Read Ebook: Jessie Carlton The Story of a Girl who Fought with Little Impulse the Wizard and Conquered Him by Wise Daniel

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Ebook has 1054 lines and 42817 words, and 22 pages

"I don't want to kiss anybody in this house," muttered the ugly child; and poor Jessie, shrinking from her, went to her uncle, laid her head upon his shoulder, and wept.

"The shoe has begun to find holes in the stocking," said Uncle Morris, passing his hand over Jessie's head, with great tenderness; "but never mind, my little puss--cheer up. Your cousins will leave their bad tempers in the land of dreams, I hope, and their good-nature will return with the sun to-morrow morning. Dry your eyes, my sweet Jessie, and be thankful to the Father above, that your cousins cannot rob you of your own sunny temper."

Jessie did dry her eyes, and looking into her uncle's face, said, with a nod of her pretty head, "Now I know why you sighed; and I know, too, what your proverb meant."

"What did I sigh for, puss?"

"Because you knew my cousins had ugly tempers."

"That's so! But the proverb?"

"Meant that when I became better acquainted with my cousins, I should find out their faults."

Jessie held down her head awhile, as if she was thinking her way through a difficult idea. At last she looked up, with eyes full of tenderness, and with a voice made musical by deep feeling, said:--

"I will be just as kind to them as I possibly can!"

"Wouldn't it be nice, Uncle Morris, if we could make my cousins good-natured while they are here? Wouldn't Uncle Albert and Aunt Hannah be glad if we could send them home kind, and gentle, and good? Oh, I wish I could get them to be good, as our Guy did Richard Duncan. Wouldn't it be nice?"

"Try to do it, my dear. We will all help you, and so will the Great Father above," said Mrs. Carlton, beckoning Jessie to her side and giving her a kiss so full of a mother's holy love that it sent a thrill of bliss through the happy heart of her child. Thus like a sunbeam did Jessie brighten the life of her parents and her uncle. As she left the room to go to bed, Uncle Morris followed her with his eyes, and when her light form had glided up-stairs, he turned to his sister and said:--

"That child of yours is a treasure, my sister. I can't tell you how much her loving little heart gladdens mine. Why, I have grown at least fifteen years younger in my feelings since she came to Glen Morris. Like a glorious little sun, she shines into the depths of my heart, melting all the ice of age and chasing away the gloom of my past sorrows."

"Yes, Jessie is a lovely child," replied Mrs. Carlton. A big tear which dropped upon her needle-work at that moment showed that the words of her brother had stirred the deep fountains of love which were within her heart.

But the two ugly cousins--what were they? Were they not like two black clouds freighted with storms, and come to darken the light and disturb the pleasure of that happy household? No wonder their sleep was troubled that night. No wonder Emily awoke in a fright, caused by the terrible nightmare. But Jessie's sleep was sweet and sound, and when her mother stood over her bed, as she always did before retiring for the night, Jessie smiled so sweetly in her slumber that her mother said:--

"Bless her! the smile of a seraph is on her lips."

Jessie greeted her cousins with gentle words and loving kisses, just as if she had never seen them in a fit of bad temper. Indeed, she made no allusion whatever to the affair of the day before. This silence puzzled the cousins, who expected, at least, a lecture from Uncle Morris and a little coldness from Jessie. I think it also made them feel ashamed, for they could not help saying to themselves,--

"It was rather mean in us to make such a fuss as we did yesterday."

"Jessie, what will you give me if I tell you a secret?"

"A kiss," replied Jessie, gathering her lips into the form of a rose-bud.

"Pooh! what's a kiss. I wouldn't give you a red cent for a thousand kisses. Won't you offer me something better for my secret?" said Hugh, turning up his nose as if in scorn of the proffered kiss.

"I don't believe you have any secret that we care about knowing," said Jessie. Then holding up her best wax doll, she said to Emily, "Isn't this a beauty?"

"Yes, but why don't you coax Hugh to tell us his wonderful secret?" said Emily, who felt quite curious to know what Hugh had to tell.

"Oh, he is only teasing us. You don't know what a tease he is," replied Jessie, with an air of indifference.

"No, honor bright, I'm not teasing. I have a secret that would make you girls pitch your dolls into next week, if you knew it," retorted Hugh.

"Well, what is it? Do tell us," said Jessie, beginning to believe that he had something to tell worth knowing.

