PRUDY"S LECTURE.
"We must keep good company, Dotty, or not any at all. This is a fact.
"Even an apple is known by the company it keeps. Grandpa Parlin says if you put apples in a potato bin, they won"t taste like apples--they"ll taste like potatoes.
"Sometimes I think, Dotty, you"d be as good and nice as a summer-sweeting, if you wouldn"t play with naughty children, like Lina Rosenberg; but if you do, you"ll be like a potato, as true as you live.
"Finis."
CHAPTER IX.
THANKSGIVING DAY.
The next day was Thanksgiving. Dotty wakened in such a happy mood that it seemed to her the world had never looked so bright before.
"I don"t think, Prudy, it"s the turkey and plum pudding we"re going to have that makes me so happy--do you?"
"What is it, then, little sister?"
"O, it"s "cause I dreamed I was sleeping on pin-feathers, and woke up and found I wasn"t. You"d feel a great deal better, Prudy, if you"d run away and had such a dreadful time, and got home again."
"I don"t want to try it," returned Prudy, with a smile.
"No; but it"s so nice to be forgiven!" said Dotty, laying her hand on her heart, "it makes you feel so easy right in here."
A fear came over Prudy that the little runaway had not been punished enough. But Dotty went on:--
"It makes you feel as if you"d never be naughty again. Now, if my mamma was always thumping me with a thimble, and scolding me so as to shake the house, I shouldn"t care; but when she is just like an angel, and forgives me, I _do_ care."
"I"m so glad, Dotty! I think, honestly, mother"s the best woman that ever lived."
"Then why didn"t she marry the best man?" asked Dotty, quickly.
"Who is that?"
"Why, Abraham Lincoln, of course." Prudy laughed.
"Yes; I suppose Mr. Lincoln was the best man that ever lived; but papa comes next."
"Yes," said Dotty; "I think he does. And I"d rather have him for a father than Mr. Lincoln, "cause I"m better "quainted with him. I shouldn"t dare kiss the President. And, besides that, he"s dead."
"You"re a funny girl, Dotty; but what you say is true. Everything happens just right in this world."
"Does it?" said Dotty, wrinkling her brows anxiously; "does it, now truly?"
"Yes, indeed, Dotty. Anybody wouldn"t think so, but it does."
"Then I suppose it happens right for me to be a bad girl and run away."
"No, indeed, Dotty; because you can help it. Everything is right that we _can"t_ help; that"s what I mean."
"Then I s"pose "twas right for me to crawl through the cellar window,"
said Dotty; "for I"m sure I couldn"t help it"
"O, dear me! you ask such queer questions that I can"t answer them, Dotty Dimple. All I know is this: everything happens just right in this world--_when you can"t help it_."
With which sage remark Prudy stepped out of bed, and began to dress herself. Dotty planted her elbow in the pillow, and leaned her head on her hand.
"I don"t believe it happens just right for Mrs. Rosenberg to keep that dog, or to thump so with a thimble; but, then, I don"t know."
"I"m hurrying to get dressed," said Prudy. "The first bell has rung."
"Why, I never heard it," cried Dotty, springing up. "I wouldn"t be late to-day for anything."
Prudy looked anxiously at her little sister to see if she was cross; but her face was as serene as the cloudless sky; she had waked up right, and meant to be good all day. When Dotty had one of her especially good days, Prudy"s cup of happiness was full. She ran down stairs singing,--
"Thank G.o.d for pleasant weather!
Shout it merrily, ye hills, And clap your hands together, Ye exulting little rills.
"Thank him, bird and birdling, As ye grow and sing; Mingle in thanksgiving, Every living thing, Every living thing, Every living thing."
Dotty was so anxious to redeem her character in everybody"s eyes, that she hardly knew what she was doing. Mrs. Parlin sent her into the kitchen with a message to Norah concerning the turkey; but she forgot it on the way, and stood by Norah"s elbow gazing at the raisins, fruit, and other nice things in a maze.
"What did my mamma send me here for? She ought to said it over twice.
Any way, Norah, now I think of it, I wish you please wouldn"t starch my ap.r.o.ns on the inside; starch "em on the outside, "cause they rub against my neck."
"Go back and see what your mamma wants," said Norah, laughing.
"Why, mamma," cried Dotty reappearing in the parlor quite crestfallen--"
why, mamma, I went right up to Norah to ask her, and asked her something else. My head spins dreadfully."
Mrs. Parlin repeated the message; and Dotty delivered it this time correctly, adding,--
"Now, Norah, I"m all dressed for dinner; so I can do something for you just as well as not. Such days as, this, when you have so much to do, you ought to let me help."
To Dotty"s surprise Norah found this suggestion rather amusing.
"For mercy"s sake," said she, "I have got my hands full now; and when you are round, Miss Dotty, and have one of your good fits, it seems as if I should fly."
"What do you mean by a good fit?"
"Why, you have spells, child--you know you do--when b.u.t.ter wouldn"t melt in your mouth."
"Do I?" said Dotty. "I thought b.u.t.ter always melted in anybody"s mouth.
Does it make my mouth cold to be good, d"ye s"pose?"