BOOKS BY ELSIE SINGMASTER When Sarah Saved the Day When Sarah Went to School Gettysburg Katy Gaumer Emmeline The Long Journey The Life of Martin Luther John Baring's House Basil Everman Ellen Levis Bennett Malin The Hidden Road A Boy at Gettysburg Bred in the Bone Keller's Anna Ruth 'Sewing Susie' What Everybody Wanted Virginia's Bandit You Make Your Own Luck A Little Money Ahead WHEN SARAH SAVED THE DAY [Illustration: SARAH DID NOT SPEAK, SHE ONLY HID HER EYES (page 126)] WHEN SARAH SAVED THE DAY BY ELSIE SINGMASTER WITH ILLUSTRATIONS [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY ELSIE SINGMASTER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM _Published October 1909_ PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. TO CAROLINE HOOPES SINGMASTER CONTENTS I. Uncle Daniel's Offer 1 II. The Rebels take to Arms 24 III. Uncle Daniel steals a March 44 IV. There is Company to Supper 62 V. The Blow falls 79 VI. The Orphans' Court 97 VII. "And now We will go Home" 116 ILLUSTRATIONS SARAH DID NOT SPEAK, SHE ONLY HID HER EYES (Page 126) _Frontispiece_ GO AWAY AND LEAVE ME WITH MY CHILDREN 20 THE STATION AGENT LOOKED AT THEM CURIOUSLY 94 UNCLE DANIEL SMILED AND DREW OUT TWO SHINING DOLLARS 112 WHEN SARAH SAVED THE DAY CHAPTER I UNCLE DANIEL'S OFFER Sarah Wenner, who was fifteen years old, but who did not look more than twelve, hesitated in the doorway between the kitchen and the best room, a great tray of tumblers and cups in her hands. "Those knives and forks we keep always in here, Aunt Mena. We do not use them for every day." Her aunt, Mena Illick, lifted the knives from the drawer where she had laid them. One could see from her snapping black eyes that she did not enjoy being directed by Sarah. But order was order, and no one ever justly accused a Pennsylvania German housewife of not putting things where they belonged. She laid the knives on the table for Sarah to put away. The kitchen seemed strangely lonely and empty that evening, in spite of the number of persons who were there.