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RA Sa RA : ; BNE NE CE EW EN ; c COUSIN ClcELY:s 3 a ; : n SILVER LARE STORIES "7 an 4) Li oP aN (% W A ~e. oi a“ ‘ yA Vi “ ” fe & Nee = ey ia VActy | . AUBURN: > ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & co 9S Og te THE GREEN SATCHEL; A COLLECTION OF PIECES IN PROSE AND RHYME, FOR THE SILVER SARE STORIES. THi(th Llustrations. BY COUSIN CICELY. AUTHOR OF “THE CORNUCOPIA,” ETO, AUBURN: ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO. “ROCHESTER: WANZER, BEARDSLEY & CO. 1852. ciniibiliasieiibaaiinen PD LP POPD DEEL LLP LE Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by ALDEN BEARDSLEY & CO. In the Clerk’s Office of the Northern District of New York, RPP BPO BLP LL ALLL ALD ALP PIO A EL STEREOTYPED BY THOMAS B. SMITH, 216 William St., N. Y. I was sitting by my window one day, when who should drive up to the door but Aunt Patty Pry. I was not at all surprised to see her, for Aunt Patty is forever visit- ing about among her friends and relations. She had now come but to make a short visit, however; in her hand she held an old Green Satchel. “ What have you there, Aunt Patty?” I asked. “ Papers, child, papers,” said she; “you know I was always fond of scribbling, and fond of visiting, too; and among all my travels and visits, I have seen and heard a great many interesting things ; and in my lonely hours at home, I have written them out. There are rhymes among them, too, which I have picked up here and there; I intended some day to put them into print, but I am getting too old to take that trouble now, and if you have a mind to take them and put them to- gether,” &c. &e. &e. In short, Aunt Patty and I made an arrangement satisfactory to both - parties, by which I was to introduce the stories to the young folks, who will find in the present volume a small number of the pieces which I found in the old “Green Satchel.” 4 THE SILVER LARGE SPORIES, COMPRISING THE FOLLOWING VOLUMES, L—THE JUMBLE. JL—THE OLD PORTFOLIO. IIL—THE GREEN SATCHEL. IV.—THE CORNUCOPIA. V.—AUNT PATTY’S MIRROR. VI.—THE BUDGET. Contents. Page THE STEP-MOTHER, ; . ° ° ° . ,? FANNY’S SILVER CUP, : Po ° » ° 85 THE GIPSY BOY, . ‘ ° s ‘ ° . ~ POOR JEANNIE’S PET, oo te ee TT ama wk 6 lll lf Se Ee eee 80 THE LONG HILL, j j ; ; ; ; ‘ 82 TIE HUMMING-BIRD AND THE BUTTERFLY, +» += > 108 TUE LOTTERY TICKET, ; : ‘ ‘ . nn MY FIRST SCHOOL-MISTRESS, » «+ ~« sai ee a ees a! NE ee 127 ice nen ss ss 2 eee eo ee 147 List af illustrations. Puge FREDDY AND HIS BOAT, . . ; ° . Frontispiece. THE STEP-MOTHER, ‘ : ‘ . ; : » 86 THE BLIND GRANDFATHER, . : : ° ° 41 THE YOUNG MUSICIAN, . : ° ° ; ‘ , THE GIPSY CAMP, . : ‘ : ‘ ‘ ; 67 POOR JEANNIE’S PET, . . oo ee oe ’ ee THE SHIP, ; é : ° ; ; ; je ®- STARTING FOR THE HILL, . ‘ ‘ ° ‘ » THE SPHINX AND PYRAMIDS, . ° ° ° : . 85 THE APOLOGY, . ; ‘ : : ‘ ; - 105 THE HUMMING-BIRD, ‘ ‘ ‘ . . > 109 THE BUTTERFLY, . . ‘ ° ° : ; » 230 The Step-~Mother. - oop morning, my sweet little girls, but pray, tell me, what has happened to make you both look so grave and sad to-day ?” “Aunty, we are going to mane! a step-mother !”” “Well, and one would think by your solemn despairing looks, that the sum of all earthly troubles was comprised in the word ‘ step-mother.’”’ 12 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. “ Step-mothers are not kind, are they, Aunty ?” “That is a question which cannot be answered in so general a way, my dear. There have been unkind step- mothers, I admit, but then there have been unkind fathers arid mothers too; and cross uncles and aunts. Old Mrs. Steele is very cruel to her poor little niece Maggy, but would you say that all aunts are cruel and unkind ?” “Oh no, aunty, dear aunty! you are always good and kind.” “Well, dear children, it is no more right for you to say that step-mothers are always unkind, than it is to say THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 13 that aunts are. I see that some one has been putting wrong notions into your heads. Let me tell_you that I have heard the young lady whom your father is to marry, spoken of by all who know her as being exceedingly lovely and amiable, and I “do hope that you will both receive her kindly, and treat her affectionately. I dare say she feels very diffident at the thought of enter- ing a family of entire strangers, and I shall be much disappointed in my lit- tle girls, if they do not give her a kind and cordial greeting. All this recalls to me my own early days, and though it is with shame and grief that I review 14 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. my conduct, yet if it will be a lesson to you, dear children, I ought not to withhold the recital. “My mother died when I was about eight years old, leaving three children, myself, my brother Fred, who was then six years old, and my little sister Alice, who was four. We loved her very dearly, and felt wretched and desolate enough when we were left’ with only Jane in the house, for our father was obliged to be away ftom home much of the time. Jane had lived with my moth- er ever since she was married, and had always been a good servant; but after my mother’s death, Jane of course was THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 15 housekeeper, and as we were so young, she always sat at the table with us, and she soon began to feel her own importance. She took great airs upon herself, and scolded us and the other servants a good deal; but still, when our father was away, we had no one else to cling to, and we all clung to Jane; and she did as she chose with us, and the house, and all in it. “Well, about two years after my mother’s death, I remember one day when Jane was particularly cross and snappish ; nothing seemed to go right with her; she scolded harder than ever, and stamped round about her 16 THE SILVER LAKE’ STORIES. work, making exclamations like these: ‘Fine times we shall have, to be sure! Grand doings! I suppose those who have served and slaved will be turned off, now!’ At last, on her giving me a very snappish answer, I said, ‘ Why Jane, how cross you are to-day!’ “*Cross, am I?’ said she; ‘I guess, before long, you will find that there’s Some one crosser than me!’ “*Who will that be, I should like to know ?’ said I. “* Well, if you’d like to know, I will tell you,’ said Jane; ‘it’s a step-mother!’ “A step-mother, Jane! are we going to have a step-mother ? THE ak LAKE STORIES. 17 “Yes, indeed, you are, and I should think your father might have told you, Miss’Cornelia !” AJ won't have a step-mother,” said Freddy ;. “I'll kick her !” At this, Jane looked more pleased than she had done all day, which en- couraged my sister Alice and myself to say what we thought would gratify her. So we each gave vent to our dis- pledsure and indignation at the idea of a step-mother, till we had fretted Jane into quite a good humor, and ourselves into a state of real dread of the arrival of a step-mother, | 2 ... 18 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES, ““Do you know who this lady is to be, Jane ?’ “No, indeed, I know nothing about her,’ said Jane. ‘Some young high- flyer, I Suppose; they always give themselves great airs. f had a step- mother once myself, and a pretty life She led me, to be sure |’ “And in this way Jane talked to us every day, entertaining us with stories of the cruelty of step-mothers, till we really thought that the greatest calam- ity which could happen to a family would be the entrance of such a being into it. | | At length, I received a letter from THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 19 my father, in which he told me that in the course of two or three days, he would come home, and bring with him a new mother for us. He added that he hoped we would all love her very much, and that. Jane would have every- thing in order for the reception of her new mistress. ! “Mistress, indeed!’ said Jane; ‘mis- - tress, indeed! This is the beginning of it, and’— “<¢ Mother, indeed!’ cried I; ‘you will not find me calling her mother, I can tell you; and Fred, and Alice, never let me hear you say the word! Next to Jane, my younger brother and sis- 20. THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. ter looked up to me, and were. gener- ally ready to do as I bade them. From this time we all awaited in dread and anxiety the arrival of the new ‘mis- tress’ and ‘mother,’ growing every day more and more dissatisfied with the anticipated change. | “The day came at last, and a car- riage drove up to the door, from which my father and a lady alighted. Jane received them at the door, but, though respectful, she was very cold and state- ly. In a few moments, we children were summoned down to the parlor, and. we went with beating hearts. and wicked. feelings, to meet. the. stranger. THE: SILVER LAKE storms. - 2] Thad so fully made up my mind that she would be disagreeable in her ap- pearance, and would speak in loud harsh tones, that I was somewhat dis- appointed when I saw the gentle and lovely-looking young lady, whom my father introduced to us as our new mother; and when she stooped down ‘and kissed us, and said she hoped we should love each other very much, I verily believe that had it not been for the sake of consistency, I should have | thrown my arms round her neck, and given her a hearty welcome to her new home. “But Fred and Alice were standing 22 +. HE SILVER LAKE STORIES. by, and Jane stood in the hall watch- ing us, and so I steeled my heart against that gentle being, and received her ad- vances with the utmost coldness and indifference, and my brother and sister followed my example. I saw a look of pain and disappointment come over her beautiful face, but I had declared that I would not like her, and it would not do for me to give up at once. As soon as we left the room, Jane was anxious to know what we thought of the step-mother, and to counteract any agreeable impression she might have made upon us. “Oh, Jane,’ said my sweet little sis- THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 23 ter Alice, ‘she is not like the step- mothers you have told us about, she seems so kind and lovely.’ “¢Yes, yes, said Jane, ‘and so was my step-mother very kind and lovely for the first week~or two, but she soon showed out what she was!’ and Jane shook her head, as if she could tell a dreadful tale of cruelty, if she only had a mind to. “JT can scarcely think even now without tears of the cold and cruel treatment this gentle being received from us, whom she would so gladly have taken to her heart, or of the inso-. lent manner of Jane to her during my 04 “din SiLviR ‘LAKE ‘STORTEs. father’s absence. I know that it caused her many sad hours, for often when we came upon her unexpectedly, we found her in tears. “My father had prougt her from a large and lovely family, where she was the youngest and the darling ; and she had come to us with her heart yearn- ing for affection and love, and had been repulsed by us all, and treated with 4nsolence even by the servants, to “whom she was uniformly gentle ‘and kind; and yet, as I afterwards discdv- ered, she never mentioned one word of this to my father, but endured it all ‘with the utmost patience and gentle- ness, hoping that in time our prejudices would all die away, and had it:not been for Jane they would have done:so. “The “first one who ‘showed any symptoms of going over to : eae. D SA Bo x» A> Daeen TA " wat Use et) Aaa. + \s a P<. ae: Ly 2 AN THE YOUNG MUSICIAN. 62 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. gy, “but wait here, and I will run and ask Diana.” Running hastily into the kitchen, she called out, “ Diana, there is a poor boy out here, and oh! he does play so beautiful! and he wants to know if he may have a piece of bread ?” “Yes, yes,” said Diana, “if he’s poor, give him a piece of bread whenever he wants it; the chickens won't miss it, ‘cause they've got plenty; and Mrs. Caswell won’t miss it; and she ought to be thankful if she don’t give nothing to the poor herself, that there’s some- body to do it for her; I wish she could come in for a share of the credit.” THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 63 “But, Diana, perhaps it isn’t right for me to give away any of the bits, without Mrs. Caswell allows me.” “Well, I know her well enough to know she won't allow you, for she never gives nothing to the poor, ‘cause she says it encourages them to come hanging round the house.” Maggy ran. out again, and found the poor boy standing where she left - him, and though not perfectly satisfied that she was doing right (for Maggy had been well instructed by her mother), she gave the poor boy one of the chickens’ crusts. He ate it as if he was very hungry, and while Maggy 64 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. went on feeding the chickens, she asked him, “Where do you live ?” “J live down with the gipsys in the marsh,” answered the boy. “Ts your mother there ?” “T belong to Granny Greer, but she is not my mother.” | “The gipsys who bring their baskets and mats here are all very dark, but you are whiter than I am, and what beautiful light curling hair you have; it is not like the gipsys,” said Maggy. “Oh, I think Ido not belong to any of the gipsys,” said the boy, “I think they stole me a great many years ago ; THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 65 I can remember a peautiful lady, who used to lay me in a little bed, and kiss. me, and when she walked about the room, her dress shone and rustled, not like Granny Greér’s, or any of the women down at the camp.” « Silke, likely,” put in Maggy. “ And then in the evenings she used to sit down before something that made Deautiful music, a great deal prettier than my pipe, and a creat many lit- tle children used to dance around the room and I among them.” “Piano, likely,” said Maggy, “and them was your brothers and sisters, and that lady was your mother. And 5 66 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. don’t you remember nothing about when they took you off?” | “No, nothing, only one morning | woke up, and I was in the gipsy camp, and the dark faces of the gipsys were all around me.” “Carried you off whén you was asleep, likely,” said Maggy. « Are they kind to you?” “No, nobody but Granny Greer.” “ Well, they ain't very kind to me here, nobody but Diana and Matthew,” said Maggy. A call from the house now summoned Maggy, who hastened to obey it, but not till she had told the poor boy to Esp EA)" 33 a ie : LL U1 YZ rN) rd aed THE GIPSY CAMP. 68 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. come every morhing, and she would give him a piece of br ead; but she did not tell him that she should spare it to him from her own breakfast, because she feared he would not be willing to take it. Every morning, then, as soon as Maggy heard the sound of the poor boy's pipe, she hastened out with the bread which she had saved from her ra: own breakfast. One morning she said to him, “What is your name? you never told me.” * wt call me Jom down at the camp,” said the boy, “but I think the beautiful lady used to call me Arthur.” THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 69 “And who taught you to play so peautifully ?” . “Oh, a man who joined us once taught me, and when he left us, he gave me this pipe, and when we g0 through cities, the gipsys make me play to get money for them.” Ag soon as he got his piece of bread. that morning, he said he must hasten back, for Granny Greer was very sick. The next day he did not come at the usual time, but in the afternoon Maggy heard the sound of the pipe, playing @ very sad and plaintive air. As soon as she could find a moment’s time, she hastened out to the end of the stone 70. THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. puilding, and there she found the poor boy ; he was sitting on a stone crying, and beside him lay a bundle. When he saw Maggy he said, “I shall never come to you for bread any more; Granny Greer is dead. Before she died, she told me all about my being