Edna A. Brown

“ Every day in the year has the same number of hours, but some days skim past like an automobile and some creep like a snail at a gallop. The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas are of the motor-car variety. There is so much to do, and to think of, that people can scarcely believe the clock. Lucy and Dora were as busy with their plans as were the grown people. ”

“ I don’t suppose it would be possible to buy one in this country, and I shall never be lucky enough to go to Switzerland. But I am thinking you a little bear, Dora. Can’t you feel him growing?”
Dora pretended she could, and when she came out of the tent, nobody could have suspected any tears. But as they left White Beach, her last look was not for the sea nor the sky nor the gulls, nor the goldenrod and asters along the sandhills, but for the place where the tent had stood, and in her heart she was hoping that Arcturus would be very happy in his new life by the shore. ”

“ When the children went up to supper they told Mrs. Merrill about their visitor.
“He had a very pretty horse. It shone like a bottle,” said Dora.
“Do you think Alice will come to see us?” asked Lucy.
“I wouldn’t set my heart on it,” said Mrs. Merrill.
“Mrs. Harper is always very nice to everybody in the church,” said Olive, who was trying to make toast over the oil stove and was not succeeding very well.
“I know she is,” agreed Mrs. Merrill. “But church isn’t the beach, and people who live in big houses don’t always want to know people who live in small ones.” ”

“ Lucy and Dora knew his story and how he went to seek the Holy Grail. Miss Chandler explained each painting.
Then she took them into a pleasant room with low bookcases and small tables and chairs and told them that it belonged to the children of Boston. All the books on the shelves were books which children liked to read.
Dora looked at the shelves carefully. It would be nice to have a library just for children, with no grown-ups at all. Still, the Westmore library was nice, and a little town didn’t need a big library like Boston. ”

“ When Dora called, she put Vega away and came down.
Mother had told Father and Uncle Dan not to speak of Lucy’s red eyes, and they did not. Only, after supper, Father took her on his knee and talked to her a little while.
That night, after she and Dora were in bed, Lucy rolled over and cuddled close to Dora.
“I am never going to cheat again,” she said. “I don’t like Miss Scott and I never shall like her, but it is because of Father and Mother. They care so much about our doing what is right, that we shall just have to do it.” ”

“ The weather grew so cool that even the big girls played games at recess. It was pleasanter to run about than to stand still and let the wind blow right through one. To stand still, it was necessary to get into a corner where the sun shone brightly and the wind couldn’t come.
Miss Leger always dismissed her children before Miss Scott’s room came out, and Dora would wait for Lucy. One afternoon, Miss Scott’s class filed out, walking two and two across the school grounds to the sidewalk, where they broke ranks and began to skip and prance. Dora was waiting, but Lucy was not in the file. ”

“ Except for the friendly children, Lucy and Dora paid very little attention to the passers-by. They could see as many people as they wished in Westmore, but in Westmore there were no gulls and no beach and no sea.
One afternoon Dora did look up when a gentleman on horseback came down the shore. The horse was the color of a bright chestnut and his hair reflected the sun. Somebody must have brushed that horse extremely hard to make him so shiny. ”

“ Dora looked out of the window across the street at the low brick building where Father Merrill worked in the printing office.
“We had better not ask too many questions,” she said wisely. “Perhaps Uncle Dan is going to take us to White Beach for a day. But we did go to the vacation school, Lucy, and that was a great deal of fun.”
“It was,” agreed Lucy. “And it cost a dollar a week. But just one day at the beach would be lovely. I wish the Sunday-school picnic had gone there.”
Dora didn’t agree with Lucy. That annual picnic had been held at World’s End Pond. ”

“ Dora looked up at the sky. The moon was so bright that only the largest stars could show to-night. There was Orion with his flaming belt and sword. Dora knew several star-groups now. She and Uncle Dan and Olive had gone out one night with a flash-light and the star-book from the Public Library and traced them. Still, Mrs. Merrill did not come. ”

