Welcome to sleep stories with Steph your go-to podcast.
That offers you a calm and relaxing transition.
Into a great night's sleep.
It is time to relax and fully let go.
There is nothing you need to be doing now.
And know where you need to go.
Close your eyes.
And feel yourself sink into the support beneath you.
And let all the worries of the day go.
Drift away.
This is your time.
And your space.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
And let it out with a long sigh.
That's it!
There is nothing you need to be doing now.
And know where you need to go.
Happy listening.
Chapter 15 various tragedies.
Emily,
Obedient to Aunt Elizabeth's command,
Had eliminated the word bull from her vocabulary.
But to ignore the existence of bulls was not to do away with them,
And specifically with Mr James Lee's English bull,
Who inhabited the big windy pasture west of Blair Water and who bore a dreadful reputation.
He was certainly an awesome looking creature and Emily sometimes had fearful dreams of being chased by him and being unable to move.
And one sharp November day.
These dreams came true.
There was a certain well at the far end of the pasture concerning which Emily felt a curiosity.
Because Cousin Jimmy had told her a dreadful tale about it.
The well had been dug 60 years ago by two brothers who lived in a little house which was built down near the shore.
It was a very deep well which was considered a curious thing in that low-lying land near pond and sea.
The brothers had gone 90 feet before they found a spring.
Then the sides of the well had been stoned up.
But the work never went further.
Thomas and Silas Lee had quarrelled over some trivial difference of opinion as to what kind of a hood should be put over it,
And in the heat of his anger,
Silas had struck Thomas on the head with his hammer and killed him.
The well house therefore was never built.
Silas Lee was sent to prison for manslaughter and died there.
The farm passed to another brother,
Mr James Lee's father,
Who moved to the house of the other end of it and planked the well over.
Cousin Jimmy added Tom Lee's ghost was supposed to haunt the scene of this tragic death.
Ever since Emily had heard it,
She'd wanted to see the old well.
Her blood run cold with a fearful joy when Jimmy related his fearful poem to her one misty night.
Her chance came on Saturday when she was prowling alone in the old graveyard.
Beyond it lay the Lee pasture and there was apparently not a sign of a bull in or about it.
Emily decided to pay a visit to the old well and went skimming down the field against the sweep of the north wind racing across the gulch.
The wind woman was a giantess that day,
And a mighty swirl she was stirring up along the shore.
But as Emily drew near the big sand dunes,
They made a little harbour of calmness around the old well.
She coolly lifted up one of the planks,
Knelt on the others and peered down.
Fortunately,
The planks were strong and comparatively new.
Otherwise,
The small maiden of New Moon might have explored the well more thoroughly than she desired to do.
As it was she could see little of it.
Huge ferns grew thickly out of the crevices among the stones of its sides and reached out across it.
They shut out the view of its gloomy depths.
Rather disappointed,
Emily replaced the plank and started homewards.
She had not gone ten steps before she stopped.
Mr James Lee's bull was coming straight towards her and was less than 20 yards away.
The shore fence was not far behind Emily and she might have possibly reached it in time had she run.
But she was incapable of running.
As she wrote that night in her letter to her father,
She was paralyzed with terror.
And could no more move than she could in her dreams of this very occurrence.
It is quite conceivable a dreadful thing might have happened then and there,
Had not a certain boy been sitting on the shore fence.
Been sitting there unnoticed all the time Emily had been peering into the well.
Now he sprang down.
Emily Sorrel sensed a sturdy boy dashing past her.
The owner thereof ran to within ten feet of the bull,
Hurled a stone squarely into his face and sped off at right angles towards the side fence.
The bull,
Thus insulted,
Turned with a menacing rumble and lumbered off after the intruder.
Run,
Now!
" screamed the boy over his shoulder to Emily.
Emily did not run.
Terrified as she was,
There was something in her that would not let her run until she saw whether her rescuer made good his escape.
The rescuer reached his fence in the nick of time.
Then,
And not until then,
Emily ran too.
She scrambled over the shore fence just as the ball started back across the pasture,
Evidently determined to catch someone.
