Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1851-10-03


mere common-places incident to every little
maiden of her aye and station. She had hen
long curls cut off, to satisfy good Mrs. Bright
wells notions of the proprety and neatncss
due to the mature age of nine years. She had
an adventure with goat, who, when she made
advances of a friendly nature towards him, had
rushed ut her and bruised her with his hard
horns, causing her to feel considerable pam, and
more terror. This was indeed an era in her
cXlstance, for from that time, her universal love
OF all created things received wholesome ad-
| mixture OF fear, and she confined her demon
STATIONS of tenderness to those animals who
appreciated and returned her affection. Final
| ly, the only manifestation of her growth in
years or in wisdom which remains to be noted
consists in the fact, that about this time her or
gan Of constructiveness must have been very
largely Developed for she, having a girl-like
passion Tor dolls, and her very limited means
! not permitting the purchase of one, even of the
| humblcst description, she manufactured out of
some pieces OF wool and calico, figure of such
exquisite proportions, that save for its want of
hands and feet, and for the general inexpress-
iveness and indefinite outline of its features, it
might be pronounced Il very masterpiece in the
art of dol-maliing. Such as it was, it was lit
tleiFanny's delight, the very apple Of her eve !;
B
one day, while she WIS alb. ent on an errand
little Harry the youngc t of the Brightwclls
who was luSt bcgl nnr TO walk and talk, and
| to be sensible oi'thc delight of doing mischicf f.
seized the doll, and amused himself by gradu-
ally pulling 1t to pieces, scattering the rags
around hln as he sat IN state on the floor.
Poor Fanny IN silence she stood and beheld
the remnants Of her cherished plavthing float
ing about the room Tears stood IN her eyes,
and rolled dcwn her cheeks, for it was a deep
gret TO her,-as deep perhaps in its way, as
any she knew in after life. But not a word of
reproach escaped her lips. The mischief was
done, and she was too gentle and good hearted
to feel any pleasure in scolding the uncon-
sclous child. "lle didn't know what harm he
was dolng,"-she said to herself as she quietly
picked up the rags threw them away, and re-
signed herself to her fate:
There was a reward in store for her howev-
er, sooner than she anticipated. A day or two
before, Mrs. Brightwel had performed that in
dispcnSable household duty. denomnated bv
her, "rummaging out her TIM gs,"-and while
clearing the contents of huge press. which
among other articles contained Fanny's deal
box, had discovered silver shilling, carefully
wrapped up in paper, hidden in corner, it hay
INC evidently escaped either from some possess
aforesaid. Mrs. Brightwcl inclined to the
opinion that the money was her own. and thro
some unacCountable carelcssn, ss had been put
away with some article or another. This, un-
likely as twas. for as she remarked to her
husband, "shlllmgs were never so plentiful with
them. that they should mSlay one without
knowing il" was yet less improbable than that
the coin should have remained concealed in
Fannv's box all this while so often as they had
examined il.
"Moreovcr." argued the sage Nancy, 'poor
Mrs RuShbrook would have been glad enough
to spend shilling, if she had had 1t. 1t isn't
likely she woul have let it be in that box =
and ii couldn't have been there without her
knowing Of it,"
Finally, the good woman took possession of
the mysterious coin, and safely bestowed it
among various others in an old teapot in her
corner cupboard But her conscience was very
tender and she tdgeted eXccedlng y about the
affair
I'm not easy about it." said she to her hus-
band 81 don't feel honest, like, in having mon
ey don't know how came by. If it did come
from Fanny's box, the child ought TO have it
not me-"
So, when Nancy found Though not through
Fanny, be surcl that Harry had destroyed the
ucdullIII uOIl, anu lil Iilc liIt SII iidu ulCu-
dy begun to collect the materials for making
another the thought flashed on her mind, that
here was an opportunity for doing that which
would at once make Fanny's heart exceeding
glad, and ease her own conscience. And so
without pauslng to think about it, she went
to her teapot, and selected the identical
shilling, which was dls'lngushable from
all others, because although new and
bright, as if newly coined, there was a round
hole bored through 1t, and the two letters ID.
ii. were rudey cut in the silver. And then
the good woman called Fanny to her, and gave
the money into her hands. merely saying it |
was for her to buy nice reui doll with, instead |
of the one Harry had destroyed.
Fanny was too bewlldered to thank her -
Her JOY was so extreme, it well nigh oyerpow-
cred her, and indeed, well bred young ladies .
often think 1t proper to faint on experiencing
less emotion than did my little lassc, as she .
stood with her shilling i'll her hand, staring
wildly at it with her large blue eyes. That
shilling it was bliss - it was everything to her
Magnificent visions ioltcd before her eyes of
dolls with waXen faces, and eyes and noses,
and with hands and feet fashioned OF pink or
blue kid. What could not shilling buy? TO
her ideas it was mine OF lneShaustlbie wealth
Among all her acquaintance, she knew OF no
one who had ever possessed 80 much money at
one time: no. not even including Mis-, Jacobs,
that juvenile capitalist. who had wax doll,
DR. 'Ssed in the height of fashion, with yellow
dress, IL pink cloak, and Il blue bonnet and who
received a regular allowance of pocket money
from ner grandluther-not even Miss Jacobs
Ia ! ever owned more than silver fourpence at
4 tlnr Fanny was ina perfect whlr of won
lerlnE happiness, and she mad not quite rccov-
cred herself even when she was III the street,
'urroun led by a little crowd of pIaymates, all
staring with eyes nnl mouth wide open at "Fan-
nyS shilling" She tried to preserve that com
posure and sclt-posseSslon suitable to the pos
SCISSOR OF 50 mach wealth, and looked on with a
oehlgnant smile, while her friends examined the
precious com and made their remarks. 81 hat
was She going to do with it: Did she mean to
wear 1t round her neck, by rband slun5 thro'
IL"
Before they had half satisfied their curiosity,
NE little maiden broke from them, and proceed
I'd one ON her way TO the High Street, in a
certain shop of which she had often remarked ,
doll OF a Dprulllrlv charminr choro etnr with ,