Lily Norris' Enemy by Joanna H. Mathews
VIII.
_A LITTLE TALK._
It did really seem now that Lily was taking herself to task in earnest,and it was surprising to see how much she improved during the nextfew days. There was no more dilly-dallying with any little duty ortask she had to perform; if her mother or any other person asked somesmall service from her, she ran promptly and at once; when Nora calledher to make ready for school or her walk, there was no more stopping"only to do this," or "just to look at that." She was not once tardyat school; not once late at meals, a thing which her father dislikedextremely, but to which Lily had until now paid but little heed. Playand nonsense were given up at school, save at the proper times, andshe came to her classes with her lessons correctly prepared; for, whenLily failed here, it was not from stupidity, or want of quickness,but simply from idleness, or her habit of saying "there's time enoughstill."
The little petticoat, too, was progressing nicely, with a prospect ofbeing finished in time after all; for Lily had begged her mamma todivide it off into certain portions, so much to be done on each day,that she might know her appointed task, and so be sure to have itcompleted. And she persevered, though the little unaccustomed fingersdid grow rather tired every day before they were through with theallotted portion of seam or hem; for, having been so idle, or ratherprocrastinating, she found it hard to make up for lost time. Now sheregretted that she had not taken the advice of her mother and teacher,and chosen one of the little aprons, instead of the petticoat.
Nora could not bear to see her plodding away over it, and more thanonce begged Mrs. Norris to let her help Lily, or "give her a lift," asshe called it.
But Mrs. Norris refused, for she had told Lily that she would not allowthis; and much as she would have liked to relieve her little girl, shedid not think it best, and hoped that the burden she had brought uponherself might be of service to her.
However, when the next Thursday came, and Lily was to go to the second"sewing meeting," she was very glad that she had so much done on herpetticoat.
"For I would be too ashamed to go to-day if I had not done better thanI did last week, mamma," she said. "And two or three of the childrenin our class have finished their work already; and here is old me withmine not quite half done."
Lily was very "scornful," as she would have called it, of herself inthese days, and rather delighted in heaping uncomplimentary names andreproaches upon her own head.
When she reached Mrs. Bradford's house at the appointed time, she wasrather dismayed to find that, in spite of her industry of the last fewdays, the other children had accomplished much more than she had done.Maggie's skirt was so near completion that she had but a little pieceof the hem to do; and she had only left this, in order that she might,as she said keep company with the rest in the sewing meeting. AndMaggie had made a button-hole! Yes, actually made a button-hole! It washer first attempt, but still it was tolerably well done. It had costher a good deal of trouble too, and even some few tears; but she hadpersevered, and now was glad that she had done so.
"Patience and Perseverance conquer all things, you know," she said toLily, when Bessie, with some pardonable pride in her sister's success,displayed this triumph of art; "but I really thought that button-holemust conquer me, only I wouldn't let it, if I did cry a little aboutit."
Bessie, too, had nearly finished her bag; and though Belle was ratherbehind the others, she had a fair prospect of being quite through withher task in time.
They all encouraged Lily, and told her she might still finish herpetticoat by the appointed day, if she would but continue to do as wellas she was now doing.
The sewing meeting passed off this day without hindrance; for BabyAnnie was not admitted; and there was nothing else especially totake off Lily's attention from the task in hand. Aunt Annie readan interesting story, it was true, but all the little girls sewedindustriously as they listened; and at the end of the hour Maggie'spetticoat and Bessie's bag were completed, while those of Belle andLily had made fair progress.
"I have only three more days," said the latter, "for you know we haveto give in the things on Tuesday, and this is Thursday."
Lily's tone was rather hopeless.
"I think you might finish your skirt in two days, Lily," said MissStanton. "Two hours' steady work such as you have given to it to-daywould be quite time enough. If I were you I should sew one hourto-morrow, and one on Saturday, so that you may have little or nothingfor your last day, Monday."
"Why wouldn't it do just as well to keep some for Monday?" asked Lily,folding up her work.
"Only that if you could finish it in the next two days it would bebetter," answered Miss Annie, "because something might happen toprevent you from doing so at the last moment."
"Don't have any more putting-off fits, Lily," said Maggie. "Don't youfind 'distance lends enchantment to the view' of Pro? What are youlaughing at, Aunt Annie? There is such a proverb, for I read it thisvery morning, only I didn't think I should have a good chance to use itso soon. I'll show it to you, so you need not think I made it up."
"Yes, I know," said Annie, catching the rosy, eager face between hertwo hands, and lovingly kissing either dimpled cheek. "It is an old,old proverb, and one very well known, dear Maggie; and let us hope thatProcrastination may indeed look so much better at a distance than nearat hand that Lily may keep it there, and not let it come near her."
"Aunt Annie," said Bessie, "you must be a very laughable person, for sooften you laugh at things that we don't think funny at all."
"That is true," answered Aunt Annie, whose eyes were brimming withmischief, while she laughed more merrily than ever.
"Well," said Lily, "I did not quite understand what Maggie meant tillMiss Annie said that, but I do know now; and, indeed, I do think Pro isbetter far off than close by. I'm sure I am a great deal better anyway,and I shall never let him come near me again."
Bessie stood looking gravely at her as she spoke.
"I see you don't quite trust me, Bessie," said Lily, "but you'll see.If you only knew all that I know, you'd learn what good reason I havefor believing I shall never procrastinate again; but I'd rather nottell you what it is."
