Cricket

Kayuna was the loveliest home in the world. At least, the Ward children said so. The family usually went out of the city as soon as the children’s schools closed, in June, and s...

Now, Hilda was a good deal of a tease, in a quiet way. The little fellow looked so funny as he lay there with closely shut eyes, and wide-open mouth, that, quick as a flash, cam...

One bright May morning three little maids sat perched on the topmost rail of an old fence down by the brook. It was very pleasant just at that particular spot, where the tiny st...

But both Monday and Tuesday were unfavourable for nautical adventures, for they brought a driving, pouring rain. Wednesday was too damp for them to go to the meadows at all, and...

Of course, with such a troop of children as there was at Kayuna, Fourth of July was a wildly exciting time. They were always up at unearthly hours in the morning, and used up, b...

After breakfast there came a little lull in the excitement. The edge had been taken off of the enjoyment of torpedoes, by this time, and the delights of fire-crackers palled.

It was on the very next day that Mopsie saved Eunice’s life. Why, I haven’t said a word yet about Mopsie, have I? and the dear little fellow ought to have a whole chapter all to...

It was a proud day for Cricket when the saddle was first put on the back of her very own pony, and Mike mounted her. Not that she needed to be mounted, as a rule, for she was qu...

Cricket and Eunice sat in an apple-tree, on a low, gnarled limb, munching harvest apples. It was after dinner, and they had not yet decided what to do with their afternoon. It w...

The questioning men and the half-crazed mother stopped at the child’s words, and gathered around the little ones. They grew frightened and incoherent at the storm of questions t...

The garret of the old stone house was a mine of wealth to the children. It was a huge place, extending over the whole house. It had many unexpected angles and sudden little desc...

“I’ve about made up my mind,” pursued Eunice, “that I sha’n’t get married when I grow up. Husbands are such a ’sponsibility. Mamma, you know, always fixes papa’s cravats for him...

It was such a delightfully simple way of getting candy. One could go to the barns, find two eggs, and, with one in each hand, march off to the corner grocery-store and get their...

Mamie immediately took a step forward, keeping her eye on Eunice, intending to dodge at the last moment. Eunice stood perfectly still. She was a tall, strongly-built girl, for h...

It was a hot, scorching afternoon in late August. All the grown people had retired to darkened rooms in the coolest depths of the great stone house, in search of what comfort co...

Poor little Kenneth, well-wedged into the corner, was really in danger of being seriously hurt by a reeling barrel, and gave vent to steady howls of terror. Zaidee and Helen clu...

Unusual peace and quiet reigned at Kayuna for a time after the excitement of the runaway. It was an unusually warm summer, and so even Cricket, the tireless, was somewhat subdue...

“I don’t know how the rest of you feel, but I’m getting about starved,” announced Phil, after they had gone some little distance further. “I vote we have our grub just as soon a...

Mamma had gone away for a two weeks’ visit to grandmamma, and had taken little Kenneth with her. Zaidee and Helen felt very lonely without their small playfellow, for it was the...

The doctor’s farmer, ’Gustus John, as everyone called him, stood at his little white gate, looking down the road. Dr. Ward was coming up from the village, with his hands full of...

The warm sunshine lay full on the great barnyard, and the silence of a summer morning in the country lay over everything. The farmhands were off at work, and the wide barn-doors...

“Oh, ma!” she cried. “The girls has been in the barnyard where that cross cow is, ’n’ Cricket got knocked over the fence, and Eunice is most killed I guess, ’n’ I don’t b’lieve...

The next morning rather dragged. Eunice was up and about again, though she looked a trifle pale, and did not feel in the mood even for a drive. Cricket went out for a short time...

“It isn’t much of a story, I think, only it was funny. I was about six and Jean was eight, weren’t we? Some friend of my mother’s came to visit her for a few days, and brought h...

Leaving dear old Kayuna and going back to town was always a time of mourning with the Ward family. They had occasionally lived out there through the whole year, but it was not v...

The household settled into their town-life very quickly, and in three days’ time they almost felt as if their lovely summer had been a dream. Only the children’s sunburned faces...

But old habits are very strong. After a time Cricket’s watchfulness over herself grew less, and the old story began. She borrowed Marjorie’s new silk umbrella in a hurry, becaus...

Like most days, this particular day of Kenneth’s began in the morning. He slept in a crib in mamma’s large room, for the twins and Eliza had the nursery all to themselves.

The winter in town slipped by quickly. The children were counting impatiently the weeks that must pass before they should be at dear old Kayuna again, when all plans for the sum...

“There, now, dearie,” she said, setting down her tumbler, and slipping the big, soft pillow under Cricket’s head. “That’s a sight better. That sofy pillow, ’taint very soft. I’d...