Dixie Martin, the Girl of Woodford's Cañon

“Oh, goodie! I’m nine years old to-day. Sylvia, are you awake?” Carol then called to the little guest who was sleeping on a cot bed in another part of the big loft room over the...

The sun had set, but the western sky above the mountains was a glory of radiant colors when Ken leaped upon the low porch in front of a small log cabin and knocked eagerly upon...

Up through the old trail the boy had broken his way, and into the newer, more open path he leaped, his feet winged with eagerness, and it was a very breathless lad who at last r...

Josephine Bayley awakened, as all do in entirely new surroundings, with the question, “Why, where am I?” Then, upon hearing a chattering of animal life without, she sat up in be...

The door of the small cabin stood welcomingly open, for it was one of those wonderful, balmy days known as Indian summer, and in Nevada they seem lovelier than elsewhere.

While Josephine Bayley prepared her breakfast the next morning, every now and then she paused to laugh gleefully. Was she doing wrong to deceive the fine man who loved her so de...

Dixie was awake on the eventful Saturday morning as soon as the first bird-note was heard underneath the wide-spreading eaves. Quietly she slipped from bed, hoping not to awaken...

It was noon of the day following the luncheon party, and as it was the one Sunday of the month on which the Reverend Jonathan Cressly held a religious meeting at Woodford’s Inn,...

As Ken descended the trail leading to his log-cabin home, he was surprised to see a horse and buggy just leaving the drive. In it was no other than the banker from Genoa, who wa...

It was Saturday, which was the busiest of the whole week in Woodford’s Cañon, for it was house-cleaning day in the old log cabin which was guarded by two spreading pine trees, b...

The threatening blizzard broke over the Sierra Nevadas about sundown, and for three days it raged. Ken seemed to be hilariously excited, and Dixie, Carol, and Sylvia wondered ab...

The next morning Sylvia was unusually fretful, and little wonder, for she had had two helpings of the rich, creamy dessert the night before, and would not eat the wholesome brea...

“Ken, you’ve been doing some growing since we put the highway through your cañon two years ago.” The young man, with folded arms, stood smiling down at the boy, who grinned back...

“Carolina Martin, you get up this instant. Do you hear me? I’ve called you sixteen times already, if ’tisn’t twenty, and _this_ the morning the new teacher starts at the old log...

Mr. Sethibald Martin advanced with what he believed to be a dignified stride. Without removing his hat, he said, “This here is Miss Josephine Bayley, I take it—her as has creden...

Surprising things happened the following Monday morning in the little log schoolhouse. After leaving the theater on the Saturday previous, Miss Bayley, who had been told by the...

Spring came, and every mountain cañon held a rushing torrent. The sky was gloriously blue after the long months that it had been leaden-gray, and flowers began to appear in the...

The next morning Miss Bayley’s glance wandered often to the corner of the room in the old log schoolhouse where sat the four little Martins. She wondered why they all looked so...

Miss Bayley could not understand why the Martin children did not come to school that afternoon, for she had seen the snow-plow pass by and knew that the road was open. So anxiou...

A never-to-be-forgotten winter followed that first blizzard. Never to be forgotten, at least, by the girl-teacher of the Woodford’s Cañon log-cabin school, by the young civil en...

When the pupils gathered on Monday morning, Miss Bayley soon realized that the little Martins had something to tell her that they believed was of great interest. It was indeed a...

Dixie climbed the ladder to the loft and looked quickly toward the bed, but the little sister whom she sought was not there. Going to the curtained-off corner, she quickly drew...

It was a perfect autumn day, and he who has not been in the Sierra Nevada mountains on a golden October morning has not as yet known the full joy of living.

Then it was that the young teacher remembered that the little girl had said that “Oliver Twist” and “Pilgrim’s Progress” were the only books that she had, and an almanac.

It had been a very excited little girl who had driven in between the high stone gate-posts and had realized that the imposing white mansion-like house set far back among fine ol...

Dixie stood in the open door, watching the three children as they climbed the trail, and when they reached the top, before they turned into the cañon road, they waved back to he...

Carol gleefully clapped her hands. “It’s the plow going up the road this very minute,” she cried in joy. “It throws up the snow in clouds just like that.” Then she added: “I’ll...

The two girls ran out to meet their most welcome guest, the new teacher. Ken, who for the moment had stepped behind the massive trunk of one of the great old pine trees to hide,...

The dinner was one of many courses, and there were two very formal guests, and, to Mr. Clayburn’s mortification, as well as Carol’s, the hostess, wishing to impress the fashiona...

Ken had placed the pail of milk on the ground and was racing toward the newcomer, shouting his joy. Jimmy, not to be outdone, was hopping up and down, uttering shrill cries of g...

“Oh, good-afternoon, Mrs. Archer and Mr. Archer,” she said graciously. “Come in, won’t you, and Jessica? You are all acquainted with my little friend, Dixie Martin, and so intro...

And the new teacher, what of her? She had arrived by stage the night before, after a long journey across the country to Reno by train, and from there over rough roads of the won...

“Why, Ken, good-morning. You are up very early, aren’t you,” the young woman who had opened the door exclaimed in surprise. Then, with sudden anxiety, “Is anything wrong at your...

Carol and Jimmy-Boy returned alone from school, for Ken, with the book he had borrowed from “dear teacher” under his arm, had gone at once to the top of the low peak, and, havin...

“I knew it, I just knew it!” the boy blurted out. “You’re sick or something, Dix. That’s why you looked so pale, and why you didn’t want to go for a walk like you always do Sund...

Within the cabin the three children sat about the table, eating their midday meal. Carol at the window heard Ken say: “Dix, this is the second day that you haven’t eaten one bit...

It was Carol who called. The small curly-headed girl was hanging out clothes in the sunny yard, back of the log cabin, while the older sister stood on a box beside a washtub in...

“Doesn’t winter ever come to your mountain country?” the teacher asked Ken one day, and the lad, after searching the soft, hazy blue of the sky for a threatening cloud, shook hi...

The little lost, almost hidden, trail haunted Josephine Bayley. She thought of it the next morning when she first awoke. It was still hardly daylight when she sprang from bed. “...

The evening of the day when Carol had ridden away from her log-cabin home to live in the handsome colonial residence of the banker of Genoa, Ken and Dixie sat up later than usua...

Josephine Bayley smiled down at the little girl as she felt the clinging fingers tighten. “Oh, teacher,” the child whispered rapturously, “I didn’t suppose there was so much sil...

It did seem as though some little imp of mischief was trying to worry poor Dixie Martin. She had been far more sorry about the failure of their apple-crop than she had confessed...

They were again on the street, and the noon throng had vanished. As it was still too early for the afternoon shoppers to arrive, the town seemed to be taking a midday siesta. Di...

The holiday spirit continued to pervade the little log schoolhouse, and Dixie marveled, for was not this Monday, the day of the week when lessons were usually the hardest? Then,...