Produced by Al Haines.
[Illustration: "Can we ride on them?" asked Mary Jane, breathless with
excitement. (_Frontispiece_, Page 42)]
*MARY JANE IN
NEW ENGLAND*
BY
*CLARA INGRAM JUDSON*
AUTHOR OF
"MARY JANE--HER BOOK," "MARY JANE--HER VISIT," "MARY
JANE'S KINDERGARTEN," "MARY JANE DOWN SOUTH,"
"MARY JANE'S CITY HOME."
_ILLUSTRATED BY
THELMA GOOCH_
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
Copyright, 1921
by
GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC.
Mary Jane In New England
_All Rights Reserved_
_Printed in the United States of America_
To my brother,
DWIGHT HAROLD INGRAM,
with happy memories of his
commencement week
*CONTENTS*
Plans for the Journey
A Day of Wetness
First Glimpses of Boston
An Unexpected Visit at Wellesley
Class Day Fun--and Troubles
Winning the Game
The Adventure by the Lagoon
Commencement in the Stadium
Fun on the Beach
A Day in Plymouth
Visiting Cousin Louise
The Willow Tree Cottage
Lost! One Mary Jane
Tea on the Terrace
The Last Day in Boston--and Home
*LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS*
"Can we ride on them?" asked Mary Jane breathless with excitement . . .
. . . _Frontispiece_
She sighed with relief as the offending shoe came off
"You almost touched it!" exclaimed Mary Jane
"My dear child! Where were you? We've hunted and hunted!"
*MARY JANE IN NEW ENGLAND*
*PLANS FOR THE JOURNEY*
"Then are we really going?" asked Mary Jane eagerly.
"To Boston and Harvard and Uncle Hal's Class Day and everything?" added
Alice.
Mr. and Mrs. Merrill looked at each other and then at the long letter in
Mrs. Merrill's hand.
"I do believe we are," said Mrs. Merrill thoughtfully.
"That's right!" approved Mr. Merrill heartily. "You'll never regret it.
I am sure the girls are old enough to remember the interesting sights
they will see and they may never have another chance to go to Harvard
Class Day and all the 'doings' Hal writes about."
"And then," added Mrs. Merrill, "I always promised brother Hal I'd come
when he graduated. One doesn't have a 'baby brother' graduate from
Harvard every summer. Though I would like it better if you could go
too."
"Sure you can't, Dad"? asked Alice, wistfully.
"Certain sure," replied her father. "With all the changes in the office
just now I wouldn't think it wise to leave my work for men who are
already loaded up. And then, too," he added when he noticed how
disappointed the two girls looked, "remember we'll need somebody here to
see about the new house--don't you forget that!"
"Of course we travel easily," said Mrs. Merrill, "and Hal promises to
look after us so well."
"And makes good by sending that list," said Mr. Merrill. "I never saw
the like of the way he has everything lined up for you--you couldn't get
lost if you wanted to!"
Alice and Mary Jane Merrill, who with their father and mother had moved
from the small town where they had always lived, to the big city of
Chicago only a few months before, were having a most interesting time.
Not only had they seen city sights, played in the parks and done good
work in school; in addition they had made a number of fine friends and,
partly through some of these friends, had discovered that they could
have an even happier time if Mary Jane had some place to dig, and garden
and play out of doors. Girls who live in flats can't very well have
gardens--at least at Mary Jane's flat one couldn't. So the Merrills had
started exploring and had quite suddenly bought a small piece of land on
the edge of one of the outlying suburbs and there they planned to build
a little "shack" where they could go every summer and play at being
farmers. Such drawing of plans and studying of seed catalogues there
never was--the girls found it wonderful fun.
Then, as though going to the country and making a garden was not enough
to keep one little girl's head busy, there had come a letter from Mrs.
Merrill's brother reminding her of a promise made long ago that she
would come to his graduation from Harvard. At first it seemed as though
such a trip wouldn't be possible. There was the house in the country to
see to--and though it was to be only an unfinished cottage there were a
thousand and one details about its building and furnishing that needed
attention--the girls were in school and they had planned no summer
dresses suitable to the gaieties of commencement week at Cambridge.
But a day or two of careful thinking and planning made Mrs. Merrill
decide that they would go. Last year's "best" dresses had been let down
and were very pretty; new ginghams for traveling surely would not be
hard to make or buy and she loved making the dainty organdy dresses each
girl would need for Class Day. The trip wouldn't take long and soon they
would be back to attend to the new country home which would hardly have
time to miss them.
Alice reached for the list Mr. Merrill had referred to and read what
Uncle Hal had written out for them.
"Arrive in Boston Monday morning; Class Day, Tuesday; Baseball,
Wednesday (tickets for you all) Commencement, Thursday and if the
weather is fine you can all go, for it will be in the Stadium; Friday,
sightseeing and anything you want to do." And below was a notation
telling them he had had rooms engaged for weeks ahead at the
Westminister Hotel, which was a very wise and thoughtful provision for
their comfort, as Boston hotels are always more than crowded
commencement week.
"It sounds like a lot of fun, Mother," she said happily.
"And are we going to sleep on the train and have hashed brown potatoes
in the diner and live at a place by the ocean just like when we went to
Florida?" asked Mary Jane.
"It won't be just like in Florida," explained Mr. Merrill, "because
Boston is a big city like Chicago, and big cities have different sorts
of hotels from any you have been in. But I'll venture to say you will
have a good time. And if you stick to Uncle Hal's program you won't
have much time for either napping or being homesick!"
