Chapter Chapter 7 · NAUGHTY NAN
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Chapter 7. NAUGHTY NAN
“Fritz, I've got a new idea,” cried Mrs. Bhaer, as she met her husband
one day after school.
“Well, my dear, what is it?” and he waited willingly to hear the new
plan, for some of Mrs. Jo's ideas were so droll, it was impossible to
help laughing at them, though usually they were quite sensible, and he
was glad to carry them out.
“Daisy needs a companion, and the boys would be all the better for
another girl among them; you know we believe in bringing up little men
and women together, and it is high time we acted up to our belief. They
pet and tyrannize over Daisy by turns, and she is getting spoilt. Then
they must learn gentle ways, and improve their manners, and having girls
about will do it better than any thing else.”
“You are right, as usual. Now, who shall we have?” asked Mr. Bhaer,
seeing by the look in her eye that Mrs. Jo had some one all ready to
propose.
“Little Annie Harding.”
“What! Naughty Nan, as the lads call her?” cried Mr. Bhaer, looking very
much amused.
“Yes, she is running wild at home since her mother died, and is too
bright a child to be spoilt by servants. I have had my eye on her for
some time, and when I met her father in town the other day I asked him
why he did not send her to school. He said he would gladly if he could
find as good a school for girls as ours was for boys. I know he would
rejoice to have her come; so suppose we drive over this afternoon and
see about it.”
“Have not you cares enough now, my Jo, without this little gypsy to
torment you?” asked Mr. Bhaer, patting the hand that lay on his arm.
“Oh dear, no,” said Mother Bhaer, briskly. “I like it, and never was
happier than since I had my wilderness of boys. You see, Fritz, I feel a
great sympathy for Nan, because I was such a naughty child myself that
I know all about it. She is full of spirits, and only needs to be taught
what to do with them to be as nice a little girl as Daisy. Those quick
wits of hers would enjoy lessons if they were rightly directed, and what
is now a tricksy midget would soon become a busy, happy child. I know
how to manage her, for I remember how my blessed mother managed me,
and—”
“And if you succeed half as well as she did, you will have done a
magnificent work,” interrupted Mr. Bhaer, who labored under the delusion
that Mrs. B. was the best and most charming woman alive.
“Now, if you make fun of my plan I'll give you bad coffee for a week,
and then where are you, sir?” cried Mrs. Jo, tweaking him by the ear
just as if he was one of the boys.
“Won't Daisy's hair stand erect with horror at Nan's wild ways?” asked
Mr. Bhaer, presently, when Teddy had swarmed up his waistcoat, and Rob
up his back, for they always flew at their father the minute school was
done.
“At first, perhaps, but it will do Posy good. She is getting prim and
Bettyish, and needs stirring up a bit. She always has a good time when
Nan comes over to play, and the two will help each other without knowing
it. Dear me, half the science of teaching is knowing how much children
do for one another, and when to mix them.”
“I only hope she won't turn out another firebrand.”
“My poor Dan! I never can quite forgive myself for letting him go,”
sighed Mrs. Bhaer.
At the sound of the name, little Teddy, who had never forgotten his
friend, struggled down from his father's arms, and trotted to the door,
looked out over the sunny lawn with a wistful face, and then trotted
back again, saying, as he always did when disappointed of the longed-for
sight,
“My Danny's tummin' soon.”
“I really think we ought to have kept him, if only for Teddy's sake, he
was so fond of him, and perhaps baby's love would have done for him what
we failed to do.”
“I've sometimes felt that myself; but after keeping the boys in a
ferment, and nearly burning up the whole family, I thought it safer to
remove the firebrand, for a time at least,” said Mr. Bhaer.
“Dinner's ready, let me ring the bell,” and Rob began a solo upon that
instrument which made it impossible to hear one's self speak.
“Then I may have Nan, may I?” asked Mrs. Jo.
“A dozen Nans if you want them, my dear,” answered Mr. Bhaer, who had
room in his fatherly heart for all the naughty neglected children in the
world.
When Mrs. Bhaer returned from her drive that afternoon, before she could
unpack the load of little boys, without whom she seldom moved, a small
girl of ten skipped out at the back of the carry-all and ran into the
house, shouting,
“Hi, Daisy! where are you?”
