THE CHILDREN'S LIFE
Midsummer morning broke in gorgeous, glorious brightness. Light fleecy clouds floated swiftly over the blue heaven; a crisp fresh wind curled the waters of the Hudson; and the beautiful little island opposite West Point lay on its bosom like an emerald; its green banks clasped by the loving tide.
With the first drum-beat, the happy Nightcap children were up and dressed; and having, with more gratitude than usual, thanked their Heavenly Father for so many blessings, they went first to inquire how their dear brother Charley had passed the night.
"Hush!" said the little mother, as they came to the door, "don't chatter now; Charley is still sleeping; do not make any noise; see how lovely he looks."
The children crept in on tiptoe, and gazed lovingly at the sleeping boy. At that moment a warm glow flashed suddenly into his cheek, and his lips parted in a glad smile.
"Oh! see, see!" whispered the children, "Charley is dreaming; perhaps he is talking to the fairies the doctor told us about; when he awakes we will ask him."
Then they went softly down stairs and out into the fresh delicious air. The birds were chanting their morning hymns; the lawn was golden green with the sun's rays, and spangled with dew. Bees were dreamily humming over the wealth of honeysuckles and roses that covered the cottage-wall, gathering their sweet and fragrant food at their leisure.
The children felt the blessed influences of all these lovely works of the great Creator in an increase (if such a thing were possible) of their happiness and joy.
You would have thought they were made of corks, so lightly did they skip here and there, running round the trees after each other, the boys turning somersets on the grass, and the girls declaring that they could get to the top of Crow Nest with only a hop, skip, and jump.
"Oh, delightful!" cried George, "to get up a mountain with three steps! you'll have to borrow Jack's seven-leagued boots. I wonder who lives on the top?"
"Why, the crows, to be sure," said Harry, "and they keep up such a talking; it is like a hail-storm all the time; you never heard any thing like the way crows can scold. If one crow is caught stealing, all the rest caw and croak at him, till he very nearly goes into fits, and then they all fly at him till he hasn't a feather left; I read all about it in my Natural History."
"Oh!" cried little Minnie, "how I like to hear stories about fishes! tell another crow story."
While the children were good-naturedly laughing and explaining to Minnie that a crow was a bird, their mother appeared at the cottage-door and said, "Breakfast, children."
In they all rushed, quite ready for the nice corn-bread, boiled eggs, and real milk– not milkman's milk – but they looked round in some surprise for Charley.
"He is still sleeping," said the little mother, "and smiling in his sleep; this quiet rest will do him so much good, I hope. Oh, my precious Charley!" she exclaimed, "if I could only keep you a little longer;" and her eyes filled with tears.
The children looked sad and grave, and two or three went round and kissed their mother, and patted her kind cheek, and said they were sure Charley was better. After breakfast they stole softly up stairs to look again at their darling brother.
Charley was sitting up in bed as they entered: a strange bewildered expression was upon his face, and he had his hands behind him, trying to feel his shoulders.
"Do come here, George," said he, "and see if there are wings upon my back."
"Wings!!!" shouted the children in amazement, "what can Charley mean?"
"Yes, wings," replied Charley; "the fairy Queen fastened them upon my back last night, and I went with her and her beautiful maids of honor to the Midsummer ball. Oh! how delightful it was, and how I longed for you!"
"Goodness!" exclaimed the children, "did you really go? How perfect! Did you ever? Why didn't they take us, too? Oh, Charley! do begin at the very beginning, and tell us all about it. Won't you? Say! do, come!"
Clustering around the bed, their eyes fastened upon his face, breathless with wonder and delight, and with no end of exclamations, they listened to the enchanting account of Charley's adventures. The little mother came in the room just at the end; upon which they all rushed at her in a body, and told the amazing story over again, all talking at the same time; and the little mother said quite as many "Ahs" and "Ohs" and "did you evers" as they did. But she smiled lovingly at her lame boy, and parting the golden curls on his white forehead, and kissing him tenderly, whispered, "My darling knows that he has been Dreaming."
Was it a dream?
Charley was so much better that day, that the good doctor, when he came, was astonished; and when he heard that the fairies had done him the honor to take him to their Midsummer festival, he was delighted, as well as astonished, and laughingly declared that the elves had robbed him of his patient. "Why, Charley," he continued, "if the fairy Queen can put such a rosy color in your cheeks, and such a sparkle in your eyes in one night, she beats me all to pieces at doctor ing. I shall have to give you up to her, and only come here every day to make a social call, so that you and I, two old fellows, can have a talk about the state of the country. But I may as well put my pills and powders into one of the cannons, and fire them off at some of the fine ladies who go about, sweeping the parade-ground with their furbelowed dresses, and think they are dying of dyspepsia, when all they want is some useful occupation. I have lots of them to make bread pills for, and I may as well let the fairies have my dear little friend here."
