A Cross of Elsie and the Randomizer

At DanaR's suggestion, I've cross-bred Elsie Dinsmore and the Randomizer. It's just as disorienting as expected. For those privileged not to know Elsie Dinsmore, she was the heroine of an 1860s series of books, heavily moralistic and more than a bit hard to swallow.

***
Addie Dinsmore was perched in a large chair, her shining hair falling softly into her thick-lashed eyes, observing the scene before her with an unusually grave expression for a four-year-old. It was her parents’ annual All Saints Day Party, and the revelry was loud and boisterous.

"Why, what makes my little friend so grave tonight?" asked a kindly voice, and she looked up to see the gentle blue eyes of Mr. Trillobyte, a family friend.

"Oh, I do hate to say anything that would make this occasion unhappy,"said the tender-hearted girl, but a dewy tear glistened on her darklashes.

"Nothing you say could make me unhappy," said Mr. Trillobyte. At which point, Daddy firmly escorted Mr.Trillobyte out of the house, where he never returned, and he left with the kindly advice from Daddy that he find a nice girl nearer his age to talk to.

Addie Dinsmore was left to her thoughts, until Mrs. Walters, the silly mother of two silly daughters, spotted her. "Addie!" she cried, her shrill voice rising above the noise. "Come out and sing and make merry with us! You cannot sit there all night!"

"No, thank you," answered Addie. "I’m afraid, Mrs. Walters, that I cannot join in. I wonder – I do wonder – whether it is good and right to indulge in such frivolity and abandon a mere 36 hours before the Lord’s Sabbath!"

"Well!" said the two Walters girls, who were very silly. "I declare! What a funny thought! Why I never give any thought to the Sabbath, except to sit through those very long church services and try not to fall asleep!"

It need not be mentioned that both these girls, and their mother, experienced many unhappinesses and tragedies later in life.

Mama came to Addie and said, "You need not scruple on that account, my daughter. Surely the Lord blesses a gathering in His name!"

But Addie shook her head wisely, her soft hair shining. "I think, Mama,you should instead read His word. That way it will make your cheeks healthy."

The frivolity came to an abrupt halt, and everyone left in an unusually solemn frame of mind. No one even fell asleep in church 36 hours later, because they were all still trying to figure out what on earth Addie Dinsmore had meant.

-- SJ