CHAPTER V.
ONE OF THE SMALL DEEDS.
KATHIE'S lessons, even to her music, were perfect the next day. Indeed,Mr. Lawrence quite complimented her.
Mrs. Alston said, "Kathie, if you would like to come over after schooland relieve me a little while, I should be very glad."
So Kathie went straight from school There was quite a crowd already.Whole families had come in from the country, farmers with their wivesand little ones.
"What taste you do see displayed!" Lottie remarked, sauntering toKathie's vicinity. "Look at that woman's shawl with a yellow centre.Isn't it hideously ugly? And that purple bonnet with red flowers! Whydidn't she put blue, by way of contrast?"
The wearer of the purple bonnet glanced at the two girls with a flushedand rather indignant face,--a hard-featured countrywoman, neither youngnor pretty.
"O don't," whispered Kathie. "She heard you."
"As if I cared! Any person who outrages taste in that manner is a fitsubject for criticism. How horridly that gored skirt hangs! Home-made tothe last thread. If I couldn't have a dressmaker I would not have anynew dresses."
Kathie was feeling quite distressed. She disliked to have Lottie tostand here and make remarks on every one who passed by.
"How do you make them 'ere things?" inquired a coarse but fresh youngvoice at her side.
Lottie tittered, and put her handkerchief to her face.
"What?" asked Kathie, in great confusion.
"These 'ere," pointing to some very pretty moss and lichen brackets.
"The moss is fastened to a piece of wood just the right shape,--likethis"; and she turned the bracket round.
"Pasted on?"
"You could use paste or glue,--anything that adheres quickly."
"Adheres?"--with a kind of wondering stare.
"Sticks!" exclaimed Lottie, in a peculiar tone.
"I wasn't talking to you," said the girl, rather gruffly.
Lottie tossed her head with a world of scorn, and moved a little lowerdown to speak to some stylish friends that she saw coming.
"Thinks she's dre'dful fine!" continued the girl. "You find them thingsin the woods. I have lots of 'em, but I never thought o' puttin' them upanywheres. I've some a good deal bigger 'n any you have here."
She was referring to the lichens now.
"They must be very fine," said Kathie.
"Some of 'em are pinky, and all streaked, in rows like this. Don't yous'pose I could put 'em up? And I know Jim'd make me some fine things tostick the moss on. He's powerful handy with tools. Means to be acarpenter."
She was a nice, wholesome-looking girl of fifteen or thereabout. Kathiewished that she dared to correct her words and sentences a little.
"You might make your parlor or your own room look very pretty with someof these adornments," she remarked, with quiet interest.
"The youngsters would soon smash 'em up in my room," she said, withrough good-nature; "but ma'am will let me fix up the parlor, I know. Andif you'd only tell me--" The girl wriggled around with painfulhesitation.
"Well?" Kathie went on, encouragingly.
"About them 'ere frames that look like straw."
"They are straw."
"There, I was sure of it! Ain't they han'some! Do you know how to make'em?"
"Yes."
"S'pose you wouldn't like to tell me?"--bashfully.
"Why, yes," answered Kathie, smiling. "First, you find some nice, longpieces of straw that are smooth and round, and, holding them togetherthis way,--four or five or six, as wide as you want your frame,--sewthem backwards and forwards with a fine needle and cotton. When you havemade your four pieces cross them so, and fasten them through on thepictures at the corner. Then you tie a little bow over the sewing."
"Well, now, it isn't hard, after all! I mean to make some. What's theprice of that?"
"Fifty cents."
"I mean to have one of 'em. I'll hunt up mother and come back." Withthat the girl dashed into the crowd.
"Profitable customer!" sneered Lottie.
Just then there was a rush to the table, and Kathie was kept very busyfor ten minutes or so, while Lottie went over to Mrs. Wilder's table andbegan to "take off" Kathie's young woman, as she called her. It soundedvery funny to the group of girls, exaggerated a little by Lottie's loveof a good story.
Half an hour afterwards, when Kathie had almost forgotten, the girl camedragging her mother rather unwillingly up to the table.