"Dear me!" cried Mrs. Merrill suddenly glancing at the clock, "I don't
know why we are sitting here all day dreaming! We ought to be making
out lists and deciding what to take and do and everything. We're going
to be busy people these next two weeks, let me tell you that."
Alice dashed to the desk for pencils and pads.
"Let's make out a list of what we have to do for the new house," said
Mrs. Merrill, "and what we have to take and what I have to make or buy.
And I can tell you this much," she added a few minutes later when the
lists were well under way, "if I'm to do all those things before we go,
you two people will have to do a lot of helping."
"Oh, we'd love that!" exclaimed Mary Jane eagerly, "I'd get breakfasts
and Alice can wash all the dishes and--"
"What's all this?" demanded Alice as she looked up from the list she was
finishing, "_I_'ll get breakfasts, and _you_ can wash dishes and--"
"Let's both do 'em both," corrected Mary Jane, "but I _can_ make toast
and cook eggs; I just _know_ I can, mother dear, and I want to help a
lot."
"I know you do, dear," said Mrs. Merrill, as she drew the little girl
toward her, "and you're going to in just every way you can and will."
So it was decided that the two girls should do every bit of the
housework they possibly could and let Mrs. Merrill have lots of time
free for sewing and shopping and tending to the new house.
How those two weeks did fly! It really seemed no time at all since the
four Merrills were sitting there deciding that they could go to Boston,
till the last day had arrived and Mary Jane was having a dress up "try
on" of her new organdy dress to be sure it was exactly right before it
was packed. How they had all worked! Mary Jane had cooked--toast on
the electric toaster and coffee in the kitchen and eggs boiled just as
father liked them. And she had taken her turn with Alice at washing
dishes and drying dishes and making beds and cleaning the bathroom (Mary
Jane liked that the best of anything except cooking eggs with her own
three-minute-glass to tell when they were done) and dusting and
marketing and pulling out bastings--they had done all those things and
more and Mrs. Merrill declared that never, never in the world, could she
have finished so much work in two weeks' time if she hadn't had two fine
assistants.
"Come here, dear," said Mrs. Merrill as Mary Jane danced off to look in
the mirror, "I'll have to tack that bolero--there. Now let's tie the
sash and try on the new shoes and be sure everything is just right."
But Mary Jane could hardly stand still. It was so thrilling to try on
her first organdy dress--long pink ribbons, a white hat with pink
streamers just like Alice's yellow ones and white stockings and brand
new pumps, yes, truly, pumps like big folks. She could hardly wait to
get everything on, she was so anxious to see herself.
Just as the last bow was adjusted, the bell rang three short taps,
father's ring, and Mary Jane, looking all the world like a fairy dropped
onto the stairs by some magic mistake, dashed down to greet him.
"Everything fits and it's all just right and don't I look nice and we're
waiting for you to bring the trunk up from the basement and Alice has
made apple dumplings--green apple dumplings for dinner so you'd better
hurry," she finished, breathlessly.
"For that I will," laughed Mr. Merrill, "my! but you do look grown up,
pussy!" he added as he looked her over carefully. "Shoes fit all right?
Everything has to be just so for Class Day you know, young lady, for
folks want to be comfortable as well as beautiful when they go to all
day 'doings.'"
"She thinks everything is all right," explained Mrs. Merrill. "You look
pleased about something. Is there anything new?"
"Maybe so," said Mr. Merrill so mysteriously that Mary Jane stopped in
the hall to listen. "Think you could get off Saturday evening instead
of Sunday morning as you had planned?"
Mrs. Merrill thought a second. "Yes, I guess we could," she decided,
"it wouldn't make a lot of difference either way. But I thought you had
our reservations?"
"Changed them," said Mr. Merrill. "How would you like me to go along as
far as Niagara and spend Sunday with you there and then you folks go on
east Sunday night?"
"Really, Daddah?" called Mary Jane happily, "then you could eat in the
diner with us and sleep and everything!"
"Wouldn't Uncle Hal be flattered," teased Mr. Merrill, "if he knew that
you talked more about the diner than you do about Class Day!"
"Oh, I like Class Day too," declared Mary Jane fingering her new sash,
"but I'm glad we have to eat on the train to get there."
"For my part I'm glad to eat now," said Mr. Merrill as he sniffed the
aroma of Alice's dumplings, "I know I could eat three, so you'd better
hurry off with that finery, Mary Jane, if you want your share."
Just twenty-four hours later, the four Merrills boarded the train for
Boston. Much to Mary Jane's interest, the conductor didn't call "all
aboard!" and there wasn't a bit of excitement at the station. The great
train dashed into the residence station where they had decided to board
it, hesitated only long enough for the porter to assist the Merrills and
their bags onto car 201 and off they went--through the factories and
suburbs the girls had seen when they came to Chicago for the first time.
Mary Jane pressed close to the window and was eagerly watching the sight
of busy city life she could see on the streets as they flashed by, when
a white-coated man walked through the car calling "Second call for
dinner! Second call for dinner!"
"Why we missed the first call!" exclaimed Mary Jane in distress.
"Cheer up, pussy," said her father, "that doesn't happen often."
"Well, we won't miss anything more," announced Mary Jane positively,
"'cause I washed my hands the last thing and my gloves kept 'em clean."
It didn't take long to tuck gloves into coat pockets, put hats in a safe
place and walk to the diner. And here Mary Jane had a dinner such as
she loved, with hashed brown potatoes, and salad and ice cream--to say
nothing of meat and bread and butter and a big glass of milk in a creamy
white tumbler.
