Clara Ingram Judson

“ Are you hungry, Mary Jane?"
Mary Jane started to say no, because she was sure the morning hadn't more than begun, but to her surprise she found she was hungry, oh, awfully hungry.
"I thought so," laughed Grandmother, who guessed what the little girl was thinking, "and it's most eleven, so we'd better see what we're going to have to eat. How about chicken and biscuits and apple dumplings and cream?"
"They're my favorites," said Mary Jane, with a little skip of pleasure. "Every one's my favorite, all of 'em!"
So she and Grandmother put away the grain basket and went into the house. ”

“ If you have ever seen ants moving grains of sugar you know how very interesting it is and you won't wonder that she forgot all about taking the parcel home to her mother. And there is no telling when she would have remembered if she hadn't, just then, heard her mother's voice.
"Mary Jane! Mary Jane! Mary Jane!" called Mrs. Merrill.
"Coming, mother," answered Mary Jane and she scrambled to her feet and hurried home. "'Cuse me, mother, for being so long," she said breathlessly, "but it leaks and please may I go back by Doris's and see the ants?" ”

“ Merrill happened to think of time. She glanced at her watch and exclaimed, “It’s four o’clock! If I recall rightly from yesterday on the beach that’s nearly high tide. If that’s the case the water won’t get any higher.”
“What’s tide?” asked Mary Jane.
“It’s the rising and falling of the water, dear,” said Mrs. Merrill. “Twice a day the water spreads out a few feet over the land and twice a day it goes back. Some other time I’ll tell you more about it. If the water doesn’t come up much deeper here we’ll not be in any real danger and I think we’d better sit still till the storm goes over. ”

“ For three days after Mary Jane came to visit her grandparents, the sun shone bright and warm and the little girl spent all the time out of doors. She raced around the yard with Bob; she played with the lamb in the wood across the road; she watched her grandfather feed the little pigs; she fed the chickens and hunted eggs. And, the most fun of all, she watched the baby mice in the dusky, sweet-smelling hay loft. Till, really, by the time she had had her supper of bread and milk, Mary Jane was ready to tumble into bed and sleep straight through the night without ever a thought of being homesick. ”

“ She picked up Tommy and sat him straight in his chair, oh, so very straight—that he couldn't sit still that way, he just tumbled off onto the floor!
"Tommy! I'm ashamed of you!" she said firmly. "Sit up!" And again Tommy was pulled up straight. But evidently Tommy didn't have as much back bone as a sailor boy should have, for he tumbled right down again.
"Tommy Merrill!" cried Mary Jane, now all out of patience, "I should think you'd be ashamed to have a teddy bear sit straighter than you do! ”

“ But after the elevated was passed, the bus rolled out onto Michigan Boulevard and Mary Jane settled herself comfortably in her front seat with her mother, smiled across the aisle to Alice and her father and began to feel really at home in her high perch. By the time the bus had turned northward and crossed the river, she began to feel that riding on the top of a bus was the thing she’d been wanting to do all her life. ”

“ Alice held her tight a minute and then turned to kiss her grandfather.
"So you're here all right, Blunderbuss," said Grandfather heartily, using the nickname he had given her long ago, "and you haven't lost a bit of your hair!" Alice laughed as he looked admiringly at her long golden braids.
"I haven't," she replied teasingly, "but I can't say as much for you!" And she laughed at her grandfather's bald head.
"Such a girl! Such a girl!" exclaimed Grandfather proudly; "now I suppose I'll have to get your trunk and take you home and stand your teasing the rest of the summer!" ”

“ So, as every one seemed willing, the baskets were opened and the goodies spread out on a tablecloth laid over the biggest rock.
"I love a picnic that happens before fly time," said Virginia as she spread a tempting pile of cookies out where every one could see.
"We all do," agreed Mrs. Merrill, "and as there doesn't seem to be one single prowler around, I guess I'll set out my cake." And of course the girls "oh"-ed and exclaimed over its tempting whiteness as she set it on the rock table.
"What have you in your basket, Mary Jane?" asked Frances. ”

