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diff --git a/18496-h/18496-h.htm b/18496-h/18496-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..78ed899 --- /dev/null +++ b/18496-h/18496-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1941 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Big Brother, by Annie Fellows-Johnston. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + font-size: 130%; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + H1 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + H5,H6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + H2 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + H3 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + H4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY {margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + ul {list-style-type: none} /* no bullets on lists */ + + .cen {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} /* centering paragraphs */ + .sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 95%;} /* small caps, normal size */ + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} /* no indenting */ + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .block {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} /* block indent */ + .right {text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;} /* right aligning paragraphs */ + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* Table of contents anchor */ + .totoi {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* to Table of Illustrations link */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + .tdr {text-align: right;} /* aligning cell content to the right */ + .tdc {text-align: center;} /* aligning cell content to the center */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* aligning cell content to the left */ + .tdlsc {text-align: left; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdrsc {text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdcsc {text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 45%; text-align: right; color: silver; background-color: inherit;} /* page numbers */ + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Big Brother, by Annie Fellows-Johnston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Big Brother + +Author: Annie Fellows-Johnston + +Release Date: June 3, 2006 [EBook #18496] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIG BROTHER *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>BIG BROTHER</h1> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/frontis.png" width="75%" alt="ROBIN" /><br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h5>"<i>Cosy Corner Series</i>"</h5> + +<br /> + +<h1>BIG BROTHER</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>ANNIE FELLOWS-JOHNSTON</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<div class="img"> +<img border="0" src="images/logo.png" width="15%" alt="publisher's logo" /><br /> +</div> + + +<h5>BOSTON<br /> +JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY<br /> +1894</h5> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5 class="sc">Copyright, 1893<br /> +by<br /> +Joseph Knight Company</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toi" id="toi"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<img border="0" src="images/toi.png" width="75%" alt="List of Illustrations" /><br /> +</div> + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="List of Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td width="80%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%"><span style="font-size: 90%;">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Robin</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">"A Barefoot Girl wearing a Sunbonnet"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep01">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">"Mrs. Estel was listening to Little Scraps + of History," etc.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep09">9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">"The Little White Cottage in New Jersey,"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep19">19</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">"Robin followed Him everywhere"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep21">21</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">"Steven would coax Him over in a Corner + to look at the Book"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep23">23</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">"The Black Dancing Bear had always to + be put to Bed"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep26">26</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">"Once He took a Ball of Yarn to Roll + after the White Kitten"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep29">29</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">"He wanted to get away from the House," etc.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep43">43</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">"They commenced to build a Snow Man"</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep54">54</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>BIG BROTHER.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Every coach on the long western-bound train was crowded with +passengers. Dust and smoke poured in at the windows and even the +breeze seemed hot as it blew across the prairie cornfields burning in +the July sun.</p> + +<div style="width: 25%; float: right; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-right: 1em; padding-left: 2em;"><a name="imagep01" id="imagep01"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep01.png" width="100%" alt=""A Barefoot Girl wearing a Sunbonnet"" /><br /> +</div> + +<p>It was a relief when the engine stopped at last in front of a small +village depot. There was a rush for the lunch counter and the +restaurant door, where a noisy gong announced dinner.</p> + +<p>"Blackberries! blackberries!" called a shrill little voice on the +platform. A barefoot girl, wearing a sunbonnet, passed under the car +windows, holding up a basket full, that shone like great black beads. +A gentleman who had just helped two ladies to alight from the steps +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>of a parlor car called to her and began to fumble in his pockets for +the right change.</p> + +<p>"Blackberries! blackberries!" sang another voice mockingly. This time +it came from a roguish-looking child, hanging half-way out of a window +in the next car. He was a little fellow, not more than three years +old. His hat had fallen off, and his sunny tangle of curls shone +around a face so unusually beautiful that both ladies uttered an +exclamation of surprise.</p> + +<p>"Look, papa! Look, Mrs. Estel!" exclaimed the younger of the two. "Oh, +isn't he a perfect picture! I never saw such eyes, or such delicate +coloring. It is an ideal head."</p> + +<p>"Here, Grace," exclaimed her father, laughingly. "Don't forget your +berries in your enthusiasm. It hasn't been many seconds since you were +going into raptures over them. They certainly are the finest I ever +saw."</p> + +<p>The girl took several boxes from her basket, and held them up for the +ladies to choose. Grace took one mechanically, her eyes still fixed on +the child in the window.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to make friends with him!" she exclaimed impulsively. +"Let's walk down that way. I want to speak to him."</p> + +<p>"Blackberries!" sang the child again, merrily <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>echoing the cry that +came from the depths of the big sunbonnet as it passed on.</p> + +<p>Grace picked out the largest, juiciest berry in the box, and held it +up to him with a smile. His face dimpled mischievously, as he leaned +forward and took it between his little white teeth.</p> + +<p>"Do you want some more?" she asked.</p> + +<p>His eyes shone, and every little curl bobbed an eager assent.</p> + +<p>"What's your name, dear," she ventured, as she popped another one into +his mouth.</p> + +<p>"Robin," he answered, and leaned farther out to look into her box. "Be +careful," she cautioned; "you might fall out."</p> + +<p>He looked at her gravely an instant, and then said in a slow, quaint +fashion: "Why, no; I can't fall out, 'cause big brother's a holdin' on +to my feet."</p> + +<p>She drew back a little, startled. It had not occurred to her that any +one else might be interested in watching this little episode. She gave +a quick glance at the other windows of the car, and then exclaimed: +"What is it, papa,—a picnic or a travelling orphan asylum? It looks +like a whole carload of children."</p> + +<p>Yes, there they were, dozens of them, it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>seemed; fair faces and +freckled ones, some dimpled and some thin; all bearing the marks of a +long journey on soot-streaked features and grimy hands, but all +wonderfully merry and good-natured.</p> + +<p>Just then a tired-looking man swung himself down the steps, and stood +looking around him, knitting his brows nervously. He heard the girl's +question, and then her father's reply: "I don't know, my dear, I am +sure; but I'll inquire if you wish."</p> + +<p>The man's brows relaxed a little and he answered them without waiting +to be addressed. "They are children sent out by an aid society in the +East. I am taking them to homes in Kansas, mostly in the country."