Title: Up in the garret
Author: Ranger, Robin
Language: English
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Transcriber Note

Emphasis is denoted by _Italics_ and =Bold=.



[Illustration: Having a good time in the Garret.

                                                See page 38.
]



                            UP IN THE GARRET.

                             By ROBIN RANGER.


                        SUNDAY-SCHOOL DEPARTMENT,
                           805 Broadway, N. Y.


        Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by

                            CARLTON & PORTER,

      in the Clerk's Office the District Court of the United States
                  for the Southern District of New York.



              CONTENTS.


  Chapter                            Page

    I. How the Garret looked            7

   II. The Little Bondies              16

  III. Fine times up stairs            22

   IV. Somebody comes to see them      35

    V. The Swallow Story               44

   VI. Coming down from the Garret     49



UP IN THE GARRET.



CHAPTER I.

HOW THE GARRET LOOKED.


The house in which Mr. Bondy lives is large and roomy. It stands on a
knoll or little hill, and has green grass and bright pretty flowers all
around it. There are also trees, some for shade and some for fruit.

But it is not about the house or the garden that I wish to tell you now.
You may laugh when I say that I want to talk to you about the GARRET of
the house.

"O, Mr. Robin Ranger," say you, "what is there about the garret that will
make a pleasant story for me to read? Don't the rats and mice live in the
garret? It is not a nice place: cold in winter, and hot in summer."

But stop a moment, Master Flurry, (if that is your name.) Isn't there a
garret to your house? And don't you go there sometimes to play, or to
find something that has been put in the rag bag? If you do not, I think
your sister does, and you may call her, if you think you do not want to
read about a garret, and see if she will not like it.

But I suppose that as you have read so far, you think you may as well go
on and find out what the story is about.

Mr. Bondy's garret was quite large. It had four small windows in it, two
at each end, so that there was plenty of light. There was also a chimney
between each pair of windows.

On the floor of the garret there was a little of everything: old
bedsteads and chairs waiting to be mended; trunks, valises, and
carpet-bags ready for traveling; rolls of spare carpet, matting, and oil
cloth; two or three stoves, put out of sight for the summer; hats in
bandboxes, and boots without any boxes; rag bags, and bags without any
rags.

Yet there was no disorder on the floor. Mrs. Bondy was a neat and careful
woman, and she had everything in her house, even in the garret, put in
order and kept so. Her motto was, "A place for everything, and everything
in its place." Hence the floor of the garret was kept clean, and the
various things I have named were stowed away where they might be found
when wanted.

There was a rope stretched across one end of the garret, and on this rope
were hung old clothes to be given to the poor, and winter clothes not now
in use. Nails were also driven into the rafters, which, I suppose you
know, are the beams or long pieces of wood just under the roof. From these
nails there hung little bundles of last year's herbs: mint, sage, thyme,
catnip, pennyroyal, and summer savory. These gave to the garret a very
pleasant smell.

Against one of the chimneys there stood a set of shelves which had once
been used in the kitchen; but when the kitchen was made larger, new
shelves were put in, and these old ones were sent up garret, where old
papers and books were piled on them.

I must not forget to tell you that on and under an old table with a
broken leg there were some toys: dolls, some with broken heads, and some
with broken arms; toy cats that couldn't squeak, and dogs that had long
ceased to bark; a company of soldiers that had once been able to stand up
together, but now looked as if they had been in the wars. The captain had
lost his head, and most of the men had lost either an arm or a leg.

There was also a little cradle with one rocker off, and a small cart with
only one wheel. There was a Noah's ark that had once been filled with
animals and with Noah's family--wooden animals and wooden people; but the
lid of the ark was gone, as though a great wind had blown it away, and the
animals and people were scattered, with broken limbs and heads, about the
floor.

These toys had been nice and new once, but they had been used as all other
toys are, and did not long stand the wear and tear of young hands. They
were still good enough to play with once in a while, and thus were put up
in the garret, while the newer and better toys were kept below, some in
the nursery and a few in the parlor.

