platform. We want to be proper, of course."
Sally opened her mouth for speech, but remained
silent, rolling her eyes to the ceiling in a way that
looked volumes.
38 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
" Must I stop laughing ? " asked Addie, eying tlie
book anxiously.
" Yes. How many giggles a day are allowable ? "
asked Sally, gravely. " Prue, you can't cool your
coffee in your saucer any more, and, Margaret, you
will have to straighten your collar and round your
finger-nails."
"Of course, you needn't take this up unless you
want to," added Delia, looking so hurt that Margaret
hastened to say :
" Yes, girls ; Delia's right. We do want to be
ladies in all the little things. The suggestion is a
good one."
"But that title looks so dreadful," moaned Addie ;
" it's fairly depressing."
" Don't you think," began Prue in her low voice,
"that if we are really 'mindful,' as our motto says,
and try to have hearts of charity, as we heard about
last Sunday, that we shall keep from offending
people ? "
" You old dear ! Of course we shall," said Amelia,
impulsively. " I do think that for every day our
motto is the best rule of etiquette we could have ;
but supposing we ask Delia to keep posted on mat-
ters of giving invitations and special courtesies, arid
then we can bring up our questions at our talks, and
have her for reference," she added, showing a happy
gift of tact.
"Just the thing," said Sally, reaching over to clasp
A WHITTIER KIGHT. 39
Delia's hand. "Forgive me; I didn't mean to hurt
you, and I know I need a whole library of deco-
rums."
Thus appeased, Delia smiled graciously, for she
couldn't stay grieved long, and the little lesson, that
young people cannot all be trained on one string any
more than plants can, was good for her.
" As to Fred," said Delia, proudly, " we have
every reason to congratulate ourselves."
" Yes, he challenged me to-day," said Sally, " and I
smell powder on the breeze."
" Remember that you carry the mail of a Round
Tabler," warned Margaret, raising her hands impress-
ively.
" Who has been to see Betty ? " asked Sally.
" I," answered the chorus promptly ; and then they
each, in turn, told their experience, except Prue, who
had very little to say, as usual.
" If we haven't gone off like a fire-cracker all at
one stroke," laughed Sally, taking in the situation.
" Prue, I hope you didn't carry her the ' History
of Egypt,' or something equally juvenile and inter-
esting."
" ]STo, I'm most ashamed to tell, because I suppose
it wasn't a very literary thing to do ; but she was so
glad over it. It was my pink-and-blue doll."
" How splendid ! Just the thing."
" And Prue ran up yesterday," began Addie ; "and
sailor Jake said it had done her more good than all
40 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
the medicine in all the world. And actually, girls,
Prue knew just what to do, if she is my sister."
" I don't deserve a speck of praise," protested Prue,
" because I just love to care for sick folks. I never
had any thing but cats and canaries, excepting when
mother had sick headache."
" I've always known that Prue thought I was
dreadfully unaccommodating to persist in staying so
well," continued Addle.
" I I almost feel like telling you my secret," said
Prue, hesitatingly, turning " rosy red " with the effort
it cost her.
" O do," said the chorus, in a beseeching way, that
couldn't help but invite confidence.
" I want to be a doctor some day," began Prue,
looking up at the soldier portrait, over which the
stars and stripes were always draped ; " O, do you
think it will be dreadful ? Or else a trained nurse.
I'm sure I would rather be Florence Nightingale,
with sick soldiers loving my shadow, and wanting me
to care for them, than any kind of a queen. Please
don't think I'm strong-minded and and dreadful.
I can't help feeling so."
" How we shall be honored," said Margaret. " I
hope you will be allopathic."
"Prue Stevens, M.D.," shouted Sally. "O the
glory of it ! Already mine eyes behold the gilded
sign and the green cotton umbrella and the medicine
satchel."
A WHITTIEB XIGHT. 41
"I should like it myself," commented Delia, twirling
her amethyst thoughtfully, "if people were not very
sick, and never sent for you when they were hurt."
" You might advertise on your sign, ' Light cases
speedily attended to, and please don't come when I
am tired,' " suggested Sally.
" Ko, Sally," said Prue, shaking her head decided-
ly, " I have thought it all over, and I believe I cuuld
stand even the hurts if I had been trained just how
to bind up wounds and pour in oil and wine. And
this has its compensation, for doctors relieve more
suffering than they cause."
" And all this is the reason you grind away at
Latin, and are so conscientious and particular about
it, when you don't like it ? " asked Amelia.
" Yes, I shall need it some day," looking up so
brave and strong ; " and O, girls, the best part is
that you can get near to people and help the poor
and unfortunate and those that are bad because every
thing's always been against them/'
" Prue, you're a really truly preacher ! " said Mar-
garet, breaking the pause that had suddenly fallen on
the little group, while they gazed with astonished
eyes at their timid Prue, and felt that she was fast
growing to be their leader in strong purpose and
courage.
" And Betty is your first patient," said Amelia.
" Yes, Dr. Prue ; you take the case and hold us at
your service," suggested Sally.
42 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
" O no," protested Prue, quite alarmed ; " it's only
playing now. Real doctors never carry dolls for
medicine, nor sing lullaby songs to their patients
when they get nervous. If I were a real doctor," she
added, glancing up at Delia, " I should prescribe a
ride."
" She shall have it," answered Delia, promptly,
"since her physician orders it."
" Please let it be a very quiet secret. I couldn't
bear to have people talking it over, and calling it a
childish notion, because I was never so in earnest in
my life ; " looking quite distressed at the possibility of
such a thing.
" The whole matter shall be sub rosa" declared
Delia, who had been studying Latin for four weeks.
" Let us not forget our song to-night," said Mar-
garet. "'Cast thy bread upon the waters' is just the
one. Come, Prudy, give us the key-note."
" Let us sing the verse,
" ' You may think it lost forever,
But as sure as God is true,
In this life or in the other
It will yet return to you,' "
said Prue, taking the tuning-fork, which Sally grave-
ly produced.
A DAY IN LONDON. 43
CHAPTEK IV.
A DAY IN LONDON.
t( ~J1 ,T"Y day in London," read the little slip over
1V_L which Addie was shaking her head as she
hung her wraps in the academy cloak-room.
" O, Sally, what is yours?" as a familiar step
bounded through the door.
" It's ' My day in London,' and all I know about
London is, that it had a mayor once who was like me.
He owned a wonderful cat. It wouldn't answer to
look up Whittington, would it ? So what shall I
do?"
Here the door opened to the other members of
" The Round Table." Delia was saying,
" Why, we all have it."
" Is it possible ! " answered Sally, dancing off her
rubbers. " So have we. It's truly catching."
" How do yon fancy the idea ?" asked Amelia.
" It is just like you, and splendid," said Prue. "I
must say I am a little tired of the poets, and I am
afraid our Mother-Goose night was a failure."
" I only wish we were all really going," said Ad-
die, pensively, patting the pink bows on her apron
pockets.
44 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
"A day is all too short," criticised Margaret.
" Just think of the Tower alone."
"Why, so it did have a tower," observed Sally,
ruffling her hair, " where two little princes were
smothered to death by a kind uncle. I'd forgotten
that I knew so much about London."
Suffice it to say that books of travel were in de-
mand that week. Delia, armed with a quire of note-
paper and a half-dozen well sharpened pencils/visited
an old family friend, who had actually been abroad,
but came home in despair, undecided which of the
twenty places glowingly recommended she could best
visit, having a dim recollection that the crown jewels
were kept in St. Paul's or some House of Parliament,
and just where the queen eked out a scanty existence
on a few hundred thousand a year, she had entirely
forgotten.
The}' all joined with Margaret that a day was but
as a hand-breadth. " Not worth crossing the ocean
and having the ' O my ! ' for," Addie declared.
" If yours is the palace of the Cossars, this is
the temple of Peace, isn't it ? " said Margaret, as
Friday night found them gathering about the found
table with Prue and Addie, in whose house was
always a genial atmosphere of home peace and con-
tentment.
" I expected to see a skeleton or two and some
pickled lingers," observed Sally, mischievously, peer-
ing about.
A DAY IN LONDON. 45
" Sli ! It's time to begin," warned Prae, shaking
her head, and trying to frown at the offender.
The answering to roll-call with quotations brought
out Margaret.
" I have a suggestion to offer," she said. " I am
trying to learn a little verse or extract every day.
Three mornings of the week it is a Bible verse, and
the other four any quotation I fancy. I just put it on
my dresser while I am combing my hair, and hair-pin
it into my memory in no time."
" Are you going to propose to call the roll seven
times every Friday night ? " asked Addie, in alarm.
" Of course not. I only know it has helped my
memory amazingly, and offer it for general benefit,
as I supposed we Round Tablers ought to. You see,
I am sure to have a quotation for Friday night."
" Thanks ! I am going to begin to-morrow morn-
ing," said Delia.
" So am I," said the chorus.
'' It is just what we need. It will keep us from
looking in the glass," commented Sally, who, in her
best estate, never could be accused of vanity.
Delia said she, too, had a little item of business to
present, and proceeded to read an application to join
" The Round Table," addressed to " The most Honor-
able President and Body," and signed, " Your most
humble servant, Thomas Stevens."
" That bad boy ! " shouted the sisters. " He want-
ed us to propose his name, and we wouldn't."
46 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
The chair appointed Sir Knight Sally to draft reso-
lutions of sympathy and refusal to the aspiring youth.
" If the president please," began Sally, deferential-
ly, " I have in my hours of meditation composed a
song for the Table. It is ' from our special poetess,'
as the papers say :
" ' Ho ! R. T's, come with us and join in our song,
Our song, full of courage aud hope,
How we're knights every one, with a great work to do,
Our symbols, a broom and some soap.
" ' Yes, to make the world better and purer we'll try,
With ourselves we intend to begin,
Sure " mindful " we'll be, and " faithful " as well,
To cast out each dear little sin.
'' ' More learning we want, that our feet may not stray
From the path where the wise men have trod,
A mind/wU we want, and so, full of faith,
We'll follow the foot-prints they've made.' "
Be assured it was received beyond Sally's wildest
expectation, while Delia, who had been studying
Greek literature, declared,
" Sally, you are a real Sappho."
" The ladies may have noticed a slight similarity in
subjects," said the president, deigning a pleasantry,
' and we will open with ' My day in London. Delia
Nichols."'
" ' Miss President and Ladies : There were so many
places to visit I was quite at my wit's end. But call-
ing a hansom cab, I rode to South Kensington Mu-
seum, determined to take at least a little peep here. I
A DAY IN LONDON. 47
did not wonder that it could set the art-fashions for
the world. So much beauty and elegance drove rae
wild. Tne room where gold, silver, and precious
stones are wrought into every thing that it ever en-
tered into the human heart to conceive caused me to
break the tenth commandment at a terrible rate.' '
" How dared you ? " interrupted Sally. " Don't
they shut you up for stealing in that country ? "
" Sarah Jane Smith ! " shouted Delia, turning a
perfectly withering look on Sally, ' when did you read
the commandments last ? "
" O-o ! " said Sally, quite subdued. " Margaret,
please pass me the Bible."
" Rat-tat-tat ! " came the gavel. " Authorities can
be looked up later. Will Miss Nichols proceed with
her paper ? "
" ' Here in South Kensington are' Raphael's car-
toons. 1 knew that my trip would be incomplete with-
out some time devoted to the study of an old master.
" Peter and John healing the lame man at the Gate
Beautiful " I liked best. The cripple is the most help-
less looking creature you ever beheld. John has such
a sweet woman's face, and Peter such a strong one.
Then I hurried away to the British Museum, which is
a world in itself. The building is very imposing. It
is higher than our chnrch steeple, and six times as
long as the church. Over three millions and a half
of dollars have been spent on it, and it is not yet fin-
ished. I passed through the Egyptian room, which
48 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
has so many tombs and gods and mummies brought
from Egypt. And through the zoological room and
mineral room and bronze room. Next came the de-
partments devoted to races, such as the Chinese room,
with glittering images and ivory trinkets; and the
Hindu, with the richest, loveliest, Oriental dresses you
could imagine, offset by hideous household gods.
From these departments I went into the library,
which is perfectly immense. I asked for a catalogue,
and they pointed out three hundred volumes. I longed
for my old friend Sally, and thought how she would
like to be turned loose in such a place. But I must tell
you that I was moved almost to tears by the men who
do the dusting. By the time they have gotten around
the room the first books have gathered dust, and so
they keep up an everlasting dusting. To me it was
very pathetic. But the shades of night were falling
fast, so, calling my cab, I rode back to the hotel.' r
" Perfectly splendid ! " was the verdict, while they
applauded.
" I'm glad you like it, 1 ' said Delia, resting back
in her chair, " for it was hard work ; and if it sets
Sally to reading the ten commandments I shall feel
more than repaid."
" Mine is* a letter," answered Addie, as she was in
turn called out.
" ' LONDON, ENGLAND.
" ' DEAR ROUND TABLE : Having but a day, I de-
termined to spend it in the Tower. You know the
A DAY IN LONDON. 49
Tower is on the Thames River, which made it very
convenient to carry prisoners there by water in the
old days when a man was imprisoned and had his head
cut off for just nothing at all. It used to be a Roman
fort, and has stood for nearly a thousand years. It is
really a group of towers, surrounding the Tower, or
White Tower. It made me sad to think how many
tears have been shed there.' ' :
[" Without any doubt," put in Sally, glancing up
in a calculating way, " as many as a barrel full."
" You just spoil all the tragical parts," laughed Ad-
die, for even the Tower could not sober her.] " ' Of
course I wanted to see the room where Sir Walter
Raleigh was imprisoned so many years that he had
time to w r rite a history of the world. It had no
window. You know he is the man who threw his
velvet cloak down in the mud for Queen Elizabeth to
walk over, one day, when he met her in the streets of
London. Wasn't it too bad that such a gallant gen-
tleman had to lose his head ? I took just a little peep
into the room where the instruments of torture are
kept. It was as near as I wanted to get, and made
me thankful that I didn't live in the Dark Ages. How
ridiculous to make people swear to believe, or not to be-
lieve, articles of faith, by putting on thumb-screws or
building a fire under them. Yet such was the case.
Next I visited the room where the Earl of Essex was put
to death. If you have not forgotten your last year's
English history, you will remember that Queen Eliz-
"4
50 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
abetli loved him, and gave him a ring, telling him to
send it to her, if he was ever in trouble, and she would
give him a hearing. When he got into trouble he
sent the ring by Lady Howard, who kept it, because
her husband, who was an enemy of Essex, wanted her
to. After the splendid nobleman had gone out from
this Devereux Tower to his death, Lady Howard was
sick unto death, and, growing penitent, sent for the
queen and confessed her crime. You remember, the
queen shook her violently, exclaiming, " May God
forgive you ! I never can ;" and forthwith became so
sad that nothing could cheer her. I wanted to see
the Brick Tower, because here the beautiful Lady
Jane Grey was imprisoned. From the window she
could look out on the palace where she had been
queen, and from which she waved a good-bye to her
innocent husband when he went to his execution.
The room where the crown jewels are kept is full
of richness. But I must not weary you, so good-bye.
" ' Yours very truly, ADDIE.' "
" I can't say that I admire Sir Walter Ealeigh as
you do," said Margaret, critically, as Addie finished.
" He knew he would be paid magnificently. If his
cloak had been down for his washer-woman, I would
have called it real gallantry."
" Of course," approved Sally, " who of us wouldn't
lay down our cloaks for Queen Victoria and never
think of praise ? "
A DAY IN LONDON. 51
" ' I wanted to go to Westminster Abbey,' " began
Prue, as she was announced, "'but' I did not have
time to look it up. I only know that the poets, from
Chaucer down, have magnificent tombs there, and
that some traveler has said that when after years of ex-
pectation she finally stepped upon that worn floor she
felt to exclaim, with the Queen of Sheba, "the half
has never been told." I decided to go to the Found-
ling Hospital. They were holding service and I
heard four hundred little orphans chant an anthem.
It was like heaven. They all wore kerchiefs and
Normandy caps, and looked very quaint and old-fash-
ioned. I longed to hug them all, dear homeless little
things ! In the chapel is Benjamin "West's painting
of ''Christ Blessing Little Children," which they can
look at. Charles Dickens used often to come here,
and I would, too, if I had been in his place. I'm
sorry that mine isn't better,' " said Prue, sadly.
" We're glad you went to the hospital. It is very
becoming in one who is acknowledged to be a knight
of deeds rather than words," answered the president,
beaming on Prue.
Margaret, who came next, announced, " I surely
thought you would all go to St. Paul's Cathedral. It
\vill be the first place in my real trip.
" ' Long before I reached my object of interest, I
saw the dome towering high above the roofs and
steeples, and remembered that the height to the top
of the cross is four hundred feet. Thus, St. Paul's
52 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
is a landmark for many miles around. The dis-
tances are magnificent. Just think of it. Over five
hundred feet long ! But, within, you hardly feel as
if you were in a church. It has so many monuments
of England's heroes, and so much about her wars.
Dr. Samuel Johnson, the dictionary man, has a statue
here, and Xelson and Wellington are buried here, with
candles burning before them, as before Catholic altars.
Sir Christopher Wren, the architect and builder of
St. Paul's, is very fittingly buried here, and said he
wanted no other monument. The guide now directs
us to the Whispering Gallery. From a distance, one
hundred and forty feet away, he whispers a message
and I can hear it distinctly.' '
"Pshaw!" said Sally, scornfully, " didn't you tell
him that any Yankee school-girl could beat that ? "
" He would have said that Yankees haven't got any
St. Paul's, and so I kept still. When you go abroad,
Sally, you must learn to keep your nose down."
" ' From this gallery the church shows its vast size.
The guide tells yon to look up, and, behold ! high above
you is the dome, painted brilliantly with scenes from
St. Paul's life.' "
" What a convenient place to have pictures,"
laughed Addie, catching the critical spirit.
" Sure enough ! " chimed in Sally ; " it took a
Yankee to invent hanging pictures where they could
be seen, Til warrant."
'"Above this gallery is the Golden Gallery, from
A DAY EN LONDON. 53
which a wonderful view of London, the largest city
in the world, can be obtained. I wont try to describe
it. But just before I turned to come down I was at-
tracted by a wild-looking lass, rushing about in a most
distracted manner, far below me. Imagine, O ye
members of The Round Table ! my surprise when I
discovered that it was my old friend Sally Smith
hunting through the streets of London for her
rubbers.' "
Margaret closed np her paper in quite a storm of
applause, as the little hit had its reality almost any
day.
Amelia spent the day at the quaint old Temple
Church, where lived knights templars, who adopted
the meek symbols of the lamb and cross, and then sought
every opportunity to have a fight. She conducted them
to the Temple Gardens, where the man who wrote
"Vicar of Wakefield" is buried, and where Charles
Lamb, the punster, and so many famous literary men
lived ; and then she called a carriage and rode up and
down Rotten Row, which, in spite of its name, is a
broad beautiful avenue, the street of London, where
all the world of people can be seen of a pleasant after-
noon. Here she met the queen, with her royal train,
and her account related an altogether delightful
"day" to the Table.
"My day in London. Sally Smith," announced
the chair.
Sally drew out an immense manuscript, deliber-
54 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
ately unfolded it and began, while they listened
expectantly :
" ' Dear Sirs : I planned a rich time of it, and was
just ready to slip up to Buckingham Palace, unan-
nounced, to have a friendly little visit with Victoria,
when a dense yellow fog, such as you have heard is
common to England, came out, and I was forced to
retire to my room in the darkness, meditating on the
sorrows that so often swoop down on us in this vale
of tears. ' "
"How could you?" demanded Margaret.
" When we were expecting so much," moaned
Delia,
The chair felt quite at a loss what to do, as Sally
arose in self-defense.
" You spent your day as you wanted to, and I ap-
peal to our worthy president if I haven't the same
right, sir ! "
The president bit her pencil and frowned. " I
don't see as we can complain. She hasn't broken the
constitution."
" For the sake of the poem, let us forgive her,"
suggested Prue.
Taken all in all, they agreed that their London
night was most successful.
" What a delightful way to go to London, ' without
money and without price,' " said Addie.
" Yes, without sea-sickness and without shipwreck,"
added Margaret.
A DAY IN LONDON. 55
" I should want a shipwreck or two," mused Sally.
" If I had paid the passage, I wouldn't want any of the
' extras ' left out. If we could be sure of surviving,
it wouldn't be bad, only rather exciting ; and what a
hero one might be ! "
" As we are not in imminent danger of shipwreck
at present," said Amelia, while books and papers dis-
appeared, " let us turn to something more practical.
Dr. Prue, how is your patient ? "
" O, girls, I have something to tell you," answered
Prue, in such unusual agitation that they all looked
and listened. " Did you know that sailor Jake has
had another time of drinking? "Well, lie has, after
keeping straight so long, too. I was tliore when he
came home, and it was terrible."
" Weren't you frightened to death ? " demanded
Delia, shivering.
" O, don't ask me," pleaded Prue. " I don't like
to think of that part."
" I should say she was," explained Addie. " She
looked like a ghost when she came home, and Harry
said she mus'n't go again."
" But I did," continued Prue. " I went next morn-
ing, and I carried a pledge, a pretty one, with forget-
me-nots painted on it. I know you don't believe in
pledges, Sally, but don't shake your head until I get
through. Sailor Jake was sitting by the window
looking out, with his head on his hand, so, and lie
never noticed me a bit. I had written my name at
56 ANXALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
the top, and then I explained it to Betty, and she held
the pencil while 1 wrote her name next, and then
O didn't ray heart beat? I went over to the window
and slipped it on to his knee. He looked at it two or
three times quite sharp-like, and then the tears began
to roll down his face. We just all turned in and
cried, too. He looked so sorrowful. I know you
couldn't have helped it. Even the old aunt stopped
smoking and rubbed her apron across her eyes. Pretty
soon he reached for the pencil and wrote his name.
Such writing you never saw, but we didn't care a bit.
And then he took it over for Betty to see. And he
says, ' Bring me the Bible, lass ; ' and when I laid it on
the bed he put his hand over hers on it and said the
pledge, sentence by sentence, very solemnly and slow-
ly. Truly, girls, it was a good place to be, if it was a
stuffy little garret. And then he says, ' Now, lassie,
say the prayer yer mammy told yer,' and she shut her
eyes and began, 'Xow I lay me.' When it was over
he looked so different, somehow, so strong and good,
and when I came away he was making toast for Bet-
/ O
ty's breakfast."
Prue stopped to wipe away some glad tears, and
found the little group following her example.
" Yes, father has seen him and thinks it's a very
hopeful case," said Margaret. " I have been gather-
ing up my bits of zephyr into a ball for Betty to cro-
chet, and find that it works better than books. If any
of you have any thing to contribute along this line I
A DAY IN LONDON. 57
will make another ball. The bright colors brighten
up the old coverlet so."
" Just the thing," said Delia. " I have got boxes
of it, and then she can sew the stripes together for a
little afghan. What inventors we are ! "
" I do believe Betty is making us all better," de-
clared Sally, frankly. " Any way, I feel so to-night.
The trouble is, it doesn't last with me," little thinking
how soon she would put it to trial.
Next morning, as she was ambling up to school,
her beloved Euclid hugged under one arm and her
lunch under the other, Delia came out to join her,
saying, with a mysterious air,
" O do walk slower. I've got some very important
news for you."
As Delia's trifles were always important, Sally
looked up with an indifferent,
" Who cares any thing about Mrs. Peter Piper's
new dress? "
" It isn't about any body's new dress. Haven't you
noticed," slipping her arm through Sally's, and drop-
ping her voice to a confidential whisper, " that Fred
has been wonderfully cool for the past week ? "
"Pshaw! you know I don't believe in slights and
all that sort of nonsense."
" But you have noticed it," persisted Delia.
" If I'd ever noticed any thing of the kind I should
say he had the dumps."
" Well, then, just read this," and she unfolded a
58 ANNALS or THE ROUND TABLE.
triangular note, and watched Sally's face while she
read :
" ' MR. FEED HUNTING : I happen to know that you
got somebody to solve your problem for you yester-
day, and that's the reason you could go ahead of me.
We are all very angry about it, and don't care to have
any thing more to do with you. SALLY SMITH.' ' :
Intense amazement, followed by rising indignation,
swept over her face.
" Did you write it ? " asked Delia, growing excited.
" It looks like your writing, all but the g's
" Of course not," thundered Sally. " You ought
to have known better. It's that Mackey girl. She
wanted to join our club, and that's the secret of her
spite."
"Fred thought you did it, sure, and O! how mad
he was. I had a great time getting it out of him.
He was going to cut us, once and forever, and there's
no telling what would have come of it."
" How could she dare to do such a contemptible
thing ! " blazed Sally. " I'll teacli her not to trifle with
me. I'll never forgive her, never !"
They turned into the cloak-room, where were a half-
dozen girls disposing of their wrappings, and, unfor-
tunately, among them, Miss Mackey. Sally confronted
her with a burning face, held out the note and de-
manded,
" Did you write that ? "
A DAY IN LONDON. 59
" I I am not bound to answer your questions,"
faltered the girl, trying to be haughty in spite of her
fright, and turning to escape.
" You are bound to answer," began Sally, hedging
her way, and launching forth into a tempest of accusa-
tions and threats that alarmed even Delia, while the
other girls looked on with whispered, " Isn't it dread-
ful ? " and " Who would have thought of such a tem-
per?"
At this crisis Miss Augsbury, the preceptress, ap-
peared at the door. As the accused had resorted to
tears, and the accuser was still in her storm of passion,
Miss Augsbury, who was not gifted with a percep-
tive faculty, called out, sternly :
"Miss Smith, take your place in the chapel at
once. I am surprised to hear such conversation.
Miss Mackey, I will hear your case later."
"She has wronged me," explained Sally, in her
pent-up voice, "and she shall not leave until she
owns up."
This was too daring to be tolerated, and the other
members of "The Round Table" came in just in
time to hear Miss Augsbury pronounce this sentence
on their Sally :
" You cannot take your place in your classes until
you publicly apologize for this. Your conduct shows
that you are wholly to blame, and not Miss Mackey ; "
and she swept away with the girls, leaving Sally with
her five friends.
60 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
At this, Sally threw herself on the bench and
burst into such a torrent of tears as frightened them
all, while they beset Delia with questions as to what
it meant.
Prue tripped over to the bench, knelt by Sally's
head, and laid a cool hand on the hot temple, saying
not a word, while Delia gave a confused account of
the affair to the excited girls, they receiving the
news with ejaculations of indignation and sympathy.
" Cheer fip, Sally dear. We'll all stand by you,"
said Margaret, going over to the bench where the
patient was growing more quiet.
" I don't deserve it," said Sally, in a choked voice,
raising a swollen face. u I've disgraced you all.
Delia hasn't told it right."
At this point the last bell sounded sharply, and the
girls rushed into the chapel, where at recess Sally
joined them, spending the day dismally in her chair.
O what a day it was for them all ! Even Amelia, the
immovable, failed utterly, and Addie found herself
studying Miss Mackey's face instead of English his-
tory. Indeed, the scholarship of " The Round Table,"
which had been a well-acknowledged fact and a mat-
ter of pride, sank far below the level. Sally was
under the double pressure of being misunderstood,
for now Miss Mackey was the injured party, but,
above all else, the disgrace of her passion, which was
" like a millstone round her neck," she had sorrow-
fully owned to her mother, when she presented her-
A DAY ix LONDON. 61
self to the gentle little woman for reproof and com-
fort.
When at last the long, long day was over, the girls
lingered in the hall.
" Did you see the notes pass to Miss Mackey ? "
asked Addie, indignantly. " I feel just like leaving
this old school."
" Girls," began Amelia, thoughtfully, " I've come
to the conclusion that we have been too clannish.
We haven't cared for any one outside of ' "The Table,'
and now, as a natural consequence, they don't care
if we are in trouble."
" They're just glad of it," said Delia, twisting the
handles of her book-bag, despairingly.
" Tom said," began Addie, smiling for the first
time that day, " that, of course, all the ' Round
Table ' girls were very, very good, and all the others
were very, very bad."
" I'm afraid it looks that way," said Margaret,
soberly ; " and I'm sure, when it's all understood, they
wont be unjust. I mean to see some of the class-
girls to-night."
" Delia, you fix Fred, and we'll explain to our
boys," said Addie.
" Not unless you'll blame me all I deserve," com-
manded Sally, bursting in on the scene ; " remember
that."
In answer to the inquiry of where she had been,
she explained :
62 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" Up to the professor's room, to make a clean breast
of it, as mother wanted me to."
" You didn't ! "
" And I feel so much better. At first he was very
stern. Said I had been reported to him, and wiped
his glasses over it in a terrible way; but when I told
him, as bad as it was, the whole story, he grew so
kind and fatherly, and as if he could trust me. He
said he would advise me just listen ! advise me to
apologize to Miss Augsbury, and to all the girls who
were present."
" What's he going to do with Miss Mackey ? " cried
Delia, revengefully.
" Why, you see, I can't prove any forgery, and he
said, ' Keep quiet about it, and trust to the right to
triumph, as it always will.' r
" I believe it, too," said Amelia, putting an arm
around Sally's neck. " We who have been wronged
can afford to wait calmly and quietly. It is the
wrong-doer who suffers."
" O, I know that," cried Sally, fervently, burying
her face in her hands. " If it wasn't for you, I be-
lieve I should give up trying; but if you can stand
by me, I will fight it down."
" We will, we will ! " shouted the chorus.
SALLY'S TKOUBADOUK. 63
CHAPTER V.
SALLY'S TROUBADOUR.
parsonage parlor had its Friday night expect-
JL ant appearance, with the shutters closed, its
double student-lamp burning brightly, and the round
table in the center, upon which lay a volume of Scott's
poems, with a card in at " The Lady of the Lake " to
keep the place. Amelia was writing at the table,
while Margaret flitted about, arranging the chairs,
and giving the last touches to lamp, mantel, and
spread in that deft, swift way which is characteristic
of real housewives. Amelia had just looked up
from her writing to remark :
" Don't forget to show the pictures of the Scot-
tish lakes," when the door-bell rang violently, and
the four girls, breathless with a snow-ball encounter
on the way, tramped in. After preliminaries, Sally
drew a folded paper from her pocket, put a pair of
goggles astride her nose, gave a portentous " Hem ! "
and arose.
" Since our study of Longfellow, and especially the
ode entitled ' Hiawatha,' I have gathered inspiration
enough to jot down the following stapzas, upon a
highly poetical subject which, Miss President, I re-
spectfully submit :
64 ANNALS OF THE BOUND TABLE.
u l Dedicated to all grammars, in general, and
French grammar, in particular :
" ' 0, tlie long and dreary grammar 1
the cold and cruel grammar 1
Ever thicker, thicker, thicker
Grow our skulls as we go farther,
Ever deeper, deeper, deeper
Grow the lines of care on foreheads.
Hardly from her desperation
Can the victim force a passage ;
Vainly walk we through the forest
Seek for help or hint, and find none,
See no track or sign of dog-ear,
On the page behold no foot-notes,
In the ghastly gleaming forest
Fall and cannot rise from weakness.
" ' 0, the parsing and declining !
0, the wasting of the parsing 1
0, the blasting of declining!
0, the wailing of the children!
0, the anguish of the school- girls!
Into our academy wigwam
Came these two guests, just as silent
As the ghosts are, and as gloomy,
Waited not to be invited,
Did not parley at the door-way,
Sat there without word of welcome
In the seat of Sally-ha-ha.
Looked with haggard eyes and hollow
At the face of Sally-ha-ha.
And the foremost said, " Behold me 1
I am mood and tense and pronoun 1 "
And the other said, "Behold me!
I am Syntax (verb and subject)."
And the lovely Sally-ha-ha
Shuddered as they looked upon her,
SALLY'S TROUBADOUR. 65
Shuddered at the words they uttered,
Hid her face but maue no answer ;
Sat there trembling, freezing, burning
At the looks they cast upon her
At the fearful words they uttered.' "
When order could be restored, Margaret opened
her " Scott " and began the reading of the evening,
which opens so happily, with
" ' The stag at eve had drunk his fill
Where danced the moon on Monan's rilL' "
That wild, beautiful song of the Scottish lakes and
highlands, of warriors brave and sturdy, of wandering
knights, and the chieftain's fair daughter, who sang to
her father's unknown enemy that martial song :
"'Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Dream of battle-fields no more,
Days of danger, nights of waking.' "
It had just enough of the glamour of romance to set
them quite wild. They even felt willing to exchange
their comfortable, though prosy, homes for the
" ' lodge of ample size,
But strange of structure and device,
Of such materials as around
The workman's hand had readiest found,' "
if it could be set down by Loch Katrine,
" ' "Where seemed the cliffs to meet on high,
His boughs athwart the narrowed sky.
The wanderer's eye could barely view
The summer heaven's delicious blue;
66 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
So wondrous wild, the whole might seem
The scenery of a fairy dream."
And if with it they could skim across the lake in
Ellen's dainty shallop, and meet, in such a truly ro-
mantic manner, the beautiful warrior,
" ' Whose sparkling glance, soon blown to fire,
Of hasty love, or headlong ire.
Whose limbs were cast in mmily mold,
For hardy sports, or contest bold;
And though in peaceful garb arrayed
And weaponless, except his blade,
His stately mien as well implied
A high-born heart, a martial pride,
As if a baron's crest he wore,
And sheathed in armor, trod the shore.
Slighting the petty weed he showed
He told of his benighted road ;
His ready speech flowed fair and free,
In phrase of gentlest courtesy:
Yet seemed that tone and gesture bland,
Less used to sue than to command.' "
They finished to Canto IV, appointed Delia to
read the following cantos next time, and shoved back
their chairs from the table.
"Speaking of wandering ministrels," began Sally,
" reminds me of an exploit which has been revolving
in my cranium for a whole day, and upon which I
ask you to combine your wisdom. Contrary minded
can say ' No.' "
" Proceed, proceed ! " cried Addie, impatiently, for
they had come to anticipate something "rare and
racy " whenever Sally rose to speak.
SALLY'S TEOUBADOUK. 67
"It's about a wandering minstrel. If I could
summon a
" ' Harp of the North ! that molderiug long has hung,'
I could put mine in flowing verse, as did the illustri-
ous man whose poem we have been enjoying to-night.
As it is, the harp must continue to hang, and I must
come down to prose. Day before yesterday I was
sitting by the window with my books, when from
below, on the street, there came the dulcet tones
of a violin. You know my propensities, girls. In-
stantly my window flew up and my head flew out.
There, stationed on the curb-stone, was my minstrel."
" O, he was singing to you, as the troubadours did
in olden days," interrupted Delia, excitedly. " Did
you drop down your favorite flower from your castle-
window for him to bear away ? "
" Nonsense ! " answered Sally, scornfully. " He
was singing to bread and butter. I'll warrant he
never heard of a troubadour. For near him stood a
little chap holding a cap for the pennies."
