Dotty Dimple Out West

by Sophie May

  Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Stephanie Maschek and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  SOPHIE MAY'SLITTLE FOLKS' BOOKS.

  _Any volume sold separately_.

  +DOTTY DIMPLE SERIES+.--Six volumes, Illustrated. Per volume, 75 cents.

  Dotty Dimple at her Grandmother's. Dotty Dimple at Home. Dotty Dimple out West. Dotty Dimple at Play. Dotty Dimple at School. Dotty Dimple's Flyaway.

  +FLAXIE FRIZZLE STORIES+.--Six volumes. Illustrated. Per volume, 75cents.

  Flaxie Frizzle. Little Pitchers. Flaxie's Kittyleen. Doctor Papa. The Twin Cousins. Flaxie Growing Up.

  +LITTLE PRUDY STORIES+.--Six volumes. Handsomely Illustrated. Pervolume, 75 cents.

  Little Prudy. Little Prudy's Sister Susy. Little Prudy's Captain Horace. Little Prudy's Story Book. Little Prudy's Cousin Grace. Little Prudy's Dotty Dimple.

  +LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES+.--Six volumes. Illustrated. Per volume,75 cents.

  Little Folks Astray. Little Grandmother. Prudy Keeping House. Little Grandfather. Aunt Madge's Story. Miss Thistledown.

  * * * * *

  +LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS+,

  BOSTON.

  Title page]

  _DOTTY DIMPLE STORIES_.

  DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST.

  BY SOPHIE MAY,

  AUTHOR OF "LITTLE PRUDY STORIES."

  +Illustrated+.

  BOSTON

  LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS

  10 MILK STREET

  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869,

  BY LEE AND SHEPARD,

  In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

  TO

  _DOTTY DIMPLE'S LITTLE FRIENDS_,

  GUSSIE TAPPAN AND SARAH LONGSLEY.

  CONTENTS.

  CHAPTER PAGE

  I. STARTING, 7

  II. THE CAPTAIN'S SON, 20

  III. A BABY IN A BLUE CLOAK, 36

  IV. "PIGEON PIE POSTPONED," 52

  V. THE MAJOR'S JOKE, 67

  VI. NEW FACES, 82

  VII. WAKING UP OUT WEST, 96

  VIII. GOING NUTTING, 108

  IX. IN THE WOODS, 119

  X. SURPRISES, 133

  XI. SNIGGLING FOR EELS, 146

  XII. "A POST-OFFICE LETTER," 160

  DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST.

  CHAPTER I.

  STARTING.

  One beautiful morning in October the sun came up rejoicing.Dotty Dimple watched it from the window with feelings of peculiarpleasure.

  "I should think that old sun would wear out and grow rough round theedges. Why not? Last week it was ever so dull; now it is bright. Ishouldn't wonder if the angels up there have to scour it once in awhile."

  You perceive that Dotty's ideas of astronomy were anything but correct.She supposed the solar orb was composed of a very peculiar kind ofgold, which could be rubbed as easily as Norah's tin pans, though sointensely hot that one's fingers would, most likely, be scorched in theoperation.

  On this particular morning she felt an unusual interest in the state ofthe weather. It had been decided that she should go West with herfather, and this was the day set for departure. "I am happy up to mythroat:" so she said to Prudy. And now all this happiness was to bebuttoned up in a cunning little casaque, with new gaiters at the feet,and a hat and rosette at the top. Forty pounds or so of perfect delightgoing down to the depot in a carriage.

  "Don't you wish you could go, Zip Parlin? I'd like to hear you bark inthe cars; and I'd like to hear _you_ talk, Prudy, too!"

  As Dotty spoke, the faintest possible shadow flickered across herradiant face; but it was only for a moment. She could not have quiteeverything she wanted, because she could not have Prudy; but then theywere to take a basket of cold boiled eggs, sandwiches, and pies; andover these viands, with a napkin between, were two picture-books and asmall spy-glass. There was a trunk with a sunshade in it, and somepretty dresses; among them the favorite white delaine, no longer stainedwith marmalade. There were presents in the trunk for Grace, Horace, andKatie, which were to take them by surprise. And more and better thanall, Miss Dotty had in her own pocket a little porte-monnaie, containingfifty cents in scrip, with full permission to spend it all on the way.She also had a letter from Susy to be read at Boston, and one from Prudyto be read at Albany.

  Yes, there was everything to be thankful for, and nothing to regret.She was quite well by this time. The rich, warm color had come back toher cheeks. She did not need the journey for the sake of her health; herpapa was to take her because he chose to give her the same pleasure hehad once given Prudy. It was Susy's private opinion that it wasrightfully her turn this time, instead of Dotty's; but she was quitepatient, and willing to wait.

  It was a long journey for such a little child; and Mrs. Parlin almostregretted that the promise had been made; but the young traveller wouldonly be gone three or four weeks, and in her aunt's family was notlikely to be homesick.

  It was a very slow morning to Dotty. "Seems to me," said she, vibratingbetween the parlor and the kitchen like a discontented littlependulum,--"seems to me it was a great deal later than this yesterday!"

  She had eaten as many mouthfuls of breakfast as she possibly could inher excited condition, had kissed everybody good by twice over, and nowthought it was time to be starting.

  Just as her patience was wearing to a thread the hack arrived, lookingas black and glossy as if some one had been all this time polishing itfor the occasion. Dotty disdained the help of the driver, and steppedinto the carriage as eagerly as Jack climbed the bean-stalk. She flirtedher clean dress against the wheel, but did not observe it. She was ashappy as Jack when he reached the giant's house; happier too, for shehad mounted to a castle in the air; and everybody knows a castle in theair is gayer than all the gold houses that ever grew on the top of astalk. To the eye of the world she seemed to be sitting on a drabcushion, behind a gray horse; but no, she was really several thousandfeet in the air, floating on a cloud.

