CHAPTER X.
MAKING FRIENDS.
By and by a man dressed in blue clothes with brass buttons came throughthe car, stopping at each seat and looking at people's tickets.
"That is the conductor, and he wants to look at the tickets," said AuntEmma. "Would you like to give him the tickets, Ruby?"
Of course Ruby wanted to do this, and she changed places with AuntEmma, and sat at the end of the seat, waiting for the conductor to come.
She felt very grown-up and important as she handed the little pieces ofpasteboard to him, and wondered whether he would think that she wastaking her Aunt Emma on a journey because she had the tickets; but theconductor rather disappointed her. He did not seem to be at allsurprised that a little girl should give him the tickets, but he tookthem and after looking at them for a moment, punched a little hole inthem.
This did not please Ruby at all. She had not noticed that he had donethis same thing to every one else's ticket, and she exclaimed,--
"Please don't do that, you will spoil those tickets, and they are allwe have got."
The conductor smiled, and so did several other people who had heardRuby's speech.
"I have n't spoiled the tickets, sissy," the conductor saidgood-naturedly.
When he went on to the next seat Ruby showed the tickets to her AuntEmma.
"He says he did not spoil them, but I just think he did," shewhispered. "I think it spoils tickets to have a hole made in them,don't you, Aunt Emma? Now spose they are not good any more, how shallwe get to school? Will they put us off the cars?"
"The tickets will be all right, Ruby," Aunt Emma answered smilingly."Now put them back in my pocket-book again, so that they will not getlost, and by and by another conductor will get on the train and willwant to see them, and then you shall show them to him."
"Will he make another hole in them?" asked Ruby, who still felt as ifthe tickets would be much nicer without the little hole in them.
"Yes, there will be three more holes made in them before we give themup," Aunt Emma answered.
"Give them up?" echoed Ruby. "What do you mean, Aunt Emma? We don'tgive them to any body, do we?"
"Yes, just before we get off the cars the conductor will take them."
"It seems pretty dreadful to spend so much money for tickets and thennot be allowed to keep them," Ruby said. "Don't you think he would letme keep mine just to remember the journey by, if I should ask him?"
"No, he could not do that," Aunt Emma answered. "You will have to giveyours up just as every one else will. But you have had a long ride forthe ticket, you know, Ruby, so you must not feel as if your ticket hadbeen taken away and you had received nothing in exchange."
"Oh, I forgot that," Ruby answered, and then she leaned her faceagainst the window and looked out again at the places they werepassing. By and by the old gentleman in the seat in front of Rubylooked around and when he saw the little girl, he smiled at her with apair of very kind blue eyes, and said,--
"Little girl, don't you want to come in here and visit me a littlewhile?"
Ruby was very willing to do this, for she was tired of looking out ofthe window, and Aunt Emma had a headache and did not feel like talking;so in a minute she had slipped past her aunt, and was in the next seat,very willing to be entertained.
The old gentleman was very fond of little girls, and as he had a wholehost of grandchildren, he knew just what little girls and boys liked.He told Ruby some funny stories about the way people had to travelbefore steam cars were in use, and then he told her about the firstschool he ever went to, and how he had to go all alone, and had apretty hard time with the older boys, who were very fond of teasingyounger ones.
Ruby was very much interested, and told him in return that she, too,was going to school for the first time.
By and by a boy came through the cars with a basket on his arm.
"Oranges, apples, bananas, pears," he called out, and the old gentlemanbeckoned to him.
"Come here, and let this little lady choose what she would like tohave," he said; and the boy brought the basket to Ruby, and rested itupon the arm of the seat, while she looked into it.
The old gentleman was very, very nice, she thought, for he not onlyknew how to be so entertaining, but he called Ruby "a little lady," andif there was one thing in all the world that Ruby liked better thananother it was to be considered grown-up, and to be spoken of as alittle lady.
