Chapter 5

So when Monday morning actually came Mary Jane lost no time getting up and doing her share of the morning work. Mary Jane was very particular about her morning work. She didn't want her mother to have to do the things a six-year-old girl was plenty big enough to do; and then, anyway, she knew it was lots more fun to work when two did the job than for one person to work alone. She picked up all the papers, and emptied the waste baskets, and cleaned the bathroom washstand and the kitchen sink--she liked those jobs the best because they were so scrubby and grown-up and interesting--and put out clean towels and dusted the living-room. Of course this was after the dishes were washed and put away; that was a job with which Alice helped too, before she started for school. So by the time Mary Jane was ready to play Mrs. Merrill was about through too, ready for sewing or baking or whatever she had to do that day.

"I think I'd better help you take down your cart," suggested Mrs. Merrill, when the last job was finished. "It's not so easy for one person to take that cart down from the second floor. But it will be no trouble at all for you to take one end and me to take the other and carry it down together. Then you can put Georgiannamore in it before you start down and there'll be no danger of bouncing her out."

"But how'll I get back up, Mother?" asked Mary Jane.

"Ring the bell three short taps and I'll come down to meet you," answered Mrs. Merrill. "Don't try to bring it up alone; it's far too heavy."

Mary Jane dressed Georgiannamore in her very best dress, put on the new coat and gloves, tucked her carefully into the cart so she wouldn't catch cold by being out for a long walk, and then she and Mrs. Merrill carried the cart, oh, so very carefully, down stairs and out to the sidewalk.

Fortunately, that May morning was bright and sunny; the breeze blew warm from the southland instead of cold and blustery from the lake, and it was the very best kind of a morning possible for being out of doors. Mary Jane walked around the block, starting toward the lake, then she went around the block the other way, and of course she went rather slowly because there was so much to see and to show Georgiannamore. Bright colored crocuses were blooming in all the yards where there were houses--and in that particular neighborhood there were many houses as well as apartments--tulips were bursting up through the ground and the lilac buds were swelling their plump green sides nearly to the bursting point.

On the third time around, Mary Jane thought of school--to be sure, it couldn't be anywhere near time for school to be out, because the morning hadn't much more than begun, but then it would be fun to go around to the corner where the children crossed the street to go to school. There were so many automobiles whizzing around the streets that a little girl even as old as six couldn't be allowed to cross streets without a grown person or an older sister along.

She went around the block to the corner where the children would come, after a while, and there, just as she turned to start back home, thinking she'd come here again nearer noon, she heard a commotion. Looking down the half block to the yard around the school house she heard a bell peal out and saw, yes, truly, crowds of children coming out of school! And just as she was about to look around to see if there was a fire or a parade or anything special to cause school to be dismissed early, she heard the whistles blow for noon--the morning was gone! That's how time flies when a person has a new doll cart!

Mary Jane waited at the corner till Alice and Frances and Betty came along together and they all four walked home.

"You shouldn't bother to carry your cart clear upstairs every time," suggested Frances, "when our front porch is so handy. Just run the cart up on the porch, lock the brake and it will be safe as can be till you eat your lunch."

Alice thought that was a good idea too, so the cart was left there, locked with the brake, and with the understanding that if Mrs. Merrill didn't approve, the girls would come down and get it at once.

Lunch was ready and waiting, so the cart stayed on the porch while the girls ate and then Mary Jane walked back toward school as far as she was allowed to go.

By the time Mary Jane got back in front of her own apartment, Mrs. Merrill was ready to go and do her marketing and errands and of course Mary Jane and Georgiannamore went along and had a beautiful time--especially when they looked in the windows and saw all the good things to eat. Mary Jane had thought that she knew every sort of good thing a person could possibly want to eat, but she soon found out that she didn't. For in one of the windows they passed she saw a tray of apples, covered with something slick and brown and carrying in their stem ends a small smooth stick like a butcher's skewer.

"What are they, Mother?" she exclaimed. "Don't they look _good_! And may we buy some?"