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to tell me," the old gentleman exclaimed in surprise, +"that you have the care of that entire car full of children! How do +you ever manage them all?"</p> + +<p>The man grinned. "It does look like a case of the old woman that lived +in a shoe, but there are not as many as it would seem. They can spread +themselves over a good deal of territory, and I'm blessed if some of +'em can't be in half a dozen places at once. There's a little English +girl in the lot—fourteen years or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>thereabouts—that keeps a pretty +sharp eye on them. Then they're mostly raised to taking care of +themselves." Some one accosted him, and he turned away. Grace looked +up at the bewitching little face, still watching her with eager +interest.</p> + +<p>"Poor baby!" she said to herself. "Poor little homeless curly head! If +I could only do something for you!" Then she realized that even the +opportunity she had was slipping away, and held up the box. "Here, +Robin," she called, "take it inside so that you can eat them without +spilling them."</p> + +<p>"All of 'em?" he asked with a radiant smile. He stretched out his +dirty, dimpled fingers. "<i>All</i> of 'em," he repeated with satisfaction +as he balanced the box on the sill. "All for Big Brother and me!"</p> + +<p>Another face appeared at the window beside Robin's, one very much like +it; grave and sweet, with the same delicate moulding of features. +There was no halo of sunny curls on the finely shaped head, but the +persistent wave of the darker, closely cut hair showed what it had +been at Robin's age. There was no color in the face either. The lines +of the sensitive mouth had a pathetic suggestion of suppressed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>trouble. He was a manly-looking boy, but his face was far too sad for +a child of ten.</p> + +<p>"Gracie," said Mrs. Estel, "your father said the train will not start +for fifteen minutes. He has gone back to stay with your mother. Would +you like to go through the car with me, and take a look at the little +waifs?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed," was the answer. "Think how far they have come. I wish +we had found them sooner."</p> + +<p>A lively game of tag was going on in the aisle. Children swarmed over +the seats and under them. One boy was spinning a top. Two or three +were walking around on their hands, with their feet in the air. The +gayest group seemed to be in the far end of the car, where two seats +full of children were amusing themselves by making faces at each +other. The uglier the contortion and more frightful the grimace, the +louder they laughed.</p> + +<p>In one corner the English girl whom the man had mentioned sat mending +a little crocheted jacket, belonging to one of the children. She was +indeed keeping a sharp eye on them.</p> + +<p>"'Enry," she called authoritatively, "stop teasing those girls, Hi +say. Pull the 'airs from your hown 'ead, and see 'ow you like that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>naow! Sally, you shall not drink the 'ole enjuring time. Leave the cup +be! No, Maggie, Hi can tell no story naow. Don't you see Hi must be +plying my needle? Go play, whilst the car stops."</p> + +<p>Robin smiled on Grace like an old friend when she appeared at the +door, and moved over to make room for her on the seat beside him. He +had no fear of strangers, so he chattered away in confiding baby +fashion, but the older boy said nothing. Sometimes he smiled when she +told some story that made Robin laugh out heartily, but it seemed to +her that it was because the little brother was pleased that he +laughed, not because he listened.</p> + +<p>Presently Mrs. Estel touched her on the shoulder. "The time is almost +up. I am going to ask your father to bring my things in here. As you +leave at the next station, I could not have your company much longer, +anyhow. I have all the afternoon ahead of me, and I want something to +amuse me."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could stay with you," answered Grace, "but mamma is such an +invalid I cannot leave her that long. She would be worrying about me +all the time."</p> + +<p>She bade Robin an affectionate good-by, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>telling him that he was the +dearest little fellow in the world, and that she could never forget +him. He followed her with big, wistful eyes as she passed out, but +smiled happily when she turned at the door to look back and kiss her +hand to him.</p> + +<p>At the next station, where they stopped for a few minutes, he watched +for her anxiously. Just as the train began to pull out he caught a +glimpse of her. There was a flutter of a white handkerchief and a +bundle came flying in through the window.</p> + +<p>He looked out quickly, just in time to see her stepping into a +carriage. Then a long line of freight cars obstructed the view. By the +time they had passed them they were beyond even the straggling +outskirts of the village, with wide cornfields stretching in every +direction, and it was of no use to look for her any longer.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estel lost no time in making the young English girl's +acquaintance. She was scarcely settled in her seat before she found an +opportunity. Her umbrella slipped from the rack, and the girl sprang +forward to replace it.</p> + +<p>"You have had a tiresome journey," Mrs. Estel remarked pleasantly +after thanking her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, ma'am!" answered the girl, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>glad of some one to talk to +instead of the children, whose remarks were strictly of an +interrogative nature. It was an easy matter to draw her into +conversation, and in a short time Mrs. Estel was listening to little +scraps of history that made her eyes dim and her heart ache.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep09" id="imagep09"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep09.png" width="70%" alt=""Mrs. Estel was listening to Little Scraps of History," etc." /><br /> +</div> + +<p>"Do you mind telling me your name?" she asked at length.</p> + +<p>"Ellen, ma'am."</p> + +<p>"But the other," continued Mrs. Estel.</p> + +<p>"We're not to tell, ma'am." Then seeing the look of inquiry on her +face, explained, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>"Sometimes strangers make trouble, hasking the +little ones hall sorts hof questions; so we've been told not to say +where we're going, nor hany think helse."</p> + +<p>"I understand," answered Mrs. Estel quickly. "I ask only because I am +so much interested. I have a little girl at home that I have been away +from for a week, but she has a father and a grandmother and a nurse to +take care of her while I am gone. It makes me feel so sorry for these +poor little things turned out in the world alone."</p> + +<p>"Bless you, ma'am!" exclaimed Ellen cheerfully. "The 'omes they're +going to be a sight better than the 'omes they've left behind. Naow +there's 'Enery; 'is mother died hin a drunken fit. 'E never knew +nothink hall 'is life but beating and starving, till the Haid Society +took 'im hin 'and.</p> + +<p>"Then there's Sally. Why, Sally's living 'igh naow—hoff the fat hof +the land, has you might say. Heverybody knows 'ow 'er hold huncle +treated 'er!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estel smiled as she glanced at Sally, to whom the faucet of the +water-cooler seemed a never-failing source of amusement. Ellen had put +a stop to her drinking, which she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>had been doing at intervals all the +morning, solely for the pleasure of seeing the water stream out when +she turned the stop-cock. Now she had taken a tidy spell. Holding her +bit of a handkerchief under the faucet long enough to get it dripping +wet, she scrubbed herself with the ice-water, until her cheeks shone +like rosy winter apples.</p> + +<p>Then she smoothed the wet, elfish-looking hair out of her black eyes, +and proceeded to scrub such of the smaller children as could not +escape from her relentless grasp. Some submitted dumbly, and others +struggled under her vigorous application of the icy rag, but all she +attacked came out clean and shining.</p> + +<p>Her dress was wringing wet in front, and the water was standing in +puddles around her feet, when the man who had them in charge came +through the car again. He whisked her impatiently into a seat, setting +her down hard. She made a saucy face behind his back, and began to +sing at the top of her voice.</p> + +<p>One little tot had fallen and bumped its head as the train gave a +sudden lurch. It was crying pitifully, but in a subdued sort of +whimper, as if it felt that crying was of no use when nobody listened +and nobody cared. He picked it up, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>made a clumsy effort to comfort +it, and, not knowing what else to do, sat down beside it. Then for the +first time he noticed Mrs. Estel.</p> + +<p>She had taken a pair of scissors from her travelling-bag, and had cut +several newspapers up into soldiers and dolls and all kinds of animals +for the crowd that clamored around her.