THE PRIZE GIRL OF THE HARNESSING CLASS.
It was the day before Thanksgiving, but the warmth of a late Indiansummer lay over the world, and tempered the autumn chill into mildnessmore like early October than late November. Elsie Thayer, driving hervillage cart rapidly through the "Long Woods," caught herself vaguelywondering why the grass was not greener, and what should set the leavesto tumbling off the trees in such an unsummer-like fashion,--then smiledat herself for being so forgetful.
The cart was packed full; for, besides Elsie herself, it held a bag ofsweet potatoes, a sizable bundle or two, and a large market-basket,from which protruded the unmistakable legs of a turkey, not to mention achoice smaller basket covered with a napkin. All these were going to thelittle farmstead in which dwelt Mrs. Ann Sparrow, Elsie's nurse inchildhood, and the most faithful and kindly of friends ever since. Elsiealways made sure that "Nursey" had a good Thanksgiving dinner, andgenerally carried it herself.
The day was so delightful that it seemed almost a pity that the ponyshould trot so fast. One would willingly have gone slowly, tasting dropby drop, as it were, the lovely sunshine filtering through the yellowbeech boughs, the unexpected warmth, and the balmy spice of the air,which had in it a tinge of smoky haze. But the day before Thanksgivingis sure to be a busy one with New England folk; Elsie had other tasksawaiting her, and she knew that Nursey would not be content with a shortvisit.
"Hurry up, little Jack!" she said. "You shall have a long restpresently, if you are a good boy, and some nice fresh grass,--if I canfind any; anyway, a little drink of water. So make haste."
Jack made haste. The yellow wheels of the cart spun in and out of theshadow like circles of gleaming sun. When the two miles were achieved,and the little clearing came into view, Elsie slackened her pace: shewanted to take Nursey by surprise. Driving straight to a small openshed, she deftly unharnessed the pony, tied him with a liberal allowanceof halter, hung up the harness, and wheeled the cart away from hisheels, all with the ease which is born of practice. She then gathered alapful of brown but still nourishing grasses for Jack, and was about tolift the parcels from the wagon when she was espied by Mrs. Sparrow.
Out she came, hurrying and flushed with pleasure,--the dearest oldwoman, with pink, wrinkled cheeks like a perfectly baked apple, and avoice which still retained its pleasant English tones, after sixty longyears in America.
"Well, Missy, dear, so it's you. I made sure you'd come, and had beenwatching all the morning; but somehow I missed you when you drove up,and it was just by haccident like, that I looked out of window and seeyou in the shed. You're looking well, Missy. That school hasn't hurt youa bit. Just the same nice color in your cheeks as ever. I was thattroubled when I heard you wa'n't coming home last summer, for I thoughtmaybe you was ill; but your mother she said 'twas all right, and justfor your pleasure, and I see it was so. Why,"--her voice changing toconsternation,--"if you haven't unharnessed the horse! Now, Missy, howcame you to do that? You forgot there wasn't no one about but me. Who'sto put him in for you, I wonder?"
"Oh, I don't want any one. I can harness the pony myself."
"Oh, Missy, dear, you mustn't do that! I couldn't let you. It's realhard to harness a horse. You'd make some mistake, and then there'd be ahaccident."
"Nonsense, Nursey! I've harnessed Jack once this morning already; it'sjust as easy to do it twice. I'm a member of a Harnessing Class, I'dhave you to know; and, what's more, I took the prize!"
"Now, Missy, dear, whatever do you mean by that? Young ladies learn toharness! I never heard of such a thing in my life! In my young time, inEngland, they learned globes and langwidges, and, it might be, to paintin oils and such, and make nice things in chenille."
"I'll tell you all about it, but first let us carry these things up tothe house. Here's your Thanksgiving turkey, Nursey,--with Mother's love.Papa sent you the sweet potatoes and the cranberries; and the orangesand figs and the pumpkin pie are from me. I made the pie myself. That'sanother of the useful things that I learned to do at my school."
"The master is very kind, Missy; and so is your mother; and I'm thankfulto you all. But that's a queer school of yours, it seems to me. For mypart, I never heard of young ladies learning such things as cooking andharnessing at boarding-schools."
"Oh, we learn arts and languages, too,--that part of our education isn'tneglected. Now, Nursey, we'll put these things in your buttery, and youshall give me a glass of nice cold milk; and while I drink it I'll tellyou about Rosemary Hall,--that's the name of the school, you know; andit's the dearest, nicest place you can think of."
"Very likely, Miss Elsie," in an unconvinced tone; "but still I don'tsee any reason why they should set you to making pies and harnessinghorses."