Mrs. Merrill went inside the store and Mary Jane, anxiously watching her mother through the window, waited outside with the doll and cart. She saw her mother speak to the salesman, look at the apples and then, oh, joy! saw him pick out four fine ones under Mrs. Merrill's direction and put them in a paper bag.

"He says they are called Taffy Apples," explained Mrs. Merrill when she came out, "and that all the girls and boys like them very much. So I didn't bother to consult you," she added with a twinkle in her eye. "I bought some for you four girls to eat after school--just on a chance that you might like them."

The bag was carefully tucked in under the folds of Georgiannamore's robe and the walking and shopping were resumed, but all the time, Mary Jane kept her eye on the hump made by the bag of apples and kept wishing that time for school to be out would hurry up and come. Some good fairy must have heard the wishes too, for the afternoon hurried by almost as fast as the morning and first thing Mary Jane knew they were all through the errands and were going down the street toward the school, ready to meet Alice.

"Do you like 'Taffy Apples'?" Mary Jane asked Betty as soon as she came out of the school yard.

"Like 'em--u-um!" replied Betty expressively.

"Well," continued Mary Jane slowly, so the surprise wouldn't be over too soon, "I've got one in there," pointing to the cart.

Betty eyed the hump Mary Jane pointed out and smiled knowingly.

"It looks like more than one," she suggested hopefully.

"It is more than one," answered Mary Jane delightedly; "it's four--all for us."

"Can we eat 'em now?" demanded Betty.

"Better wait till we get home," suggested Mrs. Merrill; "that won't be more than five minutes and then there won't be any danger of stumbling and running a stick into your throats."

The two little girls didn't loiter much after that. They skipped along briskly and soon were ahead of Mrs. Merrill and Alice and Frances.

"I'll tell you what," said Betty, as they turned into her own yard, "let's put the cart up on the porch while I get my doll and then when we get through eating our apples we'll be all ready to go walking."

She picked up the front end and Mary Jane took the handle end and they set the cart up at the end of the porch and went into the house. Fortunately Mary Jane took Georgiannamore along with her into the house; if she hadn't--but then, that's getting ahead of the story.

The little girls had no more than gone inside before Mrs. Merrill, Alice and Frances turned the corner and strolled along toward the Holden house.

"Funny where those girls have gone," said Frances, looking at the empty porch.

"They've hid our Taffy Apples somewhere, I just know they have!" said Alice. "Frances, we ought to be smart enough to find them so quickly they won't try teasing again."

"I don't believe they've hidden the apples," said Frances thoughtfully, "because Betty would be so hungry she wouldn't bother with teasing till after she was through eating. Maybe they've gone into the house to get Betty's doll and cart."

"But why would they bother to take Mary Jane's cart indoors if Betty was just going in for her doll?" asked Alice.

Before Frances or Mrs. Merrill could suggest an answer, the two little girls themselves came out of the front door, turned to look at the porch and then stood there, as though fastened to the floor--they were that surprised.

"Why--why--" said Mary Jane, "I left it right here!"

"Well, nobody ever stole anything before," said Betty. "Maybe the boys just hid it!"

"No, they didn't," replied Frances, "because they haven't come home from school yet. They stopped to see Jimmie's new chicken house and they won't be home for an hour."

"What's the trouble?" asked Mrs. Holden, who, hearing voices, came to the front door to invite folks in for a visit.

"Trouble enough, Mother," said Frances, worriedly. "Mary Jane left her brand new doll cart on our porch and it's gone!"

"And we just went in to get my doll," explained Betty, getting very excited. "We just went in a little minute and then we were going to eat the taffy apples and now they're gone too--oh, dear!"

At that minute, yes, things really do happen this way sometimes, who should go by the house but the big friendly policeman who always stood at the street corner nearest the school to guard the children from swiftly moving autos. Betty spied him and ran down the walk to speak to him.

"So the cart's gone, is it?" he said as he and Betty came up toward the house. "Well, if you'll let me use your 'phone, I'll tell them down at the station just what kind of a cart it is and maybe we can get a trace of it--anyway, we can try."

