This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler [Picture: Book cover] [Picture: And then came Azalea] AZALEA _The Story of a Girl_ _in the_ _Blue Ridge Mountains_ * * * * * By ELIA W. PEATTIE * * * * * _Illustrations by_ _Hazel Roberts_ * * * * * [Picture: Publisher’s Logo] * * * * * The Reilly & Britton Co. Chicago * * * * * Copyright, 1912 by The Reilly & Britton Co. * * * * * CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE MCBIRNEYS 9 II NEW FRIENDS 28 III IN HIDING 47 IV NEW CLOTHES 69 V THE SHOALS 88 VI GROWING PAINS 108 VII THE SINGING 123 VIII THE KIDNAPPING 143 IX HAYSTACK THOMPSON 162 X THE ESCAPE 181 XI THE SUMMERS FAMILY 198 XII MA SAYS NO 215 XIII AT HOME AGAIN 236 XIV THE SACRIFICE 247 XV AZALEA CHOOSES 265 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS And then came Azalea _Frontispiece_ “She ran out to meet me,” he cried 92 “So that’s your story, missy.” 178 He stood there, straight and fierce 270 CHAPTER I THE MCBIRNEYS The guinea hens wanted everybody to get up. They said so right under the bedroom window; and the turkey gobbler had the same wish and made it known in his most important manner. Hours before, Mr. Rhode Island Red, the rooster, had expressed his opinion on the subject, and from the first pale hint of dawn till the sun swung up in the clear May sky, a great company of tanagers, robins, martins, meadow larks and their friends had suggested, each in his own way, that it was time to be awake.