Chapter 1

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MARY JANE--HER VISIT

by

CLARA INGRAM JUDSON

Author of "Mary Jane--Her Book," "Mary Jane's Kindergarten," "Mary Jane Down South," "Mary Jane's City Home," "Mary Jane in New England," etc.

Illustrated by Frances White

Publishers Barse & Hopkins New York, N. Y. Newark, N. J.

1918

[Frontispiece: "'Thirty minutes to Glenville!' the voice of the porter said."]

CONTENTS

MARY JANE'S ARRIVAL EXPLORING THE FARM THE HUNT FOR EGGS THE MYSTERIOUS BUNDLES GARDENING WITH GRANDFATHER THE GARDEN THIEF MARY JANE'S FAMILY COUSIN JOHN'S VISIT GRANDFATHER'S TREAT LEARNING TO COOK THE STRAWBERRY SOCIABLE BURR HOUSES EARNING MONEY THE PICNIC AT FLATROCK HOME AGAIN

ILLUSTRATIONS

"'Thirty minutes to Glenville!' the voice of the porter said" . . . . . (Frontispiece)

"'We'll make a pattern and cut out our pieces--there's a lot to quilt-making'"

"There, before their eyes were the rabbits, five of them"

"There were the berry bushes--fairly loaded with shining black-berries"

MARY JANE'S ARRIVAL

It seemed to Mary Jane that some magic must have been at work to change the world during the night she slept on the train. All the country she knew had hills and valleys and many creeks and woods of pine trees. But when she waked up in the morning and peeped out of the window of her berth, she saw great wide fields and woods that seemed always far away. And the occasional creek that the train rumbled over was small and could be seen a long way off, coming across the fields toward the railroad. And the roads! How funny they were! They came straight and white toward the train, each just exactly as smooth and as regular as the one before.

To be sure the country was pretty; yellow buttercups and bright blue flowers bloomed along the track and the fields looked fresh and green in the morning sun.

"I think I'm going to like it anyway, even if the hills are all smoothed out," said Mary Jane as she looked at it thoughtfully, "and maybe I'd better put on my shoes and stockings." She rummaged in the funny little hammock that hung over her window, found the shoes and stockings and put them on, and was just wondering if it was time to dress when she heard Dr. Smith's voice outside.

"Yes, Sambo, I'm awake," he was saying, "and you may call the young lady."

Before Mary Jane had had time to wonder who the "young lady" might be, there was a great shaking of her curtain and the voice of the porter said, "Thirty minutes to Glenville!"

Quick as a flash Mary Jane stuck her head out between the curtains and replied, "That's where my great grandmother lives and I'm going to see her!"

The porter was vastly surprised ("I guess he thought I was going to sleep all day!" thought Mary Jane scornfully), but before he had a chance to reply anything, Dr. Smith called across, "Good morning, Mary Jane! How did you sleep?"

"All the night, just like I do at home," answered Mary Jane, "except one time when they bumped something into my bed--what was it, do you 'spose?"

"Most like they put on a new engine," said Dr. Smith. "Now, how long will it take you to dress, my dear?"

"Just a tinny while," said Mary Jane, "because I've got my shoes and stockings on now. And when may I wash my face and you put on my hair ribbon?"

Dr. Smith stepped out from his berth and looked at Mary Jane in dismay.

"You may wash your face any time you like, my dear," he said, "but I can't tie your hair ribbon. I don't know how!"

Mary Jane laughed at the funny face he made and then she smiled in her most motherly fashion. "Then it's a good thing I forgot and left it on last night," she said, "and don't you worry, I can perk it up and make it look real tidy."

"You're a good little traveler," complimented Dr. Smith. "I'll take you along again. Now let's see who's ready first."

Mary Jane put on the rest of her clothes; then she took her little bag, just as her mother had told her to, and went into the dressing room and washed her face and made herself neat and tidy. She got back in time to see the porter make up her bed and she was glad of that because bed-unmaking on a train by daylight seemed even more wonderful and interesting than bed-making the night before.

She sat down on the seat across the aisle while he worked, so she could see everything he did.

"My mother and I don't make beds that way at home," she announced suddenly.

