New England -- Description and travel -- Juvenile fiction
Mrs. Merrill pulled out her tiny notebook and tactfully asking the boy
for his name and address, wrote them down in the book. Then they all
said a good-by to their new friends, for it was now high time they were
getting back to dress for dinner.
"Mother dear," said Mary Jane as she skipped along beside her mother
five minutes later, "that little girl never had a doll and she never
went on the boats before though she lives right here in Boston. And as
soon as we get home I want to send her a doll, all dressed in pretty
clothes and everything—may I please?"
"Indeed yes, dear," answered Mrs. Merrill, much pleased with the idea.
"We’ll do it just as soon as we get home, and you and Alice may make the
clothes and have it a really gift of your own."
When, an hour or more after dinner that evening, Mary Jane snuggled down
in her bed for a long night’s sleep, she said to Alice, "Didn’t we have
fun to-day? Winning the game and going boat riding and rescuing the
doll and everything? Now I wonder what’ll happen to-morrow?"
*COMMENCEMENT IN THE STADIUM*
The first thing Mary Jane did when she wakened the next morning was to
run and look out of the window. All their plans for the day depended
upon the weather. Year after year the Harvard commencement had been
held in Sanders Theatre, one of the rooms in Memorial Hall, and as the
graduating class was always so large and the theatre so small in
comparison, it was impossible for each student to have more than one
ticket—and of course that meant that Mary Jane was not to go. But this
year, partly through the influence of her own Uncle Hal, it had been
decided to hold the exercises in the Stadium—if the weather permitted.
And that meant that Mary Jane could go; in fact, she had the ticket all
ready, the ticket marked so plainly "not good in case of rain."
A glance at the sky showed her she was not to be disappointed. It was
clear and blue and the few dainty white clouds scattered about looked as
unlike rain clouds as could be. It was a perfect June day.
"Goody!" she exclaimed, as she ran back to take a peep at the precious
ticket. Not many little girls of six ever went to a Harvard
commencement, and Mary Jane guessed that she was very fortunate.
Mrs. Merrill suggested that as both girls had had a good night’s sleep,
they dress and take a bit of a walk before breakfast, stopping on the
way for Mary Jane’s shoes which were to be ready. So Mary Jane slipped
on a dark gingham dress after her bath, and they started out. There was
only time for a short walk as they were tempted into the library and
lingered to enjoy the pictures. Mary Jane knew the story of the Holy
Grail, as every girl should, and she and Alice both enjoyed looking at
the lovely paintings.
"Let’s come again!" exclaimed Alice as her mother reminded them that
they simply must not stay any longer now, as Uncle Hal would be waiting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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