" Only a street-grinder, after all our brilliant ex-
pectations," sighed Margaret.
" Doirt be hasty, children. He wasn't a common
minstrel, as you will agree. I discovered that at once,
for he had such a good face and looked so sad and out
of place, and as if he were protesting against it all the
while. Soon he began to sing, thrumming his accom-
paniment, and I discovered that it was a German
G8 ANXALS OF THE ROILND TABLE.
song. I remembered that I had seen him pass the
window several times with children that had unmis-
takable German faces. He never saw me at all, until I
dropped a penny on him, and then, how he jumped, and
looked up as bewildered as though he had discovered
that American skies rained nickels. It was down-
right fun, and I was wishing that I had a bountiful
supply to descend on him, when he moved away. I
took note that he turned down the alley, and after
school I dropped into the corner store, and while I was
buying some fools-cap, the clerk and I had a little
gossip across the counter. Don't frown, Margaret ; I
just asked him if he knew who the musician of the
morning was, and he launched forth. It's an old
story, but splendid all the same. The parents left
the fatherland some time ago because they had a
large family of children and thought the prospects
were better under the stars and stripes. A few months
after they reached New York the father, who was a
music teacher, died, and they came on here, hoping to
find friends and work, but have had a sorry time of it.
This boy is the main stay, and being a foreigner,
poor fellow ! can't get steady work. My informant
said they must have reached the crisis where either
he had to part with his violin or turn street musician.
I couldn't get his face out of my mind. It was so
honest and good, not to mention his voice, which was
splendid, if I do say it, not being considered authority
on music."
SALLY'S TROUBADOUR. C9
" And your plan is to have this troubadour come to
sin^ to us ? " asked the president.
" ]S"ot at all. I shall get to it soon. You see, they
have some front rooms down the alley. It's out of
season to hang a May -basket on the door, but why
can't we get up a December-basket, fill it with eat-
ables, leave it on the door-steps one of these dark
nights, and watch the fun from across the street ?
There, Prue nods 'yes' already."
" You might know that when any scheme has fun
in it, we wont be ' contrary minded,' " said Addie,
smiling at the prospect.
" As there's no time like the present," urged Delia,
springing up, " let us do it to-morrow night. We
will bring our provision down to your rooms after
supper."
Can you think what a nice time they had packing
their basket ? One of the girls found an out-grown
hood and mittens. Prue remembered the children
with a bag of pop-corn, and Delia brought a chicken,
which they spent some time in posing so that it would
sit up properly and clasp in its arms a card of ginger-
bread. Addie hung this request as a pendant around
its neck, " Please eat me." Sugar and tea and bread
filled up the spaces, and Delia insisted upon a group-
ing of red and green apples on top for the artistic
effect. Mr. Foster, who had heard of the plan and
indorsed it heartily, added a German Bible and some
papers. In order that there should be no mistake,
70 ANNALS or THE ROUND TABLE.
they wrote on a card, in a coarse hand, " For the Hein-
millers. From American friends." Sally felt fully
equal to contribute a poem for it, but as they didn't
know how much English script could be read she
forbore.
" If we were not here for some good, I should feel
really guilty," remarked Prue, as they stole down the
dark side of the street.
Margaret and Addie set their burden down carefully
on the step, leaving Sally to knock. She tapped and
ran, while they looked expectantly. Soon the young
man opened the door, and, seeing no one there, shut
it and went back to his chair by the table, where he
had sat disconsolately meditating when the rap startled
him. Addie just groaned with disappointment, and a
council of war was held.
" Knock hard," suggested Amelia, " so that they
must know somebody wants to get in."
Acting on this advice. Sally tramped back and
knocked mnscularly. Sooner than she had calculated
upon, the door swung back, and the young man ap-
peared, with a light this time, with which he illumined
Sally and the basket.
" Goot efening," he said, as they gazed at each other
in mutual surprise, to the great amusement of the
little audience over the way. But Sally did not wait
to exchange courtesies. She just looked up and then
rushed across the street, encountering a lamp-post and
a pitch-hole in her flight, the former crushing in the
SALLY'S TROUBADOUR. 71
crown of her derby and the latter tripping her flat.
The young man looked a moment in the direction of
this singular-acting individual, who had come from
darkness and disappeared into darkness so unceremo-
niously, and then he lifted the basket, with an exclama-
tion which they could not translate, and, after an in-
quiring peep, ventured to take it in.
Imagine the delight of the girls to see their treas-
ures brought to light one after another, with a group
of little ones dancing around joyfully, testing the
pop corn and setting their teeth into the apples. The
young man, handing them out, had the expression of
a boy with his hand in his stocking on a Christmas
morning. But the funniest was one demure little
girl, who put on the hood and mittens, and stood
hugging the chicken, as though it was a favorite doll
or recovered treasure. They noticed, through the
torn curtain, that the mother was wiping her eyes,
and soon the young man brought out his violin, the
little ones gathered around him, and they sang a
hymn, the like of which the half-dozen girls across
the street had never heard before. It was dark and
bitter cold, but they were loath to leave, and not till
the music ceased did they turn away. It was a very
quiet group that picked their way through the dark-
ness. Somehow the scene had made them wondrously
happy.
" I've rung door-bells before by way of stirring up
people." owned Sally, penitently, " and called it fun
72 ANNALS OF THE EOUND TABLE.
to see them peer out and look so dazed, but this is the
real article. It's comfortable to go asleep on. Good-
night!"
Next morning she met them at the gate-way with
the cry :
" Girls, he took me in last night, just as sure as the
world ; for what do you suppose happened this morn-
ing ? I was sauntering up the street, and as I saw
him coming I looked up with a you-are-a-stranger
stare, when he just solemnly lifted his hat and looked
as if he wanted to twinkle his eye. I always do put
my foot in it," chewing a paper wad savagely.
It was Prue who looked up, with the whisper :
" It's a very good sort of foot, dear, and you've
done nothing to be ashamed of."
" Who knows but it will have a sequel yet," mused
Delia, "and he will sing to your window and bear
you away to a castle in German land."
" It's had a sequel before this," answered Sally,
gleefully, ruffling her hair, " in the shape of a break-
fast, which isn't quite so romantic, but a great deal
more filling."
THEIR BANQUET. 73
CHAPTEK VI.
THEIR BANQUET.
" TT seems to me," began Sally, quite decidedly,
J- when, at the close of their next meeting, the
period "allotted for their chat had come, " that it's
about time we had a spread." .
" Yes ; we've worked hard and deserve a sugar-
plum, I'm sure," laughed Addie.
" Let us have a banquet, with toasts," said Amelia,
suddenly. ' Don't you see how we can be literary
and have a play spell all in one ? "
" And I have another scheme about it," proposed
Margaret. " Let us every one make what we bring for
the supper. Don't yon know that some people say that
if girls try to know something out of books they are
never good housekeepers. We know better, but it
will be a good way to prove it."
" Mercy me ! We'll all be bringing ginger-cake
or gruel," said Prue, recalling her only attempts at
cookery.
" Wont it answer ju|f as well if your ' nearest of
kin ' cooks your dish ? " asked Sally, shaking her
head dubiously.
" No, ma'am," from Margaret ; " we have a week
to practice in, and it will spoil the reputation of the
74 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
affair if we can't say that it is our very own supper.
Who of us made pickles or jelly last fall ?"
A dead silence followed the question.
" Well, then, we must go without," said Margaret,
heroically.
" I picked over the raspberries and kept the cans hot
when Bridget was preserving," announced Addie,
proudly.
As this was the nearest approach made to fruit can-
ning, it was reluctantly admitted.
"It looks," commented Sally, sadly, "as if we
wouldn't have any thing but toast dry at that."
" How can you ? at such a time as this, too ! "
groaned Delia. " Of course, our president will be
the toast-master, and why not invite the boys just
Fred and Tom and Harry Stevens?"
" I'm afraid they wont behave very well." warned
Addie; " but they'll want to come."
"Not when they know what kind of a spread it's
going to be ; but let's give them an invite. Delia,
you attend to that, since it's going to be at your
house," said Margaret, stopping to make minutes.
" We will send the remains of the feast to Betty,
wont we?" asked Prue,always mindful of kerjprotegee.
" I wish," began Sally, hesitatingly, and running
her fingers through her locks, as she always did when
perplexed, " that we might send a little box of our
cake to the Mackey girl. And, if you're willing, I'd
like to take it to her mvself."
THEIR BANQUET. 75
Who ? " demanded Delia.
" You don't mean it ! " said Amelia, looking up to
see if Sally could be in earnest, while they all listened.
"Yes, I do mean it," she said, very decidedly.
"She has such a hard time in the world," mur-
mured Prue, staring at the fire, "with nobody to love
her. Yesterday she nodded to me. as much as to say
she was sorry and wanted to be friends."
" Yes, and this morning I found a box of fruit on
our steps. I looked up and saw her running up the
street. Have divided it, according to Robinson, into
six equal and equivalent parts. Please call to-morrow
morning. Later than that I wont answer for it.
But I started to say that if she has forgiven me, we
wont be outdone in the matter, will we ? "
" Well, I never ! " said Addie, dropping her chin
into her hands.
" I do believe," said Margaret, earnestly, " that
every body has got some good in them, and when we
are wise we draw out that side of their nature. And
we have more friends in school than when we were so
exclusive. I can't help but notice that. One of the
girls who was present in the cloak-room said that
Sally's speech of amends was the kindest, most hon-
est talk she ever heard, and they w r ere all going to
stand by her."
"Sh!" warned Sally, "I don't deserve it. It is
comforting, though, for I do have to watch and fight;
but you mus'n't flatter me."
76 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
What a week it was, to be sure ! Cook-books were
the text-books, while the girls hovered with burnt
faces over cook-stoves and kitchen-tables. Bridget
grew positively cross with two " botherin' girls " in
the kitchen, and the brothers, Tom and Harry, de-
clared, they deserved a banquet as a reward of merit
for eating so many trial dishes uncomplainingly.
AVhen in history the question, " Who led the French
at Waterloo?" was asked of Margaret, she answered,
promptly, " Napoleon Cake," and wondered what
they were all laughing at. To which Sally (glad
of a chance at the correct Margaret) added, later,
that " it was a case where the English got the
cake."
Early in the week Fred ran over for a neighborly,
after-school visit with Delia, across the garden, as was
his wont, and bolted, unannounced, into the dining-
room. There was the object of his search stretched
out on the sofa, with her face buried in the em-
broidered pillow. A big gingham apron covered her
pretty dress, and traces of flour were visible on her
tumbled hair.
"What's the matter? Are you sick, Delia? Or
is it your father, or what is it?" and he stopped mid-
way from the door, twirling his hat in perplexity,
undecided whether to flee, or to stay and offer to help
her out. A brief meditation gave him the suggestion
that it might be a wound. The sight of blood always
made her faint.
THEIR BANQUET. 77
" If it's a cut I can tie it up for you, and 'twont
hurt, on my honor."
" O, it isn't a cut," sighed Delia, raising a tear-
stained face. " I'm ashamed to cry over it, and I
know you'll laugh at me."
u Ton my word I wont. Who knows but I can
help you ? " and he moved up an ottoman and turned
a sympathetic face toward the sofa.
"It's my old cake. I took all the pains in the
world with it, until I was tired to death, and I didn't
know how to spend the time, and the hateful thing
fell, and burned black on the bottom, and is a miser-
able failure. O dear ! "
" Is that all ? " he asked, blankly, trying to under-
stand it. "A bit of cake!" And he threw back his
head and laughed until the walls rang.
Delia's first impulse was one of fierce indignation,
but the laugh certainly was contagious, and as she
remembered his alarm at her sorrow, the affair grew
funny, and she found herself joining him.
"I ought to be angry with you," she said, frown-
ing, while she fanned her face with her apron. " It's
very impolite to laugh at me, to say nothing of your
promise."
" Forgive me. I thought something dreadful had
happened, you know. How Sally will enjoy it 1
Ha, ha!"
"Fred Hunting! Promise me this minute you wont
tell a soul, or I shall never forgive you ; so there ! "
78 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
"Not even Sally?"
" No, indeed ; it's bad enough to be in a peck of
trouble, without having every body laugh at you ! "
and Delia looked quite aggrieved.
" Come, get out your dish and try another. I'll GO
the stirring. Really, I know how it's done."
" How comforting you are ! I declared I wouldn't
try again ; but, of course, I must. Let's see how you
look with a big apron on."
" This'll be a first-class one," stooping obediently
for Delia to tie the string around his neck. " I'm
going to smile in it, you know."
And truly it was, as was that entire supper, the
result of many trials and much valuable experience.
It is safe to say, the Nichols dining-room never pre-
sented a more inviting appearance than on that ban-
quet-night. Mr. Nichols, who had come to realize
that the society was not for nonsense, sent an elab-
orate flower-piece for the center, in honor of the dis-
covery ; Addie executed their motto in delicate lines
of red sand on the frosting of their most imposing
cake, while the table \vas adorned with the rarest and
quaintest dishes they could bring together. Although
knights still, yet the Round Tablers indulged in little
feminine decorations that always accompany an extra
occasion best dresses, ribbons, and bright colors.
Even Sally combed her hair becomingly, and lighted
up her black dress, invariably plain, with a red bow.
Each boy found his hands quite full, with a girl at
THEIR BANQUET. 79
each elbow to be waited upon. And, O, what a com-
ical time they had over the dishes ! Each one was
eloquent of battle, and victory or defeat. Sally, who
disliked housewifely arts, declared she didn't want
another banquet for recreation. She'd take her fun
in writing the history of the world, or something that
was easy. When Delia's cake was passed Fred had
the audacity to call it his, and then, by way of ex-
planation, had to tell his story, which was considered
the best yet. But Delia had revenge by describing
Fred's appearance in a pinafore, with flour on his
nose, and how he wanted to use pain-killer instead of
vanilla for flavoring, and she heroically interfered
just in time to save it. Altogether it was a merry
time. And then the dishes were removed, and the
toast-master arose and in a few words welcomed The
Round Table and their guests to their first "feast
of reason and flow of soul," and announced as first
toast :
" ' The Round Table.' Margaret Foster."
Margaret arose, with an obeisance to the president,
drew out a little paper, and began : " ' As a circle is
the most perfect thing in drawing, so " The Round
Table " must be the most perfect table in the world.
It doesn't sound very humble, but it must be true.
I'm not to blame for the conclusion. It has six legs,
and, strange as it may seem, though the legs are not
of the same height, the "table " is perfectly level. I
think the legs may be appropriately compared to the
80 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
Caryatides, the female figures in architecture that
uphold roofs. This is the picture which comes to
my mind's eye a circle of six demure maidens bear-
ing on their heads " The Round Table." If I wasn't
afraid of spoiling the figure, I should say it was borne
on their hearts, too. But I suppose a table is valua-
ble only for what it has on it. You don't care about
its being polished and brilliant, if it's bare. Well,
this isn't. It is always set with plates for six, and
room for company. It is plentifully supplied with
substantial, well- seasoned, for our spices, salt and
pepper, come directly from the Smith manufactory,
our extracts from the Nichols distillery, and our
sweetmeats from the Stevens confectionery. It
abounds in the food that makes strong muscles and
sinews, and that will help on growth. It is on
casters, and can easily be moved any distance. Has
been even to London and back. It is strong and
well-made, without angles or corners for people to
run against. In short, it has a good strong constitu-
tion, and can carry a heavy weight without creaking
or groaning.' ''
Long-continued applause, with cries of " Good !
good ! " followed this effort. But the greatest glory
was when Harry, the quietest boy of the three, arose,
and asked if he might not have the toast, to which
they had just listened with so much pleasure, for
publication in the " Academy Eureka," of which he
was editor. This was considered a great honor by
THEIR BANQUET. 81
the girls, who treasured it up to be talked over when
they were alone.
" ' Our Aim,' to which Miss Prue Stevens will
respond," announced the toast-master.
'"As runners do strive in a race,
With gaze firmly fixed on the prize,
So we lay aside every weight
Till the goal shall gladden our eyes;
Determined neither to stumble nor fall,
But to help some one else on her way, that is all.' "
repeated Prue, in her sweet voice, quite frightened
over her little poem.
"Longfellow couldn't beat that, I'll wager," de-
clared Fred, earnestly.
" ' Mr. Euclid ! ' Sarah Smith."
" Miss Toast-master and friends : I am here to
defend Mr. Euclid, who lias basely been called an
instrument of torture belonging to the Dark Ages by
one of your society. I am here to prove it false, ut-
terly and entirely false, ma'am. [Applause from
Fred.] I am here to defend him, firstly, because he is
a colored man, with no rights that others are bound to
respect, as he lived before President Lincoln and the
Emancipation Proclamation ; and secondly, because
he can't be here to speak for himself. I say it is base
to attack a man when he has good reason for being
absent. Where else can you find the man who has
written twelve books on the same subject without
repeating himself ? And what a noble subject !
Geometry ! How musical ! It's enough to draw
82 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
tears from our eyes. [" That's so," from Delia, at
which Sally frowned severely.] I defy you to find
elsewhere such lines. What figures he uses, and so
many points ! Match him if you can. I don't say
that all his lines are poetical, but they are all beauti-
ful. And such sweeps as he takes. He compasses
every thing. As for his conclusions, there is no get-
ting away from them ; they prove themselves, and
it's no use to disagree. They are facts, sir, facts."
" I call that cream toast," said Fred, bowing across
the table at Sally as she sank down in her chair, quite
overcome.
At this crisis Tom arose, and, with an oratorical
wave of the hand toward the toast-master, began :
" ' The Ladies.' Any banquet wouldn't be worthy
of the name without this toast, and so, uninvited, I
rise to say a few words ahem ! I do not speak of
ladies in general. That would take in too much ter-
ritory, my friends, and I should find myself talking
about Eve, who was Abel to do but little, except raise
Cain, and who I don't care much about for that rea-
son ; but, ladies in particular ! Ladies of this glorious
nineteenth century, who can make bushels of good
things for us to eat, and make a very tolerable show-
ing in geometry, and can go to London on a slim
purse, and be doctors or temperance lecturers when-
ever occasion requires, and many other things too nu-
merous to mention ! As for me and the rest of us
horrid boys, we will stand by the ladies."
THEIR BANQUET. 83
" Hear ! hear ! " shouted Harry.
" Three cheers for the ladies ! " cried Tom, and they
were given with such a will that the deaf old house-
keeper, who had a chronic fear of fire, became
alarmed at the shouts, and rushed to the door with
cap-strings flying. Then what a merry time they
had, with music and games, until the old clock on the
stairs warned them home.
; ' Well, what shall it be now ? " asked their presi-
dent, when at the close of their next meeting they
had been discussing the success of their banquet.
" We have only two Friday nights before Christmas,
you know."
" Christmas Day is always such a dull day," sighed
Delia. " After you've looked at your presents,
there's the whole long day with nothing to do."
" It's ' the maddest, merriest day ' at our house,''
said Addie. " only so short."
" It's because you're not all alone in a big house.
Papa calls it a holiday, but I never see him from
morning till night," said Delia, looking so sad that
Addie declared to Prue, going home, that she should
never envy Delia her gold watch and diamond ring
again, never. Brothers and sisters and "good times"
were so much more comforting.
" I have thought of something quite appropriate
to Christmas time," said Margaret, rocking back in
her chair, and rolling her eyes meditatively. " Yon
see, we shall be too busy to prepare for our meetings,
84: ANXALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
but we could read one of Dickens's Christmas stories.
' A Christmas Carol ' would be delightful. Divide
it in two parts, and take half each evening. But
that isn't the best tiling about it. Supposing we
each buy a doll, bring them to our meetings, and
dress them while we are listening to the story."
" What fun ! " shouted Delia.
"Didn't suppose that second childhood came so
soon," and Sally shook her head very soberly over it.
" O, I didn't mean to take it up just for the play,
for when they are dressed I propose that we send
them to the mission-school Christmas-tree our little
offering. I'm so glad, girls, that the Author of
Christmas Day was a child himself, aren't you ? "
" Xo doubt, it's a Christian duty to be happy on
that day," said Sally.
" And to help make somebody else so," added Prue,
gently.
" Can we do better than follow this plan ? " asked
the president, to which they responded by voting
loudly for its adoption.
Indeed, it was a happy thought.
Friday night " The Round Table " became the recep
tacle for bits of ribbon and lace, bright-colored meri-
nos, work-bags, thimbles, and dolls, in delightful con-
fusion. But the funniest disclosure was when Sally
produced from her cavernous pocket a doll of the Af-
rican race, and proceeded to dress it in boy's clothes,
with yellow waistcoat and bright scarlet neck-tie.
THEIR BANQUET. 85
"Silks and other frivolous things may do for your
American girls," she remarked, with a disdainful
shrug at them, " but for my Pharaoh, from the land
of the pyramids, I must have something more sub-
stantial," and she waved a piece of black broadcloth,
expressive of her desire. " Prue will be putting wings
on hers, if we don't watch her."
Margaret began the story, and while the fire crackled
cheerfully, and the soft light fell on happy faces and
busy fingers, she read of old Scrooge, " the grasping,
scraping, clutching, covetous old miser," who growled
that " every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christ-
inas' on his lips should be boiled with his own pud-
ding ; " and how he had a visit from his partner's ghost,
who was likewise miserly, and wore the heavy clank-
ing chain he had forged in his cartli-life ; and how
he bore the message that Scrooge should be visited by
three spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future,
who came one by one bringing a dreary panorama of
views from the life of the old miser. Sally, who read
the second night, had to clear her throat repeatedly
over Tiny Tim, the little cripple-boy, with his crutch
and iron frame, who liked to think at Christmas time
of Him who made the lame to walk, and proposed the
toast, in his little weak voice, " God bless us, every
one ! " The chapter they liked best was where old
Scrooge woke up from the vision of his Christmas
Future, where he saw himself dead and buried, with
every body glad of it, and nobody to say that he had
86 ANNALS or THE ROUND TABLE.
ever spoken a kind word in his life, and found it only
a dream, and lie yet had it in his power to redeem his
worse-th an- wasted life and make his little corner of
the world happier, after all. They agreed with
Scrooge's poor nephew, that "Christmas time should
be a kind, forgiving, charitable time ; the only time
in the long calendar of the year when men and
women open their shut-up hearts freely. And, there-
fore, though it has never put a scrap of gold and sil-
ver in my pocket, I believe it has done me good. God
bless it ! "
" I know that I never enjoyed any thing more in
my life, though the set of my polonaise doesn't just
suit me," said Delia, when, at the close of the story,
she arranged the six dolls in a row to be inspected.
" Nor I," joined the chorus.
" I wish," said Sally, " that every old Scrooge could
have a vision. Would like to play ghost to one par-
ticular one, myself. What fun ! " and her usually so-
ber face kindled at the thought. " I wouldn't spare
him a pennyworth. For once he should see himself
' as ithers see him.' It's the old landlord who owns
the blocks. He would turn Betty right out into the
street if sailor Jake didn't pay the very first hour of
the new month. As it is, he keeps them tormented
with threatening it continually," and Sally stopped to
shake her fist at a bent old stick in the fire, as if it
were the miser himself.
"Just think how wretched he must be," murmured
THEIR BANQUET. 87
Prue, " to have no gladness in all the year, and no
Christmas Day. I do just pity him."
" Bless your dear heart ! You would pity the
wickedest man alive. I would give him a lesson.
Just notice how I would freeze his vitals by appear-
ing to him," and Sally trod the floor with a ghostly
step and whisper, which ended in a general laugh all
round.
Of course they went down to the mission-school
tree, for " where the treasure is, there will the heart
be also." The superintendent, who had carried the
burden of this project for many years, and grown
weary of hearing the old story, " If it were some other
time of year we would help, but we're so busy our-
selves, you know," was comforted beyond measure by
the little box which came unasked.
" I don't know what kind of a table it is," she said,
reading the inscription, " but Heaven bless The Round
Table ! "
Delia, who had persuaded her father into adding a
basket of oranges, said afterward, that it was the hap-
piest minute of her existence when her father stopped
in his crowded life long enough to kiss her and say,
" That's like your mother. She was always think-
ing of others."
" It was better than a whole lecture against selfish-
ness," said Delia, looking tearful, but very happy.
Headed by Prue, they made a Christmas call on
Betty, eacli armed with something to make the old
88 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
room pleasanter. Prue and Addie had a package of
nuts and confectionery ; Amelia, a cretonne work-bag
for Betty's crochet ; Margaret, a bright picture-book ;
Delia, an easy-chair, which she had found in the attic,
and, with Sally's help, had supplied with a missing
leg, and cushioned. Sally's gift surprised them all,
who knew what a treasure it was to her. Only that
old picture of "The Good Shepherd." You may have
seen it. The benignant form and face of our Saviour
holding: in his bosom a wee lamb, while the flock
c}
gather about him.
" Most pictures don't mean any thing to me," de-
clared Sally, " but this one has preached me many a
sermon, and it's so comfortable to give what you have
come to like yourself. It isn't much, but I hadn't
any thing else."
To the poor, little, ignorant lame girl, unable to
read a word or hear a church service, it was a sermon,
indeed. She confided to Prue, one day, that ever
since Sally had read her the story about it she liked
to put out her hand to touch Him when the pain was
bad. Then he seemed so near.
Sailor Jake's attempts to be hospitable, with two
stools for six girls, was something funny ; but O !
how delighted he was, and when going home Delia
announced, with startling emphasis, " Girls, this is
the best Christmas of my life," not one wanted to
differ.
RECEIVING NEW-YEAK'S CALLS. 89
I
CHAPTER VII.
RECEIVING NEW-YEAR'S CALLS.
T was at their after-meeting talk following Christ-
inas that Amelia asked, "Shall you receive New-
Year's calls this year ? "
" Certainly," answered Delia. " It's a debt we
owe society," quoting from her " Decorum."
" Never did such a thing, and never want to," an-
swered Sally, bluntly ; " I * owe no man any thing.' ' :
" ' Except to love one another,' " came in a whisper
from Prue's corner.
" Supposing we all receive together," suggested
Margaret.
" Yes ; that would certainly be a very pleasant and
proper thing to do," said Delia, turning in her book
to the appropriate chapter.
" If Sally will join us, I say, ' Yes.' "We can't get
along without her. Nobody to keep us cheerful, you
see," chirped Addle.
" You know better : " and Sallv began to ruffle her
t* O
hair. " I should yawn dismally all day. Full dress
and ceremonies for a whole day would use me up
' intirely, ma'am.' ''
" How I wish you would wear your hair in a Greek
coil and help us. It's so becoming," coaxed Delia.
9Q ANNALS OF THE EOUND TABLE.
At wliicli Sally shrugged her shoulders. "It al-
ways makes me cross, and I should be breaking every
rule in Delia's ' Decorum,' and make no end of
trouble. When I think how so many young men
spend New Year's, I just wish there wasn't any.''
" For that very reason," said Margaret, seizing the
opportunity, " we should keep ' open house ' on New
Year's and set a right kind of example, you see."
"What is a right kind of example?" demanded
Sally, a little sharply.
" Why, not to have wine and all that sort of
thing ! "
" Is that all ? "
"Supposing you tell us, Sally, how we are to carry
out our principles on this particular occasion," said
Margaret, looking up inquiringly.
" Prue, you'll have to help me out," began Sally,
bumping her elbows on the table, distractedly ; " but
it's something about, ' when thou makest a feast, call
the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.' What is
the rest of it ? "
" ' And thou shalt be blessed,' " added Prue.
" How funny," laughed Ad die. " What a limping,
stumbling, crutchety set we should have ! A regular
infirmary."
" She means going out into ,the highways and
hedges for our callers," explained Amelia.
"That's it, exactly. Invite all the bashful boys
and little boys and poor boys and boys that are never
RECEIVING XEW-YEAR'S CALLS. 91
invited anywhere, and never made a New- Year's call
in their lives. That's the kind I should feel at home
with. They wouldn't come because they owed it to
society, or to make remarks on the spread, or to crit-
icise our dresses, or be bored."
Delia looked doubtful and shook her head, while
they all grew thoughtful over such a departure.
"They wouldn't come," was Amelia's objection.
" I'll risk it,'' answered Sally, emphasizing in a way
that shook the table.
" It will be such a mixture," was the next objection.
"Xone the worse for that. Lots of good things
are mixed. Pickles, for instance. Of course, our
three honorary members will come, but not many
professional callers, believe me, if we are not at
Delia's."
" Meet with us," said Prue. " We are always quiet
on Xew Year's."
And so, after much consideration and hesitation
over what they called Sally's " highways-and-hedges
proposal,' 1 they agreed to try it for one year.
"'Let us each invite five. That will allow for
shrinkage."
" But don't let us allow for any shrinkage in pro-
vision," warned Addie. " They wont be the delicate
kind, you see."
' There's the grocery clerk," began Prue, counting
on her lingers, " and the little boy from the country
who brings us eggs."
92 ANNALS or THE ROUND TABLE.
" And my Sunday-school class," added Margaret.
"And the two young machinists who board next
door," from Amelia.
"And papa's office-boy," continued Delia, "and
that bundle-boy who is so good to his mother, you
remember. The one who always opens the door for
us. And we must try to have a variety of pretty
dishes. You know, the dishes of a table, so my
book says, give it more character than any thing else."
" O my ! " laughed Addie, " / thought it was the
thing contained."
" Not to mention the people who will surround it
on this occasion," added Amelia, with emphasis.
" As to vestures," remarked Sally ; " of course, I
shall wear my unfailing black, with a generous bow
of some sort. It's my only way of celebrating. I
wont pass that law on you, but don't let's sit
around in a terrible row in white slippers and kids
and full dress. 'Twould frighten these poor liitle
chaps worse than a Hamlet's ghost."
"I must wear my new dress, but I'll promise not
to be frightful," said Delia, joining in the laugh
which was raised at Sally's graphic picture.
The very next morning Sally happened out on the
landing just in time to waylay her troubadour, who
was toiling up the stairs with a scuttle of coal in each
hand, for this German lad M*as helping out scanty
finances by taking care of the stoves in the offices of
that floor. Already he and Sally had exchanged con-
RECEIVING NEW-YEAK'S CALLS. 93
fidences on their neighbors, particularly old " Scrooge,"
who, the boy declared, " vas ver-y cross if he vas a
leetle beet late." Indeed, they had come to be quite
friends, for Sally found him bright, remarkably intel-
ligent, and eager to learn. She had loaned him her
"Robinson Crusoe" and "History of Rome," helped
him over profit and loss in his arithmetic, and com-
pared feats in skating.
" Hermann," she began, taking a seat beside him
on the steps where he stopped to rest, " ' The Round
Table ' are going to receive calls New Year's at the
Stevens's. Can you come ? "
" Not for me to call ? " and the honest eyes
opened wide with surprise.
" Yes, you. We can't get on without you. Please
come and sing us a German song. Prue will play
the accompaniment, like a little harper that she is."
" Are dey all goot fairies like you ? If so, I come,"
looking down a little ruefully at his threadbare
clothes.
" Xo, we're not fairies. Too much ' of the earth
earthy ' for that, but something better human girls,
so don't disappoint us," earnestly hoping, as she ran
down the stairs to join Margaret at the foot, that
Delia would be enough of a "goot fairy" to leave her
"Decorum" out of the programme just for one day.
Loud were the shouts on New Year's when Sally
arrived, last, as usual, with a go-bang board under
one arm and her famous cat under the other.
94: ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
"Any thing," she announced, unmovedly, " is better
than lining the wall with society smiles."
Two long hours elapsed before any one came, dur-
ing which Prue vibrated anxiously between the coffee-
O '
pot and table, for they had set their table in a hospita-
ble corner of the back parlor, during which Delia
would demand, with concern, whether her hair was
coming down, and declared, tragically, that she just
knew there wouldn't any body come ; she had had
her doubts about it from the very first ; while Tom
enlivened the scene by thrusting his head in at the
door and inquiring how many calls they had scored.
When, finally, the door-bell did give a faint little
tinkle, their first impulse was to rush with one ac-
cord into the hall and embrace the poor youth who
had saved their brilliant plan from being a huge joke.
Thrice welcome, then, was the bundle-boy, before
mentioned, whom Delia entertained with a fervor
wholly unexpected, allowing him to beat her in their
game and feeding him bountifully on her fruit cake
and maccaroons. Truly over half of the number in-
vited came, which they declared was more than they
had secretly dared to expect. One of Margaret's
boys owned later that he blacked his boots extra, on
purpose, and got as far as the corner, when his cour-
age failed. One bashful lad made them well-nigh
a O
lose their gravity, who ran into the hall-door casing,
trod on Amelia's toes as she led the way to the table,
brought up against it in a way that made every dish
RECEIVING XEW- YEAR'S CALLS. 95
jump, and upset his coffee-cup. To add to the trying
circumstances, he was accompanied by a boy who
stuttered, who, after painful efforts at a New- Year's
greeting, lapsed into a pathetic silence. Indeed, they
seemed to wish they had not come, until after re-
freshments, when Sally brought out her cat and they
had opportunity to give vent to their feelings by a
hearty laugh all round. Another boy, who mistook
the lemon-jell for an iced drink and attempted to use
it as a beverage, amused them much. On leaving, he
presented to Prue his card, adorned with a brilliant
impossible rose, and a sheet of paper containing
specimens of his hand-writing, over which the other
girls wailed tragically and declared themselves
" slighted." In spite of these few drawbacks, it was
a jolly day. It had a bountiful supply of spice in the
shape of variety, and there was a genuineness and
heartiness about these natural boys that fully atoned
for lack of society polish. Last of all Sally's German
boy came to wish them " a goot year." Delia could
not refrain from lifting her eyebrows, nor Addie from
smiling, when he appeared in the parlor wearing
winter-gloves adorned with conspicuous fur-tops,
which he kept on through the ordeal of eating and
singing ; for, of course, he sang to them a song of " die
faderlandt." This captured them entirely, greatly to
Sally's delight, who had longed, lo, these many days,
to introduce her "diamond in the rough" to the girls,
and had found this such a good opportunity.
96 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" More, more ! " she shouted, wildly, waving an
available tidy, when he stopped for breath.
" It vill gif me pleasure," he responded, turning to
beam on Sally and bowing in a way that won Delia
completely.
And so he sang another, and then they all joined
in " My country, 'tis of thee," in the midst of which
the door-bell rang violently, and Amelia ushered in
their three honorary members. What a happy co-
incidence it was, to be sure.
" Our Table hasn't any bass in it, but Sally," said
Margaret, flying about to shake hands with each one,
and introduce them to the new boy, " and you're just
in time to help her out on the last verse."
At this Sally arose for a challenge.
" How do you spell it ? " she demanded, in a tone
that brought the house down.
