Part 5

Mary Jane supposed she would have had fun on the beach, wading by the edge of the big waves even if Uncle Hal had not come. But it wouldn't have been fun such as she and Alice had with him there. The great waves rolled in and broke in a crest of foam near the shore and then spread in a frill of bubbles over the golden sand. Uncle Hal picked her up in his arms and walked with her way out into the water; then, holding her high, let her feel the "break" of the waves close to her face. She shouted with glee and splashed her hands in the crest of foam--never had she had such fun!

Then, taking her out deeper, where the waves did not break but rolled along in a great swell, he held her tightly by her bathing suit and under her chin and let her swim. It was fun to feel the water rolling, to let herself go as Uncle Hal told her to, and to breathe slowly and comfortably and work her hands and feet, feeling all the while the security of her uncle's strong arm.

"Let's do it some more!" she cried, as he took her in to shore.

"Pretty soon," he replied, "but you stay on the sand awhile now with Alice while I swim out to the raft to warm up. Then you shall have another swim--two, if you want them."

Back on the sand with Alice, Mary Jane found it nearly as much fun to dig and hunt shells as it was to swim. There seemed to be no pretty shells as there were on the beaches in Florida; perhaps because the crowds of people kept them picked over; perhaps because up further north there were not such pretty shells to be washed up. But there were plenty to build a wall with even if all were not beautiful and perfect. She and Alice collected several handfuls and then set about building a city with a wall around it. Other children playing near saw the plan and helped too, and in a few minutes a dozen little folks were working under Alice's direction, building streets, parks, houses, churches and the outer wall. It was great fun and as they worked the time sped by, one hour, two, and the girls would have guessed it wasn't more than ten minutes.

They were used to playing on the sandy beach of Lake Michigan and even Alice, who knew all about it, didn't think about the ocean's tides. And as all the children were in their bathing suits they didn't notice an occasional bit of wetness. So it was with amazement they saw a great wave roll up near and actually into their precious city!

"Why, what's the matter with the ocean?" exclaimed Mary Jane in dismay, "it's coming into our city, and it mustn't!"

"Matter with the ocean!" cried Alice, much disgusted with her thoughtlessness. "It's the tide. Don't you remember in Florida how it went up and down the beach each day, Mary Jane? We should have remembered and set our city further from the edge of the water."

As they talked, a second great wave broke in a frill of bubbles and down went the two nearest churches, three parks and a dozen houses.

"Regular earthquake-tidal wave effect," said one of Uncle Hal's friends who came up to the group just then. "Well, we were just going to take you into the water again anyway, so why worry?"

"Oh, goody!" cried Mary Jane happily, "we can build another city sometime, but we can't go in swimming with you and Uncle Hal--not very often we can't."

By the time the girls had had another good swim and had enjoyed the breakers till the boys were tired, Mrs. Merrill decided that it was time to come in. The sun was getting lower and lower, and already the breeze was blowing cooler.

"Dash up to the clubhouse quickly, girlies," said Mrs. Humphrey, "you know where I showed you to go. And then when you come back dressed we'll find something to eat."

But the girls took longer dressing than might have been expected--maybe they talked too much about the good time they were having--and when they reached the beach it was time the party was starting back for Boston, past time in fact, if Mrs. Humphrey was to keep an important dinner engagement. So there was no time for regular tea as Mrs. Humphrey had planned.

"But we can stop and get ice cream cones and crackerjack to eat on the way," she said. "Don't little girls like cones and crackerjack?"

"They certainly do," laughed Alice, "at least these little girls do."

"Then take this," said Mrs. Humphrey, handing her a five-dollar bill, "and get all you want, dear. This looks like a good place." They were back in the car of course, and Higgins had driven along the thoroughfare by the ocean--a street lined with shops.

Alice looked at the money with a feeling of dismay. How many should she get? One cone apiece and one box of crackerjack or maybe two? And how about the change? Five dollars seemed like a lot of money to carry into a crowd such as thronged the boardwalk by which the car had stopped.

