Josephine Lawrence

“ She had offered to go to bed when Sarah went and the surprised and pleased Aunt Trudy had told Doctor Hugh that she was sure the girls were learning to like an early bedtime hour.
"If the ring is lost, it is lost, and that is all there is to it," said Rosemary, sitting on Sarah's bed to brush her hair, a habit she still clung to though the bobbed locks were quickly made ready for the night. "And there is only one thing to do, that I can see: buy Aunt Trudy another."
"Buy her a ring!" gasped Sarah. "We can't—we haven't any money. And Hugh won't give it to us, unless we tell him what it's for. ”

“ Shirley began to hop up and down with anger and began to cry.
"I won't have my dolly dragged in the dust," she shrieked.
"Martyrs have to be dragged in the dust," the perverse Sarah insisted. "I want to see her bounce when she hits the stones."
"Oh, Sarah, do be still," begged Rosemary. Then, to the weeping Shirley, "Sarah is only teasing you, darling. She wouldn't hurt your dolly."
"Are the teachers going?" asked Aunt Trudy anxiously. "I hope some older people will be on hand to look after you."
"Oh, the teachers are going—worse luck!" Sarah assured her. ”

“ The doctor made an impatient exclamation.
"That's nonsense, Aunt Trudy," he said curtly. "No child of my mother has ever been frightened of the dark; we were not brought up that way. Every one of us has been trained to go up to bed alone at the right time, as a matter of course. Sarah, put away those dominoes and go upstairs to bed with Shirley." ”

“ A temper that blazes, a quick pride that bleeds at a word and a passion for loving that sometimes frightens me. The sick and the helpless and the young—Rosemary would mother 'em all. And she's hurt so easy, and she dashes herself against the stone wall so blindly—you'll be careful and patient, won't you, Hughie? For she has the Willis will, has Rosemary and times there is no holding her."
Doctor Hugh smiled into the anxious eyes, dim with the loving anxiety of many years. ”

“ Rosemary followed her teacher down to the gymnasium, but she only half heard the introductions that followed and the kind comments on her skill in cooking. She was wondering how she could convince Miss Parsons that she had never put all that salt into her soup.
"Why it tasted as though a whole box of salt had just been thrown into it," said Rosemary to herself, standing near a window to watch for Doctor Hugh and the car. "I don't care how much any one has on her mind, no one puts a whole box of salt into a soup kettle!" ”

“ Hollister. Miss Trudy Wright is coming to-morrow, to stay till Mrs. Willis gets home."
"Who's she?" asked Mrs. Hollister bluntly. "Anybody you can rely on?"
"I'm not saying I don't like her, for I do," [16] said Winnie with admirable conservatism, "Miss Wright means well, if ever a woman did. She's the half sister of Mrs. Willis's husband and she sets great store, she's always saying, by her dead brother's family."
"You don't sound as if you were so terribly pleased," said Mrs. Hollister shrewdly. "Does she put her nose into things that are no concern of hers?" ”

“ You certainly don't need to treat your hair to make it grow, Rosemary."
"Write and ask Mother," suggested Sarah.
"No, Mother isn't to be asked a single question for a year," Doctor Hugh announced firmly. "We'll settle our problems without bothering her. Rosemary is not to meddle with her hair—that's flat."
"Oh, Hugh, I want to bob it!" insisted Rosemary. "Ever so many of the girls do—not just Nina Edmonds, but half the girls in school. I don't see why you are so cross about it. Can't I get it cut to-morrow? Please?" ”

“ CHAPTER XXIII SARAH LOSES A MENAGERIE
OU may burn them up or give them away or sell them!" Rosemary cried. "I never want to see a pair of high-heeled shoes again as long as I live. I despise them!"
The doctor picked up the offending little shoes and eyed them critically.
"Wait," said Rosemary as he seemed about to speak. "I have something to tell you, Hugh. I've been as bad as I could be, and I've done everything you didn't like. But you'll be glad, because I never want to see Nina Edmonds again. I never want any one to mention her name to me." ”

“ Rosemary, in white from head to foot, stood behind her mother's chair and all the light in the room seemed to center in her eyes and hair. [9] Shirley, looking like a particularly wholesome and adorable cherub from her sunny curls and wide, gray eyes to her fat and dimpled knees scuffled in an impatient circle around her own special seat and Sarah, a stout and stolid little Indian in tan linen and scarlet tie, showed her one beauty—a set of strong, even white teeth—in an engaging smile.
"Well how smart we are," smiled the doctor, surveying them appreciatively. ”

“ They were all dressed in white and each carried a sweater, Sarah's red, Rosemary's blue and Shirley's apple green. Winnie had made up a generous box of lunch for each, and three vacuum bottles, a surprise from Doctor Hugh, were waiting them, filled with lemonade.
"I think we'd better go early, Winnie," said Rosemary, "on account of getting in the same truck. The earlier we are, the better chance we have of getting seats together."
"Yes, it's always well to go early to any picnic," replied Winnie wisely. "The fun can't begin till you start, so why delay?" ”

“ Rosemary's blue eyes were unclouded.
"Winnie is mad because I am going to have my hair bobbed like Nina Edmonds'," she informed her brother. "I think bobbed hair is as pretty as it can be, don't you, Hugh?"
"It seems a pity when she has such nice hair," murmured Aunt Trudy weakly.
"Bob your hair!" thundered Doctor Hugh. "Of all the foolish notions, that is the worst. This comes from talking foolish clatter with that empty-headed silly little chit last night. The babbling brook must have been named for her."
"Yes, isn't she silly?" said Sarah scornfully. "Shirley doesn't like her, either." ”

