But he did not part from the children that day without some token of remembrance, for when Maggie inquired about his birthday, and repeated,—
“I would so like to do something for you, sir, you was so kind to us,” he answered,—
“You can do something for me, Maggie. Give me your little Testament, if you will; and when I look at it, it will bring back to me some very sweet recollections of this day.”
Dear Maggie, only too happy when she could give or do any thing which brought pleasure to another, readily consented, thinking as Bessie had done, that “grandmamma wouldn’t mind when she knew the reason;” and the second little Testament went forth on its mission of love and life, in the hands of a new owner.
And pray what do you think had been that ungrateful baby’s greeting to her little sisters’ new friend? Nothing less than that oft-repeated “Oh, bad hat!” But being rested and at her ease now, she was not fretful, and was more astonished than displeased at its reappearance. We ought not to call her ungrateful either. She was glad to see her sisters, and offered plenty of “love Maggies’” and “love Bessies’,” which meant a tight squeeze of the little arms about the neck; but she could not understand the distress and anxiety their absence had occasioned on all sides, nor did she know what care had been bestowed upon them by the owner of the hat.
But Mr. Travers having taken off the hat and placed it beneath his chair, Baby made the most of her opportunities, and, seating herself on the carpet behind him, pulled it forth, and turned it over and over on her lap. Finding on a closer acquaintance that it was not so objectionable as she had thought it, she proceeded to try it on; and, nothing daunted by the fact that she was nearly extinguished by it, was, greatly to the amusement of all, presently discovered toddling blindly about the room, with her small head and dimpled shoulders quite hidden; while from beneath the hat came a muffled voice saying, in lisping tones,—
“Nice hat! oh, nice hat! Baby on nice hat.”
Bessie almost fell from her mother’s lap, and Belle from her father’s knee, with laughing at this joke, and Maggie hopped around and squealed in an ecstasy of fun and delight; and even the grown people could not help laughing heartily at the little “turncoat,” as nurse called her pet.