Trembling,
Emily made her way through the spiky grass of the sandhills and met the boy at the corner.
They stood and looked at each other for a moment.
He was a stranger to Emily.
He had a cheery,
Impudent,
Clean-cut face with keen grey eyes and plenty of tawny curls.
He wore as few clothes as decency permitted and had only the pretence of a hat.
Emily liked him immediately.
There was nothing of Teddy's subtle charm in him,
But he had a certain forceful attraction of his own.
And he had just saved her from a terrible death.
Thank you.
She said shyly,
Looking at him with great grey eyes that looked blue under her long lashes.
It was a very effective look which lost nothing of effectiveness from being wholly unconscious.
Nobody hasn't yet told Emily how very winsome that shy,
Sudden up-glance of hers really was.
Isn't he a ripsnauter?
Said the boy easily.
Then he thrust his hands into his ragged pockets.
And stared at Emily so fixedly she dropped her eyes in confusion.
He's dreadful.
She said with a shudder.
I was so scared.
Will you now?
And me thinking you were so full of grit to be standing there looking at him cool as a cucumber.
What's it like to be afraid?
Weren't you ever afraid?
Our family.
No,
Don't always like,
" said the boy carelessly.
What's your name?
Emily Bird Star Do you live around here?
I live at New Moon.
Where simple Jimmy Murray lives.
He isn't simple,
Cried Emily indignantly.
Oh right,
I don't know him but I'm going to.
I'm going to hire with him for Chawboy for the winter.
I didn't know,
" said Emily,
Surprised.
Yep,
Didn't know it myself till just this minute.
He was asking Uncle Tom about me last week,
But I didn't mean to hire out now then.
I guess I will.
Do you want to know my name?
Of course!
Perry Miller.
I live with my old beast of an Aunt Tom.
Down at Stovepipe Town.
Dad was a sea captain and I used to sail with him when he was alive.
I sailed everywhere.
Do you go to school?
Yes?
I don't.
I never did.
Aunt Tom lives so far away.
Anyhow,
I didn't think I'd like it.
I guess I'll go now though.
Can't you read?
Asked Emily wonderingly.
Yeah,
Some do.
And Vega?
Daddy learned me some when he was alive,
But.
.
.
I ain't bother with it since.
I'd rather be down round the harbour.
Great fun hair though.
But if I make up my mind to go to school,
I'm sure I'll learn like Xander.
I suppose you're awful clever,
Emily.
Not very.
Father said I was a genius,
But.
.
.
Aunt Elizabeth says I'm just queer.
Was a genius.
I'm not sure.
Sometimes it's a person who writes poetry.
I write poetry.
Perry stared at her.
Why,
I guess I'll write poetry too then.
I don't believe you could write poetry,
" said Emily,
A little disdainfully.
Teddy can't?
And he's very clever.
Who's Teddy?
Oh,
A friend of mine.
Then,
" said Perry,
Folding his arms and scowling.
I'm going to punch this friend of yours head for him.
You're not!
" cried Emily.
She was very indignant at that moment and quite forgot that Perry had rescued her from the Bulborbs.
She tossed her own head and she started homeward.
Perry turn two.
May as well go and see Jimmy Murray about hiring before I go home.
He said,
Don't be mad now.
If you don't want anyone's head punched,
I won't punch it.
Only you gotta like me too.
Of course I like you,
Said Emily,
As if there could be no question of that.
Then she smiled her slow blossoming smile at Barry and reduced him to hopeless bondage.
Two days later,
He was installed at Chaw Boy at New Moon and in a fortnight's time,
Emily felt as if he must be there forever.
Aunt Elizabeth didn't want Cousin Jimmy to hire him,
She wrote to her father,
Because he was one of the boys who did a dreadful thing one night last fall.
They changed all the horses that were tied to the fence when preaching was going on and when folks came out the confusion was awful.
Aunt Elizabeth said it wouldn't be safe to have him round the place.
But cousin Jimmy said it was awful hard to get a chore boy and we owed Perry something for saving my life from the bull.
So Aunt Elizabeth gave in and let him sit at the table with us.
