Bessie in the City

by Joanna H. Mathews

He shook hands with them all, and then, taking paper and pencil, told them to tell him in turn what they would have.

Bessie, being the youngest, had the first choice, and she named the books she liked best. The others did the same, but when the list was made out, Mr. —— said ten dollars would purchase several more, and bringing some volumes which had just been published, said he could recommend those for their purpose. The children were quite ready to take them upon his word, and when the whole ten dollars' worth was laid out, looked at the pile with great satisfaction. Mr. —— offered to send the books wherever they might choose but that would not answer at all. The library must be taken with them in the carriage, and carried home by Mrs. Rush, with whom it was to remain until those of the children's friends who wished to see it had had the opportunity, when it was to be sent to Miss Winslow, with a note from the four little girls to the Western children. Maggie was asked by the others to "make up" the note, and as Mrs. Rush took them all home to spend the rest of the day with her and the colonel, it was done before they separated that evening. This was the note which Colonel Rush wrote out and put up with the books:—

"Dear log-cabin children, whose names we don't know, but we like you all the same, please to take this library. Four of us send it to you,—Maggie and Bessie and Gracie and Lily; and I am Maggie, and the others are the rest. Our dear teacher, Miss Winslow, who used to have us all except Bessie, who was too little, in her Sunday-school class, is going to teach you in your log-cabin, and Santa Claus put a log-cabin in my stocking, but I knew it was Fred; and she says you have very few books, and we would like you to have some more; so we have bought this library for you, and we hope you will read all the books and like them. Papa and Colonel Rush are going to send you some picture cards with hymns and verses like those in our Sunday-school, and Miss Winslow is going to take you some Bibles, so you see if you want to learn about Jesus you can, and if you are good children, you will. Miss Winslow is very good, and you will love her very much, and we are very sorry she is going away; but now we have Sunday-school in Mrs. Rush's room, and she is so sweet you can't think, and the colonel does tell us such stories; so we can spare Miss Winslow, and you must be very good to Miss Winslow, because she left her comfortable home to be a missionary to you, and Mr. Long, too, so you ought to mind all they say, and if you do not, you ought to be served right, and never have any of the library books to read. But we think you will be good, and some day Miss Winslow is going to write to us about you, and if you are naughty, you would be ashamed to have it put in a letter. Dear log-cabin children, we all send you our love, and we hope you had a Christmas-tree, and here are our names:—

Maggie Bradford.
Gracie Howard.
Lily Norris.
Bessie Bradford."

The colonel wrote it all down just as Maggie dictated it to him, but when Miss Winslow read the letter to the Western children, she did not think it necessary to read the whole of the last part, but left out a few words here and there. As Maggie did not know this, it did not make any difference to her.

The books were covered and put up in a neat box which Mr. Bradford provided, and then given into Miss Winslow's care. She was very much pleased, and told the little girls she should not fail to tell the Western children all about their kind young friends in the East.

Some weeks after she went away, there came a letter from her, directed, "To my dear little scholars." It had come in another to Mrs. Rush, and arrived on Saturday night; so when they came to her room on Sunday morning, they found this pleasure awaiting them. Mrs. Rush read it aloud to them.

"My Dear Little Girls,—

"After a long and tedious journey, we arrived at this place. We lost several articles of our baggage by the way, but I am glad to tell you that your precious library was not among them. That came quite safely, and it would do good to your generous young hearts to see what delight these poor children take in the books; and not only the children, but the grown people, also, are very anxious to have them.

"We are not living in a large city or village, but in a small settlement of a dozen or so of houses, and very different the houses are from those you are accustomed to. They are all log-cabins, our own as well as the rest; but we manage to make ourselves pretty comfortable and quite contented. Then we have so much to do that there is no time to think of little annoyances.