One summer, Nelly's auntie, who lived in the country, asked her to
come and make a good, long visit, and you may be sure Nelly was very
glad to go.
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She had always lived in the city, and she thought it great fun to feed
the hens and chickens and calves, and to watch all the animals and
talk to them.
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Cousin Fred was about her own age, so it was very pleasant for them to
play together. Fred took her around the farm and told her about all
the pets, and they soon knew her as well as though she had always
lived there.
Milly, one of the horses, would eat out of a spoon, and Nelly and her
cousin took turns feeding her. When they went away, she whinnied for
them to come back again, but Nelly said, "You shall have some more
to-morrow; you mustn't be a piggy-wiggy."
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One day Fred and Nelly gathered flowers in the woods, and Nelly made a
wreath to put upon her cousin's head.
"It seems just like fairyland out here," she said. "Let's play it is
fairyland, and I'm a fairy and you're a brownie."
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Fred thought that a very good game indeed, and they played that they
lived in the flowers and could change themselves into birds, or
squirrels, or people, whenever they wished.
But bye and bye they got hungry, and they couldn't live on the honey
from the flowers, as real fairies might; so they spread out the lunch
which they had brought and decided to be children again. It seemed as
though they had never tasted anything quite so good as that lunch.
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One day Speckle, the big hen, made a great fuss because her brood of
ducklings went into the water. She flew about here and there on the
bank of the stream, and called to them to come back, but the ducklings
were having great fun and paid no attention at all to her.
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Chanticleer seemed to think they were not very well behaved and needed
a good scolding; so he began to strut about and talk at the top of his
voice; but the ducklings had their swim and came out as happy as could
be.
Nelly thought the little chicks were prettier.
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Shep, the dog, could hunt eggs as well as they could, and he always
helped them. After he had found a nest, he took each egg carefully in
his mouth, and laid it in the basket which the children had brought;
and he never broke one.
"I believe he could count them if he tried," said Nelly.
"Of course he can count," said Fred. "When we send him after the cows,
he never leaves one behind, nor the sheep either. If one strays away,
he hunts for it until he finds it. But he wouldn't hurt one of them
for anything, no matter how hard he had to work to bring them in."
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They watched the milking, and drank all the warm milk they wanted; and
one day they helped churn.
"I believe I could make butter, too," said Nelly.
"Of course you could, dear," said her auntie; "it wouldn't take long
for you to learn, either."
Nelly was delighted with this, and wanted to begin right away.