"Here she is! I've made her come, though she said fust she wouldn't. Butyou was so real sweet to me that I couldn't give it up."
Kathie recognized the identical purple bonnet and dull red roses, andshe flushed a little at the woman's sharp scrutiny.
"You ain't the one that laughed awhile ago," she said, the featuresrelaxing a little. "City gals may think themselves a heap finer thancountry folk, but I can see bad manners as quick as the next one."
"I was very sorry for it," exclaimed Kathie, in a low tone.
"Then my gal wouldn't give me any peace till I come back"--apparentlymuch mollified. "Now, Sary Ann, where's the picter you want?"
"O, they're all so _bew_-tiful!" exclaimed the girl. "And I know I canmake the frames after I go home. Look at this 'ere cross and this basketof flowers, and these roses! O dear!"--in despair.
"She's so fond o' flowers,--is Sary Ann. She's had the beautifullestgarden this summer that you ever see. Well, Sary Ann? I'd take thebasket of flowers."
"But the cross!" exclaimed the girl, longingly.
They looked them over while Kathie went to wait upon another customer.
"I've concluded to get 'em both for her," announced the woman. "SaryAnn's a real good girl, and a powerful sight o' help to me. There's sixyounger 'n she, and Jim older; but boys can't do much about a house."
Kathie did up the pictures with a little sensation of triumph.
"O mother, look what a pretty baby's cap! Wouldn't it be sweet forLily, and you promised to buy her one the fust time you went to town."
"She would have the baby called Lily," said the woman, as if in apology."What's the price of this?"
"Two dollars and a half."
"O, that's too dear."
"We have cheaper ones."
"But this is such a beauty," said Sary Ann.
"I crocheted it myself," Kathie returned, quietly.
"O mother, I'd like to have something she's done her own very self! Didyou make the frames?"
"No, my aunt did those, but I know how,"--with a sweet smile.
After a good deal of talking they concluded to take the cap; then SaryAnn wanted a pretty white apron for the "patron" of it, she declared.
"Nonsense!" said her mother.
But Sary Ann carried the day, and afterward she found something else.
Altogether the bill amounted to seven dollars and sixty-four cents. Notso bad, after all. The woman paid it without a bit of grumbling.
"It's a good cause," she said. "I often think of the poor fellows outthere," nodding her head; "and sence the Lord gives 'em strength andcourage to go, we ought to do something besides prayin' for 'em. My oldman he put up a lot of turkeys an' chickens, an' apples and onions, an'sez he, 'Though we ain't any children out there, we've neighbors andfriends, and every chap among the lot deserves a Thanksgiving dinner.'"
Kathie forgot all about the red and purple, thinking of the red, white,and blue, and of the tender place in this woman's heart.
"I want to give you a little picture to frame," she said to "Sary Ann";"it will help you to remember me, as well as the cause."
It was a pretty colored photograph of two children,--"TheReconciliation."
The girl was so delighted that the quick tears sprang to her eyes."There's no fear of my forgetting you," she declared, warmly. "I've hada splendid time!"
Kathie opened her portmonnaie and dropped the quarter in the drawer. Hermother had taught her to be scrupulously honest about such matters, andshe wanted the gift to be altogether hers.
> It was getting quite dusky now. Uncle Robert had brought Mrs. Alstonover in the pony-carriage, and was to take Kathie back, "to smooth herruffled plumes," the child said; for the knot of girls around EmmaLauriston had been discussing what they would wear.
"There'll be a great jam here to-night," said one. "Everybody will turnout, and I want to look as pretty as possible."
Kathie had begun to have some rather troublesome thoughts on the subjectof dress. The larger girls at school talked considerably of thefashions. She realized her own position much better than she had a yearago, and knew that a certain style was expected of her. She hated to beconsidered mean or shabby, or, worst of all, deficient in taste; yet howmuch of it was right? Need it occupy all one's time and one's desires?
She felt very strongly inclined to make herself "gorgeous" to-night, asRob would have phrased it; yet the only ornament she indulged in was alittle cluster of flowers at her throat.
