It was about this time that Rebecca, who had been reading about the Spartan boy, conceived the idea of some mild form of self-punishment to be applied on occasions when she was fully convinced in her own mind that it would be salutary. The immediate cause of the decision was a somewhat sadder accident than…

Rebecca’s visit to Milltown was all that her glowing fancy had painted it, except that recent readings about Rome and Venice disposed her to believe that those cities might have an advantage over Milltown in the matter of mere pictorial beauty. So soon does the soul outgrow its mansions that after once seeing Milltown her…

Uncle Jerry coughed and stirred in his chair a good deal during Rebecca’s recital, but he carefully concealed any undue feeling of sympathy, just muttering, “Poor little soul! We’ll see what we can do for her!” “You will take me to Maplewood, won’t you, Mr. Cobb?” begged Rebecca piteously. “Don’t you fret a mite,” he…

“There she is, over an hour late; a little more an’ she’d ‘a’ been caught in a thunder shower, but she’d never look ahead,” said Miranda to Jane; “and added to all her other iniquities, if she ain’t rigged out in that new dress, steppin’ along with her father’s dancin’-school steps, and swingin’ her parasol…

The days flew by; as summer had melted into autumn so autumn had given place to winter. Life in the brick house had gone on more placidly of late, for Rebecca was honestly trying to be more careful in the performance of her tasks and duties as well as more quiet in her plays, and…

On the very next Friday after this “dreadfullest fight that ever was seen,” as Bunyan says in Pilgrim’s Progress, there were great doings in the little schoolhouse on the hill. Friday afternoon was always the time chosen for dialogues, songs, and recitations, but it cannot be stated that it was a gala day in any…

Mr. Simpson spent little time with his family, owing to certain awkward methods of horse-trading, or the “swapping” of farm implements and vehicles of various kinds, operations in which his customers were never long suited. After every successful trade he generally passed a longer or shorter term in jail; for when a poor man without…

The little schoolhouse on the hill had its moments of triumph as well as its scenes of tribulation, but it was fortunate that Rebecca had her books and her new acquaintances to keep her interested and occupied, or life would have gone heavily with her that first summer in Riverboro. She tried to like her…

The day of Rebecca’s arrival had been Friday, and on the Monday following she began her education at the school which was in Riverboro Centre, about a mile distant. Miss Sawyer borrowed a neighbor’s horse and wagon and drove her to the schoolhouse, interviewing the teacher, Miss Dearborn, arranging for books, and generally starting the…