a monkey!" exclaimed Mrs. Holden and she was as surprised as
Betty had been, "are you sure?"

"Yes, Betty's right," said Mrs. Merrill. "Mary Jane has seen a great many
things for a little girl who has just had her sixth birthday. But she
hasn't seen a monkey. Her father and I were saying only last night that we
must take the girls up to the Zoo as soon as possible."

"Let's all go next Saturday," suggested Mrs. Holden, "no, we can't go next
Saturday because the girls and I have some shopping to do. Let's go a week
from Saturday. By that time the restaurant in Lincoln Park will be open.
The way we do," she explained to the Merrills, "is to take our lunch, a
picnic lunch, with us. We start up about eleven, eat over by the lake and
then have the whole afternoon for watching the animals; we eat dinner in
that nice restaurant, before dark, and then come home in the early
evening. Can you all go on that day?"

Mrs. Merrill said she was sure they could, so plans were made right then
and there.

Mary Jane and Alice thought those two weeks, or nearly two weeks, never
would pass. Of course there was the doll cart to play with and Mary Jane
loved it exactly as much as ever. But she did want to see the monkeys, and
the foxes (Betty told her she would love the foxes!) and all the creatures
that Betty seemed to know so much about and which she had never even
seen.

But at last the morning came, warm and sunny and clear and the lunch boxes
were packed, the apartment locked up and everybody started toward Lincoln
Park feeling happy and ready for fun. The fathers couldn't come for lunch,
but really when all the Holden girls and boys were added to the three
Merrills, there was such a crowd that, for the time at least, fathers
weren't so very much missed.

When they reached the park Mary Jane realized, for the first time, how
close it was getting to really truly summer. The sun shone with real
summer warmth, the lake was blue and beautiful and flowers bloomed on
every corner.

"Oh, I'd just like to live in a park all the time," she exclaimed as she
looked around her, "it seems just like home!"

"Yes, it does," said Mrs. Merrill, with a wee bit of a sigh, "I'm afraid I
know some folks who are going to miss their gardens and flower bed this
summer."

"How stupid of me not to have thought of that!" exclaimed Mrs. Holden.
"You know it will be just two weeks now till we go up to the lake for all
the summer. Why didn't I think to ha