The Box-Car Children
down his sleeves, and started for town with the second dollar.
"Glad you've got a dog, Jess," he called back, as he waved his straw
hat.
The children watched him disappear around the curve and then turned to
Jess expectantly. They were not mistaken. Jess had a plan.
"We'll explore," she began mysteriously. "We'll begin here at the car,
and hunt all over these woods until we find a dump!"
"What's a dump?" inquired Benny.
"O Benny!" answered Violet. "You know what a dump is. All old bottles
and papers and broken dishes."
"And wheels?" asked Benny interestedly. "Will there be any old wheels?"
"Yes, maybe," assented Violet. "But cups, Benny! Think of drinking milk
out of a cup again!"
"Oh, yes," said Benny, politely. But it was clear that his mind was
centered on wheels rather than cups.
The exploring party started slowly down the rusty track, with the dog
hopping happily on three legs. The fourth paw, nicely bandaged with
Jess' handkerchief, he held up out of harm's way.
"I think this is a spur track," said Jess. "They built it in here so
they could load wood on the cars, and then when they had cut all the
wood they didn't need the track any more."
This explanation seemed very likely, for here and there were stumps of
trees and decaying chips. Violet took note of these chips, and
remembered them some days later. In fact, both girls kept their eyes
open, and pointed out things of interest to each other.
"Remember these logs, Violet, if we should ever need any," said Jess
pointing.
"Blackberry blossoms!" returned Violet briefly, turning one over gently
with her foot.
"Big flat stones!" remarked Jess, later on, as they came upon a great
heap of them.
Here the track came out into the open sunshine, and broken pieces of
rail showed clearly where it had joined the main track at some time in
the past. And here from the top of the wooded hill the children could
plainly see the city in the valley. They walked along the track, picking
out a church steeple here and there, forgetting for a moment the object
of their search.
"There's a wheel!" Benny cried triumphantly from behind.
The girls looked down, and with a glad cry of surprise Jess recognized a
dump at the foot of the hill. They found it not composed entirely of
ashes and tin cans, either, although both of these were there in great
profusion. It was a royal dump, containing both cups and wheels.
"O Benny!" cried Jess, "if it hadn't been for you!" She hugged him,
wheel and all, and began turning over the rubbish with great delight.
"Here's a white pitcher, Jess," Violet called, holding up a perfect
specimen with a tiny chip in its nose.
"Here's a big white cup," said Jess delightedly, laying it aside.
"Want a teapot, Jessy?" inquired Benny, offering her an enormous blue
enameled affair without a handle.
"Yes, _indeed_!" cried Jess. "We can use that for water. I've found two
cups and a bowl already. And Violet, we ought to be looking for spoons,
too."
Violet pointed without speaking to her little pile of treasures. There
were five iron spoons covered with rust.
"Wonderful!" pronounced Jess with rapture. Indeed, it is doubtful if
collectors of rare and beautiful bits of porcelain ever enjoyed a search
as much as did these adventurers in the dump heap.
Benny actually found four wheels, exactly alike, probably from the same
cart, and insisted upon carrying them back. To please him, Jess allowed
him to add them to the growing pile.
"Here's a big iron kettle," observed Violet. "But we won't really cook
with a fire, will we, Jess?"
"We'll take it back, though," replied Jess with a knowing look. "We can
pile lots of dishes in it."
They could, and did, but not until after Benny had discovered his
beloved "pink cup." It was a tea-party cup of bright rose-color with a
wreath of gorgeous roses on it, and a little shepherdess giving her lamb
a drink from a pale blue brook. It had a perfectly good handle, gold
into the bargain. Its only flaw was a dangerous crack through the lamb's
nose and front feet. Jess made a cushion for it out of grass and laid it
on top of the kettle full of treasures. All the things, even the wheels,
were laid on a wide board which the two girls carried between them.
Can you imagine the dishwashing when the gay party returned to the
freight car? Children do not usually care for dishwashing. But never did
a little boy hand dishes to his sister so carefully as Benny did. On
their hands and knees beside the clear, cool little "washtub," the
three children soaped and rinsed and dried their precious store of
dishes. Jess scoured the rust from the spoons with sand. "There!" she
said, drying the last polished spoon. The children sat back and looked
admiringly at their own handiwork. But they did not look long. There was
too much to be done.
"Jess," exclaimed Violet, "I'll tell you!" Violet seldom spoke so
excitedly. Even Benny turned around and looked at her.
"Come and see what I noticed inside the car last night!"
Both children followed her, and peered in at the door.
"See, on the wall, right over on the other door, Jess." Now, all Jess
could see were two thick chunks of wood nailed securely to the closed
door opposite the open one. But she whirled around and around as fast as
she could, clapping her hands. When she could get her breath, however,
she skipped over to the board they had carried, dusted it nicely, and
laid it carefully across the two wooden projections. It was a perfect
shelf.
"There!" said Jess.
The children could hardly wait to arrange the shining new dishes on the
shelf. Violet quietly gathered some feathery white flowers, a daisy or
two, and some maidenhair ferns, which she arranged in a glass vase
filled with water from the "well." This she put in the middle, with the
broken edge hidden.
"There!" said Jess.
"You said 'there' three times, Jessy," remarked Benny, contentedly.
