Mary Jane Her Visit by Clara Ingram Judson

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Grandfather seemed to be tired at supper that evening so nothing was
said about secrets or letters or anything like that, and he went off to
bed about as soon as Mary Jane did.

But the next morning he seemed rested and jolly as ever.

"Do you happen to know any little girl around here who wants to work
with me today?" he asked at the breakfast table.

"That's what Daddah says when he wants me to work in my garden," said
Mary Jane.

"You don't tell me!" exclaimed Grandfather in great surprise. That was
one of his favorite expressions, and Mary Jane had to always stop and
think before she could realize that what he meant was, "You do tell
me!" "And what do you say to him when he asks you that?"

"I say, 'I know one little girl and that's me,'" replied Mary Jane.

"And what do you say to me?" continued Grandfather.

"I say, 'I know one little girl, and she's right here,'" laughed Mary
Jane and she jumped down from the table and gave her grandfather a big
bear hug. "What is it we're going to do?"

"Wait and see," said Grandfather.

"Then it's the secret!" exclaimed Mary Jane, dancing around. "It's the
secret! I know it is! Grandmother! Let's hurry quick and do our work
so we can go."

"You put on your sun hat and go this very minute," exclaimed
Grandmother. "You've been such a good little helper--I guess I can get
along alone one day."

So in about one minute Mary Jane had her sun hat from upstairs and was
going out the back door with her grandfather.

They went out past the tool house and past the chicken yard and up to
the garden.

"No, Bob," said Grandfather as Bob tried to push in through the garden
gate with them, "we don't need you here. G'on back to the house!" And
Bob turned obediently and ran back.

"Isn't he the nicest dog!" explained Mary Jane, as they went along.
And then she stopped right short and couldn't say another word. For
right there in front of her, just as plain as day as though it had been
growing a whole spring, was her own garden! Yes, her _very own_
garden! With the nasturtiums in front and the marigolds next and the
young lettuce in the back. Mary Jane could hardly believe her eyes!

"Why--but--how--I thought gardens stayed in one town!" she finally
exclaimed.

"They do usually," said Grandfather and his eyes twinkled with pleasure
over her surprise, "usually they do."

"But my garden didn't," stammered Mary Jane. "Did it come on a train
like I did?"

"No," laughed Grandfather; "guess again."

"It couldn't come any other way," insisted Mary Jane, "'cause I was out
here last week with Grandmother to see her lettuce and this wasn't here
then and you can't come 'way from my house in one day unless you ride
on a train--it's too far."

"That's good thinking for Miss Five-year-old," said Grandfather
proudly, "so I guess I'll have to explain. You see, I wrote to your
mother and asked her how your garden was at home. And she told me,
exactly; she even drew a little picture so I would know just how things
were planted. After I got that letter, it was easy to take nasturtiums
and marigolds and lettuce from your grandmother's garden and make one
for you. She was glad to give you some."

"So that's the reason you wouldn't read Mother's letter yesterday,"
said Mary Jane.

"That's it," agreed Grandfather.

"And that's the reason you were so tired last night," continued Mary
Jane. "You'd been working so hard to 'sprise me."

"Well," admitted Grandfather, "that may have had something to do with
it."

"I think I've got the _bestest_ grandfather!" exclaimed Mary Jane
suddenly, and she threw her arms around him so hard, oh, ever so hard.
"And now do we work here?"

"Not to-day," said Grandfather, "because you couldn't work with my big
tools. Tomorrow morning I'll drive into the village and get you a
little set of tools just your size like you have at home. This
afternoon we'll look around and see if everything's all right in my
garden. Then to-morrow we can go to work, as soon as we come home."

Mary Jane took hold of his hand and together they went back into his
nice big garden.

"Um-m-m," said Grandfather suddenly as he bent over his carrot bed. "I
was afraid so, I was afraid so!"

"What's the matter?" asked Mary Jane who couldn't see that much was
wrong.

"See those nibbled off carrots?" asked Grandfather.

Mary Jane looked closely and saw the broken tips.

"We'll have to catch that thief," said Grandfather. "I guess we need
Bob after all." Grandfather stuck his finger to his mouth and made a
loud whistle. Then he called, "Here Bob! Here Bob! Here Bob!"

Bob came bounding down the garden path, wagging his tail and eager to
be of use.

"See that?" demanded Grandfather, pointing to the broken tips.

Bob sniffed and sniffed. He twisted his ears backward and forward and
sniffed again. Then he started briskly over to the back of the garden.

