"And so you are," answered Sally, kissing her affectionately; "but Croppy, if it live, will be a pet to all of us."
"And it will live—I know it will," said Peggy. "Only see how much better it looks, now that it is warm, and has got some good milk."
The fact was, that little Croppy very soon began to show signs of the good effects of the kind treatment it had received; and before the day was over, it could stand, and in a few days more it began to trot about, and was very soon able to commence the business of giving the little girls lessons in running. And here we shall leave him for a while, to give a short account of the family in which he was now an inmate.
Farmer Early's family consisted of Sally, whom we have just introduced to our readers, and who was fifteen years old, George, who was about one, and Tom, who was rather more than two years younger than she. Besides these, there were two little girls, Peggy, who was seven, and Kitty, five years old. They were all rather pretty and very pleasant looking children; but Sally and George were the most conspicuously interesting, both in appearance and manners. George was of a more serious and thoughtful cast than boys of his age generally are. He was active, and always willing to do any thing in his power to assist his father and those around him; but these duties fulfilled, his chief delight was in reading, and he would sit for hours together on the top of a box in the garret, whither he was in the habit of going for the sake of being out of the noise of the other children, and would devour with the greatest eagerness the contents of every book on which he could lay his hands; and a strange mixture, it must be confessed, it had been his fate to get hold of. He had read "The Whole Duty of Man;" "Gulliver's Travels;" "Cook's Voyages;" "Pilgrim's Progress;" two or three odd volumes of some of the Waverley novels, which he had bought for a few cents a piece at an auction in the neighbouring town, when sent there on an errand; but of all the treasures of which he had ever become possessed, and which seemed likely to have the most powerful influence over his future character, was the Life of Franklin, which he likewise purchased for a few cents at an auction. Eagerly, nay, greedily, did he read this interesting little volume. And when he rose from the fascinating task, and recollected that he, who had become one of the most distinguished philosophers either of his own, or any other country, who had been a negotiator with kings, and had done more, perhaps, for his country than any other man, with the exception of Washington alone, had once been a poor, portionless, uneducated boy; and that all the attainments, all the honours of which he afterwards became possessed, were entirely the fruits of his industry and economy, he drew himself up with a noble feeling of pride and emulation, and said, "I too, perhaps, may some time or other be a great man; for every body has the power of being industrious, economical, and good; and I never can be much poorer than Franklin was when he first entered Philadelphia with only a dollar in his pocket, and when he went and bought a two-penny loaf and made his dinner off it."
George had not derived his love of reading from either his father or mother; for though respectable, they were very ignorant people, and were much more disposed to regret the disposition of their son to spend his time, as they conceived, so unprofitably, than to attempt to supply him with the means of indulging his prevailing propensity. He was not, however, without one affectionate and sympathizing friend, who delighted in aiding him in every laudable undertaking, and joined with interest in all his praise-worthy pursuits. His sister Sally was, like himself, gentle, affectionate, and thoughtful. She was not so great a reader as George, for, indeed, the instruction that she had received had been so very limited, and she had always been kept so constantly employed in assisting her mother in the household work, and in taking care of the younger children, that she had never learned to read with sufficient facility to make the employment agreeable; but she delighted to listen to George's accounts of the books he had read, and was always ready to add her mite to the small stock of money which he was able to save for the purchase of more. Fondly, too, would she encourage all his ardent aspirings after knowledge and virtue, and all his sanguine anticipations of future eminence; for to her he could breathe out his thoughts almost before they were formed in his mind, conscious as he did so, that they would meet no repulsive check, no chilling reception, to nip the embryo blossom, and prevent its ripening into fruit. There was yet another circumstance which served to unite this affectionate brother and sister in still closer bonds. Sally had all her life been exceedingly delicate, and as she advanced in age, that delicacy evidently rather increased than diminished; and there was no one of the whole family that showed so much consideration, and so tender a sympathy for her weakness, as her brother George; and the grateful girl never seemed to think she could make a sufficient return for such kindness.
