The Project Gutenberg EBook of Captain Horace, by Sophie May This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Captain Horace Author: Sophie May Release Date: May 16, 2008 [EBook #25484] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN HORACE *** Produced by David Edwards, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) Captain Horace. Captain Horace. LITTLE PRUDY SERIES. CAPTAIN HORACE. BY SOPHIE MAY. BOSTON 1893 LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 10 MILK STREET NEXT "THE OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE" Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by LEE & SHEPARD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Copyright, 1892, by Rebecca S. Clarke. Little Prudy's Captain Horace. TO MY LITTLE NEPHEW WILLY WHEELER. FROM HIS AFFECTIONATE AUNT. PREFACE. You wide-awake little boys, who make whistles of willow, and go fishing and training,—Horace is very much like you, I suppose. He is by no means perfect, but he is brave and kind, and scorns a lie. I hope you and he will shake hands and be friends. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Making Candy, II. Camping Out, III. Taking a Journey, IV. At Grandpa Parlin's, V. Captain of a Company, VI. Susy and Prudy, VII. In the Woods, VIII. Captain Clifford, IX. The Blue Book, X. Trying to get rich, XI. The Little Indian, XII. A Pleasant Surprise, PAGE 5 15 33 49 68 87 99 117 128 141 149 167 CAPTAIN HORACE. CHAPTER I. MAKING CANDY. Grace and Horace Clifford lived in Indiana, and so were called "Hoosiers." Their home, with its charming grounds, was a little way out of town, and from the front windows of the house you could look out on the broad Ohio, a river which would be very beautiful, if its yellow waters were only once settled. As far as the eye could see, the earth was one vast plain, and, in order to touch it, the sky seemed to stoop very low; whereas, in New England, the gray-headed mountains appear to go up part way to meet the sky. One fine evening in May, brown-eyed Horace and blue-eyed Grace stood on the balcony, leaning against the iron railing, watching the stars, and chatting together. One thing is very sure: they never dreamed that from this evening their sayings and doings—particularly Horace's— were to be printed in a book. If any one had whispered such a thing, how dumb Horace would have grown, his chin snuggling down into a hollow place in his neck! and how nervously Grace would have laughed! walking about very fast, and saying,— "O, it's too bad, to put Horace and me in a book! I say it's too bad! Tell them to wait till my hair is curled, and I have my new pink dress on! And tell them to make Horace talk better! He plays so much with the Dutch boys. O, Horace isn't fit to print!" This is what she might have said if she had thought of being "put in a book;" but as she knew nothing at all about it, she only stood very quietly leaning against the balcony-railing, and looking up at the evening sky, merry with stars. "What a shiny night, Horace! What do the stars look like? Is it diamond rings?" "I'll tell you, Gracie; it's cigars they look like—just the ends of cigars when somebody is smoking." At that moment the cluster called the "Seven Sisters" was drowned in a soft, white cloud. "Look," said Grace; "there are some little twinkles gone to sleep, all tucked up in a coverlet. I don't see what makes you think of dirty cigars! They look to me like little specks of gold harps ever so far off, so you can't hear the music. O, Horace, don't you want to be an angel, and play on a beautiful harp?" "I don't know," said her brother, knitting his brows, and thinking a moment; "when I can't live any longer, you know, then I'd like to go up to heaven; but now, I'd a heap sooner be a soldier!" "O, Horace, you'd ought to rather be an angel! Besides, you're too little for a soldier!" "But I grow. Just look at my hands; they're bigger than yours, this minute!" "Why, Horace Clifford, what makes them so black?" "O, that's no account! I did it climbin' trees. Barby tried to scour it off, but it sticks. I don't care—soldiers' hands ain't white, are they, Pincher?" The pretty dog at Horace's feet shook his ears, meaning to say,— "I should think not, little master; soldiers have very dirty hands, if you say so." "Come," said Grace, who was tired of gazing at the far-off star-land; "let's go down and see if Barbara hasn't made that candy: she said she'd be ready in half an hour." They went into the library, which opened upon the balcony, through the passage, down the front stairs, and into the kitchen, Pincher following close at their heels. It was a very tidy kitchen, whose white floor was scoured every day with a scrubbing-brush. Bright tin pans were shining upon the walls, and in one corner stood a highly polished cooking-stove, over which Barbara Kinckle, a rosy- cheeked German girl, was stooping to watch a kettle of boiling molasses. Every now and then she raised the spoon with which she was stirring it, and let the half-made candy drip back into the kettle in ropy streams. It looked very tempting, and gave out a delicious odor. Perhaps it was not strange that the children thought they were kept waiting a long while. "Look here, Grace," muttered Horace, loud enough for Barbara to hear; "don't you think she's just the slowest kind?" "It'll sugar off," said Grace, calmly, as if she had made up her mind for the worst; "don't you know how it sugared off once when ma was making it, and let the fire go 'most out'?" [Pg 5] [Pg 6] [Pg 7] [Pg 8] [Pg 9] [Pg 10] "Now just hear them childers," said good-natured Barbara; "where's the little boy and girl that wasn't to speak to me one word, if I biled 'em some candies?" "There, now, Barby, I wasn't speaking to you," said Horace; "I mean I wasn't talking to her, Grace. Look here: I've heard you spell, but you didn't ask me my Joggerphy." "Geography, you mean, Horace." "Well, Ge-ography, then. Here's the book: we begin at the Mohammedans." Horace could pronounce that long name very well, though he had no idea what it meant. He knew there was a book called the Koran, and would have