Boy Blue and His Friends | Page 6

in a row.

MISTRESS MARY
Once upon a time there was a little girl named Mary.
She had no brothers and sisters, but she had a dear, good father and
mother.
Mary always went to school with her little friends.
She played with them after school and on Saturdays.
One Saturday in winter all the children went coasting down the long
hill near the school-house.
Mary took her new red sled and went with them.
Oh, it was such fun to coast down that long hill!
The children ran and laughed and shouted all the way.
They had not been coasting long when Mary fell off her sled right into
a snow bank.
That was fun, too, and Mary didn't care one bit.
But when she tried to stand up, it hurt her so it made tears come into
her brown eyes.
"Are you hurt very much?" asked Little Boy Blue.
"My foot hurts," said Mary, trying not to cry.
"We'll give you a ride home," said Jack Horner.
So Mary sat on her sled, and Boy Blue and Jack Horner played they
were her horses.
They trotted so fast that Mary was soon at home and in her mother's
arms.

When the doctor saw Mary's foot he shook his head.
"This little girl has sprained her foot," he said.
"She will have to stay in the house for some time."
I am afraid Mary cried when the doctor said this.
She did not like to stay at home.
She wanted to go to school with all her playmates.
She wanted to go coasting and skating and play in the snow.
In a few days Mary could sit by the window and watch the children.
Then she was not so lonely.
Jack brought home her school books and she studied very hard.
"I want to keep up with my class, Mamma," she said.
So every day Mary and her mother played school together.
Every week Miss Brown came in to see how the little girl was getting
along.
Of course the children went to see Mary very often.
They told her everything they had been doing in school.
One day Jack said, "I think it would be good fun to give Mary a
surprise party."
"Oh yes," said Alice, "and we can all take something to make her
happy."
"We can have the party next Saturday afternoon," said Jack.

"I asked Mary's mother, and she said we could come at two o'clock."
At recess the children told Miss Brown about the surprise party.
"Why don't you take some plants to Mary?" she said.
"Then she could have a garden to watch while she has to stay in the
house."
"Oh, that's just the thing for Mistress Mary," said Jack.
And all the children began to sing:--
"Mistress Mary quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,

And pretty maids all in a row."
Saturday afternoon Mary was playing with her dolls when the bell rang.
"Alice has come to play with me," she thought.
Just then the door opened and there stood twelve little boys and girls.
[Illustration]
Each one was carrying a plant with a pretty, bright blossom.
They marched in singing "Mistress Mary," and little Mistress Mary
laughed, and cried, and clapped her hands, all in one minute.
Then the children put the plants on a table near the window where
Mary could see them.
There were geraniums, and pinks; a sweet heliotrope, and a rose-bush
with a pink rose.
Alice brought the heliotrope, and Jack brought the rose-bush.

How bright and cheerful the plants made the room look!
The children stayed an hour and played games with Mary.
They played "hide the thimble" and one or two guessing games,
because Mary could not run around the room with them.
Then they had some little cakes and cookies which Mary's mother had
made for them.
When it was time to go home they left a very happy little girl.
"Good-bye," said Mary, "I hope you will come very often.
"Thank you for the lovely plants. My table looks like a flower garden."
"Yes, Mistress Mary," said Jack, "we'll come to see how your garden
grows. You ought to have some silver bells and some cockle shells."
In a few weeks Mistress Mary, as every one called her now, came back
to school.
She could run and play as well as any of the children.
But she did not forget her garden, and she often brought some of her
flowers to school.
When the spring came she made a garden out of doors for her plants.
And what do you think she put all around the flower bed?
She put a splendid row of little white shells.
Little Tommy Tucker,
Sings for his supper.
What shall he eat?

White bread and butter.
How can