A Little Girl in Old Boston

e a discussion

rn on both sides. Her father had left considerable money, and in a few years second-cousin Charl

Doris is quite behind, while in others far advanced. There will be time enough for ac

ench. And perhaps it would be as well

eed of Latin for a girl. There was a kind of sentiment about French; it h

had been first inaugurated it was thought quite sufficient for girls to go from April to October. Good wives and good mothers was the ideal held up to girls. But people were beginning to understand t

She was a good reader and speller; she had a really fine manuscript arithmetic, in which she had written the rules and copied the sums herself. She had a book of "elegant extracts"; she also wrote down the text of the Sunday morning sermon and what she could remember of it. She knew the difference between the Puritans and the Pilgrims; she also knew how the thirteen States were set

est thing a girl could have, in Mrs. Leverett's estimation, an

had been cut down and made over by Miss Arabella's dainty fingers, and underclothes of a delicate quality. T

r, and a coat," said Mrs. Leverett. "Cousin Win

can make that. And a strip of fur on her coat. She would blow

winter. Still, I suppose Old Boston m

so nearly

f to the first of the week. Doris proved eagerly helpful and dusted v

to send her away, for she was good enough when she had any sense. There's no place for her but the poorhouse, and I can't find it in my conscience to send her there. But

t year I found it quite trying. And Betty must hav

, nowadays, and are in the street half the time, and dancing and frolicking ro

heard some such comments when she was young,

s charge? How does he feel about

been arranging the business this morning. Foster is t

a girl! Why, she'll

stay here. She will go to Mrs. Webb's school this winter.

sked Aunt Priscilla w

Street, and some stock. Winthrop thinks she ought to be well educated. And if she should ever have to

unity for nothing, and tax the peopl

others, at least property owners, have to pay their share. I tell Foste

ople get al

hool until I

ack to it. Jonas Field is in a terrible taking. According to him war's bound to come. And this embar

But we are learning to do a g

rld will go on all right. It's to be hoped Foster will look out for the girl's interest a little. But you'll be foolish to take the brunt of the thing. N

did give her s

ster just wouldn't hear to it, this year at least. We have all taken a great liking to her,

ey to throw away--" g

of us. I really couldn't think of charging. It's like having one of the grandchildren here. And she needs a mother's ca

iscilla

n. "It's such a long walk back to King Street on an empty stomach. The children are making cook

ed and interested her all in a breath. She had come over to hear about Doris. There was so little interest

," she said to her husband. "They've missed the best things

n bored at the call of a dissatisfied old woman every few days. But since the death of Mehitable Doule, Priscilla's own cousin, who had been married from her house, she had clung more to t

lly'll make a great hole in that cold roast pork, for I never said a word as to what she should have for supper. She's come to

e some te

, if I do stay, and the men will be in before long.

a fuss, you know. He feels she must be well brou

r's folks didn't

the records back several generations. And wh

s good to have folks you're not ashamed of, to be

wl, and hung them in the "best" closet, wh

on account of my hand being out. I've more than enough stockings to last my time out and som

He's easy, too. Warren's the one to gnaw out h

d the sheath on her side. How gay the voices

they lovely! Betty let me cut them

hand. Her cheeks were like roses now, and Betty's kitchen apron made ano

oon," recove

ul. I must taste one," Mrs

e plate to Au

in a paper, and I'll take them home. I'm glad to see you at somet

Barby," answered

after I had turned ten years old. Girls in old times lea

ttle courtesy a

t it up or cut it off. It's good to cut a girl's hair; makes i

ont in little curls. It's so much less tr

ashion in these hard times?" a

t state next month, and we have been invited already. I

relatives to be married," and

or Betty to stitch, as they had come to shirt-making. The new ones of thick cotton cloth would be go

y swallows had met on a May morning. Aunt Priscilla pushed up nearer the window. She had g

-or ought to,-and if they were bad your conscience was troubled. Aunt Priscilla had been elated over her idea all day yesterday. It looked really generous to her. Of course Cousin Winthrop couldn't be bothered with this little foreign girl, and the Leveretts had a lot of grandchildren. She might take this Dorothy Adams, and bring her up in a virtuous, useful fashion. She woul

was not the kind of stuff out of which missionaries were made, and this wasn't just charitable work. She would expect the girl to do something for her board, but Polly would be good for a

hrop had a son of his own, and perhaps not so much money as people thought. And it did seem folly to waste the child's means. If she ha

l the household had a smile for her. Foster Leverett patted her soft hair, and Warren pinched her cheek in

when Priscilla Perkins opened

Priscilla," said Warren. "

ely joined the band, but his mother thought

moonlight. I come so often

r. Leverett, settling in his armchair by the fire, really g

l and sat down beside him. She look

unt Priscilla said to Warren whe

so wise in some ways and so honestly ignorant in others. I never saw Uncle Win so taken-he never seems to qui

r to tea with some of the old cousins, and he called on her New

ere was a narrow hall floor set in a little distance, with a few steps, and the shop front with the plain sign of "Jonas Field, Flour, Grain, and Feed." The stairway led to an upper hall a

eteen when she was married, and Hatfield Perkins quite a bachelor. And, as no children had

death. There was a little tea room, and a big kitchen at the back. Downstairs the store part had been built out, and on the roof of this the clothes were dried. Polly always sat out here in pleasant we

t her to bed in short order. There were two rooms and a storage closet upstairs in the gables. On

th old-fashioned methods that made work. She was very particular. Everything was scrubbed and scoured and swept and dusted and aired. The dishes were polished until they were lustrous. The knives and forks and spoons were speckless. There were napery and bedding that had been laid by for her marriage outfit, and not all worn out yet, though in the early years

e the picture the little foreign girl made as she folded her arms on Foster Leverett's knee. She wouldn't have that mop of frowzly hair flying about, and she would like to fat her up a little-she was rather peaked. She had imagined her going

e. She opened the outside door and glanced around. There was an autumnal chill in the air, but there were no mysterious shadows creeping

ple have come over from England before, big and little, and there's been a war and there may be another, and no end of things