Good-by! Come up to the
parsonage Saturday afternoon; Mr. Baxter wants to see you."
"Judson, help that dear little genius of a Rebecca all you can!"
she said that night. "I don't know what she may, or may not, come
to, some day; I only wish she were ours! If you could have seen
her clasp the flag tight in her arms and put her cheek against
it, and watched the tears of feeling start in her eyes when I
told her that her star was her state! I kept whispering to
myself, "'Covet not thy neighbor's child!
Daily at four o'clock Rebecca scrubbed her hands almost to the
bone, brushed her hair, and otherwise prepared herself in body,
mind, and spirit for the consecrated labor of sewing on her star.
All the time that her needle cautiously, conscientiously formed
the tiny stitches she was making rhymes "in her head," her
favorite achievement being this:--
"Your star, my star, all our stars together,
They make the dear old banner proud
To float in the bright fall weather."
There was much discussion as to which of the girls should
impersonate the State of Maine, for that was felt to be the
highest honor in the gift of the committee.
Alice Robinson was the prettiest child in the village, but she
was very shy and by no means a general favorite.
Minnie Smellie possessed the handsomest dress and a pair of white
slippers and open-work stockings that nearly carried the day, but
she was not at all the person to select for the central figure on
the platform.
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