Mary Jane Her Visit by Clara Ingram Judson
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Clara Ingram Judson >> Mary Jane Her Visit
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"But we haven't any dolls to live in the houses!" exclaimed Frances
suddenly.
"That's easy," said Alice; "I've made dolls before. Grandmother showed
me how years ago. Come on and we'll get some."
She led the girls back to the orchard, where by now tiny green apples
were lying on the ground, scattered there by the summer winds.
"You girls get all the apples you can while I get the toothpicks." And
she ran to the house.
"What does she mean?" asked Frances, who wasn't used to this sort of
play.
"I don't know, but let's do what she says and then we'll find out,"
answered Mary Jane, who had great confidence in this big sister of
hers. They filled their skirts with apples of all sizes and hurried
back to the front yard where Alice, carrying a box of toothpicks, met
them.
"Now we'll all make dolls," said Alice as she spread out the picks.
"Use the biggest apples for the body; stick in two toothpicks for arms
and two for legs. And a middle-sized apple makes the head. Then take
another toothpick and mark out eyes and nose and mouth--so!" And she
set up the finished doll for the girls to see.
Frances and Mary Jane picked up apples and went to work too, and first
thing they knew there was a doll standing in front of each house. They
were just starting on animals, pigs and horses and cows which Alice
showed them how to make, when Grandmother came out with a pitcher of
lemonade and a basket of cookies. So the burr making turned into a
party which lasted till Mr. Westland came tooting along the road and
Frances had to go home.
EARNING MONEY
"Now if I only had a camera," said Alice as she and Mary Jane and her
grandmother were sitting out on the back porch one morning, shelling
peas for dinner, "I'd take a picture of you both. Wouldn't it make a
good one?"
Grandmother looked at Mary Jane. The sunshine splattered through the
cracks between the vine-covered lattice and shone on her bobbed brown
hair, on her pink play dress and on the bright green pea pods in her
lap. Mary Jane looked at her grandmother and saw the snow white hair,
the kindly face that smiled above the big work apron and the busy hands.
"Wouldn't it, though!" they both exclaimed at exactly the same minute.
And then they all three had a good laugh.
"All the same I wish I had a camera," insisted Alice.
"Does your mother think you're old enough to know how to use one?"
asked Grandmother.
"Old enough, Grandmother!" exclaimed Mary Jane. "Alice's twelve!" And
the way she said twelve showed that she thought twelve was very, very
old indeed.
Grandmother smiled and Alice added, "She's willing I should have one,
Grandmother, only I must buy it myself. And saving money out of my
allowance is slow work. I've a dollar now but I need seventy-five
cents more."
"Seems to me you should be able to earn that much," said Grandmother.
"Earn it?" asked Alice. "How?"
"Oh, by some sort of work," answered Grandmother.
"Oh, could I really?" exclaimed Alice delightedly. "What could I do?"
"Could I earn some too?" asked Mary Jane eagerly.
"What do you want money for?" laughed Alice, as though a little girl
wouldn't have use for such a thing as money! "You always want to do
everything, Mary Jane!"
"Of course she does," said Grandmother comfortably, "and you do too.
The thing I'm thinking about is more fun if done by two anyway. But
what do you want your money for, dear?" she asked the little girl.
"I want it to get a present for my dear mother," said Mary Jane, "a
present that she don't know anything about and that Daddah don't know
anything about and that nobody gives me the money for. Can I really
truly earn some money?"
"Surely," replied Grandmother. "See those woods, girls?" She pointed
across the garden and across the cornfield to the woods about a quarter
of a mile away. "In those woods are blackberry bushes, lots of them.
And this is about the beginning of the blackberry season. Now if you
girls really want to earn some money you may take your little baskets
and go berrying. I'll buy all you can pick at ten cents a quart. You
ought to easily get your seventy-five cents that way, Alice, for the
bushes ate usually loaded with berries."
"But the berries are yours to begin with," objected Alice, who liked to
be fair; "we can't sell you something that already belongs to you."
"Of course you can't," replied Grandmother, much pleased with Alice's
honesty. "I shouldn't have said 'buy the berries'; I should have said
'pay you for the picking' at ten cents a quart. If I 'bought' the
berries of any one I would have to pay fifteen or twenty cents a quart.
And if I hired some one to pick them for me as I have some years, I
would have to pay ten cents a quart, just as I offered you. So, you
see, I promised you no more than you will fairly earn."
"How do you pick berries?" asked Alice.
"There's only one way," laughed Grandmother, much amused at the
question. "You touch them and off they come! Just pick them off the
bushes and drop them in your basket and the thing is done."