But he does have to stay in the kitchen in the evenings.
The rest of us are in the sitting room.
I'm allowed to go out and help Perry with his lessons sometimes.
He can only have one candle and the light is very dim.
It keeps us snuffing it all the time.
It's great fun to snuff candles.
Perry is head of his class in school already.
He's only in the third book all,
Though he is nearly twelve.
Miss Bronnell says something sarcastic to him the first day,
And he threw back his head and laughed out loud.
Miss Bronwell gave him a whipping for that.
But she has never been sarcastic to him again.
She does not like to be laughed at,
I can see that.
Perry isn't afraid of anything.
I thought he might not go to school anymore when she raped him.
But he says a little thing like that is not going to stop him from getting an education since he's made his mind up to it.
And Perry is very determined.
He's stubborn too.
I'm teaching him grammar.
He says he wants to learn to speak properly.
I told him he should not call his aunt Tom an old beast.
But he said he had to because she wasn't a young beast.
I like Perry in a different way from Teddy.
Isn't it funny dear father how many kinds of ways of liking there are?
I don't think Ilse likes him.
She makes fun of his ignorance and turns her nose up at him because his clothes are patched together.
Although her own look queer enough.
Teddy doesn't like him much and he drew such a funny picture of Perry hanging by his heels from the gallows.
The face looked like Perry's and still it didn't.
Cousin Jimmy said it was a caricature and he laughed at it.
But I dared not show it to Perry,
For fear he would punch Teddy's head.
I showed it to Ilse instead and she got mad and tore it in two.
I can't imagine why.
Perry says he can recite as well as Ilse.
And he could draw pictures too if he put his mind to it.
I can see he doesn't like to think anyone can do anything that he can't.
But he can't see the wallpaper in the air like I can,
Though he tries until I fear he will strain his eyes.
He can make better speeches than any of us.
He said he used to mean to be a sailor like his father,
But now.
.
.
He thinks he'll be a lawyer when he grows up and goes to Parliament.
Teddy is going to be an artist if his mother lets him,
And Ilse is going to be a concert reciter.
There is another name but I don't know how it's spelled.
And I,
Dear father,
Am going to be a poetess.
I think we're all a talented crowd.
Perhaps that is a vain thing to say,
Dear father.
Good night.
Chapter 15 various tragedies.
Emily,
Obedient to Aunt Elizabeth's command,
Had eliminated the word bull from her vocabulary.
But to ignore the existence of bulls was not to do away with them,
And specifically with Mr James Lee's English bull,
Who inhabited the big windy pasture west of Blair Water and who bore a dreadful reputation.
He was certainly an awesome looking creature and Emily sometimes had fearful dreams of being chased by him and being unable to move.
And one sharp November day.
These dreams came true.
There was a certain well at the far end of the pasture concerning which Emily felt a curiosity.
Because Cousin Jimmy had told her a dreadful tale about it.
The well had been dug 60 years ago by two brothers who lived in a little house which was built down near the shore.
It was a very deep well which was considered a curious thing in that low-lying land near pond and sea.
The brothers had gone 90 feet before they found a spring.
Then the sides of the well had been stoned up.
But the work never went further.
Thomas and Silas Lee had quarrelled over some trivial difference of opinion as to what kind of a hood should be put over it,
And in the heat of his anger,
Silas had struck Thomas on the head with his hammer and killed him.
The well house therefore was never built.
Silas Lee was sent to prison for manslaughter and died there.
The farm passed to another brother,
Mr James Lee's father,
Who moved to the house of the other end of it and planked the well over.
Cousin Jimmy added Tom Lee's ghost was supposed to haunt the scene of this tragic death.
Ever since Emily had heard it,
She'd wanted to see the old well.
Her blood run cold with a fearful joy when Jimmy related his fearful poem to her one misty night.
Her chance came on Saturday when she was prowling alone in the old graveyard.
Beyond it lay the lee pasture and there was apparently not a sign of a boar in or about it.
Emily decided to pay a visit to the old well and went skimming down the field against the sweep of the north wind racing across the gulch.
