The children, very, very solemn but oh so thrilled, seated themselves on
the grass and silently accepted the plates of good things that Helen and
Rosanna dished out for them. It is to be said for the everlasting credit
of the jello that it did _not_ melt, and the salad _did_ ride well,
although Minnie had gloomily expected it to be "all over the place" as
she expressed it.
How those children did eat! Commencing with the ham sandwiches and the
lettuce and egg sandwiches, and the cold hard-boiled eggs, and crackers
and olives, and fruit salad, and very, _very_ thin iced tea with lemon
in it, and jello for dessert!
About half way through the smaller children commenced to thaw out and
lose their shyness, and talk. _How_ they did talk! Myron said nothing
(but that was expected of Myron). When at last Rosanna was tipping up
the second thermos bottle to see if there was a drop of tea left, and
they were all eating the last cookies very, very slowly, partly to make
them last and partly because they were so full and comfortable, Rosanna
happened to notice Myron. She motioned to Helen to look. Myron had not
eaten everything. He had slyly lifted the tablecloth and had hidden
under it a ham sandwich rather nibbled as to edge, a small pile of
cookies (his share) and his plate of jello, which he had slipped off on
a paper napkin.
"He couldn't eat all his supper, and he is afraid we won't like it,"
whispered Rosanna.
"I am going to ask him," said Helen. She stepped over to the boy, who
was sitting close to his little pile of goodies as though trying to hide
it. "Couldn't you eat all your supper?"
Myron nodded.
Mary glanced quickly at her brother, and said, "Why, Myron, _whatever_
are you trying to do?"
Tommy piped up. "I guess he's going to take 'em home to eat on the way."
"I am _not_!" said Myron hotly, stung into self-defence as usual by his
brother. "I am _not_! Going to take it home to mamma and Gwenny. I
haven't had a speck more'n my share. I counted every time, and everybody
had four cookies 'cept Tommy. He had six. And I saved my sandwich out,
and the jell!"
Tears stood in Mary's eyes. "But it isn't polite, Myron, to take
anything away without asking and, anyway, I know mamma and Gwenny will
be satisfied to just hear about our good time, and they wouldn't want
you to do such a thing." She tried to put the cookies back on the table
but Myron clung to them stubbornly.
"No, no!" he said. "They are _my_ things! I went without 'em, and I want
to take them home to mamma and Gwenny. Gwenny never had any cookies
like those. And the jell is so pretty. I put a egg in my pocket too."
Myron's lip trembled, but he did not cry although Tommy giggled openly.
"Of course you shall take them home to your mother! Who is Gwenny--your
dog?" asked Rosanna.
"Gwenny is my _sister_!" said Myron furiously.
Rosanna felt that she always said the wrong thing.
"Oh, excuse me, Myron," she said meekly.
A shade of sorrow passed over Mary's bright little face as she said,
"Gwenny can never go anywhere with us. She is sick, and never goes
anywhere."
"Sick in bed?" questioned Rosanna.
"No, she has a wheel chair, and when her back doesn't hurt too much, she
can be wheeled around the house and sometimes out in the yard. But she
wouldn't want Myron to do anything like this, so rude."
"But Gwenny never _had_ any cookies as good as those, and the jell is so
pretty!" repeated Myron stubbornly.
"I think it is so nice of you, Myron," said Rosanna. "I wish I had known
about Gwenny too so I could have saved her some of my cookies. Let me
help you do them up. You can take them to her just as you meant to, and
I know she will like them because her little brother went without to
save some for her. And some day soon, Myron, we will bring her a whole
picnic for herself, and perhaps she will ask you to help her eat it."
"I'll help her too," said Tommy, puffing up his chest. "I'd just as
soon!"
Minnie, bending over the hamper, whispered to Rosanna, "I'll bet he'll
help her! My, my, how I do want to fix that boy! I wish my third sister
from the oldest, Louisa Cordelia, had him for a while. I reckon one day
with her would make him feel different on a good many subjects. Little
pig!" Minnie's eyes snapped.
Rosanna laughed. "I suppose he doesn't know any better, Minnie."
"Know any better? Well, Miss Rosanna, Myron didn't need any help about
remembering his poor hard-worked mother and his sick sister. I don't
doubt Mary thought of 'em too, but she was too polite to say a word
after all you have done for them. But poor little Myron didn't know it
wasn't polite, so he just goes ahead and keeps part of his treat. If
there are any cookies in Master Tommy's pockets, they will never get as
far as his house."
"Well, I think he _is_ selfish," said Rosanna regretfully. "But, Minnie,
we must take some good things to that Gwenny. I think grandmother would
want me to."
After the supper things were all packed away in the hamper, everybody
sat around and wondered what to do next. Then Rosanna had a fine idea.
She seated herself next the shy little Myron and suggested that
everybody should tell a story. Tommy and Myron looked rather wild.
Rosanna saw the look, and said that she thought they ought to commence
with Helen, because she looked as though she knew lots of stories.
Helen said she didn't know so very many, but she was willing to try.
"This is a really truly story about a little, little boy. He did not
have any brothers or sisters, and he was very lonely and unhappy
although he had nice clothes and plenty to eat. So he thought if he just
had a little kitten or a dog to play with and live with he would be a
good deal happier, and perhaps he would even get to be as happy as he
could be. But his mother did not like to have dogs or cats around
because they tracked up things, so she wouldn't let him have them. And
somebody wanted to give him a canary but his mother thought it would be
a lot of trouble to feed. And once he 'most got a pair of white rats
with his Fourth of July money, but they simply wouldn't let him. So
there he was; and he grew lonelier and lonelier and he used to sit on
the top step and stare down the street and wish he might whistle at the
dogs he saw, but he wouldn't for fear one of them might be looking for a
home and then it would be so disappointed after he had patted it and
been kind to it, if it had to go on again.