</p> + +<p>They were such restless little bodies, imprisoned so long on this +tedious journey, that anything with a suggestion of novelty was +welcome.</p> + +<p>When she had supplied them with a whole regiment of soldiers and +enough animals to equip a menagerie, she took another paper and began +teaching them to fold it in curious ways to make boxes, and boats, and +baskets.</p> + +<p>One by one they crowded up closer to her, watching her as if she were +some wonderful magician. They leaned their dusty heads against her +fresh gray travelling-dress. They touched her dainty gloves with +dirty, admiring fingers. They did not know that this was the first +time that she had ever come in close contact with such lives as +theirs.</p> + +<p>They did not know that it was the remembrance of another child,—one +who awaited her home-coming,—a petted little princess born to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>purple +and fine linen, that made her so tender towards them. Remembering what +hers had, and all these lacked, she felt that she must crowd all the +brightness possible into the short afternoon they were together.</p> + +<p>Every one of them, at some time in their poor bare lives, had known +what it was to be kindly spoken to by elegant ladies, to be +patronizingly smiled upon, to be graciously presented with gifts.</p> + +<p>But this was different. This one took the little Hodge girl right up +in her lap while she was telling them stories. This one did not pick +out the pretty ones to talk to, as strangers generally did. It really +seemed that the most neglected and unattractive of them received the +most of her attention.</p> + +<p>From time to time she glanced across at Robin's lovely face, and +contrasted it with the others. The older boy attracted her still more. +He seemed to be the only thoughtful one among them all. The others +remembered no past, looked forward to no future. When they were hungry +there was something to eat. When they were tired they could sleep, and +all the rest of the time there was somebody to play with. What more +could one want?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>The child never stirred from his place, but she noticed that he made a +constant effort to entertain Robin. He told him stories and invented +little games. When the bundle came flying in through the window he +opened it with eager curiosity.</p> + +<p>Grace had hurried into the village store as soon as the train stopped +and had bought the first toy she happened to see. It was a black +dancing bear, worked by a tiny crank hidden under the bar on which it +stood. Robin's pleasure was unbounded, and his shrieks of delight +brought all the children flocking around him.</p> + +<p>"More dancin', Big Brother," he would insist, when the animal paused. +"Robin wants to see more dancin'."</p> + +<p>So patient little "Big Brother" kept on turning the crank, long after +every one save Robin was tired of the black bear's antics.</p> + +<p>Once she saw the restless 'Enry trying to entice him into a game of +tag in the aisle. Big Brother shook his head, and the fat little legs +clambered up on the seat again. Robin watched Mrs. Estel with such +longing eyes as she entertained the others that she beckoned to him +several times to join them, but he only <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>bobbed his curls gravely and +leaned farther back in his seat.</p> + +<p>Presently the man strolled down the aisle again to close a window, out +of which one fidgety boy kept leaning to spit at the flying telegraph +poles. On his way back Mrs. Estel stopped him.</p> + +<p>"Will you please tell me about those two children?" she asked, +glancing towards Robin and his brother. "I am very much interested in +them, and would gladly do something for them, if I could."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, madam," he replied deferentially. He felt a personal sense +of gratitude towards her for having kept three of his most unruly +charges quiet so long. He felt, too, that she did not ask merely from +idle curiosity, as so many strangers had done.</p> + +<p>"Yes, everybody asks about them, for they <i>are</i> uncommon +bright-looking, but it's very little anybody knows to tell."</p> + +<p>Then he gave her their history in a few short sentences. Their father +had been killed in a railroad accident early in the spring. Their +mother had not survived the terrible shock more than a week. No trace +could be found of any relatives, and there was no property left <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>to +support them. Several good homes had been offered to the children +singly in different towns, but no one was willing to take both. They +clung together in such an agony of grief, when an attempt was made at +separation, that no one had the heart to part them.</p> + +<p>Then some one connected with the management of the Aid Society opened +a correspondence with an old farmer of his acquaintance out West. It +ended in his offering to take them both for a while. His married +daughter, who had no children of her own, was so charmed with Robin's +picture that she wanted to adopt him. She could not be ready to take +him, though, before they moved into their new house, which they were +building several miles away. The old farmer wanted the older boy to +help him with his market gardening, and was willing to keep the little +one until his daughter was ready to take him. So they could be +together for a while, and virtually they would always remain in the +same family.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dearborn was known to be such an upright, reliable man, so +generous and kind-hearted in all his dealings, that it was decided to +accept his offer.</p> + +<p>"Do they go much farther?" asked the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>interested listener, when he had +told her all he knew of the desolate little pilgrims.</p> + +<p>"Only a few miles the other side of Kenton," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Why, Kenton is where I live," she exclaimed. "I am glad it will be so +near." Then as he passed on she thought to herself, "It would be cruel +to separate them. I never saw such devotion as that of the older boy." +His feet could not reach the floor, but he sat up uncomfortably on the +high seat, holding Robin in his lap. The curly head rested heavily on +his shoulder, and his arms ached with their burden, but he never moved +except to brush away the flies, or fan the flushed face of the little +sleeper with his hat.</p> + +<p>Something in the tired face, the large appealing eyes, and the droop +of the sensitive mouth, touched her deeply. She crossed the aisle and +sat down by him.</p> + +<p>"Here, lay him on the seat," she said, bending forward to arrange her +shawl for a pillow.</p> + +<p>He shook his head. "Robin likes best for me to hold him."</p> + +<p>"But he will be cooler and so much more comfortable," she urged. +Taking the child <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>from his unwilling arms, she stretched him full +length on the improvised bed.</p> + +<p>Involuntarily the boy drew a deep sigh of relief, and leaned back in +the corner.</p> + +<p>"Are you very tired?" she asked. "I have not seen you playing with the +other children."</p> + +<p>"Yes'm," he answered. "We've come such a long way. I have to amuse +Robin all the time he's awake, or he'll cry to go back home."</p> + +<p>"Where was your home?" she asked kindly. "Tell me about it."</p> + +<p>He glanced up at her, and with a child's quick instinct knew that he +had found a friend. The tears that he had been bravely holding back +all the afternoon for Robin's sake could no longer be restrained. He +sat for a minute trying to wink them away. Then he laid his head +wearily down on the window sill and gave way to his grief with great +choking sobs.</p> + +<p>She put her arm around him and drew his head down on her shoulder. At +first the caressing touch of her fingers, as they gently stroked his +hair, made the tears flow faster. Then he grew quieter after a while, +and only sobbed at long intervals as he answered her questions.</p> + +<p>His name was Steven, he said. He knew <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>nothing of the home to which he +was being taken, nor did he care, if he could only be allowed to stay +with Robin. He told her of the little white cottage in New Jersey, +where they had lived, of the peach-trees that bloomed around the +house, of the beehive in the garden.</p> + +<p>He had brooded over the recollection of his lost home so long in +silence that now it somehow comforted him to talk about it to this +sympathetic listener.</p> + +<div style="width: 60%; float: right; padding: .5em;"><a name="imagep19" id="imagep19"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep19.png" width="100%" alt="The Little White Cottage in New Jersey" /><br /> +</div> + +<p>Soothed by her soft hand smoothing his hair, and exhausted by the heat +and his violent grief, he fell asleep at last. It was almost dark when +he awoke and sat up.</p> + +<p>"I must leave you at the next station," Mrs. Estel said, "but you are +going only a few miles farther. Maybe I shall see you again some day." +She left him to fasten her shawl-strap, but presently came back, +bringing a beautifully illustrated story-book that she had bought for +the little daughter at home.