The Wreck

The Wreck

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Title: The Wreck
Author: Anonymous
Release Date: June 6, 2006 [EBook #18522]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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WRECK ***

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[Illustration: Frontispiece]

THE WRECK.

ILLUSTRATED.
NEW YORK: DODD, MEAD, & CO. PUBLISHERS.

COPYRIGHT, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY, 1880.

THE WRECK.
[Illustration: The swing]
Ollie had been swinging for nearly an hour in the grove behind the old
farm-house, when she heard her mother's voice calling, "Ollie, Ollie!
where are you, child?" Ollie stopped swinging and listened. "That is
mamma," she said; "I must run quickly and see what she wants." So,
jumping down and leaving the swing to "die away" by itself, she
skipped along the path which led up to the back door. Her mother was
standing on the step, holding a basket in her hand. When she saw Ollie
she said, "Ah, here you are; I have been looking for you all over the
house."
"I have been swinging, and only just heard you calling," answered Ollie.
"Do you want me?"
"Yes," said Mrs. Rogers; "I want some more sugar. I thought we had
plenty, but these new cookies that Mrs. Coe told me about do take a
great deal more than my old ones. So, go as quickly as you can, my
dear, for I am dreadfully bothered for the want of it."
[Illustration: Willie]
"Yes," said Ollie, taking the basket; "I will not be a minute. Couldn't
Willie go with me? See, he is looking through the window. I am sure a
little walk would do him good."
"No, not yet," said Mrs. Rogers. "The doctor says he must not leave the
house before next week. Now run along."

Ollie threw a kiss toward the window and started down the path. She
was just going to open the gate when she heard a "rat-tat-tat" behind
her.
[Illustration: Ollie]
"Willie wants something, I am sure," she said, turning back again; "I
wonder what it is! He is pointing under that bush, but I do not see
anything. Ah, here you are, you rogue! it is you who are wanted;" and
she pulled out a great big black rabbit, Willie's especial pet. "It is just
as well that I have to go to the house again, for I forgot my
sun-umbrella, and I am sure the day is very hot."
[Illustration: The pet rabbit]
The sun-umbrella to which Ollie alluded was one of her birthday
presents, and she was always glad when the sun was hot enough to
make it useful. The rabbit being laid in Willie's lap, Ollie started off
once more, running as fast as she could to make up for lost time. In a
few minutes she reached the village. The sugar was soon bought and
tucked away in the basket.
Ollie ran along, and was just hesitating whether she should climb the
fence and run through Squire Thompson's lot, or go around by the road,
when she saw, just before her, Lucy Coit, walking along with her
school-books in her bag.
"There is Lucy," said Ollie; "I wonder what she is doing with her bag
of books at this time of day. I will run up and ask her."
[Illustration: Lucy]
Ollie soon overtook her schoolmate, and putting her arm around her
waist they walked on together.
"I could not imagine what you were carrying your school-books for,"
said Ollie. "You can't have been kept after school, for you always know
your lessons so well."

"No," said Lucy, "I wasn't kept after, but I stayed myself. I couldn't get
a sum in fractions right, and Miss Palmer said if I would wait till every
one had gone she would show me about it. Now I know it, and I am
going down to the beach. Don't you want to go too?"
"Oh, yes," said Ollie; "but I must take this sugar to mamma first. Let's
climb over these bars and cut across this field. It is a great deal shorter
than by the road."
[Illustration: Geese]
There were some geese in the field, which evidently did not like to
have their privacy intruded upon, for they set up a terrible quacking as
the children passed them. Ollie and Lucy, however, quacked back again,
and the geese soon left them and continued to nibble away at the grass.
Ollie soon reached her home, and