"We'll find him!" exclaimed Grandfather. "Come on, Mary Jane! Bob's
not much of a hunter but I'll guess that he'll find him and we'll scare
him off!"

Mary Jane, who didn't in the least understand who "him" was or what was
going to be found or done, trotted along behind her grandfather and Bob
eager to see something new.

THE GARDEN THIEF

"What are we doing, Grandfather?" asked Mary Jane as she trotted along
behind her grandfather and Bob. "What are we doing and where are we
going and who's the thief?"

"No time to talk," called Grandfather over his shoulder. "You'll see!
Come along and take hold of my hand."

Mary Jane ran as fast as ever she could till she caught up with her
grandfather and got a firm hold of his hand. Then she felt better: for
when a little girl doesn't know what _is_ going on, she wants to have
hold of _something_--you know how that is yourself. Bob led them out
of the corner of the garden; across the small cornfield back of the
barn; across the pasture and into the woods beyond. There he stopped
and sniffed in the bushes and through the dead leaves in what Mary Jane
thought was the most curious way she had ever seen a dog act.

"Well!" exclaimed Grandfather disgustedly, "if you can't find him any
better than that--I'll hunt myself!" And to Mary Jane's amazement, he
too, began hunting in the piles of dead leaves where Bob was diligently
sniffing.

Suddenly he cried, "Mary Jane! Mary Jane! Come here this minute!"

Mary Jane, who had been standing by a stump where her grandfather left
her when he followed Bob into the woods, eagerly ran over to where he
stood. He waited quietly till she was clear up to him and then he
reached down and lifted up a pile of dead leaves and rubbish.

"Oh, Grandfather!" exclaimed the little girl, "what are they?"

"What do you think they are?" he asked.

"I don't think," replied Mary Jane, "'cause I never saw them before.
But they look like the Easter things at the store."

"Right you are!" exclaimed Grandfather much pleased. "They're baby
rabbits--and in one of the prettiest little nests I ever found. I'm
glad you were along to see."

"Were they what you were hunting, Grandfather?" asked Mary Jane as she
half timidly bent over the little bundle of gray and white fur. "They
wouldn't steal your garden, would they?"

"No, not those pretty little things," replied Grandfather, "but their
father would. Can't say as I blame him though," continued Grandfather,
laughing, "with such a family to feed he'd naturally have to get
whatever he could. Usually the rabbits don't bother my garden. Well,
Pussy, what shall we do with them?"

"Do with them?" asked Mary Jane. "What is there to do?"

Grandfather looked down at the little girl; by this time she was on her
knees beside the nest, and bending over the little rabbits as though
she'd like to touch them but didn't feel quite well enough acquainted.
"Shall we leave them out here or--"

But Mary Jane didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence.

"Oh, Grandfather!" she exclaimed, "could we take them home?"

"I guess we could if you wanted to," he said. "Your mother was always
a great hand for pet rabbits and I believe that the very house I once
built for her, is up in the loft to this day. Let's cover them over
again and go find it."

"Will they stay here while we're gone?" asked Mary Jane as he tenderly
laid the leaves back over the little creatures.

"They will till their mother gets a chance to take them away," answered
Grandfather. "If she thinks we'll hurt them, she'll carry them to some
other hiding place. But if we hurry, we'll get them first."

"Won't she know that we'll take good care of them?" asked Mary Jane.

"She won't know it at first," replied Grandfather, "but she'll soon
find out. We'll fix them up in a comfortable box and they'll be as
safe and happy and perhaps even better fed than if they'd stayed out
here in the woods where stray dogs might hurt them. Come on, now,
Pussy; let's hurry for the box."

Mary Jane took hold of his hand again and they hurried back through the
pasture and the cornfield to the barn.

It didn't take Grandfather long to find the little rabbit house he had
made for Mary Jane's mother years ago. "The box part is good as new,"
he said, "and I'll get some fresh screening from the attic to cover
over this open side."

Mary Jane trotted along beside him up to the mysterious, big attic at
the top of the house, where, from a dark corner, he pulled a strip of
new wire screen. They took it down to the back porch where he had left
the box and in less than half an hour he had the new home all ready for
the rabbits.

Of course Grandmother heard them working around and came to see what
was going on.

"Oh, the cunningest bunnies, five of them, we found," Mary Jane told
her, "little and soft and gray and white just like the Easter bunnies
in the store, and we're going to bring them up to your house to live so
not any bad dogs will hurt them and so I can feed them."

"Won't that be fun," said Grandmother approvingly, "but how are you
going to carry them?"

Mary Jane stared at her grandmother thoughtfully. "Will they go in my
hand?"