Just at that instant the drums made a prodigious clatter, and the children started up to see what it meant.
"It is the call for the cavalry drill," said the doctor; "you had better run."
Off scampered the children to the edge of the parade-ground, their eyes dancing with expectation and eagerness.
On their way they passed the encampment; they gazed at the snow-white tents of the cadets with the utmost interest, and indeed would rather have lived in these delightful canvas houses, than in a king's palace.
"Oh! Harry!" exclaimed Anna, "I wonder if we mightn't just peep into one of them."
"Certainly," answered Harry, who was always ready for adventures, and he lifted up the opening of the tent nearest.
"Oh! what a perfect place!" he cried; "come! look!" and he disappeared within.
The children all peeped in, their heads looking like a bunch of grapes, all piled one on top of the other; while Harry, inside, pretended he was a showman, and made them a speech.
"Walk in, ladies and gentlemen," he said, "and see the show – all for sixpence; children half price. Here you have one small bed, or humble cot, one camp stool, one very small looking-glass, on the back of which," he continued, turning it suddenly over, "is a picture of the great Napoleon Bonaparte, running away, with his drawn sword in one hand, and a leg of mutton in the other; while just below is another of an old cadet, poking a young one with his bayonet."
The children were laughing heartily over these specimens of the fine arts, drawn by one of the cadets, when
Bang! tr-tr-tr-tr-tr-tr. Bang! tr-tr-tr-tr-tr-tr went the drums again. Off they hurried to the parade-ground, and there, out in the bright morning sunlight, which came down like "flickering gold" through the glowing air, galloped that fierce and brave Colonel Hardie, who looked as if he should consider it the merest trifle to fight a dozen enemies at once, and kill them all, as a matter of course.
And out galloped a regiment of cadets, while Colonel Hardie, wheeling round, awaited their coming.
With their drawn swords flashing in the glorious brightness, and the gallant Colonel now at their head; they wheeled about, and turned about, dashed here and there, suddenly advancing, then as suddenly retreating, with their horses rearing and prancing, and snorting and dancing, till you would have been sure they were in the greatest possible hurry to rush full tilt at somebody, no matter who, and instantly run them through with their sharp naked swords, without giving them a ghost of a chance to cry "Quarter."
The children looked on with great eyes and a kind of delicious fear, and were almost crazy after the drill was over, to run and beg the cadets to lend them their horses and swords, so as to practise the cavalry drill themselves.
They walked on the edge of the parade-ground, looking all around them with the most amused and delighted interest; at times fairly singing and skipping for joy, and eagerly planning long walks and voyages of discovery.
Minnie thought there must be a "day party" somewhere, the people were dressed so fine, and everybody seemed so very happy.
Numbers of elegantly dressed ladies were walking about, and some fine-looking officers were paying them all the compliments they could think of. In the midst of a group of gentlemen, high above them all, towered the majestic form of the brave General Scott, who has won so many battles for us in Mexico, and who is Commander- in-Chief of all the soldiers in our country. The children looked at him with the greatest admiration; and the boys made up their minds that it was absolutely necessary they should be soldiers when they grew up; and they would have given all they possessed to sleep now in the canvas tents like the brave cadets.
And now the children began to descend a winding path, and wandered down a beautiful road where the trees met overhead. The air was fragrant with the woodbine which curled round the trunks of the trees, while, at their feet, tiny harebells and the purple violet modestly peeped up.
Jumping, skipping, and gathering wild flowers, they came at length to a lovely open space scooped out of the rock, as it seemed, in the centre of which is a crystal spring, which comes up sweet and clear into a stone basin.
Upon this basin they read the name of the great "Kosciusko;" and this was his garden, where he used to sit for many hours in the day reading his book, or admiring the glorious works of God spread before him. The children looked with love and admiration upon the name and place where the good and brave Pole had been; and the boys audibly hoped that they would do something very noble and brave when they grew up, so that everybody might speak well of them.
As they drew near the house, they saw a lady sitting in the bowery porch with their mother.
