she dived into her closet, climbed up on the play box inside the door and
reached up to the shelf where she had put the box the girls had given her.
"What is it? Where'd you get it?" demanded Doris as the treasure was pulled
out.
"It's mine!" said Mary Jane proudly, "and we'll give a paper doll show like
Alice does--you just see!"
Doris had no older brother or sister to give her ideas so she had to wait
till Mary Jane explained her plan.
"First, we'll fix this up some way, they always do," began Mary Jane.
"But it's pretty now," objected Doris.
"Oh, yes, but we have to _fix_ it," said Mary Jane scornfully, "they always
do, they never use a box just as it is--never! Now what could we do, what
could go on top of a house? A roof, but what could we make a roof of? Or,
oh, I think we'll put on some clouds maybe, clouds ought to be easy, would
you like clouds, Doris?"
"On the top?"
"Yes, on top of the house where clouds belong."
"All right," said the obliging Doris, "I don't care which you make. But
where do we get clouds?"
"Let's ask 'Manda," said Mary Jane, "she's here to help make the party. She
likes me, maybe she knows where we can get some clouds." The two little
girls hurried down the back stairs to the kitchen, but Amanda wasn't there.
They were just about to go sorrowfully back to the nursery when Mary Jane
noticed something white on the table.
"Why, here are some clouds all ready for us!" she exclaimed. "I guess
'Manda must have known we were coming! You take all you can carry, Doris,
and I'll take the rest."
Doris plunged her hand bravely into the mass of beaten white of egg that
filled the great platter and Mary Jane tumbled all that was left into her
apron and they gleefully hurried back upstairs.
"There, now," said Mary Jane, "we'll make clouds all over our house and
then we'll have the show." But that show never was held.
For just as they left the kitchen, Amanda came back into it to finish the
cake she was making for the party and found that her eggs, the beautiful
whites that she had beaten with such pains, were gone!
"It sooly do seem queer, Mis' Merrill," she said to her mistress, "them
eggs was right here and then they wasn't here and eggs can't walk, kin
they--leastwise not when they's beat up?"
"No, eggs can't walk but little girls can," said Mrs. Merrill for she
suddenly recalled hearing mysterious sounds and giggles on the back stairs
a moment or two before. "I think I know where your eggs are but _why_ they
are gone, I can't imagine!" And she hurried up to the nursery. And there,
sure enough, were the eggs!
"What in the world are you girls doing with those eggs?" she demanded.
"Those aren't eggs," said Mary Jane scornfully, "those are clouds and this
is going to be a paper doll show."
"I don't know about a paper doll show, daughter," said Mrs. Merrill
seriously, "but I do know that those are the eggs which were to have gone
into the cake for Alice's party."
"Oh, mother, not really?" exclaimed Mary Jane, and the tears came into her
big eyes. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to spoil the party, truly I didn't,
mother! We just wanted some clouds--anyway I did," she added honestly, "and
we went down to 'Manda and she wasn't there but the clouds were so we took
them. That's all. _Will_ it spoil the party?"
"I don't know what to think," said Mrs. Merrill, as she sat down between
the two little girls to think and plan. "Alice wanted that especial kind
of cake for her party but eggs cost so much these days--there were eight
whites on that platter, Mary Jane; I don't believe I can afford eight more,
really I don't."
"Oh, I can, I _can_, mother dear!" cried Mary Jane and quick as a flash she
ran to her little white dresser. "I can afford it with this and I want
to!" She pulled out her precious letter with a dollar bill tucked in its
folds--the dollar bill that her great-grandmother had sent her and with
which she was to buy something very special for herself--and handed it to
her mother. "Please, mother, let her have it with this!"
"Do you realize that this is your very own dollar that you are giving me?"
asked Mrs. Merrill, and Doris eyed Mary Jane's wealth with surprised eyes.
"Yes, mother, I know it is mine, mine that I was saving for a big doll, but
I don't want to spoil Alice's party, truly I don't! Please let me go buy
some more eggs for her cake!"
"I believe you really want to," said Mrs. Merrill, as she slipped her arm
around the eager little girl, "and I believe it's the best thing to do. You
didn't realize that you were taking something that you had no right to when
you took those 'clouds' for the doll house, did you, Mary Jane?"
"'Deed I didn't, mother, and please may we get the eggs now?"
Mrs. Merrill looked at her watch. "There will be just time if you go right
away, dear," she said; "come the back way and I'll give you a basket
to carry them in so none will be broken. And get eight, that's all you
took--I'll buy the yellows from you so you will still have a good deal left
from your dollar."
The two little girls skipped down to the grocery in a hurry but they didn't
hurry home--no, sir! They walked slowly and carefully so that not an egg
was even cracked.
