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CARRY'S ROSE;

Or,

The Magic of Kindness.

A Tale for the Young.

MRS. GEORGE CUPPLES,

London: T. Nelson and Sons, Paternoster Row. Edinburgh; and New York. 1881.

CARRY'S ROSE.

Caroline Ashcroft stood by the trellised arbour on the lawn, along with Daisy, her pet lamb, watching for the approach of the carriage which had been sent to the railway-station to meet her papa and her only brother, Herbert. This was the first time that Caroline had been separated from her brother, who had been sent to school at a distance some months before this; and as she had no sister or companion of her own age, she had felt very lonely during his absence. In honour of his return nurse had dressed Caroline in her new white muslin; and Daisy, after being carefully washed till her soft fleece was as white as snow, had been decorated with a beautiful wreath of flowers. She was so anxious to pull it off, that Caroline was obliged to hold her head very firm, in case she should eat it up before Herbert arrived.

"Now, Daisy," said Caroline to the lamb, "just have a few minutes more patience. I'm certain I hear the sound of wheels. There!" she cried, clapping her hands, as the carriage turned in at the avenue gate. Daisy, feeling herself at liberty, ran away across the lawn, tossing her head and tearing the wreath to pieces; but Caroline was so eager to catch the first glimpse of Herbert, who she felt sure would be looking out of the window for her, that she did not notice how soon her morning's labour had been destroyed.

Caroline was a sweet-dispositioned child, affectionate and very warm-hearted; at least nurse thought so, as she dressed her that morning, and listened to her plans for Herbert's amusement during his holidays. She had banished from her mind all recollection of his wayward temper, and the delight he always seemed to take in tormenting her and teasing her in every way in his power, and only thought how nice it would be to have him at home once more.

"Ah, Miss Caroline," nurse had said, "I'm thinking you will be even more pleased to see him set off for school again, unless he is much improved."

"But Herbert is a big boy now, nurse," Caroline had replied; "only think what nice letters he writes from school, telling how he longs to be beside us again, and always speaks so kindly of me. I know he will be good."

Nurse made no further remark, except to say "she hoped it would turn out so;" for she did not want to cast a shadow over Caroline's happiness. Certainly, when Herbert jumped out of the carriage, he seemed as glad to see his sister as she was to see him; and though the wreath on Daisy's neck was gone, he admired the white fleece very much, and said that they would go together some day to gather wild flowers to make another. Then he had so many amusing stories to relate about his adventures at school, that Caroline thought there could not be a better brother found anywhere. Her mamma had often said that Herbert had a good heart if he would just control his temper, and had often told Caroline to be very gentle with him, for nothing but gentleness would soften him.

It was late in the afternoon when Herbert returned, so that bed-time arrived long before the stories were exhausted; and the brother and sister parted for the night with the understanding that they should set out early after breakfast for a long walk, and to pay some visits to old friends and neighbours. The next morning, when Caroline awoke, the first thing she did was to jump out of bed and run to the window to see what sort of a day it was; when, much to her vexation, she found the rain was descending in torrents. She was far more sorry for Herbert's disappointment than for her own; for she remembered how he disliked a wet day, and how difficult it always was for him to spend it comfortably. Still Herbert might not be so foolish now, she thought, and she would try all she could to amuse him.

"Well, I must say this is too bad," said Herbert, as he entered the breakfast-room the next morning.

"What is too bad?" inquired his mamma, as she poured out the coffee.

"Why, the rain, to be sure, mamma," replied Herbert. "Hasn't it stopped our plans for the day?"

"They were of such consequence, I suppose," said Mrs. Ashcroft, laughing. "Here have I been hearing from every quarter that rain is greatly needed to help on the crops; and now when it has come, and all the farmers' hearts will be filled with rejoicing, my boy is filled with dismay!"

"Oh, but, mamma, you must own it is very provoking to have a wet day the very first one on my return," said Herbert.

"Well, perhaps it is vexatious, when we think of you as an individual, and banish from our minds the thousands it will benefit."

"Now, you are laughing at me, mamma," said Herbert sulkily.

"Nay, my son," said Mrs. Ashcroft, "I am sorry for you. But let me see if nothing can be done to make a wet day pleasant in-doors. I'm sure Carry will do her best to help."

