forever enacting the pig, standing on his triumphant hind legs, and
patting Elsie's head with his nose; and many and many a time, "It
will end like your visit to Mrs. Worrett," proved a useful check
when Elsie was in a self-willed mood and bent on some scheme which
for the moment struck her as delightful. For one of the good things
about our childish mistakes is, that each one teaches us something;
and so, blundering on, we grow wiser, till, when the time comes, we
are ready to take our places among the wonderful grown-up people who
never make mistakes.




CHAPTER II.

A NEW YEAR AND A NEW PLAN.


When summer lingers on into October, it often seems as if winter,
anxious to catch a glimpse of her, hurries a little; and so people
are cheated out of their autumn. It was so that year. Almost as
soon as it ceased to be hot it began to be cold. The leaves, instead
of drifting away in soft, dying colors, like sunset clouds, turned
yellow all at once; and were whirled off the trees in a single gusty
night, leaving every thing bare and desolate. Thanksgiving came; and
before the smell of the turkey was fairly out of the house, it was
time to hang up stockings and dress the Christmas tree. They had a
tree that year in honor of Katy's being downstairs. Cecy, who had
gone away to boarding-school, came home; and it was all delightful,
except that the days flew too fast. Clover said it seemed to her