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[Illustration: OUR PARTY.]




THE SOCK STORIES,

BY "AUNT FANNY'S" DAUGHTER.

NEIGHBOR NELLY SOCKS:

BEING

THE SIXTH AND LAST BOOK OF THE SERIES.

BY

"AUNT FANNY'S" DAUGHTER,

THE AUTHOR OF "THE LITTLE WHITE ANGEL."

          NEW YORK:
          LEAVITT & ALLEN, 21 & 23 MERCER ST.
          1863.

  ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by
  S. L. BARROW,

  In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
      for the
  Southern District of New York.


          JOHN F. TROW,
          PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND ELECTROTYPER,
          50 Greene Street, New York.




                            TO

                      MY DEAR FATHER,

          TO WHOSE KINDLY AND CHARMING WAYS WITH THE

                      "LITTLE FOLK"

          I OWE THE CHARACTER OF "NEIGHBOR OLDBIRD,"

                        THIS BOOK

                  IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED.




CONTEXTS OF VOL. VI.

                                            PAGE

          NEIGHBOR NELLY. IN THREE STORIES.

          1. THE OLD BACHELOR'S STORY,        7

          2. THE BIG BOY'S STORY,            45

          3. THE FAT GENTLEMAN'S STORY,      86

          POSTSCRIPT BY THE OLD BACHELOR,    90

          CONCLUSION,                       132




NEIGHBOR NELLY.

IN THREE STORIES.




THE OLD BACHELOR'S STORY.


IN the city block where I live, there are just twenty-four houses on the
other side of the street, and twenty-four on this side, six lamp posts,
and eight ailanthus trees in green boxes. Oh, dear me, what a tiresome
row! That's what I thought when I first came to lodge here; for, as I am
an old bachelor, I don't want a whole house to myself; but now, when I
sit at my window and look out at the street, I find no end of things to
amuse and interest me; particularly when the gas is lighted of an
evening, and I can see a little way into the parlors of the opposite
neighbors. I suppose they know that an old bachelor like Josiah Oldbird
can do no harm by looking on at their evening amusements; so they do not
pull the blinds down if they chance to see me, sitting lonely at my
window, and willing to accept such crumbs of their society and happiness
as I can glean over the way.

First, then, is the family at No. 7, three maiden sisters and a bachelor
brother. As I don't in the least know their names, I have dubbed them
the Bluejays, because the three maiden sisters always wear blue merino
gowns in winter, and blue muslin ones in summer; and because they are
all so fond of singing that no family of birds could be more musical.
They have a pet poodle and a pet squirrel, too. The poodle is very fat,
and his hair sticks out so much all over him, that he looks perpetually
astonished, as if he had just seen a spook. He always stands on the
window sill, when the sash is raised of an afternoon, and glares into
the street until he sees the bachelor brother coming. Then he achieves a
series of frantic yells and bounces, until somebody comes to open the
door and lets him out, when he waddles to the front steps to meet his
master, wagging his tail to that tremendous extent, that it looks like
the shuttle of a steam power loom.

The squirrel is slim and sleek, and seems to enjoy life amazingly, he
hops about so. When one of the Miss Bluejays takes him in her arms, he
won't stay there, but gets away, and walks all over her head and
shoulders; and at last runs down her back and disappears.

Then, at No. 11, a very fat gentleman lives with his fat and pretty
wife, and round dumpling of a baby. As I don't know him either, I call
him Mr. Fatty, and he seems to be a "good-natured giant." I saw a little
boy actually stop short to stare at him the other day, when he was
sitting out at his front door--he is such a regular roly-poly of a
gentleman--but he only laughed good-temperedly, and never got vexed in
the least. I don't advise you to try this with all fat gentlemen though;
they might accidentally sit down on a chair--where you were--afterward,
and that would be the last of you. This piece of advice, however, is a
great secret between you and me!

[Illustration]

He is so glad to meet the fat baby when he comes home at night, that I
can see him in the parlor first kissing it almost black and blue, and
then tossing it up in the air until I feel as though its head must come
bump against the ceiling, but it doesn't--and at last, carrying it off
perched on his shoulder, and looking very much perturbed in its spirits.

But the pleasantest neighbors of all live exactly opposite, at No. 9.
They take tea every evening in the back parlor; and as the front window
shades are up, and only the back room lighted, I can always see them at
their cheerful meal. The rooms are furnished in winter with dark red
velvet carpets and furniture; with red damask curtains and red velvet
paper hangings. In summer they put up white curtains, and carpets and
furniture have cool, cream-colored linen coverings, so that the parlors
look cozy and charming at all seasons.

