Parker Fillmore

“ But Margery would not. She calmly proceeded to undo the buttons which made these two garments one.
"Margery!" There was an almost agonized pleading in Willie Jones's voice.
"Willie Jones, will you shut up! Just because you live near us you needn't think you're my brother. 'Cause you ain't. Besides, girls can do the same as boys."
There was a last tug; those final garments which might have served as a bathing-suit slipped down over her feet, and Margery stepped forth, a skinny, defiant little Venus, challenging the world to look if it dare. It was a most embarrassing moment for the little boys. ”

“ It was bad enough that the twins should hang upon her words, but worse, far worse, that even Henry, that model of discretion, should be so completely taken in as to look upon Gladys with an interest which bordered [16] dangerously near to admiration. Secure in the esteem of Katherine and Alice, and conscious of her sway over Henry, Gladys saw no reason to conciliate the youngest member of the family. "Margery's too little for our crowd," she would say, and, while Margery fumed and fought, would calmly reiterate the statement until it came to be accepted as fact. Gladys never fought. ”

“ After a fashion Margery was grateful to Gladys, for it was really Gladys who had placed in her hands the weapon she [21] was about to use. Gladys was forever saying to Katherine and Alice: "If you're not careful, Margery will disgrace you all some day. Then how will you feel? No one will play with you; no one will even speak to you on the street. ”

“ Now, human nature can not be expected to retain forever that freshness of surprise which it feels over every new experi [32] ence in life. Time, philosophy tells us, accustoms man to almost anything. It does the same for small boys. Beyond question it was enough to take the wind out of any one to see a girl coolly strip and come in swimming quite as though she were a boy, with all a boy's peculiar rights and privileges. But, astonishing as that might be, it was after all no reason for standing there all day like sticks in the mud when you might just as well be having a good time. ”

“ Behind the screen convulsive excitement followed, accompanied by a certain Jack-in-the-box effect which seemed highly to amuse the little boys in the water.
"That's right, Margery. Stamp on [46] 'em!" they repeated derisively until cowed into silence by Henry's stony stare.
"I can't button my dress," was Margery's final plaint.
"You got to."
"But I tell you I can't," she insisted, her voice rising to a long-drawn wail. "It buttons behind."
With the utmost dignity the screen slowly turned itself around. That was a signal for the small boys in the water to break forth into jeers and taunts. ”

“ Henry, call Effie."
To Effie was intrusted the task of giving Margery a bath and putting her to bed.
"She's been a bad girl this afternoon, Effie, and if she's rude to you, you may spank her." And Margery's mother, [56] thus shifting her maternal responsibility, first to a servant, then to her husband, returned to her novel with a troubled sigh.
When one is small and in the grip of adverse circumstances, there is, perhaps, no process of life which can be made more humiliating than a bath. ”

“ Besides"—and Margery knew just as though she were there the kind of look her father was giving Gladys—"as a favor to me!" [66]
Gladys was completely taken in.
"I'll be glad to do anything I can for you, Mr. Blair," she said politely. Then she added gratuitously: "Everybody ought to be kind to each other."
"That's it, exactly. As Gladys says, the big boys and girls should always be kind and gentle to the smaller ones. Now Henry was right, when he found his little sister doing something wrong, to bring her home. But next time he's going to be more gentle about it, aren't you, Henry?" ”

“ Yes, Henry was, and Margery hugged herself in wonder and amazement. Why, her father was simply workin' 'em for all they was worth! He was just jollyin' 'em to beat the band! And it was all for her sake, too! Under the magic of his words, already they were ceasing to regard her as an outcast. And Margery, like many another who has sought to overturn the pillars of society, was [67] strangely happy at the thought of being able once again to mingle with her own kind.
"But, papa," she heard Alice ask, "what'll you say to Freddy Larkin's father on the car?" ”

“ Charley Burns gave Freddy Larkin an unexpected ducking. Freddy came up splut [33] tering and blowing, but with a handful of slimy mud which he plastered over Charley's white head. Then a splash fight became general. Every one splashed water into every one else's face. Margery noted with interest the peculiar downward stroke of the flat hand which brought about the finest results. She added her shouts to the boys', and longed to add some splashes likewise.
Now, the progress of a splash fight is thus: At first there are no sides—every man's splash is against every man's ”

“ The water, muddy beyond all chance of transparency, came up to their chests. To them, however, this was not enough. The excessive modesty of eight or nine made them keep even the white of their angular little shoulders primly covered. ”