"mother, what can we do now?"
"tell us something to play, please! we want to have some fun!"
as harry and mabel blake said this they walked slowly up the path toward the front porch, on which their mother was sitting one early spring day. the two children did not look very happy.
"what can we do?" asked hal, as he was called more often than harry.
"there isn't any more fun," complained mab, to which her name was often shortened.
"oh, my!" laughed mother blake. "such a sadness! what doleful faces you both have. i hope they don't freeze so and stay that way. it would be dreadful!"
"it can't freeze," said hal. "it's too warm. daddy told us how cold it had to be to freeze. the ther—ther—oh, well the thing you tell how cold it is—has to get down to where it says number 32 before there's ice."
"you mean the thermometer," said mab.
"that's it," agreed hal. "and look, the shiny thing—mercury, that's the name of it—the mercury is at 60 now. it can't freeze, mother."
"well, i'm glad it can't, for i wouldn't want your face to turn into ice the way it looked a little while ago."
"but there's no fun, mother," and mab, whose face, as had her brother's, had lost its fretful look while they were talking about the thermometer, again seemed cross and unhappy. "we can't have any fun!"
"why don't you play some games?" asked mrs. blake, smiling at the two children.
"we did," answered hal. "we tried to play tag, but it's too muddy to run off the paths, and it's no fun, staying in one place. we can't play ball, 'cause mab can't throw like a boy, and i'm not going to play doll with her."
"i didn't ask you to!" said mab quickly. "i was going to play doll by myself."
"yes, but you'd want me to be a doctor, or something, when your doll got sick—you always do."
"i should think that would be fun," said mother blake. "why don't you play doll and doctor?"
"i'm not going to play doll!" declared hal, and his face looked crosser than ever.
"oh, it isn't nice to talk that way," said his mother. "you ought to be glad if mab wanted you to be a doctor for her sick doll. but perhaps you can think of something else—some new game. just sit down a moment and we'll talk. then perhaps you'll think of something. i wonder why it is so warm to-day, and why there is no danger of anything freezing—not your faces of course, for i know you wouldn't let that happen. but why is it so warm; do you know?"
"'cause it's spring," answered hal. "everybody knows that."
"oh, no, not everybody," replied his mother. "your dog roly-poly doesn't know it."
"oh, yes, mother! i think he does!" cried mab. "he was rolling over and over in the grass to-day, even if it was all wet like a sponge. he never did that in the winter."
"well, perhaps dogs and cats do know when it is spring. the birds do, i'm sure, for then they come up from the south, where they have spent the winter, and begin to build their nests. so you think it is warm to-day because it is spring; do you, hal?"
"yes, mother," he replied. "it's time winter was gone, anyhow. and the trees know it is going to be summer soon, for they are swelling out their buds."
"and after a while there'll be flowers," added mab. "didn't we have fun, hal, when daddy took us hunting flowers?"
"yes, and when he took us to the woods, and to see the different kinds of birds," added the little boy. "we had lots of fun then."
"i wish we could have some of that kind of fun now," went on mab. "when's daddy coming home, mother?"
"oh, not for quite a while. he has to work and earn money you know. he has to earn more than ever, now that everything costs so much on account of the war. daddies don't have a very easy time these days."
"do mothers?" asked mab, thinking of how she played mother to her dolls. maybe, she thought, she could make up a new game, pretending how hard it was for dolls' mothers these days.
"well, mothers have to do many things they did not have to do when things to eat and wear did not cost so much," spoke mother blake. "we have to make one loaf of bread go almost as far as two loaves used to go, and as for clothes—well, i am mending some of yours, hal, that, last year, i thought were hardly useful any more. but we must save all we can. so that's why daddy has to work harder and longer, and why he can't come home saturday afternoons as early as he used to."
it was a saturday afternoon when hal and mab found so much fault about not having any fun. almost any other day they would have been in school, and have been busy over their lessons. but just now they wanted to play and they were not having a very jolly time, for they could not think of anything to do. or, at least, they thought they could not.
"what makes it spring?" asked hal, after a bit, as he watched his mother putting a patch on his little trousers. hal remembered how he tore a hole in them one day sliding down a cellar door.
"tell us what makes spring, mother," went on mab. "that will be as much fun as playing, i guess."
"the sun makes the spring," said mrs. blake "spring is one of the four seasons. i wonder if you can tell me the others?"
"which one starts?" asked hal.
"spring, of course," exclaimed mab. "you have to start with something growing, and things grow in the spring."
"that is right," said mrs. blake. "spring is the beginning of life in the world, when the flowers and birds begin to grow; the flowers from little buds and the birds from little eggs. what comes next?"
"summer!" cried hal. "then's when we can have fun. the ground is dry, so we can play marbles and fly kites. and we can go in swimming and have a long vacation. summer's the jolly time!"
"it is a time when things grow that start in the spring," said mother blake. "what comes after summer?"
"autumn," answered mab. "some folks call it fall. why do they, mother?"
"because the leaves fall from the trees, perhaps. it is a time when the trees and bushes go to sleep, and when most birds fly down to the warm south. and what comes after autumn or fall?"
"christmas!" cried hal.
"yes, so it does!" laughed mrs. blake. "and i guess most children would say the same thing. but i meant what season."
"it's winter," hal said. "let's see if i know 'em. spring, summer, autumn, winter," he recited. "four seasons, and this is spring. i wish it would hurry up and be summer."
"so do i," agreed mab. "you can't have any fun now. it's too wet to go without your rubbers, too cold to go without a coat and almost too hot to wear one. i like summer best."
"and i like fall and winter," said hal. "but let's do something mab. let's have some fun. what can we do, mother?" and back the children were, just where they started.
