Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

1: A Home View

The little old kitchen had quieted down from the bustle and confusion of midday; and now, with its afternoon manners on, presented a holiday aspect that, as the principal room in the brown house, it was eminently proper it should have. It was just on the edge of twilight; and the little Peppers, all except Ben, the oldest of the flock, were enjoying a "breathing spell" as their mother called it, which meant some quiet work suitable for the hour. It was all the "breathing spell" they could remember, however, poor things; for times were hard with them now. The father died w hen Phronsie was a baby and since then Mrs. Pepper had had hard work to scrape together money enough to put bread into her children's mouths, and to pay the rent of the Little Brown House.

But she had met life too bravely to be beaten down now. So with a stout heart and a cheery face, she had worked away day after day at making coats, and tailoring and mending of all descriptions; and she had seen with pride that couldn't be concealed, her noisy, happy broo ... read full excerpt from Five Little Peppers ebook