Grandpa Martin was Mrs. Martin's husband's father, but she loved him as though he were her own.
"Yes, I am tired. I've been working pretty hard on the farm," said
Grandpa Martin, "but I'm going to rest a bit now. Want me to take
Trouble?" he asked as he saw the little boy in his mother's arms. Baby
William was called Trouble because he got into so much of it.
"No, thank you. He's asleep," said Mother Martin. "But I do wish you could find some way to keep Ted and Jan from disputing and quarreling so much."
"Oh, they don't act half as bad as lots of children."
"No, indeed! They're very good, I think," said Grandma Martin, coming to the door with a patch of flour on the end of her nose, for it was baking day, as you could easily have told had you come anywhere near the big kitchen of the white house on Cherry Farm.
"They need to be kept busy all the while," said Grandpa Martin. "It's been a little slow for them here this vacation since we got in the hay and gathered the cherries. I think I'll have to find some new way for them to have fun."
"I didn't know there was any new way," said Mother Martin with a laugh, as she carried Baby William into the bedroom and came back to sit on the porch with Grandpa and Grandma Martin.
"Oh, yes, there are lots of new ways. I haven't begun to think of them yet," said Grandpa Martin. "I'm going to have a few weeks now with not very much to do until it's time to gather the fall crops, and I think I'll try to find some way of giving your Curlytops a good time. Yes, that's what I'll do. I'll keep the Curlytops so busy they won't have a chance to think of pulling dolls' legs or taking Nicknack, the goat, away from his wagon."
"What are you planning to do, Father?" asked Grandma Martin of her husband.
"Well, I promised to take them camping on Star Island you know."