I reckon it will take me a long, long time to get education and earn all that money, but I can do it, Dr. Mac. I am sure I can do it. I told my grandfather all that I mean to do, and he won"t try to stop me none. Of course he does not want for me to go away from him, but I explained that I had to, and of course that made it all right.
When you was telling us what those nurses done, something seemed like it went jump inside my heart, and straightways I know that the dear Lord meant for me to do it, too. I read a story once about a girl in france named Jone of Ark and I reckon I felt like she done when she see the angel.
I know I can do it, Dr. Mac, if you will help me a little bit like you promised. Most of all I figures I need a heap of book learning, and it is books I wants for you to get me. You know the books I need to have, Dr. Mac, and in this letter I am going to put $10.
It is an awful lot of money; but I reckon books cost a good deal, and you can bring me the change next summer, for I have not got no use for money here. Don"t be afeared. It is my own money. It was in my father"s pocket among the camp things granddaddy found, and there was some more. Grandfather, he kept it for me until I was a big girl and now I am keeping it for a rainy day, like the copy book says, although I don"t think money would be much use to keep off the rain.
Their is a preacher man who lives on our mountain winters, when he can not travel about none, and I know I can get him to help me learn if I help his wife with her work, and I can read pretty well now and write pretty well when I have a spelling book to study the words out of, although I have to go sorter slow, for they do not allus spell words like they sound, and sometimes I cannot find them at all. I guess my book is not a very good one.
I reckon it will take me a long while to earn more than $300; but I am going to work awful hard, making baskets and other things, and I am going to get Judd Amos, our naybor, to sell them for me at the village store, for he goes down their trading every week, and he will do anything I ask him, like I told you.
This is a pretty long letter and it has taken me all the evening to right. I hope that you can read it. Well, I guess that is all now from your loveing little friend.
I most forgot to say please give my love to Mike.
ROSE WEBB.
"Well, I"ve got to admit that I have seen many a letter, written by a grown-up, that fell a long ways short of that one in clarity of thought and in accomplishment of a definite object," said Mr. MacDonald, as he handed it back. "Do you suppose that her eagerness to become a nurse is just a pa.s.sing childish whim, or has she really got sand enough to put her almost impossible plan through?"
"Clairvoyancy was not included either in the Harvard or Medical School curriculum," responded Donald, with a shrug.
"Meaning that the things of the future are in the laps of the G.o.ds. Of course, but I was merely asking for your personal opinion. I"m not jesting now; that letter really aroused my interest in the child."
"Well, then, I believe that Smiles really possesses the strength of purpose to go through with even so difficult a task as she has set for herself. Remember, she comes of city stock, and hasn"t the blood of those unprogressive mountaineers in her veins."
"And you? Are you going to help her as she asks? What about your promise to Big Jerry?"
"I lived up to both the spirit and letter of that, when I tried to explain to the child the almost unsurmountable difficulties which lay between her and the accomplishment of her dream. Besides, I know that she has told the truth in her letter, and has somehow managed actually to win over the old man. I can"t help feeling mighty sorry for him, if the foster birdling is really going to fly away from his nest after he has reared and loved her so tenderly, but, after all, it is only the history of the human race. Still, I can"t blame him if he looks on me as a serpent who stole into his simple Eden, carrying the apple of discontent."
"There have been, of course, plenty of cases similar to this, where the adventurer"s spirit was really big enough and the vision strong enough to carry him or her through to victory," mused Donald"s father. "Such a one was the immortal Abe Lincoln, who came from just such surroundings. But the task is doubly hard for a young girl, and the experiment of thus breaking away from the ties and traditions of many years, and seeking a place in a wholly new, wholly dissimilar life, cannot but be fraught with dangers. There, in that simple environment she naturally appealed to you as not only an attractive child, but as a somewhat unusual personality. Tell me, lad, how will, or would, she measure up, if transplanted a few years hence into city life, where the standards of comparison are so utterly different; so much more exacting?"
"Frankly, I don"t know," responded Donald. "Since I read her letter I have been asking myself that question, and the answer worries me, since I feel in a way responsible for having opened the gates before her untrained feet. Somehow I cannot disa.s.sociate little Rose from her present environment, and, although she certainly has an unusual charm for such a child, I must admit that, in part, at least, it was the result of--no, not that, but made more obvious by--her surroundings."