Seeing her hesitation, Mrs. Humphrey said, "Would you rather I got it, dear?" and Alice replied so promptly, "oh, _will_ you, Mrs. Humphrey?" that the lady had no doubt, but Alice would enjoy herself more if she didn't have to make the purchase.

So Mrs. Humphrey got out of the car and hurried to the shop. It is hardly likely that she had made such a purchase before--certainly not often, for when she got into the shop she scarcely knew what to buy, or how much the girls could eat. Of course they would be hungry--she bought four boxes of crackerjack and five cones; that amount simply because that seemed to be all she could carry, and went back to the car.

"Can you help me?" she asked as she found herself too loaded down to step comfortably into her car. Mary Jane was on that side and she reached out and took the boxes of crackerjack while Mrs. Merrill took the cones.

"Where's Higgins's crackerjack?" asked Mary Jane making a hasty count.

"What did you say, dear?" asked Mrs. Humphrey who thought her ears must have deceived her, "Higgins' what?"

"Higgins's crackerjack," repeated Mary Jane, "you've got a cone for everybody and only four boxes of crackerjack. Doesn't Higgins like crackerjack?"

"I really--why--" Mrs. Humphrey was so amazed that for the minute she couldn't think of anything to say. _Higgins_ and crackerjack!

"Never mind," said Mary Jane, thinking to comfort her hostess, "there's plenty of ice cream and he can have half of my crackerjack--I'd be glad to divide it."

Before either Mrs. Merrill or Mrs. Humphrey could interfere, Mary Jane had slipped from her chair and was hospitably passing the cones to the dignified chauffeur. Never did a man look more insulted! He, Higgins, to eat an ice cream cone while on duty and in his best uniform! Perish the thought! But a glance at Mary Jane's kindly smile changed his answer and instead of frowning no without a word as he meant to, he smiled and said, "Thank you kindly, miss, but I must give all my attention to the wheel."

"Well, don't worry," said Mary Jane, "I'll eat it then." And she did.

*A DAY IN PLYMOUTH*

When Mary Jane stepped off the train in the little town of Plymouth the next morning, she expected to see the famous Plymouth Rock the very first thing. Instead, she saw a modern station with its line of autos, surreys and wagons drawn up along the side and a parkway stretching away toward the hill.

"Where do they keep the rock?" she asked her mother.

"Goodness only knows!" laughed Mrs. Merrill. "Don't expect me to know _everything_, honey. But I do know they have it around here somewhere."

"Oh, Mother," cried Alice, "look at that darling pony! Couldn't we get that man to drive us around some place? I'd adore to have that pony pull me!"

Mrs. Merrill and Mary Jane liked the idea too, so they engaged the driver of a quaint little pony cart to take them around the village.

But before five minutes had passed, they almost repented of their bargain. For, turning away from the station to the right, they began ascending a hill that taxed the strength of the pony to the utmost. Up they went and up and up, and the little pony pulled and pulled and pulled his best, but with such a load he couldn't go faster than a very, very slow walk.

At last they reached the top of the hill and there on an open plain they saw a handsome monument--the driver told them it was Forefathers' Monument.

"Whatever did they put it here for?" asked Mary Jane. "There's nothing here but a field."

"You should get out and look," said the driver proudly. "Just look--and you'll see."

They left the pony cart (they were glad to give the little fellow a chance to rest you may be sure) and walked close up to the monument before they turned around to look; and then they saw why the monument was set just there. Before them lay the bay, the blue waters sparkling in the bright sunshine; and to the left and to the right for miles and miles they could see the coast line gleaming gold with the shining sand, and back from the ocean to the north were the green marshes and fertile fields. It was a view long to be remembered.

"I expect the Pilgrims stood right here--didn't they, Mother?" asked Alice.

"Without a doubt they did," replied Mrs. Merrill, "and think how it must have looked to them! There were no fields then; only marshes and woods; no friendly city off in the distance; only strange Indians. I can imagine that many a time a lonely Pilgrim must have sat in this very spot and looked longingly out over the ocean toward the home they had left."

