bright, pretty looking little girl with oh, such a poor dress--and no
doll? Why she was just Mary Jane's age--but this was no time to stand
looking at other folks, and she turned to the water to see what could be
done.
Mary Jane, in the meantime, had crept up to the edge of the dock and was
peering down into the clear water.
"There it is," she said, pointing, "see? It's right down there! Now,
don't you cry, we're going to get it out in a jiffy. I wish I had a
long stick to poke with."
"You don't need a stick," said the big boy, peering over beside her.
"See how shallow it is? And a stick would just stir up mud and get its
clothes all dirty."
"I could pretty nearly reach it without a stick," suggested Mary Jane as
she sat on the pier and reached down into the water.
"That's an idea," exclaimed the boy, "that's just what I'm going to do."
He proceeded to lie down flat on the narrow dock and stretch his hands
down into the water.
"You almost touched it!" exclaimed Mary Jane excitedly, "just reach a
little more--"
[Illustration: "You almost touched it!" exclaimed Mary Jane.]
"But I can't reach any more!" said the boy, "see?" And he looked up for
a suggestion. "Oh, I'll tell you what!" he added, "I'll reach over
farther and you hold my feet so I won't fall in. Then I'll reach down
with one hand and I'll bet I get it."
He wormed himself closer to the edge of the dock and while Alice held
tightly to his shoes, he reached down, down, down into the water.
"He's got it," reported Mary Jane, who was watching, "he's touched it
and he's got it--look!"
Sure enough. The boy wiggled back a bit from the very edge and lifted
the dripping doll out of the water.
"Oh, my dolly! My dolly!" cried the little mother, "but she's all wet!"
"What did you expect after such a soaking?" chuckled the boy, "but
water'll dry. My coat's wet but it'll dry in this warm air." He took
off his coat and spread it out in the sun on the dock.
"And that's what you must do to your doll," said Mary Jane. She loved
nothing so much as mothering folks--children, dolls--it didn't matter
which just so they needed something done for them. "Here, let me help
you and we'll have her fixed in a jiffy."
She sat down on the dock, with the little mother beside her, and began
to undress the soaked dolly. "Now we'll take off her dress--so. And
then her petticoat--so. And we'll spread 'em all out in the sun--so."
"Why don't you spread 'em on a bush?" asked the boy practically, "that's
what I do when I go swimming."
"Here, I'll do it," said his sister, and the shy little brown-eyed girl
forgot all about herself and being afraid of strangers in her eagerness
to touch the doll's pretty wet clothes.
"Then you do it," agreed Mary Jane. Very carefully she took off
stockings, shoes, underclothes, every stitch the doll had on and the
little Italian girl spread the things on the bushes in the sunshine.
"You ought to spread the doll too," said Alice, "she's so wet the
clothes get wet as soon as you put them back on."
"I'll tell you," suggested Mary Jane jumping up hurriedly, "let's get
mother and Uncle Hal to hold it in the sun while we take a ride on the
swan boat."
"Y'haf ta have money to ride those boats," replied the boy, "and we
ain't got none."
"You don't have to have money if you have tickets," answered Mary Jane,
"and I've got plenty of those--see?" And proudly she displayed the
tickets she had put in her pocket when she began undressing the doll.
"Come on, lets!"
Holding the undressed doll in her hands, she ran around the lagoon to
where her mother was sitting. "Mother!" she exclaimed suddenly, "will
you please hold this doll in the sun so it'll dry while I take these
folks for a ride?"
"What in the world?" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill in amazement as she saw the
strange children, the dripping doll and her own excited little girl.
"She drowned," explained Mary Jane, pointing to the doll, "and he
rescued her," pointing to the boy, "and we're all going to take a ride."
Hal looked at the children and suspected that they were to be Mary
Jane's guests--with the exception of the little girl who owned the doll
they were ragged and poor looking, so he asked, "Have enough tickets,
Mary Jane?"
"Just enough," replied Mary Jane, "with Alice's and mine together."
"Then we'll hold the doll and watch you ride," said Mrs. Merrill.
The children scampered over to the dock and got aboard a boat. The
little Italian girl sat with Alice and Mary Jane and the others took the
back seat.
"Oh!" exclaimed the child rapturously, as the boat slowly moved away
from the shore, "ain't it just like a fairy story?"
"You like stories too!" cried Mary Jane delightedly, "so do I and I feel
just like a princess. I do every time I ride on 'em."