"Well, she has apparently decided to take the moulding of her life into her own hands and, without knowing the quotation, determined to be "the master of her fate and captain of her soul." However, a little more education can scarcely hurt her, and, if she succeeds in saving up some money, it will come in handy enough as a "dot," in case she marries your friend, Judd Amos, and raises a family of mountain brats."
Donald"s reply was unnecessarily positive.
"I"ll wager that she"ll never do that." And with that the conversation, as far as it concerned Smiles, ended.
During purloined hours in the next few days the eminently successful young physician might have been seen engaged in strange errands, which took him into such places as a dressmaker"s establishment, and several stores which sold textbooks. It was also a noteworthy fact that the decidedly soiled and crumpled ten-dollar bill, with which he had been commissioned to purchase the means through which education might be acquired, was never taken from the special compartment in his bill folder.
Then the flood of fall practice engulfed him, and gradually the memory of little Smiles faded from his busy mind, although it never quite vanished, and from time to time fresh breezes from the distant c.u.mberlands fanned it to life like a glowing ember.
CHAPTER VIII.
SOME OF SEVERAL EPISTLES.
I.
Commonwealth Avenue Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts. September 15, 1912.
Dear little Smiles: If you had been able to look inside of my heart when I opened your present and read your letter, you would have beheld as many different lights and shadows there as you can see in your own eyes when you look in the gla.s.s over your bureau.
The sight of that little jar, and the scent of the spiced rose-petals, brought you so near to me that I thought I could almost see you by just closing my eyes--which may seem to you a funny way of "seeing" a person. It made me very happy.
The letter, too, pleased me a great deal; but I must tell you that it also troubled me. That is when the shadow fell on my thoughts of you.
The reason? I will tell it to you, because I feel that I should, although please do not think that I want to croak like an old black crow in one of your pine trees.
If you have really set your whole heart upon becoming a nurse when you grow up, and your granddaddy has consented, it is not for me to say that you cannot do it. But I do know the path which you must travel. I know that it is much steeper, much more rocky and full of briary bushes than any one your feet have ever climbed on your mountain, and you will have to keep a very brave little heart inside you, if you hope to reach the summit. And then, if you succeed, instead of finding a fairy castle filled with all sorts of pleasant things, you will only discover another long and weary road which must be traveled until your tired little body, and heart, made heavy by the sufferings of little children, long for the quiet restfulness of your dear old mountain home.
Am I still trying to discourage you? I suppose that I am, for, you see, I can look back along that road which lies before you, and I can remember the rocks I had to climb over, and the bushes I had to struggle through, and yet I know that it was far easier for me than it will be for you.
You have read parables in the Bible. Well, I am preaching a modern parable. "Book learning" is a sword and buckler--or perhaps it would be better to say that it is a suit of strong hunting clothes and thick leather knee-boots, and I was pretty well clad like that when I started my trip, while you are dressed only in thin gingham, with your legs and feet bare--as I first saw you. Please shut your eyes, dear child, and try to see the parable picture I have drawn for you.
Have you done it? The picture is not as pretty as the one I painted the night I told about how fine it was to be a nurse, is it? But it is more nearly true to life.
Now, think hard before you make up your mind as to whether or not you really mean to go ahead, for--after all, little Smiles--each boy and girl has soon to decide, all alone, what he or she is going to do with that strange thing which we call life.
If your courage is really as strong as that of the wonderful Joan of Arc, I, too, believe that you can succeed and make your dream come true, and of course I will help you, gladly--in every way that I can.
Now I am all through preaching. It is out of my line, and I promise not to do it again. Within a few days you will, I hope, get a boxful of the books which I have sent you as you asked me. Most of them are just what you wanted--school books--but on my own hook I added one or two not strictly for study--like plums in a dry bread pudding. And, of course, there is something else in the box and I guess that you can guess what it is.
This, little Smiles, is the longest letter I ever wrote to anybody, I think. Don"t you feel proud? It must end now, however; but not before I ask you to give my best regards to your kind granddaddy.
Don"t let the cold winter that is coming, chill your warm affection for Your sincere friend, Donald MacDonald.
