"I see," said the minister. "But she may presently miss you and be worried."
"O that"s so," said Beth. "Let"s hurry. I promised to take care of grandmother," she added, in a remorseful tone.
But nothing had happened, and the picture proved a great success, many of them being sold at the fair.
"I don"t like it much," said Beth, when she saw one, "for it reminds me of how I forgot to take care of my Grandmother Van Stork."
"It will do you good, I trust," said her mother.
"It"ll improve my thinkery, I hope," said Beth.
_CHAPTER XV_ _The Lost Invitation_
A heartache when the heart is young, Seems quite too big to bear; But when it ends in laughter, Away goes every care.
When they started to return the next day, Beth in triumph mounted Nink.u.m. She had a little difficulty in turning around to wave a farewell to dear grandmother on the porch, because the pony took this opportune time to munch the gra.s.s at the road-side, and Beth nearly went over his head.
"Dear me, Nink.u.m, you are very rude," she said, much vexed. "You try to spill me off, besides making Grandmother Van Stark feel as though you didn"t have enough to eat while you were visiting her!"
There was another disturbing feature also, and that was sister, whose countenance kept peering above the phaeton top, and who shouted exceedingly unwelcome advice, until silenced and firmly seated by the maternal command.
However, these were small things, compared with the bliss of galloping down the smooth road, bordered by flowers and green fields.
"I am very fond of wild flowers," said Ethelwyn by and by, "because they come right from G.o.d"s garden, and they keep things so cheerful and bright out in the country."
"I remember some verses about wild flowers and woods that a friend of mine wrote," said mother, "and I intend sometime to put some of them to music."
"O say one, mother," said Ethelwyn, who loved verses. So Mrs. Rayburn began:
"I know a quiet place, Where a spring comes gurgling out, And the shadowed leaves like lace Fall on the ground about.
"A tempting grapevine swing Is swung from the near-by trees, And life is a dreamful thing Lulled by the birds and bees.
"Flowers at the great trees" feet Are sheltered quite from harm; For above the blossoms sweet, The oak holds forth his arm.
"Perhaps if I lie quite still, I may hear far down below, The first and joyous thrill Of things, when they start to grow."
"I"ve wondered if they do get out of the seed with a little cracky pop,"
said Ethelwyn.
"What, sister?" asked Beth, coming up on Nink.u.m.
"Flowers and things."
"I"ve wondered how things know how to make themselves flowers, and not potatoes, or something like that," said Beth; "but I suppose G.o.d tells them."
"And I"ve often thought what was it that makes part of them stalk and leaves, and then all at once end in a flower," said Ethelwyn. Then, after a moment"s silence, she proposed, "Let"s have another game."
"Yes, mother, you think of one."
"I was thinking of one this morning," said mother, "for I thought likely you would be asking me to make up one, though it isn"t my turn."
"O, but motherdy, you are so much smarter than we are!" said Ethelwyn.
"That is one way to get out of it," said mother, laughing. "Well, I will tell you a story, and leave a blank occasionally, which you must fill up with the name of a tree.
"There were two little girls who dressed exactly alike, and, as they were very near the same age, it was difficult to tell which was the--"
"Elder?" said Ethelwyn, after a hard think.
"Yes."
"I didn"t really know there was such a tree, but I had heard something like it, and thought there wasn"t a younger tree."
"One of the little girls was named Louise and the other Minerva, and people grew to calling them by their initials, which together made--"
"Elm," said Beth.
"They were very good children, and people used to say what a nice--"
"Pear," they both said at once.
"They were. They had cheeks like a--"
"Peach."
"It was spring, and they were invited to a sugaring off party, and they saw the men tap the trees to make--"
"Maple sugar," cried Beth, who knew that, if she knew anything.
"So, when they went home, they tapped a tree in the front yard, and invited a party to come and eat maple sugar; but they tapped the wrong tree, and their father was vexed, saying, "I ought to take a ---- to ----""
But mother had to tell them these words for they had never heard of birch, or of yew. ""I wonder if you will be ----""
"Evergreen," said Ethelwyn, after a little prompting.
""All your life." "I thought," said one, "that maple sugar parties were very ----""
""Pop"lar? (mother had to tell them this also), "at this time of year.""
"---- laughed their father."
"Haw, haw," said Ethelwyn, who had been thinking of the tree under which they played at home.