"Goodness!" cried half a dozen of them, "it's Aunt Fanny! Did you ever?" And thereupon they charged like a company of cadets going to fire on the run, and shot Aunt Fanny with a whole volley of kisses.
It was really a wonder she looked so well after it; fifty kisses in a minute is pretty severe loving; but Aunt Fanny only laughed when she could catch her breath, and, taking Minnie on her lap, asked what particular fun and mischief they had been about lately.
Then didn't they have a grand time, telling about their journey? and the wonderful fairy adventures of Charley? And Charley, who was sitting leaning against his mother, declared that he could not have dreamt them, because he remembered them all so well, and he had felt so much better ever since the beautiful fairy Queen had taken him in charge.
"Why," cried Aunt Fanny, "I shall have to go back to Idlewild, where I passed two delightful hours this morning, right away, and tell all this to the lovely children I saw there. I am sure Edith, and Daisy, and sweet little Bailey, would go straightway down to their beautiful Glen, to hunt up the fairies that no doubt live there hidden under the ferns and mosses, so fairily fine and delicate.
"O Aunt Fanny!" cried the children, "do tell us about Idlewild and dear little Edith, and Daisy, and Bailey Idlewild."
"That is not the name of the children, you monkeys," said Aunt Fanny, laughing, "any more than you are Harry and Minnie Nightcap. It is the fanciful, dreamily sweet name of the place; and the pure life and neighborly love ever adorning and brightening that graceful and kindly house-roof, make June sunshine all over the lovely place the year round."
"Ah! how delightful it must be," cried the children; "do tell us, Aunt Fanny, all about your visit."
"Well, to begin at the beginning, I went up to Cornwall upon some business, and I staid all night at a house just this side of the beautiful Idlewild Glen. In the evening I was invited to go to a Sunday-school cele bration; I was very glad to get this invitation, because I love children so much. The services were all very interesting, but the best thing of all was a most beautiful story which was told, to prove the blessed effect of love upon the heart, and how much better it was to govern by love, than by fear and continual punishment."
"We know that!" exclaimed the children, "that's the very way mother governs us – don't you, mamma?" and they all had to give her a kiss before they said, "Please go on, Aunt Fanny; do tell us the story."
"The teacher said it was true, every word of it, but I do not know whether he got it out of a book, or whether it happened to some children he knew; perhaps you have read it already."
"O dear! no, we haven't, I'm sure," said the children, "and if we have, your way of telling it will make it new again. Come, Aunt Fanny, tell the story."
"Well, then, here it is – Once on a time a good old farmer said to his wife, 'Wife, you know poor neighbor Jones died a little while ago, and his little son Johnny is left alone in the world. Suppose we take him? One more will make very little difference. Shall we?'
"'O deary me! no,' said the wife, 'I wouldn't have him among our children for any thing! Why, he's worse than a little heathen!'
"'So he is,' said the farmer, 'I'm a little afraid to try it myself – that's a fact!'
"Now while the old farmer was talking, he was also busily engaged in eating his dinner of pork and greens, and his children had kept their ears open, and had heard all that was said.
"Presently one of the boys, whose name was Luke, looked up and said, 'Father, you know we send one good missionary among a great many heathen. Now, why can't we bring this one little heathen among a great many good people? I'll lend Johnny my kite and ball, and we'll be so kind to him he will never want to be bad. Father, WE'LL LOVE HIM GOOD.'
"The good old farmer, who tried his best to keep God's holy commandments, and especially to 'love his neighbor,' thought this an excellent plan; so he brought Johnny home with him the very next day.
"Sure enough, Johnny was worse than any heathen. He broke the good little boy's ball, tore his kite all to pieces, pulled little Susie's hair, pinched the baby, kicked the small children, and butted the large boys with his head, and, in short, behaved so badly, that they were all nearly crying: still they would not give up Luke's plan, but kept on trying to be kind to him.
"But it was all of no use; Johnny was really a dreadful boy. At last the old farmer said, 'Well, we can't go on so with Johnny; he must have obedience knocked into him like a nail in a plank of wood. I must try if I can't whip him into better behavior:' so he beat the bad boy, and whipped him, and shook him till his teeth rattled in his head, and his hair was all in a friz about his eyes. But, alas! it did no good; Johnny was as bad as ever.
"Then the farmer said, 'Wife, this is a very bad business; whipping does not make Johnny any better; we must try if we can't STARVE the obstinacy out of him.'
"'I don't like to do that,' said the wife.
