"We'll make the basket ourselves," exclaimed Rudolph, and the next day
they gathered the mosses, and Rudolph and his sister worked nearly all
night framing a basket of twigs, and fitting in the different colored
mosses. What was their delight when they learned that the lady had paid a
good price for the basket.
It was still up-hill work to live. Sometimes the trinkets sold and
sometimes they did not. But Rudolph kept whittling away, and his sister
soon became a good whittler, too. Besides, she often sewed little
pin-cushions in the nut shells, and did other things by which her little
brown fingers were quite as useful as Rudolph's. But often they were
discouraged by complete failure to sell.
There was a fair to take place some time later, and Rudolph and Theresa
worked hard making swinging baskets and nut-shell boats for the fair. And
as the poor mother was fairly broken down, and could not go to the city,
they had not to pick berries, but could spend all their time making their
little articles. They even made little faces out of the nut shells. At
last came the day of the fair; and, alas! the poor mother was still sick,
while the father was not able to move out of his chair for rheumatism.
Pages:
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149