Clematis

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OTHER BOOKS
BY BERTHA B. AND ERNEST COBB

ARLO
CLEMATIS
ANITA
PATHWAYS
ALLSPICE
DAN'S BOY
PENNIE
ANDRE
ONE FOOT ON THE GROUND
ROBIN

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[Illustration: "Are you going to sit here all day, little girl?"]

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CLEMATIS

By
BERTHA B. AND ERNEST COBB

Authors of Arlo, Busy Builder's Book,
Hand in Hand With Father Time, etc.

With illustrations by
A. G. Cram
and
Willis Levis

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
New York and London

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Copyright, 1917

By BERTHA B. and ERNEST COBB

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
for Foreign Countries

Twenty-second Impression

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must
not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Made in the United States of America

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Somerset, Mass.

Dear Priscilla:

You have taken such a fancy to little Clematis that we hope other
children may like her, too. We may not be able to buy you all the
ponies, and goats, and dogs, and cats that you would like, but we
will dedicate the book to you, and then you can play with all the
animals Clematis has, any time you wish.

                                          With much love, from
                                       Bertha B. and Ernest Cobb.

To Miss Priscilla Cobb.

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CONTENTS

Chapter                                  Page
     1.  Lost in a Big City                 1
     2.  The Children's Home               16
     3.  The First Night                   28
     4.  Who is Clematis?                  41
     5.  Clematis Begins to Learn          52
     6.  Clematis Has a Hard Row to Hoe    61
     7.  What Clematis Found               72
     8.  A Visitor                         86
     9.  The Secret                        97
    10.  Two Doctors                      109
    11.  A Long, Anxious Night            121
    12.  Getting Well                     134
    13.  Off for Tilton                   145
    14.  The Country                      160
    15.  Clematis Tries to Help           172
    16.  Only a Few Days More             186
    17.  Where is Clematis?               200
    18.  Hunting for Clematis             215
    19.  New Plans                        230
    20.  The True Fairy Story             237

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ILLUSTRATIONS

1. "Are you going to sit here all day, little girl?"
2. "I don't want to stay here if you're going to throw my cat away."
3. With Katie in the kitchen.
4. Thinking of the land of flowers.
5. Clematis held out her hand.
6. Clematis is better.
7. Off for Tilton.
8. In the country at last.
9. The little red hen.
10. Clematis watched the little fishes by the shore.
11. "I shan't be afraid."
12. A little girl was coming up the path.
13. Deborah was very hungry.
14. "Didn't you ever peel potatoes?"
15. "What are you sewing?"
16. Clematis stuck one hand out.
17. She could see the little fish.
18. In Grandfather's house.

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CLEMATIS

CHAPTER I

LOST IN THE BIG CITY


It was early Spring. A warm sun shone down upon the city street. On
the edge of the narrow brick sidewalk a little girl was sitting.

Her gingham dress was old and shabby. The short, brown coat had lost
all its buttons, and a rusty pin held it together.

A faded blue cap partly covered her brown hair, which hung in short,
loose curls around her face.

She had been sitting there almost an hour when a policeman came
along.

"I wonder where that girl belongs," he said, as he looked down at
her. "She is a new one on Chambers Street."

He walked on, but he looked back as he walked, to see if she went
away.

The child slowly raised her big, brown eyes to look after him. She
watched him till he reached the corner by the meat shop; then she
looked down and began to kick at the stones with her thin boots.

At this moment a bell rang. A door opened in a building across the
street, and many children came out.

As they passed the little girl, some of them looked at her. One
little boy bent down to see her face, but she hid it under her arm.

"What are you afraid of?" he asked. "Who's going to hurt you?"

She did not answer.

Another boy opened his lunch box as he passed, and shook out the
pieces of bread, left from his lunch.

Soon the children were gone, and the street was quiet again.

The little girl kicked at the stones a few minutes; then she looked
up. No one was looking at her, so she reached out one little hand
and picked up a crust of bread.

In a wink the bread was in her mouth.