The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-01-04

Oily, Lne WORDS rising lntO SnIlek
of dismay, if II didn't most forget my
lucky sixpence!"
Billy's eyes rolled and blinked Gu
riously and he gulped at the air once
as if struggling to speak.
"JiminyW he exclaimed, with
kind of perfunctory sympathy.
Leslie flew upstairs. Presently she
was down again, clutching tiny
purse tightly.
Goodness knows what might have
happened" she later confided to her
aunt, "if / hadn't remembered to
bring my lucky sixpence. You see l
found it one day, and old Nanny
Name was washing at our house; and
she said, Longs you wear that round
your neck, honey, or carry it in your
pocket, you won't have no bad luck,
nor nothin's goin' to happen your
So it would be terrible if I'd forgot
ten it noww And tighter still she
held the little purse, as if therein lay
immunity from all evil.
Leslie saw sights in the days that
followed which made her dusk blue
eyes open like morning glories in the
sunshine that follows dawn. She
saw Omaha, precipitous, picturesque,
progressive, with it's odd little houses
perched high on it's clay banks, its
homelike streets, and it's electric cars
whirring up and down. She saw st.
Louis, staid and conservative, its fine
old residences looking strangely des-
ecrated by the smart shop buildings
which had sprung up around them.
She saw the crowded streets of
Chicago, and looked from the Audi
forum tower across the tossing wat
ers Of Lake Michigan. She trotted
down the shallow steps leading from
the Capitol at Washington, saw Penn
sylvania Avenue all gayly glittering
at night, and peered in at the pillared
portico of the White House. She
wandered through the quaint parks,
the handsome streets, the tempting
stores of Philadelphia; and she felt
herself the wisest of little women
when she reached New York.
eff" she said to her aunt, with
sigh of satisfaction, as they ate their
breakfast on the dining car steaming
into the Empire City, eff it wasn't for
my lucky sixpence, we'd never be
eating these lovely griddle-cakes
now, would wei"
Mrs. Chalmers smiled at the solemn
little face opposite. How is that
dear!" she questioned.
"Well, you see there was that
bridge outside Omaha that burned
up. The train we came on might
have been on that bridge at that
time, if we hadn't come the day be-
fore. Then there was that cyclone in
Illinois. We might have been blowed
away in that, if we got to Chicago be-
fore the day after. The rain in Phil
adelphia that made streets so muddy
might have drowned us if there was
enough of it; and the train that took
us over the river might have tumbled
off into the water, but, triumphantly,
nothing bad happened to us because
I brought my lucky sixpencep
Her aunt nodded.
"Once," Leslie continued gravely,
ga cat came into our back yard. We
think she was mad, cause she talked
through her teeth. She would have
bited Billy, only came out and
throwed a stone at her, and she ran
away, because l had my lucky six
pence in my pocket"
Indeed" Mrs. Chalmers said in
terestedly.
eyes, and there" impressively,
"were our chickens. A great big hawk
was just a-figgering down to catch
them; and I chased them quick into
the covered coop, and fastened the
door, so she couldn't. l had my
lucky sixpence tied around my neck
that morning"
"Graciousl" calculated Mrs. Chal-
mers.
ooh, that wasn't muchp averred
Leslie, deprecatingly. "Once my
lucky sixpence saved my life. There
was lovely fair at the county seat.
They had merry go-round there,
and some colored people who sang in
tent. A boy got run over and killed;
but didn't"
"How did that happen7"
"That I didn't get killed. Oh, l
couldn't find my lucky sixpence, SO l
stayed at home"
ooh" comprehensively.
There never in this world was
little girl who kept her ears so wide
open for accidents and calamities and
cafacfropbias Of oil kipdo nc I aSI;a