Five Little Peppers And How They Grew

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"I can't do anything, ma'am," replied Polly, sadly, "I can't see to do
anything."

"Well, you might knit, I should think," said her visitor, "it's
dreadful for a girl as big as you are to sit all day idle; I had sore
eyes once when I was a little girl--how old are you?" she asked,
abruptly.

"Eleven last month," said Polly.

"Well, I wasn't only nine when I knit a stocking; and I had sore
eyes, too; you see I was a very little girl, and--"

"Was you ever little?" interrupted Joel, in extreme incredulity,
drawing near, and looking over the big square figure.

"Hey?" said Miss Jerusha; so Joel repeated his question before
Polly could stop him.

"Of course," answered Miss Jerusha; and then she added, tartly,
"little boys shouldn't speak unless they're spoken to. Now," and she
turned back to Polly again, "didn't you ever knit a stocking?"

"No, ma'am," said Polly, "not a whole one."

"Dear me!" exclaimed Miss Jerusha; "did I ever!" And she raised
her black mitts in intense disdain. "A big girl like you never to knit
a stocking! to think your mother should bring you up so! and--"

"She didn't bring us up," screamed Joel, in indignation, facing her
with blazing eyes.

"Joel," said Polly, "be still."

"And you're very impertinent, too," said Miss Jerusha; "a good
child never is impertinent."

Polly sat quite still; and Miss Jerusha continued:

"Now, I hope you will learn to be industrious; and when I come
again, I will see what you have done."

"You aren't ever coming again," said Joel, defiantly; "no, never!"

"Joel!" implored Polly, and in her distress she pulled up her
bandage as she looked at him; "you know mammy'll be so sorry at
you! Oh, ma'am, and" she turned to Miss Jerusha, who was now
thoroughly aroused to the duty she saw before her of doing these
children good, "I don't know what is the reason, ma'am; Joel never
talks so; he's real good; and--"

"It only shows," said the lady, seeing her way quite clear for a little
exhortation, "that you've all had your own way from infancy; and
that you don't do what you might to make your mother's life a
happy one."

"Oh, ma'am," cried Polly, and she burst into a flood of tears,
"please, please don't say that!"

"And I say," screamed Joel, stamping his small foot, "if you make
Polly cry you'll kill her! Don't Polly, don't!" and the boy put both
arms around her neck, and soothed and comforted her in every way
he could think of. And Miss Jerusha, seeing no way to make
herself heard, disappeared feeling pity for children who would turn
away from good advice.

But still Polly cried On; all the pent-up feelings that had been so
long controlled had free vent now. She really couldn't stop! Joel,
frightened to death, at last said, "I'm going to wake up Ben."

That brought Polly to; and she sobbed out, "Oh, no, Jo--ey--I'll
stop."

"I will," said Joel, seeing his advantage; "I'm going, Polly," and he
started to the foot of the stairs.

"No, I'm done now, Joe," said Polly, wiping her eyes, and choking
back her thoughts--"oh, Joe! I must scream! my eyes aches so!"
and poor Polly fairly writhed all over the chair.

"What'll I do?" said Joel, at his wits' end, running back, "do you
want some water?"

"Oh, no," gasped Polly; "doctor wouldn't let me; oh! I wish
mammy'd come!"

"I'll go and look for her," suggested Joel, feeling as if he must do
something; and he'd rather be out at the gate, than to see Polly
suffer.

"That won't bring her," said Polly; trying to keep still; "I'll try to
wait."

"Here she is now!" cried Joel, peeping out of the window; "oh!
goody!"

JOEL'S TURN

"Well"--Mrs. Pepper's tone was unusually blithe as she stepped
into the kitchen--"you've had a nice time, I suppose--what in the
world!" and she stopped at the bedroom door.

"Oh, mammy, if you'd been here!" said Joel, while Polly sat still,
only holding on to her eyes as if they were going to fly out; "there's
been a big woman here; she came right in--and she talked awfully!
and Polly's been a-cryin', and her eyes ache dreadfully--and"--
"Been crying!" repeated Mrs. Pepper, coming up to poor

Polly. "Polly been crying!" she still repeated.