A jam it was, sure enough. Everybody had to look half a dozen ways atonce. The hum of the laughing and talking almost drowned the music. Bynine o'clock some of the tables began to wear a rather forlorn aspect,and two or three "shut up shop," having been entirely sold out.
Miss Weston's luck appeared less brilliant than that of many others.
"I wish you could take some one there who would buy ever so manythings," Kathie said to Uncle Robert; "I am afraid she is feeling a gooddeal discouraged."
He smiled at the thoughtfulness, but made no immediate reply. OnlyKathie noticed his standing there a considerable length of time.
When he came back to her he said, softly, "Kathie, will you not come andkeep her table for a little while? I want to take her to the supper-roomfor some refreshments."
Kathie gave him a rather beseeching look.
"I'll be sure and not let her spend more than fifteen minutes. Afterthat we will have a gay promenade."
Was it selfish not to want to stay here? Yet Kathie put on her mostattractive smiles and actually sold several articles while Miss Westonwas gone.
Then, hunting up Emma Lauriston, they set out on a tour, Uncle Robertsaid. They went to the Dutch kitchen, where Miss Jessie was one of the"young ladies" to-night; and very pretty she looked, though Uncle Robertinsisted that she could not talk a word of Dutch. They had creamafterward, candy, nuts, and fruit, until it appeared to Kathie that shehad eaten enough to last a week.
There had been a discussion at first about continuing the Fair onThanksgiving day, but, as the articles were so nearly sold out, it wasdecided to have an auction. That made great fun indeed. By eleveno'clock the tables were emptied, and the refreshments reduced to arather fragmentary state. The crowd, too, began to thin out.
Such a hunting for baskets and hampers and boxes of every description,such a hurrying and scurrying and confusion of voices, was seldomwitnessed in quiet Brookside. In the crowd Kathie ran over Lottie.
"O dear!" the latter exclaimed, fretfully, "aren't you half tired todeath, Kathie Alston? I've ruined my dress too,--this lovely blue silk!I am sure I don't know what ma will say. Some one trod on it, as I wassitting down, and tore off the trimming, and that clumsy Harry Coxspilled lemonade on me. Children ought not to be allowed in such places,especially boys who do not know how to behave!" and she uttered thiswith a great deal of emphasis. "And I've lost one of my new kid gloves.They were such a lovely shade. There is nothing in Brookside like them!
"She ought to have known better than to dress in such state, as if shewas going to a party," whispered Emma Lauriston. "I am cream and pie andcake-crumbs, and goodness only knows what, and devoutly thankful that Ishall not have to go to school to-morrow. But it _has_ been a success.Mrs. Wilder made one hundred and forty dollars at her table,--ourtable," with a laugh.
"And mamma has made nearly two hundred."
"I long to hear the aggregate."
"It will not be less than two thousand," exclaimed Uncle Robert, tryingto open a path for the girls.
Kathie was very tired when she reached home, and with a good-night kissran off to her own room, where she fell asleep with a strange jumble ofideas in her head.
Two thousand three hundred and twenty dollars for the widows and orphanswhen all expenses were paid. Everybody felt very well satisfied, and,after a good Thanksgiving dinner, affairs at Brookside rolled on ascalmly as before.
Except, perhaps, that there were more anxious hearts. General Shermanwas sweeping on to the sea, and brave Sheridan was carryingconsternation to the heart of the enemy by his daring raids. Grant wasdrawing nearer and nearer to Richmond, but there would be some prettyhard work at the last, every one thought.
Some days afterward Kathie finished a letter to Mr. Meredith, giving hima glowing account of their labors at home.
"If he could come back to keep Christmas with us!" Kathie said,longingly. "And dear Rob--and O, the hundreds more who are away frompleasant firesides!"
Uncle Robert decided to pay Rob a Christmas visit, and they concluded topack a small box to send. He was so fond of "goodies" that Kathie triedher hand at some of the Fair recipes and had excellent success. A fewnew articles were needed for every-day use, but these comprised only avery small share.
