nded out. But still she was smaller than most girls
of her age.

She had so much to talk about that her mother said she was a regular
little gossip. Her father liked to hear about grandmother and the
kindly, large-hearted Major. She had found out that when grandmother was
a young girl her name was Hannah Underhill, now it was Horton. So many
elderly people had been visiting at Fordham, and her father knew most of
them. But Ben and Doctor Joe were interested in the poet Poe; Joe knew
more about him than he confessed to his little sister.

Oh, how glad she was to get back to school! There were so many things to
learn. But Dolly had to have her one Saturday; and Mrs. French came over
and took her to the house Beautiful. Ben was quite in love with Mrs.
French. And now they were filling up the conservatory for winter
blooming; and Hanny wished _they_ could have some house-flowers. Her
mother had hydrangeas and an oleander; but they were put in the end of
the stable for winter.

Now and then she went up to Margaret's to stay all night. Daisy was
growing to be almost as lovely as Stevie had been; and though she did
not suggest Daisy Jasper, the name always recalled her dear friend. And
Stevie was quite a big boy. He was getting some rough ways, too, and
wanted to drive Hanny about for a horse, just as he did papa.
Great-grandmother Van Kortland had knit him some beautiful horse-lines.

And Annie was such a sweet little thing! Stevie wished she was a little
brother, "'tause dirls ain't no dood," he said. "You'm dot to be so
tareful." He talked quite crooked, and could not pronounce "g" at all.
He said "umbebella" and "peaapoket" and "tea-tettletel." Philadelphia
always floored him. But then he had been Hanny's first love, and she
could never forget the Christmas morning when he came.

There had been another exciting matter as well, and this was a
presidential election. Zachary Taylor, Old Rough and Ready, as he was
called, had become a great hero to her. She found that he had served
gallantly in the War of 1812, fought against the mighty Tecumseh, and
been in the Black Hawk War, beside all the late Mexican engagements,
where he had so distinguished himself. At the nomination, she had been a
little sorry to have her old favourite Harry Clay superseded, and
General Scott was a war-veteran as well. Then there had been famous
Daniel Webster, whose speeches were the favourite of school-boys, though
they had not banished Patrick