“ You know Hugh would scold if he heard you were playing in the dump lot. Promise Sister you won't go away from the house to-morrow morning."
Shirley, looking more than ever like an adorable cherub in freshly ironed pink chambray, shook her head naughtily.
"I might want to go," she argued.
"But you mustn't!" Rosemary's voice was earnest. "You can't run all over town like this, darling. You'll be run over by an automobile, or something dreadful will happen to you. Promise to stay in your own yard like a good girl." ”

“ Whenever Jack was touched, he sought employment for his hands, for fear he might say something to show his feeling. He had all the boy's horror of "making a fool" of himself.
April, with its soft, sudden showers and its exquisite velvety greens ran into May with its first hot days and the sound of Peter Cooper's hammer loud in the land as he diligently worked putting up screens and awnings. Aunt Trudy [286] began to "feel the heat" and Winnie and Sarah battled again over the ethics of killing defenseless flies. ”

“ You're forever preaching that there is no disgrace in any kind of honest work, Hugh—"
"Oh, quit, I'm licked!" surrendered the doctor, laughing. "I won't mention the money to Rosemary, Jack. Though when I think of that child spending long, hot afternoons amusing cranky kids for pay—Still, it's pluck like that that makes the backbone of our country. What do you say if we take this money and buy her some little personal gimcrack? Girls like things to wear, I've always heard." ”

“ They had decided that neither Aunt Trudy nor Winnie could be allowed to help them and since Rosemary had a working knowledge of the sewing machine's mysteries and could sew neatly by hand, they had not anticipated any trouble.
"But how could we know a pattern was such a silly thing?" wailed Rosemary, tired and cross when the dinner gong sounded and they had made no progress. The floor of the room was littered with paper and the top of the bed resembled a pincushion for Shirley had amused herself by sticking the contents of the entire paper of pins in orderly rows on the counterpane. ”

“ Doctor Hugh remembered the communicating door and strode through Rosemary's room. Shirley was fast asleep in her older sister's bed. Sarah had not thought to fasten the door between the rooms and she looked up startled, as her brother came in. She had not undressed, and she sat on the floor, the kittens in her lap. The dog and the rabbits and the rooster were all back in their places.
"This settles it!" said the doctor adamantly. "There's only one way to deal with you, Sarah, and that is to come down like a ton of bricks. You can't keep any pets for two months—that's final." ”

“ Shirley joined the little girls and shrieking games of "Tag" were immediately under way. Sarah, ignoring the suggestions of her classmates that they hunt for wildflowers, dropped flat on her stomach and began a search for bugs. Rosemary left the lunch boxes under the eyes of the teachers who gathered in a ring and took out knitting and fancy work, and went off with half a dozen girls her age to gather and wash wild-grape vine leaves to serve as plates at the luncheon.
As it is at all picnics, no one could really think of anything long, till the boxes were unpacked and the good things set out. ”

“ Hugh always detests any litter left around after a picnic."
"We'll dig a hole and bury all the trash," said Eustice Gray instantly. "Come on, fellows, we'll go collect it."
"But you haven't any shovel," said the practical Sarah.
"A-ha, you're a good detective, but you don't know motor trucks," replied Eustice, grinning at her, for he had taken a fancy to the odd child who had screamed to him not to mash the spider he had fished out of his lemonade cup. "All good motor trucks take a spade with them, under the seat, to use in case they are stuck on some muddy road." ”

“ Dunning tell Aunt Trudy the other day that she would give anything if she could get someone to stay with her baby while she went to the card club meetings Tuesday afternoons. I can take care of the baby!"
"What do you know about taking care of people's babies?" demanded Jack with scorn.
"I know how, if they are not very little ones," Rosemary assured him. "The Dunning baby is old enough to walk. I am going to get a baby to take care of every afternoon and that will be a whole lot of money every week!" ”

“ And when I came back the ring was gone off my finger and we hunted everywhere and we couldn't find it. So it must be lost," wound up the small sinner.
"I don't believe you have half looked," protested Rosemary. "Where did you go after you bought the yeast cake? Straight home? Well, I'll go look all the way to the store and back, and you and Shirley look everywhere in the house you can think of."
"You won't tell, will you, Rosemary?" coaxed Sarah. "Hugh will be so mad, but Aunt Trudy won't mind. She never wears any of her rings." ”

“ Norman Cox and Eustice Gray had hastened across the street and returned with Sarah and the supplies just as Jack said, "Rosemary, this is Frank Fenton."
"He can't have any," said Sarah with blunt distinctness.
Rosemary flushed scarlet and then, with the quickness characteristic of her, jerked the lid from the coffee can and filled one of the paper cups with the steamy, fragrant, liquid.
"Please," she said gravely, holding it out to the astonished president of the Student Council. "The sugar and cream are already in. And these are fresh doughnuts." ”

“ Two of the girls were limping about in high heeled shoes and these must be shielded from the critical eye and caustic tongue of the cooking teacher, lest they become temperamental and refuse to "wait" at all. Assuredly Rosemary had her hands full.
She went into the kitchen, tasted the soup and salted it carefully. It was rich and smooth and Rosemary felt that when the time came to ladle it into the cups she would have every right to be proud of her ability, for she alone had made the soup, the other girls fearing the mysterious "curdling" that sometimes spoiled their product. ”

“ True to his promise, Doctor Hugh took his family to the high school cafeteria for supper and Jack Welles, who was one of the carvers, served them in fine style. Frank Fenton was manager and he insisted on securing the most desirable table for them, much to Doctor Hugh's amusement and Sarah's ill-concealed disgust.
"Why do you smile and say 'How do you do' to him, Rosemary?" she demanded of her sister hotly. "I think it's untruthful to pretend to like people you don't." ”