"Sure not," agreed the porter, and then by way of keeping up the conversation, he added, "Like to ride on a train?"

"'Deed I do," said Mary Jane happily, "and I like to go see my grandmother--it's my Great-grandmother Hodges I'm going to see, you know. And my mother isn't going and my daddah isn't going because he works and my sister Alice isn't going because she's in school and anybody isn't going but just my Dr. Smith and me 'cause I'm five and that's a big girl."

"Well!" exclaimed the porter, and he actually stopped making beds to look at such a big little girl. Mary Jane liked him and started to tell him about Doris and the birthday party and the pretty things in her trunk, but Dr. Smith came back just then and there was no more time for talk.

"Got your coat?" he asked, "and your hat and your--everything?"

"He put 'em there," said Mary Jane, pointing to the next seat where she had seen the porter put her things, "and my gloves are in my pocket and my bag's all shut."

"That's good." said Dr. Smith. "You'd better put your things on now. Here, I'll hold your coat."

It was a good thing Mary Jane started putting on her gloves just when she did. For before she had the last button safely tucked in its button hole, the porter had slipped in to a white coat and had picked up her bag and Dr. Smith's big grip and started for the door of the car; the great long train was slowing up at a little station.

They got off in such a hurry that Mary Jane hardly had time to say good-by to the kind porter before the train hurried away and some one picked her up and kissed her and exclaimed, "Well, well, well! Such a _big_ girl!" and she found herself kissing dear Grandfather Hodges--she knew him well because he had visited her home and she had a nice, comfortable, "belonging" feeling the minute she saw him.

"Now you two stay right here by the car," said Grandfather, "while I get the trunk." And Mary Jane had her first chance to look around.

The station wasn't a bit like the station at her home--not a bit. It was a funny little frame house with a platform, out in front. And there wasn't any roof out over where the trains went or anything like that; just the little house and the platform. And instead of the piles of trunks on great trucks that she supposed were in every station, there was only her own little trunk dumped forlornly on the platform. And instead of the many men busy about various duties, there was not a single man, at least not one that Mary Jane could see. Grandfather took the check that Dr. Smith gave him and went into the little station with it. In a second he was back and what do you suppose he did? He picked up her trunk and set it in the back of his waiting automobile just as easy as could be! Mary Jane was that surprised he could see it and he laughed gayly and said, "That's the way we do our baggaging here, Mary Jane. We'll not wait for any sleepy baggage men--not when Grandmother and hot griddle cakes and honey are waiting for us, will we?"

And Mary Jane, who was getting hungry enough to find breakfast a most interesting subject, settled down in the front seat beside her grandfather and said, "No, we won't!"

Dr. Smith climbed into the back seat beside the trunk and Grandfather started the car and went spinning down the road.

"Your roads all know where they're going, don't they?" Mary Jane asked as they got under way.

"Yes," replied Grandfather in surprise; "don't yours?"

"Not like yours do," said Mary Jane positively; "ours go this way." And with her finger she made some big curves in the air.

"Oh!" laughed Grandfather, "you mean that yours are curving because of the hills and that ours are straight. Yes, our roads are pretty straight but you'll like that when you get used to it, because then you can't get lost. There's a road every mile and each road goes just the way it by rights ought to go because there aren't any hills to get in the way." And all the while Grandfather was talking, he was driving the car along the straight road just as fast as could be.

"And aren't there any hills before we get to your house?" asked Mary Jane after a while.

'"Well," said Grandfather smilingly, as he slowed the car down, "what do you think about that yourself?"

Mary Jane looked before her, the way she could see Grandfather wanted her to look, and, right there close, she saw a big, old-fashioned white house. It had a flower bed, a great big round flower bed, in the yard in front of it and a curving driveway along the side. And it had a wide porch all across the front, a porch that had seats and a swing and everything a little girl would like to see on a porch. A lot of windows with green shutters were scattered over the house, and through the windows Mary Jane could see ruffled white curtains at every window. And on the porch of this house stood a pretty, white-haired grandmother, just the sort of a grandmother that belongs to every white house in the country.

