George M. Baker

“ No matter if you do cry all night with colic, it will be tears shed in a good cause.”
“Oh, Alice, how silly you are,” said Susy, laughing. “I suppose Mrs. Brice is just behind, and has stopped to talk to some one at the gate. She will take good care that no colic follows this festive scene.”
“Yes, you are right,” said Netty. “See! there comes a crowd of ladies and gentlemen. Oh, dear, my heart is thumping so; I do wish it would stop.”
But although the three girls were having their fun all by themselves, they looked very demure to the people who came to take lemonade at their tables. ”

“ Grey then got into the carriage, and then the children climbed in.
They saw a great many interesting things on their way home, but I can only tell you of one
of them. They were driving along chatting merrily about all sorts of things, when suddenly, as they followed the turn in the road, what should appear before them but an encampment.
“Why, mamma, there’s a man lying flat down on the grass,” said Alice; “it looks like—why, mamma, mamma, it is Uncle Dick.”
Alice stood up on her seat and called “Uncle Dick.” ”

“ Sometimes they would be lying on a coil of rope spinning yarns, and Hal wished that he could go and listen, for he was sure that he should enjoy their stories.
Sometimes a man-of-war lay in the harbor, and Hal was wildly envious of the midshipmen
whom he saw away up in the rigging, looking as much at home in that lofty situation as if they had been born there. When he grew old enough he meant to be a sailor; that was, at least, if mamma would let him. For he had
made up his mind that he could not go unless she said yes. ”

“ The farmers’ houses all along back of the beach were full of them, and Hal and Dolly in their walks often met parties climbing over the rocks, or wading out into the shallow water to gather shells or seaweed that the tide had washed in.
They were not always pleasant people, but one day they came suddenly upon two children not far from their own age.
They were a boy and girl. The girl was younger than Dolly and looked very thin and pale. Her face brightened up so when she saw Dolly that she went up and spoke to her, and
gave her a whole apronful of bright shells that she had picked up. ”

“ But he looked at the boat and children only a minute, for coming across the bay was a sail that he knew at a glance to be that of their own boat, the Speedwell.
He ran to the chair where his clothes were, and began to dress himself with the greatest haste. Then leaving a few buttons to fasten as he went along, he stole out of the room on tip-toe, and running down the pier, reached it just in time to seize the painter that old Andrew threw him. ”

“ Grey was shocked to hear such a dreadful story, and at once ordered a good basketful of provisions to be prepared for Sarah to take home.
“Mamma,” said Alice, “I was thinking that Susy and I might raise some money to take care of Sarah and her mother. Don’t you think we ought first to call in a doctor to see Mrs. Thompson?”
“By all means,” said Mrs. Grey. “If she is not so ill but that good care and proper food may restore her to health, there will be great encouragement to provide what we can for her. ”

“ SUMMER
DAYS.
IT was the fifteenth day of June, and the last day of school. Alice Grey had just said her last good-byes to the other girls, and was starting on her homeward way when she heard a voice behind her.
“Alice, Alice, wait a minute.”
Alice turned around and saw Susy Lee running towards her.
“Let’s go on together,” said Susy, overtaking her friend. “There is no use in walking alone when one can have company.”
“No, indeed,” said Alice, laughing, “particularly when the company has a good big sun umbrella, and the one has none. ”

“ Brooks’ door is a great van, which two sturdy porters are fast filling with trunks, for to-day they are all off for Oldport. Hal stands on the steps watching the trunks as they are brought down, one after another, with great satisfaction, but he is soon summoned to breakfast. The carriage is to be at the door in half an hour to take them to the station; for Oldport is a long day’s ride on the railway from the town where they live. ”

“ And playing on the sands was not the only way Hal and Dolly had of passing their days; sometimes their papa took them in the Speedwell across the bay to Oldport. When he had business to transact he would leave them in charge of old Andrew, but when he was not very busy he would take them with him. They never failed to stop and see Lassie, and Hal was always much disappointed that no news from her family had come. Hal enjoyed these trips to Oldport more than anything else. It was such fun to see the sailors on the ships that lay idly at the piers. ”

“ Andrew smiled. “It is not a pleasant life at all; at least I never found it so.”
By and by the days began to grow shorter, and papa and mamma began to throw out hints about school. Hal and Dolly tried very hard not to hear them. It was so pleasant those bright September days that they wished they would never come to an end. All the summer visitors had gone and it seemed to the children as if the beach belonged to them.
But the end came at last. Again the trunks were piled into the Speedwell and the bay was crossed. ”

“ Grey, “then invite all our friends in the place to come over. We can provide amusements for them. You have a good many out-of-door games, tennis, croquet, archery; get them all out and let everybody use them, but have it understood that each person must spend something in lemonade and cake. You might have a series of afternoons like that, and in that way you could aid a great deal, I am sure.”
“Oh, mamma,” exclaimed Alice, “that is just the thing. I must fly back and tell Susy.” ”

“ My kind little friends, Alice and Susy and Netty, have confided to me that they would like very much to take upon themselves the support of this family. You see, if we can just keep her mind easy and give her good food for a few weeks, she will get up and be as strong as ever, I think. ”

“ His papa had taken a house high up on a cliff that rose above the ocean. It was more than two miles away from where they now where, and Will told Hal that they had been left on the beach by their papa and mamma, who had gone to make a call and would soon come back for them in a carriage and take them home. Hal and Dolly liked their new friends very much, and were very sorry that they lived so far away; but Will said that he would ask his papa sometime when they were out driving
to leave them at their house, so that they could spend the whole morning together. ”

“ They were both pretty tired and dusty, and the basket that had held their lunches was very empty, when just at dusk they heard the brakeman shout “Oldport,” and the train came to a stop at the well-remembered platform.
Mr. Brooks did not go to the great hotel on the hill, but to a little old inn close by the water’s edge. The inn keeper knew that they were coming, and their rooms were all ready for them and supper was just being put on
the table as they drove up to the door. ”

“ The children ran about from room to room to see if there were any changes, but first of all they had to pay a visit to the stable, where they found Wrinkles, the old mastiff, basking in the sun, little dreaming that his friends were so near. ”

“ While they were eating breakfast Andrew and another man carried down the trunks and stowed them away, and by nine o’clock all the luggage was on board. Meanwhile the children were impatient to be off. But much as they longed to be at their summer home they would never have left Oldport without first seeing Thalassa. Thalassa was the adopted daughter of the innkeeper, and was always called Lassie. The children were very much interested in her, for she had a strange history. It was this:
One night, about thirteen years before, there was a great storm. ”

“ Poor little birds, they have a hard time of it! Between bad boys and cats they have to battle for their lives. We can excuse cats, for they know no better, and they eat two or three mouthfuls of bird as innocently as we would pick and eat two or three strawberries.
Well, these little birds were in a safe enough place, for the boys who came to visit Alice were little gentlemen; and as Alice lay there listening to them her thoughts began to wander. She thought she was a bird and that Susy was another, and that they were both standing on the chimney of Mrs. ”

“ A young girl, the gardener’s daughter, was picking a basketful of flowers as she walked under the trees.
When they drove in at the gate they saw that some great excitement had taken possession of everybody. The maids were running back and forth, and the house doors were all open.
As they drew nearer, Mrs. Grey began to guess what was the cause of all this trouble.
“They are looking for Linda,” said Mrs. Grey. “Yes; I hear them calling ‘Linda Linda!’ ”
So James hurried the horses on, and as soon as they came in sight of the maids Mrs. ”