Adele Doring of the Sunnyside Club

There was spring in the air, Though the woods were still bare. There was fragrance all about, Though not a flower was out. There were seven girls so gay Off for a holiday.

To the south of the village there was a field which was so yellow in summer that it had been called Buttercup Meadows. Near it was a maple wood, and through the wood and across...

The sky is always bluer, And the songs of birds more gay, And the meadow blossoms sweeter, Upon a Saturday. A week of lessons over, And long golden hours for play.

A secret! A secret! Who can guess the secret? There’s blue in it and green in it, And bird-song lilting gay, There’s dancing and there’s laughter And there’s mirth and merry play.

The Secret Sanctum log cabin stood In Buttercup Meadows beside the green wood, And the birds at nest-building would pause and sing That joyous song which they carol in spring, A...

The eventful Saturday dawned bright and sunny. Adele awoke as soon as did Robin Red, who lived in the blossoming apple tree close to her window. Perched on a teetering twig, he...

The twelve girls, flushed and excited, were peering down the country road at the strangest vehicle which they had ever seen. It was, in truth, a hay-rack covered with garlands o...

When Adele reached home after the orphans’ surprise-party, she found a note telling her that her father and mother had gone for a ride into the country. Jack Doring, having take...

There’s many a high-chair put away For the baby that came, but could not stay. There’s many a mother-heart yearning still, And arms that a motherless babe might fill. There’s ma...

On the first Saturday in June the Sunny Seven were to meet at the Secret Sanctum, to begin a review of the term’s lessons, for the final examinations were only three weeks away.

Adele sang this little song as she and the Sunny Six skipped across the meadows on that last day after school. Then, parting with her friends at the cross-roads, she went on her...

As Adele and Eva entered the big pleasant library, which was living-room for the Dorings, a tall man rose from a deep, comfortable chair, and, laying aside the evening paper, tu...

“Think of it!” Eva declared with shining eyes. “The orphans at the Home have been in their beds and sound asleep for two long hours. I feel as though I were a grown-up young lad...

Half an hour later the merry trio wended their way again toward the lake. Eva and Adele were carrying a well-laden basket between them, while Madge carried the box of sketching...

“On this little island are pine-trees green. A nicer little island, I’m sure was never seen, With a hi-hi-hi, and a ho-ho-ho! There may be cannibals lurking about; There are som...

While Adele and Everett had been exploring the island, Madge Peterson and Eva had been comfortably seated under the pine-trees, sketching the point of rocks. At first Eva had fe...

“Well, if ye’re not tired of the story,” the old fisherman said, “I’ll tell ye the rest of it. The men had decided that since the mother-bear had been so good to their Kid, they...

“Hello, Daddy Jock!” he cried before he noticed that there were others with his foster-father. Leaping to the ground, he gave an exclamation of pleased surprise, as he cried, “W...

When Eva Dearman awoke on Monday morning in her little iron cot-bed in the orphanage dormitory, somehow she did not see things plain and unattractive, as they really were. There...

The ride, which Amanda Brown wished would last for hours, was quickly over, for the city was only ten miles away, and very soon the speed had to be slackened as they entered the...

When the classes were over, the girls met in the lower hall, and Eva was delighted to hear that Amanda had consented to have her voice tried. “And now you will come in with us e...

“Oh, Mr. Drakely!” Adele exclaimed, skipping down the walk to meet him. “Have you really a letter for me? Thank you so much! Letters are a rare treat,” she confided to Gertrude,...

“Well, neither have I,” Betty confessed. “But somehow, during the vacation we all have so many things to do, we seven girls don’t see each other as often as we do in school-days...

The following afternoon Adele Doring and Gertrude Willis, hand in hand, skipped along Cherry Lane on their way to Granny Dorset’s. The leaves on the trees were yellow, and flutt...

That afternoon Adele and Gertrude drove to the poorhouse, which was two miles out on the east road. Leaving Firefly hitched at the gate, they walked up the gravel path, on eithe...

“Girls!” Rosamond exclaimed, as she peered in. “I almost wish that Grandpa Dally had not told us about that miser. It makes me feel shuddery to think of him. Long and lank, he s...

Promptly at two o’clock Bob Angel and Gertrude Willis arrived at the poorhouse, and on a bench near the gate sat the old couple. How their faces shone when they saw the automobi...

The Sunny Seven met under the elm tree in the school-yard the following Monday, when a strange girl appeared with her books under her arm. She was elaborately dressed, and each...

The board of directors met at the appointed hour, and as soon as the regular business was disposed of, Mrs. Friend told the story of Mrs. Green’s visit, and ended by asking perm...

The spirited horses soon turned in between two high stone gate-posts, on the top of which two stone lions were crouching. The wide lawns were beautifully kept, and bright-colore...

The days dragged slowly by for both Eva and Adele. Mrs. Green had been so angry because the daughters of the two best families in town had called upon her servant instead of upo...

The girl, puzzled indeed, was about to obey, when the portières parted and a tall, good-looking man appeared. He had been examining a painting near the doorway and had plainly h...

The next morning the girls woke up early. Soon after breakfast the station-wagon appeared, and in it was Uncle Dick, who said that he would drive Eva over to the orphanage, that...