Hatty and Marcus / or, First Steps in the Better Path

OR,
First Steps in the Better Path.
AUNT FRIENDLY,
AUTHOR OF “KATE DARLY; OR, ‘IT WILL ALL COME RIGHT.’”
NEW YORK: ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, No. 683 BROADWAY. 1859.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York.
EDWARD O. JENKINS, Printer & Stereotyper, No. 26 Frankfort Street.
AUNT BARBARA.
Hatty Lee had been on a visit to her grandmother, and now she was coming home.
Mrs. Lee had hard work that morning to keep her young people in order, for Hatty was a favorite with her brothers and sister, and they were wild with delight at the idea of seeing her again.
Hatty was only ten years of age, and Marcus, her brother, thought because he was two years older he was almost a man, and quite able to give Hatty advice on all subjects. He pretended a great contempt for girls, but the fact was he had missed his little playmate sorely, and was full of glee at the thought of her return. He showed his pleasure in a noisy way that made the house not very comfortable for any one else.
Old Aunt Barbara had twice put her head out of her bed-room door, to tell him he was the “roughest, rudest boy in the world, and would drive her crazy if he did not behave himself;” but Marcus still ran up stairs, jumping up three steps at a time, with his heavy shoes, and sliding down the balusters, hallooing as he went, as if he were riding a race in an open meadow.