"Now tell us what Niagara Falls is going to look like," suggested Alice
when they were back in their own car.
"Oh, I couldn't do that," said Mrs. Merrill, "you'll have to wait till
morning. As soon as the porter makes up your berth, you can go to sleep
and then, when you wake up, you can see it all for
yourself--water--rivers of water! The most water you ever saw! That's
what it is."
Mary Jane thought of that sentence the next morning when she wakened.
She was alone in the lower berth--evidently mother was out and
dressed--and she couldn't hear a thing but water. Water dashing against
the window, water dripping in through the tiny screen at her feet, water
sounding on the roof of the car till she couldn't hear another thing.
"Why, we've stopped right in the Falls," she cried to herself, as she
whirled around to look out of the window, "and it's like she said,
water, water--everything's water!"
*A DAY OF WETNESS*
"Alice! Alice! Wake up!"
Mary Jane reached her hand behind the curtain into Alice's berth just
ahead and pounded briskly on the cushioned sides.
"Alice! Hurry and wake up 'cause we're stopped and we're right in the
middle of Niagara Falls and it's a-falling down!"
Alice stirred drowsily and then, as she realized what her sister was
saying, she sat up straight with a start of amazement.
"Why, Mary Jane Merrill, what are you saying?" she asked. "The train
doesn't stop at the Falls--it doesn't even go close enough for us to see
them from the train. I asked Daddah last evening before I went to
sleep."
"Well," said Mary Jane, not in the least disturbed by her sister's
doubt, "you just raise your window curtain and look out."
Alice did as she was told and for a minute she was inclined to believe
Mary Jane must be right. Water, water, water was all she could see.
Water in the air; water dashing against the window; water running off
the roof of the car in great streams; grayness and wetness everywhere.
"Looking at the landscape, ladies?" asked Mr. Merrill as he poked his
head through the curtains and saw Alice's amazement.
"Morning, Daddah!" whispered Mary Jane as she clambered over from her
own berth, "it _is_ the Falls, isn't it? I told Alice we were right in
'em."
"You've reason enough to think so," laughed Mr. Merrill, "but as a
matter of fact, you're not quite right. The 'Falls' which you see is
rain--common everyday rain."
"I'd never call _that_ common everyday rain," said Alice as an extra
hard beating of rain actually made her afraid the window pane wouldn't
be enough to keep the water out of the car, "we never have rain like
that at home."
"They don't have it like that often, anywhere," said Mrs. Merrill
arriving from the dressing room, "and I hate to invite more gloom, but
do you happen to recall that this party decided they wouldn't 'bother'
with umbrellas?"
"What ever'll we do?" exclaimed Mary Jane with a gasp of horror.
"Swim, like as not," said Mr. Merrill comfortingly. "We might as well,
because it's Sunday you know and no store open to buy umbrellas."
"Isn't it _lovely_!" sighed Mary Jane in a voice of perfect content.
"_Lovely!_" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill.
"_How_ lovely?" asked Alice.
"And she thinks it's 'lovely'!" mimicked Mr. Merrill.
"Well, it is," insisted Mary Jane. "When things look perfectly awful
and you're sure they're all wrong, then we always think of something to
do different and we have a beautiful time--we always do."
As though to prove her right, at that very minute the porter came along
the aisle to Mr. Merrill and said, "There's a taxi man outside at the
steps, sir, and he says if you want a cab sir, he can back right up to
the steps and the ladies won't even get damp."
"Well, if there is any man living who thinks people won't get 'damp'
this morning," said Mr. Merrill laughingly, "I'll engage him on the
spot. As a matter of fact though, porter," he added, "the ladies aren't
ready yet. Could your man come back in half an hour?"
"He means us when he says 'the ladies,'" whispered Mary Jane joyfully,
"'cause mother's all dressed and ready to go."
"Don't you feel sort of _grand_?" Alice whispered back.
The porter, who of course hadn't heard these asides, promised to have
the driver there in thirty minutes, and Alice and Mary began to dress in
a rush. You see, the car of folks who were going to get off at Niagara
had been dropped from the eastern train and put on a siding so there was
no hurry about getting off. That was nice too, for it was much easier to
dress when the train was standing still than when it was dashing along
through the country.
In less than twenty-five minutes, all the "ladies" of Mr. Merrill's
party were dressed and combed and ready to go and, promptly on time, the
porter announced the waiting taxi. By that time the rain had abated a
trifle though it was still coming down very hard.
"He has backed his car close up to the steps," said the porter, "so the
ladies needn't get a bit of wet. Can't I lift the little girl out, sir?
And here's an umbrella, sir," he added as he unfurled a huge cotton
umbrella at the vestibule door.
Seeing them coming, the driver opened the taxi door and Mrs. Merrill
slipped in safe and dry. Then Mr. Merrill helped Alice the same way and
the porter set Mary Jane beside them.
"Well, so far so well," said Mr. Merrill as he stepped in after them and
the car started off. "That was a clever plan. Now if we only don't get
drenched getting into the hotel, we can at least get breakfast, no
matter what the weather."
At the hotel they found a wide porte cochere so they were safe and dry
there.
"You're going to like this," said Mrs. Merrill, as she looked around the
lobby. "There are lots of little shops over there and you girls can
look at the souvenir things even if it rains too much for you to see the
Falls!"
"But breakfast first, please," suggested Mr. Merrill, "and you can eat
all you like for we don't have to hurry to go anywhere."