"Oh, that's just at odd times, by way of fun and pleasure; it isn'tlessons, you know. You see, Mrs. Thanet--that's a rich lady who livesclose by, and is a sort of fairy godmother to us girls--has a greatnotion about practical education. It was she who got up the HarnessingClass and the Model Kitchen. It's the dearest little place you ever saw,Nursey, with a _perfect_ stove, and shelves, and hooks for everything;and such bright tins, and the prettiest of old-fashioned crockery! It'sjust like a picture. We girls were always squabbling over whose turnshould come first. You can't think how much I learned there, Nursey! Ilearned to make a pie, and clear out a grate, and scour saucepans, and,"counting on her fingers, "to make bread, rolls, minute-biscuit,coffee,--delicious coffee, Nursey!--good soup, creamed oysters, andpumpkin-pies and apple-pies! Just wait, and you shall see!"
She jumped up, ran into the buttery, and soon returned, carrying atriangle of pie on a plate.
"It isn't Thanksgiving yet, I know; but there is no law against eatingpumpkin-pie the day before, so please, Nursey, taste this and see if youdon't call it good. Papa says it makes him think of his mother's pies,when he was a little boy."
"Indeed, and it is good, Missy, dear; and I won't deny but cooking maybe well for you to know; but for that other--the harnessing class, asyou call it,--I don't see the sense of that at all, Missy."
"Oh, Nursey, indeed there is a great deal of sense in it. Mrs. Thanetsays it might easily happen, in the country especially,--if any one washurt or taken very ill, you know,--that life might depend upon a girl'sknowing how to harness. She had a man teach us, and we practised andpractised, and at the end of the term there was an exhibition, with aprize for the girl who could harness and unharness quickest, and I wonit! See, here it is!"
She held out a slim brown hand, and displayed a narrow gold bangle, onwhich was engraved in minute letters, "What is worth doing at all, isworth doing well."
"Isn't it pretty?" she asked.
"Yes," doubtfully. "The bracelet is pretty enough, Missy; but I can'tquite like what it stands for. It don't seem ladylike for you to beknowing about harnesses and such things."
"Oh, Nursey, dear, what nonsense!"
There were things to be done after she got home, but Elsie could nothurry her visit. Jack consumed his grass heap, and then stood sleepilyblinking at the flies for a long hour before his young mistress jumpedup.
"Now, I must go!" she cried. "Come out and see me harness up, Nursey."
It was swiftly and skilfully done, but still Nurse Sparrow shook herhead.
"I don't like it!" she insisted. "'A horse shall be a vain thing forsafety'--that's in Holy Writ."
"You are an obstinate old dear," said Elsie, good-humoredly. "Wait tillyou're ill some day, and I go for the doctor. _Then_ you'll realize theadvantage of practical education. What a queer smell of smoke there is,Nursey!" gathering up her reins.
"Yes; the woods has been on fire for quite a spell, back on the otherside of Bald Top. You can smell the smoke most of the time. Seems to meit's stronger than usual, to-day."
"You don't think there is any danger of its coming this way, do you?"
"Oh, no!" contentedly. "I don't suppose it could come so far as this."
"But why not?" thought Elsie to herself, as she drove rapidly bac
k. "Ifthe wind were right for it, why shouldn't it come this way? Fires travelmuch farther than that on the prairies,--and they go very fast, too. Inever did like having Nursey all alone by herself on that farm."
She reached home, to find things in unexpected confusion. Her father hadbeen called away for the night by a telegram, and her mother--on this,of all days--had gone to bed, disabled with a bad headache. There wasmuch to be done, and Elsie flung herself into the breach, and did it,too busy to think again of Nurse Sparrow and the fire, until, towardnightfall, she noted that the wind had changed, and was blowing straightfrom Bald Top, bringing with it an increase of smoke.
She ran out to consult the hired man before he went home for the night,and to ask if he thought there was any danger of the fire reaching theLong Woods. He "guessed" not.
"These fires get going quite often on to the other side of Bald Top, butthere ain't none of 'em come over this way, and 'tain't likely they everwill. I guess Mis' Sparrow's safe enough. You needn't worry, MissElsie."
In spite of this comforting assurance, Elsie did worry. She looked outof her west window the last thing before going to bed; and when, at twoin the morning, she woke with a sudden start, her first impulse was torun to the window again. Then she gave an exclamation, and her heartstood still with fear; for the southern slopes of Bald Top were ringedwith flames which gleamed dim and lurid through the smoke, and showersof sparks, thrown high in air, showed that the edges of the woods beyondNursey's farm were already burning.
"She'll be frightened to death," thought Elsie. "Oh, poor dear, and noone to help her!"
What should she do? To go after the man and waken him meant a longdelay. He was a heavy sleeper, and his house was a quarter of a miledistant. But there was Jack in the stable, and the stable key was inthe hall below. As she dressed, she decided.
"How glad I am that I can do this!" she thought, as she flung theharness over the pony's back, strapped, buckled, adjusted,--doing allwith a speed which yet left nothing undone and slighted nothing. Noteven on the day when she took the prize had she put her horse in soquickly. She ran back at the last moment for two warm rugs. Deftlyguiding Jack over the grass, that his hoofs should make no noise, shegained the road, and, quickening him to his fastest pace, drovefearlessly into the dark woods.