"Oh, mammy, I couldn't help it," said Polly; "she said"-- and in
spite of all she could do, the rain of tears began again, which bade
fair to be as uncontrolled as before. But Mrs. Pepper took her up
firmly in her arms, as if she were Phronsie, and sat down in the old
rocking-chair and just patted her back.

"There, there," she whispered, soothingly, "don't think of it, Polly;
mother's got home."

"Oh, mammy," said Polly, crawling up to the comfortable neck for
protection, "I ought not to mind; but 'twas Miss Jerusha
Henderson; and she said--"

"What did she say?" asked Mrs. Pepper, thinking perhaps it to be
the wiser thing to let Polly free her mind.

"Oh, she said that we ought to be doing something; and I ought to
knit, and"-- "Go on," said her mother.

"And then Joel got naughty; oh, mammy, he never did so before;
and I couldn't stop him," cried Polly, in great distress; "I really
couldn't, mammy--and he talked to her; and he told her she wasn't
ever coming here again."

"Joel shouldn't have said that," said Mrs. Pepper, and under her
breath something was added that Polly even failed to hear--"but no
more she isn't!"

"And, mammy," cried Polly--and she flung her arms around her
mother's neck and gave her a grasp that nearly choked Mrs.
Pepper, "ain't I helpin' you some, mammy? Oh! I wish I could do
something big for you? Ain't you happy, mammy?"

"For the land's sakes!" cried Mrs. Pepper, straining Polly to her
heart, "whatever has that woman--whatever could she have said to
you? Such a girl as you are, too!" cried Mrs. Pepper, hugging Polly,
and covering her with kisses so tender, that Polly, warmed and
cuddled up to her heart's content, was comforted to the full.

"Well," said Mrs. Pepper, when at last she thought she had formed
between Polly and Joel about the right idea of the visit, "well, now
we won't think of it, ever any more; 'tisn't worth it, Polly, you
know."

But poor Polly! and poor mother! They both were obliged to think
of it. Nothing could avert the suffering of the next few days,
caused by that long flow of burning tears.

"Nothing feels good on 'em, mammy," said Polly, at last, twisting
her hands in the vain attempt to keep from rubbing the aching,
inflamed eyes that drove her nearly wild with their itching, "there
isn't any use in trying anything."

"There will be use," energetically protested Mrs. Pepper, bringing
another cool bandage, "as long as you've got an eye in your head,
Polly Pepper!"

Dr. Fisher's face, when he first saw the change that the fateful visit
had wrought, and heard the accounts, was very grave indeed.
Everything had been so encouraging on his last visit, that he had
come very near promising Polly speedy freedom from the hateful
bandage.

But the little Pepper household soon had something else to think of
more important even than Polly's eyes, for now the heartiest, the
jolliest of all the little group was down-- Joel. How he fell sick,
they scarcely knew, it all came so suddenly. The poor, bewildered
family had hardly time to think, before delirium and, perhaps,
death stared them in the face.

When Polly first heard it, by Phronsie's pattering downstairs and
screaming: "Oh, Polly, Joey's dre-ad-ful sick, he is!" she jumped
right up, and tore off the bandage.

"Now, I will help mother! I will, so there!" and in another minute
she would have been up in the sick room. But the first thing she
knew, a gentle but firm hand was laid upon hers; and she found
herself back again in the old rocking-chair, and listening to the
Doctor's words which were quite stern and decisive.

"Now, I tell you," he said, "you must not take off that bandage
again; do you know the consequences? You will be blind! and then
you will be a care to your mother all your life!"

"I shall be blind, anyway," said Polly, despairingly; "so 'twon't
make any difference."

"No; your eyes will come out of it all right, only I did hope"--and
the good doctor's face fell--"that the other two boys would escape;
but"--and he brightened up at sight of Polly's forlorn visage--"see
you do your part by keeping still."

