Mabel C. Hawley

“ Peter Apgar had come up to take the car and perhaps to see the new arrivals. The four little Blossoms liked him at once, and when he spoke in a soft, lazy drawl that was good-nature itself they knew he was going to be a good friend.
“Can’t say you’re lonesome now, Miss Polly,” he chuckled pleasantly. He always called her Miss Polly, never Mrs. Hayward. “And I guess Jud is as good as useless to me the rest of the summer. What these youngsters don’t think up to do, he will,” the farmer added, with a broad grin. ”

“ Let's get the trunk down right away, Mother."
"Well, I wouldn't, not till Daddy comes home," said Aunt Polly, fanning herself and smiling. "A week is plenty of time, and I hear that Dot has to have some new frocks made."
"Is Daddy coming?" Bobby asked suddenly.
"I wanted him to, for I think he needs a rest," said Aunt Polly soberly. "But the most we could get him to promise was that he might come up with your mother when it is time for you to go home."
"Mother's going—she said so," Meg reminded her aunt.
"Only to take you to Brookside, Daughter," explained Mother Blossom. ”

“ Do we stop there? Yes, we do! Come on, Dot, let's watch!" shouted Twaddles, as the steamer headed inshore toward a pier built out into the water.
"Keep away from the gangplank," warned Mother Blossom. "You mustn't get in people's way, dear."
The pier was something of a disappointment, because when the boat tied up there the children discovered that only freight was to be taken off and more boxes carried on. There was only one man at the wharf, and apparently no town for miles.
"Doesn't anybody live here?" asked Twaddles, almost climbing over the rail in his eagerness to see everything. ”

“ Linda informed the children.
The children ran out to see the calves being herded together, and Jud embarrassed Meg and Bobby very much by introducing them as the little people who had heard the calves in the night and gone downstairs after them.
"Meg heard 'em," said Bobby modestly.
"Well, well, well!" almost shouted Mr. Sparks, though that was his natural way of talking; he couldn't speak low. "I do certainly admire a girl with spunk enough to get up in the middle of the night and chase live-stock. You ought to be a farmer's daughter." ”

“ Twaddles ate the first dozen berries he picked and then he picked another dozen for Dot's pail. He decided that larger and better berries grew on the other side of the fence. He crawled under and his shout of delight brought the others.
"You never saw such big ones!" cried Twaddles gleefully. "Meg, look!"
"They are big," agreed Meg. "Come on, Bobby, let's go on the other side. Mr. Simmonds won't care."
Dot was already under the fence, and Meg and Bobby stooped down and crawled under after her. ”

“ Run!"
"I'm waiting for you," quavered Meg.
"All right, hurry," repeated Bobby.
He and Meg crawled under the fence and stood beside Twaddles and Dot. Then they looked over at the bull. He was not charging directly toward them, but at something else his angry red eyes had seen even before the children noticed it. Further down there was a gap in the fence where several rails were broken.
Meg shrieked in terror as she saw what the bull meant to do.
"Peter! Jud! Aunt Polly! Come quick!" she screamed, hardly knowing what she was crying. ”

“ When Jud had the pail nearly full of milk, he rose carefully.
"Now, Meg," he said, "you sit here. Easy now; don't be nervous. Don't you know a cow won't give milk if she knows you're nervous? Now work your fingers like this——"
Meg sat on the three-legged stool and tried to do exactly as Jud told her. Bobby and Dot and Twaddles stared at her open-mouthed. She was actually milking a live cow!
"Keep right on; that's fine," encouraged Jud. "You're doing first rate." ”

“ When both boys said they had never been on a real farm, the driver, whose name, he told them, was Gus Rede, had so much to say about the fun that awaited boys on a farm and especially such a fine place as Brookside that before Bobby and Twaddles knew it the bus had driven up to the post-office and there was dear Aunt Polly waiting to welcome them.
"Bless their hearts," she said warmly, when she had kissed Mother and had hold of a child with either hand. "Are they all tired out, poor lambs? It's a fearful place to get to, especially the first trip." ”