"I think there aren't any hills because here we are!" exclaimed Mary Jane happily as Grandfather stopped the car by the side steps.

Quick as a minute Dr. Smith jumped her out of the car and Grandmother Hodges, for it really was she, just as Mary Jane had guessed, gave her a hug and a dozen kisses and Mary Jane felt at home from that minute.

"Now don't bother about that trunk," said Grandmother briskly. "It can wait! I don't know what Dr. Smith promised we'd have for breakfast this morning, but griddle cakes and honey are what I have ready. Come right on in, Dr. Smith."

She took off Mary Jane's coat and hat and laid them on the couch in the living-room, and then they all went in to what Mary Jane thought was the best breakfast she had ever eaten in all her five years. There were bananas and cream, oh, such good cream; and eggs and bacon and griddle cakes and honey. Mary Jane had never eaten honey on griddle cakes before, and she liked it so well that they quite lost count of the number she ate!

"If you go on as you're beginning," laughed Dr. Smith, "you'll be so big and fat by the time you go home that I'll have to go along with you and tell them you're Mary Jane Merrill, that's what I will!"

"I'll risk their knowing," said Grandmother; "that child was almost starved! If you're in a hurry, don't wait for her. And Father" (she turned to Grandfather Hodges), "you be sure to take Mary Jane's trunk up to her room before you go to the barn. She'll want to open it right away to get out her play dress."

By the time Mary Jane was through her breakfast the trunk had been carried upstairs and Grandfather Hodges was off to the barn.

"You come out to see me whenever you're ready," he said as he left.

"And I'll be running along too," said Dr. Smith, "though I must admit I'd rather stay and help show Mary Jane the farm than to call on sick folks this morning. I'll be by to see you this evening, little girl, to hear what you think of all the new sights." And he started down the road toward his home--it was such a little way that he preferred to walk.

"Now, Mary Jane," said Grandmother briskly, "what would you like to play while I do the dishes?"

"I'd like to do them too," said Mary Jane promptly.

"A little girl five years old do dishes?" exclaimed Grandmother.

"'Deed, yes, Grandmother," said Mary Jane, much pleased to think Grandmother was so impressed. "I'm a little _past_ five, you know, and I can work a lot!"

"Just think of that," exclaimed Grandmother approvingly. "Then we'll be through in no time. I'll wash and you wipe, and I'll put away. Let me tie this apron over your pretty traveling dress."

While they did the work, Mary Jane answered all the questions about Mother and Alice and Father that Grandmother could ask and then, as soon as the last dish was put away the two went upstairs and unpacked the trunk. Such fun as it was to put all her own ribbons and handkerchiefs into the funny little bureau that stood in Mary Jane's room! And to hang up her dresses, or watch Grandmother hang them, in the queer little closet that had a latch like a front gate! Mary Jane was to have a whole room and a whole closet and a bureau all to herself, and she wouldn't feel a bit lonesome because Grandmother's room was right next and the door stood open all the night long, Grandmother said.

When everything was in neat order, Mary Jane put on her dark blue rompers and big blue sun hat, and they went downstairs.

"There now," said Grandmother; "we're all fixed. And before I do another thing, I'm going to take you all around and show you everything you want to see."

They started down the back walk toward the barn that looked so interesting. But they hadn't gone half the way to it before the telephone, back in the house, gave a long, loud ring.

EXPLORING THE FARM

"There now!" exclaimed Mrs. Hodges impatiently, "that's the 'phone and I'll have to answer and see what's wanted. You walk along slowly, Mary Jane, right over to the barn and through the gate and I'll hurry and catch up with you as quickly as I can."

Left alone, Mary Jane walked past the wood shed; passed what seemed to be a tool house because through the open door she saw tools of all sorts and sizes; and on across the yard toward the barn yard gate.

"She said 'through the gate,'" thought Mary Jane, "and this must be the gate. I wonder if it opens?" She shook the gate as hard as she could but it didn't open; it didn't even look as though it intended to open; it looked shut for all day, and Mary Jane was almost discouraged about getting into the barn yard till she happened to think of a gate at the back of Doris's yard (her little playmate Doris who lived next door to Mary Jane's own home) that looked surprisingly like this gate. To be sure it was little, and this gate was big and wide, but both had boards crosswise, just right for climbing.