After the song they settled down to the fragments
of the feast, which Addie informed them were not
twelve baskets full. Fred declared, gallantly, that it
was the best thing he had seen all day any way, and
" fell to " in a way that proved it.
"Will you have some white wine?" asked Tom,
holding the water-pitcher above Fred's goblet.
" Yes, sir ; " and he grew sober as the girls, under a
common impulse, turned their eyes on him.
" It's the only brand I use nowadays. Had a
chance to refuse the sparkling kind twice to-day while
I was calling."
RECEIVING NEW-YEAR'S CALLS. 97
" O, do let's help each other to be thankful," said
Delia, fervidly.
" Harry, I hope yoiT delivered a temperance lect-
ure on the spot," said Amelia, burning to execute
judgment.
" ]S T o ma'am, but we shook off the very dust of our
feet against them."
" That's hardly true," amended Fred, " owing to the
season of the year, but we did make a New-Year's
resolution on it."
" And you expect us to have faith in New- Year's
resolutions, do you ? " laughed Addie, shaking her
head.
" Of course, they do," said Prue, with unusual
spirit, touching Addie's foot under the table.
" They're the best kind/'
" Tom is always laughing at mine, even about
my reading the Bible through, and I guess I can
laugh back," retaliated Addie, not to be quenched.
" Beg your pardon," answered Tom ; " I don't laugh
at you for resolving, but for taking a vacation on it.
Sometimes, you know, you get as far as past the
angel with the flaming sword, but even then you are
sure to get drowned in the deluge, and all is quiet
until another New Year sends you back to ; In the
beginning.' ' :
As this was quite true, Addie had no reply but to
join in the laugh that was raised against her.
" Nevertheless," declared Margaret, " I do believe
98 A.NNAL8 OF THE ROUND TABLE.
in New- Year's resolves. To read to the deluge is bet-
ter than not to begin at all, and, we know, ever so
many beginnings are made on New Year's that last all
the year. Sally, what are you wrinkling your fore-
head over ? "
" I was just ' a-thinking ' that, likely as not, any
day could begin a new year for us. The resolve is
more than the day, isn't it ? Come, Hermann, it's
your turn to speak on the subject."
" No, no," he said, shaking his head and looking as
if he wanted to slip under the table out of sight.
But as they were listening, he looked up at Sally, as
the answer was for her, and said, earnestly,
" Vhen we haf a new vhite page gifen us, is it not
veil that ve say, ' It shall haf no black stain on it?"
" Yes, yes,'' cried Sally, clapping her hands.
" What a pretty way of putting it ! " commented
Delia.
" Let us do it," said the practical Amelia. " All
in favor say ' Ay.' "
And " Ay " it was, in real earnest, while beneath
the smiling faces, in the depths of secret souls, reso-
lutions were made that New- Year's night that might
have made the angels glad.
A KIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. 99
CHAPTER VIII.
A NIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS.
"F1EIDAY night and with much shoving of chairs
Jj and rattling of papers, they were taking their
places about the round table in the pleasant library at
Delia's.
"How did you come to think of such a thing?"
asked Addie of Amelia, as she straightened out her
manuscript, and laid her Bible down beside it.
" Father suggested it, and I liked the idea."
" It has taken effect in a way to please him, I'm
sure," said Delia, patting her new morocco Bible, and
glancing around at the five who were each armed
with one.
" I wonder," began Prue, " if any of you had such
trouble as I in selecting your favorite. It was really
quite a trial ;" and she sighed a little, which seemed
to amuse Sally, who chuckled under her breath.
u I never thought of its being a trial, though I did
hesitate on a choice. There were the three Hebrew
children, with the unpronounceable names, that I've
always liked being short, too ; but there were three
instead of one, so I couldn't speculate on the furnace
that was heated seven times hotter than ever before.
100 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
Girls, had you ever thought how hot that furnace
must have been ? "
" O, it can't be worked out in mathematics, so put
up your pencil," laughed Delia. " And do see how
Margaret marks her Bible," turning over the leaves,
inquiringly.
" Why ? " asked Margaret, in a quiet manner ; " is
it wicked ? "
"N o, but "
" She means that it should be new and fresh, like
hers," said Sally, reprovingly.
" No, I don't," said Delia, with a frown for Sally ;
" but what is your system ? You know we have
promised to share ideas with each other. If it's
something good, why shouldn't we all know it ? "
" Simply that I mark all the sermon-texts and
every verse that I learn, and here on the fly-leaf are
the references to my special verses ; those that I like
best, you know."
" How nice ! " declared Delia, resolving to adopt
that plan of Bible study at once.
" Do one of your verses speak about being per-
plexed ? " asked Sally, so earnestly that they all
looked up to see what was meant.
" Why, yes, here's one : ' And it came to pass, as
they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two
men stood by them in shining garments.' "
" 0, me ! that was long ago," sighed Sally, anxious-
ly, yet marking the verse in her Bible.
A NIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. 101
" What is it, dear ? " wliispered Prue, beginning to
feel uneasy over Sally's sorrowful face, so unusual.
" Nothing," answered Sally, so sharply that Prue
didn't dare press further, and contented herself with
stealing sly glances from her paper at Sally, who
seemed to feel that she was being watched, and there-
fore determined to be stubbornly non-committal.
" If angels don't come down to us now I believe
we do get help over the worriments just the same,"
said Amelia ; " and now, if you please, we will listen
to ' The life of your favorite Bible character Prue
Stevens.' "
" ' More than two thousand years ago a woman and
her two daughters-in-law might have been seen going
from Moab to Bethlehem. A few years before, there
had been a famine in Bethlehem, and a certain man,
his wife, and two sons, had moved to Moab, a country
of idolaters. The sons had married there, and soon
after, they and their father died. Then the mother,
Naomi, started for her old home, and her daughters-
in-law " went a piece " with her. When they came to
part they lifted up their voices and wept, and Ruth
refused to go with her sister, back to her people and
her gods ; and when Naomi urged the matter, she re-
plied, " Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return
from following after thee : for whither thou goest, I
will go ; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge : thy
people shall be my people, and thy God my God :
where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be bur-
102 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
led : the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught
but death part thee and me." I quote all of Ruth's
reply, because I read that Voltaire, who hated the
Bible, said it was not surpassed by any thing in Ho-
mer or Herodotus.' '
Here every girl marked those matchless verses of
Ruth as among the especial verses.
" ' In Bethlehem lived a kinsman of Naomi's, " a
mighty man of wealth, and his name was Boaz," and
Ruth went to glean in his field. He was very kind
to his reapers, and greeted them by saying, " The
Lord be with you ;" to which they answered, " The
Lord bless thee ! " When Boaz saw Ruth he in-
quired all about her, and then he talked beautifully
to her and waited upon her at meal-time, and told
the reapers to drop handfuls for her to glean. Then
she bowed herself to the ground and said, " Why have
I found grace in thine eyes, seeing I am a stranger ? "
To which Boaz answers, " It hath fully been showed
me, how thou hast left thy father and thy mother,
and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a
people which thou knewest not heretofore. And a
full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel,
under whose wings thou art come to trust." It seems
that before Boaz had any right to marry Ruth he
must offer her to a nearer kinsman, which he prompt-
ly did. But as this kinsman could not redeem the
family possessions, he relinquished all claim in favor
of Boaz, and plucked off his shoe, which was the way
A NIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. 103
they had in Israel of sealing a bargain, and it has
come to be a part of every wedding ceremony since.
And all the people that were in the gate and the
elders were the witnesses, and gave their congratula-
tions, and so Ruth became great-grandmother to King
David, and an ancestress of our Saviour.' ' :
" What a satisfactory ending ! " sighed Delia.
"Do you mean to say that every bride who has a
shoe thrown after her owes it all to Ruth ? " asked
Margaret.
" Yes, ma'am," answered Prue, promptly. " I
think the Bible proves it."
"Xo use of argument," said Sally, " when we come
to the Bible, Prue wont be routed."
Delia, who came next, told them about David,
from the time he was a shepherd-boy on the hills of
Judea, through his narrow escapes from Saul's hatred,
and exile, and reign, dwelling much on the magnifi-
cence of his kingdom.
Addie, in answer to the call for her favorite Bible
character, announced "Daniel," drawing a graphic
picture of that night in the den, making prominent
the growling and gnashing and foaming lips alto-
gether a terrifying prospect and contrasted Daniel
with the angel guarding the lions' mouths.
Margaret read to them the thrilling story of Jo-
seph of his dreams, of being put in the pit and sold
as a slave into Egypt, and then becoming prime min-
ister of that mighty nation, and feeding his father's
104: ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
family. She spoke particularly of the crisis when he
announced himself iii these simple words, "I am
Joseph. Doth my father yet live I "
Sally, when called out, said that Paul was unde-
niably the greatest man in the Bible, because he was
so brave and daring, and had an angel visitant in
prison, and on a shipwrecked vessel, and, as a crown-
ing glory, was a martyr in imperial Rome. But she
didn't feel competent to be his biographer, and so
had taken Peter, because he set the example of short
prayers, and left a boat-load of fishes to be a disciple
just when business was at its height.
"Just think," said the president, when the pro-
gramme was over, "how many have been omitted.
Moses, and Abraham, who obeyed the command to
seek a better country, ' not knowing whither he
went,' and Esther, the beautiful queen, who saved her
people
" And Pilate," added Sally, emphatically, as they
all stared. " He wasn't half as much to blame as
he has credit for. I really felt strongly moved to
defend him. Read it and see for yourself."
The perplexity which she had succeeded so well in
shutting up to herself would have been perfectly vis-
ible to any one who could have taken a peep into the
little upper-story homo a few hours later. Every
thing indicated that something unusual was brewing.
Mother rocked nervously in her sewing-chair, while
the lines on forehead and cheeks grew deep and
A XIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. 105
ious. Sally, with chin on her hands, sat resolutely
on her stool trying to stare a solution out of the old-
fashioned carpet.
" Given, twenty-five dollars a month," she repeated,
slowly, " minus the fifteen in a broken bank. If I
could only square it, or cube it, or think of a hypothe-
nuse to make the ends meet," still staring.
" My dear, I have made vests once, and I can do it
again," interposed the mother, gently.
" The idea ! " shouted Sally, sitting up very straight.
" Do you suppose I'll allow it for a minute, with that
ugly pain in your side ? No, ma'am." And here she
stood up at full length, and looked down on the little
mother in a most protecting and overshadowing way ;
over which the mother choked a little, murmuring
such foolish words as " a treasure," " a blessed prov-
idence," and like expressions, which made Sally grow
more erect and determined every minute.
"After this term closes I'll join the victorious
army of school-ma'ams, and hunt around for some
school-house in the corner of the fence. How per-
fectly glorious, independence will be ! "
"But your plans for graduation and business?"
murmured the mother, anxiously.
"Bless you! Don't pity me. Extend it to the
infants who will find themselves to have fallen on
evil days. Poor things! I never was born for a
teacher. Would have made a better soldier when it
comes to fighting," looking up at the portrait with
106 AXXAL8 OF THE ROUND TABLE.
earnest aud undisguised admiration. "How things
do get twisted in this world ! Seems as if they ought
to be straightened," frowning, and tapping her foot
impatiently. " There's sailor Jake as soon as he
signed the pledge he lost his place, and has to depend
on odd jobs and Harry Stevens's subscription-list and
here we are, with our little all in a broken bank, and
must subsist, henceforth and forever, on a bit of a
pension. Why didn't it happen to old Scrooge ? I
say it isn't right ! " and down went the chin into her
hands while rebellion rankled in her soul.
The mother was too wise to offer a rebuke or
preach a sermon on necessary chastening, as the man-
ner of some would have been. Instead, she sat
quietly, leaving Sally alone with the hard problem,
until, as dusky shadows crept into the room, she be-
gan humming gently, and then singing, in a quavery
voice, that hymn which had comforted her many
times :
" ' I know not wh.it shall befall me,
God lianas a mist o'er my eyes ;
And at each step in my onward way
He makes new scenes to arise.
Not knowing not knowing,
I'll follow where'er he leads.'"
Slowly the hard lines melted away, and soon Sally
jumped up from her drooping position, seized the
lamp, and gave the match a vigorous scratch, saying,
in the old brave way, that was like a balm to the
sore-hearted mother :
A XIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. 107
" There ! no more of that. I've had the indigo
blues for forty-eight hours, just ! Now, I'm going to
shoulder my knapsack, and attend to marching
orders."
Just here there was a tap at the door, and in came
Prue, with her skates over her arm, saying :
" Come, Sally, they're all going down to the pond.
Ice is splendid, Tom says."
" Just as much obliged," faltered Sally, straighten-
ing her flying bow, which had suffered during her
hour of meditation, " but I can't go to-night. Tell
them so. It's out of the question."
" She must, go," said Tom, defiantty, as a cry of
dismay greeted Prue's announcement.
" Hush, Tommy. She's in some trouble, I'm sure,
and I'm going back to stay with her."
" She's the only girl among you that can race.
Pshaw ! "
" Let us give it up for to-night, and all come up to
our house," proposed Delia. " And you, Prue, come
and tell us what's the matter, after you've pre-
scribed."
" That is ferry veil," said Hermann, who had been
invited to this skating for Sally's sake, and now
looked very sorrowful.
" You vill comfort her," touching his cap to Prue,
" 'cause she call you her goot angel."
Try as best they might, during the hour at Delia's,
the time lagged heavily. They so much missed the
108 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
tall lass, with tumbled hair and twisted collar, who
was so staid herself, and convulsed every body else.
When Prue came in, Delia unpinned her shawl, Mar-
garet untied her hood, and all begged her to
begin.
" It's simply this : they've lost their money in a
Western bank, and have nothing but a little pension.
Sally says she had set her heart on graduating, and
then entering a business college. She says, ever since
Margaret gave as her quotation one night, ' Neglect
not the gift that is in thee,' she has determined to
cherish her one little talent of mathematics, and turn
it to business account. She drew such a comical pict-
ure of herself," and here Prue's anxious face relaxed
into a smile, " up to her chin in ledgers, with goose-
quills over both ears and in her hair, reveling in prin-
cipal and interest, and columns upon columns of
addition. But she said this glorious prospect was not
for her. Instead, she must toe the crack of some den
built for the promulgation of cruelty to children, gird
on a ferule, and pound in the alphabet."
At this graphic speech Prue's risibles were too
much for her, while they all joined in the laugh.
" What a comforter you must have been ! " re-
marked Harry.
" I know 'twas dreadful of me, but I couldn't help
it," said Prue, penitently. " She looked so tierce over
it, and made such wild gestures, it was just too much
for her mother and me."
A NIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. 109
" But ' The Eound Table !' " began Amelia. " What
shall we do without her ? "
" Can't it stand on five legs ? " asked Fred.
" No ! " shouted the chorus.
"It will totter to its fall," moaned Delia, quoting
from her Roman history.
" Can't we help her ? " asked Margaret, at which
Prue grew troubled again and shook her head.
" She's so dreadfully independent, you know. She
commanded me not to pity her, and declared that hard
things were good for people. When I came away
she braced herself against the wall and told me to
' bring on the bears ' in that droll way of hers, but I
knew it was only to hide her disappointment."
" She's a plucky one," said Tom, admiringly.
And then they all lapsed into silence, which Delia
interrupted by reminding :
" You know our constitution pledges us to help
one another."
" Who knows any thing about the evening school
for book-keepers ? " asked Amelia, in her straightfor-
ward way.
" I do, and it's a good one," said Harry.
" And I have a ticket I can't use," added Fred.
" But she wont take it," said the chorus.
And here Tom rose to his feet with his best
bow.
" If the honorable body now in session will leave
this matter to this unworthy servant, the bearer, he
110 ANNALS OF THE EOUND TABLE.
will execute the will of said body to the best of his
ability."
Applause followed, and full power in the matter
was bestowed upon this eloquent messenger.
" If only the Educational Board would put the fifty
dollars as a prize for mathematics and book-keeping,
instead of the sciences, next June, Sally would surely
get it, and that would give her six months in her
college, with a good chance of getting a position
here," proposed Margaret, not without a little pang,
for in the sciences she herself stood a chance.
" Nothing's been said about it ; why can't it be
done ? " asked Addie, running a trill on the treble of
the piano. " Prizes are like the stars of the firma-
ment to me very pretty, but too far off to be in-
teresting."
"I'll besiege papa on that very point to-night,"
declared Delia, rising to go, " and you know he's
chairman of that committee."
" And I'll hint darkly to the professor that unless
he bears that way he'll lose his best geometrist," said
Fred, slinging his skates over his shoulder. " That'll
make him rub his glasses and attend to business."
Just how it came about nobody knows, but at the
very next meeting of the Board it was announced that
the student who should lead in mathematics, showing
f O
likewise the best books, should receive the fifty-dollar
prize. Over this " The Round Table " had a brief
but exultant jubilee, and each girl in turn embraced
A NIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. Ill
Delia in the cloak-room that morning, and demanded
to know how it ever happened.
" Why, you see," said Delia, " I just presented the
case yesterday after dinner, arid begged papa to leave
off thinking of politics and clients for one little morn-
ing, and hear our plans. He listened real good for
him, and said he would do his best for us. 'T\vas
such a fortunate thing that he especially likes Sally.
You see, one day when she lunched with us, papa
spoke of tariff, and, do you believe, she knew all about
it, and argued her side beautifully. Wasn't papa as-
tonished ? 'Twas downright, fun, and I was so proud
of her ! I suppose he thought all girls were like me
' ribbons and nonsense.' r
" Did you put it strong ? " asked Addie, with
interest.
" I told him we just couldn't exist without her.
But he laughed, and said he guessed we could. Of
course, you can't expect a man to appreciate our feel-
ings in such matters."
In truth Mr. Nichols was much more interested in
" The Round Table " than he had ever taken trouble
to say. His idea of it all was very dim, but he did
observe that his Delia passed no more listless, fretful
hours ; that she was growing unselfish, was wonder-
fully thoughtful of others, and was cultivating a taste
for the books that he read, instead of the trash which
had predominated. On the occasion of the tariff
question, before mentioned, he was much amazed at
112 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
Delia's friend, and delighted her heart, before the
meal was over, by telling her that he knew her father
well, and he was one of the bravest of all the noble
men who laid down their lives for their country.
A day or two later Sally received a note in Tom's
flourishing hand, containing the ticket :
" DEAR SALLY : The pater familias of this house-
hold thinks I had better take in the business school
twice a week. Think of it ! I shall need you to
brace me up. May I have the pleasure, etc. ?
" Your most humble servant and friend,
" WlLKINS MlCA\VBEB."
" What nonsense ! " she muttered, tearing the busi-
ness sheet in strips, and feeling an inclination to do
the same with the ticket ; but she didn't, O no ; she
answered it characteristically :
" Yes, sir.
" Yours, SALLY."
But if the Round Tablers believed that Sally
thought all these things just conveniently came about
of themselves they were much mistaken. She was not
all the blind victim they imagined.
At their next meeting she responded to her name
with " ' And it came to pass, as they were much per-
plexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in
shining garments.' O girls ! " she began, staring
A NIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. 113
around distractedly, and then choked up and could
say no more. They didn't try to follow out their
programme that night, but just had a beautiful little
confidential visit, comforting and being comforted,
breaking up with Burns's song, " Come under my
plaidie."
It was about these days that Prue began to grow
anxious over Betty.
'' I can't see but that she looks as well as ever. She
was never very robust, you know," said Sally, when
they were talking about it, coming home from school.
"O Sally, she doesn't," answered Prue, quite dis-
tressed. " Her eyes have grown so large, and she
doesn't complain any more, and is too weak to crochet,
and just lies there and looks at your picture hour after
hour."
"Hermann said she clapped her hands when he
sang to her," said Addie. '"The trouble's with you,
Prue. You fret about the poor child until you'll get
sick yourself."
"' Any how," persisted Prue, " I can't feel easy
until I ask mother if our doctor can go up to see her ;
and, Margaret, 1 wish you would ask your father to
run up some morning soon," accenting the "soon"
in a way that told her fears.
I doubt if any of them knew how that little lame
girl was bringing them into unconscious fellowship.
Almost daily something was laid aside for Betty, and
the boys, too, .were enlisted.
114: ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
That very night, which happened to be persistently
stormy, Prue stood looking out wistfully and tapping
her finger against the glass by way of protest.
" What's the matter ? " asked Harry, glancing up
from his "Iliad."
" 1 promised to make Betty a beef-tea to-night.
She couldn't eat a single thing to-day, and mother
says I mus'n't go out in this gale."
" Is that all ? Bring it out."
" But I thought you were cramming for examina-
tion and didn't have a moment to spare."
" I haven't, for any body but Betty. Put the cover
on tight or I wont stand for the consequences. Sec-
ond door on the right, isn't it ? Tom persists in
announcing himself to thtt cross dress-maker, and is
it ' to be well-shaken before being taken ' ? "
" Of course not. Just set to simmer on the stove.
What a dear you are ! I'll have your slippers nice
and warm for yon, I will," trotting away for those
articles of comfort, which she warmed at each end,
inside and out, giving them approving pats between
times, and drawing the best chair invitingly near.
O D /
Thoughtless Fred brought out his shovel and helped
sailor Jake with the snow-banks, so that he could go
home earlier, while Tom called himself the Mercury
of the group, though it must be owned he was often
somewhere else when wanted.
But before the busy doctor could get time to climb
up to the third story, one morning sailor Jake
A XIGHT WITH BIBLE CHARACTERS. 115
appeared at the Stevens home in mute despair. His
weather-beaten face was wet with tears, and he stood
twisting his ragged cap, unable to answer Prue's
question at first, as she asked after Betty.
" Anchored, ma'am," lie faltered, " an' she left her
love for you all, an' the lads ; an' how her poor old
daddy's to weather the storm he can't reckon."
Then every thing was laid aside to comfort him
and provide a Christian service for their Betty, " as
nice as any body had," Delia declared.
Six srirls worked on the simple white dress and
C *
brought their gifts of flowers. Not a strange min-
ister, but the one from their parsonage home, came
to tell them of that " better country " where " the
inhabitant shall never say, I am sick," and conducted
the services, for which six girls sang the sweet songs
Betty had loved best. The four boys (for Hermann
was one of them now) carried the small burden
tenderly down the steep stairs, where the carriages,
which Delia's father had asked the privilege of pro-
viding, were waiting. There was nothing bare or
desolate about it, for warm hearts and loving sympa-
thies have the power to lighten earth's shadows just
as a kindly Providence designed they should. And
thus the bond that united these young people was
wonderfully strengthened, while they were learning
how blessed it is to sorrow with those that sorrow.
116 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
CHAPTER IX.
HELPING.
"ITfE are really getting demoralized," said Amelia,
V V briskly. " Now let us settle down to work ;
and what shall we take up next ? "
" We have more time now," mused Prue, sadly,
for she sorely missed her one patient, whom she had
come to love very tenderly.
" Isn't it time we read a little Shakespeare ?" asked
Margaret.
"Yes, indeed," echoed Delia. "We shall be ut-
terly unworthy of the name literary -without, at
least, one play."
" The story-part of it comes down to my capacity,
but the rest of it " ending in a long-drawn whistle
from Sally.
" The very mention of it makes me tired," said
Addie, with a feeble attempt at a sigh.
" Last winter," said Prue, as they waited for her
verdict, " I resolved to begin at the beginning and
go through, as I knew I ought ; but the firsf one was
' The Tempest,' and, I know it's dreadful to own it
but it was harder than any Latin verb I ever had. I
read to the third act and gave it up."
" How comforting to us poor mortals, that Prue
HELPING. 117
had to sit down beaten," said Sally, gleefully, as they
all laughed at her dismay.
" How comforting" added Amelia, " that what
one girl cannot do alone six girls can do together.
Shall we not join hands and give a pull all together? "
" I second that," said Prue. decidedly, who certainly
did have, what Sally called, " a real wicked pride"
about not giving up defeated.
" O, yes," declared Sally, " you talk as prompt
now as you'll be prescribing bitters for us by and by.
As for me small doses, ma'am, whether it's quinine
or Shakespeare."
" I don't aspire but to one play," said Delia, half-
regretting that she had favored Shakespeare.
" And, for sweet Portia's sake, let that one be ' The
Merchant of Venice,' " proposed Margaret.
This was properly carried and recorded, and Sally
was appointed to write out the story "in plain Eng-
lish " as a prelude to the reading. Then the charac-
ters of the first two acts were distributed among them,
all being forewarned that they must expect to be un-
mercifully questioned on any passage not understood.
They decided, also, to take their quotations from the
play, for, as Sally said ;
" One of the best things about Mr. Shakespeare is,
that every page or tu r o you strike something just as
familiar as A, B, C. You feel as if you had dreamed
it, or known it in some previous state of existence."
They began the week by investing in little paper
118 AXXALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
editions of " The Merchant of Venice," which could
be tucked into a dinner-basket, folded into a school-
book, or carried in one's apron-pocket, to be brought
out at all sorts of odd times; which could be marked
and noted, underlined and interlined ; in short, hav-
ing the air of an every-day familiar friend, instead of
the dignity of a gilt edition, set up properly on the
marble table, which is so apt to inspire beginners with
that "don't-handle-me" feeling. It sent them to
classical dictionaries in search of " two-headed Janus "
and " Jason's golden fleece," while Sally danced off
her rubbers to the tune of " I am Sir Oracle."
They met with Delia that night in her brightly
lighted, softly carpeted parlor, and settled luxuriously
into the easy-chairs to listen to Sally's story. She
took an ottoman in the center of the group under the
chandelier, and, with collar askew and hair unusually
rampant, began her manuscript.
" ' Many years ago there lived a merchant of Venice
whose name was Antonio. A grave, solemn business
man was Antonio, with many friends, chief among
whom was Bassanio. This Bassanio, the real hero of
the story, comes to Antonio to tell him of his love for
a lady in Belrnont. " Her name is Portia," " and her
sunny locks hang on her temples like a golden fleece."
so he says. We have to take his word for it, which,
I am moved to think, was slightly overdrawn. The
conclusion of the whole matter is, that Bassanio wants
some money, that he may hold a rival place with the
HELPING. 119
other suitors, for, like the traditional lover, he is
" poor but proud." Antonio tells him that his fort-
unes are all at sea, but he may try what his credit can
do in Venice. Although an old bachelor himself, he
seems to appreciate Bassanio's situation. The next
scene is in Portia's room, and, while her maid combs
out her tresses, they discuss the suitors in a most
modern and familiar fashion. Portia's tongue proves
to be a sharp one, and, as Xerissa names them over,
her remarks are almost perfectly biting. Here's a
sample, "' God made him, and therefore let him pass
for a man." When Bassanio is mentioned, she gra-
ciously says, '' I remember him worthy of my praise."
The next scene introduces us to Shylock, the Jew, of
whom Bassanio has just borrowed three thousand
ducats. After some parleying on the part of Shylock,
in which he reminds Antonio how he has despised the
Jewish race, he declares that it must be nominated in
the bond that if Antonio fails to pay the debt in three
months he, the Jew, shall be allowed to cut off a pound
of flesh from any part of Antonio's body that it pleas-
eth him. Bassanio, for whose sake the bond was
made, objects, but Antonio agrees, reminding Bassanio
that a month before it expires he expects a return of
three times the amount. Then Launcelot Gobbo, the
clown, and his father, old Gobbo. come prancing into
the story. He is a servant of Shylock, but leaves
him to serve Bassanio. When Launcelot parts with
Jessica, Shylock's beautiful daughter, she weeps, but
120 AXXALS OF THE RoUND TABLE.
recovers sufficiently to send a note to Lorenzo, his
new master's servant, who is in love with her. " Do
it secretly. And so, farewell," she says. To which he
touchingly responds, u Most beautiful pagan. Most
sweet Jew ! " It appears that this note for Lorenzo
told how she had gold and jewels and a page's suit,
and was ready to elope that night while her father
was off, partaking of Bassanio's banquet. Shylock
goes unwillingly, fearing something wrong because
lie dreamed of money-bags, and when he gives Jessica
the keys, he tells her, when the torch-light masquer-
ade procession goes by, not to clamber up to the
casement, or thrust her head into the public street,
but to pull down the curtains and retire behind them.
As Jessica had arranged to put on the page's suit and
carry a torch, she must have had some twinges of con-
science. Meanwhile the day has come when Portia's
suitors are to choose for her hand according to a brill-
iant scheme which her father had planned. Three
caskets, one each of gold, silver, and lead, are placed
before them, and the one who chooses the casket con-
taining her picture she must accept. First comes the
Prince of Morocco, and upon reading this inscription
on the gold casket, " Who chooseth me shall gain what
many men desire," he seizes it, and calls for the key.
Alack ! within is that verse, " All that glitters is not
gold," and he has to turn away. Xext comes the
Prince of Arragon, who chooses the silver casket, be-
cause he thinks the inscription refers to him, u Who
HELPING. 121
cliooseth me shall get as much as he deserves," He
deserved to be turned away, as lie was, by finding a
picture of a fool's head inside. When Bassanio comes,
Gratiano begs to accompany him, and promises to be
very good. While Bassanio is courting Portia he
fills in by making love to Nerissa. Portia is so afraid
lie will choose wrong, that she is tempted to tell him.
Now comes a page of philosophy and suspense, but I
wont keep you waiting. Bassanio chose the lead
casket, which said, " Who cliooseth me must give and
hazard all he hath," and opening it, found fair Portia's
picture. Then come the rhapsodies, to which I'm not
equal. No sooner are they married than news comes
that all of Antonio's ventures have failed, the time is
up, and he must pay the forfeit. Antonio's message
to Bassanio in this crisis is brave and splendid. Read
it. When Portia hears the situation, she gives Bas-
sanio six thousand ducats, and bids him hasten to res-
cue his friend, which he does, taking Gratiano with
him. I must not forget to say that Jessica escaped
that night, as planned, to her Lorenzo, taking jewels
and two bags of ducats, which sent Shylock to the
street, moaning, " O my ducats ! O my daughter ! "
Ducats first, yon notice. Next, we find ourselves in
a court of justice, where Antonio stands ready to have
the forfeit executed. The duke tries to soften the
Jew, but fails. It appears that they were expecting
a learned doctor to be present, but he sends in his
place a young lawyer, who is none other than Portia,
ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
disguised in men's clothes. The case opens, and this
young doctor of law seems to favor the Jew, who calls
her " a second Daniel." She quotes to him those words,
" The quality of mercy is not strained," and the rest
that we like, but 'tis " sweetness wasted." He stands
there impatiently holding his scales. Bassanio offers
to pay the bond ten times over, but Shylock grimly
says, " No." He prefers the pound of flesh. Portia
tells Shylock that u the law doth give it" him, and An-
tonio bids his friend good-bye. Just as Shylock pre-
pares to cut, Portia rises magnificently to the occa-
sion, and reminds him that the bond says not a word
about shedding blood. She bids him take his bond,
but if he sheds a drop of Christian blood his goods
are confiscate to the State. Shylock finally recovers
enough to say he will be satisfied with three times
the amount, but Portia interferes, saying that, as he
has threatened the life of a citizen, one half of his
property goes to Antonio and the other half to the
State, and he must even beg for his life. Here,
Antonio remembers about "tin quality of mercy," and
asks that Shylock be spared, and receive back half of
his property on condition that he will give it to the
gentleman who stole his daughter, and himself turn
Christian. Shylock seals such a contract. Xow, An-
tonio and Bassanio turn to this young judge, to whom
they are so indebted, and urge her to take the three
thousand ducats. She refuses, but finally says to Bas-
sanio that, as he presses her so, she will take the ring
HELPING. 123
he wears for lier services. Now comes the struggle,
as Bassanio had received the ring from Portia on open-
ing the casket, and had vowed never to part with it.
He tells her it is "such a trifle," and he will buy her
the dearest ring in Venice. But she obstinately pre-
fers his, and then he has to tell her of his promise.
To which she replies, that if his wife knew all she
would forgive him, and leaves without the ring.
Then Antonio urges Bassanio to send the ring to
her, which he unwillingly does. Then Portia goes
home, Bassanio and Antonio arriving soon after.
Quite a scene it is when she notices that the ring is
gone. Imagine how she laughs within when she
accuses him of giving it to a woman, and he indig-
nantly denies it. There might have been quite an un-
pleasantness, but Antonio interferes, and Portia final-
ly gives Bassanio another ring, which he recognizes
as his own, and then the whole story comes out. Bas-
sanio is much surprised and pleased, and never once
reminds Portia that home is her sphere, model hus-
band that he is. And very likely in future life Portia
herself often referred to " that day when I was judge
in Venice." ' [Applause. Curtain falls.] "
The little suggestion, so gravely given by Sally, was
loudly acted upon, while they declared it " splendid,"
and " even thrilling." Their study of the subject had
made it easy, and they really had one of their best
meetings over Shakespeare.
" Father says," remarked Amelia, as they closed
124 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
their books, " that the fact that Shakespeare utters so
much truth proves that he studied the Bible."
" Then," said Addie, suddenly, : ' the verses on
mercy must be from that beatitude, ' Blessed are the
merciful.' "
" Exactly," added Delia, making a note on it.
" And doesn't the whole story," mused Margaret,
dropping her head into her hand for a meditation,
"prove true what Proverbs says of the virtuous
woman, 'She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and
in her tongue is the law of kindness?"
"Certainly, certainly," answered Sally, resignedly.
" Prove any thing, and every thing, even to Shy lock's
being a lineal descendant of Judas. You know we
would not dare disagree with you or Prue on the
Bible, and you seize the situation."
And so it was one of the lessons learned that night,
that uttering the truth, as well as dying in defense
of the truth, makes men great.
Since they had learned the blessedness of helping,
they found so many ways of putting it in practice,
not only among themselves, but in considering the
one in need a neighbor, according to their Master's
own rule.
One day Mr. Nichols stopped long enough from
his business to discover that his Delia was very sick.
He dispatched wildly for their physician and nurse,
but, as usual, nurses were not available. Quickly the
news spread among the anxious members of " The
HELPING. 125
Round Table," and eo it happened that the first day,
when the doctor was just trying to give his orders to
the nervous old housekeeper, Prue tapped lightly at
the door of the sick-room.
" Please, sir," she said, softly, presenting herself
before them, "are you willing I should care for Delia
until you can get a nurse ? I want to, so much."
" What does a school-girl know about nursing ? "
Mr. Nichols began to say, rather gruffly, but changed
it into, " What can you do for her \ "
" Not much, but my best, sir."
"I'll try you," said the doctor, briefly, turning
from the housekeeper, who persisted in giving the
four-hour medicine every ten minutes, and mce versa.
Prue listened intently to his directions, nodded un-
derstand ingly, and made a little note on it. Then
she quietly closed the Venetian shutter nearest the
bed, arranged the bottles, and smoothed the clothes.
