So they left their cozy table, where nothing but empty dishes told the
story of their delightful lunch party, and wandered over to the window
where Mary Jane had looked down at the street not much over an hour
before. But what a difference! With a sudden, unexpected shift of wind
that only the Chicago weather man knows how to bring about, the stiff,
cold northeaster that had brought the cold rain of the morning had been
sent off and in its place a warm breeze from the south blew softly across
the city, bringing with it sunshine and warmth and pleasantness for all.
"Why--" exclaimed Mary Jane, much puzzled, "where's the rain?"
"Did you want it back?" laughed Mrs. Merrill, and then she explained to
the girls something about the effect the big lake might have on weather
and told them that one of the queer things about Chicago was its sudden
changes to good, or sometimes bad, weather.
"So I was wondering," said Mr. Merrill, "if you folks wouldn't like an
hour of fresh air and then, if you're not through shopping we can come
back to the stores."
The girls hadn't an idea what he might want to do, but they were pretty
sure it would be fun. So they agreed that an hour out of doors was just
what they most wanted and they went down to get wraps from the check room.
They left the umbrellas till later, put on their wraps and left the
store.
"Now then," said Mr. Merrill, "see that big bus down there--we're going
for a ride on the top."
"What's a bus?" asked Mary Jane, who had never heard the word before. But
before her father could answer they were pushed into the crowd at the
crossing, hurried across and the next second Mr. Merrill had hailed a
great, lumbering, top-heavy automobile and was helping the girls to step
aboard.
The "bus" proved to be a large-sized passenger automobile, with a deck on
top for passengers who wished to ride in the open air. Mary Jane and Alice
were thrilled with the fun of getting on it. It seemed exactly like going
aboard a house-boat on wheels. They stepped into a little hallway and
then--and this wasn't so easy because the bus immediately began to
move--they climbed up a curving flight of stairs and walked down an
aisle--an awfully wiggly aisle it was too!--to seats on the very front
row.
Then, before they had had a chance to look around or feel at home, the
conductor, who stood at the back, shouted, "Low bridge!" and everybody
ducked their heads while the great bus went under the elevated railroad.
Mary Jane felt, truly, as though she must be a person in a story
book--Arabian Nights or something marvelous--because surely the things
that were happening to her weren't _really_ happening.
But after the elevated was passed, the bus rolled out onto Michigan
Boulevard and Mary Jane settled herself comfortably in her front seat with
her mother, smiled across the aisle to Alice and her father and began to
feel really at home in her high perch. By the time the bus had turned
northward and crossed the river, she began to feel that riding on the top
of a bus was the thing she'd been wanting to do all her life. It was such
fun to sit up high and watch the lake, so blue and beautiful in the
sunshine, the trees just getting a tinge of green at the tips, the pretty
houses that lined the parkway, the people--it seemed as everybody in
Chicago must be out in their 'tother best clothes--and most of all, it was
fun to watch the automobiles dart in and out of the crowd, around the bus
and beside it, till Mary Jane was sure their driver must be some wonderful
being to be able to manage so that everybody stayed alive!
"Here, Mary Jane," said Mr. Merrill, interrupting Mary Jane's
sight-seeing, "don't you want to pay your fare--Alice is paying ours." He
slipped two dimes into her hand just as the conductor stepped to the front
of the bus. Mary Jane wasn't quite sure what she was to do with the dimes
till she noticed that the conductor had in his hand a queer-looking thing
like a clock, only it had a hole in the top just the right size for a
dime. Into that hole Mary Jane dropped a dime. And--"ding_ding_!" went a
musical little bell somewhere in the "clock." Then she dropped the other
dime. And again the bell sounded, "ding_ding_!" just as though it tried to
say "Thank _you_!" that way. Alice then dropped her two dimes and Mary
Jane had the fun of hearing the bell again. She thought she wouldn't do a
thing but watch the conductor and listen to his bell all the time he
collected fares, but just as he stepped back to get the next folks' money
the bus passed in front of the queer old stone building with great tower
that Mr. Merrill said was the city water works building, and of course
that meant the girls wanted to hear about when it was built and hear again
the story Mr. Merrill had started to tell them several evenings before
about how the great Chicago fire started and how it burned up to this very
spot they were now passing. Somehow, being at that place and seeing the
one building that stood through the fire made the history stories seem
very plain and there were a lot of questions to be asked and answered.
