II.
Justas soon as Mrs. Lee had left the room, the little party gathered round Flora again to find out what she had been thinking about. They all wanted to know. Even Henry, who talked so big, and felt so big, was just as eager as Sarah and Frank.
“David White—that’s thepoor widow’s son—earns lots of money by selling papers. But his mother is very poor,” continued Flora.
“You told us that before,” said Henry.
“Dear me! so I did. Well—his mother is very poor.”
“That’s three times you have said it.”
“What ails me?” laughed Flora. “I believe I can’t say what I wanted.”
“Try again, then,” added Sarah.
“Well, Mrs. White—that’s the poor widow’s name—as she is verypoor——”
The children all laughed then till their sides ached, and Master Henry had nearly smashed Miss Dolly’s quarters all to pieces, he was so much amused because Flora said the same thing so many times.
“Never mind him,” said Sarah. “Now go on, Flora.”
“Well, I was just going to say that Mrs. White was verypoor——”
“Youdidsay that,” roared Henry; and they all laughed again till they were as red as red apples.
“I declare—well then—but people say they don’t see how poor Mrs. White will be able to get through the winter.They say the times are very hard, and that she can’t get any work.”
“But where is that smart son of hers?”
“O, he earns lots of money; but then the poor folks don’t buy so many papers in hard times. He has got lots of brothers and sisters.”
“How many?—about two hundred?” asked Henry.
“Dear me! Ofcoursenot,”replied Flora, with a twist of the head that made that heap of pretty curls fly all over her rosy cheeks. “He has got two brothers, and two sisters, besides himself.”
“Is he his own brother?” laughed Henry.
“Of course he isn’t.”
“You said he had two brothers, and two sisters,besides himself.”
“Well, you city boys are sovery proper!” said Flora, with a pout of her cherry lips. “I mean that his mother has two boys and two girls besides David.”
“O, then David is a girl,” cried Henry.
“How particular you are!” said Flora, with another pout. “Won’t you please to say it for me?”
“You mean that she has four children besides David.”
“That is just what I mean,” added Flora, who was pleased to have the matter settled. “She can’t take care of them all this winter, and something must be done to help her.”
“Isn’t there an almshouse in Riverdale?” asked Henry.
“Why, she don’t want to go to the almshouse. How would you like to go to the almshouse, Henry?”
“I shouldn’t like it; but I am not a pauper.”
“What’s a pauper?” asked Flora.
“Why, a poor person that has to be taken care of by the town or city.”
“You may be a pauper one of these days.”
“I guess not.”
“Would you like to be sent off to the almshouse, if you were?”
“I don’t know but I should.”
“Well, Mrs. White don’t, any way. And I am going to do something to help her.”
“You! what can you do?” sneered Henry.
“I have got lots of money. I have got a savings bank, and it is almost full. I am going to buy a lot of things to-night—a barrel of flour, some sugar, some tea, some coffee, some potatoes, and—O,lots of things! I am going to get father to let me have a horse and wagon, and to-morrow morning we will all go over to Mrs. White’s with the things.”
“That will be first rate, Flora,” said Frank. “She shall have all my money, too, and I’ve got more than you have.”
“You are real good, Frank,” replied Flora. “We can buyever so many things. Won’t we have a nice time! And won’t Mrs. White be glad, and won’t she be surprised when we take the things in to her!”
“Won’t she, though!”
“We must send her a load of wood too. Don’t you want to give something, Henry?”
“Yes, I should like to, but I haven’t got much to give.”
“I have got a dollar, and so have you,” said Sarah.
“I don’t want to give all of it. I want to buy something for myself.”
“I will give all of mine.”
“I will give half a dollar,” added Henry.
Then Frank and Flora took their money boxes out of a drawer in the play room. They were little wooden boxes with holes in the top to slip the money through. Each of them had a key, and the savingsbanks were emptied upon the floor.
Henry helped Flora count her money, and they found there was two dollars and seventy cents. Frank’s box had contained three dollars and twenty cents. The two cousins gave a dollar and a half; and the whole sum for the poor widow was seven dollars and forty cents.
To the children this was agreat sum of money, and they thought it would pay all of Mrs. White’s expenses for the winter. Frank was chosen to keep the funds, and he put them into one of the boxes. Then Flora said they had better go down and tell her father all about the plan, and he would show them how to go to work.
Flora was so delighted, she could not walk, but wentdancing down the stairs and through the entries. She kept thinking all the time how glad the poor widow would be to see the things, and how happy they would all be when they carried them to her.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee were in the sitting room when the party rushed through the entry. They saw that “something was in the wind,” and Mr. Lee threw down thenewspaper which the little merchant had just brought to him, and Mrs. Lee stopped sewing. The children came just as though the house was on fire, and they would all be burnt to death if they did not run as fast as ever they could.
“Father!” shouted Flora, as she bolted into the room, followed by the others.
“What is the matter, my dear? Have you hurt you?”
“O, no, father. I’ve got something to tell you—something first rate; and I want you to help me—I mean we—for we are all going to do it.”
“What are you going to do? I should think you meant to set the river afire!”
“O, no, nothing of that kind, father. We are going to give a Christmas present to Mrs. White. You know she is very poor, and has a hardtime to take care of all her family.”
“She has, indeed, my child.”
“We have put all our money together, and we are going to buy a load of wood, a barrel of flour, lots of potatoes, and meat, and coffee, and tea, sugar, and—and—pepper, and salt, andmustard——”
“Stop, stop, my child! You will have a fit if you run on in this way.”
Her father and mother, and the children, all laughed to hear Flora talk so fast, and add such things as pepper and mustard to her list. I suppose they thought the poor widow could get along very well without such things as these.
Mr. Lee said he liked the plan, and that he would take the money and buy such things as he thought Mrs.White needed. He promised to have every thing ready for them to start at eight o’clock the next morning.
While the children were at tea, the parlor doors were unlocked, and the room lighted. One end was occupied by a beautiful Christmas tree, which was covered all over with candles and pretty things.
When Flora and Frank and their cousins entered the parlor,they were very much surprised, for none of them had ever seen any thing so brilliant before, and they all passed a merry Christmas Eve.
deer
the processionThe Procession.
The Procession.