Somebodys Little Girl | Page 4

so fast the drops came that they seemed to come in long strings of drops straight from the sky.
Then one little girl laughed and began to beat on the window by which she stood, to beat all over it as far as her little damp pink fingers could reach, and to say:
``Rain! Rain! Go to Spain! Rain! Rain! Go to Spain! Rain! Rain! Go to Spain!''
And all the little girls thought that was so beautiful that they began to beat all over the windows, too, just as high and just as far as their little damp pink fingers could reach, and to sing as loud and as gaily as they could sing:
``Rain! Rain! Go to Spain!''
Sister Theckla and Sister Angela came to the door of the room,--and they were so astonished that they could only look at one another and say to one another: ``What do they mean? Where did they learn that?''
And the little girl who had taught the other little girls that much of the song remembered some more; and so she beat louder than ever on the window pane and said:
``Rain, rain, rain, Go away! And come another day!''
All the little girls laughed more than ever and sang louder than ever:
``Rain, rain, rain, Go away! Come again another day!''
Then Sister Angela looked at Sister Theckla and said: ``Where did the child learn that, do you suppose?''
And Sister Theckla said: ``She is older than the others. She must have learned it at home!''
And Sister Angela and Sister Theckla came into the room and they said: ``See, now, what you have done to the windows!''
Sure enough, when the little girls looked at the windows the glass was all dim and blurred with little damp finger-prints!
* * * * * *

It was one day as the sun shone as it did shine most days, that the same little girl who knew how to sing that song when it rained was running on the shell-bordered walk, holding Bessie Bell's hand and running, when her little foot tripped up against Bessie Bell's foot,--and over Bessie Bell rolled on the walk with the shell border.
Then Bessie Bell cried and cried.
And Sister Mary Felice said: ``Bessie Bell, where are you hurt?''
Bessie Bell did not know where she was hurt: she only knew that she was so sorry to have been so happy to be running, and then to roll so suddenly on the walk.
Then the little girl said: ``She isn't hurt at all. She is just crying.''
Sister Mary Felice said: ``But you threw her down. You must tell her you are sorry.''
Then the little girl said: ``But I didn't mean to throw her down.''
``But,'' Sister Mary Felice said, ``you did trip her up, and you must beg her pardon.''
Then Sister Theckla came to take all the little girls to the room where so many chairs sat in so many rows, and she too said: ``Yes, you must beg her pardon.''
Bessie Bell was listening so that she had almost stopped crying, but now when Sister Story Felice and Sister Theckla both said to the little girl, ``Yes, you must beg pardon,'' then the little girl began to cry, too.
Then Bessie Bell grew so sorry again, she hardly knew why, or for what, that she began to cry again.
So then both Sisters said again: ``Yes, you should beg pardon.''
But the little girl still cried, and said, ``But I didn't mean to trip her.'' Then she shook her head at Bessie Bell and said--because she just had to say it:
``I beg your pardon! Grant me grace! I hope the cat will scratch your face! ''
Oh! Sister Mary Felice looked at Sister Theckla, and Sister Theckla looked at Sister Mary Felice--and they both said: ``Where did she learn that?''
But Bessie Bell knew that the little girl did not mean to throw her down, so she said, ``No, you didn't mean to do it.''
She had thought she ought to say that, and she had been getting ready to say that before the little girl had been made to beg her pardon, and now that she had gotten ready she said: ``No, you didn't mean to do it.''
Then the little girl stopped crying, too, and ran and caught Bessie Bell's hand again and said to her again:
``I beg your pardon! Grant me grace! I hope the cat won't scratch your face!''
So they went skipping down the walk together just as they had gone before. Then Sister Mary Felice and Sister Theckla both said: ``Well! Well!''
* * * * * *

One time it came about that Bessie Bell lay a long time in her little white crib-bed, and she did not know why, and she did not care much why. She did not get up and play in the sand while Sister Mary Felice looked one hour at the little girls