TATTINE
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TATTINE
by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]
TATTINE
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CHAPTER I. TROUBLE NO. 1
Whether you happen to be four or five, or six, or seven, or even older
than that, no doubt you know by this time that a great many things need to
be learned in this world, everything, in fact, and never more things than at
seven. At least, so thought little Tattine, and what troubled her the most
was that some of the things seemed quite wrong, and yet no one was able
to right them. All her little life Tattine's Mother had been setting things
straight for her, drying every tear, and unravelling every tangle, so that
Tattine was pretty downhearted the day she discovered that there were
some things that were quite beyond even her Mother's power to alter. It
was on a lovely June morning that Tattine made the first of her unwelcome
discoveries. She was feeling particularly happy too, until she made it. She
was sitting up in an apple-tree, sketching, and doing it very well. She had
taken only a few drawing-lessons but had taken to them immensely, and
now with one limb of the tree for a seat and another one for an easel, she
was working away at a pretty chime tower, that stood on a neighbor's land.
Down on the grass beneath her Betsy and Doctor were lying. Betsy
was a dear, homely red-and-white Laverack setter, and Doctor, black-and-
white and better looking, was her son. Doctor's beautiful grandmother
Tadjie was lying, alas! under the grass instead of on it, not very far away.
It was a sad day for the dog world when Tadjie left it, for although she was
very old, she was very beautiful up to the last with a glossy silky coat, a
superbly feathered tail, and with brown eyes so soft and entreating, they
fairly made you love her, whether you were fond of dogs or no.
Well, Tattine was sketching away and was quite absorbed in it, but
Doctor, who was little more than a puppy, thought it very dull. He lay with
his head between his paws, and, without moving a muscle, rolled his eyes
round and round, now gazing up at Tattine, and then at his mother, trying
to be happy though quiet. Finally he stretched himself, got on his feet,
cocked up his ears, and came and stood in front of Betsy, and although not
a sound was heard, he said, so that Betsy perfectly understood him, "I can't
stand this any longer. If you have any love for me do please come for a
run."
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Then Betsy took one long stretch and with motherly self-sacrifice
reluctantly got up, prepared to humor this lively boy of hers. Suddenly
Doctor craned his head high in the air, and gave a little sniff, and then
Betsy craned her head and sniffed. Then they stole as stealthily away as
though stepping upon eggs, and Tattine never knew that they had gone. It
was no stealthy treading very long, however. No sooner had they crossed
the roadway than they made sure of the scent they thought they had
discovered, and made one wild rush down through the sumach and sweet-
fern to the ravine. In a few moments it was one wild rush up again right to
the foot of Tattine's apple-tree, and Tattine looked down to see Doctor--oh,
could she believe her two blue eyes!--with a dear little rabbit clinched
firmly between his teeth, and his mother (think of it, his mother!) actually
standing proudly by and wildly waving her tail from side to side, in the
most delighted manner possible. As for Tattine, she simply gave one
horrified little scream and was down from the tree in a flash, while the
scream fortunately brought Maggie hurrying from the house, and as
Maggie was Doctor's confidential friend (owing to certain choice little
morsels, dispensed from the butler's pantry window with great regularity
three times a day), he at once, at her command, relaxed his hold on the
little jack-rabbit. The poor little thing was still breathing, breathing indeed
with all his might and main, so that his heart thumped against his little
brown sides with all the regularity of a Rider Engine. Tattine's first
thought was for the rabbit, and she held it close to her, stroking it with one
little brown trembling hand and saying, "There! there! Hush, you little
dear; you're safe now, don't be frightened! Tattine wouldn't hurt you for
the world." Her next thought was for Doctor, and she turned on him with a
torrent of abuse, that ought to have made the hair of that young M.D. stand
on end. "Oh, you cruel, CRUEL dog! whatever made you do such a thing
as this? I never dreamt it of you, never." At this Betsy's tail dropped
between her legs, for she was a coward at heart, but Doctor held his
ground, his tail standing on end, as his hair should have done, and his eyes
all the while fairly devouring the little rabbit. "And the worst of it,"
continued Tattine, "is that no matter how sorry you may feel" (Betsy was
the only one who showed any signs of sorrow, and she was more scared
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than sorry), "no matter how sorry you may feel, that will not mend things.
