Clara Ingram Judson

“ 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. ”

“ 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!” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ On the third time around, Mary Jane thought of school—to be sure, it couldn’t be anywhere near time for school to be out, because the morning hadn’t much more than begun, but then it would be fun to go around to the corner where the children crossed the street to go to school. There were so many automobiles whizzing around the streets that a little girl even as old as six couldn’t be allowed to cross streets without a grown person or an older sister along. ”

“ Never had a doll. Never had a Marie Georgiannamore to love and care for and take riding in a beautiful cart. Never had—no, she couldn’t quite imagine it.
After that there was no more reading off a list. Mary Jane and Alice began making a list of their own, of what those children were to have for Christmas.
“But,” objected Mrs. Merrill, “you girls forget that things cost money—a lot of 190 money these days. And you can’t possibly buy all those things and get any Christmas of your own too.” ”

“ Well protected with warm mittens and leggings the girls set out and had the jolliest kind of a morning. At one end of the ice, the younger folks did their coasting, the sloping sides giving a flying start and the smooth ice a glorious finish. At the other end the older boys and girls did their skating, so there was no mix up or interference.
That morning was the first of many happy Saturday mornings spent on the ice. Even Mary Jane got some skates and, with the help of Dadah when he could get away from the office, she learned to be a fine skater.
But winter fun never lasts very long. ”

“ Merrill had hailed a great, lumbering, top-heavy automobile and was helping the girls to step aboard.
The “bus” proved to be a large-sized passenger automobile, with a deck on top for passengers who wished to ride in the open air. Mary Jane and Alice were thrilled with the fun of getting on it. It seemed exactly like going aboard a house-boat on wheels. ”

“ He and John were to take turns pulling the load. Then the others carried bundles of kindling and the wires for marshmallows and toasting racks for meat. They had such a jolly time getting off that everybody felt sure the party was to be a success.
Mary Jane had been so busy helping get settled and all that, that she hadn’t had time for a real visit on the beach. To be sure she had had glimpses of the big blue they could see down their own street, but to really come over and see the lake and play in the sand—this was her first trip. ”

“ A minute before Mary Jane slid into the lake, the beach was a scene of busy building and fun. Linn tended the fire, the grown folks gathered wood and visited and guarded baskets and the children all were intent on their sand castles. ”

“ But before Mary Jane had time to ask a question or even think what she would like to say, they whisked around a corner and out into the beautiful wide driveway on the Midway—the long, green parkway that stretched, or so it seemed to Mary Jane, for miles in both directions. The taxi pulled up in front of a comfortable looking hotel right on the side of the park and Mary Jane wasn’t a bit sorry 19 to get out and take a breath of fresh air and look at the lovely view before her. ”

“ She liked her teacher, a charming Miss Treavor, and she liked her studies. But most of all she liked the fun she had on the playground. In the big cities, like Chicago, where lots of girls and boys have no yards, the school yards are the only places were children can play. So, to make everything safe and orderly, the school folks have a playground teacher stay at school all the day, to help in the games and to see that every one has a happy time. The playground teacher at Mary Jane’s school liked little girls very much and she knew many good games for them to play. ”

“ But she thought she could come the next Saturday.”
“And that’s my birthday,” Mary Jane reminded her.
“I know it,” agreed Alice, “but I didn’t tell her. I just said I’d find out what we were doing that day and let her know this afternoon—was that all right, Mother?”
“You did exactly right, dear,” said Mrs. Merrill reassuringly. “Come right out to the dining-room now, because your soup is ready and you mustn’t hurry yourself too much with your lunch. While we eat, we’ll plan for the birthday.” ”

“ And of course the girls promised that they would find the map and get all that information first thing in the morning.
Riding on the elevated proved to be great fun. Mary Jane was afraid for a few minutes she wasn’t going to like it—the stairs were so very high up with holes in each step to see down to the ground; and the train dashed to the platform with such a roar and bustle and people crowded on and jerk! the train rushed off. ”

“ Merrill began planning the meals. If the visitors were to stay only a short time she wanted to have as much baking and marketing as possible done beforehand, so every minute could be spent in fun and visiting. Alice and Mary Jane, who had been marketing so much with their mother of late that they really could be trusted, took a long list up to the grocery and Mrs. Merrill set to work baking coffeecake and bread and cookies. Um-m! It wasn’t an hour till that tiny kitchen began to smell so good that the girls could hardly be coaxed away. Mrs. Merrill let them help in a good many ways. ”

“ That’s how time flies when a person has a new doll cart!
Mary Jane waited at the corner till Alice and Frances and Betty came along together and they all four walked home.
“You shouldn’t bother to carry your cart clear upstairs every time,” suggested Frances, “when our front porch is so handy. Just run the cart up on the porch, lock the brake and it will be safe as can be till you eat your lunch.” ”

