Somebodys Little Girl | Page 8

Ladies and Mamas there were none of these differences.
But Bessie Bell looked and looked and wondered, but her eyes brought

to her no way of knowing.
Bessie Bell could at length think of only one way to find out the
difference, and that was to ask--to let her ears help her eyes to bring to
her some way of knowing.
One day, a dear old lady with white curls all around under her bonnet
stopped near the playground and called Bessie Bell to her and gave her
some chocolate candy, every piece of candy folded up in its own white
paper.
Bessie Bell said: ``Thank you, ma'am.''
Then as the lady still stood by the playground Bessie Bell asked her:
``Are you a Lady, ma'am ?''
``I have been called so,'' said the lady, smiling down at Bessie Bell.
``Or are you a Mama?'' asked Bessie Bell.
``Ah, said the lady; ``I am a Mama, too, but all my little girls have
grown up and left me.''
Bessie Bell wondered how they could have done that, those little girls.
But she saw, and was so glad to see, that this lady was very wise, and
that she understood all the things that little girls wonder about.
But though there was a difference, a very great difference, between
Mamas and Ladies it was very hard to tell--unless you asked.
One day a large fat lady took Bessie Bell on her lap. That was very
strange to Bessie Bell--to sit on top of anybody.
And the lady made a rabbit, and a pony, and a preacher, all out of a
handkerchief and her nice fat fingers. And then she made with the same
handkerchief and fingers a Mama holding a Baby.
Then Bessie Bell looked up at her with her wondering eyes and asked:
``Are you a Lady--''

``Bless my soul!'' cried the lady. ``Do you hear this child? And now,
come to think of it, I don't know whether I am a lady or not--''
And the lady laughed until Bessie Bell felt quite shaken up.
``Or are you a Mama?'' asked Bessie Bell, when it seemed that the lady
was about to stop laughing.
``So that is it?'' asked the lady, and she seemed about to begin laughing
again.
``Yes, I am a Mama, and I have three little girls about as funny as you
are.''
Another time a lady passed by the cabin where Bessie Bell stood
leaning against the little fluted white post of the gallery, and said:
``Good morning, Bessie Bell. I am Alice's Mama.''
That made things so simple, thought Bessie Bell. This lady was a
Mama. And she was Alice's Mama.
Bessie Bell wished that all would tell in that nice way at once whether
they were Mamas or Just-Ladies.
The next lady who passed by the cabin also stopped to talk to Bessie
Bell.
And Bessie Bell asked: ``Are you a Mama or Only-Just-A-Lady?''
``I am only just a lady,'' the lady said, patting Bessie Bell's little tiny
hand. And it was easy to see that, in Bessie Bell's mind, though
Only-Just-Ladies were kind and sweet, Mamas were far greater and
more important beings.
One night, when Sister Helen Vincula had put Bessie Bell to bed in the
small bed that was not a crib-bed, though like that she had slept in
before she had come to the high mountain, Bessie Bell still lay wide
awake.

Her blue eyes were wide open and both of her pink little hands were
above her head on the pillow. She was thinking, and thinking, and she
forgot that she was thinking her thinking aloud, and she said:
``Alice has a mama. Robbie has a mama. Katie has a mama. Where is
Bessie Bell's mama? Never mind: Bessie Bell will find a mama.''
Then Sister Helen Vincula, who was wide awake, too, said:
``Ah me, ah me.''
Bessie Bell said: ``Sister Helen Vincula, did you call me?''
Sister Helen Vincula said:
``No, child: go to sleep.''
* * * * * *

The next day was the day for Sister Helen Vincula and Bessie Bell to
leave the high, cool mountain. They were to leave the little cabin where
the lady had told them to live until they had gotten well again.
So when their leaving day came Sister Helen Vincula put a clean
stiff-starched blue-checked apron on Bessie Bell, and they walked
together to the Mall where the band was playing.
Bessie Bell was always so glad when Sister Helen Vincula took her to
the Mall in the afternoon when the band played.
All the little children went every afternoon in their prettiest dresses to
the Mall where the band played.
Because in the afternoon the band played just the sort of music that
little girls liked to