But there came a day soon when everything was still around the
once happy little brown house--when oniy whispers were heard
from white lips; and thoughts were fearfully left unuttered.

On the morning of one of these days, when Mrs. Pepper felt she
could not exist an hour longer without sleep, kind Mrs. Beebe
came to stay until things were either better or worse.

Still the cloud hovered, dark and forbidding. At last, one
afternoon, when Polly was all alone, she could endure it no longer.
She flung herself down by the side of the old bed, and buried her
face in the gay patched bed-quilt.

"Dear God," she said, "make me willing to have anything"--she
hesitated--"yes, anything happen; to be blind forever, and to have
Joey sick, only make me good."

How long she staid there she never knew; for she fell asleep--the
first sleep she had had since Joey was taken sick. And little Mrs.
Beebe coming in found her thus.

"Polly," the good woman said, leaning over her, "you poor, pretty
creeter, you; I'm goin' to tell you somethin'--there, there, just to
think! Joel's goin' to get well!"

"Oh, Mrs. Beebe!" cried Polly, tumbling over in a heap on the
floor, her face, as much as could be seen under the bandage, in a
perfect glow, "Is he, really?"

"Yes, to be sure; the danger's all over now," said the little old lady,
inwardly thinking--"If I hadn't a-come!"

"Well, then, the Lord wants him to," cried Polly, in rapture; "don't
he, Mrs. Beebe?"

"To be sure--to be sure," repeated the kind friend, only half
understanding.

"Well, I don't care about my eyes, then," cried Polly; and to Mrs.
Beebe's intense astonishment and dismay, she spun round and
round in the middle of the floor.

"Oh, Polly, Polly!" the little old lady cried, running up to her, "do
stop! the doctor wouldn't let you! he wouldn't really, you know! it'll
all go to your eyes."

"I don't care," repeated Polly, in the middle of a spin; but she
stopped obediently; "seems as if I just as soon be blind as not; it's
so beautiful Joey's going to get well!"

SUNSHINE AGAIN

But as Joel was smitten down suddenly, so he came up quickly,
and his hearty nature asserted itself by rapid strides toward
returning health; and one morning he astonished them all by
turning over suddenly and exclaiming:

"I want something to eat!"

"Bless the Lord!" cried Mrs. Pepper, "now he's going to live!"

"But he mustn't eat," protested Mrs. Beebe, in great alarm, trotting
for the cup of gruel. "Here, you pretty creeter you, here's
something nice." And she temptingly held the spoon over Joel's
mouth; but with a grimace he turned away.

"Oh, I want something to eat! some gingerbread or some bread and
butter."

"Dear me!" ejaculated Mrs. Beebe. "Gingerbread!" Poor Mrs.
Pepper saw the hardest part of her trouble now before her, as she
realized that the returning appetite must be fed only on
strengthening food; for where it was to come from she couldn't
tell.

"The Lord only knows where we'll get it," she groaned within
herself.

Yes, He knew. A rap at the door, and little David ran down to find
the cause.

"Oh, mammy," he said, "Mrs. Henderson sent it--see! see!" And in
the greatest excitement he placed in her lap a basket that smelt
savory and nice even before it was opened. When it was opened,
there lay a little bird delicately roasted, and folded in a clean
napkin; also a glass of jelly, crimson and clear.

"Oh, Joey," cried Mrs. Pepper, almost overwhelmed with joy, "see
what Mrs. Henderson sent you! now you can eat fit for a king!"

That little bird certainly performed its mission in life; for as Mrs.
Beebe said, "It just touched the spot!" and from that very moment
Joel improved so rapidly they could hardly believe their eyes.

"Hoh! I haven't been sick!" he cried on the third day, true to his
nature. "Mammy, I want to get up."

"Oh, dear, no! you mustn't, Joel," cried Mrs. Pepper in a fright,
running up to him as he was preparing to give the bedclothes a
lusty kick; "you'll send 'em in."

"Send what in?" asked Joel, looking up at his mother in terror, as
the dreadful thought made him pause.