"Carry five?" asked Grandmother. "I thought you said five. You
couldn't get that many in your hand."

"No-o-o, I 'spect I couldn't," said Mary Jane. "How'll I do it?"

"Suppose we fix a basket," suggested Grandmother, "then they would be
safe and comfortable while they made the journey."

Mary Jane thought that a wonderful idea and she helped Grandmother hunt
up a basket from the storeroom and fold a soft old cloth to line it.
By the time they had it all ready, Grandfather had the new home
finished and he and Mary Jane set out for the woods to get their new
family.

Just before they got to the nest they saw the mother rabbit dart away.
Such a pretty little thing she was, all soft gray except her tiny stub
of a tail which was snow white. She hurried away so quickly Mary Jane
hardly got more than a glance at her before she was out of sight behind
a log.

"I'll wager she'll watch us," said Grandfather, chuckling, "and then
she'll know where we take her babies. Well, that's all right, Mrs.
Rabbit," he added; "you've a right to know where your family is. If
you'd made a safer nest, I'd leave them here for you, but as it is,
they'll be better off where they're going than where they are."

"But didn't you say they ate the garden?" asked Mary Jane, suddenly
remembering what had started them out on their journey.

"Yes, they do a bit," answered Grandfather, "but they mostly let us
alone so I guess we won't think any more about the little they stole."
While he was talking, he had set the basket on the ground and now he
lifted off the rubbish and tenderly took out two little rabbit babies
and set them in the basket.

"Why!" exclaimed Mary Jane as she bent over to see, "they's only three
bunnies!"

"Sure enough!" agreed Grandfather. "How many did you think there were?"

"I didn't think," said Mary Jane. "I counted them; they had five noses
when we saw them before. I know because I can count one, two, three,
four, five!"

"You surely can," said Grandfather much puzzled, "then their mother
must have taken two away. Like as not she was after another one when
she saw us coming. Now cover them up good and warm, Mary Jane," he
added as he set the third bunny into the basket, "and we'll hurry off
home."

He let her carry the basket every bit of the way, and she was careful,
oh, so very careful, not to jiggle the bunnies as she walked.

When they got back to the porch Grandmother came out to watch them put
the bunnies onto the nice soft cotton she had fixed in the corner of
the box and she showed Mary Jane how to fix water and some freshly
picked lettuce for them.

"Now, then," she said, "that's enough for now. Dinner's ready and I
guess you're ready for it!"

Mary Jane was hungry enough to be willing to leave the rabbits long
enough to eat--but no longer. The minute she had finished she ran out
to watch her pets. She sat down on the grass beside the box and
watched and watched and watched, but those funny little fellows didn't
eat or do anything! They just stayed snuggled up in the soft cotton as
tight as ever they could.

"They feel strange and queer, just like you would if some one took you
away from your bed," said Grandmother when she came out to see how Mary
Jane was getting along. "Why don't you come and take a ride with me
and maybe by the time you come home, they'll be better acquainted and
will come out and eat."

So Mary Jane reluctantly left her post of watching and went riding.
Grandfather surprised them and went along too, and the new gardening
tools and a big sun hat were bought and stowed away in the back of the
car.

"Let's not stay too long," said Mary Jane, as they turned away from the
store; "let's see if the bunnies feel better now."

"I don't believe that child wants to ride a bit," laughed Grandmother.
"We might as well go home!" So they turned back the way they had come.

The minute she was out of the car, Mary Jane ran to the rabbit house.
Not a rabbit was there! Not one of the pretty bunnies she had left
snugged up in the corner!

"Grandfather!" called Mary Jane, "Grandmother! Come quick! They's
gone!"

"Think of that!" exclaimed Grandfather as he hurried up to see.

"Poor child! That's too bad!" cried Grandmother sympathetically as she
peered into the empty box. "Like as not their mother came after them,
though how she got them out I don't quite see."

"I do," laughed Grandfather, and he pointed to a hole in the back of
the box. "I guess this wood wasn't as sound as I thought it was!
Well, if she wanted them that much, I guess she deserves them! But
who'd a thought she'd be so quick!"

"Where are my bunnies?" cried Mary Jane, "where did she take them?"
And Grandmother noticed that she was bitterly disappointed.

"Never you mind, pet," said Grandmother, and she put her arm
comfortingly around the little girl. "They're not far away, depend on
that. But if you want something to feed and take care of, something
all your own--I'll get it for you."

"Will you, Grandmother, really truly?"

"Really truly," nodded Grandmother, "and you shall keep it in this
pretty little house!"

