The Corner House Girls at School | Page 3

Mr. Pinkney made dat Sam git rid ob de ole goat," grumbled
Uncle Rufus, who was a very trustworthy servant and had lived for
years at the old Corner House before the four Kenway sisters came to
dwell there. "I reckon he's a bad goat," added the old man.
"He doesn't look very wicked just now," suggested Agnes.
"But where can we keep a goat?" demanded Ruth.
"Dot used to think one lived in the garret," said Tess, smiling. "But it

was only a ghost folks thought lived there--and we know there aren't
any such things as ghosts now."
"Don' yo' go tuh 'spressin' ob you' 'pinion too frequent erbout sperits,
chile," warned Uncle Rufus, rolling his eyes again. "Dere may hab been
no ghos' in de garret; but dere's ghos'es somewhars--ya-as'm. Sho' is!"
"I don't really see how we can keep him," said Ruth again.
"Oh, sister!" cried Tess.
"Poor, dear Billy Bumps!" exclaimed Dot, with an arm around the short,
thick neck of the goat.
"If yo' lets me 'spressify maself," said Uncle Rufus, slowly, "I'd say dat
mebbe I could put him in one oh de hen runs. We don't need 'em both
jest now."
"Goody!" cried Tess and Dot, clapping their hands. "Let's, Ruthie!"
The older sister's doubts were overborne. She agreed to the proposal,
while Agnes said:
"We might as well have a goat. We have a pig 'most every day. That
pig of Mr. Con Murphy's is always coming under the fence and tearing
up the garden. A goat could do no more harm."
"But we don't want the place a menagerie," objected Ruth.
Dot said, gravely, "Maybe the goat and the pig will play together, and
so the pig won't do so much damage."
"The next time that pig comes in here, I'm going right around to Mr.
Con Murphy and complain," declared Agnes, with emphasis.
"Oh! we don't want to have trouble with any neighbor," objected Ruth,
quickly.
"My! you'd let folks ride right over you," said Agnes, with scorn for

Ruth's timidity.
"I don't think that poor cobbler, Mr. Murphy, will ride over me--unless
he rides on his pig," laughed Ruth, as she followed Mrs. MacCall
indoors.
Tess had an idea and she was frank to express it. "Uncle Rufus, this
goat is very strong. Can't you fashion a harness and some kind of a cart
for him so that we can take turns riding--Dot and me? He used to draw
Sam Pinkney."
"Glo-ree!" grumbled the colored man again. "I kin see where I got my
han's full wid disher goat--I do!"
"But you can, Uncle Rufus?" said Tess.
"Oh, yes, chile. I s'pect so. But fust off let me git him shut up in de
hen-yard, else he'll be eatin' up de hull ob Mis' MacCall's
wash--ya'as'm!"
The poultry pens were fenced with strong woven wire, and one of them
was not in use. Into this enclosure Mr. Billy Bumps was led. When the
strap was taken off, he made a dive for Uncle Rufus, but the darky was
nimble, despite his years.
"Yo' butt me, yo' horned scalawag!" gasped the old colored man, when
once safe on the outside of the pen, "an' I won't gib yo' nottin' ter chew
on but an old rubber boot fo' de nex' week--dat's what I'll do."
The old Corner House, as the Stower homestead was known to Milton
folk, stood facing Main Street, its side yard running back a long way on
Willow Street. It was a huge colonial mansion, with big pillars in front,
and two wings thrown out behind. For years before the Kenway girls
and Aunt Sarah Maltby had come here to live, the premises outside--if
not within--had been sadly neglected.
But energetic Ruth Kenway had insisted upon trimming the lawn and
hedges, planting a garden, repairing the summer-house, and otherwise

making neat the appearance of the dilapidated old place.
On the Main Street side of the estate the property of Mr. Creamer
joined the Corner House yard, but the Creamer property did not extend
back as far as that of the Stower place. In the corner at the rear the tiny
yard of Con Murphy touched the big place. Mr. Murphy was a cobbler,
who held title to a small house and garden on a back street.
This man owned a pig--a very friendly pig. Of that pig, more later!
Perhaps it was the fruit that attracted the pig into the Stower yard. The
Kenway girls had had plenty of cherries, peaches, apples, pears, and
small fruit all through the season. There were still some late peaches
ripening, and when Agnes Kenway happened to open her eyes early,
the very next morning after the goat came to live with them, she saw
the blushing beauty of these peaches through the open