You're listening to S.
D.
Hudson Magic What Katie Did By Susan Coolidge This story follows the adventures of a 12-year-old American girl,
Katie Carr,
And her family,
Who live in the fictional lakeside Ohio town of Burnett in the 1860s.
Chapter 11 It was a new year and spring had opened late.
But the summer when it came was a warm one.
Katie felt the heat very much.
She could not change her seat and follow the breeze about from window to window as other people could.
The long burning days left her weak and parched.
She hung her head and seemed to wilt like the flowers in the garden beds.
Indeed,
She was worse off than they,
For every evening Alexander gave them a watering with the hose,
While nobody was able to bring a watering pot and pour out what she needed,
A shower of cold fresh air.
It wasn't as easy to be good-humoured under these circumstances and one could hardly have blamed Katie if she had sometimes forgotten her resolutions and been cross and fretful.
But she didn't.
Not very often.
Now and then bad days came when she was discouraged and forlorn.
But Katie's long year of schooling had taught her self-control and as a general thing her discomforts were borne patiently.
She could not help growing pale and thin,
However,
And Papa saw with concern that as the summer went on she became too languid to read or study or sew and just sat hour after hour with folded hands gazing wistfully out of the window.
He tried the experiment of taking her to drive,
But the motion of the carriage and the being lifted in and out brought on so much pain that Katie begged he would not ask her to go out again.
So there was nothing to be done but wait for the cooler weather.
The summer dragged on and all who loved Katie rejoiced when it was over.
When September came with cool mornings,
Fine nights and fresh breezes,
Smelling of pine woods and hilltops,
All things seemed to revive and Katie with them.
She began to crochet and to read.
After a while she collected her books again and tried to study as Cousin Helen had advised,
But so many idle weeks made it seem harder work than ever.
One day she asked Papa to let her take French lessons.
You see,
I'm forgetting all I knew,
She said,
And Clover's going to begin this term and I don't like that she should get so far ahead of me.
Don't you think Mr.
Berger would be willing to come here,
Papa?
He does go to houses sometimes.
I think he would if we asked him,
Said Dr.
Carr,
Pleased to see Katie waking up with something like life again.
So the arrangement was made.
Mr.
Berger came twice every week and sat beside the big chair,
Reciting Katie's exercises and practicing her in the verbs and pronunciation.
He was a lively little old Frenchman and knew how to make lesson time pleasant.
You take more pain than you used,
Mademoiselle,
He said one day.
If you go on so,
You shall be my best scholar.
And if to hurt the back make you study,
It will be well that some other of my young lady shall do the same.
Katie laughed,
But in spite of Mr.
Berger and his lessons,
And in spite of her endeavours to keep cheerful and busy,
This second winter was harder than the first.
It is so often with sick people.
There is a sort of excitement in being ill which helps along just at the beginning,
But as the months go on and everything grows an old story,
And one day follows another day,
All just alike and all tiresome,
Courage is apt to flag and spirits to grow dull.
Spring seemed a long,
Long way off whenever Katie thought about it.
I wish something would happen,
She often said to herself,
And something was about to happen,
But she little guessed what it was going to be.
Katie,
Said Clover,
Coming in one day in November,
Do you know where the camphor is?
Our tizzy's got such a headache.
No,
Replied Katie,
I don't.
Oh,
Wait,
Clover,
It seems to me Debbie came for it the other day.
Perhaps if you look in her room you'll find it.
How very queer,
She soliloquised when Clover was gone.
I never knew Aunt Tizzy to have a headache before.
How is Aunt Tizzy?
She asked when Papa came in at noon.
Well,
I don't know.
She has some fever and a bad pain in her head.
I've told her she had better lie still and try not to get up this evening.
Old Mary will come in to undress you,
Katie.
You won't mind,
Will you,
Dear?
No,
Said Katie reluctantly,
But she did mind.
Aunt Tizzy had grown used to her and her ways.
Nobody else suited her so well.
Seems so strange to have to explain just how every little thing is to be done,
She remarked to Clover rather petulantly.
It seemed stranger yet when the next day and the next and the next after that passed and still no Aunt Izzy came near her.
Blessings bright as they take their flight.
Katie began to appreciate for the first time how much she'd learned to rely on her aunt,
And she missed her dreadfully.
When is Aunt Tizzy going to get well?
She asked her father.
I want her so much.
We all want her,
Said Dr Carr,
Who looked disturbed and anxious.
Is she very sick?
Asked Katie,
Struck by the expression of his face.