“ Dora looked so distressed that Mr. Merrill could not stand it. “We’ll plan for Timmy,” he said kindly. “I never did think much of people who go off for a vacation and leave their cats to take care of themselves. We will leave the key of the house with Jim Baker, and ask his little girl to come over twice a day to feed Timmy and to let him into the kitchen every night if he wants to sleep inside. But these nice nights, Timmy may prefer to stay out.” ”

“ They told her and ran off to make another call. The grown people in Westmore were very patient with the children that evening. They opened their doors when the bells rang and spoke pleasantly to the little ghosts. Some of them pretended to be afraid and most of them admired the sweet smile of Dora’s lantern. One gentleman gave them each a chocolate cream.
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“Being a spook must be hungry work,” he said. Lucy and Dora told him that it was.
Only a few houses kept their porch lights burning and wouldn’t give the children the fun of having the door opened for them. ”

“ Merrill had rinsed it out and now it was flapping on the line in the back yard. The closet floor was bluer than the apron and not so easy to wash.
“What makes you think there is a surprise?” asked Dora, standing back from the table to see whether she had remembered everything that anybody could use during supper. No, she had forgotten the pulverized sugar for the peaches.
“Because,” said Lucy, “he keeps following Mother everywhere she goes, and I know he is teasing her to do something. I heard him say something about the beach.”
Dora stopped in the pantry doorway, her eyes big and blue. ”

“ When one is only eight, there are a great many important things in life. To go to the beach and to sleep in a tent seemed almost too good to be true.
“Alice Harper is at the beach this summer, but she sleeps in a house,” said Lucy. Nobody [17] was listening. Dan and Mr. Merrill were both talking, and it was plain that they wanted to go just as much as the children did.
“What shall we do with Timmy?” asked Dora, a sudden cloud coming over her face. It would never do to leave the tiger-striped pussy to take care of himself for a week. “Can he go with us?” ”

“ All over Westmore, the leaves began to flutter down and carpet the streets with bright spots of color.
Then one night, Jack took a look at the [139] flower-beds. Evidently he didn’t approve of people’s raising flowers in gardens; he cared only for things which grew wild. For the flowers did not become bright colors; they turned black and shriveled.
Uncle Dan cut down the tall hollyhocks which had been so pretty all summer. Many of them towered far above his head. Lucy and Dora dragged the stalks to a place where they could be burned. ”

“ Miss Perrin left the elevator and led the way to a door.
The room beyond was unlike anything the children had ever seen. The bare floor looked as though it were washed every hour, it was so fearfully clean! Not a picture hung on the straw-colored walls. All the woodwork was white and the table had a glass top. There were only two chairs, and they were white. You can never guess the rest of the furniture.
All around three sides of the room white baskets stood on tall white frames, and in every basket lay a tiny, tiny baby. A whole room full of babies and no grown people at all! ”

“ Everybody would want apple-sauce, so Lucy took a spoon and filled seven glass dishes. She placed one at each plate. The cranberry sauce was in a large dish. It was to go in front of Olive, with a spoon and more glass saucers. Dora brought the dish from the pantry, holding it carefully in both hands.
What possessed Timothy just then? He liked to weave himself in and about people’s feet when he was hungry, but Timmy had eaten his dinner. If he had not been fed, there would be no peace for anybody in the Merrill kitchen. ”

“ A great many children came to see the marionettes and Lucy and Dora enjoyed looking about at all the little girls and boys.
When the curtain rose, showing Jack and his mother and their cottage, they could scarcely believe that the figures, or puppets, were only dolls. They looked the right size for people. They walked about easily and rapidly. ”

“ There is nothing like digging in the dirt to make people ready for dinner.
The good things the ladies had been cooking vanished like snow before the sun. There was cold meat of various kinds, a great many baked potatoes, string-beans, and beets, and squash. For dessert were doughnuts and pies and coffee and ice-cream.
Girls of Olive’s age waited on the tables. Lucy and Dora wanted dreadfully to help, but [162] that was one of the things they could not do until they were older. Five hundred people sat down together at lunch in the Westmore Town Hall. ”