You do not know where this baby lived, and who are its father and mother,
and like as not it is too young to live at all away from them and will die,"
and Tattine raised one plump little hand and gave Doctor a slap that at
least made him "turn tail," and slink rather doggedly away to his own
particular hole under the laundry steps. And now it was time to find
Mamma-- high time, for it seemed to Tattine she would choke with all the
feelings, sorrowful and angry, welling up within her. Mamma was not far
afield--that is, she was very near, at her desk in the cosy little alcove of the
upstairs hall-way, and Tattine soon found her.
"Now, Mamma," she asked excitedly, "did you know that Betsy or
Doctor would do such a thing as this?"
The trembling little rabbit in Tattine's hands showed what was meant
by THIS.
Mrs. Gerald paused a moment, then she said reluctantly, "Yes, Tattine,
I did."
"Have they done it before, Mamma?"
"I am sorry to say they have."
"Have you seen them bring struggling rabbits dangling in their mouths
right up to the house here, Mamma?"
Mrs. Gerald merely shook her head. She felt so sorry to have to own to
such a sight.
"Why did I never know it, Mamma?"
"You have never chanced to be on the spot, dear, when it happened,
and I was in no hurry to tell you anything that I knew would make you
sad."
"I think it would have been better to tell me. It's awful to find such a
thing out suddenly about dogs you've trusted, and to think how good and
gentle they look when they come and put their heads in your lap to be
petted, just as though they would not hurt a fly; but then, of course,
anyone who has eyes knows that they do lure flies, snapping at them all
day long, and just for the fun of it too, not because they need them for
food, as birds do. Mamma, I don't believe there's anything meaner than a
Laverack setter. Still, Tadjie would never have done such a thing, I know."
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Mrs. Gerald was silent, and Tattine, expecting her to confirm what she had
said, grew a little suspicious. "Would Tadjie, Mamma?" with a directness
that would not admit of indirectness.
"Yes, Tattine; Tadjie would. She was trained to hunt before ever she
was given to Papa, and so were her ancestors before her. That is why
Doctor and Betsy, who have never been trained to hunt, go wild over the
rabbits. They have inherited the taste."
"Trained to hunt," said Tattine thoughtfully. "Do you mean that men
just went to work to teach them to be so cruel?"
"Well, I suppose in a way setters are natural hunters, Tattine, but then
their training has doubtless a great deal to do with it, but I want to tell you
something that I think will give you just a grain of comfort. I read the
other day that Sir John Franklin, the great Arctic explorer, who almost lost
his life in being attacked by some huge animal--it must have been a bear, I
think--says that the animal when he first gets you in his teeth gives you
such a shake that it paralyzes your nerves--this is, it benumbs all your
feelings, so, that, strange as it may seem, you really do not suffer. So let us
hope that it was that way with this little rabbit."
"But there's a little blood here on one side, Mamma."
"That doesn't always prove suffering, either, Tattine. Soldiers are
sometimes wounded without ever knowing it until they see a little sign of
blood somewhere."
Tattine listened attentively to all this, and was in a measure comforted.
It seemed that Mamma was still able to better things, even though not able
to set everything perfectly right. "Now," Tattine said,--with a little sigh of
relief, "I think I will try and see what I can do for Bunny. Perhaps he
would first like a drink," so downstairs she went, and putting some milk in
a shallow tea-cup, she dipped Bunny's nose in it, and it seemed to her as
though he did take a little of it. Then she trudged up to the garret for a box,
and, putting a layer of cotton-batting in the bottom, laid Bunny in one
corner. Then she went to the garden and pulled a leaf or two of the
youngest, greenest lettuce, and put it right within reach of Bunny's nose,
and a little saucer of water beside it. Then she went down to tell the
gardener's little boy all about the sorrowful thing that had happened.
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The next morning Bunny was still breathing, but the lettuce was un-
nibbled; he had not moved an inch, and he was trembling like a leaf.
"Mamma," she called upstairs, "I think I'll put BUN in the sun" (she was
trying not to be too down-hearted); "he seems to be a little chilly." Then
she sat herself down in the sun to watch him. Soon Bunny ceased to
tremble. "Patrick," she called to the old man who was using the lawn
mower, "is this little rabbit dead?"
"Yes, miss, shure," taking the little thing gently in his hand.
