Aunt Jo

“ Then Daddy Martin and Uncle Frank began to dig in the big drifts with their shovels, while Aunt Jo and Janet looked on. As yet Mrs. Martin and Nora knew nothing about what had happened, nor did Trouble.
"But it's of no use to tell your mother and frighten her, Janet," said Aunt Jo. "They'll have Teddy dug out in a minute, and then he can tell her himself what happened to him, and we'll all have a good laugh over it."
"Won't he smother?" asked Janet.
"Oh, no," answered Aunt Jo. "Falling under snow isn't like falling under water. ”

“ Aunt Jo ran downstairs and looked up the dumbwaiter shaft. She could see the box-like waiter stuck halfway up, but of course she could not see Margy. A dumbwaiter is like a little elevator, except that, as a rule, no one rides in it. It is used to pull things [125] up and down between two rooms, when a person does not want to use the stairs.
"I see what's the matter," said Aunt Jo, as she looked up the shaft once more. "Margy's foot stuck out over the edge of the box, in which she climbed to have a ride, and the waiter can't slide up and down. Her foot wedges it fast." ”

“ Demi would miss me, and I love to be here, Aunty.”
“You can't get on without your Demi, can you?” and Aunt Jo looked as if she quite understood the love of the little girl for her only brother.
“'Course I can't; we're twins, and so we love each other more than other people,” answered Daisy, with a brightening face, for she considered being a twin one of the highest honors she could ever receive.
“Now, what will you do with your little self while I fly around?” asked Mrs. Bhaer, who was whisking piles of linen into a wardrobe with great rapidity. ”

“ I often thought I'd like to see her, and thank her for being so kind to our little girl, but, only knowing your first name——"
"My name is Mary Turner," said the girl. [233] "I live in Boston, though not at Back Bay, but I come over here every day on the boat to work."
"Do you like it?" asked Aunt Jo.
"Yes, it is very pleasant, and not too hard. I like the smell of the salt water. I'd be near the ocean all the while if I could. But we can't have all we want," and she smiled. "Shall I get you some more cold water?" she asked Margy. ”

“ It played rather a sad and doleful tune, and, at the sound of it, the monkey seemed to prick up his ears, much as a dog might do.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Rose. "Maybe that's the hand-organ man that owns this monkey."
"If it is I'd better see about it," said Aunt Jo. "I want you children to have all the fun you can, but we don't want to keep a poor man's monkey, any more than we do the poor woman's purse, though she hasn't come for that yet." ”

“ Rose [49] said. "But I wouldn't like a dog to carry her off—'specially not such a big dog."
"Well, don't worry about Alexis," said Aunt Jo. "He won't hurt your Sue."
The visitors were shown to their different rooms, and their baggage was carried up so the children could change their clothes.
"Why do we have to change our clothes?" asked Vi.
"We want to put on some old things so we can have some fun," returned Russ.
"Can we sail a boat anywhere around here?" asked Laddie. ”

“ Rosy-face, next day, his interest quite reconciled me to the sniffs and sneezes of a bad cold.
'If I saw that poor little boy, Aunt Jo, I'd love him lots!' said Freddy, with a world of pity in his beautiful child's eyes.
And, believing that others also would be kind to little Jack, and such as he, I tell the story.
When busy fathers hurry home at night, I hope they'll buy their papers of the small boys, who get 'shoved back;' the feeble ones, who grow hoarse, and can't 'sing out;' the shabby ones, who evidently have only forgetful Sams to care for them ”

“ We can go to visit Bunker Hill Monument, and we can go on excursions to Nantasket Beach—oh, we can do lots of things to have fun!"
"That's good!" murmured Rose. "I think I'd like to go for a walk, and see things."
"So would I," agreed her mother. "If you like, Rose, you and I will take a walk. I want to get a few things from the store."
"Well, you can do that," said Daddy [58] Bunker, "and I'll stay here with Aunt Jo and look after the children. I'm afraid even five little Bunkers will be too much for her to manage."
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Aunt Jo. "I love children!" ”

“ The wagon was out in front of Aunt Jo's house now, and suddenly Mun Bun sniffed the air. He smelled something good.
"Oh, I know what it is!" he cried. "It's peanuts! The man is roasting peanuts and they whistles to tell him they're done. Don't you 'member, down at the corner by Daddy's office, home, there's a man an' he sells peanuts and they whistles."
"Oh, yes!" said Margy. "I 'members! I likes peanuts, too!" ”

