 A Real New England Girl by Anna I. Parsons 1. The Shower 2. Oxford County 3. The Stranger and the Girl 4. The Youth and the Girl 5. Pansy and Richard Go Trading 6. The Marvelous Storyteller 7. The Dinner 8. The The Minister Comes for Tea 9. Pansy's Father 10. Pansy and Her Mother 11. Poland Springs 12. The Birthday Cake 13. Ned Patterson Comes for a Visit 14. The Blue Berrying Party 15. The Beginning of Wisdom 16. The Tempted and the Penitent 17. The Concert 18. Stanley's Ride 19. The Bench by the Wayside 20. The Banker and the Widow 21. The Bag of Nuts 22. How They Kept Thanksgiving at Little Farm 23. Hardly a Merry Christimas 24. A Call Down and a Caller 25. The Pride of Mrs. Bradford 26. A Happy New Year 27. Amusement and Winter Sport 28. Kim 29. Richard, the Lion Hearted 30. A Tour of the White Mountains 31. Talking Over the Trip with Henry Bright 32. Thoughts That Lie Too Deep for Words 33. Economics 34. His Toast 35. The Busy Haunts of Man 36. Christmas in New York 37. The Last Night of Their Visit 38. The Language Understood by All 39. Sugaring Off 40. Correspondence 41. Commencement 42. Conclusion Afterward     |
A Happy New Year "A Wonderous fountain yet unsealed: A Casket with its gift concealed: This is the year that for you waits Beyond tomorrow's mystic gates." -- Powers "It is the very best time we have had since you came," said Pansy, on New Year's afternoon, when aglow with color that rivaled her new skating cap and coat, she left the ice pond with Stanley and Richard each dangling a pair of skates over his shoulder. "I'm glad the New Year has begun well and hope the catastrophies, misunderstandings, and trifles of last year will be eliminated," said Stanley, playfully alluding to the name by which the high school professor was commonly known. "Especially the last," said Pansy, with a sigh, "for trifles do not always make perfection, even if there is evidence to the contrary." "I slipped down flat on my back the first thing this morning when I went out. I hope that's not a bad omen for me," said Richard. "It's just a warning that you ought to wear hobnailed boots," said Pansy. Stanley suddenly laughed as if something very amusing had occurred to him: "The first thing I heard when I awoke this morning was Jerry calling cajock! cajock! cajock! I jumped up and went to the window, and found one of the horses had broke loose and Jerry was trying to corral it. Wilton had volunteered to help him, and while he can serve a dinner all right or make a welsh rabbit if necessary, he was about as much good as nothing at all in catching the horse, so I put on my bathrobe and slippers and went down to see if I could do any better. The horse had become real antic, and would go within a few feet of Jerry and then kick up its heels and race off again. I stood out by one of the big elms, and the third or fourth time the horse raced by, I managed to get my arms around its neck, and hung on until Jerry came with a halter. About this time, I think every woman in our house, including Mrs. Pike and the maids, were out on the piazza, screaming for me to let go and to come in. I had lost off my slippers in the tussle, and so got on the horse and had sort of a triumphant ride back to the stable with Jerry as groom leading the horse, and the ladies shouting their epithets of disapproval from the piazza. It was great! Father was the only one who didn't prophecy some terrible calamity would befall me if I keep to my course trying to subdue horses." "I haven't anything so exciting to relate," said Pansy, "but I was kept pretty busy when we were getting breakfast, for the coffee boiled over, the oatmeal went dry, the eggs burst, and the muffins got scotched. I thought that was a pretty bad beginning, but mother said it was only because we were trying to make the fire offset the weather." "Wish I were going to be here another week," said Stanley, "so we could do some snow shoeing together. I tried on Jerry's yesterday and found I could, at least, walk if my gait was not altogether graceful. Alice Hewlett said it reminded her of an elephant she saw in the streets of New York trying to walk through some hot tar with which the paving was being repaired." "You must have been doing the goose step," said Richard. "You don't want to pick your feet up much in walking with snow shoes, but just slide them along. Pansy and I could show you how. A man in Norway made all the snow shoes for Peary when he made his trip of discovery to the North Pole. He could make you some rackets that would be worth having." "Guess I'll have Jerry lay in a couple of pairs for future use." "You are going to stay for supper with us," said Pansy, as they neared the house. "Yes, if you don't mind running the risk of having Alice Hewett and some of the others call on you afterwards." "We'll take a chance for the sake of your company. We survived her other visit, but mother was a little startled at the way she talked about dogs, cards, winnings, dancing, and the theatre, just as if we were all dog-fanciers, gamblers, dancers, and theatre-goers. If she comes in tonight, Stanley, you sit beside her, and if she starts to talk about something of which Mother doesn't approve, you tread on her toes and stop her. It's