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Page 32
Marjorie was so impetuous and hasty in her work that it was
difficult for her to learn to do it patiently and carefully. Her
first efforts tore the pages and were far from being well done.
But, as she saw the contrast between her own untidy work and Uncle
Steve's neat and careful effects, she tried very hard to improve,
and as the book went on her pages grew every day better and more
careful.
At the top of each page Uncle Steve would write the date or the
place in dainty, graceful letters; and often he would write a name
or a little joke under the separate souvenirs, until, as time went
on, the book became one of Marjorie's most valued and valuable
possessions.
CHAPTER IX
THE FRONT STAIRS
Marjorie had been at Grandma Sherwood's about weeks, and as a
general thing she had been a pretty good little girl. She had
tried to obey her mother's orders, and though it was not easy to
keep her troublesome curls always just as they ought to be and her
ribbon always in place, yet she had accomplished this fairly well,
and Grandma said that she really deserved credit for it.
But to obey Grandma implicitly was harder still. Not that Marjorie
ever meant to disobey or ever did it wilfully, but she was very
apt to forget and, too, it seemed to be natural for her to get
into mischief. And as it was always some new sort of mischief,
which no one could have thought of forbidding, and as she was
always so sorry for it afterward, there was more or less
repentance and forgiveness going on all the time.
But, on the whole, she was improving, and Uncle Steve sometimes
said that he believed she would live to grow up without tumbling
off of something and breaking her neck, after all.
Grandma Sherwood found it far easier to forgive Marjorie's
unintentional mischief than her forgetting of explicit commands.
One command in particular had caused trouble all summer. There
were two front doors to Grandma's house and two halls. One of
these halls opened into the great drawing-room on one side and a
smaller reception room on the other, where callers were received.
The stairs in this hall were of polished wood and were kept in a
state of immaculate, mirror-like shininess by Jane, who took great
pride in this especial piece of work.
The other front door opened into a hall less pretentious. This
hall was between the drawingroom and the family library, and the
stairs here were covered with thick, soft carpet.
It was Grandma's wish that the members of the family should
usually use the carpeted stairs, for she too took great pride in
the glossy, shining surface of the others. Uncle Steve preferred
the carpeted stairs, anyway, as they led to the upper hall which
opened into his own room, and Grandma invariably used them.
As a means of distinction, the wooden stairs were habitually
called the Front Stairs; and, though they were equally front, the
carpeted flight was always spoken of as the Other Stairs.
From the first, Marjorie had been explicitly forbidden to go up
and down the Front Stairs; and from the first Marjorie had found
this rule most difficult to remember.
Rushing from her play into the house, often with muddy or dusty
shoes, she would fly into the hall, clatter up the Front Stairs,
and, perhaps, down again and out, without a thought of her
wrongdoing. This would leave footprints, and often scratches and
heel-marks on the beautiful steps, which meant extra work for
Jane; and even then the scratches were not always effaceable.
Many a serious talk had Grandma and Marjorie had on the subject;
many times had Marjorie faithfully promised to obey this
particular command; and, alas! many times had the child
thoughtlessly broken her promise.
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