Peggy in Her Blue Frock
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Eliza Orne White >> Peggy in Her Blue Frock
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"Oh, mother," she said, as she burst into the room, "I got him, and see
what Mr. Butler gave me! Now I can get my new hat!"
"You don't mean to say you took money for doing a kindness?" said Mrs.
Owen.
"He gave it to me," said Peggy.
"Yes, so I understood, but, my dear little girl, the Butlers haven't any
more money than we have. They are poor people. Five dollars means a
great deal to them."
"He seemed to want to give it to me," said Peggy.
"That was very kind, but you ought to have said, 'I didn't think of the
reward. I shouldn't feel it right to be paid for doing a kindness. I am
sure my mother wouldn't want me to keep the money.'"
"But I never thought about you. Truly, mother, you never once came into
my head. And I did not think it was being paid. I thought it was kind of
a thank-offering."
"Well, we'll take the money back as soon as supper is over," said Mrs.
Owen.
Peggy ate her supper in silence. She was sure her mother could not know
how much she wanted the new hat. And to think she felt so sure of having
it, and then to have it snatched away was hard! And she was afraid Mr.
Butler's feelings would be hurt; for she was sure he did not think of a
reward, but a thank-offering.
After supper Mrs. Owen and the two children went down the street to Mrs.
Butler's house. It was pleasant to see the canary-bird in his cage in
the window. He was silent, as if he were tired out with the excitement
of the day. Peggy felt tired, too, and she thought, "If I were only the
kind of little girl who cried, I should cry now, because I am so
disappointed about the hat."
Mrs. Butler's daughter Flora had just come in from the milliner's shop.
She was wearing a pretty hat, with a wreath of wild roses around it.
"Well, Peggy, I hear you have found the most important member of the
family," said Flora. "I'm sure they wouldn't take on half so bad if I
was lost."
"I guess you could find your way home if you were lost," said Peggy.
They begged Mrs. Owen and the children to sit down and have supper with
them.
"Thank you, but we have had our supper," said Mrs. Owen. "I only came
down for a minute, just to say how good you were to give my little girl
the five dollars, but I could not let her keep it. I don't want her to
feel she is to be benefited in any other way when she does a kindness,
except having the pleasure that comes from helping somebody."
"I thought I'd like to have the pleasure of helping somebody," said Mr.
Butler. "I offered the reward, and she seemed real pleased to get it."
"Of course, she was pleased," said Peggy's mother. "But I am sure it was
not the idea of the reward that started her out to find the canary. So,
if you please, Mr. Butler,"--and Mrs. Owen handed him the five-dollar
bill as she spoke,--"I'd rather you kept this. We've always been good
friends and neighbors, and I am glad if my little girl has been able to
help you, and sometime, I am sure, you and Mrs. Butler will be ready to
help me."
Mrs. Butler had been watching Peggy's face. She saw she was sorry not to
have the money, and she shrewdly guessed there was something she wanted
very much that the five dollars would buy.
"I see just the way your ma feels," said Mrs. Butler, "but it does seem
as if Sol might make you a little present. Can you think of anything you
would like?"
"Yes," said Peggy promptly, "the hat in the milliner's window with the
ribbon with the blue edge."
"My dear little girl--?" began Mrs. Owen.
"That is just the thing," said Mrs. Butler. "I'm sure Sol will be real
pleased to give it to you."
Mrs. Owen was about to say it was too much of a present, but she looked
at Peggy's shining eyes and then at Mrs. Butler's beaming face. Who was
she to stand out against these two? If it were indeed more blessed to
give than to receive, Mr. and Mrs. Butler were getting their reward.
So the next day a paper box arrived at the Owens' door for "Miss Peggy
Owen, with the compliments and gratitude of her friend Sol."
Oh, joy of joys! It was the hat. Peggy tried it on, and it was even
nicer than she had thought, for it was so light, and it had such a good
brim. She went down that very afternoon to make a special call on Mrs.
Butler and Sol; and the canary sang again his melodious song.
CHAPTER IX
CHOOSING A KITTEN
Now the warm weather had come to stay, Mrs. Owen decided that it was
cruel to keep Lady Jane in the house, besides being almost impossible.
The children must take the risk. If she chose to live with the Carters,
it could not be helped. Perhaps Diana needed her more than they did.
"But she is my cat," said Alice. "Can't I go and get her back whenever
she goes there?"
"Yes, if you have the patience."
"I shall have the patience to go a hundred and seventy-five times," said
Alice.
