Library / Literature & Fiction
Tillie, a Mennonite Maid; a Story of the Pennsylvania Dutch
- Pages
- about 262
- Category
- Literature & Fiction
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4.8 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
Tillie's slender little body thrilled with a peculiar ecstasy as she
stepped upon the platform and felt her close proximity to the
teacher--so close that she could catch the sweet, wonderful fragrance
of her clothes and see the heave and fall of her bosom. Once Tillie's
head had rested against that motherly bosom. She had fainted in school
one morning after a day and evening of hard, hard work in her father's
celery-beds, followed by a chastisement for being caught with a
"story-book"; and she had come out of her faint to find herself in the
heaven of sitting on Miss Margaret's lap, her head against her breast
and Miss Margaret's soft hand smoothing her cheek and hair. And it was
in that blissful moment that Tillie had discovered, for the first time
in her young existence, that life could be worth while. Not within her
memory had any one ever caressed her before, or spoken to her tenderly,
and in that fascinating tone of anxious concern.
Afterward, Tillie often tried to faint again in school; but, such is
Nature's perversity, she never could succeed.
School had just been called after the noon recess, and Miss Margaret
was standing before her desk with a watchful eye on the troops of
children crowding in from the playground to their seats, when the
little girl stepped to her side on the platform.
This country school-house was a dingy little building in the heart of
Lancaster County, the home of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Miss Margaret had
been the teacher only a few months, and having come from Kentucky and
not being "a Millersville Normal," she differed quite radically from
any teacher they had ever had in New Canaan. Indeed, she was so wholly
different from any one Tillie had ever seen in her life, that to the
child's adoring heart she was nothing less than a miracle. Surely no
one but Cinderella had ever been so beautiful!
A short sample. Read the whole book
More to read
- "Captains Courageous": A Story of the Grand BanksRudyard KiplingLiterature & Fiction191 pages
- "Captains Courageous": A Story of the Grand BanksRudyard KiplingLiterature & Fiction191 pages
- "I Say No"Wilkie CollinsLiterature & Fiction428 pages
- "Miss Lou"Edward Payson RoeLiterature & Fiction409 pages
- "Speaking of Operations--"Irvin S. CobbLiterature & Fiction37 pages
Public-domain text from Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks or a similar open source. Copyright differs between countries. Rights holder? See our takedown process.