stolen away, and she gave me this bundle of little clothes, and told me where I was to go, far off to the east, to find my par ents.” The boy here opened the bundle, and showed Maggy a suit of child's clothing. It was a merino dress beautifully em- proidered, with rufiles over the sleeves of the finest cambric and lace; all the THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 71 little under clothes, and the beautiful little shoes and stockings were there, tod “i , “And how did she take you off ?” asked Maggy. | “She said she was passing my fa- ther’s garden, and looking over the wall, she saw a child on a earden bench asleep. She climbed over and: stole me, thinking that if a creat reward was offered, she would take me back, and pretend she had found me; but she said she grew fond of me, and could not bear to part with me, and so she kept me on till now. But she said I must hurry, or they would catch me 72 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. again, as | bring them some little money by my playing.” The boy then bid Maggy good-bye, and thanked her for her kindness to him; and he said if ever he found his home, he should not forget her. . Time passed on; year after year passed away, and Maggy still lived with the Caswells, as she was bound by agreement to do till she was eight- een years of age. But when Maggy was eighteen, she had learned a great deal, through Matthew's assistance, and by her own diligence in reading and studying, for which she took all her THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 713 spare time, and deprived herself of many hours of sleep. About this time, as she was at work one day in the kitchen, she heard a familiar strain of music; hastily setting down the dish which she was wiping, she turned pale, and said, “That must be the gipsy boy who went away eight years ago.” She did not say this to Diana, for Diana had gone away, and there had been @ dozen cooks simce her time; but she rushed out to the end of the stone puilding, and was sur- prised to see % young gentleman sit- ting there, playing on the gipsy boy's pipe. | 74. THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. “Ts this you, Maggy ?” said he. “To be sure it is,’ she answered ; “but only to think that this should be you !” He then told her that he succeeded in finding his father and mother, and by. means of the clothing convinced them that he was their child; he told her of their joy and delight at his being restored to them; and of the hap- piness of his brothers and sisters. He had never forgotten Maggy’s kindness to him, and as he supposed she would now be about eighteen years old, he had come to say to her that it was now in his: power to place her at school, THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 75 and give her the education she had been so anxious to receive. You may be sure Maggy did not remain at Mrs. Caswell’s many days after her eight- eenth birthday; as soon as possible she entered a boarding-school, where she made such rapid progress that she soon ranked as high as any scholar in the school. Now I suppose you have all said, “Oh, I know how this story 1s going to turn out; the young man educates Maggy, and then marries her.” I am very sorry to be obliged to disappoint you, but truth compels me to say, that he never thought of such a thing; he 76s THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. very soon married a young lady who was his equal in all respects; and Maggy married in time, too, a very re- spectable man, and it was in her own neat little cottage that 1 saw her, and heard from her the story of her life at Mrs. Caswell’s. Poor Jeannic’s Pet. On, chide not poor Jeannie, nor say she is weak, When you see the large tears rolling down from her cheek ; Say not she is silly, nor deem her absurd, To sorrow so much. for the loss of a bird. Little Jeannie is lame, and her parents are poor, And she has no fine birds hanging out at the door ; No pet but this poor little snow-bird had she, Who came every day chirping his chick-a-dee-dee. 78 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. Let ; > - . ff, iE, YE P V4 Jy We . y é hid UM POOR JEANNIE’S PET. Little Jeannie like you cannot run out and play, Nor ramble about on a bright sunny day ; But all day she sits still in that low rocking chair, And cheerfully hums to herself a low air. THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 719 But when for his breakfast this dear little bird Came down every day, and his chirping was heard, With one arm round her sister, she limped from her chair, And stood at the window and fed the bird there. But to-day as she fed her dear snow-bird so tame, A rude boy who passed with his arrow took aim, And shot Jeannie’s pet as it sat by her side, And it fell at her feet in a moment and died. And now tis no wonder, dear children, I say, That poor little Jeannie is crying to-day ; For I think it would make any one of us sad, To see dead at our feet all the pet that we had. Wary’s Wish. HEN Mary was a little girl, she was always wishing that she could go to England. Every day she would say, “Oh, I wish a little breeze would come and blow me over to England, and when I had seen all I wanted to, another little breeze would come and blow me back home again.” Poor Mary! when she was still quite young, she married a British officer, THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 81 and the breeze blew her over to Eng- land, but it never blew her back again, for she died, and was buried there. The Long Hill. —, ECEMBER had come, and as yet there 10} had been very little snow. The boys said it was “a mean winter ; no snow, no ice, ne sliding down hill, no skating ; it was too bad!” This was the way the boys talked. But one Saturday morning, Mr. and Mrs. Playford were awakened very early, by shouts and screams of delight, and pretty soon the boys came leaping THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. aN - A/T EK — eli hl AY) )R) — Y= 7 | PASS WY Lf ma mM Us SM zy WOWLANO SE ~ TT STARTING FOR THE HILL. and tumbling down stairs, crying, “Hurrah! hurrah! snow! snow! snow!” Their cousin Howard was with them again; and on went caps, and mittens, and tippets, and out rushed the boys, 83 F 84 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. and soon they were rolling and tum- bling, and wading through the deep snow, and throwing snow-balls at each other, and at length all set to work to prepare the hill which ran to the foot of the garden, for sliding. Finding, however, that the snow was coming down so fast, as to fill up their paths almost as soon as they were shovelled out, they gave up this attempt for the present, and began to roll up huge balls of snow, of which to make a snow man. Before long other boys from the neighborhood joined them, and soon, in different parts of Mr. Playford’s ex- THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 85 | —— re eS ee | THE SPHINX AND PYRAMIDS. tensive grounds, might be seen in the process of erection, Snow imitations of the pyramids of Egypt, the sphinx, and the Colossus of Rhodes. When called in to prayers and 86 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. breakfast, the boys went round through the kitchen hall, to shake and stamp off the snow, and soon they all ap- peared in the breakfast room, breathing hard, and rubbing their hands, their faces glowing with the cold and exercise. It looked as if there would be enough snow now, for down, down came the large flakes, steadily falling all day; the boughs of the trees were all white, and bending under the weight of snow ; the paths were all filled up, so that there was no sign of road or path to be seen; no sleighs passed the house, for the roads were not yet broken; occa- sionally a foot passenger was seen who THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. ST was driven out by necessity, plunging along through the snow-drilts, nearly up to his arms in snow. Sunday morning came, and the snow was deeper than ever. The churches were all closed, for no one could get out to attend them. The Playford chil- dren were quietly seated at their read- ing, or Bible lessons, when, to their surprise, they saw their father making ready to go out. Still more were they amazed when they saw him take a large snow shovel in his hand, and westart across the fields; and they whis- pered to each other, “1 guess father’s forgotten that this is Sunday.” 