CHAPTER II

PARADISE


The place to which the children were going was a sort of marshy thicket
at the bottom of a field near the house. It wasn't a big thicket, but it
looked big, because the trees and bushes grew so closely that you could
not see just where it ended. In winter the ground was damp and boggy, so
that nobody went there, excepting cows, who don't mind getting their
feet wet; but in summer the water dried away, and then it was all fresh
and green, and full of delightful things--wild roses, and sassafras, and
birds' nests. Narrow, winding paths ran here and there, made by the
cattle as they wandered to and fro. This place the children called
"Paradise," and to them it seemed as wide and endless and full of
adventure as any forest of fairy land.

The way to Paradise was through some wooden bars. Katy and Cecy climbed
these with a hop, skip and jump, while the smaller ones scrambled
underneath. Once past the bars they were fairly in the field, and, with
one consent, they all began to run till they reached the entrance of the
wood. Then they halted, with a queer look of hesitation on their faces.
It was always an exciting occasion to go to Paradise for the first time
after the long winter. Who knew what the fairies might not have done
since any of them had been there to see?

"Which path shall we go in by?" asked Clover, at last.