Left by themselves Frances and Mary Jane compared
notes as little girls will. Mary Jane told her
about her own home; about her friend Doris and her
sister Alice and the birthday party and everything
she could think of. And Frances told about her
school and her garden—yes, she had one
about as big as Mary Jane’s—and about
her pet calf.
“Father gave it to me when it was only a day
old,” she said, “and when it’s big
enough, I’m going to sell it and get money to
take music lessons. Won’t that be fun?”
Mary Jane thought it would; she looked admiringly
at Frances and thought she was quite the most wonderful
little girl she had ever met.
When Grandfather came up to them a few minutes later,
he had to speak twice so busy were they with their
talk. He got them each another dish of berries
and then, when they were through eating that, he took
them walking around the yard so they could see the
lanterns and so that Mary Jane would see and be seen
by all his friends. Frances seemed to know every
one and that was a great help to Mary Jane who wasn’t
used to meeting so many people.
All too soon Grandmother announced that it was time
to go home. The candles in the lanterns flickered
out one by one; the housewives busied themselves with
clearing up the remnants of cake and berries; the
fathers (and grandfathers) carried baskets back to
the cars, lit lights and made ready for the homeward
journey.
Frances and Mary Jane told each other good night and
Frances promised to come over and see Mary Jane very
soon.
“Well, what did you think of the sociable?”
asked Grandmother as they spun along home. “I
saw you talking with Frances and Helen; did you like
your new friends, dear?”
“I liked Frances so much,” said Mary Jane,
“and she’s coming to see me.”
Grandmother, who knew Helen much better than Grandfather
did, understood in a minute. She slipped her
arm around her little granddaughter and pulled her
close. “So my little girl learned something
as well as had a good time to-night, did she?”
she whispered; “she learned how to pick out
a friend. I’m glad Frances is coming to
see you, dear!”
The week after the strawberry sociable was the busiest
one of Mary Jane’s visit thus far. Frances
came to see her twice and they became better friends
each time. The Westlands lived two miles farther
from the village than the Hodges did and Frances’s
father could easily leave her at the Hodges’s
home when he went into the village and get her again
on his return trip. Mary Jane showed her all
the interesting things she had found—the
pet mice, who were getting tamer and tamer all the
time; the ducks, which were losing their pretty babyness
by now and were getting almost big enough to look
after themselves; the lamb and the pigs and Brindle
Bess.
Of course Frances was used to country sights, so she
wasn’t as much surprised at what she saw as
Mary Jane had been when she came from the city.
But she was interested and she told Mary Jane many
things about the farm creatures and the fun she had
had with her own pets.
