American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Sunday schools -- United States -- Periodicals
[Illustration: HELEN'S FLOCK, AND HER MISCHIEVOUS BROTHERS.]
Helen's eyes danced with pleasure. The wounded duck soon recovered, and
before the end of summer she had quite a flock of young ducks which
afforded her no end of enjoyment. True she had to watch them closely
and look out for her mischievous brothers lest her flock come to harm,
but she did not mind the trouble. Meantime there was a great interest
growing up among the scholars in missionary enterprises. There were
missionary hens and turkeys; missionary cabbages and turnips, and even
missionary pigs. The months went by and Thanksgiving was near at hand.
After considerable thinking as to the feasibility of the scheme, Miss
Lee, the teacher in Number Five, proposed a plan by which some of the
chickens and turkeys might be disposed of to good advantage. Willie
Smith was the owner of a small printing press, and about two weeks
before Thanksgiving twenty tickets bearing the words, "Thanksgiving
dinner at two o'clock at the schoolhouse. Admit one," were put into
the hands of two of the most energetic boys to be sold at forty cents
each.
"There are a number of people in the neighborhood who will be glad to
get a nice dinner and save themselves the hard work of getting it up,"
reasoned Miss Lee. "Mrs. Graves told me the other day that she should
not try for anything extra this year on account of her lame wrist, and
Miss Smith is so lonely since her brother went away, I am sure she will
be glad to eat her dinner in good company."
Sure enough the twenty tickets were soon sold and more called for.
Twenty more were sent out. "That is positively all we can accommodate,"
said Miss Lee. The dinner was a success. Four large turkeys, three
ducks and a chicken pie or two were disposed of. Interested fathers
and mothers had lent some slight assistance, but for the most part the
work was done by Miss Lee and the scholars. The forty guests were well
pleased with their dinner. The tired mothers were grateful in their
hearts to Miss Lee for the thought which had given them a rest; surely
it was to them a day of Thanksgiving.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account