She and Peggy liked Diana, but whenever Mrs. Owen had suggested to her
little girls that they should go to see her, they had always some good
reason for not going. Mrs. Owen suspected it was on account of Lady
Jane. It was awkward to meet Diana when they had locked Lady Jane up,
knowing perfectly well that she preferred to live with Diana. Peggy
thought it was not fair to take advantage of anything so small. But the
cat was Alice's, not hers, as Alice reminded her. And then, one pleasant
day, Lady Jane decided to set up housekeeping for good and all in her
old home. Alice wanted to go down at once and bring her back. But Mrs.
Owen insisted that she should be allowed to stay in the home of her
choice for at least a week.
And before the week was up, Diana telephoned to Alice. "What do you
think, Alice," she said, "Lady Jane has four teenty-tinety kittens--the
darlingest, most cuddly things!"
"Oh, she does have such lovely children!" said Alice, with a pang of
envy.
"They are in a wood-box out in the shed," said Diana. "At least it looks
like a wood-box, but there isn't any wood in it."
"Yes, that is her old house," said Alice.
"Mother has put in an old piece of blanket so as to make them
comfortable," said Diana.
"Has she really?" said Alice.
"Mother won't let us touch the kittens until they get their eyes open.
She says in two weeks she hopes you and Peggy will come down and see
them."
"Not for two weeks?" said Alice. "We always look at them a lot. I'd like
her back before two weeks. That is too long a visit."
"Mother says it is bad for kittens to be handled. She says to forget all
about them for two weeks."
"Ask her if she knows what color they are," said Peggy.
"Have you seen them?" Alice asked.
"Yes, mother let us look at them just once, and we each chose a kitten
for ourselves."
"Do you mean to say she is going to let you keep them all?" Alice
asked. "Mother never let us keep but two."
"We can keep them if you will let us have them," said Diana. "Of course
we know she is your cat, but mother thought maybe your mother wouldn't
want the bother of four kittens."
"You didn't ask her what color they are. Let me talk to her," said
Peggy, and she seized the receiver. "It is Peggy talking now. What color
are the kittens?"
"Tipsy is black with just a white tip to his tail, and Topsy is black
with a white vest and four white paws, and Lady Janet is silvery gray,
almost exactly like her mother, and Gretchen is gray and white with a
gray chin."
"And your mother doesn't mind the bother of four kittens?" said Peggy.
"Mother," she said, as Mrs. Owen came into the room, "Lady Jane has four
children, and Mrs. Carter is going to keep all of them if we'll let
her."
"We shall want one ourselves so as to keep her contented," said Alice.
"My dear little girl," said her mother, "it would be cruel to move Lady
Jane until the kittens are big enough to look out for themselves. I have
a few things to do besides taking care of her and her family. If the
Carters want her and she wants to stay, there is no use in fighting any
longer."
"But she is my darling cat," said Alice, with tears in her eyes. "How
would you feel, mother, if I decided I would rather live in my old house
with the Carters than with you. Would you let me stay?"
"Certainly not, because you are not capable of judging what is best for
yourself, and because I could not spare you, and neither would Mrs.
Carter want to bring up another child. But if you were my pussy-cat,
instead of my child, and you preferred to live with a little girl who
was sick half the time, and had so few pleasures, and if you had four
furry children, and the Carters wanted to keep them, I should be glad to
have everybody happy."
"All but me, mother," said Alice, "and Peggy--she will miss Lady Jane."
"I am sure they will let you have one of the kittens," said Mrs. Owen.
"In about two months you can have one of them."
"Not for two months?" said Peggy. "Oh, mother, think of a catless house
for two months. It will be so desolate."
"But you can go and choose your kitten in two weeks," said Mrs. Owen,
"and you can often go to see it."
It was a bright spring afternoon when Peggy and Alice went down to
Diana's house to choose the kitten. They took along with them a great
bunch of Mayflowers for Diana. They had picked them the afternoon
before, when they had gone with their mother up to their camp on the
hill. It was a rude little hut that their father had built. Later in
the season, wild strawberries would grow on the place, and then would
come raspberries, and afterwards blueberries and blackberries. Mrs. Owen
was planning to make preserves for themselves, and for some of the
neighbors. She looked over the ground with interest while the children
frisked about and stopped from time to time to pick Mayflowers.
Diana was sitting up in bed when the children arrived. The bed was of
mahogany and had four twisted posts. The white quilt had been turned
back and a book and Diana's doll Alice were lying on the blanket. The
sun came shining in through the two west windows. The room looked very
fresh, with the new white paint and pale green walls.
