Nature's Serial Story

e different members of the family, as they in their several ways develop their own individuality. A remark from old Mr. Clifford indicates that an

o come to us; and yet, unless something unforeseen

y; "I'll meet her, and am glad of an excuse to go out th

n the operation. The little girl will feel strange enough, anyway, coming among people that she has never seen, and I don't intend that she shall be frightened out of her wits into the bargain by your harum-scarum ways. You'd give her the impression that we

d affection by the one who has the best right to represent me. I'd go myself, were not the cold so severe; but then Leonard's ways are almost as fatherly as my own

and put her under his wife's wing. I should probably misrepresent the family, and make

e the other children, and I have some nice little knick-knacks with which to fill it. These, and the gifts which the rest of

view of my friend's letters, this is the position that I desire her to sustain, and it will be the simplest and most natural relation f

istfully to the friend of his early manhood, and, as he recalled Mr. Clifford's rural home, he felt that he could desire no better refuge for his child. He had always written of her as his "little girl," and such she was in his fond eyes, although in fact she had seen eighteen summers. Her slight figure and girlish ways had never dispelled the illusion that

breathing, and spoke the hearty and encouraging words which are naturally addressed to a little girl. After seeing that her trunks were safely bestowed in a large box-sledge, under the charge of black Abram, one of the farm-hands, he drove rapidly homeward

you all by being larger a

rly kindness, had received the girl into open arms. Scarcely less demonstrative and affectionate was the gr

ed Leonard, "the child

can take breath. You shall unwrap in your own room, and feel from the start that you have a nook where no one can molest you or make you afraid, to which you can always retreat;" and she led the way to a snug apartment, where a

ong strangers," she murmured; "but

"You are at home as truly as I am. There is nothing halfway in this house. Do you know we all thought t

in the dark hazel eyes which Amy lifte

en are all eager to see you. You won't find much ice to break, and before the ev

on; but when your husband picked me up in his strong arms, and reassured me as if I were a little girl, my feeling of desolation began to pass away. Your greeting and dear old Mr. Clifford's have banished it altogether. I felt as if my own father were blessing me in the fr

in his impatience, and the little mother must not be kept waiting, either. You

s concerning one who must, from the intimate relations she would sustain, take from or add much to it. Therefore it was with a flutter of no ordinary expectancy that they waited for her appearance. The only one indifferent was Leonard's youngest boy, who, astride his grandpa's cane, was trotting quietly about, unrestricted in his gambols. Alfred had thawed out since his return from the station, and was eager to take the measure of a possible playmate; but, with the shyness of a boy who is to meet a "strange girl," he sought a partial cover behind his grandfather's chair. Little "Johnnie" was flitting about impatiently, with her least mutilated doll upon her arm; while her uncle Burtis, seated on a low stool by his mother's sofa, pretended to be

der, brown-haired girl quite a different welcome from the one they had expected to bestow upon a child. Old Mr. Clifford did not permit her embarrassment to last a moment, but, stepping hastily forward, and encircling her with his arm, he led her to his wife, who brought tears into the eyes of the motherless girl by the gentle warmth of her greeting. She monopolized her

xpect a little sister that I could romp with, and pick up and k

cause just once," Leonard remarked, laughin

ber of the family, to whom we all speak with bated breath. You must not expect him to get acquainted with you in any ordinary way. He will investigate you, and never rest until he has discovered all the hidden la

t hers drooped. "Sister Amy," he said, gently, "I was prepared to welcome you on general principles, but I now welcome you for yo

ll warm upon her cheek, that she felt a sense of rest and security never known before. "He will be my brother in very truth," was the interpretation which her heart gave

rse, will be frequent in this vale of tears. He will console you, Amy, by explaining how tears are formed, and how, by

tand Webb," was h

o widely, and only an occasion like this could have moved him. You must have unco

the world, and the arrival in its midst of the beautiful lady never seen before was as wonderful as any fairy tale. Indeed, that such a June-like creature should come to them that wintry day-that she had crossed the terrible ocean from a foreign realm far more remote, in the child's consciousness, than fairy-land

day in storybooks, don't they, Johnnie? Johnnie, you must know, has the advantage of the rest of us. She likes bread-and-butter, and kindred realities of our matter-of-fact sphere, but she also has a world

own mind, the sharp outlines of fact had shaded off into the manifold mysteries of wonderland. Therefore, with an

and perhaps something for dolly. I can't claim to be a fairy p

and disappointed. Thus far he had been overlooked, but he did not much care, for this great girl could be no companion for him. Amy, however, had woman's best grace-tact-and guessed his trouble. "Alf," she said, c

entering into his life. Mercurial Burtis, however, found nothing peculiar in his own pleasant sensations. He had a score of young lady friends, and was merely delighted to find in Amy a very attractive young woman, ins

aiting for you, and I think that, after you have broken bread with us, and have had a quiet sleep under the old roof, yo

heir life; and then followed the genial, unrestrained table-talk of a household that, as yet, possessed no closeted skeleton. The orphan sat among them, and her mourning weeds spoke of a great and recent sorrow, which might have been desolation, but already her kindling eyes and flushed cheeks proved that this strong, bright current of family life would have the power to carry her forward to a new, spring-like