"Very well," she answered quietly. Tattine used those two little words
very often; they meant that she accepted the situation, if you happen to
know what that means. "Now I think I will not trouble Mamma about it,"
she said to herself thoughtfully, so she went to the closet under the stairs,
got a little empty box she knew was there, and, taking it out of doors, she
put the little rabbit in it, and then trudged down to the tool-house for her
spade and rake.
"Bunny is dead, Joey," she called to the gardener's little boy as she
came back. "Come help me bury him," and so Joey trotted behind her to
the spot already selected. "We must make this hole good and deep," she
explained (Joey stood looking on in wide-eyed wonder), "for if Doctor and
Betsy would kill a little live rabbit, there is no telling but they would dig
up a dead one." So the hole was made at least four inches deep, Bunny
was buried in it, and the earth, with Joey's assistance, stamped down hard,
but afterwards it was loosened somewhat to plant a little wild-wood plant
atop of the tiny grave. "Now, Joey, you wait here till I go bring something
for a tombstone," Tattine directed, and in a second she was back again
with the cover of a box in one hand and a red crayon in the other. Sitting
flat upon the grass, she printed on the cover in rather irregular letters:--
BORN--I don't know when. DIED June 17th.
LAVERACK SETTERS NOT ALLOWED.
This she put securely into place, while Joey raked up a little about the
spot, and they left the little rabbit grave looking very neat and tidy. The
next morning Tattine ran out to see how the little wild-wood plant was
growing, and then she stood with her arms akimbo in blank astonishment.
The little grave had disappeared. She kicked aside the loose earth, and saw
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that box and Bunny were both gone, and, not content with that, they had
partially chewed up the tombstone, which lay upon its face a little distance
away. They, of course, meant Betsy and Doctor. "There was no use in my
putting: 'Laverack setters not allowed,' " she said to herself sorrowfully,
and she ran off to tell her Mother of this latest tragedy.
"Yes, I know, Tattine dear," said Mrs. Gerald, in the first pause; "there
is neither pity nor mercy in the heart of a setter when he is on the scent of
a rabbit, alive or dead--but, Tattine, don't forget they have their good sides,
Doctor and Betsy; just think how fond they are of you and me. Why, the
very sight of us always makes them beat a tattoo with their tails."
"Yes, I know, Mamma, but I can't feel somehow that tattoos with their
tails make up for killing rabbits with their teeth."
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CHAPTER II. A MAPLE-WAX
MORNING
A team came rushing in between the gate-posts of the stone wall, and
it looked like a run-away. They were riderless and driverless, and if there
had been any harness, there was not a vestige of it to be seen; still, they
kept neck and neck, which means in horsey language side by side, and on
they came in the maddest fashion. Tattine stood on the front porch and
watched them in high glee, and not a bit afraid was she, though they were
coming straight in her direction. When they reached her they considerately
came to a sudden stop, else there is no doubt whatever but she would have
been tumbled over.
"Well, you are a team," laughed Tattine. and they laughed back, "Yes,
we know we are," and sat down on the step on either side of her. Of course,
that would have been a remarkable thing for some teams to do, but not for
this one, for, as you can guess, they were just two little people, Mabel and
Rudolph, but they were a perfect team all the same; everybody said so,
and what everybody meant was this--that whatever Rudolph "was up to,"
Mabel was "up to" also, and vice versa. They traveled together finely, right
"up on the bit" all the time. It would have been easier for those who had
charge of them if one or the other had held back now and then, and set a
slower pace, but as that was not their nature and could not be helped,
everybody tried to make the best of them, and everybody loved them.
Tattine did not see how she could ever have lived without them, for they
were almost as much a brother and sister to her as to each other. This
morning hey had come over by invitation for what they called a Maple-
wax morning, and that was exactly what it was, and if you have never had
one of your own, wait till you read about this one of Tattine's, and then
give your dear Mamma no peace until you have had one, either in your
kitchen in town, or in the woods out of town, which is better. One thing is
necessary to its complete enjoyment, however: you must have a "sweet
tooth," but as most little people cut that particular tooth very early,
probably you are among the fortunate number.
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"Well, I don't see what we are sitting here for," said Mabel at last.
"Neithet do I," said Tattine; "I was only giving you a chance to get a
little breath. You did not seem to have much left."
"No more we had," laughed Rudolph, who was still taking little
swallows and drawing an occasional long breath, as people do when they
have been exercising very vigorously. "But if everything is ready." he
added, "let us start."