"I never rode on one before," said the stranger, "but I feel like a
princess now, I do."
"Never rode on a swan boat, never had a doll," the thought kept running
through Mary Jane's head during the rest of the ride and while they were
getting off and going back to her mother, "never had a doll--" How
funny that would seem!
The rescued doll was not dry yet, of course, but Uncle Hal had procured
a paper to wrap it in, so that it could be carried home safely.
"We'll get the clothes and wrap them up too," said Alice, and Mary Jane,
and the mother of the doll ran and brought the clothes from the bush at
the other side of the lagoon, and Alice wrapped them carefully so
nothing could be lost out on the way home.
While she was doing that, Mary Jane whispered to her mother, "Won't you
please find out the name of that little girl with the brown eyes, and
the boy, Mother dear, and where they live, and I'll tell you why when we
get home to the hotel?"
Mrs. Merrill pulled out her tiny notebook and tactfully asking the boy
for his name and address, wrote them down in the book. Then they all
said a good-by to their new friends, for it was now high time they were
getting back to dress for dinner.
"Mother dear," said Mary Jane as she skipped along beside her mother
five minutes later, "that little girl never had a doll and she never
went on the boats before though she lives right here in Boston. And as
soon as we get home I want to send her a doll, all dressed in pretty
clothes and everything--may I please?"
"Indeed yes, dear," answered Mrs. Merrill, much pleased with the idea.
"We'll do it just as soon as we get home, and you and Alice may make the
clothes and have it a really gift of your own."
When, an hour or more after dinner that evening, Mary Jane snuggled down
in her bed for a long night's sleep, she said to Alice, "Didn't we have
fun to-day? Winning the game and going boat riding and rescuing the
doll and everything? Now I wonder what'll happen to-morrow?"
*COMMENCEMENT IN THE STADIUM*
The first thing Mary Jane did when she wakened the next morning was to
run and look out of the window. All their plans for the day depended
upon the weather. Year after year the Harvard commencement had been
held in Sanders Theatre, one of the rooms in Memorial Hall, and as the
graduating class was always so large and the theatre so small in
comparison, it was impossible for each student to have more than one
ticket--and of course that meant that Mary Jane was not to go. But this
year, partly through the influence of her own Uncle Hal, it had been
decided to hold the exercises in the Stadium--if the weather permitted.
And that meant that Mary Jane could go; in fact, she had the ticket all
ready, the ticket marked so plainly "not good in case of rain."
A glance at the sky showed her she was not to be disappointed. It was
clear and blue and the few dainty white clouds scattered about looked as
unlike rain clouds as could be. It was a perfect June day.
"Goody!" she exclaimed, as she ran back to take a peep at the precious
ticket. Not many little girls of six ever went to a Harvard
commencement, and Mary Jane guessed that she was very fortunate.
Mrs. Merrill suggested that as both girls had had a good night's sleep,
they dress and take a bit of a walk before breakfast, stopping on the
way for Mary Jane's shoes which were to be ready. So Mary Jane slipped
on a dark gingham dress after her bath, and they started out. There was
only time for a short walk as they were tempted into the library and
lingered to enjoy the pictures. Mary Jane knew the story of the Holy
Grail, as every girl should, and she and Alice both enjoyed looking at
the lovely paintings.
"Let's come again!" exclaimed Alice as her mother reminded them that
they simply must not stay any longer now, as Uncle Hal would be waiting.
"Oh, I just love it here!" whispered Mary Jane as they walked down the
broad marble staircase. "Doesn't it make you feel like a princess in
your own castle? I can just see my subjects walking behind holding up
my train and thinking how grand and lovely I look."
"Seems to me a good many things make you feel 'like a princess,'" said
Mrs. Merrill smilingly, "the swan boats and now the marble stairs of the
library."
"Well, I guess Boston must be a princess-y sort of a place," replied
Mary Jane, "'cause I never felt that way in Chicago. I like Boston. I
like Chicago too," she added loyally, "but Boston is more princess-y
feeling."
They crossed the Square and hurried up to their room to dress. The
girls were to wear the dainty little organdies they had worn on Class
Day. Mrs. Merrill had had them pressed and when the girls stepped into
the room there they were on the beds--as fresh and crisp as new. And now
that the new shoes were fixed with a soft pad of leather at the heel to
keep them from slipping up and down and making a blister, there was
nothing likely to mar the day.
