Little Prudys Sister Susy

Little Prudy's Sister Susy, by
Sophie May

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Title: Little Prudy's Sister Susy
Author: Sophie May
Release Date: November 29, 2004 [eBook #14202]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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PRUDY'S SISTER SUSY***
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LITTLE PRUDY'S SISTER SUSY

by
SOPHIE MAY
New York Hurst & Company Publishers

[Illustration]

TO MY LITTLE NIECE Katie Clarke THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU,
KATIE, WITH THE LOVE OF YOUR AUNTIE.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I.
KEEPING SECRETS II. BEFORE DAYLIGHT III. SUSY'S
CHRISTMAS IV. SUSY'S WINGS V. PRUDY'S TROUBLE VI.
ROSY FRANCES EASTMAN MARY VII. LITTLE TROUBLES VIII.
ANNIE LOVEJOY IX. MORAL COURAGE X. RUTHIE TURNER
XI. SUSY'S BIRTHDAY XII. FAREWELL

PREFACE.
Here is a story about the oldest of the three little Parlin girls, "sister
Susy;" though so many things are always happening to Prudy that it is
not possible to keep her out of the book.
I hope my dear little friends will see how kind it was in God to send the
"slow winter" and the long nights of pain to little Prudy.
If trouble should come to us, let us grow gentle, and patient, and lovely.

Little friends, be sure of one thing--our dear Father in heaven sends us
something hard to bear only because he loves us.

SISTER SUSY.
CHAPTER I.
KEEPING SECRETS.
We might begin this story of Susy Parlin on a New Year's day, only it
is so hard to skip over Christmas. There is such a charm about
Christmas! It makes you think at once of a fir tree shining with little
candles and sparkling with toys, or of a droll Santa Claus with a pack
full of presents, or of a waxen angel called the Christ-child.
And it is just as well to date from the twenty-fifth of December,
because, as "Christ was born on Christmas day," that is really the
"Happy New Year."
For a long while the three little Parlin girls had been thinking and
dreaming of presents. Susy's wise head was like a beehive, full of little
plans and little fancies, which were flying about like bees, and buzzing
in everybody's ears.
But it may be as well to give you a short description of the Parlin
family.
Susy's eyes were of an "evening blue," the very color of the sky in a
summer night; good eyes, for they were as clear as a well which has the
"truth" lying at the bottom of it. She was almost as nimble as a squirrel,
and could face a northern snow storm like an engineer. Her hair was
dark brown, and as smooth and straight as pine-needles; while Prudy's
fair hair rippled like a brook running over pebbles. Prudy's face was
sunny, and her mouth not much larger than a button-hole.
The youngest sister was named Alice, but the family usually called her
Dotty, or Dotty Dimple, for she was about as round as a period, and

had a cunning little dimple in each cheek. She had bright eyes, long
curls, and a very short tongue; that is, she did not talk much. She was
two years and a half old before she could be prevailed upon to say
anything at all. Her father declared that Dotty thought there were
people enough in the world to do the talking, and she would keep still;
or perhaps she was tired of hearing Prudy say so much.
However, she had a way of nodding her curly head, and shaking her
plump little forefinger; so everybody knew very well what she meant.
She had learned the use of signs from a little deaf and dumb boy of
whom we shall hear more by and by; but all at once, when she was
ready she began to talk with all her might, and soon made up for lost
time.
The other members of the family were only grown people: Mr. and Mrs.
Parlin, the children's excellent parents; Mrs. Read, their kind Quaker
grandmother; and the Irish servant girl, Norah.
Just now Mrs. Margaret Parlin, their "aunt Madge," was visiting them,
and the little girls felt quite easy about Christmas, for they gave it all up
to her; and when they wanted to know how to spend their small stock
of money, or how much this or that pretty toy would cost, Prudy always
settled it by saying, "Let's go