They were not so dark as she had feared they would be, for the light ofa late, low-hung moon penetrated the trees, with perhaps somereflections from the far-away fire, so that she easily made out theturns and windings of the track. The light grew stronger as sheadvanced. The main fire was still far distant, but before she reachedNurse's little clearing, she even drove by one place where the woodswere ablaze.
She had expected to find Mrs. Sparrow in an agitation of terror; but,behold! she was in her bed, sound asleep. Happily, it was easy to get ather. Nursey's theory was that, "if anybody thought it would pay him tosit up at night and rob an old woman, he'd do it anyway, and needn'thave the trouble of getting in at the window;" and on the strength ofthis philosophical utterance, she went to bed with the door on thelatch.
She took Elsie for a dream, at first.
"I'm just a-dreaming. I ain't a-going to wake up; you needn't think it,"she muttered sleepily.
But when Elsie at last shook her into consciousness, and pointed at thefiery glow on the horizon, her terror matched her previous unconcern.
"Oh, dear, dear!" she wailed, as with trembling, suddenly stiff fingersshe put on her clothes. "I'm a-going to be burned out! It's hard, at mytime of life, just when I had got things tidy and comfortable. I wasa-thinking of sending over for my niece to the Isle of Dogs, and gettingher to come and stay with me, I was indeed, Missy. But there won't beany use in that _now_."
"Perhaps the fire won't come so far as this, after all," said thepractical Elsie.
"Oh, yes, it will! It's 'most here now."
"Well, whether it does or not, I'm going to carry you home with me,where you will be safe. Now, Nursey, tell me which of your things youcare most for, that we can take with us,--small things, I mean. Ofcourse we can't carry tables and beds in my little cart."
The selection proved difficult. Nurse's affections clung to a talleight-day clock, and were hard to be detached. She also felt stronglythat it was a clear flying in the face of Providence not to save"Sparrow's chair," a solid structure of cherry, with rockers weighingmany pounds, and quite as wide as the wagon. Elsie coaxed andremonstrated, and at last got Nursey into the seat, with the cat and abundle of her best clothes in her lap, her tea-spoons in her pocket, abasket of specially beloved baking-tins under the seat, and a favoritefeather-bed at the back, among whose billowy folds were tucked away anassortment of treasures, ending with the Thanksgiving goodies which hadbeen brought over that morning.
"I can't leave that turkey behind, Missy, dear--I really can't!" pleadedNursey. "I've been thinking of him, and anticipating how good he wasgoing to be, all day; and I haven't had but one taste of your pie.They're so little, they'll go in anywhere."
The fire seemed startlingly near now, and the western sky was allaflame, while over against it, in the east, burned the first yellowbeams of dawn. People were astir by this time, and men on foot andhorseback were hurrying toward the burning woods. They stared curiouslyat the oddly laden cart.
"Why, you didn't ever come over for me all alone!" cried Nurse Sparrow,rousing suddenly to a sense of the situation. "I've be'n that flusteredthat I never took thought of how you got across, or anything about it.Where was your Pa, Missy,--and Hiram?"
Elsie explained.
"Oh, you blessed child; and if you hadn't come, I'd have been burned inmy bed, as like as not!" cried the old woman, quite overpowered. "Well,well! little did I think, when you was a baby, and I a-tending you, thatthe day was to come when you were to run yourself into danger for thesake of saving my poor old life!"
"I don't see that there has been any particular danger for me to run, sofar; and as for saving your life, Nursey, it would very likely havesaved itself if I hadn't come near you. See, the wind has changed; itis blowing from the north now. Perhaps the fire won't reach your house,after all. But, anyway, I am glad you are here and not there. We cannotbe too careful of such a dear old Nursey as you are. And one thing, Ithink, you'll confess,"--Elsie's tone was a little mischievous,--"andthat is, that harnessing classes have their uses. If I hadn't known howto put Jack in the cart, I might at this moment be hammering on the doorof that stupid Hiram (who, you know, sleeps like a log) trying to wakehim, and you on the clearing alone, scared to death. Now, Nursey, ownup: Mrs. Thanet wasn't so far wrong, now was she?"
"Indeed, no, Missy. It'd be very ungrateful for me to be saying that.The lady judged wiser than I did."
"Very well, then," cried Elsie, joyously. "If only your house isn'tburned up, I shall be glad the fire happened; for it's such a triumphfor Mrs. Thanet, and she'll be so pleased!"
Nursey's house did not burn down. The change of wind came just in timeto save it; and, after eating her own Thanksgiving turkey in her oldhome, and being petted and made much of for a few days, she went back,none the worse for her adventure, to find her goods and chattels intheir usual places, and all safe.
And Mrs. Thanet _was_ pleased. She sent Elsie a pretty locket, with thedate of the fire engraved upon it, and wrote that she gloried in her asthe Vindicator of a Principle, which fine words made Elsie laugh; butshe enjoyed being praised all the same.