Breakfast was served in a charming "sun parlor"--which of course was
gray and dark because of the rain and mist but was beautiful anyway with
the dainty furnishings and gay cretons. The windows that in clear
weather looked out on the rushing river a bit above the Falls, showed
nothing interesting now. But perhaps that was just as well, for folks
don't care much about sightseeing before eating--at least Mary Jane
didn't.
A delicious breakfast of fruit and chops and French fried potatoes kept
the party so busy that it was with surprise they noticed, three-quarters
of an hour later, that the rain had cleared away and that rifts of
sunshine were coming through the clouds.
"Why it isn't raining!" exclaimed Mary Jane, "come on, let's hurry up
and see everything."
A walk of five minutes and they found themselves standing on a great
rock at the edge of the Falls. It was a good thing that Mrs. Merrill
was close by Mary Jane, for there was something so vast and powerful and
terrifying about the mad rush of those roaring, tumbling waters that
even the iron bars around the edge of the rock couldn't quite make a
little girl feel safe--it needed the hold of a person's warm hand to
make one feel comfortable enough to stand there and watch.
For five minutes or more the four Merrills stood there looking. There
wasn't any use trying to talk--the roar of the falling water make words
seem fairy whispers that could not be heard by human beings. Mary Jane
thought of a number of things she wanted to ask about--the boat, riding
so close up to the foot of the Falls; the great bridge over the river so
near by, how had men built it there? And the hotel across the Falls,
could they go there? But it was not till they had turned away from the
rocky observation point and were walking through the park again that she
tried to talk.
"That boat down there," replied Mr. Merrill, "is called 'The Maid of the
Mist.' Folks who like to do queer things think it's great fun to ride
up close to the foot of the Falls, but we had enough water this morning
to last us a while, didn't we? We'll take the Falls from the top this
trip!"
As though to play a joke on him, at that very minute there was a patter
on the trees overhead and pell-mell--down dashed a thousand raindrops.
Great, round drops that pounded right through the trees and seemed to
shout, "there's more to come, more to come, more to come!"
There was no use staying under a tree and there's no telling what would
have happened to hats bought for Boston if Alice hadn't happened to spy
a bandstand close by. A hasty dash for its shelter and they were
safe--at least for a while.
"If it ever stops again," suggested Mrs. Merrill, "let's go over there
and take the trolley that runs across the bridge Mary Jane was asking
about, and ride down the gorge."
And of course it did stop in a few minutes and they hurried over and
boarded a car. That was the most interesting trolley ride Mary Jane had
ever taken or even dreamed of taking. Across the wonderful suspension
bridge, along the very tip edge of the high bluff on the Canadian side
of the river the car made its way--so close sometimes that Mary Jane
held her breath lest it tumble over. Then, several miles down the
river, they crossed another bridge and came up the American side. This
wasn't so exciting as the banks were not nearly as high, but it was even
more interesting, for from her seat in the car Mary Jane could see the
rapids where the water dashed over the great jutting rocks and the
whirlpool that was so fascinating to watch.
"Oh, let's get out here and wait a while," she cried as the car stopped
at a tiny station. "I want to watch that water a-whirling around."
"Good idea, dear," said Mrs. Merrill, and she signaled the conductor
that they wished to get off. But as though to make sport of them, the
rain clouds which had appeared to be blowing away, opened up again and a
shower of rain fell on the car roof.
"No sightseeing for us to-day," laughed Mr. Merrill, "except under
cover. I think we'll keep under a roof while we have one handy!"
So they stayed on the car and rode on into the city. But there was a
lot to see even from a trolley car and Mary Jane thought she never could
forget all the wonderful and curious sights of that trip.
They got off at their hotel and the girls spent a happy two hours
looking at the curios in the shop windows and then they had luncheon.
Again the sun tried to come out and the party took a carriage to drive
to Goat Island. But just as sure as they attempted to get out of the
carriage to have a close view of some sight the driver pointed out to
them--just that surely would the pattering drops descend and drive them
scurrying to shelter.
At five o'clock they drove to the train that was to take them to Buffalo
where father was to put them on the train for Boston.
"I know one thing I'll never forget about Niagara," said Mary Jane as
the train pulled out of the station, "and that is that Niagara Falls is
awfully wet!"
"And next time we start on a trip," added Mrs. Merrill, "we'll carry
umbrellas instead of packing them."
Mr. Merrill waited and had dinner in the Buffalo station with them and
then saw them off for Boston before his train for Chicago pulled in.
"Have a good time," he called as their train pulled away, "and remember,
I shall want to hear everything about Harvard and Class Day and Boston."
Mary Jane promised to see and remember every single thing, then she
turned back to their section which the porter was already making up for
the night.
"You don't have to do a thing for me Mother," she said happily. "'Cause
I know how to put my shoes in the hammock and take off my hair ribbon
and roll it up and everything. And I'm going right straight to sleep so
I can wake up early, early in the morning."
"That's a good idea," agreed Mrs. Merrill, "for early, early in the
morning we shall be getting into Boston and Uncle Hal will be there to
meet us."
*FIRST GLIMPSES OF BOSTON*
"Like to be brushed?"
Mary Jane turned from the window to see the porter standing by her,
brush in hand ready to make her tidy for getting off the train. She
looked questioningly at her mother and Mrs. Merrill replied, "Yes, dear,
let him brush you off so you will be spick and span when we meet Hal."
