Do you
s'pose I can sell em, Mr. Desmonde? I want to sell 'em and put the money
in the bank, for when I get money enough I'm going to build a house, and
get married, too, I guess."
Louis answered him kindly, as he did all the rest, and when we went home
he said he held more secrets than any one man ought to.
The dedication of our schoolhouse was a grand affair. It came off on the
seventeenth of June. Uncle Dayton and Aunt Phebe came, and we gathered
the children from the town and village, clothed them in white with blue
ribbons streaming from their hats, and had them marched in line into the
building--the first two holding aloft a banner which Louis and I had
made for them. Many came from the surrounding town, and three of our
friends from Boston. There were speeches made by Mr. Davis, Uncle
Dayton, Louis, John, and others, and singing by the children. It was a
glorious time, and we felt that our beloved Aunt Hildy must now be
looking down upon us with an approving smile; and when the marble
statuette of her dear self was placed in a niche, made for its
reception, it seemed to me I could hear Clara say, "It is beautifully
appropriate."
The mode of operation was to be decided on, and when Louis spoke with
feeling of the coming days, he said to the children:
"You are our children; we are your friends; and together we mean to be
self-supporting, instead of going about among the people soliciting
alms. We will be pensioners on each other's bounty, and when we are
strong enough to aid others who need our assistance, we will send forth
gladly comforts from our home.
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