Mary Jane: Her Book

Mary Jane: Her Book

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mary Jane: Her Book, by Clara Ingram Judson Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: Mary Jane: Her Book
Author: Clara Ingram Judson
Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8890] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 21, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY JANE: HER BOOK ***

Produced by Distributed Proofreaders

MARY JANE
HER BOOK

BY Clara Ingram Judson
ILLUSTRATED BY Frances White

=CONTENTS=
THE BROKEN DOLL
DON'T CRY OVER SPILLED SUGAR
HELPING THE ROBINS
FATHER'S SECRET
MARY JANE PLAYS SCHOOL
AUNT EFFIE COMES TO VISIT
KEWPIE AND THE WASHING
JUNIOR'S SHOWER BATH
PLAYMATE DOROTHY
LEARNING TO SEW
MAKING READY FOR THE PICNIC
THE PICNIC UP CLEARWATER
GOING SHOPPING
THE PAPER DOLL SHOW
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
A LETTER AND A TRIP

=ILLUSTRATIONS=
Her little fists were clinched and even her perky plaid hair ribbon seemed to show amazement
"Here's one that's me!" exclaimed Mary Jane suddenly
She sat down on the biggest rock close by the edge of the creek
There's no need to tell of all the good times at that party

THE BROKEN DOLL
Mary Jane stood on the curbstone and stared into the middle of the street. Her face was white with fright and the tears which had not as yet come were close to her big blue eyes. Her little fists were clinched and even her perky plaid hair ribbon seemed to show amazement.
And wasn't it enough to make any little girl stare? Her big, beautiful doll, the one that came at Christmas time, lay crushed and broken in the middle of the street! Its glossy brown hair matted in the dust; its dainty pink dress torn and dirty and its great brown eyes crushed to powder!
For a full minute Mary Jane stared at the wreck that had been her doll. Then she turned and ran screaming toward the house.
Mrs. Merrill heard her and met her at the front steps.
"Mary Jane! Dear child!" she cried, "what is the matter? Tell mother what has happened!"
"My doll! My beautifulest doll!" sobbed Mary Jane, "my Marie Georgianna is all run over!"
"Surely not, surely not, Mary Jane," said her mother as she picked up the little girl and sat down, with her on her lap, on the porch steps, "dolls don't get run over."
"My doll did," said Mary Jane positively, "see?"
Mrs. Merrill looked out into the street and there, sure enough, was the wreck of the doll.
"Tell me how it happened, dear," said Mrs. Merrill and she gathered her little girl tighter in her arms as she spoke for she knew that if a doll had been run over, Mary Jane herself had not missed an accident by so very much for the doll and the little girl were always close together.
Mary Jane wiped her eyes on her mother's handkerchief, snugged cozily in the comfortable arms and told her story.
"I was going over to play with Junior like you said I could," she began (Junior was the little neighbor boy who lived across the street in the big white house), "and just as I got into the middle of the street I heard a big, big noisy 'toot-t-t-t-t' way down by Fifth Street--and you know, mother" (and here Mary Jane sat up straight) "that you always told me if an automobile was as far away as Fifth Street it was all right--so I went on across. But this automobile didn't just come; it hurried fast, oh, so very fast and by the time I was half way across the road it was so close I just turned around and ran back to the curbstone and I was in such a hurry I guess I must have dropped my Marie Georgianna!"
"And the automobile ran over her, poor dolly," finished mother, with a thrill of fear as she realized Mary Jane's narrow escape. Then she wiped off the teary blue eyes and smilingly said, "Listen, Mary Jane, and I'll tell you a secret."
"A secret about a doll?" asked Mary Jane eagerly.
"A secret about a doll," replied mother. "Marie Georgianna has a twin."
"Not a really truly twin?" demanded