Little Folks Astray

Little Folks Astray
by Sophia
May (Rebecca Sophia Clarke)

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Title: Little Folks Astray
Author: Sophia May (Rebecca Sophia Clarke)
Release Date: February 24, 2004 [EBook #11257]
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
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FOLKS ASTRAY ***

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LITTLE FOLKS ASTRAY.
BY SOPHIE MAY

"To give room for wandering is it That the world was made so wide."
1872

TO
MY YOUNG FRIEND,
EMMA ADAMS.
"JOHNNIE OPTIC."

TO PARENTS.
Here come the Parlins and Cliffords again. They had been sent to bed
and nicely tucked in, but would not stay asleep. They "wanted to see
the company down stairs;" so they have dressed themselves, and come
back to the parlor. I trust you will pardon them, dear friends. Is it not a
common thing, in this degenerate age, for grown people to frown and
shake their heads, while little people do exactly as they please?
Well, one thing is certain: if these children insist upon sitting up, they
shall listen to lectures on self-will and disrespect to superiors, which
will make their ears tingle.
Moreover, they shall hear of other people, and not always of
themselves. Fly Clifford, who expects to be in the middle, will be
somewhat overwhelmed, like a fly in a cup of milk; for Grandma Read
is to talk her down with her Quaker speech, and Aunt Madge with her
story of the summer when she was a child. It is but fair that the elders
should have a voice. That they may speak words which shall come
home to many little hearts, and move them for good, is the earnest wish
of
THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I.
THE LETTER
II. THE UNDERTAKING
III. THE FROLIC
IV. "TAKING OUR AIRS"
V. DOTTY HAVING HER OWN WAY
VI. DOTTY REBUKED
VII. THE LOST FLY
VIII. "THE FRECKLED DOG"
IX. MARIA'S MOTHER
X. FIVE MAKING A CALL
XI. "THE HEN-HOUSES"
XII. "GRANNY"
XIII. THE PUMPKIN HOOD

LITTLE FOLKS ASTRAY.
CHAPTER I.

THE LETTER.
Katie Clifford sat on the floor, in the sun, feeding her white mice. She
had a tea-spoon and a cup of bread and milk in her hands. If she had
been their own mother she could not have smiled down on the little
creatures more sweetly.
"'Cause I spect they's hungry, and that's why I'm goin' to give 'em
sumpin' to eat. Shut your moufs and open your eyes," said she, waving
the tea-spoon, and spattering the bread and milk over their backs.
"Quee, quee," squeaked the little mice, very well pleased when a drop
happened to go into their mouths.
"What are you doing there, Miss Topknot," said Horace: "O, I see;
catching rats."
Flyaway frowned fearfully, and the tuft of hair atop of her head danced
like a war-plume.
"I shouldn't think folks would call 'em names, Hollis, when they never
did a thing to you. Nothing but clean white mouses!"
"Let's see; now I look at 'em, Topknot, they are white. And what's all
this paper?"
"Bed-kilts."
"In-deed?"
"You knew it by-fore!"
"One, two, three; I thought the doctor gave you five. Where are they
gone?"
"Well, there hasn't but two died; the rest'll live," said Fly, swinging one
of them around by its tail, as if it had been a tame cherry.
Just then Grace came and stood in the parlor doorway.

"O, fie!" said she; "what work! Ma doesn't allow that cage in the parlor.
You just carry it out, Fly Clifford."
Miss Thistledown Flyaway looked up at her sister shyly, out of the
corners of her eyes. Grace was now a beautiful young lady of sixteen,
and almost as tall as her mother. Flyaway adored her, but there was a
growing doubt in her mind whether sister Grace had a right to use the
tone of command.
"'Cause I spect she isn't my mamma."
"Why, Fly, you haven't started yet!"
"I didn't think 'twas best," responded the child, sulkily, fixing her eyes
on the mice, who were dancing whirligigs round the wheel.
"Come here to your best friend, little Topknot," said Horace. "Let's take
that cage into the green-house, and ask papa to keep it there, because
the mice look like water-lilies on long stems."
Flyaway brightened at once. She knew water-lilies were lovely. Giving
Grace a triumphant glance, she danced across the room, and put the
cage in Horace's hands, with a smile of trusting love that