told you Mr. Mohammed wrote it; but so had Mr. Colburn written an Arithmetic, and whether both these gentlemen were alive, or both dead, was more than he could say. "Hold up your head," said Grace, with dignity, and looking as much as possible like tall Miss Allen, her teacher. "Please repeat your verse." The first sentence read, "They consider Moses and Christ as true prophets, but Mohammed as the greatest and last." "I'll tell you," said Horace: "they think that Christ and Moses was good enough prophets, but Mohammed was a heap better." "Why, Horace, it doesn't say any such think in the book! It begins, 'They consider.'" "I don't care," said the boy, "Miss Jordan tells us to get the sense of it. Ma, musn't I get the sense of it?" he added, as Mrs. Clifford entered the kitchen. "But, mamma," broke in Grace, eagerly, "our teacher wants us to commit the verses: she says a great deal about committing the verses." "If you would give me time to answer," said Mrs. Clifford, smiling, "I should say both your teachers are quite right. You should 'get the sense of it,' as Horace says, and after that commit the verses." "But, ma, do you think Horace should say 'heap,' and 'no account,' and such words?" "It would certainly please me," said Mrs. Clifford, "if he would try to speak more correctly. My little boy knows how much I dislike some of his expressions." "There, Horace," cried Grace, triumphantly, "I always said you talked just like the Dutch boys; and it's very, very improper!" But just then it became evident that the molasses was boiled enough, for Barbara poured it into a large buttered platter, and set it out of doors to cool. After this, the children could do nothing but watch the candy till it was ready to pull. Then there was quite a bustle to find an apron for Horace, and to make sure that his little stained hands were "spandy clean," and "fluffed" all over with flour, from his wrists to the tips of his fingers. Grace said she wished it wasn't so much trouble to attend to boys; and, after all, Horace only pulled a small piece of the candy, and dropped half of that on the nice white floor. Barbara did the most of the pulling. She was quite a sculptor when she had plastic candy in her hands. Some of it she cut into sticks, and some she twisted into curious images, supposed to be boys and girls, horses and sheep. After Grace and Horace had eaten several of the "boys and girls," to say nothing of "handled baskets," and "gentlemen's slippers," Barbara thought it high time they were "sound abed and asleep." So now, as they go up stairs, we will wish them a good night and pleasant dreams. CHAPTER II. CAMPING OUT. "What is the matter with my little son?" said Mr. Clifford, one morning at breakfast; for Horace sat up very stiffly in his chair, and refused both eggs and muffins, choosing instead a slice of dry toast and a glass of water. "Are you sick, Horace?" asked his mother, tenderly. "No, ma'am," replied the boy, blushing; "but I want to get to be a soldier!" Mr. Clifford and his wife looked at each other across the table, and smiled. "O, papa," said Grace, "I shouldn't want to be a soldier if I couldn't have anything nice to eat. Can't they get pies and canned peaches and things? Will they go without buckwheat cakes and sirup in the winter?" [Pg 11] [Pg 12] [Pg 13] [Pg 14] [Pg 15] [Pg 16] "Ah! my little daughter, men who love their country are willing to make greater sacrifices than merely nice food." Horace put on one of his lofty looks, for he somehow felt that his father was praising him. "Pa," said Grace, "please tell me what's a sacrifice, anyhow?" "A sacrifice, my daughter, is the giving up of a dear or pleasant thing for the sake of duty: that is very nearly what it means. For instance, if your mamma consents to let me go to the war, because she thinks I ought to go, she will make what is called a sacrifice." "Do not let us speak of it now, Henry," said Mrs. Clifford, looking quite pale. "O, my dear papa," cried Grace, bursting into tears, "we couldn't live if you went to the war!" Horace looked at the acorn on the lid of the coffee-urn, but said nothing. It cost his little heart a pang even to think of parting from his beloved father; but then wouldn't it be a glorious thing to hear him called General Clifford? And if he should really go away, wasn't it likely that the oldest boy, Horace, would take his place at the head of the table? Yes, they should miss papa terribly; but he would only stay away till he "got a general;" and for that little while it would be pleasant for Horace to sit in the arm-chair and help the others to the butter, the toast, and the meat. "Horace," said Mr. Clifford, smiling, "it will be some years before you can be a soldier: why do you begin now to eat dry bread?" "I want to get used to it, sir." "That indeed!" said Mr. Clifford, with a good-natured laugh, which made Horace wince a little. "But the eating of dry bread is only a small part of the soldier's tough times, my boy. Soldiers have to sleep on the hard ground, with knapsacks for pillows; they have to march, through wet and dry, with heavy muskets, which make their arms ache." "Look here, Barby," said Horace, that evening; "I want a knapsack, to learn to be a soldier with. If I have 'tough times' now, I'll get used to it. Can't you find my carpet-bag, Barby?" "Carpet-bag? And what for a thing is that?" said Barbara, rousing from a nap, and beginning to click her knitting- needles. "Here I was asleep again. Now, if I did keep working in the kitchen, I could sit up just what time I wants to; but when I sits down, I goes to sleep right off." And Barbara went on knitting, putting the yarn over the needle with her left hand, after the German fashion. "But the carpet-bag, Barby: there's a black one 'some place,' in the trunk-closet or up-attic. Now, Barby, you know I helped pick those quails yesterday." "Yes, yes, dear, when I gets my eyes open." "I would sleep out doors, but ma says I'd get cold; so I'll lie on the floor in the bathing-room. O, Barby, I'll sleep like a trooper!" But Horace was a little mistaken. A hard, unyielding floor makes a poor