At this, Delia aroused from her fever to say, in a
weak voice,
" O Prue, I'm so glad ! Don't leave me, will you ? "
"Xot a minute, deary!" saying it cheerily, and
smoothing back the hair from the throbbing temple
with a soothing touch. " Now it's time to go
asleep."
Yery soon she was in a quiet slumber, and the
doctor, with a satisfied look at Mr. Nichols, left her
installed as nurse. Fortunately, the fever was
broken, and it was a brief sickness, "owing to so
126 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
much professional care," Delia declared and in a few
days she began to be convalescent. Be assured they
were anxious days to Prue, especially the day when
Delia was delirious, when she would have given up
her place to her mother, but Delia would not allow
her out of sight. Then the girls received this dis-
tracted little note, written on a newspaper margin :
" O girls, do pray in earnest. PRUE."
Mr. Nichols was harder to manage than the patient,
suggesting that Delia be aroused if she was sleeping,
or put to sleep on opium if she was awake. And
then the housekeeper would wear squeaky shoes,
slam the doors, and converse in a sepulchral whisper.
But through it all Prue was calm and decided, doing
her duty with conscientious faithfulness. When the
stage of convalescence came, the girls could relieve
her, which they with one accord hastened to do. It
was so pleasant to find they could repay Delia's gen-
erosity with the loving care that money cannot buy.
Books and jellies, flowers and broths, and rapturous
notes came seeking admittance to the sick-room, until
Delia declared she '* never enjoyed any thing so much "
in her life " as getting well." Sally came prancing in
when it was deemed best to admit her, well-nigh up-
set the medicine-table in her flight to the bed, and
commanded Delia and Prue not to think of geom-
etry. She could show them the demonstrations in an
hour when they were able to bear her clatter. And
HELPING. 127
she did want to know just the day they would both
l>e back on their native heath, so that, being fore-
warned, she could be forearmed with her biggest bow
in honor of the event.
" You were right about Prne," whispered Delia to
Sally, casting such grateful glances on the girl who
was that minute serenely shaking up the cushions of
the invalid's chair.
" Didn't I tell you she was a full-fledged angel ? "
demanded Sally, severely. " All honor to St. Night-
ingale," stopping to pat her shoulder, protectingly.
" Do hurry back to school, Prudy, or I shall get des-
perately wicked."
And then, when the girls did come back, how easy
it was made for them, and how they were welcomed,
and how marked from that time on was Delia's at-
tachment for Prue.
Some weeks later Addie hailed Sally with, "I've
got something to tell you," as they met at the wide
gate-way turning into the academy grounds.
" Well ! " answered Sally, briefly, drawing her book-
strap a notch tighter.
" You see, it's this way," began Addie, dropping
her voice. " Prue has consented to sing at a little
entertainment at the mission school to-night."
"No!" exclaimed Sally, incredulously.
" Yes she has," stopping to chuckle. " She didn't
want to a bit. She's so timid, you know. But for
that very reason I suppose she thought she ought to
128 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
take up her cross. She's been so much that way
since New Year's."
" Tom said," put in Sally, " that she fairly hunts
around for hard things, but I must say this is a
shock. Glad of it! She's always been hiding her
light under a bushel."
" Well, what I wanted," continued Addie, " was
your company down there to-night. It would please
her to have you care for it, you know, though she
wouldn't have me say a word for the world, and it's
nothing but Mother Goose songs."
"Go! I guess I will go. Trust me for that,"
twinkling both eyes at the thought of how she would
help swell the audience down at Pine Alley that
night. " Do you suppose that one of the members
can be honored by calls from the public, and the rest
not be there ? JSTo, ma'am ! "
And so you may imagine Prue's surprise when the
live girls and four boys filed gravely into the seats
just back of the children, and joined strongly in the
opening hymn. Prue was so frightened she would
surely have grown tremulous and failed, only that
she looked straight down into the children's faces
and sang to them.
They had never heard the wheezy old organ-keys
touched so softly and musically before, nor dreamed
that Little Bo-Peep and Miss Muffett could be put
into music and trilled so sweetly. The encore was
very loud, and noticeably from the company seats. Of
HELPING. 129
course, she closed with a hymn,, and just here it was
that Hermann, balancing a box of flowers in each
hand, advanced to the platform, and handed them up.
When Prue's eye caught the dangling cards addressed
to " Madam Patti " and " The Prima Donna," with
postscripts of nonsense, she just took revenge by
dividing the fragrant bunches into little nosegays
for the children, and when she joined " The Round
Table" in the hall, all the trophy she carried was
one little wilted geranium-leaf. This Hermann im-
mediately begged and gallantly wore it in his button-
hole.
"Shall I tell yoa what we girls have been talking
about lately ? " asked Margaret of Harry, as they
ambled toward the parsonage that night.
" Yes, do. I'm not a Yankee guesser like Tom."
"Well, we've been wishing so much that Hermann
could be asked to give us a violin solo at the academy
commencement. He surely plays beautifully, but his
people are so poor, and he, as a foreigner, is so little
known, I don't see how it can be of use to him as it
ought. Sally is particularly anxious about him."
" How can you say he is little known, when ' The
Round Table ' have taken him up ? " answered Harry,
gallantly.
"Unfortunately, ' The Round Table ' are only help-
less girls," said Margaret, making what she thought
would be a good stroke. " AVhen the honorarv mem-
O /
bers take him up, there'll be no question about it."
9
130 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
It was a good stroke, for who ever appealed to a
boy's chivalry in vain ? But he answered :
" Am not so sure about it. There would be some
objection. You see, it's purely a Senior-class affair.
The boys wouldn't care to have a broken-tongued
Dutchman eclipse them."
" I know, and because it's going to be so nice, we
want him to play. Sally says it's as good an intro-
duction as she could ask. We just know you can
manage the boys. The minute we heard you were
chairman of the music committee we rejoiced."
She might have added that they quaked a little,
too. The fact was, Harry took strangers into his
heart very slowly. He had, too, a great deal of
pride about carrying out quite elegantly any work
assigned him. Now he thought of the threadbare
clothes and fur-top gloves.
"His voice is very good, and he seems to under-
stand the fiddle, but his debut ought not to depend
on me."
" We girls somehow feel that it does," she an-
swered, quickly. " We have faith in his future.
Sally has made us believe that it's one of our oppor-
tunities to help. He's such a kind, good spirit at
home, she says, and does any kind of hard work, and
studies between times, and so much wants to teach
on his beloved violin ; and you know he refused to
play in a saloon where the pay was splendid, and he
needed it so much."
HELPING. 131
To this Harry made no reply. They knew him as
a boy of few words, seldom pledging himself to any
cause, but doing w r hat he believed to be right with a
fidelity exceeding them all. She was, therefore, wise
enough to leave the case right here.
"It's decided, then, that you will go to college?"
she began, breaking the pause.
" Yes, Tom's all business, and as soon as he's
through here will go into father's office. He didn't
care for it and I did, so the family council said
' Go.' "
" The Round Tablers were so glad. We sang the
'jubilate' over it."
" Did you ? " in surprise. " That's kind of you,
I'm sure. It's pleasant to have interested spectators
if one wins."
" As if there could be any question about it ! You
are recorded as our first valedictorian, you know, and
the honor has so overshadowed us, we are quite ' set
up,' as Sally calls it."
It would have been like Tom and Fred to offer to
fulfill the expectation of such a society, but Harry
gave no expression to his glow of pleasure, answer-
ing coolly,
" Your rejoicing at my going gives me food for
meditation. But I don't mind. Expect to have a
chance to return it all when your class comes on. If
I may where is your future ? Are you all aspiring,
likePrue?"
132 ANNALS OF THE BOUND TABLE.
"I hope so," with approving emphasis, "but it
wont be college with me," beginning to sigh, and
then trying to take it back. " Sister wants to teach,
and mother is so feeble, I can't leave her. I haven't
mentioned it even to ' The Table,' but I mean to
keep up some studies, and show that housekeeping
and education can be happily wedded."
" Noble resolve," said Harry, warmly ; and then,
after a thoughtful pause, " why couldn't you read
college Latin with me ? I could keep you informed
where we are, and we could exchange written trans-
lations with the class for authority that is, if it
would be agreeable ? "
" How splendid ! O, I knew some way would
open to show that all things had worked together for
good. I'll never doubt it again."
" Why don't you have it for an article of faith in
your famous constitution ? " laughing a little, as boys
always will laugh over girls' attempts at constitutions.
" It is, and not any less believed because it isn't writ-
ten," she answered, earnestly, turning for a " good-
night " as he left her at the parsonage door.
I must not forget to tell about Prue's fee. She
ran in for Delia's company to school one morning,
and found Mr. Nichols in the library opening his
mail.
"By the way," he began, running his eye over a
formidable legal-cap, " you have never presented your
bill, Miss Prue. What is it?"
HELPING. 133
" O, sir ! " staring a moment in bewilderment,
"please don't speak of it. We have been so in-
debted to Delia over and over. To see her, well, is
pay enough," glancing up brightly at Delia.
" Humph ! " while the rattling of paper continued.
" To see people well wont pay your office-rent, and
if you succeed you mustn't begin so. We'll see
about this."
The very next day an envelope with Mr. Nichols's
business-card in the corner was handed in for Prue,
and she opened it, while Addie and Tom and Harry
stood around in an excited half-circle. It contained
a bill.
" To services for Delia Nichols, $50." Within was
the check for $50, and at the close of the note was
written, in Delia's hand : " The beginning of the
Medical Education Fund."
O, what demonstrations were there, and what joy
and rejoicing ! Prue took it soberly, as always, and
finally remarked :
" If it were not for that last sentence, and if she
did not know, I would do the same were she in
Betty's garret, I couldn't keep it. What shall I do,
Harry ? "
" Take it, of course. You've earned it," he an-
swered, heartily.
134 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
CHAPTER X.
THEIR HISTORY-BAG.
"T SAW the nicest thing this afternoon," began
_L Sally, meditatively, as at the close of their
next meeting the chat began briskly. " Guess what
it was."
" I'll warrant it was Mrs. Pullman's new velvet
suit," answered Delia, quickly. " They say it's just
from "
" The North Pole, for all I care. Guess again,"
said Sally, with unfeigned contempt.
" Fred took you in to see his father's new paint-
ing, perhaps," suggested Amelia, who had recently
enjoyed the treat herself, and knew much about good
pictures.
"Now, you're poking fun at me. Ever since I
alluded to that hundred-dollar painting as a chromo,
Fred has ignored me entirely."
" Was it seeing sailor Jake pass straight by the
saloon ? " asked Prue, in her quiet voice.
" I did see that, but it wasn't what I meant, though
you're getting nearer to it."
" Could her royal majesty be persuaded to tell us
what it was ? " laughed Addie, sliding from the otto-
man to her knees.
THEIR HISTORY-BAG. 1C5
" Yes, get up, Miss Humble-Pie, and I'll tell you.
I was gazing from my palace windows," she began,
slowly, laying her head against the cushion. " 'Twas
yesterday afternoon, and perhaps you'll recall how
the winds blew and the rains descended and the floods
came. I was just wondering if our house was found-
ed upon a rock, when I noticed that old Scotchy was
on her corner as usual, standing guard over her pip-
pins, and trying to hold over her an immense yellow
umbrella, the identical one she used for a sun-shade
last summer, you know. You can imagine what a
landscape she made. She planted her feet, and
clutched the handle with the ' never-give-up ' of all
Scotland, and just that minute an unusually stiff gust
came rushing around the corner umbrella turned
inside out and upside down old Scotchy still clung
and over she went, so hard on to the shelf that down
it came, and there they were, umbrella, pippins, and
old Scotchy all mixed up in the gutter. What on
earth are you laughing at?" she demanded, frowning
severely on the convulsed group. " I'm ashamed of
you ! "
" Did you go out and help her up ? " asked Prue,
choking back an outburst, and trying to look very
concerned.
U I didn't make fun of her, as you're doing this
minute, and I couldn't help her, for, before I could
start, a manly form [" O, how interesting ! " from
Delia] appeared at lier side, helped her up, caught
136 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
the umbrella which had started for the North-west
Passage, furled it, set up the shelf, and began the
hunt for the pippins. And, do you know, he didn't
leave her until every identical pippin was in its place,
and then he bowed as politely to her as he could to
any of his young lady friends, and hurried up the
street. As for old Scotchy, she looked after him as
long as he was in sight, and then she drew out her
capacious bandanna, and stood wiping her eyes and
gazing, in what Margaret would call ' a rapt attitude.' "
"Now if she were only young and beautiful,"
mused Delia, regretfully, " what a thrilling sequel it
might have ! Isn't it too bad she's old and fat and
homely ? "
" No ! " answered Prue, with very unusual spirit.
" Any society young man can be polite to young and
beautiful girls, but when the 'she' is like old Scotchy,
it takes a real gentleman to show gallantry, then,
doesn't it, Margaret ? "
"Yes. indeed. It's well we don't know this gen-
tleman. We should all fall in love with him, I
know."
"But we do know him," persisted Sally, perceiving
with great glee that the interest was running high,
"and his name" gazing fixedly at Margaret "is
Harry Stevens."
O how the color flooded to her face under the light
of five pairs of mischievous eyes, but she recovered
sufficiently to turn upon Prue and Addie and con-
THEIR HISTORY- BAG. 137
gratulate them on the possession of such a brother,
while she tried to remember just what her foregoing
remark had been.
"Well," said Addie, breaking the quiet that had
fallen on the little company, "what is the next course
on our ' Table ' ? "
" I have been wondering why we couldn't have a
little English history. Call it beef on the bill of fare,
if you choose," said Amelia, smoothing Addie's braids
in a maternal manner.
" O ! " groaned Delia, with a shrug.
" How can you ? " asked Addie, rolling her eyes
beseechingly.
" But I have thought of such a pleasant way, or,
rather, father suggested it. We can take a certain
period for instance, the age of Queen Elizabeth
and all read up on it, from Green's History, or Hume's,
and then write on slips of paper four questions. Fold
each question by itself, bring them all together, put
them in a grab-bag, and stir well. Then we can draw
all around, four times, and answer as we draw. It
has all the charm of uncertainty, you see."
" Yes, and of chance. I like that kind of history;
but don't call it a grab-bag, or Prue will vote it dead,"
suggested Delia.
" Why, it'll be a history-bag, of course, a stocking-
bag that was, if you want to use mine, for it will be
just the thing," said Addie, ignoring her former
opposition to history.
138 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" What and if, Miss President," said Sally, rising
gravel}', " we can't answer the question, what then ? "
bringing her fist to the table with a force that shook
O O
it. " I don't speak for myself I wouldn't be so bold
as to do that but for these my friends," and she took
her chair again with facial muscles in perfect repose,
while they shouted.
"Then," said Amelia, as soon as she could speak,
" let the one who wrote the question own it and
answer it."
It was the next Monday morning that Sally, last, as
usual, came into their especial corner of the cloak-
room, and found the girls comparing notes on history,
discussing Queen Elizabeth's personal appearance, and
hinting at the appalling questions they proposed to
perpetrate on each other.
" I was telling Hermann about it," said Sally,
knocking the crown of her derby hat into shape, "and
he was so delighted with the scheme, that I invited
him to come up to the meeting and take a hand in
the questions."
"Invited him up to the meeting?" asked Amelia,
accenting each word, and lifting her eyes as if she
must have misunderstood.
" What's that ? " asked Delia, who had been talking
about Queen Elizabeth's extensive wardrobe, and only
caught the last words ; " Invited him up ? What
could possess you to do such a thing without our
consent ? "
THEIR HISTORY-BAG. 139
" I don't want to put in any questions if outsiders
are going to be in," said Addie, straightening her
face and shrilling her shoulders. " I'm afraid I
oo o
shall have an important engagement Friday night so
that I can't come."
" I'm sorry Sally," said Margaret, slowly, look-
ing perplexed.
Prue alone was silent, and looked from one to
another in a beseeching way that might have quelled
a fiercer storm, had looks availed.
Now it was a rainy, disagreeable morning, and
Sally on her way to school had lost one rubber and
discovered the other leaked, and so both feet were
well soaked. Sad experience had taught her that this
trifling accident was always serious with her. Al-
ready the qualms of sick-headache began to creep up
her spine, and instantly her eyes kindled.
" You may do just as you please about coming,"
she said, sharply ; " I know it's hard for you to come
up to our poor little parlor, but you needn't be mar-
tyrs any more on my account. I wont trouble you
longer," and here she choked, turned hastily away,
and would have fled, but Prue caught at her arm
with such an agonized, " O Sally ! " that she hesitated
a moment.
" I don't want your pity," she answered, never turn-
ing for a look, and disappeared in the chapel.
Here the bell rang, and with troubled faces they
separated to their chairs. Sally attended strictly to
140 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
business through the forenoon, not coming out at re-
cess, and supremely oblivious to the fact that Prue was
trying to get her eye. She was deathly pale, with a
sick look about the lips that went straight to Prue's
heart. At noon she rushed out, and home, before
they could catch a glimpse of her.
" I do wish Sally wasn't so impulsive," sighed
Amelia, having a stronger adjective in her mind.
"She is positively rash," declared Delia. "Did
you ever hear any thing more ridiculous than her in-
viting a boy in, and then turning on us so? "
" And wont it break us all up ? " queried Addle.
" We can't send word to Hermann not to come, and
surely we can't have a society without Sally. O
deary rne ! Isn't it dreadful \ "
" She looked so sick," said Prue, in her low voice ;
" did you notice ? "
" May I propose," said Margaret, " that we leave this
thing to time and Prue ? Let us be true to Sally, as she
would surely be to us under like trouble. And
another thing, let us talk about it very little among
ourselves, and not at all outside, not to our brothers
or friends, and then, when peace is restored, we shall
always be glad that it was our own secret ; and at any
rate, it will be the only dignified proceeding, and
will save us from the slurs about ' girls' fusses and gos-
O O
sip,' and that would kill us."
" I second that," said Prue.
" And we agree to it," said the chorus.
THEIR HISTORY-BAG.
Sally didn't appear in the afternoon, and the girls
were thankful that they could truthfully report her
sick. After school Prue hastened home, and np the
stair-way of Sally's block, and left a little package and
this note at the door :
"DEAR SALLY: We are all so sorry yon are sick,
Inclosed find a little remedy for your head, which,
you will remember, helped you last time. Take it in
hot water.
" Yours truly,
" I shall come to see about it myself as soon as you
give me the slightest bit of a nod that you are willing.
I have to pass at six, and if I hear the faintest little
tap, shall come in. But whether I hear or not,
we are
" Yours forever, THE ROUND TABLE."
You may be sure she heard it, and it wasn't faint
either. Up the stairs hopped Prue, and, without
waiting to be admitted, turned the knob into the cozy
dining-room. Sally was on the sofa, with her head
bound up in a wet towel, and near by was the little
sad-eyed mother. She held out her hand to Prue in
token of welcome, saying never a word.
" Have you taken it I And do you feel better ? "
asked Prue, stooping to kiss the mother, who at once
left them alone.
" Your pulse is a trifle fast," taking the stool at
14:2 ANXALS off THE HOUND TABLE.
Sally's side, and putting a professional thumb on the
wrist.
" I'm not sick," declared Sally, warmly, pushing the
towel from her head ; " I'm wicked, that's the matter.
Come, prescribe. It's not hereditary," glancing at
the door whither the mother had gone, " but it's
it's chronic. What are you going to do with me ? "
looking straight at Prue, with frank, honest eyes.
" Let you get over this headache, and then come
back to us," clasping her arm, " for we can't get along
without you. We truly can't. The girls should have
offered to help you out, instead of making it harder.
They see it now, and are waiting for a chance."
"No, Prue, there's no use," turning her head
away ; " you're an angel, and nothing short of it,
and you plead for me, but I'm the disturbing element,
the unruly leg, always out of joint, and I mustn't
stay. I want you to tell them so. Tell them that I
would like to keep their friendship always, but I can't
come back," clearing her throat, which would get
husky.
" Hush ! " answered Prue, softly. " Haven't the
girls proved, beyond a doubt, that they can't get along
without you ? It isn't like you to show your grati-
tude by leaving."
At this memory Sally just groaned, and then they
sat together in the twilight for a little, the doctor fast
rubbing away the headache with her healing touch.
After a little, the pent-up voice said :
THEIR HISTORY-BAG. 143
" I can't promise any thing. I don't dare to ; but
you may do what you think best. Shouldn't think
they would want a sinner, but I'll abide by what they
say."
"I knew you would. Let me tie this bandage
better. There ! Good-night."
"If they want to meet here," called Sally after
Prue, " I will send a note to Hermann, as I should
have offered then."
It was perfectly natural that the girls should run
up to Prue's that evening to find out the situation.
" I tried to study, but I couldn't do a single solitary
thing," said Delia, breathless with her hurry.
"Tell us how to do it, Prue dear," said Amelia,
after hearing about the interview.
" It's as easy as two and two. Just stop in to-mor-
row morning on our way to school, and take her by
storm."
"But there's that difficulty of what we shall do
with Hermann. It wont answer to make Sally hurt
his feelings, and it will be hard to have him come,"
mused Margaret, keeping her finger in her history,
which she had felt she ought not to leave, so near
examination, and so had compromised with her reso-
lution by bringing it along.
" What a world of trouble this is," declared Addie,
beginning to sigh, but changing it into a laugh, for
she had been downcast quite as long as her nature
would bear it.
144 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
" I'll tell you," said Prue, jumping up, and clap-
ping her hands. " Let us invite the four honorary
members."
" The very thing ! " said Amelia.
" It takes doctor to see quite through things," de-
clared Margaret, admiringly.
" Don't forget to send out the invites, Miss Secre-
tary," reminded Delia, as they started for the door
together, " and put it strong that they can't bask in
our presence unless they bring their questions, and do
their share of answering."
What a merry evening they had over Queen Eliza-
beth, and not a boy suspected what had been in the
air, although Sally, witli a dreadful stare at Prue,
which brought the conscious color to her face, recited,
for her quotation, " ' Blessed are the peace-makers.' "
What an important moment it was, when, after the
questions had been " bagged," according to Fred's
statement, and they had each drawn one, they waited
for Fred to answer his.
" 'Xame Queen Elizabeth's parents,'" he read, and
answered promptly, and heaved a sigh of relief that
he had gotten off so easily. Then followed many in-
teresting questions about her reign, with charming
little incidents that will creep into history, be it ever
so dry.
In answer to the question, "What famous man died
at the battle of Zutphen, and how did he make hirn-
eelf immortal there?" Amelia was glad to tell of
THEIR HisxoEY-BAa. 145
Sir Philip Sidney, and how, when wounded on that
battle-field, in an agony of thirst, a by-stander was
about to give him a drink, he discovered a dying sol-
dier at his side, and passed the cap to him, saying,
" His necessity is greater than mine." Any one could
guess who put in, " How many dresses did Queen
Elizabeth have ? " and Sally was suspected of, " Did
she have Brussels or velvet carpets ? " which devel-
oped the fact that the floors were covered with green
rushes, and even royal homes were rough and bare
and uncomfortable.
"Hallo! here's something new," declared Fred,
unfolding his paper, and announcing a question
which had already been asked arid answered four
times. Its freshness had quite departed by this time,
but it gave them some fun, especially when Fred an-
swered it with as much spirit and enthusiasm as at
first. Not one of them has forgotten it to this day,
and doubtless could answer promptly, with many a
retrospective memory, should you demand, point-
blank, "What literary men lived in Queen Eliza-
beth's reign ? "
Of course, it was Fred who asked, "What man
belonging to this age circumnavigated the globe on a
tour of exploration and plunder ? " Since the earlier
days when he had planned to run away and be a Sir
Francis Drake himself, he had admired, unsparing-
ly, this exploring mariner. Harry answered very
promptly and fully such hard questions as demanded
10
146 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
to know about the East India Company and the Poor
Law Act, and then, to the great delight of the less-
informed ones, gave up, defeated and chagrined, be-
fore "Describe Queen Elizabeth's personal appear-
ance." He passed it along to Margaret, remarking,
by way of excuse, that as he couldn't tell the color of
his own mother's eyes, he shouldn't guess on that.
" There's no excuse for not knowing that she was
very homely," said Delia, glad of a chance for
reproof, and wondering down in her secret thoughts,
as she tossed her goldy-brown curls, whether she
would exchange them for ugly ruffs and awkward
crowns, if the little consideration of being England's
queen was thrown in. Xo one showed better evi-
dence of preparation than Hermann, who amused
them with his quaint answers, and referred every
thing to S<dly as the authority, beyond which there
was no appeal.
Tom was accused of " What creature comfort was
introduced into England about these days, and by
whom ? " which Delia was glad to answer quite se-
verely : " Just to think," she said, " that one must
al ways think of a tobacco-box in connection with
such a gallant nobleman as Sir Walter Raleiarh."
o o
" It's verily a blot on his fair memory," groaned
Fred, with a tragic gesture.
It was Sally who drew " What is the conclusion of
the whole matter ? "
" That if any body wants to be a queen they're wel-
THEIR^HISTORY-BAG. 147
come," answered that young lady, disdainfully. " They
can't marry the one they love, nor choose their
friends, nor bring up their own children. And just
imagine the fun of knowing that your head will drop
off from your shoulders some fine morning, if you
happen to wink out of the wrong eye."
After the bag had been exhausted, Sally invited
them all to take possession of the little kitchen,
where they reveled for an hour in the sweets of
a candy-pull, with such laughing and nonsense and
fan as only boys and girls know how to extract out
of a slight provocation. The room was so small that
the most skillful engineering could not prevent an
occasional collision ; but bless you ! it only helped on
the frolic. They had over again those old jokes
about " pulling together " and "sweetness long drawn
out," and they agreed that Tom could beat them all
on facial contortions. To be sure, English history
does not in any way link molasses candy on to Queen
Elizabeth's reign, and yet this company, down to this
day, in their allusions to history, will persist in find-
ing a connection !
Delia has never, never stopped to analyze the phi-
losophy of it, but thinks she must have heard some-
where that Queen Elizabeth was very fond of mo-
lasses candy, made after Sally Smith's recipe.
148 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
CHAPTER XI.
A GINGHAM-APRON EVENING.
" C\ I'M so glad ! " began Prue, as Margaret an-
\J } swered her knock, and admitted her to the sit-
ting-room, only to find the other four girls, who had
run in, like Prue, on an errand, and were as busily
visiting as though they did not see each other every
day. " I came for a recipe for mixed pickles," she
explained, sinking into the offered chair ; " but I'm so
glad you're all here, and now, if I've done the wrong
thing, please do tell me."
" It's what you're always doing, you know," said
Sally, frowning.
" You see, I met the mission-school woman just
down here, and she said they were making gingham
aprons for the children, and as w r e'd been so kind, she
would make bold to ask us if we could make a half-
dozen. The thought popped into my head how nice
it would be to give an evening to gingham aprons,
and so I said ' Yes,' never thinking until she was away
that we had a proper constitution and every thing
must be put to vote. What will } r ou do with me ? "
wrinkling her forehead, anxiously.
" Hug you, of course," said Delia, enforcing the
motion.
A GINGHAM-APRON EVENING.
" Don't spare her, Miss President," advised Sally;
" you can't be too severe."
" Those who approve of Prue's answer, and will
take an apron, say ' Aye,' " said Amelia, promptly ;
and " Aye " it was from every one, even the president
voting.
" I was going to propose that we read ' The Vision
of Sir Launfal,' by Lowell, and now we can have it
on the gingham-apron evening, being it's short and
just to the point."
"Please," began Sally, dolefully, "let me baste and
sew on buttons. It's every living thing I can do,
really and truly. If you want this ' Round Table ' to
get up a reputation for square button-holes, jnst set
me at them."
" / don't mind button-holes." declared Margaret.
" And I just love to scratch gathers in ruffling," said
Delia, taking advantage of an opposite mirror to ad-
just her hat.
Friday night found all the girls of " The Round
Table " in the Stevens parlor, each one armed with
work-bag or basket. In the center of the table
reposed a volume of Lowell's " Poems " and a pile
of blue, brown, and green gingham aprons, neatly
cut and folded. The opening exercises were very
brief and business-like, becoming those who have
more important work on hand. Sally's quotation
produced a visible ripple when she responded to her
name with,
150 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" ' And they sewed fig-leaves together, and made
themselves aprons.' '
Then the work was distributed, thimbles and thread
and needles appeared, and Addie, the reader, opened
to their poem.
" It's about a real knight, isn't it ? " asked Delia,
squinting both eyes in her attempts to gauge the
right distance for the respective pockets.
"Yes; a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. The
note says that the ' Holy Grail ' was the cup used by
the Saviour at the Last Supper. It passed into the
family of Joseph of Arimathea, and was worshiped
by pilgrims many years. The legend says it would
stay in a family only so long as the members were
pure in thought and deed. One of the keepers hav-
ing fallen, the cup mysteriously disappeared, and one
of the favorite expeditions of King Arthur's knights
was to go in search of it."
o
" How beau tif ill ! " said Delia.
" How silly," declared Sally, under her breath.
" Let us hear the story first and judge afterward,"
suggested Margaret.
And so Addie, in full sympathy with the matchless
poem, began the prelude, which describes a day in
June. Prue wanted these lines repeated :
" ' Bubbles we buy with a whole soul's tasking!
'Tis heaven alone that is given away,
'Tis only God may be had for the askinpr,
No price is set on the lavish summer,
June may be had by the poorest comer.' "
A GlNGHAM-ApRON EVENING. 151
" I like," said Amelia, " where he calls June the
high tide of the year, when
" 'Every thing is upward striving;
'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true
As for gross to be green, or skies 10 be blue
'Tis the natural way of living.' "
Then came the story of Sir Laurifal, and how he
called for his golden spurs and richest mail :
" ' JFor to-morrow I go over land and sea
lu search of the Holy Grail. "
How he threw himself down on the rushes outside,
waiting for his charger, and then,
" ' Slowly Sir Launfal's eyes grew dim,
Slumber fell like a cloud on him,
And into his soul the vision rle\v.' "
He saw his own castle,
" ' The proudest hall in tlie Xorth Countreo,
And ue\ or its gates might opened be,
Save to lord or lady of high degree," "
and himself starting on his pilgrimage. As he passed
his castle-gate he became aware of a loathsome leper,
who crouched there and begged alms. To Sir Laun-
fal, so young and strong,
" ' He seemed the one blot on the summer morn,
So he tossed him a piece of gold in scorn.
The leper raised not the gold from the dust:
il Better to me the poor man's crust,
Better the blessing of the poor,
Though I turn me empty from his door ;
That is no true alms which the heart can hold ;
He gives nothing but worthless gold
Who gives from a ?ense of dutv.' "
152 ANNALS OF THE BOUND TABLE.
After years of useless searching Sir Launfal, an old
man, comes back to find his castle occupied by others,
and himself disowned and turned away. But he
doesn't grieve long over the loss of his earldom, for
he lias been getting into sympathy with the poor and
lowly of earth.
" ' Xo more on his surcoat was blazoned the cross,
But deep in his soul the sign he wore
The badge of the suffering and the poor.' "
Now he seeks a sunnier clime, and finally, in his wan-
derings, comes to the Eastern desert. One day, while
he is looking at the train of camels, he hears this call
at his side :
" ' For Christ's sweet sake, I beg an alms.' "
He turns, and sees a leper
" ' That cowers beside him, a thing as lone
And white as the ice-isles of Northern seas
In the desolate horror of his disease.' "
Sir Launfal does not turn away, as before, but an-
swers :
" ' I behold in thee
An image of Him who died on the tree ;
Thou also hast had thy crown of thorns
Thou also hast had the world's buffets and scorns
And to thy life was not denied
The wounds in the hands and feet and side:
Mild Mary's Son, acknowledge me ;
Behold, through Him, I give to thee ! ' "
As he remembers how haughtily he had given the
other leper, when he girt his young life up in gilded
mail, he divides all he has, though it's but a moldy
A GlNGHAM-APKON EVENING. 153
crust of coarse brown bread, and gives it to the beg-
gar, and a drink from his own wooden bowl.
" ' As Sir Launfal rnused with a downcast face,
A light'shone round about the place ;
The leper no longer crouched at his side,
But stood before him glorified,
Shining and tall and lair and straight
As the pillar that stood by the Beautiful Gate.' "
And he says :
" ' Lo, it is I, be not afraid !
In many climes, without avail,
Thou hast spent thy Mfe for the Holy Grail ;
Behold it is here this cup which thou
Didst till at the streamlet for me but now ;
This crust is rny body broken for thee,
This water. His blood, that died on the tree;
The Holy Supper is kept indeed,
In whatso we share with another's need.' "
Then Sir Launfal awakes, and it's only a dream, but
he gives up his expedition and opens his castle to the
wanderer, the outcast, and the meanest serf, saying,
" 'The Grail in my castle here is found 1 ' "
" Splendid ! splendid ! " shouted Sally, clapping so
wildly, that her button-box flew, emptying its con-
tents promiscuously.
" How charming ! " sighed Delia, discovering that
in her interest as the story progressed she had basted
both sleeves in under-side up.
" Good thing it wasn't any longer," said Addie,
joining in the laugh which the twisted-looking apron
raised ; " you'd have ruffled the arm-hole."
154 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
"The best part," mused Prue, "is where that
dreadful beggar is transformed into the Saviour him-
self. O, I wish such things could happen nowa-
days."
" It shows such a nice connection between the
story and our work to-night," said Margaret, smooth-
ing out her apron tenderly ; " I was thinking what a
privilege it would be to work on a garment which
our Lord Christ himself should wear ; and yet the
' inasmuch ' makes just this humble service equal to
that work which we would fesl honored by doing."
The others made* no answer, but somehow they felt
the influence of Margaret's beautiful suggestion. The
story had surely ennobled the work. It was like im-
pulsive Sally to speak first.
" I wish now," she said, sorrowfully, " that I had,
sewed them on better."
" Really and truly," began Delia, kindling under
the inspiration of it all, " if our society had done
nothing more than to give us this lovely poem, it's
worth while that we organized, isn't it ? "
" Yes, yes," shouted the chorus, while Sally gave
vent to her feelings by waving a banner of plaid
gingham. Right here there was a loud knocking at
the door, and three heads successively appeared, and
demanded to know if they might please come it.
" Certainly," said Prue, graciously, swinging the
door open, " if you'll be good boys and help."
" How litter-wy we are to-night," sighed Fred,
A GlXGHAM-APEON EVENING. 155
looking about at tlie unusual disorder, and also to see
if the effort was comprehended. But lie was sorry
for it the next minute, as he and Tom were imme-
diately set at the bastings by way of punishment.
Harry, in return for a chair by Margaret, agreed to
thread her needle.
" I believe you put in ten times more bastes than
there's any sort of need of, just to bother us," de-
clared Tom, after a vain hunt for a knot.