So Mary Jane followed the porter down to the end of the aisle where he
brushed and brushed till there wasn't a speck of dust on that pretty
Peter Thompson suit. Alice and Mrs. Merrill had their turns next, then
the porter took their hand baggage down toward the door.
"Do we get there now, Mother?" asked Mary Jane, "right away quick now?"
"We certainly do," answered Mrs. Merrill, "we're there this minute.
Come girlies."
As the train came to a stop, Mary Jane looked out of the window in the
narrow hallway by the dressing room--she wanted to be sure to get a
glimpse of the wonderful Boston she had heard so much about. And at the
very first glance, she spied Uncle Hal's smiling face close up outside
of her very window. Alice saw him too and they waved and tried to speak
and he grinned and motioned to the car door. In a twinkle they were off
the train, Uncle Hal had picked up their bags, and they were walking up
the stairs to the street.
Of course everybody talked at once, folks always do when they are met at
the train, but through it all Mary Jane got the idea that they were
walking to the hotel because it was so very, very near, and that Uncle
Hal had time to visit with them a while before he went back to college
for some last duties before Class Day.
Alice and Uncle Hal walked on ahead talking a blue streak about teams
and baseball and all sorts of things that Mary Jane, for her part,
didn't find particularly interesting. She was glad to be walking with
her mother so she could look and ask all she liked. Five minutes walk
and they were in a broad "square" framed on every side by fine looking
buildings.
"That's the library I've told you so much about," said Mrs. Merrill
nodding her head toward the left, "and this, I think," looking ahead to
the right, "is our hotel."
She was right for just then Alice and Uncle Hal turned into the hotel
and in a very few minutes they were all seated in the room Hal had
engaged for them so many weeks before.
"There now, he's gone and I can look around," said Mary Jane as the door
closed behind the boy who had carried up their bags. She slipped down
from the big chair where she had primly settled herself and began
exploring. One big bed, one little bed, lots of drawers in dressers and
cupboards, a lovely white bathroom and, over in the corner of the room
overlooking the Square, a desk and several easy chairs pulled together
just right for visiting.
"How in the world did you know just exactly the kind of a room I'd
like?" asked Mary Jane when she had finished her first tour of
exploring.
"Well," said Uncle Hal, much pleased to think she liked it all, "I can't
say that I really knew, but I did try pretty hard to guess."
"Now as soon as the trunk comes," continued Mary Jane, "let's unpack it
and show him our new dresses. We've new shoes too," she added proudly,
"for Class Day you know."
"Fine!" replied her uncle, "I know I'm going to be proud as a peacock of
my family when I introduce them around to-morrow. But I'll tell you,
Mary Jane," he added persuasively, "I know how slow those expressmen are
commencement week and you don't. Suppose we keep the dress for a
surprise to me to-morrow and go for a walk now while I have some time."
"I'd like that," agreed Mary Jane, "only what'll they do if the trunk
comes while we are walking?"
"They put it in your room all ready for you," said Uncle Hal.
"Then I'm going walking with you," announced Mary Jane.
"And I'm going too," said Alice, "I just can't hardly wait till I see
everything."
"And I'm going too," laughed Mrs. Merrill, as she put her hat back on,
"because I don't want to miss anything either."
"Aren't we missing something anyway?" asked Alice as they walked from
the room.
Mrs. Merrill and Hal looked back into the room.
"No-o," she answered, "I guess not. What did you think we were
leaving?"
"I didn't think we were leaving anything," said Alice half laughing,
half embarrassed, "but--"
"Oh, I know," announced Mary Jane laughingly, "I'm missing it too. It's
breakfast."
"You don't mean to say--" exclaimed Uncle Hal. "That's certainly one on
me! You see, I'm so little used to having my family come to see me, and
so very glad to see them when they get here, that I actually forgot
breakfast. We'll have to get an extra good one to make up for it."
And an extra good one it certainly was; for Mary Jane had strawberries
and cream and toast and fish and hashed brown potatoes and a cup of
delicious hot cocoa with whipped cream. While they ate, Mary Jane told
Uncle Hal more about her Class Day frock.
"It's white, and pink ribbons--lovely long crispy ribbons," she told
him, "and new shoes, _pumps_ just like grown-up ladies." Of course
Uncle Hal was much impressed as Mary Jane had hoped he would be, but
neither he nor Mary Jane herself would ever in the world have guessed
the trouble those pretty new pumps were going to make before another day
was over!
Breakfast finished, they went for their walk, going through the Square
and down as far as the Commons. The city looked fresh and clean, after
a rain the night before and the flowers in the Commons nodded their
fresh blooms and looked as though they had grown on purpose to make Mary
Jane think Boston was beautiful.
"Now then," said Uncle Hal, looking at his watch, "I've just time for a
surprise and then I'll have to leave you."
"Couldn't we go along to Harvard with you?" asked Alice.
"Yes, you could," replied Uncle Hal, "want to?"
"'Deed I do," answered Alice heartily, "I don't want to miss anything."
"Then with me you go, for even if I can't stay with you long, you can
have the ride out and back. But now for the surprise."
He guided them across a bridge and down a sheltered path to a tiny lake
and there riding on the water were several great white swans. No, they
weren't swans either. They were much too big for real swans and there
were seats on a platform right behind. Boats--that's what they were of
course. Boats in the shape of swans!
"Can we ride on them?" asked Mary Jane breathless with excitement,
"really ride on them--people can?"
"To be sure people can," laughed Uncle Hal, "and we're going to this
very minute."
He bought four tickets while Mary Jane and Alice climbed into the
nearest seats and then he and Mrs. Merrill sat just behind them.