"Well, everything is ready," said Tattine quite complacently, as she led
the way to the back piazza, where "everything" was lying in a row. There
was the maple sugar itself, two pounds of it on a plate, two large kitchen
spoons, a china cup, two sheets of brown wrapping-paper, two or three
newspapers, a box of matches, a pail of clear spring water, a hammer, an
ice-pick, and last, and most important of all, a granite-ware kettle.
"Now if you'll carry these," explained Tattine, "I'll run and tell Philip
to bring the ice," so Rudolph and Mabel "loaded up" and marched down to
the camp, and Tattine disappeared in the direction of the ice-house. The
camp was not far away, and consisted of a cosy little "A" tent, a hammock
hung between two young chestnuts, and a fire-place made of a circle of
stones on the ground, with a crane hanging above it. The crane was quite
an elaborate contrivance, for which Joseph the gardener was to be
thanked.
The long branch on which the pot hung was pivoted, if you know what
that is, on an upright post fastened firmly in the ground, and in such a way
that you could "higher it," as Tattine said, or lower it, or swing it clear of
the fire on either side. At the end of the branch away from the fire hung a
chain, with a few blocks tied into it, for a weight, so that you lifted the
weight with one hand when you wished to change the position of the
branch with the other, and then let it rest on the ground again at the spot
where you wanted the pole to stay. You see, the great advantage of this
was that, when you wished to see how things were going on inside of the
kettle, or to stop its boiling instantly--you could just swing it away from
the fire in no time, and not run the risk of burning face or hands, or
petticoats, if you belong to the petticoat family.`
"Now," panted Tattine, for it was her turn to be breathless with running,
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"I'll break the sugar if you two will make the fire, but Rudolph's to light it
and he's the only one who is to lean over it and put the wood on when it's
needed. Mamma says there is to be a very strict rule about that, because
skirts and fluffy hair like mine and Mabel's are very dangerous about a
fire," and then Tattine proceeded to roll the maple sugar in the brown
paper so as to have two or three thicknesses about it, and then, laying it
upon a flat stone, began to pound and break it with the hammer.
"Yes," said Rudolph, on his knees on the ground, and making balls of
newspaper for the foundation of the fire; "it's lucky for Mabel and me that
fire is one thing about which we can be trusted."
"I shouldn't wonder if it's the only thing," laughed Tattine, whereupon
Mabel toppled her over on the grass by way of punishment.
"No, but honest!" continued Rudolph, "I have just been trained and
trained about fire. I know it's an awfully dangerous thing. It's just
foolhardy to run any sort of risk with it, and it's wise when you make a fire
in the open air like this, to stand on the same side as the wind comes from,
even if you haven't any skirts or fluffy hair to catch."
"Here's some more wood, grandfather," said Mabel solemnly, dumping
an armful down at his side; "I should think you were eighty to hear you
talk," and then Mabel had her punishment by being chased down the path
and plumped down rather hard in the veriest tangle of brambles and briars.
It chanced, however, that her corduroy skirt furnished all the protection
needed from the sharp little thorns, so that, like "Brer Rabbit," she called
out exultingly, " 'Born and bred in a briar-patch, Brer Rudolph, born and
bred in a briar-patch,'" and could have sat there quite comfortably, no
one`knows how long, but that she heard the maple sugar go tumbling into
the kettle. And then she heard Tattine say, "A cup of water to two pounds,
isn't it?" Then she heard the water go splash on top of the maple sugar.
Now she could stand it no longer, and, clearing the briars at one bound,
was almost back at the camp with another.
By this time the fire was blazing away finely, and the sugar, with the
help of an occasional stirring from the long-handled spoon in Rudolph's
hand, soon dissolved. Dissolving sometimes seems to be almost a day's
journey from boiling, and the children were rather impatient for that stage
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to be reached. At last, however, Rudolph announced excitedly, "It boils, it
boils! and now I mustn't leave it for a minute. More wood, Mabel! don't be
so slow, and, Tattine, hurry Philip up with that ice," but Philip was seen at
that moment bringing a large piece of ice in a wheelbarrow, so Tattine was
saved that journey, and devoted the time instead to spreading out one of
the pieces of wrapping-paper, to keep the ice from the ground, because of
the dead leaves and "things" that were likely to cling to it.
"Now break off a good-sized piece, Tattine," Rudolph directed, "and
put it on a piece of paper near the fire," but Tattine knew that was the next
thing to do, so what was the use of Rudolph's