CHAPTER V MORNING
The sun poured through the windows onto Maida’s bed. She stirred. Was it a bird calling her? No. It was the phonograph. She peeped out the window. Arthur had brought the phonograph to the opening of the barn door. It was playing, “Bugle Calls of the American Army.” It was reveille that she was listening to.
The door to her bed-chamber flew open and Rosie, her heavy curls flying, her black eyes sparkling, precipitated herself across the room. “Oh Maida!” she exclaimed. “Isn’t it wonderful? I am not dreaming am I? Ow!” as Maida pinched her. “I have been awake for I don’t know how long, listening to the birds and everything. I have been waiting ever so long for you to wake up. I thought you would never stir.”
“Well now that I’m awake, I’ll dress as soon as possible,” Maida promised. “We’ve got a long day before us. Let’s go in and get Laura up.”
Laura was still deep in slumber. Indeed she showed a marked disinclination to awaken. Rosie charitably assisted her efforts by the application to her face of a very wet—and a very cold—sponge. For some reason, this action precipitated a pillow fight. In the midst of it, the breakfast bell sounded but they paid no attention to it. Finally Granny Flynn had to call: “Stop that running about, children, and get dressed. Breakfast’ll be on the table in a minute.”
When the second bell rang, the boys came in from the barn and the twelve children, Granny Flynn at one end of the table and Mrs. Dore at the other, sat down to a breakfast of fruit, oatmeal, eggs, and all the milk they wanted.
After breakfast, Maida said, “Now, first, I want to show the six little children where’s the nicest place for them to play. Do the rest of you want to come?”
The rest did want to come. Perhaps Laura voiced their sentiments when she said, “That’s a great idea, Maida. Get the little children interested, so they won’t be forever tagging us.”