“ RIGHT after dinner the four children started to hunt for the lost raft.
"It must have gone down the brook," argued Bobby, as they walked along. "Jud says things always float with the current. So we'll start on Mr. Simmond's land and walk slow."
They scrambled under the line fence, and Dot only tore one of the ruffles off her frock. They went on and on.
"We're almost to the woods," said Meg, as they dropped down under a ragged buttonwood tree to rest. "Where do you suppose the brook goes? Wouldn't it be fun to follow it through the woods and see what's on the other side!" ”

“ Twaddles and Bobby hadn’t a very clear idea of how to wash a dress, and because it was something they had not done before, the idea appealed to them.
“We’ll help you,” offered Bobby generously. “I saw a piece of soap out at the barn this morning. And the rain barrel’s full. Come on.”
They trotted down to the barn. Neither Peter nor Jud was anywhere in sight, which was just what the washers hoped for. Of course, they argued, it wasn’t naughty to wash a dress, but you never can tell what objections grown-ups are going to make. Sometimes they find fault with every single thing one wants to do. ”

“ Away ran Poots, her black tail sticking straight up in the air. And after them raced the four little Blossoms, shouting and calling frantically. Poots ran straight for the front wall and scrambled up it, leaving Spotty to bark wildly on the ground and make futile rushes at the solid wall he couldn't hope to climb. Some of the masonry was loose, and Poots, digging with her sharp claws, sent down a shower of dust into the dog's eyes. ”

“ Meg, forgetting the shirt for a moment, asked him what he did when buttons came off his clothes.
“My mother sews them on again,” said Jud, “and Mother darns my socks and Mother mends the rips I get in my coats.”
“There, you see!” Meg cried triumphantly. “This man hasn’t any mother to sew buttons on him.”
“On his shirt, you mean,” giggled Dot.
“Well, maybe he hasn’t,” Bobby admitted. “I don’t suppose he has, or he wouldn’t have to do his own washing. But Linda’s basket is on the other side of the brook.”
“I’m going to take the shirt over to her and ask her to mend it,” announced Meg. ”

“ The four little Blossoms saw much to interest them, but the great round stones that ground the grains and the arrangements for sifting the dust and chaff from the grain interested them the most.
"It must be fun to be a miller!" said Bobby, when they were ready to go and the noon whistle blew and the big stones stopped turning as the power was shut off. "Maybe when I grow up I'll run a mill."
Rattling home in the big wagon with two sacks of "middlings" in the back with them, Twaddles and Dot decided that they, too, would have a mill some day. ”

“ However, Jud said that he didn’t think a man who had to wash his clothes in the brook and dry them on a bush had any cats.
“What are you going to call your find, Meg?” asked Jud when they were riding home at half-past four, Peter eating his sandwiches gratefully.
“Shirt,” Meg answered placidly. “What are you laughing at? It’s white, like the shirt we found, and if it hadn’t been for the shirt we wouldn’t have found the kitten at all and it might have fallen into the water and been drowned.” ”

“ Aunt Polly told Mother that's the only kind that lives round here. Honestly, snakes are all right, Dot. Lots of people don't mind 'em a bit."
"Well, I do," said Dot decidedly. "They wiggle so. Let's go home anyway."
"I think we'd better," announced Bobby. "I don't know what time it is, but I guess there's no use looking for the raft any more."
"The raft?" echoed Meg. "Oh Bobby, where is the brook?"
Bobby grinned a little sheepishly.
"We forgot about the raft, didn't we?" he said. "Let's see—we came down that path—the brook must be over there. Come on, Dot, we're going home." ”

“ The four children went as far as the guest-room door with Aunt Polly, and then Mother Blossom waved them back.
"Auntie and I have a great deal to talk over," she said. "You run away and amuse yourselves till lunch time, like good little Blossoms."
"Wait till I give them what I've brought them," hastily interposed Aunt Polly. "Bobby, you open that black bag and the four parcels on top are for you children." ”

