Mary Jane - Her Visit | Page 6

to meet the lamb herself and
quite another to have the lamb come and meet her! "Will he grunt?" she
asked.
"Not a single grunt!" laughed Grandfather. "He's the friendliest little
creature you ever saw. See?" Grandfather took Mary Jane's hand and
laid it on the soft wool of the lamb's back. "He likes you already and
he'll like you even better when you bring him something good to eat.
Before very long you will learn to climb this fence all by yourself; then
you can come over here and play with him any time you want to."
"And pick flowers for my grandmother, too?" asked Mary Jane as she
looked at the lovely bluebells that grew around where they were
standing.
"You're a girl after your grandmother's own heart!" exclaimed
Grandfather delightedly; "you can pick all the flowers you like. But
let's not stop now. Don't you want to see more of the farm?"
Mary Jane did, so they left the lamb with a promise to come again later
and went back across the road to the house. There they met
Grandmother who declared that she was through with the telephone

long ago and wanted to show Mary Jane the chickens herself.
"Very well," said Grandfather; "but don't you show her the garden."
"I won't," replied Grandmother, and they both looked so mysterious
that Mary Jane was sure some surprise was in that garden.
"Are you going to show it to me?" she asked her grandfather.
"Some day," he replied, "but there's too much else to see this morning.
The garden can wait."
So Mary Jane and her grandmother went to the chicken yard and
Grandfather started for the barn to finish his work.
If you've ever seen about a hundred cunning, little, yellow and white
and gray chickens, so soft and fluffy they look as though they were
Easter trimmings; and dozens of motherly looking hens ambling around
and a few big, important-looking roosters crowing in the sunshine, you
know just what Mary Jane saw when they reached the chicken yard.
For her part, Mary Jane had never seen such a sight before, and she was
so surprised and pleased she could hardly believe her eyes.
"Are they all yours, Grandmother?" she asked in amazement.
"I should say they are," laughed Grandmother. "You stand right
here--no, that rooster won't come any closer," she added as one big
fellow crowed loudly near by. "You stay here till I get some feed and
you shall see a funny sight."
She slipped into the chicken house and returned in a minute with a
small basket of grain. "Here, Mary Jane," she said, "you hold this
so--and throw the grain out on the ground so--" and she did just as she
wanted Mary Jane to do, "and watch them come!"
Mary Jane reached her hand into the basket of grain, took out a handful
and threw it far as she could; and then how she did laugh as she saw the
chickens scramble for it!
"Can I do it again?" she asked delightedly.
"All you like till the grain is gone," replied Grandmother.
"There now," said Grandmother, after awhile, "we've stayed so long
here it's 'most dinner time. Are you hungry, Mary Jane?"
Mary Jane started to say no, because she was sure the morning hadn't
more than begun, but to her surprise she found she was hungry, oh,
awfully hungry.
"I thought so," laughed Grandmother, who guessed what the little girl
was thinking, "and it's most eleven, so we'd better see what we're going

to have to eat. How about chicken and biscuits and apple dumplings
and cream?"
"They're my favorites," said Mary Jane, with a little skip of pleasure.
"Every one's my favorite, all of 'em!"
So she and Grandmother put away the grain basket and went into the
house.

THE HUNT FOR EGGS
"Now then," said Grandmother when they got into the kitchen, "while I
get dinner, we'll talk."
"But what's the matter?" asked Mary Jane.
"Matter where?" questioned Grandmother. "I don't see anything the
matter!"
"What's the matter out there?" said Mary Jane, pointing out the door to
the chicken yard where they had just been; "something's happened."
Grandmother stepped over to the door where Mary Jane was standing
and looked out. "Oh!" she exclaimed, for she saw in a minute what
Mary Jane meant, "that noise?"
Mary Jane nodded.
"That noise means that an egg has been laid," explained Grandmother,
smiling, "and that Mrs. Hen is very proud of it and wants us to know
what she has done."
"Oh!" cried Mary Jane happily, "and then you go out and get them in a
basket just like mother told me she used to do? May I go now?"
"Better not start before dinner," suggested Grandmother, "because
sometimes egg-hunting