As for the family there is a papa and mamma, of course, and a dear
little girl and boy. The little girl is about ten years old, I should
think, with great, dark-blue eyes, and curling auburn hair. Her cheeks
are as rosy as ripe peaches, and her teeth as white as so many pearls.
Her nose does turn up at the end a little, to be sure; but that is
rather saucy and becoming than otherwise; and she always looks so sweet
tempered, and full of fun, too, when I see her of an evening, that I am
sure she is as good as pie, and as merry as a cricket! Her little
brother, who is a year or two younger, looks very much like her, and
their obedient and pretty behavior at table is something really
beautiful to observe.

It is nearly a year now, since I moved into my lodging at "No. 10," and
began to wonder what No. 9's name was; and now I must make haste and
tell you how, only last June, I became acquainted with these dear little
neighbors of mine.

One pleasant Friday morning, after breakfast, I put on my old-fashioned
beaver hat, and taking my gold-headed cane in one hand and my market
basket in the other, I trotted out to buy something nice for dinner;
for, you see, I am a particular old bachelor, and like to market for
myself.

Just as I was coming down the steps, the door of No. 9 opened, and the
little girl ran down _her_ steps. She looked so bright and pretty in her
cunning round straw hat with the blue ribbons, and white Marseilles
cloak, carrying her satchel of books and lunch basket in her hand, that
I could not help nodding to her. So she nodded to me, and then _I_
nodded again and smiled, and we each walked along on our own side of the
way. When we came to the corner I thought I would cross over and scrape
some more acquaintance with my little neighbor. Now on the side of her
satchel, I saw, when I came near her, was printed in gold letters,
"Nelly Lawson;" so I said, as cheerily as I could, in my old, quavering
voice:

"Good morning, Neighbor Nelly!"

The little maiden looked up in my face in a shy fashion at first; but
when she saw what a mild, gray-headed old bachelor had bade her good
morning, she took courage, and answered, "Good morning, sir."

"So you are going to school this fine day?"

"Yes; I go to school, but brother Jimmy doesn't; he learns at home. I
think he is going next year. Have you got a baby at your house? We
have."

"No," said I, sighing; "I haven't got any baby; I am an old bachelor.
Will you marry me?"

"Oh, I am too little," she replied quite seriously. "You will have to
wait until I grow up to you."

I laughed, and asked her, "Don't you want to go to market with me before
you go to school? There is plenty of time."

"No," replied my little neighbor, firmly; "I can't go anywheres that
mamma does not know of."

"That's right!" I said. "Don't do anything your mother would disapprove.
Well, Neighbor Nelly, since you won't go to market with me, I must go to
school with you; and tell your mother that Neighbor Josiah Oldbird would
like you to take a walk with him to-morrow; will you?"

"Oh yes! that would be real nice!" said my little neighbor with a
joyous skip.

By this time we were walking along hand in hand; and soon, seeing my
little neighbor look in at the window of the candy shop round the corner
from our street, I thought I would take her in and buy her some candy.
So in we marched, Nelly's great blue eyes dancing with pleased
expectation, and stood close by the counter, waiting for our turn to
come. There were a good many people in the candy shop, and we had to
wait some time; so, to amuse ourselves, Neighbor Nelly and I turned
round, and began looking at the funny folks near us.

There was one very fat old country woman, who seemed to be buying
"quarter or pound," as she said, of every kind of candy in the shop. As
soon as the papers were handed to her she began eating out of them, and
before she left, I should think, she had eaten about two pounds of
candy. Besides the old woman, there were a great many little children,
who only wanted a penny's worth each; but they hesitated so long whether
to have "taffie" or "molasses," a lemon-candy horse, or a cinnamon-candy
trumpet, that they were the most troublesome customers of anybody. Then
there were several older boys and girls; some, I am sorry to say,
picking up a loose bit of candy every time the shopman turned away--as
if that were not stealing; and finally, there was Neighbor Nelly and I,
who did none of these things, but just looked on, and waited until the
shopman came to serve us.

I bought some lemon candy, as clear as a bit of yellow glass, and some
pungent cinnamon, and delectable chocolate; and then I popped the papers
into Neighbor Nelly's satchel, and we hurried on to school. We had not
far to go now, and when we came to the house, my little new friend bid
me good-by, and thanked me so sweetly, that I went away quite a happy
old bachelor.

In the evening I was looking out of my window as usual, when I saw the
servant girl come in to light the gas in the back parlor at No. 9, with
Neighbor Nelly and the little brother Jimmy behind her. While she was
setting the tea table, the children came running to the window, and both
nodded and smiled at me. Presently the little boy thrust both hands in
his pockets, and held them up crammed full of candy. "Thank you, Mr. Old
Bachelor!" he shouted; "we like you real well!"

That made me real happy; for I am not a crabbed old bachelor by any
means. In a minute more their father came home; and as they all sat
around the pleasant tea table, I hope they talked of their lonely old
neighbor, who watched them from his window.