"Goody!" exclaimed Mary Jane, "and will it be pretty like my Easter
rabbits?"

"Every bit as pretty," said Grandmother, "just come with me to see if
it isn't!"

And she took hold of Mary Jane's hand and together they went toward the
chicken house.

MARY JANE'S FAMILY

"Is it a chicken?" asked Mary Jane as she saw the direction they were
taking.

"Bless the child!" exclaimed Grandmother, "she can ask questions the
fastest! No, my dear, it isn't a chicken! You'd better wait and see."

"Yes, I'm a-waiting," said Mary Jane with a tiny sigh, "but I hope it
isn't very long waiting, 'cause I like to see what I'm going to have."
And she skipped along by her grandmother as fast as she could.

Fortunately it wasn't very far to the chicken house, so she hadn't long
to wait. They went in at the front of the house; that was no surprise
because Mary Jane had been there every day of her visit. She looked
around quickly but she didn't see anything new, anything that looked
like a surprise. But Grandmother didn't stop there; she went on back
through a little door Mary Jane had never noticed, and into a room that
was nice and warm and had a big desk in it. Or at least Mary Jane
thought it looked like a big desk. And there wasn't anything there
that looked like a surprise; Mary Jane would have begun to be worried
if she hadn't been so sure Grandmother must know what she was talking
about.

"Now, let's see how heavy you are," said Grandmother, "maybe we'll need
your Grandfather after all." She put her hands under Mary Jane's arms
and tried to lift her up. "I can do it but I can't hold you long
enough," she said with a shake of her head, "better run call your
grandfather, dear."

"But he's way out in the barn," cried Mary Jane who was fairly dancing
with eagerness she was so anxious to see the surprise; "can't I get a
chair?" And then she thought how silly that was when of course there
wasn't a chair in the chicken house! "Or a box, Grandmother," she
added as an after thought.

"A box?" questioned Grandmother, looking around thoughtfully, "oh, yes!
I know. There's one right out in that next room. It's not very heavy
and I believe you can get it yourself, Mary Jane. Suppose you try."

Mary Jane was very glad to try. She hurried out the door into the
other room, spied the box over in the corner and dragged it back into
the little room where Grandmother was waiting.

"See, Grandmother?" she said proudly. "I can stand on it."

"So you can, so you can," agreed Grandmother much pleased. "You're a
good planner, little girl. Now turn the box on its long side, so; and
climb on it; then--"

"What's that noise?" exclaimed Mary Jane suddenly as through the quiet
of the little room she heard a queer, "Peep! Peep!" So many "peeps,"
so soft and low that she was hardly sure she heard them.

"Never mind!" cried Grandmother, who was looking into the big case that
Mary Jane had thought was a desk. "Climb up quickly and look!"

Mary Jane needed no second urging. She set the box on its long side
and, grasping her grandmother's hand firmly so it wouldn't tip over as
she stepped on it, she climbed up and looked into the "desk."

Such a sight as met her eyes! Tiny little chicks! Rows and rows and
rows of them! Under the glass cover of that queer looking case.

"They's about a million!" she gasped in amazement, "all in one box!"

"Not a million, dear," laughed Grandmother, "but a good many and
they're almost ready to take out."

"But how did they get in?" asked Mary Jane much puzzled.

Grandmother explained that the queer looking "desk" was really an
incubator--a box in which eggs were kept warm till the little creature
inside each egg was big enough to break the shell and take care of
itself.

Mary Jane looked and looked and looked and thought it was the most
wonderful of all the many wonders she had seen at Grandmother's. She
thought of a dozen questions she wanted to ask, but Grandmother seemed
so busy tending to this and that and the other that she decided to wait
till some other time to ask them.

"Now, dear," said Grandmother, "you stay here and be deciding which you
want for yours while I get your grandfather to help me take them out.
I was so in hopes you could see this, pet, because I knew you'd like
to."

She bustled out of the room in search of Grandfather, and Mary Jane
studied over the rows of chickens. And just at that minute she spied
_them_! She knew the second she saw them that there was her family.

They were huddled down in one corner, all six of them and they seemed
lonesome and--well, different. Of course Mary Jane may have imagined
that, but so it seemed to her. Their bills were funny and their eyes
were different from the eyes of the other chicks, and the shape of
their tails and of their wings seemed different, some way.

"I'm going to have you and give you a nice time," said Mary Jane,
whispering tenderly above the case cover. "I'd like to take care of
you, so don't you mind if you are funny!" And with the tip, tip of her
finger, she touched the glass directly over them.

