WENONAH'S STORIES FOR CHILDREN
_By_
CLARA LOUISE BURNHAM
_and_
WARREN PROCTOR
THE HARMONY SHOP
PUBLISHERS OF GOOD BOOKS
BOSTON -- MASS.
COPYRIGHT, 1918,
BY A. M. DAVIS
_To_
EDITH BULLEN
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. LOIS AND HAROLD 1
II. WENONAH 5
III. DUSTY FEET 16
IV. BASKET MAKING 23
V. THE WAND 28
VI. THE GOLDEN KEY 48
VII. THE POLAWEE 85
VIII. FAREWELL 111
WENONAH'S STORIES FOR CHILDREN
CHAPTER I.
LOIS AND HAROLD.
When Lois and Harold Robbins first learned that they were not going to
the seashore this summer they felt very much disappointed.
Lois was ten years old and Hal was eight. They thought there was no fun
so nice as wading in the salt water and letting the foam break over
their legs. Of course it was better still to have Daddy put the
water-wings on them and let them float, and give them swimming lessons.
They had not quite learned to swim alone yet without the water-wings,
and this was to be the summer when they would surely do it.
When their father saw their disappointment he tried to cheer them up.
"Don't you know that Lake Michigan looks as big as the ocean?" he asked.
"It isn't salt," said Lois.
"Has it any starfish and crabs in it?" asked Hal.
"No," returned Mr. Robbins, "but children can swim in it and wade on the
sandy shore, and then there are sweet-smelling pine woods to play in,
and your mother wants to smell those pines. Don't you think you would
like to see a little more of the world, instead of going to the same
place every summer?"
Lois shook her head very decidedly. "No," she replied, "for I know we
shall never have such a good time as we do at the seashore."
Her father smiled. "It is never a wise plan to make up your mind not to
have a good time," he said. "That is like turning a bowl upside down.
Nothing can run into it, so it stays empty. Keep your bowls right side
up, both of you, and you can't tell what jolly things may run into them.
Hal, you remember those pictures of Indians we were looking at last
night?"
Hal at once became interested. He always wanted to hear all he could
about Indians.
"Well, don't you think it will be pleasant to see that country where the
Indians roamed, and led their wild, free life long after they were gone
from New England?"
"What do you mean by holding our bowls right side up?" asked the little
boy.
"If you are hopeful and cheerful and loving every morning and all day,"
replied his father, "you are holding your bowl right side up."
"Do you think if I do that in Michigan an Indian might fall into it?"
His father laughed. "I think the Indians have cleared out from there;
but you will see the trails they used through the woods, the places
where their tents stood, the water where their canoes moved so silently,
the shores where their moccasins trod so swiftly, and breathe the clear,
fine air through which their wild whoops rang as they danced around the
camp fire, while the smoke curled up above the tall trees."
"I say we go, Lois," said Hal, his eyes shining.
"If the Indians were there now," said his sister, "I think you would run
in the other direction."
"No, I wouldn't," returned Hal confidently. "I'd put on one of those
great big war bonnets and tell them I wanted to be a brave and live with
them, and I think they'd let me; but I don't think they'd take you,
Lois, for they like braves a great deal better than they do squaws."
"I wouldn't be a squaw," returned Lois. "I would be an Indian princess
and wear a wonderful red mantle with purple stripes and have chains
about my neck, and my hair braided and shining, and beautiful bracelets,
and they would all bow down to me--and you'd have to, too."
"No, the chief would take me for his son and I should have a wonderful
bow, the longest in the tribe, and shoot my arrows so straight that the
other Indians would all say 'Ugh! ugh!' That's what they say when they
like anything, isn't it, Daddy?"
"I think it is," returned Mr. Robbins, and Harold ran to get the Indian
book to show his sister how he would look shooting arrows before an
admiring tribe, because he had found that picture last night, and it had
pleased him very much indeed. He found the picture of a princess for
Lois and she liked the looks of the straight-nosed beauty, because her
own nose turned up a little, and she thought it would be fine to have
such a handsome nose and hold her head so proudly. It was almost
impossible to hold one's head proudly if one had a turn-up nose.
Her father patted her shoulder as he passed her to leave the room.
"That's right," he said. "Have a good time being a princess this summer,
instead of a mermaid. I'll get you a tent if you want it."