Jane Marcet

Poor Susan

O NE morning Willy went into the drawing-room, and saw his Mamma talking to a little girl about eight years old, who was crying. Willy stared with surprise; he did not know whether the child was naughty, or what was the matter. His Grandmamma, who was there also, took him aside, and told him that Susan was not naughty, but that she was ill, and that was the reason she cried. Willy looked at her very earnestly, and then ran away. His Grandmamma wondered that he should go without trying to say or to do any thing to comfort poor Susan. However, he soon returned, carrying in one hand an apricot, and in the other a piece of cake. He went straight up to Susan, and put them both into her hands, without saying a word. The poor girl was pleased at Willy's kindness, and began to dry her eyes, and tried to smile. Mamma was busy, in the mean time, wrapping up something in a small piece of writing paper, which she gave to Susan.

"Take this, my dear," said she; "I hope it may do you good; and I will go and see you to-morrow, to know if you are better."

"May I go with you, Mamma?" whispered Willy to his Mother, pulling her by the sleeve.

"Yes, you shall," replied she, "as you are sorry for Susan now she is ill; you will be glad to see her better."

"Oh, yes, very glad," said Willy.

The next morning he went with his Mamma to the cottage where poor Susan lived with her mother, whose name was Carter. It was a very neat cottage, standing in a green lane; and roses and honeysuckles grew up against the walls, and peeped in at the casement window, so that you could see them from the inside of the house as well as from the outside. They went into the house and found poor Susan still very ill.

"The medicine I gave her did her no good, I fear," said Willy's Mamma.

"I cannot get her to take it, Ma'am," replied Dame Carter; "she is afraid it has a bad taste."

"I told you it had not a very bad taste, Susan."

"But you said, Ma'am, it would make me sick before it could make me well."

"You are sick and ill now," replied she; "would it not be better to be sick first and well afterwards? Come, do not be foolish, fetch me the powder, and show Willy how well you can take it."

The powder was then mixed up in a teacup, with a little water, and poor Susan was afraid and ashamed to refuse taking it. So she put the cup to her lips, and made a very wry face, while the tears trickled down her cheeks; but when she began to drink it she found that it was not so bad as she had expected. So she swallowed it without difficulty.

"What was it first made Susan ill?" asked Willy's Mamma.

"Why, Ma'am," replied Dame Carter; "I think it all comes of eating unripe fruit. She was very fond of green gooseberries, and when I told her they would make her ill, she said she never felt ill after she had eaten any; so she could not be persuaded they would hurt her in the end; but I lay all her illness to that, Ma'am."

"It is most likely," said Willy's Mamma; "another time she will understand that her mother knows best."

"Indeed, Ma'am," said Mrs. Carter, willing to excuse her daughter; "she meant no harm, and is a good child."

"I am very glad to hear it," said Willy's Mother; "for I have brought her a present."

She then opened a bag she carried with her, and took out of it two shifts and a pair of stockings for the little girl, and an apron for her mother. They both looked very much pleased, and thanked her, and curtsied, and smiled, and Willy wished he had himself brought something for Susan. "I might have brought her some strawberries, or one of my toys to play with, now the carpenter has mended all the broken ones; how sorry I am I did not think of it when we set out."

On their way home Willy asked his Mamma why Susan and her mother were so much pleased to have the shifts? "When I have a new frock, Mamma, I am very glad; but I do not care for new shirts, because they look just like the old ones, and nobody can see them under my frock."

"You care only about your clothes being pretty and admired, Willy; but poor Susan and her mother care about their being useful, much more than about their looking pretty."

"What use are clothes of?" said Willy.

"To cover you, and keep you warm. This woman and her little girl are very poor; they have not money enough to buy plenty of clothes to keep them warm, and were very glad when I gave them some."

"But they do not want to be kept warm in summer, Mamma, when it is so hot."

"It is too cold even then to go without any clothes," said his Mother: "when winter comes, I shall give them some that are warmer."

