Understood Betsy

by her kitten, who ran to her, purri

r lap, "I suppose you're starved, aren't you? Get yourself a piece

, munching fast on this provender,

om the front in the second row." She wondered why Aunt Abigail cared. "Oh, I guess that's your U

y no

. I remember the winter he put it there. It was the first season Mother

n than did Uncle Henry's father! And to think he had been a little boy, right there at that desk! She stopped chewing altogether for a moment and stared into space. Although she was only nine years old, she was fe

apple still in her mouth, went on chewing meditativel

nderful rapidity. "I was born in 1844. And I was six wh

very little notion how long sixty-six years might

but she did not laugh as she answered, "No, that was long aft

staring, with her teet

of sawed lumber. You know, when our folks came up here, t

Betsy, with her mo

d to make houses out of? They had to have somethin

g about it," said Bets

heard 'em say that the wood-pigeons were so thick you could go out after dark and club 'em out of the trees, just like hens roosting in a hen-house. There always was cold pigeon-pie in the pantry, just the way we have doughnuts. And they used bear-grease to grease the

here I went today-was that built then?"

y and fireplace in it. It was built long

d Elizabeth Ann. This was the most startling and i

ought it a pity they tore down the big chimney and fireplace out of the schoolhouse and put in that big, ugly stove. But folks are so daft over new-fangled things. Well, anyhow, t

peated Betsy.

ll the tim

have a clock?"

w-sills. There's one on the window-sill of our pantry this minute. Come on, I'll show it to you." She got up heavily with her pan of apples, and trotted briskly, shaking the floor as she went, over to the s

hite paint, and shelves which were loaded with dishes a

window. "That's not so good as the one a

upidly at the deep scra

es past five! Now my grandmother could have told that within five minutes, just by the place of the shadow. I declare! Sometimes it seems to me that every time a new piece of machinery comes into the door some of our wits fly out at the window! Now I couldn't any more live without matches than I could fly! And yet they all used to get along al

rsation by exclaiming, "How could any-body get a

," she said; "it's time I began getting supper ready. We divide up on the work. Ann gets the dinner and I get the sup

usin Ann, and declared so loudly, "Oh, help you with the supper!" that her promptness made her sound quite hearty and willing. "Well, that's fine," said Aunt Abigail. "We'll set the table now. But firs

ismally at Aunt Abigail, but the old woman was standing with her back turned, doing something at the kitchen table. Very gingerly the little girl took hold of the hand

his gun. And he'd keep striking it till it happened to fly out in the right direction, and you'd catch it in some fluff where it would start a smoulde

ave taken forE

And as the little girl, hypnotized by the other's casual, offhand way of issuing instructions, began to fumble with the knives and forks she went on: "Why, you'd start your fire that way, and then you'd never let it go out. Everybody that amounted to anything knew how to bank the hearth fire with ashes at night so it would be sure to last. And the first thi

onstructing the old life. As she put the napkins arou

oods-everything was woods then-to the next house and wait till they had their fire going and could spare him a pan full of coals; and then-don't forget the salt and pepper-he would leg it home as fast as he could streak it,

y, dismayed. "I don'

hite hair with the back of her floury hand. "You know

h Ann, clamoring for exact instruction so she

sly. "Fix it to suit yourself, and I guess the rest of

asted it. Better, but not quite enough. She put in a tablespoonful more and tasted it, staring off into space under bended brows as she concentrated her attention on the taste. It was

t out in that big yellow bowl, and put it on the table in

ed Betsy. "That isn't all y

d you do?" aske

very much surprised. "I didn'

l gravely, with the merry wrinkles around her

e, they were both duly impressed when told that Betsy had set the table and made the apple sauce. They pronounced it very good apple sauce indeed, and each sent hi

rnoon, Aunt Abigail was darning socks, and Uncle Henry was mending a piece of harness. Shep lay on the couch and snored until he got so noisy they couldn't stand it, and Cousin Ann poked him in the ribs and he woke up snorting and gurgling and lookin

et on at school?"

at his gray hair and wrinkled, weather-beaten face, and trying to th

l you that's a mighty good desk! Did you

had wondered what

use there wasn't any store to run to, how do you suppose they got their lead-pencils!" Elizabeth Ann shook her hea

ll it would run like water, and poured it in that groove. When it cooled off, there was a long streak of solid lead, about as big as one of our lead-pencils nowadays. They'd brea

Elizabeth Ann. She could not imagine

asked Uncle Henry, argumentatively. "Every single thing had t

use wagons?" as

, long time before they had any roads. It's an awful chore to make roads in a new country all woods and h

mes long enough to let Betsy answer the question you asked her.

am! I'm second-grade arithmetic and third-grade spelling and seventh-grade r

enry, indeed, noted it only to say, "Seventh-grade reading!" He turned to Aunt

" They explained to Betsy: "Your Uncle Henry is just daft on being read aloud to when he's got something to do in the evening, an

play checkers

instantly and dropping his half-mended

or Shep. "How about that piece of breeching! You know

p did when Cousin Ann told him to get up o

sy, feeling very sorry for him. "At least I

e, Mother?" asked

y cold to go into the parlor to the other one." She leaned forward, ran her fat fore-

e Henry, his eyes shin

correctly, though in a timid, uncertain voice. She was very proud to think she could please a grown-up so much as she was ev

eve had dr

the moon on

orrect her, and she read on and on, steadied by the strongly-marked rhythm, drawn forward swiftly from one clanging, sonorous rhyme to another. Uncle Henry nodded his head in time to the rise and fall of her voice and now a

listened

ed as the ch

headmost fo

bound, the co

wide, and the child felt as though the deer h

ry. "A two-three-hundred-pound stag go up over a four-f

ed Elizabeth Ann,

the woods, must be. Underbrush most likely. You can always tel

ng forward,

in. She read faster and faster as it go

now and spe

h foam and d

gasp with

stag strained

g desperately over the hard words but seeing the headlong chase through them clear

arry shunne

im from the

g down a da

hound and h

Trossach's

tary ref

g down the book. "He got away, didn

dogs yelping, can't y

e view the o

the slope of Hemlock Mountain back of

" suggested Aunt Abigail. "Betsy

er used with that phrase so familiar to her. A dim notion was growing up in her

ow cluster hanging on the wall, and he and Betsy shelled them into the popper, popp

thrust in. A man's voice said: "Evenin', folks. No, I can't stay. I was down at the village just now, an

or that cruelty. And when she thought that her darling was at Putney Farm...! Her blood ran cold. It positively did! It was too dreadful. But it couldn't be helped, for a time anyhow, because Aunt Harriet was really very sick. Elizabeth Ann would have to be a dear, brave child and endure it

er her darning. Uncle Henry laid the paper down, took a big mouthful of pop-corn, and beat time silently with hi

tirred in her sleep, stretched, yawned, and nestled down into a ball again on the little girl'

d your letter? I hope Harriet is

d not know why. "Aunt Frances says, ... Aunt Frances says, ..." she began, hesitating. "She says Aunt Har

. It made her feel less ashamed, though she did not know why. She took another mouthful of pop-corn and stroked Eleanor's bac

e sun his b