THE LITTLE WASHERWOMAN.
The time now came for Willy to return with his parents to London. He was very sorry to leave his dear Grandmamma, his nice little garden, and the good old gardener. He was very sorry, too, to part with Tommy, who since he began to get rid of his cowardice was a very pleasant companion; but there was no choice, so he tried to make the best of it. The railroad soon diverted his thoughts, and he began moving about from place to place, rather to the disturbance of the passengers. His mother desired him to sit still; but then he began to yawn. A lady in the carriage called him to her, and placing him on her knees, said, "Now, I dare say you love stories, don't you?"
"Oh yes, very much," cried Willy, whose yawning suddenly ceased. "Well, then, as I see you are an obedient child, I will tell you one. But my stories are about little girls; for I lived as governess with little girls when I was younger than I am now, and I used to tell them stories about girls."
"Oh, that don't signify," said Willy; "I like all stories, whether they are about girls or boys, or any thing else, and I shall be very glad if you will be so kind as to tell me one." Then the lady began in the following manner:—
"There was once a washerwoman whose name was Mrs. Brown. She had a daughter called Lucy, who was a quick clever child, and who, though only ten years old, was already of some use to her mother, in helping her to wash and iron. As the common irons were too heavy for her, her mother bought her a small one. Lucy was very proud of it, and with it she used to iron children's pocket-handkerchiefs and nightcaps, and other things which were small, and easily ironed. She also went with her mother to gentlemen's houses to fetch the linen to be washed.
"One day, while they were at a gentleman's house, counting out the linen they were to take away, two little girls ran into the room. The elder, who was eight years old, was called Anne, and the name of the younger, who was only six, was Susan."
"Why that is just like Sophy and Cary," said Willy, "but go on."
The lady then continued.
"'Oh, Mrs. Brown!' said Anne, 'I am so glad you and Lucy are come, for we want our doll's clothes to be washed. Cannot you wash them for us?'
"'To be sure I can, Miss,' answered Mrs. Brown; 'but I thought you always washed them yourselves.'
"'Yes, we do in general,' said Susan, 'but we are going to have a little party of friends, so we want the doll to be very nicely dressed, and I am sure you would wash her clothes much better than we could.'
"'But, perhaps,' added she, 'Lucy can wash them; for I know you have taught her to wash; and then she has a nice little iron of her own, which I think would iron dolls' clothes better than a large one. Do you think you could, Lucy?'
"Lucy coloured up with pleasure that the young ladies should trust their doll's clothes to her, and timidly answered 'Yes.' Anne then asked on what day Mrs. Brown brought the linen home, and when she heard it was not till Saturday, she exclaimed, 'Oh dear! that will never do, for our little party is to-morrow evening.'
"'I can wash them out to-day,' said Lucy, 'iron them to-morrow morning, and bring them home in good time.'
"'That will do very well,' said Susan, 'and I will tell you what, if they are nicely done, I will give you one of the cakes that we are to have to treat our friends with. Then you must take particular care of this frock. Only look how pretty it is,' said she, holding up the doll's frock; 'it is covered all over with little worked sprigs, and the muslin is so clear, that you can see quite through it, and the doll has a beautiful pink slip to wear underneath it. But we do not send that to be washed, because it is made of satin, and satin does not wash. This white petticoat,' said she, 'is only an under one, and then, here is her shift, for Miss Dolly must be clean from top to toe, that the company may admire her.'
"Anne also desired that great care should be taken of the frock; 'for,' said she, 'it is so thin, that, if you were to rub it hard, you would be sure to tear it.'
"Lucy promised to mind all they said, and the bundles of linen being now tied up, Mrs. Brown and her daughter carried them away."
"Well!" said Willy, "I dare say something will happen to the poor doll's clothes."
"We shall see," replied the lady, and continued her story.
"When Lucy got home she began immediately to wash out the doll's clothes, and then she hung them out in the garden to dry. She took care not to spread them on a gooseberry-bush, or on any plant that had thorns, which might tear them, but hung them over a little line, and when they were dry, she took them in, sprinkled them, and folded them up."