"They _were_ brave folks, weren't they, Mother?" said Mary Jane, much impressed with the beautiful view and the thought of the long-ago Pilgrims. "But where's Plymouth Rock?"

"We'll have to find that rock for you in a hurry," laughed Mrs. Merrill. "Well, at least we know it isn't on a hill, so we can go on from here if you are ready."

The pony cart next pulled them down the hill and that was nearly as exciting as going up, for it surely seemed as though the cart with its four folks would fall over on top of the little pony.

"I really believe," suggested Mrs. Merrill, "that we could get around faster if we'd walk, girlies," as they turned back into the station parkway. "Suppose we walk for a way and explore as we go?" The girls were willing, so the pony cart was dismissed, and the Merrills set out to explore.

They went south along the main street of the village, passed the museum where relics of the Pilgrims were kept and which they meant to visit later in the day; passed several big hotels and many stores till they came to the end of the village where the fishermen had headquarters. And there, at the shore end of a small wharf, they saw a stone monument. Not a big handsome one such as they had seen on the hill a few minutes before; a small stone monument with an open space in the center and an iron grating sort of a door shutting up the open space.

Alice and Mary Jane ran ahead to see what it was, and there Alice read the words, "Plymouth Rock." There under the monument, set in the arch made by the stone corners and protected from injury by the heavy iron grating, was the famous stone. It wasn't big as Mary Jane had expected it to be--it was just a common-looking boulder, and nobody would have thought of it twice if it hadn't been in a monument so folks would know it was something to look at.

"Well," said Mary Jane practically, after she had looked at it carefully for a minute or two, "I don't see how in the world they stepped clear from the ocean there at the end of the pier to here--I don't see!"

"But you must remember, dear," replied Mrs. Merrill, "there wasn't any pier then--just the ocean and the shore. No doubt the ocean was close to the rock then, for sometimes sand and rocks are washed around and the shore line changed in so many years as have passed since that day. Or, possibly, folks have moved the rock up here so it wouldn't get weatherbeaten by the winter's storms. I think that is most likely the reason why it is here."

As she was speaking, two men came up to the monument to make some repairs on the lock of one of the iron gates. As the gate swung open after they unlocked it, Mary Jane looked longingly in at the rock--if she could only touch it! What fun it would be to tell Betty and Frances that she, Mary Jane Merrill, had really touched Plymouth Rock!

One of the workmen seemed to guess what she wanted for he said to her, "Hello there, little girl! Did you come a long way to look at that rock?"

"All the way from Chicago," answered Mary Jane.

"Then I think you'd like to touch it, wouldn't you?" he said. Mary Jane nodded happily.

"Here goes then," he replied, and he stepped aside so she and Alice could stand inside the gate and actually lay their hands on the rock.

"I know something better than that," said the other workmen, much pleased with the girls' interest and joy. "We'll open the gate on the other side where the sun is shining and your mother can take your picture standing on the rock, just as the Pilgrims did."

Mary Jane was so excited by that fine idea that she could hardly stand still, but with the help of mother and the men the gates were at last open, and she and Alice took their places on the rock--and the picture was taken.

"Thank you so _very_ much," said Alice gratefully as the gates were again locked up, "that picture will be fine to take to school 'cause I'm studying American history."

"Then you want to notice that hill," said one workman, pointing to a hill close by. It wasn't such a very high hill but the sides were steep and grass covered and it was close to the shore. "That is the hill you will read about," continued the man. "After that hard winter when so many of the Pilgrims died, the bodies of the dead were buried there and the Pilgrims planted corn over the top, so the Indians would not guess it was a cemetery and find out how very many had died. You must walk up that hill," he advised Alice, "so you can tell your class about it when you get back."

"We certainly will," replied Alice gratefully, "and thank you for telling us about it."

They crossed the street and climbed the wooden stairway up the hill. On the top was an inn where a sign announced that luncheon was served, but the girls didn't care for anything so modern. Fortunately Mrs. Merrill had had the hotel put up a fine luncheon for them, so they wouldn't have to waste time eating indoors. As it was now nearly noon and the girls were very hungry, she suggested that they sit on some benches halfway up the hill and eat now, where they could enjoy seeing Plymouth, the ocean and the historic hill.