Daisy came, and looked pleased to see her guest, but also a trifle
alarmed, when Nan said, still prancing, as if it was impossible to keep
still,
“I'm going to stay here always, papa says I may, and my box is coming
tomorrow, all my things had to be washed and mended, and your aunt came
and carried me off. Isn't it great fun?”
“Why, yes. Did you bring your big doll?” asked Daisy, hoping she had,
for on the last visit Nan had ravaged the baby house, and insisted on
washing Blanche Matilda's plaster face, which spoilt the poor dear's
complexion for ever.
“Yes, she's somewhere round,” returned Nan, with most unmaternal
carelessness. “I made you a ring coming along, and pulled the hairs out
of Dobbin's tail. Don't you want it?” and Nan presented a horse-hair
ring in token of friendship, as they had both vowed they would never
speak to one another again when they last parted.
Won by the beauty of the offering, Daisy grew more cordial, and proposed
retiring to the nursery, but Nan said, “No, I want to see the boys, and
the barn,” and ran off, swinging her hat by one string till it broke,
when she left it to its fate on the grass.
“Hullo! Nan!” cried the boys as she bounced in among them with the
announcement,
“I'm going to stay.”
“Hooray!” bawled Tommy from the wall on which he was perched, for Nan
was a kindred spirit, and he foresaw “larks” in the future.
“I can bat; let me play,” said Nan, who could turn her hand to any
thing, and did not mind hard knocks.
“We ain't playing now, and our side beat without you.”
“I can beat you in running, any way,” returned Nan, falling back on her
strong point.
“Can she?” asked Nat of Jack.
“She runs very well for a girl,” answered Jack, who looked down upon Nan
with condescending approval.
“Will you try?” said Nan, longing to display her powers.
“It's too hot,” and Tommy languished against the wall as if quite
exhausted.
“What's the matter with Stuffy?” asked Nan, whose quick eyes were roving
from face to face.
“Ball hurt his hand; he howls at every thing,” answered Jack scornfully.
“I don't, I never cry, no matter how I'm hurt; it's babyish,” said Nan,
loftily.
“Pooh! I could make you cry in two minutes,” returned Stuffy, rousing
up.
“See if you can.”
“Go and pick that bunch of nettles, then,” and Stuffy pointed to a
sturdy specimen of that prickly plant growing by the wall.
Nan instantly “grasped the nettle,” pulled it up, and held it with a
defiant gesture, in spite of the almost unbearable sting.
“Good for you,” cried the boys, quick to acknowledge courage even in one
of the weaker sex.
More nettled than she was, Stuffy determined to get a cry out of her
somehow, and he said tauntingly, “You are used to poking your hands into
every thing, so that isn't fair. Now go and bump your head real hard
against the barn, and see if you don't howl then.”
“Don't do it,” said Nat, who hated cruelty.
But Nan was off, and running straight at the barn, she gave her head a
blow that knocked her flat, and sounded like a battering-ram. Dizzy, but
undaunted, she staggered up, saying stoutly, though her face was drawn
with pain,
“That hurt, but I don't cry.”
“Do it again,” said Stuffy angrily; and Nan would have done it, but Nat
held her; and Tommy, forgetting the heat, flew at Stuffy like a little
game-cock, roaring out,
“Stop it, or I'll throw you over the barn!” and so shook and hustled
poor Stuffy that for a minute he did not know whether he was on his head
or his heels.
“She told me to,” was all he could say, when Tommy let him alone.
“Never mind if she did; it is awfully mean to hurt a little girl,” said
Demi, reproachfully.
“Ho! I don't mind; I ain't a little girl, I'm older than you and Daisy;
so now,” cried Nan, ungratefully.
“Don't preach, Deacon, you bully Posy every day of your life,” called
out the Commodore, who just then hove in sight.
“I don't hurt her; do I, Daisy?” and Demi turned to his sister, who was
“pooring” Nan's tingling hands, and recommending water for the purple
lump rapidly developing itself on her forehead.
“You are the best boy in the world,” promptly answered Daisy; adding,
as truth compelled her to do, “You hurt me sometimes, but you don't mean
to.”
