A Summer in a Canyon: A California Story

‘Know’st thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom, Where the gold orange glows in the green thicket’s gloom; Where the wind, ever soft, from the blue heaven blows, And groves a...

OUR friend Polly was seated in a secluded spot whence all but her had fled; her grave demeanour, her discarded sun-bonnet, her corrugated brow, all bespoke more than common fixe...

IT was nine o’clock one sunny California morning, and Geoffrey Strong stood under the live-oak trees in Las Flores Cañon, with a pot of black paint in one hand and a huge brush...

‘From the East to western Ind, No jewel is like Rosalind; Her worth, being mounted on the wind, Through all the world bears Rosalind; All the pictures, fairest lined, Are but bl...

The very spirit of evil entered Laura’s heart as she looked at Polly, so fresh and pretty and radiant, with her dimples dancing in and out, her hair ruffled with the effort of l...

‘Let me think,’ said Laura. ‘Oh, if she were only a brunette instead of a blonde, we could festoon the tent with that yellow tarlatan I brought for the play!’

WHATEVER the distance was in reality, the steamer had consumed more time than usual, and it was quite two o’clock, instead of half-past twelve, as they had expected, before they...

‘Couldn’t have done better myself—give you my word!’ cried Jack, bowing profoundly to Bell and Polly in turn, and presenting them with bouquets of faded leaves hastily gathered...

THE August days had slipped away one after another, and September was at hand. There was no perceptible change of weather to mark the advent of the new month. The hills were a l...

POLLY’S birthday dawned auspiciously. At six o’clock she was kissed out of a sound sleep by Bell and Margery, and the three girls slipped on their wrappers, and prepared to run...

BUT it did rain; and it didn’t wait until they were out of the cañon either. It began long before the proper time, and it by no means confined itself to a shower, but opened the...

DR. PAUL WINSHIP _Mine Host_. MRS. TRUTH WINSHIP _The Guardian Angel_. DICKY WINSHIP _A Small Scamp of Six Years_. BELL WINSHIP _The Camp Poetess_. POLLY OLIVER _A Sweet but Sau...