章节正文
went to the playroom to bring Alice her doll. He came
racing back, dragging it by one leg, and crying:
"There's company! Someone has come that mamma and papa
are just tearing down the house over. I saw through
the window."
"It could not be my mother, yet," mused Elnora. "Her boat
is not due until twelve. Terry, give Alice that doll----"
"It's a man-person, and I don't know him, but my
father is shaking his hand right straight along, and my
mother is running for a hot drink and a cushion. It's a
kind of a sick person, but they are going to make him well
right away, any one can see that. This is the best place.
I'll go tell him to come lie on the pine needles in the sun
and watch the sails go by. That will fix him!"
"Watch sails go by," chanted Little Brother. "'A fix him!
Elnora fix him, won't you?"
"I don't know about that," answered Elnora. "What sort
of person is he, Terry?"
"A beautiful white person; but my father is going to
`colour him up,' I heard him say so. He's just out of the
hospital, and he is a bad person, 'cause he ran away from
the doctors and made them awful angry. But father
and mother are going to doctor him better. I didn't know
they could make sick people well."
"'Ey do anyfing!" boasted Little Brother.
Before Elnora missed her, Alice, who had gone to
investigate, came flying across the shadows and through the
sunshine waving a paper. She thurst it into Elnora's hand.
"There is a man-person--a stranger-person!" she shouted.
"But he knows you! He sent you that! You are to be
the doctor! He said so! Oh, do hurry! I like him heaps!"
Elnora read Edith Carr's telegram to Philip Ammon
and understood that he had been ill, that she had been
located by Edith who had notified him. In so doing
she had acknowledged defeat. At last Philip was free.
Elnora looked up with a radiant face.
"I like him `heaps' myself!" she cried. "Come on
children, we will go tell him so."
Terry and Alice ran, but Elnora had to suit her steps
to Little Brother, who was her loyal esquire, and would
have been heartbroken over desertion and insulted at
being carried. He was rather dragged, but he was
arriving, and the emergency was great, he could see that.
"She's coming!" shouted Alice.
"She's going to be the doctor!" cried Terry.
"She looked just like she'd seen angels when she read
the letter," explained Alice.
"She likes you `heaps!' She said so!" danced Terry.
"Be waiting! Here she is!"
Elnora helped Little Brother up the steps, then deserted
him and came at a rush. The stranger-person stood
holding out trembling arms.
"Are you sure, at last, runaway?" asked Philip Ammon.
"Perfectly sure!" cried Elnora.
"Will you marry me now?"
"This instant! That is, any time after the noon boat
comes in."
"Why such unnecessary delay?" demanded Ammon.
"It is almost September," explained Elnora. "I sent
for mother three days ago. We must wait until she comes,
and we either have to send for Uncle Wesley and Aunt
Margaret, or go to them. I couldn't possibly be married
properly without those dear people."
"We will send," decided Ammon. "The trip will be
a treat for them. O'More, would you get off a message
at once?"
Every one met the noon boat. They went in the motor
because Philip was too weak to walk so far. As soon as
people could be distinguished at all Elnora and Philip
sighted an erect figure, with a head like a snowdrift.
When the gang-plank fell the first person across it was
a lean, red-haired boy of eleven, carrying a violin in
one hand and an enormousbouquet of yellow marigolds and
purple asters in the other. He was beaming with broad
smiles until he saw Philip. Then his expression changed.
"Aw, say!" he exclaimed reproachfully. "I bet you
Aunt Margaret is right. He is going to be your beau!"
Elnora stooped to kiss Billy as she caught her mother.
"There, there!" cried Mrs. Comstock. "Don't knock
my headgear into my eye. I'm not sure I've got either
hat or hair. The wind blew like bizzem coming up the river."
She shook out her skirts, straightened her hat, and
came forward to meet Philip, who took her into his arms
and kissed her repeatedly. Then he passed her along to
Freckles and the Angel to whom her greetings were mingled
with scolding and laughter over her wind-blown hair.
"No doubt I'm a precious spectacle!" she said to the Angel.
"I saw your pa a little before I started, and he sent you
a note. It's in my satchel. He said he was coming up
next week. What a lot of people there are in this world!
And what on earth are all of them laughing about?
Did none of them ever hear of sickness, or sorrow,
or death? Billy, don't you go to playing Indian or
chasing woodchucks until you get out of those clothes.
I promised Margaret I'd bring back that suit good as new."