"What will you give me?" asked Hugh, still bent on tantalizing the girls.

"I've got nothing to give that you want," said Jessie, and then in a coaxing tone she added, "come, Hugh, do tell us, there's a good, dear Hugh."

"No, you don't come it over me with soft soap like that," replied the boy; "I'm not a fly to be caught with maple molasses."

"What is it about? Is somebody coming here? Do tell me, Hugh."

Jessie, sighed, and turning to her dolls, said, "Hugh is a great tease, isn't he Emily?"

"He's a great ugly monster!" retorted Emily, who was in the habit of using strong words, without much regard to their meaning. "If he was my brother he shouldn't tease me so."

"Oh, Hugh only does it for fun. He is a dear good brother, after all, only," and here Jessie lowered her voice almost to a whisper, "only I wish he was as good as Guy."

"Oh, fy! cousin Emily. That would be wicked fun, and would make both you and your brother unhappy," said Guy, who had just entered the room.

The girls looked on the speaker, who, before Emily had time to reply, went on to say,--

"Girls, Carrie Sherwood invites you to go nutting with her this afternoon. Richard Duncan, Norman Butler, Adolphus Harding, Walter, Hugh, Charlie, you two young ladies, Carrie, and a young lady or two of her acquaintance, are to make up the party. Carriages will call for you at one o'clock. You must get ma to give you an early dinner, and be ready in time."

"That is what Hugh meant by his secret. Oh, I'm so glad," said Jessie, clapping her hands. "Won't it be nice, Emily?"

Emily thought it would. The girls thanked Guy for his good news, and, springing from the sofa, started to inform Charlie and Mrs. Carlton of the proposed party. Charlie was delighted. Mrs. Carlton knew all about it, because the whole matter had been quietly arranged a day or two before by her and Mrs. Sherwood. Carried away by the idea of this delightful excursion, Jessie left her six dolls, with their incompleted dresses, on the sofa, on the chairs, and on the floor. Impulse, the merry little wizard, had seized her, and she thought of nothing but the nutting-party the remainder of the morning.

A Nutting-Party.

A few minutes before one o'clock, a long, spring market-wagon, drawn by two noble horses, stopped before the gate of Glen Morris Cottage. It contained Carrie Sherwood and her party, all but the Carltons and their visitors. Mr. Sherwood sat on the driver's seat. He went with the young folks to drive, and, as he quaintly said, "to see that the hawks did not pounce on his chickens;" by which figure of speech, I suppose, he meant that he went to keep the young folks out of danger.

Jessie and her guests, together with Hugh and Guy, were all waiting when the carriage drove up. Shouts of welcome greeted them from the wagon. They gave back cheer for cheer as they sprang to their places, all but Charlie, who stood near the front wheel pouting, and looking very sulky. Mr. Sherwood, who had turned half round to watch the seating of his guests, did not notice the boy, but supposing the party to be now complete, faced his team, drew the reins tight, flourished his whip, and shouted--

"All aboard!"

"Charlie is not aboard yet," cried Emily.

"Come, Charlie! Jump up here!" shouted half a dozen voices.

"I don't want to," said Charlie, in a drawling tone.

"Don't you wish to go, my little fellow?" asked Mr. Sherwood.

"I want to sit on the coachman's seat," simpered the boy, as he stuffed his finger into his mouth.

The driver's seat was not meant for two persons, and Mr. Sherwood was in doubt whether to crowd Charlie into it or not. But seeing from the boy's manner that he would spoil the pleasure of the party if he did not, and being a very indulgent man, he at last consented. So pulling him up to the footboard, he stowed him away by his side, and cracking his long whip, drove off amidst a volley of cheers from the boys, the laughter of the girls, and the waving of handkerchiefs by Mrs. Carlton and Uncle Morris, from the piazza.

"I want to drive!" muttered Charlie, as soon as they were fairly started.

"You must eat a little more beefsteak, and grow a little taller, my boy, before you undertake to drive such a span as this," replied Mr. Sherwood, smiling at the boy's presumption.

"Whoa there, steady Kate, steady!" said Mr. Sherwood, removing the boy's hands and reining up his team.

After soothing his horses, and bringing them to a gentle trot again, Mr. Sherwood took his reins in his right hand, and, grasping Charlie with his left, suddenly jerked him over the driver's seat, into the bed of the wagon, saying,

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