A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia

E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J. P. W. Fraser, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Copyright, 1890, by DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY.
The early youth of an old town has a certain simplicity like the youth of human life. Its struggles, its romance, its unfolding come down through the earnest hands that have labored for its welfare and left imperishable monuments. To the legacies of remembrances you have had handed down to you, I add this little story of a long ago time, a posy culled from quaint gardens.
With sincere regard , AMANDA M. DOUGLAS.
Newark, N.J., 1899.

She was swinging her gingham sunbonnet, faded beyond any recognition of its pristine coloring, her small hand keeping tight hold of the strings. At every revolution it went swifter and swifter until it seemed a grayish sort of wheel whirling in the late sunshine that sent long shadows among the trees. When she let it go it flew like a great bird, while she laughed sweet, merry childish notes that would have stirred almost any soul. A slim, lithe little maid with a great crop of yellow hair, cut short in the neck, and as we should say now, banged across the forehead. But it was a mass of frowzy curls that seemed full of sunshine.
With two or three quick leaps she captured it again and was just preparing for her next swirl.
Primrose! Primrose! I think thee grows more disorderly every day. What caper is this? Look at these strings, they are like a twisted rope. And if thy bonnet had gone into the pond! For that matter it needs the washtub.
Primrose laughed again and then broke it in the middle with a funny little sound, and glanced at the tall woman beside her, who was smoothing out the strings with sundry pinches.
Certainly thou art a heedless girl! What thou wilt be—— She checked herself. Come at once to the kitchen. Wash thy face and hands and comb out that nest of frowze. Let me see —surveying her. Thou must have a clean pinafore. And dust thy shoes.