A Little Mother to the Others

A Little Mother to the Others

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Title: A Little Mother to the Others
Author: L. T. Meade
Release Date: January 12, 2006 [EBook #17506]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MOTHER TO THE OTHERS ***

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A Little Mother to the Others

BY

MRS. L.T. MEADE
AUTHOR OF "POLLY: A NEW-FASHIONED GIRL," "A SWEET
GIRL GRADUATE," ETC.

NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I.
THE POOR INNOCENT,
II. A LITTLE MOTHER TO THE OTHERS,
III. THE ARRIVAL OF THE AUNT,
IV. RUB-A-DUB,
V. AUNT IS HER NAME,
VI. THE POOR DEAD UN'S,
VII. BUT ANN COULD NOT HELP LETTING OUT NOW AND
THEN,
VIII. THE STRAW TOO MUCH,
IX. THE PUNISHMENT CHAMBER,

X. BOW AND ARROW,
XI. JOG'APHY,
XII. A BABY'S HONOR,
XIII. BIRCH ROD,
XIV. DIANA'S REVENGE,
XV. MOTHER RODESIA,
XVI. UNCLE BEN,
XVII. GREASED LIGHTNING,
XVIII. THE HEART OF THE LITTLE MOTHER,
XIX. "A PIGMY I CALL HIM",
XX. "LET'S PERTEND," SAID DIANA,
XXI. POLE STAR,
XXII. THE MILKMAN,
XXIII. FORTUNE,
XXIV. ON THE TRAIL,
XXV. FOUND,
XXVI. THE LITTLE MOTHER TO THE RESCUE,

A LITTLE MOTHER TO THE OTHERS
CHAPTER I.

THE POOR INNOCENT.
The four children had rather peculiar names. The eldest girl was called
Iris, which, as everybody ought to know, means rainbow--indeed, there
was an Iris spoken of in the old Greek legends, who was supposed to be
Hera's chief messenger, and whenever a rainbow appeared in the sky it
was said that Iris was bringing down a message from Hera. The Iris of
this story was a very pretty, thoughtful little girl, aged ten years. Her
mother often talked to her about her name, and told her the story which
was associated with it. The eldest boy was called Apollo, which also is
a Greek name, and was supposed at one time to belong to the most
beautiful boy in the world. The next girl was called Diana, and the
youngest boy's name was Orion.
When this story opens, Iris was ten years old, Apollo nine, Diana six,
and little Orion five. They were like ordinary children in appearance,
being neither particularly handsome nor particularly the reverse; but in
their minds and ways, in their habits and tastes, they seemed to have
inherited a savor of those far-off beings after whom their mother had
called them. They were, in short, very unworldly children--that does
not mean that they were specially religious--but they did not care for
fine clothes, nor the ordinary amusements which ordinary children
delight in. They loved flowers with a love which was almost a passion,
and they also knew a great deal about the stars, and often coaxed their
mother to allow them to sit up late at night to watch the different
constellations; but above all these things they adored, with a great
adoration, the entire animal kingdom.
It so happened that the little Delaneys spent the greater part of their
time in a beautiful garden. I don't think, in all the course of my
wanderings, I ever saw a garden quite to compare to that in which their
early days were spent. Even in the winter they lived the greater part of
their time here, being hardy children and never catching cold. The
house was a fine and beautiful building, having belonged to their
family for several generations, but the children thought nothing at all of
that in comparison with the garden. Here, when possible, they even had
their lessons; here they played all their wonderful and remarkable

games; here they went through their brief sorrows, and tasted their
sweetest joys. But I must hasten to describe the garden itself. In the
first place, it was old-fashioned, having very high brick walls covered
all over with fruit trees. These fruit trees had grown slowly, and were
now in the perfection of their prime. Never were such peaches to be
seen, nor such apricots, nor such cherries, as ripened slowly on the red
brick walls of the old garden. Inside the walls almost all well-known
English flowers flourished in lavish profusion. There was also fruit to
be found here in quantities. Never were such strawberries to be seen as
could be gathered from those great strawberry beds. Then the
gooseberries with which the old bushes were laden; the currants, red,
black,