Bunker family

“ Last of all in the half dozen little Bunkers were Margy and Mun Bun. Margy's real name was Margaret, and the complete name of her small brother was Munroe Ford Bunker.
Now that we have finished with the children we will start on the grown-ups of the family. Daddy Bunker's name was Charles, and he was in the real estate business in Pineville, Pennsylvania. Mother Bunker's name was Amy, and before her marriage she was Miss Amy Bell.
Then there was Norah O'Grady, the good-natured cook, and Jerry Simms, an old soldier who could tell fine stories about the time he fought in battle. ”

“ With Rose, who was a year younger than Russ, the boy really took much of the care in the daytime of the other little Bunkers. The older ones really had to do this—or else there would have been no fun for any of them. You see, if the older children in a family will not [11] care for the younger, and cheerfully look after them, there can never be so much freedom and fun to enjoy as these six little Bunkers had.
Rose was a particularly helpful little girl, and, being eight years old now, she could assist Mother Bunker a good deal ”

“ When he was left alone, he cried for her, still clutching his shell.
The minister came the next day, and many people, and the minister talked to them about his mother. The two Uncle Bunkers were there, grim, hard-mouthed, glaring, for they hated each other as only brothers can hate. He wondered if they would still let him be partly a Bunker, now that his mother was gone. He wondered also at the novel consideration he saw being shown to his father. Dressed in a new suit of black, with an unaccustomed black hat, his father was plainly become a man of importance. ”

“ Just the same, he did not feel as though he could make a riddle out of it.
"Now, Rose, and you, Laddie," said Mother Bunker admonishingly, as she seated them before her in one of the double seats of the Pullman car in which they had their reservations, "I want to know all about how you came to forget the watch and the pin—and just where you forgot them?"
Although Mother Bunker was usually very cheerful and patient with the children, this was a serious matter. Carelessness and inattention were faults that Mother Bunker was always trying to correct. ”

“ Bunker sank down in the chair, from which she had sprung in her enthusiasm. "Indiana Stillwater, I never thought you would turn out such a spiritless kind of a woman. Of course it's none of my business, but if you start in this way, you'll lose your entire individuality."
"It's not so, Grandma Chazy. I do just as I like. I allow no one to compel me."
"You're quite right to ask your husband, and, if it's against his religious views, you stay home and read the Bible to his mother." Mrs. Bunker went to the mirror, arranging her hat, as if the question had been settled. ”

“ Bunker, sitting up in bed. She looked at her husband. "Where is Mun Bun?" she asked.
"I don't know," he answered. "He was sleeping with me, but, all of a sudden, I woke up and Mun Bun was not with me."
"He must have awakened and got up to get a drink, or something," said Mrs. Bunker. "Then when he went to go back again, he couldn't find the place where you were, and he's either crawled in with Russ [62] and Laddie, or with Rose and Violet. We must look for him."
"I'll look," said Mr. Bunker. "You stay with Margy. If she wakes up and finds you gone, she'll cry and disturb the whole car. ”

“ Frane Armatage and his wife sat.
The servants who were supposed to keep some watch upon the children were now all [228] in the quarters. Servants in the South seldom sleep in "the big house." And perhaps Mother Bunker forgot this fact.
At any rate, when she came to look for her brood late in the evening she found the four little ones fast asleep in their beds, as she had expected them to be. But Rose was not with Phillis and Alice Armatage, and Russ's bed was likewise empty.
"Where are those children?" Mother Bunker demanded of Daddy, when she had run downstairs again. "Do you know? ”

“ Bunker to her husband, who came out to see if there were any letters for him. "They can play in the sand and never get a bit dirty."
"Yes, they can do that," said Mr. Bunker. "So Cousin Tom wrote, did he? Well, I suppose that means we will soon be leaving Aunt Jo's."
"I shall be sorry to see you go," said Aunt Jo herself—Miss Josephine Bunker, to give [Pg 15] her complete name and title. She was Daddy Bunker's sister, and had never married, but she had a fine home in the Back Bay section of Boston, and the six little Bunkers, with their father and mother, had been spending some weeks there. ”

“ SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDPA FORD'S CHAPTER I THE MAN ON THE PORCH
"Oh, Daddy, come and take him off! He's a terrible big one, and he's winkin' one of his claws at me! Come and take him off!"
"All right, Mun Bun. I'll be there in just a second. Hold him under water so he won't let go, and I'll get him for you."
Daddy Bunker, who had been reading the paper on the porch of Cousin Tom's bungalow at Seaview, hurried down to the little pier that was built out into Clam River. On the end of the pier stood a little boy, who was called Mun Bun, but whose real name was Munroe Ford Bunker. ”

“ I'm too sick to work very hard. All I want is something to eat. And I haven't any papers that belong to your father. Is he at home—or your mother?"
"I'll call them," said Rose, for she knew that was the right thing to do when tramps came to the house.
But there was no need to go in after Mr. and Mrs. Bunker. They had heard the children talking out on the side porch, and a strange man's voice was also noticed, so they went out to see what it was.
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Russ. "Here's the tramp lumberman you gave the old coat to, but he says he hasn't any papers!" ”

“ Russ and Margy being the only Bunker chil [88] dren in sight, Mr. Bunker "shooed" them back to the Pullman car. He saw Rose and Mun Bun disappearing up the high steps, and he presumed Laddie and Violet were ahead. The train had started and the four children and daddy came to mother's seat before it was discovered that there were two little Bunkers missing.
"Oh, Charles!" gasped Mrs. Bunker. "Where are they?" The train began to move more rapidly. "They are left behind!" ”

“ She went out and Aunt Jo and Mother Bunker laughed. The youngsters were suddenly excited at that moment by the stopping of a taxicab at the door. Vi had spied it from the window, for hard as it snowed she could see that.
"Here's Daddy! Here's Daddy!" she cried, dancing up and down.
Mun Bun and Margy joined in the dance, while the other three children entered upon a whirlwind rush down the stairway to meet Mr. Bunker at the front entrance.
He came in, covered with snow, and with his traveling bag. The children's charge upon him would su [34] rely have overturned anybody but Daddy Bunker. ”

“ Bunker had lived alone he was neither a miser nor a crank, and did not appear to have had an enemy in the world. The crowds that flocked to the house came to view the body of their old friend, and to express a wish that his murderer be brought to speedy justice. Motives of mere curiosity did not actuate many of them. From several of them I gathered a number of clues, all of which pointed to one conclusion, namely, that a tramp had been seen coming from the direction of the Bunker farm early in the morning of the day on which the body of Mr. Bunker had been found. ”

“ He's been up North here for 'most two years. But he lost his job last month and couldn't find another."
"The poor boy," murmured Mother Bunker.
"Yes'm," said Annie. "And when he heard that the house was cold because me nor Parker didn't know what to do about the furnace, [32] and the fire was most out, he said he'd fix it. So he's down there now with Parker and Alexis."
"Did Alexis come home?" cried Russ, who was very fond, as were all the Bunker children, of Aunt Jo's great Dane. "Can't we go down and see Alexis?"
"And see Sam again," said Margy. "Me and Mun Bun found him, you know." ”

“ Bunker, in a soothing voice. Men, to her, were like big children—to be humored.
They had moved gradually toward the fire. "These logs," continued Lord Canning, "are a magnet towards which my eyes have been drawn every night since I came. If you knew what I see in them—such a sweet domestic picture, a vision of true happiness!"
"Well, don't depend too much on Indiana's domesticity," said Mrs. Bunker.
"We generally gauge a daughter by her mother, in England," stated Lord Canning.
"Well, it's different over here. The young generation are so precocious—so far ahead of the mothers." ”

“ I can't have my son starving himself for the sake of feeding a sea-eagle."
"Oh! It isn't the eagle, Daddy."
"What is it, then?"
"It—it isn't an it at all!" exclaimed Russ Bunker and he was so very much worried that he was almost in tears.
"What do you mean?" asked his father.
"I—I can't tell you," Russ faltered. "It isn't about me at all. It's som [94] ebody else, and I oughtn't to tell you, Daddy."
CHAPTER X CHARLESTON AND THE FLEET
A boy hates to tell on another person if he is the right kind of boy. And Russ was the right kind of boy.
Daddy Bunker knew this; so he did not scold. ”