88 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. - Their mother soon entered the room with little Belle, to whom she had been teaching a hymn, and the children called out, “Mamma, where has papa gone this morning ?” “He has gone across to old David Anderson’s cottage,” answered Mrs. Playford. “We have been fearing,” she continued, “that the old people were completely snowed under, as we see no smoke rising from their chim- ney, and you know old David is laid up with the rheumatism.” 7 “Why did papa take the snow shovel ?” THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 89 “He took it to open paths for old Mrs. Anderson to get to her well and wood- house.” | . “Mamma, is it right to do work like that on Sunday ?” . “Jt is what is called a work of mer- cy, my son, and works of mercy and necessity we are allowed to do on the Sabbath day. Do you think it would be right to leave those two very poor old people to suffer throughout this day, without any wood to keep them warm, or any chance to get to their well ?” “No, mamma, I think that would not be right,” answered Clarence, “but 90 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. I had never before seen papa prepare to work on Sunday, and I wanted to know on what principle he did it.” “He did it on the same principle on which our blessed Saviour healed the man on the Sabbath who had a with, ered arm. You remember that the Pharisees, glad to find an opportunity to accuse him, asked him, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? How did he answer them, Kitty ?” “‘He said unto them, What man ’ shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 91 “¢How much, then, is a man better than a sheep! Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.’” “Yes, you see that they were not condemned by the Saviour for assisting even a suffering animal on the Sab®™ bath day, and of course it is right to assist a suffering human being.” | “[T remember,” saidMrs. Playford, “when I was quite a: little girl, living in the large city of A——, that one Sunday morning a notice was read in all the churches, informing the congre- gations that a man, supposed to be crazy, had wandered off, taking with him his three little children. They had 92 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. already been gone a day and night, and fears were entertained that they were lost, or something worse had happened to them. On consulting together, the different clergymen of the city had agreed to close their churches, and the citizens were requested to meet at a certain spot, to organize, or form into parties, to go off in different directions, and seek for the missing family. “J very well remember what a strange sort of melancholy excitement there was about the whole affair; how, all the afternoon, as I sat by the window,, parties of men were passing, with their thick walking-sticks in their hands; THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 93 and towards evening how they came back, looking so tired with their long walk; and how eagerly the different parties were questioned, as to whether they had seen or heard anything of the missing ones.” | “ And did they find them, mamma ?” asked Kitty. | “No, dear, not that day. Several of the parties heard of them, as they stopped at different farm-houses, but their efforts to come up with them were unsuccessful. I think, however, that in the course of that week they were found, and the children were re- stored to their mother. 94 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. “No one doubted that it was right for a whole city to turn out on the Sab- bath day, to look fora man and three little children ; it was a work of mercy.” By this time Mr. Playford returned. He said he was very glad that he had gone. He found old Mrs. Anderson quite sick in bed, and the old man helpless, as usual; he was wrapped in his cloak, and shivering with the cold; and there was not a spark of fire, and they had had nothing to eat that day. “And what did you do for them, papa?” asked the children eagerly. “Qh, in the first place, I shovelled out paths, and brought them in some THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 95 wood and water, and then, by the aid of some matches, I made up a ood fire, and put on the tea-kettle, and now I have come back to see if mamma can put up something nice for them to eat, in a little pail, and I will make my way back, and then I will try my hand at making a cup of tea for the old people.” “T wish I could go with you, ’ said Mrs. Playford. “You, dear? why it would be utter- ly impossible for you even to cross our own yard. I was nearly exhausted myself before I reached old Anderson's cottage.” } 96 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. Being now thoroughly warmed and rested, Mr. Playford took the pail of nice things, which -his wife had got ready for the poor old couple, and started off again on his errand of be- nevolence; and when he left them it was with the blessing of those who were ready to perish resting on him. On Monday morning, bright and early, the boys were all up and out again, each with a snow-shovel, or a garden-spade, or a fire-shovel, clearing the paths; and by the time breakfast was ready, the broad gravel-walk down to the gate was entirely cleared, and paths were made to the wood-house THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 97 and barn, and the boys were all ready for play as soon as breakfast was over. It was three or. four days, however, be- fore the roads were sufficiently broken for them to get to the long hill to slide, but when once the hill was in proper order, then you should have seen what merry times the boys in our village had. As the little Playfords and their cousin Howard started off for the hill, dragging Harry on his sled, it looked in the distance as if hundreds of busy little ants-were flying down the hill, or dragging their loads up again. It was the first sliding the boys had had that winter, and every boy was there who | 6 * ‘98 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. could get anything to slide on, from a rocking-chair down to a brick. Ten boys were going down on a ladder, and one poor little fellow was actually at- tempting to slide down on a large square lump of ice. But some of the boys had beautiful sleds, and you should have seen them as they started off like the wind, from the top of the hill, shouting “ha-ley (that is what the boys in our village say, when they mean “get out of the way,”) and down they would fly till they came to the “jump,” where they were sure to part company with their caps unless they were well tied on, and a THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 99 then they would rush faster than ever i down the rest of the hill. Our little friends soon joined in the fun, but to- wards the close of the afternoon, I am sorry to say, that Clarence .g santo a quarrel with a boy named Peter Wag- ner, and knocked him down. . Peter had snatched away the sled of a smaller boy, and was enjoying him- self on it, while the poor little fellow sat crying at the bottom of the hill. Ag soon as Clarence saw him, he went up to him, and asked him what was - the matter. The little fellow soon ex- plained the cause of his grief, and the next time Peter came down the - 100 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. “hill, Clarence stepped up to him and said, | “ Look here, Peter Wagner, you must give that little fellow back his sled !” “5 ‘should like to know who is to make me ?” said Peter. “PI tell you, then,” said Clarence ; “Tam to make you, if you don't do it quickly. It is not right, or fatr, for you to keep the poor little fellow’s sled, and leave him sitting there in the cold.” ! 