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>"Here, Steven," she said, handing it to him. "I have written my name +and address on the fly-leaf. If you ever need a friend, dear, or are +in trouble of any kind, let me know and I will help you."</p> + +<p>He had known her only a few hours, yet, when she kissed him good-by +and the train went whirling on again, he felt that he had left his +last friend behind him.</p> + +<p>When one is a child a month is a long time. Grandfathers say, "That +happened over seventy years ago, but it seems just like yesterday." +Grandchildren say, "Why, it was only yesterday we did that, but so +much has happened since that it seems such a great while!"</p> + +<p>One summer day can stretch out like a lifetime at life's beginning. It +is only at threescore and ten that we liken it to a weaver's shuttle.</p> + +<p>It was in July when old John Dearborn drove to the station to meet the +children. Now the white August lilies were standing up sweet and tall +by the garden fence.</p> + +<p>"Seems like we've been here 'most always," said Steven as they rustled +around in the hay hunting eggs. His face had lost its expression of +sadness, so pathetic in a child, as day after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>day Robin's little feet +pattered through the old homestead, and no one came to take him away.</p> + +<p>Active outdoor life had put color in his face and energy into his +movements. Mr. Dearborn and his wife were not exacting in their +demands, although they found plenty for him to do. The work was all +new and pleasant, and Robin was with him everywhere. When he fed the +turkeys, when he picked up chips, when he drove the cows to pasture, +or gathered the vegetables for market, Robin followed him everywhere, +like a happy, dancing shadow.</p> + +<div style="width: 50%; float: right; padding: 1em;"><a name="imagep21" id="imagep21"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep21.png" width="100%" alt="Robin followed Him everywhere" /><br /> +</div> + +<p>Then when the work was done there were the kittens in the barn and the +swing in the apple-tree. A pond in the pasture sailed their shingle +boats. A pile of sand, left from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>building the new ice-house, +furnished material for innumerable forts and castles. There was a +sunny field and a green, leafy orchard. How could they <i>help but be +happy?</i> It was summer time and they were together.</p> + +<p>Steven's was more than a brotherly devotion. It was with almost the +tenderness of mother-love that he watched the shining curls dancing +down the walk as Robin chased the toads through the garden or played +hide-and-seek with the butterflies.</p> + +<p>"No, the little fellow's scarcely a mite of trouble," Mrs. Dearborn +would say to the neighbors sometimes when they inquired. "Steven is +real handy about dressing him and taking care of him, so I just leave +it mostly to him."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dearborn was not a very observing woman or she would have seen +why he "was scarcely a mite of trouble." If there was never a crumb +left on the doorstep where Robin sat to eat his lunch, it was because +Big Brother's careful fingers had picked up every one. If she never +found any tracks of little bare feet on the freshly scrubbed kitchen +floor, it was because his watchful eyes had spied them first, and he +had wiped away every trace.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>He had an instinctive feeling that if he would keep Robin with him he +must not let any one feel that he was a care or annoyance. So he never +relaxed his watchfulness in the daytime, and slept with one arm thrown +across him at night.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, after supper, when it was too late to go outdoors again, +the restless little feet kicked thoughtlessly against the furniture, +or the meddlesome fingers made Mrs. Dearborn look at him warningly +over her spectacles and shake her head.</p> + +<div style="width: 45%; float: right; padding: 1em;"><a name="imagep23" id="imagep23"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep23.png" width="100%" alt="Steven would coax Him over in a Corner to look at the Book" /><br /> +</div> + +<p>Sometimes the shrill little voice, with its unceasing questions, +seemed to annoy the old farmer as he dozed over his weekly newspaper +beside the lamp. Then, if it was too early to go to bed, Steven would +coax him over in a corner to look at the book that Mrs. Estel had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>given him, explaining each picture in a low voice that could not +disturb the deaf old couple.</p> + +<p>It was at these times that the old feeling of loneliness came back so +overwhelmingly. Grandpa and Grandma, as they called them, were kind in +their way, but even to their own children they had been +undemonstrative and cold. Often in the evenings they seemed to draw so +entirely within themselves, she with her knitting and he with his +paper or accounts, that Steven felt shut out, and apart. "Just the +strangers within thy gates," he sometimes thought to himself. He had +heard that expression a long time ago, and it often came back to him. +Then he would put his arm around Robin and hug him up close, feeling +that the world was so big and lonesome, and that he had no one else to +care for but him.</p> + +<p>Sometimes he took him up early to the little room under the roof, and, +lying on the side of the bed, made up more marvellous stories than any +the book contained.</p> + +<p>Often they drew the big wooden rocking-chair close to the window, and, +sitting with their arms around each other, looked out on the moonlit +stillness of the summer night. Then, with their eyes turned starward, +they talked of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>far country beyond; for Steven tried to keep +undimmed in Robin's baby memory a living picture of the father and +mother he was so soon forgetting.</p> + +<p>"Don't you remember," he would say, "how papa used to come home in the +evening and take us both on his knees, and sing 'Kingdom Coming' to +us? And how mamma laughed and called him a big boy when he got down on +the floor and played circus with us?</p> + +<p>"And don't you remember how we helped mamma make cherry pie for dinner +one day? You were on the doorstep with some dough in your hands, and a +greedy old hen came up and gobbled it right out of your fingers."</p> + +<p>Robin would laugh out gleefully at each fresh reminiscence, and then +say: "Tell some more r'members, Big Brother!" And so Big Brother would +go on until a curly head drooped over on his shoulder and a sleepy +voice yawned "Sand-man's a-comin'."</p> + +<p>The hands that undressed him were as patient and deft as a woman's. He +missed no care or tenderness.</p> + +<p>When he knelt down in his white gown, just where the patch of +moonlight lay on the floor, his chubby hands crossed on Big Brother's +knee, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>there was a gentle touch of caressing fingers on his curls as +his sleepy voice repeated the evening prayer the far away mother had +taught them.</p> + +<p>There was always one ceremony that had to be faithfully performed, no +matter how sleepy he might be. The black dancing bear had always to be +put to bed in a cracker box and covered with a piece of red flannel.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep26" id="imagep26"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep26.png" width="75%" alt="The Black Dancing Bear had always to be put to Bed" /><br /> +</div> + +<p>One night he looked up gravely as he folded it around his treasure and +said, "Robin tucks ze black dancin' bear in bed, an' Big Brother tucks +in Robin. Who puts Big Brother to bed?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>"Nobody, now," answered Steven with a quivering lip, for his child's +heart ached many a night for the lullaby and bedtime petting he so +sorely missed.</p> + +<p>"Gramma Deebun do it?" suggested Robin quickly.</p> + +<p>"No: Grandma Dearborn has the rheumatism. She couldn't walk +up-stairs."</p> + +<p>"She got ze wizzim-tizzim," echoed Robin solemnly. Then his face +lighted up with a happy thought. "Nev' mind; Robin'll put Big Brother +to bed <i>all</i> ze nights when he's a man." And Big Brother kissed the +sweet mouth and was comforted.</p> + +<p>During the summer Mr. Dearborn drove to town with fresh marketing +every morning, starting early in order to get home by noon. Saturdays +he took Steven with him, for that was the day he supplied his butter +customers.</p> + +<p>The first time the boy made the trip he carried Mrs. Estel's address +in his pocket, which he had carefully copied from the fly-leaf of the +book she had given him. Although he had not the remotest expectation +of seeing her, there was a sense of companionship in the mere thought +that she was in the same town with him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>He watched the lamp-posts carefully as they went along, spelling out +the names of the streets. All of a sudden his heart gave a bound. They +had turned a corner and were driving along Fourth Avenue. He took the +slip of paper from his pocket. Yes, he was right. That was the name of +the street. Then he began to watch for the numbers. 