WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO [Illustration: SOMEWHERE BEYOND SEALED DOORS] WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL BY ZONA GALE AUTHOR OF “THE LOVES OF PELLEAS AND ETARRE,” “FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE,” ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY AGNES PELTON New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1913 _All rights reserved_ Copyright, 1911, by The Curtis Publishing Company. COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1913. Norwood Press J. B. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. To THE LITTLE GIRL ON CONANT STREET AND TO THE MEMORY OF HER GRANDMOTHER HARRIET BEERS CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. IN THOSE DAYS 1 II. IN NO TIME 16 III. ONE FOR THE MONEY 35 IV. THE PICNIC 53 V. THE KING’S TRUMPETER 77 VI. MY LADY OF THE APPLE TREE 103 VII. THE PRINCESS ROMANCIA 118 VIII. TWO FOR THE SHOW 147 IX. NEXT DOOR 159 X. WHAT’S PROPER 173 XI. DOLLS 192 XII. BIT-BIT 211 XIII. WHY 228 XIV. KING 247 XV. KING (_continued_) 281 XVI. THE WALK 307 XVII. THE GREAT BLACK HUSH 315 XVIII. THE DECORATION OF INDEPENDENCE 329 XIX. EARTH-MOTHER 354 XX. THREE TO MAKE READY 375 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Somewhere beyond sealed doors _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE Sat on a rock in the landscape and practised 32 Little by little she grew silent and refused to join in the games 128 But the minute folk left the room--ah, then! 168 She settled everything in that way; she counted the petals of fennel daisies and blew thistle from dandelions 196 Then out of the valley a great deev arose 216 To see what running away is really like 316