nakes; they are perfectly harmless and are
so pretty."

"Pretty? I could never imagine anything pretty about a snake," replied
Mary, recoiling.

"My word! Molly, just fancy your talking so of a horrid snake."

Molly laughed at her horror. "They aren't poisonous, Mary."

"But the very idea of them is so loathsome."

"It isn't unless you make it so," put in Polly. "I like all kinds of
little creatures so long as they don't bite or sting, and some of
those, like bees, for example, I like, though I don't want them to get
too near me. Of course when it comes to rattlesnakes or copperheads,
or such, I am afraid of them, but these little grass snakes are
different."

But Mary could not be persuaded to give up her prejudices and would
none of the snakes, so they decided to gather buttercups, and wandered
off among the soft grasses on the hilltop. But it was only when they
saw Luella wildly waving the dish-cloth to attract their attention that
they remembered the baby. Then they started toward the cottage
post-haste, arriving there to find Miss Ada walking the floor with the
baby and trying to still its cries.

"What is the matter with her?" cried Molly rushing in. "We thought she
was sound asleep."

"Babies don't sleep forever," remarked Luella sarcastically. "Here,
Miss Ada, I'm used to 'em. Let me see if there's a pin stickin' her
anywhere; there's no knowin' what foolin' with her clothes these
children have been doin'."

The children dared not protest against this charge while Miss Ada said:
"Oh, I have looked and she seems all right," but she relinquished the
baby into Luella's capable hands.

That young woman turned the screaming infant over, felt for an
offending pin, turned her back again, and finally laid her across her
knees and began to pat her on the back. "I guess she's got colic," she
decided. "Molly, you just step up to Mis' Chris Fisher's and see if
she's got a handful of catnip. She mostly does keep it, seein' she
always has got a baby on hand. There, there, there," she tried to
soothe the child on her knees. "Miss Ada, you'll either have to take
her or see to them pies in the oven; I can't do both."

"Oh, I'll see to the pies," responded Miss Ada escaping to the kitchen.

Molly was already on her way to Mrs. Chris Fisher's. Polly vainly
tried to attract the baby's attention by every means within her power.
Mary stood by suggesting alternately mustard poultices and ginger tea,
whic