Big Brother

Big Brother

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Big Brother, by Annie
Fellows-Johnston This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give
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Title: Big Brother
Author: Annie Fellows-Johnston
Release Date: June 3, 2006 [EBook #18496]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BROTHER ***

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BIG BROTHER
[Illustration: ROBIN]

"Cosy Corner Series"
BIG BROTHER
BY
ANNIE FELLOWS-JOHNSTON
[Illustration]
BOSTON JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY 1894

COPYRIGHT, 1893 BY JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY

[Illustration: ILLUSTRATIONS]
PAGE
ROBIN Frontispiece
"A BAREFOOT GIRL WEARING A SUNBONNET" 1
"MRS. ESTEL WAS LISTENING TO LITTLE SCRAPS OF
HISTORY," ETC. 9
"THE LITTLE WHITE COTTAGE IN NEW JERSEY," 19
"ROBIN FOLLOWED HIM EVERYWHERE" 21
"STEVEN WOULD COAX HIM OVER IN A CORNER TO LOOK
AT THE BOOK" 23
"THE BLACK DANCING BEAR HAD ALWAYS TO BE PUT TO
BED" 26

"ONCE HE TOOK A BALL OF YARN TO ROLL AFTER THE
WHITE KITTEN" 29
"HE WANTED TO GET AWAY FROM THE HOUSE," ETC. 43
"THEY COMMENCED TO BUILD A SNOW MAN" 54

BIG BROTHER.
Every coach on the long western-bound train was crowded with
passengers. Dust and smoke poured in at the windows and even the
breeze seemed hot as it blew across the prairie cornfields burning in the
July sun.
[Illustration]
It was a relief when the engine stopped at last in front of a small village
depot. There was a rush for the lunch counter and the restaurant door,
where a noisy gong announced dinner.
"Blackberries! blackberries!" called a shrill little voice on the platform.
A barefoot girl, wearing a sunbonnet, passed under the car windows,
holding up a basket full, that shone like great black beads. A gentleman
who had just helped two ladies to alight from the steps of a parlor car
called to her and began to fumble in his pockets for the right change.
"Blackberries! blackberries!" sang another voice mockingly. This time
it came from a roguish-looking child, hanging half-way out of a
window in the next car. He was a little fellow, not more than three
years old. His hat had fallen off, and his sunny tangle of curls shone
around a face so unusually beautiful that both ladies uttered an
exclamation of surprise.
"Look, papa! Look, Mrs. Estel!" exclaimed the younger of the two. "Oh,
isn't he a perfect picture! I never saw such eyes, or such delicate
coloring. It is an ideal head."

"Here, Grace," exclaimed her father, laughingly. "Don't forget your
berries in your enthusiasm. It hasn't been many seconds since you were
going into raptures over them. They certainly are the finest I ever saw."
The girl took several boxes from her basket, and held them up for the
ladies to choose. Grace took one mechanically, her eyes still fixed on
the child in the window.
"I'm going to make friends with him!" she exclaimed impulsively.
"Let's walk down that way. I want to speak to him."
"Blackberries!" sang the child again, merrily echoing the cry that came
from the depths of the big sunbonnet as it passed on.
Grace picked out the largest, juiciest berry in the box, and held it up to
him with a smile. His face dimpled mischievously, as he leaned
forward and took it between his little white teeth.
"Do you want some more?" she asked.
His eyes shone, and every little curl bobbed an eager assent.
"What's your name, dear," she ventured, as she popped another one into
his mouth.
"Robin," he answered, and leaned farther out to look into her box. "Be
careful," she cautioned; "you might fall out."
He looked at her gravely an instant, and then said in a slow, quaint
fashion: "Why, no; I can't fall out, 'cause big brother's a holdin' on to
my feet."
She drew back a little, startled. It had not occurred to her that any one
else might be interested in watching this little episode. She gave a
quick glance at the other windows of the car, and then exclaimed:
"What is it, papa,--a picnic or a travelling orphan asylum? It looks like
a whole carload of children."
Yes, there they were, dozens of them, it seemed; fair faces and freckled

ones, some dimpled and some thin; all bearing the marks of a long
journey on soot-streaked features and grimy hands, but all wonderfully
merry and good-natured.
Just then a tired-looking man swung himself down the steps, and stood
looking around him, knitting