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about now, and letting the kids well, we didnt know what we would do with the kids, Then came the accident, and what we heard about the little girls never walking again. And we got to thinking how she used to come and sit on our doorstep and train with the kids, and laugh, andand just be glad. She was always being glad about something; and then, one day, she told us why, and about the game, you know; and tried to coax us to play it. Well, weve heard now that shes fretting her poor little life out of her, because she cant play it no morethat theres nothing to be glad about. And thats what I came to tell her todaythat maybe she can be a little glad for us, cause weve decided to stick to each other, and play the game ourselves. I knew she would be glad, because she used to feel kind of badat things we said, sometimes. Just how the game is going to help us, I cant say that I exactly see, yet; but maybe twill. Anyhow, were going to trycause she wanted us to. Will you tell her? Yes, I will tell her, promised Miss Polly, a little faintly. Then, with sudden impulse, she stepped forward and held out her hand. And thank you for coming, Mrs. Payson, she said simply. The defiant chin fell. The lips above it trembled visibly. With an incoherently mumbled something, Mrs. Payson blindly clutched at the outstretched hand, turned, and fled. The door had scarcely closed behind her before Miss Polly was confronting Nancy in the kitchen. Nancy! Miss Polly spoke sharply. The series of puzzling, disconcerting visits of the last few days, culminating as they had in the extraordinary experience of the afternoon, had strained her nerves to the snapping point. Not since Miss Pollyannas accident had Nancy heard her mistress speak so sternly. Nancy, will you tell me what this absurd game is that the whole town seems to be babbling about? And what, please, has my niece to do with it? Why does everybody, from Milly Snow to Mrs. Tom Payson, send word to her that theyre playing it? As near as I can judge, half the town are putting on blue ribbons, or stopping family quarrels, or learning to like something they never liked before, and all because of Pollyanna. I tried to ask the child herself about it, but I cant seem to make much headway, and of course I dont like to worry hernow. But from something I heard her say to you last night, I should judge you were one of them, too. Now will you tell me what it all means? To Miss Pollys surprise and dismay, Nancy burst into tears. It means that ever since last June that blessed child has jest been makin the whole town glad, an now theyre turnin round an tryin ter make her a little glad, too. Glad of what? Just glad! Thats the game. Miss Polly actually stamped her foot. There you go like all the rest, Nancy. What game? Nancy lifted her chin. She faced her mistress and looked her squarely in the eye. Ill tell ye, maam. Its a game Miss Pollyannas father learned her ter play. She got a pair of crutches once in a missionary barrel when she was wantin a doll; an she cried, of course, like any child would. It seems twas then her father told her that there wasnt ever anythin but what there was somethin about it that you could be glad about; an that she could be glad about them crutches. |
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