"Let's go now," said Mary Jane eagerly.
"Not now," answered Grandmother, "because it's too near dinner time.
Wait till you have your dinner and a little rest of half an hour. Then
you can start and pick all afternoon."
By two o'clock the girls had hunted up the berry baskets Grandmother
told them to find in the attic (cunning little baskets with long,
curving handles they were, too) and, tying on their biggest sun hats,
they started out through the garden path.
They crossed the field, climbed the fence into the woods and turned
down the wagon road as Grandmother had directed them. And sure enough,
there were the berry bushes just as she had said. Bushes that were
fairly loaded with shining blackberries that glistened in the afternoon
sunshine.
[Illustration: "There were the berry bushes--fairly loaded with shining
blackberries."]
The girls set to work most enthusiastically and by the time Grandfather
came to see how they liked their job (for, of course, he had heard all
about it at dinner time) they had their baskets nearly full. He walked
home with them and helped them measure out their berries with
Grandmother's quart measure. Alice had a quart and a half and Mary
Jane a full, even quart and Grandmother paid immediately--fifteen cents
for Alice and ten cents, a bright new dime, for Mary Jane.
"My, but I do be rich!" exclaimed Mary Jane delightedly. "I can get my
dear mother the nicest thing!"
"Of course you can, Pussy," said Grandfather, "and Alice will have her
camera in no time. I get the best of all, though," he added with a
mysterious nod of his head.
"How do you?" asked both girls at once.
"I get to eat the jam!" replied Grandfather in a comical attempt at a
whisper.
"They do too, bless their hearts!" exclaimed Grandmother. They shall
eat all they want. I'll make it first thing in the morning."
"And first thing in the morning I mean to get more berries," said
Alice. "Let me see--fifteen into seventy-five:--in four more days I'll
have enough money to get my camera!" And she danced around gayly, she
was so delighted.
"Not quite," laughed Grandfather; "don't be in too big a hurry,
Blunderbuss; you have to give the berries a chance to ripen. Better
plan to go every other day. You'll get more at a time that way."
"And I'm going, too," put in Mary Jane, "so I can get more money for
Mother's present."
"I was thinking about that present while you girls were gone," said
Grandmother. "You'd better get that present in the city where the
stores are good. Why don't you save it for her Christmas gift? That
would be nice."
"But I wanted to give her something when she comes to take me home!"
objected Mary Jane, who had set her heart on making her mother a gift,
"something that I did."
"That's all right," Grandmother assured her; "give her something then,
too. Something you made yourself and save the money you earn till
Christmas. How would you like to make her some blackberry jam? She
likes blackberry jam and you could make that."
"Could I really?" exclaimed Mary Jane, and she sidled over to where her
grandmother was standing.
"How silly!" cried Alice. "You know she can't make jam, Grandmother;
she's only five years old. Why, even I don't know how to make jam and
I'm twelve!"
"Is that so?" laughed Grandmother, and she slipped her arm around Mary
Jane. "Well, what you can do and what Mary Jane can do has no
connection. You don't know what she can do. She's going to be a good
cook; she's begun already. And if she wants to make a glass of jam for
her mother, all by herself, she shall do it, so there! And you can
make some, too, if you want to, dear," she added kindly to Alice.
"Thank you, Grandmother," said Alice, "and I'm sorry I spoke so about
you, dear," she added to Mary Jane; "go ahead and make your jam, pet,
and I'll make Mother something else. I know it would be more fun for
you to make it without me. May I make her a cake, Grandmother? Make
it the day before she comes?"
Grandmother assured her that she could and they all went in to get
supper.
The next morning Mary Jane put on her cooking cap and apron and she and
Grandmother went at the jam while Alice and Grandfather rode to the
village on an errand.
"Measure out a good big cup full of berries," said Grandmother; "pile
it full as it will hold and wash them and put them in this pan."
Mary Jane picked out nice big, juicy berries; that wasn't hard to do
because most of the berries were very fine; the girls hadn't picked any
other kind. Then she washed them carefully and put them in the pan
Grandmother had given her.
"Now measure an even cupful of sugar," said Grandmother, "and pour it
over your berries." And Mary Jane went to the sugar bin and did as she
was told.
"Now," continued Grandmother, "shake the berries till the sugar's well
mixed in and then set the pan on the stove."