Just then Grandmother Hodges came back into the room with Grandfather
right behind her.

"Grandmother!" cried Mary Jane eagerly, "may I have any ones? May I
pick them out? May I have these funny little ones? These that are all
by their lonesomes in the corner?"

Grandfather and Grandmother both looked to where Mary Jane pointed.

"The ducks!" they exclaimed together. "They came out all right!"

Then Grandmother added, "To be sure you may have them, Mary Jane.
Those are ducks, and I put in six eggs so we could have a bit of roast
duck, come winter. They'll be sure to get into trouble with the
chickens and I would be so glad if you'll make them your family and
look after them for me. Here, Father," she said to her husband, "let's
take them out for her first." So Grandfather got the basket Mary Jane
and her grandmother had brought out with them and then he held up the
glass cover while Grandmother tenderly lifted the tiny ducks, one by
one, and set them inside. Then she covered them all over with a thick
cover.

"But Grandmother," cried Mary Jane in dismay, "they can't breathe!
They'll die!"

"Not they," laughed Grandmother. "Run along now, and set the basket in
the sun by your rabbit box. I'll be right out and fix them up for you."

So for the second time that day, Mary Jane found herself carrying a
basket of living creatures. "Wouldn't Doris like to be here!" she said
to herself as she thought of her little friend back home, "and wouldn't
I like to show her my family!" She walked slowly and carefully so as
not to tip the baby ducks and it was with a sigh of relief that she
finally set them down by the rabbit box.

Fortunately, Grandmother came along in just a few minutes so Mary Jane
didn't have time to worry about the "peeps" that were coming more and
more loudly from the basket.

Grandmother took the ducks one by one from the basket and set them on
some soft bits of old wool in the corner of the box. "We don't need a
cover for this box," she said, pulling at the screen Grandfather had
tacked on, "till they get bigger. We'll take it off so you can take
care of them easier. There now!" she added as the screen came off,
"we'll cover them up so," and she laid the soft cloth that had been on
the basket over the little ducks; "now we'll let them be for a while."

"But we didn't feed them, Grandmother," objected Mary Jane.

"To be sure not," laughed Grandmother. "They don't want anything to
eat just yet. Not to-day. All they want is to be warm and cozy."

"Don't they want anything to drink either?" asked Mary Jane.

"No," replied Grandmother, "nothing to drink either. To-morrow you can
fix them a drinking dish and I'll show you about their food, but now,
we'll just let them be. Listen! What's that?"

Grandmother straightened up and counted the rings of her telephone bell.

"Yes, that's our ring. You take this basket back to your grandfather
while I answer it."

But before Mary Jane got out to the chicken house Grandmother was back
at the kitchen steps calling, "Father! Father!" And then as she got
no answer she called to Mary Jane, "Mary Jane! Tell your grandfather
it's long distance and he should come quick!"

Mary Jane hurried in to tell her grandfather the message and then she
waited, wonderingly, till he should come back. Had anything happened?

COUSIN JOHN'S VISIT

But the minute Mary Jane saw her grandfather smile as he came back into
the chicken house, she knew that if something _had_ happened it was a
nice something--for he was smiling a nice sort of a smile.

"Good news for us, Pussy," he said. "Now you're going to have some one
to play with."

"Another Bob?" asked Mary Jane.

"Another fiddlesticks!" laughed Grandfather. "Haven't you enough
animal friends as it is? What would you do with more? No, sir! This
is a real playmate."

"Who is she?" asked Mary Jane.

"_She_!" laughed Grandfather, "is your cousin Margaret's boy John--or
rather, she's your mother's cousin. They live over in Benset, you
know, Pussy. They promised that if you came this summer, they'd let
John come over for a visit so you two could play."

"Oh, goody!" cried Mary Jane happily, "how big is he?"

"About as big as you are, I expect," said Grandfather thoughtfully,
"but I can't really say because I haven't seen him for a long time.
But you'll know all about him to-morrow."

After that Grandfather and Grandmother fixed the little chickens as
quickly as ever they could, and then Grandfather went out to clean up
his car and Grandmother and Mary Jane hurried off to the kitchen to see
about the baking of good things to eat, for Cousin Margaret was to
bring Tom herself and would stay part of a day before going back.

How Mary Jane did love the work and bustle! Grandmother made a big jar
of sugar cookies (she let Mary Jane put the sugar on them herself, and
you know that's fun!), and a big cake with thick chocolate icing (and
Mary Jane scraped out the frosting bowl), and then she "dressed" two
chickens (and Mary Jane thought that the most wonderful performance she
had ever seen).

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