bed; and when, at the same time, one's neck is almost put out of joint by a carpet-bag stuffed with newspaper, it is not easy to go to sleep. In a short time the little boy began to feel tired of "camping out;" and I am sorry to say that he employed some of the moon-light hours in studying the workmanship of his mother's watch, which had been left, by accident, hanging on a nail in the bathing-room. He felt very guilty all the while; and when, at last, a chirr-chirr from the watch told that mischief had been done, his heart gave a quick throb of fright, and he stole off to his chamber, undressed, and went to bed in the dark. Next morning he did not awake as early as usual, and, to his great dismay, came very near being late to breakfast. "Good morning, little buzzard-lark," said his sister, coming into his room just as he was thrusting his arms into his jacket. "Ho, Gracie! why didn't you wake me up?" "I spoke to you seven times, Horace." "Well, why didn't you pinch me, or shake me awake, or something?" "Why, Horace, then you'd have been cross, and said, 'Gracie Clifford, let me alone!' You know you would, Horace." The little boy stood by the looking-glass finishing his toilet, and made no reply. "Don't you mean to behave?" said he, talking to his hair. "There, now, you've parted in the middle! Do you 'spose I'm going to look like a girl? Part the way you ought to, and lie down smooth! We'll see which will beat!" "Why, what in the world is this?" exclaimed Grace, as something heavy dropped at her feet. [Pg 17] [Pg 18] [Pg 19] [Pg 20] [Pg 21] [Pg 22] It was her mother's watch, which had fallen out of Horace's pocket. "Where did you get this watch?" No answer. "Why, Horace, it doesn't tick: have you been playing with it?" Still no answer. "Now, that's just like you, Horace, to shut your mouth right up tight, and not speak a word when you're spoken to. I never saw such a boy! I'm going down stairs, this very minute, to tell my mother you've been hurting her beautiful gold watch!" "Stop!" cried the boy, suddenly finding his voice; "I reckon I can fix it! I was meaning to tell ma! I only wanted to see that little thing inside that ticks. I'll bet I'll fix it. I didn't go to hurt it, Grace!" "O, yes, you feel like you could mend watches, and fire guns, and be soldiers and generals," said Grace, shaking her ringlets; "but I'm going right down to tell ma!" Horace's lips curled with scorn. "That's right, Gracie; run and tell!" "But, Horace, I ought to tell," said Grace, meekly; "it's my duty! Isn't there a little voice at your heart, and don't it say, you've done wicked?" "There's a voice there," replied the boy, pertly; "but it don't say what you think it does. It says, 'If your pa finds out about the watch, won't you catch it?'" To do Horace justice, he did mean to tell his mother. He had been taught to speak the truth, and the whole truth, cost what it might. He knew that his parents could forgive almost anything sooner than a falsehood, or a cowardly concealment. Words cannot tell how Mr. Clifford hated deceit. "When a lie tempts you, Horace," said he, "scorn it, if it looks ever so white! Put your foot on it, and crush it like a snake!" Horace ate dry toast again this morning, but no one seemed to notice it. If he had dared look up, he would have seen that his father and mother wore sorrowful faces. After breakfast, Mr. Clifford called him into the library. In the first place, he took to pieces the mangled watch, and showed him how it had been injured. "Have you any right to meddle with things which belong to other people, my son?" Horace's chin snuggled down into the hollow place in his neck, and he made no reply. "Answer me, Horace." "No, sir." "It will cost several dollars to pay for repairing this watch: don't you think the little boy who did the mischief should give part of the money?" Horace looked distressed; his face began to twist itself out of shape. "This very boy has a good many pieces of silver which were given him to buy fire-crackers. So you see, if he is truly sorry for his fault, he knows the way to atone for it." Horace's conscience told him, by a twinge, that it would be no more than just for him to pay what he could for mending the watch. "Have you nothing to say to me, my child?" For, instead of speaking, the boy was working his features into as many shapes as if they had been made of gutta percha. This was a bad habit of his, though, when he was doing it, he had no idea of "making up faces." His father told him he would let him have the whole day to decide whether he ought to give up any of his money. A tear trembled in each of Horace's eyes, but, before they could fall, he caught them on his thumb and forefinger. "Now," continued Mr. Clifford, "I have something to tell you. I decided last night to enter the army." "O, pa," cried Horace, springing up, eagerly; "mayn't I go, too?" "You, my little son?" "Yes, pa," replied Horace, clinging to his father's knee. "Boys go to wait on the generals and things! I can wait on you. I [Pg 23] [Pg 24] [Pg 25] [Pg 26] [Pg 27] can comb your hair, and bring your slippers. If I could be a waiter, I'd go a flyin'." "Poor child," laughed Mr. Clifford, stroking Horace's head, "you're such a very little boy, only eight years old!" "I'm going on nine. I'll be nine next New Year's Gift-day," stammered Horace, the bright flush dying out of his cheeks. "O, pa, I don't want you to go, if I can't go too!" Mr. Clifford's lips trembled. He took the little boy on his knee, and told him how the country was in danger, and needed all its brave men. "I should feel a great deal easier about leaving my dear little family," said he, "if Horace never disobeyed his mother; if he did not so often fall into mischief; if he was always sure to remember." The boy's neck was twisted around till his father could only see the back of his head. "Look here, pa," said he, at last, throwing out the words one at a time, as if every one weighed a whole pound; "I'll give ma that money; I'll do it to-day." "That's right, my boy! that's honest! You have given me pleasure. Remember, when you injure the property of another, you