E-text prepared by David E. Siegel, Marcia Brooks, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 23992-h.htm or 23992-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/9/9/23992/23992-h/23992-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/9/9/23992/23992-h.zip) A MISSIONARY TWIG. by EMMA L. BURNETT. [Illustration: A Missionary Twig. FRONTISPIECE.] [Illustration: Editor's arm] American Tract Society, 150 Nassau Street, New York. Copyright, 1890, American Tract Society. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Edith Tries to Explain 5 CHAPTER II. What Mrs. Howell told them 14 CHAPTER III. Marty Gets Started 21 CHAPTER IV. Wholes instead of Tenths 29 CHAPTER V. The Ebony Chair 39 CHAPTER VI. The Empty Box 46 CHAPTER VII. How Missions Helped the Home Folks 54 CHAPTER VIII. "Not in the Good Times" 61 CHAPTER IX. Jennie 72 CHAPTER X. Laura Amelia 82 CHAPTER XI. The Good Shepherd 91 CHAPTER XII. "Now Don't Forget!" 99 CHAPTER XIII. Off to the Mountains 108 CHAPTER XIV. A Plan and a Talk 115 CHAPTER XV. The Mountain Mission-Band 126 CHAPTER XVI. A Flower Sale 135 CHAPTER XVII. Weeding 144 CHAPTER XVIII. The Hotel Missionary Meeting 156 CHAPTER XIX. The Garden Missionary Meeting 166 CHAPTER XX. Cousin Alice's Zenana Work 177 CHAPTER XXI. Rosa Stevenson's Sister 189 A MISSIONARY TWIG. CHAPTER I. EDITH TRIES TO EXPLAIN. "I do think Edith is the queerest girl I ever saw in all my life!" said Marty Ashford. "Don't jump up and down behind my chair that way, Marty," said her mother; "you shake me so that I can scarcely hold my needle. What does Edith do that is so queer?" "Oh, she's always putting ten into things." "Putting ten into things?" "Yes'm. I mean when she gets any money she always says ten will go into it so many times, and then she takes a tenth of it--you know we learn about tenths in fractions at school--and goes and puts it in a blue box she has." "I should call that taking ten out of things." "Well, whatever it is, that's what she does. Every time she gets ten cents she puts one cent in her blue box." "What does she do if she only gets five cents?"