The next morning, as I was reading the paper, in came the servant and
gave me the funniest little note! It was addressed on the outside, "To
my neighbor Oldbird," and ran thus:

          "MY DEAR NEIGHBOR:

          "Mamma says I may take a walk with you this
          morning, because you are a good old bachelor.
          Jimmy wants to go, and Gipsey. Gipsey is my dog.
          He is black and tan, and his tail curls round so,
          that papa says you might use it for a cork-screw.
          Jimmy and I mean to try some time. Gipsey likes to
          be on the seashore, and so does baby. We are going
          there next week--to Long Branch. I hope you will
          write me a letter when I am gone, and I am
                    Your affectionate
                                        "NEIGHBOR NELLY.

          "Saturday Morning."

You may believe how pleased I was with this dear little note, and I
thought I would answer it. So I sat down at my writing desk, found a
cunning little sheet of paper, with a flag on it, and commenced.

Now I happened to think, at that moment, of some very comical letters
written by the great poet, Tom Hood, to his little friends on the
seashore; and as they were ever so much funnier than anything I could
have written, I copied one of them out, and sent it to my little new
friend.

          "MY DEAR NEIGHBOR NELLY:

          "I am very glad you are to walk with me, and very
          sorry you are going away so soon. Do you like to
          be on the seashore? I did, when I was a boy. I
          and my brother chucked hundreds of stones into the
          sea, when we were there, but we came away before
          we could fill it up. Then there is the fun of
          finding shiny pebbles and jelly fish on the beach.
          I used to think jelly fish were made of
          sea-calves' feet, and no flavoring. I suppose the
          mermaids eat them at their parties.

          "Then there's fishing on the seaside. I used to
          catch flat fish sometimes, with a long string
          line, it was like swimming a kite. If you go out
          in a surf boat, take care it does not "flounder"
          and get "squamped," as some people say, instead of
          founder and swamped.

          "Have you ever been bathed in the sea? I was,
          and, dear me! how I kicked and screamed; or, at
          least, tried to scream, but the sea, ships and
          all, began to run into my mouth, and so I shut it
          up. Remember, when you are bathing, if you meet
          with a shark, the best way is to bite off his
          legs, if you can, before he walks away with yours;
          and pray, pray, pray take care of yourself in the
          sea, for in some places, they say, it has not even
          a bottom to go to.

          "Could you bring me a little crab off the beach?
          If you would catch one for me, and teach it to
          shake hands without nipping and biting, it would
          make me quite happy, for I have not had any toys
          or playthings in a long time. It would be a good
          plan to hire a little crab to teach the baby to
          crawl, if he can't walk yet. Bless him! But I must
          not write on him any more; he is so soft, and I
          have nothing but steel pens.

          "Now good-by; give my love to everybody, and my
          compliments to all the rest, and believe me, up
          hill and down dale,

                    "Your affectionate neighbor,
                                         "JOSIAH OLDBIRD."

Then I put my letter in a flag envelope, sealed it up tight, and wrote
on it, "To my dear Neighbor Nelly," and had the maid take it to her.

Presently I could see two little figures flitting about in one of the
upper chambers, and soon after all four of us, Nelly, Jimmy, I, and
Gipsey, were in the street. Gipsey was a "toy terrier" that ought to
have belonged to "Commodore Nutt," the dwarf at "Barnum's," and ran
along on three legs most of the time, with the fourth, and his
cork-screw tail elevated in the air for joy at being allowed to join the
party; while the children were all hop, skip, and jump, and kept tight
hold of a hand of mine apiece, as though they were afraid of flying away
if they let go. Meanwhile, I walked quietly along, with my market basket
on my arm, a sober old bachelor. I expect the people who passed us in
the street thought me a rather incongruous addition to such a frisky
party; but then, you know, children _must_ caper about. Bless your
heart! it would never do in the world to see children mincing solemnly
along, like little old men and women; it would be as absurd as to have
my Neighbor Nelly wearing her great-grandmother's coal-scuttle bonnet!
The last idea struck me as so odd, that I drew a little picture of
Neighbor Nelly in this guise when I got home, and here it is. How do you
like it?

[Illustration]

We thought we would go to market first. So we walked slowly down Fourth
Avenue, and crossed over to the market where the Seventh Regiment armory
is, opposite the Cooper Institute.

"My cousin is a Seventh Regimenter!" said Jimmy as we climbed up the
iron steps; "he often let us look on at his company drills last winter,
and afterward Nelly and I drilled in our yard. The big boy who comes to
see the old ladies next door, looked over the fence and laughed at us,
but we didn't care; and we mean to fight for our country like everything
when we are bigger; that is, I mean to, and Nelly would like to, but
she's only a girl, you know."

"Only a girl!" repeated Nelly, tossing her long curls; "girls are a
great deal of use, too; I mended all his stockings and all papa's this
week--think of that, neighbor Oldbird!"

"That was really splendid!" said I; and just then we entered the market.

