The Magician's Show Box, and Other StoriesTappan, Caroline Sturgis
Science
The Magician's Show Box, and Other Stories
Tappan, Caroline Sturgis
Children's stories; Fairy tales
“I suppose I did look rather cowed; but if you had gone through what I
did! It was all very well the first night, though I slept on the floor
of a miserable little hut,--well, I may as well compress it, for I see
you know something about it,--in the bed, then, of that little ragged
berry girl who lives up on the mountain. I slept on the floor at
first, but it was so cold that I had to give in.”
“You might have foreseen, then, how long you would hold out with Madam
Irving.”
“Now, Fanny, you know I have always said--but it's no use. Well,
girls, I lay awake most all that night arranging my plans for the next
day. When I left the school, I had some vague idea of going home on
foot,--three hundred miles, you know,--with nothing but that little
bundle, (how long it took me to make up that bundle! I thought I never
should get off;) but then I feared I should be sent back, and the idea
of facing Madam Irving after taking leave of her as I had done--”
“Yes, it did come hard; I really pitied you.”
“Fanny, you are too bad. Well, my mind was made up that night, and
every thing was clear before me for the next day's campaign. It seems
that word made a great impression on that little, impertinent
Jenny. She was here the other day at the door with her berry basket;
and when she saw me, do you think, she looked up sidewise, with the
smile those girls have, and said, in a subdued way, 'Campaign.' I
wished she were in Guinea. To think of the solemn way in which I had
talked to that girl about the importance of the step I was to take,
and confided to her all the reasons for my leaving a society with
which I could not agree, and giving up all the associations in which I
had been born, and which were at variance with my views of life, and
living henceforth dependent upon no one but myself; for I was really
quite eloquent, I assure you, and inspired her with such enthusiasm
that she readily agreed to follow me, and share, as my servant, the
fortunes of the new life which opened before me. Poor thing! She had
nothing to lose, and every thing was gain to her. She had nothing to
come down to, either; for with her bare feet she was as near the
ground as she could be, and I had still a pair of shoes between me and
the rough fields over which we rambled all that day, though I did
think of taking them off at first, as I did not wish to have any
advantage over her. I found, however, before night, the advantage was
altogether on her side, for she made nothing of stones, and brambles,
and bushes, that put me out of breath, and tore me all to pieces. What
a sight I was that evening as we came to an overhanging rock on the
mountain side, and chose it as our camp for the night. The sun was
just setting over an immense tract of country, entirely new to me; and
I might have been on the Cordilleras for any thing that I recognized
in that scene. It occurred to me, that, although, when out on a ride
or a walk before, I always took notice of every thing, here I had been
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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