"Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise,
The queen of the world and the child of the skies!"
"Oh, you say it just splendid!" declared the little girl enthusiastically. She never laughed and teased him as Peggy did.
She was learning some verses herself, but she wondered if she would have courage enough to face the whole school. They were in her "Child's Reader" with the "Little Busy Bee," and "Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite." She thought them beautiful:
"The rose had been washed, lately washed in a shower,
Which Mary to Anna conveyed."
It puzzled her small brain a good deal as to why the rose needed washing. But Peggy showed her one day how dusty the leaves and flowers grew in a dry time, and she learned that the whole world was the better for an occasional washing. She asked Mary afterward why the clothes were not put out in a hard rain to get them clean.
"Laws, honey, dey need elbow-grease," and the old woman laughed heartily.
"I do wish my name was Anna," she said, with a sigh.
"Well, you just need to put another a to the Ann," said her brother confidently.
"And I don't like being called Han and Hanny."
"I'd a heap rather be called Jim than James. When pop calls me James I think it's time to pick myself up mighty spry, I tell you!" and he laughed.