P.S. I told Mike what you wrote to him, and he wigwagged a message of love back to you with his tail.
II.
Big Jerry"s Cabin in Webb"s Gap, Virginia. Sep"t. 20, 1912.
Dear Doctor Mac: Oh, dear doctor, can you ever forgive me for waiting two whole days before I wrote you back to thank you with all my heart for the many wonderful things which came in that box? It was like a fairy"s treasure chest. And most of all I am obliged for that letter you wrote me. It was the first letter I ever got from any one and I shall keep it as long as I live. I think, of all the things I got, I like that the best. Those others you could buy, but you had to make that yourself, and it seemed like I could almost hear you talking the words in your strong voice, like the sound of the falls in the Swift River.
When I looked inside that box I could not make up my mind what I liked best. The many books kind of scared me when I opened them and remembered I had got to know all that much; but the book of beautiful poetry I just love. I have read all of the poetrys and know some of them to speak already.
Then there is that nurse"s dress. O how I love it, and how I wish for you to see me in it. I plans to put it on a little while everyday and pretend that I am a real nurse like I am going to be. I done it yesterday, and somehow when I shet my eyes and run my hands over its crackely stiff whiteness, it seemed to me that the room was full of sweet little babies for me to take keer of.
And now, doctor, I must tell you that I done what you said for me to do. I closed my eyes up tight like granddaddy does when I say prayers, and I saw little Smiles acliming that rough path, and walking along that rough road you wrote about, but by the side of that long road I kept aseeing beautiful little flowers what were fading and drooping and calling out in tiny voices like baby chickens for Rose to keer for them. So doctor, the picture did not scare me none.
The Lord give Joan of Arc (I know how to spell it now) a silver armor to protect her, and I reckon the white nurse"s dress that you give me is my armor.
Now doctor I must tell you about little Lou and the wonderful doll you sent to her. She was so funny when I give it to her that I got a chreek in my side laughing. First thing, she held it up tight against her and when it went Ma-a-a-like a calf, she dropped it quick and run and hide under the bed. But pretty soon she crep out again and I showed her how to make it shut its eyes.
Then she jumped around and cried. "O Smiles, hit kaint do them things but hit does do them." Well, pretty soon, Judd Amos, her brother, come in and, when he saw it in Lou"s arms, his face got as black as a storm cloud and he went for to take it away from her.
I just stepped in front of him, and said, "Judd Amos, if you ever go for to take that doll baby away from her, or even touch it, I won"t never speak to you again."
He was powerful mad with me, but he seen that I meant like I said, so Lou can keep her doll. And what do you think she has named it? She has named it Mike. Even Judd had to laugh a little when she said that was the doll baby"s name.
I am making baskets as fast as ever I can and Judd is going to take them to the store at Fayville for me. I went down with him and seen the storekeeper man myself last week, and he promised me to buy all that he can from me.
Granddaddy shoots with your rifle gun most every day. He can hit a string like he used to, but he would not shoot a apple off my head like a man did in the book that had about Joan of Arc in it, although I wanted him to.
I have ritten a piece of poetry like Mr. Eugene Fields did, and this is it The cold may make my lips turn blue, But it can"t freeze my love for you.
Your happy and loving little friend Smiles.
III.
Commonwealth Avenue Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts. October 24, 1912.
Proprietor of the General Store, Fayville, ---- County, West Virginia.
Dear Sir: I am informed that you are occasionally purchasing, through one Judd Amos, of Webb"s Gap, sweetgra.s.s baskets made by a little mountain girl of that settlement.
I am interested in her work, and herewith enclose a money order in the sum of ten dollars ($10.00) with which I will ask you to purchase at a rate reasonably in advance of the one you are now paying, all the baskets which she sends to you. You may express them to my address each month, and I will forward further funds upon request.
Please do not mention my name in connection with this transaction; but, if any questions are asked, merely say that you have obtained a city market for them.
Very truly yours, (Dr.) Donald MacDonald.
IV.
Webb"s Gap. Vir. November 24, 1912.
Dear Dr. McDonald: How many letters do you guess I have written to you so far this month? 24. Yes, I have written you a long letter every day, telling you all the things I did, and thought, but of course I did not mail them, for I knew that you would get tired of reading them.
