Bildungsromans; Communities -- Juvenile fiction; First loves -- Juvenile fiction; Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- History -- Juvenile fiction
Spring came with a rush. Barbe Carrick glanced out of the south window
one morning and called her little girl.
"Look, Dilly, the daffodils are opening and they make the garden
fairly joyous. They are like the sun."
There was a long border of them. The green stalks stood up stiff like
guards and the yellow heads nodded as if they were laughing. Wild
hyacinths were showing color as well, but these were the first save a
few snowdrops and violets one found in woody nooks. Birds were singing
and flying to and fro in search of nesting places.
Pittsburg was not much of a town then, but its surroundings were
beautiful. The two rivers were rushing and foaming now in their wild
haste to pour their overflow into the Ohio. The houses had begun to
stretch out beyond the Fort. Colonel Campbell some years before had
laid out several streets, the nucleus of the coming city. Then Thomas
Hickory completed the plans and new houses were in the course of
erection. Still the great business of the time was in the hands of
the Indian traders that the French had found profitable. Beyond were
farms, and the great tract, afterward to be Allegheny City, lay in
fields and woods.
A post road had been ordered by the government between Philadelphia
and the town. And there were plans for a paper. For now most people
were convinced that the war was at an end, and the Southern cities had
been turned over to the Continental government.
There was a brisk, stirring air pervading the place. Business projects
were discussed. Iron had been discovered, in fact the whole land was
rich in minerals. The traders were bringing down their furs. It had
not been a specially cold winter and in this latitude the spring came
earlier.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" The child clapped her hands. "Can't I bring in
some of them?"
"Oh, yes. But pick only the largest ones. Leave the others on to
grow."
She came in with an apron full. "Some are for grandfather," she said.
"Yes, fill this bowl and put it on his table."
She had just finished when he came out. He was always immaculate, and
his hair had the silvery tint. His daughter saw that it was always
neatly brushed and the queue tied with a black ribbon. He was growing
a trifle thinner and weaker.
"Oh, little one," he cried, "did you get a posy for me? Is it your
birthday?" and he stooped to kiss the golden hair, then the rosy lips.
"Her birthday will not be until next week," said her mother.
"I had forgotten. I am almost a hundred. And she is----"
"Seven."
"And when I get to be a hundred I'll have a little table like yours,
and read out of the Bible, and we'll talk over things that happened
when we were children."
He laughed and patted her shoulder. "I shall not be here," he said
slowly.
"Oh, where are you going? I do not want you to go away," and she drew
an apprehensive breath.
"We do not always stay in one place. I came from France years and
years ago. And I shall go to another country, heaven. It is always
summer there."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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