THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
185 
She knew that her mother was very, very poor, ancl 
had to go out to work every day to earn food and 
clothes for herself and her little daughter; and the 
child’s tender heart ached to think of the sadness in the 
denr mother’s look and tone, Suddenly, Jessy started, 
and the sunshine flashed into her face. 
ii Why!” she exclaimed. “ Why shouldn’t I get some 
of the gold from the cupperey-buts? I believe I could 
get some, perfectly well. When mamma wants to get 
the juice out of anything, meat, or fruit, or anything 
of that sort, she just boils it. And so, if I should boil 
the cupperty-buts, wouldn’t all the gold come out? Of 
course it would! Oh, joy! how pleased mamma will be! ’’ 
Jessy’s actions always followed her thoughts with 
great rapidity. In five minutes she was out on the lawn, 
with a huge bushel basket beside her, pulling at away 
the buttercups with might and main. Oh ! how small 
they were, and how long it took even to cover the bot¬ 
tom of the basket. But Jessy worked with a will, and 
at the end of an hour she had picked enough to make at 
least a thousand dollars, as she calculated. That would 
do for one day. she thought; and now for the grand 
experiment! Before going out she had with much 
labor filled the great kettle with water, so now the 
water was boiling, and she had only to put the butter¬ 
cups in and put the cover on. When this was done, 
she sat as patiently as she could, trying to pay atten¬ 
tion to her knitting, and not to look at the clock oftener 
than every two minutes. 
“They must boil for an hour," she said; “and by 
that time all the gold will have come out.’’ 
Well, the hour did pass somehow or other, though it 
was a very long one ; and at eleven o’clock, Jessy, with 
a mighty effort, lifted the kettle from the stove and 
carried it to the open door, that the fresh air might 
cool the boiling water. At first, when she lifted the 
cover, such a cloud of steam came out that she could 
see nothing; but in a moment the wind blew the steam 
aside, and then she saw,—oh, poor little Jessy !—she 
saw a mass of weeds floating about in a quantity of 
dirty greenish water, and that was all. Not the smallest 
trace of gold, even in the buttercups themselves, was to 
be seen. Poor little Jessy ! she tried hard not to cry, 
but it was a bitter disappointment; the tears came roll¬ 
ing down her cheeks faster and faster, till at length she 
sat down by the kettle, and, burying her face in her 
apron, sobbed as if her heart would break. 
Present^, through her sobs, she heard a kind voice 
saying: “ What is the matter, little one? why do you 
cry so bitterly?” She looked up, and saw an old gentle¬ 
man with white hair and a bright, cheery face, stand- 
ng by her. At first, Jessy could say nothing but “ Oh! 
the cupperty-buts! oh! the cupperty-buts!” but, of 
course, the old gentleman didn’t know what she meant 
by that, so, as he urged her to tell him about her 
trouble, she dried her eyes, and told him the melancholy 
little story ; how her mother was very poor, and said 
she wished she had some gold ; and how she herself had 
tried to get the gold out of the buttercups by boiling 
them. “I was so sure I could get it out,” she said. 
“And I thought Mamma would be so pleased! And 
now-” Here she was very near breaking down 
again; but the gentleman patted her head and said, 
cheerfully : “ Wait a bit, little woman ! Don’t give up 
the ship yet. You know that gold is heavy, very 
heavy indeed, and if there were any, it would be at the 
very bottom of the kettle, all covered with the weeds, 
so that you could not see it. I should not be at all sur¬ 
prised if you found some, after all. Run into the house 
and bring me a spoon with a long handle, and we will 
fish in the kettle, and see what we can find.” 
Jessy’s face brightened, and she ran into the house. 
If any one had been standing near just at that moment, 
I think it is possible that he might have seen the old 
gentleman’s hand go into his pocket and out again very 
quickly, and might have heard a little splash in the 
kettle; but nobody was near, so, of course, I cannot say 
anything about it. At auy rate, when Jessy came out 
with the spoon, he was standing with both hands in his 
pockets, looking in the opposite direction. He took the 
great iron spoon and fished about in the kettle for 
some time. At last there was a little clinking noise, 
and the old gentleman lifted the spoon. Oh, wonder 
and delight! In it lay three great, broad, shining pieces 
of gold! Jessy could hardly believe her eyes. She 
stared and stared; and when the old gentleman put the 
gold into her hand, she still stood as if in a happy dream, 
• gazing at it. Suddenly she started, and remembered 
that she had not thanked her kindly helper. She looked 
up, and began: “Thank you, sir;” but the old gentle¬ 
man was gone. 
Well, the next question was, how could Jessy possibly 
wait till twelve o’clock for her mother to come home? 
Knitting was out of the question. She could do nothing 
but dance and look out of the window, and look out of 
the window and dance, holding the precious coins tight 
in her hand. At last, a well-known footstep was heard 
outside the door, and Mrs. Gray came in, looking very 
tired and worn. She smiled, however, when she saw 
Jessy, and said: 
“Well, buy darling, I am glad to see you looking so 
bright. How has the morning gone with my little 
housekeeper ? ” 
“Oh, mother!” cried Jessy, hopping about on one 
foot, “it has gone very well! oh, very, very, very well! 
Oh, my mother dear, what do you think I have got in 
my hand ? What do you think ? oh, what do you 
think?” and she went dancing round and round, till 
poor Mrs. Gray was quite dizzy with watching her. At 
last she stopped, and holding out her hand, opened it 
and showed her mother what was in it. Mrs. Gray was 
really frightened. 
“Jessy, my child ! ” she cried, “ where did you get all 
that money?” 
“Out of the cupperty-buts, mamma!” said Jessy 1 
“out of the cupperty-buts! and it’s all for you, every, 
bit of it! Dear mamma, now you will be happy, will 
you not ? ” 
“Jessy,” said Mrs. Gray, “have you lost your senses, 
or are you playing some trick on me ? Tell me all about 
this at once, dear child, and don’t talk nonsense.” 
“But it isn’t nonsense, mamma!” cried Jessy, “and 
it did come out of the cupperty-buts ! ” 
And then she told her mother the whole story. The 
tears came into Mrs. Gray's eyes, but they were tears of 
joy and gratitude. 
“ Jessy dear,” she, said, “When we say our prayers 
at night, let us never forget to pray for that good 
gentleman. May heaven bless him and reward him 1 
for if it had not been for him, Jessy dear, I fear you 
never would have found the 1 Buttercup'Gold,”’— Se¬ 
ed ed. 
