The Little Girl Lost: A Tale for Little GirlsRaper, Eleanor
General
The Little Girl Lost: A Tale for Little Girls
Raper, Eleanor
British -- China -- Juvenile fiction; China -- Juvenile fiction; Missing children -- Juvenile fiction
Baby Buckle did not know her, of course, and the coat she had brought
him was too small, as he had grown very much. But he was 'darlinger'
than ever, Nelly said. Bessie Bates and Liza and Bertha were delighted
to see Nelly, but they seemed shy with her at first, and Bob Bates and
Arthur Macdonald treated her almost as though she had been a grown-up
lady. She was not very well all the summer, and the doctor advised a
change. 'England,' he said, 'would be a good thing.' 'And school,' added
Mr. Grey. And to England Nelly went in the autumn with her mother and An
Ching. She was left with her aunt in Brighton, where she attended a day
school near her brother Tom's. An Ching stayed with her and learnt to
speak English very well. The people of Brighton used to stare at An
Ching almost as much as the Chinese did at Nelly when she was stolen in
Peking. She became a Christian in time and used to go to church
regularly. Two years later, Arthur Macdonald came to Tom's school and
often spent his holiday afternoons at Nelly's aunt's. Bob and Bessie
Bates went to school in America, but Liza and Bertha stayed with their
governess in Peking. Baby Buckle grew into a very mischievous little
boy; so troublesome was he that his father decided to send him home, and
he, too, when he was a very small boy, came to the school where Tom had
been. Nelly used to go and see him and bring him to her aunt's. No
matter how naughty he was, she always made excuses for him. 'He was such
a darling baby, you know,' she used to say.
Little Yi never tired of telling her adventures, and all her female
relatives, none of whom had ever been outside Peking, looked upon her as
a great traveller. Chi Fu studied so well that he became a school
teacher in the Church Mission. His parents admired him more than ever,
and left Yung Ching to come and live near him. One day he received a
letter from Nelly in English, and was able to read it to them in Chinese
quite easily.
'He is a great scholar, my son,' said the good Chang to himself.
It was the proudest day of his life!
FINIS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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