"Well, one day there was a picnic down the river. The people went by
boat and then landed at the picnic grove, and spent the afternoon. The
little boy, whose name was Peter, went with his mother and aunt, and
when they got to the grove his mother said to his aunt, 'I don't see any
reason why Peter shouldn't walk around and amuse himself and play with
some of those children.' And his aunt said, 'Yes, if he doesn't fall
into the river,' and his mother said, 'Peter, you see to it that you
don't go near the bank.'
"Peter said 'yes, ma'am,' and really meant to mind. He walked off and
pretty soon--oh, yes, I forgot to say that his mother gave him ten cents
to spend for popcorn or on the merry-go-round. So pretty soon Peter saw
a dog walking around with his tail sort of down as though he didn't know
anybody and was not having a very nice time. Peter didn't call him, but
he wished he knew the dog, he was such a pretty collie with beautiful
long hair and such a nice face. Pretty soon the dog saw Peter, and quick
as a wink he knew that Peter was lonely too, so he came up to him. They
got to be friends in a minute and went walking off together, and Peter
spent his ten cents for popcorn and shared it with the dog.
"So they went around liking each other more and more, and when it came
time for supper the dog lay right under Peter's chair, and Peter's
mother said, 'Well, if you haven't picked up a dog! I declare that child
beats all!'
"After supper Peter and the dog walked around some more, and Peter knew
that soon the boat would start and he would have to leave the dog and he
felt worse and worse about it until he almost couldn't bear it at all.
"And he was thinking so hard that he forgot what his mother had told
him, and walked along the top of the bank by the river. It was a high
bank and crumbly; and all of a sudden a piece broke off and Peter
slipped and slid down, down into the river, and under he went. The next
thing he knew he was on the bank, and his mother was crying, and there
was a lot of people, and the dog was there wet as sop, and he was trying
to lick Peter's face, and Peter's mother was letting him do it. And a
man said, 'Madame, if it hadn't been for that dog, your son would have
been drowned. I saw it all.'
"Then Peter's mother kissed him, and patted the dog, and she said,
'Peter, if that dog has no home we will take him for your dog, and if he
has, we will try to buy him.' But it turned out that the dog did not
belong to anyone, and so Peter took him home, and had him for his dog
always."
"Why, that's a perfectly beautiful story!" exclaimed Rosanna, and all
the children thought so too.
"You ought to see _my_ dog," said Tommy. "He's a fighter, he is!"
"How can you say that?" said Mary. "He is only three months old and can
scarcely walk straight."
"Well, I bet he will fight when he gets bigger."
"He's not your dog anyhow," said Myron. "He's Gwenny's."
"Yes, and Myron bought him for her at the Pet Shop with money he earned
himself. It is a toy poodle, so he won't ever be big."
"Now who tells the next story?" asked Rosanna. "I think it is Tommy's
turn."
"Don't know none," said Tommy.
"Don't know _any_," his sister corrected him. "Go on and try, Tommy."
Tommy breathed hard, then said rapidly:
"Well, once over on the parkway two kids was playin', and a man came
along drivin' a race horse, and it had got scared at a nautomobile, and
was runnin' away, and the rein had broke, and the man he yelled, 'I'll
give anybuddy a million dollars to stop this horse,' and one of the kids
'bout my size give a leap and grabbed the horse by the nose and stopped
him. And the man jumped right out and give the kid a million dollars."
"The saints forgive him!" said Minnie. She did not say who.
"Mercy me!" said Rosanna.
"What did he do with the money?" asked Helen.
"Spent it," said Tommy promptly. "Went right down town and spent it."
"What could he spend such a lot for?" asked Helen.
"Spent it for candy and ice-cream cones and sody and cake, and he went
to the circus and all the side shows, and Fontaine Ferry and bought a
nautomobile and sling shot and everything."
"My sister Louisa Cordelia ought to know you," said Minnie.
"Don't want to know any girls," said Tommy rudely.
Rosanna felt that it was time to change the conversation. "Now who
next?" she asked pleasantly. "What story can Luella tell?"
"I don't believe she can tell any story," said Mary, "but she knows some
little verses she learned in school. They have such a sweet young lady
for a teacher; mamma says she never saw anybody take such pains with the
children as she does." She turned to Luella who was wriggling in
embarrassment and biting her finger. "Speak something Miss Marie taught
you, Luella honey."
"Miss Marie?" said Minnie. "Miss Marie? What is her other name?"
"Corrigan," said Mary.
"Well, then, that's my younger sister," said Minnie proudly. "She's a
teacher, and I _will_ say she is a good one. Nothing would do but she
must go through normal school and teach. Seems like she was just made
for it, so patient and loving." She cast a glance at Tommy. "Not much
like my sister Louisa Cordelia, she isn't."
"The children just love her to death," said Mary. "Go on, honey, and say
the little piece about the little bird."
Luella arose, breathed hard, curtseyed, and very sweetly recited,
A little bird sat on a tree,
And waved his little wing at me.
He said, "This seems a pleasant day,
I think perhaps I'll fly away."
He bent his pretty little head,
"I don't see any worms," he said.
He shook his pretty feathers out.
"It's growing cold without a doubt.
When all the leaves have fallen down
And all the trees are bare and brown,
When snow is deep on dell and hill,
And wintry winds are cold and chill,
This would not be the place for me,"
He said, and teetered on his tree.
"I know a land far, far away,
Where winter is as warm as May."
He waved a wing and winked an eye,
And off he flew, "Good-bye, good-bye!"