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_ Vacation was over, the boys went back to school, and poor Mac
was left lamenting. He was out of the darkened room now, and
promoted to blue goggles, through which he took a gloomy view of
life, as might have been expected; for there was nothing he could
do but wander about, and try to amuse himself without using his
eyes. Anyone who has ever been condemned to that sort of
idleness knows how irksome it is, and can understand the state of
mind which caused Mac to say to Rose in a desperate tone one day
"Look here, if you don't invent some new employment or
amusement for me, I shall knock myself on the head as sure as you
live."
Rose flew to Uncle Alec for advice, and he ordered both patient
and nurse to the mountains for a month, with Aunt Jessie and
Jamie as escort. Pokey and her mother joined the party, and one
bright September morning six very happy-looking people were
aboard the express train for Portland two smiling mammas, laden
with luncheon baskets and wraps; a pretty young girl with a bag of
books on her arm; a tall thin lad with his hat over his eyes; and two
small children, who sat with their short legs straight out before
them, and their chubby faces beaming with the first speechless
delight of "truly travelling."
An especially splendid sunset seemed to have been prepared to
welcome them when, after a long day's journey, they drove into a
wide, green door-yard, where a white colt, a red cow, two cats,
four kittens, many hens, and a dozen people, old and young, were
gaily disporting themselves. Everyone nodded and smiled in the
friendliest manner, and a lively old lady kissed the new-comers all
round, as she said heartily
"Well, now, I'm proper glad to see you! Come right in and rest, and
we'll have tea in less than no time, for you must be tired. Lizzie,
you show the folks upstairs; Kitty, you fly round and help father in
with the trunks; and Jenny and I will have the table all ready by the
time you come down. Bless the dears, they want to go see the
pussies, and so they shall!"
The three pretty daughters did "fly round," and everyone felt at
home at once, all were so hospitable and kind. Aunt Jessie had
raptures over the home-made carpets, quilts and quaint furniture;
Rose could not keep away from the windows, for each framed a
lovely picture; and the little folks made friends at once with the
other children, who filled their arms with chickens and kittens, and
did the honours handsomely.
The toot of a horn called all to supper, and a goodly party,
including six children besides the Camp-bells, assembled in the
long dining-room, armed with mountain appetites and the gayest
spirits. It was impossible for anyone to be shy or sober, for such
gales of merriment arose they blew the starch out of the stiffest,
and made the saddest jolly. Mother Atkinson, as all called their
hostess, was the merriest there, and the busiest; for she kept flying
up to wait on the children, to bring out some new dish, or to banish
the live stock, who were of such a social turn that the colt came
into the entry and demanded sugar; the cats sat about in people's
laps, winking suggestively at the food; and speckled hens cleared
the kitchen floor of crumbs, as they joined in the chat with a
cheerful clucking.
Everybody turned out after tea to watch the sunset till all the lovely
red was gone, and mosquitoes wound their shrill horns to sound
the retreat. The music of an organ surprised the new-comers, and
in the parlor they found Father Atkinson playing sweetly on the
little instrument made by himself. All the children gathered about
him, and, led by the tuneful sisters, sang prettily till Pokey fell
asleep behind the door, and Jamie gaped audibly right in the
middle of his favourite
"Coo," said the little doves: "Coo," said she,
"All in the top of the old pine-tree."
The older travellers, being tired, went to "bye low" at the same
time, and slept like tops in home-spun sheets, on husk mattresses
made by Mother Atkinson, who seemed to have put some soothing
powder among them, so deep and sweet was the slumber that
came.
Next day began the wholesome out-of-door life, which works such
wonders with tired minds and feeble bodies. The weather was
perfect, and the mountain air made the children as frisky as young
lambs; while the elders went about smiling at one another, and
saying, "Isn't it splendid?" Even Mac, the "slow coach," was seen
to leap over a fence as if he really could not help it; and when
Rose ran after him with his broad-brimmed hat, he made the
spirited proposal to go into the woods and hunt for a catamount.
Jamie and Pokey were at once enrolled in the Cosey Corner Light
Infantry a truly superb company, composed entirely of officers, all
wearing cocked hats, carrying flags, waving swords, or beating
drums. It was a spectacle to stir the dullest soul when this gallant
band marched out of the yard in full regimentals, with Captain
Dove a solemn, big-headed boy of eleven issuing his orders with
the gravity of a general, and his Falstaffian regiment obeying them
with more docility than skill. The little Snow children did very
well, and Lieutenant Jack Dove was fine to see; so was Drummer
Frank, the errand-boy of the house, as he rub-a-dub-dubbed with
all his heart and drumsticks. Jamie had "trained" before, and was
made a colonel at once; but Pokey was the best of all, and called
forth a spontaneous burst of applause from the spectators as she
brought up the rear, her cocked hat all over one eye, her flag
trailing over her shoulder, and her wooden sword straight up in the
air; her face beaming and every curl bobbing with delight as her
fat legs tottered in the vain attempt to keep step manfully.
