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Read Ebook: Mary Jane in New England by Judson Clara Ingram Gooch Thelma Illustrator
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Ebook has 804 lines and 38697 words, and 17 pages
Plans for the Journey A Day of Wetness First Glimpses of Boston An Unexpected Visit at Wellesley Class Day Fun--and Troubles Winning the Game The Adventure by the Lagoon Commencement in the Stadium Fun on the Beach A Day in Plymouth Visiting Cousin Louise The Willow Tree Cottage Lost! One Mary Jane Tea on the Terrace The Last Day in Boston--and Home
She sighed with relief as the offending shoe came off
"You almost touched it!" exclaimed Mary Jane
"My dear child! Where were you? We've hunted and hunted!"
"Then are we really going?" asked Mary Jane eagerly.
"To Boston and Harvard and Uncle Hal's Class Day and everything?" added Alice.
Mr. and Mrs. Merrill looked at each other and then at the long letter in Mrs. Merrill's hand.
"I do believe we are," said Mrs. Merrill thoughtfully.
"That's right!" approved Mr. Merrill heartily. "You'll never regret it. I am sure the girls are old enough to remember the interesting sights they will see and they may never have another chance to go to Harvard Class Day and all the 'doings' Hal writes about."
"And then," added Mrs. Merrill, "I always promised brother Hal I'd come when he graduated. One doesn't have a 'baby brother' graduate from Harvard every summer. Though I would like it better if you could go too."
"Sure you can't, Dad"? asked Alice, wistfully.
"Certain sure," replied her father. "With all the changes in the office just now I wouldn't think it wise to leave my work for men who are already loaded up. And then, too," he added when he noticed how disappointed the two girls looked, "remember we'll need somebody here to see about the new house--don't you forget that!"
"Of course we travel easily," said Mrs. Merrill, "and Hal promises to look after us so well."
"And makes good by sending that list," said Mr. Merrill. "I never saw the like of the way he has everything lined up for you--you couldn't get lost if you wanted to!"
Alice and Mary Jane Merrill, who with their father and mother had moved from the small town where they had always lived, to the big city of Chicago only a few months before, were having a most interesting time. Not only had they seen city sights, played in the parks and done good work in school; in addition they had made a number of fine friends and, partly through some of these friends, had discovered that they could have an even happier time if Mary Jane had some place to dig, and garden and play out of doors. Girls who live in flats can't very well have gardens--at least at Mary Jane's flat one couldn't. So the Merrills had started exploring and had quite suddenly bought a small piece of land on the edge of one of the outlying suburbs and there they planned to build a little "shack" where they could go every summer and play at being farmers. Such drawing of plans and studying of seed catalogues there never was--the girls found it wonderful fun.
Then, as though going to the country and making a garden was not enough to keep one little girl's head busy, there had come a letter from Mrs. Merrill's brother reminding her of a promise made long ago that she would come to his graduation from Harvard. At first it seemed as though such a trip wouldn't be possible. There was the house in the country to see to--and though it was to be only an unfinished cottage there were a thousand and one details about its building and furnishing that needed attention--the girls were in school and they had planned no summer dresses suitable to the gaieties of commencement week at Cambridge.
But a day or two of careful thinking and planning made Mrs. Merrill decide that they would go. Last year's "best" dresses had been let down and were very pretty; new ginghams for traveling surely would not be hard to make or buy and she loved making the dainty organdy dresses each girl would need for Class Day. The trip wouldn't take long and soon they would be back to attend to the new country home which would hardly have time to miss them.
Alice reached for the list Mr. Merrill had referred to and read what Uncle Hal had written out for them.
"Arrive in Boston Monday morning; Class Day, Tuesday; Baseball, Wednesday Commencement, Thursday and if the weather is fine you can all go, for it will be in the Stadium; Friday, sightseeing and anything you want to do." And below was a notation telling them he had had rooms engaged for weeks ahead at the Westminister Hotel, which was a very wise and thoughtful provision for their comfort, as Boston hotels are always more than crowded commencement week.
"It sounds like a lot of fun, Mother," she said happily.
"And are we going to sleep on the train and have hashed brown potatoes in the diner and live at a place by the ocean just like when we went to Florida?" asked Mary Jane.
"It won't be just like in Florida," explained Mr. Merrill, "because Boston is a big city like Chicago, and big cities have different sorts of hotels from any you have been in. But I'll venture to say you will have a good time. And if you stick to Uncle Hal's program you won't have much time for either napping or being homesick!"
"Dear me!" cried Mrs. Merrill suddenly glancing at the clock, "I don't know why we are sitting here all day dreaming! We ought to be making out lists and deciding what to take and do and everything. We're going to be busy people these next two weeks, let me tell you that."
Alice dashed to the desk for pencils and pads.
"Let's make out a list of what we have to do for the new house," said Mrs. Merrill, "and what we have to take and what I have to make or buy. And I can tell you this much," she added a few minutes later when the lists were well under way, "if I'm to do all those things before we go, you two people will have to do a lot of helping."
