The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-01-27
From Childrenis Home.l
THE LITTLE PUSH.
BY FRANCIS LEE.

L WIFE u I1bAc b1luS III HABA dpAOuo anu
pantalets, and John was stillless, in
well, in gowns, I dare say.
Mary was just four weeks younger
than ], and that made her a great deal
older, L was SO very small of my age.
To be sure, she was below me in the
spelling class, and she hadn'tgot so far
along in Peter Farley. But then she
wore her hair cut square in the neck,
with scarlet chenille tied around her
head, and I believe, though / won't be
sure, she had n short pink calico
apron fastened behind with strings of
the same. Iute had, l know, but then
Tute was pretty nearly one of the great
girls, and Tute could paint Tiolets
beautifully, only she would call them
"voilets."
Now, though I admired Tute with all
my heart and loved little John clear
away through, yet 1 thought there had
never been anybody born into this
world-leastways, not into the town of
Dot-so very charming as Mary. And
1 think now that she must have been,
sometimes. At other times, myl 1
couldn't get nearer her than a snow
berry can to a snowdropl
MARY" 1 would say, twill you
come over to my house tonight and
play in the arbor2 Our cat has got a
kitten, and I'll let you name her, and
give you some g~ooseberries. 1t is my
birthday, too, and 1 don't known what
Aunt Fanny has got for me. She al
ways gives me something because I am
named for her.
and Mary would turn up the snub5y
end of her nose, and say:
"Do let me bel Mol Who cares
for a Kitten Our cats got fveI And
you'll keep showing me your aunt Fan
nyss present as 500 as you get It till /
shall be tired to death of the sight.
I'm going home with Lizzie Chamber
LAIN
Oh yes, that was it, She was going
to dress up and go down to the COM
mon visiting. Lizzie Chamberlain wa
one of the new girls that lived in the
old Headley house behind the maple
trees. She wore French calico to
school every day and never took off her
shoes and stockings. OH when she
went to bed-of course she did then !
So that was It'll Certainly she would
rather go to see Lizzie Chamberlain
than me. Anybody would.
But by tomorrow, when Lizzie
hadn't invited her, she came to me.
"What color is your kitten Z" she
began.
"Yellow and white" 1 replied, as
delighted as could be. al am goizE
to name her Lily Straw Maltese Her
mother is Maltese color, and she ought
20 be named for her mother, you know.
Kate says it is the prettiest Kitten she
eyer saw, and knows the most for one
so young. She is only a day old"
"Uml" returned Mary, turning and
walking toward the gooseberry bushes.
And I was such a little fool 1 turned
and walked with her. lam vexed with
myself now when 1 think of it, but she
threw some kind of a spell over me,
and 1 could not help following her
when she shone any more than the sum
flower can help following the sun. Be
sides, I was always so meek that I won
der 1 haven't inherited the earth long
ago.
But John, with his sunburntha III and
dimpled chin, dear little John, was al
ways ready, whether the world went up
OF the world went down, to smile on
me with his loving blue eyes and patter
after on his two bare feet wherever I
went.
This time it wa up in the new wood
house chsmber-so new that it wasn't
yet done Mary had gone off with
Tute and Augusta Ingraham to Pat
nuns wood after sassafras root. NY
mother would not let me go off so far
e if I had been invited, 80 I had to
do the best I could with John; for in
those days you couldn't have hired me
to stay alone ten ~minutes-not with a
bright silver dime fresh from Philadel-
phia. Dear me- I've got over that
long ago. And I've noticed that we
have to get over almost everything we
are particularly set against.)
So it was John and the wood-house
chamber that day, with shavings hang
ing IN our ear for curls, and the every
day dolls that we're made of cobs and
had such everyday names as Hannah
and Dorothy. We had blocks the car
penters had left for chairs, blocks for
tables, blocks for houses and blocks for
barns. Indeed, 1 don't know what
more two reasonable children could ask
for, unless it was Mary. Probably it
was, for l remember 1 began to get I'M
easy and lonesome after a while, even
with good-natured little John. So we
left u blocks and our dolls, and went
and looked dismally down the stairs
that were not boarded yet at the back
and sides. And then / put my two
hands against Johns back and pushed
him off; away down, stair after stair,
he fell, to the very bottom. He was
picked up with a nose-bleed and some
bumps and purple spots, but after a
few tears he was happy as ever and
never seemed to think of blaming mey
had no idea then whyI pushed him,
and haven't now. 1 would not have
hurt him for the world, and l was ter
rifed when l saw him 60. 1t was Just
a quick feeling without any thought.
John went away to the far West when
he was about eve years old, and I
have level seen HIM since. But often
think of this push, when I hear ola
sudden murder, and wonder if the muir
derer knew he was going to do it, or if
he did not act outside himself, as /
seemed to do then. So 1 have some
pity as well as blame for him.
L think of something else whenever
Johns little gentle face comes back to
me. 1 think how 1 wish the dear chill
dren would be careful not to do in a
quick moment what they will perhaps
never forget, but what will always be
like n chestnut burr III the finger TO re-
member.
The Russian Princess. Il