And by the time they got home and gave Amanda the eggs and saw them all
opened and divided, the whites on a platter and the yellows in a bowl, the
big whistles blew for noon and Doris had to go home.
Mary Jane went with her as far as the gate and then waited under the little
mulberry tree till her father came home for his lunch.
"Well, this is fine," said Mr. Merrill as he tossed her up onto his
shoulder. "I like to see my little girl waiting for me. And what have you
learned this morning, pussy?"
"I learned that eggs aren't clouds and that they cost money," said Mary
Jane, "and I didn't spoil the party!"
"Pretty good for one morning, say I," laughed father, and he carried her on
into the house.
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
The evening after Alice's party, Mr. and Mrs. Merrill held a long
conference and as a result a surprise awaited Mary Jane when she came to
the breakfast table the next morning.
"Do you know of anybody who has a birthday next week?" asked Mr. Merrill as
he kissed her good morning.
"I do, and I'm five years old," replied Mary Jane, "and that's pretty old!"
"Goodness! I should say it was!" exclaimed Mr. Merrill. "It's so old I can
hardly imagine it. And I think, Mrs. Merrill, something ought to be done
about it." As he looked solemnly across the table at his wife, his eyes
twinkled merrily and Mary Jane knew by their look that something nice was
coming.
"I'm sure I don't know anything to do about it," began Mrs. Merrill (and
Mary Jane noticed that her eyes twinkled too) "unless, perhaps, we might
have a party?"
"A party?" exclaimed Mary Jane, "a PARTY? A really for sure enough party
all just for me?"
"That is, of course, if you want one," added mother doubtfully.
"Oh, mother," cried Mary Jane and slipping down from her chair she gave
first her mother and then her father a big "bear" hug, "of _course_ I want
one! May I have it on my birthday?"
"To be sure," laughed Mrs. Merrill. "When else would a body have a birthday
party? Now you eat all your oatmeal like a good little girl and then you
help all you know how with the morning work and then we'll go down town and
buy some pretty invitations and favors."
Never did oatmeal vanish as quickly as did Mary Jane's bowlful on
that morning! And never did a little girl help so well with beds and
bathroom--really Mrs. Merrill hadn't guessed that a nearly-five-year-old
could do so much. So it wasn't quite ten o'clock yet when they made ready
to go down town.
"I'll be down in just a minute, dear," said Mrs. Merrill when Mary Jane was
all ready. "You run along and wait for me at the front porch."
Mary Jane walked down the stairs very slowly, and out onto the porch, and
out onto the steps, but still mother hadn't come. So, as she didn't want to
sit down and muss up her dress, she decided to walk once around the house
rather than wait on the porch. She walked past the hydrangea bed, past the
blooming bridal wreath and as far as the rose bed. And there she stopped in
amazement. For right there on the first bush, where it might easily have
been seen these many days by ice man, grocery man or any one who passed,
hung mother's handsome butterfly pin! Mary Jane was so surprised she didn't
even touch the pin, she stood there and screamed.
Mrs. Merrill looked out of the window overhead and asked what the matter
was.
"Come quick!" called Mary Jane. "Do come quick!"
Mrs. Merrill, too frightened to ask questions, hurried down the stairs and
out into the yard and--well, she was as much surprised as Mary Jane was
when she saw her pin hanging there on the bush. She grabbed it quickly as
though she was afraid it would vanish before her eyes and then she threw
her arms around Mary Jane.
"You dear child!" she exclaimed in a shaky voice. "I never thought of
looking there! The pin must have still been on the dresser cover when I
shook it out of the window and I was in such a hurry I didn't notice. I'm
glad you have such bright eyes. Now you wait one minute more and I'll put
this safely away and then we'll go down town."
Such fun as they did have down town! They bought pretty little invitations
with a picture of a little girl with a pink parasol in one corner; they
bought cracker bonbons with pink frills outside and folded up paper baskets
inside and they bought gorgeous big paper hats in all the gay colors.
And then, when they got home, they wrote invitations to five little boys
and to four little girls, Mary Jane was the fifth little girl, you see. And
then they began making things for the party. Alice made a game to be played
with paper balls; father drew a big teddy bear on a sheet and mother made
a big black nose for him, a nose that little folks, with their eyes
blindfolded, were to try to pin on in the right place. And Amanda planned
cookies and cake and candy. Never was there such a party for it was Mary
Jane's first, you see.
At last the birthday came (Mary Jane had begun to fear it never would for
the days seemed three weeks long, every one) and the house was set in order
and the time came to dress. Mary Jane was to wear her brand new dress with
the pink sash, a new one that her grandmother had sent on purpose for the
party; and her new white shoes that father had given her and her new silk
stockings that her great-grandmother had sent. She felt very old, and
grand, and grown-up when she walked dignifiedly down the stairs and into
the living room. She had looked in the glass most carefully and the glass
had told her that she looked just as nice as any little girl could and
quite grown-up too.
