Mrs. Brown read a little article in the newspaper one evening, about
"Country week for poor children."
"Husband," said she, "I have an idea. We have such a good farm, and so
many nice things, suppose we take some boarders this summer, who can't
afford to pay anything."
When she told him what she meant, Mr. Brown thought it a very good
idea, indeed.
"The currants and raspberries are ripe. I'll see if Mrs. Anderson
knows of some nice children, who will have to stay in the hot streets
of the city all summer. We will ask them to come here."
Of course, Mrs. Anderson knew of some nice children. She belonged to a
mission-school, and knew dozens of them. So, the next Wednesday, when
Mr. Brown drove down to the station, there she was, and two little
ones with her, Lina and Carl Schmidt. Carl was almost a baby, and went
to sleep as soon as they were in the carriage; but Lina held her
breath with delight as she rode to the farm. She was half afraid, too,
and held on very tightly if old Billy went faster than a walk. As Mr.
Brown watched the bright little face he began to think his wife's idea
was a splendid one.
"Well, little one," said Mrs. Brown to Lina, when they reached the
house, "what do you think of the country?"
"Oh, I do want to take such long breaths!" said Lina, "I wish my
mamma could see it too."
"The first thing for these small folks," added Mrs. Brown, "is some of
Brindle's nice milk."
[Illustration: {THE FAMILY WATCH THE COW BEING MILKED.}]
Carl waked up long enough to drink some, and say, "Dood, dood." Then
he grew sleepy again, and Mrs. Brown laid him on a shawl upon the
grass, under the trees. The hens gathered around him, looked at each
other and clucked, as much as to say, "What kind of a queer creature
is this?" Young Mr. Bantie was about to peck him to find out, when
they heard a little voice calling "Biddy, Biddy, Biddy!" from the
barn. Off they went, half flying and half running.
Mrs. Brown had given Lina a tin pail, with corn in it to scatter to
the hens. They came from all directions, and got around her so closely
that she was afraid to stir. She had taken out one handful of the
corn, but was afraid to throw it. Then the greedy hens began to peck
her hand, and try to get it out of the pail. She began to cry so loud
that every one ran out of the house to see what was the matter. It was
funny enough to see her, standing in the middle of that greedy crowd
of hens, with her eyes shut very tightly, and her mouth very wide
open.
When Carl waked up, he wanted some more milk. Mrs. Brown said, "We'll
go down and see Brindle milked, and you shall have it nice and warm."
Lina had seen pictures of cows, but never a live one. She had no idea
they were so big. Mrs. Brown asked her if she would like to milk; but
she thought she would rather stand at a little distance. As for Carl,
he shut up his eyes, and tried to get out of sight of the creature.
However, he liked the warm milk very much.
Lina spent most of the next day in the garden. She helped pick the
peas and beans, and stem the currants. She went with Mr. Brown to find
the eggs, and held Billy's halter while he drank at the trough. Every
day was full of pleasure, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown had just as good a
time as the children. At the end of the week they couldn't bear to let
them go; so it came about that the children's week, for Lina and Carl,
lasted all summer.