“ That was the nicest place to eat Mary Jane had ever seen—unless perhaps a diner on a train. For after they gave their order, she discovered that they could look right down on a small lake where ducks and geese and swans lived. The children got so interested watching the pretty creatures that for once they didn’t have time to think the waiter was slow!
They stayed there eating and watching the birds, till the sun set back of the trees. Then, when there wasn’t another scrap of cake or teaspoonful of ice cream left, they gathered up wraps and hats and started for home. ”

“ MARY JANE'S ARRIVAL
It seemed to Mary Jane that some magic must have been at work to change the world during the night she slept on the train. All the country she knew had hills and valleys and many creeks and woods of pine trees. But when she waked up in the morning and peeped out of the window of her berth, she saw great wide fields and woods that seemed always far away. And the occasional creek that the train rumbled over was small and could be seen a long way off, coming across the fields toward the railroad. ”

“ It was a tired little girl that Mrs. Merrill tucked into bed that night—but a very happy one. "I do think parties is the nicest things," she said with a satisfied sigh; "they's the nicest things I know!"
Mrs. Merrill smiled and kissed Mary Jane good night. Mary Jane had had quite enough excitement for one day so she said not a word about another surprise that she knew was coming—a surprise that might prove to be even more fun than a party! ”

“ In the afternoon the country they were passing proved so interesting that Mary Jane and Alice didn’t even try to look at books or magazines. For the mountains had grown higher and more interesting every mile of the way. Now they passed great holes in the ground out from which came little cars full of freshly mined coal, and Mr. Merrill explained to the girls all about how coal was dug out of the earth, loaded on those queer little cars and sent up to the sunshine ready to be loaded into railroad cars to take away for folks to use. ”

“ Frances and Mary Jane got the idea in a minute and they set to work in a jiffy. Such fun as it was! The houses and barns and churches grew so rapidly that none of the girls gave a minute's thought to pricked fingers—there wasn't time! When the stock of burrs was entirely used up, Alice set the houses along in a straight line as though they were on a street. Frances put the barns back of the houses where they belonged and Mary Jane ran to her garden for nasturtiums to lay by the houses for gardens.
"But we haven't any dolls to live in the houses!" exclaimed Frances suddenly. ”

“ Long before the fire story was told they had raced up Lake Shore Drive, passed its beautiful old homes, and were turning into Lincoln Park. Here it seemed to the girls that the city ended and fairyland began. The grass 94 seemed greener, the lake bluer and the trees greener than any place they had seen; and hundreds of tulips peeping up through the ground here, there and everywhere, made spots of bright vivid color and beauty.
“Oh!” exclaimed Mary Jane happily, “I hope the bus goes on and on forever! I’d like to keep on riding all the time!” ”

“ Merrill frowned at Mr. Merrill and Alice who showed signs of laughing and then gathered her little girl into her arms. "Have you been as lonesome as that?" she asked.
"Just as lonesome as lonesome," answered Mary Jane. "I'm lonesomer than when nobody comes to see me because this time I know nobody's coming to see me even if they wouldn't anyway."
"Why is she so lonesome?" asked Mr. Merrill who seemed to understand just what his little girl meant even though what she said was a little mixed. "Can't anybody play with her?" ”

“ Wait till you get through dinner and then you may hunt all afternoon if you like—egg-hunting is fun!"
So the minute she was through with her apple dumplings, Mary Jane asked, "And now, please, may I get the eggs?"
"Got you hunting eggs already?" asked Grandfather. "Well, I wonder if you'll like it as well as your mother used to. Have you your basket?"
"Not yet," said Grandmother. "I mean to let her get it herself. She'll feel more at home when she begins to find her way around alone. If you locked the pigs in, she can go anywhere she likes all alone." ”

“ For all the lovely dolls and marvelous toys and enticing games and beautiful pictures and fascinating puzzles made a person think that Santa Claus’s shop and fairyland and magic were all mixed up together and set down in one place. The girls looked and looked and looked. They “oh-ed” and “ah-ed” and exclaimed till they couldn’t think of anything more to say—and then they kept right on looking just the same.
Mary Jane picked out the doll coat she wanted Georgiannamore to have and Alice selected a lovely desk. ”

