Aunt Janes Nieces on Vacation | Page 6

rail fence which separated the grounds
from the lane, and Hucks drew up the wagon so his passengers could
all alight upon the step of the stile. Patsy was out at a bound. Louise
followed more deliberately, assisted by her boy husband, and Beth
came more sedately yet. But Uncle John rode around to the barn with
Thomas, being eager to see the cows and pigs and poultry with which
the establishment was liberally stocked.
The house was of two stories, the lower being built of cobblestones and
the upper of pine slabs; but it had been artistically done and the effect
was delightful. It was a big, rambling dwelling, and Mr. Merrick had
furnished the old place in a lavish manner, so that his nieces would lack
no modern comfort when they came there to spend a summer.
On the porch stood an old woman clothed in a neat gingham dress and
wearing a white apron and cap. Her pleasant face was wreathed in
smiles as she turned it toward the laughing, chattering group that came
up the path. Patsy spied her and rushed up to give old Nora a hug and
kiss, and the other two girls saluted the blind woman with equal
cordiality, for long ago she had won the love and devotion of all three.
Arthur, who had heard of Nora, pressed her hand and told her she must
accept him as another of her children, and then she asked for Mr.
Merrick and ran in to get the breakfast served. For, although blind, old
Nora was far from being helpless, and the breakfast she had prepared in

anticipation of their arrival was as deliciously cooked as if she had been
able to use her eyes as others did.
CHAPTER III
THE DAWN OF A GREAT ENTERPRISE
The great enterprise was sprung on Mr. Merrick the very morning
following his arrival at the farm. Breakfast was over and a group had
formed upon the shady front lawn, where chairs, benches and
hammocks were scattered in profusion.
"Well, Uncle, how do you like it?" asked Louise. "Are you perfectly
comfortable and happy, now we've escaped so far from the city that its
humming life is a mere memory?"
"Happy as a clam," responded Uncle John, leaning back in his chair
with his feet on a foot rest. "If I only had the morning paper there
would be nothing else to wish for."
"The paper? That's what that queer tramp at the Junction House asked
for," remarked Beth. "The first thought of even a hobo was for a
morning paper. I wonder why men are such slaves to those gossipy
things."
"Phoo!" cried Patsy; "we're all slaves to them. Show me a person who
doesn't read the daily journals and keep abreast of the times and I'll
show you a dummy."
"Patsy's right," remarked Arthur Weldon. "The general intelligence and
cosmopolitan knowledge of the people are best cultivated by the
newspapers. The superiority of our newspapers has been a factor in
making us the greatest nation on earth, for we are the best informed."
"My, what big words!" exclaimed Louise.
"It is quite true," said Uncle John soberly, "that I shall miss our daily
paper during our four months' retirement in these fascinating wilds. It's

the one luxury we can't enjoy in our country retreat."
"Why not?" asked Patsy, with startling abruptness, while a queer
expression--as of an inspiration--stole over her bright face.
"Chump!" said Beth, drily; "you know very well why not, Patsy Doyle.
Mooley cows and the fourth estate don't intermingle, so to speak."
"They can be made to, though," declared Patsy. "Why hasn't some one
thought of it before? Uncle John--girls!--I propose we start a daily
paper."
Louise laughed softly, Beth's lip curled and Arthur Weldon cast an
amused glance at the girl; but Uncle John stared seriously into Patsy's
questioning blue eyes.
"How?" he asked in a puzzled tone. If anything could interest this
eccentric little millionaire more than the usual trend of events it was an
original proposition of this sort. He loved to do things that other people
had not attempted, nor even thought of. He hated conversational
platitudes and established conventions, and his nieces had endeared
themselves to him more by their native originality and frank disregard
of ordinary feminine limitations than in any other way. It was generally
conceded that Patsy was his favorite because she could advance more
odd suggestions than the other girls, and this niece had a practical
aptitude for carrying out her whimsical ideas that had long since won
her uncle's respect. Not that she could outdo Mr. Merrick in
eccentricity: that was admitted to be his special province, in which he
had no rival; but the girl was so clever a confederate that she gave her
erratic