A Little Girl of Long Ago; Or, Hannah Ann: A Sequel to a Little Girl in Old New YorkDouglas, Amanda M.
History
A Little Girl of Long Ago; Or, Hannah Ann: A Sequel to a Little Girl in Old New York
Douglas, Amanda M.
New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1775-1865 -- Fiction
Oh, how glad she was to get back to school! There were so many things to
learn. But Dolly had to have her one Saturday; and Mrs. French came over
and took her to the house Beautiful. Ben was quite in love with Mrs.
French. And now they were filling up the conservatory for winter
blooming; and Hanny wished _they_ could have some house-flowers. Her
mother had hydrangeas and an oleander; but they were put in the end of
the stable for winter.
Now and then she went up to Margaret's to stay all night. Daisy was
growing to be almost as lovely as Stevie had been; and though she did
not suggest Daisy Jasper, the name always recalled her dear friend. And
Stevie was quite a big boy. He was getting some rough ways, too, and
wanted to drive Hanny about for a horse, just as he did papa.
Great-grandmother Van Kortland had knit him some beautiful horse-lines.
And Annie was such a sweet little thing! Stevie wished she was a little
brother, "'tause dirls ain't no dood," he said. "You'm dot to be so
tareful." He talked quite crooked, and could not pronounce "g" at all.
He said "umbebella" and "peaapoket" and "tea-tettletel." Philadelphia
always floored him. But then he had been Hanny's first love, and she
could never forget the Christmas morning when he came.
There had been another exciting matter as well, and this was a
presidential election. Zachary Taylor, Old Rough and Ready, as he was
called, had become a great hero to her. She found that he had served
gallantly in the War of 1812, fought against the mighty Tecumseh, and
been in the Black Hawk War, beside all the late Mexican engagements,
where he had so distinguished himself. At the nomination, she had been a
little sorry to have her old favourite Harry Clay superseded, and
General Scott was a war-veteran as well. Then there had been famous
Daniel Webster, whose speeches were the favourite of school-boys, though
they had not banished Patrick Henry. But the real race was between Cass,
Van Buren, Charles Francis Adams and himself; and Old Rough and Ready
won. She wore a rough-and-ready straw bonnet this fall; all the girls
did.
Margaret agitated the school question again. Hanny ought to be making
some useful friends, and though the "First Avenue and First Street girls
might be very nice--"
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Underhill. "She's too little to be sent so
far off. And I don't want any lovers put in her head this many a year."
Margaret was getting to be rather aristocratic. She kept her whole house
now, and had a maid-servant beside the coloured "boy." Some stylish
people were building up-town. Dr. Hoffman had a good many friends, and
he was very proud of his handsome wife. But Mrs. Underhill sometimes
said, in the bosom of her family, that Margaret "put on airs."
Hanny was well satisfied, and found a great many things to learn at Mrs.
Craven's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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