“ Mary Jane looked from one to the other. A new idea, a brand new idea, was growing in her mind; the idea of making a visit—it had never occurred to her before.
"Does my grandmother live in a big house?" she asked.
"In a great, big, white farm house," replied Dr. Smith, "and she has lots of chickens and pigs and cows and strawberry patches and milk and—well, about everything a little girl could possibly want. And now she wishes a little girl named Mary Jane Merrill to come and visit her."
"And could I have really truly chickens of my own—not Doris's kind of chickens?" asked Mary Jane. ”

“ See?" Grandfather took Mary Jane's hand and laid it on the soft wool of the lamb's back. "He likes you already and he'll like you even better when you bring him something good to eat. Before very long you will learn to climb this fence all by yourself; then you can come over here and play with him any time you want to."
"And pick flowers for my grandmother, too?" asked Mary Jane as she looked at the lovely bluebells that grew around where they were standing.
"You're a girl after your grandmother's own heart!" exclaimed Grandfather delightedly; "you can pick all the flowers you like. ”

“ Merrill came back and then, such a story as he heard!
“Are you sure, Mary Jane?” he asked, “certain sure? The men wouldn’t put children on a boat without grown folks along!”
“But they did, Dadah!” insisted Mary Jane, “I saw ’em!”
“Then you come with me,” said Mr. Merrill, “and we’ll see if we can find them.”
So Mr. Merrill and Mary Jane went down the stairs, and that took some time because folks were coming and going and getting settled for the trip, and there, huddled close together and crying as hard as they could cry, were the two little waifs! ”

“ I have to go downstairs and show her how we like our clothes washed and starched. Don't you want to go along?"
"Oh, yes, mother, I do!" cried Mary Jane happily. "I want to learn to wash, too." Then she thought a minute. "But I believe I'd better take Marie Georgiannamore along too—she's lonesome."
"I'm sure she is," answered Mrs. Merrill. "You run along and get her and then we'll go to the laundry."
Mary Jane hurried upstairs for her big doll, but, though she searched every place that a big doll ought to be, not a sign of Marie Georgiannamore could she see. ”

“ Now Mary Jane wasn’t a baby. And she never cried—or any way, she hardly ever cried because she was going on six and girls who are going on six don’t cry. But to be 50 lost in a strange school and in a strange city and—everything; well, it’s not much wonder that Mary Jane felt pretty queer.
But before the tears had time to fall, there was a heavy footstep behind her and Mary Jane whirled around to see—the kindly face of Tom the janitor smiling at her. ”

“ But on this quiet street and with the wonderful parade to talk about they did full justice to Grandmother's good meal. And when they had finished, even to the tempting little apple pies, one for each person, they started for the circus.
If you've been to a circus yourself, you know something of the sights they saw and of the sounds they heard. If you haven't better get your grandfather (or your father, if your grandfather isn't handy) to take you to see one, for all the interesting things Mary Jane and John heard and saw couldn't be put into one chapter—not even if it was a double long one! ”

“ And how every one did smile as she reached down and picked up Mary Jane—Mary Jane all sound asleep!
The little girl opened her eyes and slipped her arm around her mother's neck and then, as she noticed so many folks looking at her, she hid her sleepy eyes in her mother's shoulder.
"Don't you be afraid, little girl," said the floorman, in great relief, "we like little girls who know enough not to get lost. It was better to stay right there and go to sleep than to run around and hunt your father. ”

“ They packed all the doll things in one basket, doll things and toys and three nice books. Of course the doll bed wouldn’t go in the basket; it had to have a package all by itself. A second basket was for clothing, the pajamas—and no one would ever guess that a girl as young as Alice had made those charming garments—the muffler, the mittens, one pair for each child, warm underwear and a dress for each girl (one of the nicest of Alice and Mary Jane’s outgrown frocks) . Mr. Merrill had added a nice flannel shirt for Tom and Mrs. Merrill put in a warm sweater for the good mother. ”

“ Then she looked at Frances' dress that was more like her own. And a queer feeling of lonesomeness—a lonesomeness that she hadn't felt since the rainy day so long ago, began to come over her.
But before she had time to think of an answer, Frances spoke up. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Helen Loiter! Talking that way to Mrs. Hodges's little girl! I guess folks can dress as they please without asking you! My dress isn't fancy either and my father's got as much money as yours has, so there!"
Mary Jane looked at Frances admiringly and felt much better. ”

