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(according to Bill Harmon's theories) had converted from a place of practical usefulness and possible gain, into something that would
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; but it really needs a chapter to itself. You remember that Dr. Holmes says of certain majestic and dignified trees that they ought to have a Christian name, like other folks? The barn, in the same way, deserves more distinction than a paragraph, but at this moment it was being used as a storeroom and was merely awaiting its splendid destiny, quite unconscious of the future. The Hamilton boys were no doubt as extravagant and thriftless as they were insane, but the Careys sympathized with their extravagance and thriftlessness and insanity so heartily, in this particular, that they could hardly conceal their real feelings from Bill Harmon. Nothing could so have accorded with their secret desires as the
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made by the
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; light-hearted, irresponsible, and frivolous changes that could never have been compassed by the Careys' slender income. They had no money to purchase horse or cow or pig, and no man in the family to take care of them if purchased; so the removal of stalls and all the necessary appurtenances for the care of cattle was no source of grief or loss to them. A good floor had been laid over the old one and stained to a dark color; the ceiling, with its heavy hand-hewn beams, was almost as fine as some old oak counterpart in an English hall. Not a new board met the eye;--old weathered lumber everywhere, even to the quaint settle-shaped benches that lined the room. There was a place like an old-fashioned
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for musicians to play for a country dance, or for tableaux and charades; in fine, there would be, with the addition of Carey ideas here and there, provision for frolics and diversions of any sort. You no sooner opened the door and peeped in, though few of the Beulah villagers had ever been invited to do so by the gay young Hamiltons, than your tongue spontaneously exclaimed:
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What a place for good times!
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I shall 'come out' here, Nancy announced, as the three girls stood in the centre of the floor, surrounded by bedsteads, tables, bureaus, and stoves.
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Julia, you can 'debut' where you like, but I shall 'come out' here next summer!
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You'll be only seventeen; you can't come out!
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Not in a drawing room, perhaps, but perfectly well in a barn. Even you and Kitty, youthful as you will still be, can attend my coming out party, in a barn!
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It doesn't seem proper to think of giving entertainments when everybody knows our circumstances,--how poor we are!
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We are talking of next summer, my child! Who can say how rich we shall be next summer? A party could be given in this barn with mother to play the piano and Mr. Popham the fiddle. The refreshments would be incredibly weak lemonade, and I think we might 'solicit' the cake, as they do for church sociables!
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Of course if Aunt Margaret approves, I have nothing to say, she remarked,
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I'm 'coming out' in the barn next summer, Muddy! Nancy called to her mother, who just then entered the door.
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If we are poorer than ever, we can take up a collection to defray the expenses; Julia and Kitty would look so attractive going about with tambourines! I want to do what I can quickly, because I see plainly I shall have to marry young in order to help the family. The heroine always does that in books; she makes a worldly marriage with a rich nobleman, in order that her sister Kitty and her cousin Julia may have a good education.
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I don't know where you get your ideas, Nancy, said her mother, smiling at her nonsense.
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You certainly never read half a dozen novels in your life!
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No, but Joanna used to read them by the hundred and tell me the stories; and I've heard father read aloud to you; and the older girls and the younger teachers used to discuss them at school;--oh! I know a lot about life,--as it is in books,--and I'm just waiting to see if any of it really happens!
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Digby Popham is the only rich nobleman in sight for you, Nancy!
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Or freckled Cyril Lord,
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He looks like an unbaked pie!
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He's shy and unhappy and pale, and no wonder; but he's as nice and interesting as he can be.
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I can't see it, Julia said,
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The boys return the compliment! asserted Kitty mischievously,
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Come, come, dears, and Mrs. Carey joined in the conversation as she picked up a pillow before returning to the house.
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It's a little early for you to be talking about rich noblemen, isn't it?
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Muddy, I do believe that when you're getting on to sixteen the rich nobleman or the fairy prince or the wonderful youngest son does cross your mind now and then!