The sky was all leaden and overcast when Master Sunshine woke up one morning. The fast-falling rain-drops were so big and so close together that it almost seemed as if some great sky-ocean was pouring down upon the earth. It was too wet for him to go to school, and he had to make up his mind to enjoy a quiet day in-doors.
Almira Jane put on her waterproof and rubbers, and attended to the hens and the geese; and in order to pay her back for doing his work, Master Sunshine polished the silver spoons and forks with whitening, and rubbed them with a chamois-skin until they fairly gleamed. Then after he had tidied up the wood-shed, and cut paper in a fancy pattern for the dresser shelves, he decided that he was a bit tired of doing things, and he curled up in the big crimson arm-chair by the dining-room window with a new story-book.
Presently Lucy's voice arose in a fretful wail.
Master Sunshine, I am sorry to say, shut his ears to her pitiful cry. He was so comfortable and cosey and the story-book was so interesting.
The wail became louder and louder. It was evident that Lucy was on her way down-stairs. In a moment she was in the room by his side, and by this time her wail had grown to a terrified scream.
"O Suns'ine! take zem kitty off!" she begged.
Truly enough his little sister was in great trouble. But a minute before Spry, the kitten, had strayed away from the mother-cat, and Lucy and she had got into mischief already.
Master Sunshine made haste to lift the kitten from Lucy's shoulder, where it had taken refuge; and he was very sorry to see that the sharp claws of the little paws had made their marks on her plump neck.
"Kiss it p'ease, and make it well," begged Lucy tearfully as she climbed on his knee; while the kitten, after looking nervously around, sought refuge in Master Sunshine's coat-pocket.
"Lucy was dwessin' kitty in dollie's clothes, and it went 'spitz!' and runned up her shoulder," wept Lucy.
Master Sunshine kissed the smarting neck, and cuddled the pet in his arms.
"Buzzer will slap kitty for biting sister wiz its finder nails," she begged.
"Brother will show sister how to be kind to kitty," he answered, as he drew the trembling ball of fur from its hiding-place, and stroked it with a tender hand. "Spry is not a dolly, and does not like to wear dollie's clothes. Lucy will rub her under her chin just above the white star on her breast, and she will sing a pretty cat-song to show how happy she is, and brother will show Lucy how to lift kitty by the loose skin about her neck. Lucy must play she is mother-cat whenever she plays with Spry."
And at the prospect of such a new and delightful game Lucy dried her eyes, and called him her "dee, dee Suns'ine."
And then, what do you suppose? Why, she just laid her tear-stained face up against his shoulder, and opened her rosy mouth in a great yawn, and dropped quietly off to sleep.
But Master Sunshine's thoughts were not quite so care-free as Lucy's. "Next time I must be a better brother," he said to himself; and when his mother came to carry the baby to her crib, he would not let her give him a word of praise. "I am too ashamed to tell you why, mother," he said; "but after this I mean to take better care of my little sister."
The rain kept falling steadily, and after dinner, when mamma had gone to lie down, and Almira Jane was washing up the dishes, Master Sunshine was drumming on the window-pane, and wondering what he should do the whole long afternoon. Just then Tommy Dane came running up towards the house, and behind him scampered a dog, very like Gyp, who, when he heard the familiar bark, put his paws on the window-sill, and wagged his tail with delight; while Daisy, meowing to Spry to follow her, fled hastily up the kitchen stairway.
"Mother said I might bring Tim over and have you teach him tricks this afternoon," announced Tommy, shaking the rain off his coat.
"Tim is not a smart dog, like your Gyp. He does not seem to be able to think. I almost wish I had taken Gyp when I had the chance."
Master Sunshine and Tommy had got their dogs from the same litter of puppies, and Tommy had had the first choice.
"Tim is such a cross, snappy dog," continued Tommy. "He makes me angry every time I try to teach him anything."
"May be it is because you are angry that he is cross and snappy," said Almira Jane, half under her breath.
Of course Master Sunshine was very proud to exhibit Gyp. He loved to have his pet look up at him with trusting brown eyes; and when Gyp sprang on his knee, and put his paws affectionately about his master's neck, it always seemed as if he were not quite a dog, but something very like a dear human friend. Gyp had such winning ways too. He would stand on his hind legs and beg, or he would seat himself on a chair, and hold out a paw to shake hands with, in the most knowing manner; and all of these accomplishments he owed to his little master's patient teaching.
Almira Jane was through washing the dishes now; and as she took the broom in hand to begin sweeping out the kitchen, Tim gave a frightened growl, and fled to the dining-room.
Almira Jane grew very red in the face as she said, "That dog can think well enough, and tell his thoughts too. It is plain to me that some one has used a broom to ill-treat the poor, helpless creature with."
Almira Jane looked very hard at Tommy as she spoke; but Tommy threw back his head as if he did not much care what she said, and followed his dog into the dining-room. "Let's keep away from that girl," he said coaxingly; "it seems to me she is very interfering."
"She taught me how to teach Gyp," said Master Sunshine politely; "and she is very wise about animals. You'll be fond of her, too, when you understand her ways. She only gets 'nervous,' like she was now, when she is very busy and hurried, or when she thinks people have been unkind. I'm sure she did not mean that you had beaten your Tim with a broom."
Tommy hung his head.
"But I did," he said, almost in a whisper; "he would not shake hands, as I wanted him to, so I took up the broom and gave him a blow with it. I thought no one saw me do it, and I never imagined Tim would tell."
Master Sunshine was very much shocked. He had not believed that his friend would be guilty of such a deed. "Tommy," he said gravely, "if you are unkind to Tim he will never look at you as if he loved you, and that is the nicest thing about having a dog."
"I got him a pound of raw meat from the butcher's to make up for it," said Tommy, half sulkily.
"But that wasn't kind, either, though you meant it to be so," cried Master Sunshine; "Tim is too young a dog to have so much meat at one time. He needs to have his meals regularly, just like you and me. Too much fresh meat will make him very cross. Perhaps that is part of the reason why he snaps at you."
Tommy was much interested. "I wonder why I never knew that before?" he cried. "After this I will see about his meals myself. I always thought that if you gave a dog a bone now and then he would get along all right."
By this time Master Sunshine was busy with Tim, propping him on his hind legs, and rewarding him each time he held himself erect for a second with a kind word or a pat on the head; and when at last Tim balanced himself for a whole half-minute, his teacher flew to the kitchen for a lump of sugar, which the dog crunched with great enjoyment between his sharp white teeth.
It was quite dark before they noticed how the time was going. The clock was just striking six when Almira Jane put her head in at the dining-room door.
"Mrs. Dane is calling for Tommy," she announced; "and before he goes I must give you each a bit of lunch." And whipping open the oven door with a corner of her apron, she drew out a couple of puffy apple turnovers, all fragrant with cinnamon and gummy with sugar, and sizzling with hot apple-juice. Tommy glanced slyly at her as he bit into his dainty.
"Your Almira Jane has nice ways, even if her eyes are sharp," he said to Master Sunshine as he bade him good-by.
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