Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: She began her first letter to the father she did not know or understand. (_Page 296._)] TABITHA AT IVY HALL BY RUTH ALBERTA BROWN ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALFRED RUSSELL c THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK _MADE IN U. S. A._ Copyright, 1911 by THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY To My Mother CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE HATEFUL NAME 11 II. TABITHA CHOOSES A NEW NAME 33 III. TABITHA ADOPTS HER NEW NAME 45 IV. THE NEW NAME CAUSES TABITHA TROUBLE 63 V. TABITHA IS COMFORTED 81 VI. A DOG AND A CAT 93 VII. THE NEW BOY 105 VIII. TABITHA BEGS PARDON 127 IX. A BRAVE LITTLE CATT 137 X. CARRIE GOES AWAY TO SCHOOL 155 XI. A FIRE IN THE NIGHT 171 XII. DR. VANE HAS A VISITOR 185 XIII. AUNT MARIA DECIDES THE QUESTION 201 XIV. TABITHA'S ROOM-MATE 221 XV. THE FIRST NIGHT AT IVY HALL 239 XVI. MADAME'S ADVICE 253 XVII. HOLIDAY PLANS 269 XVIII. TABITHA'S CHRISTMAS 283 XIX. A STRIKE! 299 XX. A HAPPY HOME 309 TABITHA AT IVY HALL CHAPTER I THE HATEFUL NAME "She leaned far out on the window-sill, And shook it forth with a royal will. 'Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, But spare your country's flag,' she said." The black eyes of the little speaker burned with fiery indignation as she hurled these words of defiance at a ten-quart pail of blackberries standing in the middle of the dusty road where she had set it when the emotion of her recital had overcome her to such a degree that mere words were no longer effective and gestures had become absolutely necessary. She was living it herself. What did it matter that there was no rebel army confronting her, what did it matter that the town of Frederick lay hundreds of miles away, what did it matter that she was merely a slip of a girl living fifty years after the terrible scenes of war which inspired the words she was reciting?