A Grandmothers Recollections | Page 8

his sled, saw
that Fred did not rob me of my dinner, and was always ready to explain
a difficult lesson. He was an extremely enterprising boy, with an
inexhaustible fund of ingenuity and invention; but, like most geniuses,
received more blame than praise. When quite small he constructed a
sort of gun made of wood, which would discharge a small ball of paper,
pebble, &c. This became a very popular plaything in the nursery, and
for once the inventor received due praise, on account of its keeping the
children so quiet. But one day Fred undertook to teach the year old
baby the art of shooting with it; and with a small corn for a bullet, he

placed the toy in the child's hands, turning the mouth the wrong way.
The young soldier pulled the trigger in delight, and by some strange
mischance, the corn flew up his nose. The doctor was hastily brought,
the child relieved with a great deal of difficulty, the dangerous
plaything burned, and poor Henry sent to coventry for an unlimited
time.
CHAPTER IV.
We had a girl named Jane Davis whom my mother had brought up
from childhood. At the period to which I refer, she could not have been
more than fourteen, and as she was always good-humored and willing
to oblige, she became a general favorite. Often, in the early winter
evenings, with the nursery as tidy as hands could make it, (for Mammy,
although not an old maid, was a mortal enemy to dirt and slovenliness)
we all gathered round the fire, while the old nurse and Jane spun out
long stories, sometimes of things which had happened to them,
sometimes of things which had happened to others, and often of things
that never did or could happen to anybody. But I must do them the
justice to say, that although they sometimes related almost impossible
occurrencies, they never, on any one occasion, took advantage of their
influence over us to enforce our obedience by frighful tales of old men
with bags, who seem to have an especial fancy for naughty children.
The nearest approach that Mammy ever made to anything of this kind
was to tell us, when we began to look sleepy, that the sandman had
been along and filled our eyes. On receiving this information, we
generally retired peaceably to bed, without being haunted by any fears
of ghost or goblin.
There was a wealthy and fashionable family who lived just opposite,
consisting of a widower, his sister, and two children--a son and
daughter. They lived in most extravagant style, and Jane positively
assured us that the housekeeper had told her with her own lips that
there was no end to Mr. Okeman's wealth, and that he even made his
daughter eat bank-bills on her bread and butter! Whether the son was
exempted from this disagreeable performance we never thought of
inquiring; but our awe rose ten percent, for a girl who was so rich as

absolutely to devour money. On being divulged, this grand secret
amused the inmates of the drawing-room very much, and our parents
could scarcely command their countenances to undeceive us.
Jane Davis remained with us as nursery-maid until she was eighteen,
when my mother, who was always extremely kind to servants and
dependants, placed her at a trade, and supported her comfortably until
she learned enough to support herself. She afterwards married a
carpenter, who always performed for my father those odd jobs that are
constantly required in a house, and they came to live in a kind of
cottage at the end of the garden. They there commenced farming on a
small scale, and often supplied us with milk, eggs, poultry, &c.
Mammy was a firm believer in signs of good and evil import; thus, if,
in dropping the scissors, they stood up erect on the point, she always
said that visitors were coming--a sign that rarely failed, as we were
seldom a day without them. Once I had wished very much for a large
wax-doll. My dreams were beautified with waxen images of immense
size, whose china blue eyes, long flaxen curls, and rosy cheeks,
presented a combination of charms that took my heart by storm. I sat
one night, as usual, by the nursery fire; my thoughts fixed on this
all-engrossing subject, when I ventured to communicate them to
Mammy, and ask her if she thought I ever would become the enviable
possessor of such a doll.
"I don't know," replied Mammy at first, "I think it's very doubtful. But
come here," she added, "and let me see your hand."
After an examination, Mammy pronounced with an air of great mystery
that circumstances were propitious, and she was almost convinced
beyond a doubt that ere long the doll would be mine.