"Might we make soap-bubbles, mamma?" said Caroline; "you said I might try to do it some day with the pipe uncle gave me."

"Well, I daresay you may, dear, if you put on an apron, and don't wet yourself."

After breakfast Caroline was not long in getting the soap and water ready, which she carried off to the school-room; and though Herbert at first called it a babyish game, and stood apart by the window watching the rain, he could not help joining his sister in the end.

"Oh, if you had only seen what lovely ones uncle made," said Caroline, "and how beautifully he tossed them up, making them float up to the very roof without bursting sometimes!"

"That is not a very difficult process, I should say," replied Herbert. "Give me the pipe, and I will show you I can do it as well as uncle."

Caroline at once gave up the pipe, and good-naturedly held the dish while Herbert blew the soap-bubbles; and even he became fascinated with the sport, and sat blowing away so long that lunch-hour arrived and poor Caroline hadn't had a chance to make another, though she wanted to do it ever so much.

As the day advanced, and the novelty of being at home wore off, Herbert began to return to his old habit of teasing his inoffensive sister. They were sitting beside their mamma, who was sewing, while she listened with as much delight almost as Caroline did to Herbert's stories of his life at school. Caroline was on the floor dressing her doll, while Herbert sat on a low stool at his mother's feet; but unable to behave himself longer, he rolled over on to the floor, and, with his head in Caroline's lap, snatched the doll out of her hands.

"Oh, do give me my doll," said Caroline, as gently as she could; "see, her poor arm is broken, and the sawdust is coming out."

"What a baby you are, Carry!" said Herbert, paying no attention to her request. "No girl of your age plays with dolls nowadays. Stop; let me show you how the jugglers do. They toss up a ball on their feet so," and Herbert flung the doll up in the air and caught it upon his feet, then sent it spinning to the roof again, while he laughed at Caroline's look of distress.

Their mamma now interposed, and bade Herbert give the doll back at once, telling him at the same time that he ought to be ashamed of himself for tormenting his sister in such a way, and warned him that though it was his holidays she would punish him most severely if he annoyed her again. Herbert went off to his own room and got into bed, where he lay till dinner-time. It was doubtful, however, whether he or Caroline really suffered most.

"O mamma, it was my fault," she said, while the tears stood in her eyes; "I know Herbert was just in fun; I daresay he would not have done it any harm if I had trusted it to him. He has often said it was the sight of my frightened face that made him wish to go on; for it looks so funny to see me so frightened, he says, about such a trifle."

"That may be all very true, dear," said her mamma, "but I do not like to see Herbert giving way to such a disposition. It has grieved both papa and me many a time to see our boy growing up with that constant wish to tease and torment any helpless creature he meets, more especially his own sister. We sent him to school to see if it would do him good; but I fear, if it has checked him it has not cured him. I should like to see my boy grow up manly and courageous; for it is only a cowardly disposition that tries to tease a little girl or torment a dumb animal."

Still Caroline could not help being sorry for Herbert, and when she saw him looking, as she fancied, very dull during dinner, she slipped away after him, thinking that he must be very unhappy, though all the time he was just indulging himself in a fit of the sulks. At first he was inclined to treat Caroline's advances to friendship in a surly manner, but a glance at her earnest, gentle eyes made him feel ashamed of himself; and being at the same time tired of his solitude, he at length consented to play a game at bagatelle. He even went so far as to say, "Well, after all Carry, you are a good little thing; I do annoy you terribly, which is not fair, because you are so forgiving. Well, to make up for it, I'll be very kind to you to-morrow."

When Herbert came to bid his mamma good-night in her room, he had quite forgotten that she had been angry with him during the day. He was very much surprised, therefore, when, instead of kissing him, she pushed him back from her knee, saying, "I fear I have no good-night kiss for you, my boy, at present."

"Why, mamma, what have I done?" said Herbert, the tears starting to his eyes, for he knew that if his mamma refused to kiss him she must indeed be angry.

"You surely have not forgotten how displeased I was with you this forenoon for teasing your sister!" said Mrs. Ashcroft in a tone of severity.

"But, mamma, Carry has forgotten it now; and I told her I was sorry," said Herbert eagerly. "I'm sure all I did to her couldn't hurt her so very much."

