Dotty Dimple At Home.
by Sophie May.
CHAPTER I.
THE LION AND THE LAMB.
Dotty Dimple, after a night of pleasant sleep, greeted herself in the morning with a groan. It was as if she had said,--
"O, dear! _you_ here again, Dotty? Why didn"t you sleep longer?"
Prudy noticed the cloud on her sister"s face in a moment; she saw she had "waked up wrong."
Now I have never told you how peculiarly trying it was to live with Dotty Dimple. She seemed to have, at the same time, the nature of a lion and a lamb. When the lion raged, then her eyes blazed, and she looked as if she belonged in a menagerie; but when nothing occurred to rouse her wild temper, she was as gentle and tender as a little lamb frisking by its mother"s side on a summer"s day.
Indeed, if I were to describe the loveliness of her manners, and the sweetness of her face, I ought to dip my pen in liquid sunshine; whereas, the blackest of ink would not be at all too dark to draw her picture when she was out of temper.
In her earliest childhood it had been worse than it was now. Then she had not tried in the least to control herself, and the lion had had his own way. After one of her wild outbursts, she would follow her mother about the house, saying, in a soft, pleading voice,--
"Say, mamma, is I your little comfort?"
Before answering Dotty, the poor mother had to call to mind all the good things the child had ever said or done, and fancy how dreadful it would be to lose her. Then she would reply,--
"Yes, Dotty, you are mamma"s dear little girl; but mamma doesn"t like your naughty, naughty ways."
This failed to satisfy Miss Dimple. She would cry out again, in heart-broken tones,--
"Is I your little comfort, mamma? _Is_ I?"
So, sooner or later, Mrs. Parlin was obliged, for the sake of peace, to kiss the child, and answer, "Yes." Then, perhaps, for twenty-four hours the lion would be curled up, asleep, and out of sight in his den, and the lamb would be playfully frisking about the house, a pet for everybody.
But often and often, when Susy and Prudy came in from school or play, they found their baby sister in disgrace, perched upon the wood-box in the kitchen, with feet and hands firmly tied. There she would sit, throwing out the loudest noise possible from her little throat. It was the young lion again, roaring in his cage.
Prudy, though her heart swelled with pity, dared not say,--
"Don"t scream so, little sister! Please don"t pound so with your feet!"
For when the lion fits were on, it was always safest to let the unhappy child alone. Prudy, who had no more temper than a humming-bird, and Susy, who was only moderately fretful once in a while, were made very unhappy by Dotty"s dreadful behavior. At such times as I describe, they even looked guilty, and cast down their eyes, for they could not help feeling their sister"s conduct as a family disgrace. They never spoke to any one about it, and bore all her freaks with wonderful patience. When the little one plucked at their hair or ears, they said, pitifully,--
"It"s worse for her than it is for us. It makes her throat _so_ sore to scream so."
They were especially careful never to provoke her to wrath. Perhaps, for the sake of peace, they yielded to her too much. If there was anything Dotty dearly loved, it was her own way; and the thing she most heartily despised was "giving up."
At the time of which we now write she was no longer a mere baby, and her "reasons," as Prudy had said, were "beginning to grow." She was never placed on the wood-box now, with hands and feet tied; and as for pulling hair, she was ashamed of the practice.
On this particular morning she had "waked up wrong." You all know what that means. Perhaps her dream stopped in the most interesting place, or perhaps some of the wonderful machinery of her body was out of order, and caused a twitching of the delicate nerves which lie under the skin.
At any rate, when the cloudy sun peeped through the white curtains of Dotty"s pleasant chamber, he found that little lady out of sorts.
"There, now, how long have you been awake, Prudy? Why didn"t you speak?"
"O, it isn"t anywhere near breakfast time, Dotty; Norah hasn"t ground the coffee yet."
"Then I should think she might! She knows I"m hungry, and that makes her be as slow as a board nail!--I"ll tell you what I wish, Prudy. I wish the whole world was a "normous cling-stone peach, so I could keep eating for always, and never come to the stone."
"I don"t know," replied Prudy, pleasantly. "I believe I"d rather have it a Bartlett pear--dead ripe."
"H"m! You may have your old _Bartnot_ pears, Prudy Parlin; n.o.body wants "em but just you! The next sweet, juicy peach that comes into this house I"ll eat it myself, "cause you don"t like peaches; you just said you didn"t!"
Prudy was considerate enough to make no reply. By living with Dotty, she had learned many lessons in "holding her peace."
"Perhaps we"d better get up," suggested she, rubbing her eyes.
Whereupon Dotty pursed her little red lips.
"Let"s play keep house," answered she, for the sake of being cross-grained.
"Well, I don"t care much," said Prudy, anxious to keep the peace.
They proceeded to make a tent of the upper sheet, and converse upon the trials of this troublesome life, as Mr. and Mrs. Carter, the two heads of a family.
"There"s our Sammy," said Prudy, dolefully, "our poor Sammy. I don"t see, Mrs. Carter, what we shall do with that boy. Within a day or two he has taken to stealing acorns!"
"Acorns!" responded Dotty, in a tragic tone. "O, Mr. Carter, I _sejest_ the best thing we can do is to stand him up in the sink, and pump water on him!"
"I never thought of that, my dear wife! You are prob"bly correct!--prob"bly correct.--But what course _shall_ we pursue with Mary Ann, and Julia Ann, and Anna Maria? They all bite their finger nails--bite "em down to the double-quick."
"I would sejest, sejest--why don"t you give those children some _proxitude_ of iron, my dear--through a knitting-needle? Hark!"
continued she, as Prudy scratched the top of the tent with her forefinger. "There"s a mouse in this house, Mr. Carter: you must set a trap as quick as you can spring!"
"Very correct," replied the obedient husband, "very correct, Mrs.
Carter. I"ll call Jerusha to toast some cheese. Je-ru-_shay_!"
"What do you mean by Jerusha, Mr. Carter? We haven"t any in the house."
"O, she is our chambermaid, my dear."
"But I won"t "_low_ her to be Jerusher, Mr. Carter!"
"But, my dear wife, Jerusha is a proper name; it belongs to her."
"No, it isn"t a proper name either; it"s a very _improper_ name, Prudy Parlin; and if you call her Jerusher so, I"ll get us both _dis-vosed_!"
Prudy saw it was useless to continue the game: Dotty was not in a mood to be satisfied. The two children arose and dressed themselves, Prudy taking peculiar care not to finish her own toilet first.
"I"m going to tell you something," said Dotty, grimly, "but you mustn"t tell mamma. I"ve made up my mind to be naughty!"
"To be naughty?"