200, 300, 400; +they passed on several more blocks. Mr. Dearborn drove up to the +pavement and handed him the reins to hold, while he took the crock of +butter into the house. Steven glanced up at the number. It was 812. +Then the next one—no, the one after that—must be the place.</p> + +<p>It was a large, elegant house, handsomer than any they had passed on +the avenue. As long as it was in sight Steven strained his eyes for a +backward look, but saw no one.</p> + +<p>Week after week he watched and waited, but the blinds were always +closed, and he saw no signs of life about the place. Then one day he +saw a carriage stop at the gate. A lady all in black stepped out and +walked slowly towards the house. Her long, heavy veil hid her face, +but he thought he recognized her. He was almost sure it was Mrs. +Estel. He could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>hardly resist the inclination to run after her and +speak to her; but while he hesitated the great hall door swung back +and shut her from sight. He wondered what great trouble had come to +her that she should be dressed in deep black.</p> + +<p>The hope of seeing her was the only thing about his weekly trips to +town that he anticipated with any pleasure. It nearly always happened +that some time during the morning while he was gone Robin got into +trouble. Nobody seemed to think that the reason the child was usually +so good was due largely to Steven's keeping him happily employed. He +always tried to contrive something to keep him busy part of the +morning; but Robin found no pleasure very long in solitary pursuits, +and soon abandoned them.</p> + +<div style="width: 45%; float: right; padding: 1em;"><a name="imagep29" id="imagep29"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep29.png" width="100%" alt="Once He took a Ball of Yarn to Roll after the White Kitten" /><br /> +</div> + +<p>Once he took a ball of yarn from the darning-basket to roll after the +white kitten. He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>did not mean to be mischievous any more than the +white kitten did, but the ball was part of Grandma Dearborn's knitting +work. When she found the needles pulled out and the stitches dropped, +she scolded him sharply. All her children had been grown up so long +she had quite forgotten how to make allowances for things of that +sort.</p> + +<p>There was a basket of stiff, highly colored wax fruit on the +marble-topped table in the parlor. Miss Barbara Dearborn had made it +at boarding-school and presented it to her sister-in-law many years +before. How Robin ever managed to lift off the glass case without +breaking it no one ever knew. That he had done so was evident, for in +every waxen red-cheeked pear and slab-sided apple were the prints of +his sharp little teeth. It seemed little short of sacrilege to Mrs. +Dearborn, whose own children had regarded it for years from an +admiring distance, fearing to lay unlawful fingers even on the glass +case that protected such a work of art.</p> + +<p>He dropped a big white china button into the cake dough when Molly, +"the help," had her back turned. It was all ready to be baked, and she +unsuspectingly whisked the pan into the oven. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>Company came to tea, +and Grandpa Dearborn happened to take the slice of cake that had the +button in it. Manlike, he called everyone's attention to it, and his +wife was deeply mortified.</p> + +<p>He left the pasture gate open so that the calves got into the garden. +He broke Grandpa Dearborn's shaving-mug, and spilled the lather all +over himself and the lavender bows of the best pin-cushion. He untied +a bag that had been left in the window to sun, to see what made it +feel so soft inside. It was a bag of feathers saved from the pickings +of many geese. He was considerably startled when the down flew in all +directions, sticking to carpet and curtains, and making Molly much +extra work on the busiest day in the week.</p> + +<p>But the worst time was when Steven came home to find him sitting in a +corner, crying bitterly, one hand tied to his chair. He had been put +there for punishment. It seemed that busy morning that everything he +touched made trouble for somebody. At last his exploring little +fingers found the plug of the patent churn. The next minute he was a +woebegone spectacle, with the fresh buttermilk pouring down on him, +and spreading in creamy rivers all over the dairy floor.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>These weekly trips were times of great anxiety for Steven. He never +knew what fresh trouble might greet him on his return.</p> + +<p>One day they sold out much earlier than usual. It was only eleven +o'clock when they reached home. Grandma Dearborn was busy preparing +dinner. Robin was not in sight. As soon as Steven had helped to +unhitch the horses he ran into the house to look for him. There was no +answer to his repeated calls. He searched all over the garden, +thinking maybe the child was hiding from him and might jump out any +moment from behind a tree.</p> + +<p>He was beginning to feel alarmed when he saw two little bare feet +slowly waving back and forth above the tall orchard grass. He slipped +over the fence and noiselessly along under the apple-trees. Robin was +lying on his stomach watching something on the ground so intently that +sometimes the bare feet forgot to wave over his back and were held up +motionless.</p> + +<p>With one hand he was pulling along at a snail's pace a green leaf, on +which a dead bumble-bee lay in state. With the other he was keeping in +order a funeral procession of caterpillars. It was a motley crowd of +mourners that the energetic forefinger urged along <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>the line of march. +He had evidently collected them from many quarters,—little green +worms that spun down from the apple boughs overhead; big furry brown +caterpillars that had hurried along the honeysuckle trellis to escape +his fat fingers; spotted ones and striped ones; horned and smooth. +They all straggled along, each one travelling his own gait, each one +bent on going a different direction, but all kept in line by that +short determined forefinger.</p> + +<p>Steven laughed so suddenly that the little master of ceremonies jumped +up and turned a startled face towards him. Then he saw that there were +traces of tears on the dimpled face and one eye was swollen nearly +shut.</p> + +<p>"O Robin! what is it now?" he cried in distress. "How did you hurt +yourself so dreadfully?"</p> + +<p>"Ole bumble!" answered Robin, pointing to the leaf. "He flied in ze +kitchen an' sat down in ze apple peelin's. I jus' poked him, nen he +flied up and bit me. He's dead now," he added triumphantly. "Gramma +killed him. See all ze cattow-pillows walkin' in ze p'cession?"</p> + +<p>So the days slipped by in the old farmhouse. Frost nipped the gardens, +and summer vanished <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>entirely from orchard and field. The happy +outdoor life was at an end, and Robin was like a caged squirrel. +Steven had his hands full keeping him amused and out of the way.</p> + +<p>"Well, my lad, isn't it about time for you to be starting to school?" +Mr. Dearborn would ask occasionally. "You know I agreed to send you +every winter, and I must live up to my promises."</p> + +<p>But Steven made first one pretext and then another for delay. He knew +he could not take Robin with him. He knew, too, how restless and +troublesome the child would become if left at home all day.</p> + +<p>So he could not help feeling glad when Molly went home on a visit, +and Grandma Dearborn said her rheumatism was so bad that she needed +his help. True, he had all sorts of tasks that he heartily +despised,—washing dishes, kneading dough, sweeping and dusting,—all +under the critical old lady's exacting supervision. But he preferred +even that to being sent off to school alone every day.</p> + +<p>One evening, just about sundown, he was out in the corncrib, shelling +corn for the large flock of turkeys they were fattening for market. He +heard Grandma Dearborn go into the barn, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>where her husband was +milking. They were both a little deaf, and she spoke loud in order to +be heard above the noise of the milk pattering into the pail. She had +come out to look at one of the calves they intended selling.</p> + +<p>"It's too bad," he heard her say, after a while. "Rindy has just set +her heart on him, but Arad, he thinks it's all foolishness to get such +a young one. He's willing to take one big enough to do the chores, but +he doesn't want to feed and keep what 'ud only be a care to 'em. He +always was closer'n the bark on a tree. After all, I'd hate to see the +little fellow go."</p> + +<p>"Yes," was the answer, "he's a likely lad; but we're gettin' old, +mother, and one is about all we can do well by. Sometimes I think +maybe we've bargained for too much, tryin' to keep even <i>one</i>. So it's +best to let the little one go before we get to settin' sech store by +him that we can't."