Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team. ELSIE'S CHILDREN A SEQUEL TO "ELSIE'S MOTHERHOOD" By MARTHA FINLEY Complete Authorized Edition Published by arrangement with Dodd, Mead and Company A.L. BURT COMPANY PUBLISHERS New York Chicago DODD, MEAD & COMPANY. 1877 1905, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY. Preface. With this volume, bringing the Story of Elsie and her Children down to the present time, the series closes. It was not by request of the author's _personal_ friends, that either this or any one of the previous volumes was written, but in acquiescence with the demands of the Public--the friends and admirers of Elsie herself; and we know that as child, as young girl, as wife and mother, she has had many friends who have been loath to part with her. May they find neither her nor her children less lovable in this, than in the earlier volumes, and may their society prove sweet, comforting and helpful to many readers and friends both old and new. M.F. Elsie's Children. CHAPTER FIRST. "Of all the joys that brighten suffering earth, What joy is welcom'd like a new-born child." --MRS. NORTON. A merry scene in the nursery at Viamede, where the little Travillas are waiting for their morning half hour with "dear mamma." Mammy coming in smiling and mysterious, her white apron thrown over something held carefully in her arms, bids the children guess what it is. "A new dolly for me?" says Vi; "I'm going to have a birthday to-morrow." "A kite," ventured Harold. "No, a balloon." "A tite! a tite!" cried little Herbert, clapping his hands. "Pshaw! it's nothing but a bundle of clothes mammy's been doing up for one of you girls," said Eddie. "I see a bit of lace or work, or something, hanging down below her apron." "Is it a new dress for Vi, mammy?" asked Elsie, putting her arm about her sister and giving her a loving kiss. "Yah, yah; you ain't no whar nigh it yet, chillens," laughed mammy, dropping into a chair, and warding off an attempt on the part of little Herbert to seize her prize and examine it for himself. "Oh, it's alive," cried Harold, half breathlessly, "I saw it move!" Then as a slight sound followed the movement, "A baby! a baby!" they all exclaim, "O, mammy, whose is it? where did you get it? oh, sit down and show it to us!" "Why, chillen, I reckon it 'longs to us," returned mammy, complying with the request, while they gathered closely about her with eager and delighted faces. "Ours, mammy? Then I'm glad it isn't black or yellow like the babies down at the quarter," said Harold, eying it with curiosity and interest. "So am I too," remarked Violet, "but it's got such a red face and hardly any hair on the top of its head." "Well, don't you remember that's the way Herbie looked when he first came?" said Eddie. "And he grew very white in a few weeks," remarked Elsie. "But is it mamma's baby, mammy?"