What Katy Did 3 - Bedtime Story

What Katy Did is an 1872 children's book written by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey under her pen name "Susan Coolidge". It follows the adventures of a twelve-year-old American girl Katy Carr, and her family who live in the fictional lakeside Ohio town of Burnet in the 1860s.

In this episode, Katy runs for her life!

Transcript

You're listening to S.

D.

Hudson Magic What Katie Did by Susan Coolidge This story follows the adventures of a twelve-year-old American girl,

Katie Carr,

And her family who live in the fictional lakeside Ohio town of Burnett in the 1860s.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Happy listening.

Chapter 3.

The Day of Scrapes.

Mrs.

Knight's school,

To which Katie and Clover and Ceci went,

Stood quiet at the other end of the town from Dr.

Carr's.

It was a low one-story building and had a yard behind it in which the girls played at recess.

Unfortunately,

Next door to it was Miss Miller's school,

Equally large and popular,

And with a yard behind it also.

Only a high board fence separated the two playgrounds.

Mrs.

Knight was a stout,

Gentle woman who moved slowly and had a face which made you think of an amiable and well disposed cow.

Miss Miller,

On the contrary,

Had black eyes with black corkscrew curls waving about them and was generally brisk and snappy.

A constant feud raged between the two schools as to the respective merits of the teachers and the instruction.

The Knight girls,

For some unknown reason,

Considered themselves genteel and the Miller girls vulgar and took no pains to conceal this opinion,

While the Miller girls,

On the other hand,

Retaliated by being as aggravating as they knew how.

They spent their recesses and intermissions mostly in making faces through the knot holes in the fence and over the top of it when they could get there,

Which wasn't an easy thing to do as the fence was pretty high.

The Knight girls could make faces too for all their gentility.

Their yard had one great advantage over the other.

It possessed a woodshed,

With it a climbable roof which commanded Miss Miller's premises and upon this the girls used to sit in rows,

Turning up their noses at the next yard and irritating the foe by jeering remarks.

Knights and Millerites,

The two schools called each other,

And the feud raged so high that sometimes it was hardly safe for a Knight to meet a Millerite in the street,

All of which,

As may be imagined,

Was exceedingly improving both to the manners and morals of the young ladies concerned.

One morning,

Not too long after the day in paradise,

Katie was late.

She could not find her things.

Her algebra,

As she expressed it,

Had gone and lost itself.

Her slate was missing and the string was off her sun bonnet.

She ran about searching for these articles and banging doors till Aunt Izzy was out of patience.

As for your algebra,

She said,

If it is that very dirty book with only one cover and scribbled all over the leaves,

You'll find it under the kitchen table.

Fiddy was playing before breakfast that it was a pig.

No wonder,

I'm sure,

For it looks good for nothing else.

How do you manage to spoil your schoolbooks in this manner,

Katie,

I cannot imagine.

It is less than a month since your father got your new algebra and look at it now,

Not fit to be carried about.

I do wish you would realise what books cost.

About your slate,

She went on,

I know nothing but here is the bonnet string.

Taking it out of her pocket.

Oh,

Thank you,

Said Katie,

Hastily sticking it on with a pin.

Katie Carr,

Almost screamed,

Miss Izzy,

What do you about pinning on your bonnet string?

Mercy on me,

What shiftless thing will you do next?

Now stand still and don't fidget.

You shan't stir until I've sewed it on properly.

It wasn't easy to stand still and not fidget,

With Aunt Izzy fussing away and lecturing,

And now and then in a moment of forgetfulness sticking her needle into one's chin.

Katie bore it as well as she could,

Only shifting perpetually from one foot to the other,

And now and then uttering a little snort like an impatient horse.

The minute she was released,

She flew into the kitchen,

Seized the algebra and rushed like a whirlwind to the gate,

Where good little Clover stood patiently waiting,

Though already herself and terribly afraid she should be late.

We shall have to run,

Gasped Katie quite out of breath.

Aunt Izzy kept me,

She's been so horrid.

They did run as fast as they could,

But time ran faster and before they were halfway to school,

The town clock struck nine and all hope was over.

This vexed Katie very much,

For though often late,

She was always eager to be early.