  Her father smiled as he stepped leisurely into the hack; and he couldnot forbear kissing the little face which sparkled with suchanticipation.

  "It is a real satisfaction," thought he, "to be able to make a child sohappy."

  The group at the door looked after them wistfully.

  "Be a good child," said Mrs. Parlin, waving her handkerchief, "and dojust as papa tells you, my dear."

  "Remember the three hugs to Gracie, and six to Flyaway," cried Prudy;"and don't let anybody see my letter."

  Dotty threw kisses with such vigor that, if they had been anything elsebut air, somebody would have been hit.

  The hack ride did not last long. It was like the preface to astory-book; and Dotty did not think much about it after she had come tothe story,--that is to say, to the cars.

  Her father found a pleasant seat on the shady side, hung the basket in arack, opened a window; and very soon the iron horse, which fed on fire,rushed, snorting and shrieking, away from the depot. Dotty felt as ifshe had a pair of wings on her shoulders, or a pair of seven-leagueboots on her feet; at any rate, she was whirling through space withoutany will of her own. The trees nodded in a kindly way, and the grass inthe fields seemed to say, as it waved, "Good by, Dotty, dear! good by!You'll have a splendid time out West! out West! out West!"

  It was
not at all like going to Willowbrook. It seemed as if theseBoston cars had a motion peculiar to themselves. It was a very smallevent just to take an afternoon's ride to Grandpa Parlin's; but when itcame to whizzing out to Indiana, why, that was another affair! It wasn'tevery little girl who could be trusted so far without her mother.

  "If I was _some_ children," thought Dotty, "I shouldn't know how to partmy hair in the middle. Then my papa wouldn't dare to take me; for _he_can't part my hair any mor'n a cat!"

  Dotty smiled loftily as she looked at her father reading a newspaper. Hewas only a man; and though intelligent enough to manage the trunks, andproceed in a straight line to Indiana, still he was incapable ofunderstanding when a young lady's hat was put on straight, and had oncemade the rosette come behind!

  In view of these short-comings of her parent and her own adroitness atthe toilet, Dotty came to the conclusion that she was not, strictlyspeaking, under any one's charge, but was taking care of herself.

  "I wonder," thought she, "how many people there are in this car thatknow I'm going out West!"

  She sat up very primly, and looked around. The faces were nearly all newto her.

  "That woman in the next seat, how homely her little girl is, withfreckles all over her face! Perhaps her mother wishes she was as whiteas I am. Why, who is that pretty little girl close to my father?"

  Dotty was looking straight forward, and had accidentally caught a peepat her own face in the mirror.

  "Why, it's me! How nice I look!" smiling and nodding at the pleasantpicture.

  "Sit up like a lady, Dotty, and you'll look very polite, and very_style_ too."

  Florence Eastman said so much about "style" that Miss Dimple had adoptedthe word, though she was never know to use it correctly. I am sorry tosay there was a deal of foolish vanity in the child's heart. Thoughtlesspeople had so often spoken to her of her beauty, that she was inclinedto dwell upon the theme secretly, and to admire her bright eyes in theglass.

  "Yes, I do look very _style_," she decided, after another self-satisfiednod. "Now I'd just like to know who that boy is, older'n I am, not halfso pretty. I don't believe but somebody's been sitting down on his hat.What has he got in his lap? Is it a kitten? White as snow. I wish itwasn't so far off. He's giving it something to eat. How its ears shake!Papa, papa, what's that boy got in his lap?"

  "What boy?"

  "The one next to that big man. See his ears shake! He's puttingsomething in his mouth."

  "In whose mouth?"

  Mr. Parlin looked across the aisle.

  "That 'big man' is my old friend Captain Lally," said he quite pleased;and in a moment he was shaking hands with him. Presently the captain andhis son Adolphus changed places with the woman and the freckled girl,and made themselves neighbors to the Parlins. The two seats were turned_vis-a-vis_, the gentlemen occupying one, the children the other.

  Now Dotty discovered what it was that Adolphus had in his lap; it was aSpanish rabbit; and if you never saw one, little reader, you have noidea how beautiful an animal can be. If there is any gem so soft andsparkling as his liquid Indian-red eyes, with the sunshine quivering inthem as in dewdrops, then I should like to see that gem, and have it setin the finest gold, and send it to the most beautiful woman in the worldto wear for a ring. This rabbit was white as a snowball, with ears aspink as blush roses, and a mouth that was always in motion, whetherAdolphus put lumps of sugar in it or not.

  Dotty went into raptures. She forgot her "style" hat, and her newdignity, and had no greater ambition than to hold the lovely white ballin her arms. Adolphus allowed her to do so. He was very kind to answerall her questions, and always in the most sensible manner. If Dotty hadbeen a little older, she would have seen that the captain's son was aremarkably intelligent boy, in spite of his smashed hat.

  After everything had been said that could possibly be thought of, inregard to rabbits and their ways, Dotty looked again, and verycritically, at Adolphus. His collar was wrinkled, his necktie one-sided,he wore no gloves, and, on the whole, was not dressed ad well as Dotty,who had started from home that very morning, clean and fresh. He wasevery day as old as Susy; but Miss Dimple, as a traveller bound on along journey, felt herself older and wiser still, and began to talkaccordingly. Smoothing down the skirt of her dress with herneatly-gloved hands, she remarked:--