BURR HOUSES
The week after the strawberry sociable was the busiest one of Mary Jane's visit thus far. Frances came to see her twice and they became better friends each time. The Westlands lived two miles farther from the village than the Hodges did and Frances's father could easily leave her at the Hodges's home when he went into the village and get her again on his return trip. Mary Jane showed her all the interesting things she had found—the pet mice, who were getting tamer and tamer all the time; the ducks, which were losing their pretty babyness by now and were getting almost big enough to look after themselves; the lamb and the pigs and Brindle Bess.
Of course Frances was used to country sights, so she wasn't as much surprised at what she saw as Mary Jane had been when she came from the city. But she was interested and she told Mary Jane many things about the farm creatures and the fun she had had with her own pets.
Then one day Grandfather took Mary Jane to see Frances and Mary Jane had fun every minute of the two hours she was there. The Westlands kept many cows and Mary Jane saw twenty little calves—such gentle, soft-eyed little creatures that were so tame the girls could pet them and feed them all they wanted to. And chickens! Mary Jane had thought her grandmother had a good many but the Westlands had more!
"May we feed them all?" asked Mary Jane eagerly as she saw them.
"I guess Frances would be glad to have you," laughed Mrs. Westland kindly; "she has to do it so much that I'm sure she'll be glad for help at the job."
So the girls went to the bins and gathered great handfuls of corn and oats for the feast. Frances gave a peculiar call which the chickens seemed to know and immediately they came a-running, hundreds of them, so fast that Mary Jane dropped the corn she held and tried to run away.
"They won't hurt you," laughed Frances, "see? I can let them eat right out of my hand!"
Mary Jane looked and thought that if Frances was safe she would be too. So she took some of the grain Frances handed over to her and bent down for them to eat out of her hand too. It wasn't more than a minute before she had lost every trace of fear and could let the biggest rooster gobble up his grain right out of her hand. The girls tried dropping kernels of corn on their shoes and then holding up one foot for the chickens to reach for the grain. And they tossed occasional kernels way to the outside of the feeding group and then giggled to see how quickly the greedy ones whirled around to get all they could.
Then, before it was time to go, Mrs. Westland called them in and gave them each a big glass of rich milk and a plate of fat sugar cookies to eat on the porch. Altogether Mary Jane thought she had the most fun during that visit of any visit she had ever made! And before the little girls separated, Frances had promised to come over to Mary Jane's house very soon.
The day after the call at the Westlands the postman brought a letter from Mrs. Merrill which said that Alice could come to her grandfather's in two days if that would be convenient. Grandfather was very fond of Alice; she had visited there before and he was hoping she would have a nice long stay there this summer. So, as soon as he read the letter he got out his car, took Mary Jane with him and went into the village to telegraph that Alice should come at once.
The next morning Mary Jane helped her grandmother clean the room that Alice was to have—it was just across the hall from Mary Jane's and was so quaint and cozy with its old-fashioned furniture and ruffled white curtains. Then the next day Grandmother made a great jar full of cookies; Mary Jane loved that because Grandmother let her cut out some. They made stars and crescents and squares and some just plain round ones; and Mary Jane put the sugar and nuts over the top, too. Then they made apple pies and berry pies and a tart of each kind for Mary Jane's dinner and supper that day. Mary Jane decided then and there that she was going to be a good cook when she grew up because cooking was about the most fun of anything she had ever tried.
On the morning Alice was to come, Mary Jane got up early; dressed herself as quickly as possible and ran down the stairs. Just in the nick of time she was too, for Grandfather was ready to start to the station.
"Take me, please take me along!" she called as she heard him crank up his car.
"Hello, Pussy; you up?" he answered; "to be sure you may go along. Get your grandmother to give you a big piece of coffee cake to eat on the way and we'll be off."
Grandmother heard what he said and had the coffee cake ready as Mary Jane ran into the kitchen. A wonderful big piece, she cut, all full of sugary, buttery "wells" that Mary Jane liked so much. She wrapped it in a napkin so it wouldn't get Mary Jane's dress sticky with its sweetness, threw a woolen scarf around the little girl's shoulders for the early morning air was cool and waved a good-by as they rode out of the yard.
They reached the station just as the great train pulled in and saw the conductor and porter help Alice down the steps of the car. Mary Jane thought she had never seen any one look so nice in all her life! Grandfather set her out of the auto and she ran as fast as ever she could and threw her arms around her sister. Alice held her tight a minute and then turned to kiss her grandfather.
"So you're here all right, Blunderbuss," said Grandfather heartily, using the nickname he had given her long ago, "and you haven't lost a bit of your hair!" Alice laughed as he looked admiringly at her long golden braids.
"I haven't," she replied teasingly, "but I can't say as much for you!" And she laughed at her grandfather's bald head.