</p> + +<p>A vague terror seized Steven as he realized who it was they were +talking about. He lay awake a long time that night smoothing Robin's +tangled curls, and crying at the thought of the motherless baby away +among strangers, with no one to snuggle him up warm or sing him to +sleep. Then there was another thought that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>wounded him deeply. Twist +it whichever way he might, he could construe Mr. Dearborn's last +remark to mean but one thing. They considered him a burden. How many +plans he made night after night before he fell asleep! He would take +Robin by the hand in the morning, and they would slip away and wander +off to the woods together. They could sleep in barns at night, and he +could stop at the farmhouses and do chores to pay for what they ate. +Then they need not be a trouble to any one. Maybe in the summer they +could find a nice dry cave to live in. Lots of people had lived that +way. Then in a few years he would be big enough to have a house of his +own. All sorts of improbable plans flocked into his little brain under +cover of the darkness, but always vanished when the daylight came.</p> + +<p>The next Saturday that they went to town was a cold, blustering day. +They started late, taking a lunch with them, not intending to come +home until the middle of the afternoon.</p> + +<p>The wind blew a perfect gale by the time they reached town. Mr. +Dearborn stopped his team in front of one of the principal groceries, +saying, "Hop out, Steven, and see what they're paying for turkeys +to-day."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>As he sprang over the wheel an old gentleman came running around the +corner after his hat, which the wind had carried away.</p> + +<p>Steven caught it and gave it to him. He clapped it on his bald crown +with a good-natured laugh. "Thanky, sonny!" he exclaimed heartily. +Then he disappeared inside the grocery just as Mr. Dearborn called +out, "I believe I'll hitch the horses and go in too; I'm nearly +frozen."</p> + +<p>Steven followed him into the grocery, and they stood with their hands +spread out to the stove while they waited for the proprietor. He was +talking to the old gentleman whose hat Steven had rescued.</p> + +<p>He seemed to be a very particular kind of customer.</p> + +<p>"Oh, go on! go on!" he exclaimed presently. "Wait on those other +people while I make up my mind."</p> + +<p>While Mr. Dearborn was settling the price of his turkeys, the old +gentleman poked around like an inquisitive boy, thumping the pumpkins, +smelling the coffee, and taking occasional picks at the raisins. +Presently he stopped in front of Steven with a broad, friendly smile +on his face.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>"You're from the country, ain't you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," answered Steven in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Came from there myself, once," he continued with a chuckle. "Law, +law! You'd never think it now. Fifty years makes a heap o' +difference."</p> + +<p>He took another turn among the salt barrels and cracker boxes, then +asked suddenly, "What's your name, sonny?"</p> + +<p>"Steven," answered the boy, still more surprised.</p> + +<p>The old fellow gave another chuckle and rubbed his hands together +delightedly. "Just hear that, will you!" he exclaimed. "Why, that's my +name, my very own name, sir! Well, well, well, well!"</p> + +<p>He stared at the child until he began to feel foolish and +uncomfortable. What image of his own vanished youth did that boyish +face recall to the eccentric old banker?</p> + +<p>As Mr. Dearborn turned to go Steven started after him.</p> + +<p>"Hold on, sonny," called the old gentleman, "I want to shake hands +with my namesake."</p> + +<p>He pressed a shining half-dollar into the little mittened hand held +out to him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>"That's for good luck," he said. "I was a boy myself, once. Law, law! +Sometimes I wish I could have stayed one."</p> + +<p>Steven hardly knew whether to keep it or not, or what to say. The old +gentleman had resumed conversation with the proprietor and waved him +off impatiently.</p> + +<p>"I'll get Robin some candy and save all the rest till Christmas," was +his first thought; but there was such a bewildering counter full of +toys on one side of the confectioner's shop that he couldn't make up +his mind to wait that long.</p> + +<p>He bought some shining sticks of red and white peppermint and turned +to the toys. There was a tiny sailboat with a little wooden sailor on +deck; but Robin would always be dabbling in the water if he got that. +A tin horse and cart caught his eye. That would make such a clatter on +the bare kitchen floor.</p> + +<p>At last he chose a gay yellow jumping-jack. All the way home he kept +feeling the two little bundles in his pocket. He could not help +smiling when the gables of the old house came in sight, thinking how +delighted Robin would be.</p> + +<p>He could hardly wait till the horses were put away and fed, and he +changed impatiently from one foot to another, while Mr. Dearborn +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>searched in the straw of the wagon-bed for a missing package of +groceries. Then he ran to the house and into the big, warm kitchen, +all out of breath.</p> + +<p>"Robin," he called, as he laid the armful of groceries on the kitchen +table, "look what Brother's brought you. Why, where's Robin?" he asked +of Mrs. Dearborn, who was busy stirring something on the stove for +supper. She had her back turned and did not answer.</p> + +<p>"Where's Robin," he asked again, peering all around to see where the +bright curls were hiding.</p> + +<p>She turned around and looked at him over her spectacles. "Well, I +s'pose I may's well tell you one time as another," she said +reluctantly. "Rindy came for him to-day. We talked it over and +thought, as long as there had to be a separation, it would be easier +for you both, and save a scene, if you wasn't here to see him go. He's +got a good home, and Rindy'll be kind to him."</p> + +<p>Steven looked at her in bewilderment, then glanced around the cheerful +kitchen. His slate lay on a chair where Robin had been scribbling and +making pictures. The old cat that Robin had petted and played with +that very morning purred comfortably under the stove. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>The corncob +house he had built was still in the corner. Surely he could not be so +very far away.</p> + +<p>He opened the stair door and crept slowly up the steps to their little +room. He could scarcely distinguish anything at first, in the dim +light of the winter evening, but he saw enough to know that the little +straw hat with the torn brim that he had worn in the summer time was +not hanging on its peg behind the door. He looked in the washstand +drawer, where his dresses were kept. It was empty. He opened the +closet door. The new copper-toed shoes, kept for best, were gone, but +hanging in one corner was the little checked gingham apron he had worn +that morning.</p> + +<p>Steven took it down. There was the torn place by the pocket, and the +patch on the elbow. He kissed the ruffle that had been buttoned under +the dimpled chin, and the little sleeves that had clung around his +neck so closely that morning. Then, with it held tight in his arms, he +threw himself on the bed, sobbing over and over, "It's too cruel! It's +too cruel! They didn't even let me tell him good-by!"</p> + +<p>He did not go down to supper when Mrs. Dearborn called him, so she +went up after a while with a glass of milk and a doughnut.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>"There, there!" she said soothingly; "don't take it so hard. Try and +eat something; you'll feel better if you do."</p> + +<p>Steven tried to obey, but every mouthful choked him. "Rindy'll be +awful good to him," she said after a long pause. "She thinks he's the +loveliest child she ever set eyes on, but she was afraid her husband +would think he was too much of a baby if she took him home with those +long curls on. She cut 'em off before they started, and I saved 'em. I +knew you'd be glad to have 'em."</p> + +<p>She lit the candle on the washstand and handed him a paper. He sat up +and opened it. There lay the soft, silky curls, shining like gold in +the candle-light, as they twined around his fingers. It was more than +he could bear. His very lips grew white.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dearborn was almost frightened. She could not understand how a +child's grief could be so deep and passionate.</p> + +<p>He drew them fondly over his wet cheeks, and pressed them against his +quivering lips. Then laying his face down on them, he cried till he +could cry no longer, and sleep came to his relief.</p> + +<p>Next morning, when Steven pulled the window curtain aside, he seemed +to be looking out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>on another world. The first snow of the winter +covered every familiar object, and he thought, in his childish way, +that last night's experience had altered his life as the snowdrifts +had changed the landscape.</p> + +<p>He ate his breakfast and did up the morning chores mechanically. He +seemed to be in a dream, and wondered dully to himself why he did not +cry when he felt so bad.</p> + +<p>When the work was all done he stood idly looking out of the window. He +wanted to get away from the house where everything he saw made his +heart ache with the suggestion of Robin.