should always make amends for it as well as you can. If you do not, you're unjust and dishonest." I will not repeat all that Mr. Clifford said to his little son. Horace thought then he should never forget his father's good advice, nor his own promises. We shall see whether he did or not. He was a restless, often a very naughty boy; but when you looked at his broad forehead and truthful eyes, you felt that, back of all his faults, there was nobleness in his boyish soul. His father often said, "He will either make something or nothing;" and his mother answered, "Yes, there never will be any half-way place for Horace." Mr. Clifford and his Son. Mr. Clifford and his Son. Page 27. Now that Mr. Clifford had really enlisted, everybody looked sad. Grace was often in tears, and said,— "We can't any of us live, if pa goes to the war." But when Horace could not help crying, he always said it was because he "had the earache," and perhaps he thought it was. Mrs. Clifford tried to be cheerful, for she was a patriotic woman; but she could not trust her voice to talk a great deal, or sing much to the baby. As for Barbara Kinckle, she scrubbed the floors, and scoured the tins, harder than ever, looking all the while as if every one of her friends was dead and buried. The family were to break up housekeeping, and Barbara was very sorry. Now she would have to go to her home, a little way back in the country, and work in the fields, as many German girls do every summer. "O, my heart is sore," said she, "every time I thinks of it. They will in the cars go off, and whenever again I'll see the [Pg 27] [Pg 28] [Pg 29] [Pg 30] kliny (little) childers I knows not." It was a sad day when Mr. Clifford bade good by to his family. His last words to Horace were these: "Always obey your mother, my boy, and remember that God sees all you do." He was now "Captain Clifford," and went away at the head of his company, looking like, what he really was, a brave and noble gentleman. Grace wondered if he ever thought of the bright new buttons on his coat; and Horace walked about among his school- fellows with quite an air, very proud of being the son of a man who either was now, or was going to be, the greatest officer in Indiana! If any body else had shown as much self-esteem as Horace did, the boys would have said he had "the big head." When Yankee children think a playmate conceited, they call him "stuck up;" but Hoosier children say he has "the big head." No one spoke in this way of Horace, however, for there was something about him which made everybody like him, in spite of his faults. He loved his play-fellows, and they loved him, and were sorry enough to have him go away; though, perhaps, they did not shed so many tears as Grace's little mates, who said, "they never'd have any more good times: they didn't mean to try." Mrs. Clifford, too, left many warm friends, and it is safe to say, that on the morning the family started for the east, there were a great many people "crying their hearts out of their eyes." Still, I believe no one sorrowed more sincerely than faithful Barbara Kinckle. CHAPTER III. TAKING A JOURNEY. It was a great effort for Mrs. Clifford to take a journey to Maine with three children; but she needed the bracing air of New England, and so did Grace and the baby. To be sure they had the company of a gentleman who was going to Boston; but he was a very young man indeed, who thought a great deal more of his new mustache than he did of trunks, and checks, and tickets. Twenty times a day Mrs. Clifford wished her husband could have gone with her before he enlisted, for she hardly knew what to do with restless little Horace. As for sitting still, it was more than the boy could do. He would keep jerking his inquisitive little head out of the window, for he never remembered a caution five minutes. He delighted to run up and down the narrow aisle, and, putting his hands on the arms of the seats, swing backward and forward with all his might. He became acquainted with every lozenge-boy and every newspaper-boy on the route, and seemed to be in a high state of merriment from morning till night. Grace, who was always proper and well-behaved, was not a little mortified by Horace's rough manners. "He means no harm," Mrs. Clifford would say, with a smile and a sigh; "but, Mr. Lazelle, if you will be so kind as to watch him a little, I will be greatly obliged." Mr. Lazelle would reply, "O, certainly, madam; be quite easy about the child; he is not out of my sight for a moment!" So saying, perhaps he would go in search of him, and find him under a seat playing with Pincher, his clothes covered with dust, and his cap lying between somebody's feet. At such times Mr. Lazelle always said,—"Upon my word, you're a pretty little fellow!" and looked as if he would like to shake him, if it were not for soiling his gloves. Horace laughed when Mr. Lazelle called him "a pretty little fellow," and thought it a fine joke. He laughed, too, when the young man told him to "come out," for there was something in the pettish tone of his voice which Horace considered very amusing. "I'll wait till he gets through scolding, and goes to coaxing," thought the boy: "he's a smart man! can't make such a little fellow mind!" Mr. Lazelle was very much vexed with Horace, and firmly resolved that he would never again take charge of a lady travelling with children. At one time he flew into a passion, and boxed the boy's ears. Horace felt very much like a wounded wasp. He knew Mr. Lazelle would not have dared strike him before his mother, and from that moment he despised him as a "sneak." Whenever Mr. Lazelle was looking for him in great haste, he was very likely to be missing; and when that sorely tried young gentleman was almost in despair, a saucy little head would appear at the car-window, and a small voice would [Pg 31] [Pg 32] [Pg 33] [Pg 34] [Pg 35] [Pg 36] shout,— "Ho, Mr. Lazelle! why don't you come ahead? I beat you in!" "Horace," said Mrs. Clifford, wearily, "you don't know how you tire me! Here is this dear baby that I have to hold in my arms; isn't it enough that I should have the care of