"We climbed on Doris's when it wouldn't open," she thought, "so I guess this one will climb too."

She put her foot carefully on the first bar--nothing happened; on the second--everything seemed all right; on the third and in a minute she was over and climbing proudly down on the other side.

"Grandfather! Grandfather!" she called as she ran gayly toward the barn; "I did it! The gate wouldn't open so I--Oh, dear! Oh! Oh! It's coming! _Grandfather_!" she screamed breathlessly as she saw, coming out of the barn--not Grandfather as she had expected--but a great, fat, grunting _pig_!

Mary Jane shrank back toward the gate and how she did wish it was open so she could slip through and shut it tightly behind her. She was afraid to turn her back to the pig long enough to climb over the gate as she had come; all the while she was trying her best to think of some way to get away, that fat, grunting pig was coming closer and closer. Now it was half the length of the barn yard away. Now it seemed to have spied her and was coming straight for her--nose to the ground sniffing and grunting louder than ever.

Grandfather, working in the barn, heard and came a-running as fast as ever he could run; and Grandmother, 'way in the house, heard and dropped the receiver and ran out so fast that she was breathless when she reached the little girl. Grandfather was nearest so got to her first. Really, he saw what the matter was as soon as he got outside the barn and he shouted to the pig and flapped his arms in such a comical fashion that Mary Jane hardly knew whether to be afraid of him or to laugh. But the pig had no such doubts. She seemed to know that he meant she should go away. She gave one final snort--almost at Mary Jane's toes--and then turned and went back to the barn as fast as she could waddle. The faster she waddled the more Grandfather flapped, till first thing she knew Mary Jane was laughing and had forgotten all about being afraid.

Grandfather reached down and picked her up, and Grandmother, who came through the gate at that minute (she seemed to know how to open it, Mary Jane noticed), patted her and gave her a kiss and a hug.

"Did we frighten you first thing, Puss?" asked Grandfather tenderly. "That old Mrs. Pig wouldn't hurt you for anything. She was just trying to get acquainted."

"Yes?" replied Mary Jane doubtfully, "but you see I'm not used to getting acquainted that way. I 'spect she wouldn't hurt me, but she didn't _act_ like she wouldn't hurt me," she added.

Grandfather threw back his head and laughed at that. "No, she didn't; you're right, Mary Jane! She acted pretty bad. But you shouldn't be here alone before you get used to our family."

Grandmother explained about the 'phone calling her back. "And I left the receiver hanging, I came so quickly," she added laughingly. "I guess I'll go back now and hang it up."

"Then I'll show Mary Jane around myself," said Grandfather firmly. "She's more important than work, so there!" He set her down beside him, took her hand snugly in his own (and it feels pretty good to have somebody hold your hand when everything is strange, you know that yourself), and they started off.

First they went into the barn where they saw Mrs. Pig, grunting still, but standing very meekly in her own corner; and eleven little pigs that grunted such cunning, squeaky little grunts. Mary Jane wasn't afraid of them for one minute. They weren't dirty as Mary Jane supposed pigs always were, not a bit dirty; they were tidy and neat and their little round sides shone like silk.

"Oh, I like _them_, Grandfather!" she exclaimed. "Could I play with them someday?"

"I thought you didn't like pigs," teased Grandfather.

"Oh, but these aren't _pigs_," corrected Mary Jane; "these are _piggies_; nice piggies like in my painting book. I like _them_."

"I don't know about playing with them," laughed Grandfather; "we'll have to see. But I'll tell you what you may do; when we're through looking all over the place, you may come back here with me and feed them. Would you like that?"

Would she? Mary Jane clapped her hands and wanted to insist on feeding them right that very minute; only, just in time, she remembered that she wasn't to tease. So she slipped her hand back into Grandfather's big one and they went on with their walk.

Next they saw Brindle Bess, but Mary Jane didn't like her as well as the little pigs. She switched her tail and looked around at Mary Jane so pointedly that Mary Jane was really relieved when Grandfather slipped around and opened the door and let her wander out to pasture.

