Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
SKETCHES. 313
deep and strong roots, that, notwithstanding all my en-
deavors, I could not tear up the root entirely. One piece
of it, deeply imbedded in the earth, I was obliged to leave
behind. Delighted with my work, I went to the gardener,
saying to him, ‘ Well, now I think I have very nearly
pulled up all the weeds-from the hot-beds. There was
only one large plant, which I could not quite tear up, but’—
“¢ What in the nanie of goodness have you been doing ?’
exclaimed the gardener in evident consternation ; ‘I hope
you have not torn up Mistress’s chervil ?’
“He ran to the garden-seat; I followed him, trembling.
Alas! it was indeed so; the only chervil-plant in the gar-
den, my mother’s favorite herb for cabbage-soup, I had in
the sweat of my brow labored to exterminate. Oh, how I
prayed and entreated the gardener not to mention my
misdeed. He promised not to do so, but only conditionally.
As long as nobody asked him, he would be silent; but if
his mistress discovered the mischief and wanted to know
the cause of it, he considered it his duty to tell her.
“ From this moment I listened every day with indescrib-
able anxiety, and especially every Sunday, to the orders
which were issued to the cook about dinner, trembling from
fear that I should hear the dreadful word, ‘ cabbage-
soup. For three weeks it was never once mentioned, and
.my anxiety had gradually become less intense, when one
Sunday morning I heard my mother saying to the cook:
‘I suppose we must soon have cabbage-soup again; I was
thinking of having it to-day. The chervil ought by this
tinie to be large enough.’
“More I could not hear. Half frantic with terror, J ran
down into the garden; I was almost in despair. Again I
had recourse to my oratory, and there I sent up as fer-
vent prayers for delivery out of my misery, as ever passed
child’s lips. Having prayed long, I rose, saying in a
gloomy frame of mind: ‘I shall now see whether there is
‘any efficacy in prayer, and whether it can do any thing to
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