That seemed a splendid idea, and the girls agreed that never had fried chicken and sandwiches tasted as good as on Plymouth Hill.

"I do feel awfully selfish though," Mary Jane said as she polished off a drumstick, "to have such a good lunch at the very same place where folks died 'cause they didn't have enough to eat."

"I don't feel so selfish as I do thirsty," said Alice. "Now if I only had a drink--"

"No doubt we can find one," replied Mrs. Merrill. "If you've eaten all you wish, we can put the papers and scraps in that trash basket over there and walk on. Surely we'll find a drink soon."

They walked along the street, passing many an old curiosity shop where Alice would have loved to linger and price old candlesticks and bellows and chairs and all the curious wares she could see through the window; only she was so thirsty that a drink seemed more interesting than curiosities just then.

Turning to the left they went up a steep grade to another street and there, right in plain sight, was a beautiful drinking fountain. Without stopping to read the inscription she and Mary Jane had a good drink. Then Alice read aloud the tablet that said this water was piped up the hill from the very spring where the Pilgrim fathers first got their water.

"I think we're doing a lot of interesting things to-day," said Mary Jane happily. "We stood on Plymouth Rock and we ate lunch where the Pilgrims didn't have anything to eat, and now we're drinking out of their own spring! Now what do we do next?"

"I think we'd better walk up these steps to the old cemetery," said Mrs. Merrill.

Mary Jane thought it was awfully funny to walk up stairs on a street, but it was the only way to get up so steep a hill. Mrs. Merrill and Alice were much interested in the quaint, old inscriptions on the queer, flat tombstones, but Mary Jane was much more thrilled by the sight of the old funeral carriage which she saw in an old barn as they came down from the other entrance. It didn't seem possible that real folks had ever made such a funny, fancy carriage--it seemed more as though it was "made up" for a show!

The afternoon was flying along and they had to hurry if there was to be time to stop and see the wonders of the historic museum they had passed before. And, indeed, that was the hardest place of all to leave, for there the girls saw old spinning-wheels and looms, old-fashioned chairs, dishes and toys such as little folks used to play with--though goodness knows, children in those old days had very few toys of even home-made sorts!--and boats, models of real boats of those early days and oh, so many things, Mary Jane thought they would have to stay there a week to see all she wanted to see.

But they wouldn't stay a week, nor even an hour more, for at four they must take a train to Marshfield Hills where they were to visit Cousin Louise. If Mary Jane hadn't wanted to visit there very much she might have suggested to wait till another train; but she had so often heard her mother tell about this dear cousin and her little boy, that not even the curious boats and wonders of the museum could make her want to miss that train.

"Now you tell us all about 'em," she said to her mother, when, a little after four, they were seated in the train and speeding toward Marshfield Hills. "Is he big as me or is he a baby? And how do I talk to him?"

"Oh, you must play with him very nicely," said Mrs. Merrill, "for he's only a little bit of a boy--oh, lots younger than you are."

But when Mary Jane stepped off the train at Marshfield Hills she certainly was surprised, for the little fellow who sat in the front seat of the waiting auto didn't look as though he needed taking care of a bit!

*VISITING COUSIN LOUISE*

Cousin Louise was close to the train as it stopped, and she helped Mary Jane off and gave her a good welcoming hug as they hurried over to the auto.

"And this is John, my boy," she said proudly. "John, this is your cousin Mary Jane and this is Alice."

"You may sit up here with Dad and me," he said to Mary Jane, "and the others can sit in the back." Mary Jane saw in a minute that she was going to like John. He might be young but he wasn't a baby; it was plain that he expected to look after all the lady folks of the party just as he plainly was used to looking after his dainty little mother.