" It's a good test for your patience," suggested
Prue, serenely.
" If you're going to groan over it," reproved Sally,
briskly, " you may come and pick out six buttons
which shall have the same center and circum-
ference."
" "With pleasure, madam, only don't think its Fred
and talk geometry to me," said Tom, throwing down
his work very suddenly, and striding over to Sally
with evident delight at the proposal.
" Don't you do any thing to entertain us for our
efforts ? " asked Fred, after he had exerted himself to
the amount of two threads.
" The copy-book says, you know, that ' Virtue is
\ts own reward,' " suggested Amelia, rounding her
button-hole triumphantly.
" Blot the copy-book ! " declared Fred, recklessly.
" Who believes any such nonsense in these de-
generate days ? "
" We do, of course," answered Delia, " and it pains
156 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
us to hear you speak so of an old friend. Addie,
isn't your ruffle a trifle full ? "
Then followed a brisk interchange on ruffles, full
and scant, wide and narrow, which could only be
settled by the combined wisdom of the girls, while
the boys looked on blankly, vainly trying to compre-
hend the interests at stake.
" Sally might sing to us," suggested Tom, when
the ruffle question had been settled beyond a doubt.
" I never sing any thing but a duet, and I haven't
my notes," answered Sally, with a simper and tone
so true to life that it produced a general laugh.
" Give us a speech, then. You're equal to it, you
know," with a significant side-look which the rest
didn't seem to understand.
" 'Not when our valedictorian fills the room," glanc-
ing up at Harry, who was deep in* a discussion over
Latin authors with Margaret.
" What is it ? " asked Harry, closing his book with
a bang. " O, don't send me away. I want some
ideas for a grand closing. Proceed, please."
" I haven't any text," answered Sally.
" Take, Aprons" suggested Fred, suddenly.
" Well, rny beloved," began Sally, impressively,
staring off at a red rose in the carpet. " People's
lives are like aprons. Most of us begin with white
ones, but alas ! alas ! they don't stay so. Some have
heavy, ugly-looking, rough-shod leather ones, with
leather strings and no finishing, but we admire them
A GlNGHAM-ApRON EVENING. 157
because they've borne the burden and heat of the
day. Some have plain gingham ones, with big
pockets, where they carry cookies for the children.
Some start plain and take on ruffles as they go along,
and some are all beribboned and fluffed and puffed,
and don't amount to any single thing except to look
at. They're too thin to hide the multitude of sins,
and that's the reason we don't want that kind, my
beloved. Moral : Have a substantial one and don't
be ashamed of plaid gingham."
" I call that neat," said Tom, admiringly, while they
all cheered.
" If it wasn't wicked to steal, I could fit it on en-
tire," said Harry, regretfully, which made Sally
Irown and shake her head and declare that she thought
him above such nonsense.
u There's one subject on which you all ought to be
prepared," said Tom, balancing the button-box on his
thumb, " and that's temperance. Ever since that
night you devoted to temperance facts, I have fairly
quaked for fear my little sisters would take the stump
on it."
"That's a fact," said Fred. "Delia here drove
me into a corner, and imparted the secret that sixty
thousand drunkards die annually in the United
States, and I even found her walking the parlor floor,
and asking a question which could not be answered
by yes or no, ' Shall we sow tares and reap bread ! ' :
" Well, I guess if you had a father to convert to
158 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
prohibition, you would practice for it too " answered
Delia, in self-defense.
" You ought to have heard Prue," continued Tom.
" She stopped in the midst of a buckwheat pancake
the next morning to announce that ' Deep-rooted
evils cannot be killed by chopping off the branches.'
And as for Sally, she doubled up her fist like a
minute-man and declared that * War may not be as
pleasant as peace, but there are times when it is safer.'
I took the hint and fled."
' k I don't see but that vou have all learned the
v
lesson as well as we," said Margaret. " We did not
expect to get such quick results."
'* I am more than glad to own," said Harry, ear-
nestly, " that I gained a good many facts just from
the crumbs that fell from ' The Talk 1 that week."
" O, that isn't all," continued Fred ; " for having
heard that sixty thousand drunkards die annually, I
felt it my duty to pass it along, which I did, next
morning at breakfast, and father dared to disagree,
and we looked it up, as well as some other cheerful
figures concerning the number of saloons and suicides
and murders that come out of it. And he finally
arose to such a pitch that he said we ought to elect
a no-license commissioner here this fall.''
" Humph ! " grunted Tom. " Your father's all in
the shade beside mine. lie said he was going to
work for it as he never had before, whereat every
female in the house voted ' Aye.' ' :
A GINGHAM-APRON EVENING. 159
" How can women think they are helpless, because
they can't vote, when they can do so much toward
educating public sentiment for temperance ! " said
Amelia, holding up a finished apron for the general
survey.
" Just my sentiments ! " declared Harry, reaching
his hand over for an approving shake.
" Have you heard how we are going to rush into
print over it ?" asked Margaret. "Xo? Well, then
you'll want to shake again. Sally, you explain."
" The editor has actually promised to give us a lit-
tle corner of his paper," began Sally, " where it can't
be seen, and will be perfectly harmless, and we've
agreed to fill it brimful of temperance teaching.
'Twas Margaret's idea. She's too modest to own it,
and so I'll do it for her. I'm to begin with statistics
next week, Hermann follows with a thrilling story
that came under his own observation, the rest fall in
line with tragedy, comedy, and facts ; and then, we
shall call on you boys for the logical and political
conclusions."
" Just the place for Harry to air his notions," de-
clared Fred, with a knowing wink.
" I resign in favor of my old friend Fred," re-
turned Harry. " The political conclusions just come
under his special head. I expect to meet him some
day in the halls of Congress," with his best bow in
the direction of his aspiring friend.
" you needn't one of you think to get off,"
160 ANNALS or THE ROUND TABLE.
warned Delia. " We shall call on you separately and
individually, and woe be to the man that refuses."
By this time the six aprons were finished, and took
their respective places in the pile on the table, and
the gingham-apron evening drew to its close, with
a spirited song.
" I suppose," began Tom, as he trotted down the
street with Sally, " that if I ask you what you hurried
off home from business college for, last night, you
will give me that lecture that's been simmering all
day."
" Don't flatter yourself. I haven't thought of it
all day. Been busy."
" How can you ? " bringing his hand down with a
groan, and evidently cheered at the thought of getting
off so easily.
" But if you want to know what I think of it, I
was downright disappointed in you last night."
" Why ? " in a tone of greatest innocence, " what
did I do 2 "
" It was what you didn't do. To fritter away your
time over paper- wads, and let those country boys and
machinists beat you over and over ; not to mention
disturbing me when I hadn't a minute to waste."
" They hadn't exhausted their weary frames in
school all day, that's the difference."
" They had earned an honest living all day, and I
must say, I respect them for it."
" Come, don't be cross," in his most soothing tone.
A GINGHAM-APRON EVENING. 1G1
" I haven't felt like it lately, and my corner is such a
good' one to
" Plan fun campaigns, yes ; I know. Truly, Tom,
I don't mean to croak, and I like fun, as you know,
and I know only too well ; but I do want you to im-
prove the chance, because I know you'll be sorry by
and by if you don't. I can't forget to whom I owe
my place there, and, as I can't pay back your kind-
ness in any way
" Fiddlesticks ! Did you notice," glad of a chance
to get off from personals, " that awkward fellow work-
ing away with a left hand at the example of Farmer
A and Farmer B ? Wasn't he a spectacle ? "
" Yes," answered Sally, admiringly ; " and he plod-
ded down the column half an hour, pinching his
pencil desperately, till he got it. I wanted to clap
him. I verily believe it would be better for you if
you didn't learn so easily," she mused, candidly, " if
you had to dig for it and earn it with the sweat of
the brow, as I do."
" Your eyes began it last night," declared Tom, on
the defensive. You know you just enjoyed Fergu-
son's ridiculous blunder."
"Did I?" soberly. "Very likely," sighing. "Well,
let's take a new start."
" I only went because father wanted me to, and I
have wasted my time lately," declared Tom, frankly.
This was just what Sally wanted him to say, so that
now it was safe to change the subject.
11
162 ANNALS or THE HOUND TABLE.
" How do you like a stub-pen ? " she asked, with
interest.
" Prime. Don't you want to try it ? "
"Yes, if you don't mind bringing an extra one.
Any thing to help me on the curves."
They had reached Sally's stair-way now, where they
shook hands as gayly as though they had not arraigned
each other on general and particular conduct, and had
a plain talk all around.
GRADUATION. 163
CHAPTER XII.
GRADUATION.
THEIR winter of work and play and study has
brought them to the time of the singing of birds,
and already they have had an expedition for spring-
flowers, and heaped upon their Betty's grave, fragrant
pillows of arbutus and early violets. It was one of
their ways of keeping their hold on sailor Jake, who,
with the humility of a little child, was trying to fol-
low his chart, with many " a look aloft," and who, in
his simplicity, regarded these very human girls as
veritable angels from the court of heaven.
Their meetings had been kept up despite the croak-
ers, who smiled reluctantly over it as the latest freak,
and prophesied an early death ; and though they had
jumped from the poets to land in London, and from
Bible history to Queen Elizabeth, there was no one
to complain of lack of system or propose frightful
cast-iron rules. They were learning what wealth of
truth can be opened up from history and literature to
earnest seekers, had given their memories excellent
drill, and spent many hours in delightful and profit-
able society, which otherwise might have been lonely,
or idled away over foolish gossip or useless reading.
"Girls," said Delia, starting up quite suddenly one
164 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
night, "have you ever thought that we have never
had a debate ? "
" I don't think debates are very profitable. It's the
old story of the man convinced against his will. Be-
sides, girls can't argue in a dignified way. Let us
leave that to the boys," answered Margaret, scrutiniz-
ing the point of her pencil.
"By all means let us have one," proposed Sally.
" And, of course, there's only one subject for down-
trodden females, and that is : 'Resolved, That women
should have the suffrage the ballot.' "
Sally announced this with such a swing of enthusiasm
that, in spite of Margaret, it prevailed, and the next
Friday night they had their debate. Sally and Delia
took the positive side of the question, and were igno-
miniously defeated, though they spoke twice around.
It had its mission, too, for it sent them to works
on civil government and authorities that should make
their arguments able to stand alone. Many interest-
ing facts were developed. The amazement of the
girls, when they learned how large a proportion of
voters cannot read and write, interrupted the meet-
ing with cries of " Impossible ! " Thus they made
even this ancient, hackneyed subject yield its tribute
to the general fund. A very pleasant quotation-exer-
cise was giving each member the name of a poet, and
having her select from his works a list of quota-
tions, the initial letter of which should spell the
poet's name on an acrostic plan. This worked nicely
GRADUATION. 165
in setting them to searching for beautiful things, devel-
oping their ingenuity, and bringing to their notice
many little gems, which, as far as many readers are
concerned, might have forever remained " in the
dark, unfathomed caves of ocean." And it had not
all been head-culture. The magnetism of purpose
had thrilled and inspired and made them all more
earnest. To cultivate the best gifts was becoming
the heart impulse.
And now they had come up to the close of school,
up to Harry's graduation, and to the last days of exam-
ination and comparing of records, for which Sally
had so heroically worked. The girls met to trim the
hall, and an infinite deal of pains and pleasure they
took in this service, you may be sure.
" It must look its very best," declared Delia, from
a seat of spicy evergreens which she was winding.
" To have any body say that the stage ever looked
better would be simply a disgrace to us. Addie, try
that urn a little more to the right; that's better. We
must avoid being conventional in our decorations."
" Of course you know," said Prue, holding off a
bouquet for the effect, "that Hermann is going to
furnish a song and violin solo."
"I expected it," answered Margaret, smiling ap-
provingly on the rows of neatly -tied greens, as if they
were so many worthy boys. "And I do hope he
wont wear his fur-top gloves," thinking how elegantly
Harry liked to have things.
1G6 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
"Pshaw!" declared Sally, who was now resting
from her labors on the top of the step-ladder, " I like
him, gloves and all. They sort of belong to him, and
finish out the picture. I hope he'll stick to his regi-
mentals."
" Shall we send up our flowers to Harry in an
imposing bunch, or by separate ushers, as soon as the
applause is over ? " asked Amelia, clashing her shears
vigorously as she clipped the twigs.
"I thought I would like to send my little posy
after the valedictory address," answered Margaret,
hesitating over it ; " but I will put it with yours, if
you think best."
" O no, it will be better to have one sent up after
the address," answered Sally, trying to look wholly
indifferent. " It's a nice scheme, dear ; stick to it."
Just here Delia flung her work away, and jumped
up with a cry of distress. She had run a spine under
her finger-nail, and hurried over to the doctor for an
examination. Prue drew her little tweezers from her
pocket, extracted the spine in a trice, and rolled the
sore finger in a bit of soothing linen, which sent
Delia back to her greens quite a martyr to the cause,
after she had extorted her quota of sympathy from
each of the trimmers.
" I wonder if all doctors can go from surgery to
flowers, like our Prue ? " mused Margaret, glanc-
ing up at Prue, who was at work at a row of little
baskets.
GRADUATION. 1GT
"Those are too small for stage effect," criticised
Amelia, looking over at them, and shaking her head
doubtfully.
" They're not intended for the stage," answered
Prue, working away unconcernedly.
" O, I know," guessed Addie. " They're for those
graduates who are not likely to get any."
" To be sure," commended Sally from her lofty
seat, showering down on to Prue a pair of peonies
by way of approval. " Put them in, doctor. They
would look pretty just there."
" O, Sail) 7 , what an eye you have ! " groaned Delia,
stopping to nurse her finger. " Don't you know
that they are only used for the most massive kind of
trimming ? "
" I don't care," persisted Sally. " I like peonies.
They blossom out so generous. Nothing pinched
about a peony. Just notice," holding it off admir-
ingly. She was so absorbed in the admiration of
her favorite that she failed to notice the significant
look which passed around, and which had its sequel
later.
"When the plain little stage had been transformed
into a bower of summer, and the last artistic effect
tried and settled, they stood around in a semicircle,
and surveyed it with sighs of weariness and perfect
satisfaction. Of course it was beautiful. How could
it be otherwise when so much real interest and hearty
sympathy went into the handiwork ?
168 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
It was some time before Sally would consent to be
" gotten up " by the girls in genteel style for her ap-
pearance on the stage to receive the prize, they knew
would be awarded her.
"Array me in solid black, as they did Mary, Queen
of Scots, for her execution," she urged, with a tragic
gesture.
A perfectly plain white dress was her outfit. But
the girls supplemented with cr6pe lisse at neck and
sleeves, a deep-red, rose in her hair and at her throat
to give her color, and mitts for her long hands. Delia
brought down a pair of delicate-tinted kids, but on
these she bolted outright, adding, sadly and submis-
sively,
" If you want me to appear perfectly imbecile put
those on," and so they compromised. They rolled
her hair in the Greek coil, which she hated because
it pulled at her neck, and Delia liked because it
helped the general contour of the head and fastened
up the short locks in front, which she was so prone
to set wildly flying, into little rings.
" Now, remember not to ruffle your hair, and
you're all right," declared Margaret, adjusting the
last pin.
" Am I to stand like this," asked Sally, anxiously,
bracing herself awkwardly against the table, " and
say, ' Please, sir, I'm much obliged, sir ? ' :
" Bless yon, no. Just extend your right hand for
it, so, and make a graceful bow in acknowledgment,"
GRADUATION. 169
prompted Delia, at which they all laughed, as Sally's
bows were the stiffest on record.
" O, how glad I shall be when this glorifying is
over, and a body can settle down to business," she
sighed, frowning at herself in the glass.
" The Round Table " occupied a front seat, and sat
in an imposing row to exult over their distinguished
members. What an occasion it was, to be sure !
And how wondrously well Hermann, minus the fur-
tops, filled in with music ; so well, indeed, that his
song was rapturously encored, to which he responded
witli a simple ballad that won them completely.
Even Mrs. Pullman, who made it a point never to
praise any thing in her own village, elevated her
eye-glass, and then, to the great delight of the girls,
leaned over to inquire of Delia who that very dis-
tinguished-looking foreigner was, and pronounced the
verdict that he " certainly had a fine accent."
How handsome and tall and manly their Harry
looked ! and how he surprised them with his mag-
nificent voice, as he pleaded so eloquently for the
defenseless !
Then came the awarding of prizes, which filled
Sally with fear and trembling. She declared after-
ward, wiping the perspiration from her brow, that
she had rather demonstrate every theorem between
Robinson's covers than sit through another such
an evening. No sooner had she survived the prin-
cipal's speech, and accepted the roll of shining gold,
170 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
than an usher handed up a huge basket of red and
white peonies, and a bright, new geometry. Up
w r ent her hand, out flew the hair-pins, and, with locks
rampant, that incorrigible maiden turned to shake her
finger at the row of excited, shining faces, which
immediately retired behind their fluttering fans in
dire dismay. But the audience liked it, and, as Sally
backed away, they applauded long and loud, for her
droll ways made her a general favorite, and the story
of her earnest work and determined independence
had become well known.
" Count it, count it ! " whispered the chorus, as
she took her seat with them again.
" I can't count," she answered, hoarsely, spilling it
into Prue's lap, who immediately announced that
truly it was a hundred dollars.
"When the class song had been sung Harry hurried
away from the stage reception to join " The Round
Table "in the hall.
" Congratulations don't mean much to me," he
said, dropping back with Margaret, " only when they
come from real friends like this," and he held up the
card from her basket, on which was a line of good
wishes.
" Ah, that is so little ! " answered Margaret, in her
low, strong voice. " We all feel so much more than
we can say, and that was before the oration. O,
Harry, it seemed so good to hear a young man
pleading for the helpless. I hope " - hesitating a
GRADUATION. 171
little, as though she might be afraid of saying more
than she ought " that yours will be a long life, and
always as earnest as now."
" I mean that it shall," he answered, heartily.
" I grow more and more to feel how much of possi-
bility life has in it, and I don't want to be afraid of
hard things. Give me a word of encouragement now
and then," he urged, raising her basket to sniff its
sweetness. " I shall need it, and you know how to
give it."
172 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
CHAPTEE XIII.
LATER.
IS it not true that " gentle readers," the world over,
like to know what becomes of the people who
appear on printed pages, and who are only less real
than flesh-and-blood folks ?
After having so thoroughly imbibed the spirit that
" life is real, life is earnest," how could the members
of " The Round Table " do otherwise than try to
make theirs so ? The president of this little circle
why, she was the teacher, of course, using the same
skill and tact when presiding over a hundred as over
the five, and bringing in original plans of work as
when, in other days, she had made the beaten paths
of study seem like wanderings in fresh fields and
pastures new. Soon the call for Northern teachers in
Southern schools induced her to leave the sheltering
parsonage and go South, where, for a short year, she
helped to solve the Southern problem by giving as
an answer, " Education." Then the yellow fever
broke out, and, though the home letters begged her
to turn northward, she would not desert her post.
One day there came a last brave letter telling of
"labors more abundant" among the sick and dying,
and then a telegram ; and now she sleeps 'neath the
LATEK. 173
sunny slope of a Tennessee cemetery. "When the
sad news came back it was Sally who said, in a glow
of admiration :
" As for me, I am proud of that record. I always
said it was Prue who would be either an angel or a
missionary, never dreaming that Amelia would be
both."
Margaret slipped into the home routine, recreating
in Latin translations, which came from Harry's col-
lege with increasing frequency. It was also notice-
able that the letters of explanation grew long and
longer, until there came a very special one, in which
such a comparatively insignificant matter as Latin
was not so much as mentioned. After the college
valedictory Margaret exchanged one parsonage home
for another, and there, in the far West, where the
prairie stretches away to meet the sky, among the
frontier-men of a new country, they together are
" Still achieving, still pursuing,
Heart within, and God o'erhead."
Prne has at last touched the round toward which
she has so patiently and courageously climbed.
When Sally sends the occasional letter from her
desk, it is boldly directed, Prue Stevens, M.D. A
heart less stout would have quailed before the diffi-
culties she has encountered. The thought of those
who at home were watching her as she trod the un-
usual and rough-shod path of a medical education,
ANNALS OF THE BOUND TABLE.
kept her from turning back when, in her moments of
despair, she almost resolved to give up her dreams,
and keep to the common routine and daily task allot-
ted to maidens. The beauty and wisdom shining out
from the mechanism of the human body grew upon
her with each successive step and made self-conscious-
ness sink out of sight.
It was a wonderful day for " The Bound Table "
when that little figure in black mounted the univer-
sity platform, passed before a row of reverend pro-
fessors, and in the breathless hush that followed, be-
came, by virtue of her diploma, Dr. Prue.
Now she has a large, though it must be owned
not very paying, practice, and finds her happiness
and inspiration in the success which crowns her
work.
Addie says, she is still the only commonplace of
"The Bound Table." In her own little home she
finds full scope for domestic tastes, and chirps and
sings and laughs as of yore, still wondering how Prue
can be so strong-minded.
Delia has never left the paternal home, though
now Mr. Fred Hunting, her friend of many years,
is the man of the house. She has lost none of her
peculiarities only as maturer years have altered them.
She is the only one of them all who has spent a real
day in London. How many times she thought of that
" Bound Table " night, when she and Fred actually
trod the streets, looked upon the sights, and breathed
LATER. 175
the air of that great city. The places, they visited
on paper were familiar spots, about which she wan-
dered with keenest interest, breaking out with such
remarks as, " How natural St. Paul's looks ! Now,
do close your guide-book and trust to me. It hasn't
changed a bit since we girls were here."
And finally, proved true Sally's " Day," by having
a dark, dense fog, which she had fully expected all
the time, and calmly accepted as part of the pro-
gramme. They two are good stewards of manifold
gifts, not forgetting the lessons of other days, when
they learned the blessedness of helping hands and
open hearts.
Sally is in a cozy home of her own, which only the
other day she deeded to the dear little mother " older
grown," and very feeble. She spends most of her
time at an accountant's desk, where she revels in
ligures to her heart's content. A legacy has fallen
to her, but it is in the person of a little blind cousin
whom she is educating. The business college receives
much of her attention, and she delights in giving to
others the training she enjoyed herself, and never
does the left hand know what the right hand doeth.
She has dropped some of the angles in speech and
manner, indulging in the formerly-prohibited frill,
though still full of plans and fun, and managing to
extract much sunshine from the prosy things of life,
both for herself and for those who draw from her the
inspiration for nobler ambitions than their own. If
176 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
any romance has crept into her practical work-a-day
life, it is hidden safely and silently away. It is ru-
mored by the mild gossipers that she is the cause of
Tom Stevens's bachelorhood, though, judging from
the old frank way in which they meet when he runs
up from New York for a little home visit, one would
think that days rather than years had rolled over
their heads since they frolicked together. Occasion-
ally he asks :
" Do you remember how you used to force me to
a balance, and show up, in alarming figures, how
hopelessly my bad self was indebted to my good self ?
I didn't like to compare books with you then, but
now come down to New York and I'll show you
some that would almost make you pat me on the
shoulder, as you used to do, and say, in your hearty
way, ' Tom, that's a superextra.' I can see, now, you
helped me over many a crisis, and if I can return the
old score at any time, you know, you have promised
to let me know ; " and thus they part.
It would not answer to pass by Hermann. He is
organist of St. Jerome. Go up there next Sunday
and you will hear him render Mozart's " Ave
Verum," as only a real musician can render it.
Daily music-classes bring him the income with which
he supports a flock of younger brothers and sisters.
He composed a song the other day, dedicated to
" The Round Table," for which Sally adapted these
Whittier verses :
LATER. ITT
" We are older : our footsteps so light in the play
Of the iar-away school-time move slower to-day ;
But faith should be cheerful, and trust should be glad,
And our follies and sins, not our years, make us sad.
"Life is brief, duty grave; but with rain-folded wings,
Of yesterday's sunshine the grateful heart sings;
And we of all others have reason to pay
The tribute ot' thanks and rejoice on our way.
"For the counsels that turned from the follies of youth;
For the beauty of patience, the whiteness of truth 5
For the wounds of rebuke, when love tempered its edge ; .
For the household's restraint, and the discipline's hedge.
" There are moments in life when the lip and the eye
Try the question of whether to smile or to cry;
And scenes and reunions that prompt like our own
The tender in feeling, the playful in tone.
" To Him be the glory forever ! We bear
To the Lord of the harvest our wheat with the tare ;
What we lack in our work, may He find in our will,
And winnow in mercy our good from the ill! "
12
The story, "Morning-Glories and Shoes," first appeared in
"Harper's Young People," and "A Hospital Sketch " aud
"A Graduation Sketch," in "The Christian Union." They
are republished by permission.
MORNING-GLORIES AND SHOES.
SUCH a chattering ! One might think a flock
of birds had been disturbed, only it was very
human chattering, every bit issuing from the mouths
of some half-dozen school girls, who, with baskets
and books, had just tripped down the steps of the
venerable stone school-house, and were loitering along
to their homes.
"It must be the very best exhibition we've ever
had," said the tallest girl, decidedly.
" I'm so glad I've got that new music ! You'll
have to help me select, girls," cried out a little mid-
get in blue ribbons.
" And O, Mabel, what will you wear ? " shouted an-
other girl, as if this were the question.
" It's an easy thing for you, Mabel," suggested a
quiet voice, as its owner glanced from her own plain
calico to the dainty muslin of the other girl.
"I'm going to have a dress straight from New
York," she answered, dwelling with emphasis on the
" straight." " Mother said I should if I took part in
the Ex."
" Lucky child ! " groaned little Blue-Ribbons.
180 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" Mine'll be that everlasting muslin straight from
the closet, where it's been my bestest for two years,"
ending up with a comic sigh and a laugh, in which
they all joined.
" Rachel, you may have all the scarlet geraniums
you want."
" O, splendid ! By-by ; " and Rachel turned in
before a humble little house, and bounded up the
steps.
" O, mother, I'm going to recite at the Ex ! " she
called, before she was fairly in.
" Aint it jolly ! " puffed Johnnie, breathless in his
attempts to be the news-bearer.
"Why don't you say something, mother?" de-
manded the girl.
" What do you want me to say ? Minnie is glad
enough for both," answered the mother, smiling a
very faint smile over her sewing-machine, and glanc-
ing toward the invalid-chair, where a pair of very
thin hands were being clapped vigorously.
" Of course Minnie is pleased," advancing to be-
stow a rapturous hug.
" What will you wear, Rachel ? " asked the mother,
a trifle anxiously.
" The same old thing," answered Rachel, trying to
say it cheerfully. " A new dress is out of the ques-
tion. But I'll have my cambric laundried. Don't
you think it looks real nice, Min, when it's starched?
And some new shoes, eh ? "
MORNING-GLORIES AND SHOES. 181
" Wont your old shoes answer ? " asked the moth-
er, hesitatingly.
" Just behold, and see for yourself," and Kaehel
raised up a decidedly shabby shoe. " O, don't sigh
so."
" We've had so many expenses lately. I know, dear,
you're very cheerful to get along without a dress.
But where shoes are coming from I don't know."
O
" What will you recite ? " asked Minnie, giving her
sister's hand a little pat of sympathy.
" I haven't quite decided," began Rachel, shaking
off her sad air. " Miss Moore spoke of Alice Gary's
' Order for a Picture.' But I like ' Kentucky Belle '
best."
" O yes, you know that so well, Rachie."
" Do I ? " and Rachel stepped out on the floor,
with a stage bow, and began, in a very sweet voice :
" ' Summer of Sixty-three, sir, and Conrad was gone away,
Gone to the country town, sir, to sell our first load of hay.'
O, I think this is so pretty ! " and she lowered her
voice and waved her hands gracefully :
" ' From east to west, no river to shine out under the moon,
Nothing to make a shadow in the yellow afiernoon ;
Only the breathless sunsliino, as I looked out all forlorn;
Only the rustle, rustle, as I walked among the corn.' "
" It's beautiful. I know you'll get some flowers.
Wont she, mamma?" demanded Minnie, clapping
her hands again.
182 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
"Hush, child, don't get excited. It's tea-kettle
time, Rachel, and the work must be carried home,"
sighing wearily over the huge bundle, which meant
bread and butter to her.
Such busy times as those were among the girls and
boys, plump up to the time of the dress rehearsal !
Such trials of skill before home critics and mirrors,
such a thumping of pianos by the musical part ! You
will perhaps understand when I tell you that the
annual exhibition was the event of that little village.
And then the dress rehearsal ! On the authority
of the blue-ribboned girl they had " a perfectly
lovely time.."
This dress rehearsal was where the trouble began
for my heroine But, there ! I'm getting ahead of
my story. Well, Rachel practiced, you may be sure,
and ironed out her pretty cambric, and hoped against
hope that something would turn up. Sometimes she
felt like rushing into the shop and demanding some
shoes of those provoking shop-men who would set
up the daintiest ones in the window right before her
eyes.
But the dress rehearsal came, and absolutely noth-
ing had turned up. And so Rachel (doesn't she de-
serve to be called a heroine ?) covered up the ache in
her heart, and declared that the patches (mother's
painstaking work) didn't show a bit. She had " never
thought they could look so nice." And then she
practiced slipping the worst one a little out of sight
MOKNING-GLORIES AND SHOES. 183
in a manner pronounced by all quite easy and
graceful.
But the boys and girls were every one severe crit-
ics. Poor Rachel! She had not thought it would
be so difficult to wear only a cambric. And then all
the butterfly girls right on the front seat, where they
must stare straight at her feet ! She stammered and
hesitated, and, with the last word, left the stage
chagrined and disheartened.
Perhaps Miss Moore saw something of the need
of encouragement. At any rate, she detained Rachel
with a few kindly suggestions and some whispered
words of praise, while the others rambled on
ahead.
" Isn't it too bad about Rachel's shoes ? " asked the
taller girl.
" Yes. When we had set out to make this exhibi-
tion so perfect, to have one of our best speakers
wear such shoes ! "
u It just spoils her speaking," added another, just
the least bit spitefully, because she had hoped to be
on the programme.
" It's bad enough to have a cambric dress, but this
is too much," groaned Mabel, in a grieved tone.
" Just too much," groaned the chorus, even Blue-
Ribbons going with the majority.
How much of this Rachel heard nobody knows.
Enough, however, to keep her outside the house
winking and blinking against the tears which would
ISi ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
coine ; enough to make her utter a tragic vow that
she would never disgrace herself and the school again
never.
Every well-behaved story must have a hero, you
know. I wonder if it is too late to introduce mine ?
Tom Taylor, Mabel's brother, if you please, who
with his cronies formed the rear guard for the group
of girls. Perhaps I might say that in the Taylor
family Tom was a little at discount. His mother
had to acknowledge that he never yet had reflected
credit on his bringing up. Robert, who had actually
carried off a prize at a Boston school, declared that
Tom was everlastingly backward. He liked out-doors
ever so much better than books. I really think he
never was known to get through a recitation, and as
for stage performances, he invariably broke down in
dire confusion.
" Say," he began, when they were safely within
their own yard, " I think you're awful mean to
Rachel."
" Xow, Tom, you don't know any thing about our
plans."
" Bother your plans ! " shouted Tom, recklessly.
u I say, if plans make you act so mean to a jolly girl
like Rachel, they aint much ;" and he frowned more
fiercely than ever.
" You don't know any thing about it, Tom Taylor ;
so there ! We're always good to Rachie. Haven't
I told her dozens of times to get all her flowers here ?
MOEXLXG-GLOEIES AXD SHOES. 185
And we like her ; but we can't help making a fuss
over those shoes."
" What good does it do to clatter 'bout it ? Ten to
one she'll hear it. Get her some shoes."
" The perfect idea ! You'd better start about
shoeing poor people, Tommy," laughed Mabel, twist
ing her lips.
" If I do, I wont get you to help me," answered
Tom, gruffly, as he shuffled off to bed.
Between you and me, Tom meant just what he
said, and he never puzzled over any problem in his
algebra half so hard as over this.
The next morning Tom, armed with a trowel, and
a basket on his arm, tapped fct Eachel's door.
" Good-morning," he began, as Rachel presented a
surprised face. " I came to see if I could get some
of your morning-glories. I want some awfully bad
to grow up my pole."
" Of course ; take all you want," answered Rachel,
more surprised than ever, as she thought of his con-
servatory and flower-beds at home. Perhaps he saw
something of the surprise, and so explained, knocking
his trowel bashfully against his basket :
" I always did like morning-glories, and I've got to
have 'em for my pole."
" I'll come with you,'' said Rachel, running down
the steps toward the trellis where the vine hung its
clusters of purple and pink. " And please take all
you want. I suppose they may be nice for a pole,
186 ANNALS or THE ROUND TABLE.
but other flowers are prettier," observed Rachel, as
he began digging.
" They're just the thing for a pole," agreed Tom,
eagerly. " There isn't another vine I like so well,
especially for a pole."
And then, when the vine was safely in the basket,
Torn drew some silver from his pocket, dumped it
into the hole the vine had made, and, before Rachel's
astonished eyes, began covering it up.
" Torn Taylor, you shall not do it. You'll lose it.
I wont have it ; " and as he seized his basket and
started she unearthed the money and started after
him, shouting wildly.
Tom was forced to sfc>p. " I want this vine," he
answered, turning square around ; " but if you wont
let me pay for it like business I wont have it nary a
bit ; " and he put down his basket and looked very
stern and business-like.
" But," began Rachel, quite awed by this dignity.
"Iso buts about it. I must plant this 'fore school.
Good-bye ! " and off he ran, leaving Rachel quite
bewildered.
At first, of course, she protested that she wouldn't
keep the money for any thing she wouldn't. But,
after a family council on the matter, it ended in a
very joyful journey to a certain store just around the
corner.
If Tom could have guessed the happiness which
had suddenly bloomed from the vine which he was
MORNING-GLORIES AND SHOES. 187
tliat minute training over his pole, I wonder if he
would have called it a bad bargain. Mother smiled
off the anxious look, and Johnnie, after examining
the leather critically, worked off his ecstasy by stand-
ing on his head a full minute.
If I had time I might tell you about the "Ex."
They were all there. Minnie with her pillows, and
Johnnie, with a shining face and painfully slick hair,
occupying a front seat.
Xo matter now that the neat cambric was a trifle
short, for when " Kentucky Belle " was announced
Rachel forgot every thing but the beautiful story.
Perhaps you remember it about the young wife
from Tennessee going with her husband to the prairies
of Ohio, how she longs " for the sight of water, the
shadowed slope of a hill," and about her husband,
who goes to the country town to sell the first load of
hay. Morgan and his terrible band of raiders pass
that way. She hides her Kentucky Belle in the
bushes, the dear old horse brought from the blue-
grass country of Tennessee. One of the men fright-
ens her by stopping and demanding a drink. But he
is only a blue-eyed laddie, worn and sick with the
terrible marches. He tries to be brave, but when she
tells him she too is from Tennessee he faints and
falls. Before he is conscious, Morgan's men are gal-
loping on, and the Michigan cavalry in wild pursuit.
