The dining-room was a very different place , for here Merry had been allowed to do as she liked , yet so gradual had been the change , that she would have found it difficult to tell how it came about . It seemed to begin with the flowers , for her father kept his word about the `` posy pots , '' and got enough to make quite a little conservatory in the bay-window , which was sufficiently large for three rows all round , and hanging-baskets overhead . Being discouraged by her first failure , Merry gave up trying to have things nice everywhere , and contented herself with making that one nook so pretty that the boys called it her `` bower . '' Even busy Mrs. Grant owned that plants were not so messy as she expected , and the farmer was never tired of watching `` little daughter '' as she sat at work there , with her low chair and table full of books . The lamp helped , also , for Merry set up her own , and kept it so well trimmed that it burned clear and bright , shining on the green arch of ivy overhead , and on the nasturtium vines framing the old glass , and peeping at their gay little faces , and at the pretty young girl , so pleasantly that first her father came to read his paper by it , then her mother slipped in to rest on the lounge in the corner , and finally the boys hovered about the door as if the `` settin ' - room '' had grown more attractive than the kitchen . But the open fire did more than anything else to win and hold them all , as it seldom fails to do when the black demon of an airtight stove is banished from the hearth . After the room was cleaned till it shone , Merry begged to have the brass andirons put in , and offered to keep them as bright as gold if her mother would consent . So the great logs were kindled , and the flames went dancing up the chimney as if glad to be set free from their prison . It changed the whole room like magic , and no one could resist the desire to enjoy its cheery comfort . The farmer 's three-cornered leathern chair soon stood on one side , and mother 's rocker on the other , as they toasted their feet and dozed or chatted in the pleasant warmth . The boys ' slippers were always ready on the hearth ; and when the big boots were once off , they naturally settled down about the table , where the tall lamp , with its pretty shade of pressed autumn leaves , burned brightly , and the books and papers lay ready to their hands instead of being tucked out of sight in the closet . They were beginning to see that `` Merry 's notions '' had some sense in them , since they were made comfortable , and good-naturedly took some pains to please her in various ways . Tom brushed his hair and washed his hands nicely before he came to table . Dick tried to lower his boisterous laughter , and Harry never smoked in the sitting-room . Even Roxy expressed her pleasure in seeing `` things kind of spruced up , '' and Merry 's gentle treatment of the hard-working drudge won her heart entirely . The girl was thinking of these changes as she watered her flowers , dusted the furniture , and laid the fire ready for kindling ; and , when all was done , she stood a minute to enjoy the pleasant room , full of spring sunshine , fresh air , and exquisite order . It seemed to give her heart for more distasteful labors , and she fell to work at the pies as cheerfully as if she liked it . Mrs. Grant was flying about the kitchen , getting the loaves of brown and white bread ready for the big oven . Roxy 's voice came up from the cellar singing `` Bounding Billows , '' with a swashing and scrubbing accompaniment which suggested that she was actually enjoying a `` life on the ocean wave . '' Merry , in her neat cap and apron , stood smiling over her work as she deftly rolled and clipped , filled and covered , finding a certain sort of pleasure in doing it well , and adding interest to it by crimping the crust , making pretty devices with strips of paste and star-shaped prickings of the fork .
`` Good-will giveth skill , '' says the proverb , and even particular Mrs. XXXXX was satisfied when she paused to examine the pastry with her experienced eye .
Grant Harry Merry andirons bay-window leathern minute nasturtium nook sitting-room