Then the O'More children came crowding to meet Elnora's mother.
"Merry Christmas!" cried Mrs. Comstock, gathering
them in. "Got everything right here but the tree, and
there seems to be plenty of them a little higher up.
If this wind would stiffen just enough more to blow away
the people, so one could see this place, I believe it would
be right decent looking."
"See here," whispered Elnora to Philip. "You must
fix this with Billy. I can't have his trip spoiled."
"Now, here is where I dust the rest of 'em!" complacently
remarked Mrs. Comstock, as she climbed into the motor car
for her first ride, in company with Philip and Little Brother.
"I have been the one to trudge the roads and hop out of the
way of these things for quite a spell."
She sat very erect as the car rolled into the broad main
avenue, where only stray couples were walking. Her eyes
began to twinkle and gleam. Suddenly she leaned forward
and touched the driver on the shoulder.
"Young man," she said, "just you toot that horn suddenly
and shave close enough a few of those people, so that I
can see how I look when I leap for ragweed and snake fences."
The amazed chauffeur glanced questioningly at Philip
who slightly nodded. A second later there was a quick
"honk!" and a swerve at a corner. A man engrossed
in conversation grabbed the woman to whom he was talking
and dashed for the safety of a lawn. The woman
tripped in her skirts, and as she fell the man caught and
dragged her. Both of them turned red faces to the car
and berated the driver. Mrs. Comstock laughed in
unrestrained enjoyment. Then she touched the chauffeur again.
"That's enough," she said. "It seems a mite risky."
A minute later she added to Philip, "If only they had
been carrying six pounds of butter and ten dozen eggs
apiece, wouldn't that have been just perfect?"
Billy had wavered between Elnora and the motor, but
his loyal little soul had been true to her, so the walk to
the cottage began with him at her side. Long before
they arrived the little O'Mores had crowded around and
captured Billy, and he was giving them an expurgated
version of Mrs. Comstock's tales of Big Foot and Adam
Poe, boasting that Uncle Wesley had been in the camps
of Me-shin-go-me-sia and knew Wa-ca-co-nah before
he got religion and dressed like white men; while the
mightyprowess of Snap as a woodchuckhunter was done
full justice. When they reached the cottage Philip took
Billy aside, showed him the emerald ring and gravely
asked his permission to marry Elnora. Billy struggled
to be just, but it was going hard with him, when Alice,
who kept close enough to hear, intervened.
"Why don't you let them get married?" she asked.
"You are much too small for her. You wait for me!"
Billy studied her intently. At last he turned to Ammon.
"Aw, well! Go on, then!" he said gruffly. "I'll marry Alice!"
Alice reached her hand. "If you got that settled
let's put on our Indian clothes, call the boys, and go to
the playhouse."
"I haven't got any Indian clothes," said Billy ruefully.
"Yes, you have," explained Alice. "Father bought
you some coming from the dock. You can put them on in
the playhouse. The boys do."
Billy examined the playhouse with gleaming eyes.
Never had he encountered such possibilities. He could
see a hundred amusing things to try, and he could not
decide which to do first. The most immediate attraction
seemed to be a dead pine, held perpendicularly by its
fellows, while its bark had decayed and fallen, leaving
a bare, smooth trunk.
"If we just had some grease that would make the dandiest
pole to play Fourth of July with!" he shouted.
The children remembered the Fourth. It had been
great fun.
"Butter is grease. There is plenty in the 'frigerator,"
suggested Alice, speeding away.
Billy caught the cold roll and began to rub it against
the tree excitedly.
"How are you going to get it greased to the top?" inquired Terry.
Billy's face lengthened. "That's so!" he said. "The thing
is to begin at the top and grease down. I'll show you!"
Billy put the butter in his handkerchief and took the
corners between his teeth. He climbed the pole, greasing
it as he slid down.
"Now, I got to try first," he said, "because I'm the
biggest and so I have the best chance; only the one that
goes first hasn't hardly any chance at all, because he has
to wipe off the grease on himself, so the others can get up
at last. See?"
"All right!" said Terry. "You go first and then I will
and then Alice. Phew! It's slick. He'll never get up."
Billy wrestled manfully, and when he was exhausted
he boosted Terry, and then both of them helped Alice,
to whom they awarded a prize of her own doll. As they
rested Billy remembered.
"Do your folks keep cows?" he asked.
"No, we buy milk," said Terry.