"'But it must be done,' answered the old farmer; 'it is our duty to try to make him a good boy.'
"So they shut him up in the great garret, where paper bags of dried herbs, and strings of red peppers, and great cobwebs, kept him company. They gave him nothing to eat and drink but dry bread and a cup of water.
"Every now and then the farmer's wife would come, tap at the door, and say, 'Johnny, will you be good now?' and Johnny would shout out in a fierce defiant voice, 'No! no! I won't! You may lock me up forever and ever, and I won't be good.' So the poor farmer's wife would heave a sigh and go away.
"All the morning little Susie had been very silent, with the tears just trembling on her eyelids. She felt very much grieved that Johnny was such a bad boy, and she could not bear to think of him in the lonely garret with no company but his wicked thoughts: so, after dinner, she crept softly up to her mother, and said, 'Mother, I think I can get Johnny to be good, if you will let me try.'
"'Well,' said her mother, smoothing her hair lovingly, 'what is your plan?'
"'Why, mother,' answered the little girl, 'I will go and tell Johnny that I will be locked up instead of him, and he may go play with my dear little boat that brother made, and named for me.'
"The mother looked at her a moment with a loving tear swelling in her eyes, then she said, 'Very well, you may go.'
"So Susie took down the key of the garret, which hung behind the door, and went up stairs, unlocked the door, and then tapped gently. 'Johnny, may I come in?' said she.
"'What do you want now?' grumbled the bad boy. Susie went in, and going softly up to him, she said – 'Johnny, mother says you may go and play with my little boat this afternoon, and I will be locked up instead.'
"I am ashamed to say that Johnny was mean enough to accept this offer, and let the little girl bear his punishment; for without even stopping to thank her, he started up and made off, slamming the door behind him, and locking it with a spiteful snap.
"He had a famous time sailing the pretty little boat in the brook; and only came in at tea-time – as hungry as a bear.
"After he had eaten a hearty meal of bread and butter, baked pears, and a great piece of nice gingerbread, he noticed that the farmer's wife commenced to clear away the things, and then he remembered poor little Susie. He sat silent a good while, but at last he could not stand it any longer, and he said – 'Say? ain't you agoing to give that little gal up stairs any tea? say?'
"'Yes, Johnny,' answered the mother, 'you can take this to her,' and she handed him a piece of dry bread on a plate.
"Johnny took the plate, carried it up stairs, and began to kick and bang at the door – Thump! bump! thump!
"'Unlock it and come in,' cried Susie. So Johnny did so, and went in; but when he saw the dear little child sitting there so patiently and smiling at him, a strange trem bling came to his lips, and without saying a word, he put down the plate, and darted away.
"All that night Susie staid in the garret, and slept as quietly and sweetly as if she had been in her own little room.
"When the next day came, Johnny felt very much like asking pardon for his bad conduct, and begging that Susie might come down from her captivity, while he took her place; but the sun was shining gloriously, and Johnny thought of the little boat; and so, driving away the good thoughts and impulses, he eat his breakfast, snatched up the boat, and ran out to play.
"When dinner-time came, he was the very first to come in, he was so hungry; and soon after the rest of the family, except one, took their places.
"'Where's Susie?' asked Johnny.
"'She is locked up in the garret,' said her mother.
"'Can't she have any dinner?'
"'Yes; she can have some dry bread;' and the farmer's wife gave him a piece on a plate, as before.
"Johnny took it, and went slowly up stairs. He opened the door. There sat Susie, patient and silent. He put the plate beside her, but instead of going away, he stood looking at her in silence.
"Presently he burst out with – 'Susie! you're a fool, I say! a perfect fool! Before I'd let myself be locked up, I'd – I'd – ' here Johnny stopped; a great lump came into his throat, and was choking him. He drew in his breath with a painful sob, and then burst into an agony of tears, and rushing up to Susie, he threw his arms about her neck, and cried out —
"'O Susie! Susie! please forgive me. I'll never be so bad again, never. They might have whipped me forever, and starved me forever, and it would just have made me worse; but you (and here the great tears came fast and faster) – you have LOVED ME GOOD.'"
"O – h!" cried the children, taking long breaths, and wiping their eyes, "how lovely! – what a good, GOOD story – what a dear, darling Susie! She must have heard of mamma, when she wanted to LOVE Johnny good."
"Yes," said Aunt Fanny, "I think she was very much like your dear mother, and you children can hardly know what a blessed lot is yours, in having a mother who rules you by LOVE."