"Such a girl! Such a girl!" exclaimed Grandfather proudly; "now I suppose I'll have to get your trunk and take you home and stand your teasing the rest of the summer!" And in mock dismay he went for the trunk the baggage man had tossed off the train.
That was the beginning of more fun for Mary Jane. First there was the house and farm which must be shown to Alice just as carefully as though she had never seen it before. Then there were all the jolly things that Alice thought of to do—Alice was always thinking up something to do, it seemed. She fixed up a saddle for the lamb and taught Mary Jane to ride. She tied tiny bells on the rabbits so they could be more easily found. She helped Mary Jane take the ducks down to the creek at the end of the pasture and turn them into the water. Mary Jane thought it perfectly wonderful that they should know how to swim—"just as though they had taken regular lessons, Grandfather," she said as she told him about it afterwards. And Alice learned how to make bread—with Mary Jane helping to turn the crank of the bread mixer so she wouldn't feel left out.
On the third day of Alice's visit Frances Westland came over to play and the three little girls went out into the front yard and wondered what they would do.
"I wish we had doll houses here like we have at home," said Mary Jane. "I know Frances would like to play with doll houses."
"But you haven't any here," said Frances practically.
"Maybe we can get some," said Alice thoughtfully; "we ought to be able to find something to make a doll house out of. Let's hunt."
"Where'll we hunt?" asked Mary Jane.
"Let me see," said Alice. She looked around the yard but saw nothing that interested her. She looked across the road to Grandmother's lot and saw all the grasses and brush that flourished there.
"We ought to be able to find something over there," she said; "let's hunt."
So the three little girls scrambled over the fence and roamed through the lot. The lamb was used to a good deal of petting and he supposed, of course, that was what they had come for. So he poked himself into their way at every step.
"No, sir," said Alice, laughing; "we didn't come to play with you to-day! You run along, sir!" She rubbed her hand over his back to push him away and something rough and pricky scratched her. She pulled at his wool and a small brown burr came off in her hand.
"Look! Girls!" she cried suddenly. "If he got this, there must be more in the lot!"
"Of course!" said Frances, looking scornfully at the burr Alice held up for her to see; "there's a million over there—see? They're an awful nuisance, burrs are, even this early in the season."
"They may be a nuisance," laughed Alice, "but I'll venture to say they'll make good doll houses for all that. Here! I'll show you what I think we can do." She ran over to where Frances had pointed out a lot of burrs, pulled off a handful and began sticking them together. "Yes, it works," she said in a satisfied tone, "but let's not stop to make the houses here. Let's gather a lot of burrs and take them over to Grandmother's front yard. Then we can make a whole village!"
Frances and Mary Jane didn't quite see how a village was to come out of a lot of burrs, but Alice was so sure of what she was going to do that they thought she must be right. So they gathered up their skirts and filled them with burrs and then helped each other back over the fence.
Under the big pine tree, where the ground was the levelest of any place in the yard, Alice had them spread out all their burrs.
"Now," she said when the burrs were ready, "you make them stick together—so. Make eight rows of six burrs each. That will be the floor of the house. Then start up the sides for walls."
Frances and Mary Jane got the idea in a minute and they set to work in a jiffy. Such fun as it was! The houses and barns and churches grew so rapidly that none of the girls gave a minute's thought to pricked fingers—there wasn't time! When the stock of burrs was entirely used up, Alice set the houses along in a straight line as though they were on a street. Frances put the barns back of the houses where they belonged and Mary Jane ran to her garden for nasturtiums to lay by the houses for gardens.
"But we haven't any dolls to live in the houses!" exclaimed Frances suddenly.
"That's easy," said Alice; "I've made dolls before. Grandmother showed me how years ago. Come on and we'll get some."
She led the girls back to the orchard, where by now tiny green apples were lying on the ground, scattered there by the summer winds.
"You girls get all the apples you can while I get the toothpicks." And she ran to the house.
"What does she mean?" asked Frances, who wasn't used to this sort of play.
"I don't know, but let's do what she says and then we'll find out," answered Mary Jane, who had great confidence in this big sister of hers. They filled their skirts with apples of all sizes and hurried back to the front yard where Alice, carrying a box of toothpicks, met them.
"Now we'll all make dolls," said Alice as she spread out the picks. "Use the biggest apples for the body; stick in two toothpicks for arms and two for legs. And a middle-sized apple makes the head. Then take another toothpick and mark out eyes and nose and mouth—so!" And she set up the finished doll for the girls to see.
Frances and Mary Jane picked up apples and went to work too, and first thing they knew there was a doll standing in front of each house. They were just starting on animals, pigs and horses and cows which Alice showed them how to make, when Grandmother came out with a pitcher of lemonade and a basket of cookies. So the burr making turned into a party which lasted till Mr. Westland came tooting along the road and Frances had to go home.