She stood just inside the living room door and her heart beat quickly when
Amanda went to answer the first ring at the front door--just think the
wonderful party was beginning!
Junior came first, naturally, because he lived nearest and Mary Jane
noticed that his pocket bulged in a most curious fashion.
"Of course you didn't have to bring me a present," she said calmly, "but if
you did, why don't you give it to me right away now, so it don't muss up
your pocket?"
Junior, who had been puzzling all the way across the street about how he
was to give Mary Jane that present, was greatly relieved to have the matter
so easily settled. He pulled out the be-ribboned package and eyed it
carefully while Mary Jane undid it and exclaimed over the beautiful new
party coat for Marie Georgiannamore. Mary Jane scampered back upstairs
to get the forgotten doll and the two children, and the others who began
dropping in were so busy dressing the dolls that they quite forgot
"company" manners and had a good time from the start.
[Illustration: There's no need to tell of all the good times at that
party.]
There's no need to tell of all the good times at that party; of all the
games and the fun; the scramble into the ten chairs at the candle lighted
table in the dining room; of the sandwiches which disappeared so quickly;
the ice cream in the shape of circus men; the big white cake with its five
pink candles and one white one in the middle to grow on--you know all about
that yourself because you've been to parties and know what fun they are.
When all the goodies were eaten up; when not a child could have eaten
another bite had the table been full again, Mrs. Merrill passed around the
paper bag favors and each guest put the candy he couldn't eat and the nuts
and the paper caps and the flower favors and a piece of the birthday cake
into his or her bag and then each bag was laid carefully by each little
guest's hat and coat ready to take home. And then the five little girls and
the five little boys slipped down from their chairs and ran out of doors
for a final romp.
It was a tired little girl that Mrs. Merrill tucked into bed that
night--but a very happy one. "I do think parties is the nicest things," she
said with a satisfied sigh; "they's the nicest things I know!"
Mrs. Merrill smiled and kissed Mary Jane good night. Mary Jane had had
quite enough excitement for one day so she said not a word about another
surprise that she knew was coming--a surprise that _might_ prove to be even
more fun than a party!
A LETTER AND A TRIP
Mary Jane slept late on the morning after the party. By the time she was
awake enough to realize that another day had come, she discovered that she
was alone upstairs. She ran to the top of the stairs and looked over the
railing. No one was in the hall and sounds from the dining room told her
that the family was at breakfast.
"I'll just surprise them," she said to herself, "and show them how much
a big girl like me can do." She ran back into her room and put on her
slippers and her kimono; she went into the bathroom and washed her hands
and face and brushed her teeth and then she slipped soundlessly down the
stairs. At the door of the dining room she stopped to get a good breath
with which to say "Boo-o-o-o!" and as she took her breath she heard her
father say, "Well, if you really think it's all right for her to go--five
years old seems pretty young to me for such a trip."
"Of course it would be if she went alone--I wouldn't even think of that!"
answered Mrs. Merrill's voice, "but with Dr. Smith to look after her and
Alice coming as soon as school is out--I believe it will do the child
good."
"So do I," exclaimed Mary Jane, darting into the room, the "booo" quite
forgotten.
"Now, you'll have to tell her," laughed father, "and of course she won't
want to go.
"Of course I will," laughed Mary Jane gayly. "Where am I going, mother?"
"Do you think you are old enough to go visit your great-grandmother Hodges
all by yourself?" asked mother.
"With my own trunk and my own ticket, and my own pocket book and my own
conductor?" demanded Mary Jane, who could hardly believe what she heard.
"With your own trunk and pocket book," said Mrs. Merrill, "but I don't know
about the ticket and the conductor because Dr. Smith is coming again and
he will take you back with him if we will let you go and trust him to look
after you on the journey. Do you think you'd like to go?"
"I don't think it, I know it!" cried Mary Jane, and she danced around the
table with her kimono flying out behind her. "Can I go to-day?"
"Hardly!" laughed Mrs. Merrill. "We have to buy you some strong shoes for
the country and make you some rompers to play with the chickens in and pack
your trunk and, oh, a lot of things before you can go."
"Well, a lot of things won't take very long because I'll help," said Mary
Jane eagerly, "see? I'll climb right up and eat my oatmeal without you
telling me to--that's how I'll help."
Mr. and Mrs. Merrill both laughed and Mr. Merrill, as he rose from the
table, said, "If you will eat your breakfast, just as you know you should,
every morning while you are gone, I really think I'll let you go." (For,
you see, Mary Jane hadn't ever liked her oatmeal.) And when Mary Jane
promised solemnly that she would, he said it was all settled.
