New England -- Description and travel -- Juvenile fiction
"Has Uncle Hal said anything about tea or anything?" whispered Alice as
the groups of people broke up and she guessed that the program was over.
As though they suspected what the girls might be thinking of, Miss
Elliott and Hal came up at that minute and Uncle Hal said, "I’ve just
been telling Dorothy that we’ll take our quarter of a cup of tea and
half a wafer that we could get over there, some other time, and she’s
agreed to let me take you all to the Inn for real tea. Want to go or
doesn’t food appeal to you?"
"Um-m," said Alice, trying hard to be really grown-up like Miss Elliott,
"I think I could eat a little if you insist."
"Here’s the insisting then," laughed Uncle Hal, and tucking her arm into
his, he started off, passed the administration building and down
Freshman Row.
Miss Elliott walked with Mrs. Merrill and Mary Jane and pointed out the
various houses as they passed them.
"This is where you want to stay your freshman year," she said as they
passed a three-story frame building on their left, "lots of nice girls
go there and you’ll have great larks. But you’ll have to put her
application in early if you want her to get in there, Mrs. Merrill," she
advised, "because it’s one of the most popular houses."
"I think I’ll put in application for both girls as soon as I can attend
to it," said Mrs. Merrill, "for what I have seen of the college in even
this one little glimpse, has made me feel that Alice and Mary Jane must
go here. I can’t imagine a more charming place to spend four years than
right here."
Hal and Alice had turned in to a building on the other side of the
street so Mary Jane hurried her mother and Miss Elliott that they might
catch up.
"He engaged a table by ’phone before he came out," said Miss Elliott,
"so we know they’ll be looking for us."
"And then they’ll have plenty to eat even though there are lots of
folks, won’t they?" said Mary Jane, much comforted.
Uncle Hal showed them to the table by the window where they could eat
and at the same time see everything that might be going on either inside
or out.
Mary Jane was a bit curious as to what Uncle Hal might offer her to
eat—especially as he didn’t ask her what she wanted. But evidently he
knew what was good, for when the tray arrived a few minutes later it was
piled up with good things.
"I thought you didn’t have time to overeat this noon so you might like a
hearty tea," he explained as Mrs. Merrill looked with a bit of dismay at
the loaded tray. "If you don’t want any, sister," he added, "I know
some people who can eat more than their share—and I didn’t have any
lunch myself!"
There were sandwiches—olive sandwiches and lettuce and chicken, all so
dainty and pretty that Mary Jane thought she could eat twenty by herself
she was that hungry! And tea in dainty gold-rimmed cups, and fudge cake
with icing as thick as the cake—almost—and cunning little cakes and
candies in paper cases.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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