Phronsie and the Children.
(See Page 21.)
PHRONSIE PEPPER
THE YOUNGEST OF THE “FIVE
LITTLE PEPPERS”
BY
MARGARET SIDNEY
AUTHOR OF “FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW,” “FIVE LITTLE
PEPPERS MIDWAY,” “FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS GROWN-UP”
“OLD CONCORD: HER HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS”
“THE GOLDEN WEST”, ETC., ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY JESSIE McDERMOTT
BOSTON:
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
PEPPER
TRADE-MARK
Registered in U.S. Patent Office.
Copyright, 1897,
BY
Lothrop Publishing Company.
All rights reserved.
Seventy-first Thousand.
TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON.
PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH.
In Memoriam.
TO MY HUSBAND,
WHO INSPIRED WHATEVER IS
OF WORTH IN THIS,
AND IN ALL MY BOOKS.
PREFACE.
As Phronsie Pepper was the only one of the“Five Little Peppers” who had not a chance tobecome “grown-up” in the three books thatform the Pepper Library, it seemed (to judge bythe expressions of those persons interested inthis family) a little unfair not to give her thatopportunity.
The author has had so many letters from theelders, as well as the children, presenting thisview of the case, that she has been brought overto that opinion herself. And as Phronsie appearedto have something to say on her ownaccount, that the public, ever kind and attentiveto the Peppers, desired to hear, it was thoughtbest to let her speak, to make her appearanceas “grown-up,” and then to draw the curtainover the “little brown house” and the “FiveLittle Peppers,” never more to rise.
Nothing was farther from the mind of the author[viii]of the “Five Little Peppers” than a seriesconcerning them; for she did not naturally inclineto the extension of a book into other volumes.But the portrayal of the lives of thePeppers seemed to be a necessity. They wereliving, breathing realities to her; and whenpressed by many importunate readers to know“more and more” about “Mamsie and Polly,Ben, Joel, David, and Phronsie,” it was onl