She keeps the boy until evening, and then can you
believe it ? brings out her pretty Kentucky Belle,
188 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
clothes the boy in a suit of Conrad's, and guides him
to the southward. When he is gone, and nothing is
left but the ragged suit of gray and the drooping
horse, she falls to crying, and Conrad finds her so.
How could he blame her when she says it is all for
Tennessee ? But she hears from the boy she has
saved, and Kentucky Belle, who is thriving down in
the old blue-grass.
As the story was told in Rachel's sweet sympathetic
voice, the audience grew more and more quiet until,
with the last words,
" ' All, we've had many horses, but never a horse like her ! ' "
they burst forth with the most uproarious clapping
you ever heard. As for Johnnie, he came very near
one of his prize somersaults, and Tom Tom clapped
as if he had an undisputed right to.
This was what Rachel said when she had survived
the congratulations and was safely home :
" How little Tom Taylor knew what he did for
me ! "
"I had to laugh to think how surprised he would
have been to know about your shoes coming from his
vine," added Minnie, smiling.
"When Tom had demurely listened to Rachel's
praises at home that night he just pranced off to his
room, where he could chuckle it out by himself, and
declare, in the face of the mirror, " Thomas, that's a
joke worth havin' eh, my boy ? "
A HOSPITAL SKETCH. 189
A HOSPITAL SKETCH.
"TO WILLIE, FROM HIS MOTHER."
" TF I should die in the hospital or on the battle-
_L field, for the sake of God and humanity, will
you communicate with my mother, Mrs. Charles
Dodge, town, - State?"
This, written upon the fly-leaf of a little black
pocket Testament.
I am fast getting to be an old woman, but I never
shall forget those old hospital days. And this lit-
tle book has brought back the old memories, just as
the sight of old andirons and spinning-wheels will
carry one back to grandmother's time. You see, I
haven't always had gray hair and crow's-feet. There
was a time Ions; ago when I thought that life meant
o o o
happiness. But when our neighbor's boy, Jo, whom
I had played with in my childhood, came to me and
asked me to make a choice for life, I had to put it all
away ; for father and mother died that year and left
four little brothers in an elder sister's care, I did
the best I could for them, but we were poor, and
sometimes the weight was well-nigh too heavy for
young shoulders.
190 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
Well! ray boys grew up and went out into the
world ; all but Jamie, poor little cripple-boy. I loved
him the more because he was so dependent on me.
But he took sick, and one spring day I laid him away
in the meeting-house grave-yard and went back to a
lonely home. Nobody knows how my heart ached
for something to love arid work for. And then the
war broke out, and as I hadn't a husband or sons to
give to my country I thought I'd go myself. Xot to
fight ? O no ; but as a nurse in the hospital. And
so that's how I happened to go. I had been there
several months when the battle of G - killed and
wounded so many of oar boys, you remember. Quite
a number of them were brought to our hospital. I
saw them carried in, and then went through the wards
to do what I could. As I was hurrying from one to
another I came to this one in the corner. I couldn't
help but notice right away how young and boyish
the face was. Somehow I thought of Jamie, and my
heart gave a great throb. He raised up on his elbow
as I came near, gave a cheerful nod and said, " Good-
morning, auntie."
I wanted to put my arms around his neck and give
him a motherly hug, but, you see, we had to learn to
overcome our feelings there. So I only said " Good-
morning,"^s quietly as I could, and then went to
work to smooth out the army-blanket, and replace
the haversack, doing duty as a pillow, by a woolen
shawl of my own. You see, I was thinking so hard
A HOSPITAL SKETCH. 191
of Jamie it never occurred to me that lie was
wounded until lie put his hand over his breast and
gave a little short breath. " What have they been
doing to you ? " I asked, taking away his hand.
" Used me for a target, auntie. Splendid shot,
true as you live," and he smiled just as though he
was talking about some sport.
" Did the surgeon take the ball out ? " said I.
" That old fellow with the saw and screw-driver ?
Whew ! He bored till I 'most thought he was the
gimlet and I was the hole. Guess he didn't find it."
I saw that it wanted dressing, so I set about it. It
didn't look very bad. I ventured to say so, and you
ought to have seen his face brighten, while he asked,
so earnestly, " Do you think so ? Just what 1
thought. I'll be all right in a few days. Don't you
think I will ? "
I shook my head ; I didn't want to disagree with
him, but knew it was better than to give false hope.
" ISTo ; not in a few days. Perhaps in a few weeks."
I had dressed the wound by this time, so he said, in
his cheery way, that he'd take a little trip into the
land of nod, and then began to snore like a mis-
chievous school-boy. I went about my other duties,
but by and by came round just to see how he was;
and, sure enough, he was sleeping just as quietly as a
baby.
Next morning I stopped the surgeon after he had
gone through the wards, for, though he was in a hurry,
192 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
I wanted to know when my boy was going to get
well. I thought likely as not he'd ask me again and
it would be so much better to say " the doctor says
so." The way that surgeon frowned when I asked
him and he answered so sharp, "When? Shot
through the lung, madam ; just as surely dead as
though his head was cut off."
It was well that I had had so many months of dis-
cipline among the suffering and dying, or I could
never have heard it and been so cairn ; for, you see,
this boy was taking Jamie's place; so when I went in
with the bowls of porridge I couldn't smile back at
him, although I saw him raise up on his elbow the
minute I stepped inside the door. Of course I ex-
pected he would be worse, but he ate the porridge
with a boy's relish, and declared he felt good enough
to stand on his head. While I was working for the
others I heard a little tune, now softly whistled, now
sung, coming from that corner. It was something
about the " patter of the rain-drops on the roof."
When I came around again he stopped his tune long
enough to ask me if I ever sung it. I told him I
didn't sing, but perhaps somebody could.
" No matter any way," he said ; " only mother used
to sing it to us when we were little chaps at home.
I thought it would sound sort of good here, but don't
suppose any body could sing it quite like her."
I told him I didn't believe any body could.
The next day, to my great surprise, he seemed a
A HOSPITAL SKETCH. 193
great deal better. I had made a resolve to have him
send a letter home that day ; but when he began to
talk about getting well, in his cheery way, it grew
harder and harder.
" Don't you suppose I'll have a furlough, auntie,
after the old hole gets filled up ? "
" You deserve one," I couldn't help but say. " But
hadn't you better write to your mother, so not to
frighten her ? "
" O, no ; 'twould scare the little woman out of her
wits. Besides, I want to surprise her. Wont she be
glad enough to shout when she sees me walking in
that side door by the lilac-bushes ! "
And he began to get so excited just talking about
it that I had to scold him and tell him to go to sleep,
or he wouldn't go home very soon.
Really, I couldn't help keeping up the delusion.
He was so much better, and so hopeful, too ; I really
began to think the surgeon was mistaken about the
wound. The next day he felt so well he wanted to
sit up ; but I said No, and tried to amuse him every
minute I could be spared from the others. He said I
rubbed his head almost like his mother, and wouldn't
she be glad to see him, though ! When he spoke of
his mother, I asked him if he hadn't better write
home, and if he didn't want his mother to come and
escort him home, for he wouldn't be real strong for a
long time. But he seemed so much to anticipate sur-
prising her; and then he argued that 'twas too far
13
194 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
for the little mother to come alone, and he was get-
ting well so fast. The next day and the next found
my boy full of hope, and impatient to get well and
start for home. We had such pleasant talks. lie
told me about his home and little sisters and widowed
mother. I told him about Jamie and my lonely life.
I found myself laughing over his funny speeches a
good many times, a very unusual thing for a sober
old maid like me. He so firmly believed and insisted
that he was getting well that he made me believe it.
Since then I have wondered how I could have been
so deceived.
The sixth morning, when I opened the door, I
missed the raised head ; and when I reached his cor-
ner I saw it lay on the pillow. The smile was a little
fainter than usual. I noticed at once that each cheek
was marked with a flushed spot, and that he breathed
in short, quick breaths. In answer as to how he
felt he said,
" All right only out of wind. Can't you raise a
breeze some way ? "
I bolstered him up and fanned him as though his
life depended on it. All the time my heart was
beating so fast that I didn't dare speak. He breathed
easier and seemed to feel better. He tried hard to
swallow the breakfast I had taken a little extra
trouble to prepare, and grew cheerful all the time.
The surgeon didn't do any thing more than I had
done, and only frowned when the boy asked, in a
A HOSPITAL SKETCH. 195
careless way, that was all put on, if he wouldn't be
up in a few days. He whispered in my ear as he
passed,
" Inflammation set in. Better send for friends if
he has any."
I didn't lose any time, and with hands that trembled
and eyes that blurred I wrote to that mother who,
somehow, had grown akin to me that Willie was
wounded and the doctor thought he wouldn't live.
At the close I wrote, " I am doing all I can for your
dear boy." I thought perhaps it would ease her mind
a little. I wasn't going to tell him of the letter un-
til he spoke of writing ; but toward night he grew
worse again, and I could see he was thinking about
it. Finally I asked what I could do for him. He
only turned his head away and kept very still. lie
thought I didn't see his lips quiver, and the tears that
he tried to hide in the woolen shawl. After a mo-
ment he spoke up, just as pleasant as ever,
" Perhaps you'd better let mother know I aint
getting well so fast as I was."
I told him just as quietly as I could that I had
thought for some time that his mother had better
come and see :f she couldn't do better than I at
nursing, so I had sent word to her that morning.
He seemed really pleased, but didn't have breath
enough to tell me so for a lon time. After a while
& O
he seemed easier, and I almost thought he'd gone
asleep; but in a minute his eyes opened. " Auntie "
196 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
I was at his side instantly " do yon think I'll get
well?"
What could I say ? Did you ever have to answer
such a hard question ? I nerved myself to tell the
truth. " I hope so, Willie ; but I'm afraid not."
Another question followed : " "Will mother come
in the morning ? "
" Perhaps so. Can't you go to sleep ? "
He shook his head, and pretty soon laid his hand
in mine. I gave it a warm pressure.
" Auntie, I'm 'fraid I haven't been good.
Didn't ever forget to pray, though just as mother
said. Wont you, now ? "
My first thought was to send for the chaplain ;
but, no ; Willie had asked me, so I prayed the best I
could prayed that the mother might come soon, .and
if not, the dear Saviour would help this suffering boy
here and the mother at home, and that they might
meet by and by in heaven. When I raised my head
there was a beautiful smile on his face. I thought
he was dying. I called an attendant and the doctor ;
but after a time he became conscious, and then be-
gan a struggle for breath that lasted all through that
long and weary night. Never one word of com-
plaint, and always a smile when we tried to relieve
him. At day-break he was better. As soon as the
stage came I was at the door to see if one of its
occupants wasn't a little woman in black. I ought
to have known that the time was too short, but I was
A HOSPITAL SKETCH. 197
too excited to be reasonable. I can't forget what an
anxious face it was that turned to me. " Did she
come ? " I conld only shake my head, and swallowed
hard to keep the lump out of my throat. " If she
don't come till too late tell her it's all right.
You prayed me through."
These were the last conscious words he ever spoke.
I was almost glad to have him unconscious because
liis breath came so hard. I never left that bedside
all the morning. The doctor came and said he
couldn't last long, and I saw the same beautiful look
coming back to his face. I whispered " Willie," and
kissed his forehead, growing moist with the death-
damp, just as I thought his mother would. The lips
moved. "Now I lay me down to sleep," and he
was dead even while I held him to my ow r n warm,
beating heart.
o
Do you know any thing about hospital funerals ?
They buried him next day, and still his mother had
not come. There was a pine coffin, a few flowers I
had a great deal of trouble to get, a short prayer, and
" Dust to dust." The one mourner had to choke
back her tears and go back to duties, grown more
sacred, but never more to be lightened by the smiles
and cheer of her boy.
She came next day. I showed her the little wooden
slab, and told her how Jie talked of mother and the
messages he left, and how beautiful he went to sleep.
She didn't blame me a bit, seemed to know that I
198 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
had done what I could for him, and so comforted me
more than I did her. She took the pine coffin back
with her to bury her boy by her husband. Never
shall I forget how she smiled through her tears as she
talked of their being together. There can be sub-
limity in suffering. 1 have seen it. This Testa-
ment, you see, was given me by that mother when
on that dreary morning she started out from the
dark, gloomy hospital with her boy.
A GRADUATION SKETCH. 199
A GRADUATION SKETCH,
GRADUATION night in a certain city we will
call it, since \ve must call it something, and can't
give it its real name. Such a crowd of people ! Such
a heavy flower-laden atmosphere ! Just as I began to
grow impatient, watching for the appearance of girls
in white, and spruce young men trying to appreciate
the dignity of the occasion, a woman and little girl
were ushered into the seat in front of me. Nothing
very remarkable in that, to be sure, but I forgot to
watch the coming of the graduates just as soon as my
neighbors were seated. Perhaps it was their dress
which first took my attention. It was so plain, espe-
cially the mother's. She wore a thick winter dress
and bonnet, very old-fashioned and much worn. The
little girl's dress, a faded calico, had evidently been
starched and ironed for the occasion, the short sleeves
of which, outgrown, she kept pulling down over her
brown arms. But what I noticed more than these was
the chubby hand of the little girl, which held a bouquet
of wild flowers field daisies and bright yellow but-
tercups tied together with a little bit of blue ribbon,
the knot of which the little girl would tie and untie
200 ANNALS OF TKE BOUND TABLE.
over and over again, giving it little loving pats. But
just then there was a bustle in front of the little
girl and her mother, and a row of elegantly-dressed
ladies were seated. The judge's family. I remem-
bered then that the judge's daughter was a graduate ;
and all those lovely flowers were for her. Such
dainty baskets and fragrant hot-house bouquets!
The judge himself had an arm-chair in the aisle. He
was posing a basket of roses on his knee in a way
peculiar to complacent dignitaries. I couldn't help
comparing his calm, self-satisfied face with the anx-
ious one in the shabby winter bonnet. The music
struck up then, to the relief of uneasy ones, and in
came the row of white. Even the judge showed the
least sign of interest, while the mother and little sis-
ter watched the stage with anxiety almost breathless.
There she came I knew her right away next to
the white silk and diamonds of the judge's daughter ;
a pretty face in a simple dress. I saw her eye run
along the crowded tiers of seats with an almost con-
fused expression until it lit on the old bonnet, and
then there was a little nod, an answering mother-
smile of assurance, a wave of sister's little sun-
burned hand, and the family were ready for the
exercises.
I began to read the whole story from the simple
pretty dress on the stage : the story of hard work
and petty sacrifices that the daughter might come to
this night. It made the faded calico and old winter
A GRADUATION SKETCH. 201
clothing look differently, somehow. But the bell
struck, and now one after another of the girls and
boys came forward, took part, and retired, with a
share of applause. I became tired after awhile, and
turned again to my neighbors. Like me, the little
girl had grown weary waiting for sister, and was eying
the elegant dresses in front of her with all the child-
look of wonder and admiration. And then the
flowers ! How her little freckled face broadened
into a smile as she took in their beautiful colors.
Then, with a sudden thought, she turned toward her
own rustic bouquet, which all this while she had
held unconsciously in a tight clasp. The poor little
flowers were drooping with thirst. All the srnile
went away. There was a quick glance at the row of
ladies and bouquets, at the stage, and then at her own
buttercups and daisies and bit of blue ribbon. Such
a pitying look she gave them and they dropped into
her lap. Just here the graduate in simple white was
announced, but the little figure before me heeded it
not. The chin fell lower and lower on the waist of
the faded calico. The mother, all intent on the
daughter read ins:, didn't notice the one at her side.
c> O '
I was watching the drooping head so closely not one
word of the essay did I hear. I only knew that the
little chin was beginning to quiver when there was a
clapping which told that the essay was finished. The
mother turned to the child, and I heard her whisper,
a little excitedly, " Throw the flowers, Kittie, now,
202 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
you see ! " But Kittle only shook her head, and I
heard a little smothered sob. Meanwhile, the sister
had taken her seat. There was a little awkward pause
without flowers, and the exercises were about to
go on, when, to my complete surprise, the judge
raised his dignitied form, walked to the stage, and
himself handed up his basket of roses ; with a blush
of pleasure and astonishment the young girl received
them, while the people cheered. As for Kittie, a
sky full of sunshine after a dark cloud would be a fit
comparison. The seat could hardly contain her ; she
bobbed around like a canary-bird, " O, O ! See
Mary's posies ! " she whispered, audibly. People
were looking at her, even the judge's family turned
their heads a little. But her eyes were fixed intently
on Mary until the judge came back to his chair, when
she turned and fairly beamed on him. He liked it ;
in fact, tried to smile and came nearer it than I
supposed he could. I knew then how it came to
happen. He had been watching this little tragedy as
well as I, only that he had turned it into a comedy.
Somehow that stern old judge looked differently to
me and has looked differently ever since. When of
a summer morning I meet him strolling toward the
city I forget the pompous manner, and remember
that under the diamond studs is a kindly spot which
once responded to a child's sorrow.
A SKETCH ON WHEELS. 203
A SKETCH ON WHEELS,
wonder how it happened, eh ? Never seemed
~L a bit strange to me. You recollect 'bout my bad
luck down in the Row, don't you ? Had a little busi-
ness scheme away off in California at the same time.
And Mary, she's orre of them likely women, she says :
' John, you go right along. Do what you can, and
I'll take care of myself and the boys" (two little
chaps they was.) Well, I thought about it, and while
I was thinkin' the little woman bustled around and
got me off afore I could hardly make up my mind to
leave her and the little fellows for sech a long tramp.
Staid a year, sir; and made some money, that's the
best of it.
And as I started to tell, I was a-comin' home.
Planned to get home Christmas Eve. 'Twas that day.
Never shall foro-it it, sir. Train went so terrible
o /
slow. I begun to look 'bout in the car for something
to take up my mind. I had been calculatin' the in-
terest on that minin' stock until I knew it by heart.
And I was gettin' oneasy, so I looked 'round in the
car. First thing I noticed was a couple o' little gals.
Sat jest 'bout where you do, and somehow I kept
a-lookin' 'til I was 'shamed to stare. Then I picked
ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
up my newspaper and sort o' looked over that at
'em. Don't know what there was 'bout 'em, either,
only I couldn't help it. Smallest was such a little
chit. Not much more'n a baby, and the other one
wa'n't much bigger. But if she didn't act like a
woman, then I'll lose my guess. Couldn't make out
for the life o' me how old she was. But 'twas fun to
watch her, though, takin' care of the little tiling.
She'd wrap her up over an' over again, and git her a
drink, and hold her when she was tired. By and by
the littlest one was cold, and so what did that little
woman do but peel off her own shawl and wrap it
'round the baby. She had the same way of pattin' it
and smoothin' it that Mary always had. I sort o' eyed
the shawls and made up my mind they wa'n't new,
neither was the rest of the clothes they had on. The
smallest one hadn't more'n gone off for a doze 'fore
the engine give one of them sharp whistles. My !
Wasn't she scart ? Thinks I to myself : " Little
mother, you've got your hands full." What did she
do ? Why, jest hugged her up 'tight an' quieted her
in a jiff, tellin' her, " Susie wouldn't let any thing
hurt her."
I found out so much. Her name was Susie. There
was a man sittin' in t'other half of the seat. When I
see him I begin to plan it all out. Says I to myself,
" He's the father. He belongs to them. May be
they've been off on a visit, an' the father is takin'
them home to spend Christmas." You see, I'd kind
A SKETCH ON "WHEELS. 205
o' got it into my head that every body was goin'
home to spend Christmas. But thinks I to myself,
he needn't look so cross 'bout it. How his face was
screwed into wrinkles! Looked like the little end of
a pickle. And he never paid no more attention to
them children than as if they wa'n't there.
Then I fell to watchin' the mother ag'in, and I got
stirred np, I tell you. You see, the littlest one had
gone fast asleep in her arms, an' she was beginnin' to
get sleepy herself. Those eyelids acted as if they had
weights on 'em. Orice'n a while they would git the
start of her, and her head 'ud give a quick little bob,
but quicker'n a wink she'd be sittin' straight up,
lookin' jest as a brave soldier on guard.
And there the father set lookin' as ugly as ever.
Says I, almost out loud : "Are you made of cast-iron,
or are you a brute ? " I really begun to wonder if he
wasn't some sort of a machine, when he got up and
shuffled off into the smokin' car. Just the chance I
wanted, you see. I took possession, and bein' sort o'
rough, I scart all the sleep out of her eyes, I reckon.
"Little gal, I've come over to git acquainted," says
I. " That's your sister, and your father is takin' you
home to spend Christmas, I suppose."
" O no, sir ; he's Uncle Joseph."
Her voice trembled a little, but I noticed she didn't
hold on to her sister quite so hard as she did afore I
spoke. Thinks I, "What a dunce not to have knowed
that he wasn't a father."
206 ANNALS or THE ROUND TABLE.
" And he's takin' you home ? "
She sort o' hesitated :
" No, sir ; I guess yes, sir ; to the Home."
" The Home ? " says I. Then I thought : " O, the
Orphans' Home?"
" Yes, sir."
" Do you want to go ? "
"Yes, sir; Mrs. Smith says it aint a bad place."
But I saw her lookin' mighty anxious in spite of its
not bein' a bad place.
" And who's Mrs. Smith ? "
" She lived 'cross the way, and gave Nellie cookies,
and let us play with Tabby. I don't know what
Nellie' 11 do without seeing Tabby."
This last was ended up with a little sigh and an
anxious look at Nellie. While they was eatin' some
knickknacks I bought I was guessin' at the whole
story. That old fellow was sendin' them off, and no
mistake wanted to git rid o' them, likely. Finally
I asked her whether she'd been livin' with her mother
or Uncle Joseph. The poor little creature choked
right up, but she didn't cry. Not a bit of it. Too
plucky for that.
" Uncle Joseph," she said. " Mother's been dead a
long time. Nellie couldn't 'member, but I guess it's
most a year."
"And since then you've lived at Uncle Joseph's?
You hate to leave Uncle Joseph's, don't you ? " This
was a poser. She had a hard time tindin' an answer.
A SKETCH ox WHEELS. 207
" I don't know, sir."
She acted so shy after this that I thought I'd give
her a breathin' spell. So I coaxed the baby to come
an' sit on my lap, and that won her over, jest the way
it does all mothers. Says I :
"I've got two little fellows, but I aint seen 'em in
a long time. I brought 'em a whole box full o' play-
things. Wouldn't you like to go home with me an'
help 'em have a good time ? "
How Susie's eyes sparkled ! But she showed the
mother right out. Says she, a-turnin' to the little
one :
" Xellie would like to go with the kind gentleman,
wouldn't she ? "
For answer Nellie nestled up close, and I tell you it
somehow made me feel kind o' tender. Hadn't had
any little folks for most a year, you see. And her
sayin' " kind," too. You know how 'tis. There aint
any blesseder thing outside heaven than gittin' the
faith o 1 little folks, I reckon. Fact is, we's jest fairly
gittin' acquainted when Uncle Joseph come in. I
hustled back to my seat. Felt as if the plague was
comin'. What a terrible thinkin' I kept up after I
settled down in the car -seat! Says I to myself:
" John, what is your duty ? Don't be rash. What
would Mary think of such a Christmas present? You
aint got any little gals, an' you've got enough to
take care o' some with. And then, supposin' you and
Mary had been took away from your boys when you
208 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
was poor, what would you've wanted folks to do by
them?"
Didn't take rne long to answer that. I looked at it
on all sides, and was so stirred up, I got right up an'
began to talk business with Uncle Joseph on the spur
o' the minute. "Wasn't he a tough one, though?
Wanted me to pay him ; but I soon fixed him, and
made him sign my paper. Don't know how I did it.
But when the whole thing was done, I jest picked
up them little ones an' took possession of 'em. Didn't
they git taken care of the rest of the journey, though?
I confess I worried a little 'bout Mary. She's the
best woman in the world, but what she'd say to havin'
an orphan asylum turned in on her, I didn't know.
"We got there at last. It was the joyfulest comin'
home I ever had. Mary an' the boys were there.
The boys grown a mite bigger, to be sure, but with
their mother's eyes shin in' under their foreheads, so
there was no mistakin' 'em. I trotted out my little
waifs, and told her and the boys that there was some
little gals I had picked up and brought home for a
Christmas present. She jest took 'em right into her
motherly heart, but I could see she didn't understand
'twas for life. Of course Mary and I had a good deal
to talk 'bout while the children was gittin' acquaint-
ed ; so much that I didn't tell her my whole plan
'bout them children. "We had talked a long time, in
fact the little folks was in bed, when I rather hinted
it to her.
A SKETCH ON WHEELS. 209
" Wliy, John ! " said she, jest as she used to when I
was headlong 'bout business.
Says I : " Mary, I couldn't help it."
" But," says she, " it's so sudden. You don't know
any thing 'bout the family. There may be bad blood,
John."
Says I : " Mary, I'll tell you the whole story, and
you decide whether we'll turn them little gals away."
Well, I told her; an' if she didn't git to cryin' out-
right, then 'twas sometliin' that looked mighty like
tears. Says she : "John, we'll try." And, sir, we've
been tryin' it ever since.
" Sorry r i " did you ask ? Kever, sir.
14
210 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
PRISCILLA GRIMES'S CHRISTMAS.
MISS GRIMES was a good woman. Nobody in
all that neighborhood would have thought of
questioning it. Faithful to the extent that one might
as well expect the parson himself to be absent from
church. Honorable to the dividing asunder of trifles.
But somehow, perhaps, because life had dealt none
too kindly with her, she had come to take a severe
view of it. And, too, it had been lonely. I don't
think she let herself know how lonely or how sorely
she missed the other members of the family who long
ago had been carried to the church-yard and left her
sole proprietress.
When one October day Miss Grimes journeyed to
the city and brought home a pale-faced little girl, and
when she further answered briefly the inquiries by
saying that she had adopted the child, the neighbors,
much surprised, could not refrain from making it the
subject of a little rnild gossip. But the new-comer
slipped into the routine as every thing did at the
Grimes home and the neighbors became accustomed
to seeing the child, whom she called Priscilla, with
Miss Grimes at church neatly clad and painfully prim.
PRISCILLA GRIMES'S CHRISTMAS. 211
" She's a remarkably good woman in many re-
spects," observed Mrs. Betts, the mother of four
rollicking boys ; " but I don't know about her getting
along with a child. My boys just dread her."
"She hasn't any more bend than a barn-door," added
Deacon Patterson's daughter, when affairs were being
discussed at the sewing society. ' ; I never shall forget
when I was sick how she came in with her bundle of
thorough wort and looked me over."
The child seemed to be a quiet little thing, pleased
with her comfortable quarters. To be sure she some-
times forgot herself. Once she laughed right out in
church when Johnny Betts fell over the stove ; but
this levity was severely frowned upon, as were the
cases of tearing her clothes, breaking dishes, and sing-
ing when she should have been intent on " Sanders's
Speller " the very one Miss Grimes herself had car-
ried to school ever so long ago. This last was one of
Priscilla's trials. It must be confessed she didn't like
school very well, with the exception of recess and
noonings. The figures had a way of not adding, and
just as likely as not the hard-studied spelling lesson
would grow dimmer and dimmer, and finally slip
away entirely at the critical moment when she stood
toeing the crack in front of the black-eyed teacher.
But Priscilla had her comforts, too, one of which
was plenty to eat and wear, and back in other days
these had been decidedly scarce. And then, there
was her other comfort (a funny comfort you'll call it,
212 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
too), named Belindy. No matter that Belindy was
not a store doll, and that her cotton head was home-
made, destitute of paint and wax, and that she came
from a mission school Christmas tree, she was rich in
one thing, Priscilla's love. All her secrets were safely
confided to Belinda's ears, who proved a charming
listener, never betraying them nor interrupting. The
India-ink eyes always beamed lovingly at Priscilla, no
matter how the world went. Just as regularly as the
morning came Belindy was taken from her drawer,
affectionately embraced, and then put away again,
there to repose until bed-time, on which occasion Pris-
cilla often devoted lengthy conversations to her on
the events of the day.
One evening, after knitting her stent and studying
her slate, she went, as usual, up to the cozy little room,
bearing the candle very perpendicularly, for Miss
Grimes never forgot the nightly warning about " drip-
ping." "My dear Belindy," she began, taking Be-
lindy from her retreat and propping her up against
the pillow, " you did want to see me, course you did.
What do you think Mike done to-day when I stood
up to say my lesson ? Made a face! Yes, sir, he
did. And O, Belindy. I'm drefful 'fraid we wont
have no Christmas here, 'cause Miss Grimes says,
says she : ' The Bible tells us how to keep Christmas.
The shepherds kep' it by singin' an' prayinV 'Taint
half so nice as a Christmas tree, is it, Belindy, dear ?
Do you 'member what they had at the Sunday-school
PKISCILLA GKIMES'S CIIEISTMAS. 213
Christmas tree ? Bags of candy, Belindj. Striped
candy and oranges, and you, my dear, with all your
sisters. And sandwiches for us as was hungry (that
was me), and lots of nice times. You was the nicest,
my dear baby, because I couldn't eat you up, you
know. Mebbe somebody will 'member us this time,
and mebbe we'll have chicken for dinner. We did
one day. Good-night, my baby, go right to sleep,''
and she closed the drawer on her treasure, and herself
drifted off to dream-land.
In spite of the fact that Miss Grimes was opposed
to merry-making on the most sacred of all days, she
had secretly resolved to fix up the dinner a bit, and
make a little dessert of doughnuts, though they were
the " onwholesomest " things.
Well, Christmas did actually come at last, though
some of the children solemnly affirmed that it never
would, and Priscilla was happy with the rest. For
was it not a holiday ? And was not Miss Grimes
that minute twisting some doughnuts ? Priscilla's
heels made the snow fly at the very thought, as she
trotted up to "Mis' Betts's" to return a drawing of
tea. There every thing was lively. A delicious
odor of dinner mingled with evergreen pervaded the
house. Every body was happy and in a hurry.
Through a partly open door she caught a glimpse of
the tree, with every one of the four bovs tying on
,' */ . O
candles and strings of pop-corn. Didn't Priscilla
ache to be there ? But she was used to turning her
214: ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
back on other people's good times, so she comforted
herself with the thought of her own little treat.
As soon as the potatoes were pared she rushed up
stairs to tell Belindy all about it, dropped on her
knees, and pulled out the drawer of her little bureau ;
then she sat back and rubbed her eyes. Could it be ?
Yes, Belindy was gone. She took every thing out.
Turned the drawer bottom side up. Her baby was
not tucked away in any of the corners. A suspicion
flashed over her when she remembered that a rag-
man's cart met her on the way home.
Acting on the impulse of this awful suggestion,
she ran down the stairs and bolted into the kitchen.
"Did you give Belindy to that man?" she de-
manded, breathlessly.
Miss Grimes turned from vehement pokes in the
stove door, and looked Priscilla over through her
steel spectacles.
" That clumsy bundle of cotton ? " she asked, de-
liberately. " Yes, child, if you mean that. It took up
room in your drawer, and was in the way. You are
too big for such nonsense, so don't be foolish over it,
but get ready for dinner."
The last words were softened down toward gentle-
ness, for even Miss Grimes couldn't stand that terri-
bly tragic face with the twitching lips.
No sooner had she disappeared down the cellar-way
than Priscilla seized the opportunity to snatch her
hood and shawl and rush out of the house to the
PRISCILLA GRIMES'S CHRISTMAS. 215
woods close by. In a sunny clearing was a long
wood-pile, up which she climbed, and, leaning her
head on the wooden pillow, she lifted up her voice
and wept for Belindy. No matter now that it was
Christmas. ISTo matter that doughnuts were await-
ing her. The only thing she had learned to love was
gone, and the little mother's heart was broken. Not
very long did she wail in loneliness before a distant
tramp was heard. Not Miss Grimes's, for the new-
comer was whistling cheerily. It did sound like Tim
Betts. She wouldn't look up, any way, because boys
always poked fun. He had stopped to chop ever-
green, whistling in time with the hatchet.
Soon the merry whistle ended in a long, surprised
one, and Tim, armed with his weapon, drew up
toward the wood-pile, blinking in undisguised aston-
ishment at a bundle of plaid shawl and brown hood
on top. " Pris Grimes, as I live ! "What's the
matter ? "
" Nothin'," answered a hoarse, smothered voice
under the shawl.
" Whew ! you'll catch your death out here."
" Don't care," sobbed Priscilla.
" Yes, you do. It's Christmas, you know. Come,
now ; why aint you jolly ? "
The question was put so coaxingly that Priscilla
answered " Belindy," and then began crying harder
than ever.
" Belindy ? " answered the boy, looking dozed.
216 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" My doll I've had ever and ever so long, and she
give it to the rag-man."
" Did, did she ? I call that confounded mean.
What did old Grimes do it for ? "
" 'Twas in the way, she said," explained Friscilla,
plaintively.
Tim stood and meditated a full minute over this
calamity, shook his h'st in the direction of the
offending Grimes, and broke out with : " Well, I'll
tell you, don't you cry any more and we'll have you
up to our Christmas tree. Just leave it to me. She'll
let you. These greens are to trim with, and Tim
Betts must be trotting, too," and off he trotted, leav-
ing Priscilla so comforted that very soon she wiped
her eyes and looked after her good angel, who was
galloping away as fast as a heavy basket would let
him.
It was not to be expected that even a Christmas
tree could fill Belindy's place, but it was astonishing
how soothing such a prospect was. In spite of a
broken heart Priscilla did her duty by the chicken
pie and doughnuts, and as for Miss Grimes, she
was especially considerate, for the swollen face was
eloquent.
When Tim told the story at home in his most
touching style, with many threats for ' old Grimes,"
and ended up with, "We'll have her here, mayn't
we, mother ? "
Mrs. Betts' s motherly heart responded at onco ;
PRISCILLA GRIMES'S CHRISTMAS. 217
" Yes, Tiinmic, wo will. Xow I know what my
extra dollar is for. The child shall have one merry
Christmas and a nice new Belinda. Who will help
me dress it? " Whereat every identical boy shouted,
" I ! " and followed it up with such a clapping and
stampede that the chairman, Mother Betts, had to
call the house to order.
Sure enough, soon after dinner there was a hard
knock at the door, and Tim Betts, appeared too much
out of breath to speak. " Mother says -she'd like
you and Priseilla to come to our tree. We'll have
something for her," he whispered, so loud that Pris-
eilla heard him.
" Tell your mother we'll come," answered Miss
Grimes, so promptly, that Tim was spared the telling
of a "few things" which he had secretly resolved
upon "if she showed fight."