“ And we must look in the 'lost and found' advertisements in the paper to-night."
"Yes, we'll do that," said Aunt Jo. "The poor woman must be very sad over her loss. She will be very glad to get it back, and——"
Just then the telephone in Aunt Jo's house gave a loud ring.
"Oh," cried Rose. "Maybe that's some one now to ask about the pocketbook I found. Oh, maybe it is!" [72]
CHAPTER VIII RUSS MAKES A FOUNTAIN
The six little Bunkers, as well as their father and mother, waited while Aunt Jo went to answer the telephone, which kept on ringing as though in a hurry. Vi had asked "Who's ringing?" ”

“ But, so far, no one had come to claim the wallet and the sixty-five dollars.
After dinner one day Aunt Jo said:
"Who wants to go on an auto ride?"
"I do!" cried Rose and Violet.
"Me, too!" added Margy, and Mun Bun said something, though they could not be sure just what it was, as he was still chewing on a bit of cracker he had carried from the table with him.
"I guess he means he'll go, too," said his mother. "But after this, Mun Bun, my dear, [188] finish your eating at the table, and don't be dropping cracker crumbs all over Aunt Jo's floor."
"I get Alexis, and he pick 'em up," said Mun Bun ”

“ I shall have to think up some other fun for you."
"We like fun," added Violet.
By this time Mun Bun and Margy had been fitted out with their "play clothes" as they called them; clothes that could not easily be soiled. Russ and Rose had dressed themselves, and Mrs. Bunker was seeing to Laddie and Violet. [50]
"And when you're all ready I'll have Parker serve the lunch," said Aunt Jo. "If you'll just excuse me now, I'll run down and see about it," she added to her brother.
"Go ahead," said he. "We'll be right down."
"Can Alexis stay up here with us?" asked Mun Bun. ”

“ With the end of the parasol, not pushing so hard as to hurt, Aunt Jo shoved loose Margy's foot. Then the dumbwaiter, which was a sort of open box, slid down on the rope that ran over a pulley-wheel, and Margy was lifted out. She had been crying and was frightened, but she felt all right when her mother took her in her arms and kissed her.
"How did you come to do it?" asked Mrs. Bunker. [126]
"I came down to the laundry to dry my rubber doll after I'd washed her," said Margy, "and I put her by the fire. One day I saw Parker give a lot of bars of soap a ride on the go-up-and-down-thing." ”

“ Just at this time Margy and Mun Bun had the coaster and were playing steam-car with it.
"What can we do?" asked Laddie, always ready to have fun with his older brother.
"We can make a harness for Alexis, and hitch him to the express wagon," went on Russ.
"Oh, that'll be lots of fun!" cried Laddie. "But what'll we make a harness of? Aunt Jo hasn't any horses and Mr. North hasn't either."
"We can make it of string," said Russ. "It doesn't need to be very strong, for we aren't very heavy to pull." ”

“ Well, we are, but we are only going on an excursion, or picnic."
"Where?" asked Russ, and once more he felt happy.
"Out to Nantasket Beach," said Aunt Jo. [218] "That's a nice trip by boat. It takes about an hour and a half from Boston, and we are looking to see what time the boats sail and come back."
"Oh, are we coming back?" asked Russ.
"Yes. We can only spend the day there," said his mother. "But Aunt Jo says it is very nice. It's a sort of picnic ground, with all sorts of things at which you can have fun. There are merry-go-rounds and roller-coasters. ”

“ What a story!" exclaimed Aunt Jo. "I know people must be jus [28] t as kind in Boston as they are in the South."
"Mebbe dey is, lady," said the colored boy, looking somewhat frightened because of Aunt Jo's vigorous speech. "Mebbe dey is; but dey hides it better yere. If yo' beg a mess of vittles in dis town dey puts yo' in jail. Down Souf dey axes you is you hongry? Ya-as'm!"
At that Aunt Jo began to bustle about to the great delight of the children. She called down to Parker, the cook, and asked her to put out a nice meal on the end of the kitchen table and to make coffee. ”

“ Even the Great Dane, Alexis, was mentioned. But the most important thing spoken of in the letter to the children's minds was the fact that Aunt Jo said she meant to keep Sam, the colored boy Mun Bun and Margy had introduced into her Back Bay home, all winter.
"The boy is really a treasure," said Aunt Jo. "He can do something besides dance—although he does plenty of that in the kitchen to the delight of Parker, Annie and William. [161] He has been taught to work, and is really a very good houseboy. And he looks well in his uniform." ”

