Ted's and Jan's birthdays came on the same day, but they had been
born a year apart, Teddy being about seven years old and his sister a
year younger. Trouble was aged about three years.

I have spoken of the curly hair of Teddy and Janet. Unless you had
seen it you would never have believed hair could be so curly! It was
no wonder that even strangers called the children "Curlytops."

Sometimes, when Mother Martin was combing the hair of the children,
the comb would get tangled and she would have to pull a little to get
it loose. That is one reason Ted never liked to have his hair combed.
Janet's was a little longer than his, but just as curly.

Trouble's real name, as I have mentioned, was William. His father
sometimes called him "A bunch of trouble," and his mother spoke of
him as "Dear Trouble," while Jan and Ted called him just "Trouble."

Mr. Martin, whose name was Richard, shortened to Dick by his wife
(whose name was Ruth) owned a store in Cresco, which is in one of our
Eastern states.

Nora Jones, a cheerful, helpful maid-of-all-work had been in the
Martin family a long while, and dearly loved the children, who were
very fond of her. The Martins had many relatives besides the
children's grandfather and grandmother, but I will only mention two
now. They were Aunt Josephine Miller, called Aunt Jo, who lived at
Clayton and who had a summer bungalow at Mt. Hope, near Ruby Lake.
She was a sister of Mrs. Martin's. Uncle Frank Barton owned a large
ranch near Rockville, Montana. He was Mr. Martin's uncle, but Ted and
Janet also called him their uncle.