"Where's the engineer?" asked Mary Jane.
"Coming," replied Uncle with a chuckle, "there he is, now."
Mary Jane watched an elderly man step aboard the boat and take his place
on a queer-looking seat between the wings of the "swan" and much to her
surprise he didn't start any engine: instead he began pedaling as if he
was riding a bicycle. The swan boat moved away from the pier and, as
the man pedaled, they rode with a slow and stately motion out into the
little lake.
It was a queer way to ride, being bicycled around a lake in a boat built
to look like a swan but Mary Jane loved it. They moved slowly--just
like a swan in a fairy tale--and it didn't take Mary Jane a minute to
forget all about Boston and the Commons and to fancy that she was a
princess in a fairy tale and that the kind swan was drawing her in a
magic boat through her country to visit her subjects. She didn't see
the flower beds by the side of the tiny lagoon; she didn't see the
children playing on the beach; she didn't hear the talk Mrs. Merrill and
Uncle Hal were enjoying; she didn't even talk to Alice sitting right by
her side. Mary Jane saw only the magic of the fairy tale that was in
her mind and enjoyed the thrill of being a princess.
With a slight bump the swan boat touched the dock and Uncle Hal took her
hand to help her off.
"Oh, do we have to get off?" she exclaimed in dismay, "we've only just
begun to ride!"
"Like it so well?" asked Uncle Hal, "then you shall have a ride every
day while you are here. I remember when I was a little kid and came to
visit Boston, I liked them a lot. That's why I brought you here first
thing this morning. But I guess we'll have to go now if you're going out
to Cambridge with me."
Very reluctantly Mary Jane stepped off the boat and with a promise to
herself that she would ride again every single time she possibly could,
she trudged along behind the others.
A short walk brought them to the entrance of the subway. Of course Mary
Jane hadn't an idea what a subway was, for there wasn't any such thing
in any city she had ever lived in or visited, but she gathered from what
Uncle Hal said that it must be something that took them out to
Cambridge. But such a funny something as it was she never would have
imagined!
They went down some stairs, through a turnstile and onto a platform.
Before Mary Jane's eyes were used to the queer, half-darkness of the
platform, and her nose to the funny, dank smell, there was a rumble and
a roar and along came a car. They were crowded aboard and again there
was a rumble and roar and away they dashed--past red lights and green
lights, past platforms and more platforms till in no time at all (or so
it seemed to Mary Jane) they were up on a street, dashing across a long
bridge, down again in the ground and Uncle Hal saying, "Time to get off!
We're at Cambridge!"
They hurried off and up the stairs to the fresh air.
"That's better than the old, slow, surface car," said Uncle Hal as they
crossed the street.
"Then the surface car must have been pretty bad," said Mary Jane
positively, "'cause this one smells _awful_ and hurries so fast you
can't see anything!"
"You're right about those two things," laughed Uncle Hal, "and I suggest
that you take a surface car to go back because then you can see all the
sights you want to on the way. But of course, Mary Jane, you wanted to
ride in a subway once."
"Maybe I did," said Mary Jane, "but I think the swan boats are lots the
nicest."
Mrs. Merrill decided that they wouldn't go into the Yard at this time;
Hal would be busy and couldn't show them around, and she much preferred
that Alice and Mary Jane should get their first impressions of the
wonderful university when they could see it right. So Uncle Hal put
them on a surface car for Boston and with a promise to dine with them in
their hotel, bade them good-by.
"I just don't see why anybody would ever ride in a cellar when they
might be riding on a bridge over a lovely river," said Mary Jane as she
looked at the Charles gleaming in the warm June sunshine.
"They must be in an awful hurry to get somewhere or those things would
never be built," added Alice.
"Well, you know," laughed Mrs. Merrill, "we're in a hurry sometimes
ourselves! We're not always ladies of leisure as we are to-day. And you
see, it's a long ride back to Boston. What shall we do when we get
there, girls?" she added.
"Get lunch," answered Alice promptly.
"Lunch!" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill, teasingly, "after all that breakfast?"
"Breakfast!" said Mary Jane, teasing back, "did we have breakfast?"
"All right then, ladies," said Mrs. Merrill, "we'll have lunch. And
then how would you like to take an automobile ride that Hal told me
about? It doesn't last much over an hour and we can see the old part of
Boston, the historic part and also the foreign district your father was
telling you about the other day."
"That would be fine, Mother," said Alice eagerly, "don't let's stop
_long_ for lunch. Let's just eat something and go--I love to see old
places. Remember St. Augustine, Mother?"
"Indeed I do, dear," answered Mrs. Merrill. "Here we are at Copley
Square. I have a feeling we had better go to our room first--there
might be a message or something. Then we'll get lunch and take the
ride."
It was a good thing Mrs. Merrill thought to go to the hotel and inquire
for a message, for there was one for them--one that changed all their
plans for the afternoon.
*AN UNEXPECTED VISIT AT WELLESLEY*
Mrs. Merrill turned from the hotel desk and looked in a puzzled way at
the slip of yellow paper she held in her hand.
"What _do_ you suppose this means?" she said as she came up to where the
two girls were sitting in big chairs waiting for her. "It says, 'Phone
Cambridge 2811 at once.' Somebody telephoned five minutes ago, the
clerk said, and was very anxious to reach me. Now whatever can have
happened? Hal didn't know we were coming back here, so it couldn't be
he and we don't know another soul. However," she added briskly, "I
needn't be so silly as to stand here wondering when I might go to the
'phone and find out all about it. You stay right here, girlies, and
I'll 'phone from the booth over there and we'll solve the mystery."