And now you begin to think there must be some children in Mr. Bondy's
house, for he and his good wife would not play with dolls, and toy cats,
and wooden soldiers.

And you are right. There were children there, and I am glad of it, because
a house without any children in it is too dull and quiet, and is not as
pleasant as a house in which are the pattering of little feet, and the
laughter of merry little hearts, and the smiles of happy little faces. A
house without children is like a garden without buds.

If you want to know something of these children, read the next chapter.



CHAPTER II.

THE LITTLE BONDIES.


There were three of them. Alice, Maggie, and James were their names, and
they were generally well-behaved and kind to each other. This they were
taught to be by their parents.

Alice was ten years old and went to school. So did Maggie, who was three
years younger. But James, who was only four years old, was too young to go
to school, though he had learned a few of his letters from his sisters.

If I should say that these three little Bondies loved to play, you would
not think it strange, would you? Play! Why, I should not like to see
children that did not love to play. I should think they were sick, or else
had lost some of their senses.

I have seen children that did not love to work or to study, but I never
yet saw one that did not love to play. I should as soon expect to see a
squirrel that couldn't jump, or a bird that couldn't fly, or a mouse that
couldn't run.

Yes, they loved to play; and I ought to say just here that they were
willing to work and to study as far as they could. Alice and Maggie tried
hard to get their lessons for school, and even little James would have
studied his spelling-book if his father had not thought him too young.

Alice sometimes helped her mother work in the kitchen, and Maggie thought
she did the same, but I don't think her help amounted to much. Master
Jimmy loved to work, also. But his work made more work for older folks. So
his father thought one day, when he came home and found the young beets
and parsnips all pulled out of their beds in the garden.

"Who did that?" said he to the children.

"I did, papa," said little James.

"And what did you do that for?"

"_I was working in the garden!_" was the little fellow's reply.

He thought he was helping his papa. What do you think?

The children had a very good place to play in, for the garden was large,
and there was a good sized plot of grass; and, besides, not very far from
the house there was a grove of beautiful maple-trees, under the shade of
which they sometimes had a picnic.

But when it rained they could not play in the garden, or on the grass, or
under the trees. They had to stay in the house.

Then it was that the garret was used. It was a good place to play in on a
rainy day in summer. In winter it was too cold.

At such times the children took some of their good toys with them from the
nursery, and used them with the old toys in the garret. And though they
could not go out doors, they had fine fun and frolic under the roof of the
house, and made noise enough to frighten all the mice away, if there had
been any there.

[Illustration]



CHAPTER III.

FINE TIMES UP STAIRS.


One Saturday in July the children had expected to take a ride with Abby
Mapes and her brother Mark. Mr. Mapes's man Sam was to drive the wagon,
and they were going to the "Silver Spring," as it was called, a beautiful
spring of water about three miles from Mr. Bondy's house, and not far
from Mark Mapes's uncle's, where the children were all expected to take
tea, and Sam was to bring them home by dark.

They had talked it over for several weeks; but at last, when the
long-looked for day came, rain came with it.

Rain was very good for the gardens, but not very good for visiting; and
the children had to stay at home disappointed.

They were very sorry they could not go, but they made no noise about it.
They tried to make the best of it. They hoped it might stop raining by
noon. They would still be in time, for they had not expected to start
before three o'clock.

But noon came without any signs of clear weather. So, after dinner, Mark
Mapes came over to say that his father would let Sam take them next
Saturday.

Before Mark went back, Alice, who had been for some time thinking how to
pass away the afternoon, went to her mother and whispered: "Shall I tell
Mark to ask Abby to come over here this afternoon and play with me?"

"You may, if you wish," replied her mother.

Alice ran to the door, which Mark had by this time reached on his way out,
and gave him her message for his sister.