She said,

Stopping short,

I shall just tell Aunt Izzy it was her fault,

It's too bad,

And she marched into school in a very cross mood.

A day begun in this manner is pretty sure to end badly,

As most of us know.

All the morning through,

Things seemed to go wrong.

Katie missed twice in her grammar lesson and lost her place in the class.

Her hand shook so when she copied her composition that the writing,

Not good at best,

Turned out almost illegible,

So that Mrs.

Knight said it must be done all over again.

This made Katie crosser than ever and almost before she thought,

She had whispered to Clover,

How hateful,

And then,

When just before recess,

All who had communicated were requested to stand up.

Her conscience gave such a twinge,

She was forced to get up with a rest and see a black mark put against her name on the list.

The tears came into her eyes from vexation and,

For fear the other girls would notice them,

She made a bolt for the yard as soon as the bell rang and mounted up all alone to the woodhouse roof,

Where she sat with her back to the school,

Fighting with her eyes and trying to get her face in order before the rest should come.

Miss Miller's clock was about four minutes slower than Mrs.

Knight's,

So the next playground was empty.

It was a warm breezy day and as Katie sat here,

Suddenly a gust of wind came and,

Seizing her sun bonnet,

Which was only half tied on,

Whirled it across the roof.

She clutched after it as it flew,

But too late.

Once,

Twice,

Thrice it flapped,

Then it disappeared over the edge and Katie,

Flying after,

Saw it lying in a crumpled lilac heap in the very middle of the enemy's yard.

This was horrible,

Not merely losing her bonnet,

For Katie was comfortably indifferent as to what became of her clothes,

But to lose it so.

In another minute the Miller girls would be out.

Already she seemed to see them dancing wall dances around the unfortunate bonnet,

Pinning it on a pole,

Using it as a football,

Waving it over the fence and otherwise treating it as Indians treat a captive taken in war.

Was it to be endured?

Never.

Better die first.

And with very much the feeling of a person who faces destruction rather than forfeit honour,

Katie set her teeth and,

Sliding rapidly down the roof,

Seized the fence and,

With one bold leap,

Vaulted into Miss Miller's yard.

Just then the recess bell tinkled and a little Millerite,

Who sat by the window and who,

For two seconds,

Had been dying to give the exciting information,

Squeaked out to the others.

There's Katie Carr in our backyard!

Out poured the Millerites,

Big and little.

Their wrath and indignation at this daring invasion cannot be described.

With a howl of fury they precipitated themselves upon Katie,

But she was quick as they and,

Holding the rescued bonnet in her hand,

Was already halfway up the fence.

There are moments when it is a fine thing to be tall.

On this occasion Katie's long legs and arms served her an excellent turn.

Nothing but a daddy long legs ever climbed so fast or so wildly as she did now.

In one second she'd gained the top of the fence.

Just as she went over,

A Millerite seized her by the last foot and almost dragged her boot off.

Almost?

Not quite,

Thanks to the stout thread with which Aunt Lizzie had sewed on the buttons.

With a frantic kick,

Katie released herself and had the satisfaction of seeing her assailant go head over heels backward,

While,

With a shriek of triumph and fright,

She herself plunged headlong into the midst of a group of knights.

They were listening with open mouths to the uproar and now stood transfixed at the astonishing spectacle of one of their number absolutely returning alive from the camp of the enemy.

I cannot tell you what a commotion ensued.

The knights were beside themselves with pride and triumph.

Katie was kissed and hugged and made to tell her story over and over again,

While rows of exulting girls sat on the woodhouse roof to crow over the discomfited Millerites.

And when,

Later,

The foe rallied and began to be taught over the fence,

Clover,

Armed with a tack hammer,

Was lifted up in the arms of one of the tall girls to wrap the intruding knuckles as they appeared on the top.

This she did with such good will that the Millerites were glad to drop down again and mutter vengeance at a safe distance.

Altogether it was a great day for the school,

A day to be remembered.

As time went on,

Katie,

What with the excitement of her adventure and of being praised and petted by the big girls,

Grew perfectly reckless and hardly knew what she said or did.

I hope you enjoyed this episode.

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Reviews

What a interesting and captivating tale of what mischief and fun girls get up to.
Look forward to the next adventure.
Thank you