him, without being all the while anxious about you?" "Yes," chimed in Grace, pushing back her beautiful curls, "you don't know how ma and I fret about you. You'll kill poor ma before ever we can get you east!" Horace hung his head for shame, and decided that it didn't "pay" to punish Mr. Lazelle, if his mother must suffer too. He meant, for her sake, to "turn over a new leaf," though he did not say so. On the afternoon of their second day's ride, they reached the beautiful city of Cleveland. Here they were to rest for a few hours. Their clothes were sadly tumbled, their collars dust-color, and their faces and hair rough with cinders. A thorough washing and brushing, and some fresh ruffles and laces, gave a much tidier appearance to the whole party. After Grace and Horace were ready, Mrs. Clifford thought they might as well go down stairs while she tried to rock little Katie to sleep. "Be sure not to go away from the house," said she. "Grace, I depend upon you to take care of Horace, for he may forget." The children had been standing on the piazza for some time, watching the people passing, while Mr. Lazelle lounged near by, talking politics with some gentlemen. In a little while Mrs. Clifford sent for Grace to go up stairs and amuse the poor baby, who could not be rocked to sleep. For a few moments after she had gone Horace stood near the door, still gazing into the street, when, suddenly, he heard a faint sound of martial music: a brass band was turning the corner. Soon they were in sight, men in handsome uniform, drawing music from various instruments, picking, blowing, or beating it out, as the case might be. It was glorious, Horace thought. He could not keep still. He ran out, and threw up his cap before he knew it almost, shouting with delight,— "Ho, Mr. Lazelle! ain't that jolly? Ho, Mr. Lazelle! where are you, anyhow?" Probably, if the boy had stopped to think, he might have remembered that Mr. Lazelle was in the parlor; but no, Horace was sure he must have crossed the street to look at the band. "I'm going, too," said he to himself. "Of course, where Mr. Lazelle goes, I can go, for he has the care of me!" With that he dashed headlong into the crowd, looking here, there, and everywhere for Mr. Lazelle. But, O, that music! Did a little boy's boots ever stand still when a drum was playing, "March, march away"? No doubt his father was keeping step to just such sounds, on his path to martial glory! The fife and bugle whistled with magical voices, and seemed to say,— "Follow, follow, follow on!" And Horace followed; sometimes thinking he was in search of Mr. Lazelle, sometimes forgetting it altogether. He knew he was doing very wrong, but it seemed as if the music almost drowned the voice of his conscience. In this way they turned street after street, till, suddenly, the band and the crowd entered a large public building. Then the music died out, and with it the fire of eagerness in the little boy's soul. Where was Mr. Lazelle? If he could see him now, he would forgive the boxed ears. How could he ever find his way back to the hotel? It had not as yet entered his head to ask any one. He darted off at great speed, but, as it happened, in precisely the wrong direction. The houses grew smaller and farther apart, and presently he came to a high, sandy cliff overlooking the lake. Now the shades of night began to fall, and his stout heart almost failed him. The longing grew so strong to see mother, and Grace, and baby, that the tears would start, in spite of himself. At last, just as he was wondering which way to turn next, somebody touched his shoulder, and a rough voice said,— "Hullo, my little man! What you doin' in this ward? Come; don't you pull away from me: I'm a city officer. Got lost, hey?" Horace shook with fright. O dear, was it a crime, then, to get lost? He remembered all the stories he had ever heard of lock-ups, and state-prisons, and handcuffs. "O, I didn't mean any harm, sir," cried he, trying to steady his voice: "I reckon I ain't lost, sir; or, if I am, I ain't lost much!" "So, so," laughed the policeman, good-naturedly; "and what was your name, my little man, before you got lost, and [Pg 37] [Pg 38] [Pg 39] [Pg 40] [Pg 41] [Pg 42] didn't get lost much?" "My name is Horace Clifford, sir," replied the boy, wondering why a cruel policeman should want to laugh. "Well, well," said the man, not unkindly, "I'm glad I've come across ye, for your mother's in a terrible taking. What set ye out to run off? Come, now; don't be sulky. Give us your hand, and I guess, seein' it's you, we won't put you in the lock-up this time." Horace was very grateful to the officer for not handcuffing him on the spot; still he felt as if it was a great disgrace to be marched through the city by a policeman. Mrs. Clifford, Grace, and Mr. Lazelle met them on the way. "O, my dear, dear son," cried Mrs. Clifford, as soon as she could speak; "do you know how you've frightened us all?" "I followed the band," stammered Horace. "I was looking for Mr. Lazelle." "You're a naughty, mean little boy," cried Grace, when she had made sure he was not hurt anywhere. "It would have been good enough for you if you'd drowned in the lake, and the bears had ate you up!" Still she kissed her naughty brother, and it was to be noticed that her eyelids were very red from crying. "I'll never let go your hand again, Horace," said she, "till we get to grandma's. You're just as slippery!" Mr. Lazelle looked as if it would be an immense relief to him if Miss Grace would keep her word; he thought he was undergoing a great trial with Horace. "It's a shame," said he to himself, "that a perfect lady, like Mrs. Clifford, should have such a son! I'd enjoy whipping him —for her sake! Why in the world don't she train him?" Mr. Lazelle did not know of the faithful talk Mrs. Clifford had with Horace that night, nor how the boy's heart swelled with grief, and love, and new resolutions. This adventure caused a day's delay, for it made the party too late for the boat. Horace was so sorry for his foolish conduct, that he spent the next day in the most subdued manner, and walked about the chamber on