The Fairy Nightcaps Part 8

"When dinner-time came, he was the very first to come in, he was so hungry; and soon after the rest of the family, _except_ one, took their places.

"'Where's Susie?' asked Johnny.

"'She is locked up in the garret,' said her mother.

"'Can't she have any dinner?'

"'Yes; she can have some dry bread;' and the farmer's wife gave him a piece on a plate, as before.

"Johnny took it, and went slowly up stairs. He opened the door. There sat Susie, patient and silent. He put the plate beside her, but instead of going away, he stood looking at her in silence.

"Presently he burst out with--'Susie! you're a fool, I say! a perfect fool! Before I'd let myself be locked up, I'd--I'd--' here Johnny stopped; a great lump came into his throat, and was choking him. He drew in his breath with a painful sob, and then burst into an agony of tears, and rus.h.i.+ng up to Susie, he threw his arms about her neck, and cried out--

"'O Susie! Susie! please forgive me. I'll never be so bad again, never. They might have whipped me forever, and starved me forever, and it would just have made me worse; but you (and here the great tears came fast and faster)--you have LOVED ME GOOD.'"

"O----h!" cried the children, taking long breaths, and wiping their eyes, "how lovely!--what a good, _GOOD_ story--what a dear, darling Susie! She must have heard of mamma, when she wanted to _LOVE_ Johnny good."

"Yes," said Aunt f.a.n.n.y, "I think she was very much like your dear mother, and you children can hardly know what a blessed lot is yours, in having a mother who rules you by LOVE."

"Yes, we do! yes, we do!" cried the children; we know she is a perfect darling; and thereupon the little mother underwent a series of caresses quite alarming to witness.

"And now about my visit to Idlewild," said Aunt f.a.n.n.y, when they were once more quiet. "Soon after breakfast I commenced my walk. I had to cross the wild and beautiful ravine. I am afraid I looked a little like a figure of fun, scrambling and scratching down the slippery descent. I have no doubt some of Charley's fairies were laughing at me all the time; and I am sure the beautiful little waterfall did, as it came joyously dancing down the great black rocks. Really, some of the places were as slippery as ice; and I had to go a-sliding in the summer time, whether I wanted to or not."

"How nice!" cried the children; "that would just have suited the old woman in Mother Goose, who wanted her children to slide on dry ground.

You can't drown that way, you know."

"Not exactly; but at last I stood upon the famous zigzag bridge, which is only a single plank with a railing on one side, made of a long, slender sapling. And now, how lovely the scene was that I looked upon! The sun came in dimples and ripples of light through the trees, and the waterfall, with its soft white foam, talked to me in a voice full of power and beauty, of the greatness and goodness of G.o.d.

"When I got to the house, I was welcomed by its fair and gentle mistress with a simple courtesy, that made me feel at home at once.

Very soon a sweet little maiden came to me, and shyly offered her hand; she told me her name was Daisy, and then she called her baby brother. He was afraid of me at first, but when I said, 'Why, Bailey, I know all about you. I know how you fed the little birds last winter'"--

"Oh," interrupted the children, "how did he feed the little birds, Aunt f.a.n.n.y?"

"If you will put me in mind, I will tell you by and by. Then Bailey looked at me when I said that, with wide-open eyes; and I continued, 'I know all about the peac.o.c.k, too, so I do--more, too.'

"Then he came right up to me, and laid his dear little curly head in my lap, and looking up in my face with his merry, bright blue eyes, he said--'I've got a horse.'

"'Why, no! You don't tell me so!' I exclaimed. 'Why, I'm astonished!

How many legs has he?'

"'Two, nailed fast, and two, kicking up in the air.'

"'My patience! what a horse!' said I.

"'But come!' said the little darling fellow, pulling at my dress, 'come see my horse! come!'

"So Daisy and the mother, and Bailey and I, went out of the room. Of course I expected to be conducted to the stables; but we began to mount the stairs, and up we went till we arrived at the third story, Bailey holding me fast by the hand. We went into a large room--the children's play-room--from the windows of which there was a magnificent view. Sitting at one of them, was the kind, motherly-looking nurse, to whom I was introduced as to an old friend.

As I pressed her hand, her eyes turned fondly upon her mistress and the lovely children. I looked around, and sure enough, in one corner was a prancing charger, standing on his hind legs, which were made fast to a spring rocker, while the others were kicking up in the air, just as Bailey had told me.

"Then the little fellow was lifted up on his horse, and I said, "Get up, pony;" and then all of a sudden such a funny little shy fit came over Bailey, that down went his curly head on the horse's neck, and he very nearly tumbled off. After that he dismounted, and pulling down the prancing legs of the horse, got between them, and holding fast, he had a fine ride after an ingenious invention of his own; for, as the horse's legs rose in the air, up went little Bailey, and then down he came with a funny little stamp of his feet on the carpet, which sent him into the air again.

"Then the dear little fair-haired Daisy showed me her birds, 'b.u.t.tercup' and 'Primrose,' and two others whose names I did not hear; and then we went down stairs again.

"In the charming library we met another daughter, a lovely young lady, and a friend who was visiting her. I knew this young lady before, and loved her very much; and I was very glad to meet her; and you may be sure we were very merry together.

"Just then we heard Bailey's voice in the hall, lifted up in loud wailing and weeping. We all rushed out, thinking the sweet little fellow had fallen down stairs. But he was safe, though the great tears were running down his cheeks; and he sobbed out, 'Mamma! mamma! Edith won't come to see Aunt f.a.n.n.y!' Dear little fellow! It seems that Edith was the shyest little maiden in the world, and Bailey, in his loving endeavor to get her to come to me, had first coaxed her, then kissed her over and over again, and at last, broken-hearted about it, had burst into loud crying. Edith stood at the turn of the stairs, ready to dart away; and when I said, 'Do come, darling--come, little Edith,' she fled like a frightened fawn, upon which Bailey began lamenting again, and I had hard work to bring the peace once more into his little, loving, troubled heart.

