“WHERE are you going, Uncle Fred?” asked Lucy.
“I am going to make New Year’s calls, little girl,” replied Uncle Fred.
“And how do you make them? What are they made of?” inquired Lucy.
“Oh—ah—my dear child!” said Uncle Fred, who was looking for his
umbrella in a great hurry, “they are not _made of_ anything. You—ah—you
just _call_, you know, on all the people you know. Oh, here it is!
Good-by, little girl! I must be off.”
And off he hurried, leaving Lucy, mystified, in the hall.
“You just call!” she repeated. “Just call all the people you know. Why,
that is easy enough, but what a funny thing to do!”
She pondered a few minutes and then continued, “I think _I_ will go and
make New Year’s calls. It must be great fun! Perhaps I shall meet Uncle
Fred, and then we can call together, and that will be just twice as
loud.”
Away ran the little girl to her room. Blue coat, blue leggings, blue
mittens, swan’s-down hood, all were on in three minutes’ time; and
without a thought of Mamma or nurse or anybody else, Lucy slipped out
of the door, and ran merrily down the street.
Oh, how fresh and clear the air was! How the snow sparkled in the
sunlight! What a fine thing it was to make New Year’s calls!
And now the question was, where she should call first. Why, at
Grandma’s, of course! her house was in the square, just round the
corner. And then she would go to Aunt Maria’s, and then,—well, she
would think about the next place as she went along, but here was
Grandmamma’s house now.
Lucy looked up at all the windows, but no one was in sight.
So much the better! She planted herself squarely on the curbstone,
and opening her mouth to its fullest extent, shouted, “Grandmamma!
Grandmamma! Grandmamma!! GrandMAMMA!!!”
Her grandmother, who was sitting quietly by the fire, reading, heard
the piercing screams, and running to the window as fast as her dear old
feet could carry her, saw Lucy, panting and crimson, with her mouth
just opening for another shout.
Something had happened at home,—an accident, probably! No time must be
lost. Grandmamma threw up the sash.
“Run and call the doctor!” she cried. “Quick, dear! Don’t stop to tell
me about it, but run! I will be there in three minutes!” And she shut
the window, and trembling with anxiety, hastened to put on her shawl
and bonnet, and almost ran through the snow to her daughter’s house.
Meanwhile, Lucy ran on in high glee. “I hadn’t thought of the doctor!”
she said, “but of course I will go there, as Grandmamma wishes it. What
fun it is!”
The doctor’s house was soon reached, and Lucy’s shouts brought the good
man quickly to the door.
“Bless me!” he said, “Mrs. Graham’s little girl! Baby ill again,
I suppose? All right, my dear!” he cried to Lucy. “I’ll be there
instantly. Run and tell them I’m coming!” and he shut the door and
called for his boots.
Lucy danced along, enchanted with her new play, and soon reached Aunt
Maria’s house, where she called again, with might and main. Now, Aunt
Maria was slightly deaf, and when she heard her own name resounding in
a clear, shrill scream, “Aunt Mari-i-i-i-_ia_!!” she thought it was a
cry of _fire_!
Throwing up the window (she was a very nervous and excitable person),
she shrieked, “Fire! fire! Police! watchman! Help! help! _Fire!!_
FIRE!!!” till everyone within a dozen blocks heard her, and came
rushing to the rescue with buckets and fire extinguishers.
Lucy was rather frightened at all this, and thought, on the whole, she
would not make any more calls that day.
So she went home. And there were Grandmamma and the doctor and Mamma,
all waiting for her, with very grave faces.
The two first had arrived, breathless and agitated, inquiring what had
happened, and who was ill.
Much perplexity followed. And now that the author of all the mischief
had arrived, what should be done to her?
Lucy’s finger went into her mouth, and her head went down.
But she told her story truthfully; and it was such a funny one that the
doctor burst into a roar of laughter, and Grandmamma laughed heartily,
and even Mamma could not look grave.
So Goosey Lucy had a lecture, and a New Year’s cookie, and went to tell
her dolls all about it, while Mamma and Grandmamma and the doctor went
to see how Aunt Maria was.