Mrs. Holden went indoors with him and the others stood around on the porch hardly knowing what to do. Losing her cart was a real calamity to poor Mary Jane--she very well knew that her father couldn't afford to get her another one and she had hard work, awfully hard work, to keep back the tears that came to her eyes and to swallow the lump that filled her throat. She didn't want to be a crybaby, but--and the lump got bigger and bigger--

Mrs. Merrill noticed that Mary Jane was trying so very hard to be brave so she did her best to help.

"Wasn't it lucky that officer came by just then!" she said cheerfully. "I can't for the life of me see why anybody would be mean enough to steal a little girl's doll cart and I keep thinking we'll find it somewhere. Come on, Mary Jane, let's sit down on this settee here till Mrs. Holden comes out. Then perhaps some of you girls will be good enough to go up to the candy shop with me and get some more taffy apples--I suppose those went with the cart!"

Mary Jane stepped over toward her mother, who had already seated herself on the settee at the end of the porch. But before she sat down she just happened to look down toward the ground. The Holden porch had no railing around the side and as Mary Jane was always a little timid about falling she kept a close watch on the end of the porch every time she went near it. She glanced down at the ground and then--her face changed! The sorrowful look vanished and smiles spread like sunshine over her face.

"Look!" she exclaimed, as she pointed to the ground. "Look there!"

A TRIP TO THE ZOO

It wasn't hard to guess what Mary Jane had found; nothing but her precious doll cart could have made her feel and look so happy. They all ran to the end of the porch, looked over the edge, and there, sure enough, was the birthday cart all tumbled down in a heap. Alice and Frances jumped down, set it up straight and then, with Mrs. Merrill's help from above, lifted it up to the porch just as the policeman and Mrs. Holden came out of the house.

"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the officer. "Another cart?"

"No, it's mine!" cried Mary Jane happily. She ran her hands over the hood, the body part and then the wheels to make sure nothing was broken. Everything seemed all right, even the bag of taffy apples was still tucked under the carriage robe that had come loose but had not fallen clear out.

"Yours?" asked the officer. "But I thought yours was lost!"

"It was," admitted Mary Jane, "but it isn't any more."

Mrs. Merrill hastened to explain that the cart had just then been discovered on the ground at the end of the porch.

"I know what was the trouble," said Frances, "she didn't fasten the brake--did you, Mary Jane?"

Mary Jane and the policeman bent down to inspect the brake. No, it wasn't fastened.

"It wouldn't take much of a breeze to blow that cart off the porch, young lady," said the officer, laughingly, "and so I suggest that if you ever want to leave your doll in the cart, you'd better be sure the brake is locked. You might have a smashed doll instead of a lost cart to report and then things wouldn't be so easy to straighten out!" And with a pleasant good-by he went on about his business.

Left alone the two mothers looked at each other and laughed--such an easy ending to disappointment didn't often come! The four girls made a dive for the bag of apples and settled themselves on the broad front steps for a few minutes of real enjoyment. Mary Jane found that taffy apples were a lot of fun to eat. The hard, slick surface was delicious to "lick" and then, when a small part was licked thin, it was fun to bite right straight through to the apple.

"If you think they're good now," said Frances, "you should taste them in the fall when the fresh apples are in--yummy-um!"

"These are good enough for me," said Betty contentedly and she bit off a big chunk of apple.

"Betty Holden!" exclaimed Frances with big sisterly chagrin, "you look like a monkey with that apple all over your face!"

"Oh, fiddle!" replied Betty indifferently, "I like monkeys."

"Did you ever see one?" asked Mary Jane, "a really truly live one?"

Betty stared. "Why of course!" she answered, "haven't you?"

Mary Jane shook her head.

"Well then you ought to go up to the Zoo," she said positively, "let's all go." She jumped up and ran over to her mother. "Mother!" she announced, "Mary Jane's never seen a monkey--never! Can't we take her up to the Zoo and show 'em to her?"