"He will have quite a feast," Kathie said, delightedly. "And there isnot much fear of Rob being like Harry in the story."
Uncle Robert would be back by Christmas. They had planned to have a treeagain, but Kathie declared that she could not think of a single thingshe needed. She was quite busy with various other little matters,however, that required strict seclusion in her own room.
How different it was from last year! She and Aunt Ruth talked itover,--the waiting, the disappointment, and the sacrifice that after allhad ended so happily.
"It seemed as if everything must have happened then, and that therewould be nothing left for this year," she said.
Uncle Robert brought most satisfactory accounts from his nephew. Rob waswell, contented and happy, and growing tall in an astonishing manner. Hesent oceans of love and thanks to everybody, and wished that he couldcome home and see them.
"And here is a letter for you," said Kathie, taking it from the rack onhis desk. "It is from Mr. Meredith. See if he is not going to surpriseus. The ninety days will soon be ended."
Uncle Robert sat before the grate fire, sunning himself in the cheerfulglow, but Kathie remarked that his face grew very grave.
"What is it?" she asked, anxiously. "He is not sick, or--"
"He is well. You may read this."
He folded down a little slip at the top and handed the letter to thechild, who read:--
"Tell Kathie that I have seen General Mackenzie, her hero of lastwinter, and that he was delighted to have some tidings of her. And thatduring the last fortnight my ideas and sphere of duty seem to haveenlarged. I think she will approve of my decision,--my brave littleCaptain who stood by her colors so nobly last winter, and preferred tominister to her suffering aunt rather than share the most temptingpleasures. So I shall give up my own comfort and idleness awhile longer,and stand by the dear country that needs every man in this last greatstruggle."
"Oh!" with a tender little cry. "He is not coming home!"
"No. He has resolved to stay and see the war through," was the gravereply.
Kathie looked into the glowing fire. It was very brave and noble in himfor he did _not_ like military life under the auspices in which he wasseeing it.
"There is a little more," Uncle Robert said.
The "little more" brought the tears to her eyes. She stooped and laidher head on Uncle Robert's shoulder, nestling her face in the corner byhis curly beard.
"He thinks--it will be--all right with him," she whispered, tremulously,a little sob quivering in her voice.
"Living or dying," returned Uncle Robert, solemnly. "My darling, I amvery grateful for your share in the work. It seems to me that Mr.Meredith is capable of something really grand if he can once be rousedto a sense of the responsibility and preciousness of life. There is somuch for every one to do.
"
"But it doesn't seem as if I did anything."
"No act is without some result, my dear child, when we think that itmust all bear fruit, and that we shall see the result in the othercountry, whether it be brambles or leaves or fruit; and we cannot bearfruit except we abide in the Master."
It seemed to Kathie, child as she was, that she had a blessed glimpse ofthe light and the work, the interest and sympathy, the prayers andearnest endeavor, which were to go side by side with the Master's. Awarm, vivifying glow sped through every pulse. Was this the love ofGod,--the grace which was promised to well-doing? She hardly daredbelieve, it was so solemnly sweet and comforting,--too good for her, shealmost thought.
"You see, little one, that _He_ puts work for us everywhere, that hislove and presence is beside it always. We may wait a long while for theresult, yet it is sure. And we need not be sparing of our seed; theheavenly storehouse is forever open to us. He is always more ready togive than we to receive."
"O Uncle Robert! I am so glad for--for Mr. Meredith. It seems as if Icouldn't take it all in at once!" and both of Kathie's arms were aroundhis neck, her soft, rosy cheek, wet with tears, pressed against his.
"It is something to think of for all time, my darling."
"Uncle Robert," she said, after a long, thoughtful pause, in which sheappeared to have glimpses of the life stretching out before her, andleading to the gate of the other country, "I used to wish that I couldhave--religion--myself, like mamma and Aunt Ruth--"
"My little Kathie, the 'kingdom of heaven' is within you. We have onlyto do _His_ will, and we shall know of the doctrine. That is the grandsecret of it all."