“ The two boys were soon ready to go to a vacant lot not far from Aunt Jo's house, to fly their kites.
"A city's no place to fly kites," said Laddie. "We ought to be in the country."
"We ought to be at Grandma Bell's," agreed Russ. "That was a dandy place to fly kites—big fields and no telegraph wires to tangle the tail in." ”

“ It's been such a dismal day I'm really dying for some amusement," said Meg, as they sat sewing together that evening.
"I had a queer time with Aunt today, and, as I got the best of it, I'll tell you about it," began Jo, who dearly loved to tell stories. "I was reading that everlasting Belsham, and droning away as I always do, for Aunt soon drops off, and then I take out some nice book, and read like fury till she wakes up. ”

“ Daddy Bunker had taken Russ and Laddie to a moving picture show, but as Rose and Violet had seen it once, they did not want to go again. Margy and Mun Bun were asleep, and the two girls didn't know what to play.
"I know how to have some fun," said Rose at last. [201]
"How?" asked her sister.
"We can jump rope. I know where there's a piece of clothesline that Aunt Jo'll let us take."
"How can two of us jump rope?" asked Vi. "We'd both have to turn, so who could jump?"
"We can tie one end to a tree, and take turns turning," said Rose. ”

“ He had got out of a delivery wagon down the street, and was bringing some things to Aunt Jo. The boy had often called with groceries before, and Rose and Vi knew him. His name was Henry Jones.
"Hello, little girls!" called Henry, for he was older than any of them. "What you doin'?"
"Seeing who can jump highest," answered Rose. [205]
"I can jump higher'n any of you!" boasted Henry. "Want to see me?"
"Well, you ought to jump higher—you're bigger'n we are," said Mabel. ”

“ The Knight shook his head. “Not within a dozen leagues. But stop a bit—it is just possible that Aunt Jo can manage the matter. Aunt Jo is the sister of my wife’s mother, and one of the cleverest witches in the country. She stands very high in her profession and is thoroughly schooled in every branch of deviltry; and with the exception of my wife’s mother, I can think of no person whose society is less desirable. But one day in each year she takes a day off, during which she is as affable and benevolent an old dame as you can possibly imagine ”

“ If it had not been for aunty, Harry and Kitty would have long ago carried out their favorite plan, and have run away together, like Roland and Maybird. She kept them from this foolish prank by all sorts of unsuspected means, and was their refuge in troublous times. For all her quiet ways, aunty was full of fun as well as sympathy and patience, and she smoothed the thorny road to virtue with the innocent and kindly little arts that make some people as useful and beloved as good fairy godmothers were once upon a time.
As they sat at tea that evening papa and mamma were most affable and lively ”

“ Dan was her standing army, and defended her territories gallantly; Tommy was court fool, and Nat a tuneful Rizzio to this innocent little Mary.
Uncle Fritz and Aunt Jo enjoyed this peaceful episode, and looked on at the pretty play in which the young folk unconsciously imitated their elders, without adding the tragedy that is so apt to spoil the dramas acted on the larger stage.
“They teach us quite as much as we teach them,” said Mr. Bhaer.
“Bless the dears! they never guess how many hints they give us as to the best way of managing them,” answered Mrs. Jo. ”

“ I can't, but it's very nice to see you, and I'm so glad Aunt March gave you that lovely one. It's simple, but handsome, and those folds over the arm are really artistic. Is the point of my mantle in the middle, and have I looped my dress evenly? I like to show my boots, for my feet are pretty, though my nose isn't."
"You are a thing of beauty and a joy forever," said Jo, looking through her hand with the air of a connoisseur at the blue feather against the golden hair. "Am I to drag my best dress through the dust, or loop it up, please, ma'am?" ”

“ I used to hate teaching; but housekeeping for my own family was always sweet, though much harder in many ways. Isn't Aunt Jo pleased about all this?' asked Mrs Meg, already seeing in her mind's eye a splendid sign with 'Tiber, Brooke & Co.' over the door of a famous publishing house.
'So pleased that I could hardly keep her from letting the cat out of the bag too soon. I've had so many plans, and disappointed you so often, I wanted to be very sure this time. I had to bribe Rob and Ted to keep her at home tonight till I'd told my news, she was eager to rush down and tell you herself. ”