“ She liked school so very much that the days slipped by one after another so fast a person could hardly count them—one day and another day and another day—just that 183 way. Till one Monday morning when they went to school, Miss Treavor announced, “Do you boys and girls know what we are going to do to-day? We’re going to start making Christmas presents. Because Christmas is only three weeks away!”
“Christmas!” thought Mary Jane, with a thrill of joy, “Christmas! Why, they do have Christmas in Chicago! I wonder what I’ll get and what I’ll do!” ”

“ But Mary Jane was soon to discover that Christmas doesn’t need certain houses or fires or trees to make it perfect; that 185 Christmas is made in folks’ hearts and that wherever there is a Christmas heart, there will be a happy day—in village or city, the place makes no difference. ”

“ There would be a tree and dinner and a lot of fun in the Merrill house on Christmas Day, but the presents were to go to their adopted family to make their Christmas one never to be forgotten.
If you have ever planned a Christmas for somebody who never, in all their lives had one, you will know something about the fun that Mary Jane and Alice had in the time that was left before Christmas. They were about the busiest girls in all Chicago! ”

“ Here were the same winding driveways, beautiful trees and small lakes.
“Did we come back to our Park?” she asked in surprise.
“Oh, no,” answered Alice who had run on 148 a little ahead, “look at the big greenhouse and look back there! Now don’t you see the swans?”
No, it wasn’t their own neighborhood park, Mary Jane soon realized that, because there were many new things to be seen. The wonderful tropical greenhouse where palms and bananas and wonderful ferns such as the girls had seen in Florida were growing. ”

“ A train load of Christmas trees—yes, sir!” (for he noticed the girls could hardly believe him) “a whole train load of trees. And I see by the paper this evening that a boat load has arrived, too, so there will be no shortage of trees.”
“Then we can have one,” said Mary Jane, with a satisfied sigh.
“And let’s put it in front of this foolish little gas log,” suggested Alice, “then we won’t think about a real fireplace.”
“And there are plenty of poor folks,” said Mrs. Merrill, going back to Mary Jane’s question, “only they will not be so easy to get together, as back at home. ”

“ In all nursery literature animals have played a conspicuous part; and the reason is obvious, for nothing entertains a child more than the antics of an animal. These stories abound in amusing incidents such as children adore, and the characters are so full of life, so appealing to a child’s imagination, that none will be satisfied until they have met all of their favorites—Squinty, Slicko, Mappo, and the rest. ”

“ Mary Jane didn’t stop to press any buzzer. She dashed over to the window nearest the alley and there, sure enough, was a great big moving van and it was piled up full of boxes and barrels and crates—all the things that Mary Jane had watched the packing of only such a few days before. Talk about fun! Moving was surely the best sport ever!
Mary Jane stayed at the window watching till the men brought the first load up. Then they announced that they were going for lunch and Mrs. Merrill said she and the girls had better eat while the men were away. ”

“ Just after she had decided to stay there and play, she spied a boy of about her age who was watching the lilies too.
“Can you walk all the way around the edge?” he asked her.
“Edge of what?” asked Mary Jane.
“The edge of the pool,” he replied, “see,” and he put his foot up on the stone rim of the pool, “all the way around on this.”
“Can you?” asked Mary Jane. She wanted to see what he would say before she answered his question.
“Sure!” he replied, “it’s just as easy! Only girls are ’fraidies.”
“I guess I’m not,” declared Mary Jane firmly, “watch!” ”

“ Mary Jane is the typical American little girl who bubbles over with fun and the good things in life. We meet her here on a visit to her grandfather’s farm where she becomes acquainted with farm life and farm animals and thoroughly enjoys the experience. ”

“ We’ll take a suburban train and ride till we see a place that looks homey and there we’ll get off and hunt.”
The next Saturday was warm and sunny, the kind of a day for bringing flowers into 206 bloom and for making little girls want to play out of doors. Mrs. Merrill and the girls met Mr. Merrill at his office so as not to lose a minute’s time, and they hurried right over to the station, and got aboard the first suburban train they could find.
“I think this is lots of fun,” said Mary Jane as they found their seats, “we don’t know where we’re going—we’re just going!” And the train was off. ”

“ Grandma loved the beautiful Midway, the charming lagoons and she enjoyed her ride on the little launch fully as much as the girls had thought she would.
“But don’t you have any big boats?” she asked, “great big ones with two decks and lots of passengers and all that? I’d like to ride on a big boat too.”
“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do to-morrow, mother,” said Mrs. Merrill. “There is a big boat that runs from Jackson Park up to the municipal pier. We’ll go on it to-morrow and we’ll get our lunch up 162 town and then we’ll come back home on the boat.” ”