"She's an awful _big_ cow, isn't she, Grandfather?" said Mary Jane, as the cow ambled off.

"Oh, I don't know about that," said Grandfather, not understanding.

"Well, she's lots bigger than me when I'm five," said Mary Jane positively. "I think I like little things best."

"Then I've the very creature to show you," said Grandfather, "and we might as well see him now because your grandmother will want to show you the chickens when she comes out. We'll lock this door so Mrs. Pig can't get out into the front barn yard again, and then we'll cross the road and I'll show you something you'll like."

"Will it be big?" asked Mary Jane as she skipped along beside him.

"Middling big and middling little," answered Grandfather.

"Will it be brown or gray?" asked Mary Jane, thinking of the cow and the pigs.

"Neither," said Grandfather.

That puzzled Mary Jane, but she couldn't think of anything else to guess so she kept her eyes carefully ahead as they went down the yard and across the road, in hopes she Would see the surprise quicker that way.

Across the road from Grandfather's house was a strip of wooded land which Grandfather had let grow wild. Grandmother loved the trees and the wild flowers and liked to feel that they were near to her.

"Oh!" exclaimed Mary Jane as they crossed the road, "see those trees! Are those the surprise?"

"My, no!" replied Grandfather; "those are only a couple of wild crab trees--they do look pretty full of bloom as they are, don't they? But the surprise is a real, live, running around surprise. Here, let me boost you over the fence; that's more fun than a dozen gates." He set Mary Jane over the fence and then came in the gate and locked it carefully behind him.

"Are you 'fraid it'll get away, is that why you lock the gate?" asked Mary Jane.

"Well, it's pretty little to run away," said Grandfather, "but you never can tell, so I lock it to be sure." He took hold of Mary Jane's hand again as he added, "now just behind these trees; and around these bushes; and--"

"I see it myself," exclaimed Mary Jane, "and I know what it is--it's a little sheep!" She dropped his hand and ran a few steps toward the lamb she saw grazing a few steps away. But just as she drew near, the lamb spied her and started to meet her. Mary Jane ran quickly back toward her grandfather; it was one thing to go to meet the lamb herself and quite another to have the lamb come and meet her! "Will he grunt?" she asked.

"Not a single grunt!" laughed Grandfather. "He's the friendliest little creature you ever saw. See?" Grandfather took Mary Jane's hand and laid it on the soft wool of the lamb's back. "He likes you already and he'll like you even better when you bring him something good to eat. Before very long you will learn to climb this fence all by yourself; then you can come over here and play with him any time you want to."

"And pick flowers for my grandmother, too?" asked Mary Jane as she looked at the lovely bluebells that grew around where they were standing.

"You're a girl after your grandmother's own heart!" exclaimed Grandfather delightedly; "you can pick all the flowers you like. But let's not stop now. Don't you want to see more of the farm?"

Mary Jane did, so they left the lamb with a promise to come again later and went back across the road to the house. There they met Grandmother who declared that she was through with the telephone long ago and wanted to show Mary Jane the chickens herself.

"Very well," said Grandfather; "but don't you show her the garden."

"I won't," replied Grandmother, and they both looked so mysterious that Mary Jane was sure some surprise was in that garden.

"Are you going to show it to me?" she asked her grandfather.

"Some day," he replied, "but there's too much else to see this morning. The garden can wait."

So Mary Jane and her grandmother went to the chicken yard and Grandfather started for the barn to finish his work.

If you've ever seen about a hundred cunning, little, yellow and white and gray chickens, so soft and fluffy they look as though they were Easter trimmings; and dozens of motherly looking hens ambling around and a few big, important-looking roosters crowing in the sunshine, you know just what Mary Jane saw when they reached the chicken yard. For her part, Mary Jane had never seen such a sight before, and she was so surprised and pleased she could hardly believe her eyes.

"Are they all _yours_, Grandmother?" she asked in amazement.

"I should say they are," laughed Grandmother. "You stand right here--no, that rooster won't come any closer," she added as one big fellow crowed loudly near by. "You stay here till I get some feed and you shall see a funny sight."