No matter," said Emily, kindly; "'twas made out of a gone-to-seed poppy.
Don't you know what a paw is? Why, it's a _paw_"

In spite of this clear explanation, Dotty did not understand any better
than before.

"It was the man that married my maw, only maw died, and then there was
another one, and she scolded and shook me."

"O, I s'pose you mean a father 'n mother; now I know."

"I want to tell you," pursued Emily, who loved to talk to strangers.
"She didn't care if I was blind; she used to shake me just the same. And
my paw had fits."

The other children, who had often heard this story, did not listen to it
with great interest, but went on with their various plays, leaving Emily
and Dotty standing together before Emily's baby-house.

"Yes, my paw had fits. I knew when they were coming, for I could smell
them in the bottle."

"Fits in a bottle!"

"It was something he drank out of a bottle that made him have the fits.
You are so little that you couldn't understand. And then he was cross.
And once he killed a man; but he didn't go to."

"Then he was guilty," said Dotty, in a solemn tone. "Did they take him to
the court-house and hang him?"

"No, of course they wouldn't hang _him_. They said it was the third
degree, and they sent him to the State's Prison."

"O, is your father in the State's Prison?"

Dotty thought if her father were in such, a dreadful place, and she
herself were blind, she should not wish to live; but here was Emily
looking just as happy as anybody else. Indeed, the little girl was rather
proud of being the daughter of such a wicked man. She had been pitied so
much for her misfortunes that she had come to regard herself as quite a
remarkable person. She could not see the horror in Dotty's face, but she
could detect it in her voice; so she went on, well satisfied.

"There isn't any other little girl in this school that has had so much
trouble as I have. A lady told me it was because God wanted to make a
good woman of me, and that was why it was."

"Does it make people good to have trouble?" asked Dotty, trying to
remember what dreadful trials had happened to herself. "Our house was
burnt all up, and I felt dreadfully. I lost a tea-set, too, with gold
rims. I didn't know I was any better for that."

"O, you see, it isn't very awful to have a house burnt up," said Emily;
"not half so awful as it is to have your eyes put out."

"But then, Emily, I've been sick, and had the sore throat, and