Not Quite Eighteen — Susan Coolidge

CONTENTS. PAGE I. HOW BUNNY BROUGHT GOOD LUCK 7 II. A BIT OF WILFULNESS 30 III. THE WOLVES OF ST. GERVAS 42 IV. THREE LITTLE CANDLES 62 V. UNCLE AND AUNT 83 VI. THE CORN-BALL MONEY 111 VII. THE PRIZE GIRL OF THE HARNESSING CLASS 123 VIII. DOLLY PHONE 142 IX. A NURSERY TYRANT 165 X. WHAT THE PINK FLAMINGO DID 179 XI. TWO PAIRS OF EYES 200 XII. THE PONY THAT KEPT THE STORE 211 XIII. PINK AND SCARLET 227 XIV. DOLLY'S LESSON 239 XV. A BLESSING IN DISGUISE 252 XVI. A GRANTED WISH 269HOW BUNNY BROUGHT GOOD LUCK.It was Midsummer's Day, that delightful point toward which the wholeyear climbs, and from which it slips off like an ebbing wave in thedirection of the distant winter. No wonder that superstitious people inold times gave this day to the fairies, for it is the most beautiful dayof all. The world seems full of bird-songs, sunshine, and flower-smellsthen; storm and sorrow appear impossible things; the barest and ugliestspot takes on a brief charm and, for the moment, seems lovely anddesirable.That's a picturesque old place, said a lady on the back seat of thebig wagon in which Hiram Swift was taking his summer boarders to drive.They were passing a low, wide farmhouse, gray from want of paint, with ashabby barn and sheds attached, all overarched by tall elms. The narrowhay-field and the vegetable-patch ended in a rocky hillside, with itssteep ledges, overgrown and topped with tall pines and firs, which madea dense green background to the old buildings.I don't know about its being like a picter, said Hiram, dryly, as heflicked away a fly from the shoulder of his horse, but it isn't muchby way of a farm. That bit of hay-field is about all the land there isthat's worth anything; the rest is all rock. I guess the Widow Galedoesn't take much comfort in its bein' picturesque. She'd be gladenough to have the land made flat, if she could.Oh, is that the Gale farm, where the silver-mine is said to be?Yes, marm; at least, it's the farm where the man lived that, 'cordin'to what folks say, said he'd found a silver-mine. I don't take a greatdeal of stock in the story myself.