As the house was only a short distance from Mr. Bondy's, Mark was soon
back again, trying, as best he could, to hold a big umbrella over Abby's
head. He felt very large, but he could not manage the umbrella very well.
He was only six years old, and hardly strong enough. Besides, his sister
was so much taller than he, that the points of the umbrella often caught
in her hood, and nearly tore it from her head.

They were hardly seated before Alice asked her mother if they might not
go up garret and play a while. She told them "Yes," and they all started
up stairs.

Alice and Maggie stopped a moment in the nursery to get some dolls and
other toys, while Abby took little Jimmie by the hand and helped him along.

When they reached the garret they were soon at their play. The old toys
were taken from the table, and, with the new ones, made enough to keep
them busy all the afternoon.

Mark and Jimmie found some little blocks, and had great sport in building
houses out of them, and knocking them down. They also took the cart with
one wheel and loaded it with their blocks, and amused themselves in
drawing the load from one end of the garret to the other.

The girls went to work at housekeeping. They had dishes, and pots, and
pans, some made of china, some of wood, and some of pewter. There were
hardly two whole ones in the lot. Nearly all were either cracked, or
broken, or bent.

Alice had a very nice set of china dishes, and Maggie had a set of smaller
ones, which had been given to them by Uncle Fred for their last Christmas
present. But these they kept on the corner stand in the parlor, and did
not very often use.

After a while the boys got tired of carrying blocks in a cart with only
one wheel, so they hunted around for something else.

They found some of the animals belonging to Noah's ark, and two or three
of the people. But whether Noah and his wife were among them I cannot say.

They also found a tin trumpet and a wooden whistle. The trumpet was bent,
and the whistle a little cracked; but still there was enough _squeak_ left
in them to make a noise. But such a noise! It sounded as if both trumpet
and whistle had been out in the rain, and had become hoarse with a cold.

Mark and Jimmie marched up and down the garret, making all the noise they
could, and scraping their feet across the floor. By and by they sat down
for a moment on a small trunk to rest.

When they rose from the trunk, Mark moved it a little with his foot. He
stooped to put it back in its place, and as he did so he saw something on
the floor behind it, and cried out:

"Hey! Jimmie, look here! Isn't this the wheel that belongs to the cart?"

As he said this, he picked up from the floor the missing wheel. How it
ever got behind the trunk I don't know; but there it was, and the boys
were not long in putting it on the axle.

Abby found a small nail on the floor, and put it in the end of the axle to
keep the wheel on. Then the old cart had two wheels, and did the work much
better than when it went dragging along with only one.

There was one very pretty thing that the girls brought up stairs to play
with, that I must tell you about. But I really do not know the name of it.
The lady who made it and gave it to Alice called it, I think, a _boudoir_.
What an odd name, isn't it! Can you pronounce it?

It was a little table about the size and shape of one half of a
dinner-plate, the back being straight, and the front round. It was made
of wood, and had three legs. The hind leg was put in the middle of the
straight back, and went up some distance from the top of the table, like
a pole.

The table and the pole were covered with blue muslin, which was neatly
fastened on the top of the table, and hung down like an apron all around.
A piece of the same also went from the top of the pole to the ends of the
back part of the table.

Then this blue muslin was all covered with white lace. Thus the table had
a lace top over it, a lace apron in front of it, and lace curtains hanging
from the top of the pole, and nicely fastened with ribbons at each corner
of the back.

On the pole, a short distance from the table, there hung a cunning little
looking-glass with a gilt frame.

There were several things on the table: a pincushion, a white china
wash bowl and pitcher, a square scent bottle, also of white china, with
something in it that smelled sweetly, and a tiny glass bottle of cologne
water.

It was really a beautiful toy, and all who saw it were well pleased with
it. Alice did not often play with it, but she saw it as she passed through
the nursery on her way up stairs, and thought it would be a nice thing to
take with her. It looked all the better in the garret, because there were
so many old, and broken, and ugly-looking things around it.