7 “Oh, you Playfords are always talk- ing about ° right and fair; and you are no bettersthan other folks after all. There's young@ther, who stood and € * > THE SILVER LAKE stortes. 101 preached for half an hour to my father . about building a fence on Sunday, and he was out working himself half the day yesterday, with his snow shovel. I suppose he thought no one saw him, but we watched him. He’s no better » than other folks, for all his talk !” No sooner were the words out of Peter’s mouth, than he lay sprawling on the snow, and the blood which poured from his nose was reddening its pure surface. After a few moments, he departed in great wrath for his home. Darkness came on, and the hill was deserted. | That evening, after tea, Mr. Play- 102 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. ford was writing busily in his study, when he was told that Mr. Wagner and his son wished to speak to him. He sent for them to come into the study, when Mr. Wagner told him he had called to see him about an affair which had happened at the long hill, between their two boys. Mr. Wagner then gave the aecount of the affair to Mr. Play- ford’ which Peter had given to lim, and which made the matter very much worse than it really was. He ended by saying, “Now | hold, that because some folks is rich, and other folks is poor, that it ain’t right for on folks’ sons to oppress poor folks’ sons.” THE SILVER LAKE sTorizs. 103 “J entirely agree with you, Mr Wag- ner,” said Mr. Playford, “ and I am much grieved to hear this account of my boy. I will find him, and see what he has to say for himself.” Mr. Playford then went to the parlor, where his wife and the children were all sitting, and said, “Clarence, what is this I hear about your attack upon Peter Wagner at the long hill, this af- ternoon ?” ~ Clarence immediately gave his father a correct statement of the cause of the difficulty. “But, my son,” said Mr. Playford, “you were very hasty; why did you 104 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. not explain to the boy the cause of my being at work on Sunday ?” “T did, father; after 1 knocked him down I picked him up again, and shook him, and told him you were engaged in a work of necessity and mercy, and at every word I said, I gave him a harder shake.” “Oh, my son, I am very sorry you so far forgot yourself, and now I expect you to go to the study with me, and apologize to Peter for your treatment of him.” “JT will ask his pardon, father, if you require it, but I cannot say I am sorry I knocked him down, because that My Wy oedl gh Sey QM)», as — LF, : 7 < ; he i Staten te 3 AMA, gE NTOANTAALE | eo TL Vy Y] sy if Se Wf Yyf yp m Wi } . THE APOLOGY. 106 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. would be telling a lie, and I am afraid _I should do the same thing to-morrow if he gave me the same provocation.” They then proceeded to the study together, where Clarence made an apol- ogy to Peter, who looked very sullen and angry. But when Mr. Wagner heard the account Clarence gave of the transaction, which Peter did not dare to contradict, he said his son had got only what he deserved, and he should never have brought him there if he had understood the matter aright. He then made Peter apologize humbly to Mr. Playford, for speaking of him as he did, and Peter was obliged to obey his THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 107 father, though he did it with a very pad grace. They then took their de- parture. I intended, when I began, to tell you something more of the winter sports of the Playfords, but this chapter is al- ready long enough, and I must reserve whatever else I have to say for another. THE Hfuinining-Bird qnd the Buéterfly, TuereE met one day in warm July, A humming-bird and butterfly ; They were in truth a lovely pair As ever sported in the air. “You brilliant creature,” said the bird, “ Of your bright hues I’ve often heard, But never in the earth or air, Have I beheld a form so fair. If you would only condescend To be my firm and constant friend, Our time we'd pass right merrily.” q \\. Ih \\\ \" AN \ \\\ -\ AWA THE HUMMING-BIRD. 110 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. THE BUTTERFLY. “No, no, my friend, that cannot be, For once (it was in early spring), You called me a disgusting thing ; THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. lll Your scorn I well remember yet, Such slights I do not soon forget.” Then out the little hum-bird spake, «There surely must be some mistake ; For with disgust I’d never view A being beautiful as you. To everything so bright and gay, Sincere respect I always pay.” “ Ah, yes, but when your scorned my form, I was a crawling hairy worm. From this, Sir Hum-bird, please to learn, If you the poor and lowly spurn, | Those creatures whom you now despise Some day may far above you rise.” She Lotiery-Licket. omEBopyY had given little Lilla Shaw S a lottery-ticket. Now do not think that 1 am going to say that was right, for I am going to say no such thing. Iam only telling a little story just as it occurred. Lilla was delight- ed. The highest prize in this lottery was thirty thousand dollars, and Lilla had fixed her mark no lower than that. Every day, when she came home from THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 113 school, she burst into the house with the cry, “Mamma, is my thirty thou- sand dollar prize out yet ?” One day her mother said to her, “My dear, if you should get the thirty thousand dollars, what would you do with the money ?” “Well, I'll tell you,” said Lilla; “I would lay it all out in molasses candy and peppermint drops, except two shil- lings to go and see the elephant 5 Poor Lilla’s number, to her great disappointment, came up a blank, but on her birthday she had a shilling given her, with which she bought quite as much candy as was good for 114 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. her, and her Uncle Thomas took her to see the elephant; so she was quite as happy as if she had gained the highest prize in the lottery. My First Schookmistress. ruink that if I were to live to be as old as Methuselah, I should never for- geet my first school-mistress ; though when I first went to her school, I could not have been more than four years old. Her name was Miss America . Muggs; there were only six scholars in the school, not one of them much older than myself. In the arduous task of educating these half-dozen young = 116 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. disciples of learning, she was assisted by her mother, “ Old Miss Muggs,” as we always called her. She was a vinegar-faced old dame, with a loud sharp voice, and a long bony arm, much given to shaking, as I have good cause to remember—my young joints having been nearly dislo- cated, and my first set of teeth well nigh shaken out, by frequent exercise of this kind on her part. But how shall I describe my younger teacher’s appearance ?. Have you ever seen children put their fingers in their mouths, and draw down the corners of their mouths and eyes, thus flattening 2 THE SILVER LAKE stortes. 117 their noses, and making themselves look most hideous? Itis a very naughty thing to do. I did it myself once when I was a child, and somebody told me that if the wind changed | would always remain so, which effectually prevented my repeating the experiment. But I always thought that my teacher must have been doing something of the kind, and a sudden shifting of the wind had compelled her to carry that face with her ever after. This was the only way in which I could account for her extra- ordinary ugliness. | Miss Muggs did not make much use of the whip, or ruler, but it was seldom 118 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. that an hour passed by, without some little prisoner being confined in the dark cupboard under the stairs. But the principal means employed in the school to promote order, was the threat, that unless we were quiet immediately, “Pegey” would instantly appear and carry us off. . “Pegoy,” according to “old Miss Muggs,” lived in the garret of the old church, which stood next to our school- room, and wore a short gown and pet- ticoat, and a mob-cap, and high-heeled shoes, and always appeared to carry off naughty children,—in other words, those who did not observe to do all THE SILVER LAKE stories. 