While the berries were cooking Grandmother had her hunt out a nice
jelly glass, one that the top fitted on firmly; wash and dry it ready
for the jelly. Then Mary Jane took a big spoon and Grandmother took a
big spoon and they stood by the stove and watched the jam boil. When
the bubbles got big, oh, very big, and looked as shining as big glass
beads, Grandmother said it was about done and must be tested. She put
her spoon in and then, holding it over the pan of jam, let the hot jam
drop off.
"Almost done," said Grandmother, with a satisfied nod; "now you try it,
Mary Jane."
So Mary Jane dipped her spoon in just as her grandmother had done and
again the jam dropped off, this time a little slower and with longer
drops. Grandmother told her to put the glass on a chair, on a paper,
and by the time she had done that the jam was ready to pour into the
glass.
When Alice and Grandfather came home from their errand the glass of jam
was all done and was on the table near the window, covered neatly with
its tin cover ready to give to Mrs. Merrill when she should come.
"And that won't be so many days now either," said Grandmother. "I
declare, how this summer has gone!"
THE PICNIC AT FLATROCK
On the very day that Alice counted out her money and found she had the
seventy-five cents she needed for her much wanted camera and that Mary
Jane had fifty cents, there came a telegram from Mrs. Merrill saying
that she and Mr. Merrill would arrive the next morning for a stay of
ten days.
"Now this is something like old times," said Grandmother happily as she
and the two girls bustled around making ready for the guests. "Lots of
cooking to do and two nice girls to help me do it. Seems like the days
when our own girls were here! Mary Jane, you've done plenty of dusting
for today; you go and get your grandfather to pick out two nice fat
chickens for frys while I teach Alice about making her cake. She's
going to have a beauty to show her mother, that's what she is!"
Mary Jane liked doing things with her jolly grandfather, so she skipped
out happily and found him in the barn.
"Pick out some frys, should we?" he said. "All right, that suits me,
only we'll fool her, Mary Jane; we'll get _three_! I believe in having
enough, I do."
"What we going to do to-morrow, Pussy?" he asked when that job was done.
"Why, we're going to get Mother and Father at the train and then we're
coming home."
"Oh, yes, I know that," said Grandfather, "but let's do more than that.
Let's have a picnic to celebrate their coming."
"Oh, Grandfather!" exclaimed Mary Jane, "could we?"
"We certainly could," said Grandfather, "and I think it would be a fine
thing to do. There's a full moon and we could go about four and come
home by moonlight. Let's see what your grandmother and Alice think
about it."
Grandmother and Alice were enthusiastic. "I can take my cake!"
exclaimed Alice eagerly. "It's a beautiful cake, Grandfather, see?"
she said proudly. "It's all done but the frosting and I'm going to put
that on as soon as it's cool enough."
"Looks good enough to eat," said Grandfather admiringly, "and I'm sure
it will be fine to-morrow."
"And I can take my frys," said Grandmother, planning; "your father
loves cold fried chicken, girls," she added, "and maybe your mother
will make a bowl of her fine salad to-morrow while I make a
custard--yes, Father, that's just what we'll do. We'll have a picnic.
Where'll we go?"
"To Flatrock," replied Grandfather, who had decided that point long
ago, "and you needn't plan too much fixyness because Mary Jane and I
have a surprise."
"Oh, goody!" cried Mary Jane. "What is it?" Everybody laughed at that
and Grandfather took the little girl out to the garden to show her what
the secret was. But they didn't tell anybody else what it was--I
should say not!
It was lucky there was plenty to do that day, and many interesting
things to plan for the picnic; for, even so, Mary Jane thought the day
would never end--never. She hadn't realized she was so anxious to see
her mother till she knew the long separation was so nearly over.
"To-morrow I'll see my mother! To-morrow I'll see my mother!
To-morrow I'll see my mother!" she whispered over and over to herself
as she went to sleep, and she thought it was the best news she ever
told herself.
She was awake and up the first of any one in the house the next
morning, and long before Grandfather was ready to start she was out
sitting in the automobile.
"Look who thinks she's going to the station!" exclaimed Grandfather.
"'Fraid you can't go this time, Pussy; there won't be room."
"Oh, _Grandfather_!" exclaimed Mary Jane over the big lump that
suddenly came into her throat, "I _must_ go to see my _mother_!" And
then she looked at her grandfather and saw the twinkle in his eye.
"You're just teasing, aren't you, Grandfather?" she added anxiously.
"Yes, I am, and I ought to be shot for it, so there!" said Grandfather,
who, when he saw how eager she was, regretted his hasty teasing.
"Surely you can go--we'll start in two minutes."
