CHAPTERVIIHIS FATHER’S PLAN
Justas Benny closed the gate with a slam the runaway horse reached it and stopped short, trembling in every limb. The girl in the buggy was as pale as a ghost. Two or three men came running up, and Benny suddenly found himself a hero. He had fallen to the ground as the gate swung to, and had struck his head so that his temple was bleeding slightly. Little Alice was crying that Benny had knocked her down, and Mrs. Bentley came running from the house.
She had seen the accident from the kitchen window, and without losing her hold on her little girl, whom she tenderlypicked up, she clasped Benny in her arms as he staggered to his feet.
“Oh, you dear, brave little boy!” she cried. “You have saved my baby, and you might have been killed yourself! Oh, how thankful I am; how very thankful! And oh, it is Molly Welch! You have saved Molly, too! Such a little boy, and so brave!”
By this time Molly was out of the buggy, and the men had quieted down the trembling horse. “It was the slickest trick I ever saw,” said one of the men. “One of those women among the pickers left a baby carriage out in the road, and it scared the horse nearly to death. We saw he was getting skittish when he passed, and we ran, but ’twarn’t no use. We couldn’t git there, and this here youngster just ups and runs to the gate. It was a pretty spunky thing to do, for hewas just in the nick of time. Another minute and the horse would have trampled him.”
“Why, it’s our little Benny,” said Molly, with a quaver in her voice. “Why, Benny, don’t you know me?” for Benny was looking around in a dazed sort of a way.
“Oh, yes, I know you,” he said, “but I feel sort of queer.”
“Come in, Molly, and let me give you a cup of tea,” said Mrs. Bentley; “you look so white, and no wonder. And Benny, I must patch up your poor head,” and she put her arm around the boy with a real mother-look on her face.
“I was just coming over to see if we could get some of your strawberries,” Molly said. “Ours are about gone. I’ve often driven this horse before; father thought him perfectly safe.”
“Any horse would be scared at seeing such a thing as a baby carriage with a flapping parasol, in the road. Those pickers bring all sorts of things with them, and have so little discretion about where they leave things. You shall not drive that horse home; we will send you with one of our horses,” said Mrs. Bentley.
And then Benny, with his aching head, was sent up to his quiet little room, while Mrs. Bentley and Molly had a long talk.
“That is one of the nicest little fellows I ever saw,” Molly remarked. “We took such a fancy to him at our house, with his homely, freckled little face. And his little sister Kitty is the dearest child. They have been very well brought up, and must have a very good mother.”
“Ben has been a great comfort to me,” returned Mrs. Bentley. “I don’t know what I should have done without himwhile Roy has been sick. He is always so quick and cheerful, and his dear little round face is always so sunny. And—” here the tears came to her eyes—“I know Mr. Bentley will think he can’t do enough for him, for Alice is the apple of his eye.”
“And my father, I’m sure, will feel the same,” Molly returned. “What can we do for him? They must be poor, or he wouldn’t have come here as a picker.”
That evening Mr. Welch made his appearance. He and Mr. Bentley stood out by the fence a long time before they came to the house. Then they came and sat down one on each side of Benny, where he was on the doorstep listening to the whippoorwills.
“Benny, my lad,” said Mr. Welch, “you don’t know what you’ve done for us two men. You must let us do something for you.”
“You have done ever so much for me. Oh, Mr. Welch, just think how kind you have been, you and Mr. Bentley, too. And do you think I could have let little Alice and Miss Molly get hurt without trying to do that? I only did what my father and mother would want me to, sir.”
“You like the country very much, don’t you, Benny?” Mr. Welch continued. “You told me so in the boat, and you said your mother was a country girl before she was married, and that your father was brought up on a farm.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that your father always planned to have a little place of his own, and that the doctor says your little sister needs country air.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, my lad, we’re not very rich, myneighbor Bentley and myself, but we’re well enough off to pay our debts, and we owe you a big one. I’ve a little place, not much of an affair, a four or five room house, with an acre of ground. It’s about half way between here and my store. And I offer it to you rent free. Mr. Bentley says he’ll stock it up for you with chickens and such things, and that you shall never want for fruit, and vegetables, and feed, while he has any. My wife says she has a fine little pig for you, and Molly has a young heifer that she insists upon calling yours. So if you want to come down here and live among people that will always look out for you, you’ve but to say the word.”