"This used to be mother's room when we had the house," said Peggy. "It
is much prettier now."
Diana was wearing her green kimono with the pink roses on it. "They gave
me the best room because I'm sick so much," said Diana. "Wasn't it nice
of them, when I am the youngest in the family?"
"I'd rather have the smallest room in the house, and be well," said
Peggy.
She was sorry she had said it, for a shadow seemed to cross Diana's
bright face. "Father expects I'll be well much sooner, now we live in
the country," she said.
"Oh, what lovely Mayflowers!" she added, as Peggy dropped the big bunch
down beside her. Diana picked it up and plunged her nose into it.
"Peggy and I picked them for you yesterday," said Alice. "We were up at
our camp."
Diana listened with interest to the children's description of the place.
"There are pine woods around the camp," said Peggy, "and on the hillside
and in the pasture such delicious berries; and later on we shall go up
and pick them; we always do. We have to walk now, for we haven't a horse
or automobile any more. But it is a nice walk and not so very long.
Maybe your father will drive you up when you get better."
"I'd like to see it," said Diana.
Just then Mrs. Carter came into the room with a basket.
"Oh, have you brought the kittens?" Peggy asked.
"Yes, they are all here." She took out one kitten after another and put
them all on the bed in front of Diana.
"Oh, what sweet things!" Alice cried. She put her hand on the black
kitten with the white tip to his tail. "This is Tipsy, isn't it?" she
asked.
"Yes."
"And I know this is Topsy," said Peggy, picking up the other
black-and-white kitten.
"Oh, what a darling!" said Alice as she spied the gray-and-white kitten.
"That must be Gretchen."
"Oh, see that one, Alice," and Peggy pointed to the silvery gray kitten
that looked like a miniature Lady Jane. The children went into an
ecstasy of delight over the four soft, furry little things that were so
complete and yet small.
As Mrs. Carter was leaving the room, she said, "I'll come back in a few
minutes, for I want to take them home before Lady Jane comes back from
her afternoon walk. She'd be terribly worried if she found they were
gone. So you'll have to choose your kitten quickly."
"Can we choose whatever one we want?" Peggy asked.
"Almost any one," said Diana. "We've each chosen for ourselves, but I'll
let you choose mine if you want her; and I don't believe Tom would mind
if you chose his. I'm not sure about Christopher--he's so decided."
"Well, anyway, I don't know which I like best," said Peggy.
"Well, I know which one I want," said Alice, and she picked up the
silvery gray kitten. "I want Lady Janet, she's so like her mother,
except she's a lighter color."
"That's Christopher's kitten," said Diana.
"Well, I don't care if it is," said Alice in her gentlest voice; "I want
it. I think if I am so unfortunate as to lose my precious Lady Jane, I
ought to have the child that's most like her."
"They are all sweet," said Peggy. "Which is the kitten that doesn't
belong to anybody?"
"Topsy."
"Let's take Topsy," said Peggy. "It would be a change to have a
black-and-white kitten."
"It would not be a nice change," said Alice. "I'd like to go and find
Christopher."
He came in while the kittens were still there. "Oh, Christopher," said
Alice, "please I want Lady Janet. I want her very much because she's so
like her mother. I know she's your kitten, but I want her very much,
please, Christopher."
"I want her very much, too," said Christopher.
In spite of his pleasant smile, he had a determined face. He looked as
if when his mind was made up he did not easily change it.
"You see, if I can't have Lady Jane I want Lady Janet," said Alice.
"Who says you can't have Lady Jane?" said Christopher. "You can have her
back as soon as the kittens are old enough to look out for themselves."
"You know she won't stay with us," said Alice reproachfully.
"Well, I can't help that," said Christopher.
"Come, Alice," said Peggy, "we must be going now."
She turned and looked at Christopher. "If you are so mean as not to let
my sister have the kitten she wants when Lady Jane is her cat, I shall
never speak to you as long as I live. I think you are a selfish pig. You
can keep all four kittens. There are plenty of kittens in town.
Good-bye, Diana."
"Oh, don't go," said Diana, looking very much worried. "Christopher was
only teasing her."
This was true, but Peggy was not sure of it. She thought Diana wanted to
make peace.
"Peggy doesn't really mean it," Alice said. "Sometimes she gets angry,
but she doesn't stay angry. Please, Christopher,"--and she looked at him
beseechingly,--"I would like Lady Janet."
"She is my kitten," said Christopher, and Alice's face clouded, "but I
will give her to you," he added.
