"I"ll cut the b.u.t.tonholes," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "then Nan and Mildred may work the b.u.t.tonholes by sticking a pin through each hole. The other girls may then sew the b.u.t.tons on."
It was wonderful how quickly those little pearl b.u.t.tons went down the backs of the ap.r.o.ns.
"I believe I could make an ap.r.o.n all alone now," said Nan, "if it was cut out."
"So could I," declared Mildred. "It isn"t hard at all."
"Well, here"s my patterns," spoke up Freddie, who with Flossie had been busy over in the corner cutting "ladies" out of a fashion paper.
"No, they"re paper dolls," said Flossie, who was standing them all up in a row, "and we are going to give them to the fresh-air children to play with on rainy days."
It was only half-past four when Nan rang the bell to dismiss the sewing school.
"We have had such a lovely time," said Mabel, "we would like to have sewing to do every week."
"Well, you are welcome to come," said Aunt Sarah. "We will make night dresses for the poor little ones next week, then after that you might all bring your own work, mending, fancywork or tidies, whatever you have to do."
"And we might each pay five cents to sew for the fresh-air children,"
suggested Mildred.
"Yes, all charity sewing cla.s.ses have a fund," Mrs. Bobbsey remarked.
"That would be a good idea."
"Now let us fold up the ap.r.o.ns," said Nan. "Don"t they look pretty?"
And indeed the half-dozen blue-and-white ginghams did look very nice, for they were carefully made and all smooth and even.
"When can we iron them out?" asked Flossie, anxious to deliver the gifts to the needy little ones.
"To-morrow afternoon," replied her mother. "The boys are going to pick vegetables in the morning, and we will drive over in the afternoon."
Uncle Daniel had given the boys permission to pick all the b.u.t.ter-beans and string-beans that were ripe, besides three dozen ears of the choicest corn, called "Country Gentleman."
"Children can only eat very tender corn," said Uncle Daniel, "and as that is sweet and milky they will have no trouble digesting it."
Harry looked over every ear of the green corn by pulling the husks down and any that seemed a bit overripe he discarded.
"We will have to take the long wagon," said Bert, as they began to count up the baskets. There were two of beans, three of corn, one of lettuce, two of sweet apples, besides five bunches of Freddie"s radishes.
"Be sure to bring Sandy back with you," called Freddie, who did not go to the camp this time. "Tell him I"ll let him be my twin brother."
Nan and Aunt Sarah went with the boys, but how disappointed they were to find a strange matron in charge of the camp, and Sandy"s eyes red from crying after Mrs. Manily.
"Oh, I knowed you would come to take me to Freddie," cried he, ""cause my other mamma is gone too, and I"m all alone."
"Mrs. Manily was called away by sickness in her family," explained the new matron, "and I cannot do anything with this little boy."
"He was so fond of Mrs. Manily," said Aunt Sarah, "and besides he remembers how lonely he was when his own mother went away. Maybe we could bring him over to our house for a few days."
"Yes, Mrs. Manily spoke of that," said the matron, "and she had received permission from the Society to let Edward pay a visit to Mrs.
Daniel Bobbsey. See, here is the card."
"Oh, that will be lovely!" cried Nan, hugging Sandy as tight as her arms could squeeze.
"Freddie told us to be sure to bring you back with us."
"I am so glad to get these things," the matron said to Aunt Sarah, as she took the ap.r.o.ns, "for everybody has been upset with Mrs. Manily having to leave so suddenly. The ap.r.o.ns are lovely. Did the little girls make them?"
Aunt Sarah told her about the sewing school, and then she said she was going to have a little account printed about it in the year"s report of good work done for the Aid Society.
"And Mrs. Manily has written an account of your circus," the matron told Harry and Bert, for she had heard about the boys and their successful charity work.
Some of the girls who knew Nan came up now and told her how Nellie, the little cash-girl, had been taken sick and had had to be removed to the hospital tent over in the other mountain.
This was sad news to Nan, for she loved the little cash-girl, and hoped to see her and perhaps have her pay a visit to Aunt Sarah"s.
"Is she very sick?" Aunt Sarah asked the matron.
"Yes indeed," the other replied. "But the doctor will soon cure her, I think."
"The child is too young to work so hard," Aunt Sarah declared. "It is no wonder her health breaks down at the slightest cause, when she has no strength laid away to fight sickness."
By this time a big girl had washed and dressed Sandy, and now what a pretty boy he was! He wore a blue-and-white-striped linen suit and had a jaunty little white cap just like Freddie"s.
He was so anxious to go that he jumped in the wagon before the others were ready to start.
"Get app, Bill!" he called, grabbing at the reins, and off the old horse started with no one in the wagon but Sandy!
Sandy had given the reins such a jerk that Bill started to run, and the more the little boy tried to stop him the harder he went!
"Don"t slap him with the reins!" called Harry, who was now running down the hill as hard as he could after the wagon. "Pull on the reins!" he called again.
But Sandy was so excited he kept slapping the straps up and down on poor Bill, which to the horse, of course, meant to go faster.
"He"ll drive in the brook," called Bert in alarm also rushing after the runaway. "Whoa, Bill! whoa, Bill!" called everybody, the children from the camp having now joined in following the wagon.
The brook was directly in front of Sandy.
"Quick, Harry!" yelled Bert. "You"ll get him in a minute."
It was no easy matter, however, to overtake Sandy, for the horse had been on a run from the start. But Sandy kept his seat well, and even seemed to think it good fun now to have everybody running after him and no one able to catch him.
"Oh, I"m so afraid he"ll go in the pond!" Nan told Aunt Sarah almost in tears.
"Bill would sit down first," declared Aunt Sarah, who knew her horse to be an intelligent animal.
"Oh! oh! oh!" screamed everybody, for the horse had crossed from the road into the little field that lay next the water.
"Whoa, Bill!" shouted Aunt Sarah at the top of her voice, and instantly the horse stood still.