tiptoe, while Grace tried to soothe little Katie. But, in crossing the lake, he "forgot" again. His mother allowed him to go up on the hurricane deck with Mr. Lazelle, just for ten minutes; and there he became acquainted with the pilot, who was struck with his intelligence, and freely answered all the questions he asked about the engine, "the whistle," and the steering. "O, pshaw!" said Horace; "I'll make a steamboat myself, and give it to Grace for a present!" Full of this new plan, he left the pilot without so much as a "thank you," running down the steps, two at a time, unobserved by Mr. Lazelle, who was playing the flute. He wanted to see how the "rigging" was made, and stopped to ask leave of nobody. Down another flight of stairs, out across trunks, and bales, and ropes, he pushed his way to get a good sight of the deck. He paid no heed to people or things, and nearly ran over an Irish boy, who was drawing up water in buckets for washing. Somebody shouted, "He's trying to kill hisself, I do believe!" Somebody rushed forward to seize the daring child by the collar of his jacket, but too late; he had fallen headlong into the lake! A scream went up from the deck that pierced the air,—"Boy overboard! Help! help! help!" Mrs. Clifford heard, and knew, by instinct, that it was Horace. She had just sent Grace to call him, not feeling safe to trust him longer with Mr. Lazelle. She rushed through the door of the state-room, and followed the crowd to the other side of the boat, crying,— "O, can't somebody save him!" There was no mistaking the mother's voice; the crowd made way for her. "Safe! safe and sound!" was the shout now. "All right!" The Irish lad, at Horace's first plunge, had thrown him his bucket—it was a life-preserver; that is, it would not sink— and the drowning boy had been drawn up by means of a rope attached to the bail. "Ma," said Grace, when they were all safely in the cars at Buffalo, and Horace as well as ever, though a little pale, "I do believe there never was anybody had such an awful journey! Do you suppose we'll ever get Horace home to grandma's?" [Pg 43] [Pg 44] [Pg 45] [Pg 46] [Pg 47] [Pg 48] [Pg 49] CHAPTER IV. AT GRANDPA PARLIN'S. It was over at last—the long, tedious journey, which Horace spoiled for everybody, and which nobody but Horace enjoyed. When they drove up to the quiet old homestead at Willowbrook, and somebody had taken the little baby, poor Mrs. Clifford threw herself into her mother's arms, and sobbed like a child. Everybody else cried, too; and good, deaf grandpa Parlin, with smiles and tears at the same time, declared,— "I don't know what the matter is; so I can't tell whether to laugh or cry." Then his daughter Margaret went up and said in his best ear that they were just crying for joy, and asked him if that wasn't a silly thing to do. Grace embraced everybody twice over; but Horace was a little shy, and would only give what his aunties called "canary kisses." "Margaret, I want you to give me that darling baby this minute," said Mrs. Parlin, wiping her eyes. "Now you can bring the butter out of the cellar: it's all there is to be done, except to set the tea on the table." Then grandma Parlin had another cry over little Katie: not such a strange thing, for she could not help thinking of Harry, the baby with sad eyes and pale face, who had been sick there all the summer before, and was now an angel. As little Prudy had said, "God took him up to heaven, but the tired part of him is in the garden." Yes, under a weeping-willow. Everybody was thinking just now of tired little Harry, "the sweetest flower that ever was planted in that garden." "Why, Maria," said Mrs. Clifford, as soon as she could speak, "how did you ever travel so far with this little, little baby?" "I don't know, mother," replied Mrs. Clifford; "I think I could never have got here without Grace: she has been my little waiter, and Katie's little nurse." Grace blushed with delight at this well-deserved praise. "And Horace is so large now, that he was some help, too, I've no doubt," said his grandmother. "I would have took the baby," cried Horace, speaking up very quickly, before any one else had time to answer,—"I would have took the baby, but she wouldn't let me." Mrs. Clifford might have said that Horace himself had been as much trouble as the baby; but she was too kind to wound her little boy's feelings. It was certainly a very happy party who met around the tea-table at Mr. Parlin's that evening. It was already dusk, and the large globe lamp, with its white porcelain shade, gave a cheery glow to the pleasant dining-room. First, there was cream-toast, made of the whitest bread, and the sweetest cream. "This makes me think of Mrs. Gray," said Mrs. Clifford, smiling; "I hope she is living yet." "She is," said Margaret, "but twelve years old." Grace looked up in surprise. "Why, that's only a little girl, aunt Madge!" "My dear, it's only a cow!" "O, now I remember; the little blue one, with brass knobs on her horns!" "Let's see; do you remember Dr. Quack and his wife?" "O, yes'm! they were white ducks; and how they did swim! It was a year ago. I suppose Horace doesn't remember." "Poh! yes, I do; they were spin-footed!" "Why, Horace," said Grace, laughing; "you mean web-footed!" Horace bent his eyes on his plate, and did not look up again for some time. There was chicken-salad on the table. Margaret made that—putting in new butter, because she knew Mrs. Clifford did not like oil. There was delicious looking cake, "some that had been touched with frost, and some that hadn't," as grandpa said, [Pg 49] [Pg 50] [Pg 51] [Pg 52] [Pg 53] [Pg 54] when he passed the basket. But the crowning glory of the supper was a dish of scarlet strawberries, which looked as if they had been drinking dew- drops and sunshine till they had caught all the richness and sweetness of summer. "O, ma!" whispered Grace, "I'm beginning to feel so happy! I only wish my father was here." After tea, grandpa took Horace and Grace on each knee, large as they were, and sang some delightful evening hymns with what was left of his once fine voice. He looked so peaceful and happy, that his daughters were reminded of the Bible verse, "Children's children are the crown of old men." "I think now," said Mrs. Clifford, coming back from putting the baby to sleep, "it's high time my boy and girl were saying, 'Good-night, and pleasant dreams.'" "Aunt Madge is going up stairs with us; aren't you, auntie?" "Yes, Horace; your other auntie wouldn't do, I suppose," said Louise. "That makes me think of the way this same Horace used to treat me when he was two years old. 