"Indeed we did," laughed Mrs. Merrill, "and now we'd better hurry down and
start lunch. I see Alice way down at the corner there and by the way the
girls are all talking together--see them, Mary Jane" (and she pointed down
the street where a parting between the trees allowed them to see a long
way)--"I guess Alice has some plan to talk about. Luckily we'll be ready
for her in a jiffy!" And together the sewing ladies hurried down to the
kitchen.




MAKING READY FOR THE PICNIC


Alice dashed into the house with a flurry of good spirits.

"Oh, mother," she exclaimed, "the girls say that the violets are out and we
do want to have a wild flower hunting picnic up Clearwater! May we? And may
I go?"

Mrs. Merrill dropped her work and looked up at her big girl in surprise.

"A picnic up Clearwater!" she said. "Is it warm enough for picnics? Oh" (as
Alice started to exclaim), "I know it is warm enough if a little girl has
been running home from school--I don't doubt that it is! But you must
remember that the ground stays damp a long time in the spring and that a
picnic usually means sitting around on the ground."

"Well, this wouldn't be a sitting around picnic, mother," said Alice