"Why, the measles, Joey; they'll all go in if you get out."

"How they goin' to get in again, I'd like to know?" asked Joel,
looking at the little red spots on his hands in incredulity; say, ma!

"Well, they will," said his mother, "as you'll find to your sorrow if
you get out of bed."

"Oh, dear," said Joel, beginning to whimper, as he drew into bed
again, "when can I get up, mammy!"

"Oh, in a day or two," responded Mrs. Pepper, cheerfully; "you're
getting on so finely you'll be as smart as a cricket! Shouldn't you
say he might get up in a day or two, Mrs. Beebe?" she appealed to
that individual who was knitting away cheerily in the corner.

"Well, if he keeps on as he's begun, I shouldn't know what to
think," replied Mrs. Beebe. "It beats all how quick he's picked up. I
never see anything like it, I'm sure!"

And as Mrs. Beebe was a great authority in sickness, the old, sunny
cheeriness began to creep into the brown house once more, and to
bubble over as of yore.

"Seems as if 'twas just good to live," said Mrs. Pepper, thankfully
once, when her thoughts were too much for her. "I don't believe I
shall ever care how poor we are," she continued, "as long as we're
together."

"And that's just what the Lord meant, maybe," replied good Mrs.
Beebe, who was preparing to go home.

Joel kept the house in a perfect uproar all through his getting well.
Mrs. Pepper observed one day, when he had been more turbulent
than usual, that she was "almost worn to a thread."

"Twasn't anything to take care of you, Joe," she added, "when you
were real sick, because then I knew where you were; but--well,
you won't ever have the measles again, I s'pose, and that's some
comfort!"

Little David, who had been nearly stunned by the sickness that had
laid aside his almost constant companion, could express his
satisfaction and joy in no other way than by running every third
minute and begging to do something for him. And Joel, who loved
dearly to be waited on, improved every opportunity that offered;
which Mrs. Pepper observing, soon put a stop to.

"You'll run his legs off, Joel," at last she said, when he sent David
the third time down to the wood-pile for a stick of just the exact
thickness, and which the little messenger declared wasn't to be
found. "Haven't you any mercy? You've kept him going all day,
too," she added, glancing at David's pale face.

"Oh, mammy," panted David, "don't; I love to go. Here Joe, is the
best I could find," handing him a nice smooth stick.

"I know you do," said his mother; "but Joe's getting better now, and
he must learn to spare you."

"I don't want to spare folks," grumbled Joel, whittling away with
energy; "I've been sick--real sick," he added, lifting his chubby
face to his mother to impress the fact.

"I know you have," she cried, running to kiss her boy; "but now,
Joe, you're most well. To-morrow I'm going to let you go
down-stairs; what do you think of that!"

"Hooray!" screamed Joel, throwing away the stick and clapping his
hands, forgetting all about his serious illness, "that'll be prime!"

"Aren't you too sick to go, Joey?" asked Mrs. Pepper,
mischievously.

"No, I'm not sick," cried Joel, in the greatest alarm, fearful his
mother meant to take back the promise; "I've never been sick. Oh,
mammy! you know you'll let me go, won't your?"

"I guess so," laughed his mother.

"Come on, Fhron," cried Joel, giving her a whirl.

David, who was too tired for active sport, sat on the floor and
watched them frolic in great delight.

"Mammy," said he, edging up to her side as the sport went on, "do
you know, I think it's just good--it's--oh, it's so frisky since Joe got
well, isn't it, mammy?"

"Yes, indeed," said Mrs. Pepper, giving him a radiant look in
return for his; "and when Polly's around again with her two eyes all
right--well, I don't know what we shall do, I declare!"

"Boo!" cried a voice, next morning, close to Polly's elbow,
unmistakably Joel's.

"Oh, Joel Pepper!" she cried, whirling around, "is that really you!"

"Yes," cried that individual, confidently, "it's I; oh, I say, Polly, I've
had fun up-stairs, I tell you what!"

"Poor boy!" said Polly, compassionately.