The very first thing we met was a horrid big dog, that belonged to some
butcher; and, bless me! how he began to show his great rows of teeth,
and growl at Gipsey! Nelly gave a little scream, and tried to hide
behind me; Jimmy valiantly flew at the big dog with my walking stick;
and poor little Gipsey nearly stood on the end of his tail with fright,
and squealed dismally. What a fuss we were all in, to be sure! So at
last, to quiet the disputants, I caught Gipsey up, and put him in my
coat pocket, where he sat, looking out at the top, very much comforted.

Then we turned to the right, and went by the brightest and prettiest
stall in the whole market. It was kept by a Frenchman, who, in his own
language, would be called a "_charcutier_;" but Jimmy and Nell shouted
out together "Oh, there's the _pig man_!" as loud as ever they could,
and then stopped, blushing very much, because they were afraid the pork
merchant heard them. I expect he did; for he looked very funny when we
came close, and smoothing down his snowy apron with his fat hands, said
"Bonjour, mademoiselle!" and laughed good humoredly. There was a great
"head cheese" on the pig man's marble counter, moulded in the shape of a
boar's head. The tusks were made of white carrots, the eyes of red
jelly, and the sides of the dish it was on were beautifully ornamented
with white roses, cut out of turnips, and parsley foliage. Then there
were ever so many pork pies, with the most elegant wreaths of flowers on
the top crust, comical little hams already cooked, and fat dumplings of
sucking pigs, as pink as baby himself!

When we had looked about us a little, we concluded to buy a pork pie of
the pig man; and while that was being nicely packed up in paper, out
popped Gipsey from my pocket, and stood triumphant on the counter, in
the midst of the little pigs and savory pastries. I don't know what
forays he would not have made upon them, if he had not been captured by
the pig man, Jimmy, and me; but he did contrive to jump right into the
very middle of another pork-pie! and then we had to pay for that, too;
and wipe the gravy off Gipsey's feet and the ends of his tail and nose,
and button him up tight in the market basket for half an hour, as a
punishment for his naughtiness. As to the pie we had bought, Jimmy
carried that, and Gipsey cut up so many antics inside the basket, that
he nearly wriggled it out of my hand altogether.

After that we went on, and found, dear me! such a comfortable old market
woman, who sold us a nice little chicken, and some fresh vegetables, and
gave the children each a great handful of cherries; but we had to tell
her to send them home, with our pie, because Gipsey had the basket in
possession.

Then we walked into the street again, and when we had let Gipsey out of
prison, concluded to leave the basket at my baker's, and take a walk in
Broadway. Dear, dear me! what quantities of shop windows there were to
stare into, and how we flattened our three noses, and spread our six
hands all over every one of them, while we admired the splendid picture
books, the stores of sugar plums, or the wonders of toys they contained!
While we were occupied in this way, a little girl, poorly dressed, and
lugging a large bundle of work in both arms, came along, and stopping
beside us at the window of the most splendid toy shop, stood looking
wistfully in.

Neighbor Nelly straightway twitched my hand, and whispered, "Oh look,
Neighbor Oldbird! what a poor little girl! I don't suppose she ever saw
a doll before in her life. How she must wish she had one!"

"Suppose we ask her?" I said.

"Will you ask?" she answered; "I don't like to."

"Nonsense! ask her yourself; she won't eat you, or Gipsey either;" for
Gipsey was sidling away between my feet, as if he were alarmed too; the
saucy scamp!

Thereupon Nelly moved closer to the poor girl, and said, in a kind,
little, timid voice, "Do you like dolls?"

"Yes, very much!" said the child, with a surprised look.

"Oh, so do I!" cried Nelly, rapturously. "I have lots of them at home;
let me see, there's Jenny, and Willie, and old black Nanny, and--" she
stopped short, seeing the other look wistfully at her, and then said,
"Oh, I forgot! you have none, perhaps; would you like to have one?"

"Oh yes, miss!" said the child; "not so much for myself, though, as my
little sister; she is sick, and can't do anything, poor Clara! but I
work, and help my mother!" she added, proudly.

"What does your mother do?" asked Jimmy.

"She makes shirts for the army; and I do all the button holes."

"I can't make a button hole," said Nelly, regretfully.

Here I proposed we should walk into the shop, and after we had looked
all we wanted to at the pretty things, and the children, with screams of
delight, had ridden in turn on a "spring rocking horse," that sent them
flying half way to the top of the glass cases behind the counter, I gave
Jimmy and Nelly each two shillings, and told them to buy whatever the
little girl would like best. The poor little thing's eyes sparkled with
happiness when Nelly bought her the composition doll she chose out of a
heap that were piled in a great basket, gorgeously dressed in pink
mosquito netting, as I thought, but which Nelly informed me was a
"tarletane;" and Jimmy laid out his money on a