"Never seen a monkey!" exclaimed Mrs. Holden and she was as surprised as Betty had been, "are you sure?"

"Yes, Betty's right," said Mrs. Merrill. "Mary Jane has seen a great many things for a little girl who has just had her sixth birthday. But she hasn't seen a monkey. Her father and I were saying only last night that we must take the girls up to the Zoo as soon as possible."

"Let's all go next Saturday," suggested Mrs. Holden, "no, we can't go next Saturday because the girls and I have some shopping to do. Let's go a week from Saturday. By that time the restaurant in Lincoln Park will be open. The way we do," she explained to the Merrills, "is to take our lunch, a picnic lunch, with us. We start up about eleven, eat over by the lake and then have the whole afternoon for watching the animals; we eat dinner in that nice restaurant, before dark, and then come home in the early evening. Can you all go on that day?"

Mrs. Merrill said she was sure they could, so plans were made right then and there.

Mary Jane and Alice thought those two weeks, or nearly two weeks, never would pass. Of course there was the doll cart to play with and Mary Jane loved it exactly as much as ever. But she did want to see the monkeys, and the foxes (Betty told her she would love the foxes!) and all the creatures that Betty seemed to know so much about and which she had never even seen.

But at last the morning came, warm and sunny and clear and the lunch boxes were packed, the apartment locked up and everybody started toward Lincoln Park feeling happy and ready for fun. The fathers couldn't come for lunch, but really when all the Holden girls and boys were added to the three Merrills, there was such a crowd that, for the time at least, fathers weren't so very much missed.

When they reached the park Mary Jane realized, for the first time, how close it was getting to really truly summer. The sun shone with real summer warmth, the lake was blue and beautiful and flowers bloomed on every corner.

"Oh, I'd just like to live in a park all the time," she exclaimed as she looked around her, "it seems just like home!"

"Yes, it does," said Mrs. Merrill, with a wee bit of a sigh, "I'm afraid I know some folks who are going to miss their gardens and flower bed this summer."

"How stupid of me not to have thought of that!" exclaimed Mrs. Holden. "You know it will be just two weeks now till we go up to the lake for all the summer. Why didn't I think to have you plant stuff in our back garden? Then you could have all the garden you liked right there handy--we always do hate to leave the ground idle."

"Perhaps we might plant something even yet," suggested Mrs. Merrill, much delighted with the idea, "we'd love to try."

But there was no time for further planning just then--John Holden demanded his lunch; Betty made a lively second and in a minute or two a clean grassy place was picked out, the individual lunch boxes were passed out and then, for a few minutes, everybody was quiet.

"I'm going to feed the black bear," announced Betty, as she paused to pick out another sandwich, "I'm going to feed him peanuts--I saved up enough money for two bagsful."

"But aren't you afraid of him?" asked Mary Jane breathlessly.

"Afraid? Pooh!" grunted Betty.

"Never you mind, Mary Jane," said Linn comfortingly, "she was afraid the first time she saw him and I remember all about it. But now she's learned that he can't get out the cage."

"Now, Linn, I never--" began Betty.

But John interrupted. "There!" he said, "I'm through. Come on, let's gather up the boxes and papers and stick 'em in the trash box on the way to get the peanuts." So the children all helped and in a jiffy the pretty, grassy spot where they had eaten lunch was as clean and tidy as when they came. And then away they scampered after the peanuts.

Such an afternoon as it was! Mary Jane tried to remember each thing they did so she could tell her father when he met them after three o'clock. But she couldn't remember half what they had done. She knew they saw the little foxes--such pretty, dainty white and tan colored foxes that played together like little pet kittens and made her want to hold them in her lap and pet them. She knew they saw the bears--great big bears and middle sized bears and little bit o' bears just like in the story book, and she fed them peanuts which they caught very deftly in their soft cushioned paws. But all the rest, she really couldn't remember in the right order--there were kangaroos and buffaloes and a giraffe who stuck his long neck over the top of a great high fence and made Mary Jane think of nothing so much as a funny paper picture. And then of course the monkeys--dozens of them and queer birds with curious colored feathers and funny bills and feet. Really, she had seen in that one afternoon, more animals than she had guessed lived in the whole world, oh, many more!