'Her can't put me to bed,' he would say; 'her's too little.'" "I remember," said Margaret, "how he dreaded cold water. When his mother called him to be washed, and said, 'Ma doesn't want a little dirty boy,' he would look up in her face, and say, 'Does mamma want 'ittle cold boy?'" The happy children kissed everybody good-night, and followed their aunt Madge up stairs. Now, there was a certain small room, whose one window opened upon the piazza, and it was called "the green chamber." It contained a cunning little bedstead, a wee bureau, a dressing-table, and washing-stand, all pea-green. It was a room which seemed to have been made and furnished on purpose for a child, and it had been promised to Grace in every letter aunt Madge had written to her for a year. Horace had thought but little about the room till to-night, when his aunt led Grace into it, and he followed. It seemed so fresh and sweet in "the green chamber," and on the dressing-table there was a vase of flowers. Aunt Madge bade the children look out of the window at a bird's nest, which was snuggled into one corner of the piazza-roof, so high up that nobody could reach it without a very tall ladder. "Now," said aunt Madge, "the very first thing Grace hears in the morning will probably be bird-music." Grace clapped her hands. "And where am I going to sleep?" said Horace, who had been listening, and looking on in silence. His aunt had forgotten that he was sometimes jealous; but she could not help knowing it now, for a very disagreeable expression looked out at his eyes, and drew down the corners of his mouth. "Why, Horace dear, we have to put you in one of the back chambers, just as we did when you were here before; but you know it's a nice clean room, with white curtains, and you can look out of the window at the garden." "But it's over the kitchen!" "There, Horace," said Grace, "I'd be ashamed! You don't act like a little gentleman! What would pa say?" "Why couldn't I have the big front chamber?" said the little boy, shuffling his feet, and looking down at his shoes. "Because," said aunt Madge, smiling, "that is for your mother and the baby." "But if I could have this little cunning room, I'd go a flyin'. Grace ain't company any more than me." Aunt Madge remembered Horace's hit-or-miss way of using things, and thought of the elephant that once walked into a china shop. Grace laughed aloud. "Why, Horace Clifford, you'd make the room look like everything; you know you would! O, auntie, you ought to see how he musses up my cabinet! I have to hide the key; I do so!" Horace took the room which was given him, but he left his sister without his usual good-night kiss, and when he repeated his prayer, I am afraid he was thinking all the while about the green chamber. The next morning the children had intended to go into the garden bright and early. Grace loved flowers, and when she was a mere baby, just able to toddle into the meadow, she would clip off the heads of buttercups and primroses, hugging and kissing them like friends. Horace, too, had some fancy for flowers, especially flaring ones, like sunflowers and hollyhocks. Dandelions were nice when the stems would curl without bothering, and poppies were worth while for little girls, he thought, because, after they are gone to seed, you can make them into pretty good teapots. He wanted to go out in the garden now for humming-birds, and to see if the dirt-colored toad was still living in his [Pg 54] [Pg 55] [Pg 56] [Pg 57] [Pg 58] [Pg 59] "nest," in one of the flower-beds. But the first thing the children heard in the morning was the pattering of rain or the roof. No going out to-day. Grace was too tired to care much. Horace felt cross; but remembering how many messages his grandmother had sent to her "good little grandson," and how often aunt Madge had written about "dear little Horace, the nephew she was so proud of," he felt ashamed to go down stairs scowling. If his good-morning smile was so thin that you could see a frown through it, still it was better than no smile at all. The breakfast was very nice, and Horace would have enjoyed the hot griddle-cakes and maple sirup, only his aunt Louise, a handsome young lady of sixteen, watched him more than he thought was quite polite, saying every now and then,— "Isn't he the image of his father? Just such a nose, just such a mouth! He eats fast, too; that is characteristic!" Horace did not know what "characteristic" meant, but thought it must be something bad, for with a child's quick eye he could see that his pretty aunt was inclined to laugh at him. In fact, he had quite an odd way of talking, and his whole appearance was amusing to Miss Louise, who was a very lively young lady. "Horace, you were telling me last night about Mr. Lazelle: what did you say was the color of his coat?" "I said it was blueberry color," replied Horace, who could see, almost without looking up, that aunt Louise was smiling at aunt Madge. "He is a musicianer too, I think you said, and his hair crimps. Dear me, what a funny man!" Horace was silent, and made up his mind that he should be careful another time what he said before aunt Louise. Soon after breakfast he and Pincher went "up-attic" to see what they could find, while Grace followed her grandmother and aunties from parlor to kitchen, and from kitchen to pantry. She looked pale and tired, but was so happy that she sang every now and then at the top of her voice, forgetting that little Katie was having a nap. Pretty soon Horace came down stairs with an old, rusty gun much taller than himself. Mrs. Clifford was shocked at first, but smiled the next moment, as she remembered what