Peggy in Her Blue Frock   By: Eliza Orne White (1856-)

PEGGY IN HER BLUE FROCK

BY ELIZA ORNE WHITE

ILLUSTRATED BY ALICE B PRESTON

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN CO.

BOSTON & NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY ELIZA ORNE WHITE

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO MY YOUNG COUSINS

CORNELIA AND CAROL

CONTENTS

I. THE MOVING 1 II. A CAT IN A STRANGE GARRET 7 III. WHY PEGGY WORE BLUE FROCKS 15 IV. PEGGY GOES FOR A YEAST CAKE 25 V. AT CLARA'S HOUSE 38 VI. DIANA 46 VII. THE CANARY BIRD 53 VIII. THE REWARD 62 IX. CHOOSING A KITTEN 67 X. THE WILD GARDEN 76 XI. THE GEOGRAPHY GAME 85 XII. HOW PEGGY SPENT HER MONEY 95 XIII. MRS. OWEN'S SURPRISE PARTY 104 XIV. A CHRISTMAS EGG 118 XV. THE GREAT STORM 126 XVI. GRANDMOTHER OWEN'S VISIT 141

PEGGY IN HER BLUE FROCK

CHAPTER I

THE MOVING

Peggy, with flying yellow hair, was climbing the high stepladder in the library, getting down books for her mother to pack. She skipped up the stepladder as joyously as a kitten climbs a tree. Everything about Peggy seemed alive, from her gray eyes that met one's glance so fearlessly, to her small feet that danced about the room between her trips up and down the stepladder. Her skirts were very short, and her legs were very long and thin, so that she reminded one of a young colt kinking up its heels for a scamper about the pasture.

"Peggy, you will break your neck if you are not careful," said her grandmother. "And don't throw the books down in that way; see how carefully Alice puts them down."

Alice smiled at the compliment and showed her dimples. She was a pretty little thing with brown hair and big brown eyes. She was two years younger than her sister Peggy, and was as small for her age as Peggy was large for hers. She was taking the books from the lowest shelf, as she was afraid to climb the stepladder.

"I'll risk Peggy's neck," said her mother, as Peggy once more skipped up the stepladder.

This time she put the books down more carefully.

The family were moving from the large, old fashioned house where the children had been born to a very small one, more than a mile farther from the village. Peggy and Alice were greatly interested in the moving. Their father's mother had come all the way from New York to help about it.

Their father had been a country doctor with a large practice and he had gone into the war to save the lives of others; but the hospital where he was at work had been shelled, and he had lost his own life. This had happened almost at the end of the war. It seemed to the children a long time since the war was over, and a very long time since their father had gone overseas.

Peggy and Alice had been very much overcome when they heard of their father's death, but now the world was very pleasant again. Another doctor was coming to town, to move into their roomy old house and take the practice which had been their father's.