"Oh, we'd love that!" exclaimed Mary Jane eagerly, "I'd get breakfasts and Alice can wash all the dishes and--"
"I know you do, dear," said Mrs. Merrill, as she drew the little girl toward her, "and you're going to in just every way you can and will."
So it was decided that the two girls should do every bit of the housework they possibly could and let Mrs. Merrill have lots of time free for sewing and shopping and tending to the new house.
How those two weeks did fly! It really seemed no time at all since the four Merrills were sitting there deciding that they could go to Boston, till the last day had arrived and Mary Jane was having a dress up "try on" of her new organdy dress to be sure it was exactly right before it was packed. How they had all worked! Mary Jane had cooked--toast on the electric toaster and coffee in the kitchen and eggs boiled just as father liked them. And she had taken her turn with Alice at washing dishes and drying dishes and making beds and cleaning the bathroom and dusting and marketing and pulling out bastings--they had done all those things and more and Mrs. Merrill declared that never, never in the world, could she have finished so much work in two weeks' time if she hadn't had two fine assistants.
"Come here, dear," said Mrs. Merrill as Mary Jane danced off to look in the mirror, "I'll have to tack that bolero--there. Now let's tie the sash and try on the new shoes and be sure everything is just right."
But Mary Jane could hardly stand still. It was so thrilling to try on her first organdy dress--long pink ribbons, a white hat with pink streamers just like Alice's yellow ones and white stockings and brand new pumps, yes, truly, pumps like big folks. She could hardly wait to get everything on, she was so anxious to see herself.
Just as the last bow was adjusted, the bell rang three short taps, father's ring, and Mary Jane, looking all the world like a fairy dropped onto the stairs by some magic mistake, dashed down to greet him.
"Everything fits and it's all just right and don't I look nice and we're waiting for you to bring the trunk up from the basement and Alice has made apple dumplings--green apple dumplings for dinner so you'd better hurry," she finished, breathlessly.
"For that I will," laughed Mr. Merrill, "my! but you do look grown up, pussy!" he added as he looked her over carefully. "Shoes fit all right? Everything has to be just so for Class Day you know, young lady, for folks want to be comfortable as well as beautiful when they go to all day 'doings.'"
"She thinks everything is all right," explained Mrs. Merrill. "You look pleased about something. Is there anything new?"
"Maybe so," said Mr. Merrill so mysteriously that Mary Jane stopped in the hall to listen. "Think you could get off Saturday evening instead of Sunday morning as you had planned?"
Mrs. Merrill thought a second. "Yes, I guess we could," she decided, "it wouldn't make a lot of difference either way. But I thought you had our reservations?"
"Changed them," said Mr. Merrill. "How would you like me to go along as far as Niagara and spend Sunday with you there and then you folks go on east Sunday night?"
"Really, Daddah?" called Mary Jane happily, "then you could eat in the diner with us and sleep and everything!"
"Wouldn't Uncle Hal be flattered," teased Mr. Merrill, "if he knew that you talked more about the diner than you do about Class Day!"
"Oh, I like Class Day too," declared Mary Jane fingering her new sash, "but I'm glad we have to eat on the train to get there."
"For my part I'm glad to eat now," said Mr. Merrill as he sniffed the aroma of Alice's dumplings, "I know I could eat three, so you'd better hurry off with that finery, Mary Jane, if you want your share."
Just twenty-four hours later, the four Merrills boarded the train for Boston. Much to Mary Jane's interest, the conductor didn't call "all aboard!" and there wasn't a bit of excitement at the station. The great train dashed into the residence station where they had decided to board it, hesitated only long enough for the porter to assist the Merrills and their bags onto car 201 and off they went--through the factories and suburbs the girls had seen when they came to Chicago for the first time.
Mary Jane pressed close to the window and was eagerly watching the sight of busy city life she could see on the streets as they flashed by, when a white-coated man walked through the car calling "Second call for dinner! Second call for dinner!"
"Why we missed the first call!" exclaimed Mary Jane in distress.
"Cheer up, pussy," said her father, "that doesn't happen often."
"Well, we won't miss anything more," announced Mary Jane positively, "'cause I washed my hands the last thing and my gloves kept 'em clean."
It didn't take long to tuck gloves into coat pockets, put hats in a safe place and walk to the diner. And here Mary Jane had a dinner such as she loved, with hashed brown potatoes, and salad and ice cream--to say nothing of meat and bread and butter and a big glass of milk in a creamy white tumbler.
"Now tell us what Niagara Falls is going to look like," suggested Alice when they were back in their own car.
"Oh, I couldn't do that," said Mrs. Merrill, "you'll have to wait till morning. As soon as the porter makes up your berth, you can go to sleep and then, when you wake up, you can see it all for yourself--water--rivers of water! The most water you ever saw! That's what it is."
Mary Jane thought of that sentence the next morning when she wakened. She was alone in the lower berth--evidently mother was out and dressed--and she couldn't hear a thing but water. Water dashing against the window, water dripping in through the tiny screen at her feet, water sounding on the roof of the car till she couldn't hear another thing.
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