"I wasn't a poor boy," cried Joel, indignantly; "I had splendid
things to eat; oh, my!" and he closed one eye and smacked his lips
in the delightful memory.

"I know it," said Polly, "and I'm so glad, Joel."

"I don't suppose I'll ever get so many again," observed Joel,
reflectively, after a minute's pause, as one and another of the
wondrous delicacies rose before his mind's eye; "not unless I have
the measles again--say, Polly, can't I have 'em again?"

"Mercy, no!" cried Polly, in intense alarm, "I hope not."

"Well, I don't," said Joel, "I wish I could have 'em sixty--no--two
hundred times, so there!"

"Well, mammy couldn't take care of you," said Ben; "you don't
know what you're sayin', Joe."

"Well, then, I wish I could have the things without the measles,"
said Joel, willing to accommodate; "only folks won't send 'em," he
added, in an injured tone.

"Polly's had the hardest time of all," said her mother, affectionately
patting the bandage.

"I think so too," put in Ben; "if my eyes were hurt I'd give up.',

"So would I," said David; and Joel, to be in the fashion, cried also,
"I know I would;" while little Phronsie squeezed up to Polly's side,
"And I, too."

"Would what, Puss?" asked Ben, tossing her up high. "Have good
things," cried the child, in delight at understanding the others, "I
would really, Ben," she cried, gravely, when they all screamed.

"Well, I hope so," said Ben, tossing her higher yet. "Don't laugh at
her, boys," put in Polly; "we're all going to have good times now,
Phronsie, now we've got well."

"Yes," laughed the child from her high perch; "we aren't ever goin'
to be sick again, ever--any more," she added impressively.

The good times were coming for Polly--coming pretty near, and
she didn't know it! All the children were in the secret; for as Mrs.
Pepper declared, "They'd have to know it; and if they were let into
the secret they'd keep it better."

So they had individually and collectively been intrusted with the
precious secret, and charged with the extreme importance of
"never letting any one know," and they had been nearly bursting
ever since with the wild desire to impart their knowledge.

'Tm afraid I shall tell," said David, running to his mother at last;
"oh, mammy, I don't dare stay near Polly, I do want to tell so bad ."

"Oh, no, you won't, David," said his mother encouragingly, "when
you know mother don't want you to; and besides, think how Polly'll
look when she sees it."

"I know," cried David in the greatest rapture, "I wouldn't tell for all
the world! I guess she'll look nice, don't you mother?" and he
laughed in glee at the thought.

"Poor child! I guess she will!" and then Mrs. Pepper laughed too,
till the little old kitchen rang with delight at the accustomed sound,

The children all had to play "clap in and clap out" in the bedroom
while it came; and "stage coach," too--"anything to make a noise,"
Ben said. And then after they got nicely started in the game, he
would be missing to help about the mysterious thing in the kitchen,
which was safe since Polly couldn't see him go on account of her
bandage. So she didn't suspect in the least. And although the rest
were almost dying to be out in the kitchen, they conscientiously
stuck to their bargain to keep Polly occupied. Only Joel would
open the door and peep once; and then Phronsie behind him
began-- "Oh, I see the sto--" but David swooped down on her in a
twinkling, and smothered the rest by tickling her.

Once they came very near having the whole thing pop out.
"Whatever is that noise in the kitchen?" asked Polly, as they all
stopped to take breath after the scuffle of "stage coach." "It sounds
just like grating."

"I'll go and see," cried Joel, promptly; and then he flew out where
his mother and Ben and two men were at work on a big, black
thing in the corner. The old stove, strange to say, was nowhere to
be seen! Something else stood in its place, a shiny, black affair,
with a generous supply of oven doors, and altogether such a
comfortable, home-like look about it, as if it would say--"I'm going
to make sunshine in this house!"

"Oh, Joel," cried his mother, turning around on him with very
black hands, "you haven't told!"

"No," said Joel, "but she's hearin' the noise, Polly is."

"Hush!" said Ben, to one of the men.