Benny looked from one to the other, only saying, “Oh! oh, sir! Oh, Mr. Welch!”
“Yes,” put in Mr. Bentley, “we’ll lookout for you, my boy. It was a lucky day for us when you got left on that steamboat. And now, Ben, I’ll take you up to town to-morrow, if you want to go, and talk it over with your mother. I’ve got to go hunt up help for my wife. So you can go along if you like.”
And then Benny went into the house to see Mrs. Bentley standing with shining eyes, she having heard all the talk.
As she took a candle from the table to give into Benny’s hands, she stooped and kissed him, saying, “God bless you, my dear little boy!”
Two such laden-down little figures as made their way up the narrow street the next day; and not less laden down was their companion, Mr. Bentley. Kitty would not be left behind, and helped to convey peas and strawberries, a big bottle of rich cream, a fine roll of butter, eggs,and home-made cake, and best of all, a huge bunch of roses, over which Benny’s blue eyes peeped as bright as two stars.
What a glad mother it was who welcomed home her darlings with sweet surprise! And how Kitty laughed as one after another of the country gifts were shown! And what a thankful little family it was that Mr. Bentley left that evening when it was all settled that they should go to live in Mr. Welch’s house!
“You can find plenty of customers, Mrs. Jordan,” said Mr. Bentley. “There is a great scarcity of persons who can sew for us in our neighborhood just now. Miss Grant got married last fall and came to town to live, and Mrs. Larkins is too old to sew, so there is only Miss Thompson left, and she hasn’t time to give everyone, so you’ll find plenty to do if you wantit, and thankful enough the women will be not to have to traipse up to town every time a dress is to be made.”
Glad motherSuch a Glad Mother
Such a Glad Mother
And therefore a few weeks later, when strawberries were gone and shining blackberries grew along the hedgerows, when early apples were ripening in the orchards and huge watermelons were bringing a promise of heavy loads for the market, the Jordans came to their new home, their furniture having gone down the day before, free of charge, on Mr. Bentley’s “bug-eye.”
A regular surprise party there was to receive them—all the Welches and all the Bentleys. The dear collie puppy was made over to Ben by Joe Welch; Molly’s heifer lowed in the cowshed; ten fine hens and two pretty roosters strutted about in the little back yard; Mrs. Welch’s fat pig grunted in a new sty, and betweensmiles and tears, Mrs. Jordan said that she had never seen any but a minister’s family so supplied with good things.
The next year Benny was not among the pickers; he was going to the district school with Kitty, whose pale cheeks had gained a wild rose hue. And Benny had a little garden of his own, a garden in which he took much pride, for it had been planted and tended by himself alone. The rows of radishes and lettuce were, to be sure, rather uneven, and the corn in some places had refused to come up at all, but it was a very fair beginning for a little boy, and showed what might be expected later.
Mr. Welch says some day when Joe goes to the city to live he shall want a clerk in his store, and Mr. Bentley says some day he shall want an overseer on his farm. Therefore Benny finds it arather difficult matter to decide which of these two opportunities shall be his to take.
Kitty, however, settled it for him one evening when they were sitting out on their little vine-covered porch. “I think,” she said, “that you’d better go to Mr. Welch’s first, ’cause he was your first friend, and when you have learned all about storekeeping you can go to Mr. Bentley and manage his farm, and Miss Molly’s husband can be in Mr. Welch’s store.” Who Miss Molly’s husband is to be has not yet been decided, but no doubt when he does appear he will be glad to have his future so plainly set before him.
“That’s a right good plan,” was Benny’s reply to his sister.
“And if you see any poor little boys among your pickers you’ll make it worththeir while, won’t you, Benny?” said Kitty.
“I will that,” replied Benny, emphatically.
And just then was heard their mother’s voice, “Come in, children, your bread and milk is waiting for you.”