In a week or two,the young people were almost resigned to the loss of school,for they found themselves delightfully fresh for the few lessons they did have,and not weary of play,since it took many useful forms.Old Jane not only carried them all to ride,but gave Jack plenty of work keeping her premises in nice order.Frank mourned privately over the delay of college,but found a solace in his whirligig and the Gymnasium,where he set himself to developing a chest to match the big head above,which head no longer ached with eight or ten hours of study.Harvesting beans and raking up leaves seemed to have a soothing effect upon his nerves,for now he fell asleep at once instead of thumping his pillow with vexation because his brain would go on working at difficult problems and passages when he wanted it to stop.
Jill and Molly drove away in the little phaeton every fair morning over the sunny hills and through the changing woods,filling their hands with asters and golden-rod,their lungs with the pure,invigorating air,and their heads with all manner of sweet and happy fancies and feelings born of the wholesome influences ahout them,People 5hook their heads,and said it was wasting time;but the rosy-faced girls were Content to trust those wiser than themselves,and found their new school very pleasant.They read aloud a good deal,rapidly acquiring one of the rarest and most beautiful accomplishments;for they could stop and ask questions as they went along,so that they understood what they read,which is half the secret.A thousand things came up as they sewed together in the afternoon,and the eager minds received much general information in an easy and well-ordered way.Physiology was one of the favorite studies,and Mrs.Hammond often came in to give them a little lecture,teaching them to understand the wonders of their own systems,and how to keep them in order--a lesson of far more importance just then than Greek or Latin,for girls are the future mothers,nurses,teachers,of the race,and should feel how much depends on them.Merry could not resist the attractions of the friendly circle,and soon persuaded her mother to let her do as they did;so she got more exercise and less study,which was just what the delicate girl needed.
The first of the new ideas seemed to prosper,and the second,though suggested in joke,was carried out in earnest,for the other young people were seized with a strong desire to send something to the Fair.In fact,all sorts of queer articles were proposed,and much fun prevailed,especially among the boys,who ransacked their gardens for mammoth vegetables,sighed for five-legged calves,blue roses,or any other natural curiosity by means of which they might distinguish themselves.Ralph was the only one who had anything really worth sending;for though Franks model seemed quite perfect,it obstinately refused to go,and at the last moment blew up with a report like a pop-gun.So it was laid away for repairs,and its disappointed maker devoted his energies to helping Jack keep Bun in order;for that indomitable animal got out of every prison they put him in,and led Jack a dreadful life during that last week.At all hours of the day and night that distracted boy would start up,crying,"There he is again!"and dart out to give chase and capture the villain now grown too fat to run as he once did.
The very night before the Fair,Frank was wakened by a chilly draught,and,getting up to see where it came from,found Jack's door open and bed empty,while the vision of a white ghost flitting about the garden suggested a midnight rush after old Bun.Frank watched laughingly,till poor Jack came toward the house with the gentleman in gray kicking lustily in his arms,and then whispered in a sepulchral tone,"Put him in the old refrigerator,he can't get out of that,"Blessing him for the suggestion,the exhausted hunter shut up his victim in the new cell,and found it a safe one,for Bun could not burrow through a sheet of zinc,or climb up the smooth walls.Jill's quilt was a very elaborate piece of work,being bright blue with little white stars all over it;this she finished nicely,and felt sure no patient old lady could outdo it.Merry decided to send butter,for she had been helping her mother in the dairy that summer,and rather liked the light part of the labor.She knew it would please her very much if she chose that instead of wild Bowers,so she practised moulding the yellow pats into pretty shapes,that it might please both eye and taste.
Molly declared she would have a little pen,and put Boo in it,as the prize fat boy--a threat which so alarmed the innocent that he ran away,ani was ~ouncl two or three miles prom borne,asleep under the wall,with two seed-cakes and a pair of socks done up in a bundle.Being with difficulty convinced that it was a joke,he consented to return to his family,but was evidently suspicious,till Molly decided to send her cats,and set about preparing them for exhibition.The Minots'deserted Bunny-house was rather large;but as cats cannot be packed as closely as much-enduring sheep,Molly borrowed this desirable family mansion,and put her darlings into it,where they soon settled down,and appeared to enjoy their new residence.It had been scrubbed up and painted red,cushions and plates put in,and two American flags adorned the roof.Being barred all round,a fine view of the Happy Family could be had,now twelve in number,as Molasses had lately added three white kits to the varied collection.
The girls thought this would be the most interesting spectacle of all,and Grif proposed to give some of the cats extra tails,to increase their charms,especially poor Mortification,who would appreciate the honor of two,after having none for so long.But Molly declined,and Grif looked about him for some attractive animal to exhibit,so that he too might go in free and come to honor,perhaps.