Carolyn Wells

“ Ah, the desolated cottage,
Ah, the sad and doleful maidens,
Ah, the weeping, wailing maidens—
"There, there, Hester, stop!" cried Helen, reading over her shoulder. "Your machine has run down; it's out of gear; the spindle is broken! Stop where you are, I beg of you!"
So Hester stopped; and—would you believe it?—such a good time did those girls have at Mrs. Lennox's house that they never wrote in the "Annals" again until after they had left Blue Beach and returned to their homes. ”

“ So Nan took the "Annals" and began to scribble, Marguerite reading aloud as the words appeared on the page:
"When the interesting Poet's not composing,
Or rolling round her fine poetic eye,
Oh, she loves to leave her tragic muse a-dozing
And spend her time in making cake and pie.
"But the other girls her aspirations smother
And will not let her have a bit of fun.
Taking one consideration with another,
The Poet's life is not a happy one. ”

“ Lennox beamed with delight at the anticipation of the frolics of these young girls in her somewhat lonely house.
So the good lady went to New York, and the girls trooped back to Hilarity Hall and told Aunt Molly all about it.
"It seems a bit like defeat," said Hester, who always liked to carry out successfully anything she undertook.
"Oh, no," said Aunt Molly; "you have no especial reason for staying in the cottage if a pleasanter plan offers itself. Take the good the gods provide, and be thankful."
"And I do hate to cook," confessed Marguerite. "It's all very well for Hester and Marjorie. ”