Pretty sick,
I'm afraid,
He replied.
I'm going to get a regular nurse to take care of her.
Aunt Tizzy's attack proved to be typhoid fever.
The doctor said the house must be kept quiet,
So John,
Dorrie and Phil were sent over to Mrs Hall's to stay.
Elsie and Clover were to have gone too,
But they begged so hard and made so many promises of good behaviour that finally Papa permitted them to remain.
The dear little things stall about the house on tiptoe as quietly as mice,
Whispering to each other and waiting on Katie,
Who would have been lonely enough without them,
For everybody else was absorbed in Aunt Izzy.
It was a confused,
Melancholy time.
The three girls didn't know much about sickness,
But Papa's grave face and the hushed house weighed upon their spirits,
And they missed the children very much.
Oh dear,
Said Elsie,
I wish Aunt Izzy would hurry up and get well.
We'll be real good to her when she does,
Won't we?
Said Clover.
I never mean to leave my rubbers in the hat stand any more because she doesn't like me to,
And I shall pick up the croquet balls and put them in the box every night.
Yes,
Added Elsie,
So will I when she gets well.
It never occurred to either of them that perhaps Aunt Izzy might not get well.
Little people are apt to feel as if grown folks are so strong and so big that nothing can possibly happen to them.
Katie was more anxious.
Still,
She did not fairly realise the danger,
So it came like a sudden and violent shock to her when,
One morning on waking up,
She found old Mary crying quietly beside the bed with her apron at her eyes.
Aunt Izzy had died in the night.
All their kind,
Penitent thoughts of her,
Their resolutions to please,
Their plans for obeying her wishes and saving her trouble,
Were too late.
For the first time,
The three girls,
Sobbing in each other's auras,
Realised what a good friend Aunt Izzy had been to them.
Her worrying ways were all forgotten now.
They could only remember the many kind things she'd done for them since they were little children.
How they wished they'd never teased her,
Never said sharp words about her to each other.
But it was no use to wish.
What shall we do without Aunt Izzy?
Thought Katie as she cried herself to sleep that night,
And the question came into her mind again and again after the funeral was over and the little ones had come back from Mrs Hall's and things began to go on in their usual manner.
For several days she saw almost nothing of her father.
Clover reported he looked very tired and scarcely said a word.
Did Papa eat any dinner?
Asked Katie one afternoon.
Not much.
He said he wasn't hungry and Mrs Jackson's boy came for him before we were through.
Oh dear,
Sighed Katie.
I do hope he isn't going to be sick.
How it rains!
Clovey,
I wish you'd run down and get these slippers out and put them by the fire to warm him.
I went to ask Debbie to make some cream toast for tea.
Papa likes cream toast.
After tea,
Doctor came upstairs to sit a while in Katie's room.
He often did so,
But this was the first time since Aunt Izzy's death.
Katie studied his face anxiously.
It seemed to her it had grown older of late and there was a sad look upon it which made her heart ache.
She longed to do something for him,
But all she could do was poke the fire bright and then to possess herself of his hand and stroke it gently with both hers.
It wasn't much to be sure,
But I think Papa liked it.
What have you been about all day?
He asked.
Oh,
Nothing much,
Said Katie.
I studied my French lesson this morning and after school Elsie and John brought in their patchwork and we had a bee.
That's all.
I've been thinking about how we're going to manage about the housekeeping,
Said Doctor Carr.
Of course we shall have to get somebody to come and take charge,
But it isn't easy to find just the right person.
Mrs.
Hall knows of a woman who might do,
But she's out west just now and it will be a week or two before we can hear from her.
Do you think you can get on as you are for a few days?
Oh,
Papa,
Cried Katie in dismay,
Must we have anybody?
Why,
How did you suppose we're going to arrange it?
Clover's much too young for a housekeeper and besides she's at school all day.
I don't know,
I hadn't thought about it,
Said Katie in a perplexed tone,
But she did think about it all that evening and the first thing when she woke up in the morning.
Papa,
She said the next time she got him to herself.
I've been thinking over what you were saying about getting somebody to keep the house and I wish you wouldn't.
I wish you would let me try.
Really and truly I think I could manage.
But how,
Asked Doctor Carr,
Much surprised.
I really don't see,
If you're well and strong perhaps,
But even then you would be pretty young for such a charge,
Katie.
I shall be 14 in two weeks,
Said Katie,
Drawing herself up in her chair,
Straight as she could.
And if I were well,
Papa,
I should be going to school,
You know,
And then of course I couldn't.