But buses don't wait for questions--the girls soon discovered that! Long
before the fire story was told they had raced up Lake Shore Drive, passed
its beautiful old homes, and were turning into Lincoln Park. Here it
seemed to the girls that the city ended and fairyland began. The grass
seemed greener, the lake bluer and the trees greener than any place they
had seen; and hundreds of tulips peeping up through the ground here, there
and everywhere, made spots of bright vivid color and beauty.
"Oh!" exclaimed Mary Jane happily, "I hope the bus goes on and on forever!
I'd like to keep on riding all the time!"
But when, a minute or two later, they passed near the buildings of the
Zoo, Mary Jane forgot all about wanting to ride forever and wanted to get
out, right away quick and see all the animals she had heard lived there.
"Not to-day," said Mr. Merrill, looking at his watch. "You remember we are
to go back to the stores--we're just out for a bit of fresh air this time.
Some other day when it's still warmer so we can get our dinner here, then
we'll come and visit the Zoo. But to-day I want to get back to the stores
before they close."
"Of course," added Alice, "for our umbrellas."
"Of course for something else too," laughed her father, and though both
girls were very curious, not another word would he say.
So they stayed on the bus and rode clear through the park, and up Sheridan
Road a long way till the bus turned around at a corner and the conductor
shouted, "Far's we go!"
But the Merrills didn't get off. They wanted to keep those good front
seats so they sat still and in about two minutes the bus started south and
whirled them through the park and past all the same interesting sights on
the way cityward. This time, Mary Jane felt very much at home in her
high-up perch. She dropped in the dimes her father gave her, eyed the
passing autos without a bit of fear and looked down on all the children
she saw walking and playing quite as though she had lived in a city and
ridden in busses all her young life.
It was a very reluctant pair of young ladies that Mr. Merrill assisted to
the sidewalk when the big stores and "time to get off" were reached.
"But what was it besides umbrellas you wanted to get?" asked Mary Jane,
suddenly remembering.
"Well," said Mr. Merrill, "I haven't been through the toy department with
anybody. And I have a calendar."
The girls looked puzzled. What had the toy department to do with a
calendar? They couldn't guess. Even Mrs. Merrill looked puzzled.
"Of course if you don't intend to have birthdays since we've moved--" said
Mr. Merrill teasingly. And then everybody knew! To be sure! It was almost
time for Mary Jane's birthday--almost a year, it was, since the lovely
birthday party when the little girl was five years old--and in the
excitement of moving and getting settled and seeing new sights, even the
little lady herself had forgotten how near the day was at hand.
"It's mine!" exclaimed Mary Jane happily, "and I'll be six! Come on,
quick, Dadah! and I'll show you perzactly what I want." When Mary Jane got
excited she sometimes got words a little mixed, but her father knew well
enough just what she meant. She grabbed hold of his hand, called to her
mother and Alice to come on with them and away they went toward the
elevator that quickly took them to the toy section.
Going through that department the second time was even more fun than the
first trip, because now father was along to see things and to explain
mechanical toys. And also because there was the fun of picking out the
thing she wanted to wish for, for her birthday. That last was a very
serious matter, as every little girl knows.
They looked at dolls--but not a doll was as lovely as Georgiannamore, at
least that was Mary Jane's opinion--and then they looked at furniture and
at dishes and toys and games and clothes for dolls and, well, at every
single thing in that whole big department. After everything had been
considered and looked at and thought about, and it was about time for the
big warning bell to ring and tell folks that in ten minutes the store
would close and everybody'd have to get out, then and not until then, Mary
Jane decided that the thing she wanted most of all was a doll cart. A
beautiful little ivory enameled doll cart made just exactly like the one
that Junior's little brother had back at their old home. A cart with a top
that moved back and forth just like a real baby cart and that had cushions
and tires and everything that a really truly mother is particular to want
for her baby.
"Yes," said Mary Jane, as she looked around the store with a rather tired
sigh, "I think that's the thing I want the most and I'm going to wish for
it, Dadah."
"Sounds easily settled," laughed her father, "but do you know what time it
is?"
Before she could answer, the warning bell rang and clerks began to cover
up counters and to straighten up the store for its Sunday rest. So the
Merrills four hurried down to get umbrellas and to go home.
On the train going home Mary Jane was so tired looking at things that she
didn't care a bit about looking any more. She watched the lake some, but
mostly she simply settled back in her little corner behind the door and
just sat. Thoughts of all the wonderful things she had seen that day raced
through her mind--the lunch, the ride, the lake, the park--but most of
all, that wonderful doll cart, and she couldn't help wondering (and of
course hoping) if she really truly would, _possibly_, get that lovely gift
for her birthday.