[Illustration]



CHAPTER IV.

SOMEBODY COMES TO SEE THEM.


Thus they played along for two or three hours, and had as good a time as
if the sun were shining, and they out in the garden.

The little dolls were dressed and undressed, put into the old broken
cradle, and taken out again, I don't know how many times. The _boudoir_
was set on one of the shelves I have told you about, and was looked at,
but was not handled much, for Alice was very careful of it. The plates and
dishes were put on the table and taken off, and put on again, and at last
all thrown together in a box under the table.

I forgot to tell you about the swing which Mr. Bondy had put up in the
garret for the children. It was a stout rope, and hung from the rafters,
where it was tightly fastened. An old cushion, which had once been on an
arm-chair, served as the seat.

When they were tired of their other plays they got on the swing; and when
they were tired of swinging they went back to their dolls and dishes, tin
trumpet and old cart.

By and by they became tired of the garret, and Alice said:

"Come, let's go down stairs again."

"Sister," said Maggie, "let's have one more swing."

"I want another swing, too," said Jimmie.

So on the swing they went again. They had not swung long before they heard
a step on the stairs.

"O," said Alice, "there comes father."

They were not afraid to have him come, for he often played with them, and
loved to see them enjoy themselves. He had come home from business earlier
than usual on account of the rain, and when he found that the children
were in the garret he went up to see them.

As soon as his head was seen above the garret floor, as he came up stairs,
Maggie cried out:

"O papa, come give me a swing, and tell me a story, and let me sit in your
lap!"

"Well, well, miss," said Mr. Bondy laughing, "I think you are asking a
great deal at once. I can't swing you, and hold you in my lap, and tell
you a story all at the same time."

"Well, swing me now," said Maggie, "and then tell me a story."

While Maggie was on the swing they were all startled by a singular noise
coming from the chimney. They had heard it when they first came up garret,
but it was not so loud. They would have gone down stairs then in fear, but
they waited a moment, and, as it did not come again, they went on with
their play and soon forgot it.

But now it became quite loud, and if Mr. Bondy had not been there they
would have all run down stairs. But they were not afraid while he was by.

It was a strange noise, and I can hardly tell you what it was like, unless
it was like something rolling down the chimney.

"What is that?" said Abby as she started toward the stairs.

Mr. Bondy smiled and said: "Don't be afraid, children, there is nothing
here to hurt you."

"But what made the noise, papa," said Alice.

"What would you think," said her father, "if I should tell you that the
noise is made by the folks that live in the chimney?"

"Folks in the chimney!" said Mark Mapes. "How could anybody live there?"

"O papa is only teasing us with one of his riddles," said Alice. "But
there, that's the same noise again. I wish I knew what made it."

"Perhaps," said Mr. Bondy, "the old folks have been out to market, and are
just coming home with something for the children to eat."

At this they all laughed. Presently Alice said: "O, I know what you mean!
There's a bird's nest there, and it's the old birds that make the noise
with their wings."

"How could little birds live in the chimney, I should like to know?" said
Maggie. "I should think the smoke would get in their eyes and drive them
out."

"But they do live there," said her father. "Alice has guessed right. There
is no doubt a nest of swallows somewhere in the chimney. The old birds go
out and get flies, and bring them to the little birds, who open their
mouths while the old ones drop them in."

"Isn't that funny," said little Jimmie, who had heard all that was said.

"Papa," said Maggie, "won't you tell us some more about the swallows?"

"Shall I tell you a swallow story?" he asked.

"O yes, do, do," all the children said.

"Then you must all sit down, and be very still."



CHAPTER V.

THE SWALLOW STORY.


Abby and Alice took a seat on an old trunk; Mark and Jimmie sat on the
floor; and Mr. Bondy got an old chair, with the back broken, and took his
seat on it, holding Maggie in his arms.

