Mary Erskine | Page 4

under the

clock. The clock stood in a corner of the room.
"Sligo accordingly jumped up into a chair, and from the chair to the
table, and then pushing the basket along nearer and nearer to the edge
of the table, she at last made it fall over, and all the sewing and knitting
work, and the balls, and needles, and spools, fell out upon the floor.
Sligo then jumped down and pushed the basket along toward the clock.
She finally got it under the clock, crept into it, curled herself round into
the form of a semicircle inside, so as just to fill the basket, and went to
sleep.
"Presently Arabella came in, and seeing the spools and balls upon the
floor, began to play with them. In a few minutes more, Arabella's
mother came in, and when she saw Arabella playing with these things
upon the floor, she supposed that Arabella herself was the rogue that
had thrown the basket off the table. Arabella could not talk much.
When her mother accused her of doing this mischief, she could only
say "No;" "no;" but her mother did not believe her. So she made her go
and stand up in the corner of the room, for punishment, while Sligo
peeped out from under the clock to see."
"But you said that Sligo was asleep," said Phonny.
"Yes, she went to sleep," replied Beechnut, "but she waked up when
Arabella's mother came into the room."
Beechnut here paused a moment to consider what he should say next,
when suddenly he began to point forward to a little distance before
them in the road, where a boy was to be seen at the side of the road,
sitting upon a stone.
"I verily believe it is Jemmy," said he.
As the wagon approached the place where Jemmy was sitting, they
found that he was bending down over his foot, and moaning with, pain.
Beechnut asked him what was the matter. He said that he had sprained
his foot dreadfully. Beechnut stopped the horse, and giving the reins to
Phonny, he got out to see. Phonny immediately gave them to Malleville,

and followed.
"Are you much hurt?" asked Beechnut.
"Oh, yes," said Jemmy, moaning and groaning; "oh dear me!"
Beechnut then went back to the horse, and taking him by the bridle, he
led him a little way out of the road, toward a small tree, where he
thought he would stand, and then taking Malleville out, so that she
might not be in any danger if the horse should chance to start, he went
back to Jemmy.
"You see," said Jemmy, "I was going to mill, and I was riding along
here, and the horse pranced about and threw me off and sprained my
foot. Oh dear me! what shall I do?"
"Where is the horse?" asked Beechnut.
"There he is," said Jemmy, "somewhere out there. He has gone along
the road. And the bags have fallen off too. Oh dear me!"
Phonny ran out into the road, and looked forward. He could see the
horse standing by the side of the road at some distance, quietly eating
the grass. A little this side of the place where the horse stood, the bags
were lying upon the ground, not very far from each other.
The story which Jemmy told was not strictly true. He was one of the
boys of the village, and was of a wild and reckless character. This was,
however, partly his father's fault, who never gave him any kind and
friendly instruction, and always treated him with a great degree of
sternness and severity.
A circus company had visited Franconia a few weeks before the time of
this accident, and Jemmy had peeped through the cracks of the fence
that formed their enclosure, and had seen the performers ride around
the ring, standing upon the backs of the horses. He was immediately
inspired with the ambition to imitate this feat, and the next time that he
mounted his father's horse, he made the attempt to perform it. His

father, when he found it out, was very angry with him, and sternly
forbade him ever to do such a thing again. He declared positively that if
he did, he would whip him to death, as he said. Jemmy was silent, but
he secretly resolved that he would ride standing again, the very first
opportunity.
Accordingly, when his father put the two bags of grain upon the horse,
and ordered Jemmy to go to mill with them, Jemmy thought that the
opportunity had come. He had observed that the circus riders, instead of
a saddle, used upon the backs of their horses a sort of flat pad, which
afforded a much more convenient footing than any saddle; and as to
standing on