“ Bunker to his wife, "and I'll look for Margy. I'll find her in a jiffy, which is very quick time, indeed," he told the children. "Run along now, Mun Bun, and you too, Vi and Laddie. Rose, you go with your mother and help take care of Mun Bun."
"Shall I come with you, Daddy?" asked Russ.
"Yes," answered Mr. Bunker, "you may come with me, Russ. You can run faster [34] than I can, and if we find Margy playing tag with some of the other little boys and girls on the steamer you can catch her more easily than I can."
Mr. Bunker said this for fun. He didn't really think Margy was playing tag. ”

“ Bunker anxiously, as she saw her husband coming up the walk toward the house. "Did you get your papers?"
"No," he answered. "I forgot that I had given the old coat to a tramp, and the papers were in one of the pockets," and he told his wife what had happened at the real estate office.
"And we got a letter from Grandma Bell!" exclaimed Rose as soon as she had a chance to speak.
"And we're going to see her—up to Lake Sagatook, in Maine," added Russ.
"No? Really?" cried Mrs. Bunker in delight. "Did you get a letter from mother?" she asked her husband. ”

“ But all things must come to an end, even picnics, and when the six little Bunkers had done about everything they wanted to at the pleasure resort it was time to take the boat back for Boston.
On board, after the children and the grown folks were seated, Vi saw her friend Mary Turner.
"There's the girl that found me when I [240] was lost, and the one that had Rose's doll," said Vi, pointing.
"Oh, so it is!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "Don't you want to come over and sit by us?" she asked the bathing-pavilion girl.
"Yes, I should like to," was the answer. "It's lonesome riding home alone." ”

“ And the motor boat is there also. It was stolen from a friend of mine. He'll be glad to get it back—as glad as I am to get my rowboat and my wrist watch—only, of course, the tramps didn't have that. But the ragged men will not trouble any one for a long time, now."
"Did any of them have Mrs. Brown's jewelry?" asked Mother Bunker.
"Not as far as we could learn," her husband answered. "These tramps said they were never near the Brown place."
"That's too bad. I'm sorry, I mean, that Mrs. Brown won't get back her rings and things," Mother Bunker went on. "But I'm glad these men have been captured. ”

“ Your friend, sir, will be a fortunate man if he is able to please my sister.”
“She seems, indeed, a charming girl.”
“Charming! She is an angel in human form! And I, sir, her brother, will see to it that she is not deceived in the man she chooses—not if I can help it!”
The young man said this with such an air as Bunker supposed his forefathers to have worn when they hurled the tea into Boston harbor.
“I trust that Lord Tulliwuddle, at least, will not fall under your displeasure, sir,” he replied with an air of sincere conviction that exactly echoed his thoughts. ”

“ I knew that there was no one in the building but Bunker and myself, and Bunker was one of those rollicking souls who are in a continuous condition of cheerful impecuniosity. There was not a place open in the neighborhood except the saloons, and there I was not known. Clearly, I could not raise any money for her that day; but I promised her the use of my studio for the two following nights, when I should be home in the country, and I agreed to induce Bunker, who slept in his boarding-house, to put her up in his place for that night. ”

“ On his behalf I tender to his kind and courteous friends, Mr., Mrs., and the fair maids Gallosh, the thanks of a long-absent exile returned to his native land for the welcome they have given him! To his devoted clan he not only gives his thanks, but his promise that all rents shall be reduced by one half—so long as he dwells among them!” (Tumultuous applause, disturbed only by a violent ejaculation from a large man in knickerbockers whom Bunker justly judged to be the factor.)
“With his last breath he shall perpetually thunder: Ahasheen—comara—mohr!” ”

“ Bunker, mockingly. "A man is never safe from marriage until he is married."
"Ha, ha, ha! Very good. Mrs. Bunker, you are really the liveliest woman I have ever met."
"Well, I'm not going to waste my day here," said Mrs. Bunker, decidedly. "I want to see the shops and take Indiana along. Thurston," advancing into the room, "I'm dying to see Indiana."
Thurston looked at her gravely.
"My dear Mrs. Bunker, I have plans for the future, which it is best you should know before you see Indiana."
Mr. and Mrs. Stillwater looked anxious, but Mrs. Bunker took his words lightly. ”