an innocent thing it was, past its "prime" before she was of Horace's age. The little boy playfully pointed the gun towards Grace, who screamed with fright, and ran away as fast as she could. "I don't care," cried she, coming back, a little ashamed at being laughed at; "how did I know it wasn't loaded? Do you think 'twould look well for a little girl not to be afraid of a gun?" This speech amused everybody, particularly Horace, who was glad to have Grace say a foolish thing once in a while. It raised his self-esteem somehow; and, more than that, he liked to remember her little slips of the tongue, and tease her about them. It was not long before he had seen all there was to be seen in the house, and wanted to "do something." As for reading, that was usually too stupid for Horace. Grace kindly offered to play checkers with him; but she understood the game so much better than he did, that she won at every trial. This was more than he could bear with patience; and, whenever he saw that she was gaining upon him, he wanted to "turn it into a give-game." "But that isn't fair, Horace." "Well, ma, just you see how mean Grace is! There, she wants me to jump that man yonder, so she'll take two of mine, and go right in the king-row!" "But, Horace," said Grace, gently, "what do I play for if I don't try to beat?" "There now," cried he, "chase my men up to the king-row, so I can't crown 'em, do!" "Just what I'm doing," replied Grace, coolly. "Well, I should think you'd better take 'em all, and be done with it! Before I'd be so mean as to set traps!" "Look, Horace," said Grace; "you didn't jump when you ought to, and I'm going to huff your man. See, I blow it, just this way; old Mr. Knight calls it huffing." "Huff away then! but you stole one of those kings. I'll bet you stole it off the board after I jumped it." "Now, Horace Clifford," cried Grace, with tears in her eyes, "I never did such a thing as to steal a king; and if you say so I won't play!" "Horace," said Mrs. Clifford, who had been trying for some time to speak, "what do you play checkers for?" "Ma'am? Why, to beat, of course." [Pg 60] [Pg 61] [Pg 62] [Pg 63] [Pg 64] [Pg 65] "Well, do you consider it work, or play?" "Work, or play? Why, it's a game, ma; so it's play." "But Grace was so obliging that she wished to amuse you, my son. Does it amuse you? Doesn't it make you cross? Do you know that you have spoken a great many sharp words to your kind sister? "Shut the board right up, my child; and remember from this time never to play checkers, or any other game, when you feel yourself growing fretful! As you sometimes say, 'It doesn't pay.'" Horace closed the board, looking ashamed. "That's sound advice for everybody," said aunt Madge, stroking her little nephew's hair. "If children always remembered it, they would get along more pleasantly together—I know they would." Grace had been looking ill all the morning, and her mother now saw symptoms of a chill. With all her tender anxiety she had not known how tired her little daughter was. It was two or three weeks before the child was rested; and whenever she had a chill, which was every third day for a while, she was delirious, and kept crying out,— "O, do see to Horace, mamma! Mr. Lazelle will forget! O, Horace, now don't let go my hand! I've got the bundles, mamma, and the milk for the baby." And sometimes Mrs. Clifford would call Horace to come and take his sister's hand, just to assure her that he was not lying cold and dead in the waters of Lake Erie. It was really touching to see how heavily the cares of the journey had weighed on the dear girl's youthful spirits. CHAPTER V. CAPTAIN OF A COMPANY. At first Mrs. Clifford thought she did not care about having the children go to school, as they had been kept at their studies for nearly nine months without a vacation, except Christmas holidays. But what was to be done with Horace? Aunt Louise, who was not passionately fond of children, declared her trials were greater than she could bear. Grace was a little tidy, she thought; but as for Horace, and his dog Pincher, and the "calico kitty," which he had picked up for a pet!—Louise disliked dogs and despised kittens. Sometimes, as she told Margaret, she felt as if she should certainly fly; sometimes she was sure she was going crazy; and then again it seemed as if her head would burst into a thousand pieces. None of these dreadful accidents happened, it is true; but a great many other things did. Hammers, nails, and augers were carried off, and left to rust in the dew. A cup of green paint, which for months had stood quietly on an old shelf in the store-room, was now taken down and stirred with a stick, and all the toys which Horace whittled out were stained green, and set in the sun to dry. A pair of cheese-tongs, which hung in the back room, a boot-jack, the washing-bench, which was once red,—all became green in a very short time: only the red of the bench had a curious effect, peeping out from its light and ragged coat of green. The blue sled which belonged to Susy and Prudy was brought down from the shed-chamber, and looked at for some time. It would present a lovely appearance, Horace thought, if he only dared cross it off with green. But as the sled belonged to his little cousins, and they were not there to see for themselves how beautiful he could make it look, why, he must wait till they came; and then, very likely, the paint would be gone. Of course, Horace soiled his clothes sadly: "that was always just like him," his aunt Louise said. This was not all. A little neighbor, Gilbert Brown, came to the house at all hours, and between the two boys there was a noise of driving nails, firing pop-guns, shouting and running from morning till night. They built a "shanty" of the boards which grandpa was saving to mend the fence, and in this shanty they "kept store," trading in crooked pins, home-made toys, twine, and jackknives. "Master chaps, them children are," said Abner, the good-natured hired man. "Hard-working boys! They are as destructive as army-worms," declared grandpa, frowning, with a twinkle in his eye. Horace had a cannon about a foot...