The wind woman was a giantess that day,
And a mighty swirl she was stirring up along the shore.
But as Emily drew near the big sand dunes,
They made a little harbour of calmness around the old well.
She coolly lifted up one of the planks,
Knelt on the others and peered down.
Fortunately,
The planks were strong and comparatively new.
Otherwise,
The small maiden of New Moon might have explored the well more thoroughly than she desired to do.
As it was she could see little of it.
Huge ferns grew thickly out of the crevices among the stones of its sides and reached out across it.
They shut out the view of its gloomy depths.
Rather disappointed,
Emily replaced the plank and started homewards.
She had not gone ten steps before she stopped.
Mr James Leesball was coming straight towards her and was less than 20 yards away.
The shore fence was not far behind Emily and she might have possibly reached it in time had she run.
But she was incapable of running.
As she wrote that night in her letter to her father,
She was paralyzed with terror.
And could no more move than she could in her dreams of this very occurrence.
It is quite conceivable a dreadful thing might have happened then and there,
Had not a certain boy been sitting on the shore fence.
Been sitting there unnoticed all the time Emily had been peering into the well.
Now he sprang down.
Emily Sorrell sensed a sturdy boy dashing past her.
The owner thereof ran to within ten feet of the bull,
Hurled a stone squarely into his face and sped off at right angles towards the side fence The bull,
Thus insulted,
Turned with a menacing rumble and lumbered off after the intruder.
Run,
Now!
" screamed the boy over his shoulder to Emily.
Emily did not run.
Terrified as she was,
There was something in her that would not let her run until she saw whether her rescuer made good his escape.
The rescuer reached his fence in the nick of time.
Then,
And not until then,
Emily ran too.
She scrambled over the shore fence just as the ball started back across the pasture,
Evidently determined to catch someone.
Trembling,
Emily made her way through the spiky grass of the sandhills and met the boy at the corner.
They stood and looked at each other for a moment.
He was a stranger to Emily.
He had a cheery,
Impudent,
Clean-cut face with keen grey eyes and plenty of tawny curls.
He wore as few clothes as decency permitted and had only the pretence of a hat.
Emily liked him immediately.
There was nothing of Teddy's subtle charm in him,
But he had a certain forceful attraction of his own.
And he had just saved her from a terrible death.
Thank you.
She said shyly,
Looking at him with great grey eyes that looked blue under her long lashes.
It was a very effective look which lost nothing of effectiveness from being wholly unconscious.
Nobody hasn't yet told Emily how very winsome that shy,
Sudden up-glance of hers really was.
Isn't he a ripsnauter?
Said the boy easily.
Then he thrust his hands into his ragged pockets.
And stared at Emily so fixedly she dropped her eyes in confusion.
He's dreadful.
She said with a shudder,
I was so scared.
Will you now?
And me thinking you were so full of grit to be standing there looking at him cool as a cucumber.
What's it like to be afraid?
Aren't you ever afraid?
Our stamina.
No,
Don't always like,
" said the boy carelessly.
What's your name?
Emily Bird Star Do you live around here?
I live at New Moon.
Where simple Jimmy Murray lives.
He isn't simple!
" cried Emily indignantly.
Oh,
Right.
I don't know him,
But I'm going to.
I'm going to hire with him for Chawboy for the winter.
I didn't know,
" said Emily,
Surprised,
Are you really?
Yep,
Didn't know it myself till just this minute.
He was asking Uncle Tom about me last week,
But I didn't mean to hire out now then.
I guess I will.
Do you want to know my name?
Of course.
Perry Miller.
I live with my old beast of an Aunt Tom.
Down at Stovepipe Town.
Dad was a sea captain and I used to sail with him when he was alive.
I sailed everywhere.
Do you go to school?
Yes?
I don't.
I never did.
Aunt Tom lives so far away.
Anyhow,
I didn't think I'd like it.
I guess I'll go now though.
Can't you read?
Asked Emily wonderingly.
Yeah,
Some do.
And figure.
Daddy learned me some when he was alive,
But.
.
.
I ain't bother with it since.