119 that “old Miss Muggs” taught them. I can see her this moment, as she was © pictured to my childish imagination, and I well remember how I used to think the beating of my own poor lit- tle frightened heart, when I was shut up in the dark cupboard, was the pat- tering of “ Peggy’s” high-heeled shoes. The reward for good behavior in our school was the privilege of being permitted, on Friday afternoon, to look in or through a long thing, which, for want of a better name, J shall call.a telescope; whether in, or through, it I never could discover, though I tried very faithfully ; but to this tube I al- 120 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. ways considered it the highest privil- ege to be allowed to put my eye, inas- much as this was a reward for good behavior. I think I must have shut the wrong eye, but still I never could discover that my playmates were more fortunate in this respect than myself. “Do you see anything ?” Miss Ameri- ca would say. “Yes, ma’am.” “Well, what do you see?” “I see something green, ma'am,” with both eyes wide open, looking each side of the telescope at the trees in the park. “ Well, that’s it,’ she would say; “now get down, and let another little girl look.” What. it was, I have never known to this day. THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 121 As for “Peggy,” I stood in bodily fear daily and hourly of her appear- ance. One day, as Miss America was brushing out her long hair, which she usually did while hearing us spell, I whispered to little Rachel Briggs, who was sitting next me, and who immedi- ately called out, “ Miss Muggs, Cicely — says your hair looks like a cow’s tail!” Oh, how old Miss Muggs came down upon me, but as she stood shaking me, and threatening me with instant ascen- sion in the arms of old “ Peggy, to the | garret of the church, a little girl named Jenny, who had been sitting quite thoughtful for a few moments, raised 122 ~—=s- THEE SILVER LAKE STORIES. her eyes to old Miss Muggs’ face, and said boldly, “I begin to think there isn't any ‘ Peggy’ after all!” — We all stood amazed, and stared at the young unbeliever, who, after being well shaken, was placed in the dark cupboard, and not allowed to look into the telescope for two weeks. But her “unbelief in Peggy was not shaken out of her, even by old Miss Muggs’ expe- rienced arm, and the first words little Jenny said, when brought out of the closet, with the tears yet wet on her cheek, were, “If there ts any ‘ Peggy,’ why didn’t she come to take me, if I was naughty?” and she boldly pro- THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 123 ‘posed an inquiry into the facts in the case, by insisting upon being taken up into the garret to see Peggy. We looked at each other with eyes which were beginning to open to the truth. Why had we never thought of it be- fore? If there was any “Peggy,” why hadn’t she sometimes appeared to carry us off? we had surely been bad enough a great many times. From that hour, faith in “Peggy” began to wax dim. The only important idea I remember to have acquired from books, while at this temple of learning, was, that my teacher, Miss America, had been dis- covered somewhere or other, by “ Chris- 124 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. topher Columbus, a native of Genore.” I remember his name very well, for my brothers used to sing a song, one verse of which ran in this way: ‘Oh, Christopher Columbus, A native of Genore, Came all the way from Spain, Across the briny main, New countries to explore.” But there was one thing about it which puzzled me sorely, and as I seldom lost any information for want of asking questions, I soon attacked my brother Phil on the stbject. Phil was very busily engaged in making a boat, and THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 125 whistling as he worked, when I broke in upon him with the question, “ Phil, what is the meaning of discovered ?” Phil went on whistling, and paid no attention to me, until 1 had repeated the question three or four times, when he ceased to whistle for a moment, and said, impatiently, “Oh, it means, found out for the first time.” Well, then, my teacher had been found out, for the first time, by Chris- topher Columbus, a native of Genore, but farther than that I never got, and what she was found out in always re- mained a mystery to me. Soon after this, the little school broke 126 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. up. If “Peggy” was no longer a ter- ror to us, all government was at an end; and so one day old Miss Muggs and young Miss Muggs, and the tele- scope moved out of town, and went to try the effect of “Peggy” upon the young folks in a neighboring village. The Organ Boy. THE organ’s notes now wildly swell, The strain now floats, now lingers, “ What heavenly sounds,” the people tell, “ Are made by one man’s fingers !” The boy who did the bellows blow -Exclaimed in great delight, “ What lovely music we do make, We do it up just right !” “ We!” the enraged musician cries, “The child is too absurd ; , 128 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. °Tis J who make these heavenly sounds.” The boy heard every word. ‘Ha! ha!” he whispered to a friend, As bravely he did blow, “Tl show him if it isn’t we That make the music go!”’ The crowds were list’ning highly pleased, To hear a heavenly strain, When suddenly the music ceased, It would not sound again. “ Blow, blow!” the frantic player cries, ‘¢ What can the matter be ?” The grinning little boy replies, “ Say, then, shall it be we?” .% Yes! we—you, anything you please, You worst of stupid fellows, THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 129 Take all the credit to yourself, But oh, pray, blow the bellows!” The bellows plays, the full tones rise, Then gently die away, The boy unchecked with rapture cries, “ How lovely we do play !” Ah, many a man is known to fame, While there’s no one to tell us Who pulls the wires behind the scenes, And who ’tis blows the bellows. 9 The Little Gowards. (FROM THE FRENCH) HEN Sophie Benson was only A eleven years of age, she knew how to write, to draw, and to play the piano much better than any little girl of her age. She was obedi- ent to her papa and mamma, affection- ate to her brothers and sisters, and always disposed to oblige her friends, at least, if in order to do so, it was not THE SILVER LAKE storizs. 131 necessary to go up stairs in the even- ing, to remain one moment alone in the garden after dusk, or to go to bed be- fore her sisters. Even in these respects, she was re- ally desirous to do whatever her friends wished, but she could never find sufti- cient resolution to do so, because she had been told foolish stories of ghosts, and giants, and fairies, and monsters of various kinds. Consequently she could not remain'a moment alone in the dark, without expecting to see these _ frightful creatures, one after the other, and she was firmly persuaded that these spirits appeared at night, each 132 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. with a light in its hand, that it might see better. Sophie had a little brother, natural- ly a very fine child, who was always in the habit of accompanying her, when she went to find anything in her own room after sunset; but, unfortunately, she had related to him such frightful stories, to prove to him that her fears were not without good reason, that poor Harry soon became as great a coward as herself. In consequence of this, every time it was necessary for them to leave the parlor after candles were lighted, they were obliged to beg a third person to go with them, for ° THE SILVER LAKE stories. 