Such fun as there was after that! Alice and Mrs. Merrill sat at the table
long after father left for work and they planned out just how many weeks it
was till Alice could go to the country too, and how many weeks there were
after that till Mr. and Mrs. Merrill could come for his vacation and how
many rompers Mary Jane ought to have and how many pairs of shoes and
rubbers and how big a sun hat Mary Jane needed. And then, after Alice had
gone to school, Mary Jane helped her mother with the morning work so they
got off very early for down town and the shopping.
And that evening, when father got home, he carried the steamer trunk down
from the attic and Mary Jane began packing.
By noon of the next day, she had the trunk so full of dolls and doll
clothes and teddy bears and books that it couldn't possibly shut and she
hadn't put in it one single thing to wear--not a single thing!
"You seem to think that there isn't going to be anything to play with in
the country," said Mr. Merrill when Mary Jane showed him her morning's
work. "Must you take all your city things? I should think you would leave
those here and play with grandmother's things while you are at her house."
"Will she have anything for a little girl?" asked Mary Jane in surprise.
"If she hasn't, you come right back home," laughed father, "but I don't
worry about that. I think she has more than you'll need."
So after lunch Mary Jane took all the playthings and the dolls out of the
trunk and put them neatly into the closet and that was much better for then
there was plenty of room in the trunk for clothes and for two mysterious
packages which Mary Jane saw her mother put in the very bottom. And it was
a good thing that she put everything away so nicely for at three o'clock
Dr. Smith telephoned that he was unexpectedly called home and could Mary
Jane go home with him that very night?
Mr. Merrill was phoned to and he said he would tend to the ticket and the
trunk check. Mrs. Merrill packed the trunk and Alice, who happened home
from school in just the nick of time, bathed and dressed Mary Jane for the
train. So that by the time Dr. Smith came out to dine with them the trunk
was packed and gone, the little traveler was dressed and everything about
the house was back in apple pie order.
Mary Jane was so excited she could hardly eat a bit of dinner but Dr. Smith
said it wouldn't matter so much because she could have some good fresh eggs
and two glasses of milk and some of Grandmother Hodges' corn bread for
breakfast.
It's pretty exciting to go off on the train at night and leave your father
and mother and sister. Mary Jane found that out; and she got a queer lump
in her throat on the way to the station. A lump that for some reason or
other grew bigger and bigger when father held her snugly as he lifted her
out of the car and that nearly made her cry when mother held tight onto her
hand as they went through the station.
But fortunately the train came in just then and with the seeing that the
trunk was really put on and kissing folks good-by and sending a message to
Doris and meeting the big jolly conductor and giving her hand bag to the
porter and laughing at Dr. Smith's funny jokes and all that--the lump
didn't get as troublesome as Mary Jane had feared it would. She got into
her section in time to wave good-by to the three on the platform as the
train pulled out and then, before she had a chance to feel lonesome, Dr.
Smith said, "Did you ever see them work a bed on a train?"
"Work a bed?" asked Mary Jane. "What's that?"
"Make up a bed, I mean," laughed Dr. Smith. "Did you ever see how the bed
works when it is made up? Here, Sambo," and the doctor held his hand high
and motioned to the porter, "this little girl wants to know how she's going
to sleep, she doesn't see any bed."
"She'll see in a minute, sir, jest a littl' minute," said the good natured
porter and he slipped off his blue coat; put on a white one; took down part
of the ceiling and, right before Mary Jane's astonished eyes, made up a
bed. Mary Jane thought it was most amazing. She watched every move he made
and decided that when she grew up she was going to be a bed maker on a
train because it was so much more fun than making beds at home.
When the bed was all ready, Dr. Smith helped her take off her shoes
and tuck them into a little hammock that hung over the window; then he
unbuttoned her dress and helped her climb into her berth bed. Mary Jane
took off her dress, hung it on the rack just as her mother had told her to
do and settled herself comfy for the night. But suddenly she remembered
that she hadn't told the kind Dr. Smith "good night." She fumbled with the
curtains till she got a crack open and through that she stuck her curly
head.
"Good night, Dr. Smith," she said when she spied him sitting close by,
across the aisle, "I'm glad I'm going with you and I like sleeping on
a train and I'm _very_ glad that you live next door to my dear
great-grandmother."
"I'm glad too," replied the doctor. "Now you go straight to sleep, little
lady, so you will have roses in your cheeks when you get to grandmother's
in the morning."
And if you want to know of all the fun and good times that Mary Jane had
with the pigs and horses and chickens and strawberries she found at her
great-grandmother's house, you'll have to read--
"MARY JANE--HER VISIT."
End of Project Gutenberg's Mary Jane: Her Book, by Clara Ingram Judson