I'd rather be down round the harbour.
Great fun here though.
But if I make up my mind to go to school,
I'm sure I'll learn like Xander.
I suppose you're awful clever,
Emily.
Not very.
Father said I was a genius,
But.
.
.
Aunt Elizabeth says I'm just queer.
What's a genius?
I'm not sure.
Sometimes it's a person who writes poetry.
I write poetry.
Perry stared at her.
Why,
I guess I'll write poetry too then.
I don't believe you could write poetry,
" said Emily,
A little disdainfully.
Teddy cart?
And he's very clever.
Who's Teddy?
Oh,
A friend of mine.
Then,
" said Perry,
Folding his arms and scowling.
I'm going to punch this friend of yours head for him.
You're not!
" cried Emily.
She was very indignant at that moment and quite forgot that Perry had rescued her from the bull.
She tossed her own head and she started homeward.
Perry turn two.
May as well go and see Jimmy Murray about hiring before I go home.
He said,
Don't be mad now.
If you don't want anyone's head punched,
I won't punch it.
Only you gotta like me too.
"'Course I like you,
" said Emily,
As if there could be no question of that.
Then she smiled her slow blossoming smile at Barry and reduced him to hopeless bondage.
Two days later,
He was installed at Chaw Boy at New Moon and in a fortnight's time,
Emily felt as if he must be there forever.
Aunt Elizabeth didn't want Cousin Jimmy to hire him,
She wrote to her father,
Because he was one of the boys who did a dreadful thing one night last fall.
They changed all the horses that were tied to the fence when preaching was going on and when folks came out the confusion was awful.
Aunt Elizabeth said it wouldn't be safe to have him round the place.
But cousin Jimmy said it was awful hard to get a chore boy and we owed Perry something for saving my life from the bull.
So Aunt Elizabeth gave in and let him sit at the table with us.
But he does have to stay in the kitchen in the evenings.
The rest of us are in the sitting room.
I'm allowed to go out and help Perry with his lessons sometimes.
He can only have one candle and the light is very dim.
It keeps us snuffing it all the time.
It's great fun to snuff candles.
Perry is head of his class in school already.
He's only in the third book all,
Though he is nearly twelve.
Miss Bronnell says something sarcastic to him the first day,
And he threw back his head and laughed out loud.
Miss Bronwell gave him a whipping for that.
But she has never been sarcastic to him again.
She does not like to be laughed at,
I can see that.
Perry isn't afraid of anything.
I thought he might not go to school anymore when she raped him.
But he says a little thing like that is not going to stop him from getting an education since he's made his mind up to it.
And Perry is very determined.
He's stubborn too.
I'm teaching him grammar.
He says he wants to learn to speak properly.
I told him he should not call his aunt Tom an old beast,
But he said he had to because she wasn't a young beast.
I like Perry in a different way from Teddy.
Isn't it funny dear father how many kinds of ways of liking there are?
I don't think Ilse likes him.
She makes fun of his ignorance and turns her nose up at him because his clothes are patched together.
Although her own are queer enough.
Teddy doesn't like him much and he drew such a funny picture of Perry hanging by his heels from the gallows.
The face looked like Perry's and still it didn't.
Cousin Jimmy said it was a caricature and he laughed at it.
But I dared not show it to Perry,
For fear he would punch Teddy's head.
I showed it to Ilse instead and she got mad and tore it in two.
I can't imagine why.
Perry says he can recite as well as Ilse and he could draw pictures too if he put his mind to it.
I can see he doesn't like to think anyone can do anything that he can't.
But he can't see the wallpaper in the air like I can,
Though he tries until I fear he will strain his eyes.
He can make better speeches than any of us.
He said he used to mean to be a sailor like his father,
But now.
.
.
He thinks he'll be a lawyer when he grows up and goes to Parliament.
Teddy is going to be an artist if his mother lets him,
And Ilse is going to be a concert reciter.
There is another name but I don't know how it's spelled.
And I,
Dear father,
Am going to be a poetess.
I think we're all a talented crowd.
Perhaps that is a vain thing to say,
Dear father.
Good night.