The old gypsy woman had called her a little lady, though Ruby did notlike to remember her, but it was quite proper that a little girl whowas going to boarding-school should be considered grown-up, even if shedid not have long dresses on.
"What will you have, my dear?" asked the old gentleman. "Will you havean orange or a banana, or is there something else you would prefer?"
A large yellow Bartlett pear attracted Ruby's eyes.
"I think I would like this," she answered.
"Very well, my dear," he said. "Now as my eyes are not very good,would you be kind enough to take some money out of my pocketbook andpay the boy?"
This was even still more delightful, and Ruby felt as if long dressescould not make her feel one inch more grown-up than she felt when sheopened the big purse with its brass clasps, took out some money, andpaid the boy, receiving some pennies in change which she dropped backinto the purse again.
"I see you are quite used to making purchases," said the old gentleman,with a funny little twinkle in his eye, as he watched the happy littleface beside him.
"I don't very often buy anything and pay the money for it," Ruby saidtruthfully. "That is, except at the store, and that don't seem tocount because mamma always gives me just the right money, all wrappedup so I won't lose it. But I think it is very nice to buy things.Didn't you want a pear, too, sir?"
"No, thank you," answered the old gentleman. "Now would you like tohave me fix the pear so you can eat it without getting any juice uponyour pretty dress?"
"Yes, please," Ruby answered, so he spread a newspaper upon his lap,and taking out his knife, cut the pear into quarters, and proceeded topeel it, and cut it into nice little pieces, just the right size to eat.
Ruby watched him with a great deal of interest. She liked him more andmore all the time, and she was quite sure that it would be very nice tobe one of his grandchildren, of whom he had told her.
It had been some time now since Ruby and Aunt Emma had started upontheir journey, and when Aunt Emma saw what the old gentleman was doingshe leaned forward and offered Ruby the lunch-basket.
"It would be very nice for you to eat your lunch now, if you arehungry," she said. "Suppose you eat a sandwich first, and then thepear, and some cake afterwards. You can offer the basket to yourfriend, and perhaps he would like a sandwich, too."
Ruby was very much pleased to find that the old gentleman thought thatthis would be a very good plan, and that he was glad of a sandwich, sothe party had quite a little picnic together. Aunt Emma ate her lunchtoo, and Ruby spread the white napkin that was in the top of thelunch-box over her lap, and laid the sandwiches out upon it, so thatthe old gentleman might help himself.
The pear was such a big one that Ruby could divide it both with the oldgentleman and with Aunt Emma and still have plenty for herself, andsome time passed very pleasantly in eating the lunch, and putting whatwas left carefully back into the box again.
By this time Ruby had begun to be very tired of riding in the cars.She did not want to look out of the window any more, and she began tofeel a little homesick. She grew very quiet, as she began to wonderwhat Ruthy was doing just now. The old gentleman had told her that itwas eleven o'clock, so she knew that Ruthy was probably having a nicegame at recess with the other children. This was the first day ofschool at home, and Ruby remembered how she had always enjoyed thatfirst day. It was so pleasant to put everything to rights in her deskjust as she meant to have it all the year, to have her old seat byRuthy where she had sat ever since she first began to go to school, andto look at the n
ew scholars, and wonder whether she would have muchtrouble in keeping at the head of the class.
The old gentleman wondered what made his little companion so quiet, andlooking down at her, he saw the tears beginning to gather in her eyes.He guessed a little of what she was thinking about. Of course he couldnot know all about school, and about Ruthy, but he knew she wasthinking about some one at home.
He looked back, and saw that Aunt Emma had put her head down upon theback of the seat, and with a handkerchief over her face was trying totake a little nap in the hope that it would help her aching head. Hewondered what he could do to keep Ruby from becoming homesick and tired.
"Let me tell you about one of my little grandchildren," he said, andRuby winked the tears away and looked up at him. "She is a little girljust about your age, and sometimes when we go on a journey together, aswe often do,--for every year I go and get her, and bring her to staywith me for two or three weeks in the summer time,--she gets tired ofriding in the cars so long at once, and what do you suppose she does?"
