part I think the sensible thing to do would be to send him
the papers and stop all this fuss," Mrs. Morton replied.

"Why, Mother!" Ernest started up indignantly.

"You forget, Mother, that those papers happen to be worth five thousand
dollars," said Frank, lifting his eyebrows.

Jane looked from the boys to her mother in horrified amazement.

"They are Alice's papers, Mother, so there!"

"We don't know whether they are Alice's or not, my dear, and little
girls should be seen and not heard."

"But they've got Alice's father's name on them!" Jane's mental crater
was seething and no snubbing could keep it from boiling over. "I just
guess you wouldn't like it if somebody took something that belonged to
your little girl."

"She's got you there, Mother," said Dr. Morton, laughing. "Come on,
Frank, we must be getting downtown."

* * * * *

If Mrs. Morton was still English in her ideas, Chicken Little was
intensely American, and while Mrs. Morton was a most loving and
conscientious mother, she could never understand her rebellious small
daughter. Many unpleasant scenes occurred in her effort to bring up the
child in the ways of her forefathers.

Chicken Little was an athletic child before the days when it was proper
for little girls to be athletic, and Mrs. Morton mourned greatly over
her tomboy propensities. She did her best to overcome these by crowding
the child's playtime full of all the little womanly arts possible. But
her efforts, if praiseworthy, were hardly successful, especially her
attempts to teach her to sew.

These lessons usually began Saturday morning.

"Chicken Little, when you finish your practicing, I want you to come to
my room and do a square of your patchwork. You know I let you off last
Saturday to go nutting."

"Oh, Mother, please, the boys are making a little furnace out in the
back yard and they said we girls might help them roast apples and
potatoes--and Alice is going to let us have some doughnuts. And please,
Mother, don't make me do that nasty old patchwork."

"But, child, you must learn to sew. I should think you would enjoy that
pretty patchwork--I got those bright silk scraps on purpose to please
you. Why my mother made a shirt for her father when she was no older
than you, and you can't take five stitches neatly. Besides, I don't
think it is good for little girls to play with the boys so much. It
teaches them to be rough--girls should