“Put away the bats and things, and mind what you are about, my hearties.
No fighting allowed aboard this ship,” said Emil, who rather lorded it
over the others.
“How do you do, Madge Wildfire?” said Mr. Bhaer, as Nan came in with
the rest to supper. “Give the right hand, little daughter, and mind thy
manners,” he added, as Nan offered him her left.
“The other hurts me.”
“The poor little hand! what has it been doing to get those blisters?” he
asked, drawing it from behind her back, where she had put it with a look
which made him think she had been in mischief.
Before Nan could think of any excuse, Daisy burst out with the whole
story, during which Stuffy tried to hide his face in a bowl of bread and
milk. When the tale was finished, Mr. Bhaer looked down the long table
towards his wife, and said with a laugh in his eyes,
“This rather belongs to your side of the house, so I won't meddle with
it, my dear.”
Mrs. Jo knew what he meant, but she liked her little black sheep all the
better for her pluck, though she only said in her soberest way,
“Do you know why I asked Nan to come here?”
“To plague me,” muttered Stuffy, with his mouth full.
“To help make little gentlemen of you, and I think you have shown that
some of you need it.”
Here Stuffy retired into his bowl again, and did not emerge till Demi
made them all laugh by saying, in his slow wondering way,
“How can she, when she's such a tomboy?”
“That's just it, she needs help as much as you, and I expect you set her
an example of good manners.”
“Is she going to be a little gentleman too?” asked Rob.
“She'd like it; wouldn't you, Nan?” added Tommy.
“No, I shouldn't; I hate boys!” said Nan fiercely, for her hand still
smarted, and she began to think that she might have shown her courage in
some wiser way.
“I am sorry you hate my boys, because they can be well-mannered, and
most agreeable when they choose. Kindness in looks and words and ways is
true politeness, and any one can have it if they only try to treat other
people as they like to be treated themselves.”
Mrs. Bhaer had addressed herself to Nan, but the boys nudged one
another, and appeared to take the hint, for that time at least, and
passed the butter; said “please,” and “thank you,” “yes, sir,” and “no,
ma'am,” with unusual elegance and respect. Nan said nothing, but kept
herself quiet and refrained from tickling Demi, though strongly tempted
to do so, because of the dignified airs he put on. She also appeared
to have forgotten her hatred of boys, and played “I spy” with them till
dark. Stuffy was observed to offer her frequent sucks on his candy-ball
during the game, which evidently sweetened her temper, for the last
thing she said on going to bed was,
“When my battledore and shuttle-cock comes, I'll let you all play with
'em.”
Her first remark in the morning was “Has my box come?” and when told
that it would arrive sometime during the day, she fretted and fumed, and
whipped her doll, till Daisy was shocked. She managed to exist, however,
till five o'clock, when she disappeared, and was not missed till
supper-time, because those at home thought she had gone to the hill with
Tommy and Demi.
“I saw her going down the avenue alone as hard as she could pelt,”
said Mary Ann, coming in with the hasty-pudding, and finding every one
asking, “Where is Nan?”
“She has run home, little gypsy!” cried Mrs. Bhaer, looking anxious.
“Perhaps she has gone to the station to look after her luggage,”
suggested Franz.
“That is impossible, she does not know the way, and if she found it, she
could never carry the box a mile,” said Mrs. Bhaer, beginning to think
that her new idea might be rather a hard one to carry out.
“It would be like her,” and Mr. Bhaer caught up his hat to go and find
the child, when a shout from Jack, who was at the window, made everyone
hurry to the door.
There was Miss Nan, to be sure, tugging along a very large band-box tied
up in linen bag. Very hot and dusty and tired did she look, but marched
stoutly along, and came puffing up to the steps, where she dropped
her load with a sigh of relief, and sat down upon it, observed as she
crossed her tired arms,
“I couldn't wait any longer, so I went and got it.”
“But you did not know the way,” said Tommy, while the rest stood round
enjoying the joke.
“Oh, I found it, I never get lost.”
“It's a mile, how could you go so far?”
“Well, it was pretty far, but I rested a good deal.”
“Wasn't that thing very heavy?”