That tree was a beauty, all lighted up with candles
and beaming faces ; a drum had lodged on the top-
most twigs. A music-box tinkled away in its dark
recesses ; books and pictures, candy canes and bon-
bons, hung as fruit from its branches.
As for Priseilla, the sight of a blue-eyed, real wax
doll, all her very own, drove every lingering thought
of the rag-man forever out of her head. She actually
forgot her puoper bringing up, and laughed and
screamed in the general chorus.
To be sure the noise almost crazed Miss Grimes,
who wasn't used to boys, and who firmly believed
218 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
that all things should be done decently and in order.
But I suspect that something of its brightness and
beauty crept even into her soul, perhaps to bring her
nearer childhood's joys and sorrows, so that never
again should Priscilla Grimes's Christmas be cele-
brated with tears.
ECCLESIASTES XI, 1.
ECCLESIASTES XI. 1
RS. GREEXFIELD was undecided ; a frame of
mind so rarely indulged in by that estimable
lady as to be worthy of comment. So undecided
that staring out of the window, against which the
rain-drops were beating, with all the persistency of a
fall rain, didn't bring an answer. Further efforts in
the line of brushing out her water-proof and marshal-
ing her rubbers didn't help the matter.
" I do believe, 1 ' she murmured, thoughtfully, " if it
was our duty to clothe those children, we would have
pleasant Wednesdays so the ladies could get out "
so moved by this bit of logic that she started to hang
her water-proof on the rack. " This afternoon would
finish baby's flannel. He could have it on when
John comes home, and I could indulge in a little
rest. The forenoon has been hard." And she sighed
a little with self-pity.
So the cloak was put back on its hook and the rub-
bers consigned to the boot-closet. But again she
hesitated and scowled her forehead with perplexity.
" There's that boy, to be sure. I'd well-nigh for-
gotten him. lie can come again, though. Boys
220 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
don't mind running. I said what was it ?
that I'd surely be there. And promises to ragamuf-
fins are binding, I suppose," she continued, seizing
her wrappings and donning them quickly, as if afraid
to wait for another inspiration.
"Nannie, keep baby away from the fire, and don't
get into mischief," she urged, peeping into the
sitting-room, and then tripped down the steps and
across the wet pavements toward the tall spire. The
explanatory fact is, that the Ladies' Sewing Society
was finding, as all such societies do, that the hard
work came to a few who labored under the most
trying discouragements. Discouragements of stony
ground and thorns and fowls of the air, with only a
far-off glimpse at the hundred-fold.
'" This work takes grit and faith," the president
was saying to herself as the heavy door closed behind
her and showed a deserted parlor. She gave just a
little shiver as her eye took in the stove, destitute of
fire.
" Never mind, I know how," said the worthy
officer, taking off her wet clothing and producing a
basket of kindling. By dint of blowing and coaxing,
quite a blaze appeared, which became a crackle, then
a roar. Then a bundle of black cloth (one of John's
old coats ripped up and washed) was brought to light,
and some patterns and a pair of shears. Soon the
shears began to clip in a cheerful sort of way, and the
little president found herself humming a strain from
ECCLESIASTES XI, 1. 221
" Little Barefoot." But this was interrupted by a
tap so faint that she only stopped and listened. Next
time louder. " Come in," and in came a rasped,
' OcD *
pinch-faced little fellow, looking quite relieved that
there should be only one pair of eyes instead of a
roomful to look him over.
" Shut the door, please. I guess you can come
to the fire and get warm while I baste these
seams."
So he sidled up to a chair near the pleasing
warmth.
" What shall I call you ? "
" Jimmy Brown, mum," very faint.
" Well, Jimmy, I'm ready to put this on now,"
trying to say it so heartily that he wouldn't know she
felt reluctant about getting too near the bundle of
rags.
lie had really washed his hands and face ; at least
removed one layer, for the place of leaving off was
plainly visible. This was encouraging. He stood
very patiently under the pattings and smoothings
and pull ings.
" That fits well, real well, Jimmy. You see the
ladies are not here, so I must take this home and
finish it. I'll try and have it ready for you Saturday
night. And then we shall expect to see you at Sun-
day-school every Sunday after this. You'll be in
your place every time, wont you, Jimmy ? "
" Yes'm."
222 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" Of course you will. And now I guess we had
better go. Good-bye until Saturday night."
That evening at home, after the shades were
drawn and baby was quietly sleeping, Mrs. Greenfield
and her work-basket were important figures in the
center-table group.
"What you building?" asked Mr. Greenfield,
peering over the top of his evening paper.
She held it up.
Coat for Jimmy ? "
" Yes, not our Jimmy, though."
" A heathen Jimmy, eh ! '
; < "Well, yes, a sort of heathen, I suppose," she
answered, reluctantly.
" How do you think it'll look after a few days of
Pike Avenue ? " he asked, eying the neat button-
holes and new braid with the least bit of a twinkle in
his eye.
" O, John, don't," pleaded a voice from the work-
basket. " We need every bit of encouragement you
can give us, and not a bit of wet-blanket. Wont it
help civilize him to have things like civilized boys,
and how could he learn to take care of neat clothes
when he's never had them ? "
" True."
" John, I believe you're laughing behind your
paper," she continued, in a tone of solemn conviction,
rolling her eyes toward the " Daily Times," over the
top of which a glimpse of forehead appeared.
ECCLESIASTES xi, 1. 223
"Not at all, my dear. I'm only thinking
hem ! "
" What?" demanded Mrs. Greenfield.
" That I shouldn't be surprised if our pawn-shops
increased its line of men's and boy's clothing ere
long."
" Do you really mean it ? " she asked, sadly, rock-
ing gently to and fro while the button-holes grew.
" It's my conviction, Mollie. Of course, this Jim-
my may be quite a saint. We'll give him the benefit
of the doubt, any way. But Pike Avenue don't raise
many such. The soil isn't favorable. Hallo ! wheat's
going up ! "
As for Mrs. Greenfield, she didn't care half as
much about inanimate wheat as friendless boys and
the problem connected with them.
" It is hard to know how much effort is thrown
away on these boys," she ventured, at last, speaking
her thoughts half-aloud. " Here's our own Jimmy.
Put him down on Pike Avenue, without any mother
and a drunken father and bad associations. Wouldn't
it help him toward the right to have somebody care
enough for him to make him a nice coat, just as nice
as any body has ? " shaking it out for proof "even
if it went to the - I can't bear to think of its go-
ing to the pawn-shop. I don't believe it will," she
added, positively, which assertion John wouldn't have
contradicted for the world ; for, to tell the truth, he
was substituting in the place of the heathen Jimmy
224 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
the little fellow who that minute was nodding over
his slate, while the chubby hand which grasped the
pencil moved sleepily. " What a notion ! Put him
clown on Pike, away from home, love, and care ?
Awful ! " and a shudder accompanied the thought.
But he didn't say a word of this, only stared hard at
stock reports, and then dropped his paper and picked
up the drowsy little fellow, clasping him O so tight !
" Mollie, this little chap's almost asleep. Give
mamma a bear-hug, and off we go," he said, gently
holding him up for a maternal " good-night." Then
he was marched away and tucked up so very snug.
And when John came back (would you believe it?)
he examined the little coat with new interest and a
careless question about how that little fellow was to
be shod.
"Well, the coat was made, and meantime the presi-
dent had presented her case before the ladies and col-
lected quite an outfit (John contributed the boots),
which she had spread out on her sofa and was view-
ing with satisfaction on that Saturday night, when a
thump at the door announced the hero. Mrs. Green-
field possessed that wisdom which mixes advice with
substantial, so the kindly words were re-enforced w T ith
apples, offered timidly by the children, who stared
with open-eyed wonder to see them disappear.
Several times during the next Sunday-morning
service Mrs. Greenfield was guilty of turning her
head, especially when some squeaky steps stopped near
ECCLESIASTES xi, 1. 225
the door. "He'll get into it gradually. Can't begin
with more than Sunday-school, I suppose," she ex-
plained to herself.
In Sunday-school the rows of children were care-
fully scanned by the president, the teacher of the
mission-class, who had been informed what to expect,
and also the superintendent, who was none other than
John, but no heathen Jimmy appeared.
Now be it known that Mr. Greenfield was as much
interested in the case as any body, with a general sort
of interest becoming a student of law-books and
human nature. John was a good man, and I can't
tell you how much he loved Mollie ; but he was
human, too, and couldn't forbear the dinner-table
remark: "Hum, hum! Coat fitted snug, eh, Mol-
lie?"
Mollie's eyes meant a protest while she answered
with a positiveness not best to question : " Something
kept him home, may be. I believe in honest eyes,
and lie had them. Any way, I wont believe a word
against him until T know it for myself. It's a great
deal better to be away the first Sunday and present
afterward, than the other way, and you know all who
disappointed us came the first Sunday."
If John was a lawyer, his wife was a better one,
wasn't she? Perhaps John thought so. Any way,
he was silenced. Yes ; and to make the case worse
for Mrs. Lawyer, heathen Jimmy didn't come the
next Sunday, nor the next, nor the Well, the
15
226 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
sad fact is that weeks and months passed on and
nothing, absolutely nothing, was seen of Jimmy.
What do you suppose she said then when the case
was brought up for the last time ? " It does look
like effort thrown away. I can't know any thing
about it, but, John, I can't help believing that when
we do what seems to be duty, that work is somehow
taken care of, and good comes of it even if we don't
know it."
" That kind of evidence would hardly be received
in court, my dear," answered John, wisely. "But
never mind. Every body has their share of imposi-
tion. When the world is what your dear innocent
heart believes it to be, we'll have a millennium," he
continued, passing in his verdict.
Yes ; a year passed, which grew into two and three
and four, and this little circumstance had been en-
tirely forgotten, or at best had dwindled into insignif-
icance in the busy whirl of every day. For now the
black war cloud, which began as the size of a man's
hand, was spreading over our nntion's horizon with
alarming rapidity. May be you remember it. IIow
men grew grave and anxious, and women pale and
tearful. These times came to our little household as
they came to yours, may be. Mollie grew apprehen-
sive one noon, when John came home graver and
more occupied than ever. At length, amid the chat-
ter of the children who had caught the spirit and
were talking of flags and drums, John salted instead
ECCLESIASTES xi, 1. 227
of sweetening his coffee, and sipped away with sev-
eral portentous " hems ! "
" Do you know there's a call for more volun-
teers?"
"N-o," answered Mollie, taking baby up in her
lap to hide the twitching of her lips.
" And Mollie, I feel as if I can't hang back any
longer. At first, you know, I hesitated because
of you and the children, but I I can't any longer.
I know," he added, not daring to look at her, " that
you'll want me to. You've said the same several
times, if my memory serves me right," and he tried
to smile, but 'twas a failure.
" Yes, I said so ; but it was when I thought war
was a long way off," pleaded Mollie. " How long
will it last ? " she asked, clearing her throat, for her
voice would tremble.
" Xot long if our men are true. It's wortk work-
ing for, and you're willing?" he asked, looking
straight at Jimmy, who had crowded up and wa8
staring into his father's face.
" Jimmy, can you run the house ? "
" I'd rather go to the war. Those that don't fight
the Rebs are cowards," said Jimmy, with spirit.
" Ha ! ha ! Hear that, Mollie ? A young recruit.
Try it at home, my son, and we'll see about the Rebs
by and by."
It would take too long to tell about the getting
ready and about the day when John marched away
ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
sad fact is that weeks and months passed on and
nothing, absolutely nothing, was seen of Jimmy.
What do you suppose she said then when the case
was brought up for the last time? "It does look
like effort thrown away. I can't know any thing
about it, but, John, I can't help believing that when
we do what seems to be duty, that work is somehow
taken care of, and good comes of it even if we don't
know it."
" That kind of evidence would hardly be received
in court, my dear," answered John, wisely. "But
never mind. Every body has their share of imposi-
tion. When the world is what your dear innocent
heart believes it to be, we'll have a millennium," he
continued, passing in his verdict.
Yes ; a year passed, which grew into two and three
and four, and this little circumstance had been en-
tirely forgotten, or at best had dwindled into insignif-
icance in the busy whirl of every day. For now the
black war cloud, which began as the size of a man's
hand, was spreading over our nation's horizon with
alarming rapidity. May be you remember it. How
men grew grave and anxious, and women pale and
tearful. These times came to our little household as
they came to yours, may be. Mollie grew apprehen-
sive one noon, when John came home graver and
more occupied than ever. At length, amid the chat-
ter of the children who had caught the spirit and
were talking of flags and drums, John salted instead
ECCLESIASTES xi, 1. 227
of sweetening his coffee, and sipped away with sev-
eral portentous " hems ! "
" Do you know there's a call for more volun-
teers?' 1
"N-o," answered Mollie, taking baby up in her
lap to hide the twitching of her lips.
" And Mollie, I feel as if I can't hang back any
longer. At first, you know, I hesitated because
of you and the children, but I I can't any longer.
I know," he added, not daring to look at her, u that
you'll want me to. You've said the same several
times, if my memory serves me right," arid he tried
to smile, but 'twas a failure.
" Yes, I said so ; but it was when I thought war
was a long way off," pleaded Mollie. " How long
will it last ? " she asked, clearing her throat, for her
voice would tremble.
" Not long if our men are true. It's wortk work-
ing for, and you're willing ? " he asked, looking
straight at Jimmy, who had crowded up and was
staring into his father's face.
" Jimmy, can you run the house ? "
" I'd rather go to the war. Those that don't fight
the Rebs are cowards," said Jimmy, with spirit.
" Ha ! ha ! Hear that, Mollie ? A young recruit.
Try it at home, my son, and we'll see about the Rebs
by and by."
It would take too long to tell about the getting
ready and about the day when John marched away
230 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
tain Greenfield thought ye mightn't know. I'll be
'round 'fore we git there," he added, turning away.
" O, I'm so glad," answered Molly, experiencing a
relief so great that her voice was gone. " Please
don't go away. Is he is he worse ? " the last end-
ing in a husky whisper.
" No, mum. Better'n they thought at fust. He
said, sez he, ' Tell her I'm all right.' "
Saying this he moved away on pretense of letting
some one pass. Truth was he couldn't stand Mollie's
pale face and beseeching inquiries. But he appeared
at the station, and no knight was ever more chival-
rous, even to leading the horse which Molly, after
some urging, consented to ride. The first day there
were so many questions and answers, and doctor's in-
junctions on the same, that the escort, in spite of
being highly appreciated, was quite forgotten.
" That reminds me, John, who is that fellow you
sent to meet me ? "
" You connected, did you ? Why, he's my best
friend. For some unaccountable reason that fellow
serves me like a hero. You'll see him often enough,
O /
and find him invaluable, too. The night I was hurt,
Mollie, he tore off his coat and corded my arm.
Then he took lint out of one pocket and brandy out
of the other and kept me conscious until the surgeon
got around. I sleep imder his blanket and feed off
from his board, so to speak."
" Bless him ! Perhaps he has saved your life.
ECCLESIASTES XI, 1. 231
We'll never forget it, will we, John ? " asked Mollie,
tearful with gratitude. " What's his name ? "
" He bears the cognomen of Brown prefixed by
James. James Brown, you see. Sometimes abbre-
viated to Jim. Nothing classical about it."
" John, you're getting better." And Mollie smiled
at this first pleasantry from pale pinched lips.
" How can I help it ? " he answered, grasping the
hand which lay on the army blanket. " Here's my
body-guard. Good-morning, sir. Fresh eggs? That's
good. [Jim had tapped his pocket significantly.]
Waiting for order ? Nothing but this lady's message.
Just see that it goes. That's all this morning."
But Jim seemed loath to go.
" I thank you very much for your kindness to me
and mine," added Mrs. Greenfield, as he turned bash-
fully to her.
" ' Snothin,' " he mumbled, rummaging his pockets.
" I got this. Thought I'd tell ye." And he held up
Mollie's comfort bag, soiled, to be sure, but recog-
nizable.
" O, you got it, and you knew it was from me ? "
asked Mollie, in surprise, examining the bag with a
new interest.
"Why, Jim, you were favored. It's better than
mine. Why didn't you let me see.it?" demanded
Mr. Greenfield, examining it in his turn.
" Thought ye'd keep it," explained Jim, winking
knowingly.
232 ANNALS OF THE HOUND TABLE.
" Great danger along that line," laughed the cap-
tain, lingering the letter.
"An' that aint all," continued Jim, turning to Mrs.
Greenfield. "Ye giv' me a suit o' clothes some year
ago. I never wore 'em, but I never f urgot it of ye."
" O you're the Jimmy, Jimmy Brown ! " shouted
Mrs. Greenfield, clapping her hands and looking be-
wildered.
" Yes, mum."
" O, O ! John, you remember. Now I shall excite
you. Isn't it the strangest coincidence you ever
heard ? "
" Yes, yes," said John, quietly, getting excited in
spite of himself.
" And why did we never see you again ? " she
asked, trying to calm herself by feeling of her hus-
band's pulse.
" Eun away the next week. Clothes was stole that
night." Here Jimmy frowned as if the subject were
unpleasant. " Time fur the message. Mornin' to
ye."
Off he went, while Mollie gazed from his retreat-
ing figure to her husband with whole volumes in her
eyes.
"Quite an episode," said John, lightly.
"And here I am forgetting your breakfast. Xow
o o /
go asleep, and don't get to thinking." As Mr. Green-
field predicted, during the long, weary convalescence,
surrounded by discomforts, Jimmy was invaluable.
ECCLESIASTES xi, 1. 233
"Homesick?" queried Mr. Greenfield, one day, as
Mollie dropped the blue soldier overcoat and gazed
thoughtfully out of the window at the rows of army
tents.
" Xot a bit. I was thinking about Nannie's verse.
It is so true, John : ' Cast thy bread upon the waters,
and thou shalt find it after many days.' '
" Ah ! yes ; you mean Jimmy. To really make it
worthy of record, my dear, Jimmy should have
turned out a college president or a Vanderbilt rail-
roader, instead of a faithful soldier-boy murdering the
king's English in every sentence."
" I'm satisfied," answered Mollie, softly, glancing
at the arm-bandage for proof positive.
"Even if he can't leave half a million to your chil-
dren, or endow a university with your name. O,
pshaw ! women have no ambition."
To tell all included in the " after many days "
would take too long. When at length one cot in the
hospital was vacated, and its occupant was granted a
furlough, Jimmy carried them to the depot. He it
was who found a comfortable seat and attended to
the baggage.
"Jimmy, I never can thank you enough," said
Mollie, earnestly, clasping both her hands over his
big rough one. " The welcome I wrote about will be
enlarged a hundred-fold now."
" 'Snothin'," urged Jim, winking vigorously. " I
never wore them things, but you's good to me when
234: ANNALS or THE ROUND TABLE.
nobody was, and I never furgot it of ye. Good-bye
to yees both."
And off lie strode, making an angular gesture in
response to Mollie's handkerchief salute as the train
pulled out of the little station that spring morning
of 1864. And doesn't this bring us to Mollie's
answer of so long ago " When we do what seems
to be duty, that work is somehow taken care of, and
good conies of it, even if we don't know it ? "
ONE BEAM. 235
ONE BEAM,
RADIATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.
FT1HE room was not large nor elegantly furnished,
-I but it was pleasant and cheery with its rag carpet
and plain furniture. Mrs. Gleason dropped into her
lap the New York "Evening Post," just read, and then
began folding it, rocking faster and folding tighter
as her thoughts came faster.
" I wonder," she began, stopping suddenly, " if 1
have something to do in this. It came to me so
direct. Strange, isn't it, that homeless, neglected
children always drift to our door?' 3
And then the kindly mother face grew sober as she
looked out from the window away to the cemetery
where three little mounds were dimly outlined by
the afternoon sunshine. " For this reason, perhaps,"
brushing away her tears, " and He knows best." And
then her hands lay quietly in her lap, but only for a
moment, when she took up the paper again.
" But how ? " she murmured earnestly, almost anx-
iously. "Well, I've learned one thing; if the Lord
has something for me to do, he always shows me
how." And the wrinkles vanished.
" Yes, I'll talk it over with Albert."
230 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
Seated at the tea-table that night, Mrs. Gleason
broached the subject which was so possessing her
mind : "Albert, have you heard what kind people of
New York are trying to do for the poor children ? I
mean the summer-vacation plan."
Mr. Gleason had looked up quesiioningly.
" Seems to me I have heard something," lie an-
swered, slowly.
" So had I, a very little, but never understood it
until to-day. I read the New York "Evening Post''
came around that bundle and somehow I did get
wonderfully interested, and I well, the result of my
thinking was, that we can do something here in our
little city."
" Yes, with money, of course," answered Mr. G.,
significantly.
" Yes ; and it's all the Lord's money. Isn't it
right that it should be used for the Lord's little
ones ? "
" O, yes, yes of course. I am silent as always. I
suppose you want to get money and send on to these
men who put it in the fund and export all the little
humanity they can."
" As long as the money lasts and they can find
farmers to take them in," added Mrs. G. " Just
think of it, Albert, what a change for little pinched,
starving tenement children, milk and wholesome food
and grass and flowers, and animals to be fed and
petted, and loving care ! "
OXE BEAM. 237
" Yes, yes, I see," nodded Mr. G., pushing back
from the table. "But just think of the wealth of
New York, and you it strikes me that you have
shouldered all the asylums and associations you can
carry."
' We can't do much, I know," and she sighed just
a little.
" If we were only rich, now ! " said Mr. Gleason,
striking the table for emphasis.
" I suppose we couldn't be trusted with more,"
she answered, smiling.
"But we can do a little, can't we?" she began,
earnestly. " And then, these people who have the
money have kind hearts and I believe will always re-
spond if you let them feel that it is their work. For
this scheme there is Miss Hayden."
"That butterfly?"
" Yes," she answered, kindly. " But, I tell you,
Albert, I believe that these wealthy, petted girls are
butterflies more because they haven't any thing else
to do than because they like it."
" Perhaps that's so," he said, running his fingers
through his hair.
As Mrs. Gleason hurried about her little kitchen
that night with her tea-dishes, her thoughts became
such busy ones. And when at last, in her planning,
she saw the little waifs actually reveling in the de-
lights of country home-life, the smile broadened on
the kindly features and at last broke out in a song,
238 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
old-fashioned and full of quavers to be sure, but a
strain of melody running through it, the melody that
brightens other hearts and lives.
In her own elegant room in the Hayden home,
Laura Hayden was lounging. "Going to-night?"
queried a young lady friend, dropping into a chair
near her.
" I suppose so," yawning. " The truth is, I'm sick
of parties and balls and dresses, and the people, O
horrors ! are flatter than all the rest."
" You're tired out ; that's the matter. Haven't
slept enough lately."
"I don't do any thing but sleep and dress. Mat,
society is a cheat. Unless you can outdo somebody
there isn't any fun. It's made up of flattery and
nonsense. Bah ! "
" O pshaw ! " laughed her friend, for she had heard
her talk like this before, and then plunge into gayety
deeper than ever. But just here a servant tapped,
announcing a caller.
" Didn't send up a card ? "What sort of a woman,
Katy ?" queried Laura, rising wearily.
" Plain lookin'. A wantin' help, likely."
" Fiddlesticks ! " frowned Laura. " Mat, can you
amuse yourself with that book? I'll dispatch her
soon as possible."
Laura didn't appear very amiable as she advanced
to meet her unwelcome visitor. " Mrs. Gleason, O
yes, I remember," she said, giving her hand a little
ONE BEAM. 239
stiffly. "You are the lady my brother Willie sent
for when he broke his arm near your house. Please
be seated."
Mrs. Gleason remembered it with a nod and an in-
quiry for "Willie. " I trust I don't intrude," she be-
gan, quietly. "But I have a cause very near my
heart, and I have been thinking that if only our dear
young people would get interested it would succeed,
and then I thought of you as the one to carry it
through. May I tell you of it ? "
" Certainly," assented Laura, wonderingly, almost
afraid she was about to be bored.
And so Mrs. Gleason recited the simple annals of
the " Fresh Air Charity," warming with her subject
as her listener grew more intent until, with uncon-
scious eloquence, her voice grew tremulous and the
tears shone in her mother-eyes and were reflected in
her listener's.
" It's just beautiful ! " she exclaimed, clapping her
hands with enthusiasm. " Kow, what shall I do ? "
" Probably you will have better plans for money
raising, but I had thought of a lawn festival. So
many of your young friends are musicians. Music
and supper on a well-lighted lawn would attract,
wouldn't it ?"
" Just the thing on our lawn. I can get vocal and
instrumental music, all we want."
" I will leave it with you, then," said Mrs. Gleason,
a glad smile on her face as she rose to go.
240 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" On the condition that you must tell me how, and
I shall want ever so much advice. I'm not tit for
it never did any work in my life," she added.
" Ability conies with opportunity, my dear. I
knew you had it in you all the while. Shall be only
too glad to see you any time." And they said good-
bye over a very cordial hand-shake.
" O Mat," exclaimed Laura, bounding up the
stairs ; " I have some work for you ! a capital plan ! "
And so the story was again rehearsed, Mat growing
more and more surprised and interested.
" You are the strangest girl yawning one minute,
boiling over with plans the next."
" Never mind. You must help ever so much, and
we'll send this money in Mrs. Gleason's name. She
is just lovely, Mat."
Tims the leaven began working. That noon Mayor
Hayden found himself button-holed by his pretty
daughter until his consent was given to eveiy thing.
Of course, he laughed a little. " President of a
female woman's club, eh ? O, well, go ahead with
your harmless fun." And he went back to his news-
paper thinking more kindly of the enterprise than
any body, even himself, suspected.
Passing down Main Street, in a street car, a few
days later, one might have overheard two young,
well-dressed misses chattering like a couple of mag-
pieo : " 'Twill be a great deal more jolly than a party.
Laura says we are to have the flower-booth."
ONE BEAM. 241
" And just think of it ! Isn't it fun that some
poor little children will have a vacation just because
we help them ? Have you heard about Aunt Myra ?
Why, she lias consented to take a couple. Laura
Hayden went to see her about it."
" And we'll go to see them, wont we ? This is
my street. By-by."
To be sure, before all the work was done, Papa
Hayden frowned a little over so much running, and
John declared the lawn would be ruined, while some
people listened to her enthusiastic appeals, with the
trite remark that they believed charity should begin
at home. But Mrs. Gleason assured Laura that
slight discouragements only gave workers more zeal
and an enterprise greater success.
Mayor Hayden's lawn never looked more beautiful.
Chinese lanterns, white tables among green shrub-
bery, music, and bevies of young people, made a
merry scene. Every body was wondering at Laura
Hayden's energy and executive ability. " "Who
would have dreamed it 1 " was \vhispered about.
Mr. and Mrs. Gleason were there, modestly occupy-
ing a quiet corner, enjoying it very much. " O,
here you are," said Laura, coming upon them. " I've
been looking for you. Do you know, you must
make a speech ? " she said, slipping her pink muslin
arm through Mrs. Gleason 's.
" A speech ! " and Mrs. Gleason grew alarmed at
once. " My dear, I never made one in my life."
16
242 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
" Yes, you have made one that first day. Just
get up and tell the people about it as you did me.
You see there are some here, papa's friends, who will
give us something if you can coax them a trifle."
" But " for already Laura was leading her to the
stone steps " I haven't made any preparation."
"That would spoil it. Papa," (stopping him),
" this is Mrs. Gleason. You must introduce her.
She is going to make a spesch."
Used to acquiescence, he gallantly offered his arm
and escorted her up the steps. " Ladies and gentle-
man, I take pleasure in introducing to you Mrs.
Gleason, who will talk a few moments about the
Open Air Charity.' "
The buzz of voices hushed. No wonder that Mrs.
Gleason's heart jumped to her throat, with a mayor's
introduction and a crowd of expectant faces. No
wonder that her voice trembled a little, and might
have failed her only that in place of a throng of
happy people, in the beauty of brilliant lights and
waving tree-tops, she seemed to see narrow lanes and
alleys full of squalor and wretchedness, with tall tene-
ments shutting out all but a narrow strip of heaven's
blue. And so, in a gentle, quiet voice, she pictured
the contrast to her hearers, and then told what was
being done for them ; how three thousand had been
sent to country homes for two weeks of happiness,
and gone back with healthier souls in healthier bodies.
" Not our little ones," she said, " but somebody's little
O.NE BEAM. 243
ones His little ones and I am thinking to-night of
the ' Inasmuch as ye have done it nnto one of the
least of these,' the least of these, ' ye have done it
unto me.' ' :
It was a simple speech, but somehow it made a
breathless quiet. Mayor Hayden blinked vigorously,
while his hand slid down into his pocket. " And I
am to take the collection ? " he asked, huskily, turning
to Mrs. Gleason.
" If you will," she answered, so surprised as hardly
to be able to answer.
On very short notice Laura produced a hat, which
the mayor bravely accepted and passed around in a
storm of applause. Yes, it was a success. As the
paper afterward announced :
" The ' Open Air Charity ' lawn social was a grand
success, financially and socially."
But it didn't say that one of the two happiest
hearts in all the city that night was beneath the Hay-
den roof.
There was a patter of bare feet on the pavement,
and the thump, thump of a crutch. The voice cor-
responding to the crutch was speaking : " They is
goin' to send more 'nns. May be us, Joey."
" JSTaw, they wont," Joey growled.
" Don't be cross, Joey," she urged, gently.
" They never done it last year when other 'uns not
half so bad as you went. I don't care 'bout me,
244: ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
'cause I see grass an' things, an' kin most always
manage to git sometliin' to eat," shaking his head
wisely, as if the how might be a secret. " But you "
glancing at the drawn-up foot " can't git nowhere
with that stick o' yourn."
" Mebbe I ken git 'round on it in the country."
" Humph ! " came between the doubting lips.
They were nearing the mission-house, through the
open windows of which a Sabbath song was coming,
the only cheery thing in all that dirty, noisy street.
" I wont go in, Suke. Aint much on Sunday-schools,
any way."
" O yes ; come in," urged Sukey. But Joey reso-
lutely shook his head and took a seat on the lowest
step. " Don't be in there long, neither, if I'm goin'
to wait."
Poor little Joey ! not always so cross ways as to-
day. He knew so much of beatings and hunger and
so little of comfort. Yes, and he knew about sacri-
fices for Sukey's sake that many a brother never
dreamed of. But to-day there he sat, biting away on
a stick, and growing more and more bitter as he grew
hungry. Now they were singing the closing piece,
" There's a beautiful land
Where they hunger and thirst nevermore."
"'Taint here," he ejaculated, breaking the stick
with a spiteful bite. Distinctly down the steps the
thump of the crutch could be heard, and somehow
it sounded so light and quick that he turned.
BEAM.
" O, Joey ! " and Sukey stopped hobbling to clap
her thin hands.
" Goin', are ye ? More'n I thought they'd do," he
said, brightening.
" An' that aint all. Guess the rest. O hurry ! "
" They goin' "
" Yes, they is goin' to take you, an' I'll have a pink
gown an' a sun-bunuit, an' O ! lots o' things ! "
" No ! Goin' to take nae 1 " he repeated, incredu-
lously.
"Yes; an' Joey, you wont care, will you?" she
began, speaking low ; " but I prayed about it asked
Him "(and she pointed a little finger up to the sky),
"if we couldn't go, you an' I, Joey. Didn't dare tell
ye afore. Don't care now, do ye ? "
In answer to which Joey nodded his head indul-
gently, and turned to take her hand, saying, kindly,
" Only wish 'twas to-day ; don't you, Sukey ? "
And so the pair passed out of sight, the little
crutch taking frantic leaps ever and anon while the
bare feet which trotted along by the side carried
more happiness than for many a day before.
24:6 ANNALS OF THE BOUND TABLE.
A GRAIN OF MUSTARD-SEED,
f\ DEAR ! how can I ? " and the tired eyes looked
\-J up from the letter to the mending-basket close
at hand, farther on to the sewing-machine, almost
groaning under its weight, to the floor strewn with
playthings and clothing hastily thrown off, over to
the corner where the light was carefully shaded from
a bed with its two little heads. A rustling in the
cradle on which her foot rested claimed her wander-
ing attention until the long, even breathing told of
sleep again. "It seems just impossible for me," and
the tired hands reached for the basket and straight-
ened out a pair of little, crumpled stockings. Steps
on the stairs and the swinging open of the door
caused her to raise her finger warningly to the in-
truder, who obeyed the gesture with a questioning
look at the cradle. " This is comfortable," he said,
glancing at the fire and shaded light, while lie pro-
ceeded to slip into a dressing-gown and draw his
chair near the cheery warmth.
" Many out to-night ? "
" Not many. Ah, that reminds me ! The sewing
society for the mission school meets to-morrow.
A GRAIN OF MUSTARD-SEED. 247
Coats for the lads and frocks for the lasses, I be-
lieve ; " and the minister opened his volume of Ray-
mond's " Systematic Theology " and settled down to
his study. Ever and anon the pages turned, while
near the cradle the yarn was drawn back and forth
over the big holes. A long-drawn sigh made the
reader look up from his book.
" Tired, Bessie ? "
" Yes, but that's nothing new," answered Bessie,
making a sorry attempt at a smile.
" Well, what is new ? Suppose you put up the
basket ; that would be a novelty."
"Fred," she began, earnestly, throwing down her
work, " it's so hard to find out what is one's duty !
Just look at the home work enough for one
poor woman and then look at the church work :
blind Aunt Katy, old Mrs. Simpson, all the calls on
the sick, festivals, and what not. It just keeps me
busy every minute, doesn't it ? And, too, I am
growing to feel that I must read more. I feel it
most when I look at the children. Surely I owe
something to myself. I have made desperate efforts
lately and read a little. I was thinking what I could
leave off to get more time when this came." And
she brought out from under the basket a letter, and
passed it over to her husband :
" MY DEAR MRS. FULLER : In looking over the
Minutes, I see that your Church is without an aux-
248 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
iliary to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society.
I have refrained from writing to you before, remem-
bering your " church debt," until the cries for help
are so loud and the need of money so great we must
rally every force. Never in the world's history has
there been such an opportunity to reach Eastern
women as now. Every facility for the spread of the
Gospel is offered, so that we who are already burdened
with home and church can still find time for the
little which we are asked to do. To save them re-
quires effort, and the effort may be a. sacrifice for us;
but isn't it worth while ? Shall we be sorry in the
by and by that some one is inside the pearly gates
because we helped ? In looking back on the earth-
life, shall we regret the little self-denial ? I tell thec
nay. In my work I have noticed that a new society
is successful in proportion as the minister's wife is
willing to work for it. With you to preside, with
your energy and perseverance, it will succeed. May
I not hear from you favorably ?
" Yours in Christ, ,
"District Sec. W. F. J/. &
" Well ! " and lie looked at her over the letter.