"why don't you get roly-poly and play with him?" asked mrs. blake.
"he's gone away. i guess he ran down to daddy's office like he does sometimes," said mab.
"let's go down after him," exclaimed hal. "that'll be some fun."
"i don't want to," spoke mab. "i'd rather play with my doll."
"you never want to do anything i want to play?" complained hal. "can't she come with me after roly-poly, mother?"
"well, i don't know. can't you both play something here until daddy comes home? why don't you play bean-bag?"
"we did, but hal always throws 'em over my head and i can't reach," mab said.
"she throws crooked," complained hal.
"oh, my dears! i think you each must have the spring fever!" laughed mother blake. "try and be nicer toward one another. let me see now. how would you like to help me bake a cake, mab?"
"oh, that will be fun!" and mab jumped up from the porch, where she had been sitting near her mother's rocking chair, and began to clap her hands. "may i stir it myself, and put the dough in the pans?
"yes, i think so."
"pooh! that's no fun for me!" remarked hal. "i want to have some fun, too."
"you may clean out the chocolate or frosting dish—whichever kind of a cake we make," offered mab. "you always like to scrape out the chocolate dish, hal."
"yes, i like that," he said, smiling a little.
"well, you may have it all alone this time, if i make the cake," went on mab. nearly always she and hal shared this pleasure—that of scraping out, with a knife or spoon, the chocolate or sugar icing dish from which mother blake took the sweet stuff for the top and inside the layers of the cake. "come on, hal!"
hal was willing enough now, and soon he and his sister were in the kitchen, helping mother blake with her cake-making. though, to tell the truth, mab and mrs. blake did most of the work.
while the three were in the midst of their cake-making, into the kitchen rushed a little poodle dog, whirling around, barking and trying to catch his tail.
"oh, roly-poly, where have you been?" cried hal. "did daddy come home with you?"
"bow-wow!" barked roly-poly, which might mean "no" or "yes," just as you happened to listen to his bark.
"oh, don't get in my way, roly!" called mab as the little dog danced about in front of her, while she was carrying a pan filled with cake dough toward the oven. "look out! oh, there it goes."
just what mab had feared came to pass. she tripped over the poodle dog, and, to save herself from falling, she had to drop the pan of cake dough. down it fell, right on roly-poly's back.
"bow-wow-wow!" he barked and growled at the same time.
"oh, look at him!" laughed hal "he's a regular cake himself."
"don't let him run through the house that way!" called mother blake. "he'll get the carpets and furniture all dough. get him, hal!"
hal made a grab for the little pet dog, and caught him by his tail. this made roly-poly howl louder than ever, until hal, not wishing to hurt his pet, managed to get him in his arms. but of course this made hal's waist all covered with cake dough.
"never mind," said mother blake, as she saw hal looking at himself in dismay. "it will all wash off. better to have it on your waist than on the carpets. why, mab! what's the matter?" for mab was crying softly.
"oh—oh, my—my nice ca-cake is all spoiled," she sobbed.
"oh, no it isn't!" comforted mother blake. "only one pan of dough is spilled, and there is plenty more. the kitchen floor can easily be washed, and so can roly poly.
"hal," went on his mother, "you take the dog up to the bath tub and give him a good scrubbing. he'll like that. take off your own waist and let the water run on that. i'll wipe up the floor and you can fill another pan and put it in the oven, mab. don't cry! we'll have the cake in time for supper yet."
so mab dried her tears and once more began on the cake, while mrs. blake cleaned up the dough from the floor. in a little while the cake was baking in the oven, and hal came down stairs, rather wet and splattered, but clean. with him was roly-poly, looking half drowned, but also clean.
"well, we did a lot of things!" said hal, when he had on dry clothes, and he and mab were waiting for the cake to be baked, after which the chocolate would be spread over it. "it was fun, wasn't it?"
"i—i guess so," answered mab, not quite sure. "did i hurt roly when i stepped on him?"
"i guess not. he splashed water all over me when i put him in the bath tub, though. i pretended he was a submarine ship and he swam all around."
"i wish i had seen him."
"i'll make him do it again," and hal started toward the stairs with roly in his arms.
"no, please don't!" laughed mother blake. "one bath a day is enough. besides, i think it's time to take the cake out, mab."
when the chocolate had been spread on, and hal had scraped out the dish, giving mab a share even though she had said she did not want any, the front door was heart to shut.
"here comes daddy!" cried mab.
"oh, i wonder if he brought anything?" said hal, racing after his sister.
daddy blake did have a package in his arms, and he was smiling. he put the bundle down on the table and caught up first mab and then hal for a hearty kiss.
"well, how are you all to-day?" he asked.
"i just baked a cake," answered mab.
"and the dough went all over roly-poly, and i made believe he was a submarine ship in the bath tub," added hal. "we had lots of fun."
"before that we didn't thought," spoke mab. "we wanted to play something new but we didn't know what. did you bring us anything, daddy?"
"yes, i brought you and hal a new game."
"a new game? oh, goody! may we play it now?"
"well, you can start to look at it now, but it takes quite a while to play it. it takes all spring, all summer and part of the fall."
"oh, what a long game!" cried hal. "what is it?"
"it is called the garden game," said daddy blake, smiling. "and after supper i'll tell you all about it."
"the garden game," murmured mab.
"it must be fun," said hal, "else daddy wouldn't laugh around his eyes the way he does."
"yes, i think you'll like this new game," went on mr. blake. "and whoever learns to play it best will get a fine prize!"
"oh! oh! oh!" cried hal and mab in delight. they could hardly wait to find out all about it.