</p> + +<p>"I believe I'd like to go to church to-day," he said in a listless +tone.</p> + +<div style="width: 35%; float: right; padding: 1em;"><a name="imagep43" id="imagep43"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep43.png" width="100%" alt="He wanted to get away from the House" /><br /> +</div> + + +<p>"Yes, I'd go if I were you," assented Mr. Dearborn readily. "Mother +and me'll have to stay by the fire to-day, but I've no doubt it'll +chirk you up a bit to get outdoors a spell."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>He started off, plodding through the deep snow.</p> + +<p>"Takes it easier than I thought he would," said Mr. Dearborn. "Well, +troubles never set very hard on young shoulders. He'll get over it in +a little while."</p> + +<p>As Steven emerged from the lane into the big road he saw a sleigh +coming towards him, driven by the doctor's son. As it drew nearer a +sudden thought came to him like an inspiration.</p> + +<p>"O Harvey!" he cried, running forward. "Will you take me with you as +far as Simpson's?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, I guess so," answered the boy good-naturedly.</p> + +<p>He was not surprised at the request, knowing that Mrs. Dearborn and +Mrs. Simpson were sisters, and supposing that Steven had been sent on +some errand.</p> + +<p>It was three miles to the Simpson place, but they seemed to have +reached it in as many minutes. Harvey turned off towards his own home, +while Steven climbed out and hurried along the public road.</p> + +<p>"Half-way there!" he said to himself. He was going to town to find +Mrs. Estel.</p> + +<p>He was a long time on the way. A piercing wind began to blow, and a +blinding snow-storm <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>beat in his face. He was numb with cold, hungry, +and nearly exhausted. But he thought of little Robin fifteen miles +away, crying at the strange faces around him; and for his sake he +stumbled bravely on.</p> + +<p>He had seen Mrs. Dearborn's daughter several times. She was a kind, +good-natured woman, half-way afraid of her husband. As for Arad +Pierson himself, Steven had conceived a strong dislike. He was +quick-tempered and rough, with a loud, coarse way of speaking that +always startled the sensitive child.</p> + +<p>Suppose Robin should refuse to be comforted, and his crying annoyed +them. Could that black-browed, heavy-fisted man be cruel enough to +whip such a baby? Steven knew that he would.</p> + +<p>The thought spurred him on. It seemed to him that he had been days on +the road when he reached the house at last, and stood shivering on the +steps while he waited for some one to answer his timid ring.</p> + +<p>"No, you can't speak to Mrs. Estel," said the pompous colored man who +opened the door, and who evidently thought that he had come on some +beggar's mission. "She never sees any one now, and I'm sure she +wouldn't see you."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>"Oh, <i>please</i>!" cried Steven desperately, as the door was about to be +shut in his face. "She told me to come, and I've walked miles through +the storm, and I'm so cold and tired! Oh, I <i>can't</i> go back without +seeing her."</p> + +<p>His high, piercing voice almost wailed out the words. Had he come so +far only to be disappointed at last?</p> + +<p>"What is it, Alec?" he heard some one call gently.</p> + +<p>He recognized the voice, and in his desperation darted past the man +into the wide reception hall.</p> + +<p>He saw the sweet face of the lady, who came quickly forward, and heard +her say, "Why, what is the matter, my child?"</p> + +<p>Then, overcome by the sudden change from the cold storm to the +tropical warmth of the room, he dropped on the floor, exhausted and +unconscious.</p> + +<p>It was a long time before Mrs. Estel succeeded in thoroughly reviving +him. Then he lay on a wide divan with his head on her lap, and talked +quietly of his trouble.</p> + +<p>He was too worn out to cry, even when he took the soft curls from his +pocket to show her. But her own recent loss had made her vision <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>keen, +and she saw the depth of suffering in the boy's white face. As she +twisted the curls around her finger and thought of her own fair-haired +little one, with the deep snow drifting over its grave, her tears fell +fast.</p> + +<p>She made a sudden resolution. "You shall come here," she said. "I +thought when my little Dorothy died I could never bear to hear a +child's voice again, knowing that hers was still. But such grief is +selfish. We will help each other bear ours together. Would you like to +come, dear?"</p> + +<p>Steven sat up, trembling in his great excitement.</p> + +<p>"O Mrs. Estel!" he cried, "couldn't you take Robin instead? I could be +happy anywhere if I only knew he was taken care of. You are so +different from the Piersons. I wouldn't feel bad if he was with you, +and I could see him every week. He is so pretty and sweet you couldn't +help loving him!"</p> + +<p>She stooped and kissed him. "You dear, unselfish child, you make me +want you more than ever."</p> + +<p>Then she hesitated. She could not decide a matter involving so much in +a moment's time. Steven, she felt, would be a comfort to her, but +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>Robin could be only a care. Lately she had felt the mere effort of +living to be a burden, and she did not care to make any exertion for +any one else.</p> + +<p>All the brightness and purpose seemed to drop out of her life the day +that little Dorothy was taken away. Her husband had tried everything +in his power to arouse her from her hopeless despondency, but she +refused to be comforted.</p> + +<p>Steven's trouble had touched the first responsive chord. She looked +down into his expectant face, feeling that she could not bear to +disappoint him, yet unwilling to make a promise that involved personal +exertion.</p> + +<p>Then she answered slowly, "I wish my husband were here. I cannot give +you an answer without consulting him. Then, you see the society that +sent you out here probably has some written agreement with these +people, and if they do not want to give him up we might find it a +difficult matter to get him. Mr. Estel will be home in a few days, and +he will see what can be done."</p> + +<p>That morning when Steven had been seized with a sudden impulse to find +Mrs. Estel he had no definite idea of what she could do to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>help him. +It had never occurred to him for an instant that she would offer to +take either of them to live with her. He thought only of that +afternoon on the train, when her sympathy had comforted him so much, +and of her words at parting: "If you ever need a friend, dear, or are +in trouble of any kind, let me know and I will help you." It was that +promise that lured him on all that weary way through the cold +snow-storm.</p> + +<p>With a child's implicit confidence he turned to her, feeling that in +some way or other she would make it all right. It was a great +disappointment when he found she could do nothing immediately, and +that it might be weeks before he could see Robin again.</p> + +<p>Still, after seeing her and pouring out his troubles, he felt like a +different boy. Such a load seemed lifted from his shoulders. He +actually laughed while repeating some of Robin's queer little speeches +to her. Only that morning he had felt that he could not even smile +again.</p> + +<p>Dinner cheered him up still more. When the storm had abated, Mrs. +Estel wrapped him up and sent him home in her sleigh, telling him that +she wanted him to spend Thanksgiving <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>Day with her. She thought she +would know by that time whether she could take Robin or not. At any +rate, she wanted him to come, and if he would tell Mr. Dearborn to +bring her a turkey on his next market day, she would ask his +permission.</p> + +<p>All the way home Steven wondered nervously what the old people would +say to him. He dreaded to see the familiar gate, and the ride came to +an end so very soon. To his great relief he found that they had +scarcely noticed his absence. Their only son and his family had come +unexpectedly from the next State to stay over Thanksgiving, and +everything else had been forgotten in their great surprise.</p> + +<p>The days that followed were full of pleasant anticipations for the +family. Steven went in and out among them, helping busily with the +preparations, but strangely silent among all the merriment.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dearborn took his son to town with him the next market day, and +Steven was left at home to wait and wonder what message Mrs. Estel +might send him.</p> + +<p>He hung around until after his usual bedtime, on their return, but +could not muster up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>courage to ask. The hope that had sprung up +within him flickered a little fainter each new day, until it almost +died out.</p> + +<p>It was a happy group that gathered around the breakfast table early on +Thanksgiving morning.