It wasn't more than a second after her father and mother got off the
great train before Mary Jane was held tight in her mother's arms and
oh, how good it did feel to be there! "I didn't know how much I did
want you," cried Mary Jane, "till you're here!"
Mother replied with a satisfying whisper and another pair of kisses,
one on each rosy cheek, and then Father had to have his hug and they
started gayly home.
After breakfast Mary Jane showed them all the creatures she had learned
to love--from the lamb in the pasture lot to the ducks that now lived
down by the creek. Then they went back into the house and Mary Jane
gave her mother the glass of jam made all by herself (and you can just
guess how proud and happy Mrs. Merrill was over _such_ a gift!) and
Alice showed her cake.
"Look's good enough to eat right now," said Mr. Merrill, smacking his
lips; "let's have a piece."
"I should say not!" exclaimed Alice; "that's to take to the picnic!"
So then they told all about the plan for the picnic, and Father and
Mother were pleased just as everybody had known they would be. And
every one set to work at the pleasant preparations.
Mrs. Merrill, Grandmother and Alice stayed in the kitchen, while Mr.
Merrill joined Mary Jane and Grandfather in making preparations for the
secret. They didn't let any one see a thing of what they were doing
and they carefully covered up the big basket that they stowed away in
the back of the car.
At three o'clock they were off and with such good company and over fine
roads the twenty-five mile ride to Flatrock seemed all too short.
"Now you folks who think you have the eats," said Grandfather as they
all got out of the car, "can just fool around any way you like. Mary
Jane and I are going to build a fire for the coffee her father and I
will be sure to want."
"That's no surprise," laughed Alice; "Grandmother has the coffee in her
basket and she told me I could help you make the fire!"
"Isn't that amazing!" teased Grandfather, and Alice knew from the way
he talked that she hadn't guessed the secret after all.
Flatrock was a rough, wooded spot, most unusual for that region; and
right through the middle of the woods a pretty little creek ran
tumbling over some broad, flat rocks. It was by the side of one of
these rocks, close by the little stream, that Grandfather started his
fire. He pulled two logs together till they formed a big V; then he
and Mr. Merrill and the girls gathered wood, twigs and branches and
leaves, till they had a big pile between the logs. They set fire to
these and soon they had a heap of glowing coals.
"Now," said Grandfather, "I think it's about time for our surprise.
Shall we get it, Mary Jane?"
She nodded "yes" and he went to the car, bringing back with him the
mysteriously covered basket. "You shall take the cover off, Pussy," he
said.
Mary Jane pulled back the cover cloth and there, inside, was a basket
full to the brim of--yes, it was--roasting ears! The very first of the
season!
"We keep watch of our corn patch, we do," said Grandfather, and he
nodded solemnly at Mary Jane, "and now we're going to have something
good."
They piled the roasting ears in on the hot coals, then they built
another fire over the top of them, and by the time that had burned down
the corn was ready to eat.
Grandmother and Mother and Alice unpacked the baskets and they all sat
around and enjoyed the feast. Grandmother's fried chicken and crullers
and rolls and Alice's fine cake, which was given the place of honor on
a rock by itself where it could be seen all the time till they were
ready to eat it, were pronounced the best ever.
The moon rose so clear and big and beautiful that it was hard to tell
just when day ended and night began. So it was a surprise when
Grandfather announced that it was eight o'clock and high time they were
starting home. The few scraps, and there weren't very many, were
packed neatly into one basket and the party regretfully left the rocks
and started for the car.
"Nobody ever comes along this road at this time of night," said
Grandfather. "I'll just get the car out into the middle of the road
where you can get in easier." So he pulled it away from the fence
where he had left it, and ran it out into the middle of the road.
"Here, Pussy," he added, "run around on the other side of the car and
hand me that basket."
Mary Jane did as she was told and after he had taken the basket from
her she waited in the middle of the road, by the car, till he should be
ready to help her in.
No one ever knew quite how it happened--it was all so sudden. Perhaps
the other driver, too, thought that no one was ever on that road at
that time of the evening. Out of the shadows and the moonshine, around
the curve of the road, came a roadster moving so fast that before its
driver could realize that some one stood in the center of the road, he
had hit Mary Jane squarely and had tossed her over the fence on the
opposite side of the road.
Grandfather jumped over the fence after her as quickly as he could out
of the car, but, quick as he was, Mary Jane's father was quicker. He
picked up the little girl, carried her back to her mother and together
they ran their hands over her--no bones seemed to be broken; her heart
was beating and she was breathing. But _just_ breathing, that was all.
