who always stood at
the street corner nearest the school to guard the children from swiftly
moving autos. Betty spied him and ran down the walk to speak to him.

"So the cart's gone, is it?" he said as he and Betty came up toward the
house. "Well, if you'll let me use your 'phone, I'll tell them down at the
station just what kind of a cart it is and maybe we can get a trace of
it--anyway, we can try."

Mrs. Holden went indoors with him and the others stood around on the porch
hardly knowing what to do. Losing her cart was a real calamity to poor
Mary Jane--she very well knew that her father couldn't afford to get her
another one and she had hard work, awfully hard work, to keep back the
tears that came to her eyes and to swallow the lump that filled her
throat. She didn't want to be a crybaby, but--and the lump got bigger and
bigger--

Mrs. Merrill noticed that Mary Jane was trying so very hard to be brave so
she did her best to help.

"Wasn't it lucky that officer came by just then!" she said cheerfully. "I
can't for the life of me see why anybody would be mean enough to steal a
little girl's doll cart and I keep thinking we'll find it somewhere. Come
on, Mary Jane, let's sit down on this settee here till Mrs. Holden comes
out. Then perhaps some of you girls will be good enough to go up to the
candy shop with me and get some more taffy apples--I suppose those went
with the cart!"

Mary Jane stepped over toward her mother, who had already seated herself
on the settee at the end of the porch. But before she sat down she just
happened to look down toward the ground. The Holden porch had no railing
around the side and as Mary Jane was always a little timid about falling
she kept a close watch on the end of the porch every time she went near
it. She glanced down at the ground and then--her face changed! The
sorrowful look vanished and smiles spread like sunshine over her face.

"Look!" she exclaimed, as she pointed to the ground. "Look there!"

A TRIP TO THE ZOO

It wasn't hard to guess what Mary Jane had found; nothing but her precious
doll cart could have made her feel and look so happy. They all ran to the
end of the porch, looked over the edge, and there, sure enough, was the
birthday cart all tumbled down in a heap. Alice and Frances jumped down,
set it up straight and then, with Mrs. Merrill's help from above, lifted
it up to the porch just as the policeman and Mrs. Holden came out of the
house.

"B