"We can't put it up without some noise," the man replied, "but we'll
be as still as we can."

"Isn't it a big one, ma?" asked Joel, in the loudest of stage
whispers, that Polly on the other side of the door couldn't have
failed to hear if Phronsie hadn't laughed just then.

"Go back, Joe, do," said Ben, "play tag--anything," he implored,
"we'll be through in a few minutes."

"It takes forever!" said Joel, disappearing within the bedroom door.
Luckily for the secret, Phronsie just then ran a pin sticking up on
the arm of the old chair, into her finger; and Polly, while
comforting her, forgot to question Joel. And then the mother came
in, and though she had ill-concealed hilarity in her voice, she kept
chattering and bustling around with Polly's supper to such an
extent that there was no chance for a word to be got in.

Next morning it seemed as if the "little brown house," would turn
inside out with joy.

"Oh, mammy!" cried Polly, jumping into her anns the first thing, as
Dr. Fisher untied the bandage, "my eyes are new! just the same as
if I'd just got 'em! Don't they look different?" she asked, earnestly,
running to the cracked glass to see for herself.

"No," said Ben, "I hope not; the same brown ones, Polly."

"Well," said Polly, hugging first one and then another, "everybody
looks different through them, anyway."

"Oh," cried Joel, "come out into the kitchen, Polly; it's a great deal
better out there."

"May I?" asked Polly, who was in such a twitter looking at
everything that she didn't know which way to turn.

"Yes," said the doctor, smiling at her.

"Well, then," sang Polly, "come mammy, we'll go first; isn't it just
lovely--oh, MAMMY!"--and Polly turned so very pale, and looked
as if she were going to tumble right over, that Mrs. Pepper grasped
her arm in dismay.

"What is it?" she asked, pointing to the corner, while all the
children stood round in the greatest excitement.

"Why," cried Phronsie, "it's a stove--don't you know, Polly?" But
Polly gave one plunge across the room, and before anybody could
think, she was down on her knees with her arms flung right around
the big, black thing, and laughing and crying over it, all in the
same breath!

And then they all took hold of hands and danced around it like
wild little things; while Dr. Fisher stole out silently-- and Mrs.
Pepper laughed till she wiped her eyes to see them ' go.

"We aren't ever goin' to have any more burnt bread," sang Polly, all
out of breath.

"Nor your back isn't goin' to break any more," panted Ben, with a
very red face.

"Hooray!" screamed Joel and David, to fill any pause that might
occur, while Phronsie gurgled and laughed at everything just as it
came along. And then they all danced and capered again; all but
Polly, who was down before the precious stove examining and
exploring into ovens and everything that belonged to it.

"Oh, ma," she announced, coming up to Mrs. Pepper, who had
been obliged to fly to her sewing again, and exhibiting a very
crocky face and a pair of extremely smutty hands, "it's most all
ovens, and it's just splendid!"

"I know it," answered her mother, delighted in the joy of her child.
"My! how black you are, Polly!"

"Oh, I wish," cried Polly, as the thought struck her, "that Dr. Fisher
could see it! Where did he go to, ma?"

"I guess Dr. Fisher has seen it before," said Mrs. Pepper, and then
she began to laugh. "You haven't ever asked where the stove came
from, Polly."

And to be sure, Polly had been so overwhelmed that if the stove
had really dropped from the clouds it would have been small
matter of astonishment to her, as long as it had come; that was the
main thing!

"Mammy," said Polly, turning around slowly, with the stove-lifter
in her hand, "did Dr. Fisher bring that stove?"

"He didn't exactly bring it," answered her mother, "but I guess he
knew something about it."

"Oh, he's the splendidest, goodest man!" cried Polly, "that ever
breathed! Did he really get us that stove?"

"Yes," said Mrs. Pepper, "he would; I couldn't stop him. I don't
know how he found out you wanted one so bad; but he said it must
be kept as a surprise when your eyes got well."

"And he saved my eyes!" cried Polly, full of gratitude. "I've got a
stove and two new eyes, mammy, just to think!"

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