"Gee! Then what about the butter? Maybe your
ma needs it for dinner!"
"No, she doesn't!" cried Alice. "There's stacks of it!
I can have all the butter I want."
"Well, I'm mighty glad of it!" said Billy. "I didn't
just think. I'm afraid we've greased our clothes, too."
"That's no difference," said Terry. "We can play
what we please in these things."
"Well, we ought to be all dirty, and bloody, and have
feathers on us to be real Indians," said Billy.
Alice tried a handful of dirt on her sleeve and it
streaked beautifully. Instantly all of them began
racing back, dragging it by one leg, and crying:
"There's company! Someone has come that mamma and papa
are just tearing down the house over. I saw through
the window."
"It could not be my mother, yet," mused Elnora. "Her boat
is not due until twelve. Terry, give Alice that doll----"
"It's a man-person, and I don't know him, but my
father is shaking his hand right straight along, and my
mother is running for a hot drink and a cushion. It's a
kind of a sick person, but they are going to make him well
right away, any one can see that. This is the best place.
I'll go tell him to come lie on the pine needles in the sun
and watch the sails go by. That will fix him!"
"Watch sails go by," chanted Little Brother. "'A fix him!
Elnora fix him, won't you?"
"I don't know about that," answered Elnora. "What sort
of person is he, Terry?"
"A beautiful white person; but my father is going to
`colour him up,' I heard him say so. He's just out of the
hospital, and he is a bad person, 'cause he ran away from
the doctors and made them awful angry. But father
and mother are going to doctor him better. I didn't know
they could make sick people well."
"'Ey do anyfing!" boasted Little Brother.
Before Elnora missed her, Alice, who had gone to
investigate, came flying across the shadows and through the
sunshine waving a paper. She thurst it into Elnora's hand.
"There is a man-person--a stranger-person!" she shouted.
"But he knows you! He sent you that! You are to be
the doctor! He said so! Oh, do hurry! I like him heaps!"
Elnora read Edith Carr's telegram to Philip Ammon
and understood that he had been ill, that she had been
located by Edith who had notified him. In so doing
she had acknowledged defeat. At last Philip was free.
Elnora looked up with a radiant face.
"I like him `heaps' myself!" she cried. "Come on
children, we will go tell him so."
Terry and Alice ran, but Elnora had to suit her steps
to Little Brother, who was her loyal esquire, and would
have been heartbroken over desertion and insulted at
being carried. He was rather dragged, but he was
arriving, and the emergency was great, he could see that.
"She's coming!" shouted Alice.
"She's going to be the doctor!" cried Terry.
"She looked just like she'd seen angels when she read
the letter," explained Alice.
"She likes you `heaps!' She said so!" danced Terry.
"Be waiting! Here she is!"
Elnora helped Little Brother up the steps, then deserted
him and came at a rush. The stranger-person stood
holding out trembling arms.
"Are you sure, at last, runaway?" asked Philip Ammon.
"Perfectly sure!" cried Elnora.
"Will you marry me now?"
"This instant! That is, any time after the noon boat
comes in."
"Why such unnecessary delay?" demanded Ammon.
"It is almost September," explained Elnora. "I sent
for mother three days ago. We must wait until she comes,
and we either have to send for Uncle Wesley and Aunt
Margaret, or go to them. I couldn't possibly be married
properly without those dear people."
"We will send," decided Ammon. "The trip will be
a treat for them. O'More, would you get off a message
at once?"
Every one met the noon boat. They went in the motor
because Philip was too weak to walk so far. As soon as
people could be distinguished at all Elnora and Philip
sighted an erect figure, with a head like a snowdrift.
When the gang-plank fell the first person across it was
a lean, red-haired boy of eleven, carrying a violin in
one hand and an enormousbouquet of yellow marigolds and
purple asters in the other. He was beaming with broad
smiles until he saw Philip. Then his expression changed.
"Aw, say!" he exclaimed reproachfully. "I bet you
Aunt Margaret is right. He is going to be your beau!"
Elnora stooped to kiss Billy as she caught her mother.
"There, there!" cried Mrs. Comstock. "Don't knock
my headgear into my eye. I'm not sure I've got either
hat or hair. The wind blew like bizzem coming up the river."
She shook out her skirts, straightened her hat, and
came forward to meet Philip, who took her into his arms
and kissed her repeatedly. Then he passed her along to
Freckles and the Angel to whom her greetings were mingled
with scolding and laughter over her wind-blown hair.