“It's so round, I couldn't get hold of it good, and I thought my arms
would break right off.”
“I don't see how the station-master let you have it,” said Tommy.
“I didn't say anything to him. He was in the little ticket place, and
didn't see me, so I just took it off the platform.”
“Run down and tell him it is all right, Franz, or old Dodd will think
it is stolen,” said Mr. Bhaer, joining in the shout of laughter at Nan's
coolness.
“I told you we would send for it if it did not come. Another time you
must wait, for you will get into trouble if you run away. Promise me
this, or I shall not dare to trust you out of my sight,” said Mrs.
Bhaer, wiping the dust off Nan's little hot face.
“Well, I won't, only papa tells me not to put off doing things, so I
don't.”
“That is rather a poser; I think you had better give her some supper
now, and a private lecture by and by,” said Mr. Bhaer, too much amused
to be angry at the young lady's exploit.
The boys thought it “great fun,” and Nan entertained them all
supper-time with an account of her adventures; for a big dog had barked
at her, a man had laughed at her, a woman had given her a doughnut, and
her hat had fallen into the brook when she stopped to drink, exhausted
with her exertion.
“I fancy you will have your hands full now, my dear; Tommy and Nan are
quite enough for one woman,” said Mr. Bhaer, half an hour later.
“I know it will take some time to tame the child, but she is such a
generous, warm-hearted little thing, I should love her even if she were
twice as naughty,” answered Mrs. Jo, pointing to the merry group, in
the middle of which stood Nan, giving away her things right and left, as
lavishly as if the big band-box had no bottom.
It was those good traits that soon made little “Giddygaddy,” as they
called her, a favorite with every one. Daisy never complained of being
dull again, for Nan invented the most delightful plays, and her pranks
rivalled Tommy's, to the amusement of the whole school. She buried her
big doll and forgot it for a week, and found it well mildewed when she
dragged it up. Daisy was in despair, but Nan took it to the painter who
as at work about the house, got him to paint it brick red, with staring
black eyes, then she dressed it up with feathers, and scarlet flannel,
and one of Ned's leaden hatchets; and in the character of an Indian
chief, the late Poppydilla tomahawked all the other dolls, and caused
the nursery to run red with imaginary gore. She gave away her new shoes
to a beggar child, hoping to be allowed to go barefoot, but found it
impossible to combine charity and comfort, and was ordered to ask leave
before disposing of her clothes. She delighted the boys by making a
fire-ship out of a shingle with two large sails wet with turpentine,
which she lighted, and then sent the little vessel floating down the
brook at dusk. She harnessed the old turkey-cock to a straw wagon, and
made him trot round the house at a tremendous pace. She gave her coral
necklace for four unhappy kittens, which had been tormented by some
heartless lads, and tended them for days as gently as a mother, dressing
their wounds with cold cream, feeding them with a doll's spoon, and
mourning over them when they died, till she was consoled by one of
Demi's best turtles. She made Silas tattoo an anchor on her arm like
his, and begged hard to have a blue star on each cheek, but he dared not
do it, though she coaxed and scolded till the soft-hearted fellow longed
to give in. She rode every animal on the place, from the big horse Andy
to the cross pig, from whom she was rescued with difficulty. Whatever
the boys dared her to do she instantly attempted, no matter how
dangerous it might be, and they were never tired of testing her courage.
Mr. Bhaer suggested that they should see who would study best, and Nan
found as much pleasure in using her quick wits and fine memory as her
active feet and merry tongue, while the lads had to do their best to
keep their places, for Nan showed them that girls could do most things
as well as boys, and some things better. There were no rewards in
school, but Mr. Bhaer's “Well done!” and Mrs. Bhaer's good report on the
conscience book, taught them to love duty for its own sake, and try to
do it faithfully, sure sooner or later the recompense would come. Little
Nan was quick to feel the new atmosphere, to enjoy it, to show that it
was what she needed; for this little garden was full of sweet flowers,
half hidden by the weeds; and when kind hands gently began to
cultivate it, all sorts of green shoots sprung up, promising to blossom
beautifully in the warmth of love and care, the best climate for young
hearts and souls all the world over.