“ Do you think you'd like to go?"
"I don't think it, I know it!" cried Mary Jane, and she danced around the table with her kimono flying out behind her. "Can I go to-day?"
"Hardly!" laughed Mrs. Merrill. "We have to buy you some strong shoes for the country and make you some rompers to play with the chickens in and pack your trunk and, oh, a lot of things before you can go."
"Well, a lot of things won't take very long because I'll help," said Mary Jane eagerly, "see? I'll climb right up and eat my oatmeal without you telling me to—that's how I'll help." ”

“ Of course Mary Jane and Betty took their dolls out for one airing in the morning soon after breakfast. But what is one little airing when one has a new cart? Nothing at all, Mary Jane thought. All through the luncheon and the ride down town and the play father took them to, which proved to be just the very most interesting kind of a play for little girls to see, Mary Jane kept thinking of her new cart and of the fun she would have on Monday when there was a whole day for Georgiannamore and the doll cart. ”

“ So Grandfather got the basket Mary Jane and her grandmother had brought out with them and then he held up the glass cover while Grandmother tenderly lifted the tiny ducks, one by one, and set them inside. Then she covered them all over with a thick cover.
"But Grandmother," cried Mary Jane in dismay, "they can't breathe! They'll die!"
"Not they," laughed Grandmother. "Run along now, and set the basket in the sun by your rabbit box. I'll be right out and fix them up for you." ”

“ She helped Alice tuck the sandwiches in the baskets, one of each kind in each basket; she put the big, beautiful cake in her own and the plate of deviled eggs in Alice's and covered the napkins over the tops.
"Mary Jane hasn't anything to take in her basket but just her own things," said Alice suddenly; "she ought to have something."
"So she ought!" said Mrs. Merrill, her eyes twinkling, "but it's too late now to get anything more; the girls are out front this very minute. I guess we'll have enough to eat so don't you worry about Mary Jane's basket. ”

“ Mary Jane ran as fast as ever she could till she caught up with her grandfather and got a firm hold of his hand. Then she felt better: for when a little girl doesn't know what is going on, she wants to have hold of something—you know how that is yourself. Bob led them out of the corner of the garden; across the small cornfield back of the barn; across the pasture and into the woods beyond. There he stopped and sniffed in the bushes and through the dead leaves in what Mary Jane thought was the most curious way she had ever seen a dog act. ”

“ And afterwards, each person carried his or her own tray back to the kitchen table. They thought that way of eating lunch was lots of fun and Mary Jane well remembered how big and important she felt the first day mother allowed her to carry her own tray (with the glass of milk on mother's tray for safe keeping, of course) and to hold it on her own lap like big folks instead of sitting up to the piano bench like a baby! Mary Jane felt bigger that day than she ever had in all her life. ”

“ Right in the middle a man came around with ice cream cones and John bought one.
"May I buy one too, Grandfather?" asked Mary Jane.
"Just as you like," said Grandfather. "It's your money." And for the first time she remembered the purse with the two nickels that she had all the time held tightly clutched in her hand! She bought the cone and ate it as she watched the circus—calmly indifferent to the fact that it was leaking onto her pretty pink dress. You simply can't notice everything at a circus! ”

“ Merrill in amazement, and then she suddenly realized how Mary Jane had misunderstood her. "Doris has no box of chickens, dear, she has chicken POX—it's a sickness and Doris will have to stay in the house for a few days."
"Oh-h-h," said Mary Jane slowly, "so that's why I can't play with her."
"That's why," agreed Mrs. Merrill, "and now what are you going to do?"
"I guess I'll play on the porch."
"I guess not" laughed mother, "because it's beginning to rain. I'm afraid you'll have to play in the nursery. Why not play school?" ”

“ I was just wishing I had company."
"Does rain make you feel like you wanted somebody right close?" asked Mary Jane.
"Every time," agreed Grandmother. "And sometimes, when your grandfather's working out in the barn, and Bob's out there with him, and I'm all alone in the house, I just wish and wish I had a little girl about your size here to talk to. I'm so glad you're come, Mary Jane, you're such good company!" ”