CHAPTER X
THE WILD GARDEN
Meanwhile, as the kittens were growing, the garden was growing, too.
Peggy thought it was strange that small furry things and plants and
vegetables should change so much in a few weeks, while children did not
seem to change at all.
The garden had been a delight from the very first, for they had found it
so interesting to follow old Michael about with the horses, as he
ploughed the field at the back of the house and got it ready for
planting. It was still more exciting to watch their mother and the old
gardener, as they planned where the different crops were to be. Mrs.
Owen had made one of her blue frocks, which she wore, and Peggy had on
one of hers, and Alice felt sorry not to be in uniform, but she made a
nice bit of color in the landscape in a pink frock.
Next came the planting. They helped about this. It was such fun to pat
the earth down after the seed had been put in. There were rows and rows
of peas, and rows and rows of string-beans and shell-beans, and some
corn and turnips and carrots, and, also, a great many tomato plants.
Mrs. Owen was going to put up all the peas and beans and tomatoes that
Mrs. Horton needed, as well as her jams and jellies. And she was going
to put up vegetables, fruit, and berries for Mrs. Carter, also, as she
had been too busy getting settled to have any time to start a garden
this year. May was a joyous month. The planting was all done, and some
bits of green were poking their heads above the ground.
In June Clara came back, and they had her to play with. They saw a great
deal of Diana, too, for they made frequent trips to see how Lady Janet
was getting on. One day Clara went with them, and she decided she must
have Topsy just as soon as she was big enough to leave home. This would
leave only two kittens for three children, but Diana said if Lady Jane
was to be hers she would let Christopher have Gretchen.
If Peggy and Alice took pleasure in the garden behind the house, this
was nothing compared with their delight in what they called the wild
garden, on the hill. The strawberries were the first of the berries to
be picked. There were not a great many of them, but as Mrs. Horton and
Mrs. Carter both wanted wild strawberry preserves, Mrs. Owen thought it
best to get what she could from her own land. So one glorious June day
she and the children started for the hill, with their luncheon, and
pails to pick the berries in. Alice picked as carefully as her mother
did, although not so fast; but Peggy put soft berries in with the good
ones, and some bits of leaves somehow got in with her berries.
"Peggy, look what you are doing," said her mother. "Those berries are
over-ripe."
"I don't see what difference it makes, mother, so long as you are going
to make strawberry jam. Oh, mother, look at that squirrel, he gave a
skip from one branch to another. See what a bushy tail he has."
"Peggy, do attend to your work."
"Mother, you can't expect me to work all the time on such a sunshiny
day. It is just as important to watch squirrels and birds."
"Well, perhaps it is for you, but not for me. I can't put up squirrels
for my neighbors by the cold-pack process."
When it came to the preserving of the strawberries, Peggy and Alice were
so interested that they went out into the kitchen so as to watch the
whole process.
"Children, you mustn't eat any more of the strawberries," said their
mother. "Remember, I am putting them up for other people."
"But, mother, you've got lots and lots of them," said Peggy. "I didn't
know we picked so many."
"I had to buy a great many more to fill my orders," said Mrs. Owen, "and
even now I shan't have as much wild strawberry preserve as Mrs. Horton
and Mrs. Carter wanted; remember the strawberries represent just so much
money."
"But, mother," said Peggy, "I think it would be so much nicer to keep
the strawberry preserve for ourselves than to have the money. We can't
eat that."
"Children, do keep out of this kitchen."
"Mother, I don't see why it is called the 'cold-pack' process, when you
heat the jars," said Peggy.
"Oh, do run along, children; you might go down to Diana's and see how
Lady Janet is getting along."
"She is getting quite big," said Alice. "Can we bring her home to-day?"
"Not to-day," said her mother firmly. "I must get this preserving done
before she comes."
Picking raspberries was even more delightful than picking strawberries,
because they were bigger, and there were so many more of them; but going
for blueberries was the best of all, for there were such quantities of
them in the pasture on the hill that one could get quarts and quarts.
Indeed, there were so many that Mrs. Owen was glad of extra pickers. She
proposed having a picnic and asking Miss Rand and Clara, and Diana and
her brothers. Diana was much stronger now, and her father was going to
take her to the picnic in his automobile. Mrs. Carter decided she would
like to go, too, and so did her brother, who was staying with them for a
few days. Diana thought that, next to her father, there was no other man
in the whole world so delightful as her Uncle Joe. He was tall and slim
and had friendly brown eyes, and such a kind face and merry smile that
Peggy and Alice and Clara liked him the first moment they saw him.
