[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XI.

_A CUPBOARD OF RUBBISH._

"What are you searching for?" asked Agnes, entering the schoolroom the next morning, which was littered over from end to end. Her brothers and sisters were busily engaged in turning out a large cupboard, and the contents were scattered all over the room.

They looked up with rather flushed faces.

"Oh, Agnes," exclaimed Minnie eagerly, "we are sorting my old toys over, to see what I can spare."

"What for?" asked Agnes.

"Don't you know? Why, for those poor little children who haven't any toys or pleasures!"

"Which children? I never heard."

"Didn't you? not what mother told us the other day?"

"No," said Agnes, sitting down by the fire and surveying the confusion with some curiosity.

"Then _I'll_ tell you," burst out Hugh.

"Yes, you tell her," said Minnie.

"Well, they say that there are numbers and numbers of children who have hardly any enjoyment in their lives, who are sick and full of suffering, lying on beds with nothing to do, or seated in chairs from which they cannot move. The kind people at the hospital do all they can for them, you know, Agnes; but of course they must spend their money on necessary things, and on beds and food, and they cannot afford to buy toys."

"Well?" said Agnes.

"Mother told us that _anything_ almost would be a treat to these poor little things, and so we are seeing what we have got."

"But this is all rubbish," said Agnes, speaking regretfully, for she felt sorry to disappoint her eager brothers and sisters.

They were not so easily daunted, however, having heard what very old toys give infinite delight to the poor little invalids, and Hugh answered:

"But you see, Agnes, these are for their very own, and when we have mended them----"

"Oh, if they are mended, of course, that is a different thing," said Agnes.

"So we shall," said Minnie; "see, the glue-pot is on already, and we are going to begin soon."

"The worst is," said Hugh, "where shall we begin, this is in such a muddle."

"I will help you," said Agnes kindly, "if you will give me any idea of what you mean to send."

"Well," said John, who had been persuaded to help, "here are some dominoes. You know we've that nice new set, and there are a good many of these, only the box is broken. What could we do for a box, Agnes?"

"Would a little bag do?"

John looked doubtful; but Alice, who had been busily sorting out while the others had been talking, seized upon the idea of a bag as the very thing, and wrote down on a piece of paper, "Wanted, a bag for dominoes."

"Very well," said Agnes; "now what next?"

"Here is a little horse with his head off; but I know the head is somewhere, and we shall come across it presently."

"That's for the glueing heap, then?"

"Oh, yes! Thank you, Agnes; now we shall get on," said Minnie.

"Here is a lot of small furniture, but it is very broken," said Hugh.

"Perhaps a few of them will do. Have you the box?"

"Here is an empty one."

"Perhaps you have a little dolly to put in with them?"

Alice went to a corner and produced a dilapidated Dutch doll.

"I will put her on a new frock while you sort the things," said Agnes.

"Here is a bit of pink chintz," answered Minnie; "and here are my scissors to 'pink' the edges."

The heap for glueing was fast increasing, and John said he had better begin, while the others collected for him.

"We have agreed not to quarrel over it," he added, smiling, "but to do whatever comes first, because----"

"Because?" said Agnes.

Minnie came close to her, and said softly, "We are trying to do something for _His_ sake, you know. Agnes."

"I see," said Agnes; "I am so glad."

But though the glueing might be pleasant work, the sorting out such a heap of _debris_ was a tiring thing, and taxed the patience of the children very much. Agnes sat by, helping with advice and interest, and feeling deep down in her heart that she was giving her little service to the Lord Jesus too. Had she not left the piano, where she had but just opened a new song? Had she not made all her arrangements to have an hour's practice this morning, when she could be certain of the piano to herself? But all this had been put aside, and now she heard the tender voice whispering, "Thou hast been faithful over a few things...enter into the joy of thy Lord."

And even now she was tasting that joy, which, some day, all who love Him, shall know in its fulness.

At last the floor was clear, and Hugh ran downstairs with a basketful of real rubbish, while the table now held many heaps, over which careful Alice kept guard.

"Not there," she would say, as a contribution was brought; "that must be for this heap, and those broken toys for John to glue."

When Hugh returned with his empty basket, they surveyed the present results of their labours. A heap of already mended toys, carefully bound together with thin string; a lot of pictures and sc.r.a.ps to be pasted into old copy books, of which several lay at hand; two or three very old dolls, which were to be freshened up, some with a little soap and water, some with a bit of odd ribbon, some with a new glazed lining frock, just run together and snipped out at the bottom; a few boxes containing the remains of dolls' furniture, dominoes, little cups and saucers, and the like; an old six-penny watch, with a bit of pink tape for a guard; and last, an old doll's perambulator, which John was now busily engaged in renovating.