Part 18 (1/2)
”Hurrah!” said the leader again, Major Patten, swinging his tall fur cap, which was the pride of the whole company; ”hurrah for the boy that risked his life to save a drowning baby!”
”Oh, is that it? Anybody'd have done that!” thought little Preston, hiding again. He was a modest boy; but his sister Flaxie, you know, was quite too bold.
”Why don't he come out?” whispered she, pulling at his sleeve.
”Hush, let him alone,” said Dr. Gray, with tears in his eyes.
And then he raised the n.o.ble boy in his arms, so the men could see him, for that was what they wanted. But still Preston hid his face. His heart was full, and he _couldn't_ look up when those people were praising him so.
By this time there were lamps lighted in every window of Dr. Gray's house, and even in the trees; and though the moon was s.h.i.+ning her best, Major Patten, with the wonderful fur cap, asked Preston to stand beside him and hold a lamp, that he might see to read his music.
Preston stood there with the light s.h.i.+ning on his pure, good face; and then the men played, ”See the Conquering Hero comes,” the ”Ma.r.s.ellaise,” and a dozen other tunes, while their uniforms made such a dazzle of red and gold that Flaxie could not help dancing about like a wild thing for joy.
It was not so with thoughtful Milly. She snuggled down on the piazza beside Julia, and looked on quietly.
”I'm glad Preston was so good,” thought she; ”perhaps he wouldn't have been so very good if he hadn't had those blind eyes and spectacles. How G.o.d must love him! Papa says Julia is like a little candle, and I'm sure Preston is like a candle too. Why, where _is_ Flaxie going now?”
Flaxie was flying down the hill after Henry, the stable-boy. She had heard her papa tell him to go to Mr. Springer's for some ice-cream, and she wanted to say: ”Get it pink, Henry; get the pinkest ice-cream you can find!”
Then when the men were seated all about the yard and on the piazza, eating their pink ice-cream, somebody threw up a rocket; and that was the end of the gayest, brightest evening our little friend Flaxie Frizzle had ever known in her life.
SOPHIE MAY'S ”LITTLE-FOLKS” BOOKS
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Ill.u.s.trated, Comprising:--
”The auth.o.r.ess of The Little Prudy Stories would be elected Aunty-laureate if the children had an opportunity, for the wonderful books she writes for their amus.e.m.e.nt. She is the d.i.c.kens of the nursery, and we do not hesitate to say develops the rarest sort of genius in the specialty of depicting smart little children.”--Hartford Post.
LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON.
COPYRIGHT, 1884, BY LEE AND SHEPARD.
SOPHIE MAY'S ”LITTLE-FOLKS” BOOKS
[Ill.u.s.tration]
”The children will not be left without healthful entertainment and kindly instruction so long as Sophie May (Miss Rebecca S. Clarke) lives and wields her graceful pen in their behalf, Miss Clarke has made a close and loving study of childhood, and she is almost idolized by the crowd of 'nephews and nieces' who claim her as aunt. Nothing to us can ever be quite so delightfully charming as were the 'Dotty Dimple' and the 'Little Prudy' books to our youthful imagination, but we have no doubt the little folks of to-day will find the story of 'Flaxie Frizzle'
and her young friends just as fascinating. There is a sprightliness about all of Miss Clarke's books that attracts the young, and their purity, their absolute cleanliness, renders them invaluable in the eyes of parents and all who are interested in the welfare of children.”-- Morning Star.
”Genius comes in with 'Little Prudy.' Compared with her, all other book-children are cold creations of literature; she alone is the real thing. All the quaintness of children, its originality, its tenderness and its teasing, its infinite uncommon drollery, the serious earnestness of its fun, the fun of its seriousness, the naturalness of its plays, and the delicious oddity of its progress, all these united for dear Little Prudy to embody them.”--North American Review.
SOPHIE MAY'S ”LITTLE-FOLKS” BOOKS