"Yes, we do! yes, we do!" cried the children; we know she is a perfect darling; and thereupon the little mother underwent a series of caresses quite alarming to witness.
"And now about my visit to Idlewild," said Aunt Fanny, when they were once more quiet. "Soon after breakfast I commenced my walk. I had to cross the wild and beautiful ravine. I am afraid I looked a little like a figure of fun, scrambling and scratch ing down the slippery descent. I have no doubt some of Charley's fairies were laughing at me all the time; and I am sure the beautiful little waterfall did, as it came joyously dancing down the great black rocks. Really, some of the places were as slippery as ice; and I had to go a-sliding in the summer time, whether I wanted to or not."
"How nice!" cried the children; "that would just have suited the old woman in Mother Goose, who wanted her children to slide on dry ground. You can't drown that way, you know."
"Not exactly; but at last I stood upon the famous zigzag bridge, which is only a single plank with a railing on one side, made of a long, slender sapling. And now, how lovely the scene was that I looked upon! The sun came in dimples and ripples of light through the trees, and the waterfall, with its soft white foam, talked to me in a voice full of power and beauty, of the greatness and goodness of God.
"When I got to the house, I was welcomed by its fair and gentle mistress with a simple courtesy, that made me feel at home at once. Very soon a sweet little maiden came to me, and shyly offered her hand; she told me her name was Daisy, and then she called her baby brother. He was afraid of me at first, but when I said, 'Why, Bailey, I know all about you. I know how you fed the little birds last winter'" —
"Oh," interrupted the children, "how did he feed the little birds, Aunt Fanny?"
"If you will put me in mind, I will tell you by and by. Then Bailey looked at me when I said that, with wide-open eyes; and I continued, 'I know all about the peacock, too, so I do – more, too.'
"Then he came right up to me, and laid his dear little curly head in my lap, and looking up in my face with his merry, bright blue eyes, he said – 'I've got a horse.'
"'Why, no! You don't tell me so!' I exclaimed. 'Why, I'm astonished! How many legs has he?'
"'Two, nailed fast, and two, kicking up in the air.'
"'My patience! what a horse!' said I.
"'But come!' said the little darling fellow, pulling at my dress, 'come see my horse! come!'
"So Daisy and the mother, and Bailey and I, went out of the room. Of course I expected to be conducted to the stables; but we began to mount the stairs, and up we went till we arrived at the third story, Bailey holding me fast by the hand. We went into a large room – the children's play-room – from the windows of which there was a magnificent view. Sitting at one of them, was the kind, motherly-looking nurse, to whom I was introduced as to an old friend. As I pressed her hand, her eyes turned fondly upon her mistress and the lovely children. I looked around, and sure enough, in one cor ner was a prancing charger, standing on his hind legs, which were made fast to a spring rocker, while the others were kicking up in the air, just as Bailey had told me.
"Then the little fellow was lifted up on his horse, and I said, "Get up, pony;" and then all of a sudden such a funny little shy fit came over Bailey, that down went his curly head on the horse's neck, and he very nearly tumbled off. After that he dismounted, and pulling down the prancing legs of the horse, got between them, and holding fast, he had a fine ride after an ingenious invention of his own; for, as the horse's legs rose in the air, up went little Bailey, and then down he came with a funny little stamp of his feet on the carpet, which sent him into the air again.
"Then the dear little fair-haired Daisy showed me her birds, 'Buttercup' and 'Primrose,' and two others whose names I did not hear; and then we went down stairs again.
"In the charming library we met another daughter, a lovely young lady, and a friend who was visiting her. I knew this young lady before, and loved her very much; and I was very glad to meet her; and you may be sure we were very merry together.
"Just then we heard Bailey's voice in the hall, lifted up in loud wailing and weeping. We all rushed out, thinking the sweet little fellow had fallen down stairs. But he was safe, though the great tears were running down his cheeks; and he sobbed out, 'Mamma! mamma! Edith won't come to see Aunt Fanny!' Dear little fellow! It seems that Edith was the shyest little maiden in the world, and Bailey, in his loving endeavor to get her to come to me, had first coaxed her, then kissed her over and over again, and at last, broken-hearted about it, had burst into loud crying. Edith stood at the turn of the stairs, ready to dart away; and when I said, 'Do come, darling – come, little Edith,' she fled like a frightened fawn, upon which Bailey began lamenting again, and I had hard work to bring the peace once more into his little, loving, troubled heart.