When they were all quiet he began:

"A little girl named Jane Clark once went with her mamma to visit her
grandma in the country. During the night Mrs. Clark was several times
wakened by strange noises about the chimney of the room where she slept.
But Jane was so tired that she slept too soundly to hear anything.

"Once Mrs. Clark sat up in bed as the noise came louder than usual, and
she saw, by the light of the night-lamp, a bundle of straw tumble down
from the chimney into the fireplace. The straw had been put into the
chimney, which was never used for a fire, to keep the cold wind from
blowing down.

"The noise now stopped, and Mrs. Clark went to sleep. Early next morning
Jane jumped out of bed, and as she touched the floor a little bird started
from a corner of the room, and flew frightened toward the window. But it
could not get through, for the window was shut.

"After flying all around the room until it was tired, the bird was caught
by Mrs. Clark, who let Jane hold it carefully in her hand.

"Its nest was near the top of the chimney, and somehow or other it had
fallen down during the night upon the straw which stopped up the chimney.
It tried to fly up again, but could not. Each time it tried it fell back
on the straw, until it loosened the bundle, which fell with it to the
floor.

"Mrs. Clark looked at it very carefully, but could not find any bruise
upon it. Jane at first wanted her mother to get a cage, and let her take
it home. But when her mother told her that the poor little thing would die
if shut up in a cage, Jane was willing to let it go.

"She took it again in her hand, and gently smoothed down the feathers on
its head and back. She then opened the window, and kissing it on its bill,
said: 'Go, little birdie, go, and find your nest again.' And the swallow
spread its little wings and soon was out of sight."

[Illustration]



CHAPTER VI.

COMING DOWN FROM THE GARRET.


"That was a pretty story, papa," said Maggie.

"Wont you tell us another?"

"Not this time, I guess, my child. But tell me: how would you like to live
in a chimney?"

The children laughed at this, and said that it was not possible.

"Well, then, how would you like to live in a garret?" asked Mr. Bondy.

Of course they none of them cared to do that.

"It would be too cold in winter," said Abby.

"And too hot in summer," said Alice.

"And too dark all the time," said Mark.

"I should be afraid of the rats and mice," said Maggie.

"I would shoot them with my gun," said Jimmie, who was very bold when
there were no rats and mice to be seen.

"But, my children," said Mr. Bondy, "there are many poor people who have
not as comfortable a place as this garret to live in. I have seen them
sometimes in a garret with no bed but a heap of shavings or straw to lie
on, and no covering but an old, ragged, and dirty quilt. The roof has been
leaky and the floor wet with snow or rain, and the wind blowing across the
garret, making every one shiver with the cold.

"O it is a sad sight to see a poor sick woman lying in such a place, and
dying for want of food, while her children are lying around her in rags,
and dirt, and cold, crying for bread which the mother has not to give.

"You ought to thank God, children, who gives you food, and clothing, and
kind friends, and a comfortable house to live in; and we ought to help the
poor and the sick all that we can."

The children felt sad when they heard about the poor who suffer thus, and
Alice said she was sure she would like to help them if there were any such
living near.

But by this time the rain had stopped. There was a little blue sky in
the west, and soon the golden sunshine came through the garret windows,
casting its pleasant light across the floor, and making the old toys and
broken furniture look brighter and better than they did when all was dark
and gloomy.

Presently the tea bell rang, and they hastened down stairs. They had
enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in spite of the rain. Perhaps, if the weather
had been fine, and they had gone to the Silver Spring, they might have had
a pleasanter time; but then, as Alice said at the tea-table,

"We should not have heard that story about the swallow, nor about the poor
people that suffer so much in the cold. I wish I could help them."

"Besides," said Abby, "we can all go to the Silver Spring next Saturday,
if it is pleasant; Sam will take us."

And so he did, for the next Saturday was a very fine day, and they all had
a grand time.

Thus they enjoyed two pleasant afternoons: one stormy one in the garret,
and one bright one by the Silver Spring.



                   THE END.


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Transcriber Note


Minor typos were corrected.





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