"No doubt I'm a precious spectacle!" she said to the Angel.
"I saw your pa a little before I started, and he sent you
a note. It's in my satchel. He said he was coming up
next week. What a lot of people there are in this world!
And what on earth are all of them laughing about?
Did none of them ever hear of sickness, or sorrow,
or death? Billy, don't you go to playing Indian or
chasing woodchucks until you get out of those clothes.
I promised Margaret I'd bring back that suit good as new."
Then the O'More children came crowding to meet Elnora's mother.
"Merry Christmas!" cried Mrs. Comstock, gathering
them in. "Got everything right here but the tree, and
there seems to be plenty of them a little higher up.
If this wind would stiffen just enough more to blow away
the people, so one could see this place, I believe it would
be right decent looking."
"See here," whispered Elnora to Philip. "You must
fix this with Billy. I can't have his trip spoiled."
"Now, here is where I dust the rest of 'em!" complacently
remarked Mrs. Comstock, as she climbed into the motor car
for her first ride, in company with Philip and Little Brother.
"I have been the one to trudge the roads and hop out of the
way of these things for quite a spell."
She sat very erect as the car rolled into the broad main
avenue, where only stray couples were walking. Her eyes
began to twinkle and gleam. Suddenly she leaned forward
and touched the driver on the shoulder.
"Young man," she said, "just you toot that horn suddenly
and shave close enough a few of those people, so that I
can see how I look when I leap for ragweed and snake fences."
The amazed chauffeur glanced questioningly at Philip
who slightly nodded. A second later there was a quick
"honk!" and a swerve at a corner. A man engrossed
in conversation grabbed the woman to whom he was talking
and dashed for the safety of a lawn. The woman
tripped in her skirts, and as she fell the man caught and
dragged her. Both of them turned red faces to the car
and berated the driver. Mrs. Comstock laughed in
unrestrained enjoyment. Then she touched the chauffeur again.
"That's enough," she said. "It seems a mite risky."
A minute later she added to Philip, "If only they had
been carrying six pounds of butter and ten dozen eggs
apiece, wouldn't that have been just perfect?"
Billy had wavered between Elnora and the motor, but
his loyal little soul had been true to her, so the walk to
the cottage began with him at her side. Long before
they arrived the little O'Mores had crowded around and
captured Billy, and he was giving them an expurgated
version of Mrs. Comstock's tales of Big Foot and Adam
Poe, boasting that Uncle Wesley had been in the camps
of Me-shin-go-me-sia and knew Wa-ca-co-nah before
he got religion and dressed like white men; while the
mightyprowess of Snap as a woodchuckhunter was done
full justice. When they reached the cottage Philip took
Billy aside, showed him the emerald ring and gravely
asked his permission to marry Elnora. Billy struggled
to be just, but it was going hard with him, when Alice,
who kept close enough to hear, intervened.
"Why don't you let them get married?" she asked.
"You are much too small for her. You wait for me!"
Billy studied her intently. At last he turned to Ammon.
"Aw, well! Go on, then!" he said gruffly. "I'll marry Alice!"
Alice reached her hand. "If you got that settled
let's put on our Indian clothes, call the boys, and go to
the playhouse."
"I haven't got any Indian clothes," said Billy ruefully.
"Yes, you have," explained Alice. "Father bought
you some coming from the dock. You can put them on in
the playhouse. The boys do."
Billy examined the playhouse with gleaming eyes.
Never had he encountered such possibilities. He could
see a hundred amusing things to try, and he could not
decide which to do first. The most immediate attraction
seemed to be a dead pine, held perpendicularly by its
fellows, while its bark had decayed and fallen, leaving
a bare, smooth trunk.
"If we just had some grease that would make the dandiest
pole to play Fourth of July with!" he shouted.
The children remembered the Fourth. It had been
great fun.
"Butter is grease. There is plenty in the 'frigerator,"
suggested Alice, speeding away.
Billy caught the cold roll and began to rub it against
the tree excitedly.
"How are you going to get it greased to the top?" inquired Terry.
Billy's face lengthened. "That's so!" he said. "The thing
is to begin at the top and grease down. I'll show you!"
Billy put the butter in his handkerchief and took the
corners between his teeth. He climbed the pole, greasing
it as he slid down.
"Now, I got to try first," he said, "because I'm the
biggest and so I have the best chance; only the one that
goes first hasn't hardly any chance at all, because he has
to wipe off the grease on himself, so the others can get up
at last. See?"