The first moment had been the day Clara went for her kitten. He had put
the struggling Topsy into the basket in such a nice way, and he talked
to her as if she had been a person. "Topsy, you are going to a very good
home," he said. "Miss Rand is one who understands people like you, and
so does Clara. You will have the choicest food--lamb and fish, and all
that you most desire, and you will be so well fed you will not have to
live, like the Chinese, on mice."
Lady Janet was still living at the Carters' on account of the
preserving, but she was getting so big she was to come to them very
soon.
"If we wait until she gets much bigger, she will be running home just as
her mother did," said Peggy.
The day of the picnic was a glorious one. Peggy called it a "blue day"
because the sky was so blue. It was a deep blue, and there were great
fleecy clouds floating about. The blueberries were the most wonderful
blue, two shades, dark and light, with a shimmer to them, and Peggy's
blue frock seemed a part of all the brightness of the day. Alice had on
her yellow frock, and Diana was in green, and Clara in pink. It was
almost too beautiful a day for them to stop and pick berries, Peggy
thought; but that was what they had come for. Mrs. Owen said she would
give a pint of preserved blueberries to the boy or girl who picked the
first quart, provided they were carefully picked. So every one set to
work to pick with a will.
Tom got his pail filled first, but as he was older than the other
children, Diana said she thought Peggy ought to have the prize, because
she had filled her quart pail almost as soon as Tom had; for Peggy, who
was naturally quick, had been so anxious to come out ahead that she had
not stopped to look at squirrels and birds. When Mrs. Owen examined the
berries, however, she found some that were not ripe in Peggy's pail.
Diana and Alice had both of them picked slowly, but carefully.
Christopher had almost as many as Peggy, but his had to be gone over,
and some unripe ones taken out. Clara had the fewest and poorest of all.
She was not used to applying herself, and very soon she said she was
tired and that the sun made her head ache; so Miss Rand said she could
go into the little hut and rest. But this did not suit her, for she
liked to be with the other children.
"I am going to give the prize to Diana," said Mrs. Owen, "as Tom won't
take it, for she has picked carefully."
"Let's see who has picked the most," said Peggy, as she examined the
pails. "Oh, mother has a lot more than anybody. Mother, you'll have to
keep some for yourself, and Alice and I can help you eat them."
Miss Rand had a great many, and so had Mrs. Carter, but her brother Joe
had the fewest of all the grown people, for he had been building a fire
in the hut, so that Mrs. Owen could fry bacon and heat cocoa for dinner.
When they all took a recess in picking and sat down on the piazza of the
camp for their dinner, Peggy thought she had never tasted anything so
good in her life as the bread and butter and hard-boiled eggs and crisp
bacon. For dessert they had saucers of blueberries and cups of cocoa,
and some cake and doughnuts, which Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Horton had
contributed to the feast.
As they were resting after dinner, Mrs. Carter read a story aloud to
them. Then they all picked blueberries again. Diana and Clara soon got
tired, and Miss Rand fixed a comfortable place for them to lie down on
the window-seats in the hut. Mrs. Owen took some gray blankets out of
one of the lockers and covered them up carefully.
At night, when Dr. Carter came for them with the automobile, they had
the large pails Mrs. Owen had brought filled with blueberries as well as
the quart pails. Peggy had never seen so many blueberries together in
her life. The automobile had seats for seven. There were four grown
people at the picnic, and Dr. Carter made five. And there were six
children.
"I'll come back for a second load," Dr. Carter said.
"I'd rather walk," said their Uncle Joe, "and I am sure the boys would."
"We'll go down by the short cut," said Tom.
"All right. I can stow the rest of you in."
The three ladies got in on the back seat, Diana was in front with her
father, and Alice and Clara were in the side seats.
"Peggy, we can make room for you in front," said Dr. Carter.
But Peggy had no idea of missing that walk down the hill with the boys
and their Uncle Joe. "I'd rather walk," she said.
"Jump in, Peggy," said her mother, "you must be very tired."
"I'm not a bit tired, truly I'm not, mother. I've been so tied down all
day picking berries, I'm just crazy for a run."
"Let the young colt have a scamper," said Dr. Carter; "it will do her
good."
As Peggy danced along down the hillside, she thought how fortunate Diana
was to have a father and an uncle and two brothers. She raced down the
hill with Christopher while Tom and his uncle followed at their heels.
"There, I have beaten you, Christopher," said Peggy, breathlessly, as
she sank down on a rock at the bottom of the hill.
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