So you see they must have had many daring adventures. Frances longed for a horse to ride, but there was none the children could have. This did not discourage her in the least. She wanted to ride and so she decided to train their pet calf. The calf’s name was Dime, and Frances said, “Dime is an unusually smart calf, she can be trained so we can ride her.” So she proceeded to do it and the children rode Dime to their hearts’ content.
But all of their play was not out of doors. Mr. and Mrs. Willard had brought with them from their old home many books, and the children liked to spend hours reading in their library. The father and mother taught them and encouraged them to study. Frances liked to 142 write, and, as she was a neat and orderly girl, she did not want her books and papers disturbed. In her sister Mary’s journal we read how she managed to have her belongings untouched:
“Today Frank gave me half her dog Frisk that she bought lately, and for her pay I made a promise which mother witnessed and here it is:
“I, Mary Willard, promise never to touch anything lying or being upon Frank Willard’s writing desk which father gave her. I promise never to ask either by speaking, writing, or signing, or in any other way, any person or body to take off or put on anything on said stand and desk without special permission from said Frank Willard. I promise never to touch anything which may be in something upon her stand and desk. I promise never to put anything on it or in anything on it; I promise if I am writing or doing anything else at her desk to go away the moment she tells me to. If I break the promise I will let the said F. W. come into my room and go to my trunk or go into any place where I keep my things and take anything of mine she likes. All this I promise unless entirely different arrangements are made. These things I promise upon my most sacred honor.”
As Frances grew older she longed to travel. She had a great desire to take a large part in the work of the world; but this did not seem possible for two reasons. First, she had no money, and in the second place, she lived in such an out of the way settlement that a journey 143 to the great cities of the world seemed to be nothing but a pleasant dream that would never come true.
Once in one of these moments of longing, she wrote,
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“Am I almost of age, Am I almost of age, Said a poor little girl, And she glanced from her cage. How long will it be Before I shall be free, And not fear friend or foe? And I some folks could know I’d not want to be of age, But remain in my cage.” |
This was her first poem, and she grew very fond of writing and then reading aloud her own efforts. The children printed a paper, and Frances was the editor. While writing articles to appear in it she would often retire to a seat high up in a favorite tree. On the tree she hung a sign,
“The Eagle’s Nest
Beware.”
You may be sure the other children left her undisturbed until her important writing was finished.