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CHAPTERI.A HOMEVIEW.; HE little old kitchen had quieted down from the bustle and confusion of mid-day;and now, withits afternoon manners on,present e daholiday aspect,that as the principal roomin the brownhouse, it was eminently proper it should have. It was just on the edge of the twilight ; and the little7
8 Five Little Peppers;
Peppers, all except Ben, the oldest of the flock,were enjoying a "breathing spell," as their mothercalled it, which meant some quiet work suitable forthe hour. All the "
breathing spell " they couldremember however, poor things; for times werealways hard with them nowadays; and since thefather died, when Phronsie was a baby, Mrs. Pepperhad had hard work to scrape together money enoughto put bread into her children's mouths, and to pay the rent of the little brown house.
But she had met life too bravely to be beaten down now. So with a stout heart and a cheery face, she had worked away day after day at making coats, and tailoring and mending of all descriptions ; and she had seen with pride that couldn't be concealed, her noisy, happy brood growing up around her, and fillingher heart with comfort, and making the little brown house fairly ring with jollity and fun. " Poor things ! " she would say to herself, "
they haven't had any bringing up ; they've just scrambled up!" And then she would set her lips together tightly, and fly at her work faster than ever. "I must get schooling for them some way, but I don't see how 1 '* Once or twice she had thought, " Now the time is coming 1" but it never did : for winter shut in very
And How They Crew. 9cold, and it took so much more to feed and warm them, that the money went faster than ever. And then, when the way seemed clear again, the stcrechanged hands, so that for a long time she failed to get her usual supply of sacks and coats to make ; and that made sad havoc in the quarters and half-dollar slaid up as her nest egg. But "Well, it'll come some time," she would say to herself; "because it must I " And so at it again she would fly, brisker than ever. "To help mother," was the great ambition of all the children, older and younger; but in Polly's and Ben's souls, the desire grew so overwhelmingly great as to absorb all lesser thoughts. Many and vast were their secret plans, by which they were to astonish her at some future day, which they would only confide as they did everything else to one another. For this brother and sister were everything to each other and stood loyally together through " thick and thin. "Polly was ten, and Ben one year older; and the younger three of the " Five Little Peppers," as they were always called, looked up to them with the in-tensest admiration and love. What they failed to do couldn't very well be done by any one I "Oh dear I" exclaimed Polly as she sat over in the corner by the window helping her mother pull out
io Five Little Peppers;
basting threads from a coat she had just finished,
and giving an impatient twitch to the sleeve, "
I dowish we could ever have any light just as muchas we want ! "
" You don't need any light to see these threads,"said Mrs. Pepper, winding up hers carefully, as shespoke, on an old spool. "Take care, Polly, youbroke that ; thread's dear now."
"I couldn't help it," said Polly, vexedly; "itsnapped; everything's dear now, it seems to me! I wish we could have oh! ever an' ever so manycandles; as many as we wanted. I'd light 'em all, sothere ! and have it light here one night, anyway!"" Yes, and go dark all the rest of the year, like asanyway," observed Mrs. Pepper, stopping to untie aknot. " Folks who do so never have any candles,"she added, sententiously. " How many'd you have, Polly ? " asked Joel,
curiously, laying down his hammer, and regardingher with the utmost anxiety. " Oh, two hundred ! "
said Polly, decidedly.
"
I'd have two hundred, all in a row ! " "Two hundred candles I" echoed Joel, in amazement. " My whockety ! what a lot ! " "Don't say such dreadful words, Joel," put in Polly, nervously, stopping to pick up her spool of
4nd How They Grew. IIbasting thread that was racing away all by itself; "
'tisn't nice." 'isn't worse than to wish you'd got things youhaven't," retorted Joel. " I don't believe you'd light'em all at once," he added, incredulously.
"Yes, I would tool" replied Polly, recklessly "two hundred of 'em, if I had a chance; all at once so there, Joey Pepper I " "Oh," said little Davie, drawing a long sigh ."Why, would be just like heaven, Polly but wouldn't it cost money, though ! "
. THATS HALF OF CHAPTER 1. I HAD TO MAKE CORRECTIONS BECAUSE THE PERSON WHO WROTE IT MESSED UP WORDS.
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