The next day they were to walk again to Dame Carter's cottage. Willy made his Mamma wait some time, and at last came down so heavily laden, that he could hardly move. He had great difficulty in holding up the skirts of his frock, which he had stuffed as full as it could hold, all for poor sick Susan! There were his sawyers, and a paper full of strawberries, and a slice of cake, and a pair of old shoes, which Ann had sent to Dame Carter; for Willy had told her such a pitiful story of the poor woman having no money to buy clothes, that Ann also would send her something. Then Willy, thought that as Mrs. Carter had not money enough to buy clothes, perhaps she would not have money enough to buy dinners; so he begged Ann to fetch some cold meat, and bread, and potatoes, from the kitchen.

"Oh, as for potatoes," said Ann, "they have enough of them, I dare say, in their little garden; besides, if they have not, they can easily buy some, for they do not cost much money; besides, potatoes would be too heavy for you to carry." So she got some meat and bread from the cook, and folded it up in a sheet of paper, and gave it to Willy.

When his Mamma saw him come into the room, almost borne down with the weight of all these things, she could not help laughing, and asked him what he meant to do with them. He told her he was going to carry them to poor Susan.

"Let me see what they are," said she: she then looked at them, and told Willy, that she thought Susan, who was a little girl, would like a doll much better than the sawyers, for she could amuse herself with making clothes for the doll. When she saw the slice of cake, she made a long face.

But Willy said,—"I am sure, Mamma, Susan will like this better than the powders you gave her."

"That is true," replied his Mamma; "but the powders were to make her well; while this cake, I fear, would make her ill again. Let us now give Susan what will do her good—then, when she is well, we may give her what she will like to eat."

"And will not strawberries do her good, Mamma?" asked Willy, unfolding his paper of strawberries. But when it was opened, poor Willy was surprised to see them all crushed.

"You have not learned to pack up yet, Willy," said his Mother, smiling; "I think that a few ripe strawberries would do Susan no harm, but these are quite spoilt. She then got a small pottle of fresh strawberries, and showed Willy how nicely they lay in such a basket. Willy enquired whether poor Susan might eat the meat and bread he had got for her.

"I do not think she will be well enough to eat meat to-day, my dear; but then it will keep till to-morrow; besides, her mother can eat some of it."

"But she must not eat it all," said Willy earnestly; "she must save some for poor Susan when she is well. Will you tell her so, Mamma?"

"No, my dear, something else will tell her."

"What else can tell her so?" asked Willy with surprise.

"You know how mothers love their children, Willy," said she, "do you not?"

"Oh yes, Mamma; you love me dearly, and aunt Louisa loves little Mary, and Emily and Maria's mamma love them, and all papas and mammas love their children, I believe."

"Well, then, I dare say that Mrs. Carter loves her little girl, and will save her some of the bread and meat, without being told to do so."

"But you said something would tell her, Mamma?"

"I did not mean that any body would tell her, but that the love she felt for her child would make her to do so, which is much the same thing."

The whole of Willy's bundle had now been examined. The slice of cake was put aside, not to be taken.

"If you are hungry, Willy," said his Mamma, "you may eat it; for as you are well, it will not hurt you."

Willy was very fond of cake, but he looked at it wistfully before he began biting it; and when he had tasted it and found how nice it was, he said,—"What a pity that poor Susan cannot eat it! Shall I take her a few crumbs, Mamma? they would not hurt her."

"Perhaps not," replied she; "but I think she would have very little pleasure in eating a few crumbs; and it would only make her long for more."

Willy was then sent into the nursery to change the toy of the sawyers for a doll. He had three dolls, and was at a loss which to choose; one had a broken nose, another had but one leg, and a third had a frock very much torn.

"I advise you to choose the doll with the torn frock," said Ann; "for the little girl can mend it, or make a new one; but she cannot make a new leg, or a new nose."

When he returned to his Mamma, he found she had put all the things into a basket.

"Now," said she, "Willy, you and I must carry this basket between us." They each took hold of the handle, but Mamma was so much taller than Willy, that they could not hold it well together.

"You must carry it first, Mamma," said Willy; "and I afterwards."

"The basket is so heavy that I do not think you could carry it alone; we must think of some other contrivance." She then got a walking stick, and put it through the handle of the basket, so that the basket hung upon it. Mamma held one end of the stick in her hand, and told Willy to take hold of the other end, and rest it upon his shoulder. Willy did so.

"You must hold it there with your hand," said she, "to prevent it from slipping off."

