Part 6 (1/2)
”Well, I knohat I would do,” said Ruby ”I would say to her this way--” and Ruby held her head very high, and tried to look exceedingly dignified--”I should say, 'Miss Abigail, if you will please tend toRuby's dresses, I will tend to her behavior'”
Ruthy looked rather shocked
”I aail feel dreadfully bad, to have your auntie say such a thing,” she said ”I think Miss Abigail is real nice, I truly do She saves pretty pieces of calico for ave me a sash for my doll; don't you remember it?--that blue one, with a little rose bud in the middle”
”Well, I don't like her,” and Ruby shook her shoulders ”And I don't think it's nice in you to like her, when she makes me perfectly miserable Hoould you like it if every ti you, and had to go in and be fitted and fitted She holds pins in her mouth, too, a whole row of theht not to, and I just think I will tell her so She has a whole row of theht out when she talks Just suppose she should drop so They would stick in to et theuess I would n't like that, would I? And if you had to stand just hours and hours, and have her cold fingers poking around your neck, and those great sharp scissors going snip, snip all around your neck, just where they would cut great pieces out if you dared move, I don't believe you would like that yourself, Ruthy Warren, even if she did give you things for your doll”
”No, I don't s'pose I would like it any better than you do,” assented Ruthy, as determined not to quarrel with her little friend, when they were so soon to be separated
”Ruby, Miss Abigail wants you,” called Aunt Eain,” she exclai tiht not to have to fit so much If I fitted uess her head would fall off It would get shaky anyith soWait till I coail aiting to fit Ruby's blue delaine, and it looked so pretty that Ruby forgot hoilling she had been to come in and have it fitted
She showed her pleasure in it so plainly that good Miss Abigail was afraid that the little girl was in danger of becoainst this state offor you, Ruby Warren, to have so many new clothes all at once,” she said, with the row of pins waving up and down, as she spoke through her teeth, which she did not open when she spoke, lest the pins should fall out ”If any one thinks more of clothes than they should, then dress is a snare and a temptation to the to be to you
Better for you to have only one dress to your back than to put clothes in the wrong place in your mind, and let them make you vain and conceited What are clothes, anyway? There is n't any thing to be so proud of in the on a sheep's back Do you suppose that sheep was vain because it was covered ool? No, it never thought anything about it And so you see that you ought n't to be proud of it either”
”I think new dresses are very nice,” said Ruby, speaking cautiously, lest she should inadvertently turn her head, and the sharp points of the scissors should run into her neck
Miss Abigail felt that shetoo much value upon her dress
”But it is n't new,” she said
”Oh, Miss Abigail, it truly is,” exclai her head so suddenly that if the scissors had been in the right place, the points would surely have run into her Fortunately, Miss Abigail had stopped to see how the neck looked, and her scissors were hanging by her side for a moment ”Why, of course, it is neith Aunt Emma to the store, and helped buy it my very own self, so I know it is brand-new Why, I should think you could tell it is new, it is so pretty and bright, and there is n't one single teenty tonty wrinkle in it”
”Yes, it is new to you,” Miss Abigail answered solemnly ”But when you think about the matter, Ruby Harper, you know that the sheep wore it first, and you only have it second-hand, as you irl was very silly that thought herself better than any one else, and let her thoughts rest on her clothes because she wore a sheep's old suit of wool made up in a little different way
Shall I tell you soirl, because I was proud of a new pelisse?”
”Yes 'reat deal of pleasure in the thought that when Miss Abigail was a little girl she had been naughty sometimes, and had had to learn verses as a punishment
”'How proud we are, how fond to show Our clothes, and call them rich and new, When the poor sheep and silk-ore That very clothing long before
”'The tulip and the butterfly Appear in gayer coats than I; Let me be dressed fine as I will, Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still'”
”I don't think worms look nicer than I do,” said Ruby, not very politely, when Miss Abigail had finished ”And I aail, if you had to learn such ugly verses If you had had a mamma like mine you would have had a better tiail looked severely over her brass-bowed spectacles at Ruby, almost too shocked to speak for a moment
”I am sure, I don't knohat yourthat way I a-up You have a good mother, one of the best ood et your pert ways froood child, and no one ever had a better mother than ht up, if I do say it myself Those were counted to be very pretty verses when I was a child, and I don't know but they were better than to-day At any rate, in ht to have a little respect for their elders, and there are very few that do that now There were soood deal of the nonsense that children learn you, but if that is your opinion of those I did tell you, there is no use in ail looked sorrowful as well as vexed, and Ruby wished that she had not told her what she thought of the verses
”I suppose she thinks they are nice,” she said to herself; ”and ht I had been rude to Miss Abigail”
Ruby was going away from her mother so soon that her conscience was more tender than usual, and she did not want to do what she knew her mother would not like
”Please tell ail,” she said ”I did not know you liked those other verses, or I would not have called thelad you did not ail, pleased by Ruby's apology ”Your mother takes so much pains with you that it would be a pity for you not to be a good child Yes, I will tell you the others, and while I a them you can sit down upon this little ottos in this sleeve”