She lay in her mother's arms as still and quiet--so still and so quiet
that she didn't seem like Mary Jane--the Mary Jane who was always
running and talking and lively.
Without more than a half-dozen necessary words Grandfather and
Grandmother, Father, Mother and Alice got into the car and Grandfather
put on all speed. The one thought in every one's mind was to get to
Dr. Smith as quickly as ever they could. Grandfather was thankful for
the moonlight that made the way so plain and he drove home the fastest
he had ever driven.
And so they came back from the picnic at Flatrock.
HOME AGAIN
"Would you speak to her, doctor?" asked Mrs. Merrill anxiously.
It was eight o'clock the next morning. They had reached home about an
hour after they left Flatrock and fortunately had found Dr. Smith at
home. He came at once in answer to their telephone call and was there
even before they had Mary Jane undressed and put to bed. He examined
her carefully and could find no broken bones and no injury, but still
Mary Jane slept on, breathing, but so quietly and unnaturally that she
didn't seem like herself. Her mother and father had stayed by her all
the night long; Grandmother, Grandfather and Alice had with difficulty
been sent to bed after midnight and Dr. Smith had stayed most of the
time.
But when she still didn't stir the next morning Mrs. Merrill grew more
and more anxious.
"I don't know," said the doctor doubtfully; "we might try. You speak
to her; your voice would be the best."
Mrs. Merrill bent low over her little girl and whispered, "Mary Jane!
Mary Jane! Mother's here!"
No answer, but Mrs. Merrill thought she saw a quiver on the little
girl's face, so she tried again.
"Mary Jane! Mary Jane! Mother's here!" she repeated.
"I know," whispered the little girl; "you com'd to-day," and she opened
her big blue eyes and looked at her mother.
Mrs. Merrill kissed her rapturously and held her close, and Mary Jane
raised her arm enough to pat her mother's shoulder. Then she looked
around the room in surprise. "Where's the moon?" she asked.
"The moon?" said Mrs. Merrill, and the laugh she tried to give with her
answer sounded very near tears. "The moon went to sleep a long time
ago."
"And where's the picnic?" continued Mary Jane wonderingly.
"The picnic was over before you were hurt," said Mrs. Merrill.
Mary Jane stared at her wide eyed for two or three long minutes.
"Don't talk to her," whispered Dr. Smith very softly; "let her think it
out herself."
So Mrs. Merrill just held her little girl close and waited.
"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Mary Jane as suddenly she remembered it all,
"it came around the corner so fast--something big did, and then I'm
here!"
"And lucky you are to be here, young lady," said Dr. Smith, coming
around to where she could see him. "How do you feel?"
"Hungry," said Mary Jane briefly.
Dr. Smith and Mother laughed so that the others heard them downstairs
and came running to hear what the good news could be.
"Is he going to stay for breakfast?" asked Mary Jane as she sat up in
bed and pointed to Dr. Smith. "It _is_ breakfast time, isn't it,
Grandmother?"
"Bless the child!" exclaimed Grandmother from the doorway, "of course
it is! She shall have anything she wants!"
They could hardly believe their eyes--those five who had seen the
accident, but it was true. Mary Jane had not been hurt a bit--not more
than a half-dozen scratches--only stunned by her fall. She got up in a
few minutes, and with her mother's help (and how good it did seem to
have her mother there _to_ help) they soon came downstairs to
breakfast. Grandmother was so happy and excited that if it hadn't been
for the help of Alice, who could always be counted on to be "steady"
when there was excitement a-foot, there's no telling what would have
happened to that breakfast.
Alice got out the honey and set the extra place for Dr. Smith and cut
the melons and brought the eggs to her grandmother. And Grandmother
made some of her wonderful griddle cakes and they had a merry feast.
"Aren't you glad that big thing hit me?" asked Mary Jane of Dr. Smith
as she passed up her plate for a third (or was it the fourth) helping
of cakes, "'cause if it hadn't, you wouldn't have had any of
Grandmother's griddle cakes this morning, you wouldn't."
Dr. Smith had to admit that some good comes of everything and that he
certainly was glad to get those griddle cakes. "The whole trouble," he
added, "was because you didn't take _me_ to the picnic--of course
that's not a hint!"
They all laughed at that and promised that he should go to the very
next picnic they had--the very next.
How the days did fly after that.
Mary Jane would never have supposed that ten days could go so swiftly.
They took long rides in the car; had several fine picnics--with Dr.
Smith along whenever he could go; went fishing in the river miles away
and spent a day on a farm where threshers were working--a wonderful day
the girls thought for it was all new to them.
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