Somebodys Little Girl | Page 8

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 hear.
Every afternoon all the nurses came to the Mall and brought all the babies, and the nurses rolled the babies up and down the sawdust walks in the pretty baby-carriages, with nice white, and pink, and blue parasols over the babies' heads.
That afternoon Sister Helen Vincula stayed a long time with Bessie Bell, on the Mall, sitting by her on the stone bench and listening to the gay music, and looking at the children in their prettiest clothes, and at the nurses rolling the babies in the pretty carriages with the beautiful pink, and white, and blue parasols over the babies' heads.
Then Sister Helen Vincula said: ``Bessie Bell, I am going across the long bridge to see some ladies and to tell them Good-bye, because we are going away tomorrow.
And Sister Helen Vincula said: ``Now, will you stay right here on this stone bench till I come back for you?''
Bessie Bell said, ``Yes, Sister Helen Vincula.''
So Sister Helen Vincula went away across the long bridge to see the ladies and to tell them Good-bye.
Bessie Bell did not know much about going away, and she did not understand about it at all, so she did not care at all about it.
She just sat on the stone bench with her little pink hands folded on her blue checked apron, and looked at the children in their