h's visit to Barren Hill drew near she made many
pleasant plans of all she would see and do while at Aunt Deborah's
square stone house, and recalled all that her aunt had told her of the
beehives in a sunny corner of the garden, the flocks of chickens, the
many birds that nested safely in the orchard trees, and the big attic
that would be such a fine play-house on stormy days. But most of all
Ruth thought of the fact that Barren Hill was only ten miles distant
from Valley Forge, and that there might be some way in which she could
see her father.

"I wish I could find out that the English were going to leave
Philadelphia, and then I would have good news for Father," she thought.
"Or if I could carry a fine present for Father to give Lafayette." But
there seemed little prospect that a little girl like Ruth could be the
bearer of good news to the troops at Valley Forge, or of a present to
the gallant young Frenchman.

Ruth's thumb healed in a few days, so that she could help her mother in
the garden, and do her usual work about the house. Every morning,
directly after breakfast, was the lesson hour, when Mrs. Pennell and
Ruth would sit down in the dining-room and, as Ruth had described it to
Aunt Deborah, "Tell stories."

There were "history" stories, and these Ruth liked best of all. One was
the story of the first Quaker emigrants who came to Philadelphia in
three small ships, bringing a friendly letter from the good-natured King
Charles to the Delaware Indians. She liked to hear how these people
sailed safely across the Atlantic and came up the Delaware, and first
found shelter in caves along the river's bank, and then built themselves
log cabins, and big strong houses.

Then there were stories of the stars, by which sailors steered their
course at sea, and there were stories of birds and beasts, and a very
amusing game in which a small girl from Japan and another from China,
and a little black girl from Africa, each recited the way children were
taught in those countries.

Mrs. Pennell did not always tell the stories, no, indeed! Often Ruth
would be asked to tell the story of William Penn, or perhaps to draw a
little picture of certain constellations. And always there was the
adding of apples, the dividing of apples into four parts and eight
parts, which Mrs. Pennell called "Fractions." And after this pleasant
hour there were the neat stitches to be set in apron, dress, or
handkerchief.

Nearly every child had r