Understood Betsy

Abigail's childhood, because Cousin Ann had never cared for dolls when she was a little girl. At first Betsy had not dared to ask to see her, much less to play w

of course! I knew there was something I've kept forgetting!" She went up with

r back, looking up at them b

e years. Never you mind, you'll have some good times again, now." She pulled down the doll's full, ruffled skirt, straightened the lace at the neck of her dress, and held her for a moment, looki

yards and yards of picot-edged ribbon, sewed on by hand to the ruffles of the skirt, and lifted up the silk folds to admire the carefully made, full petticoats and fril

llen and th

Old Shep was on it, but Betsy coaxed him off by putting down some bones Cousin Ann had been saving for him. When he finished those and came back for the rest of his snooze, he found his place occupied by the little girls, sitting cross-legged, examining the contents of the trunk, all spread out around them. Shep sighed deeply and sat down wi

a matter of fact, it was not only Betsy who took her doll to school; all the little girls did, whenever they felt like it. Miss Benton, the teacher, had a shelf for them in the entry-way where the wraps were hung, and the dolls sat on it and waited patiently all through lessons. At recess time or noonin

house. Each little girl had her own particular cubby-holes and "rooms," and they "visited" their dolls back and forth all around the pile. And as they played they talked very fast about all sorts of t

e generally hung about the school door by himself, looking moodily down and knocking the toe of his ragged, muddy shoe against a stone. The little girls were talking about him one day a

called Stashie for short. She was a big girl, f

mbed his hair!" said Betsy. "It l

k of the older girls, "he forgets to put on any stockings and

f the time," said big Stashie scornfully

ings!" asked Molly, openin

girls shouldn't know about su

matter of fact, she herself had no idea what Sta

tted down near the rocks

ockings. I wish 'Lias would wear 'em to school. And lots of times he hasn't anything on

t so near me," said Betsy co

ys did, very rough and half-threatening. "Oh, you girls make me sick!" he said. He sent his marble straight to the mark, pocketed his opponent's, and stood up, scowling at the little mothers. "I guess if you had to live the

er put up his lunch?" Bet

hands in his pockets. He yelled to the boys, "Come on, fellers, beat-che

emphatically, looking over at the drooping, battered little figur

ot say anything

evening, as they all sat around the lamp in the south room, Betsy looked up from he

re you talking about?

, rather startled attention given her by the grown-ups. "Why, I didn't know that

now that poor Susie is dead?" Aunt A

d-for-nothing stepfather? How do they get eno

together neglected into their minds. They talked for some time after th

h plenty to eat and never rais

lip out of your mind!" sai

e appearance. She felt quite ashamed to go on with the other things she and the little gir

tion had just struck her, "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if tha

ond?" asked the

was a Hillsboro girl, Matey Pelham-an awfully nice girl she was, too. They never had any children, and Matey told me the last time she was back for a visit that she and h

e ragamuffin as that 'Lias. He looks so meeching, too. I guess his stepfather is real mea

children not in bed! Molly's most asleep this minute. Trot along with you, Betsy! T

ere evidently going on to talk about 'Lias Br

angle, fitting in together neatly like two spoons in a drawer. She was thinking about him when she woke up, and as soon as she could get hold of Cousin Ann she poured out a new plan. She had never been afraid of Cousin Ann since the evening Molly had fallen into the Wolf Pit and Betsy ha

inking last night we ought to do something for him. If you'll make the clothes, Mother'll knit him some stockings an

the plan. "Cousin Ann says she'll help us, and we can meet at our house every Saturday afternoon till we get them done. It'll

ternoon meetings began she was ashamed to see how much better Ellen and even Eliza could sew than she. To keep her end

ever seen. Then one of the girls read aloud very slowly the mysterious-sounding directions from the wrapper of the pattern about how to put the pieces together, Cousin Ann helped here a little, particularly just as they were about to put the sections together wrong-side-up. Stashie, as the oldest, did the first basting, putting the notches together carefully, just as they read the instructions aloud, and there, all of a sudden, was a rough little sketch of a pair of knee trousers, without any hem or any waist-band, of course, but just the two-legged, compli

ighted. "Well, to think of that being my old skirt!" she said, putting on her spectacles to examine the work. She did not laugh,

much easier to manage than the gray flannel, and they had the little garment done in no time, even to the buttons and buttonholes. When it came to making the button

e. They knew pretty well how to go ahead on this one, after the experience of their first pair, and Cousin Ann was not much needed, except as adviser in hard places. She sat the

be so kind to little 'Lias. "My! I don't believe most girls would put the

s just like a story, isn't it-work

ure!" said Ellen. "He'll never forget u

he's grown up he'll be telling everybody about how, when he was so po

hastily, very much afraid she would n

, and listened,

e pile of new garments with inexpressible pride, and debated just which way of bestowing them was sufficiently grand to be worthy the occasion. Betsy was for taking them to school and giving them to 'Lias one by one, so

ng, in her quiet, firm voice, "Why do you wa

o stare at her. Nobody could think of any answer to her very queer quest

and asked another: "Why did yo

echless. Why did she a

, "Why, you know why, Miss Ann! So 'Lias Brewster

hat has that got to do with

now who to be grate

grateful to you. I see. Molly is such a little girl, it's no wonder she didn't really ta

ast idea what everybody was talking about. She looked from one sob

her usual face of cheerful gravity, and said: "Don't you think you little girls ought to top off this last after

clothes to 'Lias, till, just as the girls were going away, Betsy said, walking along with the two older ones, "Say, don't you think it'd be fun to go some evening after dark and

t Betsy but down at the weeds by the r

did not hear this; but she was allowed to go

rls took turns in carrying the big paper-wrapped bundle, and stole along in the shadow of the trees, full of excitement, looking over their shoulders at nothing and pressing their hands over their mou

se at night and never do in the daytime. But nobody stirred inside the room with the lighted window. They crept forward and peeped cautiously inside ... and stopped giggling. The dim light coming from a little kerosene lamp with a smoky chimney fell on a dismal, cluttered room, a bare, greasy wooden table, and two broken-backed chairs, with little 'Lias in one of them. He had fallen asleep wit

sleep with his

t thumped hard. She reached for little Molly and gave her a great hug in the darkness. Suppose it were little Molly asleep there, all alone in the

road, to the shadow of the trees, and waited until the door opened. A square of yellow light appeared, with 'Lias's figure, very small, at the bottom of it. They s

a very warm night for May, and little Molly began to puff for b

ountain opposite them, like big stars fallen from the multitude above. Betsy lay down on the rock and looked up at the stars. After a silence little M

ed that plan. "No, we didn't forget it," she

s know who to th

n thinking of what she was saying. Between her and the stars, thick over her in the black, soft sky, she saw again t

her face on the rock. She had said her "Now I lay me" every night since she could remember, but she had never prayed till