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KRISTY'S RAINY DAY PICNIC
[Illustration: They were playing that the wax Doll was Sick.]
KRISTY'S
RAINY DAY PICNIC
BY
OLIVE THORNE MILLER
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ETHEL N. FARNSWORTH
BOSTON
AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON,
MIFFLIN CO.
COPYRIGHT 1906 BY H. M. MILLER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_Published October 1906_
CONTENTS
I. THE RAINY DAY 1
II. PLAYING DOCTOR; AND WHAT CAME OF IT 5
III. A SCHOOLGIRL'S JOKE 20
IV. ALL NIGHT IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE 27
V. MOLLY'S SECRET ROOM 45
VI. HOW MAMMA RAN AWAY 61
VII. HOW AUNT BETTY MADE HER CHOICE 73
VIII. NORA'S GOOD LUCK 91
IX. ONE LITTLE CANDLE 106
X. THE LOCKET TOLD 123
XI. HOW A DOG SAVED MY LIFE 145
XII. LOTTIE'S CHRISTMAS TREE 156
XIII. CHRISTMAS IN A BAGGAGE-CAR 172
XIV. HOW A BEAR CAME TO SCHOOL 189
XV. HOW LETTIE HAD HER OWN WAY 202
XVI. HOW KATE FOUND A BABY 223
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THEY WERE PLAYING THAT THE WAX DOLL WAS SICK
(page 6) _Frontispiece_
KRISTY STOOD PEERING INTO A WORLD OF DRIZZLING RAIN 2
SHE HAD TO PASS A COTTAGE ALMOST HIDDEN WITH FLOWERS 124
IN THE PARK I FOUND A BABY ... AND I SAT DOWN BESIDE IT 226
KRISTY'S RAINY DAY PICNIC
CHAPTER I
THE RAINY DAY
"I think it's just horrid!" said Kristy, standing before the window,
peering out into a world of drizzling rain. "Every single thing is
ready and every girl promised to come, and now it has to go and rain;
'n' I believe it'll rain a week, anyway!" she added as a stronger gust
dashed the drops against the glass.
Kristy's mother, who was sitting at her sewing-table at work, did not
speak at once, and Kristy burst out again:--
"I wish it would never rain another drop; it's always spoiling
things!"
"Kristy," said her mother quietly, "you remind me of a girl I knew
when I was young."
"What about her?" asked Kristy rather sulkily.
"Why, she had a disappointment something like yours, only it wasn't
the weather, but her own carelessness, that caused it. She cried and
made a great fuss about it, but before night she was very glad it had
happened."
"She must have been a very queer girl," said Kristy.
"She was much such a girl as you, Kristy; and the reason she was glad
was because her loss was the cause of her having a far greater
pleasure."
"Tell me about it," said Kristy, interested at once, and leaving the
window.
"Well, she was dressed for a party at the house of one of her friends,
and as she ran down the walk to join the girls in the hay-wagon that
was to take them all there, her dress caught on something and tore a
great rent clear across the front breadth."
"Well; couldn't she put on another?" asked Kristy.
"Girls didn't have many dresses in those days, and that was a new one
made on purpose for the occasion. She had no other that she would
wear."
[Illustration: Kristy stood, peering into a world of drizzling Rain.]
"What did she do?" asked Kristy.
"She turned and ran back into the house, held up her ruined dress for
her mother to see, and then flung herself on the lounge with a burst
of tears. Her mother had to go out and tell the girls that Bessie
could not go."
"That was horrid!" said Kristy earnestly; "but why was she glad, for
you said she was?"
"She was, indeed; for an hour later her father drove up to the door
and said that he was obliged to go to the city on business, and if
Bessie could be ready in fifteen minutes, he would take her and let
her spend a few days with her cousin Helen, who had been urging her to
visit her. This was a great treat, for Bessie had never been to a
large city, and there was nothing she wanted so much to do. You see,
if she had been away at the party, she would have missed this
pleasure, for her father could not wait longer. She forgot her
disappointment in a moment, and hurried to get ready, while her
mother packed a satchel with things she would need."
By this time Kristy was seated close by her mother, eagerly interested
in the story.
Mrs. Crawford paused.
"Do go on, mamma," said Kristy; "tell me more about her. Did she have
a nice time in the city?"
"She did," went on Mrs. Crawford; "so nice that her father was
persuaded to leave her there, and she stayed more than a week. There
was one scrape, however, that the girls got into that was not so very
nice."
"Tell me about it," said Kristy eagerly.
"Well," said her mother, "this is the way it happened."