American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-05-24
SUSY'S TEMPTATION.

| "Susy," called Mrs. Lee, tits time to go
for the milk. Here's your pail, and run
right along, little daughter"
The child left her playhouse, built OF
| moss and stones, under wide-spreading
ash, and, catching up her sun bonnet and
pail went singing down the road, swing
| ing her pail as she went. 1t was a twenty
minutes walk to the house of Farmer
Jarvis, and Susy enjoyed it very much in
these soft summer afternoons when the
sun was low in the west, and made such a
queer shadow of herself, reaching almost
across the road.
Arriving at the farmhouse the little
girl walked into the kitchen, where the
| tea-table was set in the neatest order and
| the kettle singing on the stove, while from
below came the voice of Mrs. Jarvis,
singing, as she strained the milk, her ia
vorite hymn, "Must Jesus bear the cross
alone?" Outside the door, opposite to
the one by which Sissy had entered, were
the farmer and his two grown sons, cool.
ing their flushed faces in great basins OF
water, then vigorously rubbing them with
long roller towel, that hung behind the
door, till they glowed again.
Soon Mrs. Jarvis came up from the Gel
lar, bringing plate of fresh cottage
cheese in one hand, and roll of golden
butter in the other.
"Oh, child" she exclaimed, '.why didn't
you call mes" and, taking Susy's pail,
went down into the cellar again.
When the farmer had polished his face
and brushed his iron-gray hair, he came
hearty tone: well, little girl, how dye
dog All well at your house?'
"All pretty well excepting my little
brother" said Susy. "Mamma's afraid he
is going to have the measles"
'Ah, indeed! Sorry to hear that, but
good time to have 'em in" answered the
CHEEKY farmer and then, as Susy received
her pail from Mrs. Jarvis, he caught up
the plate of cookies from the table and
said: Here, sis, take a couple; ones for
the sick little man."
THANK YOU" said Susy. Good after
noon," and off she started.
Now Mrs. Jarvis must have cut her
cookies with the cover of quart pail, for
l am sure | never saw cake cutter of the
size of those cakes yet, in a tinman's shop
or anywhere else. But then she had great
appetites to satisfy, and her tea-cups were
pint bowls, and her loaves of bread would
about fit into halfpeck measure, so her
cookies were made on the same scale with
everything else.
Susy did not spend any time wondering
about the size or shape of her coOkey, but
soon disposed of it, and then changing the
little brothers cake from the hand in
which she carried the pail into the now
unoccupied one, she walked on. After
while she fell to admiring this cake, its
size and shape.
"This is a very nice cake and will
please little Harry very much" said Susy.
I" suppose it tastes just like mine, though
l think it's got little more sugar on the
top. l wonder what she cuts her cake
with; mamma uses tumbler with sharp
edge when she doesn't use her cutter with
the scallops on it. l should think Mrs.
Jarvis would scallop her sugar cakes. |
think Harry would like this one better if
she had What pity she didn't"
These opinions had been expressed in
an undertone and with great deliberation,
and her steps had kept pace with her
words; so that as she spoke the last one,
she found herself standing still, looking
at the cake in her hand Il don't think
it tastes like mine after all" she said.
do not believe Miss Susy felt quite
easy in her mind after her disinterested
efforts to please her brother, but she boil
stored up her sinking spirits with a repe-
tition of her opinion that "he would like
it better So"
Still growing more and more uncom-
Portable, she said, very slowly and quite
reluctantly: a don't know that Harry
will like it so after all. Last night he
chose one without any scallops I know,
and wish | had left il alone. Well, the
best | can do now will be to take the
scallops off and make it look as nice as l
can"
So, with great caution and skill, Susy
nibbled the cake all around, and after a
while succeeded in making it as round as
at first, but the cookey had suffered con-
siderably by these changes, and was now
quite reduced in size. Susy drew a long
breath and hurried on at quite a rapid
pace, and soon came in sight of her
home.
Then she remembered that she must ex-
plain the reason why the cake was trim
med off. Here was a pretty bad fix, and
one that she had not reckoned for; so she
turned the situation over in her mind and
came to the conclusion, that as the matter
stood, she must scallop the cake once
more, so as to make a fair reason for its
appearance This time she was very care
full to make her bites small and far be-
tween, and, having finished her work of
decoration, she trudged on. But Susy felt
very tired somehow, and the pail was very
heavy, and though she swallowed again
and again, there still remained very I'M
pleasant lump in her throat. "One of the
scallops, perhaps" thought Susy.
She had now reached home, and, walk
ing into the kitchen, she set the pail down
on the table and passed into the sitting
room, where Harry, dear little fellow of
four years, sat in a great chair with pic
ture book open in his lap.
Susy was plucky little girl, and though
IL H.