IT was true that Samuel had taken the family by surprise; but no one thought any the less of him for it,—indeed he now commanded even more admiration than before, although his name was speedily changed to Luella-Marie.
“You see, all the animals behave so differently at the lake from what they do at home,” Eunice explained to a visitor, “that it’s not at all surprising about Sam.”
The three little bunnies were named Vaseline, Oliver Optic, and Sweetest Skipperty. Vaseline was maltese, with the most wonderful soft fur, and soft maltese eyes. Oliver was black and white, and Skipperty a small copy of his mother, as she had been at his age. Oliver was Kenneth’s rabbit, as Eunice had generously given him first choice of the three, and Kenneth took Oliver because he looked the strongest. Franklin had advised him to choose this one, as, being homely, it would be likely to live.
“I wonder what will happen next!” Mrs. Wood thought. “So far, John Alden is the only member of the family who has preserved his usual dignity.”
She spoke of him to Mrs. Lane one day, saying, “Do you know our rooster is so good, he hasn’t made me a bit of trouble since we came out here. He’s even stopped crowing in the morning, because he found it annoyed us.”
A peculiar expression upon her neighbor’s face caused her to ask quickly: “Why, do you ever hear him?”
“Well,—yes,” admitted Mrs. Lane, with a smile. “He’s in the habit of crowing under our windows on the other side of the house, from four to six every morning.”
“Good gracious!” Mrs. Wood exclaimed. “Why didn’t you mention it before? It would have been so easy to shut him up at night. This is really dreadful!”
“Well, I didn’t exactly like to complain. And we generally go to sleep afterwards.”