Mary Jane dutifully climbed into the front seat, with a little help from Cousin Louise, and then John played host by explaining to her all about their automobile. Mary Jane didn't know one thing about an automobile and she was much impressed by the fact that this little cousin whom she had expected to take care of and mother around, knew so very much more than she did. Bui she liked it; she liked his sturdy, frank way and she wished that they could stay longer and get acquainted, really acquainted, with so desirable a cousin.

Shortly, John's father who had been doing an errand, came back, and after greeting the travelers, started up the car and away they dashed, over the hills and bridges to the little white farmhouse by the mill where John lived.

Mary Jane loved the house from the minute she saw it. It had green blinds and a long front porch; a flower-covered front yard, an interesting looking barn at the side and a rambling kitchen at the back.

"Oh, Mother," she cried as the car turned in, "do let's stay a long time! Let's not go to-night."

"To-night!" exclaimed Cousin Louise, "surely you didn't think of going to-night?"

"That's what I had planned," said Mrs. Merrill. "You know there is a nine o'clock train to Boston, and I thought that would give us time for a nice visit-y dinner and we have so many plans for to-morrow."

"Then you'll just have to change your plans," said Cousin Louise briskly as she welcomed them into the comfortable old house. "We've lots of room and we'll loan you night things, and you can see what good times my sonny and your girls are going to have."

"Well, then--" said Mrs. Merrill.

"She's going to let you stay," said John. "Come on, let's go see my lamb."

He was a bit shy with his new grown-up cousin, Mrs. Merrill, but very comfortable and easy with the two girls.

"Coming along, Dad?" he called to his father as the three children slammed out of the kitchen door.

"Not for a while--got to see what's the matter with this," answered his father, who was tinkering with the automobile. "You take the girls through the barn and show them your pets. I'll join you in the pasture lot after a bit."

John needed no urging. He ran ahead to open the barn door and let his cousins in on the lower floor where his pet calf--a tiny little brown creature who looked wonderingly at her visitors--stood by her mother in a large roomy stall.

"This barn's most like grandpa's," exclaimed Mary Jane, as the sight and smell of barn things brought back to her mind the joys of the summer she spent visiting her grandparents in the country. "He had an underpart, too, where cows lived sometimes. And a stairs--have you a stairs that's most like a ladder?"

John had stairs just such as Mary Jane expected and, to tell the truth, he was a bit surprised to find that Mary Jane could run up the steep stairs as fast and as fearlessly as he could. He couldn't see how a girl who knew nothing about automobiles (when he was so used to them!) could know about anything at all.

On the main floor of the barn the children inspected all the nooks and corners, John explaining and playing host manfully.

"Now let's go to the pasture lot," he suggested. "I want to show you sumping there."

So out to the pasture lot they went, running gayly along the narrow roadway past the garden.

John led them up the hill, over stones and through briars and he wouldn't stop for anything till the very top by the fence was reached. Once there he looked around as though hunting for something.

"Why--where--?" he said in a puzzled way.

In the meantime Mary Jane stepped up close to the rocky wall bordering the pasture to pick some wild flowers she saw in bloom there. And as she reached into the bushes to pick the flowers, her hand brushed against something furred--and soft--and warm.

"Oh!" she cried drawing her hand back in a jiffy, "it's alive!"

John pushed into the bushes and there discovered what he was looking for--his best pet of all, his wee lamb. He caught firm hold of the soft wool at the back of the lamb's neck and pulling hard dragged the shy little creature out for inspection.

"Oh, I didn't know it was a lamb!" exclaimed Mary Jane happily. "I'm not afraid of a lamb, I'm not. I had a pet lamb too at grandpa's farm."

John and Mary Jane sat down on the nearest rock and fell to comparing notes about the lamb she had had and the lamb before them, and so busy were they that they failed to notice the approach of John's father with a wheelbarrow.

"Anybody want a ride?" he asked. "And Alice, if any big girl like you says she wants one, she's going to be fooled. But if any people the size of John and Mary Jane want one they'd better get in quick, because mother has just given the signal for dinner and that means come and wash your hands this minute."

John settled himself in the front of the barrow with his toes hanging over the wheel while his father lifted Mary Jane on just behind. And with Alice for an escort the party went back to the house.