The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-12-15
LITTLE MISCHIEF'S THANKSGIY.
ING.

the great gray cOunlerplne WHICH all night
had hidden him from view; next he gave
huge yellow yawn; then, all at once his
head popped in sight, alert and twinkling
with the rays it wears for hat, smiling
and nodding, as if to say Good morn
ing Here L am. GOOd-morningw One
lOug beam fell across the bed where little
Mischief lay asleep. Five minutes more,
and the heavy clouds, Which are the suns
bedclothes, were tossed aside, and straight
up the sky he sprang, as if work were on
hand, p d no time to be lost; which, in
fact, V the case for this being Thanks
giving morning, half the good house
wives the land were already awake and
waited only his coming to begin their Ia
bOTs
First one chimney, then another, of the
red farmhouse shook out its thin blue
curls-for chimneys have curls, though
they don't put them up in paper over
night. Window-blinds opened, doors
banged, ROSTERS crowed Justify, as they
! had been doing since midnight: "Cock-a-
doodle! cock a-d0odle = better hide
chicken pie-day-hide yourselves-doo
And the hens screamed back, "Where
/ shall we go, ca-da-cus :" and didn't 90 any,
where, because, foolish creatures, it is
easier for them TO be killed than use sense
/ enough to escape. And some big Jumps
of red earth, which had lain in the field all
night, got up, revealing themselves as
/ COWS, and began TO moo, as if promising to
let down nothing that day but the richest
cream Farmers hurried to their barns,
busters flappedfrom open windows-evcry-
where was stir and bustle-and the day
commenced, whose history we are about
to tell.
Mischief sat up in bed and rubbed her
eyes. Pretty soon came smell from be-
low, as If something very good were bak-
ing in the oven, and she began to scream
" Grandma, Mehitable! Grandma, come
quick and dress meli
Mchitable heard, ard ran On the way
upstairs, she reflected, as she had done
many times before, how much she should
Ike to give Mischief good shaking. But
no sooner was the warm, jumping little
girl in her lap, holding up round face to
be washed, than she forgot her anger, and
pat,ed the rosy checks gently with the
towel, instead of scrubbing the nose the
wrong way and pulling the tangled curls,
as cross person might have done When
the pretty blue frock was on, and the crrls
all nice and tidy, she carried Mischief down
i'll her arms to breakfast
Now, she said, as she poured molasses
ON the buckwheatS, and pinned a white
napkin under her chin" Now, Mischief
all your pas and mas folks are coming
to-day to dinner, and | m going to be very
busy, very busy indeed; and L don't want
you in the kitchen. You can have Kitty
in here, and play all you like. but you
mustn't come and bother me. Promise
that you won't"
Mischief promised. She meant to be
very good, because it was Thanksgiving
.r.I fs.r, -, I, l.
such a delicious OdOr filled the house that
she couldn't help stealing into the entry,
and just putting her nose to the key-hole
Such smell OF roasting, boiling, baking,
ali at once, of spice and sugar; and such
fascinating sounds, such beating OF eggs,
such gathering OF spoons in earlhen dishes
how could any one remember promise I?
just then Grandma came out and trotted
lciSurely up stairs, leaving the door aiar
i hat was too much almost before she
knew, she bad entered and when Mehia-
bic, five minutes later, came out of the but
terry, there was Mischief with cranberry
stain on her chin, and very sticky fingers,
sailing fleet of egg-shells across the deep
bowl of gravy which was standing ready
for the chicken pie; and there was the
nice jelly-cake, fresh from the oven, with
four thumb marks i'll the middle, and an
edge all clipp,d and gnawed, as if little
mice with sharp teeth had been at it. Me
hitable's eyes lighted up like a cats.
Mischief Warren. what do you mean 2"
she cried and in minute Mischief was
whisked up as if by whirlwind, and with
Il slap from Mehitable, put down hard on a
chair. She screamed, of course; but even
Grandma when she heard the story, took
part against her. and said Tut, tut tut ~
so sOlemnly, that after they had gone away
and left her alone, Mischief felt sorrier
than she had ever before in her life for
| being n',ughty.
at VS. mizzable OF me-" she sobbed.
'Im sorry. / want to tell Mehitable I'm
sorry. Mehitable" But nobody came,
and then she grew angry, and began to
think how unkind they all were.
Nobody loves me-" she said. I'm a
poor little girl what hasn't got any papa
and mamma, but only just grandma, and
she is cross, and Mehitable's real mean
S'pose was to die right here, and nobody
to see me, then they'd feel sorryl Poor
little Mischief they'd say, how cross we
was to her"
This reflection having comforted her
somewhat, she began to look around for
something to do First she tried the kit
ten, but not being in a pleasant mood, her
touch was rough; Kitty mewed, strug-
. gled, and at last ran away and hid
/, herself Next, Mischief took Grandma
: knitting and got it into dreadful snarl
E 80 dearl" she sighed, Il don't like to
play to-day. Peoples is bad, and things is
bad. Les see-praps I'd like to take q
. walk, if was only dressed up"
Her cloak and hood were upstairs. She
was afraid of being stopped if she went
for tbe., On instead mt On (
shawl hind side before, and fur cap ol
; Grandpapa's, in which costume she looked
like mixture Of Santa Claus and Mother
Bunch Opening the front door Uery
gently, she started for a short walk.
First to the chicken-yard, where she
missed some old friends. 40 MY" said
+ she "Mchitable has taken away all the
) brown hens and put them into pies. She
f said she was going to. And Tommy
Tucker and Boy Blue are gone; and so is
Scratchabout! / think it's real cruel to
, kill chickens that has got names. They
might let them rot get killed and cooked
till they was real sicL-anyway"
Next she missed the turkey cock. "Bui
I'm glad hes gone" she thought "'Cause
he used to peek my legs when | bad on
my red stockings You can't do il any
more, sir, cause your heads .ut off, and
, we is going to have you ior dinner
Goodyp
, Then Mischief proceeded to the garden
, where she dug great hole in the turnip
bed, and left the gate open, so that the
. pigs got in and made havoc. After that, she
went to the barn, where she teazcd Moolly
till even her patience gave out, and she
: menaccd with her horns, upon which Mis-
chief screamed and ran away. The great
farm gate was open, and that put it into
her head to take n walk SO off she trctted
the fur cap over her eyes, and Grandma's
shawl trailing on The ground
BY and by she came to an open com
| mon, and most surprising sight met hcl
eyes. Some gypsy tramps had arrived tho