Tom brushed his hair and washed his hands nicely before he came to table.

Dick tried to lower his boisterous laughter, and Harry never smoked in the sitting-room.

Even Roxy expressed her pleasure in seeing "things kind of spruced up," and Merry's gentle treatment of the hard-working drudge won her heart entirely.
The girl was thinking of these changes as she watered her flowers, dusted the furniture, and laid the fire ready for kindling; and, when all was done, she stood a minute to enjoy the pleasant room, full of spring sunshine, fresh air, and exquisite order.

It seemed to give her heart for more distasteful labors, and she fell to work at the pies as cheerfully as if she liked it.
Mrs.Grant was flying about the kitchen, getting the loaves of brown and white bread ready for the big oven.

Roxy's voice came up from the cellar singing "Bounding Billows," with a swashing and scrubbing accompaniment which suggested that she was actually enjoying a "life on the ocean wave." Merry, in her neat cap and apron, stood smiling over her work as she deftly rolled and clipped, filled and covered, finding a certain sort of pleasure in doing it well, and adding interest to it by crimping the crust, making pretty devices with strips of paste and star-shaped prickings of the fork.
"Good-will giveth skill," says the proverb, and even particular Mrs.
Grant was satisfied when she paused to examine the pastry with her experienced eye.
"You are a handy child and a credit to your bringing up, though I do say it.