POOR KATY.
The effect of this talk upon Jim was very marked. He began, from that time, shyly to take Mrs. Leslie into his confidence, whenever he felt that she could help him, and he schooled himself to bear, without wincing, any and all allusions to the various and unobtrusive acts of kindness which he was able to perform. And he very soon had the encouragement of finding his usefulness greatly increased, while he still had the satisfaction of doing many things which were known only to himself and those whom he helped. To his firm and resolute character, the plan of the campaign was more than half the battle, while Johnny, who was naturally more heedless and forgetful, found great difficulty in keeping his good resolutions where he could find them in a hurry.
He had, for the time being, quite forgotten this talk about the wise men, when, one day during the following week, as he was playing with the boys at recess, a little girl strayed into the playground, with a basket of apples and cakes, hoping to sell some of her wares to the schoolboys. Johnny remembered her at once, for she was one of the many people whom Mrs. Leslie had helped and befriended; she had found the poor child in great trouble and destitution, a few months before, and had put her to board with an old woman who only demanded a very moderate amount of work in payment for the care which she gave the little girl.
Katy employed her spare time in trying to sell whatever she could pick up most cheaply, whenever she had a few cents at her command; matches, sometimes, and what Tiny called “dreadful” cakes of soap; very thick china buttons, blunt pins, or, when she had not enough even for these investments, a few apples or oranges, and unpleasant-looking cakes.
She was a solemn and anxious-looking child, and although, through Mrs. Leslie’s care and teaching, her clothes were nearly always whole and clean, they had a look of not belonging to her, and Tiny and Johnny, while they pitied her very much, and were always willing to help her in any way they could, did not admire her.
It had never before occurred to her to visit the playground with her basket, a fact over which Johnny had secretly rejoiced, and it was with a feeling of dismay quite beyond the occasion that he saw her come in at the gate. She did not see him, just at first, and he was attacked, as he afterward told Tiny, with a mean desire to “cut and run.” Before he could make up his mind to do this, however, she recognized him, and a smile broke over her solemn countenance.
“Why!” she said, in the drawl which always “aggravated” Johnny, “I didn’t know you went to school here, Johnny Leslie! I’m right glad I came in. Don’t you want to buy an apple? And don’t some of these other boys want to? They’re real nice—I tried one.”
“I haven’t any money here, Katy,” said Johnny, briefly, “and I don’t believe the other boys have, either. And I wouldn’t come here, again, if I were you; it’s not a good place to sell things at all—at least, some things,” he added hastily, as he remembered how a basketful of pop-corn candy had vanished in that very yard, a few days before.