Three girls and especially one

The Merricks as a family were very much like a great many other people in the world--not remarkable in any way. The five younger children were every-day girls and boys, but the...

Dinner was nearly over when Mr. Merrick suddenly laid down his knife and fork and began searching vainly in the pockets of his coat for something. “Hugh,” he said, “run up-stair...

Nellie had been just one week in her new surroundings, a week full of many new experiences for the little girl, and not a few trials. Her uncle had aroused himself from his preo...

Marcy’s first waking thought on All Saints’ Day was that, being a holiday, there would be no school, and after Mass she should have nothing to do all day long but write her trag...

A week passed with no change in Marcy’s condition, but each of the seven days wrought its work in the Merrick family. Mr. Merrick forgot business altogether in his absorbing anx...

“Oh, yes, I can,” said Marcy, with a touch of her old mischief. “I’ve learned to read--truly, papa. You’d really be surprised if you knew how advanced I am for a little girl of...

There was such excitement in school that it overflowed its boundaries, and reached the quiet chamber of that little pupil who had left its walls forever, to be taught by the ste...

Marcy lay with her cheek pillowed on her hand, watching the fire burning red in the growing dusk of the December early twilight. Her mother had been reading to her the “Lady of...

It was New Year’s Eve, and Mr. Merrick sat with Lucy on his knee, and his other children around him, in Marcy’s room. The custom of Marcy’s reading the paper to him every evenin...

The soft winds of April were blowing over New York, and the spring sunshine made everything as gay and bright as that cheerful city always is in fine weather. The Merricks had “...

There is always a sensation of surprise in returning to a familiar spot after an absence and finding it unchanged. The feeling was strong in Marcy when, in May, the Merricks wen...