Table of Contents
- [CHAPTER I—BLACK-EYED SUSAN OF FEATHERBED LANE]
- [CHAPTER II—OVER THE GARDEN WALL]
- [CHAPTER III—MADAME BONNET’S SHOP]
- [CHAPTER IV—THE SQUASH BABY]
- [CHAPTER V—DOWN AT MISS LIZA’S]
- [CHAPTER VI—THE GYPSIES]
- [CHAPTER VII—IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE]
- [CHAPTER VIII—SUSAN’S PRESENT]
- [CHAPTER IX—HICKORY DICKORY DOCK]
- [CHAPTER X—THE VISIT]
- [CHAPTER XI—HOW THE MONEY WAS SPENT]
- [CHAPTER XII—THANKSGIVING IN FEATHERBED LANE]
BLACK-EYED SUSAN
[CHAPTER I—BLACK-EYED SUSAN OF FEATHERBED LANE]
A pair of black eyes, a head covered with short brown curls, two red cheeks, and a tip-tilted nose—that was Susan. A warm heart, a pair of eager little hands always ready to help, little feet that tripped willingly about on errands—that was Susan, too.
“The best little girl in Putnam County,” said Grandfather, snuggling Susan up so close that his gray beard tickled her nose and made her laugh.
“My little comfort,” said Grandmother, with a hand on Susan’s bobbing curls that simply couldn’t be made to lie flat no matter how much you brushed and brushed.
Susan herself didn’t say very much to this, but oh, how she did love Grandfather, from the crown of his big slouch hat to the toes of his high leather boots that he delighted to wear both winter and summer!
As for Grandmother, who could help loving her, with her merry smile, her soft pink cheeks shaded by a row of little white curls, and her jar of cinnamon cookies on the low shelf in the pantry? Yes, her jar of cinnamon cookies on the low shelf in the pantry, for, somehow, in Susan’s mind, Grandmother and the cinnamon cookies were pleasantly mingled and together made up the love and comfort and cheer that to Susan meant home.
The house Susan lived in with Grandmother and Grandfather Whiting and Snuff the dog was a broad, low, white house that stood far back from the road at the end of Featherbed Lane.