Clara Ingram Judson

“ So Mary Jane and her grandmother went to the chicken yard and Grandfather started for the barn to finish his work.
If you've ever seen about a hundred cunning, little, yellow and white and gray chickens, so soft and fluffy they look as though they were Easter trimmings; and dozens of motherly looking hens ambling around and a few big, important-looking roosters crowing in the sunshine, you know just what Mary Jane saw when they reached the chicken yard. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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!" ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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." ”

“ Now if you girls really want to earn some money you may take your little baskets and go berrying. I'll buy all you can pick at ten cents a quart. You ought to easily get your seventy-five cents that way, Alice, for the bushes ate usually loaded with berries."
"But the berries are yours to begin with," objected Alice, who liked to be fair; "we can't sell you something that already belongs to you."
"Of course you can't," replied Grandmother, much pleased with Alice's honesty. "I shouldn't have said 'buy the berries'; I should have said 'pay you for the picking' at ten cents a quart. ”

“ Yes, our roads are pretty straight but you'll like that when you get used to it, because then you can't get lost. There's a road every mile and each road goes just the way it by rights ought to go because there aren't any hills to get in the way." And all the while Grandfather was talking, he was driving the car along the straight road just as fast as could be.
"And aren't there any hills before we get to your house?" asked Mary Jane after a while. ”

“ The thing I'm thinking about is more fun if done by two anyway. But what do you want your money for, dear?" she asked the little girl.
"I want it to get a present for my dear mother," said Mary Jane, "a present that she don't know anything about and that Daddah don't know anything about and that nobody gives me the money for. Can I really truly earn some money?"
"Surely," replied Grandmother. "See those woods, girls?" She pointed across the garden and across the cornfield to the woods about a quarter of a mile away. "In those woods are blackberry bushes, lots of them. ”

“ The folks who have no berries take cake and in that way every one helps and we raise money. We're trying to get enough for an organ now."
"But how do you get the money?" asked Mary Jane, to whom this was all new.
"We sell the strawberries and cake—ten cents for a dish of fruit with a piece of cake," explained Grandmother. "I expect you never heard of the like before, but I think you'll have a good time all the same. There'll be other little girls there, Frances Westland and Helen Loiter and maybe others; you'll have a beautiful time. Now let's get out your things." ”

“ 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!" ”

“ It's awfully hard to go to sleep when you're wondering all the time what you're going to do when you wake up. But Mary Jane finally did drop off to sleep—perhaps the fact that Grandmother pulled down the shades helped. However it was, Mary Jane slept soundly and had to be called twice when it was time to get up. She blinked open her eyes and was just trying to guess if Grandfather had gone down to his breakfast when Grandmother called, "do you wear a sash with your best dress, dear?" ”

“ And she ran to the house.
"What does she mean?" asked Frances, who wasn't used to this sort of play.
"I don't know, but let's do what she says and then we'll find out," answered Mary Jane, who had great confidence in this big sister of hers. They filled their skirts with apples of all sizes and hurried back to the front yard where Alice, carrying a box of toothpicks, met them.
"Now we'll all make dolls," said Alice as she spread out the picks. "Use the biggest apples for the body; stick in two toothpicks for arms and two for legs. And a middle-sized apple makes the head. ”

“ Mary Jane loved that because Grandmother let her cut out some. They made stars and crescents and squares and some just plain round ones; and Mary Jane put the sugar and nuts over the top, too. Then they made apple pies and berry pies and a tart of each kind for Mary Jane's dinner and supper that day. Mary Jane decided then and there that she was going to be a good cook when she grew up because cooking was about the most fun of anything she had ever tried. ”

“ The Westlands lived two miles farther from the village than the Hodges did and Frances's father could easily leave her at the Hodges's home when he went into the village and get her again on his return trip. Mary Jane showed her all the interesting things she had found—the pet mice, who were getting tamer and tamer all the time; the ducks, which were losing their pretty babyness by now and were getting almost big enough to look after themselves; the lamb and the pigs and Brindle Bess. ”

“ I know it would be more fun for you to make it without me. May I make her a cake, Grandmother? Make it the day before she comes?"
Grandmother assured her that she could and they all went in to get supper.
The next morning Mary Jane put on her cooking cap and apron and she and Grandmother went at the jam while Alice and Grandfather rode to the village on an errand.
"Measure out a good big cup full of berries," said Grandmother; "pile it full as it will hold and wash them and put them in this pan." ”

“ Men were fixing lanterns on wires, others were carrying chairs and arranging them around tables underneath the lanterns. Women were fixing great bowls of crimson berries (and oh, how good they did look, Mary Jane thought!) on a long table that stretched across the back of the yard. Other women were unpacking baskets of tempting looking cakes and cutting them up into pieces ready for serving.
Grandmother took one basket of berries out of the back of the car and Grandfather took the other and they walked over to the table, Mary Jane following meekly behind. ”

“ Merrill saying that she and Mr. Merrill would arrive the next morning for a stay of ten days.
"Now this is something like old times," said Grandmother happily as she and the two girls bustled around making ready for the guests. "Lots of cooking to do and two nice girls to help me do it. Seems like the days when our own girls were here! Mary Jane, you've done plenty of dusting for today; you go and get your grandfather to pick out two nice fat chickens for frys while I teach Alice about making her cake. She's going to have a beauty to show her mother, that's what she is!" ”

“ Mary Jane had hard work deciding what to put in, just as she had had when she packed to come. She wanted to take all the burr houses and green apple dolls they had made; and the ducks and a lot of corn and apples for Doris. She finally agreed that she would leave out all the other things if she could take one house of burrs and one green apple doll just to show how they were made and then a nice box of red cheeked eating apples to give to her little friend. ”

“ We'll not wait for any sleepy baggage men—not when Grandmother and hot griddle cakes and honey are waiting for us, will we?"
And Mary Jane, who was getting hungry enough to find breakfast a most interesting subject, settled down in the front seat beside her grandfather and said, "No, we won't!"
Dr. Smith climbed into the back seat beside the trunk and Grandfather started the car and went spinning down the road.
"Your roads all know where they're going, don't they?" Mary Jane asked as they got under way. ”

“ But she needn't have worried about what to say because the grown folks talked all the time and the two children on the front seat beside Grandfather Hodges, simply sat and looked at each other all the way home!
But after Grandfather had helped them out, by their own doorstep, Mary Jane seemed to feel that something must be said so she remarked, "Would you like to see my mice?"
"I thought girls were afraid of mice," replied John.
"Well, I'm not," said Mary Jane scornfully. "Come on see 'em." And she started for the barn. ”

“ Not to-day. All they want is to be warm and cozy."
"Don't they want anything to drink either?" asked Mary Jane.
"No," replied Grandmother, "nothing to drink either. To-morrow you can fix them a drinking dish and I'll show you about their food, but now, we'll just let them be. Listen! What's that?"
Grandmother straightened up and counted the rings of her telephone bell.
"Yes, that's our ring. You take this basket back to your grandfather while I answer it."
But before Mary Jane got out to the chicken house Grandmother was back at the kitchen steps calling, "Father! Father!" ”

“ So then they told all about the plan for the picnic, and Father and Mother were pleased just as everybody had known they would be. And every one set to work at the pleasant preparations.
Mrs. Merrill, Grandmother and Alice stayed in the kitchen, while Mr. Merrill joined Mary Jane and Grandfather in making preparations for the secret. They didn't let any one see a thing of what they were doing and they carefully covered up the big basket that they stowed away in the back of the car. ”