"What does she do?" asked Ruby.
"She reaches into my pocket,--this outside pocket, here,--and takes outthis handkerchief, so," and the old gentleman drew out a large silkhandkerchief from the pocket that was next to Ruby. "Then she spreadsit upon my shoulder just so,--and I put my arm about her, and shecuddles up to me and puts her head down on the handkerchief and takes anice nap. Then when she wakes up we are almost ready to get off, andshe has not minded the long ride. I wonder if you would not like toput your head down here a few minutes, and see if you like it as wellas Ellie does. And then if such a thing should happen as that youshould go to sleep, why, that would be so much the better."
Ruby hesitated. She did not feel as if any one who was old enough togo to boarding-school ought to be such a baby as to go asleep on theway, but she was very tired. She had awakened almost before it waslight that morning, and she had been so excited over her journey thatshe could not keep still for a moment, and then the long ride wasmaking her still more tired. The handkerchief, and the strong armlooked very inviting, and when she looked back and saw that Aunt Emmahad gone to sleep, too, that quite decided her.
She slipped up nearer to the old gentleman, and taking off her hat,handed it to him to put up in the rack over head. Then she laid herhead down upon the silk handkerchief, and he put his arm about her, anddrew her up closely to him.
"It makes me think of the way papa holds me," she said, but the thoughtof her papa made two big tears splash down upon the silk handkerchief.
"Shall I tell you where I went with my father when I was a little boy,"the old gentleman asked,--without seeming to notice the tears,--andthen he began a long story which somehow put the tired little girl fastasleep, and the next thing she knew, Aunt Emma was telling her that itwas time for her to think about getting her hat on, for they had almostreached their journey's end.
"Have I boon asleep?" asked Ruby, starting up and rubbing her eyes.
"I should say so," said the old gentleman, looking at his watch."Guess how long a nap you have taken, little girl."
"Ten minutes?" asked Ruby, who thought she must only have just closedher eyes, since she could not remember having slept at all. The lastthing that she remembered was listening to the old gentleman's story,and then it had seemed as if the very next thing was being awakened byAunt Emma's voice.
"Ten minutes, and ever so much more," the old gentleman answered with asmile. "You have been asleep just two hours."
"Two hours!" and Ruby's eyes were wide open with surprise. "Why, Inever remembered that."
"You were sleeping too sound to remember anything," her friend said.
"Well, I am glad you have had a nice rest, and now you will enjoyreaching your journey's end all the more. I shall miss you very muchwhen you get out, for you have been very pleasant company."
"I wasn't very nice when I was asleep, I am afraid," said Ruby, "It wasn't very polite of me to go to sleep, was it?"
"Oh, yes it was when I invited you to," the gentleman said. "And Ienjoyed it, for it seemed just like having my little granddaughter herewith me."
Aunt Emma helped Ruby put her hat on straight, and brushed the dustfrom her dress. The engine began to whistle, and that meant that theywere very near a station.
Ruby said good-by to her kind friend, and he gave her his card with hisname upon it, and asked her to write him a letter after she had been atschool a little while and tell him how she liked it, and how she wasgetting on in her lessons.
Ruby promised that she would; and then the train began to go moreslowly, and at last stopped with a little jerk at a station, and AuntEmma said,--
"Here we are at last, Ruby."
For just a moment Ruby was not glad. She suddenly began to feel alittle shy about boarding school, and remembered what she had notthought much about before,--that she would have to meet a great manystrange girls, and that it would take some time to become acquaintedwith them,--and she wished again, as she had wished many times before,that Ruthy might have come with her; but she had not much time to thinkabout anything, for the train did not wait very long for people to getout, and in a few moments Aunt Emma and Ruby were on the platform ofthe station and Ruby was waving good-by to the kind old gentleman, whowas leaning out of the window to see the last of his little friend.
Ruby at School Page 10