It didn't take long to dress as everything was laid out ready, and soon
the three Merrills were in the subway, dashing out to meet Uncle Hal at
Harvard Square. There wasn't much time for visiting; and anyway, Mary
Jane didn't feel much like visiting just "common-like" with a
queer-looking uncle who wore a long black dress and had a funny pointed
cap on his head. Her mother explained that it was a "gown" not a dress,
and that all the students who graduated that day and all the men of the
university wore them. Mary Jane had, of course, seen a good many of
them on Class Day but she couldn't get used to her own Uncle Hal having
such a funny gown.
They all went over toward the Stadium together, and as they stepped upon
the bridge across the Charles River, Uncle Hal picked her up and set her
on his shoulder while Mrs. Merrill took a picture of them.
"There now," said Hal as he set her down again, "if anybody ever doubts
that you came to my commencement they can just look at that! There's the
Charles River in it and the Stadium in the background and you and I in
front--if we didn't break the camera."
In the row in front of them, in the Stadium, sat Hal's friends, Mr. and
Mrs. Humphrey. Alice and Mary Jane had never met them before, though
Mrs. Merrill had known them some time.
"I'm so sorry you've been here all these days and we've been away,"
exclaimed Mrs. Humphrey, as the Merrills were seated. "We just got in
this morning. I'm wondering if you and these nice girls wouldn't like
to go for a drive this afternoon? Have you been down on the south
shore? Toward Nantasket?"
"We haven't done a thing but Harvard!" laughed Mrs. Merrill, "because
Hal wanted us to go to all the exercises and parties. We've had a
marvelous time, but aside from one short ride, we haven't tried to see
anything of Boston--I thought that would keep till the job of graduating
my brother was over," she added.
"That's just the way I knew you would feel," answered Mrs. Humphrey,
"because I know how Hal's been counting all winter on your seeing
everything. But now that it's so soon over you'll have time for a ride
with us. You're not going to the boat races are you?"
"No," said Mrs. Merrill, "I thought that would be almost too much of a
crowd for the girls, so we've planned to go to Plymouth to-morrow while
Hal and some friends go to the boat race, and then I want to stop over
night with a dear cousin in Marshfield."
The talk was interrupted just then by the arrival of the first of the
long procession of men entering the Stadium. Mary Jane could hardly sit
still she was so thrilled by the sight of the long line of marching
men--all in black gowns relieved here and there by the capes of scarlet
or blue or purple some wore. And the bands playing and the crowds of
people all interestedly watching--of course she couldn't understand it
all, but she loved seeing it--it seemed like a scene from an old time
pageant.
But by the time the exercises were over Mary Jane was tired enough from
sitting on the hard stone seat and from watching and trying to
understand. So the idea of lunch at some place in Cambridge without
waiting to go back to Boston, sounded very welcome.
"We'll go where Uncle Hal goes sometimes," suggested Mrs. Merrill. "I
know the very place on the way back to the Square. You may have a
sandwich and some ice cream and anything else they have, that you'd
like."
"And is it all over?" asked Mary Jane as she ran along beside her
mother, glad of the chance to hurry a bit and limber up the muscles
stiffened by long sitting.
"All over, I think, honey," replied Mrs. Merrill. "All over for us
anyway, as we're not going to the races. And won't we love that ride
this afternoon? Hal will be busy packing up, and we'll get just that
extra bit of fun thrown in."
Mary Jane found just what she wanted for lunch and was much refreshed,
so, leaving a note in Hal's room in order that he would know their
plans, they took the subway back to their hotel to change and make ready
for the drive. White organdy dresses were not the most suitable frocks
for an all-afternoon motor trip.
Promptly at two o'clock Mrs. Humphrey arrived in a beautiful limousine.
Mary Jane, who wasn't used to a car of her own, had puzzled considerably
as to what sort of a car Mrs. Humphrey might have, and had insisted that
she wanted to wear a grown-up-lady veil so as not to muss her hair.
"You won't need a veil, dear," Mrs. Merrill had said, positively,
"little girls don't need veils when their hair is short, no matter what
kind of a car they ride in."
"But I saw a picture that had a little girl with a veil and a lady with
a veil," said Mary Jane, "and I want to wear the big pink one, I do."
"Suppose you take it instead of wearing it," suggested Mrs. Merrill.
"Then you'll have it if you need it, and you won't be bothered taking it
off if you don't need it."
So Mary Jane went out to the car carrying a long floating veil of pink
chiffon, and from her grand manner it was plain to see that again she
felt "just like a princess."
