Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott

young sculptor, gave him the order wher~ he came, and filled his

soul with joy by adding, that, if it suited her when done, it should

be put into marble. She lived in the city, and Ralph soon arranged

his work so that he could give up his noon hour, and go to model

the child; for every penny he could earn or save now was very

precious, as he still hoped to go abroad.

The girls were so delighted with this good fortune, that they did

not stay for the races, but went home to tell the happy news,

leaving the boys to care for the cats, and enjoy the various matches

to come off that day.

“I’m so glad I tried to look pleasant when I was lying on the board

while Ralph did my head, for the pleasantness got into the clay

face, and that made the lady like it,” said Jill, as she lay resting on

the sofa.

“I always thought it was a dear, bright little face, but now I love

and admire it more than ever,” cried Merry, kissing it gratefully, as

she remembered the help and pleasure it had given Ralph.

Chapter 24 Down the River

A fortnight later, the boys were picking apples one golden October

afternoon, and the girls were hurrying to finish their work, that

they might go and help the harvesters. It was six weeks now Since

the new school began, and they had learned to like it very much,

though they found that it was not all play, by any means. But

lessons, exercise, and various sorts of housework made an

agreeable change, and they felt that they were learning things

which would be useful to them all their lives. They had been

making underclothes for themselves, and each had several neatly

finished garments cut, fitted, and sewed by herself, and trimmed

with the pretty tatting Jill made in such quantities while she lay on

her sofa.

Now they were completing new dressing sacks, and had enjoyed

this job very much, as each chose her own material, and suited her

own taste in the making. Jill’s was white, with tiny scarlet leaves

all over it, trimmed with red braid and buttons so like

checkerberries she was tempted to eat them. Molly’s was gay, with

bouquets of every sort of flower, scalloped all round, and adorned

with six buttons, each of a different color, which she thought the

last touch of elegance. Merry’s, though the simplest, was the

daintiest of the three, being pale blue, trimmed with delicate

edging, and beautifully made.

Mrs. Minot had been reading from Miss Strickland’s “Queens of

England” while the girls worked, and an illustrated Sliakspeare lay

open on the table, as well as several fine photographs of historical

places for them to look at as they went along. The hour was over

now, the teacher gone, and the pupils setting the last stitches as

they talked over the lesson, which had interested them

exceedingly.

“I really believe I have got Henry’s six wives into my head right at

last. Two Annes, three Katherines, and one Jane. Now I’ve seen

where they lived and heard their stories, I quite feel as if I knew

them,” said Merry, shaking the threads off her work before she

folded it up to carry home.

“King Henry the Eighth to six spouses was wedded,

One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded,’

was all I knew about them before. Poor things, what a bad time

they did have,” added Jill, patting down the red braid, which would

pucker a bit at the corners.

“Katherine Parr had the best of it, because she outlived the old

tyrant and so kept her head on,” said Molly, winding the thread

round her last button, as if bound to fasten it on so firmly that

nothing should decapitate that.

“I used to think I’d like to be a queen or a great lady, and wear

velvet and jewels, and live in a palace, but now I don’t care much

for that sort of splendor. I like to make things pretty at home, and

know that they all depend on me, and love me very much. Queens

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