Back to School with Betsy by Carolyn Haywood Page B

said Mother.
    "And maybe I'll earn enough money to buy Miss Grey's wedding present," said Betsy.
    The next day Betsy could hear the hammers and saws of the workmen. She could see men on the roof and a man fixing the chimney. Betsy thought the house looked more cheerful now that the workmen were in it. But at five o'clock, when the workmen left, it looked just as gloomy as ever. Betsy felt that her courage was running right out of her fingers and toes. By quarter past five she wondered how she could ever have enough courage to go over and try the doors.
    The thought came to her to ask Mother to do it.
But that wouldn't be earning the five cents,
thought Betsy.
And I don't want Mother to think that I'm a fraidie-cat.
    Betsy climbed up on the wall. Then she scrambled down the other side. The tall grass came up to her waist. Brambles scratched her bare legs. Soon she reached the old stone path that led to the back of the house. The stones were almost covered with the grass that had grown up between them. Suddenly a little snake wriggled its way across the path. Betsy jumped. She didn't like snakes.
    Betsy ran the rest of the way to the house. She ran up the steps that led to the back door. She tried the knob. The door was locked. Then she ran around to the front of the house. She went up the old broken-down steps to the porch. She noticed that the vines had been cut away and the cobwebs were gone. She took hold of the doorknob. The front door was locked too.
    Betsy noticed that the windows on each side of the door were clean and new. She peeked through. She could see into the hall. The carpenters had begun to build new stairs. The hall was full of clean new boards. Betsy went to another window. It too had new glass. She looked inside. She guessed this was the living room. New bricks were piled beside the fireplace. Just then, the rays of the setting sun came through the back window. They filled the room with a golden light.
    Why, it isn't a creepy house at all,
thought Betsy.
It's a nice house.
    Betsy walked across the porch and down the steps. As she turned the corner of the house, she saw Mother looking over the garden wall. She waved her hand to Betsy. Betsy waved too. She forgot all about the little snake as she ran along the stone path and through the tangled weeds and grass.
    "Mother!" shouted Betsy. "It isn't a creepy house at all! There wasn't anything to be afraid of!"
    Mother laughed as she helped Betsy down off

    the wall. "Is it going to be nice?" asked Mother.
    "It's going to be lovely," replied Betsy. "Do you suppose there is a Mrs. Jackson, too?"
    "I don't know," said Mother. "We'll have to wait and see."
    That night, after Mother heard Betsy say her prayers, Betsy said, "Mother, were you standing at the garden wall all the time?"
    "Yes, Betsy," replied Mother, "all the time."
    "And were you watching me all the time?" asked Betsy.
    "Yes, dear," said Mother, "all the time."
    Betsy thought for a moment. Then she said, "That's just the way God watches me, isn't it?"
    Mother leaned over and kissed her little girl. "Yes, my precious, that is just the way God watches you."

2. Thumpy and the Whitewash

    Every day at quarter past five Betsy climbed over the garden wall to see if Mr. Jackson's doors were locked. Once she found the front door unlocked, but she knew how to drop the latch and lock it. Betsy wished that she could go in and look all through the house, but she thought it would be more polite to wait until Mr. Jackson invited her.
    One evening Mr. Jackson returned. A week had gone by and he had come back to see how the work on the house was coming along. Betsy, Ellen, and Billy were playing in Betsy's garden. When Mr. Jackson saw Betsy, he paid her thirty-five cents and asked her if she would take care of the doors for another week. Betsy was delighted, for that meant she would have seventy cents by the end of the next week.
    Betsy introduced her friends to Mr. Jackson. Mr. Jackson shook hands with Billy and