Mrs. Merrill sat with Mrs. Humphrey in the big back seat and Alice and
Mary Jane sat on the chairs just in front of them.
Mary Jane was much thrilled by the dignified looks of the middle-aged
chauffeur and when Mrs. Humphrey said, "We're ready now, Higgins, drive
down the south shore the way we like best, you know the route?" she
couldn't keep her enthusiasm to herself.
"I think Higgins is an awfully nice name," she confided to Mrs.
Humphrey. "I read a book, that is, mother read it to me, and it had a
Higgins in it and I liked him a lot. I always thought I'd like to talk
to a Higgins.
"Does yours talk again?" she added as she saw no sign of conversation in
the straight shoulder before her.
Mrs. Humphrey's lip twitched. How explain to eager little Mary Jane
that Higgins was so dignified everyone had to be careful of his
feelings? Higgins was the most dignified of all the story-book
Higginses ever invented! So she merely said, "I think he's rather busy
driving just now, and we want to have a careful driver, don't we dear?"
And then, in an effort to change the subject she added, "Isn't that a
lovely garden?"
But Mary Jane wasn't that easily diverted and Higgins was very much on
her mind--as Mrs. Humphrey was to discover later.
*FUN ON THE BEACH*
The drive down the south shore was very beautiful; the girls both
enjoyed the glimpses they saw of Quincy, Hingham and Neponset--the
quaint old-fashioned houses, so different from anything they had ever
seen before, the lovely gardens and the view of the bay and various
inlets that they caught from time to time. The road was good and the
powerful car dashed along under the wide spreading trees that edged the
roads. The girls were much refreshed by this sort of entertainment.
But Mary Jane was disappointed by one thing--it wasn't really windy
enough to _need_ a veil. And she did want to wear one. As they neared
the ocean though, they felt a stronger breeze, a breeze that came
gustily through the open windows of the limousine, and she felt
justified in using the veil she had carried over her arm. It wasn't
particularly easy to adjust a veil two yards long while they were
driving so rapidly, and Alice had to help her sister, for Mary Jane
insisted in putting it entirely over her hat and tying it under her
chin.
Mrs. Merrill and Mrs. Humphrey were busy talking and didn't notice what
Mary Jane was doing till the veil was almost fixed. Then Mrs. Humphrey
noticed it, and was all regret for coming this route.
"My dear!" she exclaimed to Mrs. Merrill, "I didn't know your little
girl was so delicate! We should never have come this way! We could just
as well have driven west and then she wouldn't have felt this awful wind
from the ocean! Why, it's just too bad! We'll have Higgins turn around
at once! I should have asked you, only your little girl _looked_ so
strong and I thought she and her sister might like to go in bathing at
the beach. Such a dear little thing to watch and put the veil on
herself at the first breath! My nephew's children are so careless--they
never _will_ wrap up as--"
There seemed no hope of the good lady ever stopping, so Mrs. Merrill
interrupted to say, "Don't be a bit concerned, Mrs. Humphrey, Mary Jane
is not delicate--in fact she is very strong and vigorous. But she did
want to wear a veil and pretend to be grown-up, and she has taken
advantage of the first breeze to think she must put it on."
Mary Jane was panic-stricken. She wasn't sick; she'd love to go
swimming in the ocean, and the very thought of leaving that pretty beach
they were just approaching and turning west made her sorry. What _had_
she done by putting on her veil?
"Don't you worry 'bout me," she said to Mrs. Humphrey, "I'm never sick.
But I like to wear a veil--a big lady veil. Don't you like to, too? But
I like to go swimming too, I do."
"Very well then," said Mrs. Humphrey, smilingly, "you shall go swimming.
I guess I don't understand little girls very well. But I know they
always like to come to the beach and they like to eat--oh, 'most
anything."
"Then you know them pretty well after all," said Alice laughing.
"But they can't eat before they swim," said Mary Jane, "little girls
can't."
"To be sure," agreed Mrs. Humphrey as the car came to a stop on the
shining sand, "but if they go in the water at once--they won't have to
wait long to eat, will they?"
As the girls climbed out of the car they decided that Mrs. Humphrey knew
considerable about girls even if she didn't happen to understand Mary
Jane's notions about wanting to dress up like grown folks.
At the right hand end of the long beach was a private clubhouse where
Mr. Humphrey had a membership, and there Mrs. Humphrey took Alice and
Mary Jane to fit them out with bathing suits.