" One can't do more than they can, that's certain,"
she answered, with an air of solemn conviction.
"Please don't laugh ; surely my family is first ; next,
my husband's church," counting on her fingers ;
" and don't you think, honestly, Fred, that all time
A GKAIX OF MUSTARD-SEED.
over that should be for for self-improvement ? It's
precious little not enough to do the heathen any
good."
" The heathen do fare rather hard according to
your reckoning," he answered, shaking his head
slowly. " Your logic and my judgment seem to say
it isn't your duty," he continued, as she waited for
his opinion.
" What shall I write her ? " was the next question.
" To let the matter rest ' until a more convenient
season, ' " he answered, in his preoccupied way.
What made Fred quote those words ? How could
she help picturing that scene in Agrippa's judgment
hall, and remembering that the ;t convenient season "
never came to him ? Ah, yes ; when Agrippa put
away that opportunity and shut his ears to the clank
of the iron chain, as Paul the prisoner departed, it
was an opportunity forever neglected. Perhaps this
was the reason why, when she lay down to sleep, the
thought still clung to her, until it entered with her
into the shadowy land of dreams : a land sometimes
so near the heavenly land that a ladder may reach to
its glory, while God's own messengers visit its inhabit-
ants. Xow she was looking upon a home, a pleasant
home, with mother and children happy in the ten-
derest of domestic relations. She had known many
such her own was like it. She felt like reproach-
ing herself as the thought of her home's happiness,
never so much realized as now, came to her with
250 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
greater force. And now her vision was obscured.
The lovely home was gone. What a different
country! Such narrow, filthy streets! Such an
atmosphere of oppression ! No laughter, no smiles,
no happy children, no cheerful interchange of
greetings between the people who passed each other
and shuffled on to bow before the hideous idols
which adorned the street corners. Hark! what a
sound ! a mingling of groans and howls, with clash-
ing of cymbals, hideous beyond description ; a funeral
train, with its attendants, growing more and more
demonstrative as they neared the pyre. She had
heard of this horrible custom, but how dreadful to wit-
ness it ! They halted. The dead was laid on the pyre ;
and now a shrill shriek rose above the wailing. A
slight female figure was lifted beside the dead. The
awful significance of it all broke over her. The wife
was to be burned alive with the husband. Unable to
endure it longer, Bessie turned away and closed her
ears to the heart-rending cries.
What was that form ? a woman ? Yes ; and a
baby in her arms. The little face looked familiar.
She scanned it closely ; a horror seized her her own,
her darling baby, only so different in its awkward
dress ! And the mother could it be herself, Bessie ?
A gloom, dark as midnight, settled over her. She
clasped the little form to her breast again and again ;
and then, walked swiftly toward the river bank the
dark, dreadful Ganges. An insane desire to plunge
A GRAIN or MUSTARD-SEED. 251
in seized her. But there was a curse attending self-
destruction ; and here the thought of the gods the
cruel, merciless gods sent a shiver through her
frame. But the baby, her daughter Ah ! this was
why she was here ; because the little one was a de-
spised daughter, the third, and it must die. Why
should she destroy it ? Didn't she remember that Fred
loved his little girls his " little women," as he play-
fully called them ? But the thought of her husband, as
the kind husband and loving father, grew more and
more unreal, until it was like a long-ago dream, difficult
to recall. In his place was a stern tyrant, despising her,
hating her baby. She moved nearer the dark water,
looked into baby's face again. In answer to the
mother-love it reached out its little hands and
touched her face with a well-known caress. She
tried to murmur some loving words, but they faltered
on her lips. She raised it in her arms, and, with the
wild cry of a breaking heart, threw the little one far
out into the current. A splash and choking gurgle,
from which she turned away, told that all was over.
An anguish unspeakable, destitute of every ray of
hope, took possession of her. She threw herself on
the ground.
" Bessie ! Bessie ! what is the matter ? "
She opened her eyes in her own room, where the
first sunbeam was struggling for admittance.
" O Fred ! is baby safe ? "
" Yes ; are you sick ? "
252 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
"No; but such a dream! as real as reality it-
self;" and she pulled the cradle nearer, and looked
earnestly into the little sleeping face. " I threw my
baby into the Ganges. O ! " and a shiver. " You
made me, or I thought you did. "Wasn't it strange
that I should have such a dream after deciding not
to help the heathen ? "
" Most natural thing in the world," answered Fred,
" you were tired, and it worried you."
" It's a wonder my hair isn't gray," said Bessie, as
she stepped in front of the mirror, half-expecting to
find herself crowned white as snow. " I never knew
what a hopeless sorrow was before absolutely hope-
less, not a ray of comfort. I thought I realized it
when I read about it ; but I never did, never. 1
cannot help thinking," she continued, after a little,
" that I ought to change my mind about a society
here. I certainly do not feel as I did last night."
And she lifted up baby, whose garments did not drip
with water from the Ganges.
" Superstitious, eh ? "
" No ; but it came right home." And she shud-
dered again.
" Just as you please ; but I thought you had
care enough, and I quite think so now," he added.
" You're not strong, Bessie, and the little ones
" I know ; I've reasoned it all out ; I'm sure, pos-
itively sure, I'll find time somehow. You are will-
ing?"
A GKAIN OF MUSTAKD-SEED. 253
" Any thing to prevent you from transforming me
into a Hindu tyrant," he answered, resignedly.
And so it came to pass, one Sabbath morning, that
the pastor gave an earnest invitation to the ladies to
meet at the parsonage ; and on the afternoon ap-
pointed they came. Just as every one knows who-
has done this work, they who answered the invitation
were the ladies who can always be depended on in all
church work: attendants at the rainy-night prayer-
meeting, faithful Sunday-school teachers, Marthas
for all church gatherings. The attendance wasn't
large, because this class of ladies isn't large
in any church ; but they were there, making up in
earnestness and devotion what they lacked in num-
bers. The pastor's wife, re-enforced with a " Heathen
Woman's Friend " and a pamphlet of missionary
statistics, called them to order. After a few pre-
liminary remarks, with quotations from the statistics
and extracts from the " Heathen "Woman's Friend,"
she read the " secretary's letter " and waited for sug-
gestions. A cautious little woman broke the pause.
"I know this is important work, but can we do
justice to any thing if we undertake so much? You
know \ve have two societies already."
" Let me relate my experience," began the chair-
man, smiling with them at the class-meeting expres-
sion. " I said this very thing when I received the
letter. I really thought we couldn't undertake it.
But that night it was such a strange coincidence, I
254 ANNALS OF THE KOUND TABLE.
couldn't help feeling that it was sent to cause me to
decide differently from what I would without it
I had this dream." And then she told them all her
strange experience, which to her was so very real.
" There was no one to sing to me, as they did at your
home, Mrs. Phelps,
" ' Safe in the arms of Jesus.'
If a dream can be so dreadful, what must be the
reality? and can we pass them by, when the oppor-
tunity to help has come to our door ? "
She was a timid little woman, shrinking from
prominence, and her earnestness carried weight.
" I think we had better organize and do what we
can," said Mrs. Phelps, brushing away a tear.
" So do I."
" And I," echoed the others.
So the society was regularly organized ; the several
officers promptly resigning, as they always do, you
know, and then, after very unbusiness-like urgings
from the entire body, modestly accepting the honors
of office. Thus the first meeting closed, making our
Bessie quite happy with its success, notwithstanding
it burdened her with its presidency.
Weeks and months sped on, and the little leaven
put in by the tired hand burdened with other duties,
and kept warm by loving hearts, was beginning to be
felt, imperceptibly perhaps, but surely, as results
proved. At length the Sabbath came which an-
nounced the annual meeting. This would give an
A GKAIN OF MUSTAKD-SEED. 255
opportunity to swell the treasury by the payment of
memberships, the opening of mite-boxes which had
been out a year, and any voluntary gifts. It was a
pleasant evening when the ladies began to gather at
the parsonage : so warm that the doors and windows
stood open. K"ow it happened that directly opposite
the parsonage was a more pretentious building, on the
piazza of which two ladies were seated, enjoying the
twilight : one evidently the hostess, the other her guest.
" Do tell me what is going on over the way," ob-
served the guest.
" O that's a minister's abode. I think they hold
a missionary meeting this evening."
" Did you ever know a minister's wife who didn't
preside over every thing churchy ? "
" Never ; this woman is always as busy as a bee.
She has three little children. How a woman can
neglect her home for heathen I don't see."
" Wasn't she the mother we saw yesterday giving
three little midgets an airing \ "
" O yes ; she always gives them whatever attention is
left over from the little Chinese. Generous, isn't it ? "
" I remember thinking she had a real sweet face,"
answered the guest, musingly.
After a brief pause, during which the familiar words,
' From Greenland's icy mountains "
w r ere wafted to them, she added, " What do you say
to going over, just for amusement ? I do enjoy busi-
ness meetings when women preside."
256 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" Please excuse me : I lack your curiosity, and the
sunset is too charming to be neglected."
" With your permission, I think I'll go. No one
here knows me ; I can steal in unobserved. I will
not be gone long," she said, waving her hand from
the steps.
Imagine Bessie's surprise when she raised her head
from the prayer and discovered a visitor demurely
seated in a corner a stranger, richly attired and
very attentive. No wonder the ladies cast sidelong
glances in that direction. During that little brief
moment the president couldn't help wondering if
she was a strong-minded woman come in to criti-
cise.
" No, I guess not," she thought, stealing another
glance. And then, aloud, " The secretary's report
will now be read." The business proceeded, not
exactly according to parliamentary rules, perhaps, but
none the less interesting on that account. Item after
item was considered, the ladies getting quite enthu-
siastic over the treasurer's report. Some one called
for the opening of the mite-boxes.
" Not much addition, possibly, but we are glad of
even the mites."
" These boxes were taken a year ago," said the
president, ; ' into the houses of the ladies, to receive
their little gifts."
Sums varying from twenty-five cents to a dollar
were announced as each box was opened.
A GRAIN OF MUSTARD-SEED. 257
" Mrs. Simpson sent hers by me," said Mrs.
Phelps, handing it to the president.
" O yes, I remember, she said she couldn't be a
member, but she'd take a box and do what she could.
I don't know where even these ' mites ' came from,"
said Bessie, as she emptied out a couple of pennies,
and from a little paper three well-worn pieces of silver
rattled into her lap as she unfolded it. Why, here is
a note from Mrs. Simpson. She says:
" ' DEAR MISSIONARY LADIES : I remembered that
to-night was the annual meeting, and I remembered,
too, that I had nothing to give. Then I thought of
these little silver pieces, carefully treasured because
they belonged to rny dear boy now in heaven. I well
remember, as if it were but yesterday, how he would
hold them in his hand and plan what he would do
with them, as children will. Those were days of
weary poverty. Sickness made us shelterless, so he
talked of buying a home for mother when he had
added to his little store. When, from a borrowed cot
in a neighbor's house, he went home., I unclasped
from his stiffened fingers this money, which he had
begged in his delirium to ' buy mother a home with.'
I have often said that no personal want, however ur-
gent, would cause me to part with it, but, thankful that
I am permitted to give something, I ask that it may
have a place in your treasury. It goes forth freighted
with prayer. May God bless you and your work ! ' '
253 AJTXALS OF THE ROUXD TABLE.
Bessie's voice bad grown more and more husky ;
until it was hardly audible. With the last word, un-
able to control her emotion, she bowed her head upon
the table, regardless of proprieties. When she looked
up again, every face was hidden.
4 * Well, ladies," she said, after a little, " what shall
we do with this gift ? "
" I would like very much to purchase it and return
it to the mother," came timidly from the visitor's
corner.
" A very kind offer," said the president, nodding
gratefully.
" Pardon me, but would it not make her feel
badly to have her gift returned ? '" said a thoughtful
lady.
"' I'm afraid it would.'' Mrs. Phelps answered,
with a kindly lock at the stranger.
li O. don't let me interfere ; I thought that was so
precious to her. and any other would answer for your
treasury quite as well/'
" I think," said the president, " she must have had
more enjoyment in giving it for the very reason that
it was so precioQS to her, and, somehow, I believe it
will accomplish more than ordinary money/'
WLen the vote was taken the gift was heartily
accepted.
" Do you think," said the visitor, hesitatingly,
l " that she would be willing to receive a member-
ehipl"
A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED. 259
" Very thankfully, I am sure," answered the presi-
dent, promptly.
Then the doxology was sung : after which came
the chit-chat and inquiries about each other's families.
" This is " said Bessie, extending her hand to
the stranger.
" Mrs. Johnson. I took the liberty to come in un-
invited, and have enjoyed your meeting very much."
" We are very thankful for the gift, as Mrs. Simp-
son will be, I am sure."
" Please don't speak of that ; it's nothing compared
with what her letter has done for me. Who is
she?"
" A dear old widow lady, entirely dependent on
her friends. A perfect piece of sunshine," said
Bessie.
'* I must acknowledge that I know very little about
the work of this society. It accomplishes a great
deal, doesn't it ? "
" Would you like to take some reading home with
you ? "
" With your permission," said Mrs. Johnson, hesi-
tatingly, "I would rather talk with you about it. Do
you receive informal calls?"
u Xever any other," said Bessie, unable to keep
the wonder out of her eyes, as she glanced from the
rich attire of the visitor to the u Heathen Woman's
Friend," which she was viewing with interest.
"' I may trouble you often, then. Good-night."
260 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
And she tripped down the steps, with sympathies
stirred and heart warmed toward the suffering women
abroad and the unselfish women at home.
The next afternoon found the visitor on the little
piazza of the parsonage, listening attentively while
the president talked of zenanas and Bible-women and
orphanages. At length, drawn out by the sympathy
of the hearer, she went back to her own little expe-
rience as an inhabitant of India.
" O, it makes living mean so much w r hen you take
in the whole world," said the guest, as she rose to go.
" It's so nice to be of some use in the world. You
have so many opportunities ! "
" Opportunities ! " gasped Bessie, glancing at the
jeweled fingers.
" Yes, opportunities ; " and she smiled at Bessie's
wonder.
" Every thing in my surroundings is away from
helping others. But there is hope for me; I see
what you mean."
Some weeks had passed since the annual meeting.
The guest across the way had gone back to her city
home not, however, until she had paid the parson-
age several visits ; and had actually worked on calico
dresses for the mission school, while Bessie read to
her a letter which had come all the way from India
to plead for suffering women. Yes, and she had met
old Mrs. Simpson. The jeweled hand, which had
served only itself, had clasped the hard, wrinkled
A GRAIN OF MUSTARD-SEED. 201
hand which, although it must needs be extended in
faith for daily bread, still could not be denied its
share in loving service.
An afternoon came which brought Bessie a letter.
" I don't recognize the handwriting," she said, tear-
ing off the envelope.
" Not from home ? " queried her husband, as she
read it hurriedly.
" O ! O ! Mrs. Johnson ! Thirty dollars ! "
" Mrs. Johnson ? " he said.
" Why, she visited across the way ; came to our
meeting, you know ; and now she wants to give
thirty dollars a year to support an orphan. She
says, ' It's name must be Bessie.' "
" Ah, that is good ; she couldn't have made a bet-
ter choice," said her husband.
" And just hear this, Fred. She says : ' I want to
give this as a thank-offering for what I have learned
through you and your society. Before my visit to
your little meeting I thought that "Woman's Mission-
ary Societies were for the benefit of the strong-
minded ; but there I caught something of the inspira-
tion of the work, and that letter was so touching !
the old story of the two mites ' and the benediction
upon them. This work is growing on me as I read
about it. A few days ago I read of a lady who de-
sired to support a Bible-reader because it was such a
joyous thought that, as she laid aside the cares and
duties of the day here, on the other side of the globe
202 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
she could have a substitute who would be just enter-
ing upon the new day of service, and thus her work
for the Master would cease neither day nor night. I
think I begin to share that lady's enthusiasm, which
takes in the whole twenty-four hours.'
" Who would have thought," soliloquized Bessie, as
she laid aside the letter, " that so much could have
come from the writing of that one letter by the dis-
trict secretary to the overburdened wife of the min-
ister ! An auxiliary organized ; the ; widow's mite '
given ; a Bible-reader and an orphan supported ! and
not the least glad thought is that this wealthy lady
has become so much interested in mission \vork."
" ' Like to a grain of mustard-seed, . . . which indeed
is the least of all seeds ; but when it is grown, it is
the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree,' " re-
peated a wise voice from behind the Concordance.
"MucH KEQUIRED." 263
"MUCH REQUIRED."
A TRULY beautiful room it was a room where
glittering candelabras hung from the ceilings,
where pictures that were rare treasures of art looked
down from the walls, and where every little decoration
played its part in the general harmony. The figure
who was the foreground against all this had already
arranged a hassock for her feet, settled back into a
luxurious chair, and now was patiently waiting for the
quiet gentleman on the other side of the table to read
through l.i is columns.
" Would you 'nind reading the news aloud ? " she
asked, at lengtn.
" What do you call news, fashion notes ? " and he
turned his paper and listened obediently for orders.
" ISTo, no ; something fresh and interesting."
" Ah ! here it is. ' A returned missionary and his
wife come back after twenty years of service in India
and China.' "
" What else ? " she demanded, for he had stopped
with the formidable heading.
(i ' Rev. and Mrs. Judd were rapturously welcomed
yesterday by the many friends who have com? to
ANNALS OF THE EOUND TABLE.
love and honor them for their long service in mis-
sionary work. A public meeting will be held at St.
Luke's Wednesday next, where they will deliver ad-
dresses in behalf of the cause to which they have
given their lives.' Is that fresh .and interesting ? " he
asked, throwing aside his paper.
" Why, yes," she answered, slowly. " There is such
a dignity about having an earnest purpose in life,
especially when a woman has it."
" How will you carve out your destiny ? " he
queried.
She had begun to smile, but grew sober.
"It's an unsolvable problem. If 'life is real,
life is earnest,' to what special end am I created, I
wonder?"
"Women folks in general, to make pin-cushions
and give dinners, I suppose," he answered, calmly
disposing of the female population and his after-
dinner fruit at the same time.
"Some of us act as if we thought so, surely enough,"
she admitted, a little unwillingly.
" Which is certainly less conspicuous than having a
mission or addressing a convention," he suggested.
" I have just thought of the old catechism answer
to the question : ' What is the chief end of man ? '
Do you remember ? "
He thought a moment, and shook his head.
" ' To glorify God and enjoy him forever,' " she
repeated, slowly, almost reverently.
"Mirci! REQUIRED." 265
"Wliat a memory! My dear, you should have been
a business man. It would be worth a thousand a year
to you.' 1
"Just see how many years I have forgotten this,"
she protested. " It is like working without a pat-
tern until your garment is almost done, and then
wake up to find it entirely without form or come-
liness."
" What has resurrected this woman question ? " he
asked, comparing his watch with the mantel-clock,
which always meant that business had begun ; " and
will you be choosing a vocation or taking the plat-
form for suffrage ? "
"Don't give yourself the slightest uneasiness," she
urged. " The thought docs press rather heavily some-
times that I am so utterly useless in the world ; but I
shall always believe that women were created to stay
at home."
" How about the missionary's wife you were com-
mending a moment ago? There's no subject like this
to make people inconsistent."
" She she may be a special dispensation," came
the reluctant answer, "and if I was in her place I
would let my husband make the speeches."
" If you had sung as many years as she,
' Where every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile,'
you would be just as willing to crowd your patient
and long-suffering husband into the background ; "
2G6 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
saying which he filled each overcoat pocket with
documents and departed.
The very next day Mrs. Boardman was driving in
the magnificent park of the city literally driving,
for her coachman sat at her left with folded arms,
while she guided the spirited steeds, who seemed to
know her touch, and sailed gracefully along with their
swan-like necks, or made the distances fly behind them,
as she indicated. A barouche was approaching, and
as she raised her head to recognize the gentleman her
eyes fell upon the lady who sat by his side, a little
silvery -grey woman she was, with a face like an olive-
branch. In a brief moment they had passed, but it
was long enough for each to look through the soul-
window of the other.
The stranger-lady had noticed that her friend lifted
his hat, so she ventured to ask :
"She is an acquaintance of yours?"
" Yes, her husband is at the head of one of our
solid firms. They are members of St. Luke's."
" Is she a worker ? " after waiting a little, and hop-
ing to hear more.
" I fear not. She is content with being a verv
o /
charming woman."
" You are wondering at my question," said the
lady, in a voice of quiet apology ; " but I couldn't
keep back the desire it was such a strong one that
the energy and skill displayed in managing her horses
might somehow be transferred to our missionary
"MucH KEQUIEED." 2CT
work," and the sweet face grew very sober, for beyond
the vistas of waving tree-tops she saw heathen tem-
ples ; above the sounds of twittering birds and tink-
ling fountains she heard -the wail of the suffering
millions who had crept so near her heart that they
were truly her brothers and sisters.
The impression seemed to be mutual. As they
rolled by, Mrs. Board man began her interrogations.
"John, was that Judge Porter?"
" Yes, ma'am."
" Do you know who their guests are ? "
" Them missionaries from over the water. Pat
says they've seen the other side of the world, ma'am."
To which Mrs. Boardman made no further reply
than an inward resolution, which was carried out that
afternoon when she followed the company turning
in at St. Luke's.
Be assured it was a very attentive listener who sat
through that missionary service and hurried home to
talk it over.
" It's an absolute fact," she began, after supper that
night, " that I have been laboring under a delusion all
my life about these missionaries. They are veritable
heroes. One cannot help feeling it. They have over-
come obstacles all their lives until nothing looks hard;
and then they have such broad ideas of life."
Mr. Boardman listened to the talk with that sort
of smile which those husbands wear whose wives are
addicted to moments of eloquence.
2GS ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" It strikes me it's nothing so very new. Have not
we always been represented on the subscription list ?"
he demanded, in self-defense.
" Yes," she answered, slowly ; " but what is that to
giving one's self, with all the possibilities of life and
all one's delicious dreams of the future ? I wont say
that you were influenced by the judge, but as for me,
I am willing to own that I did not want to be outdone
by the judge's wife. The figure opposite our name
became a sort of index of social standing, like one's
equipage or table-service. Just think ! " and she
dropped her hands into her lap despairingly, as if she
were looking back on the Dark Ages.
" Well," he began, as matters grew personal, " what
did he say that was so interesting ? "
" 1 came away with two impressions. First, that
Paganism is a dreadful reality. I couldn't help re-
culling Carlyle's definition of it ' a bewildering, in-
extricable jungle of delusions, confusions, falsehoods,
and absurdities.' But the deepest impression was, that
these deluded people are our brothers and sisters
that they have longings and gropings after the truth,
and immortal souls capable of eternal development,
like ourselves. He says, if you talk with a Christian-
ized Chinese you will become convinced that there is
no country like China. "VYlien you have converted
them you have a Christian nation of four hundred
millions of people. Just think of the possibilities of
a little leaven there a nation which was old when
"Mucn REQUIRED." 269
Europe and America were unbroken wildernesses.
But if you talk with a Hindu you will be assured
tliere is no field like India. There is no country
where they will make such sacrifices for their religion.
He says, when he has seen them inflicting all kinds
of torture on themselves, and crawling their long,
weary pilgrimages to the sacred river, and heard their
beseeching cries ' O, Gunga, save us, save us!' he
has longed that the cry might come even to our ears
until we should be eager to answer back through liv-
ing epistles, 'God so loved the world, that he gave his
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.' "
Mr. Boardman, with head thrown back and eyes
partly closed, was apparently dozing, but he heard it
all, bless you, yes. The old hackneyed missionary sub-
ject was becoming a new revelation, but he only said,
"And you haven't mentioned Mrs. Demosthenes."
" Because I have yet to be converted to women's
speech-making," she answered, promptly; "but
there's a charm about her. You feel that if the
glory of the kingdoms of the world should be laid at
o / ~
her feet, it would not move her. Nothing could.
She would simply shake her queenly little head in
refusal; and with it all, is a simplicity that reminds
me of your Quakeress mother."
He hesitated a little before commenting. " A
fancy of yours, I dare say, but why not give a dinner
for her. Isn't that the way you ladies do things?"
270 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
" So we will. But there shall be no one invited
but her husband."
" New thing under the sun," he laughed. " A
monopoly on missionaries ! "
And so a very unusual thing happened. Prepara-
tions were made for a dinner, but no one came except
the missionary and his wife, and the hostess herself
received them at the door in a most informal and de-
lightfully hospitable manner. Mr. Boardman discov-
ered that his wife's fancy was not wholly without
foundation, though, of course, there never could be
another woman like his mother.
It came about very naturally that one dinner was
all too short for all that must be said, and so it was
repeated, while Mrs. Boardman felt that she was
being taken up into an exceeding high mountain and,
with the widening horizon, the kingdoms of the
world and the misery of them were unfolding to her
view.
Acting under the impulse of this revenling, at one
of their after-dinner talks, she lifted a very earnest
face to her unconscious priestess, and asked :
"What is my duty in this matter? What shall I
give ?" toying with her diamond-studded fingers while
she asked, and little dreaming that a new door was
opening out of her life.
The missionary's wife returned a look which was
itself a benediction, and quietly answered, as if it were
a matter setttled long ago, " Yourself."
" MUCH REQUIRED." 271
The earnest face instantly became an astonished
one.
" ^N"o, you cannot mean it."
" Yes, yourself," and she began stroking the hand
which had been laid in her lap. " I must go back to
my work very soon. May I not leave you to trans-
late the sorrowing, beseeching language of heathen-
dom into a language which these people can feel?
Let them see as plainly as we do that in this mission-
ary idea our Father is working out one of his great
designs. Whether we help or not, it must go on ; but
then you will know for yourself what wondrous peace
it brings to have the consciousness that you are in
harmony with his infinite plans."
By this time her eyes were overflowing. It was all
such a wonderful message. Had this little woman
received a communication from the very court of
heaven ? How else was it that she knew of her dis-
satisfied life and the immortal soul which would not
be content with eating, drinking, and being merry ?
" But," she began, " I can never believe that any
woman is called to speak publicly. I never have
believed it, and I never can."
" ' To whomsoever much is given,' " murmured the
missionary's wife, giving a comprehensive glance
around the beautiful room. " But I am willing to
leave it all with you. I, too, believe that a woman's
throne is her own home. It is very blessed to sit
quietly at the Master's feet, as did Mary in the Beth-
272 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
any home ; but sometimes, like Miriam, we must strike
the timbrel, sometimes we must be Lydias to carry in
the folds of our garments Christ's word to these
peoples ; and sometimes, like Mary Magdalene, we are
bidden to hasten away from his tomb, where we would
worship his risen body in order that we may spread
the glad news of his resurrection."
Still Mrs. Boardman shook her head, because, you
know, people do not throw away life-grown preju-
dices all at once. The wise little woman knew this,
and having planted the truth she could quietly and
calmly abide its springing.
Gradually there crept into this home missionary
literature. "The Land of the Veda" came to tell
them of India's struggle, and of Havelock, the Chris-
tian M-arrior; histories of the Oriental nations and
lives of missionary heroes found places on the library
shelves, while the monthly paper came to tell them
of each day's onward march.
Not long afterward a conference of ministers and
mission workers was called in that very city. The
missionary and his wife, as representing the field, had
prominent parts of the programme, and our Mrs.
Boardman, who now had taken all these days into
her calendar, was prepared to enjoy it as never be-
fore. But no sooner had she been seated in the well-
filled church than a messenger brought her a note
which filled her first with grief and then with intense
solicitude.
" MUCH REQUIRED." 273
" MY DEAR MRS. BOARDMAN i I write f roiii a sick-
bed that I am sorrowing most of all because I cannot
look into your face to-day. My work cannot be rep-
resented unless you are willing to speak a few words
for me. Knowing that you have been ' enriched in
all utterance and in all knowledge,' I beg you not to
turn aside what may be this good providence to you."
A flood of conflicting emotions swept over her as
she crumpled the paper in her hands. The sudden
impulse to send up a refusal and then run away was
followed by a sober second thought, until it seemed
that from every zenana prison with which she had
become familiar, from every hideous heathen temple,
where by bodily suffering the worshipers were seek-
ing to wash away sin, from every smoking funeral
pyre of human sacrifice, was borne the cry, "Unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much
required." She glanced about the room. Many of
her friends coming out from homes like her own
were present. O, if only the missionary's wife were
there to inspire them as she had been inspired ! A
foreground of venerable ministers made her heart
quake ; she who had never spoken publicly in her life,
ay, more, had so stoutly advocated its impropriety.
Dimly there came to her memory the story of the
gathering at Jerusalem, where many people must be
taught, and where the gift of language, as it were,
God's own coronation, rested upon the speakers.
18
274 ANXALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
That part of the note, "enriched in all utterance,"
kept repeating itself.
Already the exercises were fast progressing, and
almost before she had settled the question, her name
was announced. With a quick firm step she ascended
the platform and looked down on what seemed a sea
of faces. She thought only to echo the cry as it had
come to her that afternoon ; but as she tried to tell
them how " His truth is inarching on," the field of
vision stretched on and out to the possibilities of
intellectual force and moral power hidden away in
these benighted people, destined soon, if we should
be faithful, to come to an inconceivably glorious
fruition. She spoke of papal-bound Rome, and our
little church there, within ear-shot of the awful
Mamertine Prison from which the first missionary,
St. Paul, went forth to martyrdom, and where he
wrote, " I have fought a good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith." She told them
how Napoleon himself was put under tribute to bring
the walls for the building of the little church, which
he designed to use for stables for his horses, but
being called home to look after a threatened gov-
ernment, the timbers were cared for until raised up
as the first Protestant church of Rome. Once again,
as in Bethlehem of Judea, the manger and the be-
ginning of Christianity were in close and helpful
proximity.
She did not forget to plead for the Dark Continent,
" MUCH REQUIRED." 275
where more are " off duty forever " in the little mis-
sion cemetery, where lie the heroes of half a century,
than remain to work for its teeming millions. She
reminded them that the Simon who took the cross
from the shoulders of the fainting Saviour, on that
journey toward Calvary, was an African.
And O, from what a full heart she pleaded for the
twenty-one millions of widows in India. Half of
them only betrothed, nevertheless called widows, held
responsible for the death of the husband, and doomed
to a life of infamy, of starvation, and of the severest
physical labor. As Joseph Cook says, " they are only
things." She told of the forty millions of women
in the zenanas of India, forever shut away from med-
ical skill in the hands of male physicians, and how
the Woman's Missionary Society, by sending out
woman physicians, was trying to do what our Saviour
meant his disciples should do when he said to them,
" Heal the sick, preach the Gospel." Not only that,
but they had gathered into medical schools classes of
natives who, in times of plague and contagion, had
proved themselves angels of healing to their own
terror-stricken, dying people.
She told them that China presented the sad and
awful spectacle of a nation of four hundred millions
of people without homes. "Without homes, because,
if made at all, homes must be made by women who
are the result of Christianity and education. The
worth or worthlessness of home depends upon woman.
27C ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
As the first step away from brute-life is when human
beings are established in well-ordered homes, so the
advance of a nation comes only through the improve-
ment of its homes. " A man may build a castle or a
palace," says the English Frances Cobbe, " but, poor
creature, ! be he wise as Solomon and rich as Crossus,
he cannot turn it into a home. No masculine mortal
can do that. It is a woman and only a woman
a woman all by herself if she likes, and without any
man to help her who can turn a house into a home"
She did not forget Mexico, " our next-door neighbor,"
than which in no nation has " the hand of God in
history " been more clearly seen. " We cannot ac-
complish our result with iron-clads and armies and
bombardment/' she said, "but when we of Chris-
tian nations shall have done the ' much required,'
then shall a glorious day dawn for the Orient. Then
shall nations not learn war any more. Then shall
' Some sweet bird of the south
Build a nest in each cannon's moi:;'!.
Till the only sound from its rusty ihruat
Will 1)0 the wren's or the blue-bird's note.' "
" I am unworthy," said Mrs. Boardman, with a trem-
ulous voice, "to unloose the shoe-latchet of her whom
I represent to-day she who, by a life of such won-
derful love and benevolence, is interpreting His love
to miserable humanity; she who has left her heart
in India, and will soon go back, not to leave again
until the pearly gates swing open to bid her enter ;
''MucH REQUIRED." 277
she who is on the roll-call of God's saints, to whom
he will say : ' I was a hungered, and ye gave me
meat : . . . sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison,
and ye came unto me : oppressed and down-trodden,
and ye gladly laid down your life for me. ' Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord,' ' to go no more out
forever.' "
A little buzzing of surprise had at first greeted her,
but with the first sentence a breathless silence per-
vaded the room. She had met her audience, and
they were hers. The missionary himself came next.
He was a tall, soldierly man, somewhat bent by many
years of labor under a vertical sun. Stretching out
one hand toward her and the other toward her hear-
ers, he said, impressively, " ' I commend unto you
Phebe our sister, . . . That ye receive her in the Lord,
as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatso-
ever business she hath need of you : for she ' shall be
4 a succorer of many.' Heaven bless her ! " Though
a short speech, it was followed by such a chorus of
" Amens ! " that one might almost guess the denomi-
national connection of the ministers. Believe me it
was a wonderful meeting, and its influence is not
spent to this day.
Now it happened that the sound of the church-bell
of St. Luke's had stolen into Mr. Boardman's count-
ing-room that afternoon with a new suggestion. He
looked at his watch and meditated a full minute.
Yes ; he had quite an inclination to run over and see
278 ANNALS OF THE ROUND TABLE.
if this extraordinary little missionary had any thing
to say. Not that he had any unmanly curiosity in
the matter, but simply a praiseworthy spirit of inves-
tigation. The heavy books were closed, and he
reached the church just in time to see his wife ascend
the platform. When he could recover from his over-
whelming astonishment he acknowledged to himself,
proudly and fondly, that he had always known she
was remarkably gifted. That a subject could so absorb
all self -consciousness in a position so untried, gave him
a new and convincing proof of the magnitude of the
subject. " She was right," he thought, as he strode
back to business ; " there is a dignity about having
an earnest purpose in life."
When business was over and he went home, as
usual, she was in her low rocker by the fire. Her
care for the heathen had not caused her to forget his
slippers, which were warming.
" Well ! " he said, taking his chair and looking at
her in a way that expressed whole volumes.
" Well," she answered, calmly, as if nothing more
unusual than an every-day occurrence had come to
pass.
" Another instance, my dear, of the instability
of"
"No, no," she interrupted, holding out her hand
in a little protesting gesture he remembered so well.
" Let us renew our pledge again, you and I," she
said, gently. "Let us promise to love, honor, and
"Mucu REQUIRED." 279
cherish this sacred cause so long as we both shall
live/'
And he answered, as when, some years before,
the question was put a little differently by a cler-
gyman, amid the incense of orange-blossoms, "I
will."
THE END.
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