[Illustration: Phronsie and the Children. (_See Page 21._)] PHRONSIE PEPPER _THE YOUNGEST OF THE “FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS”_ BY MARGARET SIDNEY AUTHOR OF “FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW,” “FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS MIDWAY,” “FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS GROWN-UP” “OLD CONCORD: HER HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS” “THE GOLDEN WEST”, ETC., ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY JESSIE McDERMOTT BOSTON: LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. PEPPER TRADE-MARK Registered in U.S. Patent Office. COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY. _All rights reserved._ _Seventy-first Thousand._ TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON. PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH. _In Memoriam._ TO MY HUSBAND, WHO INSPIRED WHATEVER IS OF WORTH IN THIS, AND IN ALL MY BOOKS. PREFACE. As Phronsie Pepper was the only one of the “Five Little Peppers” who had not a chance to become “grown-up” in the three books that form the Pepper Library, it seemed (to judge by the expressions of those persons interested in this family) a little unfair not to give her that opportunity. The author has had so many letters from the elders, as well as the children, presenting this view of the case, that she has been brought over to that opinion herself. And as Phronsie appeared to have something to say on her own account, that the public, ever kind and attentive to the Peppers, desired to hear, it was thought best to let her speak, to make her appearance as “grown-up,” and then to draw the curtain over the “little brown house” and the “Five Little Peppers,” never more to rise. Nothing was farther from the mind of the author of the “Five Little Peppers” than a series concerning them; for she did not naturally incline to the extension of a book into other volumes. But the portrayal of the lives of the Peppers seemed to be a necessity. They were living, breathing realities to her; and when pressed by many importunate readers to know “more and more” about “Mamsie and Polly, Ben, Joel, David, and Phronsie,” it was only like telling the stories in the twilight hour, of what was so real and vital to their author, that it was as if she were not speaking, but only the scribe to jot it all down as it fell from the lips and the lives of others. And here let the author state, in answer to the question so often asked her, “Did the Peppers _really_ live? and _was_ there any little brown house?” that the whole story is imaginative, existing only in her mind; although they always seemed so alive to her, that she let them talk and move and act from beginning to end without let or hindrance; believing that Margaret Sidney’s part was to simply set down what the Peppers did and said, without trying to make them do or say anything in particular.