Little Alice's Palace; or, The Sunny Heart

								

Lolly could see into the little square room at the right.
The table was spread with a neat, white cloth, and Alice and her mother
were eating their breakfast together.  There were two white plates on the
table, and white cups and saucers, and a smoking dish of porridge.  All
this Lolly could see as she stood hesitating near the door; but, in a
minute, Alice caught a glimpse of her little, shy face, and ran to lead
her in.
"You must have some of this nice breakfast," said she, giving Lolly a
plateful of the porridge, and pouring some milk on it from a small white
pitcher.
Lolly looked timidly at Alice's mother, to see if she might eat it; and
the kind pleasant smile she received made her feel quite at home, so that
she needed no further urging.
Soon after the mother went away, and left Alice to put the room in order;
and, when all things were right, Alice said "she could go with Lolly as
well as not that day, and they would make a pretty place of the shabby
cottage; for it was just in the best spot--so wild and shady and green."
It was rather a sorrowful task at the beginning, and almost any other
little girl than Alice would have been quite discouraged.
There was a great deal of rubbish in the sitting-room, and the floor and
windows looked as if they had never known anything of soap and water.
Maddie sat upon the top of a half-barrel, swinging her brown, soiled
feet, and playing with a black puppy, that was snapping at her toes;
while the table was strewn with crumbs and dirty dishes from the
morning's meal, and chips and sticks and bits of rags were upon the
floor.
She looked as if she had just got out of bed.  Her face was dull, and her
hair showed no touch of brush or comb, and her nails were long and dirty;
but she jumped from her perch with some signs of shame as she saw Alice,
so neat and tidy, at the door; and she began to scramble about as if she
wished to make things a little better.
"May I help you to-day, Maddie?" asked Alice.  "I haven't any work at
home, and I like to get things tidy.  We'll make such a room of this
before night!" And, without another word, she began in earnest to bring
order out of strange confusion.
Lolly was a capital helper, because her heart was in the matter, and she
really wanted a pleasant, cheerful home; but Maddie was content to look
on, and scarcely moved a finger to help.
They packed away the wood and chips in the closet under the lowest shelf,
and washed the dishes and set them up edgewise in their proper places;
and they mopped the floor, and scrubbed the windows and table, and
brought boughs of evergreen to hang upon the nails around the walls and
make it cheerful and pretty.
Alice thought of this.  She said, "Rich folks hang paintings on their
walls--and these are God's pictures, the work of his almighty fingers,
and so beautiful!  Why not put them where we can always look at them, and
in them see his love and kindness?"