“Well,” said the mother, “that is another story; when a man begins to do his own business, instead of asking somebody else to do it, things get done.  I will move you out to-night.”

A TRUE STORY ABOUT A GIRL

Once there were four little girls who lived in a big, bare house, in the country.  They were very poor, but they had the happiest times you ever heard of, because they were very rich in everything except money.  They had a wonderful, wise father, who knew stories to tell, and who taught them their lessons in such a beautiful way that it was better than play; they had a lovely, merry, kind mother, who was never too tired to help them work or watch them play; and they had all the great green country to play in.  There were dark, shadowy woods, and fields of flowers, and a river.  And there was a big barn.

One of the little girls was named Louisa.  She was very pretty, and ever so strong; she could run for miles through the woods and not get tired.  She had a splendid brain in her little head; it liked study, and it thought interesting thoughts all day long.

Louisa liked to sit in a corner by herself, sometimes, and write thoughts in her diary; all the little girls kept diaries.  She liked to make up stories out of her own head, and sometimes she made verses.

When the four little sisters had finished their lessons, and had helped their mother wash up and sew, they used to go to the big barn to play; and the best play of all was theatricals.  Louisa liked theatricals better than anything.

They made the barn into a theatre, and the grown-up people came to see the plays they acted.  They used to climb up on the hay-loft for a stage, and the grown people sat in chairs on the floor.  It was great fun.  One of the plays they acted was Jack and the Beanstalk.  They had a ladder from the floor to the loft, and on the ladder they tied a vine all the way up to the loft, to look like the wonderful beanstalk.  One of the little girls was dressed up to look like Jack, and she acted that part.  When it came to the place in the story where the giant tried to follow Jack, the little girl cut down the beanstalk, and down came the giant tumbling from the loft.  The giant was made out of pillows, with a great, fierce head of paper, and funny clothes.

Another story that they acted was Cinderella.  They made a wonderful big pumpkin out of the wheelbarrow, trimmed with yellow paper, and Cinderella rolled away in it, when the fairy godmother waved her wand.

One other beautiful story they used to play.  It was the story of Pilgrim’s Progress; if you have never heard it, you must be sure to read it as soon as you can read well enough to understand the old-fashioned words.  The little girls used to put shells in their hats for a sign they were on a pilgrimage, as the old pilgrims used to do; then they made journeys over the hill behind the house, and through the woods, and down the lanes; and when the pilgrimage was over they had apples and nuts to eat, in the happy land of home.