“ But that was a very important letter, as the Blossoms found out when they were once more at home and Aunt Polly read it to them while Linda was getting supper.
"Mother's coming!" cried Bobby, meeting Jud on his way to the barn.
"That's fine," said Jud heartily. Then his face fell.
"But you don't want to go home yet!" he urged. "Vacation isn't over so soon, is it? There's lots we planned to do we haven't done."
"Mother's going to stay a week," said Bobby happily. "School doesn't open for two weeks, but we have to go home and get ready. ”

“ And if you want to read about what Meg and Bobby did in school, and how the twins contrived to go to school, too, in spite of the fact that they were only four years old, you must read the next book about them which is called “Four Little Blossoms at Oak Hill School.”
“Oh, but it’s been a perfectly lovely summer, hasn’t it?” said Meg, while she was helping unpack her things.
“Best ever,” declared Bobby.
“And just think––we own a cow!” cried Dot.
“And maybe––when she gets big––we can milk her,” added Twaddles. “Oh, I like the country––I do.” ”

“ Dot slipped her hand into Jud’s and the others followed, talking busily. What was a line fence? How could he fix it? What could they play in the water?
Jud didn’t mind questions at all. Indeed, he rather enjoyed answering them.
“You see, this fence goes along the brook right in the center,” he explained carefully, “to show where your Aunt Polly’s land stops and Mr. Simmond’s land begins. If we didn’t have a fence there his cattle would walk right through the brook and up into our meadows. Say, build a raft, why don’t you? I always did when I was a kid. Here, I’ll show you.” ”

“ So Meg and Bobby joined hands and managed to start off comfortably, carrying Dot.
Twaddles looked at them anxiously.
“It’s getting dark,” he quavered.
It was, too, a shadowy gray dusk there in the woods.
“I guess it’s only ’cause there’s so many trees,” said Meg cheerfully. “It can’t be dark out in the fields yet. I don’t believe Jud has even started to milk.” ”

“ Mother Blossom put her hands over her ears.
“Don’t all talk at once,” she begged. “Yes, Aunt Polly is coming. She can’t stay long, not even a week–––”
“But what do you think?” interrupted Father Blossom. “She wants the four Blossoms to go home with her!”
“Ralph, you’re not a bit better than Bobby,” scolded Mother Blossom. “I didn’t want to tell them to-night. However, there’s no use trying to keep a secret in this family. Aunt Polly has invited you all to spend the summer at Brookside Farm.” ”

“ Some one in a green dress and a brown straw hat was sitting on the front seat beside the driver.
"Mother! Mother!" shouted Dot.
There was just time for her to tumble out of the car into her mother's arms, just time for Mother Blossom to give the driver a dollar bill and say a word of thanks, and then the steamboat whistle blew loudly once.
"That means she's starting," said the jitney man. "Run!"
And hand in hand, Mother Blossom and Dot raced down the wharf and over the gangplank on to the deck of the boat, just as it began to slide away. ”

“ Bobby assented, and Meg stayed behind at the tent while Dot, Twaddles and Bobby went after the chickens.
If you have ever tried to drive a hen into a certain place, you will know how very stupid she can be. The children were hot and cross before they had twenty-eight white leghorn hens penned in the tent with the ducks.
“They make an awful lot of noise,” said Bobby nervously. “Jud will hear them.” ”

“ Mr. Sparks brought a freezer of ice-cream with him, which his wife had made, as his contribution to the picnic, and though he had to go as soon as lunch was over, he assured the children that he had had a splendid time.
When the crumbs were all scattered for the birds, and the papers and boxes neatly buried, except one box of sandwiches they had not eaten and which they saved for Peter, Aunt Polly declared that she wanted to sit quietly for an hour and knit. Linda, too, had her embroidery, but the four little Blossoms wanted to go wading. ”

“ Mother Blossom assured her sister that they were all right, and as glad to see her as she was to see them.
“I left the car around on a side street,” explained Aunt Polly, leading the way. “You see so many horses are still afraid of automobiles that we think it more thoughtful not to leave ’em standing on the main street. Yes, I drove over alone for you––either Peter or Jud will come over to-morrow for your trunks.” ”