The train now stopped at a station, and there was so much bustle made by the passengers, some of whom were getting out of the carriages and others getting in, some taking leave of their friends and others meeting friends, that the lady could not go on with her story; but when every one was settled, Willy looked very wistfully at her, and said, "Now we are all so nice and quiet, won't you go on with the story." And the lady went on as follows.
"The next morning Lucy was very impatient to iron the doll's clothes. Her mother bade her take care not to make her iron too hot lest she should scorch them and told her every time she heated it in the fire to try it on something else before she began ironing. This Lucy did very carefully; but as the iron never scorched the linen on which she tried it, she thought she might go on without further trials. She succeeded very well. The shift and the petticoat were nicely ironed and folded up, and she had half-finished ironing the frock, when her mother called her to help her to lift a heavy basket full of clothes, and as her iron was nearly cool she put it to the fire while she went to help her mother. As soon as she returned, she began ironing again, when, lo and behold! there was a great scorch all up the frock from top to bottom. Poor Lucy knew not what to do: she thought of the young ladies, of their party of friends, and of the nice cake they would have given her if she had done her task well. She was ashamed to go and ask her mother what she should do, because she had neglected to follow her advice. After looking at the long yellow stain in dismay for some time, she at last thought she might perhaps wash it out, and dry it and iron it in time to set all right. So she put it into her own little washing-tub and began rubbing it, in hopes of getting out the stain. But it still remained; so she rubbed harder and harder, till at last she tore a great hole in the muslin. Then she thought all was lost, and in despair she burst into tears. Her mother came to know what was the matter, and began scolding her for being so careless; but when she found how much grieved Lucy was, she tried to make the best of it. She finished getting up the frock herself, and then laying all the doll's clothes nicely in a little basket, she bade Lucy carry them home and confess the truth. Poor Lucy was sadly frightened at the idea of carrying home the frock in this condition, thinking she should be scolded, and that the young ladies would never let her wash their things any more. As for the piece of cake, she gave that up for lost; and as she had eaten cake only two or three times in her life, and thought it very nice, she was very sorry to lose it, but not so sorry as she would have been at any other time, for she was too unhappy to care about eating. Well: she walked towards the young ladies' house with her little basket hanging on her arm, but she went on at a very slow pace; and when she came near the house she sat down on a bank by the road-side to try to gather courage to tell the sad story. She looked anxiously towards the house, when she saw the two little girls popping their heads out at a window which looked down the road. 'Oh!' cried she, 'they are watching for me, but if they see me stopping here they will only think the worse of me for loitering whilst they are so impatient. Then,' added she, 'the sooner it is over the better.' So she got up and walked quickly towards the house. When she arrived she could not say a word, but the impatient little girls snatched the basket and began unfolding the parcel. What was their horror when they saw the beautiful sprigged muslin frock quite spoilt! Susan, who was a quick-tempered child, was very angry, and scolded poor Lucy heartily.
"'What a shame!' said she, 'to tear our best doll's frock all to pieces. You shall have no cake, no, that you shall not;' and, bursting into tears, she ran away to tell her mamma. Anne was much more moderate. She was older than her sister, and of a more gentle disposition; and when she saw the tears running down poor Lucy's cheeks, instead of scolding her, she inquired how it had happened; and finding that it was merely from a little heedlessness, she begged Lucy to dry up her tears, as she was sure she would be more careful another time. Susan then returned into the room with her mamma, and Lucy again was frightened, expecting a severe scolding from the lady. But instead of that, she spoke to her calmly and good-naturedly; and Susan, who had been reprimanded by her mother for her violence, stood silent and abashed. Lucy, quite comforted at being so well treated, dropped a courtesy and was going away, when Susan bid her stay a minute longer, and ran and fetched her the cake. But Lucy did not dare take it. 'No, Miss!' she said, 'I do not deserve it.' 'But,' said the lady, 'if you do not deserve it on account of the washing, Susan owes you some amends for behaving so ill to you when she was in a passion.' Lucy blushed and smiled and took the cake, and went away quite happy; and Anne and Susan's kind mamma soon made them happy too; for she gave them a piece of new muslin, which matched the doll's frock exactly. Nurse had just time to take out the spoilt part and sew in a new breadth; and before their little friends arrived, dolly was in full dress, and very much admired by them all."