“ Merrill. “Sometimes it chokes me to have enough to eat when I think about those children. If you and Lucy and Dan are willing, we will have pork for our Thanksgiving dinner. I will ask how much more the chicken would cost. Then we will put the difference into the fund for the hungry children.”
“Lucy will want to,” said Dora. “Uncle Dan may want things very nice because of Olive. Perhaps he would be disappointed not to have chicken. Will you ask him, Mother?”
“Ask him yourself, child. He’ll do it for you if he will for anybody.” ”

“ Mrs. Merrill agreed. “What became of them?’
“Some were lost,” said Dora, “and Aunt Margaret thinks her boy cousins took the cats when they visited their grandmother. So many chess-men were gone that people couldn’t play the game any more. The grandmother thought, since the boys had taken the cats, she would divide the kittens between the little girl cousins.
“She gave Aunt Margaret four kittens,” Dora went on, “two blue ones and two white.”
Dora stopped. Lucy was calling Timothy at the back door. Dora looked to see that Lucy was beyond hearing. Even then, she whispered the rest. ”

“ You will be playing on the beach all day, and not need to be dressed up. When we go over, you will have on one good dress apiece, and that is enough.”
Lucy and Dora were disappointed. They thought that people who went away on a vacation should take all their best clothes.
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“But not people who live in tents,” said Mrs. Merrill. “That makes a great difference. We are only going to camp, you know.”
“But I may take Arcturus?” Dora begged, bringing from her bureau the little silver bear on her neck-chain, the bear which had been named for a star. “Arcturus does really need sea air, Mother.” ”

“ When the clams were dug, Mr. Merrill carried the basket home and Lucy and Dora saw Uncle Dan and Olive coming up the beach. Olive was carrying a heavy shovel and Uncle Dan had a queer-looking thing over his shoulder. Even when he came up to the shack the children did not know what the thing could be. It was a large oblong frame of wood, with a wire screen bottom, and was tilted up on one end.
“We are going to look for Arcturus,” said Olive, as Uncle Dan dumped the frame beside the tent. “Some men have been getting gravel from the ridge and using this. ”

“ The town must agree to take care of it always.
To arrange for this, the people of Westmore met in June. They voted to accept the meadow, and promised that forever and forever, they would keep it as a park.
They asked the Judge if he would like them to call it Winslow Park, but the Judge said not. Both he and Mrs. Winslow knew that Lieutenant Ned would not want the park to bear his name, when the four other Westmore boys gave their lives for their country just as truly as he did. The memorial was to be for them all. Why not call it the Victory Park? ”

“ Mother did not think Miss Scott would be cross.
“If you learn your lessons, Lucy, and behave yourself as well as you should do, your teacher will not be cross. It is only sick or naughty children who can’t get on at school.”
Lucy admitted that Mother’s advice sounded sensible, and she and Dora started for school. Lucy had on a white waist, which had buttoned to it a pink plaid kilted skirt. On the waist was a collar of the pink plaid gingham. When Mother planned that dress, Lucy [72] did not think she should like it, but now the dress was made, she liked it very much. ”

“ Bulbs never grow so well when they are planted with their heads down. Then a Boy Scout with a water-pot gave it a drink, and the child covered it with loam and patted it down hard.
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The kindergarten children planted tulips. Dora’s class planted daffodils and Lucy’s class did the jonquils. Every child in the public schools had a share in making the Victory Park.
Meanwhile the ladies had been getting lunch in the Town Hall. Some of the older men who had stiff knees and couldn’t work out of doors, set up the long tables and brought settees and dishes. ”

“ When winter was gone and spring called to the flowers, those bulb beds would have frequent visitors.
All over New England November means Thanksgiving, and it did in Westmore. There were no cousins and no grandmother to come to the Merrill cottage, for Uncle John lived in far California.
Some time, Father said, when their ship came in, they would buy a little Ford, and a tent, and go to see Uncle John and Aunt Nell. But whenever Lucy and Dora asked whether the ship was coming, Father would smile and shake his head. ”

“ Before many days the winds finished what work Jack Frost didn’t attend to himself. The leaves were neatly whisked from all the trees except the oaks and the evergreens. Oaks are cold trees. They keep most of their leaves on all winter and let them drop only when Spring sends word that she is on the way with a new gown for each. ”