A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia   By: Amanda Minnie Douglas (1831-1916)

by

AMANDA M. DOUGLAS

[Illustration]

A. L. Burt Company Publishers New York

Copyright, 1890, by Dodd, Mead and Company.

TO MR. AND MRS. HENRY HORTON LAWRENCE.

The early youth of an old town has a certain simplicity like the youth of human life. Its struggles, its romance, its unfolding come down through the earnest hands that have labored for its welfare and left imperishable monuments. To the legacies of remembrances you have had handed down to you, I add this little story of a long ago time, a posy culled from quaint gardens.

With sincere regard ,

AMANDA M. DOUGLAS.

NEWARK, N.J., 1899.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. HERE AND THERE, 1

II. BESSY WARDOUR, 14

III. IN A NEW WORLD, 29

IV. OF MANY THINGS, 44

V. A BOULEVERSEMENT, 58

VI. TO THE RESCUE, 74

VII. AT SOME CROSSROADS, 87

VIII. A LITTLE REBEL, 104

IX. FATE TO THE FORE, 122

X. TO TURN AND FIGHT, 134

XI. A RIFT OF SUSPICION, 150

XII. TRUE TO HER COLORS, 167

XIII. UNDER THE ROSE, 183

XIV. FOR NATIVE LAND AND LOYALTY, 200

XV. PARTING, 215

XVI. LOVE AND TRUE LOVE, 231

XVII. MID WAR'S ALARMS, 238

XVIII. WHOM SHALL SHE PITY, 264

XIX. MIDNIGHT TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY, 279

XX. WHEN THE WORLD WENT WELL, 297

XXI. AN APRIL GIRL, 312

XXII. POLLY AND PHIL, 330

XXIII. PRIMROSE, 342

XXIV. THE OLD AND THE NEW, 364

A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD PHILADELPHIA.

CHAPTER I.

HERE AND THERE.

She was swinging her gingham sunbonnet, faded beyond any recognition of its pristine coloring, her small hand keeping tight hold of the strings. At every revolution it went swifter and swifter until it seemed a grayish sort of wheel whirling in the late sunshine that sent long shadows among the trees. When she let it go it flew like a great bird, while she laughed sweet, merry childish notes that would have stirred almost any soul. A slim, lithe little maid with a great crop of yellow hair, cut short in the neck, and as we should say now, banged across the forehead. But it was a mass of frowzy curls that seemed full of sunshine.

With two or three quick leaps she captured it again and was just preparing for her next swirl.

"Primrose! Primrose! I think thee grows more disorderly every day. What caper is this? Look at these strings, they are like a twisted rope. And if thy bonnet had gone into the pond! For that matter it needs the washtub."

Primrose laughed again and then broke it in the in the middle with a funny little sound, and glanced at the tall woman beside her, who was smoothing out the strings with sundry pinches.

"Certainly thou art a heedless girl! What thou wilt be " She checked herself. "Come at once to the kitchen. Wash thy face and hands and comb out that nest of frowze. Let me see" surveying her. "Thou must have a clean pinafore. And dust thy shoes."

Primrose followed Aunt Lois in a spell of wonderment. The scolding was not severe, but it was generally followed by some sort of punishment. A clean pinafore, too! To be set on a high stool and study a Psalm, or be relegated to bread and water, and, oh! she was suddenly hungry. Down in the orchard were delicious ripe apples lying all about the ground. Why had she not gone and taken her fill?