The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore | Page 7

the average being eighteen miles!
"When will we get to Aunt Emily's?" Flossie asked, growing tired over
the day's journey.
"Not until night," her father answered. "When we leave the train we
will have quite a way to go by stage. We could go all the way by train,
but it would be a long distance around, and I think the stage ride in the
fresh air will do us good."
"Oh yes, let's go by the stage," pleaded Freddie, to whom the word
stage was a stranger, except in the way it had been used at the Meadow
Brook circus.

"This stage will be a great, big wagon," Bert told him, "with seats along
the sides."
"Can I sit up top and drive?" the little one asked.
"Maybe the man will let you sit by him," answered Mr. Bobbsey, "but
you could hardly drive a big horse over those rough roads."
The train came to a standstill, just then, on a switch. There was no
station, but the shore train had taken on another section.
"Can Flossie and I walk through that new car?" Nan asked, as the cars
had been separated and the new section joined to that directly back of
the one which the Bobbseys were in.
"Why, yes, if you are very careful," the mother replied, and so the two
little girls started off.
Dinah took Freddie on her lap and told him his favorite story about
"Pickin' cotton in de Souf," and soon the tired little yellow head fell off
in the land of Nod.
Bert and his father were enjoying their magazines, while Mrs. Bobbsey
busied herself with some fancy work, so a half-hour passed without any
more excitement. At the end of that time the girls returned.
"Oh, mother!" exclaimed Nan, "we found Mrs. Manily, the matron of
the Meadow Brook Fresh Air Camp, and she told us Nellie, the little
cash girl, was so run down the doctors think she will have to go to the
seashore. Mother, couldn't we have her down with us awhile?"
"We are only going to visit, you know, daughter, and how can we invite
more company? But where is Mrs. Manily? I would like to talk to her,"
said Mrs. Bobbsey, who was always interested in those who worked to
help the poor.
Nan and Flossie brought their mother into the next car to see the
matron. We told in our book, "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country,"

how good a matron this Mrs. Manily was, and how little Nellie, the
cash girl, one of the visitors at the Fresh Air Camp, was taken sick
while there, and had to go to the hospital tent. It was this little girl that
Nan wanted to have enjoy the seashore, and perhaps visit Aunt Emily.
Mrs. Manily was very glad to see Mrs. Bobbsey, for the latter had
helped with money and clothing to care for the poor children at the
Meadow Brook Camp.
"Why, how pleasant to meet a friend in traveling!" said the matron as
she shook hands with Mrs. Bobbsey. "You are all off for the seashore,
the girls tell me."
"Yes," replied Mrs. Bobbsey. "One month at the beach, and we must
then hurry home to Lakeport for the school days. But Nan tells me little
Nellie is not well yet?"
"No, I am afraid she will need another change of air to undo the trouble
made by her close confinement in a city store. She is not seriously sick,
but so run down that it will take some time for her to get strong again,"
said the matron.
"Have you a camp at the seashore?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"No; indeed, I wish we had," answered the matron. "I am just going
down now to see if I can't find some place where Nellie can stay for a
few weeks."
"I'm going to visit my sister, Mrs. Minturn, at Ocean Cliff, near Sunset
Beach," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "They have a large cottage and are always
charitable. If they have no other company I think, perhaps, they would
be glad to give poor little Nellie a room."
"That would be splendid!" exclaimed the matron. "I was going to do a
line of work I never did before. I was just going to call on some of the
well-to-do people, and ask them to take Nellie. We had no funds, and I
felt so much depended on the change of air, I simply made up my mind
to go and do what I could."

"Then you can look in at my sister's first," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "If she
cannot accommodate you, perhaps she can tell who could. Now, won't
you come in the other car with us, and we can finish our journey
together?"
"Yes, indeed I will. Thank