No,
I'll tell you my plan.
I've been thinking about it all day.
Debbie and Bridget have been with us so long,
They know all aunties' ways and they're such good women that all they want is just to be told a little now and then.
Now why couldn't they come up to me when anything's wanted?
Just as well as have me go down to them.
Clover and old Mary will keep watch,
You know,
And see if anything's wrong and you wouldn't mind if things were a little crooked just at first,
Would you?
Because,
You know,
I should be learning all the time.
Do let me try.
It will be real nice to have something to think about as I sit up here alone.
So much better than having a stranger in the house who doesn't know the children or anything.
I'm sure it would make me happier.
Please say yes,
Papa,
Please do.
It's too much for you,
A great deal too much,
Replied Dr.
Carr.
But it was not easy to resist Katie's please and after a while it ended with,
Well,
Darling,
You may try,
Though I'm doubtful as to the result of the experiment.
I would tell Mrs.
Hall to put off writing to Wisconsin for a month and we will see.
Poor child,
He mutters as he walked down the stairs,
Anything to take her thoughts off herself.
She'll be glad enough to give the thing up by the end of the month.
But Papa was mistaken.
At the end of a month,
Katie was eager to go on.
So he said,
Very well,
You may try till spring.
It was not such hard work as it sounds.
Katie had plenty of quiet thinking time for one thing.
The children were at school all day and few visitors came to interrupt her so she could plan out her hours and keep to the plans.
Then Aunt Izzie's regular punctual ways were so well understood by the servants that the house seemed almost to keep itself.
As Katie had said,
All Debbie and Bridget needed was a little telling now and then.
As soon as breakfast was over and the dishes were washed and put away,
Debbie would tie on a clean apron and come upstairs for orders.
At first Katie thought this great fun,
But after ordering dinner a good many times,
It began to grow tiresome.
She never saw the dishes after they were cooked and being inexperienced,
It seemed impossible to think of things enough to make a variety.
Let me see,
There's roast beef,
Egg of mutton,
Boiled chicken,
She would say,
Counting on her fingers.
Debbie,
You might roast the chickens.
Dear,
I wish someone would invent a new animal.
Where all the things to eat had gone to,
I can't imagine.
Then Katie would send for every recipe book in the house and pour over them by the hour until her appetite was completely gone as if she'd swallowed twenty dinners.
Poor Debbie learned to dread those books.
She would stand by the door with her pleasant face drawn up into a pucker whilst Katie read aloud some impossible sounding rule.
This looks as if it were delicious,
Debbie,
I wish you'd try it.
Take a gallon of oysters,
A pint of beef stock,
Sixteen soda crackers,
The juice of two lemons,
Four cloves,
A glass of white wine,
A sprig of marjoram,
A sprig of thyme,
A sprig of bay,
A sliced shallot.
Please,
Miss Katie,
What's the hem?
Oh,
Don't you know,
Debbie,
Must be something quite common for it's in almost all of the recipes.
No,
Miss Katie,
I never heard of it before.
Mrs.
Carr never gave me no shell-outs at all.
Dear me,
How provoking,
Katie would cry,
Flapping over the leaves of her book.
Then we must try something else.
After a while,
Katie grew wiser.
She ceased teasing Debbie to try new things and the Carr family went back to plain roast and boiled,
Much to the advantage of all concerned.
But then another series of experiments began.
Katie got hold of a book upon the stomach and was seized with a range for wholesome food.
She entreated Clover and the other children to give up sugar and butter and gravy and pudding,
Sauce,
Buckwheat cakes and pies and almost everything they particularly liked.
Boiled rice seemed to her the most sensible dessert and she kept the family on it until finally John and Dory started a rebellion and Dr.
Carr was forced to interfere.
My dear,
You're overdoing it,
Sadly,
He said as Katie opened her book and prepared to explain her views.
I'm glad to have the children eat simple food.
But really,
Boiled rice five times in a week is too much.
Katie sighed but submitted.
And later as the spring came on,
She had a fit of over-anxiousness and was always sending Clover down to ask Debbie if her bread was not burning or if she was sure the pickles were not fermenting in their jars.
But all these were the natural mistakes of a beginner.
Katie was too much in earnest not to improve.
Month by month,
She learned how to manage a little better and a little better still.
Matters went on more smoothly,
Her care ceased to fret her and Dr.
Carr watching the increasing brightness of her face and manner felt like the experiment was a success.
Nothing more was said about somebody else coming and Katie sitting upstairs in her big chair held the threads of the house firmly in her hands.
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