133 they thought they were not safe alone. | It is to be looked upon as a happy circumstance, that this contagion did not spread very far, for all the family would have been obliged to move in a body; but there was no danger of any- thing happening so ridiculous as that. It is, on the contrary, very surprising, that so intelligent a little girl as Sophie Benson should have had such a weak- ness, and that she never gave herself the trouble to reflect that there could not be the slightest foundation for the terrors with which her head was filled. Her mamma had sought in vain to 134 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. convince her of the folly of these idle fancies. Her imagination caused her continually to see strange sights, and to hear extraordinary sounds ; although ‘she exposed herself to be turned into ridicule, by her older brothers and sisters, when they discovered that the giant who had frightened her was @ tree; and that the horrible groans she had heard were only the noise of a win- dow, or of a shutter during a stormy night. She continued ever to be tor- mented by these silly fears, and had made poor little Harry as fearful as herself. Every time she found herself alone, THE SILVER LAKE stories. 135 whether in the garden or in the house, her heart would beat violently, and she would run like lightning to find com- pany, with her hands joined, her el- bows supported upon her sides, and her head sunk upon her breast. Every object that she perceived in her way appeared extraordinary; if she had had the courage to look at them a second time, she would have laughed at her own folly. One day she came into the parlor in tears, and assured her mamma that she had had the greatest trouble to escape a hideous creature, who, with its great arms extended, had been upon the 136 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. point of seizing her by the neck, and she begged that they would immedi- ately shut and bolt the door. Her mamma, and her brothers and sisters © laughed most heartily at her story, which pained her exceedingly; but they could not persuade her to show them the place where she had seen this terrible creature. She, however, direct- ed them to the spot where she had seen it, begging them all the time not to expose themselves to danger by going there; but she could not succeed in frightening them, and they soon discov- ered, that the monster with extended arms, was nothing but the standard, on THE SILVER LAKE stormes. 137 which the servant had hung her father’s coat to beat the dust from it! - One evening when the moon was shining very brightly, Sophie and Har- ry were both very anxious to find a box of dominoes, which was in a room up stairs, but which they could not procure without going to find it them- selves. After sitting for about half an hour whispéring to each other, and having tried to arm themselves with courage for such a grand undertaking, they at length determined to go; for they were tired of having nothing to do to amuse themselves, during a long winter evening. 138 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. Trembling with fear, and holding each other as tightly by the hand as they possibly could, they went up the stairs, ran across a corridor which led to the room, and were just going tc open the door, when Sophie recollected that if Harry was seen by the chamber- maid, she would laugh at her, and ask her if she dared not take a step with- out him at her side. So she begged him to wait at the door, while she went into the room to look for the dominoes. Harry would not hear to this, and said that he would not remain alone in the corridor for an empire. Sophie was so very anxious to appear THE SILVER LAKE stories. 139 courageous, in the eyes of the chamber- maid, that she tried every means she could think of to induce Harry to wait for her outside the door. She said to him that she would be gone but a mo- ment, and that the moon shone very beautiful and bright; -but all her argu- ments were vain, till by promising him her box of paints, and her little ivory ball, she persuaded him to do as she wished. She walked into the room with an air of indifference and boldness, which was not common to her, but it was all lost, for Mary was not there; and not daring even to cross the room to go to 7 140 .THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. the little closet, she was upon the point of calling Harry to come with her, when imagining that the girl might very well be in the next room, she endeavored to save her reputation. She advanced towards the closet, reached it without any terrible accident, and after having opened the door, she crept in to find the box. She did not find it upon the first shelf, nor upon the second, and passing her hand along the third, she felt something there as cold as marble. ~ For fear of being laughed at, she did not cry aloud, but she ran out of the room in the greatest haste, never think- ing of the dominoes. She ran to find THE SILVER LAKE stories. 141 her brother, but she had no sooner en- tered the corridor, than she saw, and saw too clearly to believe it to be the effect of fear, a figure clothed in long, white garments, having one arm ex- tended towards her, entirely covered with black, and which in a trembling voice cried, “ Sophie, Sophie, Sophie !” This was the most alarming, and the ' most terrible adventure, that had ever happened to her yet; and if she had had enough power over herself not to ' scream when she touched the thing that was so cold in the closet, she did not show as much courage this time ; but falling backwards upon the floor, 142 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. because her limbs would not sustain her, she screamed so loud that the poor spirit, who had been as much frightened as his sister, threw off immediately his white clothing, ran and threw his arms around her, and cried “Sophie! Sophie! My dear Sophie! is it you? oh, my dear! I believed that all was over with me! I have been nearly smothered since you left me, and I really thought I was going to be buried alive.” Just then Mary, who had heard all this noise, came with a light, and seeing what had happened, she flew into a great rage, and asked them if they thought she had nothing to do, but to THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 148 . wash their linen, because they threw it -all down in the corridor. “See my handkerchief!” she cried with fury ; “was it to wrap up your arms, Master | Harry, that I washed it in a little beer, to make it more white and fresh? See; I beg of you, in what a condition you have put it!” Harry appeared extremely confused, when he saw that the only danger he had encountered was that of taking cold by being covered with wet linen. The fact is that when his sister left him, he was so much afraid of remaining alone, that although he very much de- sired the box of paints, and the ivory 144 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. . ball, he thought he was paying too high a price for them, and he almost repent- ed of his promise. Wishing neverthe- less to obtain the two things which he had coveted so much, he thought he would remain where his sister had left him; but he fancied if he moved a little farther from the door, and stood with his back against the wall, he would be much safer, and more secure from every kind of danger. Seeking by this means to place him- self in safety, and shutting his eyes, so that he might see nothing disagreeable by the rays of the moon, whose light reflected different objects along the THE SILVER LAKE STORIES, 145 wall, he had the misfortune to step on the end of the rope, on which, Mary had hung all the day’s washing, and being hindered by it, he pulled so upon the rope with his