"All right!" said Terry. "You go first and then I will
and then Alice. Phew! It's slick. He'll never get up."
Billy wrestled manfully, and when he was exhausted
he boosted Terry, and then both of them helped Alice,
to whom they awarded a prize of her own doll. As they
rested Billy remembered.
"Do your folks keep cows?" he asked.
"No, we buy milk," said Terry.
"Gee! Then what about the butter? Maybe your
ma needs it for dinner!"
"No, she doesn't!" cried Alice. "There's stacks of it!
I can have all the butter I want."
"Well, I'm mighty glad of it!" said Billy. "I didn't
just think. I'm afraid we've greased our clothes, too."
"That's no difference," said Terry. "We can play
what we please in these things."
"Well, we ought to be all dirty, and bloody, and have
feathers on us to be real Indians," said Billy.
Alice tried a handful of dirt on her sleeve and it
streaked beautifully. Instantly all of them began
- running [´rʌniŋ]
a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词) - cushion [´kuʃən] n.垫子，坐褥 (初中英语单词)
- telegram [´teligræm] n.电报 (初中英语单词)
- enormous [i´nɔ:məs] a.巨大地，很，极 (初中英语单词)
- laughter [´lɑ:ftə] n.笑，笑声 (初中英语单词)
- sickness [´siknis] n.生病；呕吐，恶心 (初中英语单词)
- indian [´indiən] a.印度的 n.印度人 (初中英语单词)
- twinkle [´twiŋkl] vi.&n.闪烁；眨眼 (初中英语单词)
- slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中英语单词)
- cottage [´kɔtidʒ] n.村舍；小屋；小别墅 (初中英语单词)
- hunter [´hʌntə] n.猎人；猎狗；猎马 (初中英语单词)
- permission [pə´miʃən] n.允许；同意；许可 (初中英语单词)
- handkerchief [´hæŋkətʃif] n.手帕，手绢 (初中英语单词)
- bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的；血腥的 (初中英语单词)
- sleeve [sli:v] n.袖子；袖套 (初中英语单词)
- instantly [´instəntli] ad.立即，立刻 (初中英语单词)
- radiant [´reidiənt] a.发光的 n.光源(体) (高中英语单词)
- esquire [i´skwaiə] n.先生 (高中英语单词)
- emergency [i´mə:dʒənsi] n.事变；紧急关头 (高中英语单词)
- decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
- distinguished [di´stiŋgwiʃt] a.卓越的，著名的 (高中英语单词)
- decent [´di:sənt] a.体面的，正派的 (高中英语单词)
- enjoyment [in´dʒɔimənt] n.享受；愉快；乐趣 (高中英语单词)
- crowded [´kraudid] a.充(拥)满了的 (高中英语单词)
- studied [´stʌdid] a.故意的；有计划的 (高中英语单词)
- amusing [ə´mju:ziŋ] a.有趣的 (高中英语单词)
- grease [gri:s] n.脂肪；油脂 vt.涂油 (高中英语单词)
- mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
- handful [hændful] n.一把，少数，一小撮 (高中英语单词)
- violin [,vaiə´lin] n.(小)提琴 (英语四级单词)
- bouquet [bu:´kei] n.花束；恭维话 (英语四级单词)
- repeatedly [ri´pi:tidli] ad.反复地；再三地 (英语四级单词)
- stiffen [´stifən] vt.弄硬；加强 (英语四级单词)
- trudge [trʌdʒ] v.&n.艰难地走 (英语四级单词)
- chauffeur [´ʃəufə,ʃeu´fə:] n.(汽车)司机 (英语四级单词)
- swerve [swə:v] v.&n.(使)突然转向 (英语四级单词)
- prowess [´prauis] n.勇猛；技术；本领 (英语四级单词)
- woodchuck [´wudtʃʌk] n.土拔鼠 (英语四级单词)
- emerald [´emərəld] n.纯绿宝石；翠绿色 (英语四级单词)
- intently [in´tentli] ad.专心地 (英语四级单词)
- beautifully [´bju:tifəli] ad.美丽地；优美地 (英语四级单词)
- desertion [di´zə:ʃən] n.离开，遗弃；潜逃 (英语六级单词)
- beaming [´bi:miŋ] a.笑吟吟的 (英语六级单词)
- gruffly [´grʌmfli] ad.粗暴地 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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