The Allis Family | Page 5

and then you may imagine that the little girls
had enough to do to carry water to satisfy their thirst. Occasionally the
chills would seem to be broken up for a few days, and then they would
most unexpectedly return. Several times Mr. Allis thought himself

perfectly well, and once or twice he went to the grove a number of
miles distant, with his team, for a load of wood, and on the way there or
back would be attacked with a chill, and it was only by a great effort
that he reached home. The little girls were quite well; but they did not
find their prairie home as pleasant in the cold winter as it was in the
glad summer-time. Oh, how they longed for spring! And when it came
how they rejoiced over the little lambs and calves in their father's yard,
and how delighted were they when the first sweet violets peeped forth!
Still their joy was to be increased: a sweeter prairie-flower than any of
these bloomed in their humble cabin, opening a fount of untold
gladness in the hearts of all. One bright morning a sweet little sister
was presented to the delighted children.
It was long before they could be made to realize that it was their own
dear babe, and always to be theirs and to stay with them. At last they
recovered themselves sufficiently to ask its name.
"It has no name, Annie," said her father.
"Oh, mother! mother!" cried the enthusiastic Susie, "let us call it
_Love!_"
What a blessing that little unconscious one was to all beneath that
lowly roof! Annie and Susie would sit beside its little cradle and watch
it for hours; and if permitted to hold the tiny creature for a few
moments they were never weary of caressing her. Daily and almost
hourly they discovered some new beauty or perfection in the dear
object of their most tender regard, and the day of her birth was made an
era in the house; for almost every thing that was spoken of was said to
have taken place either so long before or so long after the Baby came.
At length a school was opened about a mile distant, and the parents
thought best that the little girls should have the advantage of attending
it through the summer. At first they were quite reluctant to go; for they
were strangers still to the children around them, and the young lady
who taught them they had never seen until they met her among her
pupils. After a few days they became very fond of their school and their
young playmates, and the only drawback to their happiness was leaving
the little darling Mary for so many long hours every day. But it was
soon evident that they learned some evil things as well as good things.
They grew less willing to submit to the gentle control of their parents,
and were quite inclined to think the rules under whose influence they

had been educated were altogether _too strict_, fortifying their
occasional remonstrances with "Mary Jones says so," or "Fanny Adams
thinks so." This gave their affectionate parents much solicitude and
pain.
One evening the little girls came home with a petition that they might
"go to school barefooted," and, as usual for the last few weeks, Susie
said, "All the girls go without shoes."
"That, my child, is no reason why you should do so if we prefer you
should wear your shoes."
"But, mother, it is so warm!" said Annie.
"What would you have thought, Annie, if I had told you to go to school
barefooted while we lived in Massachusetts?"
"All the girls wore shoes and stockings there, mother."
"But was it not quite as warm there as here, my child?"
"I suppose so; but, mother, all the girls and boys laugh at us so. They
say we are 'proud,' because we wear shoes and stockings."
"You must not mind being laughed at when you are doing right."
"But I can't see what wrong there is in going barefooted," said Annie.
"You are not now required to see the harm in it. All you have to do in
this case is to obey."
"But won't you tell us _why_, mother?" persisted Susie.
"No, children, I shall not now tell you why. I have my reasons; and you
must trust me now, and wait for an explanation until some future time."
* * * * *

ANNIE'S TEMPTATION.
A few days after, Susie was not very well, and her mother thought best
to keep her at home. Annie, however, was sent to school, as usual. As
she was preparing to set out, she thought to herself,--
"Now I am going all alone, and mother will never know it;