all right for Richard and me to hear such things; we know it's just a New York way, but we don't want Mother shocked again." "Pansy," said Stanley, controlling his risibles and speaking with gravity, "I'll have to take exception to your statement, that 'it's just a New York way.' It's Alice's way, but she isn't the whole of New York by any means." "I didn't mean, Stanley, that it was your way, for after all, you are half a New Englander." "I hope we get that old straw thoroughly threshed out some day," he said facetiously, as he opened the door to the storm entry for her. That was indeed a happy evening for them all, and Stanley retained the memory of it long after he had returned to New York and resumed his studies at college. He sat in the kitchen and fondled the house cat that purred contentedly in his lap while Mrs. Bradford made the biscuit for supper. He watched Pansy deftly arranging the table in the living room. He discussed abstruse subjects with Ruth and inwardly admired her acumen and breadth of thought. He listened to Mr. Alden's logging experiences, and made inquiries as to the present market for lumber. He ate the wholesome food set before him with a relish equaled only by that of Pansy and Richard whose youth alone saved them from being called epicureans at the table. While Mrs. Bradford and Pansy were doing the dishes after supper, he and Richard, with a couple of broom handles sawed off for the purpose, engaged in a fencing bout which, if exceedingly amateurish, at least afforded Pansy much amusement. "You look like a couple of spread eagles," she said, as they stood on guard in carts. "Fencing is said to be a means of acquiring grace," said Stanley, pausing with broomstick crossed with that of Richard's, "but we didn't expect to be compared to the kings of the air with only a single pinion to flutter about." "The attributes of majesty is always a noun in the singular number." "And easier to parry than the wit of a girl." Then the main bout was on in good earnest, and Pansy went back to the dishes, but a soft laugh now and then indicated that she was not too busy to keep an eye on the substitute foils clicking so regularly at the other end of the kitchen. When the work was finished and they were all seated in the living room about the stove that showed a cheerful blaze through the isinglass doors, Stanley gave them a conundrum that he had thought up for their amusement. "In what respect is Theodore Roosevelt like Oxford County?" he asked. "They are both located east of Washington," said Pansy, after a pause. "They are both impaled with granite," said Ruth. "I think it is because his teeth are prominent like the Oxford County hills," said Richard. "Your answers may be just as good as mine," said Stanley, laying a small note book down on his knee, "but this is what I wrote: "Both have their bears With natures surely strange; And both ever have in view The Presidential Range." "Good!" said Richard, clapping his hands. "Our family must be all like politicians, for we're always looking toward the Presidential Range," said Pansy. "I see you are beginning to put local color into things," observed Ruth. "What's the next?" asked Richard. "The next conundrum is a problem," said Stanley, thoughtfully. "I will take you away from the home field and see what you can do. The Erie Canal is three hundred and fifty two miles long, and runs from Buffalo to Troy. A canal boat leaves Buffalo for Troy, travelling at the rate of four and one-half miles an hour. At the same time another canal boat leaves Troy for Buffalo, travelling at the rate of four and one-quarter miles an hour. At what point will they pass each other?" Pansy went for pads and pencils, and soon there was figuring that would have done credit to the old district school that reveled in numbers. Mr. Alden looked over Richard's shoulder, occasionally making a suggestion. "Let's look at your paper, Ruth," said Pansy, after a few minutes. "We have it both the same -- one hundred and eighty-one and 1/35 miles from Buffalo in forty and 8/35 hours," announced Pansy. "At one hundred and seventy and 34/35 miles from Troy," announced Richard. "You have all won on a foreign field," said Stanley laughing. "Three cheers and a ripple of blue!" After that he told them more tales of college life than his mother and Julia had ever heard from him, and when he had bade them all good bye until good old summer time should come again, and was walking toward home in the keen winter night, he asked himself why he who had always been used to urban life at this season should feel so much regret at returning to it again. He had heard other young men say, that in the country they had difficulty in finding sport, but his difficulty seemed to be in choosing it. "The Bradfords," he reflected, "are friends to me within the definition of the Boston girl -- they see my best, call my best, answer to my best, and that's the whole sequel." When he reached his own home, the lights were bright, the music good, and ladies in soft raiment were gliding about in steps called "The latest," but he turned and gave one long, lingering look up the gradient ere he opened the door of admission to these delights. Click Here for Chapter 27 |