"So I did," replied Jess laughing, "but I'm going to say it again." She
pointed and said, "There!"
Henry was coming up the path.
EARNING A LIVING
Henry had all sorts of packages under his arm and in his pockets. But he
wouldn't open them or tell a thing about his adventures until dinner was
ready, he said. "Jess, you're a wonder!" he exclaimed when he saw the
dishes and the shelf.
The big kettle was selected, and they all began to pick blueberries as
fast as they could, telling Henry meanwhile all about the wonderful
dump. At last the tablecloth was spread and Henry unwrapped his parcels
before the whole excited family.
"I bought some more brown bread," he said, producing the loaves, "and
some more milk--in the same little store where I went yesterday. It's
kept by a little old man, and it's called a Delicatessen Shop. He has
_everything_ in his store to eat. I bought some dried beef because we
can eat it in our fingers. And I bought a big bone for the dog."
"His name is Watch," Jess interrupted.
"All right," said Henry, accepting the name. "I bought a bone for
Watch."
Watch fell on the bone as if he were famished, which indeed he nearly
was.
It was a rapturous moment when Jess poured the yellow milk into four
cups or bowls, and each child proceeded to crumble the brown bread into
it with a liberal scattering of blueberries. And then when they ate it
with spoons! Nobody was able to speak a word for several minutes.
Then Henry began slowly to tell his tale.
"I earned a dollar just this morning," he began proudly. "I walked along
the first shady street I came to--nice houses, you know. And there was a
fellow out mowing his own lawn. He's a nice fellow, too, I can tell
you--a young doctor." Henry paused to chew blissfully.
"He was pretty hot," Henry went on. "And just as I came to the gate, his
telephone rang. I heard it, and called after him and asked if he didn't
want me to finish up."
"And he said he did!" cried Jess.
"Yes. He said, 'For goodness' sake, yes!'" Henry answered smiling. "You
see, he wasn't used to it. So I mowed the lawn and trimmed the edges,
and he said he never had a boy trim it as well as I did. And then he
asked me if I wanted a steady job."
"O Henry!" cried Violet and Jess together.
"I told him I did, so he said to come back this afternoon any time I
wanted, or tomorrow--he said he didn't care just when--any time."
Henry gave his cup a last polish with his spoon and set it down
dreamily. "It's a pretty house," he went on, "and there's a big garden
behind it--vegetable garden. And an orchard behind that--cherry orchard.
You ought to see the cherry trees! Well, when I was trimming the edges
near the kitchen door, the cook came and watched me. She's a fat
Irishwoman." Henry laughed at the recollection.
"She asked me if I liked cookies. Oh, if you had smelled them baking
you'd have died laughing, Benny. Dee-licious! So I said I did, and she
passed me out one, and when she went back I put it in my pocket."
"Did she see you?" asked Jess anxiously.
"Oh, no," said Henry confidently. "For I carefully chewed away for a
long time on nothing at all."
Benny began to look fixedly at Henry's pocket. It certainly was still
rather bulgy.
"When I went, the doctor paid me a dollar, and the cook gave me this
bag."
Henry grinned as he tossed the paper bag to Jess. Inside were twelve
ginger cookies with scalloped edges, smelling faintly of cinnamon and
sugar.
"I'm going to keep track of everything I earn and spend," said Henry,
watching Jess as she handed around the cookies with reverence.
"How are you going to write without a pencil?" asked Jess.
"There are pieces of tailor's chalk in my workbag," said Violet.
Henry gave his younger sister a gentle pat, as she returned with her
workbag and fished for the chalk.
While the girls rinsed the empty dishes in the brook and stored away the
food for supper, Henry was beginning his cash account on the wall of his
bedroom. It was never erased, and Henry often now looks at the account
with great affection.
Soon the girls came to inspect it. Meanwhile Benny looked on with great
delight as Watch tried to bury his bone with only one paw to dig with.
"Earned, $1.00; Cash on hand, $3.85," read Jess aloud.
Below, he had written:
Milk .24
Bread .10
Bread .20
Cheese .10
Milk .24
Beef .20
Bone .05
Cloth .10
"Cloth!" exclaimed Violet. "What on earth?"
Henry laughed a little, and watched her face as he drew out his last
package and handed it to her.
"I thought we ought to have a tablecloth," he explained. "So I got a
yard at the ten-cent store--but it isn't hemmed, of course."
With a cry of delight Violet unwrapped the brown cloth with its edge of
blue. Her clever fingers were already evening the two ends. She was
never so happy as when with a needle.
Henry set off again with a light heart. Here was one sister curled up
happily against a big tree, setting tiny stitches into a very straight
hem. Here was another sister busily gathering pliant twigs into a bundle
for a broom with which to sweep the stray pine needles from the house.
And here was Benny, curled up sound asleep on the ground with the dog
for a pillow.
It was quite late when Henry returned. In fact, it was nearly seven
o'clock, although he didn't know that. Several treasures had been added
in his absence. The broom stood proudly in the corner with a slim stick
for a handle. The new tablecloth had been washed and was drying on the
line. And Jess, who had decided to wash one garment a day, had begun
with Benny's stockings. When Henry came they were being put on again
with much pride by Benny himself. Violet had darned a big hole in each.