This is a story about a poor family which consisted of a mother and a brood of five children. They lived in a small village known as Badgertown, on a a tiny street called Promise Lane. They lived in a rented house called Little Brown House.The five children called their mother Mamsie. Everyday, Mamsie made coats and did mending of all kinds for the people who lived around her to earn money. Her husband had died when the youngest Pepper child, Phronsie, was still a baby.
The Peppers had never been to school. There were too many chores to be done and they had very little money.
Ben, the oldest Pepper child, worked at Deacon Blodgett's, chopping wood together with his little brothers, Joel and Davie. He was eleven years old. He also did all the outdoor chores. Polly, the second eldest of the Peppers, was ten years old. She took care of all the younger Peppers so Mamsie could sew. She also took care of the house, such as baking, cooking, and cleaning up.
The Pepper kids wanted to celebrate Mamsie's birthday. So that night, they planned everything together. The Pepper kids woke up extra-early to finish the morning chores. Ben gave Polly a secret wink as he went to work at Deacon Blodgett's. Mamsie was going to help Mrs.Henderson that morning. After she left, Polly and the three younger Peppers light up the old stove so that it would be nice and hot to bake the cake. After they light the stove, Polly went to Grandma Bascom to get a recipe for a cake. Grandma Bascom wasn't really Polly's Grandma, but everyone in the village called her that.
Once Polly got a recipe from Grandma Bascom, Polly ran back home. But when she got home, she saw a terrible sight. Joel told Polly that he was hammering and the old hammer was shaking. Phronsie stuck her foot in the way, and the hammer hit her foot. It's lucky that nothing's broken, but she got a bruise. After Polly gave Phronsie medicine, she started to make the cake. Polly asked Joel and Davie to get her some cinnamon from the basement cupboard. Suddenly, there was a THUMP from the basement. Polly called them. Joel and Davie went to Polly, their faces dust with cinnamon. They told about what happened. They were wrestling and the sack fell over them. Polly got them cleaned up and suddenly Phronsie reminded Polly about the cake. It was burning.
The cake was ruined. It was black on top and the center had fallen in. Soon, Mrs. Beebe, one of their mother's friend came and gave a bunch of flowers to them. Polly decorated the cake with the flowers and the cake was beautiful again. Polly hid the cake on the top shelf of the highest cupboard. Mamsie was surprised with the cake the next day.
A few weeks after Mamsie's birthday, Polly visited the Hendersons. Parson Henderson, Mrs. Henderson's husband, was a little sick . He was a minister. But when she got home, she saw that Phronsie was sick. She went for Dr. Fisher. Doctor Fisher examined Phronsie and said that she caught measles. He gave her medicine and left. Doctor Fisher said that Mrs. Pepper shan't need to pay him. It's free.
When Joel and Davie went home from work, Ben was not with them. Polly questioned them of where was Ben, and they said that Ben didn't feel well. When Ben got home, Mrs. Pepper saw that Ben had caught the measles too. She gave him a spoonful of Phronsie's medicine and packed him off to bed.
Mrs. Pepper worked harder than before. Polly worked harder than before too, nursing the sick ones, taking care of the house and also helped her mom to sew. And Polly too got sick. Joel was too. But Davie survived. Then Doctor Fisher came and made the two kids get well. He also gave Polly a new stove.
A few weeks later, Polly was busy in the kitchen and Phronsie was playing in the garden. Then suddenly, Polly heard music from down the lane. Polly called Phronsie. Polly saw an organ grinder playing music from the window. Beside him was a little monkey on a rope. Polly and Phronsie got close and then the monkey bow. When the organ grinder struck up another tune, the monkey danced.
When he finished, the organ grinder asked for money. But Polly gave him brown bread and two potatoes instead because she had no enough money to pay him. The organ grinder threw the food to his monkey, which ate it up. Then he went away from the Little Brown House, taking Phronsie. But Polly didn't notice. She just went back into the kitchen, thinking that Phronsie was playing in the garden again. But when she called her for lunch, she found Phronsie's doll in the garden, but Phronsie was nowhere to be seen.
Soon, all the people in town knew that Phronsie was gone. The good people of Badgertown searched for her, but she was nowhere to be found. So Ben borrowed Deacon Blodgett's horse and he went to town. He found Phronsie behind a dog. The owner of the dog, Jasper, told about how he rescued Phronsie with his dog and the two boys introduced each other.
The next day, Jasper came for a visit to the Little Brown House. They talked. Then he went back to the hotel where he and his father stayed for the Summer. He said that he would be back on Thursday. But he didn't come on Thursday! Instead, he sent a letter telling that his father was sick and he couldn't leave him. He himself was sick! So Polly and the other Pepper children made lovely little cakes and Phronsie made a gingerbread boy for Jasper's father. They sent it to them with a letter and some flowers.
As Jasper got well from the sickness, he visited them. Polly taught him how to bake, and he told them about Christmas and Thanksgiving, for the Peppers had never had those celebrations. But at the end of Summer, he had to go home.
That Winter, letters flew between the Peppers and Jasper. Polly and Ben decided to have Christmas this year. They prepared everything. They had a very fun time. They also had a Christmas tree. Mrs. Henderson, her husband, Grandma Bascom and Dr. Fisher came too. Jasper also sent them wonderful gifts and the Peppers wondered how to thank him.
That Summer, Polly went to stay in Jasper's house and got a full education. There were music lessons, french lessons, reading, writing, and math lessons. Phronsie came too. One day there was an incident. Polly forgot to send the letter to her mother. So Phronsie decided to go to post it and she turned to the wrong street. She bumped onto a woman carrying a big basket. Phronsie's bonnet flew to the middle of a the coach-filled street. She ran for it. She was nearly killed by a carriage. Luckily she wasn't killed and Jasper's father went to take her home. Phronsie also caught burglars stealing Jasper's father's things that night when everyone was asleep and she woke up everybody in the house. Jasper's dog chased the burglars away and Jasper's father got back all the things they'd had stolen.
The next morning, Jasper's father and his eldest child, a grown daughter named Marian, went to pick up the rest of Pepper family after breakfast. What a surprise it was for Polly and Phronsie when their family reached there. They were going to live there.
The end
I love this book.This sounds a little bit silly because I don't know why I love this story.
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