many useful forms. Old Jane not only carried them all to ride, but
gave Jack plenty of work keeping her premises in nice order. Frank
mourned privately over the delay of college, but found a solace in
his whirligig and the Gymnasium, where he set himself to
developing a chest to match the big head above, which head no
longer ached with eight or ten hours of study. Harvesting beans
and raking up leaves seemed to have a soothing effect upon his
nerves, for now he fell asleep at once instead of thumping his
pillow with vexation because his brain would go on working at
difficult problems and passages when he wanted it to stop.
Jill and Molly drove away in the little phaeton every fair morning
over the sunny hills and through the changing woods, filling their
hands with asters and golden-rod, their lungs with the pure,
invigorating air, and their heads with all manner of sweet and
happy fancies and feelings born of the wholesome influences ahout
them, People 5hook their heads, and said it was wasting time; but
the rosy-faced girls were Content to trust those wiser than
themselves, and found their new school very pleasant. They read
aloud a good deal, rapidly acquiring one of the rarest and most
beautiful accomplishments; for they could stop and ask questions
as they went along, so that they understood what they read, which
is half the secret. A thousand things came up as they sewed
together in the afternoon, and the eager minds received much
general information in an easy and well-ordered way. Physiology
was one of the favorite studies, and Mrs. Hammond often came in
to give them a little lecture, teaching them to understand the
wonders of their own systems, and how to keep them in order– a
lesson of far more importance just then than Greek or Latin, for
girls are the future mothers, nurses, teachers, of the race, and
should feel how much depends on them. Merry could not resist the
attractions of the friendly circle, and soon persuaded her mother to
let her do as they did; so she got more exercise and less study,
which was just what the delicate girl needed.
The first of the new ideas seemed to prosper, and the second,
though suggested in joke, was carried out in earnest, for the other
young people were seized with a strong desire to send something
to the Fair. In fact, all sorts of queer articles were proposed, and
much fun prevailed, especially among the boys, who ransacked
their gardens for mammoth vegetables, sighed for five-legged
calves, blue roses, or any other natural curiosity by means of which
they might distinguish themselves. Ralph was the only one who
had anything really worth sending; for though Franks model
seemed quite perfect, it obstinately refused to go, and at the last
moment blew up with a report like a pop-gun. So it was laid away
for repairs, and its disappointed maker devoted his energies to
helping Jack keep Bun in order; for that indomitable animal got
out of every prison they put him in, and led Jack a dreadful life
during that last week. At all hours of the day and night that
distracted boy would start up, crying, “There he is again!” and dart
out to give chase and capture the villain now grown too fat to run
as he once did.
The very night before the Fair, Frank was wakened by a chilly
draught, and, getting up to see where it came from, found Jack’s
door open and bed empty, while the vision of a white ghost flitting
about the garden suggested a midnight rush after old Bun. Frank
watched laughingly, till poor Jack came toward the house with the
gentleman in gray kicking lustily in his arms, and then whispered
in a sepulchral tone,
“Put him in the old refrigerator, he can’t get out of that,”
Blessing him for the suggestion, the exhausted hunter shut up his
victim in the new cell, and found it a safe one, for Bun could not
burrow through a sheet of zinc, or climb up the smooth walls. Jill’s
quilt was a very elaborate piece of work, being bright blue with