"When we returned to the room, Miss Laura, the young lady who was visiting the family, told a funny story about Bailey. She was walking in the beautiful glen before breakfast, and frolicking round her were Gouldy, and Caesar, and Bailey."

"Were they all boys? or what?" asked the children.

"Not exactly, for two of them were dogs; but far better and gentler companions than _some_ boys I know. Gouldy was a dear old fellow, that would not have hurt a hair of your head for a thousand dollars in gold, even if he knew about or cared for money; and Caesar--Oh! he was something and somebody very extra indeed."

"What! did he have horns on his head?" asked Harry.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DR. KANE AND CAESAR IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.]

"Not a horn; but he once belonged to the good and famous Dr. Kane, the great Arctic explorer; and Caesar had seen as many icebergs and white bears as he wanted to, and a few over, I imagine; for Dr. Kane gave him to his friend, the owner of Idlewild; and the good dog tells his new master every day by an extra flourish of his tail, how happy he is, and how much he loves to live in such a lovely place, and with such lovely children.

"Well, as I was telling you, the dogs and little Bailey were scampering here and there, while Miss Laura walked in the glen, thinking how sweetly the rippling golden light came down through the green leaves. After a while she thought it was time to return, so she called--'Come, Gouldy, come, Caesar, come, Bailey. It is time to go home.' Up bounded the two dogs at her bidding, but the darling little rogue, Bailey, pretended to be very busy looking for something in the gra.s.s. Then the dogs, seeing that _he_ did not mind, went leaping off, tumbling over each other, pretending to bite, and growling at a great rate. So Miss Laura walked a few steps nearer Bailey, and called again--'Come, Gouldy, come, Caesar, come, _Bailey_.' The dogs ran to her as before, but Bailey walked as grave as any deacon, and looking sideways at her, with a merry twinkle in his blue eyes, and a comical little chuckle, he said--'Miss Laura, there is no _dog_ of that name in this place.' His face looked so full of fun and mischief, that Miss Laura screamed out laughing, and then Bailey laughed, and was very glad he had been so funny."

"What a funny little fellow," exclaimed the children, "to make believe Miss Laura did not mean him when she called. I _do_ wish he could come and play with us. He's a darling! Well, please go on Aunt f.a.n.n.y."

"While we were sitting in the parlor, Bailey brought me a superb book of engravings to look at. They were flowers. I only wish you could have heard him telling me the long names, slowly and carefully, in such a sweet little voice--'This is the Rho-de-den-dron,' and then giving a quick, satisfied sigh, because he had gotten it all right.

When he showed me a picture of a splendid lily, I looked at the beautiful flower, and then at his innocent baby-brow, and in his unclouded eyes, through which the immortal soul shone purer and whiter than any lily, and softly said--'Consider the lilies of the field; they toil not, neither do they spin;' and as I bent over to kiss this immortal lily, I heard the gentle little mother murmur--'Yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.' Truly the innocence of a little child invests him with a greater glory than any this world can give. Why may we not always retain it, pure and undefiled?

"At last the carriage came to take me away; and they all bid me a kind adieu; and Bailey and Daisy kissed me so lovingly, that I felt the kisses all the way to my heart, where I mean to keep the memory of them as long as I live. Wonderful to relate, something happened at the very last moment, that made Bailey dance with delight, for Edith, shy Edith, ran to me and put up her sweet pink and white cheek for a kiss; and so I left beautiful Idlewild, a very happy Aunt f.a.n.n.y."

The children were delighted with this account, which Minnie called "a very nice _inscription_."

"And now about the birds, Aunt f.a.n.n.y. You know you told us to put you in mind."

"Oh, yes. Well, I will try to remember what I read in the Home Journal a year ago about the dear little winter birds at Idlewild."

"There is a charming study at the north-west corner of the house; and the father of Daisy, and Edith, and Bailey, began his beautiful little story, by saying that he had two very sociable sets of visitors in his study early every morning. First the little folks jump out of their beds, and run in to him in their slippers and nightgowns, just as Laina the cook, with her kind dark face, comes along with the tea-tray for him, and bread for the second set of visitors. The children crumble the bread very joyfully and carefully, and the window is quickly opened, (for it is winter, and snowing,) and the bread-feast is spread out over the roof of the portico.

"Then the children cl.u.s.ter round the fire, and talk about the dogs and the peac.o.c.k and their lessons, keeping one eye upon the window, near which the snow-white hemlocks are bowing in the wintry wind.

"Presently--'Hus.h.!.+ There they are!' and the little nightgowns flutter softly to the window, and gaze lovingly at fifteen or twenty little birds, in only their bare feet and feathers, who have come with the first peep of dawn, and are made happy with a bountiful breakfast.

They were dear old birds, that had been before, and no doubt some invited friends. Such a nice time as they all have! inside the window and out; and the children are so delighted that they can soften the winter for those poor little houseless ones out in the cold, who, remembering the kindness of last year, came so trustingly again. It was this confidence and love that was shown by the dear little birds, that made the children so glad; and a rosier, happier troop of little folk, could hardly be found than this early morning party in Idlewild study."

"Oh! oh! how sweet! how lovely!" cried the children. "How we wish we lived at Idlewild, or at any rate in the country, where we could feed the little birds. We wish it would snow like every thing this very minute."

Aunt f.a.n.n.y laughed, and said she was delighted, the story had pleased them so much, but was afraid she had not done it justice, as it had been most beautifully told in the Home Journal; but she could not remember the exact words.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WICKED WATER FAIRY.]

After tea that evening, the whole family went out in a large row-boat.