Mary Jane and Alice could hardly wait, they were so curious and
impatient to find out what had happened. They could see Mrs. Merrill
talking but she was too far away for them to make out whether she was
pleased or distressed by the conversation. In two or three minutes
though, she left the booth and came towards them and the girls could
tell by the way she was smiling that something very nice and agreeable
had happened.
"We're to be up at the station in thirty minutes," she announced, "the
station where we came in this morning, and Uncle Hal will meet us and
take us out to see Wellesley--what do you think of that?"
"But, Mother," exclaimed Alice, "I thought he had a lot of work to do?"
"He still has," said Mrs. Merrill, "but just after we left him he got a
message from one of his friends at Wellesley telling him that the Tree
Day dance was to be given this afternoon at the Garden Party, and that
when it was first shown it was so very wonderful, we surely must see
it."
"And so he told her we were here?" said Alice.
"He didn't have to, she already knew that," said Mrs. Merrill, "and her
invitation included us. So just on a chance that we might come to the
hotel, he called up and left the message for us. We won't have time to
change or anything, but I guess we look all right in traveling clothes.
Let's hurry now, so's not to miss the train."
"But where's lunch?" asked Mary Jane in dismay, "I am hungry, truly I
am."
"Of course you are, dear," said Mrs. Merrill reassuringly, "and we'll
get a bite. Hal said there was a nice little place right on the way to
the station and if we go quickly, we'll have time for a sandwich and a
glass of milk. Then if that isn't enough, perhaps we can get something
later. In fact," and she smiled mysteriously, "I think I wouldn't worry
a bit about starving if I were you."
After that Mary Jane didn't bother about being hungry--she was too busy
wondering what was going to happen. They got a sandwich, a luscious big
chicken sandwich with white meat sticking out all around the edges, and
a glass of milk, a great big glass of milk, and that was all there was
time for. Even so they barely got down the stairs in time for their
train.
The ride out to Wellesley was great fun, for Uncle Hal told them stories
all the way--stories of jolly times he had had going over this same
route and of fun at Wellesley.
"When I grow up," announced Alice as they got off at the station, "I'm
coming to Wellesley and I'm going to know some folks at Harvard and
everything just like you've been telling us about."
"And I'm coming here too," said Mary Jane, "I wouldn't go to any place
but Wellesley 'cause it's the very nicest."
"A lot you know about it," teased Uncle Hal, "now why is Wellesley the
nicest--can you tell that?"
"'Cause it's near to Harvard," said Mary Jane, and of course if she had
thought all day, she couldn't have thought up an answer that would
better please her Harvard uncle.
"We'll hop onto this trolley and ride to the entrance to save time,"
said Uncle Hal as he hailed a passing car. They rode a very little way,
really not a nickel's worth Mary Jane said, and found themselves at the
college entrance.
Of the next hour and a half Mary Jane didn't have a very clear
understanding. There was so much to see that a person just couldn't see
and remember it all; and so many folks talking that one couldn't hear
everything. But she remembered what she could and saved it up to ask
her mother about afterward. There were the old-fashioned red brick
buildings on the quadrangle and the stately Tower Court where Hal's
friend, Miss Elliott, lived, and the beautiful campus with its lovely
old trees that cast an inviting shade over the lawns.
"I'm going to study hard and come here to college," said Alice, after
they had completed their trip around the grounds, "I think it would be
just _wonderful_ to live here for four years! And just think, Mother,"
she added, "in five years I'll be coming here!" She looked dreamily
over the beautiful place and tried to imagine herself one of the girls
in gay sport clothes walking under those very trees.
"I'm coming here too," said Mary Jane, "and I'll be here before so very
long, won't I, Mother dear?"
"Before we know it, at the rate you girls are now growing," laughed Mrs.
Merrill, "and just think of the fun _I'm_ going to have coming here to
'settle my daughters' when they begin college."
Miss Elliott found them excellent seats where they could watch the
dancing, and Mary Jane enjoyed sitting and looking at everything quite
as much as being shown around. She thought the dancing wonderful and
held her breath with the joy of it as the dancers came gayly down the
shaded hill, across the open green and back up the hill again when the
dance was over.
"I'll have to learn a lot if I'm going to come here and do all that,"
she whispered to her mother when the dancers were out of sight behind
the greenery that made the background.
"No doubt about that, dear," said Mrs. Merrill, "but just think how much
you are learning all the time! By the time you are grown-up as those
girls are, you'll be sure to know a lot."
"Has Uncle Hal said anything about tea or anything?" whispered Alice as
the groups of people broke up and she guessed that the program was over.
As though they suspected what the girls might be thinking of, Miss
Elliott and Hal came up at that minute and Uncle Hal said, "I've just
been telling Dorothy that we'll take our quarter of a cup of tea and
half a wafer that we could get over there, some other time, and she's
agreed to let me take you all to the Inn for real tea. Want to go or
doesn't food appeal to you?"
"Um-m," said Alice, trying hard to be really grown-up like Miss Elliott,
"I think I could eat a little if you insist."
"Here's the insisting then," laughed Uncle Hal, and tucking her arm into
his, he started off, passed the administration building and down
Freshman Row.
Miss Elliott walked with Mrs. Merrill and Mary Jane and pointed out the
various houses as they passed them.
