Grandfathers -- Juvenile fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Juvenile fiction; Orphans -- Juvenile fiction; Poor girls -- Juvenile fiction
Glory swept him a curtsy, flashed a radiant smile upon him and was
tempted to hug him; but she refrained from this, not knowing how such a
caress might be received. Then she thanked and thanked him till he bade
her stop, and with her tin cup in her hand sped homeward again, crying:
"Here am I, grandpa! More milk 'an you can shake a stick at, with the
store-man's respeckses an' all. A hull pint! Think o' that! An' only
just a teeny, tiny mite sour. Isn't he the nicest one to give it to us
just for nothin'? An' he's another sort of Elbow folks, though he's off
a bit around the block. Oh, this is just the loveliest world there is!
An' who'd want to go to that old 'Snug Harbor' an' leave such dear, dear
people, I sh'd like to know? Not me nor you, Cap'n Simon Beck, an' you
know it!"
Glory sat down and watched her grandsire make the best dinner he could
upon cold porridge and sour milk, her face radiant with pleasure that
she had been able so well to supply him, and almost forgetting that
horrid, all-gone feeling in her own small stomach. Never mind, a peanut
or so might come her way, if Toni Salvatore, the little Italian with the
long name, should happen to be in a good humor and fling them to her,
for well he knew that of the stock he trusted to her, not a single
goober would be extracted for her personal enjoyment; and this was why
he oftener bestowed upon her a tiny bag of the dainties than upon any
other of his small sales people.
The captain finished his meal and did not distress his darling by
admitting that it was still distasteful, then rose, slung his basket of
frames over his shoulder, took Bo'sn's leading-string, and passed out to
his afternoon's peddling and singing. But, though he had kissed her
good-bye, Glory dashed after him, begging still another and another
caress, and feeling the greatest reluctance to letting him go, yet
equally unwilling to have him stay.
"If he stays here that man will come and maybe get him, whether or no;
an' if he goes, the shiny colonel may meet him outside and take him
anyhow. If only he'd sing alongside o' my peddlin' route! But he won't.
He never will. He hates to hear me holler. He says 'little maids
shouldn't do it'; only I have to, to buy my sewin' things with;
an'----My, I clean forgot Posy Jane's jacket! I must hurry an' finish
it, then off to peanuttin'," pondered the child, and watched the blind
man making his way, so surely and safely, around the corner into the
next street, with Bo'sn walking proudly ahead, what tail he had pointing
skyward and his one good ear pricked forward, intent and listening.
The old captain in the faded uniform he still wore, and the faithful
little terrier, who guided his sightless master through the dangers of
the city streets with almost a human intelligence were to Goober Glory
the two dearest objects in the world, and for them she would do anything
and everything.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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