Five Little Peppers and How They Grew - Margaret Sidney (chromebook ebook reader .txt) 📗
- Author: Margaret Sidney
- Performer: -
Book online «Five Little Peppers and How They Grew - Margaret Sidney (chromebook ebook reader .txt) 📗». Author Margaret Sidney
The door was thrown suddenly open, and Jasper plunged in, his face flushed with excitement, and after him Ben, looking a little as he did when Phronsie was lost, while Prince squeezed panting in between the two boys.
“Has Polly got—” began Jasper.
“Oh, yes, I'm here,” cried Polly, springing up to them; “oh, Ben!”
“She has,” cried Joel, disentangling himself from the group, “don't you see, Jappy?”
“She's all home,” echoed Phronsie, flying up. “Oh, Ben, do draw me another little house!”
“And see—see!” cried the little Whitneys, pointing with jubilant fingers to their papa, “see what she brought!”
Jasper turned around at that—and then rushed forward.
“Oh, brother Mason!”
“Well, Jasper,” said Mr. Whitney, a whole wealth of affection beaming on the boy, “how you have stretched up in six months!”
“Haven't I?” said Jasper, laughing, and drawing himself up to his fullest height.
“He's a-standin' on tip-toe,” said Joel critically, who was hovering near. “I most know he is!” and he bent down to examine the position of Jasper's heels.
“Not a bit of it, Joe!” cried Jasper, with a merry laugh, and setting both feet with a convincing thud on the floor.
“Well, anyway, I'll be just as big,” cried Joel, “when I'm thirteen, so!”
Just then a loud and quick rap on the table made all the children skip, and stopped everybody's tongue. It came from Mr. King.
“Phronsie,” said he, “come here, child. I can't do anything without you,” and held out his hand. Phronsie immediately left Ben, who was hanging over Polly as if he never meant to let her go out of his sight again, and went directly over to the old gentleman's side.
“Now, then!” He swung her upon his shoulder, where she perched like a little bird, gravely surveying the whole group. One little hand stole around the old gentleman's neck, and patted his cheek softly, which so pleased him that for a minute or two he stood perfectly still so that everybody might see it.
“Now, Phronsie, you must tell all these children so that they'll understand—say everything just as I tell you, mind!”
“I will,” said Phronsie, shaking her small head wisely, “every single thing.”
“Well, then, now begin—”
“Well, then, now begin,” said Phronsie, looking down on the faces with an air as much like Mr. King's as was possible, and finishing up with two or three little nods.
“Oh, no, dear, that isn't it,” cried the old gentleman, “I'll tell you. Say, Phronsie, 'you are all cousins—every one.'”
“You are all cousins—every one,” repeated little Phronsie, simply, shaking her yellow head into the very middle of the group.
“Does she mean it, grandpapa? Does she mean it?” cried Percy, in the greatest excitement.
“As true as everything?” demanded Joel, crowding in between them.
“As true as—truth!” said the old gentleman solemnly, patting the child's little fat hand. “So make the most of it.”
“Oh!” said Polly, with a long sigh. And then Jasper and she took hold of hands and had a good spin!
Joel turned around with two big eyes on Percy.
“We're cousins!” he said.
“I know it,” said Percy, “and so's Van!”
“Yes,” said Van, flying up, “and I'm cousin to Polly, too—that's best!”
“Can't I be a Cousin?” cried little Dick, crowding up, with two red cheeks. “Isn't anybody going to be a cousin to me, too?”
“Everybody but Jasper,” said the old gentleman, laughing heartily at them. “You and I, my boy,” he turned to his son, “are left out in the cold.”
At this a scream, loud and terrible to hear, struck upon them all, as Joel flung himself flat on the floor.
“Isn't Jappy—our—cousin? I—want—Jappy!”
“Goodness!” exclaimed the old gentleman, in the greatest alarm, “what is the matter with the boy! Do somebody stop him!”
“Joel,” said Jasper, leaning over him, and trying to help Polly lift him up. “I'll tell you how we'll fix it! I'll be your brother. That's best of all—brother to Polly, and Ben and the whole of you—then we'll see!”
Joel bolted up at that, and began to smile through the tears running down the rosy face.
“Will you, really?” he said, “just like Ben—and everything?”
“I can't be as good as Ben,” said Jappy, laughing, “but I'll be a real brother like him.”
“Phoo—phoo! Then I don't care!” cried Joel wiping off the last tear on the back of his chubby hand. “Now I guess we're better'n you,” he exclaimed with a triumphant glance over at the little Whitneys, as he began to make the new shoes skip at a lively pace up and down the long room.
“Oh, dear!” they both cried in great distress.
“Now, papa, Jappy's going to be Joey's brother—and he isn't anything but our old uncle! Make him be ours more, papa, do!”
And then Polly sprang up.
“Oh! oh—deary me!” And she rushed out into the hall and began to tug violently at the big bundle, tossed down in a corner. “Cherry'll die—Cherry'll die!” she cried, “do somebody help me off with the string!”
But Polly already had it off by the time Jasper's knife was half out of his pocket, and was kneeling down on the floor scooping out a big handful of the seed.
“Don't hurry so, Polly,” said Jasper, as she jumped up to fly up-stairs. “He's had some a perfect age—he's all right.”
“What!” said Polly, stopping so suddenly that two or three little seeds flew out of the outstretched hand and went dancing away to the foot of the stairs by themselves.
“Oh, I heard him scolding away there when I first came home,” said Jasper, “so I just ran down a block or two, and got him some.”
“Is that all there is in that big bundle?” said Joel in a disappointed tone, who had followed with extreme curiosity to see its contents. “Phoo!—that's no fun—old bird-seed!”
“I know,” said Polly with a gay little laugh, pointing with the handful of seed into the library, “but I shouldn't have met the other big bundle if it hadn't have been for this, Joe!”
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Five Little Peppers And How They Grew, by
Margaret Sidney
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS ***
***** This file should be named 2770-h.htm or 2770-h.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/7/2770/
Produced by David Reed, and David Widger
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation”
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any
Comments (0)