For Lily did really shrink from letting her little playmates know ofher sad behavior to her dear mother, although she could not refrainfrom alluding to it in this mysterious manner.
"You know you're all coming to my house to spend the day with me onSaturday," she continued; "and before you come, I shall have thepetticoat all finished, and will show it to you."
Lily kept faithfully to her resolution upon the next day, sewingindustriously for a full hour, and then putting by her work with theconsciousness that she had accomplished all that could be expected ofher for that day. Perhaps she had been further encouraged to do soby hearing most of her young schoolmates say that morning that theirlittle garments were quite finished, and ready to be handed in to MissAshton on Tuesday. Even Mabel Walton, although she had been quite illwith a bad cold, had completed her bag; and little Belle hoped andexpected to put the last stitches in her's on that afternoon.
"Is your apron done, Nellie?" asked Lily of Nellie Ransom.
"Not quite," answered Nellie, "and I shall not finish it beforeto-morrow, for my two little cousins are in town to-day, and I mustgive up this afternoon to them. I am glad that I took the apron insteadof the petticoat, for I am sure I should not have had time to make thelast."
"You could have tried," said Gracie. "I'm sure a petticoat is not somuch to make. Mine was all done on Saturday evening, and I did nothave any help or showing either. Mamma is away, and I wouldn't let mynurse help me, but did it every bit myself. But then every one says I'muncommonly handy with my needle;" and Gracie gave her head the tosswhich always excited the displeasure of her schoolmates.
"Well," said Nellie, coloring and hesitating a little, "I felt prettysure that I could not make the petticoat in time, and I thought it wasbetter to take that which I knew I could do; and now you see I shouldfeel badly if I could not bring in my work w
"Yes, and you were very right," said Belle. "I told Aunt Margaret aboutyou, and she said you were a wise, prudent little girl."
"I wouldn't be such a slow poke as Nellie, would you?" whispered Gracieto Lily, when Nellie had moved away a little.
"I s'pose I'd be as I was made, and I s'pose you'd be as you weremade," said Lily, loftily, for her "scorn," as she would have calledit, was always excited by Gracie's attempts to exalt herself above hercompanions and schoolmates, and it rather delighted her to put Graciedown.
This was difficult, however. Gracie's self-sufficiency was so greatthat only a very hard blow could overthrow it, even for a moment; andLily was too much afraid of being considered an anti-politer to speakher mind as plainly as she might otherwise have done.
So Gracie was not at all rebuffed by the answer she received; and,so far from taking it as the reproof Lily intended it to be, onlyreplied,--
"Yes, of course; but I'm very glad I was made smarter than Nellie. Why,sometimes I can learn three lessons while she is learning one, she isso slow and stupid!"
"She is _not_ stupid," retorted Lily, forgetting her determination to"be courteous" in her indignation; and, indeed, Gracie often made itdifficult for those about her to keep to this resolution. "She is _not_stupid, and if she is a little bit slow about learning, she alwaysknows her lessons perfectly, and never misses; no, never. You knowshe's been head of the spelling class for most a year; you know it,Gracie, and Miss Ashton says she is one of her very best scholars. Andthe whole world knows"--Lily was waxing energetic in her defence, andmore earnest to be emphatic than strictly according to facts--"thewhole world knows that she writes the best compositions in our classsince Maggie Bradford left."
"Pooh! I never thought Maggie's compositions were so very great," saidGracie.
"That shows you're no judge, and have very little common sense,"said Lily severely. "I'm sure no one could write better poetry thanthat poem she wrote for me, and you might be proud if you could makesuch lovely verses. But I don't want to quarrel with you, Gracie, sowe'd better not talk any more about it, 'cause I do feel like sayingsomething not courteous to you."
Gracie in her turn would have liked to say something that was not verypleasant, but she felt that she could not well do so when Lily declaredher intention of not quarrelling, and retired in such a graceful mannerfrom the threatened dispute. Still she did feel that somehow Lily hadhad the best of it, and had rather taken her down, as she was apt to dowhen Gracie displayed her vanity and self-conceit.
Moreover, clever and bright though she might be at her lessons, Graciewas not very quick at words; and she often felt that Lily had theadvantage of her in their too frequent little disputes. And now whileshe was hesitating as to whether she should make a sharp answer, andwhat that answer should be, Miss Ashton came in and rang the bell;so that the opportunity, or I should say temptation, for furthercontention was at an end.
"I hope," said Miss Ashton, when the time came for dismissing school,"I hope that not one of my little girls will fail me on Tuesday. Ishould be very much disappointed, and mortified too, if I did notreceive each garment quite finished and ready for use. Some of you Iknow are already through with the work which you have undertaken; andafter what I have said, I believe and hope there is no one who will bewilling to bring hers unfinished."
Her eye rested on Lily as she spoke. Perhaps she was hardly consciousthat it was so, but she almost involuntarily turned to her as the onewho was most likely to fail; and, however that might be, the littlegirl felt herself called upon to answer, not only for herself, but forthe whole class.
"We'll be very sure to be ready, Miss Ashton," she said; "and I willtoo. I see you are afraid of me, but you need not be, for I b'lieve I'mquite cured now of putting off."
Miss Ashton smiled, but it was rather a doubtful smile, for she fearedthat Lily was too confident of herself, and the strength of her ownresolutions.
So, as I have said, all this made Lily feel very industrious and promptthat day; and as soon as she was at liberty for the work, she set toher task at once, and accomplished it without delay.
But notwithstanding this, the day did not pass by without a fall intothe old bad habit, as you shall learn.