"Perhaps not, my son," said Mrs. Ashcroft; "but you remember the reason why we sent you away to school was to see if this bad habit of teasing could be cured. If I had thought you were to begin the very first day you were at home, I should have allowed you to stay at school during the holidays also."

"But there wasn't one boy stayed behind at school this half," said Herbert; "you surely wouldn't have left me all alone, mamma!"

"Indeed I would, Herbert," replied his mamma firmly; "and what is more, if you persevere in this bad habit, I shall speak to papa as to whether it would not be advisable to send you back to school even yet."

Herbert could not help seeing that his mamma really meant what she said, and this threat frightened him so much that he wept bitterly. "Mamma," he said, "if you will only forgive me this once, I will try very hard not to tease Carry all the time I am at home."

"Well, my boy," said Mrs. Ashcroft kindly, "we will give you one more trial, and I hope you will not only try very hard, but ask God to help you to be a good boy."

Herbert, before he went to his own room, opened his sister's door very carefully to see if she were in bed. Carry did not hear him, she was so intent looking out of the window at the rain. "I like to see the rain," she was saying to herself; "but I do hope it will pour itself out during the night, for Herbert's sake; it is very hard for him, poor fellow."

Herbert pulled to the door very gently, and retired to his own room, with the feeling stronger than ever that his sister was really "a good little thing."

The next morning was as bright as a morning could well be, with everything out-of-doors looking fresh after the rain, so that when breakfast was over, Herbert and Caroline, with the large dog Neptune, lost not a moment in setting out for a long ramble into the country. At first Herbert seemed to remember his words of the previous evening, and was very kind to Caroline, helping her carefully over the stepping-stones at the river, instead of frightening her as he used to do. Then he always held open the gates of the different fields they passed through, shutting them after her, instead of making her do it. He even stopped throwing stones at a wounded bird in a field when he saw it distressed her, though he laughed at her for being such a simpleton as to care for a half-dead bird. This recalled to his mind a circumstance that had happened at school, when he and some of his schoolfellows had gone for a walk into the country one half-holiday; and he began to relate how they had caught a pigeon sitting on its nest up a tree, and how, regardless of its fluttering and piteous cries, they had carried it off, and its nest also. Then he told with much laughter how they had unearthed a mole, and how they had tied it to a stick and made it a target to fling stones at, till it had died by inches; no doubt, as Caroline supposed, having suffered great torture. Losing all command of herself, she cried out, "O Herbert, how could you, could you be so cruel! It is quite true what mamma says, you are nothing but a coward, to hunt a dumb creature, a poor blind animal, so."

At these words Herbert flew into a passion, and told Caroline she might find her way home the best way she could, for that he would not walk any more with her; and away he ran, with Neptune at his heels. When he was a few yards off, he turned and cried out, "I hope you won't meet with Farmer Brown's bull, that's all; and that you won't find the stepping-stones difficult, now that your coward isn't there to help you."

Caroline thought that he was only doing this to frighten her, and expecting he would return in a short time, she sat down by the brink of the river, wondering how boys could be so cruel to God's creatures. Boys were taught by their parents to be kind to animals, just as their sisters were; yet, as they grew up, they forgot all about it,--at least, very many of them did; and they seemed to try who would do the most cruel thing. She sat trying to think of a plan to make her brother Herbert kind and gentle; and again it came into her mind how by her own hastiness she had made him angry just when he was doing everything to please her. "It was so very dreadful of him to hurt the poor blind mole," she said aloud; "I could not help speaking out; only I need not have called him a coward. I might have shown him how bad his conduct was in a gentler way; but, as nurse and mamma say, I am always so hasty."

Caroline having sat a long time, began to think that Herbert really did not mean to come for her; and fearing her mamma would be alarmed if she did not return with Herbert in time for dinner, she turned back along the path they had come, walking as fast as she could. After passing through two fields, and managing to open and shut the gates with some difficulty, she was alarmed by hearing a loud roar, which she guessed must come from Farmer Brown's bull. She nearly fell down with terror, for the bull had a very bad character for goring people, and had only the week before hurt a little boy very seriously. Collecting all her courage, she crept round by the side of the hedge. Fortunately the bull had his head turned in the opposite direction, so that she managed to pass him and get out of the field without being seen by him. At the stepping-stones she stopped, afraid to venture over; but a man came up, who kindly offered to take her across.

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