Part 1 (2/2)
”That's right!” I said. ”Don't do anything your mother would disapprove.
Well, Neighbor Nelly, since you won't go to market with me, I must go to school with you; and tell your mother that Neighbor Josiah Oldbird would like you to take a walk with him to-morrow; will you?”
”Oh yes! that would be real nice!” said my little neighbor with a joyous skip.
By this time we were walking along hand in hand; and soon, seeing my little neighbor look in at the window of the candy shop round the corner from our street, I thought I would take her in and buy her some candy.
So in we marched, Nelly's great blue eyes dancing with pleased expectation, and stood close by the counter, waiting for our turn to come. There were a good many people in the candy shop, and we had to wait some time; so, to amuse ourselves, Neighbor Nelly and I turned round, and began looking at the funny folks near us.
There was one very fat old country woman, who seemed to be buying ”quarter or pound,” as she said, of every kind of candy in the shop. As soon as the papers were handed to her she began eating out of them, and before she left, I should think, she had eaten about two pounds of candy. Besides the old woman, there were a great many little children, who only wanted a penny's worth each; but they hesitated so long whether to have ”taffie” or ”mola.s.ses,” a lemon-candy horse, or a cinnamon-candy trumpet, that they were the most troublesome customers of anybody. Then there were several older boys and girls; some, I am sorry to say, picking up a loose bit of candy every time the shopman turned away--as if that were not stealing; and finally, there was Neighbor Nelly and I, who did none of these things, but just looked on, and waited until the shopman came to serve us.
I bought some lemon candy, as clear as a bit of yellow gla.s.s, and some pungent cinnamon, and delectable chocolate; and then I popped the papers into Neighbor Nelly's satchel, and we hurried on to school. We had not far to go now, and when we came to the house, my little new friend bid me good-by, and thanked me so sweetly, that I went away quite a happy old bachelor.
In the evening I was looking out of my window as usual, when I saw the servant girl come in to light the gas in the back parlor at No. 9, with Neighbor Nelly and the little brother Jimmy behind her. While she was setting the tea table, the children came running to the window, and both nodded and smiled at me. Presently the little boy thrust both hands in his pockets, and held them up crammed full of candy. ”Thank you, Mr. Old Bachelor!” he shouted; ”we like you real well!”
That made me real happy; for I am not a crabbed old bachelor by any means. In a minute more their father came home; and as they all sat around the pleasant tea table, I hope they talked of their lonely old neighbor, who watched them from his window.
The next morning, as I was reading the paper, in came the servant and gave me the funniest little note! It was addressed on the outside, ”To my neighbor Oldbird,” and ran thus:
”MY DEAR NEIGHBOR:
”Mamma says I may take a walk with you this morning, because you are a good old bachelor.
Jimmy wants to go, and Gipsey. Gipsey is my dog.
He is black and tan, and his tail curls round so, that papa says you might use it for a cork-screw.
Jimmy and I mean to try some time. Gipsey likes to be on the seash.o.r.e, and so does baby. We are going there next week--to Long Branch. I hope you will write me a letter when I am gone, and I am Your affectionate ”NEIGHBOR NELLY.
”Sat.u.r.day Morning.”
You may believe how pleased I was with this dear little note, and I thought I would answer it. So I sat down at my writing desk, found a cunning little sheet of paper, with a flag on it, and commenced.
Now I happened to think, at that moment, of some very comical letters written by the great poet, Tom Hood, to his little friends on the seash.o.r.e; and as they were ever so much funnier than anything I could have written, I copied one of them out, and sent it to my little new friend.
”MY DEAR NEIGHBOR NELLY:
”I am very glad you are to walk with me, and very sorry you are going away so soon. Do you like to be on the seash.o.r.e? I did, when I was a boy. I and my brother chucked hundreds of stones into the sea, when we were there, but we came away before we could fill it up. Then there is the fun of finding s.h.i.+ny pebbles and jelly fish on the beach.
I used to think jelly fish were made of sea-calves' feet, and no flavoring. I suppose the mermaids eat them at their parties.
”Then there's fis.h.i.+ng on the seaside. I used to catch flat fish sometimes, with a long string line, it was like swimming a kite. If you go out in a surf boat, take care it does not ”flounder”
and get ”squamped,” as some people say, instead of founder and swamped.
”Have you ever been bathed in the sea? I was, and, dear me! how I kicked and screamed; or, at least, tried to scream, but the sea, s.h.i.+ps and all, began to run into my mouth, and so I shut it up. Remember, when you are bathing, if you meet with a shark, the best way is to bite off his legs, if you can, before he walks away with yours; and pray, pray, pray take care of yourself in the sea, for in some places, they say, it has not even a bottom to go to.
”Could you bring me a little crab off the beach?
If you would catch one for me, and teach it to shake hands without nipping and biting, it would make me quite happy, for I have not had any toys or playthings in a long time. It would be a good plan to hire a little crab to teach the baby to crawl, if he can't walk yet. Bless him! But I must not write on him any more; he is so soft, and I have nothing but steel pens.
”Now good-by; give my love to everybody, and my compliments to all the rest, and believe me, up hill and down dale,
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