St. Nicholas Volume 38, PT. 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 Excerpt: ...lithe young figure darting swallow-like after the ball, her racket poised to send it back across the net. This first girl who wore a ruff was very like other girls of her age. Our grandmothers perhaps would have called her "forward and pert," but poor little Mary had no mother to check the wild spirits and curb the very strong will. A few years later, in the train which had accompanied Mary to France, where she married the French king, were Sir Thomas Boleyn and his little daughter Anne. This small maid, barely more than a child, had become such a favorite at the French court that she did not return to England with the young Queen Mary when the old king died. She grew to be a most bewitching little creature, full of grace and joyousness, but fond of admiration and power above all else. She received enough compliments and flattery to have turned her silly head, so it was high time her father brought her home to their country-seat, whence an occasional visit to London Town was a rare and wondrous dissipation. A letter which she wrote to her sister during one of these visits shows her to have been, at heart, a very simple girl. It reads: Dear Mary: I have been in town almost a month, yet I cannot say I have found anything in London extremely agreeable. We rise so late in the morning--seldom before six o'clock--and sit up so late at night, being scarcely in bed before ten, that I am quite sick of it, and were it not for the abundance of fine things I am every day getting, I should be impatient of returning into the country. After describing some of the "fine things" bought by her "indulgent Mother," she adds: And I am to have a pair of new stuff shoes for my Lord of Norfolk's ball, which will be three shillings. Pray take care of t...