"But have you seen the seals?" asked Mr. Merrill who met them at the bird house.

No, they hadn't.

"It's almost four o'clock," said Mr. Merrill, looking at his watch, "and Mr. Holden said they ate at four and we should meet him there, so let's hurry."

It was a good thing they did hurry for other folks seemed to know, too, that the seals were fed at four. From all directions, folks could be seen walking toward the big enclosed pond where the seals were kept. But, by hurrying, they got there in time to stand close to the iron fence where they could see the antics of those queerest of animals, the seals.

One would suppose that even the seals knew it was nearly four o'clock, dinner time, for they were so excited and eager. They barked and swam and flung themselves around vigorously as though they could hardly stand waiting for anything. Then, just at four, a man came out of a near-by building. In his hand he carried a basket of fish--a great, well-filled basket. He came over to a little platform close by where the Merrill and Holden children were standing; so they could see everything.

He picked up a big fish, tossed it over into the rocky island in the middle of the seals' pond and then! such a scrambling as there was till the middle-sized seal with a few ungainly flops, grabbed the fish and gulped it down in one bite.

Then he threw another fish and another and another--one after the other so fast that Mary Jane felt sure the seals must get all mixed up about catching them. But they didn't. Those seals must have been smarter than folks had thought for they seemed to know, every time, just about where the fish was to hit on the rocks and to know, too, just how to get to that particular spot the quickest. Mary Jane thought it very wonderful.

But one thing worried her. There was one small seal, who for some reason or other, seemed to be always just a second too late to get a fish. Mary Jane was sure he had had but one and all the others had had, oh, a lot. And she couldn't help wishing all the others wouldn't be quite so grabby.

When the man who was feeding the seals got almost to the bottom of his big basket, he stopped and looked at the crowd of children assembled for the feeding. And as he looked, he spied Mary Jane's sober little face.

"Don't you like to watch them?" he asked her in surprise.

"Yes, I like to only they're so grabby," she replied promptly, "and he hasn't had but one." She pointed out the little seal who was a bit too slow.

"We'll fix that," said the keeper, kindly, "you just watch."

He tossed a great big fish close to the crowd of waiting seals, then, quick as a flash and before they had had time to get that one, he tossed another, straight at the little seal who was on the edge of the crowd.

"He got it! He got it!" cried Mary Jane happily, "he got it before they had a chance!"

"And he's going to get another," said the keeper as he threw another and still another, straight at the hungry little seal. "There!" he added as he looked at the now empty basket, "that ought to do him till to-morrow." Mary Jane thought he looked so comfortable now that surely he had had as much as he needed for the day.

"Better hurry if we're to see the lions eat," said Mr. Holden, who during the seals' dining hour had come up behind his little party.

"Lions!" exclaimed Mary Jane.

"Yes, hurry up!" called Betty and she and her brother who were quite familiar with the park because of many previous visits, ran on toward a big brick house near by.

Mary Jane wasn't afraid, but all the same she thought it would be more fun to hold her father's hand and even though they were a bit behind, they got into the lions' house in time.

Here the dinner was of meat, great big chunks of raw, red meat that the keepers tossed into the cages. And it was so funny to watch! Just before the keeper appeared, the lions and tigers and jackals and leopards were pacing up and down their cages with such weird roars and grunts and growls that Mary Jane held tightly to her father's hand and didn't go very close to the iron bars. But when the keepers appeared with the meat there was a wild scramble, and then silence except for the crunching and smacking of eating. It certainly was different, oh, very, very different from anything Mary Jane had ever seen before!

"Let's not wait here any more," suggested Alice, "let's show Dadah the monkeys."

"Yes, and the foxes--the white ones," said Mary Jane, "they're my favorites of all."