</p> + +<p>"All here but Rindy," said Mr. Dearborn, looking with smiling eyes +from his wife to his youngest grandchild. "It's too bad she couldn't +come, but Arad invited all his folks to spend the day there; so she +had to give up and stay at home. Well, we're all alive and well, +anyhow. That's my greatest cause for thankfulness. What's yours, +Jane?" he asked, nodding towards his wife.</p> + +<p>As the question passed around the table, Steven's thoughts went back +to the year before, when their little family had all been together. He +remembered how pretty his mother had looked that morning in her +dark-blue dress. There was a bowl of yellow chrysanthemums blooming on +the table, and a streak of sunshine, falling across them and on +Robin's hair, seemed to turn them both to gold. Now he was all alone. +The contrast was too painful. He slipped from the table unobserved, +and stole noiselessly up the back stairs to his room. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>The little +checked apron was hanging on a chair by the window. He sat down and +laid his face against it, but his eyes were dry. He had not cried any +since that first dreadful night.</p> + +<p>There was such a lively clatter of dishes downstairs and babel of +voices that he did not hear a sleigh drive up in the soft snow.</p> + +<p>"Steven," called Mr. Dearborn from the foot of the stairs, "I promised +Mrs. Estel to let you spend the day with her, but there was so much +goin' on I plum forgot to tell you. You're to stay all night too, she +says."</p> + +<p>The ride to town seemed endless to the impatient boy. He was burning +with a feverish anxiety to know about Robin, but the driver whom he +questioned could not tell.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Estel will be down presently," was the message with which he was +ushered into the long drawing-room. He sat down uncomfortably on the +edge of a chair to wait. He almost dreaded to hear her coming for fear +she might tell him that the Piersons would not give Robin up. Maybe +her husband had not come home when she expected him. Maybe he had been +too busy to attend to the matter. A dozen possible calamities +presented themselves.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>Unconsciously he held himself so rigid in his expectancy that he +fairly ached. Ten minutes dragged by, with only the crackle of the +fire on the hearth to disturb the silence of the great room.</p> + +<p>Then light feet pattered down the stairs and ran across the broad +hall. The <i>portière</i> was pushed aside and a bright little face looked +in. In another instant Robin's arms were around his neck, and he was +crying over and over in an ecstasy of delight, "Oh, it's Big Brother! +It's Big Brother!"</p> + +<p>Not far away down the avenue a great church organ was rolling out its +accompaniment to a Thanksgiving anthem. Steven could not hear the +words the choir chanted, but the deep music of the organ seemed to him +to be but the echo of what was throbbing in his own heart.</p> + +<p>There was no lack of childish voices and merry laughter in the great +house that afternoon. A spirit of thanksgiving was in the very +atmosphere. No one could see the overflowing happiness of the children +without sharing it in some degree.</p> + +<p>More than once during dinner Mrs. Estel looked across the table at her +husband and smiled as she had not in months.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>Along in the afternoon the winter sunshine tempted the children out of +doors, and they commenced to build a snow man. They tugged away at the +huge image, with red cheeks and sparkling eyes, so full of +out-breaking fun that the passers-by stopped to smile at the sight.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estel stood at the library window watching them. Once, when +Robin's fat little legs stumbled and sent him rolling over in the +snow, she could not help laughing at the comical sight.</p> + +<p>It was a low, gentle laugh, but Mr. Estel heard, and, laying aside his +newspaper, joined her at the window. He had almost despaired of ever +seeing a return to the old sunny charm of face and manner.</p> + +<div style="width: 45%; float: left; padding: 1em;"><a name="imagep54" id="imagep54"></a> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep54.png" width="100%" alt="Steven would coax Him over in a Corner to look at the Book" /><br /> +</div> + + +<p>They stood there together in silence a few moments, watching the two +romping boys, who played on, unconscious of an audience.</p> + +<p>"What a rare, unselfish disposition that little 'Big Brother' has!" +Mr. Estel said presently. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>"It shows itself even in their play." Then +he added warmly, turning to his wife, "Dora, it would be downright +cruel to send him away from that little chap."</p> + +<p>He paused a moment. "We used to find our greatest pleasure in making +Dorothy happy. We lavished everything on her. Now we can never do +anything more for her."</p> + +<p>There was another long pause, while he turned his head away and looked +out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Think what a lifelong happiness it is in our power to give those +children! Dora, can't we make room for both of them for her sake?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estel hesitated, then laid both her hands in his, bravely smiling +back her tears. "Yes, I'll try," she said, "for little Dorothy's +sake."</p> + +<p>That night, as Steven undressed Robin and tucked him up snugly in the +little white bed, he felt that nothing could add to his great +happiness. He sat beside him humming an old tune their mother had +often sung to them, in the New Jersey home so far away.</p> + +<p>The blue eyes closed, but still he kept on humming softly to himself, +"Oh, happy day! happy day!"</p> + +<p>Presently Mrs. Estel came in and drew a low rocking-chair up to the +fire. Steven slipped <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>from his place by Robin's pillow and sat down on +the rug beside her.</p> + +<p>Sitting there in the fire-light, she told him all about her visit to +the Piersons. They had found Robin so unmanageable and so different +from what they expected that they were glad to get rid of him. Mr. +Estel had arranged matters satisfactorily with the Society, and they +had brought Robin home several days ago.</p> + +<p>"I had a long talk with Mr. Dearborn the other day," she continued. +"He said his wife's health is failing, and their son is trying to +persuade them to break up housekeeping and live with them. If she is +no better in the spring, they will probably do so."</p> + +<p>"Would they want me to go?" asked Steven anxiously.</p> + +<p>"It may be so; I cannot tell."</p> + +<p>Steven looked up timidly. "I've been wanting all day to say thank you, +the way I feel it; but somehow, the right words won't come. I can't +tell you how it is, but it seems 'most like sending Robin back home +for you and Mr. Estel to have him. Somehow, your ways and everything +seem so much like mamma's and papa's, and when I think about him +having <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>such a lovely home, oh, it just seems like this is a +Thanksgiving Day that will last <i>always</i>!"</p> + +<p>She drew his head against her knee and stroked it tenderly. "Then how +would you like to live here yourself, dear?" she asked. "Mr. Estel +thinks that we need two boys."</p> + +<p>"Oh, does he really want me, too? It's too good to be true!" Steven +was kneeling beside her now, his eyes shining like stars.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we both want you," answered Mrs. Estel. "You shall be our own +little sons."</p> + +<p>Steven crept nearer. "Papa and mamma will be so glad," he said in a +tremulous whisper. Then a sudden thought illuminated his earnest face.</p> + +<p>"O Mrs. Estel! Don't you suppose they have found little Dorothy in +that other country by this time, and are taking care of her there, +just like you are taking care of us here?"</p> + +<p>She put her arm around him, and drew him nearer, saying: "My dear +little comfort, it may be so. If I could believe that, I could never +feel so unhappy again."</p> + +<p>Robin and "ze black dancin' bear" were not the only ones tucked +tenderly away to sleep that night.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>The sleigh bells jingled along the avenue. Again the great church +organ rolled out a mighty flood of melody, that ebbed and flowed on +the frosty night air.</p> + +<p>And Big Brother, with his head pillowed once more beside Robin's, lay +with his eyes wide open, too happy to sleep—lay and dreamed of the +time when he should be a man, and could gather into the great house he +meant to own all the little homeless ones in the wide world; all the +sorry little waifs that strayed through the streets of great cities, +that crowded in miserable tenements, that lodged in asylums and +poorhouses.</p> + +<p>Into his child's heart he gathered them all, with a sweet +unselfishness that would have gladly shared with every one of them his +new-found home and happiness.</p> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Big Brother, by Annie Fellows-Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIG BROTHER *** + +***** This file should be named 18496-h.htm or 18496-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/4/9/18496/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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