Somebodys Little Girl | Page 2

the words written with the linen thread: ``Bessie Bell.''
And they said: ``Let us take this little girl with us.''
They put a big soft white blanket around the little girl and walked out of the big house with her, someone carrying her in strong arms.
And the big white cat got down off the big white bed and rubbed himself against the bedpost, and went round and round the bed-post, and rubbed himself round and round the bed-post.
And the tiny little girl never saw the big house, or the big soft white cat any more.
And now when it happened that she remembered something, great grown people said: ``No, no, Bessie Bell, there is nothing in the world like that.''
So she just wondered and remembered, and almost forgot what it was that she did remember.
* * * * * *

Sister Mary Felice had all the little tiny girls playing in the sand: that was the place that was meant for the little girls to play in.
All the little girls had on blue checked aprons. All the aprons had straps and buttons behind.
For just one hour every day all the little tiny girls played in the sand, and while they played Sister Mary Felice sat on a willow- wrought bench and watched them play.
Then when that hour was exactly passed Sister Angela always came with a basket of netted canes, an Indian basket, on her arm. In the Indian basket were little cakes--such nice little cakes--always they had caraway seeds in them.
One day Sister Mary Felice said: ``Sister Angela, did Sister Ignatius put too many caraway seeds in the cakes this time?''
Sister Angela said: ``I think not, Sister Mary Felice. Will you try one?''
Sister Mary Felice said: ``I thank you, Sister Angela.''
Then Sister Mary Felice took one to try.
Then always Sister Angela, with the Indian basket on her arm, took all the little girls to the long back gallery that was latticed in.
On a low shelf close against the lattice sat a row of white basins.
Then all the little tiny girls washed their little tiny hands in the white basins. And while they washed their little tiny hands by twos and by threes together, two little girls washing their hands in one basin together, three little girls washing their hands together, they all oftentimes laughed together and said:
``Wash together! And be friends forever! Wash together! And be friends forever!''
Then Sister Angela held a long pink checked towel in her hands while the little tiny girls came as their tiny hands were washed and wiped them on the pink checked towel.
Then if two little girls took hold of the pink checked towel at once they both laughed and sang:
``Don't wipe together, Or we'll fight Before night.''
And the other little girls that were still washing their hands in the white basins on the low shelf by the back-gallery lattice sang over and over again:
``Wash together! We'll wash together! And we'll be happy forever!''
When all the pink clean tiny hands were wiped dry, or as nearly dry as little girls do wipe tiny pink hands, on the pink checked towel held for them by Sister Angela, then Sister Angela hung the pink checked towel on the lowest limb of the arbor-vita tree. Then the little girls all ran to sit down in a row on the lowest step of the back gallery, with their little feet on the gravel below. Sister Angela walked the length of the row, and gave to each little girl in the row a sweet tiny cake, or maybe Sister Angela walked twice down the row and gave to each little girl two cakes, or sometimes maybe she walked three times down the row, and then each little girl had three cakes; but no one little girl ever had more than every other little girl.
Always Sister Angela sat a little way off from the row of the little girls. She always sat on a bench under the great magnoliatree and watched the tiny girls as they ate their tiny cakes.
And always the pink checked towel waved itself ever so softly to and fro on the lowest limb of the arbor-vitae-tree, for that was the way that pink checked towels did to help to dry themselves after helping to dry so many little pink fingers. Often, so often, little brown sparrows came hopping to the gravel to pick up any tiny crumbs of cake that the little girls dropped, but you may be sure that they did not drop so very many, many little brown crumbs for little brown birds to find.
But if they were dropped, even if by rare chance were the crumbs so large as to be nearly as large as half of a cake--why then, that crumb had to stay for those little birds. It was the law! The law that