"I wish someone we knew was here to go in with you," said she worriedly,
as they walked toward the beach after the girls had dressed. "Of course
Higgins is bringing lap rugs down close to the water and your mother and
I will sit right there near. But you could have more fun with the big
waves, if someone could take you out."
They threaded their way through the crowds of folks on the sand to the
spot where Mrs. Humphrey thought the cleanest, nicest sand was found,
and there--just as though he had been there all afternoon--was Uncle Hal
and three of his friends!
"I thought you were going to pack!" exclaimed Mrs. Merrill in amazement.
"So I was," laughed Hal, "but why pack when I could go in swimming?"
"But how did you happen to come here?" asked Alice.
"I didn't 'happen,'" Hal assured her. "Art came over and said you were
coming down here, and as it turned off so hot, wouldn't I like a swim,
and I would--so here we are. Want some good company?"
"'Deed we do!" Mary Jane assured him, and much relieved, Mrs. Merrill
and Mrs. Humphrey sat down on the rugs to continue their visit while the
two girls, with the four college men for escorts, raced down into the
water.
Mary Jane supposed she would have had fun on the beach, wading by the
edge of the big waves even if Uncle Hal had not come. But it wouldn't
have been fun such as she and Alice had with him there. The great waves
rolled in and broke in a crest of foam near the shore and then spread in
a frill of bubbles over the golden sand. Uncle Hal picked her up in his
arms and walked with her way out into the water; then, holding her high,
let her feel the "break" of the waves close to her face. She shouted
with glee and splashed her hands in the crest of foam--never had she had
such fun!
Then, taking her out deeper, where the waves did not break but rolled
along in a great swell, he held her tightly by her bathing suit and
under her chin and let her swim. It was fun to feel the water rolling,
to let herself go as Uncle Hal told her to, and to breathe slowly and
comfortably and work her hands and feet, feeling all the while the
security of her uncle's strong arm.
"Let's do it some more!" she cried, as he took her in to shore.
"Pretty soon," he replied, "but you stay on the sand awhile now with
Alice while I swim out to the raft to warm up. Then you shall have
another swim--two, if you want them."
Back on the sand with Alice, Mary Jane found it nearly as much fun to
dig and hunt shells as it was to swim. There seemed to be no pretty
shells as there were on the beaches in Florida; perhaps because the
crowds of people kept them picked over; perhaps because up further north
there were not such pretty shells to be washed up. But there were
plenty to build a wall with even if all were not beautiful and perfect.
She and Alice collected several handfuls and then set about building a
city with a wall around it. Other children playing near saw the plan
and helped too, and in a few minutes a dozen little folks were working
under Alice's direction, building streets, parks, houses, churches and
the outer wall. It was great fun and as they worked the time sped by,
one hour, two, and the girls would have guessed it wasn't more than ten
minutes.
They were used to playing on the sandy beach of Lake Michigan and even
Alice, who knew all about it, didn't think about the ocean's tides. And
as all the children were in their bathing suits they didn't notice an
occasional bit of wetness. So it was with amazement they saw a great
wave roll up near and actually into their precious city!
"Why, what's the matter with the ocean?" exclaimed Mary Jane in dismay,
"it's coming into our city, and it mustn't!"
"Matter with the ocean!" cried Alice, much disgusted with her
thoughtlessness. "It's the tide. Don't you remember in Florida how it
went up and down the beach each day, Mary Jane? We should have
remembered and set our city further from the edge of the water."
As they talked, a second great wave broke in a frill of bubbles and down
went the two nearest churches, three parks and a dozen houses.
"Regular earthquake-tidal wave effect," said one of Uncle Hal's friends
who came up to the group just then. "Well, we were just going to take
you into the water again anyway, so why worry?"
"Oh, goody!" cried Mary Jane happily, "we can build another city
sometime, but we can't go in swimming with you and Uncle Hal--not very
often we can't."
By the time the girls had had another good swim and had enjoyed the
breakers till the boys were tired, Mrs. Merrill decided that it was time
to come in. The sun was getting lower and lower, and already the breeze
was blowing cooler.
"Dash up to the clubhouse quickly, girlies," said Mrs. Humphrey, "you
know where I showed you to go. And then when you come back dressed
we'll find something to eat."
But the girls took longer dressing than might have been expected--maybe
they talked too much about the good time they were having--and when they
reached the beach it was time the party was starting back for Boston,
past time in fact, if Mrs. Humphrey was to keep an important dinner
engagement. So there was no time for regular tea as Mrs. Humphrey had
planned.