Mac and Rose were picking blackberries in the bushes beside the
road when the soldiers passed without seeing them, and they
witnessed a sight that was both pretty and comical. A little farther
on was one of the family burial spots so common in those parts,
and just this side of it Captain Fred Dove ordered his company to
halt, explaining his reason for so doing in the following words
"That's a graveyard, and it's proper to muffle the drums and lower
the flags as we go by, and we'd better take off our hats, too; it's
more respectable, I think."
"Isn't that cunning of the dears?" whispered Rose, as the little troop
marched slowly by to the muffled roll of the drums, every flag and
sword held low, all the little heads uncovered, and the childish
faces very sober as the leafy shadows flickered over them.
"Let's follow and see what they are after," proposed Mac, who
found sitting on the wall and being fed with blackberries luxurious
but tiresome.
So they followed and heard the music grow lively, saw the banners
wave in the breeze again when the graveyard was passed, and
watched the company file into the dilapidated old church that
stood at the corner of three woodland roads. Presently the sound of
singing made the outsiders quicken their steps, and, stealing up,
they peeped in at one of the broken windows.
Captain Dove was up in the old wooden pulpit, gazing solemnly
down upon his company, who, having stacked their arms in the
porch, now sat in the bare pews singing a Sunday-school hymn
with great vigour and relish.
"Let us pray," said Captain Dove, with as much reverence as an
army chaplain; and, folding his hands, he repeated a prayer which
he thought all would know an excellent little prayer, but not
exactly appropriate to the morning, for it was
"Now I lay me down to sleep."
Everyone joined in saying it, and it was a pretty sight to see the
little creatures bowing their curly heads and lisping out the words
they knew so well. Tears came into Rose's eyes as she looked; Mac
took his hat off involuntarily, and then clapped it on again as if
ashamed of showing any feeling.
"Now I shall preach you a short sermon, and my text is, 'Little
children, love one another.' I asked mamma to give me one, and
she thought that would be good; so you all sit still and I'll preach it.
You mustn't whisper, Marion, but hear me. It means that we
should be good to each other, and play fair, and not quarrel as we
did this very day about the wagon. Jack can't always drive, and
needn't be mad because I like to go with Frank. Annette ought to
be horse sometimes and not always driver; and Willie may as well
make up his mind to let Marion build her house by his, for she will
do it, and he needn't fuss about it. Jamie seems to be a good boy,
but I shall preach to him if he isn't. No, Pokey, people don't kiss in
church or put their hats on. Now you must all remember what I tell
you, because I am the captain, and you should mind me."
Here Lieutenant Jack spoke right out in meeting with the
rebellious remark
"Don't care if you are; you'd better mind yourself, and tell how you
took away my strap, and kept the biggest doughnut, and didn't
draw fair when we had the truck."
"Yes, and you slapped Frank; I saw you!" bawled Willie Snow,
bobbing up in his pew.
"And you took my book away and hid it 'cause I wouldn't go and
swing when you wanted me to," added Annette, the oldest of the
Snow trio.
"I shan't build my house by Willie's if he don't want me to, so
now!" put in little Marion, joining the mutiny.
"I will tiss Dimmy! and I tored up my hat 'tause a pin picked me,"
shouted Pokey, regardless of Jamie's efforts to restrain her.
Captain Dove looked rather taken aback at this outbreak in the
ranks; but, being a dignified and calm personage, he quelled the
rising rebellion with great tact and skill, by saying, briefly
"We'll sing the last hymn; 'Sweet, sweet good-by' you all know
that, so do it nicely, and then we will go and have luncheon."
Peace was instantly restored, and a burst of melody drowned the
suppressed giggles of Rose and Mac, who found it impossible to
keep sober during the latter part of this somewhat remarkable
service. Fifteen minutes of repose rendered it a physical
impossibility for the company to march out as quietly as they had
marched in. I grieve to state that the entire troop raced home as
hard as they could pelt, and were soon skirmishing briskly over
their lunch, utterly oblivious of what Jamie (who had been much
impressed by the sermon) called "the captain's beautiful teck."
It was astonishing how much they all found to do at Cosey Corner;
and Mac, instead of lying in a hammock and being read to, as he
had expected, was busiest of all. He was invited to survey and lay
out Skeeterville, a town which the children were getting up in a
huckleberry pasture; and he found much amusement in planning
little roads, staking off house-lots, attending to the water-works,
and consulting with the "selectmen" about the best sites for public
buildings; for Mac was a boy still, in spite of his fifteen years and
his love of books.
Then he went fishing with a certain jovial gentleman from the
West; and though they seldom caught anything but colds, they had
great fun and exercise chasing the phantom trout they were bound
to have. Mac also developed a geological mania, and went tapping
about at rocks and stones, discoursing wisely of "strata, periods,
and fossil remains"; while Rose picked up leaves and lichens, and
gave him lessons in botany in return for his lectures on geology.
They led a very merry life; for the Atkinson girls kept up a sort of
perpetual picnic; and did it so capitally, that one was never tired of
it. So their visitors throve finely, and long before the month was
out it was evident that Dr. Alec had prescribed the right medicine
for his patients. _
Read next: Chapter 14 - A Happy Birthday
Read previous: Chapter 12 - "The Other Fellows"
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