foot, that the nail which held it came out, and at the same mo- ment, poor Harry was crushed under an enormous weight of wet linen. Af. ter the astonishing and marvellous sto- ries his sister had told him, he thought _ the wet linen could be nothing but an enormous giant, which was going to bury him alive. When Mary went into the closet, her anger was at its height; for Sophie in fumbling about for the box of dominoes, 10 146 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. had not only soiled her hands, and her fingers, in a dish of gooseberry jelly, but had left the marks of it upon the caps and handkerchiefs, newly bleached, which Mary had laid aside upon the shelf, till she could find time to iron them over. ae | This story was repeated in the parlor, and the evening was passed in bursts of hearty laughter at the expense of the little cowards. Lhe Indians. T was more than forty years ago, )( that the family of Mr. M- re- moved from the city of New York, and located in a beautiful and fertile valley, in the western part of the state. They found that their nearest neighbors were Indians, several Indian villages being situated near them. You have heard so many frightful stories of the cruelty of the Indians, that you prob- 148 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. ably think it would be a dreadful thing to live with no other neighbors, but the red men of the forest, and no white persons within many miles of you. But the family of Mr. M found the In- dians kind, and peaceable, and honest neighbors, till the white people came and established villages, and sold the “ fire-water” to the poor Indians, which makes brutes of other men as well as them. | Soon after Mr. M—’s family settled in that part of the country, several chiefs of the different tribes of Indians about them, sent word to them through an interpreter, that they were coming THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 149 to pay them a visit of welcome. Through some mistake the message never reached them. What then was Mrs. M—’s sur- prise, as she raised her eyes to the win- dow one day, and saw coming up the ~ avenue which had been cut through the woods, a long procession of Indians on horseback, each Indian having his Squaw on the horse behind him. The interpreter who was with them having made known the object of their visit, Mrs. M sent for her husband, who was on a distant part of the farm, and who immediately hurried home and gave a cordial welcome to his Indian neighbors. Mr. M—’s house was hand- 150 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. somely furnished ; and of course every- thing in it was an entirely strange sight to these children of the forest ; and yet as their eyes carelessly passed from one fine picture, or piece of furni- ture, to another, no expression of inter- est or astonishment escaped them; indeed for any thing that appeared to the contrary, they might have been accustomed: to these things all their days. The common Indians when they came to the house, would point to these things, and express their astonishment in a high prolonged note of exclamation, but anything of that kind was quite unbecoming the dignity of a chief. THE SILVER LAKE stories, 15] But what to feed this great company with, was the puzzling question with Mrs. M She was obliged to con- sult the interpreter, who told her that the greatest delicacy which could be offered them, would be slices of ham fried, and bread to dip in the gravy. Having a great quantity of hams in the house, and a fresh baking of bread, Mrs. M and her cook set to work to prepare an entertainment for their strange guests. When the Indians were called in to dinner, they would not sit down, till through the interpreter they had thanked the Great Spirit, for allow- ing them that interview, and given 152 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. Mr. M a welcome to his new home. They then sat down and did such ample justice to the food set before them, that Mrs. M——— and the cook thought their labors would | never be ended. All things must have a close however, and at length the Indians had finished their repast. Then another long speech must be made, thanking first the Great Spirit, and afterwards Mr. M , for the good things provided for them. Some years after this, when the In- dians had learned to love the “fire- water,” and many of them had become very intemperate, an old Indian while -ander the influence of liquor, laid down THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. 153 under a tree in the woods, and falling asleep, he remained there all night. In the morning he was found half de- voured by bears. Though laid up for a long time, he lived, and was always called “Bear-eaten-John.” He was a very fierce, disagreeable-looking Indian, and it was enough to frighten, one, to meet him alone in the woods, at any time. One night the family of Mr. M—— had all gone away from home on a vis- it, (for they had white neighbors now, within a few miles,) with the exception of a cousin, who acted as governess, and a little child of Mr. M—'s.) A vl0- 154 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. lent storm, and a sudden rise in the river, which was crossed by fording, prevented their return home for two or three days. Soon after the family left home, the baby who was left under Miss Martha’s care, was taken quite sick. All the first night, he kept her awake, and all day she had to hold him in her arms, and rock him. When the second night came, and the family had not yet returned, she began to feel tired and sleepy. But the sick baby would not let her lie down fora moment. He would only be quiet while she sat by the fire, and rocked him in her arms. In this way THE SILVER LAKE storms. 155 she sat before the kitchen stove, till nearly midnight; no other creature in the house, and no sound to be heard put the ticking of the tall kitchen clock. A feeling of drowsiness was coming yver her, which it was almost impos- sible to resist, when suddenly the latch was lifted, the door opened, and looking round she saw the fierce countenance of “ Bear-eaten-John,” who coming up to her demanded “snikei !” (whiskey). Many a woman would have screamed, or fainted, under such circumstances, and any one would have been excusa-— ple for being a little alarmed ; but Miss Martha was an uncommonly strong- 156 ‘THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. minded and courageous woman, and in the course of a moment or two, she had reasoned with herself thus: _ “Here I am far from any other white person. I have no strength to turn this Indian out; and if I give him all the liquor he wants, it will only madden him, and he may murder me. But | think I understand him well enough to know, that if I place confidence in him, he will not betray his trust.” So rising, and bringing out a decan- ter of brandy, and a wine glass, she said; “See here, John! this baby is very sick ; I have walked with him, and ‘rocked him all last night, and all day ; THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. L5T Lam very tired and sleepy ; now, John, you take him ; rock him so; and every time this pointer of the clock comes to one of these hours, came and wake me, and I will give you this glass full of brandy.” | John could understand English very well, though like most Indians he was not willing to speak it; so making the usual exclamation “ugh !” he took the baby in his arms as she bad told him, and began to rock it. Miss Martha lay down on @ lounge in the room, and in one minute was in a deep slum- ber. John rocked the baby, and every time the hour struck, he rose and shook 158 THE SILVER LAKE STORIES. Miss Martha, and said “ugh, snikei!” and then she got up and gave him his glass full of brandy. Thus they went on all night, and when the morning came, Miss Martha rose quite refreshed ; the baby had appeared very well pleased with his strange nurse, and “ Bear-eaten-John” went off, quite sat- isfied with his wages.