"This is where you want to stay your freshman year," she said as they
passed a three-story frame building on their left, "lots of nice girls
go there and you'll have great larks. But you'll have to put her
application in early if you want her to get in there, Mrs. Merrill," she
advised, "because it's one of the most popular houses."
"I think I'll put in application for both girls as soon as I can attend
to it," said Mrs. Merrill, "for what I have seen of the college in even
this one little glimpse, has made me feel that Alice and Mary Jane must
go here. I can't imagine a more charming place to spend four years than
right here."
Hal and Alice had turned in to a building on the other side of the
street so Mary Jane hurried her mother and Miss Elliott that they might
catch up.
"He engaged a table by 'phone before he came out," said Miss Elliott,
"so we know they'll be looking for us."
"And then they'll have plenty to eat even though there are lots of
folks, won't they?" said Mary Jane, much comforted.
Uncle Hal showed them to the table by the window where they could eat
and at the same time see everything that might be going on either inside
or out.
Mary Jane was a bit curious as to what Uncle Hal might offer her to
eat--especially as he didn't ask her what she wanted. But evidently he
knew what was good, for when the tray arrived a few minutes later it was
piled up with good things.
"I thought you didn't have time to overeat this noon so you might like a
hearty tea," he explained as Mrs. Merrill looked with a bit of dismay at
the loaded tray. "If you don't want any, sister," he added, "I know
some people who can eat more than their share--and I didn't have any
lunch myself!"
There were sandwiches--olive sandwiches and lettuce and chicken, all so
dainty and pretty that Mary Jane thought she could eat twenty by herself
she was that hungry! And tea in dainty gold-rimmed cups, and fudge cake
with icing as thick as the cake--almost--and cunning little cakes and
candies in paper cases.
Mary Jane watched to see how Miss Elliot fixed her tea and then she took
cloves too, just as Miss Elliott did--though it did make a funny taste.
Still when one is visiting college one does as college folks do--cream
and sugar is all right for home use, but isn't grown-up enough when one
is "at college."
After tea, Miss Elliott walked down to the station with them and told
them good-by. Mary Jane was sorry that they weren't to see her again
but Miss Elliott explained that she would be far too busy with her own
college affairs to come to the parties at Harvard.
"What are you thinking about so solemnly?" asked Uncle Hal as they were
riding back to Boston, "you haven't said a word for five minutes!"
"I'm thinking 'bout my new shoes," said Mary Jane. "All the girls at
Wellesley had white shoes and I've got white shoes--in the trunk. I'm
going to wear them to-morrow and you're going to be surprised, you are,
Uncle Hal."
"I believe it," laughed Uncle Hal, "I'll wager I'll be proud of my
family."
"You won't be, if your family doesn't get back to its room and unpack
its trunk pretty soon," said Mrs. Merrill.
"No," she added later, when they got off the train and he started toward
their hotel, "you aren't to go a step of the way with us. It's right
there in plain sight and we couldn't get lost if we tried. Now hurry
back to Cambridge and do your work and don't you dare come to the hotel
before seven."
"And we'll unpack and press our dresses and get everything ready for
Class Day, won't we Mother?" said Mary Jane, "I think that'll be as much
fun as seeing things."
*CLASS DAY FUN--AND TROUBLES*
"They _must_ be all right," said Alice, as the girls were about through
dressing for Class Day the next morning. "You know you tried them on
three or four times, the day we bought them, and shoes don't change."
Mary Jane walked up and down the room twice, looking all the while at
her left shoe. "Well," very doubtfully, "maybe they are all right now,
only they don't _feel_ all right--they don't a bit."
Mrs. Merrill sat down in the nearest chair and looked at Mary Jane in
consternation.
"You don't mean to say that now when we are every bit ready to go to
Class Day, and there isn't time to hunt up a store, that you think your
shoes are wrong! Why, Mary Jane, you know you tried them on and tried
them on and were sure they were a perfect fit."
"I know it," said Mary Jane, "and they were all right, only now there's
something sticks into my heel every time I take a step."
"Give it to me dear," replied Mrs. Merrill, "and I'll press open the
heels more. Maybe they are just a bit stiff. And then I'll put your
black pumps in my bag so if these hurt you, you can change."
"But, _Mother_!" exclaimed Mary Jane, "folks don't wear black shoes to
Class Day, not with new organdy dresses and a pink sash!"
"To be sure they don't," agreed Mrs. Merrill, "but black pumps would be
vastly better than blistered heels, so we'll take them along to be sure.
Are we ready now?" she added and as nobody objected she locked the door
and they set out for Cambridge and Class Day.
The first thing on their arrival at Harvard was to see Uncle Hal's room.
It was on the first floor in Matthews and was so attractive that Mary
Jane thought she would like to stay here all day and just look at
things. Off the main room, which was both a living room and study, were
two tiny bedrooms, one Uncle Hal's and the other his roommate's. Mary
Jane was fascinated by those tiny rooms.
"It's just as I'd like a house," she said to her uncle, "a great big
room with banners and pictures and lots of things to look at and a tiny
little room all my own to keep house in."
"Do you cook your breakfast there?" asked Alice as she spied a chafing
dish in a corner.
"Heavens! No!" laughed Hal, "what do you think we come to Harvard for?
To practice cooking? No, that's only for fudge or something--just on
state occasions."
"Well, isn't this a state occasion?" asked Alice.
"Um-m, well, yes it is," admitted Hal, as he saw he had cornered
himself, "but I'm afraid there isn't time for fudge-making. See, there
is the band already and it's almost time to go over to the hall for the
exercises."