We have spent so much time in dwelling on the characters of the two elder branches of farmer Early's family, that we can spare but little more for the others; nor, indeed, is there much required; for Tom was, like other boys, active, playful, and careless; fond of guns, and dogs, and horses; priding himself upon managing a horse better, and shooting a partridge with truer aim than any boy in the neighbourhood; and as to the little girls, they were like most children of their age, sometimes troublesome, but more generally good and engaging, and always interesting to their parents and sister, who repeated their sayings, and watched their sports with pride and pleasure, and persuaded themselves that they were the smartest and prettiest children that were ever seen. Had the little Kitty, however, been at all less delighted with their new inmate, Croppy, than she really was, she might, perhaps, have been a little jealous of the attention which he gained from the whole family, but more especially from Sally, who, as she said, had never before had any living thing that she could call her own; and as it soon learned to know her voice, and would come bounding at her call from the furthest point of the common before the door, or would trot by her side to the dairy, anxiously looking for his usual allowance, she almost wondered at herself for the fondness which she felt for it. "It is very silly of me, I know, to be so fond of this little creature," she would sometimes say, as she mused over her little pet; "for though he likes me better than any body else at present, I know very well that any other person who took the same care of him would just do as well for him, and I should be forgotten directly; but yet he seems as if he loved me, and it is so delightful to be loved, that the attachment of a little dumb animal makes me feel happy." As Sally was thus musing, her hands were occupied with tying together a number of wild flowers which the children had just brought from the woods, and forming them into a wreath.
"What is that for?" asked Kitty, who had sat looking on so earnestly, that she had been insensible to the many challenges which Croppy had given her to a race over the common. "Who are you making that for, Sally?"
"You shall see," answered her sister, and immediately she called "Croppy! Croppy!" and in an instant, Croppy, though he had been almost out of sight at the moment of her calling, was again at her side. Sally hung the wreath round his neck, but was obliged to tie it so tight that he could not reach it with his mouth, or the display of Sally's taste would soon have been in vain. "Now keep quiet, Croppy, and do not spoil your garland before George comes home from the field, because I have dressed you up in honour of his birth-day. Now be quiet, good Croppy," continued she, as the little creature, less gratified by being so ornamented, than worried by the unusual incumbrance, tried, by rolling himself on the grass, to disengage himself from it.
"Oh! here comes George," cried Peggy. "I'll run and meet him, and bring him to see Croppy before his birth-day dress is spoiled." But at the same moment a voice was heard, calling in an angry tone, "Sally! Sally! how can you think of setting there on the damp grass, when you have been so sick all day! I know well enough how it will be—you will get cold, and will be laid up instead of helping me to-morrow with the washing." Poor Sally rose in an instant with a feeling of self-condemnation at her own carelessness, but her heart and eyes, at the same time, filling at the manner in which her mother had upbraided her. As she returned to the house, she met George hastening to admire Croppy's finery; but he had heard his mother's rebuke, and seeing the large tears standing in his sister's eyes, Croppy was immediately forgotten, and turning round with Sally, he devoted himself the rest of the evening to cheering and amusing her. "It only wants a few days now, Sally," said he, seeking, in the subject the most interesting to himself, the most probable means of amusing his sister, "it only wants a few days now to the time of my going to school. Father has promised me a month's schooling before the harvest begins, and another when it is over; and if I am diligent, I can learn a great deal in that time. Oh, how I long to begin! I dream about being at school every night; and I always think that I am learning something that compels me to study very hard, and I am always so glad, because I think then I am learning the way to be a wise and good man. Franklin had very little more schooling than I shall have had by that time, and as to money, he was as poor as I am, every bit; for when he first came to Philadelphia, he had only a single dollar in his pocket, and yet you see he got to be a very great man."
"Yes," said Sally, "but he had to study and work very hard for a great many years first."