Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott

“Catch this, then. Hold it to your ear and see what you’ll get.”

The little drum came flying in, and, catching it, Jill, with some

hesitation, obeyed Frank’s order. Judge of her amazement when

she caught in broken whispers these touching words:

“Sorry I was cross. Forgive and forget. Start fair to-morrow. All

right. Jack.”

Jill was so delighted with this handsome apology, that she could

not reply for a moment, then steadied her voice, and answered

back in her sweetest tone,

“I’m sorry, too. Never, never, will again. Feel much better now.

Good-night, you dear old thing.”

Satisfied with the success of his telephone, Frank twitched back

the drum and vanished, leaving Jill to lay her cheek upon the hand

that wore the little ring and fall asleep, saying to herself, with a

farewell glance at the children’s saint, dimly seen in the soft

gloom, “I will not forget. I will be good!”

Chapter 7 Jill’s Mission

The good times began immediately, and very little studying was

done that week in spite of the virtuous resolutions made by certain

young persons on Christmas Day. But, dear me, how was it

possible to settle down to lessons in the delightful Bird Room,

with not only its own charms to distract one, but all the new gifts

to enjoy, and a dozen calls a day to occupy one’s time?

“I guess we’d better wait till the others are at school, and just go in

for fun this week,” said Jack, who was in great spirits at the

prospect of getting up, for the splints were off, and he hoped to be

promoted to crutches very soon.

“I shall keep my Speller by me and take a look at it every day, for

that is what I’m most backward in. But I intend to devote myself to

you, Jack, and be real kind and useful. I’ve made a plan to do it,

and I mean to carry it out, anyway,” answered Jill, who had begun

to be a missionary, and felt that this was a field of labor where she

could distinguish herself.

“Here’s a home mission all ready for you, and you can be paying

your debts beside doing yourself good,” Mrs. Pecq said to her in

private, having found plenty to do herself.

Now Jill made one great mistake at the outset–she forgot that she

was the one to be converted to good manners and gentleness, and

devoted her efforts to looking after Jack, finding it much easier to

cure other people’s faults than her own. Jack was a most engaging

heathen, and needed very little instruction; therefore Jill thought

her task would be an easy one. But three or four weeks of petting

and play had rather demoralized both children, so Jill’s Speller,

though tucked under the sofa pillow every day, was seldom looked

at, and Jack shirked his Latin shamefully. Both read all the

story-books they could get, held daily levees in the Bird Room, and

all their spare minutes were spent in teaching Snowdrop, the great

Angora cat, to bring the ball when they dropped it in their game.

So Saturday came, and both were rather the worse for so much

idleness, since daily duties and studies are the wholesome bread

which feeds the mind better than the dyspeptic plum-cake of

sensational reading, or the unsubstantial bon-bons of frivolous

amusement.

It was a stormy day, so they had few callers, and devoted

themselves to arranging the album; for these books were all the

rage just then, and boys met to compare, discuss, buy, sell, and

“swap” stamps with as much interest as men on ‘Change gamble in

stocks. Jack had a nice little collection, and had been saving up

pocket-money to buy a book in which to preserve his treasures.

Now, thanks to Jill’s timely suggestion, Frank had given him a fine

one, and several friends had contributed a number of rare stamps

to grace the large, inviting pages. Jill wielded the gum-brush and

fitted on the little flaps, as her fingers were skilful at this nice

work, and Jack put each stamp in its proper place with great

rustling of leaves and comparing of marks. Returning, after a brief

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