Grandfathers Love Pie

Grandfather's Love Pie, by
Miriam Gaines

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Title: Grandfather's Love Pie
Author: Miriam Gaines
Release Date: December 27, 2006 [EBook #20197]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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GRANDFATHER'S LOVE PIE ***

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[Illustration: "AUNTEE, I'LL THINK OF SOMETHING--I PROMISE
YOU I WILL."]

SECOND EDITION

GRANDFATHER'S LOVE PIE
BY
MIRIAM GAINES

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN EDWARD WHITING

1913 JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY INCORPORATED
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY MISS MIRIAM GAINES.

TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED FATHER, JOHN THOMAS
GAINES, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS DEDICATED.

GRANDFATHER'S LOVE PIE

I.
"O, Auntee, what is it?"
The awed young voice paused at the threshold.
It was a sight the little girl had never witnessed before--she had seen
Auntee sad at occasional intervals, and a few times had looked upon
tears in the usually merry eyes of her beloved chum, but never before

had she beheld Auntee sobbing in such an abandonment of grief.
There was a very tender tie of love between these two--Alsie, the dear
little twelve-year-old daughter of an older sister of the family, and
Alice, the only remaining unmarried child of a household of many sons
and daughters.
The family circle had never been broken, however, and it was a
household where love prevailed, for although several members lived in
far-away homes, the flame of affection burned as brightly and the cord
of love bound them together as strongly as did ever the same ties bind
their sturdy Scotch ancestors into clans.
Auntee (for that was Alsie's baby name for the aunt, with whom so
many happy hours had been spent) rose half way up from the bed with
a somewhat startled movement, but the sight of the stricken little face
at her side seemed to bring back afresh the reminder of her pain, and
she again buried her face in the pillow with a sob.
After a few moments, however, the young woman put her arm tenderly
around the little namesake and tried to explain.
"I did not intend to burden you, Alsie dear, with my grief, but I feel so
sad and somehow I just couldn't keep it shut in any longer--it had to
come out. But I thought you were playing with your little friend
Margaret, and I knew mother had started for the drug store on an errand
which would surely keep her an hour."
"Auntee, are you so sad because dear Uncle James has gone away? You
know grandma said he had been called to his heavenly home, and there
are lots of us left to make you bright and happy."
"So there are, Alsie, and I will try to take courage in that thought, for
surely God wouldn't take another loved one away from us so soon--so
soon." The last two words were spoken pensively and as though she
was unconscious of the presence of the child. Little Alsie's face became
white.

"O, Auntee, you don't mean that dear grandfather"--her voice faltered
and she finished in a whisper--"is worse?"
Auntee regained her self-possession in a moment and said hastily, "No,
dear child, no worse. But sit down with me and I will tell you all about
it. You must promise not to mention it to grandmother, however, for we
will have to be brave together." Then, sitting side by side in the pretty
little blue bedroom where only a few months before so many joyous
hours had been spent in fixing everything up daintily to meet the gaze
of returned travelers, Aunt Alice related to young Alice the story of her
trip to the doctor's that very day, and how he had told her that the
chances were against the recovery of the beloved father and grandfather,
lying so patiently on his bed of pain in the south bedchamber.
His health had begun to fail in the spring, but grandfather, with his
broad shoulders, military bearing, and six feet of noble manhood, had
never been sick within the memory of either of these two, and it was
hard for them--or, indeed, any other--to conceive that it was more than
a passing ailment, and would soon disappear. The family became
vaguely uneasy as the spring merged into the summer, and a plan was
proposed for the plump little five-foot "wifey" to