But this one I am going to send, for grandfather has asked me to let you know that he has shot that wild turkey bird for your Thanksgiving--which is Thursday--and has sent it to you by express package from Fayville. I was with him when he did it.
Evenings come right early now and we went into the woods just before sun down. It was right beautiful, and I wished that you could have been with us. I will try and tell you what I saw like I do in my daily letters that my teacher says are practice themes. (I could not have spelled that to save my life a month ago.) Well, except for the big pine trees which never seem to change, just like granddaddy, all the tall forest people and the half grown-up children-bushes, had put on bright new dresses in honor of Thanksgiving time. They were red, made of many colored patches like Bible Joseph"s coat,--yellow green and brown, some as bright as G.o.d could paint the colors, some soft, like they had been washed and washed.
Granddaddy thought it was beautiful too--although he called it "purty." But he did not like the brown gra.s.s and fallen pine needles, and called the marsh near the river an ugly mudflat; but I thought it was beautiful, for that oozy mud was deep purple (the reverend told me the word), and the little pools of water were all gold. Those are the colors that kings dress in, yet that old mudflat wore them, too.
Well, finally, when it began to grow dusk, we found a wild turkey bird roosting on a tree limb and granddaddy said, "Hush, I aims ter shoot hit right thru ther head." When you get it look where the bullet went.
Now perhaps you would like to hear about what I have been doing. Well, I have been doing many things, but most of all I have been studying.
The minister, whose name is Reverend John Talmadge, came back to our mountain when it began to get cold, for he is in not very good health and can"t go about much, although he sits out doors most of the time.
He is my very good friend, and I have found out a lot about him. One thing is that he went to college like you did, and he knows a great deal more than there is in all those books, even. So you see he can help me a good deal. He is even going to teach me some Latin, D. V. I think that G.o.d must have sent him to our mountain.
Every day I study the books you sent, first with him and then at home, and I am getting along so nice that last week, when the teacher in our little school was away, they let me be the teacher.
And who do you think was one of my pupils? It was Judd Amos. He has bought some books and is learning, too. I reckon he does not want a girl to be smarter than he is at book learning, which he says is nonsense for girls. But I know that it is not nonsense. Why, I can travel in far-off lands and see things that I did not even know were, by just reading books, and the reverend has lent me some to read.
Then I am still making my baskets, and what do you think? The storeman is buying all I can send him, and paying me more than he used to for them! He says that city folks like to buy them for they smell so sweet and like the woods. I am saving all my money and, with what I had, have nearly $75 already, and, by next summer, will have over $100. Isn"t that wonderful? Granddaddy pays me 10 cents a week for keeping house for him, too. Isn"t he good?
Don"t you think I ought to be a very happy little girl? Well, I am, and I guess my face is getting all out of shape, I find so many things to smile about.
Your affectionate friend, Rose.
P. S. Please give my love and a turkey drumstick to Mike.
V.
Commonwealth Avenue Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts. December 23, 1912.
Dear little Smiles: Although I am very busy, for the Winter has given colds to many little folks here, I can not let Christmastide go by without writing a letter to you, little forest friend. It was very dear of you to send me that basket of holly, which I found waiting for me when I returned, tired out, last night.
Its dark green leaves and bright red berries looked up at me when I undid it, almost as though they were your personal messengers and were trying eagerly to say, "Smiles wishes you a Merry Christmas through us." The basket was indeed a work of art, but to me it seemed even more than that--a labor of love.
I could almost imagine you tramping through the snow-covered mountain woods and gathering the holiday berries, and the picture which my mind painted was so attractive that I heartily wished I might have been there, too.
I am delighted with the accounts of the progress you are making in your studies, and your all-too-infrequent letters themselves tell the story. I"m afraid that I shall not know you next summer. Write me just as often as you feel like doing so, dear, and if I do not always reply you may know that it is only because I am so very busy.
Now I have two pieces of news to tell you. I am sure that you will be very much pleased with one of them and I hope will be with both.
First, Muriel"s mother had a wonderful present just a little ahead of Christmas day--not from Santa Claus, but from Old Father Stork. It is a fine baby boy, whose eyes are almost the color of yours, and his name is to be "Donald MacDonald Thayer." I suppose I have now got to be extra good in order to set my namesake the right example.