The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-24

Gl-llK6-ullCuo.
Bobby
And then two penitents bumped
down on the step, and, with tears of
remorse, the whole story came out;
how very hungry and tired they were,
and the sugar was SO good, and they
both put their fingers in once, and it
tasted SO nice, and they kept trying,
and the paper tore and the sugar
leaked out and-oh, dear! they were
"tho thorry"
Mrs. Allen, looking very sober, took
what was left of the sugar and went
back to her work, saying they we're
naughty, naughty children, and she
would talk with them by and by; and
the children sat still on the steps and
thought.
"Do you thpothe she'll do anything
worthe than talk, Kitty" sighed
Bobby, at last.
81 guess she will; she looked jefful
solemn"
"That'th bad enough, anyway"
eyes, it makes you feel SO queer in
your stomach"
Sand the thugar wath motht half
gone"
Sand you said it was MICE"
II didn't! I only thaid it looked
like mithe; and it did," very indig
nantly.
"But it couldn't have been, you
know, Bobby Allen"
"No-o."
Then after another long silence,
Kitty broke out: ooh, Bobby, tell
you what! Let's run Anyway,
way off-and never come back till
they've forgotten all about it. And
they'll be SO glad, like the man in the
Bible"
Sand we'll have a fat calf" said
Bobby.
"And beautiful time" Kitty went
on.
"And ring" added Bobby.
eyes, Mammals wedding ring"
"Oh, let's hurry"
And so it came about that Kitty
and Bessy, still weeping, and Bobby
and Fritz, leading the way, crept sly
ly off through the garden gate, down
through the orchard, over the forbid
den wall, and on and on, over more
walls and under fences and through
strange fields.
Bobby said afterward: "Kitty wath
tho perthithtent that when they came
to wall they jutht had to go over"
At length they came to the most
bewitching brook you ever saw,
sparkling and singing away to itself,
bubbling over stones and running
down little slopes in the most en-
chanting "water-fall-overs," as Bobby
called them.
Straight into the water went the
four dusty boots, while their owners
jumped up and down with delight,
and built little dams, and sailed little
ships, and cast away Bessy and Fritz
on the islands and rescued them from
drowning in the greatest excitement;
and they shouted and chartered and
laughed, and forgot all about the
sugar and the talk; when, suddenly,
Bridget, the nursery maid, came
plunging and scrambling over the
wall, with a shrill "Howly Mither!
Sure an here they be, as wet as rats"
And Papa Allen jumped over with
"Thank God," and Mamma Allen
climbed after, crying, ooh John!
they'll catch their deaths a-cold."
They carried the suddenly solemn
truants home-Papa with Bobby,
cold and wet and silent; and Mamma
with Kitty, her feet SO heavy and
queer with the water running out at
the toes of her shoes; and Bridget
bringing up the rear with Fritz and
Bessy, pouring mingled streams of
sawdust and water all the way.
And when they reached home what
hurryings out of wet clothes and
scrubbing of tired little bodies, what
scalding hot drinks and solemn talks
and poppings into bed as followed
Right in the middle of that bright,
sunshiny day, there the two small
sinners lay in the nursery, their noses
all rubbed the wrong way, their skin
all hot and tingling, their throats so
dry and disagreeable, and they could
not talk-nol not one word; and
Fritz and Bessy were down behind