ay on a fertile farm--"
"I'll get Archie to throw you over the teakettle this minute, if you
don't stop," threatened Cricket.
"Throw me over the teakettle--over the side--stern--bow. Bow. That's it,
young lady. Caught you on that."
And so the game progressed, till they had sufficiently teakettled.
"What next?" asked some one.
"Suppose we have tableaux, and begin with Cricket for Venus," said
Archie, looking at her with his head on one side.
"You needn't make fun of my looks, Mr. Archie. I know this mackintosh
isn't _very_ becoming, but I don't care for looks, anyway."
"You might as well intermingle a few looks if you can," said Eunice.
"And you do look too funny. Your clothes are dry, now, anyway. Hadn't
she better put them on, auntie?"
So the shawl screen was again put up, and the display of dress and
petticoats disappeared from the sail of the _Gentle Jane_.
"I feel more respectable," teased Archie, "now the weekly wash is taken
in. Hated to be taken for a canal-boat."
"No, we'd rather be taken for a tow," said Cricket, smartly, and Archie
fell back, rigid with mock admiration.
"Now, if we only had pencils and paper," said auntie, "there are many
games we might play."
"Oh, wait! wait!" exclaimed Cricket, jumping up suddenly and tumbling
over auntie in her excitement. She dived into the tiny hold, and
triumphantly brought out her mysterious newspaper package.
"I thought perhaps the girls would like to write on their stories for
the 'Echo,'" she explained eagerly, "so I brought all the blank books
and pencils. You can tear some leaves out of the back of mine and use
them."
There was much applause at Cricket's forethought.
"Wise child," said auntie, approvingly, "I am glad to see that 'though
on pleasure you are bent you have a'--literary mind. We might illustrate
proverbs."
"Oh, I can't draw," said Eunice, quickly.
"So much the better. You need not draw well, for it's much more fun if
you don't. I'll tear these leaves in two, Cricket, to make them long and
narrow. Now, we must each illustrate some proverb at the bottom of the
slip, or some line of poetry, if you prefer. Only label it, which it
is. When we are all done, we each pass our slips to the next one, who
writes what she thinks it is, and folds back the writing, and passes it
on. When we have each written our comments, they are opened and read.
Most of the fun comes from the different guesses, so you see you mustn't
draw _to
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