GEORGIE’S PRESENT;
OR TALES OF NEWFOUNDLAND.
By Miss Brightwell
Author of “Annals of Industry and Genius,” etc. etc. [Blank Page]
CONTENTS
GEORGIE’S PRESENT;
OR,
TALES OF NEWFOUNDLAND.
CHAPTER I.
It was a beautiful May-day morning when George Green rose at an early hour; for it was his birthday, and he had not been able to sleep so long as usual, for counting of the joyful anniversary.
“Ten years old, are you indeed, my boy?” said his father, who found Master George eagerly awaiting him in the breakfast parlour. “Yes, papa; and I am to have a whole holiday, and mamma has promised to take me to spend the afternoon at Aunt Baker’s, and—but I must not tell you that now, for it is a secret!”
The afternoon visit was evidently the great treat in George’s esteem; and pleased indeed did he look, as he started with his mother for the Parsonage-house in which his aunt lived. Mrs. Baker was the daughter of Mr. Ward, an excellent clergyman, who had for several years been a missionary in Newfoundland. After his death, his widow and daughter returned to England, and found a home in the country village where some of their family lived, and where Maria Ward soon married the clergyman of the parish, her widowed mother consenting to become one of her household.
Mrs. Ward was a charming old lady, lively and intelligent, and full of goodness. Her heart seemed always overflowing with love, and though no longer able to labour in the missionary field as she had done in the days of her early womanhood, she was at heart a missionary still, regarding with delight the progress of that great and glorious cause—the advancement of the Redeemer’s kingdom upon earth.
On the afternoon of the fair May-day, when little George and his mother paid their visit to the Parsonage, Mrs. Ward was sitting in her best bib and tucker, prepared to do honour to the occasion. Close by her side, upon the hearth, lay a splendid Newfoundland dog, which every now and then looked up at her with affectionate eyes that seemed to say, “How much I lov