Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-01-25

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MOTHERS AND CHILDREN
TIE T.rE' wlNNrR'

"Griselda. Griselda
Here. mother"-and the crooked,
thumbed old book was slipped away in
nook as the bare feet sprang forward to
obey the summons.
Il gave you work. and mistake il you
hare touched it yetr'
alt Is done, mother"
Done then why have you not been
back again? 1t is for me TO bake, and
brew, and mind child. while you take
rest
Griselda slipped n through the door and
stopped on one knee, to hold the crying
.'child" to her breast and to kiss his wet
cheeks.
Julie will learn it best after all. eX-
pect," was running through her nina, as
She fastened wheels to the mite OF coach
to make it "go." and played express,
until the child rolled over and over, bump
ing his head in his unguarded delight.
s.Where are your thoughts wooi-gath-
cr;pg now, that the child must batter the
fioorp'
She lifted him, laughter and tears chas-
ing each other over his face, and tried to
forget that Julie and the rest were proba-
bly at that moment Juggling away at the
to forget the little hard ruts that made
trying and rough the path OF her life.
Rocking backward and forward on the
rickety chair. humming a snatch of gay
little tune, the child's chubby arms around
her neck, she found him after while
quite asleep, and after seeing him snug
" tucked In his cradle-bed, she skipped
along the passage, the first lines OF the
prize task upon her lips, and hope coming
up in her heart that maybe after all she
might win.
:Is it sleep you want, that you go to the
attic p
The eyes fell. and the feet stood still be-
fore the glance of the mother, with her
brisk air and her keen eye.
"School in the mornings and idleness
in the afternoons There is no time for
idleness, to-day. Scour the hearth and
polish the knives, and bring waller from
the WELL"
Griselda only laid her hand on her little,
painting heart. and turned, sadly enough,
to polish and scour instead OF porting over
the crooked, thumbed book in the attic
corner.
Il will do them well and quickly" she
thought to herself There is something
left OF the sunlight yet" And her fingers
polished and polished and secured and
secured, and the pump-handle briskly flew
up and down. So Griselda was DONE and
she tr1pped softly to the top Of the house
and was soon lost over the crumpled old
book.
"Griselda Griselda - shrilly echoed
up the stairway. Il
81 never, never can do it Nobody
cares If lose or win: oh, it is sad when
nobody cares" This she half said, half
thought to herself as she ran down the
stairs; II will manage it somehow, line
at a time'
"Idle, idle. worthless child bring fag-
OTIS and mend the fire; take up the ashes.
The hearth secured and the ashes un-
touched and have you busted to-day p
Griselda ran for fagots and mended the
fire, and swept the ashes bare and clean.
and peeped in each corner to find the dust, |
line after line of the musical rhyme pass
ing through her mind like the notes of n
song. And as she stood with her duster in
the middle OF the floor she thought: 81
will work and study and win; the words
are beautiful enough TO learn without a
prize"
So all that day, and the next and next.
the mother fretted and scolded, and the
child slept and woke and slept again. and
Griselda studied line at a time in the odd
minutes one by one.
In another house, block away, Julie
Stevens rocked backward and forward In
her pretty damask chair.
II am tired" she said, holding her paper
doh at arms length over her head.
Are you ready for the examination and
the prize p s
not"
How should know ?"
"You know just well enough have not
begun yet"
1Somebody's going to miss 1t. then"
mo, somebody Is not. Clara's away
and Meta is sick, and there Is nobody else |
in the class that does much but that odd
looking girl with mean clothes"
Maybe that odd-looking girl will get
it,
''Merton Stevens. please talk Of some
thing you know better about. She learns.
/ know, but do you really think Miss !
Douglass would give bit of a prize to q |
bare-footed girlP ''
''Is the prize to be for fine clothes ?"
Julie, too indignant to answer, opened |
a book with an injured manner. and if
Merton had not been making a kite with
wonderful bobs, and the paper doll had
not been so tempting. and if she had not
been so sure OF Mr.. Douglass goodwill
so sure Of the prize-she might have made
Roadway much faster and better.
But the day came when parents and
children gathered in the school-house, and
fond mothers looked tenderly on their lii.
tie girls as the questions went round and
the lessons were heard. Grselda, as she
stood in her brown frock among the CAV
dresses around, and with downcast ewes
and trembling lips said her part well,
thought how pleasant it would be to have
"some one to care" Perfect in eranswers,
perfect in the musical rhyme over which
she had studied in the snatches of time
little Griselda tremoled as she stepped
aside from her class and courtesied her
thanks for the beautiful prize
II shall hate her, whi.p red Julie.
that dreadful Griseldar'
mo. no." whispered tiny girl at her
side. do not hate her-poor Grselda! we
must be glad for her---don't Won see that