Willy's shoulder was about as high as Mamma's hand.

"So you see, Willy," said she, "the two ends of the stick are upon a level."

"What does that mean, Mamma?"

"That they are both of the same height above the ground."

"Oh yes," said Willy; "the stick does not bend down on one side, but is quite straight."

They walked some time in this manner, the basket swinging on the middle of the stick. Willy soon began to be tired of the weight.

"Change the stick to the other shoulder," said his Mamma; "that is not tired."

But when they had gone a little further, the other shoulder was tired also.

"What shall we do now, Mamma?" cried Willy; "I have no more shoulders."

"Then we must contrive something else to relieve you," said she; and she pulled the basket along the stick, till it was very near her, and very far from Willy.

"Why, the weight seems to be almost all gone away now, Mamma," exclaimed Willy with surprise; "where is it gone to?"

"It is come to me," said she; "I feel the basket heavier because it is nearer me; and you feel it lighter because it is further from you."

"But how can that make it heavier and lighter?" said Willy.

"Oh, that is more than I can tell you now," replied his Mother; "you must be much older before you could understand it."

"How tiresome it is," exclaimed Willy, "not to be older! Well then, Mamma, if you will not explain it to me, let me feel the basket heavy again, as it was before."

His Mother pushed the basket back to the middle of the stick.

"Now," said she, "you feel the basket as heavy as I do; we divide the weight equally between us."

"Yes," replied Willy; "in two equal shares, as I divide an apple with Harry."

"Well, Willy, should you like to have the largest share of the weight?" and she pushed the basket further on, till it was much nearer to him than to herself.

"Oh dear, Mamma!" exclaimed Willy; "I cannot hold it long so, it is so very, very, heavy."

Mamma soon drew the basket back from Willy to herself; he then cried out,—"Oh, poor Mamma, you will be sadly tired to carry all that weight."

"No," said she; "I am so much stronger than you, that I can bear it without fatigue."

They soon arrived at the cottage, and Willy was very much pleased to see Susan leaning out at the window, gathering roses and honeysuckles.

"Oh, she is quite well now, Ma'am," said Dame Carter; "thanks to your good medicine. It made her very sick at first, to be sure, but as soon as that was over, she said she felt as if she was quite well again, only rather weak. I would not let her go out to-day, Ma'am, for fear of her taking cold; so she is stretching herself out of the window to gather all the flowers she can reach, to make a nosegay for young Master."

The little girl then handed Willy the flowers; and Willy in return unpacked his basket, and gave her the strawberries and the doll. He asked her if she could mend the frock.

She said, she knew how to work, and she thought she could; and she thanked Willy, and seemed to like the doll very much. The bread and meat was then unfolded.

"I shall give you none of this to-day, Susan," said her mother; "it would not be good for you."

"We meant this for yourself," said Mamma.

Willy looked rather alarmed lest Dame Carter should eat it all herself; but instead of that she answered,—"I shall put it by, Ma'am, till Susan can eat it with me; I could not relish it without giving her a bit." Then she laid it on a shelf in a cupboard, and said that she hoped to-morrow, or next day, Susan would be able to eat it with her.

Willy was very glad, and pulled his Mamma's gown, and whispered to her,—"She loves her little girl, as all mammas do."

Susan then emptied the pottle of strawberries into a plate, and said,—"You may eat this with me to-day, Mother; the Lady says they will not hurt me, and I am sure there is enough for both of us."

Willy's Mamma then whispered to him, and said,—"And Susan, too, loves her mother, as all children do."

Mrs. Carter desired Willy to thank Ann for the old shoes she sent her; and then Willy and his Mamma bid Mrs. Carter and Susan good by, and returned home.

"What a nice little girl Susan is!" said Willy.

"Yes," replied his Mamma; "but she was rather silly not to take the medicine the first day; she would have been well a whole day sooner, if she had taken it as I desired her."

"Poor Susan!" said Willy; "she will remember that, if she is ill another time; and she will remember not to eat green gooseberries again, I dare say, and then you know she will not be ill any more."

"Not any more from eating green gooseberries," replied his Mother.

They reached home just as the first dinner bell rang, and Mamma ran up stairs to dress for dinner.